Fire Emblem 6 Hard Mode Character Guide - NOT A Tier List!

[@skylarm2068]

I think this way of categorizing and understanding units is much more constructive than a tierlist tbh.

[@papersonic9941]

It's more useful for the average player, since most people don't give a fuck about efficiency.

[@korinoriz]

When people talked about tier lists in Fire Emblem I assumed it was like this. But yea if it's more overtly talked about in this way it's much better.

[@Sashitoge]

I agree, I always had an issue with how traditional tierlists don't really rank units based on neither who you should use nor who is most useful for an ltc. It is kind of stuck in the middle.

[@ametaslave7314]

This is a more practical application of our Fire Emblem knowledge. Tier lists are a way to argue and feel smart, which I enjoy just as much. You'd never put tier lists to practical use.

[@skylarm2068]

@@ametaslave7314 That doesn't mean I think tierlists can't be fun tho. This just feels more practical since the use of a units in FE are multi-faceted and complex.

[@sagelordkami]

i feel like i could listen to mekkah analyze units forever even if i already know everything he says lol

[@benackermann6328]

I've never related to a comment so much in my life

[@MiiRaGex]

Seriously lol

[@DD151]

- Rutger: I think normal mode Rutger is actually kind of bad. Normal mode enemies are weak enough that 1-2 range go brrr is a viable strategy and Rutger's lack of 1-2 range is notable. - Yoder: His base 30 res is also good for status baiting 29 mag druids, in addition to the other various utility roles you mentioned. - Saul: He's also an okay combat unit after promotion. He averages 14 AS at 10/1, and in slower settings he'll be at a higher level. His mag is low, but at least he'll have accurate 1-2 range. - Bartre: He doesn't actually OHKO fliers (specifically wyvern riders in the maps after he joins), he is a few points short even with Steel Bow. I think there is some fluidity between the OK and high effort tiers, but the ones I feel strongly about are Geese moving down to high effort and Hugh moving up to OK. Thea is kind of in an odd position because she doesn't require as much investment as the growth units in the good tier, but also doesn't end up being as good as them when trained. I think OK is underselling her though. Lugh is also in an odd position. If you look at his expected stats, he actually needs a huge amount of investment in order to pay off in the later part of the game. Like, he needs to be 15/1 on average to be as fast as 10/1 Saul, and he'll always be pretty frail. Without supports, his combined avo from speed and luk are not high enough to reliable dodgetank, and his concrete defensive parameters are frail. EDIT: Since this comment is pinned, I'll throw in a few more thoughts here. I'm seeing some people argue that Fir or Sue should be in good tier. I think you guys are misunderstanding the meaning of the tier. It is not for units that are pretty good after lots of attention. It is for units who are good but need to keep up with EXP / ranks over the course of the game to remain good. Sue and Fir require a lot of initial investment to catch up with the rest of the team, while someone like Gonzalez or Zeiss both starts out more self-sufficient and requires less investment to catch up. Meanwhile, early joiners like Alance or Lugh, though they also start at level 1, get to receive that investment over a longer period of time.

[@EnormousHatred]

To me, Lugh isn't really worth using on paper, but there's a number of niche factors that make him less of a hassle to use long-term than most other FE Mages, especially GBA. For one his availability is so much better and you either don't need to think about him taking up a slot, or it's basically between him and someone like Dorothy, so he's essentially a free unit until mid-game at earliest. Two he's not in much competition with anyone for Forblaze, which he can even double with; he'll typically be around 15 or higher if, conservatively, you're waiting to use the third Guiding Ring on him.

[@huntersmith1413]

@@EnormousHatred He also has accurate and good chip damage from 1-2 range which is pretty useful early on and no one else has that niche

[@DD151]

@@EnormousHatred I think what makes Lugh palatable is that he isn't as excruciating to train as other high investment units due to better accuracy on his 1-2 range weapons, and anima magic is good enough that the payoff for training him is above average. Like, having a trained Lot is pretty eh, but having a trained Lugh brings something to the table that you don't really have otherwise. So I guess I am OK with placing him in the good tier even if he is probably the most borderline of those units.

[@runaway74]

Always a pleasure to see you ripping Mekkah a new one dondon

[@EnormousHatred]

@@DD151 It always feels vaguely aggravating to afford units like Lugh viability due to what basically amounts to privilege or circumstance. There seems to be at least one in every game.

[@spicybrad]

This is excellent content and the exact type of thing I would love to find from a google search if I were starting one of these games. Definitely helps the community grow. Please do more of these!

[@albehoe2327]

Ah yes, Marcus, the legendary wielder of Maltet, Armads, Durandal, and the Binding Blade

[@aoshishinomori3930]

Where are you from?

[@lsrrr3857]

@@aoshishinomori3930 He is from Pherae

[@Stachelbeeerchen]

Wendy isnt high effort its torture tier same for Sophia.

[@justapassingbycommenterrem5642]

I played normal mode and yeah, sophia's hit is shit at the start, she can't double and her movement isn't that good either, bunch a chapter latter and a promotion, she still can't double but she's decent enough to hit hard and be accurate enough to hit enemy cavalry, used her along side nimee, she's got pretty good res and def so good to knock out cavalry and mage bosses, fun fact i used cecilia as well, aircalibur really helped a lot plus extra healing from both didn't hurt either

[@jacksonportnoff841]

I don't see how Wade is Okay if I'm being honest. His Speed base is 5 and his growth is 20% which is really bad. Even with investment, he'll get doubled. His axelock pre-promotion and awful Skill base of 3 will make it really hard for him to hit anything on Hard Mode, which makes strategies unreliable and force newer players to reset. Walt and Dorothy are much easier to use thanks to their accurate 2 range chip (especially useful against the Chapter 7 Wyverns). Since this is supposed to be a HM guide for new players, I'd highly recommend moving Wade down to High Effort.

[@richardli2780]

Being Axelocked is pretty good in FE6 all things considered. 1-2 range, bonus vs the abundance of lances. Pretty fast, and good supports. Slight drop off in the isles but it's not the same weakness that lance locked units have.

[@ninjacell2999]

@@richardli2780 1-2 range isn't as good in FE6 hard mode because the enemies are so much stronger. Plus the abysmal hitrates really penalise handaxes. It's not the end of the world, but it's far worse than in other FE games

[@Lories7]

Wade sometimes maybe actually survives getting doubled though, while Walt and Dorothy just die when someone in their vicinity sneezes too hard..

[@dryzalizer]

Ah yes, this was the comment I was looking for, thanks Jackson Portnoff.

[@dergeilste1383]

Yeah I agree compared to a unit like Fir who can take the role of Rutger if he dies or Ellen who has two chapters of being the only staff unit and staff units are really good on hard mode

[@thereaIitsybitsyspider]

In a sense, this is just a tier list with availability not weighed heavily and the A tier split in two. I think it is more useful than a traditional FE tier list.

[@Edgeperor]

It hurts to see Lilina in high effort, but at the same time I’d be mad if she was anywhere else

[@panjhisahelsenordelospalil1717]

I'd say is as high the effort as to train Sue, she can relaiably chip at range and unlike Sue she actually does some damage. She is not easy to train, but placing her at the same level as the Lv1 armor knight with almost no stats whatsoever that joins before two maps full of axes (not counting 9X, where you can give her some levels if you spend the entire day) is going a bit too far. Ik Mekkah doesn't like her but come on.

[@CosmicToad5000]

@@panjhisahelsenordelospalil1717 I’d argue it’s a Thea sort of situation though where Lilina is pretty easy to train, but she doesn’t turn out very good compared to someone like Sue or Fir, about her only strengths are oneshotting with aircalbur/forblaze but a trained Lugh can do those things as well as having quite good combat with basic tomes, better survivalists thanks to better Spd and possibly a better staff rank due to being able to reach promotion quicker. You could argue units like Lot & Wade are similarly underwhelming when trained though. The High effort tier is kind of a mess for FE6 because units like Lilina, Hugh & Treck are leagues above the absolute bottom that is the armor knights and Sophia but I don’t think you can recommend them for new players in the same way as the units in okay because you won’t get as much out of what you put into them.

[@nunoferreira5724]

@@panjhisahelsenordelospalil1717 She is in high effort tier because she takes high effort to work and be viable later in the game. You're right, she is 10x better than any armored unit after some levels, but she remains a high effort unit. This tier list takes into account the easiness of these units when used in the perspective of a novice playing Hardmode. I love lilina and I really like to use her, but it is quite justified that she is in higheffort.

[@panjhisahelsenordelospalil1717]

@@CosmicToad5000 My oppinion of Lilina is actually the opposite. I think once trained she does pay off. She is more fragile than Lugh and if you're unlucky she can turn somewhat slow, but her magic is absolutely bonkers, letting her one-shot enemies much more often than him. The problem is that she joins in a very awkward moment, when you are about to recieve your first guiding ring and Lugh should be close to promotion. Then you have to babysit her until you get the next ring in chapter 14 and THEN give up Clarine's/Saul's/whoever's promotion. Doing this is not hard, but tedious and completely unnecesary, because you don't really need another sage. But once you get her rolling, I do think she performs as well as Lugh, and if their recruitments were swapped she'd be the superior mage, just as Lugh is now. That being said, comparing the tedious grind-fest wich is training Lilina, Hugh, Treck, Sue or even the crappy archer duo, to the unholy, unspeakable, absolutely pain in the ass task of training Sophia and Gwendy, is not fair at all.

[@panjhisahelsenordelospalil1717]

@@nunoferreira5724 I know she takes effort. What I am saying is that the effort you have to put on her (this applies to others in the same tier) is not nearly the same as in the tin can trio or the plum colored wyvern bait.

[@jakyllbased7270]

In my hard mode run through i kept investing in Shanna no matter how bad she was doing and she ended the game with 9 str🥲

[@Edgeperor]

Eh, you’ll almost always want somebody to carry Roy, and if she sucks at combat, then that’s just the best role for her. Honestly would still deploy

[@hazelcalderbank1556]

@@Edgeperor I find the cavs are usually good enough at that, so if Shanna's first few levels don't look great I tend to ditch her. Same with all early-game pegasi

[@smaragdchaos]

This is why I hate pegasus knights in general. I have a blast using wyverns, because despite their lower aid, they are quite the badasses with great offensive and physically defensive stats, typically from base too. Pegasus knights are prone to getting strength screwed, which is terrible with low bases, and their physical durability is a joke. I get it that flying utility is useful no matter what stats, but I'd rather have someone combat-competent handle such task than someone who dies instantly or struggles against nearly anything the game throws at you, even sword users in the early game.

[@leaffinite2001]

I love using shanna and i will play normal mode if i have to 😂

[@liegemkw]

2:49 special utility 4:35 no brainer 14:27 good investment 29:56 good no investment 42:00 okay 55:11 high effort

[@thesuntitan]

Whenever I recruit Fir, I feel compelled to feed her all the pirate reinforcements on her map. It's just too much fun to watch

[@absurd_maxim]

Awww yeah. This is the highly informative mekkah content I can cook dinner to. Thanks for helping us through the pandemic, man.

[@shabbas8792]

That Golden Sun music is tugging hard on my heart strings 😭 Great video Mekkah!

[@sammich6257]

i wouldn’t say that hugh is high effort, especially when comparing him to the other units in the high effort tier. while he joins late, his bases are okay and he acts as a middle ground between the two other mages. and, he’s my favorite male character in the series, so that automatically makes him s tier (jk).

[@cynharris6230]

I think its fair to weigh his cost against him as it cuts into your Boots funds, compared to someone like Farina who is in a game where you don't need to buy anything more important than her. I actually used hugh on my first playthrough and enjoyed him but my first playthrough was also really bad money wise lol

[@sammich6257]

@@cynharris6230 lol that’s fair

[@reggiesmattress2814]

hell yeah you took the words right out of my mouth. his supports with his grandma have won me over.

[@sammich6257]

@@reggiesmattress2814 i love love love his support with chad. it’s great characterization for both of them.

[@smaragdchaos]

Hugh is my favorite magician in FE6. The only mage with actual physical durability in FE6. He is basically unpromoted version of Pent

[@hansonlee5847]

As someone who likes Thea's design, I found her Str growth to be middling at best. She's definitely not suited for combat and ended up using Miledy for aerial combat. In that case, Shanna is the better aerial pick for her availability and reliable doubling. Also, fun fact, I actually had grown a max str Shanna one time, which is hilariously unreal

[@ungabungus01]

I have the opposite my Shanna is level 8 promoted 20 base level and she has 10 str lmao even juno has more than her. Noodle arms can double to 10 dmg on everyone

[@whosthatguy8396]

@@ungabungus01my shanna got 3 strength levels ever in my first hard run. I think i promoted her at level 14

[@francisramilgapol4012]

i have been planning to do my first hard mode run of fe6. this guide will definitely help a lot. thank you mekkah.

[@DanBottiglieri]

I'd move Treck up to Okay and Geese down to High Effort and move Tate up to Good (Investment): she's better than Zeiss. I'd also move Raigh to high effort. In general though I do think it's a good list.

[@nickdoot2536]

Geese has garbage stats in a garbage class. Tate has good stats in a good class. (They somehow have the same defence for crying out loud.) They have very similar ability. I do not understand the reasoning for Tate receiving such a lower rating than both Shanna and Zeiss. I feel like Tate gets treated the same way Shanna used to get treated, under rated for no real reason. I don't know why anyone would use Geese outside of his luscious purple hair. Also yeah Raigh could really use hard mode bonuses, he just isn't great. Useable with effort, but just not great.

[@diegocorral8787]

@@nickdoot2536 Yeah I honestly use Geese for his hair tbh, however his personality has grown onto me the more I've used him in playthroughs. I'd say he is either low Okay or at the Top of high effort imo.

[@DanBottiglieri]

Yeah I feel like you have to really want to use Geese to make him work, he quite literally is always high effort for me.

[@DanBottiglieri]

I also don't understand rating Trec and Noah so differently: they have the same attack and Noah is 2 points ahead in speed: but he has a worse growth and is a higher level. Trec is also bulkier. It's neat that Noah can use Killing Edge at base but is that really worth a whole tier? I think I'm probably biased because I either use both Noah and Trec or neither Noah or Trec so to me they're a package deal but my Trec always turns out better and they both feel similar at base.

[@CrashGordon94]

@@nickdoot2536 Geese has a garbage class? The terrain and crit stuff seems to be a little too good for outright GARBAGE

[@poscott3275]

This has already been said, but this sort of tier list is much more helpful for newer players. While I like your other tier lists, they do assume a faster (and more complex) play style than your average FE player. Would love to see more of these.

[@ninjacell2999]

The real bonus of these is not so much in that they are aimed at a different playstyle, it's that tierlists are designed to penalise bad availablity, so if a really good character is only in one map, they won't be highly ranked. Which is of course useless for deciding whether to use them or not.

[@Arto91]

This is proper content, like it better than the normal tier lists. Keep it up please Danved

[@casualjacob776]

Absolutely love the chill Golden Sun music accompanying the video. I'll consider this for my first fe6 hm run. I'm sure Shadow Dragon DS won't take long to talk about with its modest sized cast, right?

[@Jadanbr]

Well, only 15 units or something like that are worth talking anyway, most of the units would be in high effort Edit: maybe even a new "dont use" category (Mathis maybe?)

[@baptisteplaquevent7957]

ty for confirming the Golden Sun, this avoids me asking. This music is exceptionnal

[@casualjacob776]

Golden Sun music is wonderful. The game is fantastic, too.

[@ericamborsky3230]

@@Jadanbr If you think Matthis is bad, you should check out Vyland.

[@Jadanbr]

@@ericamborsky3230 yeah you are right, but this can go even lower, with Dolph and Macellan

[@Fizzicles]

Mekkah character guides: No Brainer Thanks as always Mekkah

[@mineoshua4008]

Thank you i have high respect for you, you placed lugh on high teir

[@fadeemblem7665]

I remember laughing when I realized that my team on my first Hard Mode playthrough was basically Alan/Lance, Clarine, pre-promotes, enemy recruits, and a speed-blessed Lilina. Roy's army was either his closest allies or people who had been trying to kill him. Those last 5-6 chapters were a glorious clusterfuck consisting of Niime with Sleep, Silence and Berserk staffs, Lilina with Bolting, Fa with a Flame Stone, and B-supported Gonzales+Echidna on a mountain facing down 20 Wyverns and killing them all. I'm now a permanent fan of Niime after seeing all the long range bullshit she enabled me to pull off.

[@Arc_ride]

Having beat HM recently, I grew to appreciate Niime a lot too. She can just completely disable dangerous enemies and she wound up being a really fun unit to use because of that. I wish there were more prepromotes like her.

[@MrCactuar13]

Playing FE6HM casually, I think what salvages the trash units is the fact the gaiden chapters are filled with piss weak trash enemies. Enemy density is very sparse so it's easy to isolate enemies, weaken them, and feed them kills to level up. Hell the tactics rank is so lenient that you could probably get A rank tactics while doing so, if you care about rank. Obviously this type of play style won't fly in efficiency settings, but this list isn't for efficiency of course.

[@mysteryguy2725]

I love this comment so much. Seriously why don't people bring this up.

[@yangusyarevich]

I really enjoy this kind of content! It reminds me of trawling gamefaqs for character guides and reading what people thought of various units. It actually kind of gives me the same feeling as the in-game tier lists on Smogon for Pokemon. As someone exploring all the various FE's (just have fe1, fe5 and about half of fe12 left), having guides like these will help a lot when I revisit other games on their respective harder modes. Thanks for the thoughtful videos as always!

[@NoctSwift]

I agree with these set ups you are making. While watching people place units on tierlists I have always noticed that they compare units by performance and stats only, not even considering their availability. Your list for FE6 really matches up with my preferences, in this game there is this feeling you get from some units that they can actually kill things and another that makes you feel like that you are only wasting your resources on the unit. The top three tiers really gave me that first feeling and the bottom three really made sense despite what people say about Lilina. In other words great stuff! Keep up the great work, maybe someday more people will rank units by this style over the other one!

[@chriscursedyoutube]

play golden sun already

[@amrithas182]

Loving that golden sun music👍🏼

[@Quirino26]

Thanks Mekkah! Love the character guides :) They’re really helpful for me since I am not familiar with harder modes yet but would love to give them a try. This will certainly help.

[@TeeGee3]

Thank you for this tier list Mekkah

[@ametaslave7314]

Thank you Mekkah for telling new FE6 players that my boy Zeiss is good with investment. Why are like half the comments just people thinking you're overrating Zeiss? If the guy spawns with 12 spd, he's like a speedwing away from doubling Ilian Paladins and Snipers even just at 10/1 (he'd hit 17 while they tend to have 13 iirc). Flying alone is great, but I imagine new players falling into the "kill every last one of them!" instincts instead of just ferrying Roy to the throne and seizing. If we're talking about beginners to Hard Mode, isn't Fir in a similar boat to Gonzalez? If you're slowing down to feed her kills, she'll turn out fine. Her stats in Hard Mode are also pretty good for being such a low level, meaning she'll grow out of her slow start (which means she'll start doubling more and more reliably) fairly quickly, in a way comparable to Larum route Gonzalez. Pirate/Fighter reinforcement grinding seems easy enough for beginners. I feel like new players are likely to rely on Rutger's combat even outside of boss-killing. If that's the case, another Swordmaster will hardly be redundant. Fir's average Strength at 10/1 is 14. Rutger hits 14 at 14/1, but he'll be higher than that by the time Fir is 10/1. Generally, their Strength is similar, with Fir being disadvantaged mainly due to her lower level in practice. Her durability is worse, though. Being so light that even light-ish characters like Igrene and promoted Saul can take-drop her seems like a boon for her flexibility. She barely loses speed from things that matter like Killing Edges and Silver Swords. I may be falling into a "cute myrmidon girl" trap (I really hope not given how much I hate Lyn, Larcei, and FE9 Mia), but I feel like "Good (with investment)" seems fair for Fir. Swordmasters are very beginner-friendly in FE6. She seems to be closer to Gonzalez than she is to Raigh, for example. I am interested in finding out if I'm talking out my ass here, though.

[@fadeemblem7665]

For Fir vs Gonzales, I think there's a decent argument to be made that it depends on which route split you're doing. Going to Ilia favors Gonzales and works against Fir due to all the lance users, rough terrain, and general enemy composition. Gonzales laughs at all the fliers and crits them all with his Killer axe, while Fir has to fight the weapon triangle and movement penalties from forest tiles. Meanwhile going to Sacae favors Fir due to smoother terrain and the abundance of dodgy enemies like Myrmidons/Swordmasters and Nomad Troopers. Gonzales will be struggling to hit enemies even with the Swordreaver while Fir can just slap on a Killing Edge and do fun Swordmaster things. 2 range enemies suck for both of them (Hand Axe accuracy and sword locked respectively) so that's kind of a push. Gonzales loves Ch 21 much more than Fir does, and after that they're both crit machines with fairly minimal downsides.

[@ametaslave7314]

@@fadeemblem7665 That is true. I think Rutger/Fir are probably your best bets in Sacae besides Sue/Shin. They have the speed to double Nomads, but unlike your own nomads lack an enemy phase. Their player phase is better than your other units, though. Ilia is definitely better for Gonzalez, but rough terrain isn't really much better for Gonzalez than Fir. 18 is nice for Gonzalez's water-walking, but the forests are more annoying for Gonzalez than Fir since he can't be rescued by anyone except Shin. The peaks in 19 aren't really in a useful place, unlike the peaks in 21. Gonzalez is definitely better than her there because he's beefier and has weapon triangle over the wyverns. I just feel like they're quite similar: slightly suboptimal hero crest users that need training but give new players a rewarding return for investment put into them. Their Hard Mode bonuses make them easier to train than growth units like Raigh, who I'd argue struggles a bit more initially, hence my advocating for Fir getting the same placement as Gonzalez.

[@fadeemblem7665]

@@ametaslave7314 I think I'd agree with that assessment, and probably rank Gonzales ever so slightly ahead of Fir just because of how hilariously powerful Gonzales on a peak is in Ch 21. That said, they're both easily worth the payoff for the unit you get; other units like Raigh need work just to end up a decent combat unit, but Gonzales and Fir become stupidly good by the time Zephiel rolls around.

[@mysteryguy2725]

This comment is so yes.

[@OnlineVideoSurfer]

Yeah, I'm opening the can of worms. There should be a distinction between high effort but high reward characters vs. high effort, low reward, if this is a recommendation list. Case in point, Lilina. She is relatively (if deceptively) easy to use for someone new to Hard Mode, in the sense that she does have the best potential magic and has a lot of niche utility due to her supports. Not just with LTCs, but also providing highly accurate, reliable (if slow) ways to kill even notorious bosses like Henning thanks to her fast Roy Support and two range. As long as she's rescued out anyway. In a non-tier context, she has uses that are hard to replicate, and for new players accurate player phase is really nice. That is very different from a Wendy who has no meaningful niche, far as I can tell, or Lilina's frequently compared counterpart in FE7 Nino who has no meaningful niche to her. That said, she obviously doesn't belong with the good crowd because she is costly to use. There is real opportunity cost to other units if she is fed experience. Not to mention, even if you don't want to punish her for slowing things down, she's going to die to just about any mistake without the same kind of consistent utility a dancer provides. In a list like this, the potential and cost for mistakes should also be considered. But even considering all that, I feel like there should be a distinction for her and others like her who do have some niche (such as Dorothy, especially in the early game) vs. the real bad units (like Sophia). If this is a recommendation list anyway. It could also help clarify characters in the okay tier as well (or possibly scrap it entirely for something more specific).

[@charleslathrop8309]

I'd move Fir up to Good with investment, she's a budget Rutger that shows up a few chapters later in an axe heavy area. That's my only concern, two Rutgers are better than one for the late game. Possibly Sue because of her ability to put work in on fliers. Otherwise in general 100% agree with everything.

[@Edgeperor]

Fir and Lugh feel like they’re similar enough in utility to be in the same tier. Whether that’s okay or good, I can’t really say

[@ninjacell2999]

@@Edgeperor and Lugh also needs a Guiding Ring which can be in high demand

[@smaragdchaos]

Sue was moved down only because building her up contributes to choosing the Sacaean route, which is FE6's version of hell. If it wasn't for that, Sue would move up.

[@gramernazy7436]

Just a minor note, I think it'd be important to note that the Delphi shield protects Melady (and all fliers) from aircallibur.

[@carlosjosejimenezbermudez9255]

Amazing use of Golden Sun music!

[@drspaghettios988]

I remember one time my sue got stupidly stat blessed that she ended up being stronger than lance and allen

[@lanceareadbhar]

Great video. I personally would put Thea in the good (investment) category. She can finish off enemies with the slim or iron lance to help with the shaky hit rates early until she gets to use killer lances. I also found not promoting her until Chapter 16 helped get her the extra strength needed as I didn't need another 8 move flyer since I already had Shannon and Milady (10 move). She gets a lot of exp if not promoted and normally has enough space to stay out of danger, but in range for a kill. She can also get kills with the horse slayer. I figured this out on accident as I put Klein too close to one of Thea's friends who attacked an archer with a javelon from two range and didn't feel like resetting as I wasn't planning on using her.

[@claytonweyl4135]

Using that Golden Sun music to trap me in the video?! Nice one Mekkah.

[@Andrew-Gomez904]

Loving this format! Super helpful!

[@acephilosopher5146]

I have never beaten FE6 hard, nor have I even beaten FE6 normal, nor have I ever even played Fire Emblem in my life, but this tier list is utter crap. Marcus as "no brainer"? Lilina as "high effort"? LOL, okay n00b. Growths > Bases

[@ryeonspeed]

Facts

[@notfabio9858]

You tell em Pheonix

[@zzzelda7015]

this dude spittin

[@ohandthefracking]

these are some actual facts

[@mcihay246]

Uh... I don't see this as a list to show who's better overall, but moreso to inform the player of what they may be getting themselves into in terms of effort and the payoff. I don't exactly see a category named 'High Effort, Not Worth It'. Just "High Effort". ... Whether the OG comment was a joke or not, then eh. Whatevs.

[@absoul112]

I can’t help but think you’re underrating Thea a little bit. I’m not saying she’s better than Shanna, but she’s not far behind her if you early promoted Shanna and she’s a flyer. Also worth noting is that her stats are comparable to the guy who joins the same chapter as her.

[@theghostcreator776]

Thea's stats are also comparable to base level Shanna even with hmb. Shanna was also level 1 in chapter 2

[@MicahBlaze17]

Lugh is good with investment... it’s too bad in my current iron man run... LUGH IS LV15 AND HAS NOT LEVELD UP IN MAGIC ONCE!!!!

[@ParagonPKC]

Golden Sun intro pogchamp

[@baptisteplaquevent7957]

I believe you can reach B support between Allen and Lance in chapter 1 when being careful, full spamming End Turn for supports definitely makes the games reasonable

[@tails512]

These character guide videos are so interesting.

[@nothankyou4859]

i see fe6 content, i click

[@orangefiberdrinkgaming]

Great video. Love this format.

[@oscarcapac1786]

I'm so glad you decided to do more of those ! I feel this is the ultimate format for discussing units in Fire Emblem. Separating "Good with investment" from "Good without investment" is also a great idea, since units that need investment are no longer good if they get stat-screwed while units that are good out of the box don't have this problem

[@acephilosopher5146]

Would you consider a video on supports and how they impact the different games? I thought your statement that they trivialize the game was interesting. And they seem amenable to efficiency play.

[@Edgeperor]

C supports can definitely be gotten with some careful positioning, but their bonuses are pretty negligible. It’s not nearly as easy to get B supports, and A supports are out of the question. The only exception is a support between two bad units, but if you are using Lilina long term, at least it gives Roy something to do.

[@acephilosopher5146]

@@Edgeperor End turn spam gets you any of those within a minute, though-a low effort way to improve your units’ stats in the future. If taking five minutes to go out of your way to get an Energy Ring can be part of efficient play, why can’t end turn spamming?

[@jackryan2952]

@@acephilosopher5146 The reason why support grinding is disallowed in most tier lists is that it falls into the same category as boss abuse. Say I’m playing Shadow Dragon and I’m using Wolf and Sedgar. They start promoted in chapter 5 with mediocre bases but amazing growths. Chapter 6 has a general boss with no 2 range and has massive hp recovery every turn. Because of how much chip exp bosses give, I can get them both to a high level (until they crit the boss to death) and thus cheese most of shadow dragon’s mid and late game even on H5. But let me take this another step. I can train my early game units up on the very first boss in the game, getting all of them to level 20. It doesn’t take me that long, but it breaks the game. Sure, support grinding is less extreme than this, but it follows the same principle.

[@acephilosopher5146]

@@jackryan2952 I see what you mean. It does sound like some gray area, though, involved with what "efficiency" involves. Getting Alance from C to B or from B to A takes....somewhere around two or three minutes, maybe? Now I haven't played H5 or boss-abused in SD, but I imagine it's much more tedious than this, and takes more mental effort?

[@jackryan2952]

@@acephilosopher5146 Efficiency is often measured through turn count instead of time. I guess it depends on your perspective.

[@wowallthosemovies]

Will we ever get a Golden Sun playthrough? Every time I hear this music I just want to pick up those games again! Might be a bit difficult to 'lets play' because of the random encounters, but maybe just major battles, plot points and the puzzles?

[@aes6474]

I love the idea of categorizing instead of a tier list. I am currently playing through FE6 and I turned Lilina into a complete monster. She has consistently been MVP on every map since about Chapter 16. I saw a lot of negative things about her online, but those sentiments don't echo in my playthrough. It just goes to show that any units can be just as good with investment, and adhering to a strict tier list will probably water down what should be a unique experience.

[@kentmichaelgalang686]

lord, this is twice as long as the hhm one

[@rogerdelunel9205]

Fire Emblem talk with Golden Sun background music? Count me in!

[@ammonil1261]

this is the type of guide that needs to be like pinned in the fe subreddit or something

[@xdfeverdream8122]

Thieves have a pretty good utility in this game. They can be used to perform glitches and soften bow equipped enemies for spoon feeding kills to other units that Marcus would otherwise 1 round most of the time.

[@gerardperezservent9066]

I agree in everythig pretty much! Maybe Thea could rise to Good (Investment) because HM bonuses help her a lot, her growths are good and she can ended up being a flying Lance\Alan in terms of strengh and speed with some good lvl ups. The problem is she is harder to train than any character in that tier imo.

[@yamiookami]

It feels surreal to hear the praises of swords and bows being sung.

[@kentknightofcaelin4537]

Eh... I mean, swords are good in fe1-6, arguably 10, and 14-16. It's not that rare but they are generally lesser played games.

[@diegocorral8787]

Thanks for the Guide Mekkah! I'll do a second Hard Fe6 run and hopefully I can get to Idunn this time. I just really hope my Rutger doesn't get Strength screwed as the last 2 times I used him I've been really unlucky to a point my Roy had more strength than my promoted Rutger. Made me really sad. Also looking forward using units like Shin and Saul I have never used. Maybe Yoder as I'm interested how good he is at the end of the game. If I'd change anything It'd probably be Treck and Barth as one has a Niche and training Treck takes less effort than Wade, Roy and Geese. Wade 100% high effort and Geese needs lots of effort probably for only 1 to 2 maps so being in Okay is fine imo.

[@darklight6921]

you gonna play fire emblem ember?

[@BTypeHStyle]

I feel like if this game wasn't so stingy with promo items, so many more characters would be in good tier.

[@fadeemblem7665]

100% agreed. Guiding rings are easily the worst offender, and the slow staff leveling just makes it so much worse. Hell, you don't even have light magic tomes to use if you promote Saul/Ellen with the first ring, so they automatically get bumped to Ch 14/16. Hero Crests also really suck, and the units roughly fall into Rutger->Dieck/Gonzales/Fir->Geese/Ogier->Lot/Wade in priority, and good fucking luck with boss-killing if you want to mix it up and not use Rutger. Knight Crests are slightly less awful just because the Ostian knights are so bad, but you're still going to have a mismatched pair of Christmas cavs until Ch 16. At least the cavs are still decent while unpromoted. Then the kicker is that Elysian Whips and Orion's Bolts are plentiful, especially if you rescue Klein and Thea's idiot NPCs (which is annoying but doable). Oh, and Roy himself has to wait forever for promotion. What really kills me is that Zephiel has a Hero Crest and Brenya has a Guiding Ring. Yeah, those would have been really useful 10 chapters ago, now they're not even worth stealing.

[@dougdoug2469]

Triggered immediately by the Golden Sun music

[@ammonil1261]

this is like so accurate and helpful

[@wannabecinnabon]

ok but if I go to the secret shop and spend all my money on speedwings and use them on lilina she's got good speed so B)

[@EnormousHatred]

Barth to me is "Okay" in theory, certainly requiring less effort than his fellow Armors. His stat spread is similar to Oswin overall. Obviously the paradigm is a little different in FE6 because of things like the prevalence of axe users in Western Isles vs. the all-around usefulness of lances and higher-accuracy Javelins in FE7. Barth is really close to promotion at base though, and his promotion gains are some of the best among Armors, plus he's tied for the highest non-Karel strength growth in the game. He'll never double obviously, but neither do many Good units let alone Okay ones in FE6. Furthermore FE6 mid-game has a number of cramped, slower maps with a glut of physical units. IMO the biggest issue with putting Barth in your army is really just the competitive nature of early Knight Crests.

[@kentknightofcaelin4537]

...Have you ever actually used Barthe?

[@EnormousHatred]

And Wendy.

[@KazanmaTheSilverWind]

I just started an FE6 Normal run (never played fe6 before) and I kinda wanna go over the units I thought would be fun or fit what I wanna do my first time. I'm at chapter 7 so i've a long way to go Roy would get kills but not really contribute outside of weakening enemies for others Marcus i'm starting to appreciate. He's a bit better at weakening problematic foes than Seth who just turns em into goop w/o a slim sword or carrying somebody Alen's my main cav, but I wanna get Perceval Rutger & Dieck are really fun (i'm on fe6+, w/o the rebalance hack), tho I wish my Rutger was critting more with the killing edge on bosses, and levelling strength more Shanna & Melady are my planned fliers. I'm not a fan of training earlygame Pegasi, but honestly it's more often worth it to do so, on average their combat becomes decent enough to make em feel better (Vanessa i used to hate using, but now I appreciate her) I'd like to use Fir, but if I can't I won't lose sleep my Lugh isn't levelling magic very often, so I may consider training Lilina or something if he gets screwed. I'd also like a 10K Hugh, he seems fun I want an early axe user so I'm using Lot currently. If he doesn't work out, I'm thinking Gonzalez or Echidna. Geese looks super cool but i hear he barely does anything. Bow Knights are my favorite class so I'd like at least 1 of Sue or Shin. Tho I may consider Klein or Igrene Saul & Clarine are my healers rn

[@pmpmpika]

my third FE6 run is hard mode the ones i trained to final are: Roy Dieck Lugh Rutger Saul Sin Gonzalez Raigh Melady Zeiss Clarine there's quite limited magic user in FE6 half of them pay too much effort

[@dergeilste1383]

I agree with most of it, except that Gonzo and Zeiss are pretty inaccurate and don’t really have amazing stats. I also wish there was a tiny bit of distinction in the rankings because the units in okay very a lot, especially units like Fir, Noah and Ellen who can be very helpful when you get them vs. the fighters which are pretty bad. Finally It’s not really specified whether or not your taking availability into account. Thank you for making this video it is really good

[@ebicbarton]

Zeiss got them hard mode bonuses

[@ohandthefracking]

imo Sue should be in good (investment) category even in hard mode yes, Shin is there since he gets them bonuses BUT do keep in mind that shes a horse archer which is a good look in FE6 and can instantly contribute to your team (0HKO wyvern riders with steel bow in chapter 7, good rescue-dropping capability, great chip damage with versatile movement, decent growths that while she might get strength screwed..her promotion makes up for it) promotion obviously gives her swords (so he can 1 range) and swords are super good in FE6 (not to mention nomad troopers caps and stats distribution is great) not sure about Tate but i feel like shes in limbo: okay if you go Sacae and good investment if you go Ilia (and just okay if you dont bother) but shes better than Zeiss since you kinda overrate his HM bonuses (his join time still sucks and doubling issues are still preminent)

[@PeevedLatias]

Steel bow has like 50-60 hit on the wyverns on hm lol, definitely not reliable even if it did enough damage to OHKO.

[@Edgeperor]

I feel like Ilia should almost always be counted as the route you’ll go on

[@ametaslave7314]

I think you're underselling a super easy way to feed kills to Zeiss. OHKOing Cavaliers with Horseslayer is easy enough for anyone. At 10/1, he has 14-15 speed. That's not great, but more levels or a speedwing patches it up, which complements how strong and bulky he is. Zeiss being higher than Thea in contexts that don't consider availability (and arguably those that do as well) isn't too much of a stretch. Feeding Thea kills is more meticulous and her long-term viability is definitely worse than his, hence Zeiss being "Good (with investment)". Thea's a weird mix because the best way to use her is get her to 10 and promote her, which is less effort than the cavs, but her long-term viability is not as good as theirs. She might as well be her own category of "Good (with a bit of investment)." I can agree with being Thea being underrated but definitely not with Zeiss being overrated. Also, Sue does 20-ish damage with like 50-60 hit with Steel Bow. She also gets murdered by the one with a Javelin because it slows her down to getting doubled. She's fairly similar to Noah: okay filler for chapter 7, 8, and 9 (the latter mainly because they're being deployed to recruit Sin and Fir anyway) but their long-term prospects are a bit disappointing. Her long-term is definitely better than his since you get 2 Orion's Bolts by the time the Isles are done rather than that awful Knight Crest situation alongside her better stats, but she also takes more investment to be a long-term Nomad Trooper versus Noah being 3 levels away from being another Zelot.

[@XelesProductions]

Automatic like for the Golden Sun OST. Great video tho.

[@Trans4Hire]

Probably wont watch this one because I havent played binding blade and probably wont unless its re-released but definitely looking forward to more of this type of video

[@lucassilvateixeira3730]

What is the next game you are analysing? Sacred Stones? Thracia? Three houses? Would love to see a Three Houses one, although you would probably need to make a different one for each route because some characters are better or worse in or outside of house(ex: Ignatz is amazing in VW due to to his reliable accuracy but Caspar and Ingrid are better outside of their houses to get better auto-levels)

[@-THE_META]

Not a tier list: Less than two minutes in 1:53 , theeeeeeeseeeee tieeeeeeeeers...

[@chingading957]

I think Lilina is at least Okay, I would argue Good Investment. She can be a pretty powerful sage with accurate damage and good utility. A speedwing is the only stat booster she really needs and if Lugh died she is more than capable of taking his spot.

[@zg5645]

I just finished my first ever FE6 run yesterday (Normal mode). I used characters with designs I liked, for example Wendy, Lilina, Ogier, Sophia, Fir, Sue, Geese and some other stronger characters and it was fun, specially late game Sophia who became a Druid Slayer. I was able to get Sophia up to lvl 20 in chapter 15 breaking the boss weapon with strong units and then breaking a few flux tomes on him. A not so fun thing during my run was my lvl 20 Cavalier Lance with 8 strength (5 base str). I will start my first Hard run tomorrow with some different character and I am tempted to try using Sophia again

[@ludgerkres.1437]

I will definitely use this. Cool.

[@nadnap]

Moves I'd make: - Lot to Good (he's epic) - Karel to Good (he is bad in context of tiering because of availability, but his combat makes him easy to plug in when you do) - Geese to High Effort (Middling bases and join time mean he won't very naturally fit into your army without giving him special treatment) - Gonzales to Okay (Similar to Geese but better at base.)

[@gerardperezservent9066]

Route A Gonzales is defenitly Good imo, his only real problem is his skill that makes giving him a skill book is mandatory if you want to use it. otherwise is pretty much the best lancekiller users in game the imo. Also his avoid is really good to the point he can deal alone with chapter 13 north cavaliers if he is in a peak.

[@DarthChocolate15]

What about the most important and powerful character in the FE6 story, Al?

[@homura2112]

Tbh I feel Lilina is misplaced with the scrub squad 😭 she WILL be good if you use her

[@Mr_SU]

what music is being used in the background?

[@adamhurd1560]

It's my first time playing normal, I've just finished chapter 11 I think and it's funny seeing who I've chosen to use in comparison to this list. Yeah I'm using Marcus and Rutger but I've heavily invested in Lilina (automatically went for the Roy support too) and I ditched Allen for Noah. I wanted to use Lugh more but I typically only field him when I field Chad because they support each other and because I haven't needed Chad that much he's fallen behind a bit. Clarine is easily my favourite staff user in the series though oddly, she's great, getting a mounted healer so early is ridiculous.

[@ScootsLounge]

Before playing 3H I probably would've discounted Warp Skipping as viable strategies. Now though, I am all for Warp Skipping, that shit is fun.

[@rewrose2838]

I've only ever solo's FE8 with Seth and promoted Franz (using codebreaker cheats) but it was probably my favourite run of the game 😂

[@JC-zn4pk]

I think all archers are useful in some way on hard mode, at least for less experienced players and how strong enemies are on F6.

[@isuckatgaming1873]

I recently did a dice roll draft run (letting rng chose 12 units I can use), and I got a really good selection. For one, I managed to get Marcus, which was great, and he even started getting some amazing level ups but he unfortunately got annihilated by a horseslayer. I also had Lance, but I've literally never had a good alan or Lance (never gotten the good rng) so when I died it wasn't a big deal. I managed to land both rutger and fir, and I definitely early promoted rutger. Amazingly, fir turned put far stronger stat wise, but they're both super useful in the run.

[@sukhrajsingh5275]

Where can i get the FE6 and FE7 games to play today?

[@kentknightofcaelin4537]

r/roms

[@steve2242]

This is pretty pog

[@quinnlee-miller9792]

The only way to play is to give Merlinus all your vulneraries and grind him to level 20 by the time you get Clarine. No, he doesn’t even stay worthwhile as a dodge tank. Do not do this, please for the love of god; maybe, MAYBE to train your healer(s) to 20 to promote. But never to 20 himself

[@bongosmcdongos4190]

Imma still do it

[@neog8029]

I'm surprised you put Jerrot in Good and not no Brainer. He's better Marcus the moment you get him. On the other hand, Marcus does have the whole first 6 chapters to shine and carry, I suppose.

[@Edgeperor]

He doesn’t get Hard Mode Bonuses, right? Because in my normal mode playthrough I actually found Marcus to be the better of the two. Granted, this was with one or two level ups, but I gained only two stats both times. I do know that Zealot had a few stats higher than Marcus, but I thought those were something like luck and res

[@ametaslave7314]

@@Edgeperor Zelot has worse skill, luck and res lol. His other stats are slightly better in everything.

[@Realag666]

Idk if I'm just bad, but Marcus outlived his usefulness real fast. Playing on normal mode I immedietly dropped him the chapter Zealot joins, which is a bullshit hard chapter that I had to restart way too often, can't believe it getting even harder in hardmode

[@ametaslave7314]

@@Realag666 I'm not well-versed in FE6 Normal Mode, but in Hard Mode, Marcus feels like he falls off starting in Chapter 9 or so. Marcus isn't an automatic win button in FE6 like he is in FE7, but his competence only tapers during the Western Isles.

[@ninjacell2999]

@@Realag666While Marcus gets a lot worse, he's still useful to have around for carrying people or using silver weapons to deal extra damage to tough enemies. Unfortunately you can't just throw him into the front lines after that but he's actually okay

[@Jobulejobies]

Imo fe6 bartre is kinda underrated and needs a waifu.

[@Edgeperor]

He doesn’t feel interesting enough, if he had a waifu it would just be a wafu

[@sanae99.9.9]

He had a waifu but he doesn't have a W.A.I.F.U :)))))))

[@Jobulejobies]

@@Edgeperor he’s definitely as interesting as cecelia he has a lot of quirks which I personally think make him better than echidna long term such as actually pretty good growths the ability to use the armads pretty easily because of his base rank of A as well as being a pretty good tank despite his mediocre defense

[@bluntlyhonest6803]

With Lilinas Insane 75% Magic Growth i have to admit that im always willing to go through the trouble of leveling her.

[@papersonic9941]

She's gotten speed blessed every time I've trained her and she turns into a murder machine. Nothing but bosses survive a doubling Lilina.

[@bluntlyhonest6803]

@@papersonic9941 35% spd is insanely lucky if she always gets spd blessed. Though even a promoted lilina is still more fragile than wet tissue paper. She can only really deal damage and if she messes up on that and gets retaliated shes usually done for in my experince.

[@dudhhrmcdudhhr6071]

Why would you level her? She steals XP from your pre-promotes!

[@mcihay246]

@@dudhhrmcdudhhr6071 Fire Emblem. Where different players can choose what they want to do for their own personal enjoyment... Even if it is to invest in a character that takes a large amount effort... But I get the feeling you were joking. Maybe? Idfk.

[@Edgeperor]

@@mcihay246 yeah, that’s a pretty obvious joke

[@CosmicToad5000]

I don’t want you to suffer by asking you to do one fo these for the largest cast in the series but I would love to see FE12. I find when people talk about unit viability in FE12 it’s always a small group of good units and then everyone else is trash, but I’d like to know the varying degrees of trash these units are and with the DS games, how reclassing can maximise their potential. Again, I understand it’s a massive undertaking and they are still more popular games to do like FE8 & 9, but I thought I’d just throw out what I wanted to see. Maybe you could split it into multiple parts or something.

[@Manakete945]

high effort run

[@10du16]

Klein is a No brainer because he comes with a white gem. Its a no brainer to sell that for the gold SMH

[@GoonCommander]

Sophia deserves to be put in her own tier at the bottom

[@Jadanbr]

2:34 i dont think anyone likes Barth

[@Memberofdoom]

nice golden sun theme!

[@Memberofdoom]

@4ever EndlessX It's the menu theme, search Golden Sun Main Menu. It's one of my favorite vidya game musics

[@salem1451]

@Kuchenmacher Raigh bad 🥶

[@aceflayr1589]

Ok i don’t know what happened. I keep hearing clarine is good and seeing her in good on your tier list makes me think she got magic screwed in my game. She has 4 magic at lv20 troubadour

[@smaragdchaos]

She can be quite good as a support unit using support staves. Her healing will almost always be mediocre due to her low magic stat and terrible magic growth, which can screw her easily, but she can dodge a lot and use restore staves or other support staves with a bit of work. However, there is a big chance you will prefer Cecilia over Clarine, as Cecilia comes prepromoted, has better average magic stat than Clarine and she has high starting weapon ranks. Cecilia can do basically everything Clarine can, but better and at a lower cost. The one thing she can't do is dodge tanking, but at least she can use siege tomes for extra damage, and can even be easily trained to wield Forblaze if you want to go that far (with Clarine, this is kinda out of question, unless you're really that devoted to using her in combat, as it takes 250 tome uses to get Clarine to S-rank anima, whereas Cecilia needs only 50)

[@RushStudios101]

Magic isn't that important for support units like Clarine. Sure it makes her heals stronger but the mere ability to use staves while on a horse is incredible.

[@arman_llc624]

I’m not sure why you’re not counting tate’s hm bonuses, she’s still much worse but the gap definitely shortens a little. Buy yea nm her stats are kinda pathetic

[@Mekkkah]

I did count them for my rating.