Let's Make a Fire Emblem 7 Blazing Sword Tier List! (In 15 minutes)

The game a lot of people started with. Not me, I started with Path of Radiance and FE7 was my 5th FE I ever played, but I've still run it enough to get a good sense of who is who.
This tier list is assuming Lyn Hard Mode into Hector Hard Mode. Choosing Eliwood mode or skipping Lyn mode will affect the tier list of specific units which I will discuss when tiering them.

[@MythrilZenith]

Just your regular reminder to comment any changes you'd make with arguments as such, and that units are not necessarily ranked within tiers. Hope you enjoyed!

[@SephonDK]

I remember playing as a kid, getting Florina killed and thinking she sucks. Then as an adult I tried again, fed Florina the Angelic Robe and she becomes a flexible monster.

[@JWStreeter]

Every character is good if you give them a robe and level them up enough

[@JohnnyRamirez86]

@@JWStreeter Yeah very true. His list has Guy in C tier. Even though I remember when I used to play this game he was my crit killing machine.

[@elbirri]

same but in the tutorial, i forget the permadeath and yes i know the units i lost in the tutorial coming back to the main story but i lost the farming exp

[@wingadept8793]

I agree completely! Florina is HIGHLY underrated! I just finished playing the game on the switch and I cannot tell you how many times she bailed my ass out!

[@crushdavis7048]

I know a buddy that is so traumatized by 3x archer damage, that he just refuses to use any Peg Knights in any Fire Emblem Game. Mostly stemmed back from trying to keep Florina alive as a kid.

[@bennyrodgers5702]

Canas's placement is surprising to me. Promoted Canas with Luna is really strong against the final boss. Overcoming resistance is insane.

[@florianschulz3027]

he needs investment though, and athos does the same job better. canas is still good, and makes the game easier in casual settings, but for optimal play he is lacking.

[@JamesR1986]

Never been a big Canas fan. I never actually end up using Luna for one. He's too slow (at risked of being doubled within basically any spell not named Flux) and he's doesn't have the reliability of Erk and Lucias. Little bulkier but he is still a swishy unit overall.

[@bennyrodgers5702]

@@florianschulz3027 You know I always really struggled with hard mode, and it's probably because I resented these perfectly strong new characters showing up late game after I already emotionally invested in the initial cast. Part of that is probably that I could never get past level 20 as a kid, so anyone past that didn't have the nostalgia bonus for me haha

[@danielalv7840]

Canas is at least A tier on my game file haha. He is Great against almost any units except archers

[@iFluxyy]

Give Canas ONE Speedwings, which he's a good argument for anyway as he naturally lacks speed, and he can dominate. Ignoring resistances, ignoring certain terrains, being able to heal, berserk, sleep, restore etc and just being a generally good damaging unit, he's AT LEAST A tier

[@buffoon3716]

That was the funniest sneeze transition. Love the tier list and I am a huge raven / dart / sain / guy / matthew enjoyer. Very interesting to put your tier list into consideration. Might go back and play this game its been a long time

[@terraforce974]

Love the video just wanna say rebecca and nino became like my best units on my 1st run through patience is key with certain units other than that I agree with most of this and really enjoyed it!!!!

[@jub8891]

rebecca and nino were two of my favs too

[@NashTheChill]

Rath should be S-tier just cuz i like him same for erk -ChillQuillz

[@ysk_40]

my first and only fe, didn't know it was the first fe game released in the west, i was like 7 years old when i got the game together with my gameboy + the jungle book because my grandpa thought the covers looked cool haha, me and my 1 year older brother struggled a lot with the game tho as you can expect, first ever experience with a gameboy and then a strategy game like this was hard af for me, made it to the dragon a few months later i believe but couldn't beat him until i replayed the game when i was 15 or 16. Love to come back and watch videos of it for the nostalgia.

[@MythrilZenith]

Path of Radiance was my first FE game, and Sacred Stones was the first one that I actually owned (because PoR was technically my brother's.) I didn't go back to play FE7 until I had already played RD and Shadow Dragon, and all my friends were talking about Awakening but I didn't have a 3ds at that time. I can definitely understand if you played FE7 that early, let alone as one of your first games ever, that you'd have a rough time. Cool to hear you got as far as you did though!

[@jub8891]

fe7 is the most memorable and my favorite fe game.. in terms of characters and gameplay.. it felt like newer games added new mechanics that detracted from the story and relationships.. imo

[@MythrilZenith]

Might just be my hot take, but Fire Emblem is best when it's simple, puts its characters first, and involves them in the main plot. There's a reason the GBA and Radiance games are all so high on my list of favorites.

[@JohnnyRamirez86]

Yeah the GBA ones are still one of my favorites because the simplicity of the game. All you had to know was the weapon triangle. Swords beats axes, Axes beats lances and lances beats swords. Also certain weapons or magic are effective against certain units. Now a days there's skills. It's like certain skills give you boosts or abilities that allow you to hit someone from like 10 miles away like astro storm lol. Also the chain attacks are pretty crazy. I remember getting hit like a million times from units that are considered backups even though that unit already went his turn. Im like bro chill.

[@Starwars-Fanboy]

Fe 7 is a game I have alot of fun and experience with. Theres alot to say the units here imo. Even with lyn mode taken into account I still think lyn is a D tier unit. Her durability is awful and in Hectors mode most enemys are lance users so she can't dodge tank. She also promotes late and bows + swords isn't a useful combo. If I ever made some kind of fe 7 hack I'd make the Mani Katti a reaver weapon and give it infinite uses. I think that would push lyn up alot in my books along with a sword equivalent to hand axes and javelins. Another disagreement I have is what you said about bartre and dorcas. Yiu said they start bad but get good but imo they shine the most early on and get less impressive as the game goes on. Dorcas has a 20% speed growth and warrior gives 0 speed on promotion so he won't be going anywhere with that stat. Bartre has a base of 3 meaning he literally can't double anything at base but his will get better. Neither I think are worthy investments. I'd put them in D tier. One last thing is that you said Hawkeye has close to 20 speed and his base is 11. I still think he's really good and you're right about his bulk being insane (50 hp and 14 def iirc) but I'd maybe put him top of B instead of top of A

[@ametaslave7314]

Stumbled on this video via the Content Promotion Channel in Mekkah's Keep. I feel like when rating these FE7 units, you ended up with a list that's a lot more top-heavy than it should be. All of my personal disagreements involve a unit being too high. A possible exception to this is Rebecca, who I'd argue belongs in an "E tier" between D and F. I think part of the problem is that you're not weighing one units' disadvantages compared to another with a similar function, e.g., you're not penalizing Raven for joining at a point in the game when you have units with combat as good as his (Marcus, Lyn-mode-trained Florina, a promoted Kent/Sain, and an additional cavalier eyeing promotion from the Chapter 17 Knight Crest) but also much greater mobility and 1-2 range (which Raven lacks until promotion). I can understand wanting to rate units on their own merits, but you're left with inflated ratings when you look at things in a vacuum too much. Additionally, with tight deployment slots in Hector Hard Mode, it's important to recognize that competition between units is inevitable and therefore should be considered when tiering. I can understand if you're trying not to make a list that's geared towards hyper-efficient play, but I think a power ranking geared towards new/casual players and a slower pace is better off as a character guide. Additionally, in a tier list format, failing to take into account availability (which is exactly what a list that puts Pent in S tier does) puts a pretty large hole in the criteria for what defines the top tiers because a tier list tries to quantify units' potential contributions. With this in mind, availability is VERY important. Availability is what makes Marcus so amazing while Athos is left in the C tier. With this in mind, for discussion's sake, I'd like to share my major grievances with this list: Pent: S tier is just too high for a foot unit that joins so late. A staves at base is great, but it's achievable for other units even in very fast playthroughs due to many late-game maps with fixed turncounts (e.g., Unfulfilled Heart, Battle Before Dawn). During these maps, Erk, Lucius, and Canas can easily reach A-rank staves by the time it's needed. These maps are also the reason that Pent's stats aren't actually that impressive relative to his peers, i.e., regardless of the pace you play at, more mobile (and therefore more versatile) units can get enough EXP to get stats on par with (and eventually surpassing) that of Pent. Due to his mediocre growths and high weapon ranks, Pent can't really benefit from these long maps in the same way. I think Pent belongs in A tier instead, but if the tiers were ordered, he'd be in the bottom half of it. Harken: Similar to Pent, Harken joins super late and is not mounted. However, unlike Pent, Harken does not have staves, which makes him a strictly worse unit than a paladin or flier (assuming these mobile units can try to match his stats). To be fair, Harken's stats are high enough that it takes an exceptional stats on a paladin or flier to match them, but against most enemies his stats are overkill. When they're necessary (like in Cog of Destiny or when facing certain bosses), there are other units that can have stats as monstrous as his. This may be raising the bar a bit high, but Heath after 16 levels on average will tie Harken in key stats (Strength, Speed, and Defense). 17/7 Heath has 49 HP, 22 Strength, 20 Skill, 18 Speed, 10 Luck, 16 Defense, and 7 Resistance. Giving him Afa's Drops (which he's a fairly common candidate for due to his low base level and joining right before it's obtained) will just add roughly 1 point to each stat here. Heath can easily have 16 levels under his belt soon after Harken joins, and a few chapters after Harken joins, Heath should be surpassing him in every stat except Luck and Resistance. Because of the back-loaded maps that are 11+ forced turns, a Heath with this many levels under his belt is feasible. To be fair, not all mounted units can have stats like these, but when a unit joins late and is eclipsed like this due to lacking a steed, I think that certainly disqualifies him from A tier. Personally, I'd say Harken should be no higher than C tier. However, putting him in the same tier as Vaida and Jaffar (who are also C tier material imo) is logical, so in the context of this list, B tier would make sense if Vaida and Jaffar don't move down. Farina: Flying alone is great, but Farina joins late and has a rather poor start. Her bases in some areas are deceptively bad. 24 HP is absolutely awful. 14 Speed sounds good until you realize she loses 5 speed from Javelins, and she also gains no speed on promotion, so she's stuck with 9 AS with a Javelin at 12/1. The monks are an easy way to feed her kills in Chapter 25, but if you're playing at a reasonable pace, those monks are dead by the time she joins. In that context, her first opportunity for EXP is the Chapter 26 Wyvern Riders, but she does not fare well against them. They have 9-10 AS due to not being weighed down by Iron Lances, and they hit pretty hard and 3HKO her if she's not promoted. An instant promotion lets her survive 3 Iron Lance blows, but it kills her EXP gain and she still has trouble killing the wyverns in return. It takes 29 Physical Attack to 2HKO them and 14 AS to double them, which Farina cannot achieve by this point in the game. Her own flaws and low availability are enough to disqualify her from A tier for me, but I think that she's worse than fellow fliers Heath and Fiora by enough that B tier would still be a bit generous (she should be in the same tier as Harken, Jaffar, and Vaida, which would be C in my opinion). Her drawbacks compared to Fiora are straightfoward; almost 10 chapters of availability speaks for itself. However, I think there's a lot to be said about Heath's advantages compared to Farina. First, Heath joins earlier. Admittedly, his join situation is a bit iffy as well, but he has a much easier time working his way out of it. He's 5 levels lower yet has 8 more HP, 3-4 more Strength, and 1-2 more Defense. 9 Speed is pretty bad, but bear in mind that he has 4 more con than she does and gains 2 Speed upon promotion, so base + promo Heath is actually FASTER than base + promo Farina when both are using Javelins. This doesn't even consider the fact that Heath can reasonably be Level 15 or higher by the end of Chapter 25, which translates to 38+ HP, 17-18+ Strength, 13+ Speed, and 14+ Defense. This tends to mean that Heath has significantly higher stats than Farina during their shared availability and therefore an easier time milking EXP on defend maps. The cherry on top is that unlike Fiora and Farina, Heath can rescue a promoted Hector, which is key for late-game seize maps. Dart: B tier is not the right place for him. He's pretty trash at base, and there's no real payoff to training him. He has great combat potential, but he's still a foot unit. He also takes forever to promote since the Ocean Seal comes so late. He should be in the same tier as Eliwood, Dorcas, and Bartre (who are all D tier imo). Raven and Hawkeye: Putting them in the same tier as Heath, Lowen, and Priscilla is not right at all. B tier is fine for both, though. Like Pent and Harken, the fact that these two aren't mounted is a problem one can't exactly solve. Lyn and Wil: I can understand putting them above rock-bottom because of Lyn Mode, but pouring any investment into them in those chapters conflicts with Sain, Kent, and Florina joining with stats that make them S tier material. I honestly think Rebecca is more useful than Wil given this because she at least has a few notable chip damage contributions in the first few maps, which is more than Wil can say. Lyn also should be at least a tier below Eliwood. Even if these two are trained a bit in Lyn Mode, they're units with bad stats in awful classes that join right when deployment slots become limited. Nino: I fail to see how anyone that isn't Nino is the worst FE7 unit. She joins hideously late, is awful at base, and has no real payoff whatsoever because by the time she's trained the game's basically over. If you somehow read all this, kudos to you. I hope it's a helpful second opinion for you.

[@Starwars-Fanboy]

Just here to say I agree with all of this but didn't feel like typing a comment this long lmao.

[@MythrilZenith]

Definitely some good considerations going forward. I don't exactly have a super clear tiering criteria or a level of understanding of the game that sufficient to give wholly accurate unit rankings, particularly for a list in which I'm trying to tier quickly. I've played FE7 through about 3-4 times on HHM but that's obviously not enough to get a good enough feel for every unit so a lot of my rankings end up being gut reactions. Thanks for taking the time to write out such a detailed post! It also is nice to know where people find my videos so I know what posts I make actually draw attention haha 😄

[@ametaslave7314]

@@Starwars-Fanboy Understandable lmao. I just kinda spent an hour writing that on a whim.

[@ametaslave7314]

@@MythrilZenith I can understand how rushing can jumble things up. I've spent a lot of time examining various numbers for many FE games, and I'm also just someone that takes FE tier lists seriously (perhaps too seriously?). I think half the fun of making them is talking about them, especially given the fact that there's no practical benefit to them, i.e., there are much more cohesive ways to make a recommendation guide, a prominent example being the character guide format Mekkah has made for many games now.

[@Carson9121]

I agree that nino starts off so late but I have leveled her up all the way a few play throughs. If you put the effort (which is a lot), she becomes the most powerful and fastest Magic user in the game (excluding Athos lol).

[@danielpatterson1576]

For me personally, I don’t usually play hard modes, the only hard mode I’ve ever done was for Three Houses. So for me personally and as someone who plays on normal, there’s a lot that would be different on my tier list, but one of the main ones would be that Lyn is generally S tier for me since she scales her speed and Dex so fast that she becomes the optimal dodge tank almost immediately, and her high skill means she can make up for lower strength with frequent crits, especially once she gets a hold of killer swords. She’s just everything I want in a fast unit, and by the time I get the first lord promotion, her stats always far exceed Eliwood, and I have other units that can tank as well as Hector, so Lyn ends up becoming the obvious choice for me. Another big one for me would be Nino. I can understand how on hard mode it might be more trouble than it’s worth trying to get her magic stat high enough within the space of 2 maps, especially when she joins so late and so underleveled. But for normal, on my first playthrough, I didn’t optimize her leveling, and didn’t even get to do her paralogue, yet she was outperforming Pent on the final map unless Pent grabs the Excalibur tome. And while yeah Athos exists for the final map, he can’t one round anything on that map, and most of the enemies have higher def than res, so she’s still super useful. Just the fact that I benched so many of the units I had been working with the whole game (like Sain, Isadora, Fiora, etc) but brought her along should tell you how much of an impact she had/has for me. I’d put her A tier personally, with her only real drawback (again for normal) being that she does join so late. I also really don’t understand the love for Sain and Kent. I’ve heard so much about how good they are as combat units, but maybe I just always have the worst luck, but they’ve always been mid at best for me. First playthrough I used Sain on every possible map and used him religiously for combat. By the final map, he only had 13 Spd, only 17 Str, 16 skl, 11 def, and 2 res. He couldn’t double anything, was being consistently doubled, couldn’t kill anything, and was constantly at risk of being one-tapped. Isadora was doing better, but even she got benched because she too had no bulk and couldn’t consistently kill. Sain and Kent have just always been utter disappointments for me. I would put them in B tier, and only because of the cav utility and because they are very good in the early game as mini-Jagens. I’d also like to add that both Rebecca and Louise would be bottom of B for me, with Wil being top of C. I think everyone underrates the value of bows, especially for this game, where enemy flier spawns are on most of the maps and can be extremely annoying. Not to mention the utility of ballistas that are littered everywhere in the late game-endgame. I put Rebecca and Louise above Wil because they consistently had much better Spd and skl, which let them make better use of killer bows and long bows.

[@villageflippinidiot]

Strength and speed and that's all you need. That was clean.

[@FHRiley-yk9by]

I 100% stand behind Merlinus being an A-tier unit. Free tank on a billion.

[@invitedperson7756]

FE7 Is really a great game can really be a time killer when you don't have anything to do. My only nitpick in this tier list is guys rank cause when you upgrade guy early on to be promoted as swordmaster he actually deals insane amount of damage half of his attack can crit and can evaded range attack pretty well. I know there a much better swordsmaster than guy as the game progress but he can be available to you in the early chapter making him level up more

[@Tpike777]

Hahaha so funnny as a kid how easily it is to disregard stats. I used to always level up Wallace and the Archers, didn't use the dancers or the healers either. Its a wonder i was able to beat the game tbh lol. Also I think id have to put Hector in A tier at the very minimum. Hes a friggin beast!

[@stevenobrien7686]

Don’t understand how Hector isn’t considered the best character in the game. He’s literal god mode with Armads and can solo the final chapters all by his lonesome. Also Nino is def S tier. It’s just tough to get here built up, but if you do so properly she destroys.

[@MythrilZenith]

The tier list takes into account the entire game, not just the endgame. Hector is a solid unit but his super late promotion and only getting Armads in the literal final chapter means he isn't the best unit in the game, at least by my metrics. As for Nino. she's only around for 5 chapters and she takes 3 of those to get up to speed. She may have the best end game potential of any of the sages but I'll take the massive amount of time Erk is playable for or the out of the box usefulness of Pent anyday. It doesn't Nino useless, it just means she can't contribute as much over the course of the game, and requires you to play around HER instead of being helpful right away.

[@sparkleprizm199]

I got endeared to Karla in FEH 😭 I hope they treat her better if they make a remake.

[@antjuanyoung8605]

I remember I tried to find a used for archers and axe wielders, but oh man they're frustrating 😤. Archers are chip damaged characters and axe wielders are slow and more often then not miss their target. They're just not reliable to me.

[@MythrilZenith]

Yeah FE7 is not a great game for fighters or archers. Any good axes can go to your paladins and bows are rarely worth it with 2x effective damage and all other weapons having pretty high accuracy.

[@Basaraassassin]

Is this another LTC thrashy tier list?

[@thrillhouse4151]

Vaida was like my best unit even though she joined so late. Probably because by that point I realized hoarding stat boosters was pointless as the game was about to end and used boots and stuff on her. I’d personally put Merlinus in the top both as a joke and cause it would suck to have to drop items every time you receive extras.

[@fashlimakarim6757]

I think Nino is A or B tier Ofc leveling her is a pain But if You leveling up her, Nino might be the best sage with all stats max except for HP and def

[@Bidooffan76]

Sure she becomes great but almost any other pre premote in this game can solo maps just as well as nino but they take no investment.

[@ellachino4799]

Nino is hot garbage and there is no world where she is better than growth units you actually get early enough to raise.

[@falkyrie5228]

I always manage to level Rath up to level 10 in Lyn Mode by feeding him boss XP - same thing I do with Wallace.

[@rojilinlyn1130]

BRO .. I JUST START PLAYING FE ... IS THERE SOMETHING THAT I STILL DONT KNOW?? MAYBE AFFINITY.. HOW DOES IT WORK?? ANY CHAPTER ... IS THERE ANY SECRET THAT I MIGHT DONT KNOW?? HELPPPP... GOOGLE DOESNT HELP... I NEED EXPERIENCE PLAYER!!

[@elbirri]

In every game that features affinities, all playable units are given one affinity. Depending on the game, enemy and NPC forces may or may not have affinities as well. The primary use of affinities is to determine what stats characters gain boosts in when they support with other units. This, however, renders affinities on non-playable characters and bosses useless, with some exceptions; in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, for instance, the bosses Paul and Jasmine have an A support with each other, thus allowing for the two to increase their stats if they stand near each other. Uniquely in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, the game's customizable tactician character Mark gives the player's units a "tactician's bonus" based on affinity. Units who share the same affinity which the player assigned to Mark at the beginning of the game gain small statistical boosts to their hit rate and avoid, which grow stronger as Mark's ranking increases throughout the game. Additionally, every unit also receives a boost to dodge regardless of affinity. For every star displayed in Mark's Rank menu in preparations, units receive +1 to each calculation they qualify, for a maximum +10 boost per calculation.

[@jordanhamel6191]

This is Lucius slander.

[@jordanhamel6191]

I think you forgot Dorcas is in Lyn mode. He deserves to be a tier higher than Bartre

[@Kakashi10ist]

Hi, Hector just give him the plus 2 speed and the boots. Becomes S tier. Alfa drops to Cana and becomes and A tier. Oswing needs speed but its a solid unit, I would place him in A tier. Lyn has a problem with her HP just give her +7 and problem solve.

[@himax5795]

My Wil was a monster in my playthrough, thought he would be higher

[@colewatson4830]

Same here.

[@BigChungusOriginal]

Eliwood is the best Late Game Unit in Hector Hard Mode, He Outclasses Marcus and Hawkeye, he gets javelins , a horse and Better Growths. He gets High Res so he can literally Solo any Late Game chapter in HHM, Just give him a Javelin and watch everyone in the enemy team Die. Also He promotes Earlier In HHM since he get Heaven Seal Earlier. Also He Hits like a truck With Durandal, he will most Likely One Shot Anyone with Durandal. In Normal Mode or Eliwood Mode However he's pretty bad, Promotes too late to make any Meaningful Impact and at that point of the game Hawkeye Or Marcus will be too way Overleveled for eliwood to compete.

[@danielalv7840]

My Dorcas, Canas and Rath got pretty strong at the endgame (dorcas is a killer machine since quite early)

[@bugsdrabbit3954]

I'm late but Darts objectively the greatest character and shines above hawkeye is you lv him to 20 twice

[@reiddutchess9955]

What is "Lyn mode"?

[@MythrilZenith]

The first 10 chapters of the game are referred to as "Lyn Mode" because, on a playthrough after you have completed it at least once, that's what it gets called by the game when you have the option to play it or skip it.

[@Borreas]

Afas drop Nino is best mage in game. Hands down. And contrary to belief it is not hard to level her at all. Hector is S tier period, Eliwood is mid even with mount, Lyn is sooooo underrated. Lastly, you gotta love Lucius

[@darrickbeliel9690]

So much wrong and I’ve seen 3 characters hector is sss and Lynn gets bow

[@Silversk3108]

Bruh I had Rebecca all the way through i thought she was good

[@soljah2540]

Lil cute ahh sneeze

[@yee9817]

Heath better than vaida? That doesn't make any sense to me, yeah sure, vaida joins you in cog of destiny, but heath comes very under leveled.

[@raysevere5417]

Renault needs to be F tier by himself

[@emogotti23]

Nino is S tier if you give her Afa's drops. You can solo with Nino. Dart is faster and has more luck than Hawkeye.

[@summerwinter89]

canas s tier

[@starrynight624]

Lol, am I playing the game wrong? 😂 My mages carry my units through the game, and even acts as evade tanks cause my cavaliers get hit so damn often

[@TheWill0fStrength]

Oswin is A rank ..

[@enriquequiquemoreno]

idk man i dont think you played it enough, gotta grind hours bro. tier list is like maybe 40% right

[@Pralili]

What a terrible tier list for a terrible fire emblem, so i guess it's fair

[@jrpgaddict7726]

Hector higher then the other 2 lords??? 🤡🤦🏾‍♂️

[@Jill-ql5sr]

Hector is the goat