WAIFU: Catherine

[@Mekkkah]

Big shoutouts to Hoshi for his masterful editing! You can sub to him here! kzbin.info Let me know who to feature next down below!

[@melvinlu9663]

Do a WAIFU on Saias next!

[@Baradragon107]

Thank you Hoshi Hero

[@morgankirkpatrick8492]

Lilina

[@michaelbainbridge7335]

Do a WAIFU on Shamir next.

[@baalgodofrain]

Do Marianne next pls

[@SpookifyVA]

Honestly, could you do a Seteth WAIFU next? I think he might be even more underappreciated then Catherine.

[@blueblade6174]

In my current Blue Lions maddening playthrough Seteth is one of the very few who doesn't suck complete ass. His swift strike and crest combo is too damn useful!

[@mousefire777]

I'm not sure he's as good. On my SS maddening playthrough, he was decent, but he had a hard time KO-ing even with swift strikes. He's about as good as Catherine when he arrives, without the amazing early game Catherine had. The only thing I can think that he has going for him besides the class and swift strikes is rally defense. His stats/skills weren't enough to be anything special on maddening though. But hey, maybe I'm missing something crucial and didn't utilize him properly.

[@michaelgum97]

What do you mean?

[@blueblade6174]

@@mousefire777 if he's at least surviving a round of combat or killing an enemy in one round then he's above average in maddening standards.

[@mousefire777]

@@blueblade6174 I've only had one maddening playthrough where I used Seteth, but in that one he had a hard time KO-ing even with swift strikes due to accuracy problems and even strength issues. And against the assassins he died about as fast as anyone else.

[@Mangs1337]

Obsidian Wasp called. He wants his intro back.

[@neog8029]

He wants his everything back with that intro lol

[@of5606]

He's dead, why would he want that back?

[@benmazzara6216]

Well, somebody's gotta do it 🤣

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

Wow, this guy loves shitposting on Mekkah's vids. Do they know each other or something?

[@fubu72]

@@AkameGaKillfan777 I think he might be subscribed to him

[@interestingmaneuver]

Mekkah’s into MLG editing? As they say, you learn something new every day.

[@harb1ng3r82]

He’s expressed nostalgia for the period in a bunch of playthroughs with Mangs. He’s made references to Sacred Stoners by Obsidian Wasp before.

[@neog8029]

It was a very...Interesting Manuever.

[@michaelshan22]

Interesting Maneuver Obsidian Wasp

[@sorkoh]

Mekkah has an editor

[@interestingmaneuver]

Sorkoh I’m well aware. I’m referring to his liking of the edits themselves.

[@JoenNickforthewin]

So you’re telling me I can have a flying unit with A swords, broken bases, good growths, plus a really good brave weapon, and all I have to do is just have a couple meals with her and level up one of my best units? Sign me up. Also idk if I’d go as far to call Catherine a complete douchebag. Her supports with Shamir, Leonie, and Lysithea all show at the very least a more caring and compassionate side of her and one that doesn’t brag constantly.

[@floricel_112]

She's not a douchebag, but it's sad to see that despite having a will of her own, she follows Rhea's orders regardless of personal opinion all out of loyalty

[@JoenNickforthewin]

floricel_112 I think loyalty to a specific person over their own personal desires can be interesting as a character dynamic (hell look at Dedue and Hubert), and she does have a reason for feeling devoted to Rhea cuz she ya know saved Catherine’s life. However, it does get annoying how many times she mentions Rhea.

[@floricel_112]

@@JoenNickforthewin not exactly the best analogy considering Dedue's and Hubert's worldviews are similar to their master's, meanwhile you can't tell me Catherine didn't feel conflicted when she had to arrest her own best friend for Rhea and when she had to begrudgingly set Fhirdiad on fire. Also, their master/servant dynamic is different, having a high degree of mutual trust and a certain level of friendship, while with Rhea, her relationship to Catherine is strictly professional, and she might as well be any other servant of hers

[@JoenNickforthewin]

floricel_112 dude Dedue literally says something along the lines of “my views and opinions do not matter it’s only my master’s” right before the timeskip. That’s why I was saying that at the very least they were decent analogs. Catherine obviously disagrees with Rhea but still feels indebted cuz Rhea saved her life. She puts her own opinions and thoughts aside for someone she feels is superior to her to an extent.

[@floricel_112]

@@JoenNickforthewin yes, Dedue said that, but let's be honest, he wants Duscur to be rebuilt, Dimitri wants Duscur to be rebuilt, Dedue wants equality and the end of prejudice, Dimitri wants equality and the end of prejudice, so at the end of the day they both want the same thing, so it's not like anything is done begrudgingly between the two of them

[@Orcawsom]

Catherine and Shamir are staples of my main squad every time I playthrough Three Houses.

[@asaasa7900]

What do you do about Catherine whenever you do CF? I guess you still have Shamir.

[@arachnofiend2859]

Catherine's love for Rhea comes off as more of a tragic flaw than it does for Cyril. I guess that doesn't make it any less annoying if you find it inherently annoying but Catherine's fixation on Rhea is portrayed as ultimately being her downfall and she either manages to move past it and bond with other people (SS/VW/AM) or she decides that burning a city of civilians to the ground is fine and gets stabbed for it. Also: imagine giving Shamir credit for having a brave bow combat art and not Cyril, who can do the same thing with canto and much earlier in the game

[@huntersmith240]

Maybe its because his stats are so bad he doesn't do much unless he gets death blow, which is hard to get already in the early game but its even harder for cyril due to his terrible stats

[@arachnofiend2859]

@@huntersmith240 Took all of one chapter on VW Maddening for me to get both Death Blow and PBV. Early Maddening is so slow already that letting Cyril get some chip in doesn't even really slow you down. PBV is so busted that it doesn't matter how bad his stats are, he was my best boss killer by a huge margin in act one and didn't start losing out to Byleth until the very last few stages. This on a run where his overall stat growth was below expectations...

[@korinoriz]

What do you mean earlier? Doesn't Cyril need to grind up a bit? Don't get me wrong I think Cyril is underrated, but I also think people overrate him a ton.

[@ironx98]

@@korinoriz Cyril can get point-blank volley during the first tutor section you get him if you have dlc (sauna) and your statue has bow +2. Without dlc by the second he should have it. This is chapter 5 the same chapter we get access to forge give him a steel bow + and he one shots everything, just keep him safe during enemy phase and he'll naturally grow into one of the best units in the game. He already has c rank axe so he can go brigand as soon as he hits level 10 which is one level off from where he starts. I don't know about getting death blow that same chapter without grinding but C+ in bows to get point-blank volley is definitely possible

[@huntersmith240]

@@arachnofiend2859 What chapter? Also, even when he gets PBV and death blow, his damage output still sucks. He has 11 base strength in Chapter 6 when autoleveled. The defense of myrmidons in chapter 6 is 11.

[@Rybean1]

Wow, that intro was definitely something lmao. That brings me back, I haven't seen MLG edits in a long time.

[@briankenney9528]

Catherine is like Seth. Starts good and stays good.

[@zigludosama]

The difference is Seth gets a horse and joins you chapter 1.

[@briankenney9528]

@@zigludosama catherine can theoretically get a horse

[@briankenney9528]

@@zigludosama but otherwise yeah

[@princeofpeace6432]

Ricepatty Well a lot of the sacred stones cast could easily solo the game. Also I don’t think that’s a far comparison because 3houses is highly against solo runs with gambits and player phase just being much more important than enemy phase in this game. It’s not like in SS where I can give Seth a javelin and I’m fine. 3houses says no to that stray because archers and gambits. Maddening is much more tedious and harder than fe8 hard mode. Sorry if any of that sounded offensive. Just trying to state a point.

[@princeofpeace6432]

Ricepatty lol cool for sure Seth can solo the game the easiest by far no question. I haven’t played 3H normal mode either so I can’t really compare it to SS. But yea I agree with all of your points tbh. I just didn’t want to sound like a jerk in my last comment.

[@l.n.3372]

I love Catherine as a unit. She's got insane growths so it's hard to say she ever falls off like the archetype. Her only problem is that people love flying units in this game, and she doesn't start with a flying rank or any weapon ranks that are primarily used by Pegasus or wyvern. However, she's easy to make into a Pegasus knight if you set her goals to Lance and flying. But swordmaster is a great class for her growths wise, if you don't care about the flying utility. As far as her personality, I think people who dismiss her do so for one of several reasons. On the surface she talks about Rhea a lot. But the majority of her supports show that she has other things to talk about too. Her Lysithea support is a prime example of a different side of the character. Her Shamir support is probably her best paired support. And her Ashe conversation directly connected to their paralogue for great continuation of their issues with Lonato from the story. She's also got a great connection to Blue Lions characters like Dimitri, her support with Gilbert is also good for their backstory, and she has a few nice support with other students and church units. Also please don't use Thunderbrand for soulblade. Lysithea is better with like a steel sword + to use a combat art. Any sword can be used with soulblade and it wasted Thunderbrand as a brave sword.

[@mousefire777]

Agreed on the personality side. I like the way her supports were written, she's a really fun character

[@l.n.3372]

@@mousefire777 She is, and she has a lot to offer support wise. The variety also makes her well written and better than a few others in the game who just repeat the same few tropes in every support.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

A Silver Sword+ has the same Mt.

[@notfabio9858]

Leigh Needleman yeah I feel like people are pretty quick to dismiss characters like her, Leonie and Cyril because of their monastery interactions, which are way more accessible, even though they talk about a lot more in their supports

[@l.n.3372]

@@notfabio9858 There's a bunch of characters who get a negative reputation for talking too much about certain people. Catherine and Cyril talk about Rhea, Leonie talks about Jeralt, Hubert talks about Edelgard, Dedue talks about Dimitri and Duscur, etc. I think the majority of these characters are better when you look beyond their monastery dialogue only. Because most of them are great units and characters.

[@falconstriker87]

You need this girl in Silver Snow! She’s basically your Edelgard replacement.

[@oof5992]

Prepromote so she's bad. Use Swordmaster Lysithea instead.

[@harb1ng3r82]

Nah, go Mortal Savant Lysithea for the negative speed growth.

[@holyflamelegendvargas2804]

I'm going swordmaster with a Levin Sword for my CF run.

[@korinoriz]

"[Insert Character] is so good just buy skills and grind!"

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

Fuck, your name is Oof, so I can't think of anything else to say.

[@fubu72]

She's only good because of her prepromotion. If she was a soldier she'd be bad

[@jjilatt123]

I was honestly shocked at how overlooked Catherine was when I looked at unit discussion online. I took one look at that woman's bases and growths and went "holy crap, we have a monster on our hands". I even went the extra mile and pumped enough Axe/Flight XP into her to get her to Wyvern, not that she needed it since she was utterly insane even beforehand. Also characterwise I get the "lady Rhea" stuff can get annoying but her backstory does give a reason for it and her Shamir supports endeared me to her a lot.

[@CirnoPerfectFreeze]

I love that intro

[@thelegacyofgaming2928]

"WHERE RU AT?! WHERE RU AT?!?"

[@victorstancu8548]

Mlg edits are the shit

[@haveagoodday7021]

I made my Catherine a Falcon Knight. What's better than a sword-wielding fiend? A SWORD WIELDING FIEND ON A FLYING HORSE BABY!!!!

[@Yokai-hv5zt]

Finally someone said it. Catherine is one of my favorite combat units as she is always an amazing unit.

[@SerrantDaFoeII]

I recruited Catherine in all 3 available paths, had her in the team since the moment she joins, carried her to endgame, gave her S+ in swords every time, she NEVER disappointed me. Does that mean I qualify as an elitist now for using strong prepromotes? :D

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

I thought that was more of a casual thing

[@yoshi2398]

I think Finn (mainly FE4 Finn) could be a very interesting unit to analyse given his unique traits within that game.

[@xakuray5522]

Finally, someone recognizing her instead of clapping at Felix who joins with worse stats and worse ranks when off main house and is generally much more of an hassle to recruit than Catherine who joins for free.

[@papersonic9941]

Well, Felix is more available on Black Eagles

[@kai_824]

He literally says in the video, shes good in part one but definitely falls off compared to Felix or Petra

[@josephpanno6816]

Felix isn't bad tho as he fills a different niche with his Gauntlet affinity and unlike Catherine actually has access to Warmaster (really gauntlet classes in general but I'm just referring to all of them as Warmaster), and is one of if not the best Warmaster in the game. Unlike the other characters the game wants you to make a WM (Raphael and Caspar) Felix has similar strength, a crest that increases damage that procs all the time, and an actual speed stat which leads him to easily be able to quad/one round a couple of classes on maddening especially with killer knuckles. I'm not saying Felix is better than Catherine (because he's not since Catherine is better and easily available for the hardest parts of the game) just that they fill different roles and Felix will outclass Catherine in part 2 as the video says. To quote Mekkah himself "They're both good so just use both". Edit: forgot to mention his relic which gives him a passive Pavise and Agis and since gauntlets weight almost nothing he suffers next to no speed loss so he's also a reliable enemy phase unit especially in endgame when he gets QR.

[@jackkemp176]

@@kai_824 actually he said that Catherine and petra are pretty much in the same boat, as Petra also doesn't stand out as much in part 2.

[@xakuray5522]

@@josephpanno6816 Since you've made somewhat of a constructive argument, let me elaborate a bit. I've never said both were identical in term of playstyle, or that one is straight up better than the other. I'm just thankful to Mekkah for pointing her out major strengths, because she's mostly been considered and portrayed, especially by the more casual side of the community, as a lackluster swordmaster (or mortal savant lol) completely overshadowed by Felix, while there's so much more to her. Finally Felix has indeed the gauntlet niche, which is definitely his best option off main house, as well as some others gimmicks. Though grappler is usually preferred over warmaster, especially on maddening mode because fierce iron fist is such a great combat art.

[@Abundy]

I've always been saying that Catherine is one of the best units in the game. You could have talked about her SS performance a bit, which is significantly worse due to not getting ranks/class exp early and her bases being less ridiculous for her jointime.

[@shadedhydra6674]

When I saw her Bases I couldn't believe that this was allowed, I had to do a double-take, since it was Hard Mode I just didn't use her in any of the actual chapter missions for a good while and when I did she could still kick all kinds of ass despite her basically using her base stats. She's such a good unit, by the Timeskip my Falcon Knight Catherine just couldn't be doubled and one rounded basically everything that wasn't a Fortress Knight. Haven't tried her out on Maddening so we'll have to see how she shapes up since the stat creep goes so high.

[@mauwus4322]

I would like to see a WAIFU on Cyril. I find him an interesting unit gameplay wise, compared to other Aptitude characters (Donnel, Mozu) his return on investment is actually really good do to great strengths(lances, axes, bows, flying) and combat arts (vengeance, point-blank volley) the latter of these comes very early on (C+ in bows and he starts somewhere mid C in that) so he isn't completely helpless early on. That is all good and well but he also has bad bases and awful enemy phase for a while and requires a decent amount of tutoring to get the most out of him. This is all my personal experience from hard mode so I don't really know how he stacks up in maddening, but I still think the distinction between his highs and lows would make for an interesting analysis.

[@IfWhatYes]

Mauwus running him on maddening and he’s my second best unit as a wyvern knight right now, his strength got screwed by rng but the base from the class plus a single energy drop and his guaranteed double attack art makes him one round most things

[@korinoriz]

I mean you literally just described why people tend to think Trainee units aren't good. His start is really rough, and why struggle with that when other units can basically do the same thing with less tedium. Hard isn't that Hard honestly. The thing about Three Houses is there's so many factors that vary between people more so than previous games, so it's very hard to say who's good.

[@mauwus4322]

Rogue Slushy I'd argue a trained Cyril offers more than a trained Donnel or Mozu can do to flying and point-blank volley atleast gives him good player face from the start unlike those two. But that's what makes cyril so interesting as a unit to me.

[@Sbs46]

I've used him a couple times on maddening. He has very easy access to pretty much everything you want on a unit in maddening (death blow, hit20, wyvern, brave combat art) so I found him very useful. His start wasnt as bad as some other trainee units either because he gets point blank volley so quick, like you said

[@pari8266]

In my experience Cyril is probably the best trainee unit of the three because while he doesn't have the busted growths of donnel, he also doesn't struggle nearly as much when he joins. His stats are below par when he joins usually but he can still kills things pretty easily with a smash. And a C+ brave combat art? This is super easy to get after like one battle and dedicated bow tutoring. And once he gets his wyvern (which is his most common class so I'll use that for this example), even if the guy is still squishy he can gtfo of there with stupid 3h canto. I will say this is from my hard experience though, don't have the patient to try out maddening so maybe he's worse there.

[@zer0vision891]

A WAIFU: Vaike would be cool. Always performs well for me, but no one ever talks about him.

[@thesuperthingymabob8209]

me: oh nice a chapter 5 jagen? that'll be helpful when I do my maddening run! Also me: *remembers that the path I haven't done is black eagles*

[@MegamanStarforce2010]

you can still recruit and use her early on even if she doesn't stay or be relevant lategame. as mekkah says often, the pitfall is thinking units are 'stealing exp' when they're really just making earlier hard ass chapters more doable for you until your army starts holding its own by itself.

[@thesuperthingymabob8209]

@@MegamanStarforce2010 Uhhhh... Can't you literally not recruit her at all into the black eagles?

[@sageofanys3476]

@@thesuperthingymabob8209 Yup. Catherine and Cyril are unique in BE in that you cannot recruit them at all. Instead, they will auto-join in Chapter 12 should you choose to do SS.

[@gratedshtick]

You can still do something similar with Shamir, look at Rengor's run

[@Hitsandruns]

she was one of my best units in my blue lions maddening run. so much so that i ended up S supporting her because i liked her so much. she completely eclipsed ingrid as a falco knight. the only annoying part about using her was that i had to backtrack to get death blow and darting blow.

[@greenstat1c]

I'd actually love if you could do a video on Fe7 Heath, as me and my friend recently got into a conversation about just how good he is and neither of us were able to come to an agreement about what verdict to give him, ultimately.

[@vanjagalovic3621]

Heath is considered the best flyer in FE7 for LTCs as he gains hard mode bonuses unlike the pegasus sisters and can usually double after promotion thanks to the slow enemies in FE7. Also unlike the pegasus sisters he has a lot of strength making his one rounding of enemies quite consistens, along with having the usuall utility a flyer has. Now he's not as good as most wyvern riders in FE, but he will still be very useful.even with minimal investement. TL;DR he's very good

[@bismix4]

Good taste 👌

[@PokeballEX]

Speaking of Catherine being underrated because she's not a student, it's kinda crazy how much people conflate character opinions with unit analysis when it comes to Three Houses. People will say that Cyril is a bad unit because because he says "Lady Rhea" a lot while ignoring the fact that he gets a brave combat art before anyone else, allowing him to one-round enemies at a time where everyone not named Catherine is struggling to do so. People will say that Dorothea is the best dancer in the game because it fits with her backstory without considering that her actual skillset doesn't really mesh with the dancer class (granted, the optimization gap for dancers is pretty slim). Another thing I've seen is conflating class strength with unit strength, such as people saying "Ingrid is good" when what they seem to mean is "fliers are good." I guess I can't blame anyone, Three Houses is a pretty complex game so it's easy to get confused and the high customizability will make the personal experience factor greater than in other games. At the same time, it's strange to see so much misinformation surrounding such a modern game.

[@chucrutedip6034]

Thenagen I think you’re the one conflating statements here. Yes, people complain about Cyril’s character because of his somewhat extreme devotion to Rhea. Yes, some people prefer to make Dorothea their dancer because it’s "canon" or because they like her PTS outfit or whatever. However, when discussing viability, Cyril’s bases ( especially his Silver Snow bases ) and his auto-levels in the Commoner class are brought up, not his monastery dialogue or support conversations. When people declare that Dorothea is the best dancer, they back up that claim by using Meteor as an argument, not her backstory or her looks. Sure, they are/might be overlooking other aspects of these units ( Point-Blank Volley, Vengeance, Death Blow, Dorothea’s riding bane, etc. ) and end up being wrong, but claiming that the points made by those you disagree with you are purely superficial is dishonest.

[@DoTtA1123]

Thenagen Although I do agree, Cyril isn't a bad unit (except on SS) He is not one rounding with point blank volley in the early game lol. He joins with like 10 strength and PBV doesn't add that much Mt to the attack. A lvl 10 Byleth (which is the level requirement to recruit Cyril) will be pushing close to 20 strength already. Dimitri/Edelgard would be right next to or behind that. In the Byleths case, get them some training/iron gauntlets and they will start one rounding the steel bow archers as early as ch. 4/5. Whoever the most optimal "dancer" really means shit to me since they all do the same thing anyways, but people do like Dorothea as one because she can provide linked support with Meteor while dancing because dancers can equip magic in this game. Plus she was a singer in her backstory not a dancer Ingrid is good for a multitude of reasons, Flying is super OP but Ingrid synchronizes with it well. She has great boons that complement the Pegasus knight line and a balanced growth spread that includes having one of the highest growths with one of the most important stats, charm. This combined with her perf skill makes her a very reliable unit to hit gambits and her good charm growth means she's avoiding them too. Which is super important for a fast alert stance + dodge tank. I'd argue she's the most evasive unit in the entire game, Flying boon for easy access to AS+ , tied for fastest speed growth in the game (if you don't count DLC Yuri with 5% more) and an amazing charm growth allowing her to not get stumped by gambits. She also has access to the Luin really early and the combat art that only she can use with it. So no, it isn't just flying. It's her also

[@OnlineVideoSurfer]

@@DoTtA1123 >Whoever the most optimal "dancer" really means shit to me since they all do the same thing anyways, but people do like Dorothea as one because she can provide linked support with Meteor while dancing because dancers can equip magic in this game. Plus she was a singer in her backstory not a dancer Yeah, this on Dorothea. The best dancers for me are ones that provide passive support along with their dancing and don't require any effort to raise their charisma. Bonus points if I'm not losing anything I consider extremely helpful that forces a tradeoff between dancing and attacking. Dorothea does feel like the best Black Eagle dancer for those reasons.

[@charlessmith8131]

@@chucrutedip6034 Exactly. The op is using alot of strawmans. Cyril is bad not because of his nonstop Lady Rhea stuff, but because his bases are trash, his growths with aptitude are still some of the lowest in the the game. Having a brave combat art doesn't change the fact that he's not good, nor worth the investment over units. Dorothea is regarded as one of the best dancers not because she has her unique pts outfit or it's canon. Thanks to her high base charm, plus the dance lesson she is guaranteed to win the dance competition at level 1. This alone allows you to optimize and give more exp to your other units. Her other benefits are combining meteor with all her support chains to help boost link attacks and gambits. Add in physic to allow her to heal on the side and you get a great unit that has amazing support and utility capabilities that can also do decent damage when needed. All this without taking away exp from you other units. Ingrid is actually a really good unit. Sure she isn't the best and yes flying is ridiculously strong. What makes her good is she perfectly fits the mold. She has amazing speed and good charm allowing her to be an extremely good dodge tank with easy access to alert stance. She is really good with offensive gambits, and she also get access to Luin and it's exclusive combat art. Yes flying is great, but that isn't the sole reason Ingrid is good.

[@MegamanStarforce2010]

the whole 'you can be a dancer without investment' is a kinda weird argument. you get an inherent +5 charm just for trying to be a Dancer in the first place, and *then* you compete. the only people not hitting the dainty 13 charm requirement by default are the very few people with hideously low charm or that are unleveled altogether. in that case, why make a complete nothing character a Dancer, when you can make any more decent unit that happened to fall off and you're not using in your party as much anymore into a Dancer instead. there is no inherent benefit to a Dancer that's incredibly weak, there is a little harm though as they'd be more fragile with less utility overall. also i get the idea of making Dorothea your Dancer but also she can be a very strong unit offensively. sure, if she falls off or you're not using her in your party regardless it makes sense that she'd become your Dancer, but if you want her to keep being a strong offensive unit(especially capable of a lot with Black Tomefaire, Usesx2 and Meteor combo in a more standard Warlock class), then Dancer is only going to hinder her and hinder you by extension by not letting her use her strengths.

[@JosepiThe13th]

Even if you don’t like Catherine as a unit or don’t want to use her, you should ALWAYS recruit her anyways. She’s a completely free recruit that you can get as long as you’re above Lvl 15 (iirc) and not on Black Eagles (even then you can get her after Chapter 12 of Silver Snow), and she gives you one of the best weapons in the entire game, Thunderbrand, which any unit can use and is broken on units like Byleth, Dimitri, Felix, Yuri, and even non crest bearers like Ignatz and Ashe.

[@DBZMacky]

Catherine is like a MINI JAGEN bruh

[@ishandutta-gupta2084]

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Effie from conquest. Good availability, great bases and growths and a nice personal skill. Bad movement on armours is mostly mitigated through pair up shenanigans so would be interesting to her your opinion on her.

[@skeith804]

She's not really underrated though. Not sure she's overrated either tbh.

[@LordWallace]

I'd say shes overrated. Her base class and speed just hold her back so much and she doesnt really contribute any more than genuine early join high tiers like Silas or Niles WITH the extra investment needed to get out of Armor ASAP. That's not to say she isnt workable or doesnt have her uses, especially with an early promo to GK, but I'd prefer someone like Laslow, Odin, or Gunter for a Conquest Waifu of units that are genuinely overlooked or misunderstood by most players.

[@vanjagalovic3621]

@@LordWallace As someone who has experience with Conquest efficency runs Laslow, Ghunter and Odin aren't misunderstood, they're just not very good. Ghunter is a Jagen that leaves for a lot of chapters where he would be useful and joins again when even his boosted bases aren't that impressive anymore. He can reclass to wyvern lord and is a very good Corrin pair up bot, but not much else. Laslow comes in an akward time, he joins at the beginning of the only turn limit chapter in CQ, he also cannot be toniced up in his joining chapter so he's mostly gonna be a pair up bot and a rally bot. His bases also aren't very impressive and his growths don't make up for it. Some people say that if you reclass him to a ninja that he's comparable to Kaze and ninja Shura, but that's mostly incorrect as Laslow's combat at base doesn't hold a candle to them. He's pretty much the same thing through the entire game, Xander pair up bot and rally bot. Odin is an interesting case, he also comes mid chapter so you can't tonic him up, but it's more fogivable during the earlygame. Neither his bases or growths are very impressiva and tomes aren't as amazing as they are in most game, but he can be a good Nosferatu tank on the left side of the map. He can also provide nice utility with heartseeker and having somewhat reliable 1-2 range. His personal skill is a meme, but it's not hard to get, just forge every weapon to have a bunch of letters. Don't go for samurai Odin, it's a meme. Overall he's far from terrible, but nothing special either. There's really little reason to use him after Leo joins unless you really wanna get Ophelia.

[@vanjagalovic3621]

@@LordWallace Anyway overall I just don't see Odin, Ghunter and Laslow being very interesting to talk about, not to mention how Mekkah dislikes talking about Fates.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

Also the fact that in Awakening and Fates character movement wasn't all out of wack

[@nathaniellindsey706]

Can you do Hawkeye? I find he's a unit that a lot of people kind of just glance over, when he's actually a super good unit!

[@heramish5029]

0:19 I see Mekkah is a man of smash culture as well

[@MrEntinen]

I completely ignored her on my first run (blue lions) because i was sure she would leave at some point for being that good. Couldnt believe I could just have this. On my second run im black eagles so no luck there. Gonna use her on golden deer to get back all that lost time.

[@sonlen796]

On Silver Snow I made Catherine into an Assassin with a Brave Bow, which proved to be quite hilarious when in the final mission she could get four attacks of SIXTY damage with the bow given her ridiculous offensive stats. Basically, even IF one attack missed she could still kill almost anything with the other three. As a character, I really like her. She's kind of an asshole at times, but I do like how they kind of explore the other side of combat-related trauma with her (i.e. not SURVIVING traumatic battles but what you had to DO to be victorious). Her supports with characters like Caspar emphasize that, and I find it rather tragic how she basically doesn't think she DESERVES an ending that's not bleeding out on a battlefield.

[@FoxyAreku]

Catherine's been in my top 5 favorite characters since the moment I saw her. Thanks for this.

[@joshuablack95]

I wish I could've used catherine and seteth in my maddening run but unfortunately I went crimson flower because it was the only route I hadn't gone yet

[@kiseki8351]

I remember that in my first playthrough in TH (Sliver snow) I used her for one reason, which was to be bait for Death Knight and other high damage dealers

[@professorlemon4386]

I used Catherine a little bit on my first run of the game she somehow always remained 10 points in strength and speed ahead of Felix

[@MiguelHernandez-lo5lg]

I feel like you should do a waifu on dedue. The stigma around this guy is awful. They think he is awful because he naturally enters armor classes. In reality he is a great unit held down by people saying the only way to play is wyverns for everyone.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

He takes no damage from Endgame War Masters when I use him.

[@hadoukenfighter]

Dedue makes for a fantastic Shield Assist which is the best type in the game and is pretty much how you turn Dimitri's almost perfect combo into an actual unkillable one.

[@MiguelHernandez-lo5lg]

God I just love dedue for his character and sheer defense. No matter what people say, I would still run dedue in any run.

[@huntersmith240]

He disappears for several chapters and is severely under leveled when you get him back and he cannot get skills during this time.

[@Docaccino]

Dedue has some uses in the earlygame with easy smite access and one-two punch but he really drops off in terms of combat after a while. He's also in the route with the lowest need for combat units since Dimitri exists.

[@pf9878]

That intro was pure art. God it's so nostalgic

[@gregster1016]

Shamir WAIFU when?

[@randyfool2065]

Really loving how Mekkah is fair in his analysis. Shining spotlight on her good points but brining up her flaws too. Once again, good job!

[@destendgem]

I used Catherine on my first Playthrough, which was Normal Mode Blue Lions, and she and Dimitri became my most reliable units.

[@GokuMeister]

I used her and Shamir every time i just love these two and both are so reliable and they never disappointed me not as units and not as characters

[@plushyloverowo6730]

She's so incredibly nice to use in BL and GD Like damn that str, spd and wpn ranks(class)

[@helop8773]

Damn Mekkah that video deserves praise from the intro only #bringbackmlg

[@ChillstoneBlakeBlast]

Wow, you just made one of the most forgotten units in 3H (for me atleast) to one of the best. Amazing video

[@CarbonMalite]

I never went out of my way to use Catherine because I always had a student sword user and swords aren't the best weapon type in the world for combat. Though I never knew you could technically get her by level 9 which would make some of those early chapters way less bothersome. I hope she doesn't fall off as hard as Shamir does for me

[@iantabor2536]

I just found your channel and I've gotta say, mad respect for your mention on Seth he is one if my favorite characters in fire emblem both in personality and viability. Serious he is so useful for so much of sacred stones its ridiculous.

[@takarahayashi4124]

I gotta say man, you're moving up on the video editing game, keep it up.

[@PeteraxLetsplays]

i really needed that mlg montage right now i miss those days.

[@appelofdoom8211]

Catherine can falconknight dodgetank in maddening. Having someone that’s mobile and capable of taking aggro is a great boon even if her offense falls of. It kept ingrid useful on my blue lions maddening run despite her dealing single digit damage. It’s not amazing but it’s something

[@Guacko]

My friend just straight up had her murdered in part two for no reason... Just because... Evil

[@Kairos_Akuma]

I liked Cath, but I found myself relying far far more on Felix - because in my last Plays he was a God among Men.. I just gave him her Thunderbrand and laughed as he sliaghtert EVERYTHING xD

[@FREFOROS]

great analysis! It's amazing how much easier is maddening chapter 5 (one of the hardest) thanks to her.

[@reilie9115]

As someone who loves dodge tank builds, catherine is perfect for it since she joins relatively early so training up her flying for alert stance isn't too much of a struggle and her fantastic str, speed, and decent dex + her proficiency in one of the most accurate weapon types makes her a great enemy phase unit. Unfortunately, she says "All for lady rhea" 90% of the time after defeating an enemy and so she goes to the bench. 7/10 use petra instead, she had more speed than Catherine at the same level every time I used her and Petra could double and kill enemy fliers on maddening :P (Warning: results will vary and I just love petra a lot ok) For the next WAIFU, I want to suggest my mvp of maddening, Ignatz. He's earned his monikers of Critnatz and Godnatz in all 4 of my maddening playthroughs after I ignored him in my initial Hard mode GD playthrough and with his dex, lethality became much less of a meme against maddening's monstrous damage sponges.

[@jedimasterpickle3]

Used Catherine in Silver Snow Normal NG+ and was very happy with her. Didn't think to try to early recruit her in Maddening, though.

[@erikfrommeyer2606]

2:30 Honestly leveling up was never a problem for me. If I want to up support levels or need to get stronger quick, I just do skirmish after skirmish

[@vitotheenigmatic3384]

The fact the intro made her a pro gamer.... Is.... Insane

[@mutedknght]

I remember I accidentally recruited her in chapter 5 and hoo boy she absolutely stomped

[@StarStriker4101]

I got Catherine Death Blow and Darting Blow on normal Difficulty and made her a Wyvern Lord. At that point it felt like cheating.

[@skins4thewin]

I would REALLY like to see you do a WAIFU vid on Ingrid. And Cyril for that matter. AND Ignatz. All underrated units in one way or another. You really should do more of these, as you've only done a few of them for Three Houses & that's simply not enough. This series is just too good to stop there!

[@Yanninho78]

Can you do an episode for Tanith ? I wonder what you think of her really unique skill in PoR, and also I think she's a super cool unit that nobody really talks about (except Ghast)

[@sorenfan1964]

Do Seteth,Cyril or Bernie next Nice video btw

[@lughemblem]

I find Catherine and Cyril to be two of the most likeable characters, but I am weird I guess.

[@Yangblaze11]

Outside of her undying loyalty to Rhea, I find Catherine charming in her own special way, help that she is a good unit as well.

[@mousefire777]

Yeah, same. I like Catherine a lot, and cyril never bugged me

[@orb1611]

Do you also like..... LADY RHEA?

[@lughemblem]

@@orb1611 Yeah, Rhea is one of my favs. Might like Edel more but not sure.

[@dayalasingh5853]

I like Cyril.

[@Corcky54]

I think Catherine and Shamir are geat units to get early-ish game. I got them super early and I greatly appreciated what they added to my team on hard mode. Once Shamir becomes a bow knight (in my opinion) is very powerful. I need to start my maddening playthrough though...

[@BTypeHStyle]

Treck will get the recognition he deserves one day. One day.

[@PallaEmblem]

I don't know how I feel about Catherine. Statistically she's good but I've never really found very much use for her. Like you mention she's rather underwhelming in P2 and there just isn't really much to do for a unit that's only good in P1. Like sure she can kill bosses but it's a waste when Byleth/Lord character can also kill bosses and benefit from the experience long term. I've only really ever gotten good use out of her in The Forgotten and Salvation at the Chapel since those are both rout maps with tough enemies that she can dispatch. If she was around for Battle of the Eagle and Lion I'd probably like her more. Like sure yadayada exp thief pitfall yadayada but when I'm able perform a task just fine with a unit that benefits way more in the long term than her I'm going to use that other unit.

[@Mekkkah]

Yeah, I'll be fair and say I was expecting more out of her part 2 performance considering how good her stats are. I was still impressed with how she handled enemies in part 1 and I think most players will put her to good enough use. I think she's at least worth recruiting for Ch5 in casual playthroughs, she saves so much tedium there.

[@vanjagalovic3621]

Going by your logic the only units you should use in Conquest are Camilla, Paladin Jakob and Corrin since they benefit from levels long term more than anyone else. We usually don't base everything in LTCs for evaluating units since FE8 would only have thre viable characters then: Seth, Seth and of course Seth.

[@PallaEmblem]

I was reflecting on the fact that I don't use Catherine very much because I prefer my long term units to gain the boss kill exp and there is very few maps where I need units to do anything else(though I did mention two where I found her particularly useful!). I made no claims about how others should play or did I even evaluate Catherine as a unit in my post but you do you.

[@vanjagalovic3621]

@@PallaEmblem Fair enough sorry if I came off as aggesive, but I don't see boss EXP being that valuable in a game like 3H where you're drowning in resources, but that's just me

[@chrisf.9595]

I mean, in Maddening your Byleth/ Lord can't technically do reliable boss killing without turtling so Catherine is pretty good there To me she looks a lot like FE6 Marcus FE11 Jaigen and FE3 Arren, because despite being really dominant early one where nobody else can, they fall off in the latter half of the game Sure not being able to be in Chapter 7 or be viable in part 2 stings, but I think all the works she does for you more than make up for it (in no ng+ Maddening of course)

[@wesnohathas1993]

Catherine's personal does make it safer for her to run Battalion Vantage after C Authority since she won't get punished as hard when the battalion gets knocked out, but much like Felix, just about any battalion of at least C rank will offer better stats than her personal ability alongside access to a gambit.

[@intothekey]

About to try a meme build lethality Catherine spamming Astra. I don't know the chances but hey hitting 5 times must have at least some chance to 1 hit kill

[@lilchromie]

Ok this is very epic. Now I will still proceed to give felix thunderbrand and never use catherine past white clouds.

[@MetallicPetals]

If you have the dlc, you can get Constance and do the quest with Yuri, and then give her the feathered Dromi or what ever it's called and also a crest item as they come at 1000 points per so she can essentially be a swordmaster and run around like Sonic

[@CidAghast]

Catherine is an absolute beast. I almost got ready to drive my butt right into a pitfall saying "Oh man I used her so much, my other units were a little behind in levels" but uhh instead of saying "OHHH EXP THIEF CALL THE COPS" you know a unit is good when using them makes the game feel like its playing itself But I can only speak for hard mode

[@trinxty6099]

I can't figure out how people use the thunderbrand, all the doubling eats through the durability so quickly

[@colossusslayer1234]

Honestly, didn't even know you could get her until recently. my first and only run so far was CF, so i couldn't have her. I just got that one mission where she's an ally.... and she proceeded to commit something close to a war crime on that map. "Protect her team" my ass

[@poompoom3495]

This game doesn't give you jeralt as a jagen Mekah: I'll find my own. Great Vid. One thing i'll add that make her a lot less good in post time skip is that she doesn't have as much support partner compared to your in-house unit so her hit rates will be shaky. Especially for flying class in Azure moon, their battalions option mostly sucks.

[@fubu72]

During my full Church of Seiros run, it took hell of a long time to get Catherine into Falcon Knight, but damn she was one of the best contributors right after Seteth and....... Hanneman?? (what the fuck)

[@Hyperversum3]

I just completed my first playthrough (Blue Lions, of course I wouldn't skip on the pretty prince with a spear) and oh boy if Catherine was good. To avoid being too overlevelled I used more than the normal 11+/-1 units you can deploy and I was absolutely surprised by her. Her bases were ridicolous compared to the other Knights tbh. I was about to consider making her part of my main group but I was pretty amazed by the fact that making Felix a Mortal Savant wasn't a waste so I kept using him.

[@shamirstan9706]

Seems only natural you do Shamir next 👀

[@SharurFoF]

Given Speed Carrot investment (which Byleth also needs), Catherine should be able to do the same thing Byleth can do late in part 2 as a Falcon Knight: fly 13 (or quite a bit more if you give her the March Ring and/or Boots analog and/or DLC movement item) spaces with Stride, get danced, do it again, reach a commander/boss, and one-round them with Thunderbrand by quadding. Most of the commanders/bosses don't have the crazy speed of the Swordmasters, Assassins, War Masters, etc, so quadding them is generally doable. Granted, I'm not sure why you'd choose to invest in Catherine this way instead of Byleth, but on the flip side, Byleth doesn't have any real intrinsic advantages in doing this other than maybe an easier time getting to A Authority for the Cichol Wyvern Co and the potential to proc Crest of Flames. But Catherine doesn't have a locked deployment slot, which could matter on some maps.

[@ericgropuis]

I barely use members of the church mainly because I don’t find them as interesting as the students but that’s a pitfall of me also because of the level requirements to get most of them I usually already picked out who I like and want to use so it’s good to know I can lower that by supporting them because I had no idea I could support them

[@eevee3871]

Honestly I would love to see a WAIFU on Dwyer. I always thought he was a pretty good unit (his biggest weakness being his garbage personal skill outside of invasions). He benefits lots of being a child unit, especially one you can get super early (since he is the child to Jacob, meaning that if you picked female Corrin you can make marry Jacob crazy early). He can also use a variety of different builds too depending on mother in my opinion, as I’ve used him as both a butler and strategist, as well as a Paladin to mention some builds I’ve seen. He is an overall good unit that I think too few people talk about, despite his interesting strengths and weaknesses. I know this is a fates character, but I think you could do him justice if you put the effort you usually put in these WAIFU videos. And even if you decide not to make a WAIFU episode of him, I’ll still enjoy your content and other WAIFU videos.

[@torgor_]

I do actually think that Catherines (and Felix's) personal skills are pitfalls. Apart from the super early game, +5 damage or -5 damage taken is not as good as a healthy mix of stats and hit/avo and the utility of a gambit. Also, having them fight without a batallion means you'll have to put some real work into raising their authority, or never equip gambits on them at all, which can come back to bite you when the rest of your team is running around with +6 str def and res from their shiny B and A rank batallions.

[@Mekkkah]

I don't think you should use them without batallions for long but I loved having Fighting Spirit in Ch5. The authority gain from battle alone isn't going to get you to higher ranks, you still need quite some tutoring, so that's what really makes the difference.

[@StormProductionsPrime]

I LOVE Catherine. I love Shamir more. Can we get a video on her?

[@OkMakuTree]

👏 Yes 👏 Catherine 👏 is 👏 Queen 👏 Such a good unit in Maddening (minus SIlver Snow lol)

[@acephilosopher5146]

WAIFU ideas: Knoll from FE8? The summons are really weird and interesting. Rath from FE7? He's kinda a cool and weird mount to have in certain maps. Raquesis from FE4? I saw from Mangs's Let's Play that you think she's pretty good but on my only playthrough of FE4 I only ever used her as a healer.

[@adamr1949]

If I had to guess, part of why Catherine is underutilized isn't just because she's a prepromote (which already makes a lot of people uncertain, especially in a game where nearly every other unit essentially comes in as a Trainee), but also because her introductory mission really goes out of its way to make her seem morally-ambiguous. She walks out of the fog, killing a bunch of militiamen, wielding a sword that glows red with energy, and never for a second doubts Rhea or anything she is told to do. And on the Black Eagles route (which is the route that was most advertised before the game's release), she never actually joins your side unless you 'back out' into the Silver Snow route. Everything about her personality, introduction, and alignment speaks volumes about the ambiguity inherent to Three Houses, and for a lot of people that's a major turn-off for a character they might otherwise like to use.

[@14bj337]

Very cool video, Mekkah! I used Catherine from my first GD Playthrough, and really enjoyed her, even if getting her to Mortal Savant was more trouble than it was worth. Regarding reclass options, I think Assassin is worth mentioning. It has much better movement than Swordmaster (6 with free forest traversal, versus 5), while retaining Swordfaire and actually gaining a little speed. You lose a little bit in the offense department, admittedly. Still, it's very much accessible, only requiring C bows (and you can probably cheese the exam with D+, or even D). I'd call it her best non-flying option, at the least (admittedly Falcon Knight is better, because fliers OP, but those ranks can take some work to achieve).

[@dddmemaybe]

Typically speaking, the Advanced(level 20) classes have the best growths which is where she starts and stays for the most of 21 level ups. Some of the Master Classes like War Master have even higher growths but, most of them have equal or far less growths than their Advanced class versions to make up for a late boost in stats alongside better skills and/or move.

[@LFPman]

Just one thing, the Monastery Whetstone quest is in Chapter 8 and Byleth would already be level 15

[@CASMANWHAT]

I remember accidently recruiting her. She dodged everything. I don't think she got hit once. Lol.

[@aidenshahvar6211]

What was the clip of mangs and chaz jumping out of their chairs from in the beginning?

[@Locklen]

Wait who the hell associates Thrysus as being a personal weapon for Lorenz? His only involvement is being present for the mission so i can be handed to someone who isnt D tier shit

[@darkjet5053]

6:56 “Catherine’s growth rates are nothing to shake a stick at” Awakening flashbacks came to me when I heard this

[@dylansturdivant5404]

In my blue lions maddening I did not use Catherine but this makes me really want to try her out in Golden deer. But I bring up not using her cause appearantly Byleth can use thunderbrand without taking damage. While she had creator sword, thunderbrand allowed Byleth to kill many hard bosses and enemies.

[@DocDevious23]

I love Catherine! Also speaking of Jeigans in this game... I'd say Catherine and Shamir fill that role. Both super good prepromotes, and they join relatively early. Like I ALWAYS get Shamir and having a Sniper that early is silly

[@hustlevania3318]

Catherine's personal weapon alone made her a staple in my team the first run, and second, and third.

[@PeevedLatias]

She doesn't have a personal weapon. He literally said it in this video. You can take it off her and give it to someone else if you so please.

[@mousefire777]

It's not a personal weapon, Mekkkah even says that in the video

[@alexlee4154]

It is not fair to say catherine is as obsessed with rhea as cyril Im not sure cyril has a single non support line that doesnt mention rhea (Probably doesnt help that his attitude is shitty and I find his voice annoying)

[@SharurFoF]

"Today's Special gives roughly half as many support points" NANI?!!!!