Roy Makes Your Unit Stronk! (Fire Emblem Engage Analysis)

[@Luigiofthegods]

I can't believe they referenced Cecilia's plot armor with Hold Out 💀

[@damianiscringe1082]

Roy giving for others what he cant have for himself

[@dumbassdude8372]

just like micaiah

[@AceWill8302]

One massive problem I had with Roy was his availability. He starts equipped to Diamant on Chapter 8, then you feasably only get two more chapters to use him (assuming you did the Jean/Anna paralogues when they became available, and discounting DLC). After Chapter 10, he isn't useable until after Chapter 19, which by then the whole midgame, which has some pretty intense chapters, has passed, alongside many potential paralogues he could have been useful in (again, assuming you did those as they became available).

[@cartooncritic7045]

This is partially why I’m adamant about saving the early-game Paralogues until after Chapter 8. You get more chances to train the Brodia crew and get more mileage out of Roy and Leif before you lose them. There’s other benefits to delaying those maps too but those are the most apparent IMO.

[@nicholasstacey6146]

Roy has the worst availability out of every base game emblem if you don’t count paralogues. He’s available for 10 chapters just falling short behind Leif and Eirika with 11. The unfortunate thing too is that in chapter 22 you can’t really make use of him alongside Leif and Corrin. By the time you recover their ring the chapter is likely over so I would argue he’s only really there for 9 chapters.

[@neog8029]

Roy is a filler emblem, but I appreciate how straight forward he is and hoe substantial his combat boosts are. Engaging plus the Binding Blade makes an already decently tanky unit like Paladin Jean or Wyvern Kagetsu very tanky while being able to counter at 2 range and hit back harder than someone with the Ike ring, and that can be nice in aome situations. Roy kind of becomes my defacto ring for a Great Knight/Wyvern Alear to lift them above being a painfully mid combat unit in No Well plauthroughs.

[@hawkeye611]

One thing that got overlooked a bit is that when using the Binding Blade, the +5 res will stack with the innate +3 from the ring, and that when engaged will likely give another 2 more. 10 extra res and about 12 max hp while using a physical 1-2 ranged weapon is a very good kit for taking out mages with any unit, though it still won't be able to counter ones using 1-3 range thunder magics.

[@SirVyre]

Wild Arms world map theme in my Fire Emblem video? Gawt damn. I love you and/or your editor.

[@Adawnby]

The DLC character Zelestia with Roy is probably the best pairing for Roy. Thanks to Zelestia's decent combo of both Str & Mag, access to swords, and Soulblade on her unique class allowing her to hit the lower of def/res on a target. Zelestia ends up pairing excellently with Roy as she can take advantage of Sword Power and the added Str to hit insanely hard with the binding blade and fall back on the Levin Sword when not engaged. Hold Out from Roy allows her to inherit Vantage from Leif and Reprisal from Veronica making her become an absolute beast on enemy phase.

[@Noahs_Chair]

I must say that there is a rescue skip + Entrap. Considering you get entrap only 1 chapter after Roy I would recomend it. Also, while Erika is Engage you also get both. And because of how easy it is to keep yourself Engage I would say it's usually better.

[@LoudWaffle]

Using Micaiah's +1 range on staffs lets you target one of the armour next to Roy, which are WAY easier to hit with staves, and then Roy will get entrapped alongside them making it easy to kill him as soon as you get to that middle point of the map. On Maddening the strength of enemies in Paralogues means you'll be putting them off for a few chapters anyways, so this is a very reliable way to complete his paralogue (still gotta deal with the wyvern armies though).

[@borikim75]

While he isn’t as flashy as the other emblems, hold out, stat boosts, massive attack and the binding blade are all very nice to have and synergies well. Blazing Lion is kinda situational due to it’s weak damage as swords have low might and the fire does at least have some niche. His engrave can be nice for long range weapons. Overall, while he may be a one trick pony, he does his job well. Definitely an underrated emblem

[@Rain-od6oc]

roy would be nice to have in the mid game just to make alear better at combat but other than that I never missed him as much as the others (marth,sigurd and micaiah specifically)

[@Surge247]

I had a blast with Sage Anna, Holdout + Reprisal while equipped and engaged with Soren for Flare. Extremely high survivability and damage output

[@xith1349]

huh, wasn't expecting to hear the Monkey Island theme as background music

[@LoudWaffle]

The levels he gives and Hold Out make him extremely reliable to get value out of by just slapping him on a front liner. He's not a critical emblem like Lyn, Micaiah, or Lucina where the person using him matters a lot, but I'm always happy to have him around unlike rings like Leif or sadly even lategame Celica.

[@GiantCaliber]

Been fun running Roy on Warrior Saphir with Wrath + Reprisal under the logic extra HP, Str, and Hold Out+++ makes it easy to be in range for nuclear damage that not even enemy Generals can survive. If you need to enemy phase exactly one unit, a small Quality Time heal will reset Hold Out without losing too much Reprisal boost in the event their attack misses.

[@samkeiser9776]

The Roy Ring is such a menace in out realms battles. Hold out+++ is a common inheritance option online and Roy allows a unit to slot something else in. And then rise above and the binding blade just make the user a mountain of stats, not to mention the hp bonus is actually incredibly substantial. FE has some idea that hp is not as substantial as defense and resistance, and that’s somewhat true, but not exactly in a scenario when your opponent only gets one hit on you, Roy does substantially increase bulk for some units at least, particularly ones that don’t get doubled.

[@ultrose7379]

I really really like Roy. He doesn’t have any crazy thing that can break the game but those stats are just so useful for how insane late game maddening enemies get. And he can help people hit wild thresholds early on. I think Amber is just the best user of him pre ch 11 because like you mentioned he can just 1 shot people. And if you want you get weapon triangle control with Amber since he has lances. A sword and lancerever. He won’t one shot non mages with those since they are kinda weak but it breaks them to stop Amber from getting damage and it sets up kills if you want. On Roy’s return I think he’s best on a wolf knight or a fast wyvern so I’m both cases I think he’s great with merrin but of course other options exist as well. Wolf knights can get so much spd from a raise above that it can really change your doubling thresholds. And of course the power boost is huge too and the mov from cav bonus type is of course very nice. Merrin gets 4 spd from raise above and when raise above is up she has plus 8 str when your at full stat bonuses with Roy. Along with even more bulk. Wyverns that have natural spd to them also get a good spd raise above along with even more power and bulk to make them do stuff outside of a flier ball quite well binding blade is so nice for even more bulk and very good 1-2 range on them Or you can just give him to a warrior for unga bunga power. He’s not crazy but I think he gets underrated sometimes just because he is pretty much only stats outside of hold out. But he gives so much it’s quite incredible. He can really get slapped on anyone to suddenly hit hard. And raise above is just so strong. Roy returns right when enemies are about to get a huge bulk boost and when your wolf knight’s damage is about to fall off. But he also just helps out anyone deal with how absurdly bulkier enemies get right after he arrives Also for his engrave I like to give it to effective weapons for closer 1 shot thresholds. More so radiant bow and hurricane axe to make the magic requirement to kill late game enemies even lower. Though still like poleaxe or as you mentioned the long bow are good too. Also a good thing to keep in mind both for Roy’s map and when you fight enemies that use him you can ignore hold out with engage attacks. Super useful to keep that in mind when you need to finish off health bars and his hold out is stopping you

[@Slimjim8345]

I've been using Roy with my Framme so that she can one round enemies with her arts. The amount of STR you can get from him is actually crazy and can really help units that use arts due to them being brave. He's been very good at keeping her useful in her default class line. The extra Levels are nice when engaged as it can also add to the STR making it really easy to kill without getting hit. I also found his engrave also useful for thieves in maddening. Sometimes the +60 avoid from forests and the like can make enemies ignore them from having 0 hit. The -30 avoid can help keep those units out of 0 hit while still being dodge tanks. The added might also helps actually killing the enemies too. And of course it helps that you can switch to a different dagger if you aren't in a forest, or will still face more than 0 hit from enemies.

[@mvjbass9561]

Roy is somewhat like a dedicated backpack fron Fates, only stronger. He gives big stat boosts and can save the unit from dying (bit of a stretch but guard gauge).

[@Hyu-n7d]

Roy ring is really hurt by its poor availability. Its a ring that boosts units combat that comes back when the combat heavy part of engage is over thanks to Micaiah ring which joins with him. Although, even if you dont warp skip by the time you get Roy back there are several emblems like Eirika or Sigurd (after the well patch) that can give you more damage boost than Roy does.

[@naiRISE766]

I'm hype for Leif next since Mekkah is probably the only person to talk about his power. Like the 1-2 range wrath vantage build on warrior.

[@noukan42]

I think the problem with leif is simply that it ia not an emblem you can randomly slap on people. It is fairly easy to solve the adaptable issues if one want (iirc even a basic javalin is prioritized over the master lance for example), but it is something you have to actually do.

[@pafunciobatista8244]

I had massive success with Roy by putting him on a Pannete with wrath/vantage inherited. The stat boost is nice and hold out adds a safety net to a risky playstyle

[@michael9433]

That's similar to what I did. Plus I got lucky with her build, so she completely ignores the massive increase in weight for the weapon with his engrave.

[@GaiusTulliusCatallusXXC]

I find that Roy is actually one of my favorite Emblems because his return comes synced up with Micaiah’s. I generally take my Ike unit and give them Roy since Micaiah tends to make EP nonexistent. At this point high stats to one round bosses is the main thing you need and Roy gives you that. Sword Power and Hold Out are also great skills to inherit.

[@drew_gon1617]

Diamant & Celine I will probably the two classes he’d prefer to work with the most, one for holdouts + Sol, the other for Mystic boosted sword user, Wolf knight is an interesting option tho

[@lennardnorden]

I used Roy with Timerra on hard mode. It worked really well, since sandstorm adds a lot of damage to the boost from Roy. Sandstorm also combines with blazing lion, making the skill a lot better. Sadly, sandstorm isn't always going to proc, but it does quite often. And when it does, the damage is huge.

[@sithys]

If you have the Veronica ring from DLC, you can inherit Holdout and then sit at 1HP with Reprise+ for massive damage. For the low, low cost of 11k SP (from scrolls) you can inherit both Reprise+ and Holdout+++ and then use any emblem.

[@declanm810]

The only actual synergy I’ve ever found with Roy’s emblem is taking advantage of his high STR bonus and free Hold Out+++ for Vantage-Wrath Crit builds (since Hold Out is the most expensive of the three skills, and each additional point of STR Roy provides is basically +3 when critting). Even then, I think Ike generally does better with those builds with all his damage mitigation

[@RronKarahoda]

You mentioned Citrinne for the binding engrave, but couldn't Mage Knight Cotrinne actually make use of Roy to get some extra magic, mov, and actual mixed combat flexibility?

[@MattMorency]

"Can you handle ... the weight?"

[@cartooncritic7045]

I like Roy. Sometimes you just wish you could pump someone full of stats for a few turns and Roy does exactly that. I like him especially on Cavalry since the +1 Movement is nice for anyone who can’t use Sigurd, and Advance is nice yo have too.

[@Samuel-nj4yy]

I know it is cheep to bring in the MC ring into question, but the sheer amount of stats from roy and the bond engage can just create disgusting statball units. It can make some mediocre unit types significantly better like great knight and general, or make other bruiser characters into even better brainless enemy phase machines. There are still much better combinations of multiple rings and attributes, but this combination is just always solid. Sometimes not overthinking things an area of the map is beneficial so you can focus on another position.

[@samkeiser9776]

Zelestia is funny as a roy user, all her stats are pretty balanced, so roy just makes her even more of a generalist unit, she’s kinda bulky and kinda fast, and hits kinda hard. But the real neat thing is that when she uses Roy, Soulblade makes the Binding Blade decent in every combat. Some units have more res than def, and she does less to them than if she didn’t have soul blade, but vs Generals she can fairly reasonably do good damage to them with the binding blade, not to mention it’s 1-2 ranged and compliments her bulk. Hold out also is nice considering it means she doesn’t have to worry as much about archers. Also soulblade triggers with blazing lion, but that’s kind of just funny.

[@lazerboy4942]

I love my ginger brother so much, but honestly I can't even remember who had him in the last map and I don't care enough to open my save file to find out. Edit: looking at the cast of characters, I think it was Rosado?

[@Tom-vx7qh]

I found Jean to be a great option for Roy if you put him in a physical class like Warrior. Because of his absurdly high growths from his personal, he gets a ton of stats from engaging, and can usually solo groups of enemies by himself.

[@michael9433]

I've never used Jean. Frankly, I like when he fights people in the arena, meekly asks if he is supposed to be there, and then gets absolutely annihilated. I've never even looked at his growths, maybe next run he won't be a bench warmer

[@edwardking9359]

​@michael9433 Doubling class growths is insane. It leads to stuff like having an 80% strength growth as a berserker, or almost having 60% growths across the board as a wyvern knight.

[@nodot17]

first playthru I stuck him on a under leveled goldmary (who I turn into halberdier for pincer since she wasn't gonna double anyway) and... it didn't work by that time gold mary was too far behind and I would of honestly been better off throwing him on slepnir

[@gameboyn64]

There is a way to get both gentility and bravery. Just have the erika unit engage. Every unit that inherited gentility gets blue skies for the next 4 turns.

[@jedimasterpickle3]

Yeah...Roy was definitely a filler Emblem for me too. I left him on Diamant until Roy became unavailable, but didn't immediately reassign him once I regained access to him. Wasn't until the endgame that I had enough filler slots that I found a new bearer.

[@Remv123]

i still don't understand why the binding blade isn't super effective against dragons

[@edwardking9359]

Because otherwise it would be even more insane, lol

[@danielostrowski856]

I’ve just started playing FE6 on Japanese NSO and I thought- there’s no way this guy is making anyone else better, except looking better by the comparison

[@dalequincy7634]

Blazing lion can be quite strong you use a greatsword as it always hits and can't be countures

[@gameboyn64]

Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself.

[@maximeminassian6002]

Roy is definitely one of the most whatever rings in Engage. He isn’t doing anything special aside from giving stats and doesn’t even have a meme factor like Leif does (although he is still far better than him). Blazing Lion in particular is really not impressive compared to most Engage attacks as it’s not a big ko move, it doesn’t hit that many ennemies and the secondary effect is ultimately the only good thing about it but it’s not exactly exclusive to him as Corrin can do the same with Mysticals, and Camilla’s Dark Inferno puts it to shame in comparison, the boosted version even more so

[@gonf-6816]

Hi mekkah

[@Mekkkah]

hi

[@makototakara7025]

Roy isn’t that bad as an Emblem…

[@edwardking9359]

This is a modern FE game. Every single thing can be pretty good if you put effort into making it good. Roy can be pretty damn useful. The only reason he seems "bad" is that the other options are outright gamebreaking if used effectively.

[@paz8723]

Normal/Hard mode aren't worth looking at since everything works a little too well