No Child Left Behind: Raising Birthright's "Worst" Units

[@nikd2991]

hyato's first level up giving literally nothing but a single skill growth was perfect comedic timing

[@kuhmuh2357]

And then he levels everthing besides skill. What a troll.

[@wishonpleiades6288]

Hayato looks really funny when reclassed to oni savage

[@asmontosborne3111]

Wait, that’s not Fuga???

[@feferson492]

steroids

[@asmontosborne3111]

@@feferson492 Gotta say, I read the notification and thought it would lead me to a different video

[@thesergalladaf6902]

Buff Mage. Edit: Yes that happens a lot in Ghast-Station’s FE Fates randomizer. Look at Swol-Leo, Oni Izana, ETC.

[@miahmagick]

You have an interesting way of looking at the game and appraising units, classes, and skills. I admit, I spent way too much time looking at Fates in the context of a PvP meta, and a lot of classes are simply not good through that lens. That said, even in the context of the campaign, generally I see a lot of people just build units like Jakob and Saizo to trivialize everything in BR, so exploration of these less overpowered units simply doesn't happen, or is considered only done for the context of favoritism and memes. You value a lot of skills and stuff that I haven't seen a lot of positive representation of. Seal Defense/Resistance Oni Chieftain would be considered a meme to most people I've read or interacted with, but you also seem to have a playstyle (at least in the maps you show) that's heavily focused on using your strong units to feed units to catch up while working towards certain long-term goals, rather than feeding your strong to where they snowball to trivializing the game as quickly as possible. Regardless of if I ever adopt a lot of your strategies and perspectives into my own play, I do think what you bring to the discussion is very interesting, and well-demonstrated. It might not shake up the Birthright-meta, but I'm always excited to see more Fates content, especially when it's doing things I haven't seen before, and with such mastery. I'm very glad I discovered this channel. :)

[@ivanlagayacrus1891]

especially nearly 8 years after fates came out i feel like looking in terms of pvp is kinda fruitless, especially since the pvp is so stilted anyway

[@ThisIsntAYoutuber]

There’s a pvp meta? I thought that pvp was borked due to cheated units and stuff.

[@danielsimmich1858]

Buff Hayato is going to haunt my dreams

[@eric_reeves21]

Perfect timing, I was watching all your videos when this went up

[@Bluegh]

something that always annoyed me is that some people fail to realize you can make effectively any unit good with the right investment. Love the Hayato appreciation!

[@theleftfootedsultan]

Huh. I was considering playing BR for the first time next, now that I’m nearing the end of my first CQ lunatic run, and just winning by having S supported Kana and Kiragi Dual Vantage Attack Stance all over the game (with the latter getting Point Blank instead of actual 1-2 because it’s funnier), but the knowledge that Birthright can actually be fun if you try has me reevaluating that philosophy. On a related note, this series is amazing. Optimized Fates gameplay is absurdly satisfying.

[@jonathanlgill]

I almost did a coffee spit-take when I saw the turn 1 reclass to Oni Savage. That's not what I was anticipating for this strategy! This was great to see. Also, I want to complain about how Azama was ripped off with his A+ Support selection--he supports two characters that would give him the Diviner class? A classline that already overlaps with his starting class? I do think Birthright suffers from a bit too many redundant or unhelpful reclass options.

[@ultimaterecoil1136]

And this is why azama is one of my most married characters. If I wanna use him in something other then mechanist it’s primarily gonna be something from marrying corn.

[@oEllery]

The buff Hayato thumbnail is hilarious!

[@GerudoKing_]

I must thank you. I originally thought Hayato was completely useless, but when I tried this strategy, he actually has become an invaluable member of my army.

[@atlas9162]

What an interesting video! Heart Sealing Hayato to Savage never occurred to me.

[@lagspike7763]

Putting this much work into a unit in BR ... I can't tell if it's more impressive or more confusing when BR is the way it is.

[@malokey7]

Dude the way you play reminds me of the time I got "good" at awakening. Now I just play for fun and not try to think too hard lol. I never understood fates mechanics very well and I would like to see a beginners guide to how the mechanics work because I for example didn't use duel strike and never understood how duel garde worked lol

[@Diceeeee]

Thanks for keeping “No child left behind”.

[@augursword2299]

Love seeing underused units get this kind of spotlight, great vid!

[@sully_betic]

Regarding Azama, I've never really considered using friendship to get him out of staff lock. I've always heal-spammed him to lv10 to instant promote him. You touched on it briefly, but is your plan to get him the A+ with Hayato and then change him to an Omyoji? If so, how long do you keep him at base class before using a master seal? Really enjoying the birthright guides btw!

[@Wizzkidwas]

I remember using Hayato just as the basic Diviner to Onmyoji path (with a brief spell in Basara for Rend Heaven) and being pleasantly surprised at his stats. I don't use him often on my playthroughs (I do a LOT of fates playthroughs) but when I do I keep being surprised by him

[@snowballglobe5176]

love this vid omg

[@gaspardp7314]

After getting Hayato death blow, I reclassed him into berserker through a modded support with Arthur (but you can have him support other berserkers in the base game), and had him marry Setsuna to get certain blow. With a great club (and a bit of skill stat boost), he now has 100% hit AND crit chance. And I got him replicate from his version from another save. I am afraid of my own creation

[@thesergalladaf6902]

That sounds horrifying. I love it.

[@ultimaterecoil1136]

My main problem with using hayato is that I like using apothecary mechanist azama too much. Not only does it let him start using his unusually high strength for a healer immediately but he’s fairly bulky too and the apothecary skills allow him to forgo support from healers since he can heal and attack in the same turn which also applies to his replica later so which can be handy and the extra resistance from mechanist and ability to spread debuffs via the newly acquired hidden weapons kinda makes him hayato but I start at a higher level and can eventually clone myself. Obviously there’s nuances to them with the differences in classes with azama being able to be more self sufficient with the healing item support skills while hayato is a relatively rare physically bulky magic unit when built for it but the two fulfil somewhat similar rolls later on when reclassed and both use a heart seal so its not a particularly great idea to use both. Though I suppose that’s part of birthright’s appeal that literally anyone can be built into a monster that can solo

[@IAMTHELAW-wf3xs]

lets goooooo I love birthright lunatic

[@Cantripy]

Something I would suggest (idk if this works on an emulator) is downloading the free dlc "a gift from Anna 2" she gives you access to the paragon skill which doubles exp for the equiped character. I use it on mozu because it helps her lvl up faster

[@badatlife]

I'm aware that things like DLC, Path Bonuses, Renown rewards, grinding, and My Castle abuse can be used to make the game easier in a consistent way, but I think doing those things ruins the intricately balanced puzzle set out by the base game, leading "optimal play" to quickly devolve into pay-to-win tactics or boring grindfests. Most technical discussion of the game assumes all those things besides maybe My Castle resources are banned anyways, so I'm just using the standard ruleset that most unit discussion is based on.

[@maverick5169]

Bad: Hayato's accuracy will never be the best Hayato on his second level up: and I took that personally One piece of advice I would like to give you is to articulate your words a little better, sometimes the game's music makes it hard to understand exactly what you are saying. Other than that I am really enjoying this series, while I never played BR many people told me "Just use Saizo, Paladin Jakob and Ryoma lol". And sure I could but that's no fun! And Oni is one of my favorite Fates classes, I had a great time using Oni Chieftan units such as Corrin, Camilla, Odin and Felicia in my CQ and Rev runs

[@quinnlee-miller9792]

Wait I just realized Hayato was named…after the damned Yato. Also Chadyato isn’t real, he can’t hurt you Chadyato:

[@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa]

His JPN name is Tsukuyomi so he wasn't supposed to be named after the Yato, but Treehouse decided yeah Hayato is pretty close to Tsukuyomi lmao

[@hugoesaucruzmorales7614]

One time I tried Hayato as oni chief, however, even his high defense he can't take three or more enemy units. Other units with less defense were better than Hayato

[@fernandoek]

How did you get a second heart seal considering you spent one on Sakura last chapter?

[@asmontosborne3111]

Pretty sure this isn’t meant to be taken as a continuous playthrough. For one, he gave Silas a level or two in the last video, but he’s still at base level here.

[@badatlife]

Unless I accidentally used an old save, it should be continuous for everything but the extra Heart Seal.

[@adamloh1997]

The main problem is his counterpart orochi, i mean she is a much better damage dealer than him thou.

[@RobotGuy405]

A 20/20 Hayato is good in a void maybe, but I feel this is way too much effort when time would be better spent on training somebody with workable bases. To get the build you mentioned at the start you need to not only use a Heart Seal on him, which is fairly precious in the early game, but you also need to feed him a ton of kills that require a ton of set up in an optional chapter. Personally I would use that map to make someone like Silas better, rather than make someone like Hayato usable. This is why a unit like Donnel in Awakening or Ewan from Sacred Stones is considered bad, when they could become EP monsters with the right investment. That investment simply isn't worth it when other units can do just as well if not better with less time and EXP. Still a great strategy for the map, I just don't think the benefits are worth the work personally.

[@Luisar-ox3nb]

The reason why donnel and almost every trainee are bad is because they don't really bring anything to the table that your normal units don't already do, making the investment on them pointless, but here in fates (specially birthright) 1-2 range is both very valuable and very limited, only magic stuff and knifes have that privilege and not every unit can excel at those while also being bulky enough to endure a bunch of enemy phase action, this is the reason why units like saizo are considered to be amazing and while hayato requires more work to make him good, it's not too hard for him to get there and he'll be able to do something most character simply won't be able to no matter how much favoritism you give them

[@RobotGuy405]

@@Luisar-ox3nb This may just be my opinion, but I feel that BR just isn't a game where certain skills that excel in most other games (1-2 range, mounts, etc.) are nearly as needed. I feel like the maps and enemy quality generally just don't require those things as much as other games, and that something like a Swordmaster isn't as bad as it usually is. Just my opinion though, I might be completely wrong. For Hayato specifically I think there's plenty of magic/ranged characters anyways, so when he's essentially the trainee of that specific group I don't really think he's worth training in most cases. An early promoted Sakura or Orochi I tend to find do just as good for offensive magic, though to be fair Sakura would require lots of investment to get any EXP at all. Felicia with the Flame Shuriken makes a good Player Phase unit, but like you said she can't take Enemy Phase very well. Most Fates units just tend to have some sort of downside I feel. Hayato is certainly not a bad choice, literally everyone in Fates can be good, I just tend to go with someone else.

[@cartooncritic7045]

@@RobotGuy405 Hayato is the only 1st Gen BR unit that, thanks to his Diviner/Oni Savage class combo, gets easy access to unrestricted 1-2 range combat while also having decent bulk without something silly like the Raijinto. A single Heart Seal means that he naturally grows into a physical tank while having good mixed offense in Strength and Magic, making him a good all-phase combat unit that also helps make your other units better. The only other unit that can match Hayato in that kind of utility is Rinkah, and even she still needs to build an Orochi friendship to accomplish what Hayato already has at base.

[@feferson492]

@@cartooncritic7045 sol ninja sylas puts him in the garbage bin what are you on about

[@cartooncritic7045]

@@feferson492 If you’re still referring to Hayato here, making Silas a Ninja in the later parts of the game do not prevent Hayato from being a good mixed tank. If anything you should use both.

[@murderedx8018]

Hayato good in oni savage??

[@lapsis6582]

You said that Subaki was with his future wife, Setsuna. So I guess that means that Silas and Kaze...

[@kitter5341]

exactly my thought. gay fates anyone?

[@chadachi3970]

@@kitter5341 it’s too bad fates is a game that actively punished you for doing the in game gay pairings by removing potential units and items through their paralogues. It’s like the devs tryna send a message or something…

[@kitter5341]

@@chadachi3970 gay fates is a mod that allows all units to be in same- sex pairings, rather than just corrin and a handful of others. it also adds missing supports and improves on existing ones! that's what i was talking about, rather than the in-game same-sex/ gay pairs

[@feferson492]

@@chadachi3970 its like gay couples cant have kids or something

[@lapsis6582]

@@feferson492 Yeah, but you can have children born from the earth via streetpass....

[@YouCanCallMeIz]

I just don't like him since he looks like Ricken

[@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa]

This just in: Jesus hates Ricken