How Axes Went From Zero to Hero in Fire Emblem
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- Опубликовано: 7 июн 2024
- 00:00 - Intro
00:46 - FE1
04:05 - FE3
04:51 - FE4
07:18 - FE5
11:30 - GBA & Tellius
16:19 - DSFE
18:02 - Awakening
18:45 - Fates
19:50 - 3H
21:28 - Engage
Axes have been in Fire Emblem from the very beginning but they used to be pretty dreadful! I look at how axes have changed from game to game and what changed to make them perform pretty well in modern FE games.
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Now do how swords went from Hero to zero
What being a weapon that focuses on accuracy over damage and having no 1-2 range does
They were far and away the best choice as early as Genealogy, they just had a long dark period following Jugdral.
FE7 and it’s consequences have been a disaster for swords.
@@LastofthemohaggensThat dark period still hasn’t ended.
@@paladinslash4721 swords haven't really been good since fe6 imo. Rutger is like the one sword guy you genuinely like in that game
For FE1, it's also worth noting that axes just have bizarrely terrible availability. Like, the armory in Chapter 7 sells Iron/Steel and Hammers, the Chapter 9 armory also sells Hammers, and then there just... isn't a single shop that sells axes until Chapter 20 sells them, nearly half the game later. It's especially absurd for Hand Axes, which are sold in Chapters 2, 3... and 20. So you basically have to hoard axes for the entire midgame if you want to actually use Barst, which is a big ask in a game with as clunky an inventory system and as limited a convoy size as FE1.
Kaga's family was killed by an axe user until they found the real culprit in 1998
A sword user
I find it interesting how (at least imo) you can split Fire Emblem into eras of which weapon in the triangle was supreme.
Prior to the inclusion of Build/Constitution, swords reigned supreme, because weight was subtracted directly from Speed and thus very low weights had commensurate value, and swords weren't *much* worse than other weapons in Might or the Strength of units using them.
The Con/Build era had some great sword and axe users but by and large I thought lances reigned supreme there. Axes were heavy enough to cause meaningful speed issues even for many units designed to use them. Regular swords didn't get anything extra out of low weight besides being usable by low-Con units, had very rare 1-2 range, and were generally locked to units with bad Strength, producing horrible plink; they were mainly useful as secondary weapons by characters with high Strength (and often blade-worthy Con) like Heroes and Paladins, or early game Iron Sword on Marcus so he can feed kills instead of stealing them. Meanwhile aside from Pegasus Knights, lances' heavier weight was generally irrelevant because it was still less than the lance users' Con, and they paired much better Might with the units' higher Strength.
And then they made weapon weight completely irrelevant/non-existent, and high Might plus enemy sword rarity made axe users god.
Hoping for a sequel called “Swords: Hero to Zero” about how FE7 forever ruined swords.
Is FE7 binding or blazing blade? Ik FE8 is SS
@@vixouu7925 FE7 is blazing blade, binding blade is FE6
Except it didn't. Swords were decent in FE7. I pretty much never play a map whitout at least 3 units that can use them.
I'm so glad you mentioned the village in FE3 Book 2 that gives you a Silver Axe. It's hilarious.
How can it be true that you don't get axe users in FE3? What about Barst? Is he really only in FE12 remake?
@@Plasticsoldier64 They just aren't in Book 2 for whatever reason.
@@Plasticsoldier64 Yes, no Axe Users in Book 2. You gotta understand that characters got cut in these older games because there wasn't something like a "Veteran/Meme" status. Old Man Wrys isn't even in Book 1, instead, everyone gets Vulneraries.
I think you missed one crucial aspect of Axes in 3H, which is the certification requirements. Wyvern Rider and War Master are some of the best classes in the game and training and using axes are a big part of it. Personally, I believe when deciding the good weapons in 3H, we should also look at the certifications that need them and what benefits come out of those classes that you certify for.
Yeah you're right that that's an important aspect, probably should have talked about that!
Which gets to another reason why swords were so terrible in Houses was that they had no good endgame classes.
@@paladinslash4721 Hero, Swordmaster, and Assassin are fine endgame classes for Swords.
Axes are also required to get death blow which is pretty much required for every physical unit not running a vantage set
It's definitely that but its also definitely lack of combat arts comparable in power to vengeance/swift strikes/frozen lance/smash
FE5 being kaga last FE makes the weapon situation really funny
like he finally pushed axes into being really good but as some kind of sick monkey paw made lances most FE players go to completely obsolete for the hardest maps (indoors)
I think it’s worth calling out enemy weapon uses too!
For example, in FE7, the vast vast majority of units are lance or axe units, which is why it’s much easier to clear enemies with a Hand Axe. You’ll almost never be at weapon disadvantage (and you’ll have horrible hit when you are but still likely unthreatened) and that is what really helps Axes in that game, for example
also axes in the beginning are meant for enemy use? Big damage but not too high hit works better for the enemies to be able to surprise the player with big damage. A similar phenomenon is the FE6 Steel Lance which have high power, low acc, high weight, which is definitely tuned for enemy cavs to be able to deal 1 big hit to you.
FE8 was pretty Lance-heavy too, I think.
But also, FE8 was the game that lets you have a Berserker as early as chapter 9.
Axes are Intelligent Systems' training project.
I think by extension of having my favorite take of the Weight Speed mechanic, the Tellius games have my favorite take on Axes. It also helps that Lance enemies are pretty common in both games.
Three Houses handled that mechanic better since the strength/weight scaling wasn't 1:1, but I think its generally inferior to straight up Con/Build. I'd personally prefer no weapon weights altogether, since most players find it annoying and don't want to be bothered with it. Case in point, the Tellius games, where weapon weight is at its most pointless and superfluous being your favorite implemenation.
Me first time playing echoes: Where is the axe? Where is the axe!? Here it is! What do you meen their are zero axe users!
Given how comically bad axes are and how godlike swords are in FE1, it’s funny to see the roles reversed in most games from FE7 onwards.
Yeah when I tried the older games for the first time I was like "what do you mean swords are the good weapon type?"
@@actuallizard Are we counting FE12 and RD as old games now? Damn, I feel old.
Actually, axes were inferior to swords for a good while, specially during early game. It's not until midway when enemies start to become weighted down by steel lances that axes accuracy stop ever being an issue.
And then there's tearring saga, with its 88 DURABILITY IRON AXES WHICH ALSO ARE CHEAP.
many of the weapons in TRS feel like the devs used a random number generator to decide their stats.
@@1calv NON IRONICALLY they look like weapons that went through a randomizer enough times that they said "eh, looks good enough"
Finally someone understands the game was made on crack!
@@frostbite_1244 TRS is like if you take Thracia 776 and throw it in overdrive, which already is considered one of the most unique Fire Emblem game.
@@CoqueiroLendario yeah agreed
let's be real, axes were originally designed as weapons for enemy thugs to have. You don't have access to them, but whoever you're fighting sure have warehouses full of them. So they were probably balanced around being at a, ah, disadvantage against the player in the earlier games.
Axes in FE12 are basically about as good as they are in FE11, slightly better or worse in a few ways but overall kinda the same. Forged effective weapons aren't as crucial in FE12 as they are in FE11 (since they're basically the entire meta in FE11 combat-wise), but they're still quite good, and a forged Hammer for General bosses or a Poleaxe for various Paladin-heavy maps like Ch19 can be really nice for example, especially on the highest difficulties. Hell, even a Brave Axe forge might be worthwhile in the later maps for better generic damage output if you have a unit with good stats and a high axe rank like a Berserker M!Kris. You can't Hand Axe sweep in this game obviously, but 1-2 range options are always welcome, especially in Reverse Lunatic where avoiding counters entirely is the best case scenario and combining for kills is crucial. Oh yeah, FE12 is the first game in the series to just straight up not have weight as a mechanic, and axes benefit greatly from this. Not like it matters that much in FE11 once your units start getting more strength, but it's straight up not an issue in FE12 lol. It's also worth noting that axes are relatively inexpensive to forge compared to some of the other weapon types, so that's pretty cool. Draco is one of the best classes in the game and uses axes, so a lot of the time axe units with serviceable bases like Darros or even an insta-promoted Dice can reclass and make decent contributions in that way, not to mention the units that start in Pegasus like Palla, who has a decent amount of time to get her axe rank up (and can afford to focus on it since her lance rank is already so high lol). Even when Draco falls off as a combat class due to having a really low speed cap, your axe units can go into Hero or Berserker to make up the difference (and access to these classes is why I think M!Kris is better than F!Kris for gameplay but that's an aside).
So yeah axes are good in FE12
Axes are really axessible in FE9, really like how you can pop them on Astrid and transform her from a decent hit and run archer into a pretty choppy cav as well (she benefits a fair bit from the might and ease of forging)
Mackalov's paladin is also really important. Going from axes to swords is big might jump. Getting the 1-2 range from hand axes is also baller 👌
The availability is what really baffled me playing the game. You get steel axes so much earlier than steel swords, you get hand axes a lot more often than javelins. It just feels really good to run axes when you know you'll never struggle to get some.
Steel axes are also E rank, so you can give Astrid a forged steel axe once she promotes and suddenly she’s a powerful frontline unit.
All thank of the Saint Patron of Axes, Lord Hector
You miss spelled Hawkeye
@@skarloey1214 Hector made popular the Axes.
Did you mean to say Titania?
I find Axes very hard to balance in FE games. You either miss all the time or it's the superior damage weapon, there are no in-betweens lol.
FE7 Hector makes axes seem godly.
Hector is amazing yes. Easily top 1 unit for me due to his DEF.
However, axes are a bit innacurate in early game. Hector is pretty much the only unit that despite his accuracy, will still snowball due to the sheer number of enemies he can handle at once. Barte and Dorcas on the other hand, their usage of axes hurt them in early game, as they fail to hit targets and take plenty damage for no gain.
When I was still new to the series I vehemently refused to use Axes or Axe-users because of two reasons:
-The earlygame enemies all used Axes and they were really easy to kill, so that means Axes suck.
-My two Axe units, Dorcas and Bartre, also both sucked, which was proof that the above point was true.
As a result, when I played FE9 I immediately sent Boyd to the bench without even thinking. Kieran, too. "Mia isn't an Axe unit, so she's obviously better than them." was my thoughts.
As for Titania, I removed all of her weapons and used her as a damage sponge. Not because of Axes but because she was a Jagen.
When you promoted Oscar did you give him swords? Or bows? Lol
@@aetherius6221 Bows.
@@DSaC_ lmfao I'm sorry for your loss
If there was a deployment limit in FE4, I think Lex would still be used in Genealogy because you get a brave axe early and Lex has the broken Prodigy ability, so he ends up always doubling and having fast growth compared to his peers.
Yeah I agree you'd still use lex, lex is pretty good! It's the gen 2 axe bros I'm not so sure about
@@actuallizardYeh, axes fall off fast in Gen 2. His skill and growths are good enough to pass down anyway for several characters, even if his axes become practically useless
@@actuallizard I mean, you still get the Brave Axe pretty early in Gen 2 and Johan can use it; assuming you put a little bit of effort into him he'll come out pretty okay, especially if you're doing a substitute-only run where you don't get all the broken inheritance stuff.
@@actuallizardFor the Gen 2 Axe Bros, I always remember this comment when it comes to Iuchar: "How bad of a unit do you have to be for Ranked FE4 players to say the footlocked unit is better than the horse unit."
@@actuallizardI think it’s not even worth using them regardless. Give the brave Axe to Leif, leave the axe bro in the castle. Seliph, Leif, Ares, and Forsetti Arthur can take care of all the combat.
I always hated that weight mechanic. The cast either can carry 5 weapons that all weigh a ton but holding it is hard or have levitation powers but don't just use that.
Carrying something on your back is not the same as actively swinging it around with lethal force, but pop off King.
i dont hate the weight mechanic per say, I just think that early FE games seems to love to make weight differences amongst weapons so drastically differently. Like who the hell think making axes weigh 10+ points more than sword or fire tomes weighing 4 times that of wind tomes is a good thing?
@@DarkAuraLord yeah that totally makes sense........ carrying 5 iron axes then take one and swing it totally makes them light as a feather.
Just proves my point. Don't waste my time confirming how funny this is.
@@lsrrr3857 guess the magic is dense is my explanation. But books should be 0 cost and slow speed due to casting a speed rather than be heavy directly. Makes no sense at all
i think have some way besides "just get speed" to mitigate weapon weight it could be cool, it can be a skill could even split between physical weapon and tome since the reason tomes have weight is to simulate the mental burden of the stronger ones. Also I really think no units should be weigh down by the lightest weapon they're using Lute getting weigh down by a FIRE TOME is a joke.
A point to consider about axes in path of radiance and radiant dawn, is that attack speed calculations use the strength stat. Which axe users typically have plenty of. So speed issues are essentially nullified entirely by the mid game for most axe users, even with the heaviest axes. Also Titania. And Haar. Heck, even Nolan with a bit of work.
Worth noting for path of radiance, enemies are so bulky and so many enemies use lances that having axes or not can make a huge difference in how good a unit is. For example, in POR, every single cavalier wants to pick axes on promotion no matter what, and it will become their primary weapon. Giving Oscar axes or not can turn him from a wimpy noodle arm guy who can't orko anything to a god among men. Also, forging (especially on steel axes, which are E rank for some inexplicable reason) negates any hit issues they might have (they don't) and makes them even stronger. Not to mention, axes are the cheapest weapons to forge, which can matter if you're playing on the Japanese maniac mode where forging is twice as expensive. Also, since every cavalier gets axes on promotion, and so do wyverns, so basically all of the best classes in the game have access to axes, with the only notable outlier being falcon knight, a class which REALLY wishes it had axes. For these reasons and more, axes are by far and away the best (physical) weapon type in por. In RD most of the same logic applies, and axes are still clearly the best, but the gap isn't nearly as big.
Also the way weapon weight works, with weight being compensated by strength also favours axes
And they are pretty acurate
Kinda disappointing to see the Tellius games skipped, both because they're special to me (PoR was my very first SRPG) and because how good axes are in RD apparently changes depending on the difficulty; I've seen it said that Hard/Maniac removing the weapon triangle makes them the best weapon type in the game, especially thanks to some of the strongest characters being able to use them.
The lack of Weapon Triangle and easily accessible Steel/Hand Axe forges both contribute to Axes being high-key busted in Tellius. There’s no easier damage fix for burgeoning Axe users like promoted Paladins or Jill than a Steel Axe forge with maxed out Might and Hit bonuses.
I'm still endlessly wondering how removing the weapon triangle was supposed to make the game harder. Like you don't even have to train a variety of units
love the amount of times you say the phrase "access to axes" in this video
it's very quickly ceasing to sound like a real word lol
Axes in FE12 are pretty good on Reverse Lunatic. The devil axe, much like in SD, is very strong, and because of how weapon triangle advantage work (specifically that enemies with A rank in everything tend to do 2 or 3 less damage if they’re at a disadvantage), you want to be able to have units who are able to use different types of weapons so that you can take less damage, it might make the difference between being 2HKOD and 3HKOD. Plenty of opportunities for Kris or a boosted Palla to train with them while on Dracoknight, as they will likely be one rounding stuff for a long time in the earlygame, even with just iron axes.
The main issue is the classes that can use axes tend to fall off towards the late game in comparison to their lance wielding counterparts, especially given that swords and lances have effective weapons for dragons, the scariest enemy type in the game that you will be fighting a lot or in the last few chapters. Basically Warriors, Heroes, and Dracoknights get pretty heavily outclassed by snipers, swordsmasters, and paladins in the lategame because of their better speed caps.
Yeah the only late game Axe user is usually berserker kris which while good is far from being the only way to use him
Pretty much this, but even with Dracos and Generals, most if the time I find myself using lances more than axes. If I remember correctly, most of the strongest units in the game tend to have higher lance rank rather than axe (such as Palla, Catria, Sirius, Caeda, etc). The only units that I can remember with good axe level at base is M!Kris, Minerva and Darros
@@justintsui2522 generals are not very good in H4 besides the super earlygame, and they have the much cooler access to bows rather than axes in this game.
@justintsui2522 are you talking about a diff game? Generals don't use axes. Technically you missed Dice, but who uses Dice? Poor guy. At least he has a free devil axe
@@ellachino4799 lol i think I misremembered mb
I must axe. When do I use lances
You can use them whenever you finish swording out your convoy
These weapon type puns are fire (tome).
When you have some to spear... Ahem, I mean "spare".
I think a couple compounding issues axes have in FE6 is that on average Player Characters have lower stats than you'd expect from GBAEmblem, and enemies have notably better stats than the other 2 entries, especially so on hard mode.
Coincidentally, what I like about FE6 is how it feels more player phase focused owing to the quality over quantity approach to enemy units
Who knew giving you more good to start axe units would help balance the game more.
I do wish Lissa started with an axe like how later healers in engage can fist fight at start. Would have made awakening even more fun to have that option
Fates I felt started it best aside sacred stones if you grind trainee boi to get a op one but on base with some fine female axe units.
I have a certain fondness for the unit archetype of healer who can also beat people up
@@pandabanaan9208 that's the best feeling ever. When a magic user gets a heal power I never use it. However when a healer gets a magic power it's basically RULES OF NATURE
@@ivanbluecool
Cringe: exclusively using a healer for healing
Based: making your healer into a combat unit
@@pandabanaan9208What if one is both? Every time I've used a Martial Master in Engage they're my best healer and also an atom bomb on player phase because of Lunar Brace.
Time to do a axe only run in FE1
I'm honestly amazed the name Kaga didn't come up once in this video. Swords stumbling and Axes becoming good the second Kaga leaves? That's gotta be it! I've always wondered why he hated axes so much...
Kaga is big on storytelling through mechanics. In real world medieval warfare, swords and spears/lances were significantly better weapons than axes. An axe is a tool that can be used as a weapon, but it's unwieldy and isn't suited to striking the gaps in enemy armor. A sword's entire purpose is to be a weapon.
In real life swords without a shield or full plate armor are sidearms.
I think it’s a huge detail to miss that what really defines what makes a weapon better/worse in many games is just what the enemies are using. Lances are *everywhere* in some games, and axes become very good when they’re at constant WTA
While lances in 3H may get the best "generic" combat arts (ie not locked to a specific unit or weapon), they're still not exactly *common* (off the top of my head, only Sylvain, Ferdinand, and Seteth learn Swift Strikes, Seteth being unrecruitable on one route and Ferdinand being difficult to recruit outside of BEagles) and are locked to higher weapon ranks. Axes, on the other hand, make a *fantastic* first impression with Smash, which is very easy to get (and some units start with it) and not only increases hit and might, but also gives a significant crit boost. Tempest Lance just doesn't quite match up. Plus of course you need axe rank for Death Blow, which is kind of a no-brainer skill for any physical unit.
Love me the 1-2 range axes of sacred stones
I love ALL ActualLizard videos!!!! ❤
*AxeualLizard videos 😉
I really liked axes in FEA and FEF i really enjoy the explosive critical damage
in FE5 axes higher might usually is more helpful because the capture mechanic as it doesn't affect the might of the weapons and axe users have higher build than the rest of the cast, and you get the brave axe in the first chapter, and considering that lances are the worst weapon type of the game (not counting bows) as they can't be used indoors aside from dalsin and xavier that start with an E rank in that weapon i think that makes axes the second best weapon type
something i have noticed is that in many games axes are cheaper than the rest of weapons, i don't remember where i heard this but it's because sword, lances are the weapons of knights and nobles while axes are the ones from commoners
I would actually argue that axes are notable worse in fe8, compared to the games around it. Since in fe8 they’re restricted to infantry units(and great knight, which has 6 move so they might as well be infantry). Sacred Stones is particularly dominated by mounted units, so basically none of the all time best units can use axes.
They are greatly improved for fe9, which introduced forging and also put them on the best unit, Titania. Additionally any paladin can gain axes when they promote, plus Jill can use them when she promotes, finally giving axes a flying class. And of course you can forge them up to make them even stronger and fix their hit issues.
Fe10 is just more of the same, except they’re even better. Now basically all the best units in the game use axes, you got the pole axes which have ridiculously high might compared to how cheap they are, hand axes are for some reason statistically superior to javelins across the board, weapon weight is basically a non-factor since all your units will have really high strength by part 2, and hard mode removes the weapon triangle, so they can even fight swords. Steel pole axes and forged hand axes will carry you through this game.
Were Clubs not something like the Hoshidian Axes?
They are the Hoshidan equivalent of axes in Fates, so any unit that can use an axe, be it a wyvern rider, fighter, or oni savage, can use both axes and clubs. The main difference between axes and clubs is that axes have more might, but clubs have more hit and crit, if I'm not mistaken; if I had to guess, it's to help offset the fact that the oni savage class (which is the only Hoshidan base class that can use an axe) has a bad skill stat, so they still suffer from hit rate issues regardless. Speaking of which, to touch on what was said in this video about not getting many axe users without reclassing is why I often pick the wyvern rider or fighter class as my avatar's talent class, and why I also prefer to promote Silas into a great knight rather than a paladin and have Hayato reclass into an oni savage, as doing these things lets you have access to more axe users readily available. Personally, I would even vouch for heart sealing Hayato into an oni savage as the best option for your first heart seal, since he actually has surprisingly good bulk thanks to having a high defense and a chonky HP growth rate, and his strength isn't bad, either; this also lets you train him to increase his axe ranks to C by the time he promotes so he can start using the bolt axe (of which oni Hayato is the best user of this weapon), and since he starts with a D rank in tomes, he can equip a horse spirit after promoting to an oni chieftain even if you reclsssed him right away. It's also worth mentioning that his base stats are significantly better as an oni savage than they are as a diviner, and being able to level your weapon ranks prior to promotion makes this a more appealing option than having him stay in the diviner and promote into a basara instead, and he'll most likely have more strength and defense as an oni chieftain than a basara as well
My favorite part of the axes in fates is have vantaje over shurikens (and crit for 100 damage)
And the existence of Arthur and the funny bad lucky moments and crit support tactics
I'm surprised there's no mention of the Brave Axe Lex gets in Chapter 1. Thus making him double before the enemy can even attempt to double him. Which he then passes down to... uuuuuh... hold on a moment. What child unit uses Axes again and isn't called Leif?
actually not even leif uses axes before promoting so yep, literally none.
if i could make changes though, i would make Ulster/Scatnach use axes/swords and diarmuid use lances/swords so both Lex and Leif can pass down Axes and Lances if they get along someone, and Arden may finally have a place as a versatile father that can pass down swords, lances, axes or bows to his children.
Another thing that contributes to a weapon's usefulness is also enemy weapons. If lances are common enemies, then axes end up being slightly better than they would otherwise be.
I haven't played FE12 reverse Lunatic but I do play H5 a quite lot and have to say, the tier list of weapons is Bows>Lances>Axes>Magic>Swords, maybe on reverse lunatic magic could be better than axes for the easy 1-2 range vs the non existance resistance in that game, but axes are very powerful but it is mostly an enemy weapon since you will find on the early game terrifying Bandits and Wyverns with forged Silver Axes that will one shot you, but for most of the playthrough you will want to have a forged bow for the amount of Wyvern you face, de 2 range option to the reverse lunatic and aside from that, the usual effective weaponry forges in mid game with the ridersbane and hammer, and the wyrmslayer on endgame
Swords need a revival
Swords just need for axes to have poor accuracy again. It's that simple.
The funny part is that if astra was a good combat art (200+% damage at least and not 150%) and sword master had 6 move, Swords would have probably been a decent weapon in FE3H.
@@Trybelyou know swordmaster is an underwhelming class when war master is probably a better sword class
@@Trybel Even if it had both of those massive buffs I think it would still just be worse than grappler and sniper since it would have lower strenght or lower range. But yeah Idk why they made Astra so awful and fierce iron fist and hunters volley so good.
Good content Lizard! Have you considered adding games like Tear Ring Saga and Berwick Saga or even Unicorn Overlord to videos like this in the future, in cases where it would make sense?
Axes are very useful in FE12, since the game is a lot more player phase focused (which also makes archers useful) which means enemies are strong and deal decent damage. So having weapons that deal heavy damage (on one hit) is crucial on higher difficulties
New lizard let’s go
Hi Lizard!
I love having "axes" to a good variety of axes. :)
I started with the GBA games, so I got the impression that axes suck because dedicated axe units (except Ross) suck, but then when a promotion gave a good character proficiency axes suddenly became cool. That seems to be a microcosm of the franchise as a whole...
For Three Houses suddenly every single character can use an axe in any class, but more important than the combat arts which you mentioned are the things that each skill level unlocks. Getting Axe rank C on any character lets them learn Death Blow, an effective +6 str on player turn, and Armored Blow, +6 def on player turn (Assuming you're getting Armor rank C too, which most units probably want anyway because it reduces WT penalties to effectively grant +3 spd). Go a little further and Axe rank B allows you to get Pavise and Seal Defense, both of which are very powerful if you have room for them on your ability lists. And finally, if you get all the way up to Axe rank A, mastering the Warrior class gives Wrath, allowing a monstrous +50 crit rate whenever an enemy attacks you while you're under half HP (especially combined with Vantage, an easy unlock from rank C Swords, which allows you to attack first when an enemy approaches you when your health is below half).
So not only are axes a prerequisite to the excellent wyvern classes and to train heavy armor outside of the classroom, but training with them also adds a lot of excellent options to other physical builds, even if you end up using sword, lance, bow, or fist as your primary in the endgame. And there's cool units on every route that get signature relic axes, which you want to be ready to make good use of.
My experience with Fire Emblem games is somewhat limited. I've only played Sacred Stones, Fates, and Three Houses. Despite that, I've noticed many of the things this video pointed out.
In Sacred Stones, Gilliam was the only axe unit I bothered with toward the endgame. Ross and his father (can't remember the name) were relegated to bench warmers.
In Fates, Camilla was a nuke, and was literally the only unit I wanted wielding axes.
In FETH, though, axes are much more viable as a weapon option. There's the obvious example of Edelgard, but Hilda and Caspar make for some pretty solid axe users. Hell, FETH is literally the only game where I actually LIKED axes on the avatar.
How good a weapon and classes that uses it also depends on the enemy distribution and equipment in the game, and also depending on whether weapon triangle is in effect or not.
Case in point, swords are the king in FE1-6 because the game really favors them by throwing a lot of axe users, making it the more consistent and reliable option, and/or the drawbacks doesn't really affect them at all.
In contrast, every games after that pushes the sword way back to the lower tier because axe wielding enemies are much rarer after the obligatory bandit levels, their low Mts become more noticeable as the game goes on, and the weapon triangle are far more punishing in the newer games (if they had any).
Only game I really bothered to use axes was with Ross in Sacred Stones. Guy was too much of a beast to not use him, and the feast or famine playstyle suited him really well with the axe changes.
Bloody little shit solo'd the final boss with 4 crits from a brave axe. Baller.
All their weaknesses are gone: weight doesn't matter anymore, there's a million ways to boost accuracy and they're lack of variety is null since weapon exclusive effects are pretty rare.
So you're left with the highest might weapon will little drawbacks that are easily fixed anyway. Doesn't help that the best classline in the series gets to use them now and other good classes use them as well
The World gave birth to Hector and so the Axe became good.
Nice.
The only FE game I've played is Genealogy, and it's pretty obvious what they were doing with axes in that game: they wanted you to view them as the "enemy standard weapon." Since it's the first game with the weapon triangle, they start you out with a ton of swird users against a ton of axe enemies, with a lance and axe user of your own as specialists. When a rare sword or lance enemy appears, you send in Lex and Quan to take them out
Love the video, but what on earth are those Three Houses builds?!
It was a draft where I let stream chat pick the builds lol
@@actuallizard Three Houses is certainly the perfect game to do that, but I don't think I'll ever be able to shake the image of dancer Hubert from my mind
One thing you didn't speak about in Engage is that the weapon triangle is BROKEN. And I could be wrong but it seems to me that ennemies have a lot more lances lances than to swords, so axes are at a really big advantage here.
Headphone warning for 19:45 .
Repping my weapon! Also where is beloved PUGI?
Another boon for forging axes in DS emblem is how cheap it is. A max Strength iron axe costs less than 2000 gold, for instance.
Favorite FE weapon class~
You sound like the "Well, Actually" meme guy. He would play Fire Emblem too.
"Well, ActuallyLizard" .
I feel like you undersold Radiant Dawn axes a little here. For one, most of the best units in the game, Haar especially, use axes. Their accuracy issues are also pretty nonexistent in this game, only having 5 less hit than their Lance counterparts and 10 less hit than their sword counterparts. 80 hit on Iron Axes is almost equal to Iron Swords in a few games. The real kicker though is the weapon triangle gets removed on Hard (Maniac) mode, which in practice mainly serves to make axes even better and swords even worse. Axes lose their only downside, while swords lose their niche of reliability vs earlygame axe users. (Granted, purchasable physical 1-2 range swords exist in RD, so they're not THAT bad, axes just tend to dominate on the higher difficulties thanks to people like Ike, Titania, Jill and Haar. Nolan being one of the better Dawn Brigade units helps their impression too.)
Axes are amazing in Radiant Dawn tho. Haar and Titania basically destroy everything on their path and double with poleax which is the heavier variant with frequency.
Mentions Frederick as an Axe user, but not the Vaike?
I would like to see a sword version of this. While I would agree generally they are the weakest of the trio, I feel people often overexaggerated just how "bad" they are
Yeah I would agree that swords aren't as bad as people think in a lot of games. Maybe something to talk about in the future
GBA was peak weapon triangle
Great video, but i can no longer hear “axes” without it sounding weird
Axes are best in FE7 because FE7 gives you a badass axe lord in Hector.
The poleaxe is only availible from chapter 17 on. At that point there is "the sable order" and "camus the sable" left, which are cavalry heavy, however the latter ones have brave weapons and appear in groups which paired with axe users low defense and movement makes their utility questionable in my mind. From there on most players will either warp skip or wall chapters with a 30def general. 3 out of the 8 chapters with real access to the polexe have no cavalry at all. Having some questionable use, which is provided by lances as well and is limited to 1/5th of the game is not good coverage.
Still useful lol
HIILLDA, HIILLDA
Guy using Barst in the thumbnail like he wasnt among the pinnacles of early-FE axe users QQ
felt like you underrated thracia axes. you literally get a brave axe, a hammer, and a busted prf axe in chapter 1 of the game. magic swords are nice but they're not as strong as these axes in the early game unless you're eyvel, who is literally immortal in early thracia. Also, the most important part is that axe users will pretty much always have the highest con, so, especially on indoor maps, they can be absolutely necessary for capturing some enemies. If you happen to miss 4x, which means no asbel and brave sword, dagdar and osian will probably be your best boss killers for a good bit. I'd say lances are the worse than axes in thracia, since as an example, finn literally cannot use his prf on an indoor map.
Personally I’d put windsweep over any combat art axes have in 3 houses barring the obvious raging storm but wind sweep is limited to the main character a dlc character and 2 route specific characters so 🤷♂️. And tomahawks are still pretty effective 1-2 range in engage and are preferable if you don’t have magic as your dominant stat. And engage definitely seems to be one of the games where actually considering weapon type based on the unit makes a big difference. Not only do some units gain more weapon rank on a specific weapon type but engage’s character personal stats are basically half of what they would be in other games to put more emphasis on class bases and growths and their weapons. Take etie for example. Her personal dex is awful but it’s sufficient for using accurate weapon types in an accurate class like bows in bow knight. Hammers accuracy is shaky at the best of times so even if you wanted an armor effective option on a bow knight etie you’d prefer armor slayer. And heaven forbid you reclass her out of the archer line she can hit single digit hit rates with axes without serious effort in hit fixing which gets rid of all the benefits of switching her to something like warrior since she’d gain more might from being able to use her skills on anything other then hit+30 and divine pulse and having a strength stat is the one thing she innately does well she doesn’t need to fix that. Meanwhile someone like lapis hits like a wet noodle but is very fast and accurate. She loves the axe classes strength fixing her she can provide the speed that those classes don’t innately provide
Axes are my favorite Valentian weapon
Barst slander will not be tolerated
11:34 They are not bad at all. The game is filled with lances so axes are actually pretty useful. That is, once you get some good axe units.
Axes are at their peak in radiant dawn though. They are the strongest weapon type in a game with no weapon triangle and outside of the ultimate swords a unit without an axe is just worse than a unit with one
On Binding Blade to support your point while Iron Axes have 20 less hit than iron swords they only have 5 less hit than iron lances, same's true for hand axes vs javs, so axes really don't have that much of a disadvantage compared to lances and people don't really claim lances are unusable, though in fairness Killer Lances have 10 accuracy over Killer Axes gaining 5 hit over Iron Lances while Killer Axes have the same hit as Iron Axes, and Killer Lances only have 5 less hit than Killing Edges, and in the second half of the game you mostly want to be using Killing Weapons, so lances are better second half particularly with users like Miledy flying around, axes are still good though, I stan Gonazales and yeah Percival can always use an axe well.
Ok but units who use lances have good accuracy in general meanwhile most Axe users have garbage accuracy anyway
I think you're very severely understating the importance of axes in the Tellius games. While in Radiant dawn this is less of a feature, because damage isn't as much of a bottleneck due to the wider availability of high might weapons, in the hardest difficulty of Path of Radiance the really large gap in damage between axe and sword users is pretty severe, especially given that not only are most enemies lance or axe wielders, they also are among the bulkiest in the entire franchise.
This is exacerbated by the fact that forging up the might on a sword is twice as costly as that of an axe, and that's the single most expensive component of weapon forging. You can get a 16 might steel axe for like 4k gold, compared to 8k for a substantially weaker steel sword.
In PoR Maniac Mode I wound up giving axes to every single one of my promoted mount units and this pretty much felt like it was out of necessity.
FE12 also has some of the most class diversity in the franchise, so I don't really know if I'd say there's any weapon type that doesn't get at least a bit of a showing. Minerva is an incredible unit and she's largely defined by the large use she gets out of axes, the player character will often make pretty good use of axes, etc.
That said, axes don't really have a class with great caps so they tend to fall off in the super late game where that matters more. Not that it's that big of a decline, just that you'll have a lot of units in swordmaster for the base C weapon rank and good speed cap, so you don't see as many axes as often. I think your player unit is best used as your main berserker by this point, but it's been a while since my last run
lizard video!!
Where'd Tellius go
I can't believe he skipped Haar Emblem.
FE3H Also, Axes are needed to use the best class in game Wyvern Master, just check my all Wyvern Master meme build
8:31 Nintendo PC CONFIRMED!?!?
Why are Lances & Axes so damn heavy in FE4 compared to swords?
Another great video! Never really used axes until very recently to be honest, too slow, bad hit rate, and i just really like sword lol
Dual wielding axes look so sick, always thought pirates should just be the opposite of myrmidons and not just the better axe user than warriors. I think the formula for fe gba titles and after should have more lopsided stats like swords being a lot weaker but higher accuracy vice versa for axes, nearly double the might but a lot less accurate then spears would be in the middle.
The only reason axes are usable in fe6 is support bonuses. If you don't have support bonuses, you aren't going to get above 60 or 70 hit IF YOU'RE LUCKY.
Fe5 vouge axe? You mean the pugi axe? I will forever refer to Osians axe as the Pugi
Axes are really something in FE. Usually they sucked because low accuracy, but nowadays, they are ok, kinda risky, but ok to use in early game. But man do they really shine in mid and specially late game. Sometimes yeah, they get fucked over in early game (because accuracy or having the early maps full of swords units, RIP Vaike) but mid and late? Yeah, one of the best types of weapon to have. It's completely opposite to swords, because those are amazing at early, but mid and late they get outshined. The only characters that are noteworthy sword users only characters out there are the lords of the games OR crit characters like Felix or Lon'qu
I kinda hate how axes are so underrated when it comes to gaming. It’s not just a Fire Emblem thing, how we view swords as the dominant weapon in video games contributes to this too
Tbh an axe is a tool first, weapon second in a vast majority of cases
Swords and lances on the other hand are both explicitly designed to fight with
@@creativename1673 true! I just wish it had more representation l.
There aren't any iron lances in FE1. There is the lance and then the silver lance lol
How did this weapon type go from zero to hero? An axellent question....
I find it funny but also kinda sad that Marcus is the better earlygame axe user than the _actual_ earlygame axe mains... in both Elibe games. Marcus is just built different I guess.
Clearly skill is the best stat
It’s pretty nice to have access to axes.
I started really liking axe users in FE8 where Ross can basically solo the entire game with a steady stream of just iron and hand axes. Not to mention Garm being probably the best sacred weapon. High crit axe users have been my favorite characters in almost every game since.
Didn’t talk about the woodcutter’s axe in echoes, 0/10
Axe looks cool= axe is good
Vouge, though.