you forgot to mention, Pair Up is absurdly good for ike great aethers since the AI assumes that they can chain attack, even when pair up nullifies it so alot of enemies will just run into the ike tank and do 0 damage to set up 0 damage chain attacks and put themselves in the perfect space to get nuked for massive damage
I feel like I’ve said this on every one of these tier lists, but I’ll always advocate for early Healing Light on Qi Adepts (so basically just Framme/Jean). It’s incredibly cheap (200SP iirc?) and let’s them alternate between chain guard and heal every turn. Great for early game and is easily replaced later on
I also feel like he under values staff mastery just a bit because optimal play says you should turn pretty much every early game unit into a staff bot since you get fed better units mid game anyways.
@@russellg9622 Staff Mastery does get eclipsed by Divine Pulse though, as the units you want to make staff bots (especially Anna, Celine and Hortensia) tend to have high Luck stats. Divine Pulse also affects their attacks, so it's just a better skill to inherit, Staff Mastery won't help in that case. Put Staff Mastery on Framme or Jean in the early game and then swap it out.
Speed+5 vs Speedtaker still has the bond fragment issue. Only need 500 to get Speedtaker while Speed+5 is much much more. Late game bond fragments get tight when trying to build up all the units. Also late game maps it’s not too hard to have your Speedtaker units get fed early, and there are lots of units to player phase on. Only need 2-3 kills per unit to get equal, I typically am able to run 4 Speedtaker units with no issues, and by the time the boss comes most of the units have +10 speed. Also 100% agree best Ivy build is stacking both of the skills, she is absolutely insane with that + Byleth
Did you know you can get bond fragments at the bulletin board for achievements? Only realized on my 3rd playthrough got 62k bond fragments all at once.
@@richfamous9556 yea even with the board, I find fragments dry up towards the end. You need ~7k to max a ring. Slapping sword/lance power and speed+5 is 14k fragments for a single character (assuming they aren’t using Lyn or Roy/Sigurd). This limits the number of units you can do this on and also build units with Gentility+/Resolve+/Quick Reposte+ (which don’t have a great replacement like Speedtaker for Speed+). Caveat is I don’t do any somniel activities that give fragments other than the bulletin board.
It's kind of interesting to see how some of your tier lists evolve over time. I think it's nice that you keep remaking tier lists with this game because of just how quickly opinions of certain things in the game can easily change due to how open the game is with character progression. In the previous skill tier list, sword/lance agility were both in S tier along with avoid+, but now they are both in d tier. Although I have to ask, what were the main things that changed your opinion on both sword/lance agility? Last tier list you said that raising your avoid to not get hit almost breaks the game (for avoid+ and sword/lance agility), and now they are in d tier because they generally lack in enemy phase utility. I personally feel like the jump in placement of sword/lance agility needs to be explained a little bit more (especially because I can easily see sword agility having a niche with some sort of levin sword avoid build to use on enemy phase, or maybe a unit using primarily one weapon type might prefer to have sword/lance agility over avoid+). I'd definitely appreciate it if you explained in a little bit more detail.
Sword/Lance Agility are worse than Dual Support which does the same thing but scales better, is cheaper, has better availability to unlock on units, and can work on any unit and any weapon, at all times as long as you are adjacent to A/B supports.
I didn't know Eirika was this game's Brawl Meta Knight. So many of these placings are "and here's why Gentility/Lunar Brace is better". Half the video in and we finally get our first B tier. Because they do different things from Gentility.
Good List! I think Divine puls+ is really good. On both staff users and low accuracy units. And its cheap in SP however not so cheap in bond exp. Its so cheap that you can temporarly use it for example on ivy or diamant until you have more sp and then swap it out. Can save you an accuracy engrave for another unit.
Good list. Gentility is honestly insane since it does both damage fixing & make your units tankier both phases. You have great uptime on the engage state as long as you know how to manage your Eirika unit. Agree with your opinion on canter, it was really good before the well update. Canter is maybe a skill you would use if it was your first maddening run since its more forgiving / easier to use but you don't need it if you position well. Your units (whether combat, tank, or support) much prefer another S tier skill on this list instead of canter.
Depends on your play speed. If you are playing maps fast Canter is a linchpin because it gives you so many options that you cannot get without it. Full move/Rewarp/Canter is ridiculous in like 22 for example. Being able to move after taking an action is crazy. It’s basically like equipping 2 (or 3) more move.
I understand how risky running vantage can be (especially if the unit is using a dodge decreasing engraving) but to me there's just something satisfying seeing Panette crit the enemy on enemy phase when they tried initiating on her.
Played right it isn't even risky: Hit/crit engraves, holdout, wrath or reprisal, and the right character to take advantage will create a character that is only killable in very specific and rare circumstances. You can almost solo Maddening with one unit by saving up SP books until you get Ivy then slapping an engraved Thoron, Veronica, vantage, and holdout++ on her. The only threat at that point is the odd silence, fracture, or ballista.
Love sword, axe, and lance power but honestly I think Lunar Brace + is better Pros against power: -lower bond crystal cost iirc -multiple weapons -solar brace benefit -final boss on FX6 exists Yeah it doesn’t work on EP and might be less damage than sword lance axe power depending on the enemy’s defense (idk the math) but I’ll take the trade off Edit: weapon powers are better when bonded shielded gaming
I feel like Advance is being really underrated. It’s probably not higher than upper B but I don’t think it’s as situational as said. It lets your characters who have lower move than your cavalry and fliers in the early game pretty much push through to attack enemies anyway and mid game, it helps characters like Loise or Jade get an extra move to attack and potentially block a choke point you’d otherwise have to move away from to stay safe, and last it’s super cheap at 500sp so most characters could easily obtain it just from their first appearance. Again it’s def not as useful as reposition or other movement skills, but it’s definitely not D tier imo.
agree that gentility is the best skill in the game because it basically is a super strong version of divine inspiration especially when Ericka is engaged since it provides both damage enhancement and mitigation from one skill without any negatives.
It IS situational but I did use bow agility once on a bow knight Chloé. She used Emblem chrom and a radiant bow with Lucina engraving. She was so good at avoid tanking it was insane. It is true that avoid +30 from Marth is just better but getting maxed avoid +30 for only bows earlier was very useful on chapter 17, 20, … when you can only get actual avoid +30 as soon as chapter 23.
You are rating Divine Pulse way too low, it's the best hit-fixing skill in the entire game for only 250/500 SP. You can inherit the 250 version at base and then upgrade to DP+ once you get the Supreme Rod after Chapter 19 if Bond Fragments are your concern.
Pretty much agree. Also, i really dislike the Panette Leif vantage/wrath build. I threw resources into it, and i regrettet it. Need to play goldylocks to get it to activate, have to deal with hit issues, then you only have the benefits for 3 rounds while engaged, and it gets stopped by thoron, long bow and generals - and in some cases dodgy boys. Which there is plenty of in late game maps. Timarra more or less filled the same role as bait/enemy phaser, but just didnt die to a swift breeze and occationally when sandstorm procced killed the target. Your timarra build is usually gentility + vantage and with ike emblem? because that sounds like a really solid tanking timarra to me.
completely disagree panette vantage wrath build stomps every time I use it. Timerra on the other hand is a horrible unit and nobody can convince me otherwise.
@@youngdefiant Thats cool. Thou what i experienced was that longbow, thoron and generals usually nullified her handidly and usually end up in her death. Which is kind of sad when you put in 2 +5 killer weapons and 5000+ SP to get axe power +5 and wrath. Where as my experience with Timarra is she might get "countered" by the same things as mentioned earlier, but she usually have the bulk to survive and with lucky sandstorm procs she might actually kill the general, which panette didnt do.
I think Divine Pulse and Break Defenses is pretty underrated. Divine Pulse+ is extremely cheap, fixes staff hitrates and combat hitrates. Should be around Hit+30's ranking or slightly above, 2500 SP vs 500 SP is too big of a difference to overlook. And Break Defenses is looking at any unit that can double with a brave weapon and say "hey have a free full engage meter off 1 combat", emblems like Corrin or Sigurd that tend to be mostly Player Phase can have trouble recharging meter quickly (also only B tier though, that alone is Good better than OK but not Strong).
Good video but some weird things never get cleared up. Why does using Sword\L\A Power = getting more money? And what does the well "tier 4" have to do with skills? Are there certain items that guarantee getting the SP books?
Vantage being called overrated is kind of weird when it alongside holdout are key pieces in any Soren or Reprisal juggernaut build. Those are objectively the strongest builds in game, being the only ones that can reliably solo almost every map on Maddening. In a vacuum I could see it being overrated, but if skills are going to drop tiers because of the existence of Bravery and Gentility then Vantage should go up tiers because of the existence of Reprisal.
My biggest issue with inherited skills is that Canter is just too much of a MUST have. Movement and positioning is everything. Meaning, you really only have 1 slot to play with for 90% of your characters. Instead, I wish they had something like 3 inherited skill slots, but they were relegated to different categories: Damage, Defense, and Utility. Then, each inherited Skill slot would be targeted for a specific type. For instance, Canter would be Utility, but Tome Precision could be both Damage or Defense slottable, Gentility would be Defense slottable, ect. The auto includes are just too powerful and I want an excuse to have to run Skills that miss the cut, like all of the Precision Skills
“Must have” only if doing hit and run strats. You dont need to hit and run if you just give your damage units skills to one round, and then support units to protect them enemy phase.
@@Februaryshow much can a support unit that isn’t a bonded shield user do about your damage carry getting 2 shot? Canter is invaluable for setting up dances and goddess dances in a game where many skills only work on player phase.
@@AstraProc cool so you just fed into my example of not giving cantor to dps units hy listing only support units for cantor. You answered your own question
@@Februarys That's not what I said. Any unit who wants to be danced by either seidall or goddess dance will have a much easier time achieving it with canter, meaning they can kill more things. Setting up an efficient 4 way dance without canter on some carries sounds painful. Opting for gentility instead of canter could perhaps allow some of your units to live an extra hit, but even that is only situationally true and only really useful on bulkier units. I question how effective the extra damage it can offer is when you cant safely get out of enemy aggro range after a kill (due to no canter), meaning less opportunity to safely put that extra damage to use Honestly, canter allows for such aggressive player phase pushes, that the end result is probably the same as an enemy phase team, in that a similar amount of enemies are left standing after one whole turn.
@@IcedCoffeeGaming ok how do you get 6-8k sp on units? I’ve cut my group down to 12 and I’ll add veyle and run another when it gets to 14. Should I just make those last 2 support bots then? Hard to get say 8-9 carries.
run Veyle as the byleth unit to goddess dance and instruct when not engaged with avoid or kill with her tome when not dancing especially true if you dont have DLC, if you have DLC you can do something else where you can make Veyle a crit unit with her tome, use Lucina on Alear as either a Griffon knight or Martial master to chain bond support the best magic units like Ivy, Hortensia, Anna and Pandreo (the last 2 need to be Griffon Knights w levon sword if Alear is one too, so basically the 2 dragon units are the support units in end game for me, I dont like to use Framme to chain bond since she only has support with some people and Alear has divine inspiration passive. @@MNtoCali
@@IcedCoffeeGamingwhat’s that second icon the orange +? Also on a tank if you have Resolve + gentility what emblem ring would you equip like a lyn to speed fix or a Leif for adaptability?
you forgot to mention, Pair Up is absurdly good for ike great aethers since the AI assumes that they can chain attack, even when pair up nullifies it so alot of enemies will just run into the ike tank and do 0 damage to set up 0 damage chain attacks and put themselves in the perfect space to get nuked for massive damage
I feel like I’ve said this on every one of these tier lists, but I’ll always advocate for early Healing Light on Qi Adepts (so basically just Framme/Jean). It’s incredibly cheap (200SP iirc?) and let’s them alternate between chain guard and heal every turn. Great for early game and is easily replaced later on
Agreed feels like a no brainer
I also feel like he under values staff mastery just a bit because optimal play says you should turn pretty much every early game unit into a staff bot since you get fed better units mid game anyways.
Was gonna post this! I always put this on my framme and jean
@@russellg9622 Staff Mastery does get eclipsed by Divine Pulse though, as the units you want to make staff bots (especially Anna, Celine and Hortensia) tend to have high Luck stats.
Divine Pulse also affects their attacks, so it's just a better skill to inherit, Staff Mastery won't help in that case.
Put Staff Mastery on Framme or Jean in the early game and then swap it out.
Speed+5 vs Speedtaker still has the bond fragment issue. Only need 500 to get Speedtaker while Speed+5 is much much more. Late game bond fragments get tight when trying to build up all the units. Also late game maps it’s not too hard to have your Speedtaker units get fed early, and there are lots of units to player phase on. Only need 2-3 kills per unit to get equal, I typically am able to run 4 Speedtaker units with no issues, and by the time the boss comes most of the units have +10 speed.
Also 100% agree best Ivy build is stacking both of the skills, she is absolutely insane with that + Byleth
Did you know you can get bond fragments at the bulletin board for achievements? Only realized on my 3rd playthrough got 62k bond fragments all at once.
@@richfamous9556 yea even with the board, I find fragments dry up towards the end. You need ~7k to max a ring. Slapping sword/lance power and speed+5 is 14k fragments for a single character (assuming they aren’t using Lyn or Roy/Sigurd). This limits the number of units you can do this on and also build units with Gentility+/Resolve+/Quick Reposte+ (which don’t have a great replacement like Speedtaker for Speed+). Caveat is I don’t do any somniel activities that give fragments other than the bulletin board.
Fishing later in the game can get you 10k bonds per reset.
It's kind of interesting to see how some of your tier lists evolve over time. I think it's nice that you keep remaking tier lists with this game because of just how quickly opinions of certain things in the game can easily change due to how open the game is with character progression.
In the previous skill tier list, sword/lance agility were both in S tier along with avoid+, but now they are both in d tier.
Although I have to ask, what were the main things that changed your opinion on both sword/lance agility? Last tier list you said that raising your avoid to not get hit almost breaks the game (for avoid+ and sword/lance agility), and now they are in d tier because they generally lack in enemy phase utility. I personally feel like the jump in placement of sword/lance agility needs to be explained a little bit more (especially because I can easily see sword agility having a niche with some sort of levin sword avoid build to use on enemy phase, or maybe a unit using primarily one weapon type might prefer to have sword/lance agility over avoid+).
I'd definitely appreciate it if you explained in a little bit more detail.
Sword/Lance Agility are worse than Dual Support which does the same thing but scales better, is cheaper, has better availability to unlock on units, and can work on any unit and any weapon, at all times as long as you are adjacent to A/B supports.
I didn't know Eirika was this game's Brawl Meta Knight. So many of these placings are "and here's why Gentility/Lunar Brace is better". Half the video in and we finally get our first B tier. Because they do different things from Gentility.
Good List! I think Divine puls+ is really good. On both staff users and low accuracy units. And its cheap in SP however not so cheap in bond exp. Its so cheap that you can temporarly use it for example on ivy or diamant until you have more sp and then swap it out. Can save you an accuracy engrave for another unit.
Agreed. It's a super powerful ability that should be on anyone with mediocre dex. Super helpful for pinning down dodgy sword masters and wolf knights.
Etie's passive is S tier, since it's Etie.
Good list. Gentility is honestly insane since it does both damage fixing & make your units tankier both phases. You have great uptime on the engage state as long as you know how to manage your Eirika unit.
Agree with your opinion on canter, it was really good before the well update. Canter is maybe a skill you would use if it was your first maddening run since its more forgiving / easier to use but you don't need it if you position well. Your units (whether combat, tank, or support) much prefer another S tier skill on this list instead of canter.
Depends on your play speed. If you are playing maps fast Canter is a linchpin because it gives you so many options that you cannot get without it. Full move/Rewarp/Canter is ridiculous in like 22 for example. Being able to move after taking an action is crazy. It’s basically like equipping 2 (or 3) more move.
I understand how risky running vantage can be (especially if the unit is using a dodge decreasing engraving) but to me there's just something satisfying seeing Panette crit the enemy on enemy phase when they tried initiating on her.
I agree vantage is very good and its pros outweigh its cons.
Played right it isn't even risky: Hit/crit engraves, holdout, wrath or reprisal, and the right character to take advantage will create a character that is only killable in very specific and rare circumstances.
You can almost solo Maddening with one unit by saving up SP books until you get Ivy then slapping an engraved Thoron, Veronica, vantage, and holdout++ on her. The only threat at that point is the odd silence, fracture, or ballista.
Dagger power would be so good
Love sword, axe, and lance power but honestly I think Lunar Brace + is better
Pros against power:
-lower bond crystal cost iirc
-multiple weapons
-solar brace benefit
-final boss on FX6 exists
Yeah it doesn’t work on EP and might be less damage than sword lance axe power depending on the enemy’s defense (idk the math) but I’ll take the trade off
Edit: weapon powers are better when bonded shielded gaming
Healing light on an early game, non Lucina Framme or Jean is sneakily good
Luna and sol finally got its recognition
I feel like Advance is being really underrated. It’s probably not higher than upper B but I don’t think it’s as situational as said. It lets your characters who have lower move than your cavalry and fliers in the early game pretty much push through to attack enemies anyway and mid game, it helps characters like Loise or Jade get an extra move to attack and potentially block a choke point you’d otherwise have to move away from to stay safe, and last it’s super cheap at 500sp so most characters could easily obtain it just from their first appearance. Again it’s def not as useful as reposition or other movement skills, but it’s definitely not D tier imo.
agree that gentility is the best skill in the game because it basically is a super strong version of divine inspiration especially when Ericka is engaged since it provides both damage enhancement and mitigation from one skill without any negatives.
It IS situational but I did use bow agility once on a bow knight Chloé. She used Emblem chrom and a radiant bow with Lucina engraving. She was so good at avoid tanking it was insane. It is true that avoid +30 from Marth is just better but getting maxed avoid +30 for only bows earlier was very useful on chapter 17, 20, … when you can only get actual avoid +30 as soon as chapter 23.
You are rating Divine Pulse way too low, it's the best hit-fixing skill in the entire game for only 250/500 SP. You can inherit the 250 version at base and then upgrade to DP+ once you get the Supreme Rod after Chapter 19 if Bond Fragments are your concern.
hi mister coffee happy new year!!
Happy new year!
thinking about getting back into this game but every time i think about the somniel i change my mind.
Pretty much agree.
Also, i really dislike the Panette Leif vantage/wrath build. I threw resources into it, and i regrettet it. Need to play goldylocks to get it to activate, have to deal with hit issues, then you only have the benefits for 3 rounds while engaged, and it gets stopped by thoron, long bow and generals - and in some cases dodgy boys. Which there is plenty of in late game maps.
Timarra more or less filled the same role as bait/enemy phaser, but just didnt die to a swift breeze and occationally when sandstorm procced killed the target.
Your timarra build is usually gentility + vantage and with ike emblem? because that sounds like a really solid tanking timarra to me.
I’ve tried the Panette crit build in back to back playthroughs and completely agree. She falls behind the rest of the army consistently
completely disagree panette vantage wrath build stomps every time I use it. Timerra on the other hand is a horrible unit and nobody can convince me otherwise.
@@youngdefiant Thats cool. Thou what i experienced was that longbow, thoron and generals usually nullified her handidly and usually end up in her death. Which is kind of sad when you put in 2 +5 killer weapons and 5000+ SP to get axe power +5 and wrath. Where as my experience with Timarra is she might get "countered" by the same things as mentioned earlier, but she usually have the bulk to survive and with lucky sandstorm procs she might actually kill the general, which panette didnt do.
I say strength plus is A tier because damage fixing is important for builds.
I think Divine Pulse and Break Defenses is pretty underrated. Divine Pulse+ is extremely cheap, fixes staff hitrates and combat hitrates. Should be around Hit+30's ranking or slightly above, 2500 SP vs 500 SP is too big of a difference to overlook. And Break Defenses is looking at any unit that can double with a brave weapon and say "hey have a free full engage meter off 1 combat", emblems like Corrin or Sigurd that tend to be mostly Player Phase can have trouble recharging meter quickly (also only B tier though, that alone is Good better than OK but not Strong).
Good video but some weird things never get cleared up.
Why does using Sword\L\A Power = getting more money?
And what does the well "tier 4" have to do with skills? Are there certain items that guarantee getting the SP books?
Vantage being called overrated is kind of weird when it alongside holdout are key pieces in any Soren or Reprisal juggernaut build. Those are objectively the strongest builds in game, being the only ones that can reliably solo almost every map on Maddening.
In a vacuum I could see it being overrated, but if skills are going to drop tiers because of the existence of Bravery and Gentility then Vantage should go up tiers because of the existence of Reprisal.
Even with avoid 30 and etc I still get hit I hate maddening hit rates so much.
has your opinion on the dlc inheritables changed at all
My biggest issue with inherited skills is that Canter is just too much of a MUST have. Movement and positioning is everything. Meaning, you really only have 1 slot to play with for 90% of your characters.
Instead, I wish they had something like 3 inherited skill slots, but they were relegated to different categories: Damage, Defense, and Utility. Then, each inherited Skill slot would be targeted for a specific type. For instance, Canter would be Utility, but Tome Precision could be both Damage or Defense slottable, Gentility would be Defense slottable, ect. The auto includes are just too powerful and I want an excuse to have to run Skills that miss the cut, like all of the Precision Skills
Canter is not needed if you support attackers, I stopped using it a while ago
“Must have” only if doing hit and run strats. You dont need to hit and run if you just give your damage units skills to one round, and then support units to protect them enemy phase.
@@Februaryshow much can a support unit that isn’t a bonded shield user do about your damage carry getting 2 shot? Canter is invaluable for setting up dances and goddess dances in a game where many skills only work on player phase.
@@AstraProc cool so you just fed into my example of not giving cantor to dps units hy listing only support units for cantor. You answered your own question
@@Februarys That's not what I said. Any unit who wants to be danced by either seidall or goddess dance will have a much easier time achieving it with canter, meaning they can kill more things. Setting up an efficient 4 way dance without canter on some carries sounds painful.
Opting for gentility instead of canter could perhaps allow some of your units to live an extra hit, but even that is only situationally true and only really useful on bulkier units. I question how effective the extra damage it can offer is when you cant safely get out of enemy aggro range after a kill (due to no canter), meaning less opportunity to safely put that extra damage to use Honestly, canter allows for such aggressive player phase pushes, that the end result is probably the same as an enemy phase team, in that a similar amount of enemies are left standing after one whole turn.
inheritable skills is cool part 4
You know which skill you underrated- gentility
Bond ring skill tier list?
Where is adaptability?
That cannot be inherited
Why do you value Speed +5 over str +6?
Build/class/unit dependent, STR+ is worse than lance/sword/axe power or gentility typically.
I value those around the same.
@@IcedCoffeeGaming ok how do you get 6-8k sp on units? I’ve cut my group down to 12 and I’ll add veyle and run another when it gets to 14. Should I just make those last 2 support bots then? Hard to get say 8-9 carries.
run Veyle as the byleth unit to goddess dance and instruct when not engaged with avoid or kill with her tome when not dancing especially true if you dont have DLC, if you have DLC you can do something else where you can make Veyle a crit unit with her tome, use Lucina on Alear as either a Griffon knight or Martial master to chain bond support the best magic units like Ivy, Hortensia, Anna and Pandreo (the last 2 need to be Griffon Knights w levon sword if Alear is one too, so basically the 2 dragon units are the support units in end game for me, I dont like to use Framme to chain bond since she only has support with some people and Alear has divine inspiration passive. @@MNtoCali
Actually, I guess maybe this is C tier, actually.
Sandstorm S tier?
Crit+30-35 at all times turns out to be good
@@IcedCoffeeGamingwhat’s that second icon the orange +? Also on a tank if you have Resolve + gentility what emblem ring would you equip like a lyn to speed fix or a Leif for adaptability?
meta is not the best thing to do, it is just what the majourity of people are doing, which is very rarely ever the best thing to do