I think alot of Alear's strengths for support lie in their actual flexibility. They're not so far behind in actual combat that you can't "fix them"... BUT having access to dragon bonus, the entire full suite of supports, and an amazing personal just gives them so many paths to enhance your entire army rather than just themselves. You can go a rally bot with Byleth or Chrom, or you can be a swiss army knife unit with Corrin, heck, you can fully lean into the dragon bonus for emblem summons on Veronica; and Alear is uniquely poised to be in this position in your army. Veyle comes so comically late, Nel and Rafal lack the powerful support personal skill, and frankly they have the dragonstones that Alear doesn't anyway. Honestly, the biggest problem is that these are all mutually exclusive; you only get 1 emblem ring, and you only get 1 action a turn. The only nitpick I have with using, say, a high priest or sage Alear specifically for staves is that they only REALLY bring their personal skill over others doing the same thing(Framme, Mauvier, Gregory, etc.). Plus, they don't even have the *best* personal for staff users. So I tend to like to focus on other utility outside of just staff use. Even with that nitpick though, their personal still carries a lot of weight, it's still completely fantastic, and still makes them one of the premium staff users.
I have only played the game on hard, but Alear having a ponytail is one of the most important parts of a build to me. Her hair is just so bad when it is down and I don't want to play as mAlear. I believe mostly just the cavalry classes give Alear a ponytail, so the only build I would consider from this list would be mage knight. Honestly, though, mage knight Alear with Micaiah and convoy access would probably be pretty good
others have said this but griffin knight is worth trying out. clear the way is great for “adjacent ally” personal skills (Alear, citrinne, lapis, merrin)
In my Maddening run, I used Divine Dragon Camilla Alear. She was 100% support, being able to use succor, stone, and smoke dragon veins were extremely powerful. She can heal, she can make people bulky, she can make choke points, and she’s not terrible if caught up in combat. And some great is that she uses Camilla engage very well. Gaining flight allows her to position more freely for any veins she would want to use and Camilla’s Axe actually hit very hard from my Alear, as did the massive flame nuke Engage skill. Don’t think I’ll ever be able to find a build for Alear I like more.
Mage knight is an interesting option that I surprisingly hadn’t considered yet, I do believe in healer Alear, I like high priest for the fists, but I don’t mind Sage, Griffin night sounds interesting too but I’m not sure lol My biggest thing about this video is Veronica, I consider warrior to be best class to use her in long bow warrior Alear also checks off the range & positioning support while also giving backup attacks, you’ll still be able to heal (when engaged) & your summons will all have the duel strike ability so you don’t have to worry about not having enough back up units or having them in the right places Plus the contract ability will allow you to backup for the targeted unit, even if you Canter away from them, giving even more flexibility! also just a sidenote, let’s not forget book of worlds, it only takes one wait to get that free freeze engaged or not, *even if you miss it still triggers* Veronica is a lot, it’s hard to decide which option to go with between Healing, summoning, & Contracting, but I’ve still seen a lot of success, just think of Veronica as your third healer if that helps also through testing it appears classes only get one item to use, either a weapon *or* a staff, so as long as you don’t get unlucky with like a martial master with heal, you will always benefit from it I actually prefer colorless summons, simply because of wolf knight or thieves, backup daggers are great but I never really sell them as something I should build a unit up for, plus you could also pick up Lyn, Lucina, or a second Veronica for a lot of support Also, don’t quote me on this, but I had a level one Clanne use Veronica and I never saw a three star, I kept getting five stars, I think it’s because when it comes to summons, five stars are +2 levels above the Summoner, four stars are equal to, & three stars are -2 levels below, but since you can’t go below one, I think that’s one way to remove three stars lmao a level three Roy could not be killed and in fact helped me kill Hector, contract does give experience so you can’t do this infinitely, unless you make sure the unit doesn’t level up and re-classed them between backup classes to forever stay at level one, that would be insane but hey, no three stars without needing to be a dragon 👀
I feel like you are overhyping how good divinely inspiring is. Good units should be able to 1 round without it, even on no DLC runs. It is bonus damage that should be nice to have, not something your team should rely on. At best it should be used to confirm kills, attacking around it is kind of weird, you could achieve the same result by just using backup units, as chain assist would give similar bonus damage. 5:38 I believe the DLC is skewing perception of build effectiveness, without Veronica this build does no damage and makes Alear a low utility staff bot. This Alear has 25 magic WITH MAG+5, and Elfire of all things. 6 BLD, this looks like a DEAD UNIT. A base Hortensia reclassed to Sage or on Slepnir rider/Ivy on Lindwurm/Sage would put in more work for zero effort and could thoron debuff/canter for better staff bot/damage utility. Thoron + Canter/Draconic Hex on Citrinne, Ivy, Hort while also staff botting is huge value/damage/utility for low investment, deals good damage an entire run, and also lets you set up easy boss kills and lets your utilities also kill. Elfire +1 with Reprisal + will deal almost no damage with this MAG, Heal should be Mend/Treat as it isn't that much more expensive and can usually fully restore a dude, restore should be on Convoy as you can convoy it out as needed, rescue is good, but outside of rescue this build lacks damage of an actual magic unit running bolg/thoron and isn't playing into Alear's growths which is a physical combat carry. If we want the raw utility route, Jean/Framme are free staff bots that can chain guard, enabling more aggressive plays on maddening while producing their own XP from staffing/chain guarding. Framme can also 1 round with Flashing Fist + Lunar Brace and can dual support AVO tank bonded shield Chloe/Alear/Kagetsu. I am a bit surprised you aren't using Alear as a Lucina Bonded shield unit on Qi Adept as this would be guaranteed AVO stacking as Alear can hit A Support with every unit.
Chief I'm just highlighting the strength and viability of support Alear since she's always in the army and has a good support skill. Nothing you're saying here changes that. 1. Divinely Inspiring isn't a build around skill for your army, but it is for Alear in this build as it makes good units great, which is the point of the video. 2. I have units that are ready to chain attack, as seen in the timestamp you posted. And why not get all the bonus damage you can by using both anyway? 3. The DLC has no bearing here, and Veronica could be swapped out for any other support Emblem. I just had her on Alear because she's fun. 4. Support Alear is about SUPPORTING, her offense is low priority. I'm only on High Priest here as I was experimenting with its higher Staff rank after running MM for the majority of the run, thus the low MAG. 5. Yes, there are other good support units. They aren't the point of the video, and them existing doesn't invalidate what Alear can do. 6. Why nitpick the item's on Alear when, like you pointed out, she has convoy and can grab whatever she wants? 7. Lucina was already in use for Jean's build. Thanks for the input, but you're not telling me anything I don't already know.
@@TitaniumLegman with canter on Alear you can reposition them whether they attack from 1 or 2 range allowing you to set up good personal skill activations. So there’s not really any added flexibility with the range, and staying in the dragon class is much more important than a mediocre magic stat, 20% personal growth and 0 base is trash compared to units like Citrinne, Ivy, and Pandreo. Hell even some other physical units have better magic and/or speed such as Chloe. Support Alear isn’t invalid but I still think they’re better suited to abusing the dragon class. Lucina, Corrin, and Roy really benefit from those bonuses, and I assume the DLC emblems are much better off for it as well.
@@Bunnymafia8150 I would much rather have a stronger frontliner and use Alear for support, whether that be Staff or Dragon it works either way. Martial Master is really my favorite thus far, but we'll see if that opinion changes after I'm done using Sage.
@@TitaniumLegman my question is HOW much of a stronger frontliner anyone else is than Alear. They have the most access to experience out of anyone in the entire game along with good growths in strength and speed. You brought up that 45% strength growth at the start as if it was bad, but you’ve gotta realize that even a 10% difference in growth only amounts to 1 stat every 10 levels. And the fact that Alear gains the most levels out of any unit in the game outside of someone using Micaiah makes it so that they’ll probably be up there in terms of stats. Definitely not the highest but still better than most other frontline units Especially considering that they’re the best candidates for both the Marth and Lucina rings which both have engage weapons doubling exp gain. Alear will just naturally out level everybody else if you use the rings optimally, which will only allow them to snowball further. So Alear will probably be only behind powerhouses like Kagetsu and Pandreo. In which case you won’t want to gimp one of your highest level units by forcing them to rely on their weaker offensive stat. Besides it’s not like being a frontline unit is an exclusive job, just because Alear isn’t the best frontline unit doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make them one, on a 12 man team you’d probably want 2 staff/magic users, a bow user, a dancer, and the rest filled out with ground/flier combat units. I’d say even if Alear was only your 5th best fighter, they’d give a better contribution doing that than mediocre support work considering their personal skill has pretty much the same application in either role.
@@TitaniumLegman Support Alear is a build, but high priest lacks utility that better options have, or in some cases damage. A staff bot that isn't Ivy/Hort should just go to Martial Master for chain guard, it also plays into Alears mixed growths well and would enable 1 rounding with Lunar Brace/Flashing Fist everything aside from armors/high DEF enemies. You also have divine dragon Byleth build which enables Alear to super instruct/stat boost on dance as well as provide damage boost passively but go for some damage on physical swords to some degree. I think the main issue is you've made an assertion that Alear is not good at combat and that support is Alear's BEST role without showing a use case that supports this claim. 1. I don't agree divinely inspiring is so good you should play around it, it is a nice buff when needed you CAN play around it, but arguably strong units/basic tactics are better than anchoring +3 damage for your team to fight around. 2. You can use both 3. Without DLC the build in question is worse than any magic user staffbot as these can deal high damage on thoron, debuff, canter, quality time, while staffbotting at B rank which is Warp/Rescue 4. Experimenting with builds is fine but claiming something is the best and showing a result that isn't competitive with other widely known Alear builds, and especially one that works against Alear's growths is hurting your argument/claim. I'm not even refuting that support is one of alears best roles, I just think the build in question is undermining your assertion. I think Alear is equally good at hard carry 1 rounding and support, so it is just an issue of preference/what you want to run. 5. In terms of what they bring to the table it is worth pointing out, you could also be using Alear in a similar way. Thoron + Debuff and staffbot, though Alear would just have worse MAG vs mages. 6. You can swap out the items but you are showing which items you believe to be good on this build, it is a framing issue. 7. That is fine if another unit is using Lucina but I feel like the real missed opportunity for this video was Martial Master Alear + Lucina, as a similar build on Framme is insanely strong, so on Alear it would just be better due to Alear having A supports with every unit and also damage boosting on bonded shield.
"Why not both??" Griffin Knight gives Sword AND Staves, plus Convoy to be able to pull any staff you need for any situation, plus Levin Sword to hit with decent magic at range, plus Clear the Way to help bring your other units with you and synergize with Divinely Inspired ... and you still get to keep Liberation in case you need to throw down in melee. Now THAT'S utility, my good sir.
Because griffin knight isn’t both. If you aren’t staying divine for dragon bonuses alear’s very poor strength needs addressing and griffin knight helps none with that. Either at least a 20% class strength growth or brave assist is needed to support their offense in a reclass. That has neither. Griffin knight is pure support specifically it purely supports halberdier pincer attack shenanigans if you are doing something like halberdier Louis
@@ultimaterecoil1136 I think you missed the Levin Sword part of what I stated. At least in my GK Alear on Maddening, anything she cannot one-round with Liberation +1, she can one-round with Levin Sword +1. It actually takes a bit of discipline on my part to keep the build from stealing kills from the rest of the team. That's where all the support stuff I mentioned helps. But I can understand how everyone's mileage may vary.
True, but I do like having Chain Guard with Martial Master for extra defense, while still having convoy access AND better Staff rank for staff utility. If you wanted to have Swords and Staves Griffin could work for sure, but it's certainly not my first pick.
@@TitaniumLegman If you are still doing Maddening runs, give it a try for a couple of maps, if you have not done so already. You may find that you won't be needing to use those high ranking B or more staves on Alear when Framme or Pandreo can saddle right up behind you because of Clear The Way. Again, your mileage may vary.
This gave me some really fun ideas for my next playthrough! It's a bit too late to change my current maddening build but support Alear sounds really fun (and she looks so cute as a sage too🥺)!
This is extremely well argued actually, you covered most of the counterarguments I thought of when reading the title before watching it. Might give Support Alear a go next time Also don't mind the comments about your pronunciation man, I also have my own 3-syllable way of saying the name (ah-lay-arr) and refuse to do otherwise
Support Alear is fun! I get annoyed when people act like there’s not many ways to play… yeah Alear can get good Dragon type offensive bonuses too, nobody is stopping anyone from playing this game more than once to try out different team compositions
alear with lucina bonded shield and dual support makes the diff, have supp bonus from every unit, gives+3 atk if u strong characters are flying, make alear grifiing knight, with horses, paladin alear is amazing, but u can use bow knight if u need archers
I have kept my Alear Dragon class with Lucina ring because I like the stat bonus speed and Dex and kit she provides. I build my Alear to hit with both Levin sword and Willie Gantz weapon with high avoid. So pretty much dodges a lot of things except chain attacks. Also bonded shield is a godsend too also the cabin attack that Alear gets from Lucina has helped me a lot too. I cannot use any other ring besides Lucina with Alear otherwise I would of used Marth. I had no idea how good Lucina ring really was until I got her and learned how to use her ring.
This seems pretty great. I'd probably prefer griffin still for levin sword and flying. Obviously a higher staff rank is nice but a lot of the best staffs are c rank anyway.
Just a question but if Alear changes class he loses the Dragon Status does he not? Or does he still gain that bonus from being a dragon even if he’s a Mystical or Qi Adept now?
Tbh i kinda made Alear a byleth dance/instruct bot on my first maddening run until I got veyle and the alear emblem. I'm thinking on my next run I'll probably run Alear on wyvern to until the byleth ring and then reclass to divine dragon, 3+ to every stat is no joke.
Because of their stats, pure combat isn’t what you want out of Alear, but I think the limitations placed on pure support is also bad for them for the same reason. What about combat support? Hero and Warrior have a lot to offer here because of their unit type, class skills, and Dual Assist/+. The ability to participate in Chain Attacks can be insanely strong; Boucheron is used a lot in the early game not because he has good combat potential but because he can provide chip damage multiple times in a single turn. Both Brave Assist and Merciless are good at dealing consistent damage; 2 Chain Attack chances at max HP and extra damage on broken foes are good ways to deplete the massive HPs of enemies on Maddening. Dual Assist and its upgrade give Heroes and Warriors the most bang for their buck because they don’t even need to move to contribute to combat (especially if they equip ranged weapons). As for everything else, Hero’s stats don’t really matter except for level to get Brave Assist and HP to keep it active, Warrior prioritize Strength which pairs pretty well with Alear’s Speed growth and I think these options make the most out of Alear’s personal skill as allies can attack next to them to get the damage boost while they provide Chain Attack chip.
I remember when I was experimenting on a different save file, and I made Alear a wolf knight with Micaiah as her emblem. I dunno, I thought it was nice poisoning foes, activating divinely inspiring as well for extra damage, and still having staves. She even gets to keep her unique swords. I don’t play maddening though, so I don’t know how effective this build would be.
I love Mage Knight Alear. With the introduction of the Well, you can easily get Sword Power 5 and Levin Sword +5 is cheap. That's more damage than any Tome can push. You also get the Sword Power boost if you want to use your physical swords to kill mages. Now if im using DLC and a combat build, I'll run Camilla for my emblem. Otherwise, I think Micaiah is great. Especially since her most important bit, giving us staff access, isn't hurt by never engaging her if you use Engage+.
The main thing that keeps me from reclassing Alear is the dragon bonuses. It just feels so stupid that its not a skill and instead tied to Alears unique class. Like seriously just make it a bonus on his personal skill. Maybe I'll give one of these alears a try at some point.
Interesting ideas as I consider my first ever Maddening playthrough but on my Hard runs at least I always run Alear as and avoid support with their fists. It isn't the most damage but until getting Braves gets easier Steel fists build that gauge like no other, which means more time for Veronica full party healing and summoning.
3:54-3:55 what do you mean by "on-line"? This is the 2nd video where I heard someone mention that. I'm playing on an emulator on my phone, so I don't have access to "on-line stuff", other than being able to access the dlc (because i was able to get it to work for my emulator after downloading it)
By online they mean is usable. If something comes "online" it means that it can now be used. In this case it means alear’s personal is something that’s always doin g something where framme’s only does so with alear.
Hero Alear. Enemies just have a 20% HP reduction in almost all maps thanks to DA+. Maybe give them Chrom/Tiki for Rally Spectrum/Dragon forme respectively. Or stick with the usual Byleth/Veronica but I think they're a bit wasted on Alear because they want to go first. Byleth wants to go 5th at the earliest and Veronica wants to go second at the earliest for the most effective uses.
If you want to do a divine dragon build, there's a lot of strong potential. It really depends on if you have strong support options already lined up. If not, I love support Alear. But she's strong either way.
That's a very solid base. You could slot either form of Alear in there, depending on how it all shakes out, but you do have a lot of good support as it is.@@jaimereupert4247
@@TitaniumLegman so which would be the better support build, Divine Dragon (with access to all the unique Emblem skills), Sage, Mage Knight, Griffin Knight or High Priest? My Maddening classic deathless team, Alear (Support), Seadall (Dancer), Hortensia (Healer), Framme (Bonded Shield), Yunaka (Avoid Tank), Anna (Gold Farming), Alcryst (Archer/Claude Bond Ring/Long Bow), Zelestia (Mage), Diamant/Kagetsu (Sword physical attacker/tank?), Nel & Rafal (Dragonstones/whatever I need). Cholé?
@@jaimereupert4247 if you're running Nel and Rafal I'd let them be your dragon type emblem Bearers. They're both more suited to it imo. I'd make Alear high priest or Martial Master to make the most of her personal skill, while also getting more good staff usage. If you want her to be a more offensive support, then go Griffin w/Levin sword.
Opinions?! In MY echo chamber?!?!?!?!
My favourite game. Fire emblem echo chamber: shadows of Valentia
I think alot of Alear's strengths for support lie in their actual flexibility. They're not so far behind in actual combat that you can't "fix them"... BUT having access to dragon bonus, the entire full suite of supports, and an amazing personal just gives them so many paths to enhance your entire army rather than just themselves.
You can go a rally bot with Byleth or Chrom, or you can be a swiss army knife unit with Corrin, heck, you can fully lean into the dragon bonus for emblem summons on Veronica; and Alear is uniquely poised to be in this position in your army. Veyle comes so comically late, Nel and Rafal lack the powerful support personal skill, and frankly they have the dragonstones that Alear doesn't anyway. Honestly, the biggest problem is that these are all mutually exclusive; you only get 1 emblem ring, and you only get 1 action a turn.
The only nitpick I have with using, say, a high priest or sage Alear specifically for staves is that they only REALLY bring their personal skill over others doing the same thing(Framme, Mauvier, Gregory, etc.). Plus, they don't even have the *best* personal for staff users. So I tend to like to focus on other utility outside of just staff use. Even with that nitpick though, their personal still carries a lot of weight, it's still completely fantastic, and still makes them one of the premium staff users.
I have only played the game on hard, but Alear having a ponytail is one of the most important parts of a build to me. Her hair is just so bad when it is down and I don't want to play as mAlear.
I believe mostly just the cavalry classes give Alear a ponytail, so the only build I would consider from this list would be mage knight. Honestly, though, mage knight Alear with Micaiah and convoy access would probably be pretty good
I hear ya on that, and I'm happy to report that Sage Alear also gets the ponytail! 😁
others have said this but griffin knight is worth trying out. clear the way is great for “adjacent ally” personal skills (Alear, citrinne, lapis, merrin)
Martial Master Alear is something I really had fun running. massive support utility and an epic punching MC is so fun to play.
Absolutely, can't overstate how fun MM Alear was for me as well.
In my Maddening run, I used Divine Dragon Camilla Alear. She was 100% support, being able to use succor, stone, and smoke dragon veins were extremely powerful. She can heal, she can make people bulky, she can make choke points, and she’s not terrible if caught up in combat. And some great is that she uses Camilla engage very well. Gaining flight allows her to position more freely for any veins she would want to use and Camilla’s Axe actually hit very hard from my Alear, as did the massive flame nuke Engage skill. Don’t think I’ll ever be able to find a build for Alear I like more.
Man this vid has given me excellent ideas, liked and subscribed
Mage knight is an interesting option that I surprisingly hadn’t considered yet, I do believe in healer Alear, I like high priest for the fists, but I don’t mind Sage, Griffin night sounds interesting too but I’m not sure lol
My biggest thing about this video is Veronica, I consider warrior to be best class to use her in
long bow warrior Alear also checks off the range & positioning support while also giving backup attacks, you’ll still be able to heal (when engaged) & your summons will all have the duel strike ability so you don’t have to worry about not having enough back up units or having them in the right places
Plus the contract ability will allow you to backup for the targeted unit, even if you Canter away from them, giving even more flexibility!
also just a sidenote, let’s not forget book of worlds, it only takes one wait to get that free freeze engaged or not, *even if you miss it still triggers*
Veronica is a lot, it’s hard to decide which option to go with between Healing, summoning, & Contracting, but I’ve still seen a lot of success, just think of Veronica as your third healer if that helps
also through testing it appears classes only get one item to use, either a weapon *or* a staff, so as long as you don’t get unlucky with like a martial master with heal, you will always benefit from it
I actually prefer colorless summons, simply because of wolf knight or thieves, backup daggers are great but I never really sell them as something I should build a unit up for, plus you could also pick up Lyn, Lucina, or a second Veronica for a lot of support
Also, don’t quote me on this, but I had a level one Clanne use Veronica and I never saw a three star, I kept getting five stars, I think it’s because when it comes to summons, five stars are +2 levels above the Summoner, four stars are equal to, & three stars are -2 levels below, but since you can’t go below one, I think that’s one way to remove three stars lmao
a level three Roy could not be killed and in fact helped me kill Hector, contract does give experience so you can’t do this infinitely, unless you make sure the unit doesn’t level up and re-classed them between backup classes to forever stay at level one, that would be insane but hey, no three stars without needing to be a dragon 👀
Support Alear is my fav. Use Veronica for dancing, with vantage and sword power = kill them all while helping your friends
I kept mine Divne dragon for the extra dragon bonuses. Was really great.
I feel like you are overhyping how good divinely inspiring is. Good units should be able to 1 round without it, even on no DLC runs. It is bonus damage that should be nice to have, not something your team should rely on. At best it should be used to confirm kills, attacking around it is kind of weird, you could achieve the same result by just using backup units, as chain assist would give similar bonus damage.
5:38 I believe the DLC is skewing perception of build effectiveness, without Veronica this build does no damage and makes Alear a low utility staff bot. This Alear has 25 magic WITH MAG+5, and Elfire of all things. 6 BLD, this looks like a DEAD UNIT. A base Hortensia reclassed to Sage or on Slepnir rider/Ivy on Lindwurm/Sage would put in more work for zero effort and could thoron debuff/canter for better staff bot/damage utility. Thoron + Canter/Draconic Hex on Citrinne, Ivy, Hort while also staff botting is huge value/damage/utility for low investment, deals good damage an entire run, and also lets you set up easy boss kills and lets your utilities also kill.
Elfire +1 with Reprisal + will deal almost no damage with this MAG, Heal should be Mend/Treat as it isn't that much more expensive and can usually fully restore a dude, restore should be on Convoy as you can convoy it out as needed, rescue is good, but outside of rescue this build lacks damage of an actual magic unit running bolg/thoron and isn't playing into Alear's growths which is a physical combat carry.
If we want the raw utility route, Jean/Framme are free staff bots that can chain guard, enabling more aggressive plays on maddening while producing their own XP from staffing/chain guarding. Framme can also 1 round with Flashing Fist + Lunar Brace and can dual support AVO tank bonded shield Chloe/Alear/Kagetsu. I am a bit surprised you aren't using Alear as a Lucina Bonded shield unit on Qi Adept as this would be guaranteed AVO stacking as Alear can hit A Support with every unit.
Chief I'm just highlighting the strength and viability of support Alear since she's always in the army and has a good support skill. Nothing you're saying here changes that.
1. Divinely Inspiring isn't a build around skill for your army, but it is for Alear in this build as it makes good units great, which is the point of the video.
2. I have units that are ready to chain attack, as seen in the timestamp you posted. And why not get all the bonus damage you can by using both anyway?
3. The DLC has no bearing here, and Veronica could be swapped out for any other support Emblem. I just had her on Alear because she's fun.
4. Support Alear is about SUPPORTING, her offense is low priority. I'm only on High Priest here as I was experimenting with its higher Staff rank after running MM for the majority of the run, thus the low MAG.
5. Yes, there are other good support units. They aren't the point of the video, and them existing doesn't invalidate what Alear can do.
6. Why nitpick the item's on Alear when, like you pointed out, she has convoy and can grab whatever she wants?
7. Lucina was already in use for Jean's build.
Thanks for the input, but you're not telling me anything I don't already know.
@@TitaniumLegman with canter on Alear you can reposition them whether they attack from 1 or 2 range allowing you to set up good personal skill activations. So there’s not really any added flexibility with the range, and staying in the dragon class is much more important than a mediocre magic stat, 20% personal growth and 0 base is trash compared to units like Citrinne, Ivy, and Pandreo. Hell even some other physical units have better magic and/or speed such as Chloe. Support Alear isn’t invalid but I still think they’re better suited to abusing the dragon class. Lucina, Corrin, and Roy really benefit from those bonuses, and I assume the DLC emblems are much better off for it as well.
@@Bunnymafia8150 I would much rather have a stronger frontliner and use Alear for support, whether that be Staff or Dragon it works either way. Martial Master is really my favorite thus far, but we'll see if that opinion changes after I'm done using Sage.
@@TitaniumLegman my question is HOW much of a stronger frontliner anyone else is than Alear. They have the most access to experience out of anyone in the entire game along with good growths in strength and speed. You brought up that 45% strength growth at the start as if it was bad, but you’ve gotta realize that even a 10% difference in growth only amounts to 1 stat every 10 levels. And the fact that Alear gains the most levels out of any unit in the game outside of someone using Micaiah makes it so that they’ll probably be up there in terms of stats. Definitely not the highest but still better than most other frontline units Especially considering that they’re the best candidates for both the Marth and Lucina rings which both have engage weapons doubling exp gain. Alear will just naturally out level everybody else if you use the rings optimally, which will only allow them to snowball further. So Alear will probably be only behind powerhouses like Kagetsu and Pandreo. In which case you won’t want to gimp one of your highest level units by forcing them to rely on their weaker offensive stat. Besides it’s not like being a frontline unit is an exclusive job, just because Alear isn’t the best frontline unit doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make them one, on a 12 man team you’d probably want 2 staff/magic users, a bow user, a dancer, and the rest filled out with ground/flier combat units. I’d say even if Alear was only your 5th best fighter, they’d give a better contribution doing that than mediocre support work considering their personal skill has pretty much the same application in either role.
@@TitaniumLegman Support Alear is a build, but high priest lacks utility that better options have, or in some cases damage. A staff bot that isn't Ivy/Hort should just go to Martial Master for chain guard, it also plays into Alears mixed growths well and would enable 1 rounding with Lunar Brace/Flashing Fist everything aside from armors/high DEF enemies. You also have divine dragon Byleth build which enables Alear to super instruct/stat boost on dance as well as provide damage boost passively but go for some damage on physical swords to some degree.
I think the main issue is you've made an assertion that Alear is not good at combat and that support is Alear's BEST role without showing a use case that supports this claim.
1. I don't agree divinely inspiring is so good you should play around it, it is a nice buff when needed you CAN play around it, but arguably strong units/basic tactics are better than anchoring +3 damage for your team to fight around.
2. You can use both
3. Without DLC the build in question is worse than any magic user staffbot as these can deal high damage on thoron, debuff, canter, quality time, while staffbotting at B rank which is Warp/Rescue
4. Experimenting with builds is fine but claiming something is the best and showing a result that isn't competitive with other widely known Alear builds, and especially one that works against Alear's growths is hurting your argument/claim. I'm not even refuting that support is one of alears best roles, I just think the build in question is undermining your assertion. I think Alear is equally good at hard carry 1 rounding and support, so it is just an issue of preference/what you want to run.
5. In terms of what they bring to the table it is worth pointing out, you could also be using Alear in a similar way. Thoron + Debuff and staffbot, though Alear would just have worse MAG vs mages.
6. You can swap out the items but you are showing which items you believe to be good on this build, it is a framing issue.
7. That is fine if another unit is using Lucina but I feel like the real missed opportunity for this video was Martial Master Alear + Lucina, as a similar build on Framme is insanely strong, so on Alear it would just be better due to Alear having A supports with every unit and also damage boosting on bonded shield.
"Why not both??" Griffin Knight gives Sword AND Staves, plus Convoy to be able to pull any staff you need for any situation, plus Levin Sword to hit with decent magic at range, plus Clear the Way to help bring your other units with you and synergize with Divinely Inspired ... and you still get to keep Liberation in case you need to throw down in melee. Now THAT'S utility, my good sir.
Because griffin knight isn’t both. If you aren’t staying divine for dragon bonuses alear’s very poor strength needs addressing and griffin knight helps none with that. Either at least a 20% class strength growth or brave assist is needed to support their offense in a reclass. That has neither. Griffin knight is pure support specifically it purely supports halberdier pincer attack shenanigans if you are doing something like halberdier Louis
@@ultimaterecoil1136 I think you missed the Levin Sword part of what I stated. At least in my GK Alear on Maddening, anything she cannot one-round with Liberation +1, she can one-round with Levin Sword +1. It actually takes a bit of discipline on my part to keep the build from stealing kills from the rest of the team. That's where all the support stuff I mentioned helps. But I can understand how everyone's mileage may vary.
True, but I do like having Chain Guard with Martial Master for extra defense, while still having convoy access AND better Staff rank for staff utility. If you wanted to have Swords and Staves Griffin could work for sure, but it's certainly not my first pick.
@@TitaniumLegman If you are still doing Maddening runs, give it a try for a couple of maps, if you have not done so already. You may find that you won't be needing to use those high ranking B or more staves on Alear when Framme or Pandreo can saddle right up behind you because of Clear The Way. Again, your mileage may vary.
I'd definitely like to try it out for myself for sure!
This gave me some really fun ideas for my next playthrough! It's a bit too late to change my current maddening build but support Alear sounds really fun (and she looks so cute as a sage too🥺)!
Sage Alear is S+ design for sure. I hope your forays into Support Alear go well for ya! :D
This is extremely well argued actually, you covered most of the counterarguments I thought of when reading the title before watching it. Might give Support Alear a go next time
Also don't mind the comments about your pronunciation man, I also have my own 3-syllable way of saying the name (ah-lay-arr) and refuse to do otherwise
Appreciate it Payah, on both sides of your comment! Thanks for watching and considering my build. 😁
Support Alear is fun! I get annoyed when people act like there’s not many ways to play… yeah Alear can get good Dragon type offensive bonuses too, nobody is stopping anyone from playing this game more than once to try out different team compositions
Exactly!
Who's Alier?
alear with lucina bonded shield and dual support makes the diff, have supp bonus from every unit, gives+3 atk
if u strong characters are flying, make alear grifiing knight, with horses, paladin alear is amazing, but u can use bow knight if u need archers
I have kept my Alear Dragon class with Lucina ring because I like the stat bonus speed and Dex and kit she provides. I build my Alear to hit with both Levin sword and Willie Gantz weapon with high avoid. So pretty much dodges a lot of things except chain attacks. Also bonded shield is a godsend too also the cabin attack that Alear gets from Lucina has helped me a lot too.
I cannot use any other ring besides Lucina with Alear otherwise I would of used Marth. I had no idea how good Lucina ring really was until I got her and learned how to use her ring.
This seems pretty great. I'd probably prefer griffin still for levin sword and flying. Obviously a higher staff rank is nice but a lot of the best staffs are c rank anyway.
where are you getting that pronunciation of 'Alear' from? just curious.
That's what I was thinking the entire video
Just my own reading of it, since it's never pronounced in game.
Usonians have a very weird tendency to pronounce words however they feel like, it's weird, but your language is just wrong so there's that
@@waddledottz don't be rude.
I ran griffin knight alear for staff convoy use with Byleth, it turned out pretty handy!
For sure, I can see that. What staff rank did you wind up with for Alear on Griffin Knight?
Just a question but if Alear changes class he loses the Dragon Status does he not? Or does he still gain that bonus from being a dragon even if he’s a Mystical or Qi Adept now?
best support Alear is default class and give her Byleth ring for dragon dance / instruct, levin sword for occasional ranged chip damage
Tbh i kinda made Alear a byleth dance/instruct bot on my first maddening run until I got veyle and the alear emblem. I'm thinking on my next run I'll probably run Alear on wyvern to until the byleth ring and then reclass to divine dragon, 3+ to every stat is no joke.
Byleth Alear is legit as hell, good choice.
Because of their stats, pure combat isn’t what you want out of Alear, but I think the limitations placed on pure support is also bad for them for the same reason.
What about combat support? Hero and Warrior have a lot to offer here because of their unit type, class skills, and Dual Assist/+.
The ability to participate in Chain Attacks can be insanely strong; Boucheron is used a lot in the early game not because he has good combat potential but because he can provide chip damage multiple times in a single turn. Both Brave Assist and Merciless are good at dealing consistent damage; 2 Chain Attack chances at max HP and extra damage on broken foes are good ways to deplete the massive HPs of enemies on Maddening. Dual Assist and its upgrade give Heroes and Warriors the most bang for their buck because they don’t even need to move to contribute to combat (especially if they equip ranged weapons).
As for everything else, Hero’s stats don’t really matter except for level to get Brave Assist and HP to keep it active, Warrior prioritize Strength which pairs pretty well with Alear’s Speed growth and I think these options make the most out of Alear’s personal skill as allies can attack next to them to get the damage boost while they provide Chain Attack chip.
I remember when I was experimenting on a different save file, and I made Alear a wolf knight with Micaiah as her emblem. I dunno, I thought it was nice poisoning foes, activating divinely inspiring as well for extra damage, and still having staves. She even gets to keep her unique swords. I don’t play maddening though, so I don’t know how effective this build would be.
WK!Alear is a very solid option for sure. Mix of range and melee, great spd, allows for good position for use of her personal. Good stuff all around.
@@TitaniumLegman Great, so I’m not crazy.
I love Mage Knight Alear. With the introduction of the Well, you can easily get Sword Power 5 and Levin Sword +5 is cheap. That's more damage than any Tome can push. You also get the Sword Power boost if you want to use your physical swords to kill mages. Now if im using DLC and a combat build, I'll run Camilla for my emblem. Otherwise, I think Micaiah is great. Especially since her most important bit, giving us staff access, isn't hurt by never engaging her if you use Engage+.
Yeah, this is definitely a potential build for Alear, I dig it. Thanks for the input!
The main thing that keeps me from reclassing Alear is the dragon bonuses. It just feels so stupid that its not a skill and instead tied to Alears unique class. Like seriously just make it a bonus on his personal skill. Maybe I'll give one of these alears a try at some point.
Interesting ideas as I consider my first ever Maddening playthrough but on my Hard runs at least I always run Alear as and avoid support with their fists. It isn't the most damage but until getting Braves gets easier Steel fists build that gauge like no other, which means more time for Veronica full party healing and summoning.
It's not a bad way to play at all, and frees up a slot for another unit who's better at combat!
3:54-3:55 what do you mean by "on-line"? This is the 2nd video where I heard someone mention that. I'm playing on an emulator on my phone, so I don't have access to "on-line stuff", other than being able to access the dlc (because i was able to get it to work for my emulator after downloading it)
By online they mean is usable. If something comes "online" it means that it can now be used. In this case it means alear’s personal is something that’s always doin g something where framme’s only does so with alear.
i like that idea, sage alear, im still more inclined to run tiki and alear tho, is it still possible to run tiki alear with a sage or high preist?
The defense piercing of Tiki's attacks means it should still work, in conjunction with the +5 to all stats she gives you when engaged.
@@TitaniumLegman thanks i might try that on my next run
1:23-1:25 how do you do Martial Master/High Priest Alear?
Hero Alear. Enemies just have a 20% HP reduction in almost all maps thanks to DA+. Maybe give them Chrom/Tiki for Rally Spectrum/Dragon forme respectively. Or stick with the usual Byleth/Veronica but I think they're a bit wasted on Alear because they want to go first. Byleth wants to go 5th at the earliest and Veronica wants to go second at the earliest for the most effective uses.
I have heard a lot about Hero Alear, definitely need to try it.
The way you pronounce Alear bothers me
I've been hearing that a lot today.
i love summoning 4 star armor knight who does nothing
So, should I stay a Divine Dragon for the extra skills and abilities from Emblems or go for the support class like Sage, Mage Knight, etc.?
If you want to do a divine dragon build, there's a lot of strong potential. It really depends on if you have strong support options already lined up. If not, I love support Alear. But she's strong either way.
@@TitaniumLegman I was thinking Seadall, Hortensia, Framme (Bonded Shield), probably Alcyrst or some sort of either mage or attack oriented u it.
That's a very solid base. You could slot either form of Alear in there, depending on how it all shakes out, but you do have a lot of good support as it is.@@jaimereupert4247
@@TitaniumLegman so which would be the better support build, Divine Dragon (with access to all the unique Emblem skills), Sage, Mage Knight, Griffin Knight or High Priest? My Maddening classic deathless team, Alear (Support), Seadall (Dancer), Hortensia (Healer), Framme (Bonded Shield), Yunaka (Avoid Tank), Anna (Gold Farming), Alcryst (Archer/Claude Bond Ring/Long Bow), Zelestia (Mage), Diamant/Kagetsu (Sword physical attacker/tank?), Nel & Rafal (Dragonstones/whatever I need). Cholé?
@@jaimereupert4247 if you're running Nel and Rafal I'd let them be your dragon type emblem Bearers. They're both more suited to it imo. I'd make Alear high priest or Martial Master to make the most of her personal skill, while also getting more good staff usage. If you want her to be a more offensive support, then go Griffin w/Levin sword.
Alear only has 2 sylables
A-Lee-Ar?
@@TitaniumLegman uh-leer
Like the words near, fear, rear, etc
That is just not how you pronounce Alear. Nice try bruh
what about Royal knight Sword/staff Alear? He/She can uses support power with staffs and his/her 2 swords
Royal Knight doesn't have sword access.
@@hisen3.146 they are not like wolf knights? That can choose between swords, lances and axes together with daggers?
Royal Knight is Lance/Staff locked.
15 for Control Playthrough. Happy Birthday me!
algo comment
😂The game clearly speaks the name Alear many times. Why are you saying it so completely wrong?
They never say it because you can rename her.