User blog:Fargo294/The Best of Axe-Users (Fighters, Pirates and the like)

I’m going to look at axe-users in general because in some games there is only one pirate or no pirate. Due to the multiple classes I will specify which classes the characters are, excluding mounted axe users.

By the way, this is my 250th edit! Yay!

Lex

 * Class: Axe Knight
 * High Points: Only unit in first gen. that can use axes, THAT BOSS ELITE SKILL AND HERO AXE.
 * Low Points: Skill, Speed, unable to pass weapons down to children.
 * Summary: This guy is awesome. He is able to get the Brave Axe in Chapter 1 which makes him absolutely incredible, and his high defense growth will make him an excellent wall.

Seeing as how he is the only axe-user, he is the best and worst.

Johalva

 * Class: Axe Fighter
 * High Points: High starting Speed, and Defense; Skill, Defense.
 * Low Points: Low starting skill; Speed
 * Summary: His high starting speed equals out his low speed growth, and vice versa for his skill. However, in the long run his low speed will bog him down in the later levels.

Johan

 * Class: Axe Knight
 * High Points: Mostly balanced out base stats, Mounted, Speed, Defense.
 * Low Points: Skill.
 * Summary: His speed growth will keep his avoid and attack speed higher, even then the weight of axes would hold back his speed. Nonetheless, he will most likely not get doubled. Due to the mobility that is a necessity in the large maps of the game, he’ll be able to charge forward with the rest of the mounted units, and his durability will be a great asset in the front lines.

Best: Like I said Johan’s mobility is an asset that can span the last half of the game, his skill may be a problem at times so keep him away from enemies with high evade and sword-users, maybe give him a Skill Ring, and he’ll be fine.

Worst: Johalva’s not bad, just not the best. If you want to use him, I recommend that you give him a speed ring to make up for his lackluster speed.

Lot

 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: HP, Defense, Speed, Resistance.
 * Low Points: Terribly low Strength, Skill, and Speed.
 * Summary: His growths aren’t all that good, but he does have the best defense of all the axe users in the game. Lot does start out better than Wade though; he has higher (by that I mean more than one) defense, resistance, skill and speed than Wade. His promotion stat upgrades are awesome, +8 HP is pretty sexy if you ask me. If you’re lucky he can make a pretty good wall.

Wade

 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: Strength, Skill, Luck.
 * Low Points: Speed.
 * Summary: Isn’t it weird how his starting skill stat is lower while his counterpart’s skill is decent for his level. Apparently his strength and skill would help him do well as a bow-user, and his strength isn’t all that bad. Like Lot, he’s not the best, but he can be pretty decent; hell, if you give either a good support they can be pretty good units; for example: Lot and Thany or Wade and Ekidna.

Geese

 * Class: Pirate
 * High Points: Very Balanced.
 * Low Points: Growths aren’t as high as they could be for a well-made balanced character.
 * Summary: If you ask me he’s sorta the averaged out version of Lot and Wade, except for his defense, that’s his only downfall. He’s supposed to be the more accurate & balanced version of Gonzales. Not too much else to say; I normally say that when I think a character doesn’t shine too much, and I don’t think that about him. Something that I really do like about him is his GLORIUS MANE OF HAIR!

Gonzales

 * Class: Brigand
 * High Points: HP, Strength, Speed, Constitution.
 * Low Points: Skill.
 * Summary: Our ol’ buddy here is very strong and fast, and both of those traits are the highest of all the axe users in the game. He’s got higher defense than Geese but lower Resistance. Also, his skill is terrible(15%), maybe the worst in the game, but I’m not sure because I don’t have enough attention span to look through every character’s growths. A good support with Trec or Lilina would help him out.

Bartre

 * Class: Warrior
 * High Points: Speed, Has Brave Axe, good with bow.
 * Low Points: Pre-promoted, Skill, Luck, Resistance.
 * Summary: Compared to Garret, he’s much better. He’s got a higher constitution, an immediate A rank in Axes and D in bows. It’s only in comparison to Garret though.

Garret

 * Class: Berserker
 * High Points: …
 * Low Points: Don’t get me started.
 * Summary: Seriously, dude? You’re a pre-promote and you only have a C rank in axes AND you’re starting stats suck even in hard mode? WHAT A BUNCH A OSCAR MEYER BOLOGNA.

Best: For me it’s hard to decide which one is better: Geese or Gonzales. Geese is very balanced, and his skill separates him from Gonzales. However, Gonzales can has enough constitution to be able wield the Brave Axe without any speed loss, and he can cap his Strength and Speed very quickly.

Worst: Garret. CAN U BELIEVE DIS GUY?

Dorcas
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 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: Strength, Skill, Luck, Constitution.
 * Low Points: Speed, Resistance.
 * Summary: Dorcas falls into the Bord archetype with high strength and skill. The great thing about Dorcas is that he has a lot more time to develop than Bartre. Though they can both end up well, but Dorcas can get more action than his counterpart.

Bartre
Dorcas, that being his great defensive capabilities. His skill and speed help him become a very balanced axe-user. <p class="MsoNormal">
 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: HP, Speed, Defense, Resistance.
 * Low Points: Luck.
 * Summary: Bartre, despite having less development time, has a lot over

Dart

 * Class: Pirate
 * High Points: Strength, Speed.
 * Low Points: HP, Skill, Constitution, Defense, Resistance (don’t be fooled by all these drawbacks!).
 * Summary: Dart is very similar to Gonzales, low skill, defensive capabilities, high strength and speed. However, Dart has higher offensive growths and resistance, but lower defense, much lower constitution, and HP. He also doesn’t start with a devil axe, which I like because Devil axes suck. Give him an offensive support to boost his accuracy.

Hawkeye
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 * Class: Berserker(with his own animation!)
 * High Points: High starting HP, Resistance, Luck.
 * Low Points: HP growth, Speed, Defense, few supports.
 * Summary: It’s rather disappointing that he has his own custom animation, and it’s squandered on a terrible character. He looks like an interesting character and I’d really like to use him, but it’s impossible because his only full support is with Ninian and his other two supports are with Pent and Louise, which are characters who are locked with A supports.

Geitz
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 * Class: Warrior
 * High Points: HP, Strength, Luck, Resistance, B in bows.
 * Low Points: Pretty low growths overall.
 * Summary: For a pre-promoted unit, this guy rocks! His stats are very similar to Bartre; his HP, strength, and speed are the same with Geitz’s skill being 5% lower than Bartre’s. He doesn’t even need to be a replacement because his stats are good enough for him to stand on his own. I’ll recommend him as both an axe-user and a bow-user because he can hold heavier bows and be able to use the Rienfleche very quickly.

<p class="MsoNormal">Best: This decision is REALLY hard for me to decide. I suppose that I could say that Dorcas is the best due to his high constitution.

<p class="MsoNormal">Worst: Now you may think that since I called Dorcas the best due to his constitution being the highest that I would say that Dart is the worst. I could say that, but Hawkeye is the worst because of his mediocre stats and practically no supports.

Ross
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 * Class: Journeyman
 * High Points: Speed, Resistance, more options for classes.
 * Low Points: Speed and Skill aren’t that high for a Cord archetype.
 * Summary: Ross is an okay fighter; his stats are lower than his father’s for the most part, though. He does have more time to develop than his father so he can have a few of his stats excel. If you follow the same class route as his father, he will be superior in speed, luck, resistance, and possibly defense.

Garcia
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 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: HP, Strength, Skill.
 * Low Points: Speed, Resistance.
 * Summary: This guy’ll be much more of a tank than his son. Hell, I supported him with Gilliam because they formed a decent wall together. His strength growth is very high and can be maxed out quickly. Sadly, neither Garcia nor his son can be successful as heroes because of their low skill and speed stats, which is a shame because they look really cool with their blue shields. Oh, sorry got a bit off-topic. Garcia is a character that should not be ignored because of his usability and availability.

Dozla
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 * Class: Berserker
 * High Points: Speed, Defense, Resistance.
 * Low Points: Pre-promoted.
 * Summary: His growths are the exact same as Bartre, however he’s not as useful because of his pre-promotion. Compared to what Ross could be as a Berserker at level one, Dozla is put to shame.

<p class="MsoNormal">Best: Some could say Ross is the best because of his diversity in class options and development time. Garcia could be the best because of his high HP and strength. However, Garcia’s high strength growth only means that he’ll cap his strength quicker than his son, Ross can catch up to him eventually, and with a body ring if needed he can surpass his father as the best axe user.

<p class="MsoNormal">Worst: You can probably guess that it’s Dozla. His growths are pretty good, but are incomparable to what Ross and Garcia could be.

Boyd
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 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: Skill, Luck, Resistance, Only grounded axe user for over 20 chapters.
 * Low Points: Nothing that’s blatant.
 * Summary: Though Titania is also an axe user that comes in on the same chapter, he is much more worth using. Saving Titania for later, let’s chat about Boyd. Boyd is a very good character to use for the whole game, and his ability to use bows can be very helpful. It’s hard for me to say anything about him without comparing him to someone else. Well, how about we compare him to the next character!

Largo
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 * Class: Berserker
 * High Points: HP, Strength.
 * Low Points: Resistance, late arrival time.
 * Summary: His strength growth is incredibly high at a whopping 70%. He’ll be able to cap his strength within 9 levels, which sounds good and bad at the same time because Largo comes in very late in the game, although his starting HP is very high. Anyways, Boyd has much more time to develop and can probably have more strength at the same level as Largo shows up, and probably better stats overall.

<p class="MsoNormal">Best: Boyd has a lot more time to develop than Largo, so by the time you actually get Largo, he’ll probably be outdone in stats.

<p class="MsoNormal">Worst: Seeing as how there is only one other axe-user I listed, Largo is the worst. He shouldn’t be ignored though. His high constitution can help him deal some good damage with the Colossus ability, and the +15% critical hit rate isn’t too shabby either.

Nolan
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 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: Magic, Skill, Speed, Luck, Resistance.
 * Low Points: HP, Strength.
 * Summary: Nolan has very high Skill and Speed, which for most Fighters, is unusual. With his good defense and resistance, he can make a good tank. Nihil may not be used too often due to Nolan’s appearance in the game. If he had more time to fight in this game without using Bonus Experience to keep him afloat with the rest of the team, then he would make a great candidate for the final chapters.

Boyd
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 * Class: Warrior
 * High Points: HP, Strength, Defense.
 * Low Points: Magic, Skill, Speed, Resistance.
 * Summary: Boyd’s skill and speed aren’t too much to worry about with his high strength and defense. He has much more time to develop than Nolan, making him more useful than Nolan.

<p class="MsoNormal">Best: Like I said, Boyd has more time to develop than Nolan, which makes him the ideal grounded axe-user.

<p class="MsoNormal">Worst: I DO NOT want to say this about Nolan, but we’re given little time to work with him.

Barst
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 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: Strength, Luck, very balanced.
 * Low Points: Lemme get back to you on that.
 * Summary: Barst comes in as the most attractive (in a usable sense) of the three fighters in the chapter he comes in. His stats are the highest of the three, and overall he is the most balanced of them, with the other two’s strong points being only slightly higher than Barst’s growths. This makes Barst much more usable than Cord or Bord. On a side note, on the Serenes Forest site, it says that Barst has a 40% strength growth while this site says he has 70%. If somebody could clear this problem up, it would be much appreciated.

Bord
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 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: HP, Strength, Skill, High starting Axe Rank.
 * Low Points: Speed, Defense, Luck.
 * Summary: Bord has potential to soak up damage; however his defense puts takes this away. He could become a knight if transferring to that class didn’t reduce his speed growth to zero (Whoops, there I go again about class changing!). If his speed were a little higher he would be a great unit.

Cord
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 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: Speed, Luck, mostly higher base stats than Bord
 * Low Points: Low Axe rank, Strength, Skill, Defense.
 * Summary: Cord has pretty high speed for a fighter, but Barst can easily take his place. That’s why most people cast him as a Dark Mage, because when switched over to that class, he has pretty high magic(high for this game anyway). However, that’s a story for another day. When I used him in one of my recent playthroughs of Shadow Dragon, Cord actually grew pretty well making a decent counterpart to Barst. I suppose thinking on it now, Bord might do pretty well also.

Darros
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 * Class: Pirate
 * High Points: HP, Strength, Luck, Defense.
 * Low Points: Skill, Speed.
 * Summary: Now this guy is a real tank. Compared to the defense of the other fighters, his defense is the highest. As a Knight his defense growth is a whopping 60% but his Speed drops to 0%, like Bord’s(There I go again, SOMEONE STOP ME!). To help him with his low Skill and speed, you should forge his Steel Axe, lowering the weight to equal his strength and boosting the hit rate by 30 or more.

Ymir
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 * Class: Warrior
 * High Points: HP.
 * Low Points: Everything else.
 * Summary: How can you describe this guy with anything other than suck? Seriously, if we go through the trouble of killing our own guys off just so we can get to the Gaiden chapters, don’t you think it would be a good idea to have an actual useful character?

<p class="MsoNormal">Best: Barst is too good to be ignored, his stats are very balanced and just can’t be terrible in anyway.

<p class="MsoNormal">Worst: Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir, Ymir.

Cord
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 * Class: Fighter.
 * High Points: HP, Speed, Speed, Luck.
 * Low Points: Skill.
 * Summary: He comes in the second chapter but without the rest the fighters, which allows him to excel ahead of the other axe users. While his Strength is low, he’ll be able to avoid many attacks with his high luck and speed.

Bord
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 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: HP, Strength Skill.
 * Low Points: Speed.
 * Summary: By the way, all the fighters in this game have 100% HP growth so that means that they’ll always get an HP boost upon level up. His strength and skill are refined from the previous game. Since both of the aforementioned stats are high, he’ll be able to dish out damage and be likely to hit as well, however he has low speed so watch out for enemies that can double him.

Barst
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 * Class: Fighter
 * High points: Everything except resistance
 * Low Points: Comes as third axe-fighter
 * Summary: Barst, once again is incredible and you’d be stupid not to use him. His skill is 5% lower than Bord’s and his speed is 10% lower than Cord’s. Same as the last game. I wish that Cord and Bord were more usable.

Jake
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 * Class: Warrior
 * High Points: All outstanding growth rates
 * Low Points: Pre-promoted
 * Summary: Jake’s stats are so good, he could probably rival Barst. He’s got the highest defenses for an axe-user, his defense at 35% and resistance at 5%(which is high for a physical unit). Plus he comes in with a killer bow and the Bow rank to use it, so he can become a good archer as well. What? What was that? Jake wasn’t a Warrior in the last game? He was a ballistican? And there are no usable ballisticans in this game? Oh…

Darros
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 * Class: Berserker
 * High Points: Only story obtained berserker, mainly balanced.
 * Low Points: Stats cannot compare to other axe-users.
 * Summary: His stats would be nice if he weren’t a pre-promote. Like I said, he can’t really compare to the other axe-users, his stats are just too in between the others. Use Jake over him.

Dice
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 * Class: Fighter
 * High Points: Mostly balanced, Resistance.
 * Low Points: Defense, stats inferior to first three fighters, comes in with Devil Axe
 * Summary: Dice is okay, but not great. He can be good, but overall worse than the Fighters; his growths aren’t as good and he has fewer supports to increase his hit and avoid.

Ymir
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 * Class: Warrior
 * High Points: Strength, Defense, starts with Killer bow.
 * Low Points: Comes in very late at high level, Luck.
 * Summary: Ymir has actually redeemed himself; don’t get me wrong, he’s still a terrible character, just improved. I can’t really say too much, at least you don’t have to kill all your characters until you have 15 or less to get him in this game. He actually a suitable replacement though.

<p class="MsoNormal">Best: Barst once again, takes the role of the best, just remember: Bord, Cord, and Jake are very useful.

<p class="MsoNormal">Worst: Ymir, I actually considered putting Darros as the worst, but then I realized that Darros has a lot more time to develop than Ymir.