Asbel

"We swore to each other that we would live and die together, Lord Leaf… Was that an empty vow? I still remember it. And I’ve chosen to aid you as much as I can."

- Asvel to Leaf

Asvel (アスベル Asuberu) is a playable character in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776. He is Sety's pupil, and one of Leaf's close friends. He is a fifteen year old boy who can exclusively wield the Grafcalibur tome.

Asvel hails from the free city of Frest, but remains temporarily in Manster as a member of the Magi Squad after he was separated from Leaf in Tahra three years before the year of 776, during which the city was overrun by imperial troops. He is characterized by a determined, loyal, and plucky attitude as he refused to give up on looking for Leaf despite losing contact for several years, and subsequently reaffirming his vow to reclaim Thracia together with Leaf after meeting him again.

He can be recruited in Chapter 4x by having Leaf speak to him while he is a NPC unit, or by letting him talk to Leaf. He starts out as a low-leveled Mage, but can promote to the Sage class with a Knight Proof after reaching Level 10, at the least.

History
The Illustrated Timeline states that Asvel first met and befriended Leaf during the year 766 when they were both still young children. Leaf, who was seeking respite from the Empire, came to stay in the city under the protection of its bishop, who was Asvel’s father at the time. For two years, Leaf was able to hide in the city until the citizens themselves informed the empire where the prince was, which forced Leaf to flee to Tahra next. Asvel fled along with Leaf, though his father stayed behind to give the others enough time to escape. He was subsequently captured and executed.

Afterward, Asvel was separated from Leaf in Tahra three years ago when the prince escaped with Fin and Nanna to Fiana. Despite this, he persisted in searching for Leaf ever since they had made an important promise to reclaim Thracia together, though he ended up in Manster after losing track of Leaf’s whereabouts. At some point after these events he met Sety, who presumably taught him the basics of magic, including how to wield the powerful Grafcalibur. During this time, Asvel began to accompany Sety as a member of the Magi Squad and aided him however he could despite his inexperience; nonetheless, he also kept an eye out for Leaf, who he was looking for to fulfill their promise. During their time spent together, Asvel develops profound respect for Sety to the extent of reverence and admired him deeply as well, being grateful to the Silesian prince for teaching him so much.

He is first seen with Sety in Chapter 4x, where he assists his mentor in releasing the captured children from their cells in a dungeon to prevent the Loputo Sect from sacrificing them. When he learns from Sety that Leaf has been imprisoned in the castle as well, he hastens to find his friend again, leaving Sety after assurances that they would see each other again in Manster after the war ends. He then joins Leaf’s efforts to liberate Thracia again, devoting all of his own efforts to bring their dream to fruition. Subsequently, he stays by Leaf’s side, sharing his pain and supporting him as best he can.

When the liberation wars finally end, Asvel returns to his hometown of Frest and assumes his father’s place as the bishop. After a few years, he becomes known throughout the continent as a famed sage.

Recruitment

 * Chapter 4x: NPC, talk with Leaf.

Base Stats

 * Mage
 * 1
 * 22
 * 0
 * 4
 * 3
 * 7
 * 5
 * 0
 * 4
 * 6
 * 0
 * 1
 * 3
 * Continue.png Continue
 * FE4 Fire.png Fire - E FE4 Thunder.png Thunder - E FE4 Wind.png Wind - C (+20)
 * FE5grafcalibur.pngalibur Door Key FE5vulnerary.pngrary
 * }

Growth Rates

 * 55%
 * 10%
 * 35%
 * 55%
 * 75%
 * 35%
 * 10%
 * 10%
 * 2%
 * }

Promotional Gains

 * Promotes to Sage
 * Strength: +0
 * Magic: +5
 * Skill: +5
 * Speed: +6
 * Defense: +4
 * Build: +1
 * Move: +1
 * D for Stave Mastery Rank
 * +1 for Fire Magic Mastery Rank
 * +1 for Thunder Magic Mastery Rank
 * C for Light Magic Mastery Rank

Support Bonus
Supported by
 * Leaf - 10%
 * Sety - 10%

Overview
As the first magic-user who joins in Thracia 776, Asvel starts off extremely frail and weak, but can easily become a valuable asset to the team after being given the time to grow and accumulate level ups. However, on maximum-efficiency playthroughs, players may prefer to promote him immediately at Level 10 in order to reap the full benefits of his large promotional stat bonuses and gain low-leveled Staves earlier.

Asvel's personal weapon, the unique Grafcalibur gives him a tremendous edge in combat because the tome has the highest critical rate in the game, plus Asvel’s own Pursuit critical coefficient of 3 which guarantees his second attack to be a critical hit whenever he Double Attacks an enemy with the Grafcalibur equipped. However, despite his huge potential to deal massive damage, when he first joins Asvel may not be able to assuredly double attack the majority of enemy units fought in the chapter, as his base speed is 7 and the tomes he uses ignore the Build stat during battle, instead directly subtracting from his Attack Speed for the tome’s Weight factor.

Fortunately, this problem is counteracted by Asvel’s superb Speed growth, and with a 75% chance to gain Speed per level up, he will typically reach its maximum cap, possibly even before promotion, although the majority of his other stats will be either mediocre or merely average. His stats can be improved by the Sety scroll that his mentor, Sety, gives to Karin in the same chapter that Asvel joins in, which can then be given to him to increase his fairly low Magic by 10% and maximize his Speed growth to 105%, at the cost of reducing his HP growth.

Although Asvel specializes in Wind Magic, he is able to use all three types of Anima Magic, with Light Magic available upon promotion. Generally, though, it will take a long time to raise his other Weapon Ranks because he starts off at the lowest level in everything except Wind. Nevertheless, this can be offset by his early joining time, the numerous Fire and Thunder tomes used by enemy mages that can then be stolen or obtained through capture, and the free weapon level he gains in every usable magic tome when he promotes.

As an added benefit, Asvel is able to use staves as a Sage, which makes him a viable healer in emergencies or as backup, such as if the primary healer had missed the intended target on their turn. Since his initial rank in staves is D, though, it will not be likely for Asvel to reach a higher rank in time to access the more powerful staves, like the Warp Staff or Rescue Staff.

Notably, Asvel is one of the most reliable boss killers in the game, as his personal tome is highly effective against most of the bosses who sit on thrones or gates, being both accurate and magical in nature, and thus unaffected by the ten Defense bonus that the thrones/gates grant. Unfortunately, like most mages, Asvel has poor durability, and so his inadequate HP, Defense, somewhat low Luck, as well as the speed penalty he receives from using tomes all decrease his evasion and make him quite vulnerable to any physical attack that connects, especially ranged attacks from Ballistae. As a result, it may be risky for Asvel to attack bosses who have powerful ranged weapons, like Master Axes or Master Lances.

The player should be cautious in their placement of Asvel on the field as well, and ensure that he is not exposed to the front line of battle often, since he has a decent chance of getting killed by any series of strong attacks that manage to hit him due to the 1-RN system. Once he promotes, though, this usually becomes less of an issue. His supports from Leaf and, later, Sety, will help him with his avoid and accuracy, so staying in range of either of them (or both) will benefit him greatly.

Death Quote
"Lord Leaf… Please save…Thracia…"

- Asvel's death quote

Escape Quote
"Lord Leaf, I shall be waiting for you up ahead. Please be careful!"

- Asvel

Ending
Asvel - Follower of the Winds (風に導かれた少年 Kaze ni michibika reta shōnen)

Asvel stayed at Leaf’s side and shared his pain throughout the Liberation Wars. After that, he returned to his hometown of Frest and took his father’s place as bishop. Several years later, his name reached the four corners of the continent as the Great Sage Asvel.

Trivia

 * According to the unused NPC data in Thracia 776, a playable character known as Gunna was originally created to be Asvel’s grandfather. He is a Bishop of the free city Frest and mentions Asvel in his death quote. Despite this, Asvel’s ending only states that he returned to Frest to take his father's place as the bishop of the city, but does not mention his grandfather.