Character skill rankings: Sirocco’s sustain, Leda’s extra action, and Troy’s anti-air roleMajor spoilers

Original video: Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave: every character’s personal abilities ranked; English gaming channel Jay Dunna. Watch the original

Healing and Avoid complement each other, while extra actions, reliable ranged healing, and battlefield storage access directly change team plans. These stand out more than bonuses requiring repeated lucky activations.

Personal and equipped abilities#

Everyone has a permanent personal skill that cannot be removed. Other character-exclusive skills occupy equipment slots. Most are learned at level 20 and improved at 35; late recruits may use 45 and 60, and Cai has his own schedule. This comparison concerns what the skills do, so even a strong character may have an equipped skill worth replacing.

Movement and range advantages in Cai’s party#

Cai gains Movement +1 and can travel far with mounted classes and mounts. His Overblaze terrain effects also protect allies and reduce damage, turning dangerous ground into an advancing foothold. Manage the Blaze Gauge to avoid lowering maximum HP.

Tialla extends Combat Arts used on allies, which Dancer can exploit. This does not extend every spell. After initiating, she lowers enemy Avoid for later allies, but ranged healing duties prevent triggering it every turn.

Peter adds 1 bow Combat Art range, letting him break large enemies’ barriers beyond counter range, especially against birds. His other skill adds accuracy after reaching a Hit threshold. Range, reliability, and safety together earn A.

Ultand heals adjacent allies after combat, fitting small-group movement and stacking with Sirocco's self-recovery. Linked attacks in Clashes trigger more healing too, which makes me happy to bring her into dungeons. Her other ability grants Dodge, reducing critical risk rather than ordinary Hit. Enemy criticals were uncommon in my Hard run, so I value the healing more.

Avoid benefits and activation conditions#

Guzran receives Hit, Avoid, or Critical every combat. Which bonus is random, but activation is guaranteed. Hit helps unreliable attacks, Avoid helps against counters, and Critical adds burst. All three are useful.

Alexandra gains Hit and Avoid from adjacent allies, but her other skill requires terrain difficult for ground units. Maximizing both is awkward unless nearby allies also fly. Majide gains initiating Attack at an Avoid cost; consider both. Nuzzuo gains Attack and Hit against targets his weapon is effective against, requiring the right weapon and target first.

Noctula gains Avoid after combat, but the large extra Avoid bonus is chance-based and less reliable. Nydine instead combines two movement abilities well: passing enemy-occupied tiles and reducing terrain costs keeps mounted travel through narrow paths and thickets smooth. That earns A. Jasmine’s Hit and damage favor enemy initiation and holding ground for counters. Charging out does not give the same benefits.

Skill choices in Dietrich’s party#

Dietrich’s initiating Critical +5 is reliably useful. But the skill accumulating Critical after combat and resetting on a critical may not deserve a late-game slot. He already often reaches around forty percent Critical, so small stacks reset quickly. Replace it with something covering another build need; the combination gets B.

Esmeralda reduces equipped weight to 80%, making heavy weapons less likely to slow her down. Throwing spears gain another 20 Hit and 4 Attack, fixing the low accuracy of weapons such as Pilum. Together, I rate these A. Fabio lowers nearby enemies' Dodge to help allies crit, though his spell list remains the larger attraction. Mikaela's close-range Hit and Attack bonuses are frequently useful without transforming her playstyle.

Yang Jie can fully heal after a kill by chance and gains protection when attacked, helping a healing/support unit survive. His skills get A. Fianna’s saved healing uses and extra recovery depend on Luck. I prefer calculating who can fully heal an ally rather than betting this turn’s HP on extra recovery.

Io emphasizes initiating for protection, Hit, and Attack, so do not count identical benefits on enemy phase. Dante’s nearby Dodge aura is less striking than Hit and Critical bonuses, while the latter depend on Charm-based chances. Maximum bonuses are not permanent every combat. Catania checks successive Attack Speed leads: 3 adds Hit, 5 adds Attack, and after upgrading, 8 adds Avoid. The bonuses align but need sufficient Speed first.

Actions and sustain on Leda's team#

Leda’s low chance to avoid counters is a bonus. Her real strength is attacking after using a Blaze Art during Overblaze: broad support and another attack in one turn. Larger parties make this even stronger, earning S.

Sirocco restores 5 HP after every combat and randomly gains varying amounts of Avoid. After taking one hit, successive dodges let repeated combat healing restore him. Avoid limits losses and healing covers damage that gets through. The skills reinforce each other and place him in the top group.

Olympia gains 10 Critical with magic equipped, plus Attack and Critical when using Nosferatu. More damage means more HP drained, letting her attack and sustain herself in Part 1. Later enemy hits grow stronger, so avoid being defeated in one blow. I rate this offense-and-recovery combination S.

Buccar takes 90% of normal damage: 10% reduction. His stronger delayed counter still requires a proc, fitting his existing armor role. Do not read “reduced to 90%” as “90% damage reduction.” Mu's level-up growth and weapon-dependent stat bonuses are useful, directly improving stats. Inyoni gains Strength with a bow and Attack/Critical with bow arts. Both clearly encourage consistent bow-art use.

Sofia adds 10 healing and 1 healing range, rising to 2 range at level 35.

Allies can advance around her without exposing the fragile back line just for healing. Fixed recovery and range make turns easier to plan than random extra healing, earning S.

HP, status, and first-strike conditions#

Loretta gains Avoid above half HP, then Attack and Avoid at full HP. Reliable skills still need someone maintaining her HP. Zarcone gains axe Hit and extra Hit and Attack for finishing weakened enemies, but the target must already be injured. Kiroc needs a status effect first for Attack and Critical; his other Dodge reduction remains random.

Seteth has a chance to strike first only in the first enemy-phase combat. Failing there does not offer another try in the second. Damage tied to a low-chance Bloodmark is harder to plan. Theodora has a 30% chance to halve incoming damage, fitting high-HP frontline duty. Her obstacle-damage multiplier is not the main build direction.

The queen’s party converts accuracy into extra damage#

Bonaventure grants adjacent allies Dexterity and can add Hit by chance, helping inaccurate teammates. Tobias gains fixed Attack with Combat Arts and a separate 30% chance for a damage multiplier, reaching 1.5 at level 35. Improve accuracy and use arts to realize his burst. The skill combination merits S.

Lilian gains Hit when enemies cannot counter and more damage at 100 Hit. Longbow suits this chain. Lysander gains initiating Avoid and stacking Speed after kills. Both are useful for A, but arrange kills first so insufficient damage does not block Speed stacks.

Dadao gains Attack when neither side follows up and has a Strength-based damage multiplier; the latter appeals more. Peppe’s first strike and damage bonuses both require an already injured enemy, so full-HP attackers deny them. Benditz’s Hit and extra attacks are largely tied to Charioteer: useful in his default role, less flexible elsewhere.

Emergency items from the battlefield convoy#

Ninae shares anti-magic Hit and Avoid with nearby allies, helping armored units handle mages. Nezha instead needs one damage proc and then another, lacking dependable gains. Ursula gives allies within 2 tiles convoy access for convenient mid-battle item withdrawals. As Dancer, she combines extra actions and this utility in one position. She also has a Luck-based damage multiplier, but it cannot be assumed every time. I value the unique utility more and rate her S.

Gaitz grants adjacent allies defense, but his high-Hit damage bonus is still random. Nathan favors initiating Attack Speed and Hit, while Creek favors enemy-initiated Attack Speed and Avoid. Check who starts combat. Jester gains little defense after swapping, and damage after dodging needs a dodge first, making the payoff hard to secure deliberately.

Goliath cannot mount or fly but has high Build and adjacent movement reduction to block physical enemies at chokepoints. Simon stacks Luck after kills, improving low-HP survival chances, but do not deliberately place him in a lethal position to trigger it. Ludia gains initiating Attack Speed, then Avoid through follow-up conditions, a coherent combination. Diego’s low chance to prevent follow-up attacks against adjacent allies is unreliable as essential protection. Sha Lan can use support magic after pulling back an ally, useful for rescuing someone from fire and healing afterward.

Skills on late-game characters#

Halvin stacks Hit after combat and slows enemies after initiating, supporting follow-up allies. Bertrand’s follow-ups regardless of Attack Speed, enemy-phase first strikes, and immediate follow-ups are all chance-based, so do not schedule guaranteed activations. Talimun’s emplacement accuracy helps, while Luck-related benefits depend on activation.

Orchel heals herself while healing allies and also improves magic accuracy and defense, caring for both sides at once for S. Anatolia restores 10 HP after dodging and increases maximum HP for the map after kills. Avoid, recovery, and HP build sustain together, also earning S.

Centurio halves damage only in the first enemy-phase combat. Aswan’s bow accuracy is straightforward, but she joins when the party often already has trained archers. Tahonia’s gauntlet-art follow-ups regardless of Attack Speed are random, as are Klapka’s Defense stacks. Both arrive very late.

An Underworld aura and dedicated anti-air#

Eshmel nullifies Underworld Boons on enemies within two tiles. Late netherfiend numbers make advancing with this aura valuable. His equipped skill occasionally reducing netherfiend damage to zero can be replaced by build needs. Hong Hua has reliable magic accuracy, but further damage depends on Magic-based activation. Her skills rank high B.

Troy becomes effective against fliers with her exclusive weapon equipped, upgrading to stronger anti-air effectiveness at level 60. Ranged magical attacks and high Avoid make her suited to guarding flying reinforcement routes. Place her on a flank to relieve substantial aerial pressure on the main team. I rate the ability S.

This ranking most values combinations like Sirocco’s healing and Avoid, Leda’s extra action, Sofia’s reliable ranged healing, and Ursula’s exclusive battlefield storage access.