random item

Troperville

Tools

Find recent edits by troper:

back to: GameBreaker / FireEmblem

edit article | go to discussion page

6th Jul '12 6:18:43 AM moderator Willbyr

Send Willbyr a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

new version approved per staff discussion

Changed line(s) 1 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 3,36 (click to see context) from:

Do note that depending on the difficulty setting, certain characters can stop being gamebreakers for various reasons (join time, stats, weapons, supports, and whether or not you already have a character that does the same job as them for starters), especially those of the Est archetype. Why? Well, if you're playing on hard, you'll need to ask yourself whether it's really worth it to spend time and experience on a new unit, especially if you've already formed a solid team.

* Due to the nature of Fire Emblem game mechanics, it is possible for a player to turn almost any unit into a gamebreaker provided that the unit has good enough growth rates. The specific examples of Fire Emblem gamebreakers listed on this page will not include units that can only be considered gamebreakers under this assumption. There are numerous methods by which one can create such units in each Fire Emblem game, some of which will be covered below. Please do not add examples that would be covered by this disclaimer.
** Abusing for EXP gain is the most common and accessible method of powering up playable units. The EXP may come from a variety of sources, including, but not limited to, boss enemies on healing tiles, reinforcement enemies, map arenas, etc. This is mostly analogous to LevelGrinding in other [=RPGs=].
*** In what is commonly termed "boss abuse," a unit will attack an enemy (generally a boss enemy, hence the name) that is on a healing tile, such as a throne or a gate. The unit must be weak enough such that the boss will be able to heal back the damage done, but still strong enough to do more than 0 damage in order to gain an appreciable amount of EXP per round of combat. Upon attacking the boss, the player unit will gain EXP for a round of combat; by repeating this process over many turns, the player can level up his unit as many times as he wishes until the unit becomes too strong for this exploit to work.
*** There is also "reinforcement abuse," a form of abuse where a player will intentionally extend the length of a chapter so that his units will be able to engage and defeat enemy reinforcements for large amounts of EXP. Not all chapters will have sufficient reinforcements for a substantial amount of abuse; however, small quantities of abuse in successive chapters will have the same effect. Conversely, there are some maps where reinforcements are programmed to appear for many turns or forever after a certain number of turns have passed since the beginning of the chapter.
*** The last common form of abuse for EXP gain is "arena abuse," a form of abuse where a player will repeatedly use a map arena for an infinite source of combat and EXP. This form of abuse is not available in all Fire Emblem games, and in the ones in which it is available, it is only usable for a handful of chapters out of the entire game. However, each round of arena combat gives a substantial amount of EXP for the participant, and it is possible to get multiple rounds of arena combat per turn using different characters, making this a profitable form of abuse. On top of that, this also allows for copious EXP gain for staff users by healing units wounded in arena combat, in addition to money for each victorious round of arena combat. Barring maps that have a set turn limit, a player can arena abuse ad infinitum.
** Rigging level ups is another common and accessible method of powering up playable units. This method does not require a large source of EXP, but it does require a time investment on the player's part in most cases. Due to Fire Emblem relying solely on an RNG to determine the outcome of level ups, this method allows for characters whose parameters greatly exceed their expected values at a given level.
*** One method of this form of abuse involves obtaining knowledge of the RNG sequence and using this knowledge to manipulate a good level up on a player unit. This is possible in FE 6, FE 7, and FE 8 by forcing the game to use [=RNs=] in retracing movement paths, which at the same time indicates to the player whether the [=RNs=] used were "high" or "low." After suspending and resuming the game, the sequence of [=RNs=] is identical and thus predictable. The player will attempt to manipulate a good level up by matching a string of successive "low" [=RNs=] with the string used to determine level up gains. In FE 11 and FE 12, the RNG is seeded by the Nintendo DS clock, and starting the game at certain times on the clock will yield predictable results. This form of RNG abuse is commonly used in FE 11 for players to create wi-fi teams with parameters that are significantly above average.
*** Another method of this form of abuse involves brute force resetting of the game until the player obtains favorable results. In FE 9, this is facilitated by the BEXP system, which allows the player to allocate EXP to player units in the pre-chapter base. The level up gains using this method are not restricted in any particular way, and the player can simply apply BEXP to yield a level up, check the level up gains, and reset if the gains weren't satisfactory. In FE 10, level ups using BEXP is restricted to 3 stat gains; however, these stat gains can still be manipulated to a certain extent. Additionally, the introduction of mid-chapter battle saves in FE 10 Easy and Normal Modes allows for this sort of manipulation during the course of gameplay.
** The final common method of powering up playable units is by stacking stat-boosting resources on them. Typically, these resources are not freely available; but there are exceptions in some games. In FE 4, there exist numerous rings that confer +5 to a particular parameter, and a unit can hold as many of these as his inventory will allow. In FE 5 and FE 6, there exist secret shops near the end of the game that have buyable stat-boosting items; in combination with the abusable arenas, the player can purchase a virtually unlimited quantity. The same applies for FE 8 after the main game has ended. In FE 11 and FE 12, these secret shops near the end of the game only sell a maximum of 3 of each kind of stat-boosting item instead of an unlimited amount.
*** An extension to this includes items that greatly augment a unit's growth rates. These exist in FE 3 and FE 5, and a unit can hold as many of these items as his inventory will allow. Unlike stat-boosting items, these can also be traded around on a whim so that essentially every deployed player unit can make use of the augmented growth rates.
* Sigurd in the first generation of ''Seisen no Keifu'' is a prominent example of a gamebreaker in Fire Emblem. Although he is weak in a few respects (e.g. no strong 2-range weapon), the combination of high availability, excellent base stats, good growths, a mount, and early access to a good weapon are responsible for his domination of the entire first generation. Sigurd is widely considered to be the best lord unit to have ever existed in any Fire Emblem game.
* The whole cast of the second generation in ''Seisen no Keifu'' has the potential to be broken if the player maximizes the benefits units get from their parents. The stats that the parents had by the end of the first generation affects their offspring. Additionally, numerous characters in the second generation inherit items and weapons from their parents, allowing the player to obtain good items and weapons relatively earlier in the game compared to other Fire Emblem titles. Players can make use of stat-boosting rings, ability-granting rings, and powerful weapons such as a Hero Sword immediately from the beginning of the second generation.
** This mechanic makes Celice a relative gamebreaker of his own in the second generation of FE 4, although not nearly to the extent of his father, Sigurd. Celice can inherit Sigurd's Silver Sword (or other weapons should the player desire) and some incredibly beneficial stat-boosting rings such as the Leg Ring, which grants +3 movement to the holder, and the Elite Ring, which doubles the holder's EXP gains. Celice's relatively weak base stats are offset by this inheritance mechanic, and letting Celice inherit many of these items is beneficial anyway because it lets the player make use of them immediately from the beginning of the second generation. The optimal inheritance setup will have Celice reaching promotion in a short timespan, effectively becoming a copy of Sigurd from the previous generation; however, Celice still has to overcome the short period in which he is rather mediocre.
** Another commonly considered FE 4 second generation gamebreaker is Arthur, provided that Levin was his father in the first generation. This setup for Arthur is notable for him being a mounted Holsety user. Holsety is an exclusive weapon that possesses 30 MT, 1-2 range, and grants +10 skl, +20 spd to its user, being an excellent weapon both defensively and offensively. There are still several suboptimal facets to this setup; Arthur is not mounted until promotion and has poor movement as a foot unit, he naturally lacks the ability that allows units to double attack in FE 4 (relying instead on possessing the limited Pursuit Ring), and it takes awhile to pair Levin with Tiltyu in the first generation to obtain this setup for Arthur in the first place.
* Although many great weapons and items exist in ''Thracia 776'', the only true gamebreakers in this game are the Warp, Rescue, and Repair staves. Staff range for ranged staves is unlimited in FE 5, so for the Warp and Rescue staves, the player is able to move a unit to anywhere else on the map or retrieve a unit from anywhere else on the map, respectively. This allows for gamebreaking strategies that, for example, essentially allow the player to defeat a boss and seize a throne or gate to end a chapter in 1 turn. Warp is useful in maps with a seize objective; Rescue is useful in maps with an escape objective. Repair allows the player to repair any weapon to its original state, which means that the player can exhaust all 5 uses of Repair on a single Warp or Rescue staff to obtain 6 times as many uses out of that staff.
** By extension, since Saphy is the only unit capable of using the Repair staff, she is also a gamebreaker. The list of units who can reliably be assumed to be able to use Warp and Rescue is larger but still limited: Saphy, Salem, Tina, Linoan, Sleuf, Sara, Cyas, and Sety.
* In ''Sword of Seals'', there are likely no units who can be considered gamebreaking over the entire course of the game, although there are a handful of units that excel for large portions of the game. Of these include Marcus, Rutger, Zealot, Miledy, and Percival, although the former 3 are more accurately classified under DiscOneNuke and the latter 2 are more accurately classified under LastDiscMagic.
** The Warp staff makes a return in this game, but staff range is no longer unlimited and its availability is much less compared to that in FE 5. Despite this, a similar type of strategy can be used in some chapters of this game to skip most of the enemies and end chapters prematurely. Saul, Niime, and Yodel are mostly responsible for allowing the player to employ such strategies. An analog to the FE 5 Repair staff, the Hammerne staff, appears in this game, and can be used to repair a nearly broken Warp staff up to 3 times. Compared to the other GBA Fire Emblem games, the slightly different formula for determining maximum staff range (allowing for generally larger staff ranges) and the higher difficulty make Warp strategies more powerful in FE 6.
* Marcus from ''Blazing Sword'' is a gamebreaker in every sense of the word. High base stats allow him to trivialize the earlygame chapters, and his growths, although subpar, are just good enough to allow him to crush enemies all the way until the end of the game (even in Hector Hard Mode). Access to 3 weapon types gives Marcus a weapon for every situation, and high movement allows Marcus to quickly defeat chapters. The only point against Marcus being a gamebreaker is that he is reliant on gaining around 2-3 points of spd throughout the game at a 25% growth, something that he has a non-negligible chance at failing to do even if his average stats at a certain level indicate that he is expected to do so; regardless, he is still by far the best unit in the game even when failing to gain spd.
** Should the player use Sain almost exclusively in Lyn Mode and promote him using Wallace's Knight Crest, his parameters are remarkably similar to those of Marcus when he rejoins the team in Eliwood or Hector Modes. The main difference between Marcus and Sain is that Sain is not available for the first 6 or so chapters of the main game while Marcus is available from the very beginning.
* Seth in ''The Sacred Stones'' is the most powerful unit in the beginning of the game and has stats rivaling your trained units even in the endgame. Unlike Marcus, Seth also has a high growth total with a good growth distribution, which means that he is much less likely to slow down in performance later in the game. He's pretty much essential for fast, efficient clears and it's often said that the game is even easier than if it's just Seth and a lord. Seth is arguably considered to be the best unit to exist in any Fire Emblem game.
* Titania in ''Path of Radiance'' is similar to Seth in FE 8 with respect to parameters and growths, and has the potential to trivialize the entire game equally easily. Their surrounding environment makes a big difference; the presence of a glut of BEXP in FE 9 to easily and effortlessly power up growth units means that FE 9 Titania is not nearly as dominant as FE 8 Seth. Essentially, although Titania is a good unit over the course of the entire game, the existence of other gamebreakers lessens her value.
** Marcia and Jill are the other notable gamebreakers in FE 9. Though both have rather mediocre base stats, the player can pump them full of BEXP to instantly turn them into excellent combat units. The element that makes Marcia and Jill superior recipients of this BEXP (since any other character can be elevated to the status of a combat god with BEXP) is that they are able to fly over all sorts of terrain impediments and easily bypass large portions of many chapters. With their augmented stats, neither are vulnerable to enemy attacks and both are extremely capable at killing most boss enemies in a couple of rounds of combat.
* No unit is capable of trivializing the entirety of ''Radiant Dawn'' due to how the game is structured, but in the context of the game, the most obvious gamebreaker is Haar. Haar has excellent base parameters and growth rates that are well distributed; on top of that, he is in a flying class with some of the best movement in the game. Haar also boasts great availability and enjoys some exclusivity as well, being the only flying unit for a significant portion of the game. This is not to say that Haar doesn't have weaknesses; Haar's spd base and growth are somewhat mediocre and require a Speedwings or 2 to adequately fix, and low resistance coupled with weakness to thunder magic make some enemy types extremely dangerous for Haar.
** Ike boasts even better base parameters coupled with good growths, but he is not as gamebreaking to the extent of Haar due to a sword lock for a portion of the game and unspectacular mobility. Transfers from FE 9 will improve Ike's bases, but do not fix his biggest problems.
* 2 facets of ''Shadow Dragon'' are completely gamebreaking: forging and Warp. A combination of both can allow the player to entirely and reliably skip a majority of chapters in the game by warping a unit with a forged effective weapon to OHKO or ORKO the boss and then warping Marth to seize the gate or throne to finish the chapter.
** Because effective damage triples weapon MT, each point of MT forged onto an effective weapon such as a Ridersbane or Hammer adds 3 HP damage when used on a vulnerable enemy. Forging something like +4 MT on weapons as innately strong as a Ridersbane or Hammer will allow units to OHKO vulnerable enemies for over than the first half of the game.
*** It doesn't help, either, that almost every enemy boss in the game is weak to some sort of effective weapon.
** The Warp staff has 7 maximum uses in this game, and up to 4 total Warp staves are obtainable. This is enough to use for about half of the game without the player worrying about the Warp staves breaking.
*** The Hammerne staff has 12 uses in this game. Although it comes fairly late, once the Hammerne staff is obtained, there are enough uses of Warp available to skip through the rest of the game several times over.
** By extension, Caeda and Lena are gamebreaking characters due to their ability to exploit these gamebreaking mechanics. Caeda is the sole user of the Wing Spear, a multipurpose effective weapon exclusive to her. Her low str is circumvented by forging extra MT onto the Wing Spear and her high spd lets her reliably double attack boss enemies for [=ORKOs=]. Her default class, when promoted, is one of the few classes in the game that possesses flying and is also tied for the highest movement in the game. Lena is the earliest user of Warp and the only user of Hammerne, thereby facilitating the Warp skip strategies.

to:

Important note 1: Depending on the difficulty level, certain characters may or may not be game-breaking for various reasons [[note]]Join time, stats [bases and growths], weapons, supports, and whether or not you already have a character that does the same job as them for starters[[/note]], especially those of the Est archetype[[note]]An "Est" character, named after the Pegasus Knight in the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia first game]], has high growth potential but joins late in the game and at a low level[[/note]]. On hard, you'll need to ask yourself whether it's really worth it to spend time and experience on a new unit, especially if you've already formed a solid team.

Important note 2 :Due to the nature of Fire Emblem game mechanics, it is possible for a player to turn almost any unit into a gamebreaker provided that the unit has good growth rates and has [[RandomNumberGod good fortune]]. The specific examples of Fire Emblem gamebreakers listed on this page will not include units that can only be considered gamebreakers under this assumption. There are numerous methods by which one can create such units in each Fire Emblem game, some of which will be covered below.

----
!Mechanics and Gameplay Examples:

* Abusing various mechanics for EXP gain is the most common and accessible method of powering up playable units. The EXP may come from a variety of sources. This is mostly analogous to LevelGrinding in other [=RPGs=]. Some variants are described below:
** In what is commonly called "boss abuse," a unit will attack an enemy (generally a boss enemy, hence the name) that is on a healing tile, such as a throne or a gate. The unit must be weak enough such that the boss will be able to heal back the damage done, but strong enough to do more than 0 damage[[note]]A unit which deals zero damage to the enemy usually gains either 0 or 1 EXP[[/note]]. Upon attacking the boss, the player unit will gain EXP for a round of combat; by repeating this process over many turns, the player can level up his unit until the unit becomes too strong for this exploit to work[[note]]Or the unit's weapon breaks[[/note]].
** There is also "reinforcement abuse," a form of abuse in which a player will intentionally extend the length of a chapter so his units will be able to engage and defeat enemy reinforcements for large amounts of EXP. Although not all maps have this feature, there are some maps where reinforcements will appear indefinitely after a certain number of turns have passed.
** Another form of abuse for EXP gain is "arena abuse," a form of abuse where a player will repeatedly use a map arena for an infinite source of combat and EXP. Although limited in scope[[note]]Some games do not have arenas; the ones that do are only available in certain chapters or otherwise restricted in use[[/note]], each round of arena combat gives a substantial amount of EXP for the participant, and awards money to boot. Barring maps that have a set turn limit, a player can arena abuse ad infinitum.
** The final form of abuse is called "staff abuse". Since healers gain EXP through using magical staves, a common practice is to have healers deliberately spending their turn healing ScratchDamage when they would otherwise not need to do so, which allows them to mooch off other forms of abuse as listed above.
* Rigging level ups is another common and accessible method of powering up playable units. This method does not require a large source of EXP, but it does require a time investment on the player's part in most cases. Due to Fire Emblem relying solely on an [[RandomNumberGod RNG]] to determine parameter gains from level ups, this method allows for characters whose parameters greatly exceed their expected values at a given level.
** One method of this form of abuse involves obtaining knowledge of the RNG sequence and using this knowledge to manipulate a good level up on a player unit. 
*** In FE 6, FE 7, and FE 8, this is done by forcing the game to use random numbers ([=RNs=]) in retracing movement paths, which also indicates to the player whether the [=RNs=] used were "high" or "low." After suspending and resuming the game, the sequence of [=RNs=] is identical and thus predictable. The player will attempt to manipulate a good level up by matching a string of successive "low" [=RNs=] with the string used to determine level up gains.
*** In FE 11 and FE 12, the RNG is seeded by the Nintendo DS clock, and starting the game at certain times on the clock will yield predictable results. This form of RNG abuse is commonly used in FE 11 for players to create wi-fi teams with parameters that are significantly above average.
** Another method of this form of abuse involves brute-force [[SaveScumming resetting of the game]] until the player obtains favorable results. 
*** In FE 9, this is facilitated by the BEXP (Bonus EXP) system, which allows the player to allocate EXP to player units in the pre-chapter base. The level up gains using this method are not restricted in any particular way, and the player can simply apply BEXP to yield a level up, check the level up gains, and reset if the gains weren't satisfactory.
*** In FE 10, a character leveled up by BEXP always gets three parameters increased. This allows a unit with a spread of high and low growth stats to maximize both. [[labelnote:Explanation]]Characters in Fire Emblem are subject to stat {{cap}}s based on their class; unlike many other games, units can and will reach these caps, sometimes at a low level. A unit with high growths in one or more statistics can reach his/her cap at a low level, then apply BEXP for the later levels. Since that unit cannot gain in his/her high-growth stat, the game forces increases in lower-growth stats. Some units can reach the cap for all of their stats.[[/labelnote]] Additionally, the introduction of mid-chapter battle saves in FE 10 Easy and Normal Modes allows for this sort of manipulation during the course of gameplay.
* The final common method of powering up playable units is by stacking stat-boosting resources on them. Typically, these resources are not freely available; but there are exceptions in some games.
** In FE 4, there exist numerous rings that confer +5 to a particular parameter, and a unit can hold as many of these as his inventory will allow.
** In FE 5 and FE 6, there exist secret shops near the end of the game that have buyable stat-boosting items; in combination with the abusable arenas, the player can purchase a virtually unlimited quantity. The same applies for FE 8 after the main game has ended.
** In FE 11 and FE 12, these secret shops near the end of the game only sell a maximum of 3 of each kind of stat-boosting item instead of an unlimited amount. In addition, in FE 12, the various shards of the Star Orb increase the holder's stats.
** An extension to this includes items that greatly augment a unit's growth rates, which exist in FE 3, FE 5, and in FE 9 on the second and subsequent playthroughs, and a unit can hold as many of these items as his inventory will allow. Unlike stat-boosting items, these can also be traded around on a whim so that essentially every deployed player unit can make use of the augmented growth rates.

----
! Character and Game-Specific Game Breakers

* As a general rule, dancer and bard units (units that give other player units an extra action) are very powerful, and can break the game when used effectively. Their simple ability makes possible a diverse array of quick strategies.

!! ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia The Akaneia Games]]'' (FE 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, and 13)

* Caeda and Lena are gamebreaking characters in ''Shadow Dragon'' due to their ability to exploit certain gamebreaking mechanics.
** Caeda is the sole user of the Wing Spear, a multipurpose effective weapon. Her low str is circumvented by forging extra MT onto the Wing Spear [[note]]Because effective damage triples weapon MT, each point of MT forged onto an effective weapon such as a Ridersbane, Hammer, or the [[FanNickname Win Spear]] adds 3 damage when used on a vulnerable enemy[[/note]] and her high spd lets her reliably double attack boss enemies for [=ORKOs=]. Her default class, when promoted, is one of the few classes in the game that possesses flying and is also tied for the highest movement in the game.
** Lena is the earliest user of Warp and the only user of Hammerne (a staff which restores weapon durability), thereby facilitating the Warp skip strategies. In ''Shadow Dragon'', Warp has no range restrictions, and it is possible to warp Caeda to the boss, [=ORKO=] it, then warp Marth there and have him seize, clearing the map in a single turn.

Changed line(s) 38,40 (click to see context) from:

to:

----
!! ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral The Judgral Games]]'' (FE 4 and 5)

* Sigurd in the first generation of ''Genealogy of the Holy War (Seisen no Keifu'' in Japan) is a prominent example of a gamebreaker in Fire Emblem. Although he is weak in a few respects (e.g. no strong 2-range weapon), the combination of high availability, excellent base stats, good growths, a mount, and early access to a good weapon are responsible for his domination of the entire first generation. Sigurd is widely considered to be the best lord unit to have ever existed in any Fire Emblem game.
* All the children characters in ''Genealogy'' have the potential to be broken if the player maximizes the benefits units get from their parents. The stats the parents have at end of the first generation affect their offspring. Additionally, children characters inherit items and weapons from their parents, allowing the player to obtain good items and weapons relatively early compared to other Fire Emblem titles. Players can make use of stat-boosting rings, ability-granting rings, and powerful weapons such as a Hero Sword immediately from the beginning of the second generation.
** Celice can inherit Sigurd's Silver Sword (or other weapons should the player desire) and some incredibly beneficial stat-boosting rings such as the Leg Ring, which grants +3 movement to the holder, and the Elite Ring, which doubles the holder's EXP gains. Celice's relatively weak base stats are offset by this inheritance mechanic, and letting Celice inherit many of these items is beneficial because it lets the player make use of them from the beginning of the second generation. The optimal inheritance setup will have Celice reaching promotion quickly, effectively becoming a copy of Sigurd from the previous generation; however, Celice still has to overcome the short period in which he is rather mediocre.
** Arthur can become this, if his father was Levin and he inherited the Holsety tome. Holsety is an exclusive weapon that possesses 30 MT [[note]]Many good weapons, such as the aforementioned Silver sword, have only 18 or fewer[[/note]], 1-2 range, and grants +10 to the wielder's skill (increasing hit) and +20 speed (greatly increasing dodging ability) to its user, making it an excellent weapon both defensively and offensively. Although not the easiest pairing to achieve [[note]]Levin/Tiltyu is more difficult than Levin/Fury or Levin/Sylvia[[/note]], Arthur with Holsety can turn the first half of Second Generation into a complete joke.
* One method to obtain an such a character for the endgame involves a specific glitch [[note]]See "Buy the Balmunk" on [[http://serenesforest.net/fe4/hint.html this page]] for details[[/note]]. If Ira was paired with Holyn, their children will have Major Odo holy blood, and therefore can use the Balmung. Since Lakche, and to a lesser extent, her brother Skasaher, have better stats than their cousin Shanan, abusing this glitch can turn Lakche into the single best swordmaster in the series.
* Although many great weapons and items exist in ''Thracia 776'', the only true gamebreakers in this game are the Warp, Rescue, and Repair staves. Staff range for ranged staves is unlimited in FE 5, so for the Warp and Rescue staves, the player is able to move a unit to anywhere else on the map or retrieve a unit from anywhere else on the map, respectively. This allows for gamebreaking strategies that, for example, essentially allow the player to defeat a boss and seize a throne or gate to end a chapter in 1 turn. Warp is useful in maps with a seize objective; Rescue is useful in maps with an escape objective. Repair allows the player to repair any weapon to its original state, which means that the player can exhaust all 5 uses of Repair on a single Warp or Rescue staff to obtain 6 times as many uses out of that staff. By extension, since Saphy is the only unit capable of using the Repair staff, she is also a gamebreaker. The list of units who can reliably be assumed to be able to use Warp and Rescue is larger but still limited: Saphy, Salem, Tina, Linoan, Sleuf, Sara, Cyas, and Sety.

----
!! ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe The Elibe Games]]'' (FE 6 and 7)

* Although there are no units in ''Sword of Seals'' who can be considered gamebreaking over the entire course of the game, there are a handful of units that can break substantial portions of the game. These include Marcus, Rutger, Zealot, Miledy, and Percival; the former 3 are of the DiscOneNuke type and the latter 2 fall under LastDiscMagic.
* Marcus from ''Blazing Sword'' is a gamebreaker in every sense of the word. High base stats allow him to trivialize the early chapters, and his growths, although subpar, are just good enough to allow him to crush enemies all the way until the end of the game (even in Hector Hard Mode). Access to 3 weapon types gives Marcus a weapon for every situation, and high movement allows Marcus to quickly defeat chapters. The only point against Marcus being a gamebreaker is that he is reliant on gaining around 2-3 points of spd throughout the game at a 25% growth, something that he has a non-negligible chance at failing to do even if his average stats at a certain level indicate that he is expected to do so; regardless, he is still by far the best unit in the game even when failing to gain spd.

----
!! ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' (FE 8)

* Seth in ''The Sacred Stones'' is the most powerful unit in the beginning of the game and has stats rivaling your trained units even in the endgame. Unlike Marcus, Seth also has a high growth total with a good growth distribution, which means that he is much less likely to slow down in performance later in the game. He's pretty much essential for fast, efficient clears and it's often said that the game is even easier than if it's just Seth and a lord. Seth is arguably considered to be the best unit to exist in any Fire Emblem game.

----
!! ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius The Tellius Games]]'' (FE 9 and 10)

* Titania in ''Path of Radiance'' is similar to Seth in FE 8 with respect to parameters and growths, and has the potential to trivialize the entire game equally easily. Their surrounding environment makes a big difference; the presence of a glut of BEXP in FE 9 to easily and effortlessly power up growth units means that FE 9 Titania is not nearly as dominant as FE 8 Seth. Although Titania is a good unit over the course of the entire game and can easily beat the game, sans the final boss, on her own, the existence of other gamebreakers lessens her value.
* Marcia and Jill are the other notable gamebreakers in FE 9. Though both have rather mediocre base stats, the player can pump them full of BEXP to instantly turn them into excellent combat units. The element that makes Marcia and Jill superior recipients of this BEXP (since any other character can be elevated to the status of a combat god with BEXP) is that they are able to fly over all sorts of terrain impediments and easily bypass large portions of many chapters. With their augmented stats, neither are vulnerable to enemy attacks and both are extremely capable at killing most boss enemies in a couple of rounds of combat.
* No unit is capable of trivializing the entirety of ''Radiant Dawn'' due to how the game is structured, but in the context of the game, the most obvious gamebreaker is Haar. Haar has excellent base parameters and growth rates that are well distributed; on top of that, he is in a flying class with some of the best movement in the game. Haar also boasts great availability and enjoys some exclusivity as well, being the only flying unit for a significant portion of the game. This is not to say that Haar doesn't have weaknesses; Haar's spd base and growth are somewhat mediocre and require a Speedwings or 2 to adequately fix, and low resistance coupled with weakness to thunder magic make some enemy types extremely dangerous for Haar.
* Ike boasts insane base parameters coupled with good growths, but he is not as gamebreaking as Haar due to a sword lock for a portion of the game and unspectacular mobility. Transfers from FE 9 will improve Ike's bases, but do not fix his lesser mobility or his poor resistance.

----

16th Jan '12 3:47:27 PM moderator shimaspawn

Send shimaspawn a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 7 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 12,15 (click to see context) from:

*** One method of this form of abuse involves obtaining knowledge of the RNG sequence and using this knowledge to manipulate a good level up on a player unit. This is possible in FE6, FE7, and FE8 by forcing the game to use RNs in retracing movement paths, which at the same time indicates to the player whether the RNs used were "high" or "low." After suspending and resuming the game, the sequence of RNs is identical and thus predictable. The player will attempt to manipulate a good level up by matching a string of successive "low" RNs with the string used to determine level up gains. In FE11 and FE12, the RNG is seeded by the Nintendo DS clock, and starting the game at certain times on the clock will yield predictable results. This form of RNG abuse is commonly used in FE11 for players to create wi-fi teams with parameters that are significantly above average.
*** Another method of this form of abuse involves brute force resetting of the game until the player obtains favorable results. In FE9, this is facilitated by the BEXP system, which allows the player to allocate EXP to player units in the pre-chapter base. The level up gains using this method are not restricted in any particular way, and the player can simply apply BEXP to yield a level up, check the level up gains, and reset if the gains weren't satisfactory. In FE10, level ups using BEXP is restricted to 3 stat gains; however, these stat gains can still be manipulated to a certain extent. Additionally, the introduction of mid-chapter battle saves in FE10 Easy and Normal Modes allows for this sort of manipulation during the course of gameplay.
** The final common method of powering up playable units is by stacking stat-boosting resources on them. Typically, these resources are not freely available; but there are exceptions in some games. In FE4, there exist numerous rings that confer +5 to a particular parameter, and a unit can hold as many of these as his inventory will allow. In FE5 and FE6, there exist secret shops near the end of the game that have buyable stat-boosting items; in combination with the abusable arenas, the player can purchase a virtually unlimited quantity. The same applies for FE8 after the main game has ended. In FE11 and FE12, these secret shops near the end of the game only sell a maximum of 3 of each kind of stat-boosting item instead of an unlimited amount.
*** An extension to this includes items that greatly augment a unit's growth rates. These exist in FE3 and FE5, and a unit can hold as many of these items as his inventory will allow. Unlike stat-boosting items, these can also be traded around on a whim so that essentially every deployed player unit can make use of the augmented growth rates.

to:

*** One method of this form of abuse involves obtaining knowledge of the RNG sequence and using this knowledge to manipulate a good level up on a player unit. This is possible in FE 6, FE 7, and FE 8 by forcing the game to use [=RNs=] in retracing movement paths, which at the same time indicates to the player whether the [=RNs=] used were "high" or "low." After suspending and resuming the game, the sequence of [=RNs=] is identical and thus predictable. The player will attempt to manipulate a good level up by matching a string of successive "low" [=RNs=] with the string used to determine level up gains. In FE 11 and FE 12, the RNG is seeded by the Nintendo DS clock, and starting the game at certain times on the clock will yield predictable results. This form of RNG abuse is commonly used in FE 11 for players to create wi-fi teams with parameters that are significantly above average.
*** Another method of this form of abuse involves brute force resetting of the game until the player obtains favorable results. In FE 9, this is facilitated by the BEXP system, which allows the player to allocate EXP to player units in the pre-chapter base. The level up gains using this method are not restricted in any particular way, and the player can simply apply BEXP to yield a level up, check the level up gains, and reset if the gains weren't satisfactory. In FE 10, level ups using BEXP is restricted to 3 stat gains; however, these stat gains can still be manipulated to a certain extent. Additionally, the introduction of mid-chapter battle saves in FE 10 Easy and Normal Modes allows for this sort of manipulation during the course of gameplay.
** The final common method of powering up playable units is by stacking stat-boosting resources on them. Typically, these resources are not freely available; but there are exceptions in some games. In FE 4, there exist numerous rings that confer +5 to a particular parameter, and a unit can hold as many of these as his inventory will allow. In FE 5 and FE 6, there exist secret shops near the end of the game that have buyable stat-boosting items; in combination with the abusable arenas, the player can purchase a virtually unlimited quantity. The same applies for FE 8 after the main game has ended. In FE 11 and FE 12, these secret shops near the end of the game only sell a maximum of 3 of each kind of stat-boosting item instead of an unlimited amount.
*** An extension to this includes items that greatly augment a unit's growth rates. These exist in FE 3 and FE 5, and a unit can hold as many of these items as his inventory will allow. Unlike stat-boosting items, these can also be traded around on a whim so that essentially every deployed player unit can make use of the augmented growth rates.

Changed line(s) 18,20 (click to see context) from:

** This mechanic makes Celice a relative gamebreaker of his own in the second generation of FE4, although not nearly to the extent of his father, Sigurd. Celice can inherit Sigurd's Silver Sword (or other weapons should the player desire) and some incredibly beneficial stat-boosting rings such as the Leg Ring, which grants +3 movement to the holder, and the Elite Ring, which doubles the holder's EXP gains. Celice's relatively weak base stats are offset by this inheritance mechanic, and letting Celice inherit many of these items is beneficial anyway because it lets the player make use of them immediately from the beginning of the second generation. The optimal inheritance setup will have Celice reaching promotion in a short timespan, effectively becoming a copy of Sigurd from the previous generation; however, Celice still has to overcome the short period in which he is rather mediocre.
** Another commonly considered FE4 second generation gamebreaker is Arthur, provided that Levin was his father in the first generation. This setup for Arthur is notable for him being a mounted Holsety user. Holsety is an exclusive weapon that possesses 30 MT, 1-2 range, and grants +10 skl, +20 spd to its user, being an excellent weapon both defensively and offensively. There are still several suboptimal facets to this setup; Arthur is not mounted until promotion and has poor movement as a foot unit, he naturally lacks the ability that allows units to double attack in FE4 (relying instead on possessing the limited Pursuit Ring), and it takes awhile to pair Levin with Tiltyu in the first generation to obtain this setup for Arthur in the first place.
* Although many great weapons and items exist in ''Thracia 776'', the only true gamebreakers in this game are the Warp, Rescue, and Repair staves. Staff range for ranged staves is unlimited in FE5, so for the Warp and Rescue staves, the player is able to move a unit to anywhere else on the map or retrieve a unit from anywhere else on the map, respectively. This allows for gamebreaking strategies that, for example, essentially allow the player to defeat a boss and seize a throne or gate to end a chapter in 1 turn. Warp is useful in maps with a seize objective; Rescue is useful in maps with an escape objective. Repair allows the player to repair any weapon to its original state, which means that the player can exhaust all 5 uses of Repair on a single Warp or Rescue staff to obtain 6 times as many uses out of that staff.

to:

** This mechanic makes Celice a relative gamebreaker of his own in the second generation of FE 4, although not nearly to the extent of his father, Sigurd. Celice can inherit Sigurd's Silver Sword (or other weapons should the player desire) and some incredibly beneficial stat-boosting rings such as the Leg Ring, which grants +3 movement to the holder, and the Elite Ring, which doubles the holder's EXP gains. Celice's relatively weak base stats are offset by this inheritance mechanic, and letting Celice inherit many of these items is beneficial anyway because it lets the player make use of them immediately from the beginning of the second generation. The optimal inheritance setup will have Celice reaching promotion in a short timespan, effectively becoming a copy of Sigurd from the previous generation; however, Celice still has to overcome the short period in which he is rather mediocre.
** Another commonly considered FE 4 second generation gamebreaker is Arthur, provided that Levin was his father in the first generation. This setup for Arthur is notable for him being a mounted Holsety user. Holsety is an exclusive weapon that possesses 30 MT, 1-2 range, and grants +10 skl, +20 spd to its user, being an excellent weapon both defensively and offensively. There are still several suboptimal facets to this setup; Arthur is not mounted until promotion and has poor movement as a foot unit, he naturally lacks the ability that allows units to double attack in FE 4 (relying instead on possessing the limited Pursuit Ring), and it takes awhile to pair Levin with Tiltyu in the first generation to obtain this setup for Arthur in the first place.
* Although many great weapons and items exist in ''Thracia 776'', the only true gamebreakers in this game are the Warp, Rescue, and Repair staves. Staff range for ranged staves is unlimited in FE 5, so for the Warp and Rescue staves, the player is able to move a unit to anywhere else on the map or retrieve a unit from anywhere else on the map, respectively. This allows for gamebreaking strategies that, for example, essentially allow the player to defeat a boss and seize a throne or gate to end a chapter in 1 turn. Warp is useful in maps with a seize objective; Rescue is useful in maps with an escape objective. Repair allows the player to repair any weapon to its original state, which means that the player can exhaust all 5 uses of Repair on a single Warp or Rescue staff to obtain 6 times as many uses out of that staff.

Changed line(s) 23 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 27,28 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 30 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 36 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 38 (click to see context) from:

to:

26th Sep '11 7:09:45 PM dondon151

Send dondon151 a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Previous edit accidentally deleted an important bullet.

Added line(s) 30 (click to see context) :

26th Sep '11 2:11:19 PM ThatKidInTheBasement

Send ThatKidInTheBasement a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

As far as I can tell, Haar with Dragonfoe and Urvan OHKO's White Dragons and ORKO's Reds while taking little damage in return. Anyway, please don't put Sothe, Titania, and the Laguz Royals back up. I just explained why in the last edit and you ignored me.

Deleted line(s) 31,36 (click to see context) :

** Titania is similar to her Path of Radiance incarnation. She has well-rounded stats (albeit a little lacking in defenses, but her evasion and def-boosting affinity offset that), and she's relatively high-level compared to the other characters. Also like in [=PoR=], she stays fairly good even into Endgame, making her an effective character for the game's entirety.
** People who break the early game include...
*** Sothe. He joins at second tier when your highest level character is level 9 or 10 first tier, and has excellent stats for his level, too. He specializes in knives, which are the only physical weapon type with forgable 1-2 range weapons, and also has exclusive access to the Beastkiller, which makes him invaluable in some of the laguz-heavy maps the Dawn Brigade faces. Sadly, his horrible third tier caps and the fact that knives are rather poor in Endgame limit his usefulness later on.
** People who break the late game include...
*** The Lagus Royals. One the one hand, they all have very limited availability (and thus don't break the majority of the game) but when they do exist, they have absurdly high stats and skill sets that make them virtually indestructible and one-round even the toughest of common enemies, and are among the best candidates for dealing with Endgame bosses.
* 2 facets of ''Shadow Dragon'' are completely gamebreaking: forging and Warp. A combination of both can allow the player to entirely and reliably skip a majority of chapters in the game by warping a unit with a forged effective weapon to OHKO or ORKO the boss and then warping Marth to seize the gate or throne to finish the chapter.

25th Sep '11 12:37:40 PM Gamet

Send Gamet a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Haar doesn't double Auras without a Brave even with Nasir. Urvan doesn't 1HK Dragons and it certainly doesn't 1HK Reds. Do not make stuff up.

Changed line(s) 22 (click to see context) from:

to:

Added line(s) 30 (click to see context) :

25th Sep '11 12:28:43 PM ThatKidInTheBasement

Send ThatKidInTheBasement a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Removing non-gamebreakers. Sothe is unimpressive after Part 1, Titania is great but not a Gamebreaker. The Laguz Royals, while powerful, qualify more as Last Disc Magic or Eleventh Hour Superpower.

Deleted line(s) 31,35 (click to see context) :

25th Sep '11 11:52:54 AM dondon151

Send dondon151 a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Please continue discussion about Elincia on the discussion page. Not here.

Changed line(s) 22 (click to see context) from:

to:

25th Sep '11 8:30:37 AM ThatKidInTheBasement

Send ThatKidInTheBasement a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

So? Nasir is around, and you can use him to help Haar double Auras. Also, who cares about only having 22 Resistance when you have healers to help out and you're ending the chapter in like, what, 3 turns max? Amiti also lacks 1-2 range, so that hurts Elincia's EP. Using Alondite, Urvan, or Wishblade with Dragonfoe is much better than Amiti, because the Urvan user can simply OHKO dragons while the others ORKO and allow for enemy phase action. Regardless, stop edit warring and actually go to the discussion page and talk with us there. Much more productive and none of us will risk a ban.

Deleted line(s) 36 (click to see context) :

25th Sep '11 3:43:01 AM Gamet

Send Gamet a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Check the stats. Brave AXE hits only 11 Might. The only other ones who can exceed 45 Attack naturally with a Brave are Reavers who should be used for Dheginsea, Marshals because that's such a good idea, Haar who can't even outspeed Auras enough WITH Nasir, Jill—BARELY and also caps Magic Defense at only 22 so she has to be on Wardwood, and Ike, who is self-explanatory. AND a regular Brave weapon is guaranteed to be bad use of a blessed weapon spot, because everything left has 1-2 range and thus will strike anything that can't counter. Amiti at least abuses Dragonfoe. (Nolan's 63 ATK to Elincia's 75.) And "artificial difficulty increase"? YOU are shooting yourself in the foot. Stuff that doesn't hinder her or outright makes her more broken being banned and her still being broken? Nope, no way she could possibly be imbalanced.

Added line(s) 35 (click to see context) :

24th Sep '11 4:58:30 PM ThatKidInTheBasement

Send ThatKidInTheBasement a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Endgame is not everything and having a cool weapon does not make her broken. Any retard with a Brave weapon and flight can match what Elincia is doing. Not only that, but the video you linked required artifically increasing the difficulty by not using Laguz Royals, so Elincia's "brokeness" is only so when you're deliberately shooting yourself in the foot.

Deleted line(s) 36 (click to see context) :

This list shows the last 10 events of 99. Show all.

new edits

TV Tropes by TV Tropes Foundation, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org.
Privacy Policy