History HighTierScrappy / FireEmblem

* The Wyvern Lord class is often disliked for invalidating much of the game's customization options, as it's so powerful, has unmatched movement, and its weaknesses are easily negated, that the endgame meta typically becomes "make everyone Wyvern Lords as fast as possible".

* The [[DownloadableContent DLC Emblems]] gets this reaction from some. While the Bracelets are undoubtedly very powerful, many feel that they're ''too'' good, which undermines a number of chapters which are designed around the player having access to specific emblems (The most obvious examples being [[spoiler:Chapters 11 and 22, where the player loses the emblems]]). Furthermore, some feel that the DLC giving you access to SP boosting items invalidates much of the game's balancing, as it gives the player immediate access to some of the more powerful skills right off the bat.

* In an odd case of a character who isn't considered top tier but still gets dislike for being stronger than another, there's Ilios from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776''. Ilios is one of the game's MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers, being impossible to recruit if you already have Olwen. Olwen is one of the most popular characters, owing to her CharacterDevelopment and her tragic relationship with Reinhardt, not to mention her impressive potential... but she also joins with pretty awful bases as a prepromote, while Ilios joins with already competent stats in the same class. This means efficiency-minded players tend to ignore Olwen in favor of Ilios, which annoys the people who like Olwen, especially when Ilios is nowhere near as fleshed out.

** Ryoma practically has no restrictions, and blows every other Myrmidon[=/=]Swordmaster in the game out of the water. He's not a mounted character like Xander, but his exclusive Raijinto can be used at range, meaning magic and arrows are a joke against him. The Swordmaster class learns [[DeathByAThousandCuts Astra]], so he can attack more times than he needs to. He's still one of the strongest, fastest characters in the game, so the rest of the army might as well take a nap if he's deployed. All of this make him border on TheDreaded for players of [=StreetPass=] battles. What truly solidifies him as this is, even though he's well-liked as a character, he's exclusive to the two easier paths of the game, where you don't ''need'' such a GameBreaker.

** Ryoma practically has no restrictions, and blows every other Myrmidon[=/=]Swordmaster in the game out of the water. He's not a mounted character like Xander, but his exclusive Raijinto can be used at range, meaning magic and arrows are a joke against him. The Swordmaster class learns [[DeathByAThousandCuts Astra]], so he can attack more times than he needs to. He's still one of the strongest, fastest characters in the game, so the rest of the army might as well take a nap if he's deployed. All of this make him border on TheDreaded for players of [=StreetPass=] battles. What truly solidifies him as this as, even though he's well-liked as a character, he openly takes away from the point of using just about ''any'' other infantry Swordmaster in the game, like Hinata, Hana, or even Heroes like Laslow, Selena or Soleil.

** And of course, Camilla. Take everything about Xander, make it hit ''harder'', give it a class with an ability that is basically anathema to the majority of Hoshidan units (most Hoshidans don't use mounts, and the ones that do (i.e. Machinists) tend to fall under LowTierLetdown, meaning Trample gives Camilla essentially a free boost to damage) and finish by making them more accurate, faster, ''and'' is a Res tank (normally the one weakness besides arrows that flying units that aren't Pegasi have) and you have Camilla. If not for Siegfried, Camilla would be better than Xander in nearly all categories. This is [[BrokenBase especially inflammatory]] due to Camilla's, ahem, [[MsFanservice provocative appearance]] and {{Yandere}} tendencies, which annoys the daylights out of less-skilled players who don't like her character but are otherwise forced to use her as a crutch in Lunatic.

** And of course, Camilla. Take everything about Xander, make it hit ''harder'', give it a class with an ability that is basically anathema to the majority of Hoshidan units (Most Hoshidans don't use mounts, meaning Trample gives Camilla essentially a free boost to damage) and finish by making them more accurate, faster, ''and'' is a Res tank (normally the one weakness besides arrows that flying units that aren't Pegasi have) and you have Camilla. If not for Siegfried, Camilla would be better than Xander in nearly all categories. This is [[BrokenBase especially inflammatory]] due to Camilla's, ahem, [[MsFanservice provocative appearance]] and {{Yandere}} tendencies, which annoys the daylights out of less-skilled players who don't like her character but are otherwise forced to use her as a crutch in Lunatic.

!!''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' and ''[[VideoGameRemake Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]]''
* ''Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'' has Deen. He, like, Kris, is already controversial due to being seen by some as a relatively generic edgy character, he nonetheless manages to be an absolutely broken unit for his join time. Deen starts out with exceptional bases, and utterly eclipses his [[MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers Mutually Exclusive Party Member]] [[LadyOfBlackMagic Sonya]] in terms of base stats enough to carry him over to the end of the game, even if Sonya has better growths than him. What truly pushes Deen into this category is not just his status as an excellent unit, but his characterization seen as paling to the HiddenDepths of Sonya's characterization, and just being seen as a less likable character by comparison. This has convinced quite a few fans who don't play for keeps to instead go with Sonya, precisely because of them feeling Deen takes away the choice from an actually likable character for being far superior.

!!''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'' and ''[[VideoGameRemake Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem]]''
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemNewMysteryOfTheEmblem'' has Kris. Already a pretty controversial character in the fandom due to their CanonForeigner status and accusations of being a SpotlightStealingSquad or a CreatorsPet, one thing that ''really'' doesn't help the debates is that Kris is incredibly powerful. Not only do they have parameters that are at least above average in just about every category, and not only can they start in eight different classes, but they also have a pretty lengthy prologue and tutorial where they'll pretty much always be your best character and where most of the units you use won't be playable again for a good while. This means, invariably, the best way to play ''New Mystery'' is to have Kris solo the tutorial, and then join up with Marth's gang as a level 10 or so DiscOneNuke that can proceed to turn even Lunatic into a joke.

* Even though they're genuinely liked ([[BaseBreakingCharacter for the most part]]) as characters, the royal siblings in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' are generally regarded as [[GoneHorriblyRight too good at their jobs]]. The game has a rather large cast (especially on ''Revelation''), and an ArbitraryHeadcountLimit. Naturally, whenever any the siblings join, several units may wind up being benched for the simple crime of [[OvershadowedByAwesome not being able to stand up to the royals they share a potential promotion with]]. This definitely comes into play in ''Revelation'', when you get all ''eight'' of them over the course of the game, with one of the biggest complaints leveraged at ''Revelation'' at there being no reason to use any of the retainers when the royals exist and do their job better by default, which greatly annoys players who like them.

** Takumi deserves special mention for this. On both the routes he is available, he is considered a GameBreaker due to a mixture of his stupidly overpowered weapon and the buffs to the Archer class bumping its usefulness up to this. He joins early as well: chapter 10 in both ''Birthright'' and ''Revelation''. He's also a BaseBreakingCharacter par excellence, with much of him completely outclassing any and all archers for his slot in ''Revelation'' being seen as even worse (including {{Ensemble Dark Horse}}s like Setsuna and Niles).

!''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'' and ''[[VideoGameRemake Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem]]''

!!Archanaea and Valm Saga (''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'', ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'' and their remakes)

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEchoesShadowsOfValentia'' has Deen. He, like, Kris, is already controversial due to being seen by some as a relatively generic edgy character, he nonetheless manages to be an absolutely broken unit for his join time. Deen starts out with exceptional bases, and utterly eclipses his [[MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers Mutually Exclusive Party Member]] [[LadyOfBlackMagic Sonya]] in terms of base stats enough to carry him over to the end of the game, even if Sonya has better growths than him. What truly pushes Deen into this category is not just his status as an excellent unit, but his characterization seen as paling to the HiddenDepths of Sonya's characterization, and just being seen as a less likable character by comparison. This has convinced quite a few fans who don't play for keeps to instead go with Sonya, precisely because of them feeling Deen takes away the choice from an actually likable character for being far superior.
!!Jugdral Saga (''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'')

** Xander's Siegfried has all the advantages Raijinto does on a mounted unit in addition to buffing Xander's avoid and defense. Xander himself may not be as fast as Ryoma, but he is otherwise a MasterOfAll in everything that isn't magic related, able to tank better than most tanks and hit harder than anyone not named Charlotte or Camilla. And even then, his Speed can be patched up with favoritism or a Berserker backpack, making him into an utterly horrifying LightningBruiser. Him being a mounted unit on TOP of a tank makes him effectively invalidating any Paladins and Generals as soon as you get them, which is especially grating on ''Revelation'' where there's a lot of units and a ton of competition for the slot.
** And of course, Camilla. Take everything about Xander, make it hit ''harder,'' give it a class with an ability that is basically anathema to the majority of Hoshidan units (Most Hoshidans don't use mounts, meaning Trample gives Camilla essentially a free boost to damage) and finish by making them more accurate, faster, ''and'' is a Res tank (normally the one weakness besides arrows that flying units that aren't Pegasi have) and you have Camilla. If not for Siegfried, Camilla would be better than Xander in nearly all categories. This is [[BrokenBase especially inflammatory]] due to Camilla's, ahem, [[MsFanservice provocative appearance]] and {{Yandere}} tendencies, which annoys the daylights out of less-skilled players who don't like her character but are otherwise forced to use her as a crutch in Lunatic.

** And of course, Camilla. Take everything about Xander, make it hit ''harder,'' give it a class with an ability that is basically anathema to the majority of Hoshidan units (Most Hoshidans don't use mounts, meaning Trample gives Camilla essentially a free boost to damage) and finish by making them more accurate, faster, ''and'' is a Res tank (normally the one weakness besides arrows that flying units that aren't Pegasi have) and you have Camilla. If not for Siegfried, Camilla would be better than Xander in nearly all categories. This is [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment especially inflammatory]] due to Camilla's, ahem, [[MsFanservice provocative appearance]] and {{Yandere}} tendencies, which annoys the daylights out of less-skilled players who don't like her character but are otherwise forced to use her as a crutch in Lunatic.

** Takumi deserves special mention for this. On both the routes he is available, he is considered a GameBreaker due to a mixture of his stupidly overpowered weapon and the buffs to the Archer class bumping its usefulness up to this. He joins early as well: chapter 10 in both ''Birthright'' and ''Revelation''. He's also a BaseBreakingCharacter par excellence, with much of him completely outclassing any and all archers for his slot in ''Revelation'' being seen as even worse (including {{EnsembleDarkhorse}}s like Setsuna and Niles).

** Takumi deserves special mention for this. On both the routes he is available, he is considered a GameBreaker due to a mixture of his stupidly overpowered weapon and the buffs to the Archer class bumping its usefulness up to this. He joins early as well: chapter 10 in both ''Birthright'' and ''Revelation''. He's also a BaseBreakingCharacter par excellence, with much of him completely outclassing any and all archers for his slot in ''Revelation'' being seen as even worse (including EnsembleDarkhorse{{s}} like Setsuna and Niles).

** Takumi deserves special mention for this. On both the routes he is available, he is considered a GameBreaker due to a mixture of his stupidly overpowered weapon and the buffs to the Archer class bumping its usefulness up to this. He joins early as well: chapter 10 in both ''Birthright'' and ''Revelation''. He's also a BaseBreakingCharacter par excellence, with much of him completely outclassing any and all archers for his slot in ''Revelation'' being seen as even worse (including EnsembleDarkhorse{{es}} like Setsuna and Niles).

Do keep in mind to only include units on this list if they are TheScrappy for being high-tier; they ''have'' to be a character that gets a demonstrable hatedom or dislike for their performance, though other reasons that can increase this problem are also very much possible as well.

** And of course, Camilla. Take everything about Xander, make it hit ''harder,'' give it a class with an ability that is basically anathema to the majority of Hoshidan units (Most Hoshidans don't use mounts, meaning Trample gives Camilla essentially a free boost to damage) and finish by making them more accurate, faster, ''and'' is a Res tank (normally the one weakness besides arrows that flying units that aren't Pegasi have) and you have Camilla. If not for Siegfried, Camilla would be better than Xander in nearly all categories. This is [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement especially inflammatory]] due to Camilla's, ahem, [[MsFanservice provocative appearance]] and {{Yandere}} tendencies, which annoys the daylights out of less-skilled players who don't like her character but are otherwise forced to use her as a crutch in Lunatic.

* The royal siblings in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' because they are, simply put, too good at their jobs. The game has a rather large cast (especially on ''Revelation''), and an ArbitraryHeadcountLimit. Naturally, when the siblings join, some units may wind up being benched for the simple crime of not being able to stand up to the royals they share a potential promotion with. This definitely comes into play in ''Revelation'', when you get all ''eight'' of them over the course of the game.
** Takumi deserves special mention for this. On both the routes he is available, he is considered a GameBreaker due to a mixture of his stupidly overpowered weapon and the buffs to the Archer class bumping its usefulness up to this. He joins early as well: chapter 10 in both ''Birthright'' and ''Revelation''.
** Ryoma practically has no restrictions. He's not a mounted character like Xander, so he's not weak to Horseslayers. His exclusive Raijinto can be used at range, meaning magic and arrows are a joke against him. The Swordmaster class learns [[DeathByAThousandCuts Astra]], so he can attack more times than he needs to. He's still one of the strongest, fastest characters in the game, so the rest of the army might as well take a nap if he's deployed. All of this make him border on TheDreaded for players of [=StreetPass=] battles.
** Xander's Siegfried has all the advantages Raijinto does on a mounted unit in addition to buffing Xander's avoid and defense. Xander himself may not be as fast as Ryoma, but he is otherwise a MasterOfAll in everything that isn't magic related, able to tank better than most tanks and hit harder than anyone not named Charlotte or Camilla. While he does have an unfortunate weakness to Horseslayers, the movement being a Paladin offers him more than makes up for it. This does mean, however, that he pretty much renders all Cavalier-class characters in ''Conquest'' (and there are a good number of them) moot.
** And of course, Camilla. Take everything about Xander, make it hit ''harder,'' give it a class with an ability that is basically anathema to the majority of Hoshidan units (Most Hoshidans don't use mounts, meaning Trample gives Camilla essentially a free boost to damage) and finish by making them more accurate, faster, ''and'' a res tank (normally the one weakness besides arrows that flying units that aren't Pegasi have) and you have Camilla. If not for Siegfried Camilla would be better than Xander in nearly all categoriesThat's enough to snipe anything from beyond retaliation range and get back to safety. On open terrain, a Bow Knight has a larger effective range than ''siege magic''. Sure, accuracy drops off with range, but a character with high base strength holding a training bow is still going to cause a ton of damage, probably twice. The class's only drawback is its dismal grown modifiers (Net +10% boosting areas it'll never need with a malus to all-important speed) but as an endgame PrestigeClass, substandard levels aren't going to hurt very much in the long run.

Even in [[Franchise/FireEmblem a series]] that's as big as it is on using your favorite characters, some units are just gonna steal the spotlight from other, better units.

Do keep in mind to only include units on this list if they are also TheScrappy; they ''have'' to be a character that gets a demonstrable hatedom for their performance, though other reasons that can increase this problem are also very much possible as well.

Regardless of the reasons below, playable units in ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' are generally not created equal, and as a result, trying to balance each game's characters quickly becomes more and more impossible. Some units, however, get more ire in general for taking away from other units' viability in how good they are.

Do keep in mind that tiering doesn't focus on ''if'' a unit can be good, but ''when''; how much resources would generally be needed to get a unit to a serviceable quality. Given the game's stat caps are designed across the board to ensure almost ''anyone'' can be good in theory, the measuring stick often thus comes down to how efficient the process is.

For a tier list on ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'', click [[TierInducedScrappy/FireEmblemHeroes here]].

* In general for ''Franchise/FireEmblem'', mounted units (Cavaliers, Pegasus Knights, Wyvern Riders) are top tiers due to their higher movement coming with absolutely no disadvantage except for ONE game in the entire series where they face a disadvantage for being mounted. Since there's always an early joining Paladin as the Jagen unit (Arran, Sigurd, Marcus, Seth, Titania, Frederick), and an early joining pegasus knight (Caeda, Karin, Vanessa, Shanna, Florina, Marcia, Sumia) in each game, expect to see those units at the top of the tier lists, which often comes to the annoyance of those who wish to use tactically lesser units. In fact, fliers and mounts are generally considered so good that it's considered ''very hard'' to make one that isn't worth the effort, and for Wyvern Riders in general, there not being a single truly awful Wyvern Rider in the series. As a result, challenge runs of games with reclassing available tend to ban or restrict mass usage of Wyvern Riders, given how ludicrously easy it is to break the game with them.
* Sigurd from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' is nigh-infamous for literally soloing the entire first generation thanks to his impressive bases and growths, combined with a good enough starting level which allows him to catapult easily into the higher levels. He's considered to be that great that even with the weapon triangle disadvantage against him, ''[[ScissorsCutsRock he'll still manage to instantly sweep against them]]''. Most importantly, he manages to get a [[InfinityMinusOneSword Silver Sword]], which already turns him from a powerful mounted Lord to a walking disaster area as long as he isn't being attacked by 2-range enemies (and even then, a magic sword or a Javelin will compensate for that). That being said, him soloing the first generation is the actual reason ranked players roll their eyes: He kills so many enemies that [[GoneHorriblyRight he can potentially tank the Experience Rank]] if the other units don't gain enough levels, though thankfully there are situations in which Sigurd can probably get into trouble, and other units are able to pull him out if that happens. His son, Seliph, can also downright solo the second generation, and even gets a decent magic growth which allows him to wield magic swords more efficiently, and his somewhat mediocre start is heavily compensated if Sigurd passes on a good amount of equipment and rings, which can definitely help him once he promotes into Knight Lord.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' has Rutger, for a simple reason: the Hero Crest. ''Binding Blade'' has a number of popular characters who promote using it, including Dieck, Fir, and Gonzales. It is also astoundingly rare, with you picking up your first in Chapter 7, your second in Chapter 10/11 (depending on route) and your third in Chapter 16 (plus a Secret Shop). Because of this, it's a legitimate question which character will get to access its power... or it would be, if Rutger didn't exist. ''Binding Blade'' bosses are notoriously evasive and hit very hard, meaning you ''need'' a character who can hit and one-round reliably... like, say, a 4th-level sword unit with 14 Skill and 15 Speed on Hard and high growths, who starts with a Killing Edge for a crit bonus and gains an even bigger crit bonus upon promotion. Rutger's absurd accuracy and critical potential make him one of the only characters who can go toe-to-toe with bosses on Hard early on, which means that nearly every player will feed him tons of kills and that Hero Crest so he can turn into a strong Swordmaster as soon as possible. Good for Rutger... and terrible for those units who ''really'' want a Hero Crest so they aren't stuck unpromoted for massive chunks of the game. Fans of those characters tend to gripe about how Rutger renders every other Myrmidon, Fighter, Berserker, or Mercenary less useful by virtue of being unwilling to let go of their promotion item.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' has Marcus, a level one paladin (the cavalry class promoted, mind) that serves as a ''starting unit'' alongside Eliwood, has access to most of the game's best lances and swords off the bat (which won't be for ''ten'' more chapters, as he's introduced right at the start of Eliwood's story), and can one-shot every enemy, including the first few bosses. He's a special case of High Tiered Scrappy. CharacterTiers based on Hector Hard Mode Ranked runs put him at near the top of the list, while those that are based on non ranked runs outright put him into a tier of his own in God Tier. In short, Marcus is ''extremely'' well-liked by these groups of the fanbase, while being hated by those that cares only for stats. He embodies BoringButPractical play as a reliable unit who ends the game as unspectacular, which annoys the people who prefer to raise up units.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' has Seth, who is one of the starting units (and a Paladin, a promoted cavalier unit), has access to most of the good swords and lances right off the bat, can one-shot any enemy (including the first few bosses), and has growths that are absolutely '''fantastic'''. ''Sacred Stones'' is already considered the easiest ''Fire Emblem'' game, but Seth is capable of soloing it, so many gamers outright refuse to use him out of belief that he drains the fun out of the game.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' has Haar, who is a carryover unit from ''Path of Radiance'', the same game where he is considered [[MasterOfNone painfully]] [[JackofAllStats average]]. But in this game, he has ridiculous starting stats and growths, uses axes (the best among the weapon classes in this game), and is a flier that is ''not'' weak to bows. Plus, in a game where some characters are not playable depending on the chapter, Haar appears all over the place in different factions, even more than the "main characters" of the game, like Ike and Micaiah. Haar's only downsides are his low magic resistance — which isn't much of a problem because magic is nerfed in this game, and a weakness to [[ShockAndAwe thunder magic]] — which is only used by a handful of enemies. Haar is the best unit ever, great for both casual playthroughs and speedruns.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemNewMysteryOfTheEmblem'' has Kris. Already a pretty controversial character in the fandom due to their CanonForeigner status and accusations of being a SpotlightStealingSquad or a CreatorsPet, one thing that ''really'' doesn't help the debates is that Kris is incredibly powerful. Not only do they have parameters that are at least above average in just about every category, and not only can they start in eight different classes, but they also have a pretty lengthy prologue and tutorial where they'll pretty much always be your best character and where most of the units you use won't be playable again for a good while. This means, invariably, the best way to play ''New Mystery'' is to have Kris solo the tutorial, and then join up with Marth's gang as a level 10 or so DiscOneNuke that can proceed to turn even Lunatic into a joke.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'':
** As far as the classes in the earlier-game tiers go, Brigand stands head and shoulders above the rest, simply because of the skill learned upon mastering it: Death Blow. This skill grants the unit +6 Strength upon initiating combat, and given that Brigand is an Intermediate class accessible from Level 10 onward, this is an enormous boon for the time at which you can get it. It gives a massive net gain of +12 damage on a double attack, and this can be especially game-breaking when combined with a gauntlet, Brave weapon, or another skill that forces a double attack. It's worthwhile to have almost any unit you plan to be a physical fighter master Brigand at some point just to get Death Blow, especially the ones with lower Strength like Ashe.
** When it comes to characters, Lysithea is GlassCannon personified. She has good stats growth in Mag, Spd and Dex which can easly counters her low growth in HP, Def and Res, can learn Death Spikes T (which can one-shot the [[BonusBoss Death Knight]]) once you have her in a B rank in reason [[note]] In contrast, Hubert, the only one who can also learn Death Spikes T, can learn it in A rank.[[/note]]. But her greatest strength comes from her wielding the Crest of Gloucester, which increase the might of her magic spells and enabling the [[DamageReduction Pavise/Aegis effect]] on Thyrsus, which can counterattack her GlassCannon status. Not only that, but Thyrsus gives ''+2'' magic range, meaning she can just pick off enemies from the back lines without worrying about getting hurt.
** To an extent, Felix could be considered as Lysithea's physical fighter counterpart, being a GlassCannon who can deal amazing damage to make up for it. He has great growths in Strength, Speed and Dexterity, which are only amplified by the sword-wielding classes he favours, his Major Crest of Fraldarius having a 40% chance to boost his Might, and his personal skill Lone Wolf raising his damage even further when he doesn't have a battalion equipped. His only real problem, low defences, can easily be rectified with the Aegis Shield - not only does it boost both his Defence and Resistance, but his Crest enables both Pavise and Aegis on it. But what really makes him stand out is that he is considered one of the easiest students to recruit out of their house (with the exception of Sylvain's automatic recruitment for a female Byleth). Considering that most players will want to put Byleth in a sword-wielding class thanks to their proficiency and high starting rank with them, they will almost certainly reach Felix's recruitment requirements (15 Speed and B+ Swords) quickly with no trouble, and as a result he is a staple for even non-Blue Lion players.
** Do you like Lysithea? Do you think there should be more characters like her? Well, with the Ashen Wolves DLC comes [[LadyOfBlackMagic Constance.]] Constance has most of the strengths Lysithea has, and anything she doesn't have that Lysithea has Constance has something else comparable. Lysithea gets more powerful spells at random points? Constance conserves magic at random points. Now, this wouldn't normally be game-breaking if not for one major factor- whereas Lysithea gets Dark Magic, Constance gets really powerful Black magic, including ''Bolting.'' Not only that, she gets more uses of Black Magic than most other characters, being able to throw out four Boltings in a single map as a Gremory. Kiss any lingering issues with ballistae units goodbye as Constance casually rips them apart from ten squares away. She also gets the all-important Rescue, along with Fimbulventr. Of course, the cherry on top is her personal class that was also released with the DLC,
** Dark Flier. Back in ''Awakening'', Dark Flier was considered broken because of Galeforce. While Edelgard is the sole beneficiary of anything resembling Galeforce in ''Three Houses'', Dark Flier has new tricks up its sleeve. As Three Houses returned to the concept of 'mounted units get Canto,' Dark Fliers can now benefit from Canto as well. Take everything gamebreaking about a Wyvern Lord Bernadetta or Wyvern Master Claude outside of physical growths and give it magical stats and you get a rough idea of what a Dark Flier is capable of. It gets better, though - Dark Fliers naturally get the Transmute skill, which allows any Dark Flier to become supercharged on the next player phase if hit by a magic attack on enemy phase. As the majority of people who would want to become Dark Fliers are women with high Magic and Resistance, it's not surprising to learn that this is a very easy way to rack up power. It's also a class mastery skill, in case you want to transplant Transmute to a Gremory. Oh, and speaking of Constance, using Bolting or Meteor on a Dark Flier gives the unit an ''incredibly'' safe method of picking off nasty units behind enemy lines who could cause problems. The ''only'' caveat is that you can only really use one Dark Flier per party on any route that isn't New Game +, as the only flying Battalion that gives positive stat modifiers to magic and resistance is the one Constance gets by completing her paralogue, though that doesn't stop a lot from trying anyway as most endgame battalions offer either a crit, avoid and a speed bonus, or ''all of the above''.
** Edelgard is a perfectly strong unit, though not quite as strong as the other two Lord characters on her own. [[note]] Claude gets Barbarossa, perhaps the best class in the game, while Dimitri has the highest Strength growths and potential for raw damage plus the almighty Battalion Wrath/Battalion Vantage combo. [[/note]] But when using her Relic weapon, Aymr, Edelgard gets access to the Raging Storm combat art, which lets her take another full turn after each use. Spamming it will wear out the axe's durability, but it won't matter much when one of the game's strongest characters gets to take six full turns in a row. With some luck, you can even use it to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqm-ZkP49D0 beat the final map in one turn]].

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'': Seth is one of the starting units (and a Paladin, a promoted cavalier unit), has access to most of the good swords and lances right off the bat, can one-shot any enemy (including the first few bosses), and has growths that are absolutely '''fantastic'''. ''Sacred Stones'' is already considered the easiest ''Fire Emblem'' game, but Seth is capable of soloing it, so many gamers outright refuse to use him out of belief that he drains the fun out of the game.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'': Haar is a carryover unit from ''Path of Radiance'', where he is [[MasterOfNone painfully]] [[JackofAllStats average]]. But in this game, he has ridiculous starting stats and growths, uses axes (the best among the weapon classes in this game), and is a flier that is ''not'' weak to bows. Plus, in a game where some characters are not playable depending on the chapter, Haar appears all over the place in different factions, even more than the "main characters" of the game, like Ike and Micaiah. Haar's only downsides are his low magic resistance — which isn't much of a problem because magic is nerfed in this game, and a weakness to [[ShockAndAwe thunder magic]] — which is only used by a handful of enemies. Haar is the best unit ever, great for both casual playthroughs and speedruns.

Regardless of the reasons below, playable units in ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' are generally not created equal, and as a result, trying to balance each game's characters quickly becomes more and more impossible. Some units get more ire in general for both taking away from other unit's viability in how good they are. Do keep in mind that tiering doesn't focus on ''if'' a unit can be good, but ''when'' - how much resources would generally be needed to get a unit to a serviceable quality. Given the game's stat caps are designed across the board to ensure ''anyone'' can be good in theory, the measuring stick often thus comes down to how efficient the process is.

** Edelgard is a perfectly strong unit, though not quite as strong as the other two Lord characters on her own. [[note]] Claude gets Barbarossa, perhaps the best class in the game, while Dimitri has the highest Strength growths and potential for raw damage plus the almighty Battalion Wrath/Battalion Vantage combo. [[/note]] But when using her Relic weapon, Aymr, Edelgard gets access to the Raging Storm combat art, which lets her take another full turn after each use. Spamming it will wear out the axe's durability, but it won't matter much when one of the game's strongest characters gets to take six full turns in a row. With some luck, you can even use it to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqm-ZkP49D0 beat the final map in one turn]].

Regardless of the reasons below, playable units in ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' are generally not created equal, and as a result, trying to balance each game's characters quickly becomes more and more impossible. Some units get more ire in general for both taking away from other unit's viability in how good they are, or are hated likewise for being way too much effort to get rolling compared to other picks. Do keep in mind that tiering doesn't focus on ''if'' a unit can be good, but ''when'' - how much resources would generally be needed to get a unit to a serviceable quality. Given the game's stat caps are designed across the board to ensure ''anyone'' can be good in theory, the measuring stick often thus comes down to how efficient the process is.

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[[folder:High Tiers]]

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' has Marcus, a level one paladin (** Takumi deserves special mention for this. On both the routes he is available, he is considered a GameBreaker due to a mixture of his stupidly overpowered weapon and the buffs to the Archer class bumping its usefulness up to this. He joins early as well: chapter 10 in both ''Birthright'' and ''Revelation''.
** Ryoma practically has no restrictions. He's not a mounted character like Xander, so he's not weak to Horseslayers. His exclusive Raijinto can be used at range, meaning magic and arrows are a joke against him. The Swordmaster class learns [[DeathByAThousandCuts Astra]], so he can attack more times than he needs to. He's still one of the strongest, fastest characters in the game, so the rest of the army might as well take a nap if he's deployed. All of this make him border on TheDreaded for players of
players of [=StreetPass=] battles.