Originally not released outside of Japan, Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade is home to popular Super Smash Bros. mainstay, Roy, and is often regarded as one of the harder entries in the Fire Emblem franchise.
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While players have access to numerous diverse characters while playing through The Binding Blade, not all of these units are created equally, with some units ranging from suboptimal to flat out useless. Let’s examine ten of the worst units that players should avoid using when playing through the sixth entry of the Fire Emblem series.
10 Wolt
Until rather recently, Archers have had a less than stellar reputation within Fire Emblem, and Wolt is a perfect example why. Though he is available from the very beginning of the game, Wolt possesses low movement and base stats, and is only capable of fighting from two spaces away.
This greatly hinders his ability to contribute to combat during the enemy phase in any meaningful way. This prohibits the character from both dealing damage and gaining experience.
9 Fir
Fir is a unit who is simply not worth the effort she requires to be used, and a significantly outclassed by a unit of the exact same class, Rutger.
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A level one myrmidon, Fir doesn’t join a player’s army until chapter nine, and requires a great deal of investment if one doesn’t want to immediately bench her. Conversely, fellow myrmidon Rutger joins in chapter four at level four, allowing him significantly more time to grown into a useful unit without slowing a player’s pace.
8 Bors
Like Wolt, Bors is a unit available to a player from the beginning of the first chapter. Unfortunately, like Wolt, Bors is a very lackluster unit whose weaknesses shine through more than one would expect due to the map design of The Binding Blade.
An armored knight, Bors is a slow lance wielder with high defense. While units like Bors can be useful in other Fire Emblem games, the large maps of The Binding Blade lead Bors to often fall behind other units, while the heavy amount of enemy axe-users consistently put Bors at disadvantage.
7 Elen
Similarly to Fir, Elen is a unit who is simply outclassed by the other options a player has access to. Elen is the first healer players have access to, and could hypothetically serve as a solid support unit.
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However, only two chapters after recruiting Elen, players gain access to Clarine, A troubadour with all of the qualifications of Elen, but with the added benefit of a mount.
6 Wade and Lot
Wade and Lot are two fighters players recruit within the second chapter of The Binding Blade. Despite their excellent availability, Wade and Lot are often not worth the effort of using. This is due to the fact that these units are only capable of wielding axes.
In each entry of the series, axes are generally the strongest yet least accurate weapon type. However, in The Binding Blade, axes are notably more inaccurate than in numerous other entries in the series. Paired with these two fighter’s low skill stats, they will often fail to hit enemy units, significantly hindering their usefulness.
5 Dorothy
It really says something about a unit if they make Wolt look good by comparison.
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A level three archer recruited in chapter five, Dorothy comes along with all of the shortcomings of Wolt. However, while Wolt at least is available from the word go and can hypothetically be trained if a player wants, Dorothy’s later join time, and almost identical growth rates, make her essentially just another Wolt with less availability.
4 Roy
As cool as he may look and as good as he may be in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, if there was a Fire Emblem protagonist one wouldn’t want to bring into battle, it’s Roy.
Lacking in every department that matters, Roy possesses low movement, mediocre base stats, poor growth rates, and is incapable of promoting until Chapter Twenty-Two. As Roy is required to be deployed in every map, and each chapter must be completed through having Roy seize a single point, it is commonplace for players to simply rescue Roy with a more competent unit with high mobility who can safely bring him where he needs to be.
3 Cath
Thieves have the unfortunate distinction in The Binding Blade of not being capable of promoting. This greatly hinders their abilities as longterm fixtures in an army, and most players will opt to only bring a single thief to chapters containing notable numbers of locked doors and chests.
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Cath is a thief that joins rather late in the game and must be talked to with Roy numerous times before actually being recruited. For all of this effort, the player is rewarded with perhaps the worst thief in the game, with poor availability and stats, failing to match fellow thief, Astore in any category.
2 Gwendolyn
Gwendolyn is an abysmal unit who possesses numerous traits from other units across this list. While sharing all of the same problems with Bors that come with being a knight in The Binding Blade, Gwendolyn doesn’t join a player’s army until chapter eight.
By this point, a player has established numerous capable units in their army that can each hold their own. Despite this, Gwendolyn joins as level one, with pitiful base stats, making her a strictly worse alternative to any of the other knights a player has access to, making Bors look like an all-star by comparison.
1 Sophia
While Gwendolyn is a laughably bad unit, Sophia shares all of her problems to an even worse extent.
Sophia is a level one shaman who players recruit as late in the game as chapter fourteen. Her stats are so horrendous that nearly any enemy at this point in the game is capable of killing her in a single round of combat. Furthermore, Sophia is made to look even worse as a fellow shaman, Raigh can be recruited two chapters prior. Raigh starts at level twelve and possesses base stats that are leagues better than those of Sophia, bringing into question any reason why a player would ever consider using her.
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