Welcome to our character guide, focusing on Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon characters. We’ll be breaking down each of the characters and their classes, and providing our verdicts on which of them deserve to be in your team!

We’re back with another edition of our ranking articles for Fire Emblem: Shadow dragon! Today we’ll be discussing our favourite flapping fighters, the Pegasus Knights! As a class they’re delicate but incredibly swift, able to cross entire maps quicker than any other, consistently dishing out double attacks due to their immense speed.

Technically speaking you can find quite a few flyers in Shadow Dragon, but with so many of them joining late, who should you focus your efforts on? Who exactly is the best Pegasus Knight in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon?

5. Est

Those familiar with the Fire Emblem series may have heard of the ‘Est archetype’ – this is the originator of the term. It loosely describes a late joining character that has high growth rates, requiring you to put in a little extra effort to grow before they get powerful enough to stand on their own. Typically their ceiling is a little higher than other characters, giving players a reason to put in said time and effort.

Unfortunately this isn’t exactly true of Est. Yes, should you decide to put time into training her you’ll likely get a good flying unit – not the best, not even close if we’re honest, but a good unit. Things start to fall down when you look a little deeper…

She doesn’t actually have growths that differ greatly to others in this list, yet she joins in Chapter 18… In a game 25 chapters long. Additionally, even if you consider her growths to be of value, her levelled up statistics don’t stand out that much when you finally get there. She does get a good deal of Luck, but other than that she’ll be bettered by earlier joining units, each of which are likely way ahead in terms of levels and usefulness. Higher difficulties only serve to worsen her cause, rendering her a little pointless outside of challenging yourself even further.

VERDICT: She may have spawned an archetype, but the best Pegasus Knight on offer in Shadow Dragon? Not by a long shot.

4. Palla

Palla joins your group in Chapter 14 alongside Catria, whom eagle eyed readers might have noticed just below this entry in the list, ahead of Palla. So why is she considered weaker than her sister in arms?

Initially she seems like the better option for a few reasons; she has a higher weapon rank and she is a higher level – so you should use Palla right? Well, not quite. Being a higher level she has less headroom to grow, something that just about makes sense despite their relatively late joining times – you’ll note that their base statistics are very similar despite the initial level difference.

The real reason for her being lower on the list is well, you’re likely to have to pick one of the two that join and they’re both low enough to require work.. So why not pick the one that ends up being best? Catria will end up slightly faster, just as strong and with a boatload more luck. It’s really that simple.

VERDICT: Still a very good flying unit, just not quite as good as her sister. The difference is minimal so she’s a great choice, just not quite as statistically sound.

3. Catria

If you’re this far along in our article then you’ll understand why Catria ranks above her sister(s), despite joining alongside Palla in Chapter 14. So why does she not rank higher? Alone she is a very strong flying unit. She will need a good amount of experience to level up, but this doesn’t tend to be an issue for flyers given that they’re able to nip in and out of enemy range at will.

Really it comes down to the sheer quality and usefulness of the units that precede her, each of which either require much less work or come along at a much more useful time. It’s as simple as that.

If anything we’d recommend you use Catria – it’s great to have quite a few flyers available, especially with some of the large maps upcoming after her recruitment.

VERDICT: A very good flyer worthy of your use, yet overshadowed by two hugely impacting units from the early game.

2. Minerva

Cards on the table here – Minerva’s statistics will never reach the heights that others on this list will. This is due to her being an early(ish) joining promoted unit that you’ll find in Chapter 10 along with Maria. Consequently she’ll gain experience at a snails pace and she has limited room to grow those strong base stats.

Speaking of which, she’s likely to have some of the highest statistics in your team when she joins, perhaps only challenged by your Cavaliers at this point. Minerva can immediately make use of them too, especially with her immense movement statistic of 10. Combine this with her ‘A’ rating in axe skill and her Hauteclere, and you’ll have a unit capable of outputting huge amounts of damage whilst covering immense amounts of ground each turn.

Much like Jagen, Jeorge and Wendell she will eventually fall off, but not quite to the same degree as the others – that huge movement will again keep her useful throughout the mid game. She’ll also shine on higher difficulty levels, often being able to stand up to some abuse, especially in the harsh chapters following her recruitment.

She takes the number two slot above the others due to this immense usefulness – you’ll find she’s in the right place at the right time. A remarkable unit that will serve you well for the second third of the game, likely outshining almost anything else you have available for the duration.

VERDICT: Fantastic unit that lends her strength at just the right time. As a bonus, we like to change her into a Sniper during the late game, acting as a replacement for Jeorge when he falls a bit too far behind in stats.

1. Caeda (Shiida)

There was only ever going to be one winner here wasn’t there, as anyone that has had the pleasure of playing through Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon will attest. Caeda joins your group in Chapter 1 and spends the majority of the game effortlessly dispatching enemies and attracting admirers. When she’s not killing a boss with the Wing Spear she’s fending off the advances of numerous male would-be-comrades.

In truth, she can actually be a tricky unit to use in the early game – yes that weapon is immensely powerful, but the girl wielding it really isn’t. Her strength is low and unlikely to grow quickly and her defence, at least at first, leaves a lot to be desired. Thankfully she’ll soon get going, especially if you keep her furnished with infinite Javelins, and her stats will really accelerate, likely reaching her speed cap in short order.

Were you to look into the end game statistics you’ll probably note that she’s not actually that great, her strength & defence might be an issue for example, but to lament her for such things would be short sighted – she’s nigh on essential in the early & mid game, especially on higher difficulty levels, and she manages to remain relevant into the late game by taking advantage of the DracoKnight promotion bonuses. There’s even a train of thought that suggests reclassing her into a Swordmaster when you recruit the flyer sisters in Chapter 14, just to let her immense speed shine through.

VERDICT: Not only is she the best Pegasus Knight in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, she’s also one of the best units in the entire game. An iconic character, even if she likes to lead the men on a bit..