Tier Lists are Awesome, and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is too. You may have noticed that a good portion of our content on this site is Fire Emblem based, and Shadow Dragon is by far our favourite in the series. We love it’s relative simplicity compared to the newer titles – it’s just you, your band of princes and mercenaries, and the enemy. You’re left to figure out the rest, and that’s where the magic happens.
So let’s get to our Tier List for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon! We’re going to detail exactly which characters slot into our tiers, D to S, and talk a little bit about exactly why. Of course, Shadow Dragon tends to be a bit dominated by Cavaliers and their ilk, but that doesn’t mean other classes can’t approach the top ranks…
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Tier List
S-TIER
- Sedgar – General / Hero
- Caeda – Pegasus Knight / Dracoknight
- Minerva – Dracoknight
- Jagen – Paladin / Dracoknight
- Barst – Figher / Warrior
- Wolf – Hero
- Lena – Sage / Bishop
S Tier is comprised of the absolute best of the best that Shadow Dragon has to offer. It’s filled with characters that define your runs through the game. Perhaps General Sedgar carried your back side through the final maps, or maybe Bishop Lena trivialised a mage filled stage, either way you’ll find it hard to go wrong with these choices.
These are by far the best units in the game. Our Shadow Dragon tier list skews towards higher difficulty levels and these are what we consider to be the essential units for tackling them. They’re without equal in their respective classes, though in the case of Sedgar and Wolf they’ve been reclassed.
Check out our Top 5 characters in Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon list for more details behind why we’ve chosen some of these.
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A-TIER
- Abel – Cavalier / Paladin
- Cain – Cavalier / Paladin
- Merric – Mage / Sage
- Jake – Ballistician
- Wendell – Sage
- Marth – Lord
- Catria – Pegasus Knight / Dracoknight
- Navarre – Myrmidon / Swordmaster
- Jorge – Sniper
- Hardin – Cavalier / Paladin
- Beck – Ballistician
- Ogma – Mercenary / Hero
- Wrys – Curate / Bishop
- Gotoh – Sage
- Palla – Pegasus Knight / Dracoknight
- Xane – Chameleon
- Lena – Cleric / Bishop
We give the A Tier of units a 4 star rating: They’re the ever present, the consistent performers. These group of high quality units will likely make up the rest of your team alongside the S Tier superstars. All of the names here will be incredibly useful to you as you progress through Shadow Dragon, either by initially being a very good unit or by growing into one.
They tend to need a little more help than the S Tier units however. Palla or Catria, for example, will each need to be fed a little experience to really get going. Jorge will need some weapons and perhaps a bit of forging to keep going, likewise Wendell. Regardless though, they’ll each become a solid rock in your army, standing just behind the S Tier units, ready to plug the gaps they can’t.
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B-TIER
- Frey – Cavalier / Paladin
- Caesar – Mercenary / Hero
- Radd – Myrmidon / Swordmaster
- Julian – Thief
- Linde – Mage / Sage
- Maria – Curate / Bishop
- Cord – Hunter / Horseman
- Dolph – Knight / General
- Roger – Knight / General
- Macellan – Knight / General
- Tiki – Manakete
Things are getting difficult now. You could argue that some of the A-Tier units can approach the S-Tier, with enough work. The B-Tier however, is truly a step down. These characters will need significant investment for them to come good. You’ll either need to pile experience points into them or forge them some serious equipment to make them work. Should you do so, they’re certainly usable and you can make them work, but we must recognise that this has only been achieved by making concessions.
Others on this list may be victims of circumstance more than any innate problems; Frey has issues with availability, Julian has a class that doesn’t lend itself to combat and Tiki well, she’s just plain awkwardly positioned within the story. This doesn’t stop them from being strictly inferior, but there are mitigating circumstances.
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C-TIER
- Athena – Myrmidon / Swordmaster
- Draug – Knight / General
- Etzel – Sorcerer
- Tomas – Archer / Sniper
- Darros – Pirate / Berserker
- Astram – Hero
- Matthis – Cavalier / Paladin
- Ymir – Warrior
- Horace – General
- Elice – Cleric / Bishop
- Nagi – Manakete
- Roshea – Cavalier / Paladin
Good lord, we’re really starting to struggle now aren’t we. The C-Tier of units are the equivalent of those sweets that you find near the bottom of the packet that you’ve subconsciously avoided, or the terrible biscuits that your grandparent keeps in the cupboard for years at a time. They’re still technically sweets/biscuits/units, but you’d much rather not have to eat/field them where possible.
These lot are the absolute back up units. Between them they might be able to conjure up enough life to warm up a single portion of your bench, which is exactly where they belong. Of course Shadow Dragon, especially on lower difficulties, is pliant enough to allow you to force them to be good if you want, but it’s a long long road you’ll be driving down should you choose to do so. In a pinch they might be able to step in for a battle or two, just don’t expect them to do anything even remotely useful, that way you won’t be disappointed.
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D-TIER
- Est – Pegasus Knight / Dracoknight
- Vyland – Cavalier / Paladin
- Midia – Paladin
- Boah – Bishop
- Samson – Hero
- Lorenz – General
- Castor – Hunter / Horseman
- Arran – Paladin
- Rickard – Thief
- Norne – Archer / Sniper
- Gordin – Archer / Sniper
- Bantu – Manakete
One star is almost too much for this lot, honestly. D-Tier is the absolute bottom of the barrel, the trash bag where units go to die. It’s hard to explain, especially to a non player, just how bad these units are. Should you put any of these to the test, you’ll likely be greeted by tiny damage figures followed by a death speech.
Again, if you were to perhaps commit an entire play through to one of these units, you might be able to make them work, but it’s really not worth it. They are the epitome of bad units and they should be avoided wherever possible. If you’re looking for sacrifices to unlock the Gaiden chapters, look no further.
Well there you have it, that’s our Tier List for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. Do you agree with our picks? Let us know in the comments below and feel free to link us yours! Perhaps you think Gordin can be useful, or Bantu makes a great tank, either way we’ll be happy to take some time to ridicule your incorrect choices!
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Categories: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Ranked
I can’t believe I messed up 2204 🙁
I do have one disagreement. One unit more deserving of the S-Tier title is Ogma.
Now, I understand that he is a Mercenary and that he might not be the greatest Hero of the bunch, but he actually has a really good reclass option in the form of a Knight. Here are just the growth rate changes for this class (which are very prevalent):
Max HP 90% –> 90% Speed 30% –> 10%
Strength 40% –> 35% Luck 40% –> 40%
Magic 0% –> 0% Defense 20% –> 45%
Skill 40% –> 35% Resistance 0% –>0%
In addition, as you work with Ogma, he will level in lances quite quickly, and since you get Ogma when Iron Lances are still useful, this makes him much more reliable. Also, when Ogma promotes, he will get +10 HP, +2 Str, +1 Mag, +1 Skill, +4 Spd, +0 Luck, +4 Def, +3 Res compared to is Hero promote gains (+6 HP, +2 Str, +1 Mag, +2 Skill, +2 Spd, +0 Luck, +2 Def, +3 Res). Overall, in the long-run, Ogma can be an incredible tank monster with a little patience and a little time (assuming you grind him to LV 20 before promoting, which I HEAVILY SUGGEST).
Hi Dylan,
You raise some good points. Ogma is mainly behind the others in S-Tier because he just doesn’t quite reach the same heights as Barst and such up there.
Now we have not attempted to use Ogma as a Knight, generally because there are some very powerful options there like Sedgar etc. Still, you have convinced me to go fire up the Wii U (we prefer it on the larger game pad there). In theory I can see that you would end up with a very balanced Ogma, but the concern is that on H4 or H5 difficulty his speed may become a significant problem, especially in the later chapters against their forged weapons. Going to give it a try!