Game Breaker/Video Games/Turn-Based Strategy/Fire Emblem

Game Breakers in the Fire Emblem series.

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 Level Grinding 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 Disc One Nuke and the latter 2 are more accurately classified under Last-Disc Magic.
 * 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.
 * A handful of great units exist in New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow, but it's no surprise that the best unit in the game is, by a mile, the player-created My Unit. My Unit's base parameters, growth rates, and starting class can be customized to a degree, and some builds of My Unit are better than others, but he is in general vastly superior to the rest of the cast. My Unit only has average base parameters and growths, but the game's forced prologue ends up channeling a lot of EXP into My Unit, whether the player intended to or not, and the end result is an overleveled juggernaut. On the hardest difficulty, a My Unit created with the proper build has the potential to turn the enemy units into complete jokes.
 * FE 11 style forging also exists in FE 12, but the increased enemy stats on the hardest difficulty make this mechanic much less gamebreaking than in the previous installment. On lower difficulties, this mechanic is still very powerful.
 * The Warp and Hammerne staves still exist, but are more limited, with Warp not appearing until halfway through the game, and only 1 of them obtainable in the entire game. Hammerne appears much earlier in the game, but is limited to only 3 uses. On the hardest difficulty, Warp is absent altogether.
 * As a general rule, dancer and bard units (units that give other player units an extra action) are very powerful, though not generally gamebreaking. Their simple ability makes possible a diverse array of quick strategies.