Breaking Down: Balthus - Fire Emblem: Three Houses Unit Analysis
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ต.ค. 2022
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Today we Break Down Ashen Wolves member and King of Grappling, Balthus! - เกม
Never forget that Balthus claims to be the "king of dying" whenever he dies on your side, which is kind of crazy.
I'm imagining after Balthus died they held a funeral and on his grave it said "King of Dying"
Raphael: You took everything from me.
Balthus: I don't even know who you are.
That might support with Ignatz tho...
I’ve only used Balthus a few times but I agree that grappler is my favourite build for him. I love how low investment it is. It’s useful to have some good units who don’t require much in the late game. Also I like playing into his “king of grappling” persona.
His personal is really insane. I didn’t take advantage of it much at first because I was too afraid of him dying but when I did I wished I had used it more.
He clutched out two tournaments with that skill-including the Ultimate Sword Tournament. With base rank swords!
I do think his boon in swords are kind of to push people towards an enemy phase build.
If you’re playing Azure Moon or Verdant Wind, you shouldn’t particularly need balthus for chapter 2 due to access to Dedue/Leonie to draw enemies combined with Tempest Lance spam. In this case, I think saving Balthus’ recruit to Chapter 3, where he starts at Lvl 5 as a fighter with D in Bows, massively helping him contribute via Curved Shot and Archer after getting to D+. Lvl 5 is also where the highest team members will be going into Chapter 3, meaning he is able to chip enemies without needing to take kills for a while, helping raise units who may lack immediate power early on. The black eagles routes however lack a strong tank so getting Balthus for Chapter 2 is a more necessary choice I feel.
I think even for Black Eagles the benefit or a chapter 3 recruit values are better than an easier time in Chapter 2 imo
@@saisis8984 oh definitely, but black eagles also have a much harder time in Chapter 2 to the point where I can see the argument to getting Balthus so you have a tank, though the benefit of Ch3 Balthus is still great (even if he has no supports with any of them iirc?) if the Ch2 help isnt needed
You will be well clear of Curved Shot by chapter 3 anyway though? It's only 100 Weapon EXP, which he will hit as long as you just leave bows as one of his goals, and even through the bane it is more than attainable. He can also easily reach Level 5.
Even in BL/GD, having Balthus still makes the map significantly easier than not having Balthus, and can save a couple of turns. It's not like there is a downside to having access to more good units.
@@JonoabboFE while anyone can reasonably reach lvl 5, I think it’s worth considering that getting a lvl 5 promoted unit both allows 2 levels worth of exp to be given to other units, particularly mages who want to get into monk, and also saves some money early game on a beginner seal - though this isn’t that big of a deal since money isn’t tight enough to the point this is an issue. On maddening you would also have to put tutoring into Balthus to get a comparable bow rank, so I find it’s a better idea to put that tutoring into unlocking other budding talents and get Ch3 Balthus with D bows and C brawling rather than E bows and D+ brawling to save as much tutoring in those areas, allowing focus on his other ranks like axes and notably authority while other units may be rushing down weapon ranks and have to forfeit focus on authority. It’s definitely a choice to consider depending on what investment the other units you plan to use need imo, but it really depends on what you value more
@@rattyxoxo7397 He wouldn't need any kills to reach level 5, though, he would just get them naturally through EPing without lethals, and is one of the best units to set up your allies for that point in time - far better than Leonie or Dedue, for example.
You also wouldn't have to tutor him to get Curved Shot for Chapter 3? You get 24 WExp per week in a bane area if you just set it as his goal, and there are 5 tutoring weeks between when he would be recruited on Chapter 2, and the Chapter 3 mission. He needs 100 wExp to hit Curved Shot in bows.
His contributions in the Force Aux Battle and Chapter 2 mission would also give sizeable amounts of Authority and weapon exp in your weapon of choice, as well as Noble EXP for HP+5.
I like to try mastering Hero for the extra +8 Str at 25% or less HP. It's not optimal or anything, but it is funny to see it work
Balthus: absolutely cracked personal that makes him a monster early game and can still be relevant later.
Dedue: relevant early game personal that compliments his stats and boons
Raphael: hurr durr food
Caspar: I’m not even tall?!?
Haha still love Caspar though.
Raphael is also really wholesome as a character.
Then again, so is Caspar. His supports with Ashe are hilarious.
Balthus breaking down? I think he's mostly doing that to the npc's that think attacking into him is a good idea.
Great as usual! I lean towards the ep build exactly as you described here with the addition of the smash combat art since it gives 20 crit and hit. Thanks to chevalier and enemy stat inflation, if you can calculate roughly the health gain based on the crit value on the target you are attacking, worst case scenario you get pushed back up to full or nearly full hp. If you have him in a long enough route for QR to be gotten using knowledge gem then this setup is actually amazing.
Battalion of choice is goneril Valkyries because the hit crit and prt are nuts (and they are grounded so your cichol wyvern co can be put to better use elsewhere) but if that needs to be given to someone else then Raphael's licester mercenaries are basically diet GVs.
Goneril Valkyries is super in-character for Balthus, too.
Like the choice of Balthus pics.
I'm surprised you didn't mention War Hero mastering, as it's both very easy to get War Hero due to his boons and Defiant Str pairs quite well with his personal and Vantage/Wrath.
I actually really love his EP potential, I usually get QR and then put him back in fortress knight so he’s extremely durable and can circumvent his low Spd.
Ohhh I haven’t thought about this
I feel like Dual Phasing isn't too difficult with him if you focus on gauntlets. The inherent brave effect makes up for the lower damage of basic attacks over combat arts. The only big issue, IMO, is his less than stellar speed, but stat boosters are pretty abundant in this game, so giving him your speedwings can get him fast enough to double/quadruple
Wyvern Lord Balthus with Diamond Axe and Hit +20 is excellent in Maddening. He's tough enough to trade a shield slot for an accuracy ring too. You want to kill and kill fast, and he can enemy phase just fine especially with the dismount feature.
>Breaking Down Balthus
good fucking luck lmao
I think it could’ve been worth mentioning that if you wait until Chapter 3 to recruit Balthus, he’ll come with D Bows at base because of the requirements for the Fighter class, making it far easier to get into Archer for Hit +20
Thats a fair point!
Absolutely carries my early game, then falls off somewhere around midgame
So, a thing im too lazy to try out, but I kind of wanna ask: could lethality + astra be a thing on a unit with high dexterity?
Honestly no. It’s just annoying to hope for it to proc
Say that you have 36dex, so you have 36*.25 = 9% chance to trigger per hit.
With 5 hits, you have 1 - (1 - 0.09)^5 = 37.59% chance, at 9 weapon cost.
Just assume that enemy's has enough luck to offset your base crit chance (dex+luk)/2 + Sword Master's sword crit + and battalion crit, but still die to a crit.
A Killer Edge+ will have similar kill chance at 35%, but only cost 1 weapon.
With KE+, if you double, 1 - (1 - 0.35)^2 = 57.75% to crit.
To match this number with Astra, you will need 1 - (1 - 0.16)5 = 58.17%, that is 64 dex.
If you can double, running a gauntlet + lethality with 4 hit will have similar effect
If you have 64 dex, you will have a base 32 crit from dex alone, so with KE+ you have 67% base crit.
Edelgard, Ingrid, and Sylvain's crest has 40% chance to +5 might on combat art.
Meaning that on average you have 5 * 5 * 0.4 = 10 additional damage from Astra, which is basically nothing.
Based on the above math, Astra is only good if you can't 1 or 2 hit kill with crits.
Astra may have a use for lethality gamble on monsters (with barrier) and endgame bosses with training sword.
If you only rely on lethality to kill, you can use Training sword+ Astra which is extremely cheap compare to repairing killer weapons.
@@songhong5624 aw, so its just a fun thing to mess around with, a less reliable, but cheaper alternative for killer weaponry. But I guess I have a use for ashe from now on
@@nonmagicalwitch the key thing is that killer weapon typically are reserved for enemy phase unit with vantage wrath. To more effectively use training sword astra, you want that unit to not be targeted during enemy phase otherwise the training sword hit will not setup kill.
Sadly the game locks astra to sword master. Had this be on assassin or trickster (stealth), enemy would ignore this player phase only strategy.
In my opinion, lethality astra sword master is far inferior than lethality fierce iron fist grappler.
1) FIF with sliver/killer gauntlet will delete anything, while astra is a gamble.
2) If you can double, unarmed combat will hit 4 times, which is almost as good as astra at no cost.
3) Grappler has thief movement type,
will not be slow by forest
4) Grappler has nice transition to war master with almost 100 crit build. Sword master has no next stage.
The most viable gauntlet lethality is probably Yuri, Male Byleth and Ignatz. Yuri/Byleth crest has 20%/5% chance to prevent counter attack with regular attack. (I'm unsure if "unarmed combat" counts as weapon attack for their crest.)
Ignatz has innate hit +20 freeing ability slot for lethality.
Most viable Astra will probably be
Hilda, Seleth, Ferdinand. They have 50/50/30% chance of crest prevent counter on combat art. That translates to 96/96/83% of crest activation in case lethality not triggering. However, Seteth and Ferdy can just delete enemy with Swift Strike.
@@nonmagicalwitch and don't Dimiti Astra. Trigger crest and burn 18 weapon uses.
Yes, I wish he didn’t have a crest.
next catherine pls
So like, obviously FIF is incredible and not using it is a significant loss of damage, but with the +6 STR from his personal and +6 from Death Blow, could you still Dual Phase w/ Balthus just relying on the Brave effect of Gauntlets alone? Obviously we're now talking about a pretty significantly less powerful player phase, but with enough sources of additive damage, surely he can still secure kills while also being a great EP unit at the same time? Trading raw damage for flexibility, basically.
On a scale of Anna to Balthus how obvious is it that you're DLC (without checking supports since Anna is obviously DLC when you notice she has no supports with anyone)
Not a huge deal but it's worth noting that if you feel comfortable enough without using Balthus in chapter 2 he comes with D Bows (meaning Curved Shot and easier Archer) in chapter 3
Añso he is the hottest character in the game so 10/10 unit would S again
Did you forget his relic?
I did kind of forget Eviscerate exists to be honest
@@JonoabboFE Yeah the combat art isn't useful, but those gauntlets are the most powerful in the game. at least worth a mention
@@aleisterleopold6229 True but the gauntlets aren't unique to Balthus, anybody can make use of them. Probably should have mentioned them though, but since he's a free recruit anyway I left it out.
I actually think Balthus's crest is very good in the early-mid game if you start PRT stacking with him, that and draining blow means that he can maintain a high level of survivability against even large groups of enemies, i prefer king of grappling as more of a crutch since he doesn't have the dex stat to be a reliable sub 50% unit
I think armor knight should've at least been mentioned here. king of grappling gives him easily the best defence in the game for a long time and you can easily make him completely invulnerable to physical attacks for a considerable amount of chapters with quite minimal investment.
I do mention Armor Knight at 12:34 but it doesn't really do a whole lot for Balthus here. He already will be past 12 def so it's only really a useful cert if you low-roll, and you are probably better off taking 1-4 damage per hit and being in a class with 5 move, since he doesn't have to worry about maintaining Bat Endurance for something like BatWrath.