The Humble Grandmasters

I’m actually using Zihark, Lucia, and Boyd right now (it’s a big map, ch. 26 I think).  They’re doing just fine for me.  I ruined Zihark’s supports early by thinking I could “fix” Soren with a Wyvern Band, removing Ilyana from the viable character pool, but LuciaxBastian is doing some nice things, so long as Bastian doesn’t come off the support line.  Statwise, though, I’m content.

Honestly, it seems to me that usefulness in this game is primarily gear and not stats, the only musts being Spd and Def.

Here’s Mia’s post.

Boyd - Path of Radiance

I don’t have any major issues with Boyd, although sometimes he’s surprisingly underwhelming.  I gave him the Paladin Band and am pretty pleased with his growths; decently fast, still a powerhouse.  If he has one flaw, it’s the fact that he just doesn’t get very defensive.  He builds a ton of HP, but lacks the defense to really tank, so he still needs to be healed pretty regularly.  This is pretty consistent with Warriors across the series, though.

I’m displeased with his bow use in this game; it’s just weak.  In many instances, using a bow is inferior to a Hand Axe.

His support to Mist is solid (and practically canonized, I might add).   If Ulki were better in this game I might support those two as well, since he can only use more defense.  Not a lot of variety in support options, though.  Largo’s are better.  However, Boyd’s defenses are stronger than Largo’s.

Colossus is pretty silly this time around because of the Con requirement; most of the units that you need the extra damage on will have higher Cons, so to make it more worthwhile, you’re probably going to want Boyd to use a Statue Frag.

He’s the better of the two unmounted axe users, it’s just that when compared to all of the nearly equally powerful, more mobile other units, he’s not the best choice (even though it pains me to say that, because I like him).

Radiant Dawn

Oh boy.  In this game, Warriors took a big step up.  The only question is which, Nolan or Boyd?  For me…Boyd is second-string.  Barely.

By now, everyone should be aware that I think RD’s BEXP system is one of the best things since sliced bread.  But you have to cap things to make that useful, and Boyd is unlikely to cap anything but HP as a Warrior, meaning his BEXP shenanigans aren’t as great as Nolan’s, who can cap four stats naturally with levels to go in the Warrior tier.  Nolan’s unique gear (Tarvos) and affinity (Earth) also put him ahead.

~but~

Boyd is by no means a weak character.  Take the hit penalty of swapping Titania’s Steel Poleax and Boyd’s Steel Axe and watch him wreck lance units.  An early Speedwing removes his primary weakness, which is getting doubled by Swordmasters and losing HP too rapidly.  He has early access to a Crossbow, which provides him a way to exclude himself from the weapon triangle and land damage on sword units more consistently, and also gives him a dissuasion factor against magic units.

In general, Poleaxes are the way to go with Boyd (and Nolan, for that matter).  He’s strong enough to hold them, and the hit penalty isn’t that steep, not to mention it can be compensated for in his supports.

And even though he hits the cap pretty late, Boyd can still BEXP his last 2-4 levels in both tiers to target certain stats.  BEXPing him as a Warrior can push his Str and Def to capped or near-capped, giving him a head start on the next tier’s caps.

As I’ve said before, every character in Radiant Dawn is useful at some point, and Boyd is useful through the entirety of his appearances.  Whether he goes into the tower will depend a little bit on personal experience and how he compares to Nolan, but he is never not a contender.