Part 94: Xander
Xander
Paladin (HS: Wyvern Rider)
A+ Support Classes: Kaze (Ninja), Laslow (Mercenary), Leo (Dark Mage)
Personal Skill: Chivalry (+2 damage dealt and -2 damage received if enemy has full HP at start of combat)
Growths:
HP: 45% (55)
STR: 50% (65)
MAG: 5% (5)
SKL: 40% (50)
SPD: 35% (45)
LCK: 60% (75)
DEF: 40% (50)
RES: 15% (25)
Big bro is here to break the game in half. He's got a cool sword and an effective defense stat at base higher than the cap Paladins have in the GBA games. All that stops him from being a better unit than Camilla is not existing for half of the game. Even he is not without flaws though...
Right off of the bat, Xander is a physical powerhouse. His strength and defense are both through the roof, his high power 1-2 range sword only boosts them both further, and then his personal skill boosts them even further beyond that. He's so bulky that a lot of units won't even bother attacking him when he first joins, which is both a blessing and a curse. He's the master of choking points and protecting your weaker units, but he can also run through groups of enemies unafraid and even one-shot more fragile ones with only a little help. He's also got a great luck stat to make sure he never gets crit. His sword will provide its +4 defense boost whether it is equipped or not, even if the class he's in has no sword rank at all.
Xander will be good with absolutely no investment at all, but there's a few things you can do to make him even better. Pairing Charlotte up with Xander is pretty much the meta - she boosts his gargantuan attack even further, while also raising his speed high enough to allow him to double. Not boosting his defenses can actually be a good thing, since it means enemies will happily throw themselves against him to die rather than refusing to attack outright. It also grants him access to the Hero class, raising his speed and ridding him of his weakness to Beast Killers. As a Hero Xander gains access to Sol, which he'll activate often thanks to his high skill. Seigfried's 1-2 range means Xander won't even need to be a Master Ninja to pull off the Sol MN combo, although by supporting Kaze he can still become one anyway, and he'll do quite well at it. Xander can also get access to Hero by A+ supporting Laslow or by marrying Selena, both of which provide him with pretty useful stat bonuses too. Otherwise he'll do fine as a Paladin. His lance rank is mostly useless thanks to the insane power of his personal sword, but you can give him a Beast Killer if you've got one going spare.
Xander's only real flaws are his speed and resistance. The former you can patch up with a good supporting partner but the latter is a little more troublesome, especially because most classes that boost resistance won't provide any other boosts that will be particularly useful to him. The Hero or Master Ninja classes are both good for fixing his speed, and the latter will help his resistance too, although he'll need certain supports for those.
Xander will keep his D rank in lances as a Wyvern Lord but I don't think there's any good reason to make him one unless you really need him to fly somewhere or you want some of the wyvern tree's skills.
Pros
- Godlike physical stats, can easily OHKO certain enemies while taking no damage at all from others
- Can use dragon veins and gets an extremely cool sword with great stats and reliable 1-2 range
- Access to the Sol 1-2 range combo with certain supports, including a fast building A+ support with Laslow
- Requires absolutely no investment at all to be good, you can bench him for multiple chapters and he'll still be useful after then
- High luck and a personal weapon that boosts critical avoid make him very hard to crit
Cons
- Flimsy speed and poor resistance make his doubling inconsistent and makes him vulnerable to mages
- Has by far the most difficult and thankless child paralogue of the entire game - a good mother might be wasted on his child if you never recruit them
- Joins late, will take a while to reach S or A+ ranks compared to other units
My Rating: A way better father than his Hoshidan counterpart!