The Let's Play Archive

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest

by midnight_lasagna

Part 91: Keaton


Keaton
Wolfskin (HS: Fighter)
A+ Support Classes: Arthur (Fighter), Laslow (Mercenary), Benny (Knight)
Personal Skill: Collector (Luck% chance of picking up 3 minerals or ingredients after moving during the first 7 turns of a map)
Growths (With Default Class):
HP: 60% (80)
STR: 60% (80)
MAG: 0% (0)
SKL: 20% (25)
SPD: 35% (50)
LCK: 30% (35)
DEF: 50% (60)
RES: 25% (25)

Keaton is like the male counterpart of Charlotte, he's an amazing support partner with stupid high HP and strength who passes on the Fighter class. Except while Charlotte's a vicious fighter pretending to be a bimbo, Keaton's a himbo pretending to be a vicious fighter.

I'm not actually sure what the perception of Keaton in the FE community at large is - tier lists tend to place him at or close to bottom tier thanks to his late join time and lack of a mount or 1-2 range, but I don't see him talked about much in more casual playstyles. I have a soft spot for him though, I think he's got good base stats, great growths, and a really fun set of weapons that let him switch up his stats to suit the situation. Also he's a funny dog man!

Combatwise, Keaton hits hard and takes hits well. His strength growth in his default class almost rivals that of Effie. His speed hovers around that area where it can double some things but needs a good support partner or tonics to be at all reliable. Boosting it by equipping a Beaststone helps, but he can't always afford the drop in power or bulk. He's absolutely a great tank, so long as the enemy doesn't have too many magic users or any Beast Killers. He can swap between his stone and his rune depending on whether the situation calls for speed and accuracy or bulk and killing power. The boost to damage that Odd Shaped provides him on odd numbered turns is helpful, but you do need to pay attention to make the most out of it and not accidentally get yourself killed by forgetting that it won't apply on even numbered turns. Despite his late join time he still comes at a good level, so he'll already be a competent fighter without the need to be babied.

There are a few flaws with the Wolfskin class that do put a damper on his usefulness. A complete lack of 1-2 range can be frustrating at times. Hand axes and the like may not be good at this game, but even units that have to rely on them can attack from range at a pinch. Relying on stones to attack also has a few drawbacks, namely that they cannot be forged and that no other class uses them, which means a reclassed Keaton will always be stuck with E rank weapons at first. The weakness to Beast Killers hurts too, although that's something Keaton and any of his descendants will be stuck with even outside of beast classes. The high accuracy of beast weapons and the innate crit evade of Wolfskin's promoted form do somewhat make up for Keaton's poor speed and luck, but he still struggles to deal with enemies with good avoid at times.

Just like Charlotte, Keaton's an amazing support partner. The Wolfskin class provides a good mix of strength and speed on pair-up, and Keaton's personal bonuses provide even more strength and speed along with a little bit of defense. He can even be swapped to Berserker if you want to tailor his boosts more towards strength. The Wolfskin class can't be Partner Sealed into, so his spouse will get the Fighter class instead, something that's arguably more useful anyway. Keaton's great defensive utility isn't as easy to replicate as Charlotte's player phase offensive, but a unit with Keaton permanently glued to their backside is still a perfectly fine alternative to actually using him in combat himself.

Collector is a fun skill, but Keaton's luck is so low that it'll rarely activate, and when it does it's unlikely to give you what you want anyway. Both Fighter classes are decent reclass options for him, and they give him great skills too. He doesn't benefit hugely from any of his A+ support classes, he'll tank better as a wolf than a Knight and Mercenary doesn't give him much of worth that Fighter doesn't already.

Pros

Cons