So, as of late, many a person has begun to say that Ryoma's new incarnation is better than Elincia, and many other things that I just can't get behind overall and I'm gonna voice my opinion and want any other's that wanna talk about it to be my guest, as this unit is the first one to actually cause an uproar in the whole, best unit, category.
Now, as a red sword unit, he's entered a stadium of units that are saturated, as per usual with sword units. He has a atk spread of 34/39 and is pretty strong. That being said, to be "optimal" with him, it requires a bevy of sacrifices to said unit, including such units as Soleil, Sothe, etc. Elincia on the other hand comes with a built in weapon that allows her to double right off the bat, and with the ability to run QP or Heavy Blade to activate Moonbow or Glimmer on her second hit (varies by build and IV's for both). I'm not saying Ryoma is bad in the sword department, just saying that, due to having Elincia as a unit, we don't really need Ryoma, because of you we're to run his optimal set without the firesweep sword, or use bushido without said sword, you'd be sacrificing his ability to use desperation, in turn limiting his combat abilities to low damage fights.
Now unto the more frequent debate I see. Who's better for flier emblem. To me, the answer is Elincia. Both can work on similar levels. And if both share similar sets (same S Seals, with same IV's) they are on par for most of their kills. The difference being that Ryoma doesnt get hit and killed on any battles, whilst Elincia becomes injured during a few fights with units that survive her initial assault. However, due to the nature of Ryoma needing so much babysitting until he gets all of his bit and bobs (opposed to base kit Elincia being dambomb) I find that she's better, due to her getting more kills when running a very similar setup (using Amiti instead of FSSword).
I'm unsure what the general consensus on the comparison between the two is, as I've seen a fair bit of comparison. Now, for those that love Ryoma, don't get me wrong, he's cool and all. But, Elincia in general, to me, seems like a simpler, easier unit to use that is just as strong, if not stronger, when the two are under most of the same situations.
Elincia= better brave sword flier (she literally has a legendary brave sword)
Ryoma=better firesweep sword flier (a lot of safe nuking potential)
Like you said it's mostly up to the individual, since I prefer Ryoma over Elincia. His Firesweep, Bushido, LnD, and Heavy Blade combo is just soooooo good, though it does require to change a lot of his base kit, while Elincia has a pretty good base kit off the bat.
See, I don't necessarily think that Firesweep is ideal and I am sick and tired of seeing cookie cutter Firesweep builds being put on every damn hero.
I got a +Res/-HP L!Ryoma and ran with it. I'll just let you see how I built him. He's my only red unit capable of handling ranged units (on my Flier team), so I really wanted to run with the the Counter aspect. I will be running L!Robin on the team to handle Bows (she eats Brave Lyns for breakfast).
I also have Elincia, and actually I have New Year Camilla and I ended up using her over Elincia. Sometimes with ranged I have to play it close and I just liked having a unit that was really good at sitting there for a turn and tanking damage while I reset formation. Now I have a red unit that can tank both ranges. This is excellent for me.
Maybe it comes down to how you use your units and in what kind of teams you put them, but I think Raijinto's built in counter makes him superior to Elincia, and I think doing this with a +Res L!Ryoma is going to work out amazing. A cookie cutter build like Firesweep, or even Elincia's built in double cannot do what this guy can.
Edit: I actually think I'm gonna try putting Aether on him along with the Heavy Blade 3 seal.
Edit 2: So far Aether + HB is working out amazing.
If we're talking about who is more suitable for combat using just their base kit (a common F2P mindset), Elincia will be better (especially if you can get her at +spd, then you can have a very cheap quad build). The catch with Ryoma IMHO is that he has stats that look like a hyper-offensive player phase unit with skills designed to work for enemy phase.
I have a total of 4 sword fliers now (though Ryoma's still level 1 XD) and I will use all of them. Elincia and Caeda (both +speed) are damage dealers with Quad Brave and Flashing Blade + Glacies respectively, NY!Camilla is a sustain tank (Spd/Def Bond + Renewal actually works wonders, +atk -res), and Ryoma (+def) will eat B!Lyns who threatens to nuke his ladies. I have 2 flier teams and for the other team, FGrima will eat the B!Lyns for them.
TL;DR it's unfair to compare Elincia and Ryoma in just one role because their niches are kind of different. Ryoma can be built as an enemy phase unit while Elincia should not.
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