I appreciate your effort that you have put into the tier list, but I would like to give some questionable placements with some units.
Example one, Takumi, Jeorge, and Klein.
All these archers have almost identical stats, but Takumi is in tier 2 while Jeorge and Klein is a tier below. Yes, Takumi does have a bit better stat spread, but it isn't that much better to place him a tier above.
Example two, Jaffar and Matthew.
These two basically have the same stats except for Jaffar having more res and Matthew having more def. Deathly dagger is an ok weapon, but is completely outclassed by poison dagger. Yes I know that deathly dagger has 7 more might than poison, but it is so much better to be able to do effective damage around 50% of the time. In average, you are doing more damage with poison dagger. (I'm ignoring the secondary effect of the weapon because dealing damage is more important than support in this meta). Also for the "optimal" build (poison dagger is more optimal imo), I'm pretty sure luna is a better special than draconic aura.
Example three, potential steady breath users.
If you guys are considering steady breath builds, then why aren't units like Tobin and Seliph at least a tier higher. With steady breath, they are way more useful than units like stahl.
Example four, Alfonse and Seliph.
Why is Alfonse a tier higher than him? In my opinion, Seliph should be a tier higher since he has the potential to get better IVs. Both of their legendary weapon aren't anything worth using. I rather use slaying edge or brave sword.
Example four, Catria.
Why is she so low? She can run brave lance ok and run fire sweep lance better than Hinoka with high base speed. If Hinoka's 40 Spd with +spd and LnD is good enough, then that is going against the arena criteria since units can't rely on IVs.
Example five, Soren.
Why is Soren in the same tier as the other green mages? Soren is a lot better than them. They can't tank other green mages and sometimes blue mages. They are really only good for broken colorless units like Brave Lyn.
Tier lists are gonna be biased one way or another. Just take em with a grain of salt. Ultimately, they aren't for veterans. They're mostly for beginners so they'll have a guide. Personally, i don't look at tier lists as i know from looking at it if they'd be very good in the current meta and i know most veterans do the same.
Well I mean for one they don't ONLY consider stat spreads when placing units, ya know. That is very important, ofc, but SP cost of effectively building a unit is also important in terms of rankings. So comparing stats as an argument unfortunately isn't enough.
Secondly, Jaffar's Deathly Dagger is actually amazing, it makes him one of the best if not THE best crippler's in the game as of right now. Not even to mention with a dancer he can kill nearly any unit due to his colorless attacks and massive cripples. Poison Dagger is very strong, but only really effectively works on Dagger units with high attack, which is kind of only a few of them. You take low atk units like Jaffar and Mathew and it simply isn't that great, maybe for Mathew it is but Jaffar with his Deathly Dagger is almost always better.
Thirdly, talking about Soren as an example as well, you have to consider meta. Right now the meta for mage units is just full glass canon explosions and/or blade/raven builds to abuse the particular effect that's abusable for either. Soren's stats are not only slightly lower on the offensive end but you need to fully rebuild him to fit into any of those meta categories. His ability to "tank mages" isn't as relevant, and is also subpar to Sonya anyway. I mean I like him and he can be good, it's just hella expensive to build him in a way that basically imitates the other green mages.
As for the archers, it's more important for them to be able to handle physical damage then it is to take magical in the current meta (since none of them will survive the current offensively focused mage units regardless if they let them attack first), making Takumi slightly better then Klein. And Jeorge, once again, is just very expensive to build as effectively as the other two.
You might have a point with Alfonse and Seliph in a way, but I'd personally go the opposite, Alfonse should be at a lower tier. They're both quite awful lol
First, they do not consider SP cost for the tier list. It says it in the tier list criteria so they should basically only judge based on meta and stats.
Second, deadly dagger isn't better than poison dagger. I said it before, but you basically do more damage on average with poison dagger, but I guess this could be subjective so I'll let this one go.
Third, like I said before in the first, SP cost isn't considered. And I wasn't arguing that he should be a tier higher with nino and sonya, I was arguing it makes no sense for the other green mages to be in the same tier as him when he is so much better than them.
Forth, again, SP cost doesn't matter not to mention both require the same SP cost for their optimal build (brave bow). Also, brave archers aren't meant to tank hits. They are exclusively for player phase and meant to one round ko the enemy. Their speed isn't good enough for quading so they are not gonna be taking any hits. Their def and res basically can be ignored.
Lastly, yes I know they are quite awful, but I feel like any units in tier 5 are basically completely neglected.
Whether they say they ignore the SP costs or not, they very obviously don't, since the effectiveness of SP costs is almost always listed in the pros and cons and would very easily explain some of these "discrepancies" of yours. Might be a subconscious though on their parts, since the less SP you have to put into someone the better they feel to build effectively, but it is most definitely considered at some level.
And I see what you're saying about Soren now, but honestly all those other green mages are just as good in their own niches, except maybe Merric, not sure why he's that high up lol But both Robinne and Boey are pretty good in their own way, Boey is tanky as hell for a mage unit and Robinne can fill quite a few different roles with how versatile she is (not too mention the effectiveness of the very popular Fury on her). Spring Camilla is simply very strong on Flier Emblem teams and I feel like they're just respecting that potential.
And my point about Takumi wasn't how easy it is to build the Brave Bow on him, it's how easy it is to "effectively build him." Sure, Brave Bow builds are almost broken OP as long as you avoid B.Ike, but he doesn't require that commitment to still be effective. Just give him Vantage and keep his other shit and he's a fantastic unit as is. I feel that explains why he's a higher tier then two other archers of almost identical stats, even though they say they don't consider SP investments lol
I do not know any of the answers to these questions and simply stat that tiers are always subjective to both their creators and players. It's up to you to determine the hero's most effective role despite their advantages and disadvantages.
I as a player, and I'm talking about my personal experiments in this, know that
*Mae is weaker than most of the blue mages present and I forked over a B! Lyn just so she could have Swift Sparrow?
Worth it? Maybe Not, but it is to me. She is also 5*+5 currently and has gotten me through a lot thus far.
Worth the feather cost? Probably not, but it is to me.
*I also am planning on making a 5* +10 Henry. It's going to be a waste of valuable resources that could easily be used for other stronger heroes.
I like using characters that are terrible, but if I want them to be up to snuff in the current meta, I will do what I can to make sure they fulfill their roles, despite what the tier list may say. Tier list are only indicators of how strong and weak heroes are and how much investment they need to be good. In the end and it's up to you as a player to either invest in them or let them rot.
I was actually going to post something similar to that last bit. It really comes down to more than stats; it's also about how much you need to give them to fill a specific role. Every unit in this game can be brought up to 5-stars, where their maximum potential can be reached. Still, some require more work to be viable against other units with better base weapons, skills, or both that don't need as much, and even then they may come up short.
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