The eighth entry of the Fire Emblem series, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is often considered to be a cult classic within the franchise. Possessing branching promotion trees and two separate routes that players can choose to play through, the game provides players with the ability to customize their experience in a manner that incentivizes replaying the game.

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As is the case with every entry of the Fire Emblem series, The Sacred Stones possesses numerous characters that players have access to in their army. However, not all of these units are created equally, with some standing head and shoulders above the rest. So today, let's dive into the ten strongest units players have access to in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

10 Kyle And Forde

As is the case with many Fire Emblem games, The Sacred Stones contains a Cavalier duo that is recruited at the same time. In this case, players have access to the characters Kyle and Forde.

Possessing excellent movement and access to numerous weapons, these units are both balanced and reliable, with Kyle focusing more on strength and defense and Forde focusing on speed and skill.

9 Saleh

A unit that is reminiscent of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade's Pent, Saleh is a pre-promoted Sage. One of the more useful magic-users in The Sacred Stones, Saleh totes an A rank in anima magic, a B rank in light magic, and a C rank in staves.

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This allows Saleh to flexibly fit numerous roles in one's army, serving as an excellent offensive option or a secondary healer. Additionally, Saleh's solid base stats make him immediately useful the moment he is recruited.

8 Duessel

A pre-promoted unit who is recruited in either Chapter ten or fifteen depending on which route a player chose, Duessel is everything one would hope from a pre-promote.

Joining one's ranks as a Great Knight, Duessel comes with solid base stats and decent growth rates. Most importantly, however, are Duessel's weapon ranks. As a Great Knight, Duessel has access to each physical weapon type save for bows and joins with an A rank in each of these types. This means that Duessel can immediately make use of potent equipment such as silver weapons.

7 Moulder

Moulder is the earliest healer players will recruit in The Sacred Stones. While in numerous entries, unmounted clerics such as Moulder would often become obsolete once a player recruits a more mobile troubadour. However, Moulder is often the go-to healer of players.

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This is due to a combination of his excellent availability and his starting staff rank of C. This allows Moulder to access useful staves such as the Warp staff quicker than any other unit in the game.

6 Ephraim

One of the two protagonists of The Sacred Stones, Ephraim is an incredibly solid unit in his own right. While most lords in Fire Emblem tend to wield swords, Ephraim uses lances, allowing him to attack foes from afar with javelins.

Additionally, Ephraim has excellent growth rates that allow him to remain a viable unit as the game progresses, even gaining additional mobility, in the form of a mount, upon promoting.

5 Vanessa

The first pegasus knight that players recruit in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Vanessa is often considered an integral unit, especially for those seeking to clear maps as quickly and efficiently as possible. This is due to Vanessa's phenomenal movement and her ability to traverse any terrain with ease.

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While Vanessa can be used to seek out secondary objectives such as villages, a common strategy is to use Vanessa as a means of ferrying less mobile units across a map and allowing them to more easily enter the front lines.

4 Cormag

cormag fe

Another flying unit like Vanessa, Cormag is the first and only recruitable Wyvern Rider in The Sacred Stones. While Cormag's availability isn't nearly as good as that of Vanessa, he tends to be able to do everything she can and more.

Possessing the same rescuing and movement utility as Vanessa, Cormag is an exemplary unit in combat. While Vanessa tends to lack in both offense and defense, Cormag can take a hit and dish out large sums of damage with his combination of high strength and high speed.

3 Franz

Franz is a perfect example of a reliable unit in Fire Emblem. A cavalier who is available from the second chapter of the game, Franz is incredibly flexible thanks to his decent base stats and consistently balanced growth rates. Franz shines in both combat and map utility due to his mobility and rescuing potential.

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A similar unit to Kyle and Forde, Franz has a significant edge due to being around far longer, allowing him to accrue additional experience early on and quickly become a significant member of one's ranks.

2 Tethys

It's no secret that Dancers are a phenomenal class in Fire Emblem, and Tethys is no exception. Incapable of fighting, Tethys contributes by offering the significant utility of allowing units to make an additional action during a turn.

This allows the units that she performs for to double their output for a turn, effectively dealing twice as much damage and being able to move twice as far.

1 Seth

seth fire emblem

Seth isn't merely the strongest unit in The Sacred Stones. He's one of the strongest units in the entire Fire Emblem series. Available from the very first chapter, Seth is a Paladin with excellent base stats and an A rank in both lances and swords. While at first glance, Seth may appear to be little more than a run of the mill "Jagen," his above-average growth rates make Seth an entirely different story.

While Franz is an excellent unit in his own right, by the time he becomes a paladin of the same level of Seth, in the majority of cases, Seth will still have higher stats, making him a dominant force over the entirety of The Sacred Stones.

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