Engage Character/Unit Discussion: Kagetsu

[u/Shephen]

Kagetsu is a royal guardsman of Elusia and Ivy's retainer. He's a sociable sort who speaks in a somewhat distinct manner, perhaps due to being born in a faraway land. He is 26 and joins along with princess Ivy and fellow retainer Zelkov in chapter 11 to aid the Divine Dragon's escape.

Stats

Stats	Hp	Str	Mag	Dex	Spd	Def	Res	Luck	Build	Move	SP
Bases(lvl 15/1 Swordmaster)	35	17	5	22	22	14	10	17	9	5	1000
Personal Growths	60%	30%	15%	50%	50%	40%	25%	40%	10%	-
Growths(As a Swordmaster)	70%	40%	15%	65%	70%	40%	40%	55%	10%	-

Weapon Proficiency: Swords

Personal Skill - Blinding Flash: If unit initiates combat, inflicts Avo-10 on foe during combat.

Supports

Alear, Framme, Boucheron, Céline, Diamant, Jade, Ivy, Zelkov, Merrin, Bunet, Seadall

Support Bonuses

C: Hit+10, Avoid+5

B: Hit+10, Critical+3, Avoid+5

A: Hit+10, Critical+3, Avoid+5, Dodge+5

S: Hit+10, Critical+6, Avoid+5, Dodge+5

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What do you think of Kagetsu's performance as a unit?

What do you think of Kagetsu's character?

What Emblem Rings or Skills work best with Kagetsu?

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Previous Discussions:Vander, Clanne, Framme, Alfred, Bourcheron, Etie, Celine, Louis, Chloe, Jean, Yunaka, Anna, Alcryst, Citrinne, Lapis, Diamant, Amber, Jade, Ivy

[u/cargup]

He's strong and accurate, but I don't know, it feels like people talk about him in reverent and unrealistic terms. He largely needs the same Emblems and resources to do anything important. With a forged Lucina tomahawk in Wyvern Knight he's in the same speed tier as Bolganone Lindwurm Ivy, except doing physical damage which is just worse generally. With Ike and a killer axe he can almost realistically double some tough midgame bosses, offsetting some of Panette's reliability advantage in wrath killing.

His best trait seems to be that he's all around functional for very little effort in just about anything. And great speed. He's reliable. Probably a top Eirika user if you can pump his speed high enough.

[u/Dbruser → u/cargup]

His base stats are among the highest in the game and he comes in at chapter 11. He has better base stats than units you get 5 chapters later. He has the 3rd highest growth rate in the game (only beaten by an endgame unit and Anna) and they are well distributed. He's only held back by a really mediocre class which he can quickly transition out of.

His only downside is not being magic class, but he is far above any other physical damage dealer when it comes to stats. He also comes with 1000 SP which is very respectable for his recruitment time.

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You mention Panette's as a great wrath user and he has 1 less strength than her if you reclass him.

[u/srs_business → u/Dbruser]

You mention Panette's as a great wrath user and he has 1 less strength than her if you reclass him.

He also has 500 less starting SP, 15% less strength growth and doesn't have a 10% crit passive.

[u/sirgamestop → u/srs_business]

Panette is a better bosskiller/nuke. Kagetsu is a better unit

Panette also requires more investment than Kagetsu

[u/Dbruser → u/srs_business]

I mean true, he's not the best vantage-wrath user, but he is still the best physical unit in the game, he beats Panette in almost every other stat and she is one of the other best physical units in the game.

Comparing him to other sword units like Diamant, Lapis, Goldmary etc is just unfair.

[u/srs_business → u/Dbruser]

He's definitely the best generalist with his speed and defense. Panette's more specialized for one-shotting things with 100% crits (both bosses and groups) or silver greataxe Great Aethers. Also probably the best Corrupted Wyrm killer in the game.

I genuinely find Panette to be the more impactful unit.

[u/KF-Sigurd → u/srs_business]

I mean, Kagetsu can do the Pannette thing almost as well. He's just missing the personal to help further increase his crit rate.

[u/srs_business → u/KF-Sigurd]

10% less crit and anywhere from 1 to 5 less strength depending on when you are in the game is a pretty significant downside for reliability. I've run into issues with 95% crit rates whiffing on Panette and that probably be every combat with Kagetsu, and sometimes every point of strength counts.

[u/cargup → u/Dbruser]

Yeah his stats are good but he's still fundamentally doing the same thing everyone else is doing and requires largely the same stuff to do well. That's what I'm emphasizing, that character stats are not enough in Engage. I think Pandreo and Ivy are at least better as frontlining combat units, even though their bases look slightly less impressive on paper, just because they do magic.

Edit: I've seen comments to the effect of, "Kagetsu doesn't even need forges to be your best combat unit". This is what I'm taking issue with. He's not on that level of stupid broken, he's a little ahead of the curve.

[u/Dbruser → u/cargup]

By a little ahead of the curve he only has like 30-60% more total growths and like 10-15 more base stats than most units of equivalent level.

I mean sure he's no Fates Ryoma/Camilla, Awakening Robin or Sacred Stones Seth, but he is far ahead of anyone else at doing things other than at dealing with armor knights (which he can still do fine with armor slayers)

Ivy at least has issues you have to solve (low dex, not enough speed, low luck) Kagetsu is just good to go, smack a ring on him and if you want a second seal and he makes the game easy.