• Benefits from all Dragon perks
• Fantastic Avoidance tank
• Struggles without using Marth and becomes a liability in early-game

Alear is the obvious first choice due to the emphasis Engage's story places on the two being paired and the number of bonuses given to Dragon units when paired with Marth. Since Alear and Veyle are the only available Dragon units, there are only two units that can benefit from all Marth's skills have to offer. Furthermore, Alear Speed synergizes further with Marth's boons and can create a powerful Avoidance tank to make up for their lackluster beginning defensive stats.

Without Marth, Alear also struggles in the early game at higher difficulties due to poor synergy with other early-game Emblems and poor performance without one entirely. As Alear is the only mandatory and un-swappable unit in Story Mode (and the only early-game sword unit), this can prove to be a crucial break in your team's foundation and present a number of challenges that may prove to be a game-breaker for some players. This can be mitigated with the Navarre S-Rank Bond Ring, but at least gaining Marth's Avoidance skills through Inheritance is an absolute must in order to ensure Alear's early-game survival.

• Untouchable Avoidance tank
• Rapier weapon allows her to deal with Armored units
• Misses out on Sword Agility bonuses when not Engaged
• Still needs Canter from Sigurd, even with Marth

Chloe's starting class, the Pegasus Knight, benefits from an inherent high Avoid rate and beefy Speed growths. Adding Marth just makes this the icing on the cake, making her a great early-game Avoidance tank to make up for her lackluster defensive stats. Additionally, her access to the Rapier weapon allows her to face armored units she would have otherwise struggled against.

The drawback here is that you don't get the Sword Agility bonuses that sword-wielding units would enjoy otherwise. However, Chloe is the only flying unit available until you receive a Master Seal from either Chapter Seven or Anna's Paralogue or until you recruit Ivy in Chapter 11. Ideally, Chloe is best used with Marth to give her the ability to gain SP quickly to inherit Sigurd's Canter before Chapter 10 and leave Sigurd to a unit that may benefit more from his usage like Alfred or Louis.

• Armored tank engine with large movement
• High build means no drawbacks from Sigurd's heavy weapons
• Sigurd's Lance skills have no detriment to Louis
• Pairing these two means no good Emblem pair for Alfred

Louis is by and far the best user for Sigurd, enjoying the extra movement that allows him to keep up with other mobile units and continue front-lining to absorb hits. His Build means that he won't take any hits to his speed (though he likely won't be outspeeding most units), the extra defense ensures he won't take any damage, and he can bait and switch easily to absorb follow-up attacks and let weaker allies finish for experience gain. Sigurd's hit to Avoid doesn't harm Louis as he was never meant to be an Avoidance tank, and the additional raw damage granted makes up for Louis's inability to strike twice against any other units. On paper, there are no downsides to this pairing.

The drawback for pairing Sigurd and Louis mostly stems from problems in the early game. By pairing Sigurd with Louis, you will be denying Alfred an Emblem pairing and creating a weak link in your party that can be devastating at higher difficulties. Pairing Sigurd with Louis will come at the cost of potentially sacrificing the use of a unit slot, so you'll need to weigh the pros and cons of one absolutely stacked unit as opposed to two passable ones.

• Allows free Inherited Skill slot
• Impressive Speed is not too hindered by heavy weapons but may prevent second attacks
• Can hit and retreat to hide behind tanks
• Bonuses to Defense for extra survivability
• Lance skills greatly reduce Avoidance
• Viable glass cannon

If not paired with Marth, Sigurd is the only reliable Emblem to pair with Chloe in the early game. As a lance-wielding Flying unit with impressive speed, Sigurd's heavy weapons aren't usually enough to slow Chloe down too much, and enjoys all the bonuses to attack damage while wielding a Lance. In addition, giving Sigurd to Chloe means freeing up an Inherited Skill slot that otherwise should be used for Canter. Having this skill allows Chloe to retreat after an attack, allowing tankier units like Louis to step forward and shield Chloe from a melee attack.

The drawback with Sigurd is that the heavy weapons may prevent Chloe from dealing a second attack, crucial for a unit that relies heavily on speed to make up for her average Strength growths. In addition, the bonuses for power greatly reduce her Avoidance - her greatest asset as a Pegasus Knight - and reveal her lackluster defensive stats. While her HP can help negate some of the threat, a pairing with Sigurd makes Chloe more like a viable glass cannon than a well-balanced unit.

• Corrects Alfred's glaring weaknesses to make a usable unit
• Allows a balanced team until Alfred replaced by Bunet
• Bunet's Build allows good use of heavy Engage weapons
• Decent offensive and defensive stats that make a well-balanced unit
• Access to all three parts of the Weapon Triangle

Without Sigurd, Alfred struggles greatly to keep up in performance with other early-game units. While his personal skill helps bolster his nice Strength stat, his speed (reduced by his poor starting build) and defensive capabilities leave glaring weaknesses that really benefit from Sigurd's help. Giving Alfred a much-needed boost to his physical Defense and weapons with added effectiveness that can allow him to get the upper hand on enemies he would otherwise struggle against.

Once Bunet is unlocked, Alfred's overall usefulness drastically drops. This is due to Bunet's much higher starting Build and Build rates. Although Alfred's Speed growth is slightly higher, Bunet's stats are far more balanced and generally compensate for Alfred's unique class ability. Bunet's synergy with Sigurd is overall much higher, and keeping him in the Great Knight class he begins in means giving Bunet access to all three parts of the Weapon Triangle to make him a highly versatile unit.

• Perfect pairing from Day One
• Well-rounded and good offensive stats
• Few drawbacks
• A long period of time apart could lead to falling off

The primary pairing for Celica in her introduction, Celine's build appears to be optimized for Celica from Day One. With her unique class ability giving her the potential to add Strength to her magic attacks and the ability to swap between swords and magic as necessary, she's a well-rounded unit that only really struggles with her speed in the beginning when compared to Clanne who, by the time Celine is recruited, might already have a few invested levels. She has a low build, meaning she can get bogged down with heavier tomes in the beginning, but overall, she's a solid unit choice with very few drawbacks in usage.

That being said, her usability does drop significantly after losing Celica, and it's very likely she may fall behind much more mobile and dedicated mage units like Ivy, a mobile Citrinne, or Pandreo. Celica doesn't return until much, much later in a playthrough, and there aren't many good alternatives for Celine in the meantime. Those who are dedicated to a Celina and Celica build will need to find something else for Celica to do and invest in refining tomes for her to keep up with other units.

• Highest Magic and Speed stats for killing machine
• Less risk of falling off in mid-game
• Reliable Gold farming
• Requires reclassing
• Limited use due to lack of chapters

Although she requires re-classing and learning proficiencies through bonds with Emblems, Anna's incredible Magic growth is the highest in the game and is equal to her astounding 50 growth in Speed. She's the perfect Mage character, and Celica's raw damage and Warp Ragnarok only add to Anna's many strengths. Unlike Celine, Anna is easily viable in the awkward mid-game and can function well on her own. With the return of Celica in later chapters, re-pairing them comes naturally, and the two can continue in the final maps with relative ease and little-to-no investments for training. In addition, Anna's usage and function as a killing machine will net you a lofty amount of gold with her unique skill.

The only drawback for Anna is the limited amount of use Anna will have with Celica. With Second Seals only available in the final two chapters before Celica's removal, there are only a total of about 8 chapters for the two to be together. For all other chapters, Celica will likely be placed on either Celine or Clanne.

• Fast leveling with Great Sacrifice to catch up from Level One
• Aptitude leveling can create a monster
• Gets Qi-Adept bonus for better healing
• Good and reliable backline unit
• Jean's use could be better elsewhere after losing Micaiah

Jean is the best early-pairing with Micaiah thanks to the ability to level-grind with Great Sacrifice, allowing him to quickly catch up with the rest of your party despite starting at level one. This level-grinding also allows him to get the most out of Aptitude as fast as possible. As such, the level deficit he begins with is corrected before it becomes too much of a problem to contend with, and keeping him in the back while he uses Micaiah's Engage abilities means having a powerful staff user (with extra healing power due to his class) for your backline while doing training. In the mid-game, Jean can remain a dangerous Qi-Adept without Micaiah, and the two can rejoin with ease later.

There is no drawback for pairing Jean with Micaiah in the early game, but there may be a drawback in keeping Jean as a staff user throughout the mid and late game due to his ability to fulfill any role in a party and the existence of other reliable staff users in Framme, Ivy, Hortensia, Pandreo, and more. As such, the only drawback in keeping Jean paired with Micaiah is potentially missing out on reclassing to a powerful unit of another class.

• Unique class conserves staff uses
• Unique ability increases range effectiveness further
• Can use all of Micaiah's tomes very well
• Flying unit gives a greater range of use
• Low defense makes her a liability

Hortensia is a powerful staff user with a unique class that allows her to potentially save on staff usage. In Maddening, this can be very nice (saving you limited resources in replacing them), but it's not as nice as her personal skill which allows her an innate +1 range to her staves. When Engaged with Micaiah, this means that all of her staves have a range of +6, essentially making Hortensia function as if she were a paired Dragon unit. Her high Magic starting base and amazing Speed growth make her an avid user of Micaiah's tomes as well. Being a flying unit as well, Hortensia's large area of movement makes it feasible to move her far out of danger or juggle between split teams to reach distant allies in need of healing.

Hortensia's drawback lies in her abysmal starting Defense and the almost non-existent growths that go with it. Nosferatu helps immensely here, and keeping her in the back line will assist in limited chances for damage. However, the risk of being one-shot by an enemy does make it necessary to either keep a close eye on her or invest in Avoid skills where possible.

• Amazing personal skill, Party Animal, for more Hit and Avoid
• Exceptional Speed and Dexterity
• Highest Resistance in the game
• Self-recover negates threat from Great Sacrifice and can heal allies
• Reliable Nosferatu user
• Soren could arguably be a better pair for the offense

Easily one of the most underrated units in Fire Emblem Engage thanks to his late start, Pandreo functions as a highly capable mage and staff user who has access to the amazing personal skill, Party Animal. Thanks to this, Pandreo is able to function as a staff user on the front lines when needed and become an active participant in battles. This is a huge benefit as Pandreo operates as both a deadly-efficient mage with high Speed and Dexterity (capable of doubling and consistently crit'ing his foes) and reliable support. Additionally, he's practically untouchable when facing other mages thanks to his having the highest Resistance growth in the game, and the High Priest class skill allows him to cast healing magic on himself if ever he faces damage (which, when Engaged with Micaiah, will also heal allies within a space around him). His ability to self-recover also means that using Great Sacrifice doesn't have much of a drawback as he can immediately heal himself in the next turn if there is no other staff user nearby and he can't use Nosferatu for any reason.

There really is no drawback in pairing Pandreo with Micaiah. It's an excellent pairing, and few Emblems synchronize with Pandreo so well. The only Emblem that can compete with this pairing for Pandreo is the DLC Soren, allowing Pandreo to take on a more offensive role rather than a supportive one.

• Made for Roy
• Added range
• High damage output and reliable tank
• Short window of opportunity for use
• Low movement can mean falling behind

Diamant as Roy's canon pairing is built to enjoy all Roy has to offer without being a detriment to his current stats or needing to invest in a seal to change his class. Roy gives Diamant a large AoE, boosts his nice Strength further with little drawback, and ensures Diamant can function as a beefy frontline unit without fearing a one-shot from an enemy you didn't see coming.

Roy's only drawback with Diamant is the short window of time they get to spend together before facing a long stint apart and Diamant's liability to falling behind more mobile allies. In Roy and Diamant's time apart, Diamant may have fallen to the wayside or been paired with another Emblem. Otherwise, there are no glaring drawbacks. The two are made for one another, and Diamant's unique class makes it so that damage taken as a result of lowed Avoid can be gained back with a powerful attack.

• Highest Strength growth in game
• Can wield heavy weapons with high Build
• Cavalry unit for added movement
• Frees Diamant for other/better pairings
• Worst Resistance in the game
• Can sometimes suffer poor Hit Rates

An unlikely and rather surprising pairing, Amber does well with Roy on account of having a tie with Panette and Rosado for the highest Strength growth in the game. With an impressive build and okay Speed, Amber can wield heavy weapons without any glaring drawbacks and has the movement that Diamant doesn't have. With Roy, Amber also gets to enjoy extra survivability (especially against the mages he appears to be allergic to) and higher damage output. As a Cavalry unit, he's one of the best in the mid-game thanks to his damage output, and if Roy is unpaired due to Diamant already having a good pairing (like Ike or Hector), Amber is a very good candidate.

Nevertheless, despite Diamant being the one who is supposed to be afraid of magic, Amber has the worst Resistance in the game (in base and in growths). Hold Out can assist in surviving an attack against them, but he's generally all but helpless against them if he isn't able to immediately remove them. Furthermore, his Dexterity is a little lackluster against other Cavalry units, so he can sometimes suffer from a poor Hit Rate when wielding un-refined/un-engraved weapons.

• Solid choice with few drawbacks
• Untouchable defense
• Allows reclassing into various defense units for any situation
• No/little benefit to added Build and other skills
• Large time apart and better options than Leif

With his high Build, impressive Strength and Defense, and ability to be classed in an Armored class for even more raw Defense when Engaged, Louis is a good choice who can make the most of each of the Engage weapons without needing to care much for Build before Leif's additional Build bonuses. He uses Quadruple Attack well, and Leif's proficiency abilities allow Louis to reclass into various defensive advanced classes at will so long as the Second Seals are available.

The difficulty with Leif is finding a unit that benefits from pairing with him so late in the game. With the addition of Emblem DLCs, he's easily outclassed and discarded on the side. In the case of Louis, Louis doesn't get to benefit from the increased Build so much, probably won't ever need to fear taking much (if any) physical damage without Leif, and has little use of Leif's other skills. Their pairing is purely due to the lack of good pairings for Louis outside of Sigurd, increasing Louis's already outstanding defensive capabilities, and the possibility of having Vantage on the very off-chance Louis gets caught off-guard by several mage or armorslayer-wielding units. In addition, pairing Leif and Louis has the same struggle as Roy and Diamant - a long time apart.

• Strong defenses for frontline unit
• Backup status benefits from Vantage and +10 Critical
• Pairs well with Dual Assist Inherited Skill
• Brave Assist class skill safeguarded by Leif's defenses
• Slightly lower Dexterity/Hit Rate
• Overall solid pairing

Goldmary's fantastic raw defensive capability and need to be in the frontlines constantly to make use of her Backup unit ability makes her a good candidate for pairing with Leif. Increasing her defenses further and offering the ability to use Vantage while saving additional Inherited Skill slots for skills like Lucina's Dual Assist, he's a solid choice. Furthermore, keeping her as a Backup unit - particularly a Hero - means increasing her Critical chance while also having the ability to make use of the Hero's unique skill: Brave Assist. Leif's defensive bonuses will ensure that Brave Assist can continue being activated without needing constant healing to keep it at play. And, thankfully, Leif returns to you in the chapter after recruiting Goldmary, making the two an easy pairing.

There aren't too many drawbacks with this particular pairing. The only weaknesses lie in Goldmary who has a very conditional personal skill and a lower Dexterity/Hit Rate than other units. Otherwise, the two are a decent pairing and complement each other fairly well.

• No better pairing
• +10 Range Covert unit bonus to Astra Storm
• Astra Storm power increased further by refined bows
• Impressive Speed/Dexterity/Critical rate joined with Lyn's for god-tier stats
• Doubles have high Avoidance and Critical rate for killer decoys

Hands down, Alcryst has no competition when it comes to being the best partner for Lyn. Enjoying the +10 Range bonus for Astra Storm thanks to his unique class, enjoying very good Dexterity and Speed on his own, and having access to bows that can be refined for even better damage than what Lyn's base weapons provide, there is absolutely no drawback to pairing Alcryst and Lyn. His Doubles have a high Avoidance and Critical rate, making it a possibility that your doubles will avoid an attack from an enemy only to kill them. Alcryst and Lyn are quite frankly flawless in every regard, and there is little reason to not pair the two other than trying new things.

• Decent strength with Astra Storm
• High Speed and Avoidance make a quick killer
• Decoys have increased Avoidance rates
• Chloe's flexibility synergizes well with Lyn
• The only drawback is that it isn't Alcryst and Lyn

Thanks to her high-Speed stats and Flying class, Chloe makes a good secondary option for a Lyn user if you're wanting something other than the mainstream Alcryst and Lyn. Her attacks with Astra Storm are decent, and they can help remove enemy archers from a distance without needing to get close. At this point, you also might have chosen to reclass Chloe into either a Sniper with a Radiant Bow or a Martial Master to capitalize on her mix of Strength and Magic growths, both of which would also synergize with Lyn just as well.

The only drawback here is that she can't compete with Alcryst. Her pairing with Lyn is good, but she operates better with other Emblem pairings when they're available.

• Unique Dragon class benefits
• Good synergy with unique Divinely Inspiring skill
• Avoidance tanking beast with ally support
• Alear struggles without a good Emblem pairing
• Lack of ranged attacks for optimal Lucina

Given to Alear immediately losing Lucina, the game sets you up to use Lucina from the start. The benefits of having increased success in Bonded Shield and guaranteeing that you'll get the most out of All For One are fantastic, and Alear doesn't have many choices in the mid-game to pair with after losing Marth unless you reclass out of the Divine Dragon class line. Lackluster without Lucina, Alear does well with Lucina for very much of the same reasons Alear did well with Marth: Alear struggles without an Emblem pairing or a very good Bond Ring. Otherwise, Lucina further boosts Alear's good speed to ensure they're always doubling foes and grants a huge Avoidance bonus when around allies with whom Alear has good Support with (which should be the case so late in the game).

Alear's downside with Lucina is the lack of ranged attacks that can allow Alear to function as well as in other matches. Carrying the Levin Sword can help, putting Alear slightly behind the frontline with the Levin Sword equipped and Bonded Shield in effect, but Alear's magic growths are so-so. Yes, Alear's personal skill can be an added bonus here, but Alear performs so much better as a frontline Avoid tank rather than a support, so Alear isn't quite optimized for bringing Lucina to her fullest potential.

• Long-ranged Backup unit with up to nine range
• Speed and Avoid bolstered for extra survivability
• Added Dexterity has good synergy with Lindwurm skill, Grasping Void
• Lack of physical prowess
• Little benefit from bow skills or Engage weapons

Ivy capitalizes on all Alear fails to do. Equipping her with a refined long-range tome like Thunder, Elthunder, or Thoron means that Ivy can participate in Chain Attacks from up to three spaces away 100 percent of the time. Combined with her status as a Flying Unit and the additional Dual Assist ability, Ivy can reliably Chain Attack up to nine spaces away 70 percent of the time. Her good Speed and Avoid is further accentuated by pairing with Lucina, and the added effects of Dexterity help with any struggle she might have otherwise had with hit rates in the more inaccurate tomes as well as increase the trigger rate for her class's unique skill: Grasping Void.

Ivy's only drawbacks lie in her lack of physical prowess, meaning Ivy doesn't benefit from Lucina's bow skills (except in very rare instances when using Parthia) or Engage Weapons. That being said, Ivy's position is more like a long-ranged support character and magical sniper than a frontliner, and she does her job well enough without a care for the lost skill bonuses.

• Absolutely broken unit
• Highest HP in the game
• Amazing synergy between Ike's and Panette's skills
• Reposition and Smash+ allow for better map control
• Potential for perfect 100% Critical
• Raw power synergy with Axe Power
• Hold Out++ and Vantage make an unstoppable unit
• The nitpicking downside of slightly lowered Hit Rate

Panette and Ike are easily one of the best units in the game and could compete with Lyn and Alcryst for the title. Panette, easily overlooked and commonly classed low in tier charts enjoys a number of benefits from Ike that correct her few flaws and take her personalized skill and class skill to their fullest potential. She has a high HP and semi-decent defensive stats, but pairing her with Ike increases her defensive capabilities so that she can take small chunks of damage to activate a number of skills. Once Panette has lost 30HP, she will be granted the following boons:

• +40 Base Critical (Wrath and Blood Fury)
• +7 Defense and Resistance

In addition, Panette's class, the Berserker, allows for Smash+ to hit units up to two tiles away. Paired with Ike's Reposition, Panette has the extraordinary ability to control maps and, thanks to the above boons, ignore the consequences of using heavy smash weapons. With her already high Dexterity stats and the use of an engraved and refined Killer Axe, Panette can achieve a perfect 100 percent Critical Rating. In addition to all of this, she gets only benefits from Axe Power as she cares not for Avoidance when she's meant to be tanking and has the freedom to inherit skills like Hold Out++ and Vantage, making her an unstoppable killing machine.

Panette's only downside comes from a potential lack of Hit Rate in the beginning, but this is easily mitigated with refined weapons. Otherwise, there really are no obvious downsides to Panette and Ike pairing.

• Similar raw damage potential to Panette
• Capable of taking hits with lofty HP and enjoying Wrath
• Sol might sabotage set-ups
• Panette's Strength and Dexterity are better

Diamant synergizes well with Ike for a lot of the same reasons as Panette, but there are a few glaring issues with Diamant and Ike that make Panette the far superior user.

Diamant's unique class skill, Sol, can completely and accidentally undo the benefits of Wrath and Resolve, lowering defenses and Critical output when you don't mean to. Additionally, although their HP is roughly the same, Panette's raw Strength and Dexterity (both base and in growths) outclasses Diamant in every way. Much like how Chloe can work for Lyn but Alcryst works better, Diamant can function well with Ike, but the downsides make it clear that Panette and Ike are in a league of their own.

• Amazing synergy with Divinely Inspired skill and Mentorship
• Decent Luck to make use of Divine Pulse
• Essentially a superior Dancer unit
• Sacrifices Alear as a frontline Avoid tank
• Doesn't have good synergy with Aymr

Alear is an excellent choice for Byleth due to the lofty stat increases Alear can give through Instruct and Goddess Dance for your entire army. Although Alear isn't a support unit per se, playing them behind a baiting frontline allows your nearby units to not only get the benefits of an Instruct but also her Divinely Inspiring personal skill. As a result, the damage dealt in any attack is to increase by five each. This results in Alear fulfilling a sort of tankier Dancer role in the place of Seadall (whose use with Byleth would waste his own Dance skill).

The downside here is simply in the loss of Alear as an Avoidance tank in the front unless otherwise being used in a literal line of front runners when standing at a chokepoint. Alear does get the use of the Smash Weapon Aymr, but its weight and hit rate means that Alear will be sacrificing Avoidance and potentially taking one (if not two) hits before ever getting to strike a foe. It's not well-matched for Alear, and it's generally best in most circumstances to stay away from the Amyr Engage Weapon in preference of Byleth's later weapons (particularly Vajra Mushti).

• Back-row unit built for pure support
• Can give added Resistance to allies
• Capable of abusing Divine Pulse with low-hit tomes
• Luin synergizes nicely with Hortensia's Speed
• Suffers from squishy build

When classed as her unique Sleipnir class, Hortensia's Instruction allows for a nifty +5 to Resistance that can be a huge boon when necessary, despite being a bit situational, and dedicate herself fully to the support role. Her huge Luck stat growth means she can use Divine Pulse to the fullest, be handy for long-distance Magic attacks like Thoron, and do damage where necessary. Thankfully, Hortensia's Magic is also equal to her Strength, and although neither is anything to be impressed about, Byleth's Engage weapon for Flying units scales additional damage with Speed - of which Hortensia has no small amount. Luin adds an element of survivability in melee combat when absolutely necessary and can even be used for setting up weapon breaks for other units, further playing into her support role.

Much like with any pairing, Hortensia's biggest fault is in her Defense. Unable to take more than a single hit (if that), Hortensia is meant to be far away from the frontlines. As a result, she'll likely miss out on using the Mentorship skill.

• Best Corrin pairing
• Good synergy with personal and class skills for best Avoidance tank in-game
• Stacks poison with various debuffs to set up for allies
• Functions as either a solo Avoid tank or supportive chip unit
• Lackluster base damage with poor Strength
• Can be hit with Mystical attacks but has high Resistance
• Chain Attacks that were previously a threat to Avoidance tanks are ignored

Yunaka is by and large the most optimal pairing for Corrin. Her personal skill, Trained to Kill, gives an additional +15 Critical when standing in a tile that gives Avoidance. Combined with the Cover class's ability to double Avoidance tile benefits and Corrin's Dragon Vein ability giving her the ability to create her very own Avoidance tiles around her, Yunaka can ultimately walk anywhere on any map without taking a single point of damage while also using daggers to inflict stacking poisons on various enemies when she isn't activating one Critical after the other. This poison can also synergize well if Yunaka takes the initiative to attack a foe, stacking poison with Draconic Hex and Dreadful Aura. She can either slowly solo any map (especially with Vantage equipped) or be a reliable chipping unit to set up for beefier allies.

Yunaka's only drawback is her lackluster Strength. Unable to make good use of Corrin's Engage Attack or Engage Weapons in a way other units can, she can be a little outshone in the immediate damage department. A winning strategy with Yunaka may be effective, but it can suffer from bad RNG and from being slow turn-wise. Thankfully, Corrin's Dragon Vein skill can be used in and outside of being Engaged. Additionally, Yunaka does face a little bit of a threat from enemy Mystical units who ignore terrain Avoidance, though this isn't much of a concern with Yunaka's impressive Resistance stats. The only other threat to her Avoidance tanking is from Backup units which ignore terrain effects as well, but bonding with Corrin at Level 13 negates any threat from Chain Attacks.

• Gets the choice of any Dragon Vein
• Good use of Corrin's swords (especially with Marth's skills)
• Higher HP for better survivability
• Could leave Corrin for other pairings that need her more

Although there is much to be said about pairing two dragons with one another, the dual Dragon combo's strength is primarily in Alear's ability to choose any Dragon Vein ability regardless of class. With such versatility, Alear becomes an important supporting unit that can adapt to any situation. Furthermore, Alear's bonuses with swords and any previously Inherited Skills from Marth stack well with these Dragon Vein abilities and Corrin's Engage Weapons. Dual Katana is especially nice for letting Alear deal with pesky Lance units that might otherwise pose a problem. The additional benefit of higher HP overall helps with any poor RNG Alear might have suffered along the way and increases the survivability of your only essential unit.

Much like with Byleth, making Alear a more supportive unit can take Alear a bit away from the frontlines where they might be more appreciated. Additionally, there are a number of other units Alear might function just as well with, leaving Corrin with more synergistic pairings like Yunaka or Alcryst.

• Mixed offensive and Avoidance tank
• Good usage of Fog
• Luna increases synergy for better sword usage
• Greater range for Draconix Hex and Dreadful Aura

If you're wanting to go another route with Alcryst rather than the staple Lyn pairing and don't have an interest in the Yunaka tank, Alcryst, and Corrin make a very usable couple. Much like Yunaka, Alcryst gets to spam Dragon Vein to make use of the fog coverage. His unique class skill, Luna, does allow for added usability of her swords when Engaged and pairing Draconic Hex and Dreadful Aura on top of a bow's strike (especially with a Longbow) does ensure that any attack after Alcryst's is certain to kill without ever getting too close.

The only fault here is that Yunaka and Alear do everything Alcryst can do but a little bit better.

• Supplements Merrin's lacking stats
• Greater viability for usage
• Gains added bonus from Ephraim's Twin Attack
• Lackluster and niche as all Eirika builds

Merrin's a decent pairing for Eirika thanks to her already high Avoidance rate and Eirika's ability to supplement Merrin's struggling Strength and Defense. With the ability to ignore some of an enemy's Defense or gain back health lost by attacking from a distance, Eirika's addition makes Merrin a far more viable unit. Additionally, pairing Eirika with Merrin allows Twin Strike to receive an additional bonus from Ephraim's attack due to the Wolf Knight's status as a Cavalry unit.

Eirika and Merrin are equally lackluster and niche in their own ways. While complementary to each other, two wrongs do not always make a right. Unit slots (especially with DLC included) are better spent on other pairings.

• Gets the choice of any Dragon Vein
• Good use of Corrin's swords (especially with Marth's skills)
• Higher HP for better survivability
• Could leave Corrin for other pairings that need her more

Much like Merrin, Lapis can fall behind other units quite easily and struggles with other Emblems to become a viable unit. Pairing with Eirika allows Lapis to overlook her lackluster Strength and make the most out of the highest Speed in the game. Typically dealing two strikes every round of combat, Lapis is able to make double use of Lunar Brace and can, like Merrin, abuse Solar Brace when her high Avoidance rate fails her. Gentility is also a huge benefit to Lapis, helping cut down on any incoming damage, and the two work very synergistically to correct each other's weaknesses. Classing Lapis into a Wyvern Knight can also increase Lapis's Strength even further and grant Lapis the ability to both wield swords and lances to allow her to take advantage of Eirika and Ephraim's Lance skills.

There isn't much beyond the faults of the individuals in such a pair. They otherwise complement each other nicely in spite of them.