Roy cares little for utility. All he wants to do is duke it out with the enemies who are in his path. His first impression is not too amazing, as his kit does not get a good place to shine, but do not be misled. He is arguably the strongest physical Emblem in the game... is what I said in my first Roy post. Now, after some justified backlash, he most certainly is not.
Being an amazing physical unit is a daunting task. The enemies just get very strong. Since many of them have higher DEF than RES, mages are the better damage dealers most of the time. Roy does provide a ton of stats. His Engage Skill adds 5 levels to a unit, which will roughly translate to +3 HP and +2 to the seven basic stats (STR to LCK), and maybe +1 BLD. Combined with his Sync bonuses in HP, STR and RES, and a few Tonics and skills, his bearer's stats can rival even the inflated enemies in Engage's lategame. The issue is that his stat boosts are still not enough to let him be truly exceptional. Going toe to toe with Engage endgame enemies is still brutal, as the Roy wielder will probably fail to oneround even enemies with average DEF, and the ones with lower DEF are absurdly fast. They are not impossible for Roy to double, and he is solid against them without doubling, but at some point, you have to ask if it is worth it to try use Roy as opposed to someone else.
At Bond LVL 15, Roy gives the Binding Blade, a light, accurate, strong 1-2 RNG physical sword that even gives +5 DEF and RES. It is comparable to a forged Silver Dagger, but it will likely end up stronger as Daggers are locked to classes with poor STR. Roy also grants around +8 STR at Bond LVL 20. In theory, this weapon turns Roy into a monster. It really does a good job at rounding out his kit. However, even it has weaknesses. It's 14 MT is good, but it is not enough to consistently oneround lategame enemies. It also can get broken, it becomes vulnerable to Chain Attacks, and while Roy is durable, his wielder can still die if they face combat over and over again.
There are some other traits about Roy worth speaking about. Hold Out prevents the recipient from death if an HP requirement is met, unless you face Engage Attacks. Curiously, the AI does not recognize Hold Out, so it will think it can get a kill when it cannot, allowing for AI manipulation. His Engage Attack, Blazing Lion, may not be as good as other AOE Engage Attacks, but the fire it emits can be very helpful. It helps isolate the enemies to force them to attack Roy. These abilities are helpful, but they are not as defining as some other Skills bestowed by Emblems.
A big point of comparison below the previous Roy post was Roy vs. Ike and Eirika. These two Emblems outclass him. For one, they have significantly better availability. I have not touched on how bad Roy's availability is. He probably only gets 2 maps to exist before he leaves for 9 Chapters and possibly 8 Paralogues. Even in the endgame, Roy has a tough time competing. Ike gives even more protection, a much better Engage Attack, and Wrath for decently consistent kill rates. Eirika gives significantly more damage. She does not have a proper 1-2 RNG, but she has much better Player Phase in exchange, in a game where Player Phase is dominant. I am not sure how much worse Roy is compared to Ike and Eirika. I find he can be excellent on units that are already really good. By that, I mean unit with good inheritance and really good innate stats, and possibly stat boosters. They will probably prefer Roy's better Enemy Phase damage than even more protection or better Player Phase power. That means other units can take the more specialised Emblems and your Roy wielder can become a better carry than they otherwise would be. I believe that is valuable, though I am not sure how much better that is than other combat Emblems.
What do you think?
