Happy Birthday, Crimson Knight: A Deep Dive into Sully's Strategic Prowess in Fire Emblem: Awakening

Greetings, master tacticians of Fortune's Weave Guide! Today, December 05, we raise our lances in celebration of a true pillar of the Ylissean army: Sully, the Crimson Knight from Fire Emblem: Awakening. Often overshadowed by flashier units, Sully is a formidable force when properly understood and strategically deployed. As experts in maximizing every unit's potential, we delve deep into her strengths, optimal class paths, skill synergies, and invaluable role on the battlefield. Prepare to unlock the full strategic might of this steadfast cavalier.

Sully's Foundation: Stats and Early Game Impact

Sully joins Chrom's forces early in Fire Emblem: Awakening, alongside her counterpart, Stahl. As a Cavalier, she brings crucial mounted mobility and access to both swords and lances from the outset. Her initial base stats are respectable, particularly her Speed, which often outpaces many early-game enemies, allowing her to double and secure crucial eliminations. While her Strength and Defense growths are solid, they are not initially outstanding, often requiring careful management to ensure she doesn't fall behind defensively. However, her consistent Speed growth ensures she remains a potent offensive threat throughout the early and mid-game.

Compared to Stahl, Sully often boasts superior Speed, making her an excellent choice for initiating engagements and ensuring she avoids being doubled by faster enemies. Her personal skill, Discipline, acquired at Level 1 Cavalier, is incredibly useful early on, doubling weapon experience gain. This allows her to quickly master new weapon types or achieve higher weapon ranks for more powerful armaments, a subtle but significant advantage for long-term strategic planning.

Optimal Class Progression: Forging the Crimson Blade

Sully's reclassing options are diverse, offering paths to tailor her to various strategic needs. Her base class, Cavalier, naturally promotes into either a Paladin or a Great Knight. Each offers distinct advantages, and understanding these is key to molding her into the perfect asset for your army.

Path 1: The Valiant Paladin

Promoting Sully to a Paladin is arguably her most straightforward and consistently effective path. As a Paladin, she retains her excellent mobility and gains access to higher stat caps, particularly in Speed, Skill, and Defense. The Paladin class also grants her two powerful skills:

• Defender (Level 5 Paladin): When paired up, grants +1 Defense and Resistance to the lead unit. This is a fantastic skill for enhancing the durability of your front-liners or even Chrom himself, making Sully an excellent support unit even when not directly engaging.
• Aegis (Level 15 Paladin): Halves damage from bows, tomes, and dragonstone attacks 50% of the time, activated by Skill%. This skill dramatically increases her survivability against ranged and magical threats, making her a more reliable frontline unit in later chapters.

A Paladin Sully excels as a mobile damage dealer and a durable skirmisher, capable of covering large distances to reinforce allies or secure distant objectives. Her high Speed often ensures she doubles, making her a consistent damage output unit.

Path 2: The Resilient Great Knight

The Great Knight promotion emphasizes bulk and raw Strength, sacrificing some Speed for increased defensive capabilities and access to axes in addition to swords and lances. This path makes Sully a more robust tank and a potent physical damage dealer, especially against high-defense enemies. The key skills gained as a Great Knight are:

• Luna (Level 5 Great Knight): When attacking, halves the enemy's Defense or Resistance 50% of the time, activated by Skill%. This skill is a game-changer for breaking through heavily armored units or powerful bosses, significantly boosting her damage output.
• Pavise (Level 15 Great Knight): Halves damage from swords, lances, axes, and beaststone attacks 50% of the time, activated by Skill%. Similar to Aegis, Pavise provides substantial physical damage reduction, making her incredibly durable against melee threats.

A Great Knight Sully can serve as an excellent defensive anchor, drawing enemy fire and retaliating with powerful Luna-boosted attacks. While her Speed may be lower than a Paladin, her increased Strength and defensive skills make her a formidable presence, especially when facing large groups of physical attackers.

Strategic Reclassing for Skill Acquisition

Beyond her direct promotions, Sully's access to other base classes through reclassing offers a wealth of valuable skills. This is where her true versatility for advanced tactical play shines.

• Myrmidon / Swordmaster: Reclassing to Myrmidon grants access to Avoid +10 and Vantage (Level 10 Myrmidon). Vantage allows her to attack first if her HP is below half, a crucial skill for survivability and setting up powerful counter-attacks, especially when combined with high damage output. Promoting to Swordmaster further enhances her Skill and Speed, and grants Astra.
• Mercenary / Hero: The Mercenary class offers Armsthrift (Level 1 Mercenary), which prevents weapon durability loss (Skill x 2)% of the time. This is invaluable for preserving rare or forged weapons. At Level 10, she gains Patience, boosting hit and avoid on the enemy phase. Promoting to Hero grants Sol (healing based on damage dealt) and Axebreaker (useful if she transitions to Great Knight or needs to deal with axe users).
• Dark Mage / Sorcerer / Dark Knight: While less conventional for Sully, a brief stint as a Dark Mage can yield Hex (lowers adjacent enemies' Avoid by 10) and Anathema (lowers adjacent enemies' Avoid and Critical Avoid by 10). These are powerful support skills that can benefit the entire army. If taken to Dark Knight, she retains mounted movement and gains access to tomes, becoming a truly hybrid unit, though this path requires significant investment.
• Wyvern Rider / Wyvern Lord / Griffon Rider: This path offers flight utility and strong physical stats. Strength +2 and Tomebreaker (Wyvern Rider), then Quick Burn (Wyvern Lord) for a temporary boost to Hit/Avoid, and Swordbreaker. Swordbreaker is particularly potent for a Great Knight Sully, turning her into an anti-sword powerhouse.

The optimal reclassing strategy often involves picking up Vantage or Armsthrift from Myrmidon/Mercenary before returning to her Cavalier line or promoting. For a truly dominant Sully, pairing her with Chrom can grant her access to the Lord and Great Lord classes, opening up Rightful King and potentially Dual Strike+, though this is a specific pairing strategy.

Synergistic Skills and Battlefield Role

Sully's effectiveness is amplified by careful skill selection and understanding her role within your team composition. As a mounted unit, her primary advantage is mobility. She can quickly traverse the map, engage priority targets, and retreat to safety. Her ability to use both swords and lances (and axes as a Great Knight) makes her highly versatile against various enemy types.

For an offensive Sully, stacking skills like Luna (from Great Knight) with Vantage (from Myrmidon) can create a potent enemy phase unit. If she takes damage, Vantage ensures she attacks first, and Luna can help her secure the kill. For a more defensive build, combining Aegis (Paladin) and Pavise (Great Knight) makes her incredibly resilient against both physical and magical threats, turning her into a true frontline tank.

Her early access and consistent growths make her an ideal candidate for early-game skirmishing, drawing aggro, and taking out vulnerable ranged units. In the mid-game, her mobility becomes invaluable for reaching distant objectives, protecting healers, or providing crucial pair-up bonuses. By the late game, a well-trained Sully can either be a highly specialized damage dealer, a nigh-invincible tank, or a versatile support unit, depending on the chosen skill set.

Pair-Up Dynamics and Child Unit Potential: Kjelle

Pair-Up is a cornerstone mechanic in Awakening, and Sully benefits immensely from it, both as a lead unit and as a support unit. As a lead, she thrives with partners who boost her Strength and Defense, such as Frederick or Vaike, allowing her to hit harder and absorb more damage. For increasing her doubling potential, pairing with someone like Gaius or Lon'qu for a Speed boost is excellent.

As a support unit, Sully provides excellent stat bonuses, especially if she's a Paladin (Speed, Skill, Defense, Resistance) or Great Knight (Strength, Defense). Her Defender skill, if acquired, further enhances the lead unit's durability. She is a prime candidate to pair with Chrom due to their strong support conversations and the resulting stat boosts, making both units more effective.

Sully's Legacy: The Daughter Kjelle

Sully's most significant long-term impact on your army might be through her daughter, Kjelle. As a naturally defensive unit who inherits Sully's Cavalier base class, Kjelle has immense potential to become one of the game's finest tanks or even a versatile offensive unit, depending on her father. The skills Sully passes down are crucial for Kjelle's optimal development.

For instance, if Sully passes down Luna (from Great Knight) or Vantage (from Myrmidon), Kjelle gains a powerful head start in her skill set, allowing her to focus on other classes for additional skills. A popular strategy involves passing down an unpromoted Level 15 skill (like Aegis or Pavise) to Kjelle, allowing her to immediately have access to a powerful defensive skill upon recruitment. Consider carefully which final skill Sully learns before Kjelle is recruited, as this can significantly impact Kjelle's optimal build.

Advanced Tactical Considerations for Sully

To truly master Sully, consider these advanced tactics:

• Weapon Forging: Early investment in forging a Steel Lance or Silver Sword for Sully can dramatically increase her early-game effectiveness, allowing her to consistently one-round enemies or deal significant damage to bosses. Prioritize Might and Hit for offensive Sully, or Hit and Crit for a more aggressive build.
• Terrain Advantage: Leverage her mounted movement to navigate diverse terrain. While forests reduce her mobility, they offer defensive bonuses. Open plains are her domain, allowing her to rapidly close distances or escape danger. Use her to flank enemies or secure chokepoints.
• Target Prioritization: Sully excels at taking down lightly armored or magical units with her high Speed. Use her to eliminate enemy mages, archers, or thieves who pose a threat to your more vulnerable units. As a Great Knight, she can also reliably take on physical tanks with Luna.
• Rescue Staff Usage: In later chapters, a well-placed Rescue staff can extend Sully's reach even further, allowing her to strike deep into enemy lines and be pulled back to safety, setting up powerful hit-and-run strategies.

Her distinct personality, marked by a sharp tongue and unwavering loyalty, also plays a role in her character appeal. Her rivalry with Stahl, her dedication to Chrom, and her no-nonsense attitude make her a memorable presence on and off the battlefield, reinforcing her image as a true knight.

Sully, the Crimson Knight, is far more than just an early-game Cavalier. With careful planning, strategic reclassing, and optimal skill selection, she can evolve into an indispensable member of your Fire Emblem: Awakening army. Her versatility allows her to fill various roles, from a speedy damage dealer to a resilient tank, and her contribution to Kjelle's potential further solidifies her long-term value. As we celebrate her birthday today, we encourage all tacticians to revisit Sully and unleash her full strategic might. May your strategies be flawless, and your Crimson Knight always ride to victory!