Azel's position relative to Tiltyu

Does joining 3.5 chapters earlier not justify a tier gap? Especially when deployment is unlimited and the best strategy is to use everyone anyways? Azel doesn't depend on Wrath to have good offense and after promotion (which Azel will be much closer too due to no penalty deploying him/using the arena) they are ~equal, but the edge goes to Azel, 9 move, pursuit vs 6move continue, wrath, Tron, B staves (easy EXP gains), female, good fighter if given the pursuit ring (Noish fails to 1RKO unless also given a hero weapon, Lex is slow, and Levn has Holsety).

some PE: Tiltyu did not even reach promotion until chapter 5's arena, but Azel was able to by chapter 4's arena. Note I did not extra abuse like waiting for reinforcements for Exp and this was an AAAAranked run so I didn't purposely wait for characters to catch up to steal experience.

LoMid:
Alec
Beowulf
Noish
Adeen
Cuan
Fin
Dew
Claude

Low:
Azel

Yeah, come to think of it...why is Dew of all people a tier above Azel? If there's a tier gap it would be the other way around. I think Azel right below Aideen would be a good first step, assuming Cuan and Fin raise (there's been arguments for this before...). Azel vs Noish gets arguable.

I mean, I really don't want to waste time explaining why Azel is easily better than Claude and Dew.

https://fegenesis.forummotion.com/genealogy-of-the-holy-war-gen-1-f10/dew-s-money-dumping-t55.htm

That's the thread that resulted in Dew up.

I mean, I really don't want to waste time explaining why Azel is easily better than Claude

I'm afraid you'll have to, I simply don't see it. Sure, Azel's around for three chapters, but due to his shit mov he contributes very little. Claude joins right away and can heal just fine.

I'll address Claude first then. I find it unbelievable that you say Azel's movement makes him contribute very little when Claude has the exact same movement as unpromoted Azel. Then in Ch4 Azel promotes and he has effectively twice as much movement (9 vs 5 + Canto).

Azel may have bad durability and mobility, but at least his offense is Sigurd like early on.

Then stat-wise, even at L15 Azel is already comparable to base Claude at fighting against the majority of enemies.

40 hp, 15-16 mag, 16 spd, 5 def, 7-8 res, 5 luk
34 hp, 21 mag, 15 spd, 5 def, 20 res, 9 luk

Azel almost doubles Claude in damage output thanks to Pursuit. Claude has a large res lead, but he can't really take advantage of it at all since the guy will never even get to the magic users that do exist after he joins.

Basically, Claude might have a case through staff utility between his own join time and Azel's promotion. But that is all of Ch4 at best, maybe even only the first half of Ch4.

The thread you linked only talks about Dew > Tiltyu. There is not a single mention of Azel in that thread, and yet right now Azel is a tier below Dew. And Dew only has one significant money dump, and some of the worst combat parameters in history.

Also, remember there is more than one way for units to gather moneys for a ring. The Bargain Ring in Ch2 combined with the arena essentially solves money problems for any character, especially for someone like Noish since he can compete in arenas using Pursuit Ring. And next to that village are a lot of untouched 5000G villages for anyone in need of money. And around Ch4, Aideen has a lover, likely Midir, so he can give her money too if she's in need.

And Dew only has one significant money dump, and some of the worst combat parameters in history.

So are you proposing Dew gets shot down to bottom right after he was argued a tier above Tiltyu, Azel goes up a tier, or what?

If you asked me, I'd say Cuan and Fin up to somewhere after a different thread, Azel in the following position:

LoMid:
Alec
Beowulf
Noish
Adeen
Azel
Dew
Claude

Low:
Tiltyu
Deidre
Arden

I see no problems with Mekkah's suggestion.