Throughout Fire Emblem's history, there have been characters that have fallen into numerous recurring character archetypes. One of the most polarizing of these archetypes are the "Ests." Named after the pegasus knight, Est, from the very first entry in the series, Ests are characters that join a player's army fairly late into the game at a low level, but ideally have a great deal of potential and payoff for players who put in the effort to train them.
While some players enjoy training these characters from zero to hero, there are others who view them as a waste of time and resources, leading to mixed thoughts on them from players. Which of the Ests of Fire Emblem are the most worth a player's time and investments?
10 Pelleas, A Playable Dark Sage
Pelleas is the only playable dark sage in Radiant Dawn, but suffers from abysmal availability, being made available in Chapter 2 of Part Four. Joining with an S rank in dark magic and an A rank in lightning magic, Pelleas is a level 12 dark sage at a point in the game when the majority of one's units are already within their final promotion tier. Unfortunately, his growth rates are pretty average by Radiant Dawn standards, so unless a player really wants to use a dark magic wielder, Pelleas is little more than another sage with terrible availability.
9 Nino, The Textbook Est
Nino is a textbook Est that appears in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. Joining a player's army as a level 5 mage in chapter 28, one of the most notoriously difficult chapters in the game, a player really needs to go out of their way to make Nino good.
While the majority of her growth rates are 50% or over, at the point she becomes available, a player has many excellent units at their disposal already. For players who do want to use Nino, the Paralogue, Night of Farewells can serve as a means of level grinding Nino and providing her with experience.
8 Jesse
Jesse is a mercenary available in Celica's route of Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. While he possesses low base stats and has terrible availability, his growth rates are above average and he is capable of catching up to one's other units if they decide they want to put in the time and effort. The main saving grace for Jesse is his class, as starting as a Mercenary means that he is already on track to becoming one of the most useful classes in Shadows of Valentia, the Dread Fighter.
7 Delthea
Another of the numerous Ests that appears in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Delthea joins a player's army in Chapter 3 of Alm's route as a level 3 mage. At the time of her joining, she is terribly under-leveled but she boasts notably solid offensive stats for a unit of her level as well as slightly above-average growth rates. However, she is incredibly fragile and unable to take a hit. For players who enjoy using highly offensive "glass cannon" units, while she suffers from poor availability, there are worse units to use than Delthea.
6 Kurthnaga
Kurthnaga is an interesting unit in Radiant Dawn, serving as the only playable black dragon Laguz in the game.
Automatically brought into the endgame, Kurthnaga has quite underwhelming bases and average growth rates. However, as the only playable black dragon, he is the player's only source of the NIght Tide ability that can buff one's other units. Additionally, Kurth can be quite useful in dealing with the enemy dragon Laguz that appear in the third to last chapter, as they will not counterattack him, allowing him to clear out enemies and gain experience with no risk attached.
5 Miranda
Miranda is an Est that appears in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, joining a player's army as an unpromoted level five mage. While she may appear terrible at first glance, her stellar 70% growths in magic and speed paired with the mount that she receives upon promotion can help to mitigate her poor availability.
4 Est
There are far worse units in Fire Emblem history than the original Est. Appearing in the first, second, and third games in the series as well as their respective remakes, Est benefits from being a highly mobile pegasus knight. While her usefulness varies between her appearances, her best showing is in Shadows of Valentia where she has some of the best growth rates of any character in the game while joining just early enough that a player can still feasibility get value out of her as a unit without completely derailing their playthrough to level grind.
3 Zeiss
Unlike the majority of the other Ests on this list, while Zeiss of The Binding Blade is indeed under-leveled when compared to his join time and the other units at a player's disposal, his base stats are far from terrible, pairing well with his above-average base stats. Additionally, as the ever-excellent wyvern rider class, Zeiss has top-notch mobility and offers non-combative utility in the form of rescue dropping. If a player is looking for an extra flying unit in their army, Zeiss can be a great inclusion, requiring less investment than other units on this list.
2 Sara
A sister who joins in chapter 16 of Thracia 776, Sara has incredible growth rates, with three stats with 80% growths, Sara totes the paragon skill allowing her to level up at a blisteringly fast pace. While her base stats and join time leave much to be desired, the speed at which she can promote allow her to serve in a similar fashion to a pre-promoted unit.
1 Elincia (Path Of Radiance)
Unlike the majority of the other Ests on this list, Elinica in Path of Radiance brings very unique utility to the table that no other unit in her game possesses. Joining late into the game in Chapter 26, Elincia is made distinct by her unique flying class that has access to staves which she joins with an A rank. This means that while she may be incredibly frail and ill-suited for combat, Elincia can be used as a highly mobile healer that benefits from canto.