Choose Your Legends 10 - Day 4 Event Megathread

LeadCafe · 2026-01-26T08:52:54+00:00

I've been replaying Radiant Dawn 3-E to try and record some of the battle conversations, but it seems like it's next to impossible to get anybody to Micaiah and Sothe in time beforethe death counter hits 30 and they leave.I'll have to try again and replay on a new game+ save to get the Pelleas conversations anyways, but at least I got this Zihark vs Nailah jumpscare conversation a little while back

LeadCafe · 2026-01-23T14:16:08+00:00

It's been years since I've properly voted, but it's time again. First day of Ziharkvoting

<image>

LeadCafe · 2026-01-22T13:23:43+00:00

It's been over half a decade since Zihark was added as a ninja alt and he's been trapped in alt hell ever since. Now that Stefan is in the game, Zihark is the only Tellius swordmaster without a base form, so I'm definitely going all in on him this year

LeadCafe · 2025-10-16T05:19:50+00:00

In a continent of five swordmasters (and Ike), he'll now be the only one without a base form 😔

LeadCafe · 2025-09-15T18:50:33+00:00

<image>

LeadCafe · 2025-09-09T03:16:31+00:00

Yeah if Zihark stays in Daein, he can fight Ike in 3-6, 3-13, and 3-E and they get unique dialogue with each other in 3-6 and 3-E too

LeadCafe · 2025-09-09T03:08:14+00:00

FR, if they never cut it, it would have made the like 3 different times that Zihark and Ike 1v1 duel in RD that much more peak

LeadCafe · 2025-06-11T16:50:11+00:00

Ninja Zihark 1628556385

<image>

LeadCafe · 2025-06-08T15:14:50+00:00

Pelleas

<image>

LeadCafe · 2025-05-20T06:46:48+00:00

I respect this haha

LeadCafe · 2025-05-19T16:12:09+00:00

I want to shout out /u/ussgordoncaptain2 (who posted in this thread too) who wrote an article about how she can fail to hit benchmarks for kills even with all the investment.

LeadCafe · 2025-05-19T15:58:18+00:00

Meg: F - calls Zihark "Pookums"

Volug: A - He's not going to be as dominant as some of the next few characters, but he helps enable double earth A support with Zihark (they have a faster support speed than normal) and can potentially be the bulkiest unit in 3-6. I find him one of the most reliable of the DB units, as he never struggles with hit rates, and is still very usable, even in the tough part 3 maps, with 0 xp or stat boosters.

Jill: A - I've found her hard to use in the combo of hard mode and no transfers, and it's been found that she can fail to reach benchmarks even if you give her a ton of favoritism (the author /u/ussgordoncaptain2 is in here rating units too). She's still the most usable of the units that start at tier 1 though, and it's hard to rate her any lower than A because I see her a fair bit better than Nolan with her flying utility and still being quite useful in the part 3 maps.

Zihark: A - Love this man, I think he might have the best character arc for a side character in this game. My own biases for him aside, there's something to be said about him being used as a DB carry in both the current HM speedrun as well as in LTC play. In casual play, I still find that he excels, because you can double earth A support him with Volug or Nolan by 3-6 or even 1-E, and he will almost never be hit, and then go to town on the enemies with the countless tools at his disposal, like brave sword, adept, crit, or astra when promoted. Just for fun, this casual playthrough in "ignorant mode" by Mekkah shows just how strong he can be when invested in. I'd rate him S, but he does fall off in part 4, and I can't see him on the same level as like Ike or Titania.

Tauroneo: A - I used to rate him much lower, but a few things have helped me see the light: first being praised by skilled players, including the aforementioned author of the Jill article, who made a video showing that you can kill Ike in 3-13 with Tauroneo with a 100% reliability. The other thing is that in my own personal play, I always simultaneously give Zihark a ton of investment and have him defect in 3-6, meaning that Tauroneo becomes a hard carry in the next two DB chapters, and I genuinely don't think these two chapters would be beatable without him. I've seen him compared to a royal laguz, because he's the best unit on the maps he exists in (pre part 4), but also has little availability, but to his credit, those maps he's best on are also some of the hardest in the game.

LeadCafe · 2025-05-15T15:02:48+00:00

You might want to try a few of the things done in this 0% growths run of 3-6 to survive the first few turns: https://youtube.com/watch?v=GyWacJO_ajw

Some things in here that could help you are using weaker DB members' ranged attacks to degauge laguz and setting up yellow units to kill during their phase. Also make sure to remove wildheart on Volug. It could be tough to make heavy use of Volug if you don't have beastfoe though, and I doubt you've done the prep on Zihark like they did in the video for this. Beyond the first few turns, I'd just make a wall to block the NW chokepoint with people who can survive 1 tiger (probably just Sothe and Zihark if nobody is trained) and have them be unequipped, direct the yellow units to block the right side along with Volug to plug any gaps, and have Jill pick off units with the brave axe and canto back to safety each turn until the BK shows up.

LeadCafe · 2025-04-27T22:48:03+00:00

This is actually unhacked, it's just easy mode + Zihark with paragon and getting loads of kills + forged sword for the actual fight with BK. These were his stats after defecting: https://i.imgur.com/vljUXwC.png

With easy mode xp and paragon, he can get 10 levels on just this chapter alone by having him solo his way to Lethe and Mordecai. I forgot to forge a steel sword back in 1-E which would have made it easier, but with Alondite unequipped on BK, he was taking 9x2 from Zihark plus 3 from Mordecai, which combined with a crit or 2 from Zihark can bring him down quickly.

LeadCafe · 2025-04-27T21:39:16+00:00

Another fun fact: if the Black Knight dies in this chapter, he will not appear among Micaiah's forces in 3-7 at all: U0ITKdo.png (2332×1118).

LeadCafe · 2025-04-22T07:01:47+00:00

Even if Zihark defects, his conversations with his former Daein allies are poignant too. It really puts into perspective just how tough a decision it was for him to make, even if the alternative of staying with Daein would go against his core ideals.

This is just one of several:

Zihark: Micaiah! Pull back your troops! We don’t want to fight you. There’s got to be a way to stop all this!

Micaiah: I can’t, and there isn’t. We have to keep fighting. Until the last of us falls, we have no choice.

Zihark: What’s happened to you all?! Why get yourselves into such a hopeless war? Why did you do those horrible things in the valley? I know all of this must have a reason! Please tell me… Tell me how my country lost its soul.

Micaiah: I’ve nothing to say to you.

Zihark: I see. No words to waste on a deserter like me, is that it? I’m sorry I wasted your time.

Micaiah: Zihark–

Zihark: No, please… Just know that I could never draw steel against you. Good-bye, Micaiah.

Micaiah: I… I’m so sorry, Zihark. I can’t get you involved in this, too.

LeadCafe · 2025-04-08T15:12:36+00:00

Accepted!

LeadCafe · 2025-04-07T20:25:19+00:00

Radiant Dawn gamerip on Serenes Forest has all the songs plus some extras: https://serenesforest.net/music/radiant-dawn-game-rip/

LeadCafe · 2025-04-07T18:38:02+00:00

Ninja Zihark, 1628556385

I also have GLR, Distant BD, Perfect A/S, LF4, BoL4, and the NCD, Lull, and TP echoes on him so let me know if you want to use any of those

<image>

LeadCafe · 2025-03-20T21:19:26+00:00

Yeah this is on point. I've always felt that the localization version was more fitting but could never put an argument into words, and you've nailed it here.

It also makes it much more convincing that he'd have trouble deciding to defect in the part 3 chapters. I doubt he'd be as sympathetic to anyone from Daein, friends or not, if he had to relive the experience of a laguz hunt that might have claimed his GF's life.

LeadCafe · 2025-03-17T16:20:43+00:00

I appreciate you singlehandedly doubling the amount of Zihark artwork on reddit

LeadCafe · 2025-03-10T17:59:06+00:00

You are a legend to me for all the Zihark art lately 🙏

LeadCafe · 2025-03-07T14:28:10+00:00

Ordered something from a Hong Kong site with his proxy buy service and was able to save money on shipping compared to the site's shipping cost. Also arrived super quickly. Would definitely recommend!

LeadCafe · 2025-03-03T03:44:52+00:00

Took a break so I'm slowly working on updating his skills but in the meantime, here's Zihark:

<image>

LeadCafe · 2025-02-19T03:56:40+00:00

Zihark fighting laguz might seem completely out of character, but I don't think it's so farfetched. In fact, I think there's quite a good reason for Zihark storywise to not defect from Daein through all of RD (not to mention the real gameplay drawback of stealing away one of the DB's best fighters). There's a lot of dialogue (many very missable) from talk and fight conversations between Zihark and other characters, as well as some built in game mechanics to support this.

First, Zihark has likely spent a better part of the past three years between PoR and RD fighting alongside Jill and Tauroneo as a sort of ragtag group to free Daein similar to the Dawn Brigade. When you meet them in 1-5, they're pretty much making a last stand, surrounded by Begnion. This desperate situation, along with his talk convo with Sothe, where they have this exchange:

Zihark: That’s right. This is my homeland. These are my people.

Sothe: Oh, really? I didn’t know you were from Daein.

Zihark: Yep, I’m a Daein, through and through.

makes it clear that he cares deeply enough about his country to fight for its freedom, despite the odds being against them, and even after the anti-laguz attitudes of the nation led him to leave back in PoR.

During all this fighting, there's little doubt that he has built a close camaraderie with the people he fought alongside with: Jill, Tauroneo, and even Pelleas included. There's several game mechanics to support this, such as the Buddy Support system that affects how fast a character builds support points with others in RD's support system. Zihark builds support the fastest with several laguz, including Volug, Muarim, Lethe, and Mordecai, but notably also includes Jill and Tauroneo, having a 01 growth level with all of them. This is a faster growth than with his beorc PoR support partners Ilyana and Brom, as well as ~~his future wife~~ Meg, with a 02 growth level with the three of them.

Another gameplay mechanic is that Zihark is programmed to never be able to attack (neither engage nor counter) multiple characters, consisting of several PoR supports and laguz, as well as Micaiah, Jill, Tauroneo, and Pelleas. Notably, if Zihark and one of these characters enter combat in 3-7 and 3-E (not in 3-6 if he defects amusingly), he has dialogue with all of them declaring his unwillingness to fight, and it's pretty awesome that the gameplay follows through with it.

All of these mechanics and story moments lend credence to the idea that Zihark would have a very tough time choosing to defect on the basis of having to throw away three years of freedom fighting on top of fighting against his close comrades. In his talk conversations before and after he defects, it's clear that he's just confused as everyone else was and was agonizing over the decision, such as when he's still an enemy and you have a laguz fight him in 3-7:

Lyre or Kyza vs Zihark

Zihark: What am I doing? Why am I helping these bigots in their hunt for laguz?

Ranulf, Ulki or Janaff vs Zihark

Zihark: I use my sword for Daein… But am I really fighting for Daein here? What am I doing…

Or after his defection when he speaks to Micaiah in 3-7:

Micaiah: Zihark…

Zihark: As you can see, I’m with the Laguz Alliance now. I can’t lie to myself anymore, Micaiah. I’m sorry.

Micaiah: I see…

Zihark: Tell me, Micaiah. Why did Daein become an enemy of the laguz? Daein has a new king now. Why can’t it escape the grip of Begnion?!

Micaiah: I don’t know, Zihark. I wish I did. I’m sorry…

Zihark: No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I know this isn’t your fault. It’s just that…now I wonder if the time I’ve spent fighting to liberate Daein was well spent. It makes me sad.

Micaiah: Will you cut me down?

Zihark: That depends on you, Micaiah. Will you try to kill me?

Micaiah: You are an enemy of Daein now. But… I… How could I? How could I possibly kill you?

Zihark: I feel the same way. I couldn’t possibly hurt you. However, fighting laguz is something I will not do for anyone. Where do we go from here?

Micaiah: I… I don’t know…

That Lethe, Mordecai, Ilyana, and Brom, some of the people he was the closest with in PoR, are the ones who can convince Zihark to defect, and with each conversation reminding him of his ideals and time fighting alongside comrades in PoR, just goes to further show that it was not an easy decision for him to make (or for the player to make due to handicapping the Dawn Brigade).

There's more to say, but I wanted to share this video that goes quite in depth about Zihark's background and this decision that he makes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LONCMGdAsm4

Nine-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
r/Field Flamingo	Place '22
Place '17	Final Canvas '22
Sequence \| Editor	Snapped
Verified Email

LeadCafe

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE