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Saizo
Ninkja (HS: Samurai)
A+ Support Partners: Kaze (Samurai), Subaki (Sky Knight), Ryoma (Samurai)
Personal Skill: Pyrotechnics (When unit triggers battle at under half HP, user and enemies within 2 tiles lose 20% of their max HP)
Pair-Up Stats (C B A S): Lck Spd Skl Str+Lck
Growths (With Default Class):
HP: 40% (45)
STR: 50% (55)
MAG: 45% (45)
SKL: 60% (80)
SPD: 30% (50)
LCK: 55% (55)
DEF: 45% (50)
RES: 10% (25)

It's Saizo, the "Angry Ninja" as Heroes calls him. I never really thought of him as angry, more disappointed. I married him in my first playthrough of Revelation with a Corrin that had giant spiky blue hair that made her look like Sonic the Hedgehog.

I straight up think Saizo is the best non-royal unit in all of Birthright... which is why I'm not using him. Master Ninja is imo easily the best combat class in the game, and Saizo's weird growths compliment it well - much like Subaki he has high growths in stats his class is bad at and lower ones his class is good at, except unlike Subaki his growths are not terrible and in fact are the highest out of any unit in the game, not counting Mozu or her children with Aptitude. A significant amount of that total comes from a high magic growth he doesn't really use so it's not quite indicative of his usefulness, but it's an achievement all the same. His strength and defense are both very high, his poor speed and resistance are made up for his class bases and the speed bonus and WTA against tomes that shurikens give him, and even his high luck stat helps make him just a little harder to kill. His skill is also incredible but that doesn't really mean a whole lot for him. Saizo's one flaw is that his mediocre HP isn't helped in any way by his class, but his high defense, passable resistance, and consistent abiliy to fill his dual guard gauge help keep him alive. He's the closest thing you have to Ryoma until the man himself joins your party.

Like a lot of characters in this route, Saizo does need some help. Without a pair-up partner or tonic his speed is a little shaky, and if he can't double than despite his high strength he likely can't do much damage either. But when most units in BR need a good support partner and Saizo goes from good to amazing with the right one, it's hard to hold that against him. Anyone who boosts his speed will do in his early levels, but a single tonic to take his bases up to 15 speed with a shuriken will do fine too. All of the ninjas in Birthright are great and they'll all do fine, but Saizo's trait of being hardest to kill puts him above the others for me. Not being as fast as Kaze won't matter so long as he's able to double consistently, and even if Kagero's a bit stronger the both of them will be ramming their strength caps some time after promotion regardless. He might need a little support with his speed, but Kaze will need help with his strength and Kagero will need help with her bulk and it's not as if speed-boosting support partners are at all rare in Birthright. Large groups of hard-hitting magical attackers like Sorcerers are the one thing he won't deal with better than the other two.

The reason why I've not mentioned the Flame Shuriken as a plus for Saizo despite listing the Bolt Naginata as a plus for Subaki even though his magic base and growth are both worse is that... I really don't think Saizo needs it? His strength is already very high and once the weapon shop hits tier two you'll have Dual and Sting shurikens to deal with the physically bulky enemies you'd otherwise want to take down with magic. A magic build for Saizo could absolutely work and if you paired him with Orochi it would probably be very fun, but I'd save the Flame Shuriken for Felicia or Asugi, Saizo's son who has a 50% natural magic growth. I guess if you wanted the most magical Asugi possible you'd be pairing Saizo with Orochi or Sakura anyway...

Master Ninja is such a good class that I don't think Saizo should seriously be considering anything else. Mechanist will help his strength and defense even more, but I would recommend against it as it would cut too much into his speed and avoid. Duellist's Blow, Vantage, and Astra could all be helpful, but he wouldn't want to stay a Swordmaster for very long. Darting Blow from Sky Knight could help his speed but he's much more of an enemy phase tank anyway. If you married him to Orochi you could probably have a lot of fun with a memey Basara build, his skill would be high enough that he'd be hitting Rend Heaven constantly.

Oh and his personal sucks. It is actively detrimental. It doesn't come up much since it only activates on player phase and that's not where he'll be doing most of his combat, but I would make sure Saizo carries around a Vulnerary to use instead of attacking whenever he's on low HP. All 3 ninjas in this game have sucky personals but Saizo got stuck with the worst one!

Pros
Cons

My Thoughts: Only wears the mask to hide his baby face