Sengoku Rance:Commander Tips

This article is designed to give tips for the usage of a commander.

For information on how to recruit a commander, see Walkthrough.

For information on what stats and Skills the commander has when encountered or recruited, see Commanders.

For how to clear the commander when recruited (if possible), see Character Clears.

You may notice that the Animal units have not been mentioned, there is one reason for this—the best tip is to not use them.

Warrior (武士/Samurai)
Warriors are the classic samurai. They are swordsmen focusing on offensive skills. At lower difficulties, they are a typical player's main source of damage. However, as they often receive counterattacks from enemies, their usage dwindles when the enemy outnumbers them, which is often the case on higher difficulties.

Important Skills: Important Commanders:
 * 力を貯める (Charge) — Passive skill raising damage by 70%. By spending one action, all your future attacks become stronger (unless debuffed by enemy Tacticians). Notable for being the only first skill for Warriors and for being one of the fastest moves in the game.
 * ガード?し (Guard Break) — Regular attack which does 0.8x damage and ignores the defensive boost that guarding Foot Soldiers receive. Notable for giving massively reduced counterattack damage (a fifth of Warrior Attack's). This could make Warriors more viable on high difficulties, but two affection bonuses is a large investment.
 * 全力武士突撃(2) (Full Power Warrior Attack (2)) — Costs two actions for either version and takes twice the counterattack damage, but the original version does 1.5x damage compared to the normal Warrior Attack and the upgraded version does 2x. Strangely, the original version has a recovery time of 20 and the upgraded version has a recovery time of 25 (compare to Warrior Attack's 15). Putting these numbers together, it can be argued that using Full Power Warrior Attack 2 is a better move than using Warrior Attack twice. Furthermore, this move is an obvious choice if you want to quickly remove a particular enemy commander or if your target can not counterattack you.
 * 迂回突撃 (Side Attack) — Costs two actions, but keeps your troops unharmed from counterattack damage. Useful for slow commanders who aren't likely to expend all their actions, but wasted on anyone else.
 * 大声突撃 (Shouting Charge) — Probably glitched, ignore.
 * 手加減攻撃 (Light Attack) — Special attack dealing a fifth of the normal damage. Any enemy hit by this attack will likely be captured. Light Attack does not have to be the final blow, but the target must still be defeated.
 * 武将突撃 (Commander Charge) — Special attack preventing enemy counterattack. The first hit (initiated by the commander) deals 20 damage plus 3 damage per commander's level. And then the entire troop attacks regularly. If the enemy is guarded by Shikigami, the commander's attack will be blocked but the follow-up attack will not. The initial attack doesn't reduce a Foot Soldier's guard rate.


 * ランス Rance: The main protagonist. His passive skill "Auto-Heal (Sill)" initially regenerates 30 troops every turn. Also, there are Satisfaction bonuses to increase his actions and stats. Besides Kentarou, only Rance can reach level 99. In army battles, his Rance Attack is the same as Commander Charge. And in dungeons, the skill deals 2x damage. Moreover, a character cleared commander deployed with him gains 1 Affection point. (If Rance's unit is defeated, it's always a game over.)
 * 乱丸 Ranmaru: Probably the best starting commander. However, she is quickly outclassed by others. If character cleared, she gains ATK and DEF buffs when deployed alongside Katsuie.
 * 上杉謙信 Uesugi Kenshin: A useful commander with Commander Charge. Her passive skill Power of the Goddess of War (軍神の威光) takes away 1 action from enemies in army battles (to a minimum of 1 - it won't render Musket units moveless). And it increases battle rating. Furthermore, her high level makes her great in dungeons. Hence she's a good candidate for action increasing items.
 * 小川健太郎 Ogawa Kentarou: He's somewhat similar to Rance. For instance, he's the only other character able to reach level 99; he's the best damage-dealer in dungeons. Also, after he becomes a demon, he cannot be harmed by almost all enemies. And therefore, it's wise to deploy him troopless in defending battles.
 * 徳川家康 Tokugawa Ieyasu: Incredible in dungeons—he has a piercing charge-attack, costing 1 action, which deals 2.0 damage. In army battles, he has Charge, Full Power Warrior Attack 2, and 5 actions. Only available in second games. But to recruit him, you must forgo Senhime.
 * 明石風丸 Akashi Kazemaru: Although he starts weak, he has potential in army battles. He can acquire Hibachi, a skill increasing damage by 50. Acquiring Hibachi increases his below-7 combat stats by 2 so it's recommended that you trigger this event when he has 6 in all 4 combat stats. His level cap is 40 but his starting level is 11.
 * 毛利元就 Mouri Motonari (uncursed): He has high stats, Initial Battle Rating, and Commander Charge. He is most notable for his dungeon skill, Motonari Punch, which always does 200 damage despite only costing him one action. It is extremely powerful against bosses, where your other units will struggle to do a fraction of this damage.
 * 毛利元就 Mouri Motonari (ghost): In this form, he loses his normal attack and Commander Charge, gaining Motonari Punch instead. He can learn moves likes Full Power Warrior Attack, which do their expected damage, although he only has enough actions to use them twice. This severely limits his offensive capabilities. One alternative use for him is to buy him enough troops for a Battle Permit before clearing him. Another is to fire all of his troops and make use of the facts that he cannot take more magic or counterattack damage than his troop count and that no source of damage can hit him for more than half of his max HP. With an item like the Guts Armour, he can serve a similar tanking role to his daughter, Kiku. With a troop count of 1, he is practically immune to magical damage, but Leaves Hiding Kiku is certainly more resistant to physical attacks, effectively having 1.4 times his Def stat.
 * 独眼流政宗 Dokuganryuu Masamune: Has 6 actions, and can reach level 70. He has high stats, but comes with no special attacks, which may be good or bad; he's less useful before you teach him skills like Side Attack. Unfortunately, having him prevents character clearing his wives. So you'll often fire him regardless of his strength.
 * ノワール Noir: An ideal Warrior with Commander Charge, Auto-Heal, and high stats. Keep her and fire Masamune if you wish. However, she's not as powerful as him in dungeons.
 * Daidouji Komatsu: Has the unique skill Fan Club, which gives her 20 troops every turn. Therefore, she may be useful in lengthy playthroughs. Her stats are quite average though.
 * 森田愛 Morita Ai: A decent bonus character slightly better than Ranmaru. Starts with Shouting Charge and 5 actions. Don't expect her to survive magic attacks though; she's as thick as two short planks (INT 2). A good candidate for early access to Battle Permits.
 * Ouka Toki: Another bonus character. Begins with less combat stats and less troops than Morita Ai. But she has better Search/Negotiation/Construction and level cap. Bugged character who can not converse with Rance, therefore no chance to get happiness bonus. Though a useful utility/dungeon character, players often change her with a another utility generics or another unique character.
 * Okita Nozomi: If not doing the Kenshin route, Okita Nozomi isn't usually worth recruiting. She's only good in dungeons, and costs too many fans to get. If you do recruit her, she can be dismissed after finding the Ero-Candle item in dungeons and unlocking her H-Scene, as well as finding the SM Dungeon in Mazo and/or getting the Charm of the Immortal Fox Deity. She is very slow in dungeons and only has 3 AP. The quickest way to do this is to talk to her once, talk to her at 7 affection to get a generic h-scene, find the Ero-Candle, then get her H-Scene.
 * Kuge Kyouko: Obtained early in Kyo. Fairly average commander, but starts with Light Attack.

Foot Soldier (足軽/Ashigaru)
Foot Soldiers constitute the main force of most armies. They are the most cost-effective troops to heal/recruit, and have the fastest growth; they are weak individually, yet strong in numbers. More importantly though, they're able to simultaneously self-buff their defenses and guard allies. Building the training school in Mamushi Oil Field lets all Foot Soldier units grow by 5 per turn, and 5 more per visit to the school. Foot Soldier units are generally lead by spear-wielding commanders who retain their ability to guard in commander battles. There aren't many named Foot Soldiers, so beginners may find worth in hiring generic Foot Soldiers who serve as cannon fodder in army and commander battles.

Be warned: It is often the case that Foot Soldiers have worse stats that other types of units, which often makes people fall into the trap of dismissing units like Gon or Shibata later in the game - don't do this, as Foot Soldiers are vital to success in this game, they should be rated in comparison to other Foot Soldiers, just because you'll start to see Warriors with 8 Def, does not mean that Foot Soldiers with 7 Def should be dismissed.

Important Skills: Important Commanders:
 * 味方ガード (Ally Guard) — Support skill increasing the chance of support-defending an ally (in the same row) by (INT*20)%; also while guard is active, all physical attacks taken will be halved. This skill defines a Foot Soldier unit's role.
 * 味方ガード改 (Ally Guard+) — Support skill increasing the chance of support-defending an ally (in the same row) by (INT*30)%; also while guard is active, all physical attacks taken will be halved. An improved version of the previous skill. With this, even Foot Soldiers with low INT may become decent defenders.
 * 全体ガード (All Guard) — Support skill increasing the chance of support-defending an ally by (INT*10)%; also while guard is active, all physical attacks taken will be halved. This skill allows Foot Soldiers to protect all rows. Due to this skill's low guard rating, it needs several supports to be used efficiently. Along with having high INT and equipping Protection Paper, a Foot Soldier with All Guard may want the next skill.
 * 強化初期ガード (Enhance Initial Guard) — Passive skill. A unit with this begins the battle with 120% guard rate instead of 50%.
 * 反撃率アップ２ (Counterattack Rate Up 2) — Passive skill raising counterattack damage, which deals 30% of normal attacks, by 60%. With this skill, high ATK units will essentially attack and defend at once; enemy Warriors will easily charge themselves dead. Only two unique commanders have this skill.
 * 柴田勝家 Shibata Katsuie: A reliable commander with 7 DEF and 6 INT. He's your initial Foot Soldier, so he may possibly be your largest Foot Soldier unit. Incidentally, his stats may be improved through a Satisfaction bonus. And in /Ran/Kenshin routes, he can gain Kouhime as a sub-commander increasing his total troops by 1000. Alternatively, deploying him with character cleared Ranmaru buffs their ATK and DEF.
 * 前田利家 Maeda Toshiie: Another initial Foot Soldier, but useless compared to Katsuie. If you spend two Satisfaction bonuses on him, he'll gain 3 to ATK and DEF. But due to his low INT, he'll be decent at best. Investing two Attack Textbooks and two Defense Textbooks, he'll have 9 ATK and 9 DEF after applying the two Satisfaction bonuses. However, he'll still be underpowered without stat increases to INT and SPD.
 * 戦姫/千姫 Senhime: Has fairly good stats, particularly for the time you recruit her. She also has Auto-Heal, which some would replace with Enhance Initial Guard, and she has All Guard. However, as she doesn't appreciate peace-time, she will leave if she doesn't fight for 3 turns. This can be avoided by character clearing her. A fair choice for Brute Photo/Rance's Love due to her high level cap.
 * 野菊 Nogiku: Has the highest starting stats. Comes with All Guard and Auto-Heal like Senhime. To recruit make sure that Akashi Kazemaru, obtained by conquering Akashi, is recruited and that he has the passive ability Hibachi. To get Hibachi as a passive skill for Kazemaru, lose three times against the Nuhes when fighting the Akashi house. Next, conquer Akashi and recruit Kazemaru. Do the green event in Himeji, and then talk to Kazemaru once. Finally, talk to Kazemaru one more time when he is at "normal" with 7/7 affection for him to get Hibachi. Akashi Kazemaru does not need to be in the fight against Nogiku but he needs to be in your army roster.
 * 毛利てる Mouri Teru: Eldest of the Mouri sisters. Comes with Ally Guard+, Loot, and Counterattack Rate Up 2. A good candidate for the Dragonfly Cutter, which adds 45% to counterattack damage.
 * 島津ヨシヒサ Shimazu Yoshihisa: Eldest of the Shimazu brothers. Comes with Ally Guard+, Loot, and Counterattack Rate Up 2. But he has much better stats than Teru.
 * Moscow Fuyushogun: Youkai Foot Soldier with massive troop size, but only with two actions. Worth capturing to avoid fighting him. Not worth using though; his stats are low.
 * ゴン Gon: A sturdy commander with 7 ATK/DEF, Ally Guard+, and Fellow Troops' Revenge. His INT/SPD are low though, thus making him ineffective as a defender.
 * ターバン Tarban: A decent bonus commander with All Guard, 7 DEF, and 5 INT. Has 0 ATK, which may be negligible if he's only defending (like Foot Soldiers are meant to). Not good as the named commanders, but noticeably better than say Maeda Toshiie.

Miko (巫女)
Mikos, the only units able to heal others, are crucial to every army wishing to minimize healing costs. They are also useful in outnumbered battles; Miko Storm will likely outdamage most other attacks in such situations. However, past the early game, you'll be far better off just bringing another serious combatant to a fight than you would be bringing a Miko. If you must use an excessive amount of defensive units, a Ying Yang/Diviner with All Guard Shikigami will serve you much better than a Miko will.

The main flaw of the Miko class is that they are dependant on multiple factors: Sadly, along with the Miko class having low base scores in both Spd and Def and having some of the most expensive troops in the game (3 times that of Foot Soldiers), almost every Miko unit in the game lacks in one or more of these regards. The only real exceptions are Chinu and Natori, but they both have extremely powerful offensive skills that they would be better off using immediately. Dead enemies are better than healed allies.
 * Spd, for healing before their unit is damaged or their target is annihilated
 * Int and troop size, for strong healing
 * Def, support from others units, and the sheer luck of not getting hit, for protecting their troop count
 * Their healing move, for maximising healing speed and magnitude (Miko Dance/Wind is the best, but expensive)

To demonstrate this point, look at the page where all of the Mikos are listed. Ignoring Chinu and Natori for the reasons already mentioned, Kanae is the only Miko in the game that starts with Healing Mist and more than 6 Int. However, she has a pathetic Def stat and will therefore lose most of her troops and become a worthless healer if she gets hit. Scrolling further down the page, you should quickly realize that unless you somehow get extremely lucky with a captured generic, all of the Mikos in the game aren't worth the investment that they need to become useful. With less investment, you could give a Diviner All-Guard Shikigami, preventing more damage than a Miko will ever heal (and prevention is better than healing anyway; healing does not change the Battle Rating) or you could give a Tactician or Cavalry unit their game-breaking meter manipulation skills.

Important Skills: Important Commanders:
 * 巫女の舞 (Miko Dance) — The standard healing skill.
 * 巫女の舞改 (Miko Dance+) — Identical to the previous move, but with double the modifier to its healing. Notable for being impossible to upgrade.
 * 治癒の霧 (Healing Mist) — Heals all troops with as much "healing power" as Miko Dance. The amount of healing is not divided between all of your commanders. However, it is not a strict improvement over that skill. This move takes two actions and it takes longer for your next move to happen than if you used Miko Dance.
 * 巫女の舞/風 (Miko Dance/Wind) — Heals as powerfully as Miko Dance+. Most notable for its recovery time, which is a quarter of Miko Dance's and a sixth of Healing Mist's, making this move so fast that it might even be used twice in a row. It is without doubt the best healing move in the game, but you can only obtain it by upgrading from Healing Mist (not Miko Dance+), which most worthwhile Mikos do not start out with. As a consequence, this move often requires as much investment as the game-breaking Battle Rating Up/Down 2 moves.
 * 巫女の嵐 (Miko Storm) — A devastating, and very quick to happen attack dealing damage equal to 10% of the opponents' max troop size. This skill is most effective on higher difficulties. Does not affect Hannies or Rizna.
 * 出張巫女 (Outcall Miko) — Male units start battles with ATK buffs. Each 250 Miko troops buff 1 male unit. This skill is decent when you lack Tacticians, but there are better passive skills (e.g. Initial Battle Rating).
 * 玉籤風華 Tamagushi Fuuka: Distinctly average, but quite possibly your only Miko for some time. Give her Miko Dance+ or Healing Mist if you want to make her less generic. Necessary to open the dungeon to the game's (arguably) most powerful boss.
 * 足利超神 Ashikaga Choushin: With zero in half of his combat stats and ones in the rest, his only uses are as follows: Early access to another Defeated Warrior Hunt user, Akihime's character clear (not that she's worth clearing), and getting the Emperor Ring (talk to him after entering a non-Kenshin route). Otherwise, he costs 4 NP for nothing.
 * 名取 Natori: The only unit with Miko's Storm 2 (巫女の嵐２), a game-breaking move that destroys 30% of the enemy force, and therefore a vital commander in higher difficulties. Arguably the best commander in the game, particularly when paired with Aburako Dousan. Rance gets an Affection Bonus whenever they H.
 * 雪姫 Yukihime: Has Healing Mist, but also worse army stats than Fuuka and worthless dungeon stats.
 * 小早川ちぬ Kobayakawa Chinu: The only unit with Poisoning (毒殺), a physical - and therefore half-effective against guarding Foot Soldiers - move that removes 50% of the enemy force's current troops and requires two preparation-cancelling moves to stop. She is the third-fastest Miko in the game, but Poisoning is much slower than Miko Storm. Always lost in routes other than Ran and KTM.

Musketeer (鉄砲/Teppou)
Musketeers are the most offensive unit and can only attack from the front row, because of their incredible power, even low ATK Musketeers easily reach the damage cap, although against highly defensive enemies, such as a 9 DEF Foot Soldier with guard active, high ATK Musketeers reign supreme.

Sadly, although they often strike first, Musketeers suffer either from having one action and/or long delays between attacks. They are also extremely vulnerable without protection. Finally, Musketeers are expensive, and grow slowly often meaning that Yuzumi is the only Musket unit worth recruiting.

Building an academy in Tamba (requires Tanegashima Shigehiko) lets all Musketeers grow by 3 per Turn, and this can be expanded to let them grow by 5 per Turn instead. In addition, each visit to the academy adds 3 more. Since it raises their troops size, and therefore their damage cap, the Commander Defense Team complements Musketeers well.

Important Skills: Important Commanders:
 * 引き付け (Lure) — Support skill boosting ATK by 50%. This skill doesn't spend an action.
 * 貫通射撃 (Penetration Shot) — Special attack costing 1 action. Hits front and back rows for 50% damage. So the net damage is the same, but penetration helps bypass Foot Soldier guard. The upgraded version, Penetration Shot 2, deals 70% damage for 2 actions; it's a worse deal.
 * 必殺　国崩し(Special Cannon) — Special attack exclusive to Ootomo Sourin, a Shimazu Musketeer. Hits all enemies for 100% but takes all of his actions.
 * 柚原柚美 Yuzuhara Yuzumi: The only Musketeer with Aim & Shoot (射撃＋狙撃), which triggers a regular musket attack followed by a chance to instantly kill the target. Recommended items for her are Action Textbook 2s, the Popularity Staff, and the Working Bee, all of which give her extra moves and therefore extra chances for instant kills.
 * 島津トシヒサ Shimazu Toshihisa: A Musketeer with 2 actions. He has high stats, but they're mostly irrelevant—DEF/INT is pointless on his unit, and his 8 ATK is negligible unless facing heavily fortified enemies; otherwise, even generic Musketeers will match his damage.
 * 種子島重彦 Tanegashima Shigehiko: Leader of the Tanegashima House. He has 2 actions, and lesser stats than Shimazu Toshihisa, which doesn't mean much. He's noticeably slower, but hits as hard as Toshihisa until late-game—when enemy Foot Soldiers become quite sturdy. Even then, the difference isn't dramatic.
 * 大友 宗麟 Ootomo Sourin: A generic Musketeer with a devastating move, which expends all actions. Good defenses against him are All Guard Shikigami and Accurate Shot. Only capturable in Free for All.
 * If you're extremely lucky you might capture a unit with 'Commander Snipe'. This skill is identical to the Ninja's Assassinate skill but with the range of a regular melee attack. This can make these units worth recruiting.

Monk (僧兵/Sohei)
Monks are utility units. They are cheap to expand, and they completely heal each turn; Monks are very cost effective. In battle, Monks are somewhat weaker than Warriors, but the former can heal themselves in combat and Monk Charge removes a buff from the target enemy.(even through a Shikigami) Also, even from the back row, they can handily remove the enemy's Foot Soldier guard, or restore action(s) of an ally. Monks are weak combatants in commander battles, but their Convert Action is valuable. Monks are very slow to act in troop battles.

Sadly, as seen here, most Monks have poor stats, particularly compared to Warriors, so with the exception of the extreme utility of the move Convert Action, Monks are often seen as useless.

Important Skills:
 * 活動転換 (Convert Action) — Support skill restoring one action for an ally. This is especially effective on units with powerful skills, which consume all action(s). With this in mind, the 'upgraded' version, Convert Action 2, is less desirable.
 * ガード解除 (Remove Guard) — Special attack removing the Foot Soldier's guard from all enemies.
 * 妖怪退散 (Youkai Ward) — Deals triple damage to Youkai. Also, it prevents enemy counterattack.
 * 延長戦 (Overtime) — Prolongs the battle. Effective for slow ally units like Miko or Mages and theoretically useful if you want to exploit units like Natori and Seigan in order to totally annihilate the enemy force, presumably with the intent of capturing enemy units.

Important Commanders:
 * 性眼 Seigan: His unique skill, Death's Scythe (死神の鎌), reduces all enemies by 25% of their max troop size. However, like all other monks, he does almost no damage in commander battles and sadly, Death's Scythe is a lot slower than Miko Storm 2, often making him seem outclassed by Natori.
 * 卑弥呼 Himiko: A semi-generic Monk from the Miko Institute. Has 7 in all combat stats and 6 actions. She is capable of doing almost as much damage as a Warrior unit with the same stats, making her remarkable for how early you can get her. Coupled with her self-healing, 7 Int and Def make her an excellent tank unit that can solo many early fights, particularly if given the Guts Armour. As a Monk, she is also very cheap to use and reasonably cheap to buy troops for. In dungeons, she has Convert Action 2.
 * 朝倉義景 Asakura Yoshikage: His stats are mediocre. However, his character clear increases the National Power of all your provinces by 1 and allows him to give 1 Affection to 3 random commanders when talked to. Uses a spear, which makes him hardly stronger than generic Monks, in commander battles.
 * 魔窟堂野武彦 Makutsudou Nobuhiko: Has 9 ATK, 8 DEF, Youkai Ward, and can use Convert Action 2 in army battles. He's a little slow, but essentially performs like a late-game Warrior. Arguably the most offensive bonus character.
 * 油娘道三 Aburako Dousan: A Monk earned through a Satisfaction bonus. Has Youkai Ward and can use Convert Action 1 in army battles, which is effective on units with all-action skills like Uruza or Natori. Unfortunately, she costs 4 Action Fans to recruit.

Tactician (軍師/Gunshi)
If there is a single unit that can turn the tides of an entire battle, here it is. While relatively weak in every aspect, tacticians are able to make your troops exponentially stronger through buffs. In offensive battles, they can also push the morale meter in their side's favour and capture victory even if the entire enemy force is untouched. In defensive battles, they can strip away the time and make full use of the home-field morale advantage before being overrun. Friendly troops start combat with random tactician buffs already cast when a tactician participates in combat. While this is also true in dungeon battles, it tends to be less useful there, not counting the fact most tacticians wield war fans in dungeon battles, which might as well be feather dusters. Equipping +damage items like Ouichi Fang prior to an important dungeon can help mitigate this. The Tacticians are also among the slower troops to move, meaning that half of the battle may be done before they're able to properly apply buffs.

Important Skills: Important Commanders:
 * 合戦戦術 (Battle Strategy) - The buffing skill. It originally buffs the entire team, and can be upgraded to either have greater effects on all units, or buff a single target fully, usually the later version is redundant since, for example, if you give 1,000 troops and Battle Strategy 3 to Naoe Ai, she will give out 8 buffs just by entering the battle due to her 8 Int, and then she'll out 12 more buffs when she uses Battle Strategy 3, which is 20 of the 24 total possible buffs (if you have 6 commanders), meaning that she's already guaranteed to give all 4 buffs to at least 2 of your commanders.
 * 状態解除 (Remove Status) - Takes All buffs from a certain number of units.
 * 時間経過 (Time Advance) - Used to shorten the length of the battle, thus saving you from additional pain. Although it is made redundant by the more powerful and versatile Battle Rating Down.
 * 戦果ダウン (Battle Rating Down) - Boosts the battle meter in your side's favour. If you can't manage to kill your enemies, this is a good alternative to winning in attacks, in fact, the power of this move, particularity its upgraded form, can not be understated, in higher difficulties, one use of this move will often move the meter more than your strongest attack. Often, this means that as long as you can prevent your commanders from dying, you can win even the hardest battles, without even caring about who the enemy is, having more than one unit with this, or combining it with moves like Miko Storm 2 or Initial Battle Rating (which stacks, meaning that you can enter castle battles having already won, essentially meaning that your goal is to not lost, rather than win), can make even the hardest battles of 5 Star difficulty easy. Annoyingly, this move alone is probably the best reason that Mikos and Monks are never fully exploited - why bother investing in making a unit good, when for just as much work, you can make a Tactician game-breaking?
 * 明智光秀 Akechi Mitsuhide: Your starting tactician. You'll probably be forced to use him until someone better like Naoe Ai can join. Has some respectable non-combat stats, but is otherwise awful. He cannot be character cleared.
 * Gracia: Teasing Akechi Mitsuhide with two of your Satisfaction Bonuses will replace him with his unclearable daughter, Gracia. She will take on his stats with +2 to his Atk/Def/Int/Spd. If you invest a lot in to Mitsuhide, then she can join with some very impressive stats. However, they both have only two action points - something that can only be fixed with rare items that are best used elsewhere - so this is not recommended. Doing this would also take a very great deal of Atk/Def/Int/Spd textbooks or affection items, which are certainly best invested elsewhere (e.g. Rance). Your satisfaction would also be better spent getting reinforcement units like Uruza and Rizna.
 * ウルザ Uruza: She is the sole user of a blowgun, and consequently, the extremely powerful 精密射撃 (Accurate Shot), a skill that attacks all enemies, cancels preparations and removes one of their actions (even if they're at one, preventing some units from even getting a move - game-breaking if combined with Kenshin) at the cost of all of her Actions. Her blowgun also amounts to massive damage hits in dungeon battles. Also has a level cap of 75, the highest in the game next to Rance and Kentarou. A fair choice for Brute Photo/Rance's Love due to her high level cap.
 * 真田透琳 Sanada Tourin: Comes with the passive skill, Fuurinkazan, which grants him all 4 buffs at the start of every battle (Dungeon or Troop battle). He also starts with Battle Strategy A/3 and Battle Rating Down 2. The latter can be abused if used well. Uses a bow (and is fairly good at it) instead of the standard issue tactician fan in dungeon battles.
 * 一休 Ikkyuu: His stats are not that impressive, and his level cap is pathetic, but in battle he is the only one who can use "Witty Comeback", which inverts the current state of the battle rating (can only use thrice in the entire playthrough).
 * Since he is very easily cleared, and sending him into a battle with Rance when he is cleared will give him +1 Affection, some like to make him useful by sending him out to random battles, slowly but surely getting him to the stage where he can be cleared and given Battle Rating Down 1 when he is cleared, then after that, sending him to battle with Rance until he gets Battle Rating Down 2, making him an outstanding unit... provided that you can keep him alive.
 * Kurosaki Ichiya: One of the more useful bonus commanders, specifically for early game Battle Rating Down 2 and Battle Strategy Single.
 * 直江愛 Naoe Ai: Comes with second highest stats for any tactician. Also starts with Remove Status 2 and Battle Strategy B/2.
 * 島津イエヒサ Shimazu Iehisa: Basically, stronger stats than all generic tacticians but less than most other top tier tacticians. Has a level cap of 49 however. No special skills worthy of mentioning, by the time you get him, he's usually redundant.

Diviner/Yin Yang(陰陽師/Onmyouji)
With the ability to hit one or all enemy units at once and the ability to create a barrier to protect one or all your troops, the Diviner/Yin Yang is probably one of the most versatile commanders that you can have. Just about the only serious restriction that they have is that due attacks being magical, Haniwa are immune to them, a fact which is of note when fighting the Imagawa House or when fighting in dungeons. Unlike some unit types, their generics and unique tends to be equally useful in dungeons because they retain their guard shikigami ability as well as a normal attack. They also tend to be among the first units to move. However, since their primary attack requires preparation, you will likely not be able to use them to deal significant damage very early on.

Much like Mikos, the success of Diviner/Yin Yangs is dependent on multiple different factors, to use them offensively, they must have all of the following in their favour: Fortunately however, this can all be remedied by simply using the good commanders offensively and resigning the bad commanders to being a Battle Permit or All-Guard Shikigami user, neither of which require too much investment. In particular, it's worth noting that even generic Diviner/Yin Yangs are often game-breaking on difficulties below 2 Star. Even with all of the issues listed above, the sheer offensive power of a Shikigami is often enough to overwhelm even late game opponents on 1 Star and below.
 * Their Int stat, if it's too low, they won't do much damage (and sadly, it often is - only 3 Diviners/Ying Yangs in the game have more than 6 Int).
 * Their troop size, if it's too low, they won't do much damage (their units cost 2.5 times as much as Foot Soldiers)
 * Their Spd, if it's too low, they'll either never get to the turn where their Shikigami hits, have it negated, lose most of their troops before it hits, or worse still, have their attack come so late that it barely affects the battle.
 * Their Def, too low and most of their troops will die, meaning that they won't be able to do much damage when they attack.

NB: All Diviners/Yin Yangs do extra damage vs Ogre type enemies. For example, at level 25 they can kill an Ogre in one hit.

Important Skills:
 * 防御式神 (Guard Shikigami) - When used, a barrier is created on one unit, allowing the unit to take no damage from the next attack that hits it.
 * NB: The second part of a Commander Charge will still deal damage to a unit that was protected by a Guard Shikigami. The reason for this is that the first part of the Commander Charge will break the Guard Shikigami and then the second part of the Commander Charge will be able to damage the target.
 * NB: Successful Insta-kills moves are not blocked by Guard Shikigami and unsuccessful Insta-kills moves will still disable the Guard Shikigami.
 * NB: This skill should not be underrated. The most useful aspect of it is that when used on a Foot Solider, their Guard Rate will not go down when the barrier is broke, meaning that if they had a 100% chance to block an attack when the barrier was up, they will still be guaranteed to block the next attack and they will still have their initial troop count available to take the hit.
 * 全体防御式神 (All-Guard Shikigami) - This skill creates a barrier for all the troops, but costs all Actions.
 * This is usually a better deal than the regular Guard Shikigami. With this you don't have to worry about issues like what to do if the first Guard Shikigami that you used never got broken - this is a fire and forget move.
 * 式神 (Shikigami) - A spell that hits all enemy troops, and is a magical attack (i.e. intelligence is counted for damage calculations). This is very useful as unlike physical damage, magical damage isn't reduced when it hits a Foot Soldier who has his/her guard up. The major weakness is that if a Diviner/Yin Yang is slow, it will take a long time before his/her turn comes again meaning that they may have lost a lot of troops while they were waiting for their turn and will therefore deal very little damage when they finally use the Shikigami.
 * Warning: The similar skill, Advanced Shikigami (not Shikigami 2), should be avoided . It only does 1.5 times the damage of Shikigami, but it takes all of your Actions and is a much slower move than Shikigami, making it tied with Fire Blast for the title of 'second slowest move in the game'.
 * 鬼を召喚 (Summon Ogre) - An attack that hits one unit for 0.5x damage. A useful magic attack, but can be diverted by Foot Soldier guard and is often seen as a waste since most Diviners don't start with it and, due to the low average Int score of Diviners, most other units are better at one-on-one offensive attacks.

Important Commanders:
 * 北条早雲 Houjou Souun: 8s in all combat stats. He comes with an attack similar to Ogre Summoning Plus, but with only 1 action cost instead of 2. He is also extremely powerful in dungeons.
 * お町 Omachi: She is the best Diviner/Yin Yang commander, and one of the best commanders in the game. She has two Int-based skills which can damage all enemy commanders in battle. Her first skill, Lighting, deals 50% damage and doesn't require preparation, while the second one requires preparation to deal higher damage (150%) and takes two Ninja attacks to cancel. To make things even better for her, Large Lightning, her preparation attack, is a much faster move than Shikigami. Weirdly, her non-preparation attack (Lightning) has the same speed as Shikigami, making Large Lightning almost always the better choice. She is also extremely powerful in dungeons
 * エリナ Elina: Quite possibly the best bonus starting character you can pick, since you cannot get a good Diviner/Yin Yang for a long time. She is only really outclassed by Souun and Omachi, and in any case starts with All-Guard Shikigami, which is amazingly broken to use in the beginning of a game and always remains useful.
 * 山中子鹿 Yamanaka Kojika: Unavailable until you beat Mouri (must see all her scenes with the different houses). She has great skills: All-Guard Shikigami, Summon Ogre Plus and Healthy Body. She has 0 upkeep cost to start as well. The only downside are her INT and SPD stats which are 4 and 3 respectively, meaning that she's only ever going to be using All-Guard Shikigami.
 * Kuu Hime: A unit with a generic appearance that appears in the All-Out Battle with Mouri, she cannot be captured until after the Mouri House has been conquered, and she has been recruited elsewhere, but strangely, she comes with 7 Int, making her arguably the third best Diviner in the game, if you're lucky enough to capture her.

Knight (騎士/Kishi)
The Knights of Leazas have offensive strength comparable to the Warrior's and have the ability to guard their allies with a base defense greater than that of the Foot Soldier. They only cost one gold per unit to heal, making them very cost effective. However, as they do not start battles with a Guard %, cannot learn Enhanced Initial Guard, and are slightly slow in getting their first move, their potential to completely replace Foot Soldiers is questionable. Due to Royal Guard Charge, it is likely that they are best used as replacements for Warriors rather than as Foot Soldiers.

Important Skills: Important Commanders:
 * 親衛隊突撃 (Royal Guard Charge) - Special attack. Deals double damage if the target has more troops than the user. This can be abused. All that it takes is 1 more troop on the target commander's unit for the double damage to apply, making this very effective on higher difficulties and against heads of houses (who often have large troop counts).
 * レィラ Leila: The only Knight unit in this game. Note that she can be lost when fighting against the Demon Army in non-Kenshin routes.

Cavalry (騎馬/Kiba)
Cavalry are the strongest melee units in the game (and possible the strongest units of any sort in the game), with a base attack of 80, 20 higher than Knight and Warrior while maintaining the same defence. They also have the ability to attack from the back row (and against opponent's back row). The downside is that it's attack is treated as melee attack, thus suffers from counterattack damage. Only Takeda starts with Cavalry (except with 2nd game bonuses). They tend to be among the first to move and move often. Just about the only thing that Warriors have that they don't is Light Attack, but to obtain Cavalry units in the first place, you must've already been proficient in capturing enemy commanders.

Important Skills:
 * 突進 (Onrush) - Aside from dealing extra damage, this will remove one move from your target, even if they are at 1.
 * 後衛潰し (Rear Guard Smash) - Double damage to back row range units. Good way to prevent back support.
 * 追い討ち (Pursuit Attack) - TRIPLE damage if you are currently winning the battle and prevents counterattacks.
 * 戦果アップ (Battle Rating Up) - Takes 2 actions, and per action, is worse than the Tactican's similar skill, but in practice, it's just as good.

Important Commanders:
 * 馬場彰炎 Baba Shouen: While his stats are not particular impressive, he starts with Fuurinkazan, which allows him to start with all 4 stat bonus at full strength. In addition, he is the only cavalry with the move Commander Charge. Furthermore, he starts off at level 50 with an impressive cap at 68. Finally, his Battle Rating Up skill tilts the battle rating bar for your side (extremely useful in higher difficulty games). One of the most overpowered commanders in the game.
 * 山県昌景 Yamagata Masakage: Arguably the most powerful melee commander in the game. Starts with all stats at 8 AND comes with Fuurinkazan to further buff them up at the beginning of a battle, making his first attack possibly an instant death when fighting against him unless you have a colossal footsoldier troop guarding well. Also has battle result 2 to help with difficult castle sieges. His downside is the low level cap at 34, so he's not that useful in dungeon/solo battles.

Ninja (忍者)
Ninja are fast and benefit from being rather good at dealing hit and run damage without retaliation. You need them to prevent preparation by spell-casters (all their shuriken skills have that particularity, even during dungeons), and some Ninja can also attempt to instantly kill an enemy unit with their Assassination Skills. Building the Ninja Mansion in Yamato lets all ninja units of yours grow by 5 per turn automatically, and 5 per special visit to the school. They tend to be among the first to move and move often, but their damage leaves much to be desired.

Important Skills:
 * 暗殺 (Assassinate) - Has a chance to insta-kill an enemy unit (chance increases when the commander has "Assassinate 2" instead although the increase isn't very much {see here}). It also uses all the actions of the Ninja unit, regardless of outcome. Under certain conditions this ability may be guaranteed to fail, such as trying to assassinate units who are critical to the plot. When targeting a unit being guarded by Footsoldiers, the Footsoldiers appear have the same chance of being assassinated as the protected unit. Since Ninjas don't do much damage, this is the go to move for Ninjas in higher difficulties.
 * 音速手裏剣 ([mach speed] Sonic Shuriken in English patch 1.04) - Very effective skill for a Fast Ninja Unit (like Kanami), as there's a good chance you will get two free attacks before the enemy forces can even attack once, as it has practically zero-cooldown time. Hence, extremely handy for eliminating undesirable enemy units quickly or taking out the enemies back line before they can start guarding it with footsoldiers. At higher difficulties this skill is of little use as you won't be damaging much of their troops with this skill, this only helps if you need to cancel charging skills super fast.
 * ちゅんちゅん手裏剣 (Chun-chun Shuriken) - Unique to Suzume, its basically like Yamamato Sweeping Fire, just the Shuriken version (while it's not as "economical", because it requires 2 actions, it does help cancelling charged attacks instantly even if the target is guarded by footsoldiers).

Important Commanders:
 * 鈴女 Suzume: She's basically the only required unit besides Rance, so you may as well use her. That said, she may well be a prodigy as an individual kunochi, but her unit is actually fairly average. She can learn Chun-Chun Shuriken, which consumes 2 Actions when she only has 4 to spare (can be increased with an Action Book 2 or items like the Emperor Ring) but is piercing and can cancel preparing attacks even while their user is guarded. She is good for scouting. Due to being a Ninja, she is also good at swapping out your commanders during dungeon battles. Will cost a lot of money and skill books if you wish to make her useful beyond the beginning of the game. It's best to just have her enter a battle and use Assassinate 2.
 * Kikkawa Kiku - Powerful all-around ninja. Starts with high 7/7/6/7 stats, along with Assasinate 2, her move Leaves Hiding is also quite exploitable if you give her the Guts Armour, she can just sit alone in the front row and take very little damage while your back row deals damage.
 * Kousaka Yoshikage - Probably the best ninja in the game, and incredibly powerful like his Takeda brethren. He has 7 in all combat stats stats, Assasinate 2, and the awesome Fuurinkazan. Also has highest level cap of all of the unique ninjas in the game with very good utility stats.
 * 見当かなみ Kentou Kanami: She's not that great in other areas, but boy is she fast. She's basically guaranteed to go first unless the foe also has fast ninjas, making her ideal for Sonic Shuriken takedowns. She also has basically no cool-down time when you use her to switch out units in dungeons... very handy.
 * 犬飼 Inukai: Being the top Ninja of Japan, he naturally has the best combat stats. He also has 101 Doggies, which deals 101 damage to all enemy units. Can be upgraded to 201 damage to all units. Sadly, as he lacks an insta-kill moves, he's not very useful on higher difficulties, outside of his good utility stats.
 * 折女 Orime: Ninja commander with the best starting stats (if you take into account that she has more actions than Inukai), and one of the special few with Auto Heal. She does not come with Assassinate, thus making her a candidate for learning Sonic Shuriken. Also, unlike most Ninja commanders, she has a sword attack in dungeons, and is considered a Youkai. This does not seem to do anything special but does seem to justify the fact that she has the highest HP of all ninjas in the game in dungeons (often about twice as much; the exact same as the other wives of Masamune's at an equal level). This, along with fact that she also has the 2nd highest level cap of all unique Ninjas in the game, makes her one of the best Ninjas for dungeons, since she has the attack power of a Warrior and the speed of a Ninja combined (however this also means she can neither cancel preparation nor attack the rear column in dungeons).
 * 月光 Gekko: You get him from picking the same New Game + bonus as you get Shizuka from. He cut off his left arm and adopted a Loli girl (Shinobu) to be his Right Hand (so to speak). The two appear in battle together (but strangely he appears alone in Dungeons). He has poor defence but is brutally powerful with 6 action points and an attack of 8. His passive skill "Assassination Skill +" gives him 100% chance to kill an enemy that has run out of Actions, provided that they can be Assassinated. When cleared, he can instantly win one battle for you, at the cost of his life.
 * ゴエモン Goemon: He's the only ninja which starts with both Battleground Preparation 3 and Assassinate 2 which makes him very versatile on the battlefield. However he only have 2 action points so he most likely will run out of action points before half the battle time. Considering how Battleground Preparation 3 stacks however, he is arguably the best candidate for the Working Bee after Yuzumi. With this, he can single-handedly negate an enemy castle's advantage.

Archers (弓兵/Kyuuhei)
Compared to other units, the main advantage of an Archer unit is its ability to strike at eithr row from either row without having to worry about counterattack damage, although due to their weak defence, they are best kept in the back row and protected by Foot Soldiers. Note however that the specialised Archer unit is only marginally better than Miko's and Tacticians at using their bows (although Archers are cheaper, grow faster, and are capable of much larger maximum troop sizes, see here). Sadly, the vast majority of Archer units in the game have very poor stats and hence beyond the early/mid game, you'll probably not want to have many of them. Yamamoto Isoroku is usually the only one worth keeping (due to her unique Whirlwind Shot). Archers are also notably worse in dungeons than most other units such as Ninjas (although they are better than Mikos and Tacticians, who have other purposes).

Important Skills:
 * 一斉射撃 (Volley) - Hits all foes, but uses all the archer's actions. Perhaps decent for cleaning up stragglers on low difficulties, although it must be noted that this move only does half damage, which when taken with the usually low Atk stats of Archers and their low base attack, isn't very much. Furthermore, you have to go through Untrained Volley to get it, so for the same effort, you could get far better moves such as Battle Rating Down 2.
 * 山本弓掃射 (Yamamoto Sweeping Fire) - Unique to Yamamoto Isoroku and her two subordinates, its a very nice attack that hits an entire column for 0.9x damage and can't be guarded against for just 1 Action. Probably the best attack usable by a Archer unit on lower difficulties because it brings a vast damage increase over a regular attack, combines nicely with damage increasing items like the Ryuuguu Sword Urashimaru.
 * 疾風点破 (Whirlwind Shot) - Unique to Yamamoto Isoroku. Its the archer version of assassinate, although it has a lower chance of success, it only requires two Actions to use and is the recommended move for Archers on higher difficulties.

Important Commanders:
 * 丹羽長秀 Niwa Nagahide: Ridiculously awful, but he's your starting archer and he does start with lots of troops. Also notably, he starts with Defeated Warrior Hunt, allowing you to capture enemy commanders more easily. You can dump him fairly early. He also has decent utility stats for the point in the game in which you get him.
 * 山本五十六 Yamamoto Isoroku: She has fairly average stats, but she has two skills which are only accessible through her. Yamamoto Sweeping Fire is sufficiently effective to make her the best Archer in the game for lower difficulties (try boosting her attack to 9 and give her the Ryuuguu Sword - she'll demolish enemies with ease, the move also makes her one of the few units able to ignore guard, making her useful against back row units using preparation moves). She also has Whirlwind Shot, which has a 'fixed' chance of instant death to one commander at 2 action cost and because insta-kill chances are based on troop sizes, she is arguably more useful as an assassin than ninjas, due to archers gaining troops so easily.
 * 原昌示 Hara Shouji: You can capture him fairly early, and he does start with Volley, so if you want that without the pains of training for it, then use him. He also has decent utility stats for the point in the game in which you can get him.
 * Inoue Shigemi/Shigeyoshi and Yamaguchi Tamon: Subordinates of Yamamoto Isoroku. Both of them will join your army if you bring Isoroku to trust and have at least 7 spare Nation Power (and 6 spare commander slots. They also can learn Yamamoto Sweeping Fire but unlike Isoroku they had to learn Bow Attack Plus first before Yamamoto Sweeping fire is available. They also have decent utility stats for the point in the game in which you can get them.

Magi (魔法/Maho)
Only available from Second Game Bonuses or by calling for reinforcements from Zeth. Because they can hit multiple targets without preparation and they ignore physical defense stats and the Foot Soldier's damage mitigation from guarding, they can be worthwhile if you train them, an option made quite viable due to how early they can be recruited. However, unless you rush Rizna/Magic's clears and regularly deploy them with Rance, you will once again have to face the fact that with the same effort you could have made Rance an outstanding unit or made some game-breaking Tacticians.

Specifically, they are held back by their poor commander stats, poor class stats, and extremely slow moves. For example, their classes' defense is far below average and their units cost as much as that of Mikos, who have already been discussed. Worst of all, their speed is possibly the worst in the game. The base speed for their unit class is between that of Mikos and Monks, two already slow classes, the fastest Mages in the game have 5 Spd, barely better than some generics, Fire Blast is almost the slowest move in the game, and their only other moves consume all actions. Even their non-combat stats are lacking, with Rizna as the only Mage with any that exceed 2.

They would be best compared to Diviners/Yin Yangs, who have similar benefits but are held back by the delay between their attacks. However, the unique units of that class, although they are often obtained much later than that of Mages, typically have stats that surpass theirs, coupled with an attack that hits every single unit for full damage and is a default move for their class. In fact, due to the differences in the classes' base and move speeds, a Shikigami can often be prepared and fired before a Mage can use Fire Blast twice.

If you wish to make use of them, remember that buffing Int is more important than Atk. As most Mages have high action points but are very slow, using them in battles with few commanders on each side may let you move them more often. Alternatively, you can have them start a battle by using a move that consumes all of their actions. Furthermore, note that the magical nature of their attacks means that Haniwa are immune, a fact of note when fighting the Imagawa House or fighting in dungeons. Also on the topic of dungeons, note that they have low HP despite their high levels and are easily knocked out without the help of items.

Important Skills:
 * 白色破壊光線 (White Destruction Beam) - A piercing attack that hits an entire column for 1.5x the damage of Fire Blast (i.e. a total of 3x normal damage). This can be devastating, but it costs all of your unit's actions to use.
 * Ａカッター (A-Cutter) - Unique to Rizna who cannot learn White Destruction Beam. Interesting because it hits all enemy units without preparation and because it deals 0.5x damage to everyone except Monks or monsters, who it deals 1.0x damage to. With help, this could make Rizna useful against the Tenshi Sect or the Demon Army, but be warned that her initial stats are very low.

Important Commanders:
 * リズナ Rizna: Probably your first Mage unit and possibly the worst, despite her potential to learn a hit-all attack. Her initial stats are poor so there will be fights where she will only act once. However, you must have her to get Uruza and Magic. She also has total immunity to all magic attacks, which includes the hit-all attacks from the likes of Xavier, Ran (Summon Suzaku), and Omachi. Can also be useful as a scout, particularly if you have the Battlefield Correspondent.
 * マジック Magic: Initially not much better than Rizna because she starts out with no special skills and with similar stats. White Destruction Beam is probably better than A-Cutter, but she is notable mostly for giving out easy SAT and the Rance's Love item. The ease of her clear may also give her some potential as, after clearing, she can be deployed with Rance to easily increase her affection, leading to multiple affection bonuses and her becoming much stronger. Has a high level cap (69), but will not perform well in solo battles due to her class's slow speed and low HP.
 * 魔想志津香 Masou Shizuka: Only available with a Second Game Bonus and only after recruiting Maria. Extremely slow and only has two actions, but her skills make her arguably the best Mage unit. She starts with White Destruction Beam and also has Sticky Ground, which increases your chances of capturing enemy commanders and stacks excellently with Defeated Warrior Hunt. Always Hates Rance and can never be character cleared or taken to Normal/Trust/Love.

Cannoneers (砲兵/Houhei)
Cannoneers combine the power of musketeers with the placement versatility of archers and mages. Hence, they can benefit from a very high power without having to actually sit in the front row and endanger themselves, making them very useful for sniping at enemy units. (Technically, they possess far less base power than Musketeers. So Cannoneers can't deliver capped damage without raising Atk) A few of drawbacks however, include their poor speed and inability to ignore footsoldier guard.

Important Skills:
 * チューリップ連射 (Tulip Rapid Fire) - Double damage, but uses all actions.

Important Commanders:

マリアMaria: The second reinforcement you get from Leazas after Kanami and probably the only Cannoneer you want to use (Kasumi is inferior to her boss). Probably a good choice for any damage boosting items. Due to the extremely high cost of cannon troops (shared highest in the game with the Musket units), you may want to give her the Popularity Staff to make sure she is useful. As expected, she has good utility stats.