Not to be confused withRaphael, a character fromThree Houses.

Rafiel (Japanese:ラフィエルRafiel) is aheron prince and a playable character inFire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Role

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Rafiel first appears as a playable unit inPart I-8 and is available for deployment inPart I-E.

Rafiel appears as a non-playable unit in several Part III chapters: As an NPC inPart III-13 and as an enemy inPart III-E.

In Part IV, Rafiel is locked into the Greil Army, and is available for deployment in the chapters focusing on them:Part IV-1 andPart IV-4.

In the Endgame chapters of Part IV, only one of Rafiel,Reyson, orLeanne can be selected to include in the group assaulting the Tower of Guidance.

Starting stats and growth rates

Heron Level 12 Affinity Constitution 8»14

Recruitment:Part I, Chapter 8, automatically from preparations StatsGrowth Rates Max HP 31 Speed 6»12 Strength 1»2 Luck 31 Magic 6»12 Defense 3»6 Skill 1»2 Resistance 13»26 Movement 5»5 Weight 5»9 Max HP 60% Speed 20% Strength 0% Luck 60% Magic 40% Defense 10% Skill 10% Resistance 50% {{{content3}}} {{{content4}}} {{{content5}}} {{{content6}}} {{{content7}}} {{{content8}}} {{{content9}}} {{{content10}}} {{{content11}}} {{{content12}}} {{{content13}}} {{{content14}}} {{{content15}}} Inventory Skills Seraph Robe Blessing Galdrar Shove Weapon Levels -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Biorhythm Best Good Normal Bad Worst

Availability

Analysis

Rafiel is one of three herons in the game, and has the ability to let other units move again, which is an invaluable skill. He is available on 1-8 and 1-E on Micaiah's team, and is part of Ike's Part IV team. He has the lowest mobility among the three herons, cannot fly, and cannot canto, making him the least flexible heron; a player can get much more use out of him via shoving and rescuing him. Rafiel's galdrar skills affect 4 adjacent units regardless of whether he is transformed or not. This allows him to refresh 4 units immediately, and is the only heron who can do this on turn 1. This is extremely powerful as it allows many units on the first few turns to move farther, defeat troublesome enemy units, and so on, very early. This is also why Rafiel is most frequently selected for endgame over Reyson and Leanne, because the endgame chapters are faster-paced and benefit more from the short-term 4-way refreshes. Rafiel does not gain any movement bonus upon transformation, his stat transformation boosts are near useless since he is not a combat unit, and he additionally loses the ability to climb ledges, so his transformation gauge should be ignored.

Rafiel has a high base luck and average base resistance but his other stats are low. He is extremely frail and slow enough to get doubled by all enemy units, so he rarely survives one round of combat and must be kept out of danger. His only strong growth is luck. He also has a reasonable magic and resistance growth, boosting his healing abilities and potential siege tome tanking, but those are the only applications for his stat levels. The only other practical benefit to leveling him is to learn more Chant abilities, especially Bliss and Valor, which can be situational since he can use Bliss and Valor on 4 units simultaneously, but reaching the necessary levels is not practical without significant grinding or bonus experience. Due to not being a flying unit, Rafiel does not share the same weaknesses towards bows, crossbows, and wind magic that Reyson, Leanne, and every other flier are weak to, though this is rendered irrelevant due to being physically frail to almost every attack anyway.

Rafiel has the Blessing skill which heals adjacent units at the start of each turn. This is valuable as it helps free up other stave-users' turns. As Rafiel cannot fight, offensive skills are useless. Miracle and Shade are skills that help him survive should the player make a mistake.

Rafiel has a heaven affinity which gives a pure accuracy boost. This boost is useless for Rafiel as he cannot attack. For his partner, it can be useful for endgame, where Ashera's auras are extremely dodgy. Units that complement this accuracy boost and/or struggles with accuracy for endgame make useful partners. It is worth noting that Rafiel provides a bond support bonus to Nailah and Tibarn, giving them a nice +10% crit and crit avoid boost, so it can help to have them ferry Rafiel around while taking advantage of this.

Fire Emblem Heroes

Role

Rafiel was first made available to be summoned by players on May 20, 2020 in a special groom variation as part of the summoning event surrounding the launch of theBridal Beloveds update. The aforementioned groom variation of Rafiel is the only one currently available inHeroes, based on hisRadiant Dawn incarnation.

Rafiel: Blessed Wings

Starting stats

★★★★★★★★★

Rarity ★★★★ Weapon type Movement type

Initial StatsLevel 40 Stats Maximum HP 14/15/16 Attack 2/3/4 Speed 6/7/8 Defense 3/4/5 Resistance 10/11/12 Maximum HP 32/35/38 Attack 22/25/28 Speed 30/33/36 Defense 15/18/21 Resistance 36/39/43 {{{content3}}} {{{content4}}} {{{content5}}} {{{content6}}} {{{content7}}} {{{content8}}} {{{content9}}} {{{content10}}} {{{content11}}} {{{content12}}} {{{content13}}} {{{content14}}} {{{content15}}}

Skills Adult (Infantry) Sing --

Rarity ★★★★★ Weapon type Movement type

Initial StatsLevel 40 Stats Maximum HP 15/16/17 Attack 3/4/5 Speed 6/7/8 Defense 4/5/6 Resistance 10/11/12 Maximum HP 34/38/41 Attack 25/28/31 Speed 32/35/38 Defense 17/20/23 Resistance 38/41/45 {{{content3}}} {{{content4}}} {{{content5}}} {{{content6}}} {{{content7}}} {{{content8}}} {{{content9}}} {{{content10}}} {{{content11}}} {{{content12}}} {{{content13}}} {{{content14}}} {{{content15}}}

Skills Groom's Wing Sing --

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Skill set

Skill set
Skill		Unlock	Auto-unlock	SP cost
	Whelp (Infantry)	★★★★	★★★★	50
	Yearling (Infantry)	★★★★	★★★★	100
	Adult (Infantry)	★★★★	★★★★	200
	Groom's Wing	★★★★★	★★★★★	400
	Sing	★★★★	★★★★	150
B	Gale Dance 1	★★★★	—	50
B	Firestorm Dance 1	★★★★	—	120
B	Firestorm Dance 2	★★★★	—	240
C	Spur Res 1	★★★★	—	50
C	Spur Res 2	★★★★	—	100
C	Ward Beasts	★★★★★	—	200

Personality

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Rafiel is akin to how a Heron is expected to be: passive and serene. He keeps up a calm demeanor in almost any given situation, even when he is on the battlefield. He is mature and nurturing when dealing with others, be they Beorc, Laguz, or even Branded, the differences between them holding very little meaning to him.

Supports

Bond supports

Rafiel Heron Default bonds: Tibarn Hawk King Bonus: 10 Nailah Wolf Queen Bonus: 10 [[{{{supportd3}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonusd3}}} [[{{{supportd4}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonusd4}}} Extra bonds:* None. [[{{{supporte1}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse1}}} [[{{{supporte2}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse2}}} [[{{{supporte3}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse3}}} [[{{{supporte4}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse4}}} [[{{{supporte5}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse5}}}

Endings

Rafiel, Earthbound Chorister (If Nailah survived)
Rafiel performed a ceremony in Serenes Forest to wake his father, the king. Eventually he returned toHatari.

Rafiel, Earthbound Chorister (If Nailah did not survive)
Rafiel performed a ceremony in Serenes Forest to wake his father, the king. He still lives there in peace.

Quotes

Battle quotes

Death quotes

Heroes quotes

Main article:Rafiel/Quotes (Heroes)

Other appearances

Fire Emblem Cipher

Rafiel is featured on one card inFire Emblem Cipher.

Fire Emblem Cipher data for Rafiel
	Earthbound Chorister, Rafiel
		"A voice guided me here. Was it yours?"
		Attack: 20	Support: 20	Range: -	Deploy Cost: 2
		Class: Heron		Tier:Base	Class Change Cost: --
		Guiding Voice:[Activate] [] [] Choose another ally. From your hand, choose a card with the same unit name as that ally, and place it on top of that ally to Level Up that ally. Wounded-Winged Seid Singer:[Activate] [] Choose another ally with a Deployment Cost of 2 or less, and untap them.
	Card #B09-089HN • Artist:Rika Suzuki
Some card information translation provided by Serenes Forest. For more detailed strategic information on these cards, seetheir TCG wiki article on Rafiel .

Flavor text

Meet some of the Heroes entries

Rafiel: Blessed Wings
Rafiel, the first prince of the fallen kingdom of Serenes, is making an appearance in his groom's outfit! He's always been strikingly beautiful, but now he's more elegant than ever before!	His garb features the classic Serenes style with a white color scheme, but the top has been given a Hatari-style twist in honor of the homeland of his partner, Nailah.	Incidentally, the flowers he's carrying are a unique kind that only grows in the desert surrounding Hatari! Aren't they beautiful?	Rafiel and Nailah truly adore each other, but once she sees him in this outfit, she might fall in love all over again. I hope they stay happy together forever!
Closely Associated Characters
Nailah Reyson Leanne {{{Related_name4}}} {{{Related_name5}}} Queen of Hatari, a desert nation spoken of mostly in legend. Her eye patch conceals an evil eye. Rafiel's partner. Prince of Serenes, the former kingdom of the heron laguz. Brother of Leanne and Rafiel. Frail, but strong willed. Princess of Serenes. Rafiel and Reyson's younger sister. She speaks the ancient tongue and has not yet mastered the language of Tellius. {{{Related_blurb4}}} {{{Related_blurb5}}}

Choose Your Legends placement history

Round	Placement	Character	Votes

CYL 1 (2017)

565

Rafiel Radiant Dawn

149

CYL 2 (2018)

416 (−149)

Rafiel Radiant Dawn

408

CYL 3 (2019)

409 (+12)

Rafiel Radiant Dawn

377 (−31)

CYL 4 (2020)

394 (−34)

Rafiel Radiant Dawn

317 (−60)

CYL 5 (2021)

740 (+346)

Rafiel Radiant Dawn

30 (−287)

CYL 6 (2022)

717 (−25)

Rafiel Radiant Dawn

41 (+11)

CYL 7 (2023)

735 (+18)

Rafiel Radiant Dawn

28 (−13)

CYL 8 (2024)

746 (+11)

Rafiel Radiant Dawn

29 (+1)

CYL 9 (2025)

753 (+7)

Rafiel Radiant Dawn

25 (−4)

CYL 10 (2026)

742 (−11)

Rafiel Radiant Dawn

19 (−6)

Total results		This character has 10 entries across all Choose Your Legends polls.	1,423

Trivia

• According toTellius Recollection, Rafiel was designed with an apparent age of 24.^[7]

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

Official artwork

• 
  Artwork of Rafiel fromRadiant Dawn.

CG images

• 
  CG image of Rafiel,Yune,Volug, andNailah inRadiant Dawn.
• 
  CG image of Rafiel and other characters leaving inRadiant Dawn.

Portraits

• 
  Portrait of Rafiel inRadiant Dawn.

Screenshots

• 
  Rafiel as an unshiftedHeron inRadiant Dawn.
• 
  Rafiel as a shifted Heron inRadiant Dawn.

Heroes artwork

Character artwork

• 
  Artwork of Rafiel: Blessed Wings.
• 
  Artwork of Rafiel: Blessed Wings.
• 
  Artwork of Rafiel: Blessed Wings.
• 
  Artwork of Rafiel: Blessed Wings.

Meet some of the Heroes artwork

• 
  Artwork of Rafiel: Blessed Wings.
• 
  Artwork of Rafiel: Blessed Wings.
• 
  Artwork of Rafiel: Blessed Wings.
• 
  Artwork of Rafiel: Blessed Wings.
• 
  Rafiel in artwork ofNailah: Unflinching Eye.

Cipher artwork

• 
  Artwork of Rafiel.
• 
  Rafiel in artwork ofNailah.

Notes

References

This article is part ofProject Characters, a project focused on writing articles for every character present in theFire Emblem series.