Ok, let's do this. *cracks fingers*
Firstly, your chapter 5 problem, which is Jill dying before you can get there.
Answer: Use Volug. When you start from the lower left, rush Nolan and the rest of the crew up and clear a path through the group of 4. Volug, un-inhibited by the sand, can zip right up and get to Jill by turn 2. Have him take out anything really dangerous (Watch out for Fire mages), and try to get some units blocking the plateau that can attack from range. Attacking from a floor up is stupidly safe. If you want to steal the Master Seal off the Soldier for the extra cash or to save yourself a level of exp/bexp, bait him over with Sothe, steal it, then run like a *****.
Ok, onwards to my DB character evaluations.
First up: Micaiah.
Micaiah is a good unit with some very confusing growth allocations. She has an 80 in Magic and Luck, and a 90 in res. She will basically ALWAYS cap these, no matter what. Fortunately, that means her late Tier 3 forced promotion makes her a prime candidate for some BEXP as soon as she caps anything. Otherwise, her abysmal Hp, Speed, and Def growths mean she's basically a useless frontline unit. She can't survive on her luck alone, and her iffy speed growth of 35 means she'll rarely be doubling anything, and is sometimes at RISK of getting doubled, which she cannot possibly stand on hard mode. Her luck doesn't not cover her avoid issues completely, and her awful HP and Defense means she can stand ONE hit, MAYBE two, tops.
If she wasn't forced for endgame, I wouldn't bother with her, but she is, so you can't ignore her. Part 1 she's great for potshots as long as you keep her safe from harm, part 3 she's incredibly lackluster. (Being stuck in the top for all of 3-13 does not help her case) her affinty is OK, but not amazing, you may as well keep her Auto-A with Sothe, since he's going to spend a lot of time guarding her anyway.
Come end-game she's basically going to be a staff *****. Bless a purge so she can actually attack when she feels like it, don't bother with trying to Frontline with Nosferatu or RexAura, she's pretty pitiful against Dragons anyway.
Rating: 5/10, I only use her since she's forced.
Next: Edward.
I feel bad for Edward, really, I do. If he had a nice spot on the Greil Mercenaries, he could enjoy the boatload of exp they have to go around. He's unfortunately stuck with the DB, which is bad news for him. On easy and Normal, using Edward is no real problem, but on Hard, there's really only enough exp to keep 3 DB units that aren't Sothe or Micaiah, and Edward does NOT have to durability to frontline with the DB. That means he's stuck using the Wind Edge for pot-shots, which has awful accuracy, and he'll never really amount to much. He can't take hits until Late Tier 2, Early Tier 3 when his avoid starts to actually HELP him, and he doesn't have the means to get that far in chapters as grueling as the Dawn Brigades. he also suffers from his awful Light affinity, which nobody wants him for.
Stat-wise, Edward is a great unit. If he makes it to 20/20/20, he'll cap everything but Res and Magic, and he starts ramming his Trublade caps around 20/20/10, and he hits his Swordmaster caps early enough to give him about 4 levels of BEXP to fix his problem areas. Unfortunately for poor Edward, he only turns out MARGINALLY better than Zihark and Mia, who are both infinitely easier to use. Zihark comes with Innate Adept, RNG-proofed, and ready to rock, especially if he gets a PoR transfer. (Str, Spd, SKill is realistic) Zihark ALSO comes with a lovely Earth affinity that everyone EVERYWHERE loves, so he's instantly fielded on every DB chapter being a Pre-promo with an amazing affinty. Considering his ease of use compared to Eddie, Edward just has no place in hard mode. Take off his Innate Wrath and give it to someone else, he doesn't have the avoid or defense to make use of it. To make matters worse, Mia also does just as well stat-wise, and has the best OFFENSIVE affinity in the game. She makes a great partner for Ike, comes pretty much RNG-proof, and on the Greil Mercs, so boatloads of exp and easy chapters for her. Plus, Boobs > Edward. Hell, even Stefan and LUCIA get more brownie points in HM, since Stefan brings the Vague Katti, Lucia has Earth affinity, and both do similar stat-wise and are already promoted. Sorry Edward.
Rating: 2.5/10 Use only in Easy or Normal.
Next: Leonardo.
Fortunately, Leonardo is real quick to analyze. He's an Archer, so his enemy phase contribution is automatically garbage. This alone puts him on the rocks. His affinity is awful (water), and his only decent growths are skill, Luck, HP, and Res, all of which are USELESS TO HIM, since he should never be getting hit if you use your archers right. He can't tank like Shinon can, since his durability is always mediocre at best, and he does piss-poor damage with anything other than a cross-bow, which are only good for killing mages and taking enemy phase potshots, which he can't do with his fail durability. He's impossible to realistically keep up in levels without babying him beyond belief or feeding him BEXP, and he's way too fragile to frontline.
Stat-wise, he's pretty awful. His Average strength and Speed come to a paltry 32, and he only caps Luck, Speed, and Res. Shinon and Rolf **** him completely in nearly every area, and they both come promoted, so there's no reason to ever bother with him. Personally, I see no need to feed Rolf since Shinon is RNG-proof, and I only need One Marksman. I always use Shinon, and no other archer. Shinon is durable for his entire existence, and will never have problems doubling or killing much of anything. Thunder affinity is pretty good, and he's on the Greil Mercs, and comes at level --/13/0. Check please.
Rating for Leonardo: 3/10. This guy is only fit to man Ballistae and take pot-shots with Lughnasadh, which he is admittedly, MILDLY useful for.
Next: The Nolanator. Also known as Chuck Norris the Second, and The Man With the Epic Beard.
From my intro description, you can probably guess my opinion on this man. Nolan, simply put, is a god among mortals. Let's break him down quickly. He's the only durable member of the DB's first 6 chapters besides Sothe and Volug. (and Volug is only for 1-5) This man will be front-lining in EVERY DB chapter, since he has fantastic durability, with his great DEF and HP bases, and respectable growths of 60 and 35 respectively. His Earth affinity means everyone on the DB wants his support, you can either pair him with Jill to spread the Earth love, or pair him with Volug or Zihark to make the untouchable Earth/Earth god pair. I'm a fan of pairing him with Zihark, and letting JillxVolug play around with their ridiculous move, steamrolling everything.
His Earth support and above-average defenses means that the only thing that can threaten him in Part 1 or 3 is an accurate mage, or a lucky hit from a Tiger in 3-6 or 3-13. The man is MVP for every early chapter except 1-P, and most of the later DB chapters. He'll cap everything but Def (Off by .85), Str (Off by 3), and HP (Off by 4, with a cap of 68). However, since he rams his caps super early in T2 and T3, he's a prime candidate for some extra BEXP. My last Nolan capped EVERYTHING. PLUS, the man has INNATE NIHIL. His Prf axe, Tarvos, is god tier, boasting might almost on par with Urvan, and giving an extra +3 (5?) defense, making his already amazing durability even better. Bless that for Endgame, and someone else gets Urvan. What's not to like? He brings everything he could possibly need all in one handy, manly, beard-ridden and ready to **** package.
Boyd is by no means a bad unit, you won't ever have to worry about him being strength screwed, but he lacks some of the durability that he desperately needs. His Fire affinity is just overkill, and he's short on avoid. With so many other good Greil merc units, he doesn't have quite the claim to the exp, whereas Nolan is a god among mere mortals, and practically BEGS to be used.
Rating: 9.5/10, his only flaw is being slightly prone to Strength screwage. Use this man, or the DB chapters are HELL.
Next: Laura.
Laura is kind of a sad case. She has amazing growths, a decent defensive affinity, and 100% claim to her role through Part 1 and Part 3. She's your only healer besides Tier 2 Micaiah (Who can't frontline in 3-13), so she basically HAS to be used. Unfortunately for Laura, her problems are many.
Firstly, she's very fragile, and can't ever take even 1 hit during Part 1. If enemies get to Laura, you have to restart the chapter. Second, the Dawn Brigade does NOT have enough chapters to feasibly level her. IF you are working towards low turn counts, she'll reach MAYBE level 13-14 by the Part 4, if that. You either have to dump a CRAP ton of BEXP on her at the start of Part 4, or she rides the bench, simply being too far behind to ever catch up.
If you DO decide to use her, she performs great stat-wise, capping everything but Str, Luck, and Res, coming pretty close in all 3. (And res isn't even that important) However, she's sadly limited by Light magic's AWFUL offensive capabilities, and if you bring her to end-game, she's a staff-*****, nothing more. And therin lies the problem, since Micaiah is already forced into Endgame, and has to do EXACTLY the same thing.
Now you might be thinking, "But Raz, what if I want more than one healer?" Well, the answer is quite simple. Queen Elincia. Comes at --/--/1 with good bases, amazing growths, her own prf Brave Sword, and she can ****ING FLY. She has Canto and STAVES, AND IGNORES TERRAIN. SHE CANNOT BE PASSED UP. Even if you wanted THREE healers (which is way overkill), even Mist has a better claim to it thanks to Canto + Horse, and you can likely make due easily by having whichever Archsage you pick off-heal.
Laura's a great unit, but her competition is either GODLY, or forced.
Rating: 6/10, use only if you love to baby units.
Next: Sothe.
Sothe is a god during Part 1 and 3. His durability and avoid are great to start out, and his support with Micaiah means he shouldn't feasibly die at all in part 1, and only if you try to take on 10 tigers like Danved in part 3. His only drawback is that he's promoted, so he sucks up EXP from GOD... err, Nolan. Keep his Bronze knife on, use him to soften stuff up, and have him focus on stealing, softening, and utility.
Sothe for Part 4 is where he gets iffy. He would be AWESOME if IS didn't give Whispers the **** with their horrid Strength cap of 28. That alone, means he'll do awful damage for all of endgame, and since he's forced, you can't EVER use Heather. Volke has SOME claim to fame since he comes RNG-Proof, has a better Strength cap, and a way better mastery skill. Unfortunately, since Sothe is forced, and there is only one Baselard, bringing Volke means SOMEONE gets stuck with peshkatz, which instantly makes them useless, since its damage is completely awful. I still use Volke anyway, since I love the guy, but it's really depressing.
Rating: 7/10 If he wasn't forced, I'd drop him for Volke in Part 4. Great for Part 1 and 3, **** endgame.
Next: Ilyana.
Ilyana is... weird. She was great in PoR, so I'd like to hope for the same in Dawn. She has exceptional bases, but her growths are pretty average, especially her disgustingly awful Speed growth of 30, which basically ensures she'll never double after promotion. Her Light affinity is bad, nothing much to say there. Nobody wants her for it. In the long run, she doesn't turn out that bad. She comes pretty close to capping everything including speed, but that has a paltry cap of 30. To further her case, she has the best availability in the game, having more playable chapters than ANYONE else.
Despite all that she has going for her, she's hindered by IS nerfing Thunder magic into the ground. It was way too good in PoR, so they nerfed the crap out of its might and hit, leaving it with only some lousy crit. She'll have unreliable hit rates for most of the game, so she's not a unit you want to every have to rely on. Further problems for her, Soren does everything she does, better. Her only upside for endgame is that Rexbolt absolutely DESTROYS in 4-E-3, and she can easily go to town on the Dragons, if she can avoid a hit. However, her spreed cap means she'll never double anything important for endgame, so she's pretty much useless.
Rating: 4/10. I don't know how a unit with so many decent qualities turns out to be this mediocre. She's basically just a slower Micaiah with worse tome type. At least she isn't forced. Plus, she was WAY cuter in PoR. 
Next up is Aran.
Aran has one job. BE IN THE WAY. And suffice it to say, he does it well. With his ridiculous Strength, Skill and Defense growths, he's a wall that rarely misses on a HARD counter-attack. Unfortunately, he's also a wall that gets doubled. Fortunately for him, his growths mean he's a great BEXP candidate. However, Thunder affinity is only decent for him, and other combat like Jill, Nolan, Sothe and Zihark just have better claim to the experience than he does.
Keep him around to serve his purpose in Part 1 and 3, but bench him for endgame. Nephenee gets all of Part 2 to herself, and since Aran is on an EXP starved team, he's not worth the investment for mediocre return, considering how amazing Nephenee is. At least he's better than Danved.
Rating: 5/10 Serves his purpose, nothing more.
.... Meg.
I pretty much feel like I do about Family Guy's Meg, in this case. Nobody likes you, go away.
I honestly don't know what IS was thinking on this one. They give you a LEVEL THREE Armor Knight in a chapter where almost everything doubles her, and then the entire rest of Part 1 is high mobility chapters. Everything else about her doesn't even matter, since she'll never make it that far. She's basically IMPOSSIBLE to use in Part 1, and Marshalls are unfortunately awful as a class anyway.
Rating: 0.5/10, since her only use is blocking a ledge in 3-13. 
I DON'T EVEN FIELD HER IN HER JOINING CHAPTER, SINCE AN EMPTY SPOT IS LESS LIABILITY THAN SHE IS.
next up: the DB's token black gu-.... I mean, Laguz.
Volug is a godsend for Part 1. He has the durability to be like your man if he used Old Spice, and he runs like HE IS A HORSE. He has Earth affinity, his Wildheart means he does enough damage to soften, but not completely **** everything, and you can take it off in Part 3 if you want to actually use him.
Unfortunately, he is absolute garbage after Part 3, since Nailah completely eclipses him in every way possible. Instant god-mode stats, Formshift, SS Strike, there's absolutely no reason Volug should ever go to Endgame.
Ranking: 9/10 for when he's needed, 1/10 for Endgame.
Tauroneo.....
is around for like, 2 chapters. He's an awesome wall when you have him, but he just straight up bails, and he's useless by the time you can use him again. And Marshalls are awful. Take his Resolve immediately, give it to Nolan or Jill, then dump the guy, he's useless.
Rating: 3/10. BLOCK LEDGES FOR ME, YOU USELESS CLOD.
Jill is another God tier unit.
She has a bit of a shaky start, but as soon as her growths get her up to speed, she ***** even Haar. If you bring her a PoR transfer (Str, Speed, SKill, Def is doable), she will be everything you ever wanted, and SHE FLIES. High mobility, and she uses Axes, which are by and large the best weapon in the game, no question. Her Thunder affinity is decent, and she is one of three units on the DB who DESERVE EXP. (Jill, Nolan and Zihark. Micaiah and Sothe only get it because they're forced.)
End-game she completely destroys, capping almost everything. Prime candidate for Urvan, if you don't give it to Haar (I usually give him a Brave Axe or a Forged Silver, he doesn't have the speed to use urvan right.)
Rating: 9/10. Only slightly less awesome than Nolan due to the shaky start.
Zihark.
Also pretty easy.
- Comes RNG Proof
- Amazing Bases
- Good Growths
- Earth Affinity
- Instantly Usable
- Durable thanks to great avoid and decent HP.
- Transfer Plausible (Str, Speed, Skill)
He's only slightly less awesome than Mia. I use both Mia and Zihark, with the Vague Katti for 'hark, and Alondite for Mia.
Rating: 8.5/10. Third best unit on the DB.
Here's another unfortunate misfit.
Fiona. She'd be good, if she showed up 3 chapters ago. Instead, she shows up underleveled on an team that has no spot for her, since she's an "Awful bases, good growths" type. Her Earth affinity is pretty meh due to late join time and her other problems, so she usually just ends up benched. I give her Imbue and Savior scrolls to someone else, and let her talk to Meg for every chapter.
Rating: 2.5/10. Ledge Blocker. Why didn't you show up in 1-4?!
Tormod, Vika, and Muarim I will do all in one fell swoop.
You're here for three chapters where you aren't needed, then you DISAPPEAR UNTIL 4-4. WHAT THE ****, GET OUT, I HATE YOU.
Rating: Danved/9001. You're never here.
Nailah.
Makes the Swamp and 1-E a complete joke, then disappears until basically endgame. But THAT'S OK, SHE'S ALREADY a god, bring her to End-game anyway.
Rating: 9/10, Laguz Royals are really over-powered.
Rafiel.
If we didn't have Laguz gems for Reyson, you would be a real baller. Instead, you're hampered by move and lack of Canto.
I don't rate Herons on /10, since they're unique and you only get one, so I award Rafiel the
second place award. Better than Leanne, worse than Reyson.
Black Knight.
Pizza out of Donair Sauce.
It's 3:20 AM, and I just rated the entire Dawn Brigade.
Final Verdict: Sothe and Micaiah since they're forced, Nolan, Zihark, Jill, and Volug/Nailah (Volug for 1 and 3, Nailah for Endgame)
I'll be here all year, will do the Greil Mercs and Crimean Knights if requested.
. Btw, does anyone know how to get Jill to stop getting herself killed in chapter 5 hard mode? Ive been trying it, but to no luck.
