virtu333

Besides Louis + Sigurd, which goes without saying, FE Engage's break mechanic makes enemy phasing harder, so I put a big premium on finding units that can do it well. These are my faves so far: Alfred + Ike: Alfred has the full package to be a very strong enemy phase tank. He's fast enough to not get doubled a lot, has great defense stats, and his class provides movement, a damage reduction special, and two weapon types. Ike becomes extremely abuseable as a result - he can run into a giant pack of enemies and tank everything for a huge Great Aether. A lot of physical attacks will just tink thanks to his ability, laguz friend, and high defense, which lets him eat magic attacks with relatively high res and laguz friend while not getting doubled (unlike Louis) Diamant + Eirika Eirika provides him with strong player phase without needing to engage, and the engage and/or swap provides extra sustain for him to give him the complete package to be a very strong enemy phase unit with Sol. His huge build lets him wield a blazing Tomahawk very very well. Chloe + Leif Can work with any multi-weapon juggernaut but Chloe is well positioned as your first flier with good growths and easy access to Wyvern, and she benefits a lot from Leif's bonus stats, including Build. Leif provides a huge enemy phase ability with Adaptable. Probably some dodge tank shenanigans you can pull with Yunaka, but I also like the power that these characters can deliver in terms of cleaning out enemies on enemy phase.

As I'm doing a fresh run without statues and without a ton of professor points, and without doing any aux battles other than merchant quest+paralogues (explore every other time), I've got to say C anything is not trivial to get. Even with Leonie, who has almost perfectly optimized proficiencies, I'm probably going to end up being late to Paladin certification because I went for C authority on her

I'm doing a fresh run on a different account, and it's jarring to see just how strong recruited characters are. Recruited Felix/Petra are absolute monsters when they joined at level 11 - the only issue is their weapon ranks (Petra C swords, C axes; Felix C swords C brawling). They're like Catherine-lite - high base stats, poor weapon ranks.

Overextending doesn't exist in this game right now, especially with divine pulse. I've cleared hard mode 4 times now and every non warp skip map is striding bow knights/wyverns, having them kill something on player phase, and then have them be 1 man armies spread throughout the map for enemy phase.

Movement / flying / canto do matter for 1 turning maps without a super jacked Lysithea warp. This is why innate pass on Claude is so good (see Enbarr chapter - pop stride, kill commander 1, canto back, get danced, warped, and then kill commander 2). Or the volcano map where a big stride/warp with flier 1 turns. And for non-warp skip maps, after turn 1 your units are going to be separated after stride / warp - having more movement from then helps you clear the map faster, and canto allows you to kill something player phase then position yourself for a big enemy phase sweep. If anything, stride maps canto even more broken because of the ability to clear out units close then canto forward. Discounting canto/move in fire emblem is always silly.

Yeah I don't think it needs to be a good end. But they should have a new route where it's more cohesive and plot points are wrapped up well - right now every single route has major holes (whether it's major character deaths, major plot points, dealing with major antagonists, etc.). It's also a huge ask for people to do at least 3 routes for a complete picture of the lore and context.

I think it's good to have a mix - usually 1 strong archer to take on enemy packs with 2+ range, and the rest be the more mobile units. With that said, it is also kind of fun to run a squad of snipers in the midgame and just decimate everything in stride push without worrying about counters (just snipe down gambit users)

In regards to Weight -3, I think the question you really need to ask is: is it worth going to C armor and taking an ability slot for, at most, +3 speed? Especially if you pump rocky burdocks or your character gets blessed, you may not even need the Weight -3 because your strength goes high enough - e.g., silver bow+ goes to 8 weight, so if you're 30+ strength, weight -3 gives only 1-2 speed

Yeah, even a D level battlalion gives +4 attack and some defense. Better than his personal. Even among E levels, Jeralt's Mercs give 10 crit and 15 avoid I think. His personal is really good only very early game when you can't even use D level battalions yet.

Spent some time analyzing the various battalions (used Serenes Forest initial stats+level up gains, as there aren't Level 5 stats), here's my summary: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m-LozIAm-_BwzrAb8TkG92bi3LAgFZo2oyslisNZYeI/edit#gid=0 One of the main takeaways is that most of the endgame battalions are in B - A gets access to a few better ones, but that's it. Meanwhile, the lord battalions at C are crazy strong and come extremely early. Battalions are huge stat sticks - stats like 8 physical attack or 5 prot/7 res amount to 20% or more of your natural level ups, which makes getting to B authority very worth it. They are incredibly strong. What it also means is that characters with good proficiencies (who can hit their class requirements faster) are better, because they can hit their authority ranks faster and get the best battalions sooner. Also relevant because bows are really strong. Even for support units, it's relevant since some of the best gambits like stride/retribution are authority rank locked. How I ranked: Physical Rating Phys+Prot+Res+Hit/20+Crit/5+Avo/5 Magical Rating Mag+Prot+Res+Hit/20+Crit/5+Avo/5 Basically saying 20 points of hit, 5 points of crit, or 5 points of avoid = 1 stat point otherwise. Mostly ignored charm. I may want to re-evaluate, as crit/avoid scale well late game (e.g., 10 points of avoid=2 stats if you're about to take 20 damage, or 5 points of crit=15+ damage if you hit a crit) and are non-linear in some ways (e.g., going from 80 to 90 dodge is bigger than 0-10 since you can more much confidently dodge tank - this is even due to hit formulas (90 hit is significantly better than 20 hit due to how it's calculated) Stride Gambits First calling out these, as stride is damn good Seiros Holy Monks, Kingdom Calvary, Gautier Knights - notable here that Kingdom Calvary is for BL and Gautier Knights requires the Sylvain paralogue, if you want more. E Authority *These are pretty bare bones - however, you can usually get some decent stats out of them, and Jeralt's Mercenaries are low key really strong Jeralt's Mercs: 3 attack, 10 crit, 15 avoid. *f you don't rank up authority, this is really good. Endgame, 10 crit and 15 avoid is worth *a lot* and it just becomes a cichol wyvern or other A/B level battalion without as many stats Alliance Duelist: 9 crit, 10 avoid. outclassed version of Jeralt's mercs Kingdom Calvary: 4 atk, 5 hit, 4 prot decent starter stat stick Alliance Mag Corp: 3 mag, 10 avoid, 4 res D Authority The ones here aren't super spicy and most are pretty similar, but a few stand out because they pack both Prot and Res. Also the first flying battalions for peg knights/wyverns Kingdom Pegasus Co.: 4 atk, 5 hit,5 avoid, 3 prot, 4 res Alliance Peg Co: 4 atk, 5 hit, 10 avoid, 2 prot, 3 res imo the strongest choice with 10 avoid Empire Peg Co: 4 atk, 15 hit, 3 prot, 4 res Empire/Kingdom calvary: 4 atk, 4 defense, some hit/avoid Alliance Magic Corp: 3 mag, 10 avoid, 4 res C Authority Where it gets spicy. The Lord battalions are busted and comparable/better to most A and B rank, but a few others stick out as solid (Holst, Vestra). Lord battalions also get 12+ might gambits, which when paired with high strength, can deal some insane damage King of Lions Corp: 10 phys, 5 hit, 15 crit, -5 avoid, 5 protect Probably the ultimate C battalion in terms of offense, and one of the strongest offensive battalions period Holst's Chosen: 7 atk, 5 hit, 5 crit, 7 prot Arguably the best non-lord C battalion for physical Immortal Corp: 8 atk, 15 avoid, 4 prot Might even be stronger than King of Lions late game thanks to the avoid - also easily the strongest flying C battalion Supreme Armored Co: 7 atk, 6 mag, 5 hit, -10 avoid, 6 prot, 5 res The worst lord battalion because of that -10 avo - in general, kind of eh because of it. I rarely run it. Empire/Golden Deer/Kingdom Wyvern Co: 5 atk, 5-15 hit, 5-10 crit, 4 defense Solid stat sticks for C Vestra Sorcery Engineers: 7 mag, 10 avoid, 4 prot, 6 res The single best mage battalion, but also the tankiest C battalion Morfis Magic Corp: 5 mag, 2 prot, 5 res Alt mage battalion but you're better off running stride on the rest of the mages B Authority Endgame quality battalions really start at B, and actually make up most of the best ones. Many are better than A rank battalions Goneril Valkyries: 8 atk, 20 hit, 15 crit, 6 prot, 1 res second highest rated battalion, but 20 hit is probably not as good as some avoid (see A rank Cichol Wyvern) Galata Pegasus Co: 7 atk, 5 hit, 10 avoid, 5 prot, 6 res 2nd tankiest battalion, available at B Brigid Hunters: 4 atk, 10 crit, 20 avoid - might be the best for dodge tanks - 20 avoid, 10 crit Fraldarius Soldiers: 7 atk, 20 crit, 6 prot crit monster, although probably outclassed by Black Peg or Cichol wyvern Gautier: 6 atk, 20 avoid, 5 prot strong avoid option, but Brigid hunters trades 5 prot for 10 crit, which is probably worth it if dodge tanking Empire Elite Wyvern: 8 atk, 10 crit, 6 prot standard stats, probably the best buyable B Holy Knights of Seiros: 7 atk, 5 prot, 7 res Another very good one to buy at B, very tanky Duscur Heavy Soldiers: 8 atk, 5 hit, -15 avoid, 10 prot Golden Deer Calvary: 8 atk, 5 hit, -5 avoid, 7 prot, 2 res Leicester Mercs: 7 atk, 20 hit, 15 crit, 4 prot solid offensive choice Alliance Master Archers: 4 atk, 15 crit, 10 avoid,4 prot Gloucester Knights: 6 phys, 6 mag, 15 hit, 5 prot, 5 res A very well rounded choice Empire Holy Mag: 6 mag, 4 prot, 7 res probably the second strongest mage choice Hervring Prayer Troops: 7 mag, -10 avoid, 4 prot, 6 res Macuil Evil Repelling: 7 mag, 30 hit, 1 prot, 6 res A Authority Once you get to A, you actually don't pick up that many super strong ones Black Eagle Pegasus Co: 7 atk, 10 crit, 10 avoid, 5 prot, 7 res the highest rated battalion by my equation, thanks to the mix of offense and defense Cichol Wyvern Co: 7 atk, 15 hit, 15 crit, 5 avoid, 6 prot, 1 res similar to Goneril but trades some hit for avoid - probably a bit better Black Eagle Heavy Axes: 7 atk, 10 crit, -10 avoid, 8 prot, 2 res Golden Deer Calvary: 8 atk, 5 hit, -5 avoid, 7 prot, 2 res Indech Sword Fighters: 8 atk, 20 hit, 10 crit, 4 prot decent offensive choice but not super amazing Blue Lion mag: 7 mag, 5 hit, -10 avoid, 5 prot, 7 res outclassed by Empire Holy Mag at C To be honest, the rest of the A's, including Indech sword Fighters really, are not particularly standouts.

I do think she truly does want a better world - it's just she is damaged and wrong about the way she goes about creating that improved world.

I finished BL, BE (Edelgard), GD in that order Brief thoughts: I do think that we need...

This is why canto / stride is so OP - kill everything close player phase, then canto forward to kill more enemy phase

Features I'd want to see in a joint route: Game of Thrones, but done right: The three houses join together to defeat a powerful TWSITD (idk, they usurp Edelgard) but then go back to fighting each other - you can only choose one house to join again Alternating house maps: Like Radiant Dawn, you alternate which house / students you control for some of these maps (ala the different routes in RD) Byleth is missing: You don't get Byleth for these chapters (he's captured by TWSITD or something) To trigger the joint route: you need to get B support (highest possible pre time skip) with all 3 lords during your route Could be during Edelgard route, and instead of killing or protecting her, a third option is "Seek Answers"

If you want to be busted, use renown on authority. You keep your previous battalions so C authority for chapter 1 gives you access to 8+ atk from a lord battalion like Dimitri's or Claude's

I had ~6600 in both my NG+ runs (Hard Classic BL, Hard Classic Edegard, Hard Classic GD, now doing Church). I'm going all out this NG+ run though. Lysithea A, Death Blow/Fiendish Blow at level 1, C Authority (for lord battalions), etc. Gauntlets with Death Blow + King of Lions Corp = lulz

I did BL, BE, and GD and GD felt like the most "complete", other than doing my boy Dimitri dirty with his ending there. But it handles the other two lords in a sensible way and actually tackles TWSITD. The number of cutscenes it has post time skip is somewhat indicative of it getting a lot of attention/being fleshed out. I did love the deconstruction of the lord archetype in Dimitri's arc, but it ignored too much of the greater context to count. Edelgard's felt far too rushed and short for a path that was highlighted so much by the marketing.

Is there a significant benefit to going to Warlock instead of sticking as mage for fiendish blow? You don't get more move - just the promote for the defense boost on promotion, then swap back to mage to finish it off. Looks like Warlock is +2 mag/+1 speed compared to mage, which is nice, but you might as well stick it out a bit longer.

I think an interesting thing about recruiting in this game is that you don't necessarily even want to recruit some characters super early. E.g., recruiting Leonie later is fine because she'll still have upgrades in the proficiencies you want (bow/lance), will get pretty decent stats, and she does all this without any investment on your part. But a free Sylvain probably should put him up.

Ooh right. Yeah I personally didn't do it - I did use it to cut down on the maps but not to that extent.

Yeah Edelgard's perf is really used in her two final ones - I didn't personally do it, but you apparently you can save up the mat to one turn her penultimate map, then one turn the final map. It's pretty bonkers. As far as Hilda/Sylvain/Ferdinand go, I think for me the main differentiator is their passives. +2 atk/-2 damage on Sylvain, and +3 attack support on Hilda, are decently big early game, especially when you combine them with gauntlets and training weapons. Early game, your characters are close enough together that it makes a material difference. As for Flayn/Manuela, the only reason I have them where they are is because you can just have them be adjuncts and train them in faith only over time, and slot them in one big deploy maps or for special tactics as needed. Stride is what saves Flayn (and Manuela) - she's like a bootleg warp because you can stride her, move 9 spaces, and rescue. But yeah, she should probably go down since she isn't really getting deployed consistently. I could see them both dropping since they're just special tactics units. In both cases, it's really just their supplementary roles that make them stick out. Because you're basically only going to run 6-8 combat units top and the rest are going to be support/Lysithea. Hmm might need to try Catherine out more and just rush peg knight/lance, although then you still need to get her bows up for a 2 range option.

Tier list based on 3 playthroughs (BL, Edelgard, GD, all Hard/Classic, latter two were NG+). The NG+ can screw up the ratings a bit but I'll try to keep that in mind. One big driver is proficiencies - better proficiencies let you be more efficient in getting to your class reqs, which gives you more time to put into two key proficiencies: Authority and Bows. Close Counter and the crappiness of javelins/handaxes make bows insanely good in this game, and authority unlocks very good stats. The ability to get to upgrading authority quicker is basically like getting additional promotions, as you add on stats each time you get to better battalions. The other driver is the best classes are bow knight and wyvern lord, and it revolves around those two classes and supporting them. S+ Lords are the best, period. Great bases, great growths, 1.2 exp gained, good proficiencies. Free promotes (of varying quality) Edelgard: Arguably the strongest start, and she is busted late game thanks to her relic combat art when a wyvern lord. Dump stat boosts and crit into her and she can single handedly 1 turn multi-commander maps (or even her final one....) Claude: Just isn't quite as busted as Edelgard but is close thanks to a few unique attributes - has perfect affinities to take a bow knight path, then gets flying for free. Bows are good, he's good. Flying is good, he's good. Being able to swap between flying and bow knight? Pretty dope. His relic and combat art isn't as quite as good as Edelgard and she has a more busted endgame with Aymr, but I think he's overall stronger Dimitri: Solid proficiencies, but can struggle with speed - still makes for a very strong bow knight that can tank hard and deliver big hits. The fact you can't train him for a bit is a bit frustrating though, and is the main drawback to him - basically can't hit A flying with him in an acceptable amount of time. He just doesn't quite have the same wow-factor as Claude/Edelgard, but he is stupid strong. S Byleth: Very strong, of course, but he's a cut under the lords because without NG+, building proficiency in the best classes (bow knight, wyvern lord) is slow. Female Byleth is better for free Sylvain Lysithea: I'm just going to put her here because she makes warp so crazy strong. Warp at B, super high magic - and on top of this, incredible nuke. But it's more her warp that puts her here A+ Leonie: The perfect bow knight, with proficiencies and stats in the right spots. Incredible early game with min-maxed bases/growths (basically no mag/res) and a very strong, easy-to-use personal for that early game. Can rush authority early because of how perfect the proficiencies are and get a big stat boost to snowball even more. I have her above Petra because her early game is lord-level good - bulky, fast, hits hard. Could go peg/falcon knight, but I prefer a mix of bow knights/fliers. Notably, her proficiencies mean you can sort of take your time with recruiting her (and she's fairly easy to do so) and she'll arrive with the right stats, right proficiencies boosted, and leveled up without any investment. Like a mini-Shamir who doesn't fall off as hard. Petra: The perfect Wyvern Lord, with proficiencies and stats where it counts. A bit squishy so I found she can't dive with the lords/Byleth as well as Leonie and snowball as hard. Support: Lindhardt: Physic and warp, nuff said. Doesn't get warp as early, doesn't have the same ridiculous mag as Lysithea. What's nice is that for non-warp maps, you can stick him in as adjunct and help him get levels to keep the mag up though. Puts him a cut above in terms of usefulness. A Felix: Bonkers early game with gauntlets with his passive/crest. Solid bow knight later on, and Aegis+relic makes him surprisingly tanky. Which he needs because he's a bit papery otherwise. Low authority is what puts him down a tier - his personal gets outclassed very quickly but it's too much to raise authority significantly for a while. Still, you can at least put Jeralt's mercs on him for crit/avoid. Sylvain: Like Leonie, great passive and he can go the wyvern lord path well. Bow weakness is annoying given how good bows are and his stats aren't quite min-maxxed since he has a mage alter ego. Free with F!Byleth though. Ingrid: Struggles with strength, but speedy and wyvern path helps her strength out and lets her perform well. Here because flying proficiency and early pegasus is great. Support: Mercedes: Best healer thanks to Fortify and Physic, add on stride. Surprisingly decent combat. Dorothea: Mixed maged, with 2x meteor, early thoron, and physic - add on stride. Great flex character. B+/B Shamir: Insane when she joins (but a lil late) and she will fall off - will still contribute late though with crits and while she's peaking, she does a lot. Seteth: Quite late when he joins but he's a beast when you do. Can basically immediately contribute and will have huge strength and the lance rank to use brave lances, as his speed can be a bit behind. Basically an edelgard replacement during Church route, but not nearly as good. Ferdinand: Generic cavalier character, well set up to be a bow knight, but feels outclassed early on by other characters. Not bad but just doesn't have the right stuff going for him - great passive for late game, but getting there he's not particularly outstanding. Hilda: Strong in general, but her passive lends itself more to support, can struggle with hit early on - she actually ended up being my dancer in my GD run since she fell behind. Well set up to be a wyvern though Marianne: Physic automatically makes her a decent healer, but doesn't have the same package as Dorothea/Lin/Mercie C Dedue: Useful early game for tanking with his passive, but that's about it. Catherine: Yes she's really strong when she joins but she's a footlocked sword and that sucks - rather give her sword to someone else. Trying to get her on a mount takes a while given her join time, and then she still doesn't have a good 1-2 range option till you get bows up and running. Manuela: Later join, low mag, but still has warp and additional utility in silence, ward, and bolting. Only here because you might run her for some tactics rather than anyone C or below. Flayn: Here because rescue and to a lesser extent, Fortify. Bootleg warp with stride. Here for the special tactics. Hubert: Lysithea without the utility - good range on nuke spells, great dark knight. But with poor support options and footlocked for a while, fairly limited in usefulness once he starts falling behind Annette: A rallybot in a game where you don't really need a rally bot. Footlocked for a while, not a great spell list. Cyril: Not a terrible wyvern given how recruits/adjuncts work in this game Ashe: He's like Ignatz/Bernadetta but.....at least he steals? D Ignatz: He's just never going to really get rolling because he's made of paper and doesn't have much strength Lorenz: He faces the issue of jack of all trades, master of none. Yeah he has a pretty high growth total, but they're all mediocre. So he's mediocre Bernadetta: See Ignatz Raphael: A worse Dedue basically? Caspar: Mediocre, outclassed physical unit Hanneman: I guess he has a siege tome and decent spell list?... Alois: Slow, footlocked. Pass Gilbert: Fortress Knight? pass

Some of it does strike me as odd as to why they didn't add the option. The Dimitri/F!Byleth supports seem pretty much identical to the male ones, to the point I definitely felt like there were undertones of romance between M!Byleth and Dimitri. So why not just have it as an option at the end?

Iron Bows are busted - 5 weight, 7 might. Compare that to any other forged iron and it looks great - compare that to handaxes and javelins and it's kind of "lol" Close Counter at C makes getting C rank bows extremely valuable for 1-2 range. Even though archers/snipers outrange you later, it's still worth it for the ability to counter monsters and mages all game long.

Dodge tanking in HM in this game is pretty viable - most generic enemies top out at 115 (checking Claude's map). Usually endgame characters have 30-40 natural avoid from their speed. +10 avoid (Wyvern Lord) +10 evasion ring +15 battalion +10 prowess and you're at 75ish. Add in alert stance+ and some supports, and enemy hit rates are basically 0-10.