Dual Dragons

I'd honestly agree with your list at least for GD (and BL recruitment units), with Byleth going between S and A+ because their bases really matter in the early game. I think A+ considers the long game while S considers how difficult the early game is. I think F!Byleth could stand to put Sylvain before Ingrid. I didn't wait to recruit him but he was still helpful to the GD for being a Level 3 complementary tank to Leonie and benefiting from Hilda's Advocate. He doesn't get Darting Blow but he has pretty good EP tanking stats barring bad crits. He has proficiencies in two weapon types for decent Breakers and Wyvern Lord. Oh and Swift Strikes. Amazing combat art. Still, the rest of your list is good so I'll concede to putting him behind Ingrid. The greatest sin of your list is somehow Claude is the only one not using his post-timeskip portrait.

Chapter 13 was easy for me with the following failsafes I did, this being GD: - In-House Dancer Ignatz. Sniper might be fine but I'd rather have Byleth attack twice than Byleth and Ignatz attacking. - Lorenz was trained. Yes, this was a pain; yes, I'd rather not train him. He had enough Magic to actually one-round with a Magic Staff or not. As an example, he had enough magic to kill the Assassin on the healing tile nearby with just Caduceus Staff + one of his stronger tomes. And yeah, thanks to being trained, he had Authority to use a high-ranked Magic Battalion to further contribute to damage (+2 from personal). Just to avoid headaches here, it was worth for me to raise this joke of a unit who at best could chip against Resistance or at least Heal. - Byleth with Brave Lance+ and Swordbreaker as a Wyvern Rider. It might be doable without Swordbreaker but any Braves (maybe not Axe because I think some enemies have Axebreaker) really will help you. You can forge for one with Wootz Steel, and I got all mine through paralogues or story missions. - Claude with Brave Bow in the convoy in case Swordbreaker Byleth didn't work out. His Attack could be an issue but, theoretically, he gets +7 damage if Byleth has B support and Linked Attack (+5 from Bowfaire). I didn't set this up but Hilda has a proficiency for Lances to also do Brave Lance + Swordbreaker for her, if needed. If Leonie and Hilda are fliers, they can skip their section to eventually help the north. Ignatz and Lorenz need help. Oh yeah, and to state how mad I was for this plan, I hardly used any faculty. Shamir for two maps. Nobody else was used except when forced. I was fully dedicated. This map sucks, lol.

Please don’t tell me you’re going for Sheena’s Treasure Hunter or Lloyd’s Midlife Crisis. I absolutely hate those. Since this thread got resurrected after Maddening came out... Is Sylvain still good as a unit? Yeah... I’d say so. I’m going Golden Deer, non-NG+. After the fallout known as the Mock Battle Massacre (10 AS Dimitri this early in the game is a nightmare in of itself), Sylvain gets auto-leveled to 3 if you recruit him right away as F!Byleth. This is actually a pretty good boon because EXP gets cut (supposedly) around half. He’s that much closer to Beginner promo. He’s likely to take a massive beating from all the high AS enemies now in Maddening. Philanderer is now way more important to master. Even with Hilda backing him up for +5 damage, he couldn’t kill the soldiers from the mandatory auxiliary battle despite doubling them. They’re that strong now! Him mastering Commoner by the time of Beginner promo is likely. God, and now Charm is important in this mode. Enemies have high Charm, making Gambits way harder to land. 40% growth with a 7 base is decent. You can spam Tea Time to raise his and Byleth’s Charm. An early Byleth birthday gives you the Charm accessory. If he gets lucky, he can become a good Gambit user. You’re going to need someone like that. To sum up: he’s been carrying me as a frontliner thanks to his support with Hilda and being a decent Gambit user. This is my appreciation for him tanking everything while someone like Ignatz is crying bloody murder in the corner.

Yep! I definitely noticed that too. You can't let that slip by if Tales of Symphonia is your favorite JRPG. God, if Tales of Symphonia wasn't such a long game, I'd easily recommend it to anyone who's even remotely interested in a Sylvain as a plot character.

What I was trying to say in my original post but I love being analytical on what I find the most interesting (his bad qualities) vs. the whole product, haha.

Well, yeah, Sylvain is undeniably an asshole. He has his moments of being kind but in no way does that excuse his behavior--and the game doesn't excuse his behavior either. Everyone--including himself--calls him out for it. It's that awareness by himself while also not stopping his actions that's both terrible and sad about him. Sylvain is the Fire Emblem Zelos Wilder. They both are (socially) self-destructive people with an skewed perspective of life, using horrible defensive and coping mechanisms to deal with their problems, and generally have terrible ways of expressing themselves without resorting to a, "Ahhhh, I was just joking," attitude. It's a not a 1:1 ratio; they have their own awful ways of treating others. They're tragic people... but tragedy should not make the player forget the malicious intents Sylvain and Zelos had in their actions. Really, I think this is why I love the Byleth support. Not just for the insight on his character, but we are given choices to call him a jerk, to highlight his actions, or to be more understanding by questioning who he really is. What we lack are choices where we feel sorry for him, which would mean to me we are willing to wave his issues and now he's completely absolved of his past actions. If Sylvain took a page out of Zelos's book, Zelos hated people feeling sorry for him, mainly because he didn't know how to handle people showing genuine care for him. He would rather joke about it and have the person be annoyed with him than feel sorry and care for him. It was mentioned before about the B supports. I personally love this design. It reminds me of the Tales of Symphonia affection system. Zelos is one of the hardest--if not the hardest--characters to max affection for on a first playthrough. You really need to work hard for him to like you. I could ramble on about why I think the Sylvain and Zelos gameplay-integration is fantastic but that would be an extremely long post. All in all, having it where Sylvain can only have a few paired endings speaks loads about him. Definite potential for discourse over why the developers decided Sylvain could only pair with the few given.

"Self-destructive and then the good sweet boy" tier: A tier: B tier: Everyone after Alois are okay or varying levels of annoying.

I don't know what's more sad: that we keep getting multipliers on Team Gaius, or that every time we get a multiplier it doesn't get close to Corrin's score. I was on Team Gaius since he was the only summer unit I had but dang. Oh well. Least made it to the final round.

Kill Level 40 Lloyd with Sharena and beat GHB with Sharena: Sanaki (Axebreaker 3), Sanaki, Camus, Sharena Kill Level 40 Lloyd with Lloyd and beat Lunatic with Lloyd: Camus, Ninian, Minerva, Lloyd Infernal: Sanaki (Axebreaker 3), Reinhardt, Ninian, Minerva First net gain of Feathers. Didn't need to do inheritance specifically for Infernal.

Ah, I see! I just figured any defensive bane is better for Nino, whether that's HP, Defense, or Resistance. I consider myself lucky with that nature for a low budget player. And I'll take it over my +HP/-Res and +HP/-Spd Ninos, haha.

I figured as such. And true, Red Tomes aren't as popular. Darn shame about Berkut. At least there's that survival against Reinhardt, haha.

Who's the "she" we're talking about?

Finally got a Summer unit! It's Gaius! +Def/-Spd ... Oh well. At least it's not +HP/-Atk or something like that. I think my +Spd/-Res Jeorge would be slightly better than Summer Gaius if he were 5*. Hey, though, I just wanted a Summer unit for the novelty. Now I can stop pulling in Summer banner! Notable summons in the banner: +Def/-Spd Summer Gaius +Spd/-Def Lucina - first Lucina and a character I kind of like +Atk/-Res 5* Abel - good nature +Def/-Atk 5* Roy - 5* mention +Atk/-Def 4* Nowi - my first ever Nowi +Spd/-Res 4* Catria - solid nature, first pulled Catria +Atk/-HP 3* Nino - solid nature, if not perfect Lachesis(es?) - I think it was my first time getting her? Setsunas - first time getting her I got a lot of training to do!

What I like about Infernal GHBs is helping me clear out some of my roster. I got lazy with Heroes and only now did Infernal Berkut (and grinded Tempest all day yesterday for Phantom Speed, ugh). And I was even lazier to try to come up with combinations so I used Ventus's video. I had to give Nino Defiant Attack 1 and Palla Attack +3 due to their natures. Might attempt it with my own strategy if I feel bothered enough. I just need to start playing again, haha. So... he's supposed to be a Res Cav without the actual Res? And a situational one at that. A shame that he's only just above Jeigan in the inheritance tier list. Looks like IS didn't want free units from Echoes to be good.

I concentrated so hard on getting rid of Flier, Armor, and Horse quests that my Infantry quest is single digit still. XD Main units for each quest: Armor: 4* Zephiel, 4* neutral Draug, 4* +HP/-Res Gwendolyn, 4* +HP/-Atk Gwendolyn, 4* +HP/-Res Sheena Flier: 5* +Def/-Spd Minerva, 5* +Spd/-HP Camilla, 4* +Res/-Atk Palla, 4* neutral Narcian, 4* neutral Subaki Horse: 5* +Atk/-Spd Reinhardt, 5* neutral Camus, 4* +Atk/-Res Cecilia, 4* +Def/-Res Gunter Occasionally would switch to other units, but these were consistent.

Still no Summer units. Now I have one good nature Nino (+Spd/-HP). 3* but not fussy over Feathers. The other Ninos are +HP/-Res and +HP/-Spd. First pulled Catria. Decent actually! +Spd/-Res is probably one of the best ones for her. Rebecca continues my trend of +Atk/-Spd units. Notable pulls in Summer banner: +Spd/-Def Lucina (first one) another 5* Roy +Spd/-HP 3* Nino +Spd/-Res 4* Catria (first pulled) Nowi (first one) Setsuna (first one) Lachesis (two; hadn't pulled her before)

Nothing major for my score because I have to use 4* Legion as a good enough bonus. Only thing of note is that I finally am getting more than one defense win again after... not getting defense wins for two weeks. Both Olivia leaders. The defense bonus is still Legion, but I guess I'm winning more since giving Ninian Triangle Adept 2 (still getting SP for TA3). Offense of 4,754 in tier 19 is rank 7,896. Hopefully someday I'll see tier 20 just to see what it's like. After that, I don't care if I never get there again, haha.

My surprise when he could actually survive something on enemy phase. Granted, defense tile. Still good enough!

My final match-up was Celica, Gordin, Abel, Fir, and Tharja. Team: Ryoma, Ninian, Reinhardt, Tharja. Let's say people died by a lot of lightning bolts. I would have had a perfect run first time, but my x1.4 bonus unit is Boey and he's not fully trained or 5*. I'll just do the "surrender with bonus and switch to best team" approach. I'll suffer minor points each time that will stack up, but there's no way my Boey will be built more optimally with Tempest Trials sapping the stamina. I would have made him a physical tank (+Def/-Res) with Gronnraven, Bonfire, Reciprocal Aid to couple with the Renewal he comes with. A niche healer of sorts. Tharja's more consistent as a healer, however. Even if it means I need to position her and the ally properly. My Boey is scared.

Infernal's done after one Stamina Potion. I had to tinker a little with skills and replaced one unit from my original line-up. Team: (all Level 40 and 5*) +Atk/-Spd Reinhardt, +Atk/-Spd Ninian, +Res/-Def Sanaki, +Spd/-HP Camilla Skills: Reinhardt - Dire Thunder, Reposition, Moonbow, Attack +3, Wings of Mercy 3, Spur Attack 2, Attack +1 (seal) Ninian - Light Breath+, Dance, Triangle Adept 2, Wings of Mercy 2, Hone Attack 3, Speed +1 (seal) Sanaki - Cymbeline, Harsh Command, Triangle Adept 1, Axebreaker 3, Hone Attack 3 Camilla - Brave Axe+, Draconic Aura, Darting Blow 3, Savage Blow 3 Original line-up had Minerva. She had to be replaced to manipulate AI in my favor. 1) Buff Sanaki. Place her in range of Green Tome. Ninian surrounded with Camilla to her left. 2) Even though Ardent Sacrifice Flier "heals" the Green Tome, leave Sanaki there and don't attack. Have Camilla move to Sanaki's east via Dance. Move Reinhardt out of possible attack range. 3) [why Minerva had to be switched] Flier "heals" Green Tome. With Minerva, she "heals" Blue Lance Cavalier, shifting her so Blue Tome Cavalier can take a shot at Minerva. Now with Camilla, Flier is blocking the way for Camilla to be killed. 4) Have Camilla kill the Blue Lance Cavalier in a safe spot. Sanaki kills the Flier. Ninian dances Sanaki. Sanaki moves east. Reinhardt is adjacent to Ninian. 5) Ninian dances Camilla so she can reach the Blue Tome Cavalier now moving west. Reinhardt repositions Ninian to safety. Have Sanaki moves towards the group without being in range of Celica or Alm. This lets her damage the Green Tome but can't kill due to the defense tile. 6) Have Reinhardt kill the Green Tome. Dance him to safety. Camilla and Sanaki out of range. 7) Reinhardt buffed can kill Alm and Celica as long as they aren't on defense tiles. Have him and Ninian work together to kill the two. 8) Done!

Squad Assault (all Level 40), with relevant SI mentioned: Map 1: (all 4*) Subaki, Soren, Ursula, Narcian Map 2: 5* Camus (Bonfire), 4* Olivia, 4* Gwendolyn, 4* Xander Map 3: 5* M!Robin (Swordbreaker 3), 4* Gunter (Hone Cavalry), 4* Cecilia, 4* Sully Map 4: (all 5*) Sharena, Sanaki (Axebreaker 3), Bridal Lyn (Hone Attack 3), Tharja Map 5: (all 5*) Ninian, Reinhardt, Ryoma, Camilla Soren wasn't needed. Ursula only hurried up the map. Could have been easily done with just Subaki and Narcian. Bridal Lyn didn't do much except Hone Attack buff. Greatest difficulty was in Map 3. Cecilia doesn't have TA of any level and can't kill the Archer even after Hone Cav and softened up by Camus. I swapped Camus and M!Robin and that worked out.

Just saw your post. Sorry for not seeing! And apparently about the same for me and Astellius's Est. XD I did get your rep quite a bit though! @Astellius Haha, maybe. If you didn't, however, that'd just be funny. XD

I don't know how it happened but I never got her. :( In the final round, there was this one Minerva that kept showing up and someone's Celica. I just wonder now how statistically probable was it that I would never get your Est. I never heard if someone got my Reinhardt. Them's the breaks!

>pulls remaining Red for discount 3 Orbs: 5* Roy >pulls remaining Red for discount 3 Orbs: Lucina *all from Summer banner, mind you Okay, game, I know I should learned from the OTHER time this happened (curse you, M!Corrin!) but come on. You're drowning me in 5* Reds. Well, so, now I have real!Lucina. +Spd/-Def. I think that's decent. It didn't hit her Attack. +Spd will officially make her the fastest unit in my roster (previously, +Spd Marth and +Spd Bride Lyn tied at 37). GOTTA GO FAST. I think the real funny thing is that my 5* Marth and Lucina share the exact same nature. Lucina's pull session was preceded by pulling all 3*s (though, it was the first time I got Setsuna). Wasn't expecting anything out of the Red. Like maybe fodder or something... If I don't manage to get any of the summer units, guess I'll be happy I got Lucina and finally got my first Nowi (+Atk/-Def). Pay off for not spending Orbs on Mystery?

I was thinking of spending flags just so the multiplier wouldn't come so soon, yeah. Was hoping that I would finally be in a Gauntlet where I won all three rounds, haha.