Dustylou2

...somehow, I never noticed that she can cross the river. Still, with her hideous durability, there's no way in hell she could survive the crossing. Her rapier has like 5 uses left too, so she's stuck ~4 shotting stuff with iron or not doubling the important stuff with steel. Even the Dragonshield wouldn't help that much.

Chapters 5-7. Looking back, I see several places I could have done better in (cough5cough), but meh. Ch. 5: The Empire's Reach 11/43 Eirika fetched the Dragonshield, while Garcia and Franz went up to the boss. Mercs make annoying walls to break through when one of your two available fighters is an axe user. Joshua crits Franz, but he survives regardless. I struggled north, until Garcia 2HKO'd Saar. Ch. 5x: Unbroken Heart 10/53 Orson got held up a few times, due to having no other units beside the rescued Ephraim. The final EP was stressful when Ephraim got hit by all 3 magic users near the throne, but he lived on with 2 hp. No treasure obtained. Ch. 6: Victims of War 7/60 This chapter, I swear. Garcia goes in through the middle, while Franz looped around the north side. Eir and Natasha went south to hide, because Eirika's durability is embarassing. The boss went down to two hits from Garcia. Ch. 7: Waterside Renvall 9/69 No flier or Ross, so I have to take the long way. Franz couldn't afford to constantly carry Eirika due to the enemies, so she had to walk some of the way. Garcia is being a total boss, with great physical durability, and he somehow didn't miss any sword users during the whole chapter (Franz, on the other hand, missed two 84s on an archer...). Stats: Name Level Hp Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res Eirika 11.76 22 6 13 15 9 4 7 Franz 16.46 34 12 12 16 7 9 7 Garcia 16.82 38 15 10 8 10 10 4 Natasha 2.45 19 2 4 8 7 2 7

Since the preparations screen shop only sells basic weapons, I don't see why you couldn't use it, since otherwise, it would just take a little longer going from place to place buying them. EDIT: Chapters 3 and 4. Ch. 3: The Bandits of Borgo 8/24 Garcia and Franz team up to bust through walls and Eirika moves forward. Tried several times, and 8 was the best I could manage. Besides, I was inclined to keep this run due to Garcia gaining speed! Ch. 4: Ancient Horrors 8/32 Franz and Eirika charged south while Garcia stayed in the north. Bosskill went to Eirika. Stats: Eirika: Lv. 8.83; Hp 20, Str 5, Skl 11, Spd 12, Lck 7, Def 4, Res 5 Franz: Lv. 9.33; Hp 28, Str 9, Skl 9, Spd 11, Lck 5 , Def 8, Res 3 Garcia: Lv. 7.09; Hp 31, Str 10, Skl 8, Spd 8, Lck 4, Def 6, Res 1

Prologue: The Fall of Renais 4/4 Bleh. Ch. 1: Escape! 5/9 Better. Had to reset several times due to Eirika faceblocking. The map ended in a rout. Ch. 2: The Protected 7/16 Garcia joins after an epic series of misses with the archer and brigand, on the final turn. I missed the elixir village, but got the pure water and gem. Franz killed Bone. Stats: All my hate, code tags... Name Level Hp Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res Eirika 6.04 20 5 10 12 6 4 3 Franz 4.60 23 9 5 10 3 7 2 Garcia 4.00 28 8 7 7 3 5 1

-Pre-Run Team Analysis- -Eirika: Meh, she's decent, but swordlock and low strength is obnoxious. -Ephraim: Now this is more like it. However, I plan on going Eirika route, so he'll get less screentime. -Franz: In theory, he may turn out to be my best unit overall. However, he and I have had some... bad experiences in the past (18/7 with 11-ish Str, WTH), but lets put that aside for now. Great availability, great move, great stats. -Tana: A good flier, she joins moderately early, and has good growths with decent bases. More importantly, she can rescue anyone on my team before promotion, only missing promoted Garcia and Dozla. Not as good as Vanessa, but still solid. -Rennac: No more lockpicks needed. He spares a character for grabbing goodies, meaning more people can actually be fighting, and he doesn't get one-shotted. -Natasha: Yay staves! She can eventually get a (7 Move) horse, and she joins early enough to pump up her D Staves, meaning potential warping shenanigans, along with the basic healing, etc. -Garcia: Here's where things get less good. Nice strength, and joins in Chapter 2. He can chip accurately by stealing his son's axe, or less so with his own; he helps with early routs; and eventually can become a hero. Garm will likely be needed to stay even with the others. -Knoll: Whoop de doo, I have phantoms. -Dozla: See Garcia, but joins later and has water-and-peak walk. Better than a lot of the other options left though. -Myrrh: 50 attacks from a 6-move, late joining flier. Enjoy while it lasts. -Orson: Ephraim's personal Taxi. -Overall: Pretty good. I have 2.5 mounted units, a flier, and I have potential wielders for 3 holy weapons come endgame. Earlygame shouldn't be too painful, thanks to Franz and Garcia.

Knoll and Dozla.

Good point, this is FE8. Re-editing.

Natasha, the other early staffer; Garcia, so the Ch. 4 rout isn't so annoying. EDIT: As a side note, I math-failed, so the final, undrafted character will be unavailable.

Tana and Rennac.

And with that, the draft begins! I'll start the festivities with a first-pick Franz. Please gain strength this time, man!

I'm liking the psychological strain idea, and it would explain why GBA dark magic weighs so freaking much past the basic Flux tome. Imagine those animations bulldozing your brain, and you can see why doubling with, say, Gleipnir can be a tall order.