paladin21

I think that weapons in this game seem more unique than magic for two motives: classes and arts. Each weapon has its dedicated intermideate and advanced classes, while magic has a great variety of spells but since it's the character the one who defines the spell list (which means the element or elements the character gets), using a spell or another loses its meaning. In this game, I think there are like five elements in black magic, plus dark and white magic: Fire (Fire/Bolganone/Ragnarok): rather basic, plain spells, so they are the base in this comparative.Ragnarok is the strongest in its tier, however. Wind (Wind/Cutting Gale/Excalibur): slightly weaker, but higher precision and critical. Excalibur's effectiveness versus flying allows for niche use of the spell. Thunder (Thunder/Thoron/Bolting): slightly higher damage output and critical but lower accuracy. Bolting is a tactical spell with gambit support utility. Ice (Blizzard/Fimbulvetr): they trades accuracy for high critical chance. Lacks a mid tier spell. Characters that have spells from this element usually have other elements as fillers or have a mixed pool. Other (Sagittae/Meteor/Agnea's Arrow): they act as fillers, since they don't have similarities with each other. Dark: the additional effects they hold make them rather unique (debuffs, effectiveness, luna...). White (Nosferatu/Seraphim/Aura/Abraxas +healing & support): since characters aren't likely to get a wide variety of offensive spells in this element (most of them only learn Nosferatu), offensive white magic becomes almost invisible. Using Nosferatu is a sign of something not going right (if you use it, it means that your healer got hurt). In other threads, I've talked about the lack of specialization rewards. For instance, half of the cast can learn four arts of the same weapon type, but they can equip only three. You have to choose from positioning or damage in physical specialists, not happening that with magical specialist, who get their full offensive and deffensive spell pools AND space for arts. Adding specific classes for element types could benefit the variety of spells (separating white magic into offensive, deffensive and support/utility), with all basic mage classes learning the base spell of that element when mastered, but having it as a skill to be used. In order to avoid full-loading a character with spells, the arts slots would define full sets of available combat arts AND magic. So if you define Ferdinand's as [Lance/Axe/Movement], he'd have access to eight weapon arts and up to five movement arts, instead of just three of them. The same would apply to magic, either you choose to have a wide array of combat magic, or you get healing or utility. I think this way players would choose which magic suit better to given character based on the exclusive high level magic they'd learn in each element or the best combination. Any character could learn any of the first two tiers of spells (Fire/Elfire, Wind/Elwind...) by mastering its base and intermideate classes but, as stated above, only a few of them could be used. By this system, you could assign magic to non-magical classes (just like you use any non-gauntlet weapon with any class), but the spell count would be halved (like in commoner/noble).

Wow, the way you explain the battle is anime-epic. Congrats on your victory. My SS run was my first (so it was a blind noon-NG+), directly in HM, but I managed to train everyone. I had no casualties due a pavise/aegis activation on Lysithea on Rhea's retaliation because of the Thyrsus staff. I managed to break all her shields and beat her within two turns from that moment. My team was strong, with the original black eagles (paladin Ferdinand, war master Caspar, bishop Linhardt, dancer Dorothea, wyvern lord Petra and bow knight Bernadetta), aided by gremory Lysithea, gremory/bishop Flayn (I don't remember her class), bow knight Ashe, falcoknight Ingrid and dark knight Sylvain. Quite an expected team, but far from optimal when you saw their skills.

It's not just the amount of spells (or arts), but their quality, and character proficiencies should also factor in here. As an example you have Manuela, with a heavy utility white magic spells but not much attacking or healing, and Bolting as her most interesting choice, but with difficulty to learn it due to her bane in Reason. Then you have Annette, who has been named a beast as a Wyvern by quite a few people due to her Axe growth (to get use of the Bolt Axe) and her Lightning Axe art (her relic doesn't hurt either, but that's another story, the important thing is getting to use the Bolt Axe).However, she's ranked higher as a Mortal Savant due to her being able to use magic in this build. There was a very heated debate on this matter in another thread. Well, you just have to look at two classes in your lists: Brawler and Brigand. In most lists, there's a difference between the two of them favoring Brawler. However, most people would go Brigand. As a Brigand, you get Death Blow, which is enough to outclass Brawler in the intermediate tier. You also get a boost when learning brawling while fighting (smaller, but a boost is a boost). There's also the point of usability. It doesn't matter the growths if you're in a class that doesn't allow you to grow. That's the reason most people say that flying classes are broken. Not so much for the growths, but for the mobility and stat bonuses.

You can always give a bow, throwing axe or javelin to your grappler or warmaster to get a ranged option as well (and a physical one that'd suit them better). If you choose to give him a bow, you can easily learn Curved Shot to get up to 3 range to deal some damage to other units. As for other actions, you can always rely on movement arts to extend his movement or reposition another character to extend its reach or use a rally to boost another character, or even heal himself with Healing Focus. However, if he's far from the front lines, something's not going well with the strategy, as you'd better warp/reposition him so that he can reach the enemy. By the time you can use a War Monk, you should already have at least one dedicated support/healer with 10 uses of Physic, and possibly one or two back-up ones with high healing potential. Linhardt, Mercedes and Marianne are ready to take on the dedicated healer role, while Dorothea and Hapi can be back-up Physic users to cover the rest of the map, and Lysithea, Annette, Flayn and Constance can use short distance heals (and Flayn and Mercedes can both get Fortify as well for those times you're in a pinch with many units on low health). I agree that Avo+20 is better than Tomebreaker, but Fierce Iron Fist makes the Grappler a viable endgame class for males, while Pneuma Gale + magic doesn't offer much to a final class. Once you master War Monk, there's no real reason to stay as one, and you should move on either to Grappler or War Master.

Catherine has a very interesting build as a War Monk, since she learns two gauntlets arts that keep the brave effect gauntlets have, but with the added effect of a major crest of Charon, adding +5 damage per hit with a 70% activation rate. That can add +10 to damage when using either Nimble Combo or Bombard (on top of the art damage boost). It's quite a niche build, but the only way for her to get a Fistfaire class. Growth-wise, she'd be trading speed for HP and strength, and the use of her relic would be hampered by the lack of Sworfaire. Her starting brawling rank also reduces a lot the need for grinding, so that's a plus too. However, the war monk class is, by all means, inferior to either grappler or war master, since the former has an actally useful art (even though I hate the looks), and the latter has a great critical boost. I find having magic not interesting enough to be worth for any other regular character, since there are classes that would make their magic more powerful or last longer. Pneuma Gale isn't so useless as I thought, since it would be a 12-16 might spell that can't double (calculations below), but so would many low level spells, with the added benefit that you'd never run out of it (70 durability of training gauntlets is enough to cast it 23 times for 12 might. However, it can't match the offensive power of a pure magic class. Pneuma Gale base damage = art might (7) + War Monk fistfaire (5) + gauntlet might (0-4 for non-relics) The other classes have more utility overall than the War Monk. The Trickster can be used as a rescue/warp through walls or to reach chests/doors, while not being targeted by the enemy. It's mastered skill, Duelist Blow, can be useful with some units that require doubling the enemy but take great risks when counterattacked. The Dark Flyer is the magic wielding flying class many people was waiting for. Transmute is somewhat meh (you're not likely to be attacked by magic you can´t counter), but the mobility it adds to the magic user is great. The Valquirie is quite similar to the Dark Knight, but trading power for range. This allows the Valquirie to reach any enemy a DK could attack, but risking to receive no counter attack from the other side by outranging them. It's a trade-off that allows for a variety of strategies and tactics. Uncanny blow, while inferior to the archer's Hit+20, can be used effectively in certain player-phase builds (usually combined with Hit+20) for characters with low accuracy. Overall, I'd say my order for them would be as follows: Dark Flyer: Flying is OP. Valquirie: Extended range and useful Master Skill. Trickster: Somewhat useful master skill. War Monk: There are better options for whichever job you want the character to have.

You should pay attention to some supports that rise damage as well, like Byleth Edelgard and Flayn (the one from the route split you'll be missing can support Byleth for one extra damage if you want), and a few more (like Ingrid-Sylvain, if you leave them at B, it'll be two extra damage for the deployed unit). It doesn't happen with every support, but some of them has that extra boon.

Levin sword+ (a magic 1-3 range weapon) and steel sword+ (in case you want to use Hexblade art). She's way better using Black magic though, and she can as a dancer. You can use her personal relic, Luin, after the paralogue she shares with Dorothea. Just make sure to have her recruited before doing it or you'll lose it forever. You don't need everyone to be using legendary weapons or relics. Silver+ or Brave+ might work just as fine, and if you use arts a lot, high durability ones, like Steel+ are a good option as well. As a matter of fact, you won't even get sword or bow relics/legendary with your listed characters. The only sword relic you can get soon enough is the Blutgang, and you require Marianne during part two. For legendary weapons, you could get the Inexhaustible bow by recruiting Leonie (and doing her shared paralogue soon), or the Archanean Regalia by defeating monsters (you'll have to forge them with Mithril, though). Other powerful weapons include those of Zoltan, that you may come across here and there during your playthrough. However, like they say above, just use the regular iron/steel weapons if you see they're enough to secure a kill. They are easy to repair and, when using some arts, more than enough.

I meant east, you're right. That's the place I was thinking, but I wrote something else. In the map above, the vault would be the red part, and the staff dorms the yellow part, with the orange point just being the access to the staff gardens leading to their quarters. I don't know what would be the closed zones within the cathedral, but if had to guess, the north part of it would be filled with relics and such, with the vault being just an upgraded armoury of sorts.

The dormitories on the East side belong to the staff, since there's where you go during Flayn's dissappearance. I think they remain closed just because there are not enough characters to have people near every facility (the upper dorms are empty almost every month). The guarded gate to the west leads to the treasure vault, where there aren't many valuables as said by the guard during the chapter where you get the Sword of the Creator, so it made no sense to add it to the game. Another thing I noticed in the dormitories section is that there's one dormitory missing in the upper floor of the first building, just above Leonie's. I think they could've kept that room locked and be given later to Flayn once she becomes a student herself. As a noble, she'd belong to the upper floor and as a girl to the southern part (the only girl living in a dormitory to the north is Byleth if female). I think that would have make Flayn's immersion into the student life to look more realistic (and her room would be the farthest from Sylvain's to ease Seteth). Design-wise, I'd have added more stairs leading to the upper dorms, like between buildings, or at the male side of the dorms, leading up to Sylvain's.

While watching closefully to the Garreg Mach ingame design, I saw a mistake in the dormitories section. In the outdoors point of view, there are three separate buildings, while the indoors map of the upper floors depicts only one full building with three sections. That is, unless the second floor dormitories are in a different building, which is highly unlikely due to the cliff on the other side as seen in the artbook (and from Leonie's window). Something similar happens with the second floor of the same building, with both the library and the meeting room fitting nowhere in the outdoor layout. Both parts of the building would be place on thin air at the sides of the monastery. However, there's a great part of the second floor unused, so with some corridor rearrangement (making it go straight rather than around the other section), it could fit with the outdoors layout. Have you seen any other mismatches in the design of the Monastery, either within the gameplay area or in cutscenes and animated videos?

I used to have one or two in my teams... until 3H. The hero looks great, but is lacking something. I wish I could use the outfit in other classes as well. Since it always used to have shields, having some skill that increased shield protection would have been interesting, since it would have been the defensive swordsman.

And some supports for the existing cast, a few of them related to paralogue relations (Mercedes-Caspar, Ferdinand-Lysithea, Leonie-Lindhart) or existing relationship (Yuri-Ashe). Now that I've written it, I see that most of these characters already got more supports from the previous DLC. I also think that another addition could be raising the Ashen Wolves number to eight, just like any other class, with a member with the crest of Macuil (nonexistant at this moment), and crestless characters from nobility left aside by their families, that could pretty much bond with Sylvain. I'd also allow supports with characters that wouldn't be in your route during the first part of the game (like when you get supports with Edelgard and Flayn at the same time). It actually makes sense gameplaywise. The three leaders would get their own support conversations with each other. As for maps and gameplay content, I'd add another paralogue for every character. If they have one pre-timeskip, I'd add a post-timeskip one and viceversa. The ones I can think of are: Edelgard-Dimitri-Claude (pre-timeskip): If the have C support with each other, they make an invetigation in some part of the Abyss. Dorothea-X (post-timeskip): She escorts some performers from the Opera to safety. X tags along because he/she knows the terrain, has some interest there or something like that. But honestly, I don't expect this to happen. IS has wrapped this game totally, so no more content seems to be released in the future.

If you pass the Warlock exam upon reaching level 20, he'll get base magic 17 instantly. After that, leveling up as that would net you 23 magic (plus 3 if in Warlock class) on average by level 34 and 21 if you level up as a trickster. The point is that Sylvain benefits more from stat base fixing than regular level-ups. He gets 5-6 points of magic from class-changing, two of them when turning into a monk and the rest when turning into a Warlock. If you get 20+ by level 30 (without bonuses) without getting into warlock or dark bishop, you've been blessed in his stats.

I don't think it's a good build for him. To get use of his hidden talent, he'd be way better as a warlock or a dark Knight. I truly think that it's almost impossible to make a build for any character based on more than one evasion skill and even more difficult to make a mixed attacker. Since you can only load five skills on any character, you'd probably get one weapon prowess, either fiendish or death blow depending on the character, and some skills to further boost the character general gameplay, be it the chosen weapon critical/avoid/faire/range when available, the related breaker, some stat booster (from the beginners tier classes) or other situational class skills. If you load two avoid skills and two mutually exclusive skills (fiendish and death blow), you get a character that won't be nearly as useful as it could be. Is even worse since you'd have killed the chance of getting a useful dancer, since sword prowess v gives you as much avoid as sword avoid, but it boosts other stats as well. For me, Sylvain is good as a warmaster, paladin and wyvern lord, and if you want to use his hidden talent, either warlock or dark knight. If you want the over the top dodge tank, you should use Ferdinand instead, since his personal skill grants avoid at full hp (which his crest shield can replenish), has sword proficiency, and would use his magic less often (he is there to sword avoid anyone and everyone). For Ferdinand's sword avoid set, you'd have to use, sword avoid and sword prowess, and, if you want a player phase character, death and duelist blows, and maybe lifetaker if you make the detour. Of you want an enemy phase dodge tank, you should instead get alert stance (or better the upgraded version). Axebreaker can be used in either build.

You can easily reach Claude with a flying squad through the ocean, one of which can get an Aurora shield from the Pegasus knight that comes as a reinforcement. If you recruited Hilda, she can go as a wyvern, with Ingrid as a Falco. Byleth can join as either type, while Marianne, if recruited, can go as a Falco or dark flyer if the dlc is available. You can have the rest of the army rush to save the other green lady-lord and take on Arundel.

You can use it with anyone for the extended range. The crest determines additional things that happen to the user. Gloucester crest gives Pavise+Aegis, any other crest has no effect and no crest causes recoil damage to the user after combat.

I think battalions are a good add-in to the game. However, not every map was suitable for them (like Flayn's rescue) and limited actions with them made them feel too much like a trump card. I think that each character should have access to battalions depending totally on their class, separating physical, magical and hybrid; cavalry, flying and infantry; and melee and ranged. Then have each character learn some personal gambits that could only be used with certain battalions. That way you'd get a new layer of choices, like using the OP class or a slightly worse class with a more and more varied gambits. I think that adding these details would keep the personality of the characters for those who like that with a wider range of choices in each map, and the personalization capacity for those who like min-maxing.

The Gloucester boy I meant was Lorenz, not Lysithea. And you'll be facing him either way, so there's no reason not to get his relic if you want as many named enemies as possible in part 2.

Well, I have a few insights about this matter. As a matter of fact, that's how I would have made the game run. As an anime, it should run two seasons, before and after the timeskip. Paralogues would fill the story as needed to deepen characterisation. White Clouds: It would be mostly as in the game. There would be just a few changes to merge the few differences in the routes. Paralogues during this part can be arranged with little to no problem, so there's flexibility as to where to put them. Byleth would start as a regular professor not tied to any class, with Jeritza being the head of the Black Eagles. During this time, Byleth would join the Lions' missions, while the other two classes would have missions related to their homelands. Byleth would have regular contact with all three leaders. As a result, all of them would agree to a meeting five years later. After Jeritza's leave, Byleth would take care of the Eagles, making him get closer to Edelgard. Byleth's choices would lead to oppose Edelgard despite the sexual tension between them. Interlude (OVAs about the beginning of the war). Each OVA would center on three/four characters and the reasons they go one way or another. That would further explain how each character reacts to the war, aligning with Edelgard, against her or by staying neutral. While not enough to make a full season, there's quite enough material to act as a bridge between both seasons. Dimitri and Dedue trying to survive the coup would be fitting for an OVA, as it'd be an entrance for Cornelia. It's final scene would show several soldiers fleeing in terror with a one-eyed shadow killing them all. Hilda and Claude would be deepening their relationship, trying to reduce the tensions with Almyra, while there's unrest within the Alliance. Lorenz and Ashe aligning with the Empire or Caspar and Ferdinand leaving it could make for good OVAs as well. Silver Snow/Azure Moon/Verdant Wind: This story would be a merge of all three of them, with some differences. I'll fit the paralogues Upon his awakening, Byleth would meet Edelgard first, having their confrontation. Afterwards, he'd meet Claude and then Dimitri, surrounded by the bandits that roamed around, while investigating. All the students would appear at the monastery, but many of them would leave with a saddened face. After the reunion, Byleth and Claude part ways. With Claude would leave all the Alliance students but Marianne, and Ferdinand would join the Resistance as well. It makes sense for Ferdinand to be more hurt than any other Eagle with Edelgard, thus being more likely to leave. Dimitri leaves after the attack on the Monastery (in disgust for not being allowed to torture prisoners, with Felix as the only Lionto be left behind due to a rift with Dimitri). Caspar and Lindhart would arrive shortly after (Caspar didn't join before to get Lindhart from the capital). Caspar and Lindhart have to be in the Resistance to activate the paralogues, so their stories tie in better with them leaving the Empire. Caspar and Mercedes would face the Death Knight, while being close to the Monastery. Byleth recruits Ashe and Lorenz after defeating them in their respective battles (the volcano and Myrdinn). While not directly participating in Gronder, Byleth and co. would go there in time to see Rodrigue be killed and having Felix avenge his father (instead of Byleth). Among the survivors, they find Bernardeta and Petra and take them in. They both join as well as Dimitri and the Blue Lions and the rest of the Golden Deer (Claude and Hilda go their way). After taking back Fhirdiad and Arianrhod with Dimitri, they start spreading troops to infiltrate the Empire. This allows for Lindhart and Leonie to do their paralogue since they're close to it as well. While Dimitri heads to Derdriu with the main army, Byleth would go with a swift strike team to Briggid to retake it and start the infiltration of the Empire from all routes. Using those contacts, Balthus and Hapi would infiltrate Enbarr with Byleth and retrieve the gauntlets. Joining Dimitri again, they retake Derdriu and recruit Claude and Hilda. Somehow Arundel manages to escape and feigns his own death. There, they would be approached by the man that blames Marianne for her curse, and they'd go to clean her name. With the army finally complete, they'd take on Fort Merceus, where Jeritza dies after saving them from the bombardment. Right before, Ferdinand and Lysithea would search for his father's whereabouts. In Enbarr, Dorothea would be evacuating the Opera, and joining the Army as a non-combatant until after fighting Edelgard. By this time, all the other BE students would have been recruited, so instead of them, their parents would appear in battle. Edelgard would face Byleth in her final battle, falling at his hands. This would make Byleth cry for second time. They'd go on to fight TWSITD underground, and the Elites when the former are beaten. Rhea gets damaged by Nemesis during the battles, as well as the proyectile attacks earlier on. The aftermath would leave Byleth single, since his true feeling were for Edelgard, which would make Rhea feel even more resourceful. A couple of changes could turn this into a golden route: Hubert could survive and confess everything about TWSITD after Enbarr's fall and Byleth's strike on Edelgard could be a non-lethal blow. After the war, Edelgard would go into seclusion to atone, with Hubert following her to upkeep his vow in serving her. Byleth would marry her in secret and visit her often without witnesses, while reforming the church, and eventually leave Fodland with her (and Hubert, of course).

Recruit Gloucester boy (I never remember his name) to get Thyrsus. He will appear as an enemy regardless.

Maybe he had a few chosen at the beginning of the war but he thought they were lost to history as well, but your reasons make full sense as well.

Paralogues and optional battles are allowed, but any character (including Byleth) can only participate in one per week. Effectively, you can only do one paralogue per week. Everybody must be recruited and at least level 30 by endgame. Battalions and adjutants must match character's movement (no horses to infantry, no infantry to horses).

I'd like to know more about Ernest (Anna's Crest namegiver). The mystery behind the other four crests lost to history was solved in dlc 4, but the origin of the Crest of Ernest is still unknown. I'd also want some Macuil Crest bearer. It's the only crest no one has far, and it could introduce some interesting things. The main problem would be the abyss connection, since the dlcs would being to different passes, and they shouldn't be directly connected (Macuil's bearer wouldn't be an abyss dweller). In the cosmetics department, being able to choose any mastered class' looks as the battle outfit would be great. I'd definitively use the hero's looks when using some armor-wearing classes. I'd also make outfits that match a certain movement, to override all the models of that same movement. For example, Ingrid's Pegasus attire would be used as falco and dark flyer, and Leonie's paladin outfit would be used as any rider class (specially bow knight, which is sort of her "personal" master class). I'd also make students versions of the staff, and Flayn and Seteth would receive a battle outfit resembling their saint statues.

In Azure Moon and Silver Snow you can wait and kill him yourself.

I just checked it, and now I don't know where I got my stock of arcane crystals pre-timeskip. I had quite a few of them along three Levin swords. Actually, this run was a wild one. For a while I had Annette as a tank and Mercedes as a sniper while Dedue, Felix and Dimitri were doing the magic job as dark mages/bishops. I thought hard mode was the difficulty for it, since if some combinations didn't work at this level, they wouldn't be viable at maddening. Annette and Mercedes performed wonders there (Mercedes as an Archer sniper with the magic bow worked great at range 4). The boys on the other hand... they were pretty good using weapons (as mages), and at some point they could deal some magic damage. Weight was no issue for them though.