The Boonsman

I think it has less to do with the fact that Sol master Ninjas where insanely powerful and more likely that they didn't even get the soul of the Hero class when they added it to 3 houses. It feels like such an afterthought of a class. Sol tanking is absolutely not very viable in a lot of situations, even at the best of times simply because it's RNG based and very niche unless it comes without competition (Fates jumps to mind). As a combat art it probably has a little more versatility, but as a skill it struggles to really do much unless there's a guarantee it'll come out.

The next game needs better planted difficulties Hard is a little too easy to not just get stuck in the loop of not paying that much attention, and Maddening is a little too difficult at points to really get a fun experience out of with it's maps just not being very fun and requiring more Min/Max styles every playthrough. It needs more Variety, so having 4 difficulties, 3 above normal would help more. This is a must. Weapon Mastery Bonuses to come back / Weapon Triangle in general Weapon Triangle has always been important, giving the ability to have bonuses that can be canceled out at TWD alongside the weapon triangle effects makes combat a lot more consistently interesting. As it stands with 3 houses, I see a lot of players who play on Maddening go for breaker skills anyways to give them specific niches, so it's still wanted by fans. Have a lot of odd classes in the next game if there's a 3rd tier system If the games introduce the 3 class tier system, have some promotions branch into more unique, more interesting class promotions with specific niches. That was always one of the best parts of Awakening/Fates/3 houses where the unique class options and promotions you can sneak into. If the classes are fun to use, then odds are the game will be good with it. And if I had to bring back a mechanic from another game: Bring back Fates Pair up This is just a personal feeling but Fates Pair up is just the most fun way to get approach combat, with how many extra combat layers it adds. This isn't a must, but it could be interesting to see how it could be used.

The only issue is that it's be 130% HP restored if Byleth's, Claude's, or Balthus' Crests activated, leaving them restoring more HP then they did damage with. Draining Blow is pretty decent for finishing off enemies at least, but Nosferatu just isn't good unless your Byleth. I agree though they could use a buff.

As soon as a combat arts is the only correct choice, it stops becoming an interesting option and becomes strictly overpowered. The reason it's 50% is to keep in line with Draining Blow and Nos, to keep that 50% drainage, up to 80% with the right crest activations. Even if the attack isn't going to kill, it's still gonna do somewhere in the range of 20 damage (if your doing less then 20 damage, odds are the unit your using isn't strong enough to keep up with late game part 1 enemies, nevermind part 2) and 10 Extra HP can help you survive many attacks you otherwise wouldn't. This skill isn't made with it being the best choice every time, but it has it's uses. It's meant to keep a Hero stocked up on HP and to use that +20 hit to guaretnee kills. The difference was that it drained 100% of the damage dealt in that game. In Echoes, you only realistically did 10 or so damage with the Plentitude Skill when it's relevant in part 2 and in early part 3 if not upgraded. It was strictly for HP restoration because Swordfighters simply could double there against most foes.

It's actually even more insanely busted then +10. It's +20 Evasion, making it insanely good for dodge tanking and just breaking the game in part 2. Oh agreed. Edelgard's Extra power is significantly less useful then the other skills, it feels almost like a parody of what Dedue's has to offer.

Gain Vantage as a Class Skill upon Class Mastery when you are in the Mercenary class itself. This way it's so that every Mercenary in the game doesn't have Vantage when you fight them. It's not huge, but it should make staying in it while waiting for an Advanced class at least somewhat more rewarding. Well, the idea for it's stats is -5 Durability, +2 MT, +20 hit, and +10 crit. It's use comes in for crit kills, allowing you to slurp up easy kills if your already injured. Healing 20/30 health off a crit is good, and with Swords with high crit (Killing Edge, Wo Dao, Cursed Ashiya Sword, Sword of Moltra) alongside consistency makes it a not perfect, but still situationally useful combat art. At the very least it can't be any worse then Astra. This is very true, however it fixes one of the main issues of the class itself: only having Nos as a White Magic skill. Having in what my opinion is the better of the higher magic spells should at least not make it truely horrible and just a very niche choice if your fishing for Aura crit builds or something silly like that.

There's a lot of Underwhelming classes in this game, the more you look into it, the more classes seem to either lag behind or are never used because they just simply don't have anything to offer. I have a few small ideas on ways that this game can improve it's lesser classes, to make them more interesting and a little more diverse in class choice: -Beginner classes come with their mastery skill as their class skill, although you can still master a class like Myrmidon to grant you access to equipping speed +2 outside of this specific use. Like Transmute though, you can't have it equipped twice. To make up for this, each class has a small penalty to help balance the classes. -1 Defense for Myrmydon, -1 STR for Soldier, -1 SPD for Fighter, and -1 HP for Monk. -Mercenary has a slightly improved Skill growth and when you master Mercenary, you gain it as a class skill, but still allows you to equip it elsewhere if you leave the Mercenary. -Dark Mages, and by extent, Dark Bishops are significantly stronger when it comes to offenses then the standard mage, offering much higher magic growths and skill at the cost of some speed and lots of Charisma. -Hero has increases to Skill and Defense growths, on top of getting a Sol combat art, which can restore half the damage dealt to increase the survivability of the Hero class. -Instead of Terrain Resistance, Holy Knight grants Aura as a skill, gifting you the skill like Miasma does for a Dark Mage or Dark Bishop. -Enlightened one has x2 White magic uses one of it's natural skill slots to help with Byleth's natural proficiency with White Magic. -Finally, Mortal savant is given a massive increase to it's resistance growth to 15% and base increase of 4, to massively improve it's power against mages. These ideas slightly improve classes to help them aim for their goals better, but there's probably many ways to buff the less used classes. Anyone have any thoughts on how to improve on less useful classes?

When it comes to the Lord's Personal Skills, all of them sort of play a role into their class's role, and to a smaller extent personality. Imperial Liniage+ pairs well with a front-line tank, like an Armored lord (Paired with the fact that the class also gives a Res growth boost) at least makes some sense. Royal Liniage+ grants him that extra evasion, as if he can see the enemy's attack coming at him like it's nothing. This is probably the weakest one from a gameplay perspective but Dimitri's 5 years alone has probably granted him a keen eye for evasion, or at least better reflexes. Leister Liniage+ Gives pass, which fits well with somebody always planning Schemes and plans, improving Claude's tactical potential. It fits him personally as a character. Well, generally I think adding extra effects should be something of a rare addition. I think honing in on what made them have a unique niche and expanding on it should grant units more long-term longevity. As for Ashe and Caspar: Experienced Pickpocket: Unit can steal items if unit has higher Skill then Target. (Grants him a very unique niche, even on higher difficulties to Steal things if possible) War Cry: Enemies within two spaces suffer -10 Avoid. Sylvain can never have enough ladies around him, it seems. This just helps him be a little more open about his tastes, if that's even possible!

Personally, if we are gonna be giving upgrades to units personal skills, it should be one that improves their personal skill on a set line, as if they've mastered that defining trait of theirs into a real talent. Either by increasing the power, consistency, or utility of the skill on offer. A few examples running around in my head: Dorothea: Songstress+: Restore 15% of HP whenever allied units stand Adjacent to unit. Raphael: Goodie Basket+: Restores 10% of HP at the start of the turn. (Activation chances= LUK x 1.5) Annette: Perseverance+: Use "Rally" to give target +8 Attack and +2 Defense until next turn. Felix: Shield of Fraldarius: Gain +5 attack when Batallion Endurance is less then 1/3rd Sylvain: Philanderer+: Gain +2 Attack Dealt and -2 Damage taken with each female ally adjacent to unit (Same thing works with Leonie's personal) Just a few ideas to make skills better, but not overwhelming. Give em unique advantages and give a power boost to help into later sections of the game so everyone's personal skills don't just fully fade away.

A few things I think I can add, at least to add to the discussion involving Charlotte's potential Viability. Her offenses are among the highest for a Player Phase unit. Her HP is very high, a rarity with a lot of Fates units is the fact she can easily reach 50, potentially 60 HP with an 85% HP growth, 95% as a Berserker and very high STR, and SPD, alongside balanced SKL and LUK growths. Her main issues is getting proper hit rates early on, and her embarrassingly low defense stats. 5% Magic and a 2 base RES means that even Chapter 16 enemies will be doing roughly 30 damage to her in a single blow. No amount of Talismans will stop them, so it's best to keep her far from mages unless she has the dual club to help kill them with high hit rates. Gamble is simply not a weapon I think she does well with and should be put away until promotion into a Berserker, or just put away in general. The -10% hit rate cripples her chances to effectively obtain kills without missing and receiving punishing Physical (or worse, Magical) so it's recommended to give her a Bronze Axe to help with her hit rates, and an Iron Axe, forged if possible, to help her obtain regular kills or chip easily. For promotions, either one works very well: Berzerker keeps her doing what she does best, but raises her HP, STR, and SPD stats dramatically, at the cost of general reliability. Crits come very well into the picture and a Killer Axe and a Tomahawk can be great for getting rid of foes without having to get into harm's way. Hero grants her less offensives, at the benefit of increasing her hit rates, granting her the very useful Sol Skill, and gives her Sword rank to work on. Her STR Stat grows with a 75% growth, so she's fairly likely to still hit hard. an Iron Sword fixes her hit rate issues very reliably, following which a Hand Axe and Iron Axe can be great for range and weapon triangle coverage, and with SOL this makes her a reliable, helpful Hero with raw power at her disposal. She's a very solid Axe fighter, even if I do think she's one of the worse units Conquest gives you.

Hello there everyone, nice to meet you. I'm Boons. A general lurker of several years, I've been into FE since roughly 2013. The series means a lot to me personally and I enjoy having fun and discussing various things. Please note I'm perhaps a little awkward when it comes to speaking, so bear with me. My favorite games are Path of Radiance, Blazing Sword, Conquest, 3 houses, and Echoes. I hope I get to know everyone well!

If I had to make a general favorites for Each house/set, I'd have to go for: Black Eagles: Dorothea Blue Lions: Dimitri (Followed Closely by sylvain) Golden Deer: Lorenz (Followed Closely by Claude) Church: Manuella (Followed Closely by Seteth) It's odd, because I initially really Disliked Lorenz for the first half of my Golden deer Play-through, and was Rather indifferent to the Church members initially, but everyone seemed to win me over at some point. The Writing in 3 houses is strong, I hope they keep this quality writing for supports going forward.

Longtime lurker here, finally getting the nerve to start posting here in the forums after several years of just silent watching. I wanted to give some feedback in terms of the hack itself, even if I haven't fully beaten it after all this time. Overall, this is probably the best FE8 improvement hack I've seen in a while, it really does feel as if Sacred stones has been improved on in many ways, and also given new life, with the skills system, weapon balancing, new classes, items, and more. The only thing that's bothered me thus far is actually a little bit of reading into the skills system, specifically about Druid and Summoner skills. Druid gets Slow burn and Tome-breaker, while Summoner gets Anathema and Ignis. It's a little odd, due to Druid getting the more defensively based skills, and Summoner getting some very powerful offensive skills.