Mavi251

I second this. I would legit pay money for cosmetic DLC to have that ponytail + glasses in combat classes rather than the pay to win stuff we have now . The hat on the horse for MK is also cool. Also Lapis has the best drip in the game

Enemies that aren't defeated in one round are returned to full HP after combat.

I wouldn't stress it too much. If she didn't turn out too well I'd replace her with someone else. Personally I play on fixed mode and usually hand her one of the energy drops; she always has as least decent strength. She also holds on to the Erika Emblem since her speed allows her to double and quad non swordmasters/sword griffins consistently and capitalize on the true damage from Lunar/Eclipse Brace. Other units like Kagetsu, Roy!Alear and friends usually can collect KOs without Erika and trained bow units will generally be able to knock down fliers without her as well. Personally I hate chapter 20 and warp skip it turn one every time. If you're not doing that then use AOE Illume on Engaged Micaiah turn one and it'll make the map way less frustrating. You can even use a strong physical unit with Engaged Sigurd to run up remove Griss' first health bar (he's slow and defensively weak) and force him to retreat to the top of the map and stay there. To my knowledge Griss will always spawn near the starting area so AOE illume will always reveal him turn one. The only things really worth getting are the Rescue staff in the chest directly west of the boss terrain tile at the top of the map and the entrap staff (worst case you can just Silence the entrap staff guy or just warp a unit there, drop the entrap staff guy, then rescue unit you used back to safety). I wouldn't stress about the treasure and just play the map conventionally and/or safely if you need to. Its uses aren't immediately obvious. You can do some pretty creative stuff like using it to force an enemy/enemies to attack at two range (potentially creating situations where enemies body block each other and cannot make multiple attacks), using it to create artificial funnels or choke points so that one or two strong units backed up by Bonded Shield/Chain Guard can 2HKO multiple enemies 100% safely on enemy phase for multiple turns while pushing forward (this alone effectively negates the need for dedicated defense tanks like Louis). You can break up enemy formations, allowing you to stagger/delay the approach of specific enemies when luring out groups of foes. When paired with the other options in this game, like the fire dragon vain, other emblem effects, etc. you can easily turn a lot of situations that were otherwise dangerous into easily manageable ones without useful resources like Freeze/Silence (which can miss) or spending Engage turns that you may otherwise want to hold onto. I think it's OP because it is 1) super useful in every non warp skipped map, 2) cheaply replaceable and widely distributable, 3) it has 1-10 range so units that may have otherwise been sitting back can meaningfully contribute (or just use canter for more movement) and 4) anyone with any staff rank can use it. It's not flashy but it gets the job done map after map and is pretty underrated imho.

Hmm. Am I the only one that finds Levin Sword Griffins underwhelming? I don't think they've got the raw magic to keep up. I will say that I enjoy using characters with natural staff proficiency as B rank staff fliers, though. Yeah I agree here. Chloe is the only one I use as a combat Griffin but I might give Wyvern a try on her. Perhaps a midgame reclass would be good once she's capitalized on the speed growth. I used Clanne as a Mageknight on my first blind playthrough on hard mode. It was pretty fun but nothing too amazing. I haven't bothered trying Dire-Thunder Sage Citrinne yet, I'll do that one next.

I am kind of torn on whether I prefer MageKnight or Sage. I think I am leaning towards MageKnight but I'd like to hear what some people think. MageKnight - Better movement (6 vs. 5 on Sage) - Better Speed (better base speed and slightly better growth) - Access to the Levin Sword which can be obtained & forged early. It allows magic units to break axe enemies and avoid breaks from fist users which can be situationally useful - Better build - Chaos Style (+3 speed when initiating on player phase) is one of, if not the best class skill in the game Sage - Access to staves like Obstruct (it's broken, inexpensive, and becomes unlimited in the shop), Warp, Re-wrap, Rescue, Pandero has A-Rank staves on Sage for Fortify which can be used to quickly recharge engage meter - Obstruct staff + Canter can be used to add 2 movement if you're not attacking, that gives Sage a 7 move option to MageKnight's 6. Though MK doesn't need to commit to a staff action for 6 move - Mystical bonus for access to Flame Dragon Vain on Emblem Corrin and the ability to bypass terrain evade bonuses (I find this to be minimally useful in practice. Most bosses move/aren't on terrain. You don't fight a lot of enemies that make use of terrain. The late game bosses that are on terrain can be gimped/warp skipped with Engage attacks) - S-rank tomes for Nova. I think this is a small point at best since you get it so late and weapon rank bonuses don't exist in this game - Sages gain access to Thrysus on Byleth. Personally I don't stick Byleth on my magic combat units but I know there are people who get good use out of it - Citrinne and Pandreo won't need to gain sword proficiency and can promote/reclass directly into Sage, saving bond points/resources - Spell Harmony is there but honestly it is pretty bad/not worth deliberately stacking - Slight base magic/magic growth lead. Overall I feel that it is better to go all in on magic offense with MageKnight since it has better speed/build and Chaos Style. I think it's easier just to bring dedicated staff users but perhaps I'm missing something. My opinion on this will probably change as time goes on. Let me know what y'all think.

Yup. Engage attacks also bypass those effects. A good tip for chapter 20 is to use Micaiah to AOE Illume turn one. Griss is usually there as he likes to spawn in the starting area. Have someone with Sigurd (my choice is brave sword/forged weapon Kagetsu) pull up and bonk him turn 1. Griss is pretty weak defensively. If you remove his first HP bar then he'll retreat to the top of the map and stay there. That'll simplify the map greatly (if you're not choosing to just warp skip it in one turn). Edit for grammar

Agreed on this one. I think they're mostly fine, less Skill Emblem we have to deal with the better. The only thing I'd change with how some of them work is perhaps to standardize their effect range to 3 squares, along with support bonuses.

I get that. I honestly don't find myself bothering but DP+ can be good failsafe for Hortensia entrap/freeze strats late game. Adding 50% with another 20-30 percent from her good luck pairs well with Staff Mastery for near guaranteed status staff hits late game. I don't find that combat units have hit rate issues if you give them good engraves/forges, though (except maybe late-game Ivy depending on the forge/weapon).

RD early game can be hard. I identified that in my post. An experienced player not streaming (managing a stream while playing makes everything harder, not to mention the nerves) won't have major trouble with it if they come in with a plan. Saying "some people have trouble with x map/section" is true for every fire emblem game and isn't too helpful without more context to be honest. I stand by this. Rutger is arguably the most over-rated unit in the entire franchise. He's amazing but far from the only viable boss slayer. Supported Lance/Alan (mostly Lance for the higher base speed) also dunk on every single chapter post Chapter 8 when promoted as he/they are the only reliable 1-2 range users you get (except a trained Milady). People just overly rely on Rutger as a crutch and haven't bothered to look into other options. They overfeed him and then get mad when their 6 move sword locked unit can't no diff the latter half of the game. FE6 enemies are bulky and hit hard but by no means are they on the level of FE12/Awakening/Three Houses or even Fates (except Rev's bulky as heck promoted enemies). It's easy enough to get at least double B rank supports with Lance/Alan/Roy before chapter 10 whilst also completing every map in around 15 turns or less (except chapter 8 because that map is huge). All it takes is some good positioning and rescue dropping which you'll require regardless if you want to make it through the game's huge maps in an orderly fashion. Other units like Shin, Echidna, Milady, Percival, trained Lugh, and even a trained Fir can dispose of bosses without too much trouble, especially if you go Illa. The only bosses who posses anything like a serious challenge are Henning, the boss of chapter 8x, and Gel on Sacae chapter 19. Literally every other boss in this game is a pushover and are the easiest parts of their respective maps. Edit: I will also include the boss of Sacae chapter 18 in this list.* I'm not gonna argue on Engage's fliers anymore to be honest. They're dangerous but no so much so that you effectively require a dedicated bow user like you do with armours and mage. Are bows strong? Of course. Is bringing a natural bow user required to not pull your hair out dealing with fliers in this game? Of course not. You say you don't want to send 3 guys for one enemy flier but their stats aren't much different than the enemy infantry users until again, like I've been saying, the very late game. You're making it sound like we're fighting Wyverns in early game FE12 H4 or late game Falcons in Silver Snow but we're not. Let's take Chapter 16 as an example. The reinforcement Griffins have 42 HP and 17 Def. The Heroes have 45 HP and 20 def. The non promoted units and non promoted fliers are even weaker. They're annoying but not *that* dangerous. Let's try Chapter 18. The Griffins have 48 HP, 24 speed, 17 def, 27 Res. The Wyverns have 56 HP, 20 speed, 23 def, 8 Res. The Heroes have 51 HP, 25 speed, 21 def, 14 Res. The Berserkers have 64 HP, 21 speed, 17 def, 11 Res. If you have units to take out the grounded infantry then those same units can slay the fliers, especially using effective weapons like the wind sword on Erika, Falchion from Lucina, Wyrmslayer, Lyn emblem engage attack and her bows, wind magic, etc. It's not that bad, man.

If you can get past the Dawn Brigade section of FE10 then I honestly think the game becomes yours to lose. You get sooo many powerful units that don't need a lot, or any investment that run roughshod over enemies. The Laguz Royals, Ragnell Ike, Early game Sothe, etc. I don't think FE6 is *that* hard. The first 13 chapters can be a pain but like most FE games the difficultly is front loaded. If you clear the first half then you're mostly good to go, especially if you go to Ilia route which is the easiest section of the game. The only hard (annoying) map post chapter 14 in FE6 I'd say is Sacae chapter 20BX. Chapter 21's reinforcements can be avoided by not triggering them and using fliers. Chapter 21X is basically free whether you choose to warp skip it or not. Chapter 22 is also free provided you have a semi-decent team. The last maps after that are basically a race the finish and pose no real challenge. Outside of chapters 4, 7, 10B/11A (both routes) 14 (if you're not familiar with the enemy positions), Sacae 20BX and perhaps Sacae 19 (if you're not prepared for Gel) pose any real challenge. The game really shows its* age despite being my favourite and the title I've played the most. Perhaps I'm projecting my experience onto my assessment and this conversation. Also it's not like the fliers in Engage are immune or heavily resist non-bow damage. You can just fight them normally. While the enemies certainly aren't trivial in Engage Maddening, during the latter half of the run I'd say the only map where enemy fliers significantly threaten you AND cannot otherwise be easily avoided is the boat map, Chapter 18. Dealing with fliers in the game is not like dealing with enemy armoured units who basically require magic/effective damage to dispose of them quickly. This isn't the case with bows and fliers. I think you're overestimating their threat level. While most units can't tank more than two hits you still have so many options to deal with them that simply don't exist in most other games. Chain guards, Bonded Shield, Obstruct staff to block off routes and/or create artificial funnels/chokepoints, freeze/silence staves, Corrin's dreadful aura and dragon vain, Ike to tank, Goddess Dance to go all in, etc. It's just a matter of bringing the right tools for the job if you ask me. I get what you're saying though. I wouldn't class FE10 or FE6 as being free but there're not *that* bad either. Edit: Spelling*

The only game I think is unfriendly to Ironman is Three Houses, especially on Silver Snow. Also, I wouldn't describe 15 turns as fast in this game as most maps can be completed relatively safely in 10-12 turns or less in my experience and what I've seen people post. But I concede the point, the list may aim to do too much. I'll keep that in mind for future reference Most of those options require Engaging but the fliers you fight in this game are not numerous (except chapter 13) or frequent. Many also come as non-ambush reinforcements on some maps. It's not hard to deal with them as any of your physical combat wyverns will likely be able to just fight them straight up. Again, it's not until the very late game that enemy fliers are super powerful (and have crazy high avoid). The Mozu/early game Conquest stuff could be it's own topic and I stand by my opinion on bow users in Engage so I'll just concede and move past it here since it's not the point of the thread.

Yeah I originally wanted to place Vander lower but he's a fairly bulky guy that can stand in if you need him during the early game, bench him if you don't. Gotta give him some credit for that. Though he's no FE6 Marcus, that's for sure. I also think that between Micaiah's AOE Healing and Marth's Mercurius, EXP is not so tight that you need to worry about the odd KO here or there are going to someone you aren't using long term.* Edit: Formatting

I respectfully disagree. I don't think there is a clash at all. We will try to keep everyone alive but people can die. We want to play through the game but also want to avoid just sitting in a corner and safely stalling out every map 'cause it's boring, hence the 15 turn recommendation. It's more of a rule of thumb rather than a hard rule that I also think is kind of generous since this game's maps are mostly pretty small and tightly constructed. I think the natural bow users in this game are either bad or mediocre. There are no Mozus or FE10 Shinons in this game. I specifically made the comparison to FE6 and 3H to* highlight that the fliers aren't as comparatively lethal as they can be in those two games. The Griffin/Wyvern knights aren't so strong that bows are required, you have the tools to fight them (staff users, Lyn emblem, Parthia from Lucina, etc) or just ignore/skip them like any other enemy type on shorter/warp-skippable maps. The Griffins have more mid level defense and can be dealt with fairly easily, it's not until the last 3 or so chapters where the enemy fliers start getting really strong that forged bows become the best option. By then it probably won't matter since the tools you have at the point to fight anything are numerous if you're not just Micaiah/Covert Astra Storm skipping the maps. Edit: Added a word/line for clarity*.

It's exactly that. Doing many of the paralogues early is kind of dangerous since the enemies are numerous and the bosses are strong (most of them). Most of the maps feature nasty reinforcements, as well. By the time you're able to clear/skip them easily, usually after Chapter 19 when you get Micaiah back, you probably won't need their bonuses/unlocks. It'd be fine in a reset/Draconic Time Crystal playthrough, but in an Ironman I wouldn't chance it if it doesn't add a lot to the late game and is relatively easy/safe to get like Lunar/Eclipse Brace+ with Seiglinde or high level Staff Mastery.

Nah. I don't find it to be worth doing. Nothing his expanded skill lists gives is worth it in my opinion and Ragnell is kinda bad despite being a 1-2 physical sword you can get in the mid-game. Resolve+ (Bond Lv. 18) is pretty good but I don't find myself needing more defense to clear the mid-end game. You can of course use Ike offensively to dive but I rarely find myself needing it.