magnetic_cactus

Academy clothes for Byleth.

Will try this out as soon as I get home, but I wonder - can anyone give us updates on what Maddening has changed, or is it exactly like the datamined version?

For your units, yes.

I disagree that IS really understands how powerful MOV is. If they did, you would not see units like Wyvern Lords be given not just high MOV but also high offensive and defense power. The bow weakness is inapplicable to all but the most casual of players because of the presence of divine pulse, the fact archers cannot fight back in melee, and the fact that all flying (and mounted) units have not just Canto to escape but free dismount. Late game classes should be based around 5 MOV. +1 MOV should provide major drawbacks - less damage, less survivability, less utility. -1 MOV should provide major benefits - higher damage, higher survivability, higher utility. Units like Fortress Knights, which are low damage (won't be doubling) and low MOV should be essentially unkillable, with skills like "cannot be doubled by enemies regardless of AS", and have high utility, with skills like "dealing damage to the enemy prevents them from moving for a turn". Units like Wyvern Lords, which are high damage (good bonus/growths on Str and Spd, axefaire) and high MOV should be super frail (Avo -10, not +10; what were they thinking?) and provide next to no utility beyond their MOV, while Falcon Knights can retain the avoid-tanking at the expense of damage.

True Ironman: Save lost, too bad. This is the best way to implement Ironman and is what, by definition, Ironman is meant to be. Soft Ironman: MC cannot "die" but instead retreats. Can be re-used next map. MC "death" is simply not a lose condition. If you want, you can attach penalties to this (money loss, XP loss, another unit sacrificed, etc.). In terms of "objectives failed" moments, such as a character you need to defend being killed, you simply have to design the game around the possibility of players failing to achieve those goals. At its simplest, you block players from receiving rewards, but advance the story as necessary (perhaps the NPC you were meant to protect is depicted as injured in the next cutscene but the story can otherwise progress as needed, minus the rewards you'd get, for example); in a more complex, branching game you could have the storyline adapt to accommodate at least some of these fail states.

I suspect some of the characters discussed in this thread will be made available in DLC, with partial route lock. Possibilities:

Bans Banned Classes: Pegasus Knight, Wyvern Rider, Wyvern Lord, Falcon Knight, Wyvern Master, Barbarossa, Bow Knight. Banned Items: Chest Keys, Door Keys, concoctions, elixirs, stat boosting items, Thyrsus. Banned Battalions: All battalions that provide non-attacking gambits. Restrictions Paladin is allowed, but must dismount at the start of battle and can not remount. Classes may only use weapons in which they are proficient. Direct heal magic (Heal, Recover, Physic, Fortify) may only be used by "Healer" classes (Commoner/Noble, Priest, Bishop, Holy Knight and Enlightened One). If NG+, renown may be spent only on support raising (for purposes of month 1 recruiting) and statues.

I could see it. The Dancer class Sword Avo skill would also do a little to help with the fact you're dropping a relatively squishy character on the front lines (although I think an MS-caster should be played cautiously anyway, and works fine without worry of being blown up in that capacity; it's just not a good LTC class then).

FWIW, I believe Mortal Savant technically out damages Gremory for a Marianne and Dorothea when it comes to spell damage because Black Tomefaire offsets the the higher Mag bonus Gremories get. It's pretty minimal (+2 I think) but it's there. You also gain +1 move and Swordfaire for Hexblade/Soulblade-boosted Rapiers against cavalry or crit-"casting" Wo Dao+/Cursed Ashikaya Sword+ or whatever, I guess, although obviously all of this comes at the expense of somewhat weaker growth rates, needing to cross-level Sword, and loss of x2 casts. I'm not saying Mortal Savant is a great class, because it it isn't, but it's probably a little bit better than literally pure meme, at least on paper. I'd never run it on a Lys, but I could see a Dorothea or Marianne MS for shits and giggles not being a total self-gimp.

I don't think the game really portrays LA as significantly weaker than the other two nations; more decentralized than disunited, and militarily still quite competent. There is a more mercantile approach to the LA (in the GD route, there's a few merchant who mention that the LA is better for business), although that can just as easily be interpreted as a reference to the real life Hansa. Classifying the LA as the Italy also ignores the Almyran/Mongolian conflict, which is a central focus of the LA's characterization and Claude's and Hilda's stories, and doesn't work as well geographically. I suppose you could argue that in the Italian context it may be reflective of Moorish invasion of Sicily or similar, but the scale doesn't seem to match, and the cavalry association with Almyra isn't then reflected. But ultimately since it's a fantasy, I think some elements of other areas were included in creating each locale, so it does not surprise me that others see different things than I do (the devs probably very likely looked at both of these places in creating the LA). The HRE was SUBSTANTIALLY more decentralized than Adrestia is; Edelgarde is portrayed essentially as a complete sovereign. You are correct that there was an uprising which neutered her father's effective authority, orchestrated by nobility, but I see this as reflective of the power struggles that characterized Byzantine politics (Doukas, anyone?). The HRE also did not claim to be a continuation of Rome in the same way that Byzantium did; until its collapse, Byzantines literally called themselves Roman and held themselves out 100% not as a successor state to Rome but as literally Rome itself; a few HRE emperors paid lip service to the idea that the authority of the Roman empire had been by papal decree conferred to them, but this was nowhere near the same (in fact Russian Tsars made a similar claim, which was taken about as seriously, with respect to the movement of Roman authority following the collapse of Byzantium). The conflict between Byzantium and Rome (the city) was also worlds more serious (in fact, the HRE was essentially responsible for the creation of the Papal States through land gifts) - see the Great Schism, the Fourth Crusade (and the subsequent creation of the Latin Empire), etc. ERE seems to also match better geographically (right down to the (somewhat enlarged) Bosporus separating the "Greece" part of Adrestia from Morfis). But again, I grant you that there are obvious non-ERE influences here, including HRE influences, such as Edelgarde's design and Germanic sounding name and some of the imperial stylings, such as the black eagle (actually more reflective of the Kaiserreich than HRE, in my opinion). I don't think I over-focused on geography. Most of my post discussed flavor in the context of real life history and political dealings. If anything, I think over-focus on things like names and colors is the oversimplified approach. In reality, I suspect that the devs took inspiration from many places in many ways - for example, taking the history and geography of one place, and overlaying place names and such of another. In this regard I think I can get on board with the idea that, for example, Adrestia is politically the ERE (Byzantium) but culturally the Kaiserreich/German Empire pre WWI (not really HRE). Edit: For what it's worth, I doubt the devs had a professor of history, or even a college history major, fact checking or providing advice when they created Fodlan, so I acknowledge fully that some of what I see may be a function of overanalysis. It's entirely possible that, for example, Adrestia is meant to just be "Yet Another Autocratic German-like", without specific reference to any historical, or at least non-modern, time frame - an amalgamated entity combining elements of the Nazi regime with its pre-Weimer predecessor, I suppose, in the same way that laypeople probably internally characterize WWI era Germany - and its numerous similarities to ERE are entirely coincidental (wouldn't surprise me; I'm not sure how much the average person knows, or even cares, about medieval history outside of pop-TV like Vikings or Last Kingdom). When you're a hammer, though, everything looks like a nail. Edit 2: Don't get me wrong, I suspect many people in this thread know their stuff; I'm just not entirely sure IS deserves quite that much credit. They couldn't even balance Wyvern Lord! 🙂

I don't know why I can't edit my last post, it's spitting a weird error, so sorry for the double post. Just wanted to note that Morfis probably corresponds, at least in shape and location, to Turkey (probably Seljuk or possibly Ottoman - we don't know much about this place either).

Looking at the map in this way more would seem, to the surprise of noone, to confirm that Fodlan is indeed based on medieval Europe. Adrestian Empire: Rome (specifically, the Eastern Roman Empire under Justinian, aka "the Byzantine Empire"). A once continent-spanning empire to which the other main nations owe their genesis. It is still wealthy and powerful, steeped in tradition, but it is a shadow of its former glory and its influence over the continent has waned. The current Emperor seeks to reacquire lost territory through warfare. Its capital, Enbarr, seems to be located on a pseudo-peninsula that corresponds roughly to Athens, Greece in location and design, an obfuscated analog to Constantinople. The antagonistic relationship between it and the Church may be an analog to the Great Schism and division between Eastern Orthodox Christianity (headed essentially by the Emperor of the ERE, here Edelgarde) and Western Roman Catholic Christianity (headed by an independent and powerful Pope, here Rhea). Leicester Alliance: Holy Roman Empire. Like the real life HRE, this is not really a unified empire/nation but more a coalition of individually strong landed nobles who owe nominal allegiance to a suzerain elected from among themselves. The fact that not all nobility is invited to vote on the next leader of the Alliance reflects the fact that only certain counts/dukes were afforded elector status in the HRE. It has dealings with Almyra at its farthest eastern reaches, mirroring the Mongolian incursions of the later middle ages. The mountains that circumscribe much of its territory may be an analog to the Alps. Faerghus: Francia (specifically, the Carolignian Empire at its greatest extent, somewhat prior to the Treaty of Verdun, but not including Aquitaine (which shows up in game as Oche, Hevring and Fodlan's Fangs (Fodlan's Fangs being the Pyrenees), all of which are under ERE/Adrestian control). A large composite nation located in what was once the Western reaches of the Adrestian Empire. It is closely tied to the Church, mirroring the close ties between the Frankish Kingdom and the Catholic Church (see the practice of crowning Frankish kings, like Charlemagne). The Leicester Alliance essentially split off from it, just as the HRE (as Francia Orientalis, later Germany) "split" from the Carolignian Empire (with the "true" successor state being Francia Occidentalis, later France). Albinea: England. We don't know much about this place, but it's location relative to the mainland and its name (essentially Albion, aka Great Britain) can't be ignored. Almyra: The Mongolian Hordes (specifically, a composite between the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate, circa 1350). "Outsiders" that are seen as intrinsically warlike, they worship different gods, have a darker complexion, and seem poised to invade the Leicester Alliance. Claude's design, and especially his concept art, seems to reflect an Islamic motif (the Mongols by 1350 had converted to Islam), and Cyril's post-timeskip portrait seems to be based on a Mongolian horse archer; further, both Claude and Cyril lend themselves naturally to a horse archer role, with Claude even having a unique horse (technically wyvern, because it's fantasy) archer class. Brigid: Muslim Spain and Morocco (specifically, the Umayyad Caliphate circa 1100). Like Almyra, Brigid worships its own gods, and the people are of generally darker complexion. It's geographically located where Spain and Morocco would be (albeit in the form of islands). In Three Houses, it has recently lost a war to the Adrestian Empire (reflecting Justinian's successful western conquests, although in our world those would not have coincided with the the Umayyad Caliphate's existence but rather Visigothic Spain). Sreng: Scandinavia (specifically, the various pre-Christian chiefdoms/petty kingdoms circa 800). We don't know really anything about this place. Seems to me they just took the "cold wasteland" concept of a pre-Christian Scandinavia and inverted it to a "hot wasteland" concept. Garreg Mach: Rome (specifically the Papal States, now known as the Vatican). An independent theocracy that exerts great influence over the ostensibly secular politics of the continent. Almost every native Fodlan believes its teachings, and otherwise powerful lords may cowtow to the "requests" of Rhea (the Pope), or at least seek her favor. It is at odds with the Adrestian Empire, reflecting the Catholic/Orthodox Great Schism, and its detractors decry it as suppressing information for its own gain, while its proponents laud the relative stability it provides (at least until now) to the continent.

One thing I don't believe you mentioned were the stat bonuses/maluses, which are separate from base stats. Hero: 3 HP, 2 Str, 2 Spd, 1 Lck, 1 Def. Swordmaster: 1 HP, 2 Str, 1 Dex, 4 Spd, 1 Def. Assassin: 3 Dex, 5 Spd, 1 Lck. Mortal Savant: 1 HP, 1 Str, 2 Mag, 1 Dex, 1 Spd, 2 Def, 2 Res. I think in at least the above regard, Hero and Swordmaster are not so bad, probably being at least on par with Assassin and clearly superior to Mortal Savant. That said, I think all of the sword classes you listed need a buff, not just Hero and Swordmaster, especially when you consider we don't really have sword Master Class equivalents (Mortal Savant is more of an alternate class). Here's some quick thoughts that'd it'd be great to see, although I'm sure we'll never see them since a balance patch is almost certainly never happening: Hero: +2 bonus HP, +2 bonus Str, +3 bonus Def, +5 HP growth, +5 Def growth, +5 Res growth, add ability Sol (Passive: Dex% chance to heal for half damage dealt). Swordmaster: +4 bonus Str, +1 bonus Dex, +1 bonus Def, +5 Str growth, improve Astra to 5*0.5 at -5 Durability. Assassin: +2 bonus Str, +1 bonus Dex, change Stealth to Magekiller (Passive: Hit/Avo +20 when using any weapon vs. tomes). Mortal Savant: +2 bonus Mag, +10 Spd growth. Because Hero, Swordmaster and Assassin are Advanced, not Master, Classes, I don't think increasing their move further is appropriate. I think, to address the move inequities between infantry and cavalry/fliers, the better approach would be to reduce the 8 move mounted and flying units to 7 move and remove Canto entirely from flying units (and nerf their Spd growths by 10 while we're at it). I also think if we see the above buffs, Fortress Knight deserves some love as well. Anyway, as it stands, I do agree that Assassin is probably the best Swordfaire class, provided you have decent base Str growth on the character in question and/or had good Str levels on the way up. It and Mortal Savant are both perfectly viable endgame classes (although, of course, inferior to something like a Wyvern Lord). Swordmaster is hamstrung by its poor movement, but it's still situationally powerful on certain small maps, and incredibly strong in the mid-game (at least insofar as it comes attached to Catherine). Hero is probably a "nope," especially since Vantage is just not needed, even on Hard, and if you REALLY want it, you can lift it from Mercenary in the Intermediate Classes on the way up.

Meh, I have to disagree. The game is really easy on Hard, arguably one of the easier FEs. And partly because of how easy Avo is to obtain in a game with low hit enemies, even on a non-grind run (wouldn't call it LTC, but I did next to zero non story battles and did not go out of my way to obtain mastery skills), I had no issues at all with Felix's survivability as a Swordmaster, including, for example, 1v3 enemy phase scenarios. In the few circumstances where I truly overextended, I could always use another character to snipe one of his would-be attackers, rescue him, dance-in a backup unit, etc; at some point about halfway through the difficulty just doesn't keep pace with your options. Perhaps there are a handful of corner cases where range+canto might have enabled a substantially riskier play (with a commensurately higher reward), but missing out on these handful of *maybe* 1-turn timesaves is, in my opinion anyway, essentially inconsequential in the grand scheme of a non-LTC game. Of course, like I hinted above, obvious misclasses (or, although not mentioned above, doing plainly stupid things like running a full team of Lance-using Bishops), will clearly hamstring you. But playing reasonably and catering sufficiently, even if not exclusively, to your units' general strengths should be more than enough in almost every circumstance.

Nice. Sylvain is a very flexible character (and that's actually saying quite a bit, since this game is already full of flexibility). Will be a fun topic.

To be honest, outside the context of reliable LTC runs, I think a lot of characters have, after putting aside obvious misclasses (e.g. Bishop Felix) many multiple classes that are roughly equal in this department. For example, running Swordmaster Felix instead of Warmaster Felix, or vice versa, will probably be of no real consequence in terms of how "hard" the game is, as both Felixes will mostly annihilate enemies with little risk to themselves. This is even true of more gimmicky comparisons, such as Mortal Savant Dorothea (with Levin+) vs. Gremory Dorothea. The game simply isn't hard enough where a few points of Str or Mag or whatever, or the extra move, will appreciably alter your experience (again, outside the context of reliable LTC). And frankly, if your goal is LTC, you really just need a Dancer, a Wyvern Lord, a Stride-user and a Warper to essentially cheese half the game anyway, so who really cares even then? Not saying the thread/poll has no merit, just offering my 2c, especially given the fact that this thread has become a little heated over the last few pages (but really, I think that just boils down to different ideas regarding what makes a unit "good"/"optimal").

I suspect the DLC classes they add, if they add any at all, will be master classes, or master class equivalents, meaning they won't add any intermediate or advanced classes despite how needed a few such gap-fillers might be (e.g., no Advanced Pegasus Knight). With that in mind: Trueblade - Sword S. Swordfaire, Sword Crit +10, Terrain Resistance, Astra+ (Mastery Skill - Combat Art, 5*0.5, 5 durability, sword, Trueblade only). Can use regular Astra. 6 move. Stalker - Sword A, Bow A. Swordfaire, Locktouch, Bow Range +2, Shadowstep (Mastery Skill - Combat Art, teleport adjacent to enemy and attack as normal, 3 range, 5 durability, sword, Stalker only). Can use Hunter's Volley and Assassinate. 6 move + quasi-Terrain Resistance (same thing Assassin has now - not slowed by trees, etc.). General - Axe A, Heavy Armor A. Axefaire, Weight -5, Intimidation Aura (reduces all stats aside from HP and Cha of adjacent enemies by 10%), Shield Bash (Mastery Skill - Passive, guaranteed follow-up if shield is equipped, damage scales with shield's Prt value, effective against armor, General only). Counts as an armor unit. 5 move. Berserker - Axe S. Axefaire, Axe Crit +10, Berserker Impulse (increases Str by 1 for every 5% max health this unit is missing), Enrage (Mastery Skill - Combat Art, reduces this unit's own HP by 75% (but not below 1 HP), 0 durability, any weapon, Berserker only). 6 move. Crusader - Lance A, Faith A. Lancefaire, Lance Crit +10, Zeal (when casting offensive white magic, this unit gains bonus Mag equal to Str/3), Holy Strike (Mastery Skill - Combat Art, adds 2 damage to attack for every rank in Faith above D (so 2 at D+, 4 at C, and so on to a max of 18 at S+) and prevents follow-up attacks, effective against dragons and beasts, 8 durability, lance, Crusader only). Can use white magic only. 6 move. Dark Apostle - Axe B, Reason S, Male only. Servitutem (Dark Magic Spell, 16 might, 1-4 range, 14 weight, 2 uses, cannot double, prevents follow-up attack; animation is raising a skeleton that fights for, and takes damage in place of, this unit, then falls apart at the end of the battle), Sanguinus (Dark Magic Spell, Physic-style range, 2 uses, damages target ally for 10% of their max HP to fully restore this unit's HP, cannot reduce target ally's HP below 1), Fiendish Blow, Silentium (Mastery Skill - Dark Magic Spell, deals heavy damage to enemy based on enemy's own Mag stat and, if enemy is non-commander/non-beast, permanently silences them, 1-6 range, 16 weight, 2 use, prevents follow-up attack, Dark Apostle only). 5 move. Can use black and dark magic only. Requires Dark Seal. Liberator - Sword A, Axe B, Heavy Armor B, Male only. Swordfaire, Vantage, Sol (Dex% chance to heal for half damage dealt), Protector (Mastery Skill - Passive, raises this unit's Str and Spd by 6 for one turn if an adjacent ally takes damage, does not stack, Liberator only). Counts as an armor unit. 6 move. All of these being infantry classes. I should note that Dark Apostle is "Male only" just because it follows the Dark Mage line, which is "Male only" by default, just as Liberator is "Male only" because it follows the Hero line. I'd rather all of these classes lose gender lock.

Here's your issue. This forum is obsessed with Wyvern Lord (and for good reason, in fairness) and seems to implicitly assume 12/12 Wyvern Lord teams (give or take a healer/Bow Knight), and so gauntlets, which can't be (effectively) used by Wyvern Lords, will never be seen as good to a percentage of posters.

Agree in that both Paladin and DK are viable Sylvain final class options when compared to one another. However, I find myself wondering what tangible advantages does Paladin have over Wyven Lord? Pros for Paladin: Lancefaire, Aegis mastery skill, +1 Dex, +2 Res, +5 Mag growth, +5 Dex growth, +5 Lck growth, +5 Res growth, can utilize defensive terrain, not weak to bows. Sylvain is also proficient in riding, as opposed to neutral in flying. Pros for Wyvern Lord: Axefaire, Avo +10, Defiant Crit mastery skill, +2 Str, +5 Spd, +1 Def, +5 Str growth, +20 Spd growth, not weak to horseslayer, flying. Taking the above as as whole, and focusing on only what matters, it would seem that: Wyvern Lord does very nearly as much damage with lances (higher Str bonus and better Str growth coming close to canceling out the missing Lancefaire), does quite a bit more damage with axes (giving you a Bolt Axe option as well, maybe), has much better AS and Avo (compounding over time due to the large Spd growth differential), and flies. Paladin comes earlier and slightly easier for Sylvain, has a much better (albeit not terribly useful in practice) mastery skill, and can utilize defensive terrain. Paladin's terrain resistance alleviates some of the issues with being a ground unit but isn't quite a perfect fix. As for unit typing, since archers aren't usually grouped and never have Close Counter, and since horseslayer is practically non-existent, I don't see these classes' respective type weaknesses as relevant, although, as between the two, bow weakness is worse, of course. Honestly, I feel like WL is probably a little better than Paladin for Sylvain UNLESS you find yourself swapping classes (I personally never did this, instead focusing each student on one particular role for all maps, but if you wanted to sometimes use Sylvain's magic, Paladin would win out since it very easily cross-classes into DK due to shared skill requirements). Thus the debate for me is WL vs. DK, not Paladin vs. DK. If Lunatic improves bow enemies so as to render them a more credible threat that could change, I suppose. In the alternative they could nerf WL in a balance patch (+10 Spd to -10 Spd and removal of Avo +10, for example), but I doubt we'll see balance patching in any capacity.

Grew to Like Ferdinand. Initially seemed very bland personality wise with a "Sylvain knockoff" kind of design. Ends up coming across as a surprisingly decent person and one of the few characters I could actually see ruling a county/duchy (ruling one well, anyway). Seteth. Starts off as another authoritarian Rhea-drone (see Catherine, below), but develops into a more genuine person. Grew to Dislike Catherine. Really liked her design, and combat-wise she's of course amazing. But she never really felt like she was on my (Byleth's) side; it was like she'd cut and run the instant Rhea came back, if that's what Rhea told her to do. She just seemed like an outsider, unquestioningly devoted to a single person and without a mind of her own.

Pretty much this. Compatibility with Wyvern Lord (and its predecessor axe and flying based classes), Falcon Knight (ditto), and to a lesser extent Bow Knight and a handful of other classes makes a huge difference when it comes to team optimization through unit selection. It's unfortunate that in a game with so much class flexibility devs apparently didn't do quite enough playtesting; if classes were more tightly unit-locked (for example, only two units could become Wyvern Lords) we'd see a bit more build and team diversity, I'm sure, and more units would have a niche, but since they are not, class balance is that much more critical...

Pretty much only buffs, since nerfs rarely go over well with the average player, and are designed in a way to try and keep units distinct (or make them more distinct, if possible). Lunatic should be tuned accordingly to keep things hard before it comes out, of course. Changes to classes are needed as well to truly balance out the game, but I did what I could with only changes to characters (or character-unique spells/classes). Byleth and Others Byleth: At character creation, require that the player tag 3 skills as proficient and 3 skills as weak. Set base stats to 25 HP and 7 everything else, then have the player tag 3 of them to give +2 to (or, in the case of HP, +4) and 3 of them to give -2 to (or, in the case of HP, -4). Set all growth rates to 40, but the aforesaid tagged skills gain +10/-10 growth (positive/negative tags). Add Thoron (Reason C+). Add Silence (Faith B). Add Deadeye (Bow B+). Add Swift Strikes (Lance A). Manuela: Improve personal skill to also grant adjacent allies Avo +10. Increase Magic growth from 35 to 40 and base Magic by 2. Add Physic (Faith C). Gilbert: Give him a Swift Strikes equivalent combat art for axes at Axe A. Increase Strength growth from 45 to 50 and Resistance growth from 10 to 20. Increase base Resistance by 2. Flayn: Change Flying from neutral to proficient. Hanneman: Increase base Magic by 3. Improve personal skill to also grant x2 Black magic casts. Alois: Increase base Strength by 2 and base Resistance by 2. Increase Strength growth from 45 to 55. Cyril: Change Sword, Brawling and Heavy Armor from neutral to proficient. Increase base Strength by 1. Black Eagles Edelgarde: Allow unique classes to use Reason magic (not Faith). Change Faith from neutral to weak. Hubert: For spell Death, increase might from 6 to 10. Give Luna at Reason B+. Increase Magic Growth from 55 to 65 and Resistance growth from 40 to 50. Reduce Speed growth from 45 to 40. Caspar: Change Sword from neutral to weak. Increase base Strength by 2, base Dexterity by 3 and base Resistance by 2. Increase Dexterity growth from 45 to 55 and Luck growth from 45 to 55. Lindhardt: Change personal skill to give +10% all stats other than HP and Charm for the next turn (enemy phase and subsequent player phase) on wait. Bernadetta: Change Axe from weak to neutral. Increase base Dexterity by 5. Increase Dexterity growth from 55 to 60. Blue Lions Dimitri: Increase move for unique classes by 1. Annette: Change Heavy Armor from weak to budding. Increase Strength growth from 30 to 35 and Defense growth from 20 to 30. Dedue: Change Riding from weak to budding. Increase Resistance growth from 10 to 20. Improve personal skill to also grant +4 Resistance on wait. Ashe: Improve personal skill to include Steal. Increase Strength growth from 35 to 40 and Speed growth from 50 to 55. Felix: Replace Recover with Physic (Faith B). Golden Deer Lorenz: Increase Strength and Magic growth from 40 to 45. Reduce Dexterity growth from 45 to 40. Give Rescue at Faith A. Ignatz: Add Point-Blank Volley at Bow B. Increase base Defense by 2. Increase Defense growth from 25 to 30. Raphael: Give him a Swift Strikes equivalent combat art for axes at Axe A. Improve proc rate for personal skill from Luck% to (15+Luck)%. Marianne: Improve personal skill to also heal adjacent mounted and flying units by 20% in addition to self.

Definitely agree. The game is optimally played by fliers and a handful of other viable classes not just because of enemy placement/typing and map design but because many classes and their associated abilities are just not good enough. Like you, I think an actual balance patch to accompany Lunatic is needed, although also like you, I doubt we'll see this happen. Assuming, for the sake of discussion, that such a patch is on the table, here's how I think you fix Lunatic: Changes to Enemies Give all, or nearly all, bow enemies Close Counter and improved physical defense. Create a new ability "Counter Gambit" and stick it on some enemies. It will allow an enemy with an attached battalion to make a follow up attack based on their battalion's might against your character when your character uses a Gambit on them (no more free hits, at least not every time). Changes to Mechanics Mount/Dismount ends unit's turn on use. Institute a Move hardcap of 8. Changes to Growth Rates/Stat Modifiers For intermediate classes, improve growths as follows: Mercenary (+5 Dex), Armored Knight (+5 Str, +5 Spd), Archer (+5 Str), Priest (+5 Mag); reduce growth rates as follows: Brigand (-5 HP). Remove the -Spd modifier for Armored Knight. For advanced classes, improve growths as follows: Hero (+5 Dex), Fortress Knight (+5 Spd); reduce growths as follows: Wyvern Rider (-10 Spd). Remove the -Spd modifier for Fortress Knight. For master classes, improve growths as follows: Mortal Savant (+5 Mag), Great Knight (+5 Def), Holy Knight (+5 Res); reduce growths as follows: Barbarossa (-10 Spd), Falcon Knight (-10 Spd), Wyvern Lord (-5 Str, -10 Spd). Remove the while-mounted -Spd modifier for Great Knight. Other Changes Sniper to Bow Range +2, Bow Knight to Bow Range +1. Hero to 6 move, like Assassin, but without the terrain slowdown resist. Give Swordmaster class skill Lunge (will help a bit with movement without being a direct +1 move buff); here, it would work by extending attack range with non-magical swords from 1 to 2, and would move the unit up one space in order to put them in melee range. Astra improved from 5x0.3 to 5x0.4. Priest mastery skill changed from Miracle to something more useful. Mortal Savant mastery skill changed to an Ignis type damage buff. Death Blow and Fiendish Blow changed from +6 Str/Mag to +4 Str/Mag. Great Knight mastery skill changed to Conquest (eliminate effective damage types against this unit). Holy Knight mastery skill to Countermagic. Reduce XP requirements for mastery skill by about 15-20%, or make one or two Knowledge Gems purchasable from very early on.

Yes, I've done it on Hard. Growths are pretty significantly different. You also learn lethality instead of seal defense; not saying one is better than the other, but it's different and factors into the calculus. Generally sticking someone in Assassin vs Wyvern Rider may lean them toward a dodgy crit build (Cursed Akishaya Sword+ seemingly exists for this purpose, although admittedly comes probably 1 or 2 chapters too late to be truly game breaking as you'll hit Master classes soon after). You are correct in that they otherwise use Bows equally. No argument from me here - not sure why fliers don't have a penalty in speed given that cavalry does. I suspect the devs overestimated the power of enemy archers. Maybe Lunatic/Lunatic+ will spam close counter and higher defense stat archers?

They can always change it via patch, however. If, for example, they ever release the harder "infernal" mode it will REQUIRE patching since it's currently broken/unfinished.