T-Doggo

Generally, what seeds should I be planting each week? I don't necessarily need a super in-depth breakdown, but the game doesn't really explain how gardening works and I haven't seen a super detailed tutorial/strategy. I assumed I would want flowers given the number of students I'm trying to recruit, but how does gardening for stat boosters and professor exp fit in?

This is really awesome to know. I was concerned with my damage output on player phase, hence my desire for War Masters and Sylvain + Ferdinand. I feel better cutting a paladin and switching my War Masters to other classes knowing this. Ferdinand was also going to be a pain to recruit while trying make Byleth a flier. Based on this and other feedback I've gotten, here is the (very, very close to) finalized team: Team: Ranged Units Claude - Barbarossa Leonie - Bow Knight Felix - Bow Knight; replacing Ignatz as a bow user if he gets cut, good class for Felix regardless Lysithea - Gremory Fliers Petra - Wyvern Lord Catherine - Falcon Knight Byleth - Falcon Knight; Flier Byleth seems like the way to go. I like Falcon Knight since I want to use swords for Windsweep which seems useful for chipping enemies on maddening. Is it worth it to train axes for Wyvern Rider as an advanced class? Others Sylvain - Paladin Linhardt or Mercedes - Bishop; still undecided but it seems like either will do the job effectively Marianne - Dancer Additional Units: (Units I'm on the fence on based on mixed feedback I've received, but 1~2 will be added to main roster) Hilda - Wyvern Lord; She'll probably be on the team, but interesting that for all her recommendations I've also been told to cut her. High STR, but not fast enough to double? Low accuracy combat but high accuracy gambits? She seems interesting for sure. Ignatz - Sniper; His selling point seems to be his usefulness early game, where he'll be used regardless. Felix is stronger/faster but Ignatz definitely plays the support role better. Dorothea - Gremory; I've been told a few times I need more magic offense, she seems like the best solution Ingrid - Falcon Knight; Seems like a solid unit, but also probably inferior to Byleth/Catherine as Falcon Knights. Could be a good adjutant for Felix/Sylvain. I'm partial to her so I'm a little bummed I don't think she'll make the cut. Thanks again for all the great input everyone, I've learned a ton about what to expect on maddening and recieved many great suggestions. I think I made the original post with the intent to find the "perfect" team but have since realized from all the suggestions that everyone's opinion on what is"best" definitely varies. There is no "perfect" roster! I appreciate everyone's help and am looking forward to starting this run!

Would it be better to have Felix go Bow Knight then? I've cut Cyril so switching Felix to Bow Knight would give me four primary bow users. I've also been told several times now that Wyvern Lord is Byleth's best class, so I'm willing to switch them over. It also allows me to use female Byleth for free Sylvain recruit. Two questions there: 1. Am I silly for being concerned about my number of flying battalions? My fear is that I won't have enough with so many of my units flying. 2. Is it difficult to get Byleth the skill requirements to be a Wyvern Lord? In my experience on hard, Byleth's skills were the hardest to raise. One (smaller) reason I liked War Master was because it plays to Byleth's brawling strength. Even Falcon Knight uses her sword strength, and still makes her a flyer. Thanks for all the input everyone! This has been incredibly informative. I think the last step will just be cutting down my roster based on all the great suggestions I've heard and finalizing a couple classes: Team Ranged Units Claude - Barbarossa Lysithea - Gremory Leonie - Bow Knight Ignatz- Sniper; I'll be sure to get him Death Blow as was pointed out Fliers Petra - Wyvern Lord Hilda - Wyvern Lord Ingrid - Falcon Knight Catherine - Falcon Knight Byleth - Wyvern Lord; Maybe Falcon Knight or War Master? Player Phase Damage Output Sylvain - Paladin Ferdinand - Paladin Felix - War Master; Maybe Bow Knight? Others Marianne - Dancer Linhardt Bishop Mercedes - Bishop I realize 15 units is probably too many, so who from the above roster should be cut? Or do I use all 15 and rotate the adjutants to keep everyone leveled? Thanks again y'all!!

Hi all, Firstly, thanks again for all the feedback and information, it's been incredible to help plan my run more effectively! Second, is there anything specific I should know to avoid the post limit of three posts per day? I assume it has to do with the age of my account. Knowing Wyvern Lord is considered by many to be the best class, I thought about making Byleth one for sure! But given that I already have other characters who can fill the flier role effectively, I figured making Byleth a player phase nuke would help my team more since I have fewer units capable of filling that role. I am also assuming Byleth will have greater damage output as a War Master than a Wyvern Lord. Finally, I didn't want to run out of flying battalions with too many fliers on my team! I couldn't find a definitive answer of how many are available but I've always felt like I've needed more in the past. This also brings up another question I had (which I believe is related to why I overlooked Hilda as a unit). What qualities make Wyvern Lord the best class? In my (limited and unoptimized) experience on hard, they were definitely good, but I didn't see them as my best units. My War Masters were stronger and my Falcon Knights were faster. Is this a case of "Although they aren't the best at any one thing, they are pretty good at a lot of things, making them overall the most versatile/best"? Not doubting that Wyvern Lords are the best class, just looking for clarification. Based on the feedback, here is the new (similar) team I am considering: Team Ranged Units Claude - Barbarossa; unchanged Lysithea - Gremory; unchanged Leonie - Bow Knight; unchanged Cyril Ignatz- Sniper; I had several people mention Cyril was a poor choice and that Ignatz was a good pick, so it seems to make sense to have Ignatz step in as my third bow user. Sniper over Bow Knight so he still has a way to double enemies. Using another Golden Deer also helps alleviate my concerns over chapter 13. Fliers Petra - Wyvern Lord; unchanged Hilda - Wyvern Lord; Hilda was also repeatedly recommended. She can replace either Ingrid or Catherine as having both Falcon Knights is probably redundant. Like Ignatz, I like that she gives me another Golden Deer to use on Chapter 13. Ingrid/Catherine - Falcon Knight; I'll cut one to make room for Hilda. From what I've gathered, Ingrid has the benefit of being recruited with relevant skills, strengths that align with Falcon Knight, and higher SPD, RES, and CHA. Her stats also benefit a lot from being recruited as a Pegasus Knight and she has synergy with Felix/Sylvain. Catherine has the benefit of having much better STR which seems very significant and is slightly tankier. I'm leaning keeping Ingrid since Hilda seems to be a better replacement for Catherine, but not using a unit with stats/growths as good as hers seems like a shame. I could be talked either way. Player Phase Damage Output Sylvain - Paladin; unchanged Ferdinand - Paladin; I don't necessarily want to cut him but if I'm trying to tighten up my roster to 12 (or 11) units then he seems the most expendable with Sylvain already being used. The two seem nearly identical since I'm playing male Byleth and I actually like Ferdinand's personal ability better. But I think the tiebreak is in Sylvain's favor since he gets the Lance of Ruin early. Felix - War Master - unchanged Byleth - War Master - unchanged; I feel like he should stay War Master over Wyvern Lord for player phase damage, especially if I drop Ferdinand. Others Marianne - Dancer; unchanged Linhardt/Mercedes - Bishop; as someone said earlier, the choice is basically Warp or Fortify. Leaning Linhardt for Warp.

Ok, if I were to add Hilda and Ignatz to the team, who would be the most droppable from my planned roster? Ingrid and/or Catherine and someone else? Maybe drop Cyril and have Felix go Bow Knight? I have too many units I want to use now! If I can tighten up my roster to 11-12 units, that would be ideal, no? I had considered this path as well! In the end having stronger heals with Physic and double warps from bishop Linhardt seemed too good to pass on. With my Dancer dancing every turn, I was unsure I'd ever be able to take advantage of warp if Linhardt is dancer and Lysithea always attacking as my only mage. I was also afraid it would be unrealistic to hope Linhardt can win the White Heron Cup with his low charm lol. Do you feel Mercedes is the better choice? When I played BL on hard, I found myself using Physic much more than Fortify so I thought adding Linhardt to get Warp would be more helpful. I honestly didn't think the stats of my Dancer/healer mattered too much since in theory they'll be dancing/healing every turn.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, lots of good advice here! I'll definitely consider Ignatz long term after the recommendations, and I'll obviously be taking advantage of him early game. I'm also relieved to know that I may be able to feasibly struggle my way through chapter 13 lol I'm definitely not against using Hilda! I seriously considered her but I didn't feel like she would hit as hard as Felix/Sylvain/Ferdinand and she won't dodge like Petra/Ingrid/Catherine. Her low dex combined with being an axe user also made me concerned she'll be inaccurate. What are some of Hilda's strengths over other characters? I also have one vote against using Ingrid: and one against Catherine: I'll likely want at least one of them as a Falcon Knight, but is there a strong reason to use one over the other? I hadn't considered taking my dodgetanks' charm into account to avoid enemy gambits, but based on that I'm leaning Ingrid for her much higher CHA growth. I appreciate the input y'all, this is very helpful!

Hi all, Looking for some advice and feedback on my planned team for Golden Deer Maddening. I have not yet played the GD path but I'm gunning for that gold start screen. I do not plan to use any DLC or take advantage of any benefits from online play. I'll lay out my planned team that I'm looking for feedback on and then I have a few general questions at the end. Thanks for the help! Team Ranged Units Claude - Barbarossa; I'll make sure to get him death blow. Not much to say, he seems like a great unit in a great class. Lysithea - Gremory; training reason/faith makes sense to me to get warp, but I also see people recommend Dark Knight for canto. She's the best mage, so she'll be on the team with Thysrus regardless. Leonie - Bow Knight; her skills are set up for it and she gets the coveted Point-Blank Volley. Seems like a no brainer. Ideally she'll have Death Blow, Darting Blow and Hit +20 but Death Blow will be the priority. Cyril - Bow Knight; I feel like I'm missing something here because I rarely see anyone recommend Cyril, but on paper he's a second Leonie. His growths are similar to (slightly better than) hers, his strengths align with Bow Knight, and he also gets Point-Blank Volley. Just no Darting Blow. Fliers Catherine - Falcon Knight; Given her high strength/speed, she seems perfect to become a dodgetank. From what I can tell, using her also greatly helps make the midgame easier on maddening due to her awesome bases. Will try to get her Death Blow, but not sure how useful it will be given she plays primarily on enemy phase. Ingrid - Falcon Knight; Since she's so fast, I plan to make her another dodgetank. However, I'm slightly torn on using her. I've seen some claim she makes an untouchable enemy-phase god and is one of the games' best units. I've seen others claim that her poor STR growth prevents her from dealing significant damage to enemies on maddening, making her a poor choice. Looking for guidance here. Again, while Death Blow sounds nice, I'm unsure how useful it will be if she mostly fights on enemy phase. Trying to get it also affects with when I try to recruit her, which I am unsure of. Petra - Wyvern Lord; whereas Ingrid/Catherine dodgetank with lances, Petra will do so with Axes, helping her better avoid lances via Lancebreaker which Ingrid/Catherine won't have. Death Blow is along her natural class progression, and I'll try to get her Darting Blow as well. Player Phase Damage Output Sylvain - Paladin; I realize Wyvern Lord is usually his recommended class, but given that I already have four flyers listed above, I'm not sure I'll have the extra flying battalions to accommodate more fliers. His primary goal is to spam Swift Strikes, which I believe is slightly stronger as a Paladin due to Lancefaire anyway. Death Blow is obligatory. Ferdinand - Paladin; pretty much identical to Sylvain Felix - War Master - His speed and strength make War Master seem like a good fit. I had originally planned to make him a Bow Knight but I already have three bow users to aggro/chip enemies. I figured another unit who can clean up the enemies my dodgetanks draw in would benefit my team more. Byleth - War Master - I originally planned to use female Byleth as a Falcon Knight because it's a great class (and free Sylvain recruit), but decided my three other fliers were probably enough. Like Felix, using Byleth to clean up/demolish the enemies that approach my party seems to help the team more overall than what I had originally planned for him/her. Others Marianne - Dancer; Riding strength makes getting +1 Mov easier. Linhardt - Bishop; All he needs to do is spam Physic to keep the rest of my team alive. Warp is also very useful. Questions Is my planned team (13 units) too many? Given the reduced experience on maddening, will 13 units be too many to effectively train? If too many, who would be the most droppable? Cutting Catherine/Cyril and replacing them with Byleth/Felix respectively could work but I'm not sure. Using only four students from the Golden Deer, will Chapter 13 be doable? I realize I'm not using many students from my original house, so most of my party will be very underleveled for Chapter 13. Claude, Byleth, Lysithea, Leonie, and dancer Marianne will be my only units at an adequate level. Is it a realistic goal to complete the map with only this group on maddening without anyone dying? In general, when should I look to recruit my students? I know recruiting late especially benefits some students like Ingrid/Petra stat-wise, but at the cost of lower/wasted skill growth and no class mastery skills. In the context of Ingrid/Petra for example, they'll be far, far away from Alert Stance+ which is essential to make them dodgetank effectively, and I will need to backtrack to get them Death Blow. No one will have authority experience either. I realize that recruiting all my students just before the timeskip and leveling my in-house units up to that point could help me with respect to my previous question. However, unless I'll be screwed for chapter 13 otherwise, this doesn't seem worth it, as my recruits will be severely hampered as a result. I currently aim to recruit all my students on chapter 6, or as close to it as possible. Thanks for reading this wall of text, and I appreciate the feedback! This is my first post here so if I've broken any rules, please let me know!