SpearBerry

Hello All, I just finished up my first ever Maddening run today. I will start by addressing the context questions and then move on the the builds for each of the characters as well as the progression path I had for them. I have screenshots of each character on the final map but none from before that point. I can add them later on if desired but they are still on the Switch. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Was it an NG or NG+ game? It was NG. Indicate which house/route was used. The route is Crimson Flower. I originally played the game in this order Crimson Flower -> Azure Moon -> Cindered Shadows -> Verdant Wind on Hard/Classic before tackling Crimson Flower here on Maddening. Was DLC used? If so, to what extent? Yes. I used Constance in the first couple of chapters until I recruited Lysithea and then she was benched for the rest of the game. I also recruited each of the Ashen Wolves with the primary purpose of accessing their Paralogues for their fantastic battalions. I also used the Fetters of Dromi. I also recruited Anna for access to her Paralogue and secret shop access and as this is Crimson Flower I used Jeritza as I did not get to use him the first time I played Crimson Flower. Finally, I did complete most of the DLC (blue) quests when/if they seemed worthwhile. I did not at any point use the Sacred stat boost items, the Chalice, or any other DLC benefits not mentioned above. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Builds and Playstyle Up front, I prefer to focus heavily on Battalions as I find it a very fun way to specialize different units besides how powerful gambits are. All of my units ended with B authority or higher and I prioritized training up powerful battalions to help overcome the stat differential on Maddening. Also, I spent a lot of time on Tea time which resulted in nearly all of my primary combat units having 20-30 Charisma by the last map. In terms of units, I really enjoy using magic and having high accuracy so this was a heavy focus when deciding how to build my team overall. I intended to use every house member and to use classes that would allow them to get to or near to S+ weapons ranks without overly tedious grinding so I didn't go off the beaten path from their proficiencies very much. My adjutants were: Lorenz on Ferdinand, Mercedes on Jeritza, and Manuela on Edelgard. ** Male Byleth ** Myrmidon - Brigand - Hero - Enlightened One Sword Prowess Lv5, Swordfaire, Sword Crit +10, Death Blow, Axebreaker Final Lv. 35: Highest Stats Str at 38, Cha at 46 Primary Items: Silver Sword+, Brave Sword and SOTC Battalion: Black Eagle Heavy Axes +7PAtk, +10Crit, -10Avo, +8Prt, +2Rsl, +10Cha Throughout the early-mid game, Byleth used Brawling as well but by the time I was able to get a Brave Sword, Byleth didn't have the speed to be able to x4 enemies and so I switched to sword exclusively. Myrmidon was useful early on to get the Speed +2 while Brigand provided the ever-wonderful Death Blow. The only reason I went Hero is that I hit Level 20 just before I got the Enlightened One class and it was the only Advanced Class I could qualify for with the Axe training done for Brigand. I remained in the Enlightened One class for the small benefit of extra healing that it provided with 6 move. Byleth was fairly strong throughout the game but started to fall-off in damage near the last 3rd of the game when his speed and defense just were not good enough anymore. In the end, I focused on trying to ensure he had just enough Str to ORKO with Brave Sword. He did surprisingly provide some fantastic off-healing in the Enlighted One class when I reached C Faith and could use Recover to save on Physic uses. ** Edelgard ** Fighter - Brigand - Archer - Fortress Knight - Emperor Axe Prowess Lv5, Axefaire, Hit +20, Deathblow, Lancebreaker Final Lv. 38: Highest Stats Str at 44, Def at 40 Primary Items: Silver Axe+, Tomahawk, Brave Axe, Aymr, Fetters of Dromi, Kadmos Shield Battalion: Empire Heavy Soldiers +6PAtk, -2MAtk, +15Hit, -10Avo, +9Prt, +1Rsl, +7Cha Unsurprisingly, Edelgard was a top-performer throughout the game. My previous experience with axes led me to prioritize getting Archer mastered for Hit+20. With LanceBreaker and a high Def, Edie shrugged off all Pegasus Knights and Paladins even up to the end game. Silver Axe was used for powerful Combat Arts while Brave Axe and Aymr allowed her to ORKO many enemies and I switched to Tomahawk when just a little more range was needed to chip. I switched between the Fetters and Kadmos to give her more movement and more Def when necessary. I very often used Edelgard to bait enemies such as assassins, swordmasters and Pegasus knights because she was largely untouchable by them and being doubled didn't matter when she couldn't be hurt. If I kept her safe from Mages, Edelgard was nigh unstoppable. ** Hubert ** Monk - Mage - Warlock - Dark Bishop Reason Lv5, Lance Prowess Lv3, Dark Tomefaire, Dark Magic Range+1, Magic +2 Final Lv 36: Highest Stats Mag at 45, Res at 34 Primary Items: Caduceus Staff, Arrow of Indra Battalion: Macuil Evil Repelling Co. +7MAtk, +30Hit, +1Prt, +6Rsl, +10Cha Hubert was incredibly powerful as he ended up having a very high magic with great Dex, Spd, and Res. Early-mid game Mire, Banshee, and Frozen Lance were life-savers. I initially had the Caduceus Staff on Dorothea but when she started to fall off in usefulness I gave it to Hubert to help him with his range issues. Dark Bishop was not really an ideal class for him but I had no chance of getting his riding skill high enough while also managing to get Reason up to S+ rank to make him a Dark Knight. I also already had Fiendish Blow from the Mage class which doesn't stack with the Fiendish Blow from Dark Bishop. However, I thoroughly enjoyed having Hubert on the team and he outpowered Lysithea the entire game, even without Frozen Lance. I considered giving him my March Ring to help his movement issues but ultimately gave it over to Leonie instead so she could help chase down fliers. I relied on this guy a lot and he was fantastic. ** Ferdinand ** Soldier - Brigand - Cavalier - Paladin Lance Prowess Lv5, Lancefaire, Death Blow, Aegis, Swordbreaker Final Lv 36: Highest Stats Strength 33, Cha 35 Primary Items: Gradivus, Spear of Assal, Silver Lance+ Battalion: Black Eagle Calvary +7PAtk, +20Hit, +5Avo, +5Prt, +10Cha Ferdinand never felt particularly strong aside from Swift Strikes. His stats just never really took off like some of my other units but thankfully because of Swift Strikes he was still wonderfully proficient at ORKO annoying enemies. Ferdinand's Confidence passive ability resulted in him being a fairly adequate dodge tank against archers who were at long ranges and I often used him to bait as such. He also turned out with great Charisma and so had some potent gambit usage throughout the game. I've not much else to say about Ferdinand as his role was not very diverse. He could tank or dodge a single enemy pretty well and could kill on his turn or lock them down with gambits but aside from that, nothing outstanding about him in this run. ** Petra ** Fighter - Brigand - Assassin (Falcon Knight on last 2 maps) Sword Prowess Lv5, Swordfaire, Sword Crit +10, Sword Avo +20, Alert Stance+ Final Lv 35: Highest Stats Spd 46, Dex 36 Primary Items: Wo Dao+, Rapier+, Brave Sword, Evasion Ring Battalion: Cichol Wyvern Co +7PAtk, +15Hit, +15Crit, +5Avo, +6Prt, +1Rsl, +10Cha If there was an MVP of this run, it would be Petra without a doubt. For most of the mid-game I had her in the Assassin class and this worked wonderfully well for her. She really came into the role of dodge-tank after becoming my dancer for the sword avoidance. On the last 2 maps, I had her Flying up to A+ and decided to try her out as the only flier on my team and see how it worked. Knowing the last map in particular, this seemed a good idea. Petra was phenomenal the entire game. She did not have any Strength issues and ended with a solid 32 in strength. She could not double Swordmasters, but she didn't get doubled by them either. I prioritized her as an enemy phase unit and would often use the Retribution gambit on her prior to moving her into the enemy front line. With a Wo Dao and Rapier, she counter killed nearly everything. I wish I could have 9 more of her on my team! ** Caspar ** Fighter - Brigand - Archer - Grappler Brawling Prowess Lv5, Fistfaire, Brawl Crit +10, Death Blow, Hit +20 Final Lv 36: Highest Stats Str 35, Spd 35 Primary Items: Dragon Claws, Killer Knuckles+, Silver Gauntlets+ Battalion: Supreme Armored Co. +7PAtk, +6MAtk, +5Hit, -10Avo, +6Prt, +5Rsl, +10Cha Caspar was very solid throughout the mid-late game. Early he struggled the most, but once I was able to get Death Blow from Brigand, he was able to do very well. His primary role on the team was rushing down archers, bow knights, and enemy mages before they could do serious damage. I ended up giving him Edelgard's battalion as it only required C Authority and I didn't hit B Authority until the last few maps with his Authority bane. I contemplated taking Caspar to War Master but decided I wanted to go for S+ Brawling instead of raising Axes up for War Master and Fierce Iron Fist is just too good to pass up. He ended a lot better than I expected and probably had the greatest single round damage out of everybody on my team. When I wasn't sure if I had enough damage to kill someone, I sent Caspar in their direction. ** Bernadetta ** Fighter - Brigand - Archer - Sniper Bow Prowess Lv5, Bowfaire, Bow Crit +10, DeathBlow, Hit+20 Final Lv 35: Highest Stats Dex 37, Str 27 Primary Items: The Inexhaustible, Silver Bow+, Blessed Bow+, Accuracy Ring Battalion: Indech Sword Fighters +8PAtk, -2MAtk, +20Hit, +10Crit, +4Prt, +10Cha Bernadetta struggled quite a lot throughout the early-mid game and didn't do much more then provide some chip damage before others came in to finish off. Even after getting Death Blow, her damage was still not enough to really do much even against fliers. However, once she mastered Sniper and obtained Hunter's Volley everything changed. There were few units that could not be eliminated safely and often with a Crit at that point. She ended up having fairly solid Strength and was my first S+ weapon rank unit which solidified her high damage. In fact, I ended up liking Bernie's role so much as a Sniper, I changed my plans for Leonie and made her a Sniper as well because the role was so useful. Her major downside was that she could not take a single hit from anyone and so I decided to give her a Retribution gambit rather than have her getting up close at any point. While the Bow Knight has some merits, it was the same situation as with Hubert. I didn't want to try and train up Riding and miss out on S+ weapon rank for the damage boost. Working in tandem with Leonie and Caspar, she mopped up anything that was an enemy ranged attacker with relative ease, safely out of their range. ** Dorothea ** Monk - Mage - Warlock Reason Lv5, Black Tomefaire, Black Magic Range +1, Fiendish Blow, Magic +2 Final Lv 35: Highest Stats Mag 35, Cha 28 Primary Items: Magic Staff, Pure Water Battalion: Nuvelle Fliers Corps +7Matk, +5Hit, +10Avo, +7Rsl, +8Cha Dorothea was without question my greatest asset from beginning up to the time skip. She hit several Magic stat boosts on level up pretty early and was the only one with a 3 range attack through Thoron for quite some time. She was so useful that she leveled incredibly fast and began to snowball and vastly outpace my other units between Thoron blasts and Physic healing. All that to say, she fell off hard in the late game and become one of the weakest damage dealers in the group. Not entirely unsurprising but I found it difficult to really determine what role she served. Had I not wanted the +20 avo for Petra, I would have made her a Dancer because the Meteor link was invaluable. At some later maps, I didn't even field Dorothea and she was replaced by Jeritza or Leonie instead. But even still, she wasn't without use and could make a difference though her ability to ORKO faded away faster than I would have liked. I decided to stay at Warlock because more move didn't really benefit the way I was using her in any capacity. She often provided a powerful gambit attack and a few powerful key long range attacks on each map she was on and the Tomefaire + x2 casts were wonderful for that. ** Lindhardt ** Monk - Mage - Bishop Faith Lv5, Reason Lv4, HP+5, Fiendish Blow, Mag+2 Final Lv 35: Highest Stats Mag 32, Res 29 Primary Items: Healing Staff, Pure Water Battalion: Secret Transport Force (Stride) +3PAtk, +15Avo, +5Prt, +5Rsl, +8Cha Lindhardt was invaluable up until the end-game where I nearly stopped using him altogether. I found that I only ever needed a moderate amount of healing each map and I could often get that through Byleth, Lysithea, or Dorothea when I fielded her. As such, Lindhardt was my 12th unit. Meaning when fielding 12 units, he would go out to provide extra support. I don't want to dismiss how impossible it would have been to even make it to the end-game without him. He truly made the run possible. I made sure to give him Fiendish blow so that he could provide at a modest amount of damage in the few situations when I did need him to attack throughout the game but by the end he was never in that position. His gambit usage was one of the primary benefits of fielding him and I kept Stride as his active battalion the entire game. He had solid Resistance as well, so he was used on occasion to tank a magic attack. ** Jeritza ** Death Knight - Brigand - Death Knight Lance Prowess Lv5, Lancefaire, Death Blow, Darting Blow, Swordbreaker Final Lv 34: Highest Stats Str 37, Spd 31 Primary Items: Silver Lance+, Brave Lance, Scythe of Sacriel, Lampos Shield Battalion: Gloucester Knights +6PAtk, +6MAtk, +15Hit, +5Prt, +5Rsl, +7Cha I had not used Jeritza before so his usefulness was a question to me. Overall, I was fairly pleased with his final result. At the time he joined, he was rather lackluster in that he didn't have the speed to double or the strength to ORKO without a Brave Lance. His Combat Arts also seemed fairly tame. However, he gains Darting Blow through his Hidden Talent and managed to double a fair number of enemies such as Paladins at end game. Of notable recognition is that he was also the only other unit that could reasonably tank a hit besides Edelgard and not be near death. He had solid Prt and Rsl and I didn't worry too much if he was the target of a monster after using a gambit. Overall, not bad and I only wish I could have had him from the beginning to see what else could be done with him for the short time I had him. ** Lysithea ** Monk - Mage - Warlock - Valkyrie - Gremory Reason Lv5, Dark Tomefaire, Dark Magic Range +1, Fiendish Blow, Uncanny Blow Final Lv 38: Highest Stats Mag 45, Dex 37 Primary Items: Thyrsus, Pure Water Battalion: Timotheos Magi Corps +8MAtk, +10Hit, +10Crit, +2Prt, +5Rsl, +7Cha Lysithea was powerful and I think that tends to always be true. I took her through the Valkyrie training to get Uncanny Blow for the 30+ Hit which meant she never missed an attack afterwards. With Mastermind as a passive, it wasn't too difficult getting the Riding requirement in addition to the S+ Reason rank. While she had Warp, I rarely used it and found great value in Seraphim more than others to deal with the number of monsters on Maddening. Her role was almost exclusively in dealing with Monsters, Horses, or any unit just out of range thanks to Thyrsus. Lorenz was my 13th unit and I had him trained up to be nearly the same level as the rest of the party but ultimately found more value in having him as an Adjutant to Ferdinand and therefore Thyrsus was freed up. She was great and I don't think much more could be said about her usefulness. I didn't do anything particularly interesting with her but was grateful for a solid powerhouse for Paladins and Fortress Knights. In the end, I'm glad I went Gremory because the number of units on Maddening often resulted in running out of her more powerful spells without it. I only wish she had Mire like Hubert! ** Leonie ** Paladin - Archer - Brigand - Sniper Bow Prowess Lv5, Bowfaire, Bow Crit +10, Hit +20, Death Blow Final Lv 35: Highest Stats Dex 33, Spd 30 Primary Items: Parthia, Silver Bow+, March Ring Battalion: Mockingbird's Thieves +5PAtk, +5MAtk, +10Hit, +10Crit, +10Avo, +3Prt, +3Rsl, +5Cha As I did not get her until Chapter 11, Leonie required a little bit of grinding to get her where I wanted her to be. She had some rather unfortunate levels and never really grew as powerful as I had seen her become before. I had intended her to serve as either a Paladin or Falcon Knight but she struggled to do any meaningful damage outside of making her a Sniper. She was still solid all-around but wasn't as powerful as Bernadetta or any of my other units. With Hunter's Volley, she was still able to ORKO some enemies, mostly Falcon Knights so I appreciated her contribution nonetheless. For awhile, Lorenz occupied her place on the team because I was able to get him much earlier but ultimately decided I preferred another archer over another magic user and Lorenz had the utility of being paired up with Ferdinand for a Mt boost.