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Uscari

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  1. You sound kind of angry here, did I offend you in some way? To answer your question, I include a lot of underleveled units on my team because my experience with maniac mode tells me that I need to prepare for the endgame to have a realistic chance of clearing the game in an ironman run. If I don't build the strongest units I can, I increase the risk of losing members of my main group and not being able the clear the final few maps. The early game is challenging but that's what Titania is there for, and the mid-game to me is the easiest part of the difficulty, so favoring units that start out better but fall off towards the end simply is not optimal from my perspective. I used to agree with you about Ike/Oscar vs Ike/Soren, but I have two things that changed my mind: 1. Kieran/Oscar A is better than Ike/Oscar A because Kieran overall is a better unit than Ike for a majority of the game. 2. Ike/Soren A is OP when Ike has Resolve + Savior. Ike can't carry Oscar around with him in the final chapters, but he can carry Soren. His avoid with resolve speed and that support combined makes him nearly unkillable. Well if I gave Oscar savior, I couldn't give him Sol, which I think ultimately is better for him, since he really benefits from it throughout the game, particularly in Clash. Also, I can't guarantee Oscar's safety in the final map even with Ike's support. The reason why Resolve Ike works is because his luck, speed, and supports stacked on top of resolve gives him so much avoid that it doesn't really matter that he's below half hp. He simply does not get hit. He can even take 1-2 hits due to the defense bonus of the Ragnell. The savior strat just seals the deal and makes it so even the most accurate enemies only have like 10% chance to hit on the final map. I have used this strat twice, and I have even tried it where Ike and Soren are the only units deployed on the map. Ike and Soren alone are able to clear the final map in Maniac Mode using this strat. Unfortunately, you don't get the Fortify staff until Chapter 27. Elincia starts with an A rank in staves, but you don't have the staff until the next map. I really wish we could have gotten that staff in Ch. 26, because as you point out that would be super useful, especially for me because my strat is to rout clash. Even still, you could choose to field Elincia on the final map with Fortify, however I have never done that because it's just too dangerous in an ironman to bank on Elincia's survival. I will admit that I have lost a lot of runs in the early game due to not using Titania enough, and attempting to feed too many kills to my trainees. However, I don't think that justifies putting her on the main team for the whole game, it just means I need to use her more when I need her, and never more than that. I find that I bench Titania after Chapter 13, because that's the final map where you really need to secure some really good loot and have some dangerous hurdles to get over in order to secure it. By that point, Oscar has pretty much already eclipsed her and can take over her job. Basically, I don't agree with the idea that any chapter can realistically spell the run's end, I think there are parts of the game that are very difficult to get through, and some parts that you can coast through if you know what to expect. I can use the easier chapters of this game to train the units that will be very strong in the endgame. Every kill I feed to Titania past a certain point from my perspective is syphoning experience from a unit that I can use in the last few chapters to get me through my run. Using her just because she is the strongest at that exact moment is a pitfall, because you don't need to her to be so strong now, you need her to be strong later, and statistically she won't be strong later.
  2. I based this list on the premise that your team will be in line with their average stats, which is something you can achieve consistently by going with fixed mode. The units in my list statistically are the most likely to be the strongest with investment by the end of the game. Obviously I agree that if I have atrocious Makalov level ups I'll go with Astrid instead, but I plan based on what I can generally expect from my team as a whole. I like to give BEXP to any unit that can use the Knight Ward, since they get more speed growths that way. I actually have a strat where I give Savior to Ike. I use this so he can carry Soren with him and enjoy the benefit of their A support without putting Soren in any danger. I find the extra 22 avoid makes a massive difference when paired with his resolve-boosted speed. It ends up taking units that have a 30% chance to hit down to just 10%, and those with less to have no chance to hit at all. Even Ashnard ends up with like 40-50% chance to hit. I agree with not fielding Elincia, although I will say her being able to use Fortify at base is nice.
  3. I think it's fine the way it is, sages have no conceptual relationship with knives thematically, so I see no need to make knives work with them. I would remove the trap of promoting with knives by simply removing the option and trainees get staves automatically when promoting. But for the hell of it, if I was in a mood to try and make it work... Add an "enchanting" mechanic that allows you to imbue your knife with magic with the tome of your choice. Your magic stat and strength stat both add to the might of the weapon, but it all counts as magical damage. Enchanting with wind makes it effective against flyers (also adds 20hit), enchanting with thunder makes it effective against dragons(adds 10 crit), enchanting with fire makes it effective against beast laguz (+3 defense while equipped). Enchanted knives can have 1-2 range. Enchanting the knife will destroy it after 1 round of combat (you can double), it ends your movement (like trading/talking), and only knife sages can use enchanted knives. Could also add a little extra base might to knives to make this more competitive. It's basically like making a hyper-powerful tome to kill 1 unit. Still probably better to go with staves, but at least now knives aren't totally useless.
  4. There's no doubt she is useful for the duration of the game where she is overleveled, but she does fall off beyond the mid-point and eventually becomes a liability to keep fielding. She syphons experience that can be going to units that become faster, stronger, and bulkier than she can be. Compared to Oscar, she ends up with -4 STR, -4 DEF, and worse supports. That's just not going to cut it in the end game. Her bases are strong enough to assist handily through the early game and a fair portion of the mid-game. She's useful for blocking a choke point or getting rid of that one pesky unit you don't trust your trainees to deal with, but keeping her on the main team for the whole game is a waste of experience. I will point out that giving her energy drops and dracoshields can bring her up to par with the rest of the team. Additionally, her higher luck and resistance growths can be handy in dealing with mixed enemy groups of magic/physical units, but those niche situations do not warrant that kind of investment. It's far more effective to put those on other units that have better stats overall. I can understand someone thinking she should be used for an LTC run, but this is an ironman run of maniac mode, where the end game demands the strongest possible team you can put together. You can use her in the end game, but it's not optimal, and does decrease your chances of success.
  5. In what universe can you solo maniac with any unit, let alone Titania?
  6. Respectfully, I don't consider you an authority on what everyone else believes. Regardless, it doesn't matter if my opinion is unique to me, as long as it's the correct opinion. Having said that, Chapter 17 is pretty easy, most of the enemies are unpromoted and there are a ton of them, which is a lot of food for Tormod. It's a bit harder on 17-3 and 17-4 to train tormod due to the volume/strength of enemies that come after him, but there is enough experience on 17-1 and 17-2 to get him close to your other units. Tormod might not be an enemy phase unit, but he is a powerhouse. He is the guy you use to kill that one enemy no one else can deal with. He just straight up deletes enemies on player phase when trained. That's what Titania is for, you use her as needed to alleviate pressure early, and then bench her once your main units gain strength. The mid-game is the easiest part of Maniac Mode and you don't need to worry about building a team to deal with it. It's the end game that will kill most of your runs. It doesn't even matter of his doesn't cap speed, as long as he is fast enough to not get doubled by anything other than Swordmasters, he does what I need him to do. He does this better than Gatrie or Tauroneo. So we agree, he is useful, not enough to be on the main team, but to help out.
  7. The mid-game is the easiest part of Maniac Mode, and it's a good time to train a unit like Tormod. Chapter 16, 17, and 18 don't have a high volume of mobile units going after your team that you can't easily block off with stronger units. Even though he is under leveled, his bases for his join level are pretty good. He does enough damage that you don't even really need a forge to train him, and his high move makes it easy to keep him out of harms way. The end game is the much harder part of this difficulty, and much more likely the place where your run will fall apart. You need a unit with high growth potential like Tormod to even the playing field and deal with the enemies you don't want going after your team on enemy phase. His double fire support with Reyson, high attack speed with and without siege tomes, his high move, and his ability to use staves makes him one of the strongest units in the game when trained. Building units for the end game is the most consistent way to beat MM in an ironman. I will admit that Calil is a strong competitor against Tormod for having near equal combat capability for far less investment, but I think Tormod's supports, movement, and ability to use staves outweighs that. I am sympathetic to the argument that Calil's higher level and weapon ranks allows more experience to go to the rest of your team, but ultimately I think Tormod is worth syphoning some experience from the rest of the team. Tormod is a high investment, but the payoff absolutely justifies it. He pretty much becomes your most important unit next to Ike in the last few chapters. Even Oscar is worth sacrificing over Tormod by the time you bring him to his full potential. Brom is the best armor knight, he has 2 more res and speed at base than Gatrie, he has a useful water-fire support with Boyd, and he is the only armor knight that on average can cap his speed without needing a speedwing. For a reliable clear of Maniac Mode, you want to have an armored knight that you can throw into a choke point or put provoke on so that they can brunt most of the damage on enemy phase, and alleviate the pressure from your more vulnerable units. Your Paladins with Sol can do what Brom does, but it's a gamble on whether Sol procs/they dodge, whereas Brom is much more consistently going to survive enemy phase in the toughest maps of the game. I'm not advocating raising Rhys as part of the main team. I'm advocating using him until you reach level 10 (realistically you'll do this anyways), give him the Master Seal you get on Ch. 22 (by that point it's worth trading the 5000g), and let him cook. You don't need to train him fully, just get him to A rank staves and boom now you have AoE healing for the last map. You also get the purge tome to finish off units that Tormod couldn't kill in 2 siege hits. Even though light magic is weak, Rhy's base magic and magic growths are strong, so he hits like a struck the whole time. It doesn't matter that it weighs him down, because you'll only use it to chip on player phase. Rhys is very useful for relatively low investment.
  8. Yeah I like Smite but I don't think having smite available all the time is worth trading even my 9th combat unit. Keep in mind every member of the main team is going to be great, so even the 9th best unit is pretty close to the 1st best. Of course, my playstyle also revolves around being passive and outlasting reinforcements rather than clearing quickly, so I don't have as much use for Smite. In the context of an Ironman, Ike is worth training even if you weren't required to field him. His absolutely insane avoid with his supports + resolve + ragnell mean that he totally carries the last 2 maps. I do agree however that for most of the run, he is a mid-tier unit, particularly in the mid-game, before he promotes. I would say Rhys is probably better than Mist, at least in Maniac Mode. I think Mist is very useful once trained, as the canto definitely improves her survivability. Rhys however has a significant level and base magic advantage, which takes Mist half the game to overcome. Also, the sheer volume of physic staves means that Rhys doesn't need canto, and can heal at range to decent effect. It's also worth noting that his combat abilities are better than Mist, being able to actually contribute with light magic and the eventual light siege tome he gets. I've actually contemplated just giving Rhys a master seal, not training him fully, just so he can use that siege tome you get on Ch. 25 to finish off enemies that Tormod, Illyana, or Calil couldn't kill in 2 shots.
  9. Even with KW levels, Marcia does have a commanding speed lead throughout the mid-game, and will double all the enemies the rest of the team can't double. She's genuinely a good choice for your team. But as we're saying, the Paladins can all get to 27 speed by the end with KW levels, so Marcia really falls off in the endgame. The most attractive part of Marcia for me however is her very high resistance for a physical combat unit. That is something that none of the paladins other than Titania (jagen, falls off) or Astrid (doesn't fly) can compete with. I actually did use Mordecai on my 1st successful maniac mode ironman as a main unit, because his supports with Illyana and Mist gave +5 defense, making him capable of outlasting the endless waves on Clash. My rational for using Mordecai was that laguz infinite use weaponry would be needed to clear that map due to the sheer volume of enemies. It was a fixed mode run and I gave Illyana a band increasing speed growth and 2 speedwings, she ended up with 26 speed by the end of the game and was able to double with siege tomes. Shade also came in handy when she was nearby Mordecai and Gatrie for the +5 defense, as most enemies didn't try to hit her and she could stay near them. I still wouldn't invest 2 speedwings for that though in an optimal run, and Mordecai being locked to 1-range and lack of canto means I can't justify calling him optimal as a main team member.
  10. So I have done a few Ironman Maniac Mode runs (2 successfully, many failures) and I have come to the conclusion that this is the best team for consistent victory. The first category are the units I would focus training on, give stat boosters/skills to, and forge weapons for. The units that will perform the best in the late game and synergize well with one another. The second category are units that are helpful in some chapters, but either lose their usefulness later on or otherwise do not need to be fielded every chapter. I've already done a tier list, but this team isn't just best on how good a unit is generally, but how well they synergize with the rest of the team, and what niche they bring to the table to address various challenges you encounter throughout the game. Let me know your thoughts, who would you use? Main Team (Fielded every map they are available) 1. Ike (Required to be fielded, eventually 1-rounds paladins after promotion, becomes strongest unit by the endgame however.) 2. Oscar (Gives Ike +20 avoid, high bulk for join time, supports Kieran, uses lances/axes, super canto unit) 3. Boyd (1-rounds Wyverns and Armored Knights at 1-range during enemy phase) 4. Soren (Solid wind mage, becomes excellent Staff bot, gives Ike +22 avoid) 5. Brom (Brick wall, helps create defensive formations, fast enough not to get doubled by most enemies, gives Boyd +3 attack and +1 defense) 6. Kieran (Supports with Oscar, can 1-round Wyvern Lords on player phase with bows, super canto unit) 7. Jill (Best Flyer, has the bulk and damage output to clear areas independently) 8. Makalov (Statistically the strongest paladin in the game when trained, will do most of the work like Oscar/Kieran/Jill) 9. Tormod (Siege tome king, counters enemy siege tomes and dragons, high move, also good staff bot) 10. Reyson (Dancer, healer, pack mule, grants Tormod +3 AT and +15 Accuracy, capable at tanking siege tomes with high res/avoid) Utility/Temporary Units (Fielded sometimes) 1. Titania (Alleviates pressure in the early game, critical for securing loot and bonus experience through Ch. 13) 2. Rhys (Your only healer until Ch. 9) 3. Gatrie (Brick Wall in early chapters) 4. Shinon (Sets up kills for weaker units to feed them xp without wasting weapon uses) 5. Lethe (Mini-Titania, contributes through Ch. 13) 6. Mordecai (Smite Bot and pack mule) 7. Volke (Thief, useful for opening chests and stealing siege tomes/physic staves) 8. Sothe (Backup Thief if Volke dies, but realistically will only exist to open doors/chests) 9. Muarim (Can replace Mordecai as Smite Bot/Pack Mule) 10. Tanith (Reinforcements, extra Flyer, 1-rounds some Wyverns w/ Sonic Sword)
  11. I definitely agree that being able to predict how units will perform at each stage of the game is very interesting and makes considerations of team composition more rewarding. Like, is Brom fast enough that Berserkers and Archers don't double him? Can Tormod with 2 spirit dusts and his A support with Reyson 1-round Dragon's using Bolting/Rexbolt? Can Kieran reliably 1-round Wyvern Lords using a Silver Bow? Does Titania have sufficient Res/HP to pull Elthunder mages and survive a crit, where other Paladins can't? Does she have enough Luck that she doesn't get crit to begin with? Can Stefan with 2 Ashera Icons avoid getting crit by generic enemies? Can Ike with Resolve and his Soren A support 1-round all enemies on the final map? Just fun little observations and distinct niches you can conclude for characters even with seemingly miniscule differences in stats. You don't really learn this stuff in random mode.
  12. I will admit there is an undeniable thrill to having no idea how your next level up will go. Even in the long term it is enjoyable to be on the emotional roller coaster of suffering bad levels for your favorite units, hoping that if you stick it out they eventually redeem themselves, or the opposite, where a unit starts amazing but has a fall from grace. Having said that, my limited understanding of Fire Emblem aside, I'll just say that for PoR, that feeling is not so intrinsic to the experience that it feels like a different game without it. There are so many other things about PoR aside from the leveling system that makes it feel unique. To me, as a newbie to the whole franchise and genre of tactical RPG, fixed levels is very familiar to me. That's how almost all RPG leveling normally works. Not only is leveling attributes often not random, but you have surgical control over how to shape your characters. Fire Emblem is unique for me in that it is the only RPG where I have almost no control over how my characters are built statistically, and that the creativity in this game revolves around team composition, and not individual character customization. Even the ability to change your growths by using certain weapons or attacking certain enemies kind of reminds me of the Elder Scrolls games where you get better at something by doing certain things. I'm not a huge fan of that in this context but it's not something terribly foreign to me. What's foreign to me is feeding a ton of experience to a unit, they don't level any stats, and then they die permanently. Once again this is something I like about Fire Emblem, but as someone new to the franchise it's nice to have a leveling system that is more familiar to me, where I can count on my experience yielding predictable results I can plan around. I think fixed mode is actually pretty intuitive, but it's explained and implemented in a way that's confusing to most people because it's built around a game where your stat numbers are relatively low. In most RPGs, you wouldn't have attribute caps at 30, 40, or 80, they'd be 300, 40000, maybe even 800000. "Growth Points" would not be necessary because you'd yield actual stat increases every single level, rather than have an invisible tally that eventually leads to a stat increase. It would help if you had some menu for tracking the progress of growth points, or even having some kind of option in the character menu where you can swap to "decimal view" to see how close each of your attributes are to leveling.
  13. I really like Fixed Mode. I have beaten PoR 7 times, and 4 of those times was with fixed mode. From what I've read, this was the only FE game up until Engage to have a fixed leveling mode. That's crazy to me, I think this should be an option in every single Fire Emblem game. Being able to actually see how units perform when meeting their averages, and the guarantee of not being stat screwed is amazing. It's such a great way to play, honestly if I had to choose between fixed and random, I'd go with fixed. To me, there's plenty of replayability in just being able to try out different team compositions and see how units perform without any buff or penalty one way or the other. Don't get me wrong, when you keep using most of the same units you used in a previous run, having random growths to add some variety is great, but not having a baseline game mode to spring from into that is just odd to me. I will say for this game I'm not such a big fan of the equipment and class alterations, I'm fine with having NG+ items like the rings to influence growths (I don't tend to use them), but I'm not a fan of losing strength because I'm using an iron axe or because I'm fighting a raven. That kind of thing is impossible to keep track of and hurts the integrity of the mode. What are your thoughts on fixed mode?
  14. Congratulations! Very clever to use the Rescue staff to skip significant hurdles of the final map. I guess it doesn't matter how well Ike deals with everyone else if he can just kill Ashnard 1v1 before they even arrive! Now that you've beaten Maniac Mode, what do you think of the difficulty? Did you enjoy it? Did you find it a slog?
  15. Impressive that you cleared this in just 8 turns. I'm surprised Tanith with only 14 magic 1-rounds those laguz using the flame lance, I guess that goes to show how low their res really is. Clearly I underestimated the use of having 2 fully trained flyers and Tibarn to help clear the more dangerous enemies on this map. I'm so used to seeing them as Paladins without Sol that I miss their potential on maps like these, especially with boots. How you managed to move Reyson this far forward in 8 turns to get the sieze without him dying is a mystery to me. I guess since pretty much all non-1 range units are magic based, it's not that dangerous as long as he's covered. For the final map you may have the right idea to go with silver forges instead of handaxes, because Ashnard moves I believe on turn 9, and you are incentivized to push hard in 1 direction to set up a spot so Ike can fight him 1v1. By this point in the game I'm pretty much out of forges because I used them all to deal with Clash. I would not have used hammerne on the forges though, I would have used that on the siege tomes instead. Can be very nice to snipe Dragon's on the final map with bolting. I can't remember if you gave anyone the Savior skill, but if it's available I would advise taking Wrath off of Ike, and giving him Savior instead. If Ike carries Soren with Savior skill equipped, he'll enjoy that sweet 22 avoid from his A support without putting Soren in danger. You stack that avoid with the bushes and the extra speed you get using Resolve, you'll have an Ike with like 130 avoid, high enough that axe users can't hit him, and all others have like a 5-10% chance. You'll also find that against most enemies, Resolve + Ragnell is enough to 1-round pretty much all the enemies, so wrath becomes a bit overkill. I've actually tested this strat and have found that Ike + Soren can take on the whole of the final map by themselves by stacking avoid this way. The only threat to it is a Deadeye archer on the right side of the map that has very high hitrate and could put Ike to sleep. Speaking of which the final map has a lot of enemies with generic skills, Wyverns with adept, Generals with guard, Swordmasters with Astra...the good news is that most of them are on the right side of the map. I recommend pushing left so you have more time to prepare for them.
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