Lunatic 116 turns

[Redwall]

1. No Renown, Spotpass, DLC, Anna shops, event-tile weapons etc.
2. All first-generation characters needed to be recruited. Children were optional.
3. P1-4 and 17 were required; other Paralogues were optional but counted for turns.
4. Soft resets were needed upon character deaths.

Towards the beginning of the playthrough, I wasn't too concerned with getting the absolute lowest turncounts in certain stages, which is why my Prologue and C1-5 clears are each a turn above the established minima, though as soon as C6 (the first stage for which there doesn't exist a fully documented Lunatic LTC solution) began, I started getting a bit more fussy.

I didn't reset for growths; after clearing Ch 3, I overwrote my save after receiving a favorable level-up for Fred while I was testing the C3 enemy AI, but that was the closest thing I did wrt growth-rigging. My C20 clear was pretty sketchy, but my team certainly had the firepower to clear the level reliably, albeit at a slower pace.

The long-term plan was to, with proper support, Galeforce the crap out of everything. I trained two Galeforcers instead of one, but under my constraints, this was a decision with no opportunity cost; Tiki's map required either a lightning-fast player-phase attack or a sturdy defense capable of withstanding several turns of enemy-phase combat, and given the nature of the playthrough, I was inclined to choose the former option.

Galeforce alone wasn't enough, however; enemy stats were rather high towards the end of the game, necessitating the use of Rallies. Finally, because obnoxious maps like C23 featured ridiculous numbers of strong enemies in wide-open spaces, Nosferatu wound up finding use as a source of enemy-phase healing.

Pre  2     C5   6     P4   5     C15  4     C21  2
Pro  5     C6   4     C10  2     C16  1     C22  1
C1   5     C7   3     C11  3     C17  1     P9   2
C2   7     C8   6     C12  4     C18  1     C23  7 (ugh)
C3   5     P2   5     C13  1     P17  2     C24  3
C4   5     P3   4     C14  2     C19  1     C25  1
P1   7     C9   4     P12  2     C20  1     Fin  2            

I deliberately slowed down in C14 and P12 to get Galeforce and train Morgan, respectively; I believe these were beneficial actions from a turncount perspective, and will elaborate at some point. As for Final, my team was really weak and lacking in real (non-Galeforce) mobility; clearing the level with any reliability required enough infrastructure to slow me down a turn from the absolute minimum.

My Avatar was named Pam, and had +Mag asset and -Lck flaw.

Prologue (5/7)

I'll first post my four-turn strategy which feeds Chrom the boss kill.

Turn 1 player phase: Chrom, who unequips his weapon to prevent unwanted Dual Attacks, partners with Frederick (to improve his Silver Lance accuracy) and they KO the center Myrmidon from his right. Lissa partners with Pam, who remains stationary.
Turn 1 enemy phase: Barbarians attack Frederick, who counters with Silver Lance at 86% accuracy on each. The myrmidon KOs himself from an enemy phase counter. The mage advances to either 1L1U from the LHS of the upper-right partition (case 1), or to 1D from the RHS of the upper-right partition (case 2). As I will illustrate, it does not matter.

Turn 2 player phase: Pam KOs a Barbarian with Bronze Sword. If case 1 occurred, Frederick KOs the Mage from 1D below the Mage with his Silver Lance. If case 2 occurred, Frederick KOs the Mage from 1R relative to the Mage.
Turn 2 enemy phase: The remaining Barbarian from the first group of enemies KOs himself from Pam's Bronze Sword counter. A Myrmidon from the top KOs himself from Fred's counter. The remaining enemies move down, with varying positions (which again won't matter)

Turn 3 player phase: Chrom reequips his weapon to increase the odds that the remaining Barbarians will be dead by the end of turn 4. As a result of turn 2 enemy phase, multiple configurations can occur (I won't separately treat the Barbarian positioning since I never found it to matter). Frederick must KO the Mage while cutting off squares accessible to the Myrmidon. One sample one would be that the Mage is 2U from the LHS of the partition, and the Myrm is 1U from the RHS of the partition, in which case Frederick must position himself 1U from the LHS of the partition and KO the mage, though I've never had trouble resolving any other configuration(s). Pam and Lissa must position themselves to be able to trade the Bronze Sword to Fred on the next turn. Pam also heals with a Vulnerary.
Turn 3 enemy phase: The two Barbarians get hit with Silver Lance, while the Myrm kills himself.

Turn 4 player phase: Pam trades the Bronze Sword to Frederick and uses Thunder on a Barbarian. Frederick advances to the boss with the Bronze Sword equipped (though maybe I should have had Silver Lance equipped to give me a chance at not having to dodge) and switches to Chrom, who attacks with Rapier.
Turn 4 enemy phase: If it hasn't been killed with a Dual Attack, the remaining Barbarian dies from Robin's counter, and the boss dies now or during player phase.

The problem with my four-turn clear is that Chrom has a ~25% chance of death. To get around this in my playthrough, I instead had Fred head to the boss with the Bronze Sword equipped and consume a Vulnerary on turn 4. On turn 5, I switched to Chrom and waited, with the intent of having him get the kill either on turn 5 EP or turn 6 PP.

Chapter 1 (5/12)

In this playthrough, I used KoT's strategy, linked to earlier in this post, which was slightly more reliable at the cost of a couple more Silver Lance uses, and from which I got the idea to Pair Lissa with Pam; however, because my Prologue strategy used more Silver Lance uses than did KoT's, I wound up not having enough Silver Lance uses for a four-turn clear of C4. As with the Prologue, I'll describe what I would prefer to do for a four-turn clear.

Turn 1 player phase: Fred Paired Up with Chrom, who moved down to a forest tile in range of a Fighter and Mercenary. Chrom Switched to Fred, who equipped the Bronze Sword and waited. Pam and Lissa moved down while remaining out of enemy range.
Turn 1 enemy phase: Fred doubled the Fighter and did respectable damage to the Mercenary. If Chrom got in a Dual Attack, then that would have made for one fewer attack that needed to land.

Turn 2 player phase: I will assume Chrom didn't get any Dual Attacks during turn 1. Virion traded the Elixir to Fred and chipped at the Mercenary. Sully moved below Virion and killed the Fighter at 74% displayed hit. Fred moved to the top fort (I don't think there's a huge difference between moving to the top or the bottom fort) and equipped the Bronze Sword. Lissa Paired with Pam, who moved to the forest tile adjacent to the Mercenary to kill it.
Turn 2 enemy phase: The Archer attacked Pam, taking a strong counterattack. If Fred gains Str upon his level-up, or if Chrom gets enough Dual Attacks to complete ORKOs on Fighters, I believe the four-turn clear should work; I don't think doubling the boss (with a Spd point upon level-up) is necessary since the Silver Lance can combine with Virion chip and an Avatar nuke to bring down the boss. In my playthrough, I definitely didn't gain Spd, and I'm not sure if I gained Str either; nonetheless, I'll continue this discussion assuming a four-turn clear.

Turn 3 player phase: If either Fred gained Str or Chrom got in some Dual Attacks, the number of remaining enemies should be enough for the other units to finish (look at me, switching between tenses).
Turn 3 enemy phase: who cares

Turn 4: Finish off the boss, with the Avatar receiving the final blow.

Chapter 2 (7/19)

A slightly less reliable six-turn clear exists, as documented in KoT's thread.

Turn 1: Vaike Paired Up with Fred, who headed north to hit the Mercenary. Virion Paired Up with Pam, who traded a Vulnerary to Fred and finished off the Mercenary at either 59% or 69% displayed hit depending on the Mercenary's skillset. Lissa Paired Up with Sully, who headed as far left as she could and dropped Lissa onto a forest tile for Miriel to join with her. Chrom and Stahl moved left.

Turns 2-7: Fred slowly made his way up. The other dudes lured and completed kills as needed from the safety of the lower-left corner, sometimes needing to unequip weapons to prevent suicidal enemies from forcing my units to take more than one hit during any given turn. Eventually, they moved up and got some of the kills during turns 6 and 7.

Chapter 3 (5/24)

KoT conceived of a four-turn clear that works best with specific stats on Fred and the Avatar; his strategy is technically possible without meeting these benchmarks, but requires ten times (literally) as many resets compared to the case where the benchmarks are met. My stats were too low, so I settled for a five-turn clear which feeds the boss kill to Pam (most of the time). In both cases, the plan is to have Frederick deplete most of the boss' HP with the Silver Lance.

Turn 1: Chrom recruited and Paired Up with Kellam, who moved down and right. Fred took the Javelin and Paired Up with Stahl, who moved up and left, allowing for Fred to hit the Door Key Archer with the Javelin during the player phase. Everyone else moved left while staying out of enemy range.

Turn 2: Everyone finished off the enemies, and Fred opened the door. The Knight died during the enemy phase.

Turns 3-4: Turn 3 was spent getting all the right Pair Up partners in place. On Turn 4, Sully carried Miriel to attack the upper-left Mercenary. Fred, with Pam in tow, finished off the Mercenary with the Silver Lance. Stahl positioned himself exactly eight squares from the boss, with either Chrom or Kellam as his Pair Up (probably Chrom). I positioned my other units in a way I don't exactly recall, but which guarantees (to my knowledge) that the enemies move in a certain way provided Fred gets hit by a Fighter during turn 4 enemy phase.

Turn 5: If Fred was hit (the enemy had 86% displayed hit against Fred), then Stahl had a clear path to the boss due to the resulting enemy movements. After Fred doubled Raimi with the Silver Lance, Stahl swooped in, Transferred Pam to him, and Switched to Pam to finish the kill.

Chapter 4 (5/29)

No idea why, but I had a lot of trouble with this chapter--I kept getting six-turn clears. I wound up modifying KoT's strategy, but because I didn't have enough Silver Lance uses for a four-turn clear, I had to take an extra turn. Again, his strategy can be found in the link earlier in this post.

Paralogue 1 (7/36)

Credit to KoT for his hint describing the start of a seven-turn clear. At the time I figured this out, he hadn't posted a complete strategy, so I did the remainder on my own. Looking at his updated thread, my own way of doing the level was pretty much the same save for how I used Frederick, which wound up making my clear more reliable. I'll simply describe my movements involving Frederick, and the other details can be gleaned from KoT's write-up.

Turn 1: With a Str Tonic, Def Tonic, and Chrom Pair Up, Lon'qu could double the Barbarians, survive a single hit from the Barbarians, and KO them with either a crit or a Chrom Dual Attack (thank goodness for Dual Attack+). Lon'qu cleared the way for Sumia to fly Fred to kill a Barbarian.

Turn 2: An Archer attacked Fred on the previous enemy phase; Fred moved around, out of range of the two Barbarians in the chamber above him, and killed the Archer. KoT's strategy involves putting Fred in range of the Barbarians, which decreases reliability without helping turncounts.

Turn 3: Fred moved left and killed the leftmost Archer, making sure to stay out of range of the Short Axe Barbarian in the center of the map.

Turns 4-7: I don't remember many specifics, but Fred got to the boss and attacked on turn 7, finishing him on the player phase. The other guys got the treasure chests, and Donnel got his level by killing one Archer and one Thief.

Chapter 5 (6/42)

My approach was, again, one turn slower than the absolute minimum, but much more reliable at the cost of needing Rescue (and, by extension, Paralogue 1); a five-turn clear not dependent on Rescue is documented in KoT's thread.

Turn 1: Chrom Paired Up with Lon'qu, who moved to a forest tile to attract enemies. Fred, with Kellam in tow, OHKOed the Myrmidon north of the starting point. Virion Transferred Kellam to him and chipped the Barbarian. Sumia traded the Javelin to the top of Fred's inventory and Paired Up with him. Maribelle and Ricken headed south and were Rescued by Lissa.

Turns 2-6: The enemies near the start point were cleared out, and an additional Rescue charge was used to block the lower-left fort. Fred occupied the fort on turn 2 and handled the northern enemies on subsequent turns. Everyone else worked their way up the left, with Pam shooting down Wyverns as needed. I think Chrom or Lon'qu may have gotten one, too.

Chapter 6 (4/46)

I hadn't bothered trying a four-turn clear until I read in KoT's thread that it was possible. He didn't provide any details beyond that, so I had to otherwise figure it out on my own. My strategy is pretty simple, and although the actual chances of a four-turn clear are not so good (I never did the math, but the chances of a four-turn clear probably hover around 20%), the chance of death is low IIRC, and the plan could have easily been tweaked towards the end for a very reliable five-turn clear.

Turn 1 player phase: Chrom and Pam Paired Up and moved in range of a Fighter towards the left of the map. At the RHS of the map, Frederick and Sumia Paired Up and moved down towards a pillar, with Frederick equipping a Hand Axe. Most everyone else inched towards the center of the map while remaining out of range of the Fighter near the top-center.
Turn 1 enemy phase: The top-center Fighter died from Lucina's counterattack. A lot of enemies attacked Frederick and got damaged severely or killed outright. The LHS Fighter attacked Chrom; I don't remember if the Fighter died that enemy phase.

Turn 2 player phase: Chrom recruited Gaius and switched to Pam, who attacked the Dark Mage adjacent to Gaius. I don't recall if the nearby Fighter died during turn 1 EP, but if it didn't, I probably had Virion or Panne finish him off. Fred and Sumia continued moving down the RHS; I don't recall if I changed his weapon, but I probably did. Everyone else moved towards the center. I recall a Thief occupying the space above the stairway; I killed him by ganging up on him with (probably) Virion chipping and Lon'qu (pocket Kellam or Sully) finishing.
Turn 2 enemy phase: Enemies attacked, and my units countered.

Turn 3 player phase: Frederick moved in range of Validar and equipped the Hand Axe. Everyone else just kept whittling away the enemies near their assigned positions: Virion kept chipping, and Lon'qu (this time definitely supported by Kellam, in anticipation of Thieves) attacked guys with his Killing Edge; meanwhile, Pam and Chrom continued hanging around the LHS. I don't recall if Pam used a Vulnerary or if she just attacked.
Turn 3 enemy phase: Validar attacked Frederick. Enemies attacked Lon'qu, and if I got sufficiently lucky with either Killing Edge crits or Kellam Dual Attacks, I would have been in position to clear in four turns; if not, a five-turn clear would have been obtained.

Turn 4 player phase: Fred finished Validar, and the other guys mopped up whatever units they could while positioning themselves to kill the remaining guys with enemy-phase counterattacks. I think Lissa may have healed Pam, or something.
Turn 4 enemy phase: I recall Pam needing either a single Dual Strike (B support and she doubled) from Chrom or a crit to finish her enemy. There might have been one other enemy whose death was guaranteed. If Pam didn't finish her target, it would have been a five-turn clear.

Chapter 7 (3/49)

Equipped with an Iron Sword, Fred Paired Up with Sumia, who flew forward and switched to Fred. Either Kellam or Chrom (don't remember) Paired Up with Pam, who moved forward in range of just a couple of enemies. Lon'qu and Panne Paired Up and stayed out of the way during the first turn. The trickiest part was getting all the Archers dead. I think Pam needed a dodge at some point during turn 3, but her Avo was pretty high.

Chapter 8 (6/55)

I only brought one healer, Lissa, to this level; I really needed a lot of offense to grab all three villages.

Turn 1 player phase: Equipped with a Hand Axe, Fred Paired Up with Sumia, who flew left and switched back to Fred for some enemy-phase counters. Panne and Lon'qu Paired together and moved right to engage the Fighter during the enemy phase. Cordelia (pocket Vaike) teamed up with Pam (pocket Ricken) to take out the Myrmidon. Nowi and Gregor Paired Up and moved far enough north to be in range of just one of the enemies pursuing them.
Turn 1 enemy phase: Most of the enemies near Fred died from his Hand Axe. Gregor chipped an enemy, and the Fighter and Dark Mage up top took some damage from Lon'qu and Cordelia, respectively.

Turns 2-4: Lon'qu and Panne finished the Fighter and eventually secured the Rescue village. Everyone else, including Fred and Sumia, moved towards the center to face the enemies pursuing Nowi and Gregor.

Turn 5 player phase: Sumia flew Frederick right next to the boss and switched to Frederick, who equipped a Hand Axe (or Javelin; I forget). Cordelia flew towards the Second Seal village and switched to Vaike to Separate while remaining out of range of the Dark Mages. Pam and her Pair Up (might still have been Ricken; I forget) moved towards the Master Seal village, along with Gregor and Nowi.
Turn 5 enemy phase: Basically every non-boss enemy in the boss' vicinity died from Fred's enemy-phase counters. The two enemies near the Master Seal village were weakened, and I think one of them died during this turn.

Turn 6: Fred killed the boss; Cordelia got the Second Seal; my other units killed any remaining enemies; and someone else got the Master Seal.

I think a four- or five-turn clear is doable with a bit of improved play combined with some Dual Attacks, but it may require skipping one or both Seals.

Paralogue 2 (5/60)

Resources: Pam took the Second Seal and reclassed to Pegasus Knight.

I didn't have a lot of firepower, and the Barbarians near the mountains made things tricky, so I think five turns was the best I could do at this point in the game. I didn't want to further postpone the Paralogues since Pam needed a lot of training to get Galeforce in time.

The goal was to take out the boss quickly and secure the Physic village. Sumia flew Fred near the boss' area on turn 1. Everyone else focused on the starting enemies while slowly moving right, with Pam being the focal point of the offense. Frederick killed the boss on either turn two or three, and subsequently proceeded north. I don't recall if it was Sumia or Pam who got the Physic staff.

Paralogue 3 (4/64)

I saved all three villagers.

Turn 1 player phase: Gregor Paired Up with Cordelia, who flew south and dropped Gregor in range of the southmost Barbarian. Pam headed left and downward, killing an Archer. Lon'qu and Panne hung out in a forest near the top-left of the map. Sumia flew Frederick to the right, and Fred attacked someone (might have been the Knight) with a Hand Axe. Lissa and Chrom were each ferried left and downward by, IIRC, Maribelle and Sully and were then dropped.

Turn 1 enemy phase: At least one Peg Knight died from Pam's counterattack. Most of the upper-left enemies died from Lon'qu counterattacks. Fred chipped away at some enemies. Gregor did some important chip damage to the Barbarian.

Turns 2-3: Chrom, Cordelia, and Gregor eventually killed the Barbarian and Mercenary who started at the south mountains. At the end of turn 3, Cordelia positioned herself to receive Frederick on turn 4, while Chrom positioned himself to attack the lower-left Knight on turn 4. Pam worked her way towards the lower-left part of the map. Panne and Lon'qu finished off the top-left enemies and killed a Barbarian who started near the LHS mountains. Fred had to maneuver a bit to clear out the RHS enemies while positioning himself to get Transferred to Cordelia on turn 4.

Turn 4: Frederick moved to Cordelia and Transferred himself to her. Cordelia flew Fred to the boss, who was KOed during (I think) the enemy phase. I remember having to use the Steel Axe to get around the Elixir; I can't say with certainty if this was exactly how it went, but I may have waited for the enemy phase in order to get him off the mountain for a clean ORKO. Everyone else finished off the LHS enemies.

Chapter 9 (4/68)

Resources: Forged a +5 Log for giggles, and also because Pam was still stuck with E Lances (she got to D rank on her first or second round of combat in this level).

I think an additional turn can be cut if Tharja is not recruited, but a Peg Knight Avatar may make it more difficult, if not impossible. This was a recruit-everyone run, so I didn't have to worry about that. If my square-counting is correct, a Gaius Pair Up gives a Grandmaster Avatar just enough Mov to reach the boss on turn 3.

On turn 1, Pam flew south to a good rout spot and equipped the Log forge. Fred and Sumia flew south. I don't recall exactly what I did with Chrom to start, but I may have put him in range of a Wyvern. Cordelia and the others stayed put.

On turn 2, my team cleaned up some of the starting enemies. I recall Transferring Chrom over to Cordelia, who flew south in preparation for recruiting Libra. Fred and Sumia continued moving down and right, and drew a moderate amount of enemy-phase action.

On turn 3, Chrom positioned himself to allow Libra to recruit himself. Pam stood next to him to draw in Wyverns and give Chrom a support bonus. Frederick moved forward; I think I had him on a fort near the boss with a 1-range weapon to avoid killing Tharja.

By turn 4, almost every enemy unit besides the boss and Tharja was dead. There remained one enemy near the starting point, and one more near Libra's starting point, but those were dealt with on the player phase by my scrub units. Libra traded the Killer Axe to Chrom. I flew Chrom to Tharja with Pam and Transferred Chrom to Tharja. Tharja positioned herself two squares from the boss and used a Def Tonic to avoid getting OHKOed. Fred moved next to Tharja, took the Killer Axe, and attacked. The boss attacked Tharja during the enemy phase and died.

The success rate would probably have gone up if I instead Transferred Chrom to Fred, allowing for four Killer Axe hits and the possibility of up to four Rapier hits.

Paralogue 4 (5/73)

Resources: I gave Pam the Dracoshield at some point...perhaps it wasn't this chapter, though.

This was another chapter that was made trickier than usual due to being a Peg Knight (as opposed to a Grandmaster). On a previous file, I was able to nab both the Arms Scroll and the Bullion (L) while completing the rout in five turns; this time, I missed the Arms Scroll.

Pam was not yet ready to promote at the start of the level, but she had the Master Seal in her inventory in preparation for a promotion midway through the stage.

On turn 1, I used Libra and Frederick (pocket Sumia) to block the nearby group of three enemies, with Libra using Ward on Pam. Nowi chipped the bottom-center Myrmidon and Cordelia finished, allowing Pam to fly north with a Javelin equipped (I believe her Pair Up to start was Kellam).

On turn 2, Chrom was Transferred to Pam, who flew up and switched to Chrom to recruit Anna. The three of them dealt with the enemies in their vicinity the best they could (I think Pam ate an arrow during the enemy phase); depending on enemy movements during turn 1, I may have needed Pam to face even more archers, but this probably could have been avoided with some baiting during turn 1. Anyway, the remainder of the army funneled up the center, dealing with enemies along the way: Cordelia and some chipper (probably Nowi) took out an enemy. The healers needed to sandwich themselves between the combatants.

Turns 3 and 4 were spent opening the middle door for Pam to fly through and positioning everyone for productive enemy phases: the Mage near the Bullion needed to be dealt with, there was an Archer I really didn't need hounding Pam, and the trailing enemies needed to be killed. Pam promoted during turn 4 or so. If too many enemies landed hits (I recall giving her Kellam as her Pair Up), then she would die before getting to promote; the likelihood of this happening was enough to piss me off, but it didn't feel all that probable.

I finished everything during turn 5, but wasn't able to get the Arms Scroll.

Chapter 10 (2/75)

Gaius Paired Up with Pam, who flew left with her max Mov. Fred and Anna went left. Everyone else save Tharja hung around and hit enemies for EXP. On turn 2, Tharja Paired Up with Pam, who was Rescued by Anna for a clean ORKO on the boss.

Chapter 11 (3/78)

Pam and Tharja Paired Up and moved to the center fort on turn 1 with Olivia's assistance. Meanwhile, Fred, Anna, and Sumia moved left to take out leftover enemies on subsequent turns.

On turn 2, Pam intercepted the Thief. Fred put himself in position to kill some enemies near the top-left. During the enemy phase, Gangrel died.

On turn 3, Anna got the Bullion (L), and Pam finished off the RHS enemies. She may have needed Physic support, either this turn or the previous one.

Now that I think about it, a two-turn clear may be possible if Lon'qu is ferried to the Thief, scores a Killing Edge crit, and gets Rescued back. I don't know if it's worth ditching the Bullion (L), though.

Chapter 12 (4/82)

Fred and Pam were my only solid combat units, so anything faster than a three-turn clear (which itself would have required a fair bit of luck and/or skill) would have been challenging.

The plan was for Pam to inch up the RHS of the map with Tharja in tow, moderating enemy-phase exposure to Beast Killers and bows. In this way, pretty much every enemy save for the mounts near the bottom-left and the Bow Knight's cadre wound up dying to Pam. A three-turn clear might have been doable with some ninja dodges.

Anna, Fred, Chrom, and Cordelia did much of the damage on the remaining enemies.

Chapter 13 (1/83)

Cordelia got a kill; Chrom might have gotten one as well; Pam took out the boss.

Chapter 14 (2/85)

I took an extra turn here to allow Pam to swallow the LHS of the map, giving her just enough EXP to learn Galeforce in time for C15. I foolishly took the Second Seal over the Bullion (M). Lucina got at least one kill.

Paralogue 12 (2/87)

As with C14, I spent an extra turn feeding kills to Morgan, who inherited Galeforce. Cordelia and Lucina saw some action as well, and Cordelia promoted at Lv 13 to Falcon Knight after completing the level. Anna got the Bullion (M). I don't recall if I got the Second Seal. Lissa promoted to Sage before this level (it might have been even earlier; I don't remember).

Chapter 15 (4/91)

Resources: Morgan took Naga's Tear.

Frederick was almost useless by this point, so I had to make do primarily with Morgan and Pam. My approach was fairly straightforward, but probably suboptimal; Morgan and Pam separately marched left. Morgan promoted to Grandmaster on turn 1 after triggering Galeforce. Every village was visited, and Fred (or Cordelia; I forget) did enough chip damage to the Dark Knight on the beach to allow Pam to KO during turn 4 enemy phase. Rally Spectrum would really have helped get Fred going on this level, possibly making a three-turn clear much easier.

Chapter 16 (1/92)

Deployed: ~16/10/19 Dark Flier Pam, ~16/~10 GM Morgan, 15 Lucina, 11 Chrom, Anna, 13/3 Falcon Knight Cordelia, --/17 Frederick, Sumia, Cherche, Lissa, Maribelle, Olivia, Libra, probably some others I am forgetting

Chrom Paired with Lucina, who ORKOed a Fighter. This was a mistake, as I realized after saving over my file that I could have killed the Bullion (M) Thief instead.

Morgan Paired with Pam, who moved up and killed the Speedwing Thief. Pam triggered Galeforce and moved towards the boss, switching to Morgan to KO a Fighter. Morgan moved very slightly northward and KOed a Sniper. I chained some Rescues to get Olivia to Dance for Morgan. Morgan moved up and either he or Pam KOed the boss.

Chapter 17 (1/93)

Deployed: ~16/10/19 Dark Flier Pam, ~16/~10 GM Morgan, 16/1 Great Lord Lucina, 11 Chrom, Anna, 13/3 Falcon Knight Cordelia, Sumia, Cherche, Lissa, Maribelle, Olivia, Libra, Dark Knight Henry, probably some others I am forgetting

Resources: Anna was totally Mag screwed, so I had to give her the Spirit Dust for my plan to work. I forged a +15 crit Killing Edge for Lucina. In retrospect, there probably existed a one-turn clear that didn't require either of these decisions. Pam took a +2 or +3 Mt Beast Killer.

Libra Rescued Chrom to the right. Chrom Paired with Lucina, who had a 68% chance to ORKO a War Cleric with the Killing Edge forge after accounting for Dual Strikes.

Morgan Paired with Pam. Anna Paired with Henry, who moved up and switched to Anna, who Rescued Olivia. Olivia Danced for Anna, who moved left and up and Rescued Pam. Pam ORKOed a Hero, triggering Galeforce, then moved into the throne room and switched to Morgan, who ORKOed a Hero and triggered Galeforce. Morgan moved up and switched to Pam, who doubled and had two shots at OHKOing the boss with her Beast Killer forge.

Chapter 18 (1/94)

Deployed: ~16/10/19 Dark Flier Pam, ~16/~10 GM Morgan, 16/1 Great Lord Lucina, 11 Chrom, Anna, 13/4 Falcon Knight Cordelia, Sumia, Cherche, Gaius, Lissa, Maribelle, Olivia, Libra, probably some others I am forgetting.

Lucina got some EXP by attacking a Warrior; I don't remember if she killed it.

Gaius Paired Up with Cherche. Sumia ferried one of my staffbots to Rescue another staffbot (or something like that), who Rescued Cherche to allow Gaius to open the chest containing Bullion (M).

Pam and Morgan Paired Up and were Rescued (I think) twice by Cordelia, who received a Dance from Olivia. They chained Galeforces in order to reach Yen'fay, who was easily ORKOed with the Killer Lance combined with Morgan support.

Paralogue 17 (2/96)

Deployed: ~16/10/20 Dark Flier Pam, ~16/~11 GM Morgan, 16/~1 Great Lord Lucina, 11 Chrom, Anna, --/17 Frederick, 13/4 Falcon Knight Cordelia, Tharja, Sumia, Libra, Lissa, Maribelle, Olivia

Pam and Morgan each received an Elwind forge: one was +1, the other was +2. Fred received a +3 Mt Beast Killer.

Turn 1 player phase: Tharja Paired with Pam, who was Rescued to the left by either Lissa or Maribelle (I forget). Fred Paired with Sumia, who was Rescued to the left by the other of Maribelle or Lissa. Pam ORKOed the top Falcon Knight, triggered Galeforce, and subsequently ORKOed the bottom Falcon Knight. Fred used a Hand Axe on the remaining FK. Anna Rescued Pam back towards the center of the map.

Chrom Paired with Morgan, who was Rescued by Libra. Morgan ORKOed the middle Wyvern, triggered Galeforce, and ORKOed the bottom Wyvern. Olivia used Dance on Anna, who Rescued Morgan towards the center-right of the map.

Cordelia used Rescue on somebody to get EXP. Lucina moved right.

Turn 1 enemy phase: who cares

Turn 2: Fred finished the lone FK with the Beast Killer forge.

Libra Paired Up with Lucina, who ORKOed the lone Wyvern with Parallel Falchion. Cordelia used Rescue to gain EXP and learned Rally Speed.

Pam killed two Griffon Riders using Galeforce. Morgan killed two Griffons using Galeforce. Olivia Danced for Morgan, who finished the boss (I may have used Physic with someone).

Chapter 19 (1/97)

It was a simple Galeforce chain to the boss. Olivia was prepared to Dance for Pam, who was reclassed to a Sorceror for Ruin. Tiki got a bit of EXP.

Chapter 20 (1/98)

Resources: Pam received a +5 Mt, +15 Hit Ruin forge. No, seriously. She was four Mag points below her average.

Oh my goodness, this level. Unlike C19, Walhart was too far away to permit Olivia granting Pam an extra round of combat; additionally, the throne gave Walhart an extra +3 Def/Res and +20 Avo. Lissa used Rally Magic, Cordelia used Rally Speed, and Libra used Rally Luck (to boost accuracy).

If Pam had just two more Mag points (which would still have been below average), the success rate of my plan would have jumped to about...8%. As it was, the success rate was about 5% or 6%, after accounting for Aegis and Rightful King on Walhart as well as Dual Attacks from Morgan. Didn't even bother getting the Dracoshield, but I did nab the Bolganone.

Chapter 21 (2/100)

As the discussion in this thread suggests, a one-turn clear may have been possible with two Galeforce-capable foot units. I couldn't think of a one-turn clear at the time of my playthrough, so I'll describe what I actually did.

Deployed: ~16/10/20/1 Sorceror Pam, ~16/~13 GM Morgan, 11 Chrom, 13/5 Cordelia, Anna, Dark Knight Henry, Libra, 21 Tiki, ~16/~2 Great Lord Lucina. No one else was deployed, as the aggregate enemy attack range was just too much.

Resources: Pam was four points below her average projected Magic, so I needed to forge a +5 Nosferatu and give her Magic and Speed Tonics for guaranteed ORKOs of Swordmasters when Paired with Morgan. Morgan was Spd-blessed by one or two points above his projected average; with the Speedwing and a Spd tonic, he was capable of doubling Assassins after receiving a Rally Speed. If he were not Spd-blessed, the plan would have worked provided that Pam joined in on a Dual Attack at a 50% rate.

Turn 1 player phase: Near the starting position, there exist three squares that are in range of one Mire user but otherwise out of enemy range. Cordelia moved to one of those squares and used Rally Speed on Morgan, Pam, and Tiki. Henry and Anna moved left and Rescued the Pam/Morgan duo. Libra moved to another one of the three squares and used Rescue on Anna, who was sent to the last of the three squares. Chrom Paired with Libra. Tiki and Lucina moved in range of one enemy for EXP.

Morgan KOed an Assassin blocking the hall, triggering Galeforce. He moved and switched to Pam, who killed another Assassin and triggered Galeforce. There exists one magic square to the right of an enemy Sorceror who is leaning against a wall. Pam moved to that square, and Morgan switched in and unequipped his weapon to prevent unwanted Dual Attacks. I switched back to Pam and equipped the Nosferatu forge.

Turn 1 enemy phase: Tiki got attacked by a Berserker. Many enemies died to enemy-phase counters from Pam's Nosferatu forge. Importantly, because Morgan was unequipped, a Sorceror on the other side of the wall against which Pam was leaning survived combat.

Turn 2: Tiki KOed the Berserker. Pam and Morgan were able to chain Galeforces to the boss because of the weakened Sorceror (target 1) and the pile-up of enemies to the left of Pam's initial turn two position (target 2). I don't recall who killed the boss, but both Pam and Morgan were capable of doing so, and Morgan would have gotten more EXP.

Chapter 22 (1/101)

Deployed: ~16/10/20/1 Sorceror Pam, ~16/~13 GM Morgan, 16/~2 Great Lord Lucina, 11 Chrom, Anna, 13/5 Falcon Knight Cordelia, Dark Knight Henry, Libra, Lissa, Maribelle, Olivia, ~22 Tiki, and someone else (don't remember)

The Helswath was the only thing I cared about. To give my fighters a boost, Lissa used Rally Magic, and I might have also used Rally Speed with Cordelia (don't remember). Tiki Paired with Morgan, who was Rescued by someone towards the left. Morgan chipped the Helswath Warrior. Lucina Paired with Pam, who moved left and received a Dance from Olivia. Pam completed the KO on the Helswath Warrior and triggered Galeforce.

I initiated a Rescue chain to get Pam and Lucina all the way to Aversa, who died from a forged Arcwind tome plus a Noble Rapier Dual Attack.

Paralogue 9 - Cynthia (2/103)

I took a detour to get Rally Spectrum before C23; it was a two-turn penalty, but Rally Spectrum wound up being great against Grima. Had I been more diligent about feeding kills to Morgan, this might not have been necessary.

I recruited Cynthia on turn one by marching Sumia north, giving her a Dance from Olivia, and then Talking to and Pairing Up with Cynthia. Libra Rescued them back. Morgan (pocket Lucina) and Pam (pocket Chrom) killed some guys and headed just slightly north of the starting point, but not before receiving Rally Speed from Cordelia and Rally Magic from Lissa. Morgan and Pam were positioned adjacent for support bonuses. Finally, Tiki (pocket Say'ri) headed onto a forest tile towards the upper-left with the Dragonstone+ equipped.

When turn two started, I used Rally Magic on Morgan and Pam. Pam Galeforced to the north and killed the boss with Ruin. Morgan hung around near the center of the map and learned Rally Spectrum during the enemy phase. Tiki handled the remaining enemies.

Chapter 23 (7/110)

I reclassed Morgan to Sorceror for Nosferatu, without which he would have been completely pummeled.

My only useful combat pairs were Morgan/Lucina, Tiki/Say'ri, and Pam/Chrom. Flavia and Basilio wouldn't join until after defeating Validar 1, obviously. My low amount of firepower meant that I couldn't simply go with an all-out offense to clear up some space for supporting units like Lissa and Cordelia.

(Then again, with some rigging for Ruin crits, and with Lissa for Rally Magic, Morgan would probably have been strong enough to take out the Sorceror near the starting point [who himself had Ruin and Vengeance in addition to being super-beefy with 70 HP and about 26 Res]. It might have been a five- or six-turn clear this way, since I could also have killed the Assassin with Morgan that same turn; Rally Magic would have also helped later down the stretch. Oh well.)

The only other units I fielded were Libra and Tharja, who could squeeze themselves into a single tile that was out of enemy range.

The plan itself was pretty stupid: march eastward with Nos-tanking Morgan and Tiki, who was hit with Rally Spectrum when possible. Libra used Ward on Morgan. Pam didn't get to Validar until turn 2 since she was also a Sorceror. After killing Validar 1, Pam moved down and right, and Flavia took the Helswath and consumed an Arms Scroll from the convoy. Basilio traded the Helswath to the top of Flavia's inventory and Paired Up with her.

After clearing out the LHS, Libra, Tharja, and Tiki blocked the LHS stair tiles. Morgan continued proceeding eastward. On the final turn, Morgan was Transferred to Pam, who killed Validar with Ruin and some assistance from Dual Attacks.

Again, with some better planning and a Ruin crit or two, a turn or more may have been cut.

Chapter 24 (3/113)

The plan was to block forts when possible.

Turn 1 player phase: Morgan used Rally Spectrum on Flavia, Basilio, Pam, Chrom, and Lucina (possibly Tiki as well). Lissa used Rally Magic on Morgan and Pam. Tharja Paired Up with Cordelia, who used Rally Speed on Tiki and Flavia. Libra Rescued Flavia (pocket Basilio, who was equipped with the Killer Bow for Wyverns) northward, and Flavia parked herself on the top-center fort and equipped Helswath; with a single Rally boost, she was able to double Valkyries. Anna Rescued Libra back down. Maribelle Rescued Tiki southward, and Tiki moved onto the south fort (Say'ri was her partner). Avatar and Morgan each moved east. Pam chipped at a Valkyrie, and Morgan killed a Great Knight and finished the Valkyrie, making sure to equip himself and Pam with Nosferatu tomes for the enemy phase.
Turn 1 enemy phase: Many of the enemies up top died to Flavia's counters. The Wyverns in the upper-right approached Flavia. Tiki chipped at a Paladin, and several enemies died to Pam (pocket Chrom) and Morgan (pocket Lucina).

Turn 2 player phase: Lissa used Rally Magic again on Pam and Morgan, who each continued moving eastward, with Galeforce allowing Morgan to occupy the center-right fort. Morgan used Rally Spectrum on Pam before ending his turn. Flavia attacked an enemy while remaining on her fort. Tiki finished off her Paladin. Mostly for giggles, I had Cordelia finish off a Great Knight with the Beast Killer; although she was only Lv 5 or so, Cordelia benefited from Hex and Anathema and hence had 87% displayed accuracy when Paired with Tharja and in range of Charm. Cordelia and probably Lissa were Rescued back to safety.
Turn 2 enemy phase: A lot of Wyverns died to Flavia/Basilio, as they were all doubled with Basilio getting a 50% chance at a Killer Bow Dual Attack on each of Flavia's attacks. Pam and Morgan did a lot of damage with their Nosferatu tomes.

Turn 3 player phase: Morgan switched to Lucina, who Transferred Morgan to Pam and subsequently killed a Valkyrie with the Noble Rapier (again, mostly for giggles). Lissa was Transferred to Cordelia, who moved east and used Rally Speed on Tiki. Olivia Danced for Cordelia, who flew east and Switched to Lissa for a Rally Magic on Morgan and Pam. Morgan and Pam Galeforced-chained to a forest tile near the boss from which they were in position to finish up the rout.

If, during turn 2 enemy phase, one of the other Valkyries who started near the RHS of the map approached Basilio and Flavia instead of Pam and Morgan (which happened very rarely), it would likely have been a four-turn clear instead (Basilio's accuracy on the Valkyrie was probably less than 100%), as I would not have been able to Rally Speed both her and Tiki (who also needed a Spd boost to double one of the remaining Valkyries on turn 3). I wonder if eschewing Tiki would have eliminated this possibility.

Turn 3 enemy phase: Hopefully everything died. Unfortunately, what usually happened was that exactly one enemy would remain standing. Sometimes a Paladin would trigger one too many Aegises (I think one Aegis, but not two, would have been OK since Morgan's Dual Attacks would bypass them); other times, Nosferatu would just miss.

Chapter 25 (1/114)

It was a simple Galeforce chain to Aversa, who was doubled and ORKOed by Pam's Waste with a Morgan Pair Up packing a forged Arcwind. Tiki batted a General.

Final (2/116)

Resources: Chrom promoted at Lv 12 Lord and received an Energy Drop and a Secret Book (from Chs 8 and 13, respectively; using them sooner would probably have yielded another 100 or so Dual Attack EXP). I sold the farm to forge a +4 Mt, +20 Hit Waste for Pam, who by this point was five points of magic below her projected average. If she were at her average, my success rate would have improved sharply.

This was harder than I was expecting. On turn 1, everyone moved north. On turn 2, Libra used Rally Luck (to boost accuracy, especially for Chrom), Lissa used Rally Magic, Basilio used Rally Strength, and Morgan used Rally Spectrum.

Pam (pocket Chrom) KOed the Berserker with Waste and triggered Galeforce. Henry was Rescued and moved adjacent to Grima to weaken him with Hex and Anathema. Lucina Paired Up with Cherche to allow Chrom to benefit from Charm. After all of this, Chrom's accuracy on Grima from the secondary support slot was 51%, assuming he didn't receive the +15 support bonus (I believe that's only for the lead support unit).

With Olivia's help, Pam got eight shots of chip and/or Vengeance-boosted damage as well as some Exalted Falchion hits. The Exalted Falchion wound up dealing 13 damage per hit, which wasn't too bad. The reliability wasn't high, but it was definitely better than my C20 Walhart clear. My success rate would have been better if Pam hadn't been Mag-screwed.

I noticed after my successful attempt that with the P3 Seraph Robe, an HP Tonic, and a Def Tonic, Pam would have survived two Ignis-boosted attacks from Grima if Anna (with a Mag Tonic and pocket Ricken) used Physic in between the two attacks, which would have sped things up due to Vengeance.

Stats and reclasses before Final

         Lv HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS
Chrom     1 31 21  2 20 15 11 14  6
Pam       9 66 29 33 32 38 29 32 28
Morgan   13 71 31 32 34 42 33 30 29
Lucina    6 48 21 10 25 27 25 19 11
Anna     10 46 13 22 29 26 34 10 13
Cordelia  5 38 17 4 24 22+2 14 12 14
Tiki     29 63 30 21 27 26 32 28 24
Lon'qu   10 25 10  2 18 18 10  7  4
Flavia   14 62 33  9 38 38 30 28 17
Fred     17 47 24  4 22 19 17 25  6

Gold: Pam
Silver: Frederick
Bronze: Morgan

Chrom promoted to Great Lord at Lv 12.
Pam's class progression was ~16 Tactician/10 Peg Knight/20 Dark Flier/9 Sorceror.
Morgan's class progression was ~16 Tactician/16 Grandmaster/13 Sorceror.
Lucina promoted to Great Lord at Lv 16.
Cordelia promoted to Falcon Knight at Lv 13.
Lissa promoted to Sage at Lv 10.
Henry and Cherche used Master Seals without gaining any EXP.

Bro, should you even Galeforce?

In a "true" LTC that assumes no Paralogue to be mandatory, the argument can be made that Galeforce is a net detriment to the player's turncount. Galeforce is only truly necessary for one-turn clears of C20 and C21, while other assassination missions can be completed without it provided the player splurges on extra Rescue staves. Galeforce is harder to justify without the EXP from Paralogues 2 and 3. On the other hand, Galeforce saves money--a very scarce resource in LM--and gives the player the option to recruit Tiki (whose Paralogue takes two turns, but who may pay off in C23 and possibly C24).

Morgan should always be recruited whether he inherits Rally Spectrum or Galeforce, as either one combined with Veteran makes him unequivocally worth the turn(s) spent in his Paralogue. I think even Anna may be worth it, not just for the extra staff user, but also for the Bullion (L) and Arms Scroll.

Reclassing early in the game with the Renown SS is probably not a good idea because of the C5 and C7 Wyverns, not to mention the C7 Archers. Paralogue 2 by itself might not be worth it since the Physic staff doesn't save as many turns as it costs, but it does give the Avatar a somewhat easy time of gaining levels as a Peg Knight.

tl;dr: I'm not completely sure if Galeforce has any place in a no-required-Paralogues LTC. There exist benefits to promoting the Avatar to GM, and there exist benefits to reclassing to Peg Knight.

Edited May 27, 2013 by Redwall

[XeKr]

You were probably already going to address most of this, but some theorycraft musing about turncounts:

A lot of turns can probably be shaved at the cost of reliability (plus growth rigging), but I'll let others comment on that.

Pro-C10: Earlygame is hard to optimize. >_>.

C11: Depending on how strong Frederick is, can 2 turn though reliability may be questionable.

C12: 2 turns is doable with 1 strong unit with 8 move (might have to fly too), but maybe not in LM with forged Silver Bows. Still 3 turns is maybe doable.

C15: Seems like 3 turns should be possible, especially with 2 Galeforcers.

C21: 1 turn feels doable with 2 Galeforcers? Rescue chain someone who Galeforces the middle Assassin and then moves and Rescues the other Galeforcer down. Other Galeforcer kills enemy blocking the way in lower right side, Galeforces and Rescues Olivia. Then Dance and kill boss. May require Valkyrie Avatar or Rally Movement or something.

C23: 2-4 turns seems doable but depends on stats ofc. 4 turns is doable with 1 strong Galeforce, 8 move Avatar, positioning wise.

C24: 3 turns is really impressive, I thought the reinforcements would be too much. But if 3 turns is doable, it seems 2 turns should be possible as well.

E: Requires just 3 Rescues, no? Maybe less if a non-Falchion clear is doable with 36 Forged Waste/Brave attacks from Dancing and enemy phase. Plus some Vengeance. Might lack the necessary Mag though. Maybe with Ignis, but that may delay Galeforce by too much.

Hmm…maybe I’m greatly overestimating Avatar/Morgan’s stats. I do think Morgan use is the way to go. Maybe Merc-Hero-Griffon could work for him but it depends on if the Move is overkill and if Ruin is necessary for reliable offense in some cases.

Really nice work though. I intend to try something similar sometime. I’m particularly curious as to your reclasses/levels/stats.

EDIT: A side note, it seems from how late you got Galeforce and the turns you spent training Morgan that a run without paralogues could potentially be faster overall if going Deliverer instead of Galeforce. Or a mix. I might try that instead. Maybe Morgan isn't worth it. >_>

Edited May 23, 2013 by XeKr

[Redwall]

Thanks for the feedback.

C11: Yeah, the lone Thief makes things a bit tricky since he's so far from the center fort (which is where I placed my Dark Flier Avatar on turn one). I don't recall the Sage charging at me during that enemy phase, and I had to use turn two to intercept the Thief. My only capable combatants were Fred and Avatar, so a two-turn clear would have been rather tricky, assuming it's possible at all under the constraints of my run. A two-turn clear would likely have forced me to skip the Bullion (L), which would have made things in later chapters a bit less reliable.

C12: I could see a three-turn clear with a bit of rigging for dodges. A two-turn clear would have been much more challenging.

C15: A three-turn clear is almost certainly possible with good reclassing choices. Fred was almost useless by this point, and my second Galeforcer was a ~16/1 GM Morgan who was just starting to get his sea legs; with my reclasses, three turns would have been rather unlikely, and would probably have forced me to skip a least a couple of the villages.

C21: Valkyrie Avatar sounds like a viable way of getting a one-turn clear, though I would be concerned about her performance in C23 (squishy) and 24 (forests reduce her move to 2 IIRC?). It's an interesting idea.

C23: Yeah, I really had no clue what to do here with only four viable combat pairs (Morgan/Lucina, Tiki/Say'ri, Flavia/Basilio, Avatar/Chrom), hence the seven-turn clear. Didn't help that I couldn't field anyone else other than Libra + Pairbot due to the aggregate enemy attack range being so huge. It would be interesting to see how you and others approach this.

C24: A good flier, like your suggestion of Griffon Morgan, probably would have permitted a two-turn clear. I'm not sure if I made the best reclassing choices.

C26: I had to Rally a lot; Lissa used Rally Magic, Morgan used Rally Spectrum, Libra used Rally Luck (to boost Chrom's Hit), and Basilio used Rally Strength. Additionally, Henry was necessary for Hex + Anathema. If I had done a better job training Chrom, a one-turn clear may have been doable at realistic odds.

I should have the Prologue up in a few minutes.

[Chiki]

Good job on the run. Why is Valkyrie Avatar viable for one-turning 21?

Edited May 23, 2013 by Olwen

[Redwall]

Thanks. For C21, there exist some enemies present in Lunatic who are not present in Hard that make things a bit different. Now that I think about it, a Valkyrie might also help in C23 since she can Rescue some allies towards good rout spots.

Edited May 23, 2013 by Redwall

[Chiki]

Is there anyone that can one round the boss in 21 except the Avatar?

Remember all you need to do is to get in his range.

[Redwall]

On my team, the only two units capable of ORKOing the boss were the Avatar and Morgan, who were both Paired together to allow for Galeforce-chaining. I'm not sure what the best option for quickly reaching the C21 boss would be in your type of LTC (one that considers all Paralogues optional) since Galeforce might not be worth its weight in turns (Lunatic) without using Paralogues 2 and 3 for training.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Redwall

[Chiki]

Would this work: pair up Ricken with Libra (or Gaius for the extra move if necessary). Rescue Olivia with the staff, have Olivia Dance Libra, then Rescue your Avatar carrying Morgan. With 2 Galeforces I'm guessing you would be able to reach the boss, though I don't know how this would work in Lunatic Mode.

[Redwall]

I thought about trying something like that, but the problem was that both Morgan and the Avatar were in 6-Mov classes (GM and Sorc, respectively) at the time; I needed Ruin to ORKO Walhart in C20, and Rally Spectrum wound up being useful against Grima. If both Morgan and the Avatar were in mounted classes, then an idea like yours probably would have worked. I probably didn't make the best reclassing choices.

[XeKr]

Iirc generics that orko will attack before the boss, so you’d have to get down there without exposing Olivia/Rescuers to all the Mire and numerous enemies if you want to finish on enemy phase. If finishing on player phase, there at least 2 enemies directly blocking the way and I think they're both too far from each other to Galeforce and too far from the boss. Well actually, it appears that a 12 move unit can do it. So Mounted + Deliverer + 1 move Pair Up + Rally Movement.

Though it seems doable to me without Valkyrie or 12 move depending on how much exp for others was obtained. My suggestion is more of a Rescue chain Galeforcer1 with Rescuer1 down. They kill enemy #13 (from that link), then move down and Rescue Galeforcer2 with Rescuer2. They kill 23, then move and Rescue Olivia down. Dance and kill the boss. Seems doable with 6 move Galeforcers unless I'm missing something.

Lissa, Maribelle, maybe Cordelia, maybe Lucina are there for the initial Rescue chain. May require Anna, however, or at least someone else besides Libra with high Mag. Or if going Valkyrie to guarantee the Rescue range, could possibly switch classes again before C23/24? It is indeed probably too squishy otherwise.

C23 isn’t that limiting positioning wise since there are convenient magic squares next to Validar. The hard part is surviving and orkoing everything reliably. Though Rescue always has uses.

Edited May 24, 2013 by XeKr

[Chiki]

Do you intend to do another playthrough of this? If not I'm willing to improve on it. It's good that you established strategies for future runs.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Olwen

[Redwall]

It looks to me like two Rescue users are needed to get to enemy #13 (or 12), one must Pair with Galeforcer1, one must Pair with Galeforcer2, and one more would be needed to get Olivia in position for Galeforcer2's partner to Rescue (I expect this last one is necessary even with perfect Mag levels and the Spirit Dust since Anna and Libra don't gain EXP that quickly). This makes for five Rescuers (Cordelia, Lissa, Maribelle, Anna, Libra).

The problem is that enemies #13 and #23 are Swordmasters, and #12 is an Assassin. I would expect that even with perfect Spd level-ups, the Naga's Tear, and the C16 Speedwing, Morgan will not double these guys without Rally Speed support, which takes away one Rescuer (Cordelia). A Dual Attack wouldn't work on the SM since the SM has 19 Res.

I think your plan can work if Avatar has enough Spd level-ups to double #23, and #12 (who has like 9 Res) is taken out with a Dual Attack from Anna (Morgan in the lead). It would probably require really good Mag level-ups on the staffbots, especially the one carried by Avatar.

My positioning problems with C23 came from the initial position; the aggregate enemy range consumed all but one square near the starting position. I used that one square as a home for Libra (pocket Tharja), who supported with Ward and later blocked the stairs. Beyond that, I fielded only two combat pairs (Tiki/Say'ri, Morgan/Lucina). It took me a bit of time to reach Validar since everyone on my team was a 6-Mov unit.

I probably won't play this through again; mostly I wrote this for fun and for others to improve on.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Redwall

[Redwall]

Updated the OP with some more chapters. Also I made a mistake; Morgan should be able to double Assassins with an Anna Pair Up in C21 if he's gotten good Spd levels and the Naga's Tear + Speedwing. Somehow I forgot about Anna's Pair Up boost.

[Redwall]

Updated the OP with some more chapters. I will probably finish up by tomorrow morning. Someone post so I don't quadruple post.

[Redwall]

OK, updated the OP with the remaining stages. Unless people want logs of the Spotpass Paralogues, this will be my last update. Thanks for reading.