Screenshot H3 LTC: Completed. 173 turns.

[commonguard]

So yea, the next update might take a bit longer than expected. Here's a video where I gave Luke another Speedwing and he is just annihilates the map. I also just RP everyone because that's usually how I do my initial runs of maps. I messed up with Sheema recruiting Samson. Oh yea, Mercurius!SM!Sirius is pretty legit. The clear I'm eventually going to present and continue with will not involve Luke having this extra Speedwing likely involve Paladin!Palla instead of Paladin!Linde. I also want to avoid fielding Etzel and try to build up Katarina's staff rank, and maybe even try an elegant dance with Horseman!Sirius switching between Silver swords and Steel bows.

The core of the strategy was explained by Nessie in his H4 playlog (he went by Redwall during that time).

[commonguard]

I guess you could say I was cheap and was spawn killing but it’s their own fault.

Don’t want to die? Don’t spawn.

I tried doing a really elegant dance where Sirius, Catria, Linde and Caeda would just fight the 9 northern DKs out in the open but Caeda and Linde are very prone to dying. In an attempt where I'd given Luke my final Speedwing and had Palla (who is also 3HKO'd) as a Sniper in the north I had actually managed to kill all of the DKs (including the 3 at the southwest) without resorting to using the choke point. The Speedwing is better on Sirius though.

[spoiler=C17 4/142 turns -- 1 Rescue, 1 Again]

Speedwing -- Sirius

Deployed: Paladin!MU, Horseman!Luke, Horseman!Sirius, Paladin!Palla, Sniper!Catria, Sniper!Caeda, SM!Linde, Sage!Malicia, Katarina, Feena

RPs (25 Remaining): MU, Luke, Sirius

MU has the Starsphere and Geosphere

The two selected ranges are that of a warrior to the east and the westmost Sniper on the map. There used to be a warrior 2L of Luke (Horseman) which he ORKO'd, now Luke can kill it from 1D1L except then Linde can't kill the Sniper. Now Palla can KO the sniper after Luke weakens it but then Palla ends up in another Sniper's range and will be targeted due to her low LUK and Linde ends up needing to kill that Sniper, which complicates the issue of killing all of the DKs (which was my secondary goal of this map). Linde doesn't need to KO the warrior on the EP but she probably will. If she doesn't then Caeda can kill it on PP 2. Linde also needs to be able to tank 44-45 Atk. I had to check stats to make sure she could take the hit as she's HP and DEF cursed; I could've taken the RP out of the convoy and used if I had needed it. Actually, I probably should've used it since Linde is also MAG cursed and can't ORKO max HP/RES DKs even if they are weilding axes.

Luke needs 27 SPD (after the RP) to double Warriors and also quite a bit of STR. He'll probably need to use Silver or a forged bow to ORKO, and will have 2 opportunities to try to feed Marth kills with regular Steel on this map. MU needs 27 SPD (after the RP and starsphere) and again quite a bit of STR to ORKO warriors with a Silver lance. MU also needs enough durability to tank quite a few attacks near the end but if considering the benchmark for my C16 clear, this is nothing. Pretty much everyone needs 27 SPD actually. I had to give Sirius my final Speedwing before C21 Secretshop and RP so he could double DKs for the DK rout objective I set for myself. Catria also needs enough HP and DEF to be in 3HKO range (not really an insane benchmark). Catria actually needs to go from single digit HP, back into 3HKO range on turn 3. This is done by a Physic from Katarina, Fortify from Malicia and a vulnerary usage by Catria. Sirius also needs to be in 3HKO territory (not for the 4 turn clear, but rather my secondary objective).

If I had chosen to field Etzel, I wouldn't need any criticals on this map but screw Etzel. Fun fact about Etzel btw, base Etzel cannot OHKO max HP/RES DKs without the RP. Since I didn't field Etzel and I wanted to kill all of the DKs (12 total) I actually end up needing 3 criticals. 1 by Catria @ 58% to open the map with. Another by Luke on EP 2 @54% after the save point is used. And one by Sirius @ 44% on EP 3. The crit by Sirius is a little different than the other two. Main difference is that this is outside of save points and map saves which I'm generally uncomfortable with. He only needs 1 in four attacks to crit and he has 44% to crit on all of them with 100 displayed hit for 2 attacks and 85 displayed. However, if he only crits the lance DK, he needs to hit both times as one critical will not kill. I cheaped out and didn't want to waste Mastersword charges.

This is obviously not the only way to complete the map in 4 turns, and I probably would've had an easier time routing the northern DKs if I had switched Katarina and Malicia's positioning but I want Katarina to get her staff rank up so I went with this. I think I did a decent job selecting the ranges in the video and most of it is pretty clear. The only thing is the DK positioning on EP 1; one of the east DKs doesn't have a target and that DK has always moved south for me (I think it's because it can kill Malicia is unarmed so it has a guaranteed chance of killing her but I'm not entirely sure).

The Unlock staff isn't necessary for the 4 turn clear as Palla could've easily opened the door with a door key but it's not like you'll actually run out of Unlock staff uses. I suppose if you wanted to distribute exp differently you could open the door with a key instead of the staff but w/e.

Again credit to Nessie for the 4 turn clear, especially the choke point. But the DK rout thing is mine. Just saying.

Edited November 8, 2013 by commonguard

[commonguard]

So like, I killed all the Generals, DKs, and nameless Paladins. I got all the items. Fielded Astram for some reason. I'm supposed to have Marth visit the village on turn 2, right?

[spoiler=C18 2/144 turns -- 1 Rescue]

Deployed: Berserker!MU, Horseman!Sirius, Horseman!Luke, Sage!Malcia, Palla, Catria, Caeda, Linde, Katarina, Feena, Astram (lol)

RPs (24 Remaining): Linde

Linde has the Starsphere

MU has the Lightsphere

Astram (low LUK) and Malcia (lower than Linde in DEF since Linde has RP and Starsphere) tank ballista hits. Marth needs to not crit with the Rapier or he'll die. I guess I could've just unequipped him and gotten the clear but then I'd have to go back into class menu and change Sirius' class so he can ORKO a Paladin as a SM or something and I didn't want to do that. W/e it doesn't really matter. Marth visits the village on turn 2 so I can farm the map for exp. Really short map, the video is pretty self-explanatory.

Edit: This weekend a 6 turn of C19 with 1 Rescue and 1 Again, maybe? Unless I can't count, which might be a possibility.

Edit 2: Just did a quick selling of a bunch of stuff to see roughly how much gold I would have before taking into account C20's Bullion (L).

[spoiler=You think I was joking about my dreams?]

See one of C16's spoilers if you don't but would like to know what I'm talking about.

Edited November 9, 2013 by commonguard

[commonguard]

Got a 6 turn of C19 with 1 Rescue and 1 Again staff. My team even has the offensive power to allow most of the units a turn to reposition and Marth can even try to fight in the map arena (though he can't win to save his life). MU has a pretty ridiculous HP requirement (needing to survive 3 ballistas, 2 generals, and 1 sword horseman at WTD). I don't even know if I'd call this a strategy, it's basically throwing MU to the wolves and expecting him to survive (not to say he can't but it's so absurd at this point in the game). Sometimes I wish this game had the re-move mechanic that other FE games have. First map where I had to bust out a bunch of big guns. Also, Catria's LUK sucks. I'm probably going to give her the 2 Goddess Icons I have as well as an arena level rigged for LUK. I'll record later tonight or maybe tomorrow.

Edited November 11, 2013 by commonguard

[Redwall]

[dreams]

Does the Dragonpike forge actually save any turns? When KoT LTCed H3, he spent a lot of money on Speedwings and arena training for Merric in order to cut off a Rescue use from Final. Maybe that would be a better use of your money.

[commonguard]

Oh, I never considered that. I was thinking the forge would allow me to 2 turn C23 (I'm pretty sure), and help reliably shave some turns off of C21.

The expenditure is roughly the same as the forge if I get the streaks in since I have the RP; I would need 4 HP and 3 SPD procs (according to his final team stats). Not sure how many resets it would take to win enough times though.

My Rescue/Again count is 6/4 with 1 Hammerne use still intact in C19 battle prep. And this is pretty much how I intend to spend them if I Hammerne Again.

C19 - 1 Rescue/1 Again (6 turns)

C20 - 1 Rescue (going to try for the 5 turn)

C20x - (going to bash my head against a wall trying to figure out KoT's 3 turn)

C21 - 1 Rescue/0-1 Again (I'll try for a 5 turn, honestly I'll be happy if I get a 6 turn, but I'm expecting a 7 turn)

C22 - 1 Again (going for the 4 turn)

C23 - 2 Rescue/1 Again (I think the forge would allow for a reliable 2 turn) OR 1 Rescue/2 Again (not sure if this would allow for a 2 turn though)

C24 - 2 Rescue/1 Again (more or less standard 2 turn) OR 1 Rescue/2 Again (I've never tried C24 with this combination but just looking at the map it seems like it should work to 2 turn the map)

C23 and C24 is where the conflict is. If I forge I think I can 2 turn C23 but it might force me to use 1 Rescue and 2 Again for the final. That's a little unnerving but I think it can be done. If I choose to arena Merric I should be able to save the Rescue but I might fail to 2 turn C23 without a second critical.

Depending on the how much money these chapters cost me, I may end up with too little gold for me to have to worry about whether to forge or arena.

Do you know if Xane can wield the Falchion? I'm not fully aware of Xane's limitations but I know he has some.

[Redwall]

Oh, I guess the Dragonpike forge is probably a better investment, then. Are Feena's Arms Scrolls also for Chapter 23?

Doesn't seem like Xane can use the Falchion: http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Xane#Overall

[commonguard]

Not the best video I've recorded. A critical I was hoping for (but wasn't needed occurred) but then later confused me because Marth actually needed the Mastersword to crit-kill and he didn't hit B swords because Linde crit the Paladin that Marth was supposed to chip for some WEXP. The second half of the video is really slowly played. I kind of forgot the strategy and started getting paranoid about ranges and who needed to be healed when. Most of the ranges are to try to show how things work but later on I just started getting paranoid so they might not be clear. I don't really want to re-record it, I'm lazy. Sorry.

[spoiler=C19 6/150 turns -- 1 Rescue, 1 Again]

Sold Bullion (L), 28 Rapier, 40 Silver lance, 40 Silver axe, 40 Silver bow, 20 Thoron, 40 Heal

Arena (single fight w/o Starsphere) -- Linde (as Sage w/ Aura) (1610 G) (rigged for MAG)

Arena (2-streak w/o Starsphere) -- Catria (as SM w/ Wo Dao) (1420 G + 1520 G -- 2940 G total) (rigged for LUK, no I’m not kidding)

17708 G Remaining

Goddess Icon x2 -- Catria

Armscroll -- Sirius (B -> A Swords as Horseman)

Dracoshield -- MU

Deployed: DK!MU, Horseman!Luke, Horseman!Sirius, Sage!Malicia, SM!Linde, Catria, Palla, Caeda, Feena, Xane, Katarina

RPs (20 Remaining): MU, Luke, Sirius, Catria

MU has Lightsphere

Palla has Geosphere

Catria has Lifesphere and Starsphere

Xane has Iote's shield

Considering the gold I spent in this chapter and the fact that I used an Armscroll on Sirius my dream of Feena getting a kill with Mercurius seems bleak. Now that we've gotten the important stuff out of the way, onto the info relevant to the chapter strategy.

Catria got 2 Goddess Icons and 2 Arena fights to get to 24 LUK before RP and Starsphere bonuses as well as D swords. I probably shouldn't have been dicking around in C18 as it would've saved me 3000 G. I suppose I could've went back and redo the chapter to fit in 2 rounds of combat with a sword but what's done is done.

Some ridiculous benchmarks here.

Catria needs 41 Atk to cleanly ORKO warriors on this map. As you know I'm not fond of criticals that are not rigged without the assistance of save points and the Devil sword has a backfire rate. Catria even with RP, Starsphere, 2 Goddess Icons and an Arena LUK growth rig still faces a 3% chance of hitting herself with every attack. She has to attack with the sword up to 4 times.

Sirius and Luke both need 28 SPD after the RP to double enemies. Luke in particular needs max STR after RP to OHKO thieves with Parthia. Luke must also be able to tank a ballista hit and a spear.

Palla needs at least 25 STR to secure OHKOs on enemy Paladins with the forged Ridersbane she will eventually be traded. I actually messed up and forgot to give her RP. Not the biggest deal in the world. (Random note about my Palla; she is insanely DEF blessed.)

Feena needs to be able to tank a hit from Sedgar or he'll kill her. (Sort of I'll go into a bit later.)

MU obviously needs 30 DEF, but at this point I think this is more or less assumed. Actually MU needs a good deal of HP. Ballistas hit for up to 8 damage against 32 DEF (with Starsphere). Generals can hit for 9. And I think Sword!Horseman can hit for 7? I forget but Ballistas have pretty crap hit and you can rig dodges with a save point near the end.

General pacing of the strategy

6 turns and things need to be done punctually. The recruit sequence happens on turn 6 and for this to occur Wolf needs to be aggro'd on turn 2 and disengaged on turn 3, Vyland needs to spawn on EP 3, Sedgar needs to be aggro'd on turn 3, Marth needs to reach the village on 4, and the boss needs to die on turn 5 PP.

The warriors need to be separated because there is no way in hell even Catria can solo all of them. Catria is actually only responsible for handling the Killer axe and Silver bow warriors. The other two warriors will be handled by a combination of MU, Marth and Sirius (who can actually ORKO even if they at full HP). Luke will need to use up to 3 Parthia shots on this map, 2 to ORKO the Ridersbane!Paladin which will obviously OHKO either him or Sirius if he is allowed to live and and another to kill a thief on turn 3 in order to spawn Vyland. Sedgar's entire group (save for Sedgar) must be eliminated on PP 4. The most ridiculous thing? MU cannot participate in this battle (sort of) and Feena cannot help either as she's busy dancing Catria on this turn (well sort of, this relates to Feena kind of and I'll go into detail about this later). It's up to Linde, Caeda, Palla and Luke and they must each kill one target. In order to recruit Vyland, you're probably going to need to kill a Paladin and for this it's best to have Palla have the Ridersbane forge on turn 5. Turn 5 is pretty much a free turn for most units to reposition, though you'll want to control Sedgar either by boxing him in or having someone (I used Caeda) keep him in range to be recruited by Vyland but also in range to recruit Wolf.

Some additional notes

A good deal of the trading can be avoided OR Feena's durability benchmark can be nulled by having Xane kill the boss; I couldn't find a way to do both. Of course this forces a huge loss in exp for MU but if Feena doesn't have the HP/DEF to tank a hit from Sedgar even with the RP and possibly an Angelic robe, this may be necessary. Another advantage to have Xane kill the boss is MU could possibly help with either the warrior or a member from Sedgar's group. It is possible to surround Sedgar and have Feena protected from Sedgar by having Xane kill the boss.

On turn 5 Wolf needs another target because MU is in his attack range and he will run backwards if he has no other target and thus mess up the recruitment sequence.

On EP 1, sometimes the Paladins' configuration does not allow Luke to swap MU's item AND kill the Ridersbane!Paladin. The Ridersbane!Paladin must die and MU can miss the warrior he pulls on turn 2 with a lance equipped. This is why Sirius received an Armscroll to wield Mercurius.

When Luke kills the thief on PP 3, he needs max STR to guarantee the kill. Someone should swap out his item to avoid wasting up to 4 Parthia shots. Luke must not be the target of the ballista on EP 3, it has to be someone else. It is best to have MU leave the vicinity to avoid conferring support bonuses.

On turn 5, I have MU kill the boss, and then have Catria move 1L; that's to draw one ballista shot to Catria to reduce MU's HP requirement slightly. If my MU were not HP blessed I could not guarantee MU's survival; although as mentioned before you can rig some dodges with the save point. MU needs to be healed AFTER the boss dies and end PP with full HP. Catria needs the durability to tank a ballista and a Spear!Paladin.

In the video, Linde crit'd the last of the initial 6 Paladins. If she had not, Marth would've chipped and Palla would finish with the unforged Ridersbane.

Catria also crit'd the second thief in the video. If she hadn't Roshea would've finished it with a Silver lance. I was considering sending the Devil sword to the convoy but opted not to as I couldn't guarantee the option consistenty.

Catria has close to 12% chance to suicide on this map. Luke needs to avoid being crit'd on EP 3 (I forget the crit rate but it's greater than 10% for sure).

I reset the map from the second save point to try for a Levin sword critical after realizing I'd made a mistake but did not see the kill through as it would take far too long to acquire. If I'd gotten the kill on the first try I would've seized and continued but it didn't happen and the video was already at like 18 mins at this point.

Palla's has the Geosphere and is in position on turn 2 to boost crit rates of Catria and Linde by 15 and 10% respectively.

The hit rates throughout this map are not great but I found to be acceptable since sometimes support bonuses could be gained. In future runs I think I will forge the Ridersbane with +10 Hit instead of +5 though.

Now I know what you're thinking. You think I chickened out and avoided the reinforcements by killing the boss on turn 5. That could not be further from the truth. I bravely walked into an ambush I saw coming. They did not show, most likely in fear of what had happened in C17.

In all seriousness though, these reinforcements will mess you up pretty badly if you try to 6 turn without avoiding them. Not saying it can't be done. I am saying I'm done trying.

Level ups:

Yes, this is in fact the cursed 5-dusted (soon to be 6-dusted) Linde that annihilated C18. Please PM-spam PKL demanding Linde move to Top tier. (She's currently at the bottom of High; you can say I'm biased but you have to admit, Linde is practically unique utility.)

Credit to MJEmirzian's guide for the opening positioning of MU, the warrior split-pull on turn 2 (which was brilliant), and inadvertently giving me the idea of how to handle the boss and his general guards.

Edit: Re-reading Nessie's (now named Miikaya) H4 playlog, some ideas from there have seeped into my own strategy so credit there.

Edited November 12, 2013 by commonguard

[commonguard]

Oh, I guess the Dragonpike forge is probably a better investment, then. Are Feena's Arms Scrolls also for Chapter 23?

Doesn't seem like Xane can use the Falchion: http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Xane#Overall

Yea, dragonpike forge is probably better if I can still afford it.

Sucks about Xane. I was going to try to have Xane kill Medeus and then laugh about it. Damn.

Armscrolls are for C22 and C23 but not an LTC type thing. I kind of wanted to do a defense type challenge for myself where I try to stay on those maps as long as possible and try to feed her as many kills as I can.

Edited November 12, 2013 by commonguard

[crissella]

I can't watch the video. It says it's private?

[commonguard]

Err... sorry. I had confirm youtube's thing because the video is over 15 mins. Should work now.

[crissella]

It does. Thank you.

[commonguard]

I mean, he’s bad but he’s not unusably bad.

Also, umm… there are numerous numerical errors in my notes for the last chapter. I don’t know what happened to my final notes but I suspect I forgot to save over the document. My bad. There are probably errors throughout this “playlog” or whatever it’s called but you’ll get over it.

Anyway, I got the 5 turn, didn’t miss any of the items a “standard”(?) 6 turn wouldn’t get.

Oh and surprise, Linde is my best combat unit on this map. #Hatersgoingtohate.

[spoiler=C20 5/155 turns -- 1 Rescue, 4 Master Keys]

Merged Levin swords (8 + 11 -> 19 charges)

Forged +2 Mt on (merged) Levin sword (3200 G)

14508 G Remaining

Spirit dust -- Linde

Deployed: Paladin!MU, Paladin!Palla, Paladin!Catria, Sniper!Caeda, Horseman!Luke, Horseman!Sirius, SM!Linde, Sage!Malicia, DK!Vyland, Katarina, Feena

RP (17 Remaining): Marth, Palla, Sirius

Marth has Geosphere

Linde has Lifesphere and Starsphere

Luke has Lightsphere

The initial 5-turn clear was pretty easy to find. Getting a clear while getting all the items in the treasure room and the Fortify was not, especially with a ridiculous but necessary split-trade-chain with the Starsphere at the end. The strategy is much easier if Marth could hit 25 SPD with just the RP. Or at least one of the horsemen have 30 SPD with just the RP. I also, need to reset for the Fortify!Bishop and the Sage in the throne room to flux down in SPD (they really shouldn’t be fluxing up frequently anyways) or Caeda and Palla can’t ORKO them. None of the misses in the video where necessary. Linde would’ve healed enough with the Lifesphere and Vyland can tank another Swarm with a Fortify usage.

I’m quite certain I want a +1 Mt Levin forge for C21 and the premium on +2 is just 1600 G. I don’t think I would’ve been able to do this map cleanly while getting the Fortify and treasure room items so it’s worth the investment.

Strategy:

Turn 1: Rescue Midia, kill Master keys thief, and move up.

Sometimes Linde can double and kill on her own, sometimes Midia needs to toss a Javelin and finish. It doesn’t really matter, Midia should have the Master key at the end of the turn though.

Turn 2: Kill both heroes. Continue to move up. On EP, counter-kill a Sniper and a Hero.

Turn 3: Kill remaining two enemies and get into position, pull the Sniper closer and get ready to loot the first 3 chests.

Best to have Caeda and Linde team up for the warrior. I usually just try to feed the hero to Marth.

Turn 4: Open the door, kill everything in the treasure room and get 3 chests. Someone should pull the general, so the Fortify bishop can be killed.

Luke should take out the bishop while Linde (and possibly MU) take out the sniper. Caeda needs to kill the sage.

Turn 5: Open the other door, kill the sniper at least, get the last two chests, and the Fortify and save. Rig the two crits and seize.

[spoiler=Some notes on movement and positioning:]

Feena must full move on every move except the final turn where she dances Katarina. Katarina must full move on every move except the first where she moves 5 squares and Rescues Midia.

Marth full moves on turn 1 to allow Midia to acquire a Javelin or just the Master keys, depending on if Linde crits/doubles. Linde should attack the thief after Marth moves to get the geosphere crit bonus. Marth must get the Masterseal chest on turn 4, he should’ve slayed the general before getting the chest.

Luke and Sirius need to full move on turns 1 and 2 in order to eliminate a hero. Sirius needs to be in the generals attack range (above the door) on turn 3. From there Sirius must full move on turns 4 and 5. Luke can be up to 3 squares behind Sirius or equivalent.

On turns 4 and 5 Linde will have the opportunity to feed MU with the unforged Levin sword. On turn 4, MU should attack the sniper from 1-range to provide Katarina with a square to move to on turn 5.

[spoiler=Other stuff]

Linde needs max MAG and a +2 Mt Levin to ORKO Snipers. She doesn’t need to worry so much about heroes since it will be either a joint effort or while she is in possession of the Starsphere.

Luke never needs to double on this map, except for a 20 SPD Bishop.

Sirius needs 28 SPD after RP and needs to be in possession of the Starsphere at the end of turn 2. And must hold onto it for turn 3 EP. Marth will take it from him on turn 4. Sirius will regain it on turn 5.

Luke and Sirius need a total of 46 STR after RPs.

Swordslayer is obviously recommended, but Mercurius will work too. I guess, if you have a weaker team it’s possible to crit your way through.

Sirius needs to be full HP and have a purewater boost on turn 3 to avoid being targeted by the mage on EP 3, and to survive a potential Spear!General + Longbow sniper combo. I have Catria in position to draw fire from the Bishop and the Sniper.

Paladin is a lot easier to get the 5 turn but I couldn’t find a way to also get the items reliably. It may also be possible to open the door on turn 3 and just barge in without the full support of your team.

Vyland’s (Sedgar is ever so slightly more reliable for this since he has the same HP pool but 8 LUK instead of 7 - not a huge difference but Vyland because Vyland) low LUK but good enough HP pool helps to keep the heat off some units, especially Feena. Feena actually needs at the very least 21 HP + RES (and that’s if you don’t need to heal someone on turn 3). Feena having 22 HP + RES is sufficient though.

The split trade chain I do at the end is just because certain units didn’t meet certain benchmarks even with the RP and I had to compensate by moving the Starsphere around.

Other random notes:

5-turning this map is significantly less difficult than 6-turning C19. However, obtaining all the items one would normally obtain in the 6 turn clear (which is a Hauteclere!Beserker crit + Parthia hit/crit depending on Berserker STR) took me a while to figure out. Overall, I prefer the hit rates significantly more on this map as there is no need for specialized weaponry other than swords and the close proximity of support linked units.

The criticals at the end are kind of a pain but nothing can really be done about that. This is actually the first time I’ve edited (clipped? I think that’s the term) a video. The probability of the kill method’s success is 16.77%. I should’ve used a SKL bond on Luke. This is the first of two strategies I will employ that will require 2 criticals with only 1 save point; the other being C24 of course. Vyland faces 3% displayed crit chance but I’ve yet to see him crit even when I was reloading for the explicit purpose of testing to see if siege tomes crit. I’ve seen ballistas crit but have yet to see a siege tome crit. I assume it is possible but cannot confirm. He only needs to tank 3 so it’s not a huge loss in reliability anyways.

I’m pretty pleased with the strategy. And also a number of units gained SPD which was cool but for the most part it’s a bit too late and I am forced to arena rig some SPD procs for upcoming chapters since I don’t have the RP uses remaining to splurge all the time.

Credit to MagicBarrier16 on Youtube for the Fortify pull general thing. (Same person I got the crazy idea to make a +9 Mt Dragonpike forge btw. I think I’ll still be able to afford it.)

[commonguard]

Boring, stupid, and a waste of time. Just like every other gaiden map in this game.

I give up trying to 3 turn this map. I definitely see it being possible to 3-turn by fielding a DK (because of the pillars near the starting location) with Iote’s shield, no healer and assuming Marth is in 3HKO range against like 41-43 Atk, assuming virtually every attack crits of course. I’m pretty sure Feena doesn’t have to tank a hit for the 3-turn; though she does need to tank in case the central sniper isn’t killed on turn 2.

If there is a reliable 3 turn, I missed it.

[spoiler=C20x 4/159 turns]

Sold 40 Silver sword, 17 Rapier, 20 Armourslayer, 13 Iron lance, 93 Steel lance, 60 Silver lance, 15 Ridersbane, 12 Wing spear, 17 Steel axe, 30 Handaxe, 4 Hammer, 14 Poleax 38 Silver axe, 56 Silver bow, 25 Fire, 21 Thunder, 44 Heal, 30 Divinestone, 2 Door key, 1 Master key, 2 Master seal, Bullion (L), 30 Vulnerary

Forged +3 Mt, +5 Hit on Brave lance (Yea, skimped out the additional +5 Hit since the premium is 2700 G; more than a booster. And I’m like borderline not being able to afford the +9 Mt forge.)

Arena (single fight) -- Sirius (as Horseman w/ Wo Dao -- 1220 G) (rigged for SPD)

34528 G Remaining

Deployed: Paladin!MU, Paladin!Catria, Horseman!Luke, Horseman!Sirius, Sage!Malicia, Feena

RPs (14 Remaining): MU, Luke, Sirius

The strategy is pretty much the same as the one Nessie and MagicBarrier16 used so you’ll see a lot of borrowed ideas.

I opened the map with a turn 1 crit to save 2 Parthia uses. It might matter; you never know. Well, I mean you’ll eventually know but you know when you are super conscious about a particular resource and then it lasts forever? But when you’re negligent you somehow run out? Yea…

The two berserkers that block the narrow corridor don’t attack unless a unit is standing within 2 squares of them. (Only one of these are revealed.)

The two that are out in the open (the other two that are revealed) do need to be killed on PP 1.

Feena needs to be 1U1L or 2U of the lone pillar on turn 2 in order to dance reach the safe square on turn 3 so she can subsequently dance Marth to seize on turn 4.

On EP 2, if MU either one of the generals survives (will happen if they proc 18 DEF and MU doesn’t crit) then durability benchmarks for MU and Catria go up on EP 3. The positioning I have on PP 2 gives MU a 28% (18 from SKL and 10 from Luke + Marth A rank support) chance to crit per attack.

There’s no screenshot but fireemblemwod.net has a map with the unit positions. There are a number of enemies that need to be tanked: Boss (Meteor), Spear!General (to the right of the boss), central sniper (behind the walls guarding Excalibur), Tomahawk!Berserker and possibly the

Units only need 29 SPD to double berserkers on this map, though strong weapons or high MAG with Levin swords are more or less required for reliability. Snipers have 30 SPD but sometimes they can have only 13 DEF allowing a 13 Mt bow to ORKO them instead of having to use Parthia. Since the map is fairly short and due to cramped spacing, support bonuses + doubling allow for clears using killer weapons to be viable (since with double A supports you could be seeing 45ish % crits with doubling).

Malicia’s positioning is rather flexible on this map. If you are even more of a Linde fanboy than me and decide to field her, Recover is pretty good here since she likely won’t have enough HP to tank a second hit with just one heal.

Level up:

[commonguard]

The level ups at least should give you a chuckle, though some of my units are blessed so I guess all is right with the world. TBH Palla not gaining SPD might come in handy.

Didn`t bother editing the failed attempts (there is only 3 I think).

[spoiler=My opening move.]

[spoiler=C21 6/165 turns -- 1 Rescue, 1 Again]

Bought Angelic robe, Armscroll

Bought 2 Angelic robes, 2 Dracoshields from Secret shop

Forged +1 Mt on Wyrmslayer (1200 G)

18238 G Remaining

Angelic robe -- Marth

Dracoshield -- Catria

Armscroll -- Luke (C->B swords as Horseman)

Deployed: DK!MU, Horseman!Sirius, Horseman!Luke, SM!Linde, Bishop!Katarina, Sage!Malicia, Palla, Catria, Feena, Caeda, Minerva

RPs (13 Remaining): Sirius

I need a reset to make sure the nearest SM doesn’t proc max HP/DEF/RES (54/12/6) or Linde + Catria can’t kill it. I don’t any crits on this map. I do need Linde to dodge one out of two attacks on EP 4. I need Sirius to not get crit’d on EP 3 and EP 4. Luke needs to proc HP on his level up on EP 1. Save points are used on PP 4 and PP 6.

Recover staff is highly recommended on this map. Minerva gets to the village safely on turn 5. Marth on turn 6. EP 4 and PP 5 are a bit shaky, but the first save point is used on PP 4 so yea…

I should probably state, while the hit-rates and the dodge on EP 4 are well within reasonable, the strategy overall is not what I would call reliable since I’m pretty sure it isn’t replicable by most people just because the units’ stats are too precise. I think a 7 turn or 8 turn would be more reliable but I got rid of the efficiency tag so I don’t feel obliged to do anything better than this. I was also going to field Caeda as a bishop on this map but she can`t do that since the control stat isn`t LUK so removed that tag as well. Sigh.

Turn 1.

Move up, create shielding structure; this is similar to the structure I used in C19, just enlarged a bit. The control stat is DEF. Neither of my horsemen have low enough LUK anymore which is kind of a bummer, although for this map it’s the Bow!Horseman that matters. 24 STR, A rank bows, and 13 Mt can OHKO wyrms and 49 HP/16 DEF or equivalent can tank 2 wyrms; towards the end of the map (turn 5) Luke needs 50 HP/4 (+6 from purewater on turn 4) RES and Malicia needs to heal for 21 damage with Physic after he tanks a Meteor on turn 5 so that Luke has 43 HP to tank the bosses counter on turn 6. Parthia can do it too obviously. Marth (who has the lowest DEF of the group) a Levin sword to counter on EPs. Technically, Catria can be targeted; I think the DEF discrepancy is high enough to ensure Marth is always the target. I’m not entirely sure I could field Caeda if Catria can be targeted. (Caeda sucks so much on this map; initially I was having difficulty without Catria!Xane but I cleaned up the strategy a bit to include this deadweight.) Luke while tying with Marth in DEF has lower avoid due to lack of support bonuses. Luke gains a level on EP 1 and can gain DEF which would affect turn 2 pulls where both dragons would attack Marth; I gave Marth an Angelic robe since that could happen.

Turn 2.

Palla with the forged (just the +3 Mt, I haven’t committed to the +9 Mt just yet) dragonpike forge can KO wyrms after they’ve been chipped with a Levin from Marth. I think if Catria can get targeted I just have to field Xane and copy Catria or something, because Palla would be in enemy wyrm range and mess up the pulls by being in range of wyrms. Xane can eliminate wyrms while being in enemy ranges without messing the pulls up, though he might need RP for the STR boost. Linde + Catria work for the SM kill. MU kills the Meteor!Sorceror. Second pull structure created, etc.

Turn 3.

Luke and Sirius, if necessary, finish wyrms. Linde pulls and kills a Berserker. MU moves to pull both the wyrms near the village. Fliers get into position to pick them off. Sirius draws the Hammer!Berserker. Minerva gets danced.

Turn 4.

MU moves to kill another Meteor!Sorceror. Minerva gets into position to visit the village. Marth and Sirius (who needs to not get crit’d) steps into the range of a Killer!Berserker. Luke steps into range of a Meteor!Sorceror and uses a purewater. He is also healed to full HP this turn. Linde steps into the range of the two wyrms near the boss. Linde needs to dodge one of them; she will be getting support from Marth and will be facing only 56 displayed hit. The save point is also used on this turn.

Turn 5.

Sirius and Linde finish off wyrms. Luke ORKOs the Thoron!Sorceror with the Brave sword. Luke should be healed to full HP again on this turn. Fliers take out the remainder of what’s left near the village. Minerva visits the village. MU moves toward the secret shop.

Turn 6.

Minerva gets off the village so Marth can visit. Malica physics Luke, gets danced and Rescues Marth. Katarina Agains Marth. MU buys 2 Angelic robes and 2 Dracoshields (they might matter for C24, I don’t really know yet). Save point used by Caeda and boss killed by Luke. Seize.

Edit: So I thought I figured out how KoT did C23, turns out I didn't. His 8 turn of C5 also confuses me. If anyone can explain either of them, it would be greatly appreciated.

Edited November 20, 2013 by commonguard

[commonguard]

Endgame!Sirius is pretty legit guys.

Instead of arena-rigging Palla’s SPD issue and using my money wisely, I decided to go ahead and purge most of the remainder of my inventory in order to forge the most expensive forge I have ever forged. +9 Mt, +10 Hit just doesn’t have the right ring to it.

The expensive forge I made is not necessary for the clear but I just want nice things.

[spoiler=C22 4/169 turns -- 1 Again, 1 Hammerne]

Sold 35 Steel sword, 40 Silver sword, 53 Killing Edge, 6 Armourslayer, 48 Ladysword, 40 Silver lance, 89 Javelin, 39 Killer lance, 3 Ridersbane, 7 Iron axe, 20 Silver axe, 20 Killer axe, 19 Silver bow, 60 Killer bow, 21 Thoron, 21 Mend, 13 Recover, 2 Secret book, 15 Vulnerary

Forged +10 Mt, +10 Hit on Dragonpike (39825 G) named 39825 G (lol)

734 G Remaining (lmao, I’m probably going to regret this but w/e.)

Dracoshield -- MU

Deployed: Paladin!MU, Paladin!Catria, Paladin!Caeda, Horseman!Luke, Bishop!Katarina, Sage!Malicia, Sirius, Palla, Linde, Frost, Feena

RPs (10 Remaining): Marth, MU, Catria; Linde used a MAG bond

I don’t need any crit except for the Gradivus crit at the end. Marth’s Brave sword crit wiith double A support (Caeda and MU) was welcome. Luke’s Parthia crit against the Levin!SM was not.

Turn 1.

MU moves up to provide Catria with support for Brave lance hits. Both need to land. Marth finishes with +2 Mt Levin and RP. Palla moves to tank the Swarm with her low LUK. Sirius with Bravesword ORKOs without taking damage and is danced to OHKO the Mage/Demon dragon from the RHS; this is to control the position of the Fire dragon. A bunch of people move up with Malicia healing Catria so she can tank the SM on the EP.

Turn 2.

Parthia!Luke and Silver!Palla team up for the Levin!SM. Sirius OHKOs the Fire dragon. Marth moves up to kill a mage (the mage he kills depends on where the Glower!Mage moved). Catria uses the Brave lance to eliminate the other mage (again depends on where the Glower!Mage is positioned). Catria needs to be healed up with Physic after Malicia uses Fortify since she’ll still likely be very low HP. MU helps Linde with a kill, gets danced, moves up and disarms to avoid getting crit-killed. I’ll go into some detail about how reckless I am. On this EP, Caeda needs to avoid a 14% crit.

Turn 3.

Linde and possibly Luke clean up the Berserker. Catria and Sirius take out the mages with the Brave lance. Caeda moves to provide support for Marth who kills a mage with the Brave sword. Everyone else pretty much just get into position for the final turn.

Turn 4.

Frost unlocks the door with Feena’s help. Sirius KOs the Mage dragon. Caeda moves up to provide Marth support again. Marth has a decent chance of landing a crit and KOing the Fire dragon. Luke and Palla get what exp they can. Linde finishes a Berserker. Again used on Marth. Hammerned the Again staff. Catria saves. MU crits the boss. Marth seizes.

The dragonpike forge is not needed for this map.

My Palla only had 22 SPD so even with RP she’d still get doubled. I could’ve spent my money wisely to fix this issue and complete the map without this forge but I’m whimsical.

If Palla had 23 SPD what would happen is after RP she’s had 25 SPD (enough to avoid being doubled) and with her low LUK and no support from Marth she’d attract the Berserker on EP 2. This should (I haven’t actually tested this) relieve MU of his durability benchmark and his need to disarm. MU needs 55 HP/ 30 DEF and has to have a sword or be disarmed to tank the Killer!Berserker and survive in case of a critical since I could not place Palla anywhere near the Berserker. Palla’s current role can easily be filled by RP!Silverlance!Michalis. Luke and Sirius would then need to swap roles. Luke as a horseman and being able to wield the Bravesword can handle Sirius’ duties but would of course need heals on turns 1 and 2 and would need a +1 Mt wyrmslayer forge to handle the dragons. Catria should take the Berserker kill on turn 1 to avoid excessive wasting of Physics. On turn 2, Catria and Palla would trade the Brave lance to acquire the mage kills while Luke would just move up so he can actually reach the Mage dragon. Those are pretty much all the differences to accomplish the 4 turn with 1 again staff without the insanely expensive forge.

Edit: Gradivus crit @ ~17.59% chance for boss kill.

Edit 2: Corrected stupid mistake, 1 Again, not Rescue.

Edit 3: Corrected another stupid mistake. C22 not C21.

Edited November 22, 2013 by commonguard

[commonguard]

It’s really dumb that Linde doesn’t have a special conversation with Gharnef… because that issue with her dad.

Also, I only have 1 Rescue and 1 Again for the final. Vote in the poll for your chance to be randomly right about something. Just a hint: it definitely isn’t Marth.

[spoiler=C23 2/171 turns -- 2 Rescue, 2 Again]Angelic robe -- Catria

Deployed: Paladin!MU, Horseman!Luke, Sage!Malacia, Bishop!Katarina, Bishop!Caeda, Catria, Sirius, Palla, Linde, Nagi, Feena

RPs (9 Remaining): Linde

Turn 1.

Eliminate the nearby dragons, and prep for turn 2. Nagi and Sirius tank Meteors, while Palla’s low LUK draws the Mage dragon to the north and counters with the forged Javelin. Catria received an Angelic robe before starting the map and used a purewater during the map to be able to survive a Fire dragon and a Mage dragon.

Turn 2.

Luke and Sirius set up the Rescue positioning for Caeda after she is danced. Linde Rescues Marth. Linde is Again’d. MU saves. Catria Gradivus crits the Fire dragon, followed by OHKOing the Mage dragon with the expensive ass forge thanks to Again. Palla saves. Linde Starlight crits Gharnef. Marth seizes.

Yes, I do know the Gradivus trade on turn 1 was unnecessary. I just like doing stuff like that.

[commonguard]

So my chance to kill Medeus ranges between 39.16% and 53.76%. Obviously, it's not the double critical strategy. After selling pretty much everything I had except for 5 cool swords and the equipment I needed to finish the game I had so much gold I decided to buy a bunch of boosters and used the remainder of the boosters I bought in the Secret shop. My chance to kill Medeus depends on how many wyrms/dragons block the path; obviously the fewer the better. Marth is not the one who kills Medeus and I only use 1 Rescue and 1 Again. I'll probably upload the video in a couple of days.

[eclipse]

If Marth didn't kill Medeus, then why is he an option?

[commonguard]

Yea, that's a good point. Removed Marth.

[commonguard]

Cleaned out my inventory. Only kept special weapons, some swords with cool names, and obviously the equipment necessary to complete the final chapter.

Probability to kill Medeus after using the save point is 53.76% (according to displayed values anyway).

[spoiler=Endgame 2/173 turns -- 1 Rescue, 1 Again]Sold 5 Steel sword, 17 Silver sword, 9 Levin sword, 42 Devil sword, 24 Wyrmslayer, 43 Silver lance, 40 Javelin, 24 Dragonpike, 5 Brave lance, 9 Hand axe, 72 Devil axe, 56 Steel bow, 15 Silver bow, 34 Killer bow, 25 Longbow, 17 Elfire, 8 Nosferatu, 27 Divinestone, 25 Recover, 20 Physic, 14 Fortify, 8 Barrier, 1 Unlock, 1 Doorkey, 7 Vulnerary, 6 Purewater, 2 Str bond, Skill bond, Speed bond, 2 Luck bond, 1 Def bond, 1 Res bond

Bought Armscroll, Energy drop, Dracoshield, 3 Talisman, 2 Goddess icon

629 G Remaining

Angelic robe -- Palla

Talisman -- MU

Dracoshield x2 -- Marth

Talisman x2 -- Marth

Armscroll -- Marth (B -> A Swords)

Energy drop -- Marth

Goddess Icon x2 -- Marth

Bond drop -- Marth (His conversations with Merric don’t unlock. Bug?)

Deployed: Paladin!MU, Paladin!Catria, Horseman!Luke, Sage!Malicia, Paladin!Caeda, Palla, Feena, Minerva, Merric, Julian, Sirius

RPs (0 Remaining): Marth, MU, Catria, Sirius, Palla, Malicia, Minerva, Caeda, Julian

Bought a bunch of boosters and used them on various people in order to control the immediate dragons positioning; this was helped by support bonuses as well. I didn’t need to buy all the boosters to control the AI as well as I did but I had the gold and I’m lazy. Worst case scenario I think is 5 dragons total block the 3 files that need to be clear. In that case, neither of MU or Caeda would be able to offer support bonus to Marth but even then it’s still a 39.16% chance to kill Medeus.

The +10 Mt dragonpike forge allows any max STR lance user to OHKO any dragon (except maybe Earth) and allows Caeda to OHKO wyrms. Luke’s Parthia can also OHKO wyrms. Luke, Julian and Feena can all act as trade proxies for the dragonpike forge. It’s not hard to clear the 3 files. As long as Marth can go two rounds of combat against Medeus the strategy is pretty reliable; a bunch of boosters (though not all were necessary) were given to him so he takes no damage on EP 1 and with a physic from Malicia he can go a second round.

[spoiler=The Team][spoiler=Marth]Maturity drop, Boots, Angelic robe, Dracoshield x2, Armscroll, Energy drop, Talisman x2, Goddess icon x2, Bond drop

Failure. Failed to kill the one enemy he’s been training all game to kill.

Forged Armourslayer and massive exp dump during C12 and C14 give him some utility against generals. Best I can say about him.

[spoiler=MU]Angelic robe, Speedwing, Dracoshield x4, Talisman

15/20

Needed a lot of Dracoshields, but who else is going put the team on their backs and stomp through the early and mid-game?

[spoiler=Luke]Speedwing, Armscroll x3

15/18

Best option for a horseman imo due to sword rank and availability. Spending excessive time in classes that have lower DEF growth helps out in some situations.

[spoiler=Linde]Angelic robe, Spirit dust x6

15/19

Seriously underrated. She should be a top tier candidate.

An Angelic robe and 5-6 dusts is not as bad as it seems when you realize she helps to earn so much money on some maps that she eventually pays for herself and she’s got some insane offense.

[spoiler=Sirius]Energy drop, Angelic robe, Speedwing x2, Armscroll

--/20

Another underrated unit.

Slightly below Palla in overall usefulness but more potential in late and endgame due to weapon ranks and male class set.

[spoiler=Palla]Speedwing, Angelic robe

16/14

Pretty sure everyone knows how dominant she is early to mid, so won’t bother with that.

Nothing special in lategame. High STR and just low enough LUK to control enemy AI without really reducing the reliability of strategies is great in endgame. (My Palla incredibly durability blessed but SPD cursed. If she was more average she would’ve been pretty much the same except that one time where her blessed durability helped me get a Spirit dust for my MAG cursed Linde. Guess things worked out.)

[spoiler=Catria]Energy drop, Goddess icon x2, Dracoshield, Angelic robe

16/16

I don’t get the whole “Palla > Catria” BS. I assume it is bias.

Weak early game but obviously shows signs of improvement quite rapidly. Legendary mid and lategame. Solid endgame. Better than Palla and can do things that even MU can’t do.

[spoiler=Caeda]Energy drop x2, Angelic robe

12/9

Overrated.

Good in the prologue. Wingspear is great in C5-C8 (and then you can sell it). High SPD is useful for C9-C14. Limited lategame. Zero endgame.

[spoiler=Staffers]Malicia is the best one. Katarina is better than Etzel due to a staff rank lead. Etzel is pretty overrated.

Yea this game is basically a RPG when it comes to money. At first they don’t give you much so you have to sell some of your equipment for funds and then it’s like “Here, buy yourself a nice shiny forge.”. And RP is OP for AI manipulation.

Run is done at 173 turns.

Edited November 25, 2013 by commonguard

[eclipse]

Congratulations on finishing! And that is a LOT of stuff you sold at the end!

[MRDRHAWK]

CAMUS BEST PALLY

[commonguard]

@eclipse: Thanks, and yea all those partially used items add up to quite a large sum of gold.

@Polydeuces: I know right? He beat up Hardin too.

Edited November 26, 2013 by commonguard

[fatgamecat]

Good run, thanks for sharing. I didn't read any of the strats in detail but I appreciate you giving me credit. That's better than the usual response to my FE contributions.