I'm going to start PoR today. There is something which I should to know?

[Nicolas]

Beside 'Use Titania'.

[Ema Skye]

Mounts are the best units due to combat versatility.

Don't be afraid to use BEXP.

Be sure to make forges.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Which difficulty mode? Easy is hella easy.

Mounts and fliers kick ass.

You get lots of BEXP if you complete chapters under a given turn count and/or meet certain requirements. (outlined here. Beware of potential spoilers if you care.)

Always use Marcia because yes.

Tanith's Reinforcement skill is broken and awesome.

Earth Affinity is best Affinity.

Even thought Titania is badass at everything, Oscar makes a pretty good unit too.

Weapon EXP gain is at a crawl here for some reason.

Ike likes speed.

Skills disappear if you remove them from your units. Beware. (you get scrolls over the course of the game of course, but you can only use em once so choose carefully)

Forges are fun because money really isnt an issue in this game.

Have fun!

Edited December 10, 2013 by Loki Laufeyson

[Aircalipoor]

Use Ike, he is actually necessary against the final boss. You could beat him with another alternative, but it is annoying. So have Ike at a high level before the end of chapter 16, as he promotes then.

[Nicolas]

How looks higher levels of difficult?

I like some chalange, but something like 'we are throwing at you super powerful unit and you must play slow' bores me.

[BBM]

It's not that bad, and as it happens, the units with the most movement also have the best stats. And if they're lagging at any point you can just pump them a few levels of BEXP and they're good to go.

[Samias]

How looks higher levels of difficult?

I like some chalange, but something like 'we are throwing at you super powerful unit and you must play slow' bores me.

Hard mode Path of Radiance is easier than FE7 Hard mode in my opinion, but harder than Sacred Stones. Nothing is obscenely powerful in this game and everyone is still viable, but the exp gain is lowered. Overall this is one of the easier games, where oftentimes the difficulty is figuring out secondary objectives (ie pacifist chapters BEXP). JP mode has Maniac Mode, which is a big step up from Hard mode in enemy density and strength, but unfortunately it was taken out from the other region's prints.

Also, animations (even map animations) in this game are kind of long so enemy phase is a bit of a drag. Keep snacks on hand or something.

Weapon EXP gain is low because this game's formula doesn't double WEXP on a killing blow, but since con has been replaced by strength, you can switch most of your characters to steel weapons ASAP to gain more WEXP faster. Generally the weapons here are a straight upgrade, unlike the GBA era with its set-in-stone-aside-from-rare-body-rings CON.

Marcia is seriously awesome. With BEXP invested into her she can do so many things no one else can do except maybe a speed-blessed Jill. In general mounts stomp this game but Marcia and Jill are great, and so is Tanith when she shows up despite what her raw stats might make you think (but they're still good too). Infantry have good raw stats but since everyone's potential is more or less equal, they fall behind because mounted canto is just that strong.

Shove and Smite are key for running some complex infrastructure tasks. Mordecai is one of the best utility units in the game because of smite. Some advanced objectives are insanely difficult to clear without shove chains, but the general idea is that someone needs to get to a square beyond their range of movement and it's worth sacrificing someone else's turn to do so. It's worth running at least one tiger laguz (transformed cats are okay for most strats too) because their weight allows them to shove mounted units.

Edit: Supports are in this game, but they are based on chapters played together and not by proximity. So the mere act of fielding compatible units eventually earns support convos. This is personally my favourite version of supports as some of them relate to the story as it happens. So if you want to earn supports, you don't have to cluster units together like in other games, though the 3-panel range applies to gain the effect of the support.

Edited December 10, 2013 by Samias

[Vicious Sal]

Have lethe or mordecai walk into the top right corner on chapter 15. There is a special tile for them somewhere.

[Magical Glace]

Some skills combine very well with others. Vantage and Guard come to mind, so use Mia. Heck, Vantage works well combined with pretty much any attack skill. Adept comes to mind, so does Wrath.

[PM ME MARIANNE ART]

Here's a tip: Watch your ass in chapter eleven. Black Knight is in one of the houses, and I think he comes out once you kill the boss.

Also, I don't know about anyone else, but my favorite units are Kieran, Zihark, and Nephenee.

[BrightBow]

There are the Occult scrolls, which teach a promoted unit it's mastery skill. However, they are hilariously useless for the most part.

I just want to avoid confusion by noting that they only work on promoted units and that the skill they teach is class dependent.

Also, Ike himself has access to an hilariously powerful Mastery skill.

So you might not wanna give him any other skills that, so he has the Capacity to learn his Mastery.

Technically he could be more dangerous with other skills but those skills would also suit other units, while nobody else gains comparable benefit of Occult scrolls.

Edited December 10, 2013 by BrightBow

[Shadow Mir]

Here's a tip: Watch your ass in chapter eleven. Black Knight is in one of the houses, and I think he comes out once you kill the boss.

To be specific, he's in the house above where you start. And he also shows up after you engage the boss.

Also, it should be noted that after chapter 7, two of your units will leave. One of them comes back in chapter 13, but the other doesn't come back until chapter 18 (and even then, a certain someone has to talk to him before letting Ike defeat him)

[PuffPuff]

but the other doesn't come back until chapter 18 (and even then, a certain someone has to talk to him before letting Ike defeat him)

Not that anyone cares since he's outclassed by a certain someone by then.

[Hawk King]

Play on Normal or Hard. Easy mode is too easy.

Effective might is only 2x like in FE7.

Thunder is by far the best of the 3 magic tomes.

Promotions automatically happen when a tier 1 unit reaches LV 21. There are 3 Masters seals in the game if you want to promote early.

Every unit is good when LVed up. Mounts and flyers are just better. Use whoever you like. Except for...

The 2nd thief you get cannot promote so therefore he sucks. Dont bother giving him Exp. Only use him if you want a 2nd unit to open doors/chests.

Laguz are kinda bad, except for shoving and smiting.

[MRDRHAWK]

Makalov is the best fuck everyone else

[Irysa]

You can basically afford to forge something every single chapter because the game just throws money at you non stop. It "seems" low early on but then you just keep getting massive dumps of it.

Try to get Ike capped before chapter 27 in speed and str and have a high amount of defence. (he autopromotes after 17 so have him at 20 in or before 17) Save a Wrath and Resolve Scroll for him in lategame, but having him use Aether before then via an Occult Scroll is still powerful.

You can steal weapons that are not equipped with thieves, and one of the easiest things to steal are Staves from enemy clerics, as they are not considered equipped by default even if it is their only item.

Edited December 10, 2013 by Irysa

[Shadow Mir]

Not that anyone cares since he's outclassed by a certain someone by then.

Assuming he even bothers to train him, seeing as said someone (Rolf) is the worst character in the game.

Promotions automatically happen when a tier 1 unit reaches LV 21. There are 3 Masters seals in the game if you want to promote early.

To add onto this, 2 of those come early, but the third might be better off sold, since most of your guys should have promoted by then.

Also, to recruit Astrid in chapter 13, you'll have to shove Ike several times to get to her on turn 1.

[Loki Laufeyson]

You can steal weapons that are not equipped with thieves, and one of the easiest things to steal are Staves from enemy clerics, as they are not considered equipped by default even if it is their only item.

Oh yeah! You will get a thief and when enemy staff users have Physics on hand, this is the best way in getting those.

Also, to recruit Astrid in chapter 13, you'll have to shove Ike several times to get to her on turn 1.

Yeah...that chapter can be a pain in the fanny to keep her alive. She will trot into enemy range and shes a wet paper bag at that point...Make haste!

[Magical CC]

I am new and I have some questions too.

_How is Boyd? His growth seems to...not very good.

_How is Oscar? Are there any other better cavalry unit better than him? He has not-a-single-stat-grow level up, twice!

_Should I use the sub-human units (lol)?

_How is Mist?

_Should I use more than 1 mage character? Soren is cute, but so does Ily.

_Titania is so cute!

[Refa]

-Boyd is like, the best fighter since FE5

-Oscar is superbro

-Sure, why not, although they make for better stopgap units rather than permanent additions, or so I find anyways, YMMV

-Duh, Mist is like the best FE unit of all time, give her the Sonic Sword after she promotes into Swank Scarferie

-You can, although Mages are kind of weak in this game. It's pretty easy though, and you don't really miss out, so why not?

-Titania OP hax WTF totally a Jeigan because Oifaye is a DUMB term.

[Samias]

I am new and I have some questions too.

_How is Boyd? His growth seems to...not very good.

_How is Oscar? Are there any other better cavalry unit better than him? He has not-a-single-stat-grow level up, twice!

_Should I use the sub-human units (lol)?

_How is Mist?

_Should I use more than 1 mage character? Soren is cute, but so does Ily.

_Titania is so cute!

1. Boyd's cool. His strength growth snowballs, as does his HP. Plus he can use hand axes and hand axes = good. I don't think I've ever had a bad Boyd, whereas I kind of have to cross my fingers for anyone else but Ike who's on foot.

2. Oscar is good and the empty levels are just bad luck. Paladins are a super good class in this game due to canto, so he can attack and then move. He snowballs evasion with an Ike and Tanith support, though it might be better to run a Kieran-Tanith support to keep their movement the same.

3. Mordecai will always be great utility, since even while he's not transformed he can still shove like 90% of units in the game and you can put that extra two squares of movement to good use (recruiting on turn 1, clearing the desert faster, etc). Shoving/smiting is really good and tiger laguz are the best at it. Once you have the demi band, I'm pretty sure Mordecai can shove everyone in the game all the time. Laguz combat is alright in the first half of the game but falls behind because they can only improve their stats but not their "weapons".

4. If you save both arms scrolls you can feed them to Mist and she'll have good combat (Sonic Sword, later on the Runesword), otherwise she has garbage combat. Personally she's my favourite healer anyway because she promotes onto a horse and has much better speed than Rhys, but joins way earlier than your other mounted healer.

5. Personally I like mages. They can't keep up with the front lines so in late game they're a 2nd string staff user with the occasional siege tome but in many cases that's a lot more useful than running a lot of foot units. Cavalry in this game is just that strong that anyone without a horse will fall behind. The biggest pitfall the mages run into is that they have troubles with weapon rank more than anyone else. Thunder magic is the strongest but if you can get each magic rank to C rank at least, that's fairly ideal.

6. Titania so good

[Magical CC]

_My Oscar is lvl 19 and surprisingly, all of his stats are inferior to the lvl 4 Paladin Titania. I think it's safe to say he is **** up. Sure, Titania is a promoted unit but....what the hell can Oscar do when he has only 11 str....at lvl 19???

_Does support stack? For example: I keep fielding Mist and Jill from chapter 13 to chapter 20. Mist can have a rank C conversation with Jill at chapter 14. But if I wait until chapter 25 then I let them talk....Can Mist and Jill have the rank A and rank B conversation in that same chapter? Or do I have to field them together for 3 more chapters to have their rank B conversation?

[Loki Laufeyson]

I am new and I have some questions too.

_How is Boyd? His growth seems to...not very good.

_How is Oscar? Are there any other better cavalry unit better than him? He has not-a-single-stat-grow level up, twice!

_Should I use the sub-human units (lol)?

_How is Mist?

_Should I use more than 1 mage character? Soren is cute, but so does Ily.

_Titania is so cute!

Boyd might like that Speedwing you get in chapter 1 to get him going cuz his speed is poopy at base and he may not proc it right away. (since this would be a first run and you dont got bands) Boyd WILL hit like a truck regardless though. Hes decent.

Oscar is pretty gr9. Sounds like you are having some bad luck with him this run. It happens. Ive had Oscars with bad strength or no speed. But one thing hes almost always good at is defense. Kieran is also really good and Astrid can be. Makalov comes kinda late at a funky level, but he can be pretty awesome if you know how to bullshit. (Knight Guard Makalov is love!)

Mordecai. Lethe is pretty good but Mordy has more utility uses like Samias already pointed out. His Smite ability will be really handy seeing how he can do that to mounted units. Plus hes like a brick wall and can take a pounding. His speed is a little meh though but its likely you wont be using him much for combat. Reyson is awesome because hes your Dancer more or less, so he will always be useful. (Chapter 19....theres a thing you should do in there to get the item that can allow Reyson to canto...)

Mist...hmmm...shes pretty good if you bother to raise her. It might take some doing because she comes at level 1, but if the RNG likes you, she can wind up pretty neato. Even after promotion though, Mist is not really a front line unit. Even if she gets blessed in Str, shes got the durability of a teabag and thats a thing. Because she winds up mounted, she makes for the best healer in the long run.

Soren is gr9. Ilyana will probably have more Str so she can heft around heavier tomes without much penalty though. But Soren has the best Mag growth out of the whole lot. His speed growth isnt bad either. Hes the go-to guy if you want a mage. Ilyana isnt bad in this game doe. Calill is kinda cool too. Tormod comes kinda late and low leveled, but he can still be decent with some investment. So its really up to you.

Titania is really good and can remain relevant all game. Either as a combat unit and/or utility. Shes just that good.

_My Oscar is lvl 19 and surprisingly, all of his stats are inferior to the lvl 4 Paladin Titania. I think it's safe to say he is **** up. Sure, Titania is a promoted unit but....what the hell can Oscar do when he has only 11 str....at lvl 19???

_Does support stack? For example: I keep fielding Mist and Jill from chapter 13 to chapter 20. Mist can have a rank C conversation with Jill at chapter 14. But if I wait until chapter 25 then I let them talk....Can Mist and Jill have the rank A and rank B conversation in that same chapter? Or do I have to field them together for 3 more chapters to have their rank B conversation?

Yeah your Oscar is a little janky but its not that bad. Try Kieran.

Uhh no i dont think it works like that.

[Ninian]

Boyd and Oscar are really cool units, (also, Boyd is the only Fighter/Warrior you'll get) and if you promote them and Rolf, and have Oscar use bows as his second weapon, (and do some chapter conversations with "Three Brothers", huh, that's a lot.) then the three can do a TRIANGLE ATTACK WITH BOWS. Also, Boyd and Oscar can Support.

Zihark is incredibly useful if you have the patience to train him a couple-to-few levels. Then he starts destroying everyone, especially as a Swordmaster. Mordecai is a fun unit, and he can Support Zihark.

Rhys is a useful healer, and is the game's ONLY playable Light Magic user. (Except for Oliver in post-game Trial Maps)

Despite his being a prepromote, Stefan is a pretty good secondary character, and he comes with a unique S-rank sword, although he's hard to recruit.

Oh, and use Haar.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Ninian

[Magical CC]

Thanks, you guys. I decided to ditch Oscar and stay with Titania instead. May be I was lucky but her spd, str and def are very decent. She can hit hard enough, double many enemy units and take hit very good. She is a very reliable unit. Boyd is now a monster with 24 str at lvl2 and he has enough hp to take hits...not bad. I am at chapter 19 and Gatrie is getting...more and more useless. I used the boots on Reyson in chapter 18 so he can keep up with the front and dance for them instead of lagging behind dancing for the healer like a moron. Since I moved kinda fast to get the bonus exp, Gatrie kept being lagging behind the whole team. Where was he during the defend chapters inferno? I had to replay the Greil Merc base defend 4 times. Are there any reason to use general units in this game at all?