Mist solo

[blogger]

I recently got into the FE franchise. Thanks to Dolphin, I am now able to play FE9, which I never got around to when I still had a GameCube (and a TV). My first playthrough was a female-only "challenge", which turned out to not be much of a challenge. The female cast has quite a number of broken units, including Marcia, Jill, Astrid, Titania, etc. For my second playthrough, I decided to stick to a single character, and after much deliberation settled on... Mist.

In this playthrough, I will only use Mist once she becomes available in ch9. From ch10 onwards, I will only deploy (unarmed) Ike and Mist. This will all happen on Hard mode with fixed growths. The obvious challenge is that Mist's strength cap is a meager 20 (16 natural). She is also sadly unable to heal herself.

Promoting Mist was more challenging than I expected, as the pirate with the Hand Axe kept killing her. I won't be winning efficiency awards any time soon.

Edited April 27, 2014 by blogger

[Terrador]

Quick question: how are you going to handle Ashnard? BEXP Ike, and only let him fight the Big Cheese?

[blogger]

Last time around, I used the old wrath+resolve Ena to do the job. I could do that again or I could use BExp on Ike. It takes a lot less BExp to get Ena to L20, but her growths on fixed are terrible. On the other hand, I won't be able to get an Occult until c27, so even with the BExp, Ike still won't be able to avenge his father's death

Here's how the rest of c9 went.

This is going to be how the rest of this run turns out. Since I can't heal, I have to run away whilst counterattacking.

For the moment, I still have the advantage of movement, so I can take these guys one at a time.

Pretty much the only thing weaker than a little girl.

I miss Titania already.

Edited April 27, 2014 by blogger

[Excellen Browning]

I'd expect a wrath+resolve Ike instead of an aether Ike, to be honest. I think this run is interesting, though, so I'll keep an eye on it.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I'd expect a wrath+resolve Ike instead of an aether Ike.

I can only agree with this! Ike with wrath and resolve is the easier and especially faster way to beat (bezerk) Ashnard.

[blogger]

The problem is that getting Ike to 20/20 requires 6880 BExp. Ena requires 3109 BExp. I currently have 1770 BExp and am unlikely to get much more, since it takes Mist close to 50 turns to complete each chapter. On that note, I realized that playing in Fixed mode was probably a mistake as the method to maximize real exp per BExp (adding 1 exp at a time) will screw over growths.

I stealthed c10 and did not bother opening any chests.

I had to change my rules a bit to get through c11 as Ike was getting destroyed. I deployed Marcia to rescue Ike and hang out on the river.

The bottom house contains a Dracoshield, which is critically important as Mist will have 10 defense at 20/20. Unfortunately, accessing it will cause Mist to get bumrushed. This required several resets before she managed to evade enough lances to get out alive. Using a Seraph Robe on her greatly helped.

Once I broke away from the enemy assault, picking off the stragglers was a matter of running around the three bottom-left houses and healing while counterattacking.

Mackoya runs faster than Mist, but he uses a bow so Mist can attack on player phase without issue. I lure him back towards the starting point to keep him from running back to the priest like a coward.

Mist has now reached the important milestone of 12 strength, allowing her to wield Steel Swords! The next chapter will be a mess as there will be nowhere to run.

Edited April 27, 2014 by blogger

[Excellen Browning]

Actually you get BEXP for clearing chapters as well as completing bonus objectives. I quickly counted it up in my head, and you're going to be taking 3850BEXP from clearing bonus from now on, which combined with your current 1770 takes you up to 5700 or so. -

There's also some easy bonus objectives that you can cash in on:

- not taking a full roster of units in c13: 50BEXP per unit up to 11 units; 550BEXP

- each laguz left alive in c15: 40BEXP per up to a maximum of 19; 760BEXP tops

- each raven escaping on c19: 30BEXP per raven, up to 10 of them; 300BEXP

- every priest not killed in c22: 20 per, up to 18; 360BEXP tops

So all in all you can be collecting 1800BXP on top of that though I suspect you'll be making more in the range of 1200 all things considered, but that still puts you a bit over 6900, which means you can 20/20 Ike to trivialize the final chapter and save a bunch of statboosters for Mist. Also I'm fairly certain Ike can comfortably kill Ashnard around 20/17 or so, so you probably have more leeway than you might think.

[blogger]

Actually you get BEXP for clearing chapters as well as completing bonus objectives. I quickly counted it up in my head, and you're going to be taking 3850BEXP from clearing bonus from now on, which combined with your current 1770 takes you up to 5700 or so. -

According to the BExp guide, completion bonuses are not present in hard mode.

There's also some easy bonus objectives that you can cash in on:

- not taking a full roster of units in c13: 50BEXP per unit up to 11 units; 550BEXP

- each laguz left alive in c15: 40BEXP per up to a maximum of 19; 760BEXP tops

- each raven escaping on c19: 30BEXP per raven, up to 10 of them; 300BEXP

- every priest not killed in c22: 20 per, up to 18; 360BEXP tops

There are a couple of complications. With the sand hindering her, I may need to kill some c15 laguz to avoid getting surrounded. Mist can't befriend Naesala, so not killing ravens is impossible. She also can't shove, so some priest casualties are unavoidable. I anticipate about half of that BExp being obtainable.

So all in all you can be collecting 1800BXP on top of that though I suspect you'll be making more in the range of 1200 all things considered, but that still puts you a bit over 6900, which means you can 20/20 Ike to trivialize the final chapter and save a bunch of statboosters for Mist. Also I'm fairly certain Ike can comfortably kill Ashnard around 20/17 or so, so you probably have more leeway than you might think.

With the easy BExp, 20 Ena is possible, but I'm not sure that she can kill Ashnard without energy drops and speedwings. There may be a way to manipulate her growths in my favor though.

Edited May 9, 2014 by blogger

[Excellen Browning]

Oops, sorry about that.

[blogger]

Oops, sorry about that.

No problems. I did some quick calculations and it looks like Ike only needs to be at around 20/10 for the Wrath/Resolve strategy. With 40 MT (22+18), 44 HP, and 24 DEF (19+5), he can survive one hit from either form of Ashnard and counter for 15 damage on critical.

I overestimated the difficulty of c12, as it was pretty much a joke. It makes no sense for the crows to be unable to attack over the side of the boat. Swordmaster Mia Mist sits in the corner and takes out oncoming crows with criticals.

Ike, why are you so useless?

Poor Jill has graphical bugs on her face from emulation. Jill is needed to rescue Ike and save him from Seeker.

This guy is done for.

In the chapter, I gained two Seraph Robes, two Secret Books, and an Arms Scroll. The robes will help in surviving the next chapter. Unfortunately, Seeker's Corrosion skill left my Laguzslayer at 7 uses.

C13 will be tricky as it houses the first of two Energy Drops. It was difficult enough to get the chest without having the ship seized by crows in a Titania solo, so I'm not confident that it's possible with Mist. The outcome likely depends on my ability to manipulate Gatrie into guarding the ship. I could also cheat and have Ike guard the ship if I decide to use my BExp on Ike instead of Ena.

Edited April 29, 2014 by blogger

[blogger]

At this point, Mist's evade is high enough that she's mostly unkillable. However, her low power prevents her from clearing the enemy mob in c13. The battle outcome largely depends on how good the NPC soldiers and Gatrie are at hitting the enemy. Getting the energy drop is infuriatingly difficult as the crows can always seize unless someone is sitting at the bottom of the stairs.

The chest is within reach and yet still unobtainable. This was one of the better runs as Gatrie managed to clear the middle boat. I was able to get an Occult (useless) off one of the crows though.

I'm debating whether to reset until I somehow manage to get that Energy Drop. The difference between 16 and 18 STR will be huge at the endgame. An additional difficulty is that Mist now only gains 1 exp per battle. Since all her growth rates are below 50% this makes it impossible for her to improve her stats...

Edit: In an amazing feat of RNG abuse, Mist was able to clear out the middle bridge with three consecutive critical hits, taking out a halberdier, a fighter, and a myrmidon. With an Energy Drop in hand, I will be advancing on to c14. From this point onwards, Steel Swords will be purchasable, possibly helping remediate Mist's strength problem.

Edit2: C14 is a joke. Some of the enemies are so weak that they can't touch Mist's 12 DEF. I rush up the left with a Steel Sword, which is strong enough to ORKO all enemies (13+13 MT). Items obtained include Vantage (mostly useless), Secret Book (useless), and Spirit Dust (useless). Mist achieves S rank in swords and can now wield the Vague Katti!

The only thing worth noting is that Gashilama can run away if not killed on player phase. He will run towards the river, forcing a reset.

Edited April 27, 2014 by blogger

[PuffPuff]

According to the BExp guide, completion bonuses are not present in hard mode.

There are a couple of complications. With the sand hindering her, I may need to kill some c15 laguz to avoid getting surrounded. Mist can't befriend Naesala, so not killing ravens is impossible. She also can't shove, so some priest casualties are also unavoidable. I anticipate about half of that BExp being obtainable.

With the easy BExp, 20 Ena is possible, but I'm not sure that she can kill Ashnard without energy drops and speedwings. There may be a way to manipulate her growths in my favor though.

Why not have Ike do it since he's forced in every map anyways?

-----

How exactly did you get through Chapter 9 unpromoted since she falls in one hit to any foe there with her base stats and can't fight?

Also...

What difficulty are you playing this on?

Edited April 28, 2014 by Barbie

[Excellen Browning]

Ike gets killed by everything and doing the required shoves places him in danger, unless you like spending two extra turns rescue-dropping him - on a map that can potentially be cleared within the bexp limit.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Why not have Ike do it since he's forced in every map anyways?

-----

How exactly did you get through Chapter 9 unpromoted since she falls in one hit to any foe there with her base stats and can't fight?

Also...

What difficulty are you playing this on?

I recently got into the FE franchise. Thanks to Dolphin, I am now able to play FE9, which I never got around to when I still had a GameCube (and a TV). My first playthrough was a female-only "challenge", which turned out to not be much of a challenge. The female cast has quite a number of broken units, including Marcia, Jill, Astrid, Titania, etc. For my second playthrough, I decided to stick to a single character, and after much deliberation settled on... Mist.

In this playthrough, I will only use Mist once she becomes available in ch9. From ch10 onwards, I will only deploy (unarmed) Ike and Mist. This will all happen on Hard mode with fixed growths. The obvious challenge is that Mist's strength cap is a meager 20 (16 natural). She is also sadly unable to heal herself.

Promoting Mist was more challenging than I expected, as the pirate with the Hand Axe kept killing her. I won't be winning efficiency awards any time soon.

Why not have Ike do it since he's forced in every map anyways?

-----

How exactly did you get through Chapter 9 unpromoted since she falls in one hit to any foe there with her base stats and can't fight?

Also...

What difficulty are you playing this on?

He is playing on hard mode and is doing a Mist solo. I think, he has unequipped his units in chapter 9, so she could heal enough to promote. After the promotion to a valkyrie she can use swords.

Edited April 28, 2014 by MisterIceTeaPeach

[PuffPuff]

He is playing on hard mode and is doing a Mist solo. I think, he has unequipped his units in chapter 9, so she could heal enough to promote. After the promotion to a valkyrie she can use swords.

Of course.

*Giggle*

Used a Master Seal...too no doubt. It's going to be hard to keep Mist alive there as you would have to use Rhys to keep her restored, or the Vulneraries that you have up until that point till Vulneraries become available to buy.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Barbie

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Of course.

*Giggle*

Used a Master Seal...too no doubt. It's going to be hard to keep Mist alive there as you would have to use Rhys to keep her restored, or the Vulneraries that you have up until that point till Vulneraries become available to buy.

There is no masterseal you can get before chapter 10 (boss).

Edited April 28, 2014 by MisterIceTeaPeach

[PuffPuff]

There is no masterseal you can get before chapter 10 (boss).

Oh...-.-

But...you would have to play this on Easy anyhow to accumulate enough EXP to have her promote as Heal staves are very hard to come by at this point of the game and that she starts at LV1.

[blogger]

I didn't think of logging this until after I got to around turn 207 in c9, so there are no pictures unfortunately. I had Titania+Oscar/Ike wall the axe pirates. Titania is unkillable, so the trick is to make sure the Hand Axe pirate throws axes at Titania instead of Oscar/Ike. Basically, the formation needs to be as such:

H P

P P

T I

M

H = Hand Axe, P = Pirate, T = Titania, I = Oscar/Ike, M = Mist

I needed about 200 staff usages for Mist to gain 20 levels and promote. I had two Heals and one Mend, but additional Heal staffs can be bought. Each pirate has 45 uses of Iron Axe, which inevitably break. When this happens, I retreat one square to allow the Venin Axe reinforcements to attack, at which point I need to make sure Oscar/Ike don't accidentally get killed by poison. The poison effect of the Venin Axe is useful as I manage to get 5 staff uses out of one axe use.

Once Mist evolves promotes, she solos the knights and enemy reinforcements. There is sufficient room for her to run away without allowing Ike et al to be within enemy attack range. I never touch the enemies on the beach other than the first two pirates I abused.

Edit: Sadly, level 3 Mist was not strong enough to damage the c10 boss (did 3 damage with Armorslayer) so I ran away without fighting.

Edit2: I must be going senile. I now remember that the soldiers at the bottom don't approach, so Lethe and Mordecai actually just sat there.

Edited April 28, 2014 by blogger

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

But...you would have to play this on Easy anyhow to accumulate enough EXP to have her promote as Heal staves are very hard to come by at this point of the game and that she starts at LV1.

I have never played a Mist solo and I will not do it. But I can give these information, because it is the only one way to train her. And I can give these information, because these are the FE parts, I have played the most.

C13 will be tricky as it houses the first of two Energy Drops. It was difficult enough to get the chest without having the ship seized by crows in a Titania solo, so I'm not confident that it's possible with Mist. The outcome likely depends on my ability to manipulate Gatrie into guarding the ship. I could also cheat and have Ike guard the ship if I decide to use my BExp on Ike instead of Ena.

Maybe, I would recommend to bring Jill and/or Marcia to chapter 13 to arrive the houses in time. It always worked in my solo playthroughs.

Edited April 28, 2014 by MisterIceTeaPeach

[blogger]

C15 is likely the most annoying chapter of this playthrough. To maximize BExp, I need to forgo most treasures to avoid fighting the various Laguz. The only treasure I take is the Boots, which will be needed to prevent Mist being mobbed by 9 move enemies in later chapters. As Mist has a total of 2 move in desert, she will be quickly surrounded.

The only treasures that Mist could have used are the Silver Blade (inaccurate, low uses) and Vague Katti (useless). However, the loss in gold may cost me a few weapons, as Steel Swords run about 10000 gold each.

This only took about 49 turns to accomplish. The tile to the right of Mist is the only tile that can be safely accessed while the rightmost cats are transformed.

These guys have a death wish or something. One cat wisely limps away with 1 HP and heals.

Emulation bugs strike again. Muarim has high accuracy and will maul Mist. However, he is 3HKOd by the Laguzslayer, so Mist can dash away to take only one counterattack.

The Laguz casualty list came out as 1 crow, 2 hawks, 2 tigers, and 3 cats. I gain 440 BExp from the remaining 11 enemies left alive. If Swordmaster Mist had not criticaled as many foes, I may have gotten away with two fewer casualties.

At level 14, Mist has the following stats (subtracting stat boost items):

36 HP, 14 STR, 26 MAG, 14 SKL, 23 SPD, 26 LCK, 11 DEF, 20 RES

Her averages (rounded down) should be:

35 HP, 14 STR, 24 MAG, 13 SKL, 22 SPD, 25 LCK, 9 DEF, 21 RES

I'm not sure what accounts for the discrepancy, particularly in magic.

I unwisely obtained the Miracle and Ward from c7, leaving me with only one chest key remaining. I will gain a chest key in c16, but no further keys until c22. This forces me to choose no more than 3 items from the upcoming chapters, which will likely be:

• Dracoshield (c16)
• Wrath (c18)
• Energy Drop (c21)

Edited May 7, 2014 by blogger

[Excellen Browning]

The discrepancy might be due to how stat ups are calculated in fixed growth mode: http://www.serenesforest.net/fe9/fixed.htm

[blogger]

I have never played a Mist solo and I will not do it. But I can give these information, because it is the only one way to train her. And I can give these information, because these are the FE parts, I have played the most.

Technically, you can also level her in c9 by having her dodge axes (Merlinus-style) if for some reason you can't afford to buy staves.

The discrepancy might be due to how stat ups are calculated in fixed growth mode: http://www.serenesforest.net/fe9/fixed.htm

Yeah, although I'm surprised by the extra MAG points. The single-digit exp gains definitely distort her growths though.

There's no strategy involved in c16. I dump my accumulated stat boost items onto Mist for +7 HP, +2 STR, +6 SKL, +2 MV. During the chapter, I obtain a Dracoshield for another +2 DEF. Mist runs through and routs all enemies, stopping to open the first door and obtain the Chest Key from the halberdier.

Does anybody like this guy? He looks like a racist stereotype to me.

One man woman army. I hope the enemies get more challenging sometime soon, if only so Mist's stats don't get more screwed by 1 Exp battles.

Careful avoidance of unnecessary combat in the preceding chapters leaves me with 3 swords left for c17, which should be plenty if I disequip Mist during c17-3. By now, this barely qualifies as a challenge given Mist's inflated stats.

I need to decide whether to spend BExp on Ike or Ena, as Ike will automatically promote after c17. I have 4130 BExp with the possibility of about 500 additional "easy" BExp. Ike is currently almost level 7, so I have enough guaranteed BExp to get him to 20/15, which should be enough to defeat Ashnard.

Edited April 30, 2014 by blogger

[PKL]

Ike definetely

Edited April 30, 2014 by PKL

[Ema Skye]

Yeah do Ike.

Ena requires too many stat boosters to handle Ashnard

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I need to decide whether to spend BExp on Ike or Ena, as Ike will automatically promote after c17. I have 4130 BExp with the possibility of about 500 additional "easy" BExp. Ike is currently almost level 7, so I have enough guaranteed BExp to get him to 20/15, which should be enough to defeat Ashnard.

Give bexp. to Ike. Even if he cannot reach level 20, he can max strength, skill and speed very fast. Ike only needs speed of 25, so Bezerk Ashnard cannot double him.

Edited April 30, 2014 by MisterIceTeaPeach