Resetless Lunatic+ Run COMPLETED (Deathless) (With Complete Guide)

[Czar_Yoshi]

Is there anything we'd currently miss out on by being 10 points lower?

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

The Energy Drop in time for C5. Because I'm too curious for my own good, I did do some computations to see how much it mattered. Which is to say, if Chrom has the Killing Edge, it pretty much doesn't, so long as Robin's Mag isn't more than 1 point below average (16.5). This also only applies when fighting Aegis+ Barbs and DMs. If Chrom doesn't hit Swords C, then being stuck with the Iron Sword is where it really starts to matter. This also causes potential issues around giving Lon'qu the Killing Edge for the Woods tanking opener. Overall, it pretty much means Chrom would need the Killing Edge and need to have a reliable way to get Swords C, which he doesn't always reach. I have some ideas for maybe helping him cover that distance, though.

Guess my pride and already putting all this time into thinking about it may have me doing 260 runs, anyway. >.>

I'm going to rewatch all my successful runs tonight to see how much this would have been an issue for them, since all I've done so far has been theorycraft.

[Czar_Yoshi]

I'm all for holding off on new restrictions until we at least get a run with the current route as-is.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Well, to be frank, the Iron Sword plus Energy Drop is already pretty sketchy. If I can at least somewhat reliably close that WEXP gap, the Killing Edge will always be preferable and have reliable damage output, regardless of if the Energy Drop exists or not. Also, hitting Swords C will get Chrom +1 damage with the Iron Sword, even if I'm desperate enough to do Killing Edge Lon'qu.

So far, I'd looked at the two runs with deaths and... it almost doesn't matter thus far. I'm judging this based on if Chrom gets excessive extra EXP for kill shots or if there's < 2 damage overkill on an Aegis+ enemy. I'm giving 1 occurrence leeway on the latter where otherwise, all other occurrences have to be matched by crits against Aegis+ enemies 1 for 1 in order for me to consider it to not matter.

Yololi's run has 18 Mag and the KE, so it kind of just rolls over everyone with massive overkill. Chrom gained 5 extra EXP and that's it. Incidentally, I forgot how Kellam shut down that Myrm, which was a fun rediscovery.

Dusky's run had the IS, but she was getting a crit every other combat round (which makes sense... 1 in 6 hits critting is less than their average crit rate). In the end, there was no extra EXP and the Aegis+ ratio was 1:1.

Gonna try to get the other four done before Suikoden II tonight.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Deathless Runs:

-The Dusky run was just kind of scary. Chrom had 9 Str pre-ED and brought the KE. Dusky had 16 Mag, so everything was pretty much just overkill. Ratio was 3:1 in favour of crits and the 1 was only because I used Thunder instead of the forged Flux at one point.

-I thought Robin's run would have a worse ratio, since she only had 15 Mag and Chrom was using the Iron Sword. He was also at 8 Str pre-ED and had Swords C, though, so I guess it was kind of like having a pseudo-ED. Even then, it was just on the last Myrm where I was deliberately using Thunder and could have spent another turn killing him free of consequence. Oh, and Chrom nabbed 5 extra EXP, another number I thought would be higher.

-3 Brought an absurd 21 Mag to the table. Twenty-one! Plus Chrom had 9 pre-ED Str and the KE. This meant massive danger with Counters, but also that they were collectively overkilling things by around 12 points on average. "Complete massacre" is about the only way to describe this C5 and that's not something that's typically attributed to it. At least not in this direction. 3:0 in favour of crits.

-Yololi's is actually looking the worst going in. 15 Mag, Iron Sword with no Swords C. Only thing it has going for it is 8 Str pre-ED (seems all my successful runs have Chrom with at least 1 Str gain by this point). Surprisingly, the ED just isn't enough to help secure kills, meaning a second Dual Strike is required in at least one place. He also gains use of the KE partway in, which makes that back half way more reliable. The end ratio was only 2:3 in favour of low overkill. He also only snagged 5 extra EXP.

I guess that while it can be helpful, the window for it is just tiny, such that of all six of my runs, they either don't or barely run into it.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Well, it took me way to long to get all this stuff in order and I may still make some adjustments to it later, but I figured I should actually start getting my notes out here before Fates comes out. It's really telling when, in a ~55-page document that covers strategies for 32 maps, Chapter 5's notes take up about 1/6 of it. Anyway, without further ado:

 

Chapter 5

-Pre-Chapter Shopping: Forged Wind with +5 Mt (assumes 15 Mag and Tomes A).

-Tonics: Robin (Def), Chrom (Str), Fred (Def)

 

Terminology

-Note that I’ll be using abbreviations for the enemies here. UDM, UMyrm and UBarb are the north Dark Mage, Myrm and Barb. From top to bottom on the left: LBarb1, LMyrm, LDM and LBarb2. The lone Barb on the left side of the very middle area is MBarb.

 

Kiting Strats

Robin Goes Up the Middle

Spoiler

-Note that this strategy is only reliable if MBarb doesn’t have Counter.

-Robin goes up to kill either UBarb or UMyrm. UMyrm may be preferred, as despite UBarb having higher damage output, Ricken has much higher chance of hitting him and the UBarb has poorer Hit against Robin.

-If both UBarb and UMyrm don’t have Pass (one is okay, since Robin can kill it, while Ricken weakens the other to avoid Counter), Vaike can unequip lure LBarb1 over to make it so Fred doesn’t have to face Counter or Luna+ (either will kill him after LDM’s damage). Then Fred can fight the LDM by equipping the Orsin’s and positioning on the right of the left Woods tile. If LBarb1 is still alive, then Robin can come back on turn 2 to kill it, yet remain in range of the right-side Wyv. She needs to be prepared to face a lot of attacks, though, as she will be targeted by LBarb2, the Wyv and MBarb (who must die, otherwise the Wyv will not die either). The Myrm and DM will more likely go for Fred if he’s still using the Orsin’s. This runs into a lot of potential issues with Counter, although the forged Wind has a good chance of taking the Wyv out of that equation (unless Aegis+/Counter). Can possibly do a single Rescue bomb attack to weaken a Counter enemy. Alternatively, Robin can be Rescue heal bombed.

-The advantage of this strat is that Robin has a lot of room to kite around the middle platform and most reinforcements will gun for her first. The downside is that the rest of the team has to be able to deal with the remaining L-goons, plus the Barb and DM reinforcements that will come from the lower-left Fort. To really go for this variation, it’s almost imperative that the Fred with Lon’qu/Sumia setup kill the LDM. It may also be workable if they manage to kill LBarb1, though.

 

Robin Sticks With the Group

-While middle strats separate Robin from the group in a bid to prevent the scrubs from being a liability, these strats give Robin access to Lissa and Maribelle heals, as well as the rest of the group being able to dogpile isolated enemies. The most detail is going to be in the openings, with some turn 2 and 3 follow-up. The rest will be general advice, because depending on which enemies one deals with, the permutations are too numerous for step-by-step.

 

General Opening Positions

Spoiler

-Note that this screenshot isn’t exactly how a single opening is supposed to look. Ideally, only some portion of it should be used, but I’ve consolidated it using units are markers for convenience’s sake.

-First off, if the L-Team is light on Counter, Robin will have an easier time engaging them than any other formation. Variations of this include sitting in the Woods to 1 tile left of Fred (0 melee Counter) or running into the group and picking off one of the melee who have Counter (1-2 melee Counter). Fancier positioning with other units will be required to attempt to deal with 3 melee Counter. I’ll get into that as I elaborate on the positions of other units.

-If Robin is placed where Robin/Chrom is, this will pull UDM, UBarb, UMyrm and LBarb1 onto her. It’s a good way to clear a chunk of enemies if tackling the full left side isn’t possible. However, it does have some requirements, the most basic being for only one of UBarb and UMyrm having Counter. Preferably, there isn’t any between the two, but if there is, Ricken can help Robin deal.

-Where Ricken is is the ideal default attack. This should put UMyrm in range of getting taken down in one more hit from the forged Flux (barring Aegis+). Same scenario with UBarb, but care must be taken to monitor Lissa’s Mag. She requires 6 Mag and Miriel to Rescue Ricken from attacking UMyrm, but needs 8 Mag to Rescue him from attacking UBarb. If neither enemy has Counter, Ricken should weaken UMyrm. Even if Robin isn’t in range, it will make things easier on the rest of the party on turn 2.

-Where Fred is allows him to engage LBarb1 and LDM. He should have a Spd pair-up and the Orsin’s so that he can double LDM. This is preferably Lon’qu with the Killing Edge, as one Dual Strike from him will result in a non-Pavise+ LDM dying. LBarb1 should also not have Counter or Luna+, otherwise Fred risks dying.

-Where Vaike is serves exactly one purpose: to stand there unequipped and take it in the face from a Counter LBarb1. He will need a Spd pair-up to not get doubled, but this is practically guaranteed to pull the heat off of Robin and Fred. However, Robin must be positioned where Robin is for this to work. Otherwise, U-Team will just maul him.

-If Robin foregoes the position where Robin is on the map and UBarb doesn’t have Counter, then Fred can position 1 tile right of where he is on the map. UBarb will move first, allow Fred to injure him without fear of UMyrm. Take care to make sure UBarb won’t die if Fred has a pair-up partner who could Dual Strike or lets him double.

-Where Sumia is will lure UDM into attack her. She will want to do this if Robin is not positioning where Robin is on the map. Otherwise, UDM will be a constant, if not, deadly threat, to the rest of the team—especially Fred. If UDM has Anathema and Lon’qu is free, partner him to her to reduce the chance of crit-blick.

-Lon’qu’s position allows him to pull a Counter LBarb2 off of Robin. However, if Robin is not moving aggressively on the left side, Lon’qu can still work to weaken LBarb2. He will typically want a +Str, +Def partner and the Killing Edge, among other restrictions. LBarb2 absolutely cannot have Hawkeye. If he has Pavise+, Lon’qu will want the Bronze or Iron Sword instead (as a crit here will cause Lon’qu to self-destruct). Note that there’s still some risk here, as there’s a 20.80%/14.85% true hit chance (second figure assumes Gamble) of Lon’qu dying, so only do this if desperate for the damage output (if it looks like Robin won’t be able to fight many enemies on EP due to Counter). Otherwise, it’s safer to use an unequipped Vaike with Lon’qu as the partner as the lure. Alternatively, someone can be positioned 1 tile to Lon’qu’s right, giving him only a 9.90%/5.95% chance to be hit. This is less risky for him, but requires Robin to hit certain benchmarks. Unless she has very high Def (over 14 before Tonic) or manages to keep the Avoid gap between her and Lon’qu small (somewhere less than 18, with 8 confirmed to work), the Barb has a significant chance of targeting her instead.

 

 

Turn 1

Spoiler

-To make any of these strats work, Sumia’s opening move must be to disrupt UDM using the same cliff positioning as in the turtling strats.

-Like with the middle strat, Ricken can weaken UBarb or UMyrm before getting rescued.

-If L-Team has no melee Counter, then Robin can sit in the left Wood tile and enjoy superior Def and Avoid. Take care to have the Flux equipped if facing Aegis+.

-If L-Team has 1 melee Counter, then Robin can run in and kill that unit, then duke it out with the others on EP. This can be dangerous if the meleer who dies isn’t LMyrm and there is lots of Luna+ present. Note that if that single melee Counter enemy isn’t LBarb1, Robin won’t be able to reach the right Wyv’s range on turn 2 without Rescue or Transfer shenanigans.

-If L-Team has 2 melee Counter, then one of them must be LBarb2, otherwise things get extremely risky. Depending on what the enemy’s U-Team looks like, this may still be risky. In particular, too much PavGis+ between LBarb2, UBarb and UMyrm can kill this strat.  Regardless, Robin must kill the melee Counter who isn’t LBarb2.

-There are several ways to deal with the LBarb2. This first is to place an unequipped Vaike with Lon’qu support on the lower-left Woods tile. This doesn’t so much deal with him as defer the killing, which can make things difficult if UBarb has Counter, since even the whole team might not have enough damage to kill three unharmed enemies (depending on PavGis+ distribution). However, this is the only option that allows for a Counter/Hawkeye combo on LBarb2.

-The rest of the ways all involve taking advantage of Lon’qu’s high Avoid. 23 base + 10 Avoid skill +20 WTA vs axes + 10 for support rank 2 + 10 Woods = 73. Barbs have 95 Hit, which drops to 22 against him (17 if the Barb has Gamble). This should generally allow Lon’qu to dodge (the Barb will have 9.90%/5.95% true hit) so he can face tank the Counter damage for his counterattack. The support rank 2 is generally achieved by having Vaike in his pocket and anyone free (likely Virion) to his right.  If LBarb2 doesn’t have Pavise+, Lon’qu can use the Killing Edge and if it crits, the Barb will die. Against Pavise+, he should use the Bronze or Iron Sword (otherwise, Lon’qu will self-destruct on a crit). There is a quirk with this method in that Lon’qu’s high Avoid starts to work against him when the Barb doesn’t think it can one-shot him (which Vaike’s +2 Def ensures). Unless Robin has very high Def (over 14 before Tonic) or manages to keep the Avoid gap between her and Lon’qu small (somewhere less than 18, with 8 confirmed to work), the Barb has a significant chance of targeting her instead. Depending on enemy skills, she could still tank the damage and end up with single-digit HP at the end of EP, but it will very likely require the LDM to not be a threat and for her to take only one non-Luna+ hit from either of the melee (somewhat likely, but getting that situation is far from guaranteed). Any hope of getting over the threshold without being insanely blessed will require having a Fred C support and him as the partner (which carries the risks of lower Dual Strike rates).

-The third way attempts to address the second method’s flaw without using Fred, but is taking a low risk chance that could end the run (or at least the deathless part of it) to do so. This involves not having any support partner in order to drop Lon’qu into range of being one-shot by the Barb. This will cause him to be automatically targeted regardless of Robin’s stats. However, this does drop his Avoid by 10 (giving the Barb 20.80%/14.85% true hit) and cost him 4 Str, which means that he also can’t use the Killing Edge (a crit will implode him). Theoretically, Sumia could let him retain his Avoid (but still stop him from being able to use the Killing Edge due to doubling), even granting a bit more than before, but she’s busy with UDM.

-No matter what Robin does, Fred has a chance to contribute to turn 1, provided that UBarb doesn’t have Counter. If Fred equips a Bronze Sword or the Silver Lance and sits 1 tile above Virion, he can damage UBarb for next turn. If using the lance and UBarb doesn’t have Pavise+, make sure that either he is not attacked by Ricken or that Virion is unequipped, as UMyrm can do some serious damage to a lone Fred (and just plain murder him if spawned with Luna+).

 

Turn 2

Spoiler

-0-or-1-melee-Counter strat: Now the party has to use whatever it has to finish off UBarb and UMyrm. Ideally, UMyrm is weakened enough that Fred, or at least a sequence of Virion/Fred, then Vaike taking Fred and swapping to Fred, can finish UMyrm. This then allows UBarb to hopefully be softened up by the other so that Robin can kill him from 1 tile above (assuming he has Counter, otherwise, Robin can just fight head on). With the Wind equipped, this puts her in range of UDM, MBarb and the approaching Wyv, so make sure she has enough durability left! If MBarb has Counter, this strat is probably torpedoed and she should attack from the left instead (to get her closer to the left Wyv).

-In the end, Robin may have to kill UMyrm with the forged Wind instead, especially if he has Avoid+10, while Fred and co. kill the UBarb. It really all depends on PavGis+ distibution. Also note that Robin won’t be able to get above the UBarb on her own if she had to kill someone who wasn’t LBarb1 on T1 PP.

-2-melee-Counter strat: Now the party has to use whatever it has to finish off LBarb2, UBarb and UMyrm. Depending on how hurt the enemy is and their PavGis+ distribution, killing them all may not be possible. In the very least, it’s likely that no one will be able to miss without losing the run. As with the 0-1-melee-Counter method, Robin prefers to end her turn in good health while 1 tile above UBarb. It’s pretty unlikely, as unless rather lucky, there won’t be enough actions to keep Robin healed, but I’m mentioning it just in case the opportunity comes up.

-Try to make sure that someone with 7 Move is within 8 tiles of the lower-left Fort. Sumia is usually a good candidate for this.

 

Turn 3

Spoiler

-Generally speaking, the left Wyv should now be in range of getting taken down by Robin. If Robin was unable to kill the right Wyv and associated enemies, be aware that she will likely have to be in the right Wyv’s range, whether due to the left Wyv’s positioning or needing to purposefully engage the right Wyv on enemy phase in order to keep everyone else safe. Try to get her healing as appropriate.

-Remember the unit who is supposed to be within 8 tiles of the lower-left Fort? If that unit is within 6 (or Sumia and within 7), that unit can move directly onto the Fort. Otherwise, move right next to it and separate that unit’s partner onto the Fort to body block the Barb from spawning.

-This is where even the scattered play-by-play breaks down, especially with random reinforcement skills. Careful positioning and possibly even Rescue bombing on Counter enemies may be required. The rest here will be largely general advice.

 

Turn 4

-Try to start clearing back to the right side, as the Wyv reinforcements from the top-left will be coming soon. Depending on what skills the 1~2-range Barb spawned with, this may be difficult, though, as Robin could end up having to be committed to that. But he has to die too, or there’s no getting away.

-Leave someone free near the Fort. Preferably unpaired so that they can hop on someone else on T5.

 

Turn 5

-This is the last turn Robin can commit to clearing the right before having to engage the Wyvs (or else everyone else is gonna get trapped when the right Wyv reinforcement shows up at the end of this turn). Start moving as far right as feasible.

-The Wyvs won’t be able to reach the lower-left Fort yet. So if other enemies have been cleared away from that left side, someone can safely body block the DM from spawning.

 

Turn 6+

Spoiler

-Get the Wyvs on the left with Robin, but be aware of what the Myrms have for skills. They may require more kiting, but that’s fine so long as the Wyvs die.

-Try to lure the right Wyv with Fred. The idea is to get it down to the party’s attack range over the next two turns. This allows them to team up on it and kill it while Robin deals with the remaining Myrms and leftside Wyv. Be aware of the Barb coming down the middle. If it looks too dangerous for the scrubs, see if Robin can go for the kill.

-If the lure strat doesn’t work out, push back to the left. This can get risky if there’s lots of Counter and there will be very little safe space between the Wyvs for everyone to hide (Robin absolutely must get the left Wyv kills in this scenario). Fred and Vaike (with a Spd pair) will likely have to body block on the right to provide enough safe space. This then allows the party to push back right after, with Robin killing the Wyv, leaving the rest of the party freedom to retreat to the right.

-After either of those strats, the enemy’s numbers should be dwindling enough to muscle through whatever remains.

 

Adaptations to Interceptor’s Turtle Strats:

Find the original strat here.

Note: This strat really only works for squishy Robins. If she is too durable (usually in the 15-Def range post-Tonic), the enemies will target Fred instead and he will die very quickly. If Robin is durable, it is usually better to go on the offensive. In fact, 13 Def post-tonic is usually enough to allow for offensive strats.

This strat is also generally obsolete because kiting is not only quicker, but gives the enemies fewer attacks, balancing out the luck factor. Leaving it in in case people have exceptionally weak Robins and need to consider it.

 

Prereqs

-13 uses left on the Javelin (just enough for base Sumia paired with Vaike to kill a Pavise+ Barb) or the Orsin’s Hatchet. If using the Javelin, Sumia must have it unequipped at the start if it’s got less than 15 uses. Backup strat: can trade over Ricken for Vaike for the final hit if short on Javelins.

-Chrom Swords C for Killing Edge

-Lissa with either 8 Mag, so she can use Lon’qu, or 7 Spd, so she can use Miriel. If she meets both criteria, Miriel is preferred. If she meets neither and has 6 Spd, she has to use Miriel and hope for a Spd level up from the first two turns of staff EXP.

 

Setup

Spoiler

-Bring Killing Edge on Chrom

-Robin placed to be able to reach Chrom

-Lissa placed to be able to reach the right border of the map

-Lon’qu placed to be able to reach Lissa

-Sumia placed above Chrom

-Vaike placed to be able to reach Sumia

 

-I tried many permutations of the strategy to get my units to face certain enemies. The big main problem I ran into was thinning the enemies out too much in key places, making it so I couldn’t easily assassinate problem enemies. To further complicate things, the base strategy had a chance of failing for lack of enemy density too. The reason that this would fail is because of random enemy movements. Sometimes enemies would fixate on Robin for no real reason (I could run the same scenario over and over from battle save and it would change without me altering conditions, which is the same reason why C1 has two routes). This would sometimes leave a hole 2 tiles to the left of Fred in the tanking formation. Since timing is tight, this would generally be right when a mage is arriving, meaning the melee won’t fill that spot and Fred will almost certainly die. After much experimentation, I found that the goal for a reliable body block situation is to have at least 6 (preferably, 7) enemies, of which the 5 closest must be melee. I’ve found three relatively reliable strategies that allow for shuffling the melee around to minimize the threat to Robin and Fred.

 

 

LBarb1 vs Robin and UBarb vs Fred

Spoiler

-Do not use a Sumia decoy (give her to Vaike right away)

-On turn 1, get everyone other than Robin as close to tanking formation as possible.

-Position Robin 2 tiles left of where she normally stands to tank.

-As tempting as it might be, do not Rescue bomb anything on turn 2, as it’s almost guaranteed to create the gap that kills Fred.

-On turn 3, assume the standard tanking formation.

 

 

 

Robin Facing LMyrm and Fred facing UBarb

Spoiler

Turn 1

-Pair Ricken to Maribelle, then move her all the way down until she hits Cliff, then 1 tile left of that.

-Pair Lon’qu to Lissa. Move her until she’s 2 tiles up and 2 tiles left of the map’s SE border. Rescue Maribelle.

-Pair Robin to Chrom. Swap to Robin and equip Thunder (or forged Flux if either LBarb1 or LDM have Aegis+). This will kill LDM and LBarb1 on EP. Note that if the LDM has Aegis+, even Average 16 Mag Robin will only do 10 x2, meaning Chrom needs to score a DS with a Killing Edge or what remains of the Glass Sword to get the kill.

-Sumia goes 3 tiles up, then 2 tiles left.

 

 

Turn 2

-Sumia goes 5 tiles right and 1 tile down.

-Move Vaike to the right of Lissa.

-A back-up strat for if LDM didn’t die is for Robin to finish him off on turn 2, then have Lissa Rescue Robin back into place (transfer for Ricken if necessary). Since Maribelle blocks the spot below and Vaike blocks the right, with Cliff being invalid for a foot unit, Robin will end up to Lissa’s left. After that, have Fred trade-convoy Robin’s weapons (make sure to unequip him after too).

-If no back-up strat required, Robin can just walk over to the spot left of where she normally stands and unequip.

-Maribelle needs to stay where she is because she body blocks Pass enemies. If Ricken was transferred away from her, transfer him back.

 

 

Turn 3

-Pair Sumia to Vaike

-Shuffle anyone who isn’t in Interceptor’s tanking formation into said formation.

 

 

 

Robin Facing LBarb1 and Fred facing LMyrm

Spoiler

Turn 1

-Pair Vaike to Sumia. Sumia goes 1 tile up, then 4 tiles right.

-Position Robin 2 tiles left of where she normally stands to tank.

-Pair Ricken to Maribelle. Move Maribelle all the way down to the Cliff and wait there.

-Pair Lon’qu to Lissa. Lissa moves to 2 tiles up from the SE border of the map. Rescue Maribelle.

 

 

Turn 2

-Don’t move Sumia. She’ll fight UDM on EP (not necessary to damage, but need to delay his approach).

-Robin kills the LDM. Note that if the LDM has Aegis+, even Average 16 Mag Robin will only do 10 x2, meaning Chrom needs to score a DS with a Killing Edge or what remains of the Glass Sword to get the kill. Since the Rescue bomb is part of the initial strat, there is no back-up strat, so only do this against Aegis+ if the UBarb has a super-awful skillset.

-Lissa Rescues Robin (transfer Ricken, if necessary).

-If Ricken was transferred away, transfer him back.

-Fred trade-convoys Robin’s tomes (make sure to unequip him after).

 

 

 

Turn 3

-UBarb should have attacked Fred. Kill UBarb with Robin.

-Move Fred 1 tile left. Heal, if necessary.

-Move Lissa below Robin and trade-convoy her tome. Heal someone, if necessary (prioritize Robin).

-Move Sumia to where Lissa was and swap to Vaike.

 

 

 

 

 

Delayed Turtle

Spoiler

Pre-Reqs

-Very blessed Robin in terms Spd and Def

-At least 1 use of the Elixir left

-Only 1 Counter enemy on the left side (preferably the Myrm; even better if 0 Counter)

-Want the Aegis+ density on the left side to be relatively low too.

-Of the upper Barb and Myrm, Robin has to be able to kill one, with the second being killable by everyone else ganging up on him.

 

Turn 1

 

-Pair Ricken to Maribelle. Move Maribelle down into Rescue range. Have Lissa Rescue her.

-As long as Robin attacks the left-side Counter enemy from as far right and as far up as she can, she can reach the upper group next turn. If there are no Counter enemies, she can hop in the Woods to the left of Chrom’s starting position.

-Move Sumia up 3 tiles, then left 2 tiles

-If the upper Barb doesn’t have Counter, Fred can pick up some bonus damage to make the strat safer by moving into the very bottom of his attack range. The Barb will body block the Myrm, so no need to worry about him.

 

Turn 2

 

-Move Robin back right, making sure to attack from as far left and as far down as possible.

-Fred and the rest clean up the other guy.

-Move Sumia down 5 tiles, then left 1 tile.

-Position Vaike 2 tiles left of the bottom-right border of the map.

 

Turn 3

 

-Pair Sumia to Vaike.

-Move Robin to 1 tile down from the left-most Woods of the nearest Woods clump. Equip the Wind and heal as necessary. She will be fighting both Wyvs and a Dark Mage.

-Get everyone else as close to standard tanking formation as possible.

 

Turn 4

 

-Move Robin 2 tiles to the right. Kill the Mage.

-Have Lissa Rescue Robin into her tanking position.

-Transfer Maribelle temporarily to Vaike’s position to get Robin a heal. Make sure to trade-convoy Robin’s weapons too.

 

Turn 5

 

-Transfer Maribelle back to her normal position.

-Because of the timing offset before the last four Wyverns arrive, if Fred is facing a Luna+ Barb, it is preferable to clear out the tile two tiles to the left of Robin so that she can kill the last two 2-rangers so that they can’t double team Fred with the Luna+ Barb. If said Luna+ Barb does not have Counter, Fred can get 15 more Avoid for those crucial two turns by equipping a Bronze Sword (make sure to unequip Kellam!). Otherwise, it is likely possible to tank as normal, eliminating the Wyverns first, since there’s still enough melee that arrive early enough to body block the 2-rangers.

 

General Turtling Info

Spoiler

-Swapping Fred and Robin’s tanking positions causes UBarb and UMyrm to both target her. If none of the above strats will let Fred properly tank a melee, then this is a sort of last resort simply because it has better odds than Fred having a 99% chance of dying. This will be much more intensive on the healing front and it’s quite likely that it will run dry on the run’s budget of Vulneraries. If Robin is capable of this, though, it’s likely better to go on the offensive instead.

-If Lissa is using Lon’qu as a pair, if she acts before Maribelle, she can transfer for Ricken for a temporary healing boost, then Maribelle can take Ricken back.

-Str+2 or Luna+ will keep Vaike from being able to survive on just Mend from Maribelle/Ricken. If either of those hit him or are in range after any other Wyv just hit him, he will need to use a Vulnerary to supplement.

-Note that the Short Axe Barb will also target Lissa if he can double her, so make sure that doesn’t happen.

 

Notes for The Second Tanking Formation (After All Wyverns Dead)

Spoiler

-Sumia with the Javelin and Vaike pair can slowly chip the enemy to the left of Robin to death, even through Pavise+ (therefore, the 13 Javelin uses). Watch out for crits and make sure Sumia and Vaike are both healed to full before landing the final hit (otherwise, 2-rangers will kill them).

-For 2-range ganking, kill the guy two tiles to the left of Robin to start pulling mages in. Trade chain the Mend over to Lissa. Chain the Heal back to Maribelle if something decides to go after Fred. Otherwise, Lissa will need to pour as much healing as possible into Robin (transfer Ricken to her if necessary).

-Short Axe Barb will try to gank Maribelle and will very likely kill her. Swap Vaike into her place when the Short Axe guy is within range (make sure he has Maribelle as the partner, or else he’ll get doubled and die).

-If Fred keeps a sword equipped, he can sometimes discourage Barbs from attacking him. This is very important if the closest Barb during the shuffle into second formation has Luna+, as it will otherwise target him and set up him for death by mage.

-Robin should use the forged Flux, even against non-Aegis+, when leading against 2-rangers. Against non-Aegis+, it’s enough damage that a Chrom dual strike can kill them before they can counterattack. This saves on crucial amounts of healing.

 

Reinforcements

-Turn 3: Barbs from mid-left and lower-left Forts. Myrm from upper-mid Fort.

-Turn 4: Wyvs from upper left Forts.

-Turn 5: Dark Mage lower left Fort, Myrm mid-left Fort, Barb middle Fort, 1 Wyv each top corner Fort.

 

Boss Pull

-Get Robin just barely into range of the closest right side Wyv. This will be the only Wyv to engage her this EP. If it has Counter of Aegis+, use the forged Wind and Falchion.

-Next turn, move to Fort. Face Boss and 1 melee Wyv.

-Next turn, either face last 2 Wyvs while on Fort, or snipe one from the Woods and deal with the last on EP (depending on HP levels and enemy skills).

 

Edited January 29, 2017 by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

It's go time: http://www.twitch.tv/kuroitsubasatenshi

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

EDIT: Oops, added missing Turn 4+ text.

 

Chapter 6

-Renown Rewards Available: Energy Drop.

-Stat Boosters: Chrom (Energy Drop)

-Pre-Chapter Shopping: Def Tonic x4. If you haven’t already forged a +12 Crit Thunder, do so now. If you had to do the Thunder earlier and meet the benchmark (19 Mag) for the +4 Mt, +5 Hit Flux, consider making that.

-Tonics: Robin (Def)

 

Setup

Spoiler

-Start Fred and Virion on the right side

-Lissa, Maribelle, Robin and Ricken on the left side

-If Ricken brings four junk items, Gaius can take Panne’s Concoction, then fill his inventory with Ricken’s junk. If he loots from the chest, he can then convoy the Concoction so that Robin can pull it out if she needs it.

 

 

General

-19 Mag to one-shot non-Aegis+ Thieves with the forged Flux; 20 Mag to one-round if they have Aegis+.

-Once Fred has dealt with the Thief, depending on enemy skillsets, he may be able to lure a Fighter or Cav away from Lucina and keep them busy.

-Emm is durable enough to tank a Dark Mage, even if it has Luna+ or a Cavalier that doesn’t have Luna+. Keep this in mind in case you have to let something through.

-If Fred gets into trouble with the kiting, swing him over toward the wall of Emm’s room and Rescue him in.

-If Robin gets into trouble and has to kill a Counter enemy on a turn instead of being able to heal, Maribelle (with Gaius for extra move, if necessary) can run over and heal bomb her, getting Rescued back by Lissa after (just be aware of Rescue range at all times).

 

Turn 1

 

Spoiler

-Robin left of Fighter by closest to Lucina. Kill him in melee, even if he has Counter. Use Crit Thunder to try to mitigate damage.

-Move Fred down to 1 tile just below the aisle between the sets of pillars. He should be two tiles into the range of the Thief and nothing else.

-Move unpaired Lissa into Emm’s room.

-Pair Ricken to Maribelle. Move to just above Robin, trade Flux to top of inventory, then heal, if necessary.

-Note that if Robin fails to kill the Fighter, Ricken may need to be given to Lissa instead of Maribelle. Then Maribelle can still heal Robin while Lissa Rescues her away. If the Fighter is looking weak enough and Robin can survive the incoming DM and Thief, it’s also possible to still pair Ricken to Maribelle, then have Ricken finish off the Fighter.

 

 

Turn 2

Spoiler

-Move Robin two tiles right and kill the Fighter (make sure to use the forged Flux again if any incoming Thieves have Aegis+ or Counter). Note that this movement will body block a Dark Mage and cause him to go after Robin instead. This greatly increases Lucina’s chances of survival (this turn).

-If the right side Thief lived (Pavise+), Fred should move 5 tiles up and Vulnerary, if necessary (Pavise+/Counter or Pavise+/Luna+ together can cause him serious pain). If the Thief is dead, Fred can try to draw the Fighter who is not in range of Lucina away (fighting him with the Bronze Sword if he doesn’t have Counter, otherwise, just unequip decoying).

-There are two things Maribelle can do now. If Robin needs healing, go heal her from above. Lissa can then Rescue Maribelle to safety through the door. If Robin doesn’t need healing, Maribelle should be able to just go into Emm’s room (go all the way to make room for Panne).

-Move Panne just inside Emm’s room.

-Fred with 24 Attack can make the Fighter group closest to him safer given certain combinations of skills. Fred’s 13 base Str plus Orsin’s 4 Mt and a Str Tonic means that he needs to make up for 5 Attack somewhere. With 14 Str, Fred needs Vaike. With 15 Str, he can take either Virion (assuming a C support) or Kellam. The conditions for this to work is that only one of the enemies can have Counter and that enemy cannot have HP+5 or Pavise+ at the same time. Note that in engaging the Fighters, they are very likely to target him instead of Lucina (allows her to weaken the Cavs for Robin instead), so be aware and position so that Fred can use his 7 Move to disengage. Assuming a Fred who has reached level 3, gaining no Def and the minimum 30 HP, he can survive combat if only one of the Fighters has Luna+. In order for this to work, he must meet one of the follow conditions: using Kellam as a partner; using Virion at C support and attack from the Pillar tile (or use a Def Tonic); or using Vaike with a Def Tonic (this optional strat is not shown in the screenshots).

 

 

 

 

Turn 3

Spoiler

-Move Robin beside Gaius, swap to Chrom and recruit him. Swap back to Robin and kill the Fighter 2 tiles above her.

-Pair Gaius onto Panne.

-Get all the characters in Emm’s room outside of the Dark Mage’s range.

-From here on out, it’s mostly improvisation to avoid as much Counter as possible. If the left side is looking really bad for that with the remaining Fighter and Cavaliers, try to have Fred draw a right side Cavalier away from the fight if he can spare the HP. Note that this has to be the far one, as the closest one will target Lucina.

-Lucina will very likely die this turn, but she should be able to seriously harm a Counter enemy or two before she goes down.

 

 

 

Turn 4+

-From here, you’ll need to YOLO the rest the best that you can, working with the Counter formations. The Crit Thunder basically exists to improve survival if you’re forced to face Counter enemies in melee (mind being at 1-range to the pillars against the mages, as they’ll go there to attack if they’re unoccupied!).

-The one enemy that cannot be allowed to live is the final Thief. If left to his own devices, he will open the door and with multiple Cavs nearby, that will likely mean a dead Emm. He can be dealt with by picking him off or, if Robin needs heals or to pick someone else off, even just ending the turn in his attack range (since the Thieves will prioritize attacking over opening locks).

-Once the Thieves are all dead, the side passage will be the only way to get into Emm’s room. This may allow Robin to just bottleneck the rest of the enemies to death (possibly utilizing trade-convoying her tomes to avoid Counter). Beware Pass in this case.

-Unequipped Gaius can tank a hit from the Cavaliers—even a Luna+ hit. This can be used to pull one of the left Cavaliers away from attacking Robin. If the Cavalier doesn’t have Pavise+ or Aegis+, the combination of Panne/Gaius and Ricken/Maribelle won’t kill it (otherwise, they have exactly enough damage). One of the notable things about this strat is that it works even if the Cavalier has Counter, just so long as it doesn’t have Luna+ (Panne will live with 2 HP). If the Cavalier does have Counter and Luna+, a last resort strat would be to keep it jammed up in the door with Gaius and having both Maribelle and Lissa heal him until Robin can come back to help. Beware of positioning, however, in case this is the first Cav and the second has Pass.

-Ricken makes a preferred target through the walls, which can reduce risk from Luna+ and Hawkeye Dark Mages (beware of Anathema).

 

-Note that fighting on the pillars and keeping the rest of the team up against the back wall should keep Validar from ever being able to get into range of anyone but Robin. This does, however, leave her on her own for healing in the event that Validar has a dangerous skillset.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi

[EvilElectro]

BOW DOWN TO THE MASTER OF LIFE

[Barrel]

Strats for Chapter 5? Nice.

A question/thoughts: Past early game which section of the game is giving you the most trouble/is the cause of failed runs? Going to guess 8-15 is very easy while 18+ starts to cause difficulties as usual, but interested to know exactly.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Cht.24, and always due to fatigue. I think we've only lost one run past Cht.7 that didn't go down there.

Edited November 27, 2015 by Czar_Yoshi

[Barrel]

Keeping that in mind I do wonder if it's worth the (presumably) large-scale planning and work to set up quadruple galekids to make lategame as painless as possible. Though I guess Fates is being released in the west very soon.

[Czar_Yoshi]

It's not. Quad GF passdown is very powerful, but even once you have it it's extremely high maintenance- even if it didn't cost time to get, it would cost time to use. The real point of quad GF is to get the flexibility to get around skill combinations, and that doesn't mesh well with planning out everything beforehand.

Trying to use the Pegs early on instead of Robin also leaves you extremely dependent on your stat growths- you have to take advantage of everything you do get and compensate for everything you don't, and that's also a big timesink against pre-planned runs. There's also the matter of Cht.5, which is generally even less reliable if Sumia's been soaking up exp beforehand (Par.1 would also be riskier without Flux, which we wouldn't have since we wouldn't be a DM yet, and Sumia isn't strong enough yet to help out there. We'd still have sword access, but bad Counter/Hawkeye rolls and those still wouldn't help much).

It's a very powerful and fun strategy, but won't work out here.

We're not stopping for FE14, by the way. Lunatic Nohr will be done on the side, but Lunatic+ is the real show.

Edited November 27, 2015 by Czar_Yoshi

[Barrel]

I guess there are simply too many (anna shop/renown/spotpass shops) restrictions for it to work properly in this specific scenario. Oh well!

[Czar_Yoshi]

The fact that this has to be played in one sitting is far more restrictive of that than anything else. It would definitely be worth looking into if not for the fact that it takes so much longer.

[Barrel]

I keep on forgetting that it's all single segment as well. Back to the peanut gallery for me!

Edited November 27, 2015 by disjunct.ion

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

I may not have quad Galeforce, but I do have triple, which is the next best thing. The increase in killing rate per turn (either from 2 to 3 or 3 to 4, depending on the map) does a great deal to help suppress some of the low, but still significant RNG that was always a creeping possibility in maps like C16, C18 and C20, over dual Galeforce. It also saves a bunch of time that I'm not sure I'd be willing to give up for a quad Galeforce strat. Overall, I think it's a pretty fair compromise. Thanks for questioning it, though. The strats are always worth scrutinizing so that they can be refined.

For the runs that died, there were actually two that didn't go down in C24. There was a really terrible C14 one where I basically traded myself to death because it reequipped a face-tanking Robin and the P2 where I got RNGed by both Vengeance and the Crit Thunder failing to produce results (only an ~8% chance of failure). Granted, I could have been more paranoid and healed with Lissa, leaving the Villager to his fate. For the C24 failures, only one of the two were actually from fatigue, where I forgot to unequip Robin near the very end of the map like an idiot. The other one was a pre-Morgan/Lucina-strat run where I got cornered where I lost it due to long-term gambling. Basically, the run was about one of my fastest to date and for good reason, since I skipped a lot of chapters. This deprived Chrom of EXP rather badly, so when it came down to me needing a Beast Killer Dual Strike to land... he missed, causing Galeforce to fail and Robin to die to Counter. So really, it was the poor early decision to neglect Chrom that came back to bite me.

Also, a schedule clarification: while I likely won't ever fully give up Resetless runs, February is going to be a bit of a weird month where I likely take several breaks from it. This is because XCOM2 and Fates both release on Fridays and each is probably going to take over all the slots for a week (quite possibly two for Fates). This means that XCOM2 will also be very shortly usurped by Fates, but that's just the luck of release dates at play, I guess. Once I beat Conquest, I'll probably normalize the schedule again to a game per day, with the other two Fates campaigns taking up Sunday, XCOM2 on Tuesday and Resetless on Friday. Once XCOM2 is done, I will then resume the Suikoden series.

[Czar_Yoshi]

I may not have quad Galeforce, but I do have triple, which is the next best thing.

Well, said Quad GF strat actually just involves getting a quadruple passdown, so what you really have is six GF units (I'm going for 8 with Olivia and Inigo on the side, but it was a terrible idea and I'm only sticking with it to see whether it's possible at all, it'll never be remotely optimal).

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Ah, right. I don't think I quite need 6 Galeforcers.

I'm also still working on the guide, but I've been taking screenshots throughout the latest practice run and still need to edit all of them.

But for now, runs: http://www.twitch.tv/kuroitsubasatenshi

[Czar_Yoshi]

Figures you'd get a successful run on the one night I'm not able to watch. Kuroi, stop making me superstitious!

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

I'll try, but no guarantees. Clearly, the only way to be sure, though, is for you to hunker down and watch without ever leaving. If you never leave, there can't be any problems with coming back.

[Czar_Yoshi]

To be fair I popped in for about 10 seconds at 3:40 to see if you made it past the start, so I did leave...

Edited November 29, 2015 by Czar_Yoshi

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

You didn't come back after you left for the first time, though, which fulfills the criteria. Still not as preferable as having you stick around all run, though.

Anyway, got the highlights done early for once. The full run clocked in at 9:34:02. Not as fast as it has potential for, but it still saves 85 minutes over the second-fastest deathless resetless run. It's also sub-10 and the first run that I could divide into just 3 parts. Yololi also has the disctinction of finishing three runs, of which are deathless. Anyway, here are the links:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Fun facts about this run:

• It has the most lenient C16 I've ever seen, with maybe 5 Counter enemies total.
• It has one of the worst C23s I've ever seen. Counter spam and in pretty much all the wrong places.
• Chrom fails to Dual Strike on 3 out of Robin's 4 Celcia's attacks on Aversa 2 such that I had to finish her on EP. He has taken laziness to new heights.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi

[Barrel]

You should totally post this on the speedrun subreddit, if that's your thing at all. >.>

Edited November 30, 2015 by disjunct.ion

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Heh, I'll have a look and think about it. This wasn't really intended to be a speedrun, even though it kind of evolved into one out of necessity, so I have somewhat mixed feelings about treating it like one.