Vanilla Lunatic Chrom Solo Playlog/Guide

[eclipse]

I bought 6 Javelins, should that be enough?

Also, I'm going to take your momentary procrastination as my opportunity to double the number of people to pass Ch.6. Looking at sitting in the lower left to get all the Thieves, then choking everything at Emm's door, similar to how you did it but with capped Str.

That should be plenty!

You'll want to travel to the central stair case to nab one, get the one next to Marth if necessary, hope that one suicides on you on EP, recruit Gaius (since you can get him off of the field and kill another unit), then mop up the final one. With the stat lead you have, it shouldn't be too difficult. If you can't kill the thieves fast enough, summon Eir from Spotpass and purchase Eirika's Blade - it's a mini-brave weapon that'll definitely ORKO the thieves.

[Sodium Hydroxide]

A bit too late, eclipse, sorry.

Also got chapters 7 and 8 done.

Chapter 7 doesn't even need a spoiler tag: Just murder everything with Falchion. You don't even need Tonics. Levelled up to 20 and gained HP and Defense.

[spoiler=Attempt 4, chapter 8]Pre-map shopping: A single Bronze Bow. Use Tonics for both Str and Def. Kill as little as possible when running to the Second Seal village, then Seal into an Archer. Use the desert to ruin the melee's movement and kill the mages first. When everything's dead, celebrate and then start grinding.

STATS AFTER CHAPTER 8:

Archer level 3, 27 EXP

48 HP, 27 Str, 6 Mag, 30 Skl, 23 Spd, 31 Lck, 21 Def, 6 Res

D Bows + 7 eighths of the WEXP bar.

I'll be doing quite some grinding on skirmishes before I go further.

EDIT: Y'know what, stuff it, let's put another spoiler tag on for Archer and Sniper grinding.

[spoiler=Archer/Sniper grinding, all attempts that get that far]Some of the better maps to grind on are the Longfort, the Border Pass and especially the Farfort. The Twins' Turf can be easily managed, also. Arena Ferox is one of the worst maps on paper, but if you can work with it and not get surrounded it's very rewarding. Just position yourself so you can't get surrounded (ideally by use of a chokepoint in which you can back up one space to shoot the thing meleeing you) and attack something on every single turn. You should get to level 10 within 5 skirmishes (it took me 3). Once you're at level 10, Master Seal to Sniper. Paralogue 3 becomes possible, your stats increase, and you can get Hit + 20 and Bowfaire after a good deal more grinding.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Sodium Hydroxide

[Sodium Hydroxide]

I promoted to Sniper, so I did Paralogue 3 before continuing the relentless grind of Risen skirmishes.

[spoiler=Attempt 3, Paralogue 3]You're not going to save the villagers as a Sniper. Just gonna put that out there right now. Instead, you are going to go to the top-left corner of the map, and turtle there. When all the enemies that line up are dead, go onto the water to kill the thing that was meleeing you, then grab the Blessed Bow from the village. Mop up the remaining Risen in your own time.

STATS AFTER PARALOGUE 3:
Sniper level 3, 54 EXP

61 HP, 33 Str, 7 Mag, 36 Skl, 33 Spd, 32 Lck, 30 Def, 10 Res

A Bows

[Czar_Yoshi]

About Agg, I'm not expecting it to be all that helpful in general combat since Chrom will be doing almost all his fighting on EP. It'll only really be useful for bosses (specifically Walhart, Validar and Grima) though you will want it there. But on, say, Cht.24 or RaR3, I don't think it's a must have. Maybe it is for RaR3 if you need it to secure a PP kill on Jaffar, but with the amount of RNG that would already be present it's probably best to just ignore him.

[Shadow Mir]

The bus chapters were up to Chapter 3. Had to redo 3 a couple of times (so many stupid benchmarks), and I think it's the hardest of the early chapters!

For Chapter 6, it was something like this:

- Chrom murders the axe guy near Marth. On EP a thief suicides into Chrom, and other stuff happens. Marth dodges the axes, which changed a hell of a lot, as a thief challenged her (so she killed it on her phase instead of healing).

- Chrom arms the Javelin (which I completely forgot about in Chapter 5 because Kellam had it in his inventory) and chucks it at the closest mage. On EP, more stuff relinquishes its life to Chrom, including another thief. Before the carnage, Panne teams up with Chrom, because the best kind of kill is overkill! I think this is where Marth ate it, too.

- Chrom recruits Gaius, then Javelins the nearest enemy. Gaius runs into Emmeryn's room. EP should be pretty predictable by now.

- Chrom kills the final thief, as the enemies thin out. Everything by the closed door is dead, and only a handful of things are near the open doorway.

- Chrom hacks out the Falchion and takes a vulnerary. Because of the one-tile door, one of the mages is forced to go melee.

- Chrom kills the other mage, and the final axe guy meets a very messy end.

- Chrom takes another vulnerary swig while waiting for Validar.

- Rather than challenge Validar, Chrom finishes off the vulnerary, with Javelin up and in Validar's attack range. On EP, Validar activates Vengeance for a whopping 0 extra damage, while Chrom removes most of his HP. On the next PP, Chrom finishes Validar off.

THE END~!

Wow. Good going.

Oh dear. . . the world is doomed

Anyway, Chrom absolutely must be a cavalier for Chapter 6, because his other unpromoted classes don't have enough movement to reach everything in time. Not sure if Javelin usage is an absolute must, but he's got plenty of time to train them on Chapter 5 and Paralogue 1.

Now then. . .I'm currently on Chapter 14. The only thing I'd say to be aware of is Chapter 13. I'm not sure if it was sheer luck, but none of the Warriors spawned with Counter. As for recruits, Libra survived by a miracle (dunno if it was Actually Miracle or just dumb luck, because he recruited himself at 1 HP) and it's not a bad idea to recruit and disarm Tharja, as she can either give Chrom a bit more movement, or he can haul ass back to the double forts to take out the wyvern swarm.

I really want Chrom to go Sniper at least once before endgame, but I'm not quite sure how I'm going to tackle some of the maps. Chapter 17 seems like an ideal time, if I can clear out the left treasure room fast enough (so that I can hole up and shoot things to my heart's content), and Chapter 18's pretty good, as well. Chrom is currently a Great Lord (level 8 or 9), and is well on his way to getting Rightful King. Once he gets that, life's gonna be a lot easier.

Sometime before the end of the game, I'll go into Rogues and Redeemers 3, because Limit Break will make Chapter 23-25 a lot less frustrating. I'll probably be a Bow Knight, park myself in a corner, and snipe the entire map. Then, I'll kill the last two units. Or something. I'll need to see if this is viable once I get there!

On the sunject of RaR3... The main thing that I'd be worried about, Jaffar aside, is Caeda, because Beast Killer.

EDIT: The more I think about it, the more curious I get as to how you're going to do it...Even with tonics, the weakest (melee) enemies in said map still hit for something like 16-ish damage, and that's ignoring potential skills or crits.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Levant Colthearts

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Morgan's Paralogue allows for early Elixir purchases without too much difficulty getting through it. Maybe a large enough stock could allow for kiting and engaging ~3 enemies every EP? Granted, if those units are capping multiple stats, I'd be a bit more worried about having enough offense to keep Chrom from being cherry tapped to death.

[Czar_Yoshi]

I might have time in a day or two to play around with solo Chrom on Lunatic(+) RaR3 and see if I can come up with anything to help. Currently I don't think I have a complete Lunatic file to cap Chrom on, though, so I'd need to set that up.

[eclipse]

Sorry, was distracted by Trails~!

The reason why I want to hole up with a bow is to limit my EP exposure - by keeping it down to 1 or 2 units, I should be in much better shape than if I try to take on everyone at once. There's some hallways, but I think I'll need the extra defense/evade. Aegis would be absolutely great, but I don't have the patience to go Paladin first.

[Shadow Mir]

Sorry, was distracted by Trails~!

The reason why I want to hole up with a bow is to limit my EP exposure - by keeping it down to 1 or 2 units, I should be in much better shape than if I try to take on everyone at once. There's some hallways, but I think I'll need the extra defense/evade. Aegis would be absolutely great, but I don't have the patience to go Paladin first.

Guess Resistance +10 will have to do then...

[Sodium Hydroxide]

And the Risen have been doing a terrific job locking me onto Sniper level 9...I accidentally summoned a troop led by a Great Knight onto the Longfort (source of Str and Def tonics as well as Reeking Boxes) but the stuff there is too bulky to one-round, despite the fact that I have to one-round things at risk of the Valk and War Monk on the map healing them. I also can't bottleneck the foes because I can't get them to nicely line up for getting killed and even if I could the one meleeing me would hit too hard. I can't just go to Chapter 9 either, because I might not even get enough EXP to go Bow Knight and kill off the melee - plus I'd miss out on Bowfaire, which is crucial to the Sniper strat against Grima and very helpful on the Bow Knight chapters. It might take a very long time to get to Bow Knight and chapter 9, since Risen are seemingly impossible (with the right map-enemy class combination I could avoid damage altogether, but if I can't I basically can't clear a skirmish) and Spotpass teams give me a pittance as far as EXP is concerned (1 per kill? NO THANK YOU.). As stated before, I have absolutely no DLC maps, nor the eShop funds to afford any, so I can't use those either.

[eclipse]

Do you have a save before you summoned the Risen?

Otherwise, summon a Spotpass team with a Silver Bow (Ctrl + F "Silver Bow"), buy it, and forge something like +5 MT/+9 crit. I'm not sure what you have for skills, but I'd do something like Hit+20/Aether/Luna/RK/Outdoor Fighter (if the snow tiles count as outdoors) or Charm (if they don't). That should make Luna's activation rate not suck, you'll get a bit more mileage out of your bow, and maybe you'll be able to get rid of that team!

[Sodium Hydroxide]

My best skill setup is Outdoor Fighter, Hit+20, Prescience, Discipline, and Skill+2. However, that does sound like a good idea - I think I'll try it when the Smash Bros. update finishes - yes, I only got that today.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Alternative ideas could be a +5Mt Brave Bow or a +3Mt/+15Crit Killer Bow.

You could also try not attacking the GK once you've choke-pointed it. That is, take a step back and just heal. The GK should move forward to attack, leaving the space 2 tiles away open. If the Valk has nothing to heal, it should pick a fight with Chrom. The War Monk might be trickier if it doesn't have a Tomahawk, but at least that eliminates one enemy healer.

[Czar_Yoshi]

I'm getting the impression that Sniper is the first promoted class being used, and with no DLC I'd hazard a guess that the resources for expensive forges aren't there yet. Probably not the weapon rank to use them, either.

The Lunatic Risen have a pretty massive power spike around this time, though, so I don't think this is going to be an isolated incident. You'll need to find some way to put up with it if you want to keep grinding on them.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

His last update noted having Bows A, so having the weapon ranks isn't an issue. I guess money could be an issue, depending on how he's budgeting. Still, maybe an unforged Brave or Killer Bow could be enough. If Bonus Box is available, the Astra could be another solution. The proc's not exactly reliable, but the base Mt is really good. With some luck, maybe he'll have enough burst damage?

Another solution might be to try to win by attrition. I recall the Blessed Bow being acquired. Buy a ton of healing items, then equip the Blessed Bow, but don't attack. Sit in the choke point and let the first melee Great Knight beat on Chrom, just healing until its weapon breaks. Once he's body blocking all his buddies, continually fire over his shoulder until they're all dead. Then take a step back and finish him off. It'll be slow going, but if the enemy's not hitting for more than 30 damage, victory should be possible. And since the enemy will be trying to heal the guys who are body blocked, they can be milked for more EXP, lessening the amount of battles Chrom will need to be a Sniper for.

A thought for if Chrom ends up really close to Sniper 15, but not quite is to just go into the next chapter anyway and turtle into a corner. Once he hits 15, Second Seal to Bow Knight so he can sword his way through the enemy melee.

[Sodium Hydroxide]

I'd already had that idea on when to reclass, KTT, but thanks anyway. Unfortunately, I've already broken the Astra bow, and the Double Bow...my only bows stronger than Iron are the Renown Longbow and the aforementioned Blessed Bow. I should be able to get an unforged Silver and/or Killer Bow with my current funds, though, and maybe lightly forge one of them.

With regards to the Longfort troop, it'd me nice if I could get them into one line, but they always approach me from both sides, so I can't choke them, get some body-blocking in, anything except do about half-health damage to one before I get surrounded.

Other troops I've summoned include a Berserker on the Desert Sands (which I should be able to handle barring getting critted by any Killer Axes), a Wyvern Lord on the Northroad (No. Just no.), another Great Knight on Breakneck Pass (could work, I guess) and a Trickster on Ylisstol, where I thought I could choke foes like in Ch. 6, but both doors to Emm's room are open in skirmishes. I'm going to go after the Berserker first, to try to raise some cash before getting the suggested Bows done it.. I've also been using the Barracks to get items from the unused characters and selling them.

My shopping list as it stands:

• Vulneraries
• Silver Bow (+5 mt, +6 crit) Bought
• Killer Bow Bought
• Another Iron Bow
• More Tonics when the Longfort reopens (whether I open it or the clock does is a different matter)

EDIT: Fixed up where the Risen troops were, and edited the Forge data so that it's what I actually got.

Edited January 11, 2016 by Sodium Hydroxide

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Oops, sorry, guess I lost track of that.

I guess it's too bad you couldn't get the cavalry on Prologue or P2 instead, since you could use the water there (I'm reasonably certain the land-based cavalry can't move over water; Great Knights can't for sure, though). The Sands definitely do sound like your best bet, then. If you could manipulate all the enemies into moving onto one side of the C6 map (likely the lower 2/3), maybe that could be doable too? There's that middle staircase that's only 1-tile wide and the alternative routes are a long way around, lessening the chances of enemies wandering off that way. The question is whether or not that manipulation could actually be done.

[Sodium Hydroxide]

OK, so from recent experience with Sniper grinding, and some pieces of information from the other people strategizing this run with me (thanks guys), I've compiled a list of the best maps to do this on, and some enemy combinations that allow each to be done. I have included this list, complete with a basic strategy for each combination of enemy composition and map, below:

• Southtown, if no enemies can cross water: Use the Water Trick again.
• Desert Sands, if most or all enemies can cross water but do not fly: Bottleneck them on either the far-left or extreme bottom of the oasis in the bottom-left, where a set of Bones tiles prevent you from being surrounded.
• Desert Sands, if no enemies can cross water: The Water Trick can easily be adapted to this map.
• The Farfort, if no enemies can fly: Bottleneck them in the northwestern chest room where Donnel picks up his only kill on KTT's Lunatic+ runs.
• Any map whatsoever if everything uses Bows: Do you really need a strategy here? Oh, fine: Run into enemy range on every turn, and equip a Superior Bow if you have one, otherwise whatever you have.

On Lunatic (and presumably Lunatic+, but who's gonna do that difficulty with solo Chrom?), if Sniper is your first promoted class, you will need (and I do mean need) the enemy combination and map to line up in one of these four ways in order to successfully clear the skirmish. Ylisstol might end up possible, but I've never found the required movement sequence to bottleneck the enemies on the 1-tile-wide staircase in the upper middle (if there even is one). On lower difficulties, you can afford to use slightly less forgiving maps like the Border Pass, and the Longfort if you can get all the enemies on one side of you. You could even use Arena Ferox or West of Ylisstol if the enemies are all foot units.

Yes, this invalidates the spoiler tag I made about this very topic, but that tag was based on experience with Hard, not with Lunatic.

Edited January 12, 2016 by Sodium Hydroxide

[Czar_Yoshi]

The Farfort, if no enemies can fly: Bottleneck them in the northwestern chest room where Donnel picks up his only kill on KTT's Lunatic+ runs.

Are you sure stuff can fly across those walls? I'm pretty sure fliers can't cross the walls in Par.1.

[Sodium Hydroxide]

No, the fliers cannot fly over walls. However, if you position yourself to the adjacent tiles are walls, you can be attacked by two 2-rangers, which could spell death. If you back up so that a chest is adjacent, you only expose yourself to 1 2-range attack at most - however, fliers can go over chests. In other words, you could clear the skirmish if there are fliers, yes, but there's a greater risk of death in the required position.

EDIT: I realized that I didn't actually answer the question.

Edited January 12, 2016 by Sodium Hydroxide

[eclipse]

Alright, I'm here for a bit, but I might not be here much for the rest of this week (but that's my fault).

Just turned Chrom into a Dread Fighter. I'll probably do something idiotic like Paragon grinding on a fort using a Wind tome (because screw Counter). For RaR 3, I have an idea of how to deal with Jaffar (should he come up and give me a hug), but I need to get the Dread Fighter skills first! Oh, and get high enough for me to go straight into Bow Knight.

[Sodium Hydroxide]

Having gotten the Golden Pack as part of a birthday present, I spammed EXPonential Growth until level 15, Second Sealed to Bow Knight, then did Golden Gaffe once for funds. Chapter 9 was an easy Falchion massacre, so no spoiler tag for that. Tharja and Libra both got killed.

[eclipse]

So I'm back, and I'm stumped.

After some thought, I decided that powerleveling through Dread Fighter into Bow Knight was the way to go, if I wanted a chance in hell of getting to Limit Breaker. HOWEVER, Chrom starts in a terrible position on that map, and even after snagging the Chapter 17 boots, he still dies pretty quickly. I've stuffed him with All Stats +2 (which is vital to keep him from being doubled, THANKS MAX-SPEED SWORDMASTERS), fed him the relevant tonics, and he still faces 70+ hit rates.

Any suggestions?

[Czar_Yoshi]

Well, it seems the run has once again hit its limit. Unfortunately, I've got no more suggestions and advice; you'll just have to make it to Grima and see which is harder: RNGing through him, or RNGing through RaR3 and then a slightly lesser Grima. Since DLC is on the table, just use it to cap your stats post-LB instead.

Maybe you could do IR a bit and manipulate for Sol drops, then try to use those for healing? Or possible Ragnell could help? Book of Naga, as a Dread Fighter once again? You're not a Thief, which means you'll have to let the enemy Thieves open the chests one per round, which sounds REALLY PAINFUL but it might be better than nothing... BK's defenses are a little lacking, unfortunately, so a tanking strat using it might not work out.

[Sodium Hydroxide]

I can't help there, eclipse. However, I've completed Plegia 1. Chapters 10 and 11 are total massacres without spoiler tags, followed by Chrom marrying Maribelle due to the C support they got in Ch. 5. Since I'd already capped everything except Mag and Res somehow, the change from 3 should wind up being appreciated.