My suggested approach for this game (until 2/19)

[BANRYU]

Most people probably know about the 'pre-lifted limitations' (or whatever you want to call them) that are going on for the launch campaign, but I realized it a bit late and realized that others might have as well... So, I'd like to present my suggestion for how to approach the game as far as resource management and whatnot goes. I welcome others to share theirs as well as I realize mine is... probably far from perfect.

1. Play through the campaign as quickly as possible

• If you're just starting, I highly recommend rerolling the first batch of 5 summons until you have a batch you're happy with-- approximately 1 gold and 2 silver is good to shoot for-- and these will be the units you use for the bulk of the game. You def want at least one gold since they will pretty much be carrying you through the campaign (in my case, I got one gold and have mostly been using bronze/3 star units throughout the game, so you may be able to make do without, as the case may be)

2. After getting the units you'll be using, link your My Nintendo account (if you have one) for the free orbs and then buy all of the Exp gain upgrades as quickly as possible (faster exp gain actually makes it easier to get more orbs so it's nbd)

3. If/when you hit a point where you lose and the enemies feel too strong, stop and grind in the Training tower AMAP. Your goal is quick clears for the campaign so the more the better, and the training tower is cheaper than the campaign.

• Alternatively, if you hit the point when you've unlocked the Hard maps, go back and play through these. Usually if you're at a point when the primary campaign levels are too strong, the Hard mode levels available will be a little easier-- so you want to intersect the difficulties until you hit a wall in one, then go back to the other until you need to
• Also, you'll want to be doing the monthly challenges and Arena in the meantime-- goes without saying I think, but I'll drop the mention JIC

4. After beating the final chapter, all chapters should be unlocked on all difficulties IIRC. At this point, you want to spend as much time and Stamina as possible grinding in the training tower-- it's super cheap right now, and this is a luxury we will only have for two more weeks at the time of writing. Since the Hard/Lunatic campaign missions are so costly, it seems like the best approach is to spend Stamina on grinding while it's still cheap, then approach the story missions with overleveled units and just breeze through. This gets you all the orbs so you can work on summoning who you want / training them up from there on out I guess? 

 

 

Or maybe you're not unlucky like me and can just coast through the campaign on multiple 5* units...? IDFK... This was the learning experience of someone who predominantly used 3*s along with a 5* Lucina and, now that most of my leveled units are bronze (or shitty like my 4* Hawkeye), I feel drastically underprepared for the higher difficulties haha. ;; So. Um. Yeah. I feel like I kinda got screwed in that regard, but I feel like it's too late to start over so I'm tryna make do with what I've got. It's also worth noting that I didn't do most of these steps (buying the exp upgrades was something I did way later than I should; guess I was just too eager to get ppl I actually like ;; ), but at least now I know what I SHOULD have done... lol....

Feel free to share your approach if you're also someone who rolled relatively low like I did, but didn't fuck up a lot like I did lol... 

Edited February 5, 2017 by BANRYU

[eclipse]

You can either try to steamroll through the game on a 5*. . .or you can LEARN about what you get.  My one rule was "no rerolls".  Because I did that, I had to pay attention to my unit's strengths and weaknesses, and work around them.  Thus, when I got little Tiki, it didn't take long for me to figure out how to fit her into the team.  I'm currently running with zero blue units in the main team and no pulled healers, and I'm doing all right.

Learn the basics now, while it's still cheap to do so.  Learn what the characters are capable of, because everyone has something they're good at.

[BANRYU]

@eclipseYeah, I agree with that; should probably mention that as well, and try to make the process able to accommodate playthroughs that don't involve rerolling, like you and I didn't... And yeah, my squad has predominantly been Lucina and 3 colorless people lol. Hawkeye/Florina are my only usable units of the other colors and otherwise I use Luci+Gaius along with them or Felicia/Virion/Serra as potential backups. Mostly I just find myself rolling without Hawky or Florina tho.

As for myself, I think I'm recommending the rerolls 'cause like... In my situation, I went through the main game with 5* Lucina and mostly bronze units; and for the bulk of it, it was pretty much Luci's raw power that was carrying me. And the main game isn't that hard, it's mainly an investment for exp and orbs... The trouble, for me, is coming now that I'm nearing the end of Hard mode, where Lucina alone isn't enough to carry me when most of my high-level/usable units are bronze (or shitty in the case of my 4* Hawkeye lol, that mofe dies as much if not more than my 3* Florina/Virion/Felicia)-- I'd like to think my own tactical ability is... pretty good, maybe to the point where I might be compensating for my lackluster (not terrible, just meh) units... (tried to avoid letting Luci take the exp all the time, to the point of occasionally taking her out and mostly not using her through the earlygame HM levels) Like, aside from Lucina, 4* Gaius has been the only one who can consistently kill things and avoid getting got himself (I've been quite impressed with him actually; defiant Str and rally Speed are really useful and he hits really hard for a dagger user). 

But as it is, I'm at the point where I essentially just can't touch HM 8-5's Robin with any of my appropriately-leveled units-- like, it's not even a matter of tactics, I just straight-up don't have anyone that can kill him. 

And I just can't help but think like... if I had gotten one of the wyvern ladies or something maybe I'd actually be able to do something to Robin lol... But now I'm at the point where I essentially have to rely on the daily bonuses for Orb supply, and maybe get 1-2 early Lunatic missions done to squeeze a few extra out. 

It's hard not to feel like I've been set up to fail by my mediocre-at-best rolls and the fact that I'm only now getting decent 4* units in my later rolls, such that now I have to spend extra time grinding them to make them usable. I realize it's the nature of the beast, but I guess that's why rerolls have been such a thing with people. From what I've read, it's not that hard to steamroll even the higher difficulties with the right squad (like... 1 gold/2 silver approximately), so I guess I'm just kinda bitter that I didn't have that luxury (grinding the later levels after 20+ just takes so long...) haha ;; Sorry if a lot of this is just me venting BTW... It's kinda frustrating, but I'm doing the best with what I got...

Edited February 6, 2017 by BANRYU

[eclipse]

1 minute ago, BANRYU said:

@eclipseYeah, I agree with that; should probably mention that as well, and try to make the process able to accommodate playthroughs that don't involve rerolling, like you and I didn't... 

As for myself, I think I'm recommending the rerolls 'cause like... In my situation, I went through the main game with 5* Lucina and mostly bronze units; and for the bulk of it, it was pretty much Luci's raw power that was carrying me. And the main game isn't that hard, it's mainly an investment for exp and orbs... The trouble, for me, is coming now that I'm nearing the end of Hard mode, where Lucina alone isn't enough to carry me when most of my high-level/usable units are bronze (or shitty in the case of my 4* Hawkeye lol, that mofe dies as much if not more than my 3* Florina/Virion/Felicia)-- I'd like to think my own tactical ability is... pretty good, maybe to the point where I might be compensating for my lackluster (not terrible, just meh) units... Like, aside from Lucina, 4* Gaius has been the only one who can consistently kill things and avoid getting got himself (I've been quite impressed with him actually; defiant Str and rally Speed are really useful and he hits really hard for a dagger user). 

But as it is, I'm at the point where I essentially just can't touch HM 8-5's Robin-- like, obv Lucina has WTA disadvantage so she struggles with damage, and he's too tanky for my usual mage killers (Hawkeye gets demolished before he can get close; Florina's the only one who isn't immediately obliterated by his tome and she barely scratches him)-- and essentially, I'm just stuck until I'm able to raise a unit that can actually do something to him, or grind Lucina and/or the others to the point where they can overcome Robin's sheer tankiness. And I just can't help but think like... if I had gotten one of the wyvern ladies or something maybe I'd actually be able to do something to Robin lol... But now I'm at the point where I essentially have to rely on the daily bonuses for Orb supply, and maybe get 1-2 early Lunatic missions done to squeeze a few extra out. 

It's hard not to feel like I've been set up to fail by my mediocre-at-best rolls and the fact that I'm only now getting decent 4* units in my later rolls, such that now I have to spend extra time grinding them to make them usable. I realize it's the nature of the beast, but I guess that's why rerolls have been such a thing with people. 

A good chunk of this game is grinding.  By going into the tower, you'll not only see what your units can do, but you'll also see how the AI works.  Some of my strategies involved sacrificing units - the EXP gain is wasted, but it allows me to advance.  Start leveling EVERYONE - by throwing people together, you'll learn how they work.  Unit displacement abilities are powerful (Swap/Shove come to mind), as are Rally/Hone ones.  Debuffs are also great, though I like daggers the best.

Treat this like a single Casual skirmish, and I think you'll have an easier time with the harder stuff.

[GoXDS]

Robin, being a Mage, should have low Def and locked 2 range. not factoring distractions (the other enemies), I can't see why you can't kill Robin (especially if you can block him off). but as mentioned, just go grind. especially since a few of the missions require Arena and Tower clears

[BANRYU]

9 hours ago, eclipse said:

A good chunk of this game is grinding.  By going into the tower, you'll not only see what your units can do, but you'll also see how the AI works.  Some of my strategies involved sacrificing units - the EXP gain is wasted, but it allows me to advance.  Start leveling EVERYONE - by throwing people together, you'll learn how they work.  Unit displacement abilities are powerful (Swap/Shove come to mind), as are Rally/Hone ones.  Debuffs are also great, though I like daggers the best.

Treat this like a single Casual skirmish, and I think you'll have an easier time with the harder stuff.

Yeah TBH I've spent most of my time in this game in the tower so far; after reading people who already have level 30+ units while I'm still struggling in my mid-late twenties I figured I was doing something wrong, I guess? (mostly grinding my lower-level units I might want to use as is my habit in the main games) 

But yeah, I'm trying to settle into the more casual mindset that the game requires if you're not spending money on it (which I canNOT afford to do right now lol) and just plan for the long-term and take it easier... Resigning myself to being behind everyone who gets lucky / rerolls for the good shit and inevitably worse arena results, lol...

8 hours ago, GoXDS said:

Robin, being a Mage, should have low Def and locked 2 range. not factoring distractions (the other enemies), I can't see why you can't kill Robin (especially if you can block him off). but as mentioned, just go grind. especially since a few of the missions require Arena and Tower clears

Dude have you FOUGHT any Robins?? He is tanky as hell, dude. Stats for HM 8-5 are like 30 Atk / 24 Def / 22 Spe / 17 Res or something like that and he has the tome that nukes regular infantry units. My only unit options that can potentially deal with him are Hawkeye (fragile AF, dies before he can get close) and Florina (only one who doesn't die instantly to his tome but barely scratches his def. Also threatened by the axe-user in the map). 

Tried again this morning with Luci / Gaius / Hawkeye / Serra but no dice. Got a 3* f!Corrin recently who I'm waiting to roll over with the feathers from the current Arena sessions so hopefully maybe she can manage something once she's 4* and high enough. 

Oh that's another thing, my defense rating in the Arena is zilch, another thing I imagine you basically just need strong units for. I wouldn't care so much except that I get really bitter seeing people with multiple 5* units (most of them the ones I want lol) in the arena lol. Guess I have envy issues a bit ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edited February 6, 2017 by BANRYU

[Skrawl]

I dunno what characters your rolls have given you but Robin is quite weak to more typical magic users.  Their high resistance help against his damage and their magical attacks are less resisted by his...  Well, resistance.  A manakete like Tiki would be ideal.

[BANRYU]

1 hour ago, Skrawl said:

I dunno what characters your rolls have given you but Robin is quite weak to more typical magic users.  Their high resistance help against his damage and their magical attacks are less resisted by his...  Well, resistance.  A manakete like Tiki would be ideal.

You're tellin' me. Wouldn't I love to have a tiki. =___=

I essentially have no optimal magic units, basically. My only real options are Sophia (lv20/3*), f!Corrin (lv20/3*, most likely one I upgrade with my feathers), and Nino (lv15/3*). Next best is my Serra who's mid 20s and also 3*. 

Edited February 6, 2017 by BANRYU

[Skrawl]

2 minutes ago, BANRYU said:

You're tellin' me. Wouldn't I love to have a tiki. =___=

It figures, I've gotten at least 4 so far =___=

[BANRYU]

12 minutes ago, Skrawl said:

It figures, I've gotten at least 4 so far =___=

Yeah the more I hear about what people are getting the more I'm beginning to think I just got hardcore screwed in my rolls. >___< 

Spoiler

^ what I've got so far as of a while ago; updates include the aforementioned Corrin, Sophia being upgraded, and doubles of some other people I don't care about. I also pulled a couple doubles of lonqu, virion, matthew, arthur, ogma IIRC... I've since sent home everyone past Raigh excluding Arthur/Anna for feathers. 

So I think that totals about... what was it... 7 summoning sessions, I think? Lucina's my only exceptional unit (Gaius, Effie, and Serra have all been good too at least), and Sophia's the only character I particularly like. At first I kinda just thought that that's how it is...?? But I've been seeing people who aren't even rerolling having multiple gold units and whatnot and it's just kinda discouraging haha. 

I think what I'm gonna do is go for one more summon batch (almost have the 20 orbs needed) and if I'm not getting some stuff to REALLY make up for all the nothing I've gotten, I guess I'm just gonna restart and reroll until I get people I actually like. I'm up to the 3.5% modifier for 5* now, so that's something... at least... haha... losing Gaius, Effie, Corrin and Sophia will be rough but hell if I can actually get some strong units to go through the game with I'll feel better about being able to put the time and effort into weaker units. I don't like feeling like putting the effort into my weaker units is my ONLY option when I'm seeing what feels like so many other people able to coast by on multiple 5*s, and spend their resources on whoever they want instead of who they feel like they HAVE to use in order to keep progressing.

Edited February 6, 2017 by BANRYU

[Skrawl]

Unfortunately it is really all up to the random number goddess, perhaps more than any Fire Emblem before.

If it helps any here's what I'm working with;

Spoiler

Useful characters I've had so far;

Only recently got the Ogma, the other characters in his team were probably around lv24 at the time so you can see how fast he caught up.  His strength lies in instigating attacks but does poorly if he has to counterattack due to a brave sword and strength that matches his health.  The Wendy(Gwendolyn as this game calls her) absolutely eats almost all attacks that come her way.  Don't know if your Effie went the same way but she has surprisingly high speed and res for a knight, very good at holding enemies up and just surviving overall.  I'm not a big fan of Cecelia but she does good damage with magic while being mobile and has triangle advantage vs colorless to boot.  Lastly the Setsuna is for flyers(instant 4v3) but offers decent resistance against magic and it's always nice to have two units with some ranged attacks on your team.  The selected Sophia is my main unit thus far- currently a 4* and brought up from a 2*.  She has surprisingly high defense for a magic unit and her lack of speed is usually fine as she picks things off from a distance.  (The other Sophia is a 1* from the special map that has the same defense as my 4* currently does here).

Tactics Theory;

What seems to work best for me is to balance out my team as much as possible, thinking about the weapon triangle, easy bonus effect damage, and what roles each character fills.  Are they damage dealers?  Tanks?  Supportive?  That sort of thing.  Get a little of everything and you can usually take anything that's thrown at you as long as you're not out of your league.  You might want to give your Ogma a shot.  He has a lot of ways to increase his damage and that combos well with his ability to heal himself through dealing damage.  Of course you have to keep in mind with your other three picks that he's a bit frail and can't take too many hits himself.

Edit: weapon triangle is 20% to damage before defense calculations (AFAIK).  This makes a bigger deal the higher a level you go.

Personal Appeal;

Then again I just like to use my favorites and try to find ways to make them work instead of worrying about 5* characters.  I figure they'll do fine if I get them to a high enough level but I'm not about all that min-maxing.  Once I can get my hands on a Lyn I won't have a care about what comes up in summon runs, and to me that's more about the character than the fact she's locked into being a 5* (AFAIK).  A healer would be nice, but I've gotten this far without one and there are other ways to reduce damage and replenish health.  I'm more about enjoying a new Fire Emblem that puts a different spin on the formula than fini-completing it.

All that being said I hope you have a better time of things, sounds like it's been rough so far.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Skrawl

[BANRYU]

Effie is basically a OHKO machine, pretty much like she is in Fates. She tanks pretty decent but most of her strength is just in one-shotting anyone who comes her way. 

Well. -sigh- I finally did my last roll and I think I'm about ready to start it over tbh.

Spoiler

Game finally sees fit to get me one of the Wyvern Riders I wanted, along with saddling me with even more doubles of units I don't care about... too little too late....

This is where I'm at at this point, and I think I'm pretty much just gonna start over. Corrin, Effie, Sophia, Gaius and Lucina will all be missed, but... I've had enough. Had enough of being miserable over THIS many people I don't care about, virtually no favorites, and almost no golds. Just... ugh....

And still no 5*s. My rate for them must be through the roof, not that it will matter since I'd have to drop money to take advantage of it at this point. 

Edited February 6, 2017 by BANRYU

[Skrawl]

Well that's depressing.  You're probably nowhere near it but there is the tidbit that after 120 failures to get 5*s the next is a guaranteed 5*.  If you do restart though at least you're free to reroll as much as you need (I didn't even know about it when I started).  Best of luck!

[BANRYU]

13 minutes ago, Skrawl said:

Well that's depressing.  You're probably nowhere near it but there is the tidbit that after 120 failures to get 5*s the next is a guaranteed 5*.  If you do restart though at least you're free to reroll as much as you need (I didn't even know about it when I started).  Best of luck!

Yeah it is depressing lol. Yeah, I went ahead and deleted everything and decided to start over.

[eclipse]

6 hours ago, BANRYU said:

Yeah the more I hear about what people are getting the more I'm beginning to think I just got hardcore screwed in my rolls. >___< 

  Reveal hidden contents

^ what I've got so far as of a while ago; updates include the aforementioned Corrin, Sophia being upgraded, and doubles of some other people I don't care about. I also pulled a couple doubles of lonqu, virion, matthew, arthur, ogma IIRC... I've since sent home everyone past Raigh excluding Arthur/Anna for feathers. 

So I think that totals about... what was it... 7 summoning sessions, I think? Lucina's my only exceptional unit (Gaius, Effie, and Serra have all been good too at least), and Sophia's the only character I particularly like. At first I kinda just thought that that's how it is...?? But I've been seeing people who aren't even rerolling having multiple gold units and whatnot and it's just kinda discouraging haha. 

I think what I'm gonna do is go for one more summon batch (almost have the 20 orbs needed) and if I'm not getting some stuff to REALLY make up for all the nothing I've gotten, I guess I'm just gonna restart and reroll until I get people I actually like. I'm up to the 3.5% modifier for 5* now, so that's something... at least... haha... losing Gaius, Effie, Corrin and Sophia will be rough but hell if I can actually get some strong units to go through the game with I'll feel better about being able to put the time and effort into weaker units. I don't like feeling like putting the effort into my weaker units is my ONLY option when I'm seeing what feels like so many other people able to coast by on multiple 5*s, and spend their resources on whoever they want instead of who they feel like they HAVE to use in order to keep progressing.

I see a strategy.  However, can you answer the following first?

1. How much damage does Gaius take from Robin?  What about Felicia?
2. Can Hawkeye ORKO Robin?  If not, how much is he short by?
3. Are you willing to grind up someone just to finish this map?

[BANRYU]

Just now, eclipse said:

I see a strategy.  However, can you answer the following first?

1. How much damage does Gaius take from Robin?  What about Felicia?
2. Can Hawkeye ORKO Robin?  If not, how much is he short by?
3. Are you willing to grind up someone just to finish this map?

1. IIRC Gaius barely avoids being OHKO'd and can't KO in 3 hits (the 2 needed to tank robin into range, debuff him, and finish him off)

2. No idea. Never gotten him close without getting him killed lol.... Don't think he can though he wasn't that strong. 

3. yes, and that WAS my plan, but... After this last batch I got and the bleak prospect that was getting 20 more orbs for another attempt at getting ANYone I like, I, uhh... ...I restarted. Forgive me eclipse I was weak... you have my full permission to be ashamed of me

[eclipse]

15 minutes ago, BANRYU said:

1. IIRC Gaius barely avoids being OHKO'd and can't KO in 3 hits (the 2 needed to tank robin into range, debuff him, and finish him off)

2. No idea. Never gotten him close without getting him killed lol.... Don't think he can though he wasn't that strong. 

3. yes, and that WAS my plan, but... After this last batch I got and the bleak prospect that was getting 20 more orbs for another attempt at getting ANYone I like, I, uhh... ...I restarted. Forgive me eclipse I was weak... you have my full permission to be ashamed of me

Since Gaius wasn't OHKO'd. . .you had the final piece necessary to do the map.  The member you were missing was Stahl.

Take that as a lesson that even if you can't necessarily see a solution, it just might exist.  Ask for help first, because someone might see something that you don't.

[BANRYU]

13 hours ago, eclipse said:

Since Gaius wasn't OHKO'd. . .you had the final piece necessary to do the map.  The member you were missing was Stahl.

Take that as a lesson that even if you can't necessarily see a solution, it just might exist.  Ask for help first, because someone might see something that you don't.

Ahh no, you're definitely right... And I will take that to heart in the future, but as it is, I was too discouraged with my crop of characters to be motivated to properly continue (more about the characters themselves than their practical use, I think). As it is, my wife used her substantially-better luck and rolled me some of my favorites, and I'm having a much better time of it now x3 It might actually be harder this time around (definitely not coasting as much as I was with Lucina haha), but I'm prepared to face the challenge. 

PS, Marth sucks haha. He's performing waayyy worse than Lucina was and... he doesn't even get a proc...?? Emergency retreat is cool I guess but Luci >>>> Marth. BUT, idc, I have Tiki and Robin and Cherche so I'm happy~