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S-Ranking HHM ... probably gone wrong?


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Ok, for those who have more experience in Ranked Runs than me I offer you this ... problem.

I kinda wanted to do another run through Blazing Sword after ~3 years from my last run. In my hubris I decided to do S-Rank HHM + LHM while recruiting every single character. This resulted into the mess, I'm in right now.

My roster looks like this at Chapter 28:

Name:		LVL	HP	STR	SKL	SPD	LUK	DEF	RES	Weapon Ranks		Notes
Lyn		17.78	27	15	14	20	14	3	6	A Sword				
Kent		17.45	34	11	16	16	4	7	5	C Sword, B Lance	
Sain		17.15	35	16	10	8	8	8	7	C Sword, B Lance
Florina		17.13	36	14	11	16	17	6	7	A Lance			1x Angelic Robe
Will		3.0	21	7	6	5	7	5	0	D Bow
Dorcas		3.0	30	7	7	6	3	3	0	C Axe
Erk		16.18	28	14	8	16	6	5	10	A Anima
Serra		15.34	23	8	8	14	18	4	14	A Staff
Rath		8.0	25	8	9	11	6	7	2	C Bow
Matthew		14.42	28	5	7	18	9	4	0	B Sword
Lucius		15.93	23	14	9	16	5	1	12	B Light

Hector		20	38	16	14	10	8	16	5	A Axe
Oswin		16.12	35	17	12	8	5	15	4	A Lance
Eliwood		15.45	30	13	10	15	13	9	3	A Sword
Marcus		-/8.71	34	17	19	12	10	11	10	A Sword, A Lance, S Axe
Lowen		15.26	35	8	11	10	10	11	4	C Sword, B Lance
Bartre		10/4.61	41	18	13	8	10	11	9	A Axe, E Bow
Rebecca		11.44	23	7	13	12	7	3	4	C Bow
Guy		14.97	32	9	19	19	9	9	5	A Sword
Priscilla	20	23	15	12	16	21	6	16	A Staff
Raven		15.92	38	14	19	19	8	8	3	A Sword
Canas		8.0	21	10	9	8	7	5	8	B Dark
Dart		15.38	39	18	9	12	4	6	2	A Axe
Fiora		17.59	28	11	20	20	9	6	12	A Lance
Legault		18.58	32	10	16	20	16	11	6	C Sword
Ninian		15.77	25	0	2	23	21	7	15	-
Isadora		-/1.55	28	13	12	16	10	8	6	A Sword, B Lance, D Axe
Heath		18.28	40	17	14	16	10	17	3	A Lance
Hawkeye		-/8.80	53	19	15	12	15	14	11	S Axe
Geitz		-/7.49	49	21	15	14	13	12	6	A Axe, B Bow
Farina		17.27	26	12	14	17	13	10	14	A Lance
Louise		-/4.12	28	12	14	17	16	9	12	A Bow
Pent		-/8.02	33	19	21	17	14	13	16	S Anima, A Staff
Harken		-/9.07	43	23	22	18	12	16	11	B Sword, B Axe

As you can probably see, with the exception of Bartre (who needs to be x/5 for Karla) none of my units are promoted and Florina got her Robe from LHM (so basically free). I didn't use a single booster or promotion item yet.

However if you look at my current rankings.

Tactics	****	(234/328 Turns)
Survival*****	(0 deaths)
Funds	****
EXP	*****
Combat	*****

I visited Linus' and Kenneth's map. With the exception of 19xx every Gaiden chapter was visited and the Silver card was stolen.

As you can see I'm probably a bit hard pressed for Tactics. I know that you can cheese the later maps with Warp but the bigger problem are funds and EXP.

Since I intended to do full recruitment I had to sell some stuff (mostly Blue and Red Gems) to scratch myself the Gold for Farina but that also left me with a scarce inventory. I forgot to buy extra weapons in Linus chapter and my barracks are kinda full due to conserving the money items.
Also I have little experience with rankings in general. I don't know if I did well with sharing my EXP among all the units. I had to leave out Dorcas because most of the spare EXP went into Bartre and Will was simply unsalvageable (somehow got a Lvl. during his return). I didn't use Canas at all because his weapons are kinda expensive. Rath was used in his re-recruitment chapter but unfortunately I didn't had any opportunity to use him more.

This is probably the part where FE7 starts to take itself a bit more seriously, so I don't think I should try to train that underleveled units anymore. In fact I should probably think about a more permanent line-up.
Since this game has good pre-promotes Marcus, Hawkeye, Geitz, Pent, Harken and Vaida seem like no-brainer to me. The problem is the rest.
I think promoting Kent with a Knight Crest is better than using Isadora with a Robe since he has higher stats and better growths. The same goes for Heath who has absurdly good stats for some reason. That should be enough for promotions, right? I don't think I can further strain my Funds rank.

So ... how do you think, I'm doing? Is it still doable to S-Rank this run or should I just drop it? I think I can save my Tactics rank if I skip 32x but everything else seems pretty bleak. It doesn't help that I forgot to re-stock my weapons during Linus' chapter so I'm kinda lacking in Javelins and Hand Axes (which in turn could ruin my Combat rank, aaaaaaa).

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First order of business: decide on a group of ~6 units to carry you through the tough battles, promoting where necessary. My suggestions based on what you've posted:

  • Priscilla. Promote her asap, highest priority. I consider her the best unit in ranked HHM and you've already got her to lv 20 with pretty solid growths.
  • Florina or Farina. Florina's doing well in Str, though below average everywhere else, but still serviceable. Farina has better growths. Pick whichever you feel better about, it's good to have at least a couple fliers.
  • Heath. You're correct on this one.
  • Pent. Because he's Pent.
  • Harken. Because he's Harken.

Kent's Str is not looking good, but he's still a Paladin, so if you're feeling good about him, go for it (that poor Sain Spd tho). Geitz can also serve you well, and having at least one bow user can be helpful. Not sure I'd recommend Hawkeye over the other options, though. Marcus...perhaps. Personally, I don't like that Spd, but otherwise he's a better option than Kent so it's up to you.

So in general, whatever units you choose, these are the ones that will clear the maps for you. When you have extra space, take lower level units and feed them kills, Matthew and Legault especially since they get boosted exp (don't leave out Canas, just use Flux, the price isn't a big deal). Also bring Serra along for free exp when possible, though it's up to you if you want to promote her. Ninian as well. You've already spread your experience around a lot so you might not need too much, but don't sleep on the exp req just yet, especially since you neglected a few units. If you have the data, it would be a good idea to calculate out exactly how much exp you've gotten since Ch 11. Just remember that Lyn mode units start at 0 with whatever lv and exp amount they exited Lyn mode at.

I am specifically leaving Lyn and Eliwood out of suggestions because their promotion cost is higher. Normally I wouldn't think it a problem, but since you went out of your way to recruit Farina, it's best to stay safe (it's unfortunate in a way that your Lyn is doing really well). You're not likely so low that you can't afford to promote a few others, though, especially with the silver card on hand, so long as you grab all the expensive treasure in the remaining maps and don't use expensive weapons too much.

S rank still looks very doable to me. For the record, I have S ranked both EHM and HHM. Play smart and dump all your money in Battle Preparations using the silver card. Don't worry about the combat rank, it's a complete joke that you have to try to fail. Honestly, I think it would be easier to S rank than to get 5 stars in everything except combat. If the site's data saying combat requires ~40% of all battles to end in a win, you can literally take two rounds to kill every enemy in the game and still have a lot of room to spare, as that would be 50%.

That's all I have for now.

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234/328 doesn't seem too bad. Isn't most chapter after that have pretty much set turns or is VoD anyway?

 

For Funds Rank, IIRC a good deal of your money is going to come from Silver Card shopping and the legendary weapon at the very end of the game

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1 hour ago, JSND Alter Dragon Boner said:

234/328 doesn't seem too bad. Isn't most chapter after that have pretty much set turns or is VoD anyway?

 

For Funds Rank, IIRC a good deal of your money is going to come from Silver Card shopping and the legendary weapon at the very end of the game

You mean the Regal Blade, Excalibur, Rex Hasta, and the others?

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1 hour ago, FionordeQuester said:

You mean the Regal Blade, Excalibur, Rex Hasta, and the others?

Y

 

They are like mutiples of 10k+ a pop. I remember their value is so huge that i once tried a test run dropping 1 of them and it inmediately dropped my funds rank

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It is very feasible to bring low-leveled units into later chapters to snag a few kills for big exp gains. FE7 gives you units like Pent, Harken, etc. that can take care of business handily, so you can dedicate a little effort to giving weaker units some kills here and there. Of course, it isn't wise to promote all of them (it's expensive, for one) but it's absolutely worth giving out as many high exp kills as you can in the late game when exp becomes difficult to get.

Your funds rank will improve as you buy more weapons/items with the silver card. Like @Florete said you can dump a lot of cash in Battle Preparations using the card and your funds rank will quickly improve (and that's not even accounting for the S-rank weapons, which of course you can't ever even use once).

Oh yeah, use one or two of the pegasus knights. Fliers are invaluable. Looking at your team I would say Farina and Fiora would be your best choices but Florina is also really good.

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@Florete Before reaching Chapter 28 I was constantly rotating between my units though Kent and the Pegasus sisters were the most common units. Do I really need another flier promoted? Between Heath and Vaida I think I'm covered enough if I just use the sisters alongside them though if I need another I will probably go for Farina since her bases are imo better.

I tend to use at least 2 Paladins in my runs. Besides Marcus I only see Kent as viable here since both Lowen and Sain are royally screwed. I can give Marcus the Speedwing to patch up his Spd (he doubles normal enemies but he has trouble against promoted enemies) since I only did one promotion and will add only 3 (Kent, Priscilla, Heath).

Since people can train Nino at this stage I think both Canas and Rath might be good sources for EXP alongside her. Others like Erk, Lucius, Guy and Raven should still be viable enough to get some extra levels. But I don't think I can use Dorcas or Will at this point anymore. 

16 hours ago, JSND Alter Dragon Boner said:

Isn't most chapter after that have pretty much set turns or is VoD anyway?

What do you mean? Cog of Destiny for example is rout which is going to eat many turns (though I need to shop there anyway).

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1 hour ago, The Priest said:

@Florete Before reaching Chapter 28 I was constantly rotating between my units though Kent and the Pegasus sisters were the most common units. Do I really need another flier promoted? Between Heath and Vaida I think I'm covered enough if I just use the sisters alongside them though if I need another I will probably go for Farina since her bases are imo better.

I tend to use at least 2 Paladins in my runs. Besides Marcus I only see Kent as viable here since both Lowen and Sain are royally screwed. I can give Marcus the Speedwing to patch up his Spd (he doubles normal enemies but he has trouble against promoted enemies) since I only did one promotion and will add only 3 (Kent, Priscilla, Heath).

Since people can train Nino at this stage I think both Canas and Rath might be good sources for EXP alongside her. Others like Erk, Lucius, Guy and Raven should still be viable enough to get some extra levels. But I don't think I can use Dorcas or Will at this point anymore. 

What do you mean? Cog of Destiny for example is rout which is going to eat many turns (though I need to shop there anyway).

Its kinda like


Zephiel is set turns

Then CoD

Then another set turns

Then another set turns

 

After this theres Victory or Death, which if you have EXP rank secured, is a prime Warp Skip, and theres the finale

 

i mean in a sense that since many of the next few chapters are turn limited it should be easy to "plan" how much turns you have left. Or something like that

 

 

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3 hours ago, The Priest said:

@Florete Before reaching Chapter 28 I was constantly rotating between my units though Kent and the Pegasus sisters were the most common units. Do I really need another flier promoted? Between Heath and Vaida I think I'm covered enough if I just use the sisters alongside them though if I need another I will probably go for Farina since her bases are imo better.

Vaida flies and has good combat, but has only 8 aid, and ferrying is a big help in ranked. She also comes at lv 9, so less experience to gain. Plus, you won't have her for 28x or the majority of CoD. Farina has better bases than Florina, but looking at the stats you posted for them:

Florina		17.13	36	14	11	16	17	6	7	A Lance			1x Angelic Robe
Farina		17.27	26	12	14	17	13	10	14	A Lance

10 HP and 2 Str is nothing to scoff at, and while Florina is technically losing in Spd here, her better growth alongside the fact that 16 Spd is still enough to double most enemies makes this difference pretty negligible. Still, Farina has sizable wins in Def and Res and can easily catch up in Str, so again, it's up to you. Honestly, I would even recommend one of these over Kent. Your Kent has even worse Str than Farina with Florina's lower Str growth, as well as tying Florina's lower Spd and Farina's lower Spd growth. Even defensively he only beats Florina by 1 Def and Farina by 8 HP. His only advantages are axes and more con, which are nice, but not enough to justify him over either of them imo.

3 hours ago, The Priest said:

I tend to use at least 2 Paladins in my runs. Besides Marcus I only see Kent as viable here since both Lowen and Sain are royally screwed. I can give Marcus the Speedwing to patch up his Spd (he doubles normal enemies but he has trouble against promoted enemies) since I only did one promotion and will add only 3 (Kent, Priscilla, Heath).

Yeah, your Lowen and Said are screwed. Personally, I wouldn't give Marcus the Speedwing. I think promoting someone else would be a better idea, you'll get a stronger unit and more experience out of the investment.

3 hours ago, The Priest said:

What do you mean? Cog of Destiny for example is rout which is going to eat many turns (though I need to shop there anyway).

CoD in HHM ranked adds 20 turns. If you're this far, you should be good enough to beat it in ~15 even while feeding kills to weaker units.

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