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Trouble with Blazing Blade


Smfthegeek
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Hello all, I would like to seek some advice from you all on how to have better success in this game. Unfortunately I'm pretty young (just turned 16 last week) so I had the pleasure of being introduced to Fire Emblem through Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl at a very young age and didn't play a game till Awakening. Due to that I have an extremely hard time playing the older fire emblem games. I got pretty far into Sacred Stones until towards the end of the game I got completely SLAUGHTERED 😫. I've always wanted to beat Blazing Blade but I'm just having a very difficult time thanks to Awakening practically spoiling me. Units run out of weapons and die all the time and it just feels like my army is just BARELY trudging through levels. It feels like I get to levels and am just completely screwed because my army is extremely unprepared. Do you all have any advice on how to better approach these older games? More specifically Blazing Blade in general? Awakening spoiled me and now I'm unable to do well in these older titles 😭 

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Well first off in Blazing Blade, you do have some strong units to rely on when you get to the Eliwood portion of the game, Marcus and Oswin. They can help quite a bit, picking a few units to focus in also would probably help out. Can't spread that experience too thin (but don't be afraid to rely on folks like Marcus either). Later on you'll get other powerful prepromotes to help out in case your main army is rather weak, such as Pent, Hawkeye and others.

FE7 tends to reward smaller parties though, although early on there are quite a few lances, so having a Lyn mode boosted Dorcas for those first few lance heavy chapters of Eliwood mode will probably help he's not super great in the long run but a small investment won't hurt (this is so Hector won't have to be EVERYWHERE for lances at once unless you want to go about it that way), and speaking of Lyn mode, pour the experience in that segment (the first 10 chapters). into roughly 3 units, that you know you'll want to use in the Eliwood segment. Use the stat boosters of the Lyn chapters on them as well. (Or Lyn herself if that's how you wanna roll).

Everyone is pretty usable in FE7 so any choice should. Work. Next with weapons, try to purchase some whenever an armory/shop is around or take them from units you're not using. This can help you have a decent supply.

Edited by Jedi
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6 minutes ago, Jedi said:

Well first off in Blazing Blade, you do have some strong units to rely on when you get to the Eliwood portion of the game, Marcus and Oswin. They can help quite a bit, picking a few units to focus in also would probably help out. Can't spread that experience too thin (but don't be afraid to rely on folks like Marcus either). Later on you'll get other powerful prepromotes to help out in case your main army is rather weak, such as Pent, Hawkeye and others.

FE7 tends to reward smaller parties though, although early on there are quite a few lances, so having a Lyn mode boosted Dorcas for those first few lance heavy chapters of Eliwood mode will probably help he's not super great in the long run but a small investment won't hurt (this is so Hector won't have to be EVERYWHERE for lances at once unless you want to go about it that way), and speaking of Lyn mode, pour the experience in that segment (the first 10 chapters). into roughly 3 units, that you know you'll want to use in the Eliwood segment. Use the stat boosters of the Lyn chapters on them as well. (Or Lyn herself if that's how you wanna roll).

Everyone is pretty usable in FE7 so any choice should. Work. Next with weapons, try to purchase some whenever an armory/shop is around or take them from units you're not using. This can help you have a decent supply.

so when I play through Lyn's chapters pick 3 people and pour the experience into them?  which three would you recommend? I think that may be why I am struggling, I spread the EXP ALL OVER Lyn's army lol so everyone was getting experience, not just three people. 

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5 minutes ago, smfthegeek said:

so when I play through Lyn's chapters pick 3 people and pour the experience into them?  which three would you recommend? I think that may be why I am struggling, I spread the EXP ALL OVER Lyn's army lol so everyone was getting experience, not just three people. 

Hmm 3 to recommend, I'd say one of Kent or Sain (Maybe both if you want), Florina, and probably a magic user, but as I mentioned anyone in this game is fairly usable in the long run.

It's not the worst thing to spread out the Lyn mode experience, it just makes things smoother if you focus on a few. 

Edited by Jedi
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1 minute ago, smfthegeek said:

so when I play through Lyn's chapters pick 3 people and pour the experience into them?  which three would you recommend? I think that may be why I am struggling, I spread the EXP ALL OVER Lyn's army lol so everyone was getting experience, not just three people. 

1. Choose one of Sain/Kent.
2. Florina
3. Erk (you're doing this to see how the RNG treats him)

For Erk, if he gets a bunch of stellar levels, he'll be usable for a long time,  If not, he can be dropped in favor of someone else (Lucius isn't a bad choice).

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4 minutes ago, eclipse said:

1. Choose one of Sain/Kent.
2. Florina
3. Erk (you're doing this to see how the RNG treats him)

For Erk, if he gets a bunch of stellar levels, he'll be usable for a long time,  If not, he can be dropped in favor of someone else (Lucius isn't a bad choice).

I'm so glad you said Erk lol he's one of my fave units from that game! I also love Lucius, is he worth use in eliwood and hectors segments?

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Just now, smfthegeek said:

I'm so glad you said Erk lol he's one of my fave units from that game! I also love Lucius, is he worth use in eliwood and hectors segments?

Lucius is a little frail, but does wonders against dark mages.  Keep him out of the way of physical weapons, and he'll be fine.

If you really want to, run both!

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I will say, of all the older FE's to play, Blazing Sword is definitely one of the better ones to pick up for a relative newbie to the series.

1 hour ago, smfthegeek said:

I've always wanted to beat Blazing Blade but I'm just having a very difficult time thanks to Awakening practically spoiling me.

If you haven't already, try playing through Awakening or Fates on Classic.  Either will help ease you into playing the older games.  And not just Classic, but also try Hard Classic.  Or even Lunatic on Fates: Birthright - not Lunatic Awakening though, that's just cheap garbage.

1 hour ago, smfthegeek said:

Units run out of weapons and die all the time and it just feels like my army is just BARELY trudging through levels.

Few things to say on this point.

First, try to use mostly low-grade, ordinary weapons such as iron or steel weapons.  Save the good stuff for tough enemies or bosses.  Always have some weapons to spare, as well; I say everyone should have at least two weapons (unless they can't use weapons) and you should have maybe two iron or steel versions of each weapon type in the convoy (you get the convoy early on in Eliwood's story).

Secondly, you should focus on a team of roughly 14-20 units.  Also, don't be afraid to try out the arenas.  If you focus on using too many units, the whole army will suffer and be severely underpowered.

Typically, it's a good idea to choose one or two units of each class barring some exceptions.  For example, my first run of Eliwood mode had me using the following units:

Spoiler

 

  • Lyn (Sword and later Bow-wielding Lord)
  • Eliwood (Sword and later Lance-wielding Lord)
  • Hector (Axe and later Sword-wielding Lord)
  • Florina (Lance-wielding flier)
  • Serra (Healer and later Light Mage)
  • Nino (wouldn't recommend this for a beginner; Anima Mage)
  • Priscilla (Horse-mounted Healer and later Horse-mounted Anima Mage)
  • Matthew (Sword-wielding Thief)
  • Legault (Sword-wielding Thief)
  • Lucius (Light Mage)
  • Canas (Dark Mage)
  • Pent (Anima Mage and Healer)
  • Raven (Sword-wielding Mercenary)
  • Jaffar (Sword-wielding Assassin)
  • Sain (Sword-and-Lance-wielding Cavalier)
  • Rebecca (Infantry Archer)
  • Louise (Infantry Sniper)
  • Erk (Anima Mage)
  • Hawkeye (Axe-wielding Berserker)
  • Dart (Axe-wielding Pirate)
  • Nils/Ninian

 

Some of these characters were only used a few times (most notably the late-comers, such as Pent and Louise), but generally speaking I only ever used these 21 characters plus Marcus in the beginning.  The only classes I didn't really use were the armor knight, myrmidon, wyvern rider, and nomad classes, but I feel that either their niches are already filled by other units (e.g. Florina is effectively a less defense-oriented wyvern rider), aren't too much of a loss (I'm able to use infantry archers over nomads just fine), or have effective equivalents among the lords (Lyn's essentially a myrmidon that gains access to bows, and Hector's an armor knight who uses axes and swords instead of lances and also is faster).

I'll say the fewer you focus on, the easier the game will be.  And what I mean by "focus on" is "never ever use anyone else".  The units you choose to focus on are entirely your choice because practically none of them are outright terrible, but you should try to decide sooner rather than later who you want to use.  Don't be afraid to totally dump a unit you don't like.  And heck, if it's not a flier or a healer, don't feel obligated to use one character from every class; it's just a generally good idea to try to fill every niche you can.

I think the advice Jedi gave was fairly solid.  Focus on a few of Lyn's team so that Lyn mode and later Lyn's join chapter are more of a breeze.

1 hour ago, smfthegeek said:

I'm so glad you said Erk lol he's one of my fave units from that game! I also love Lucius, is he worth use in eliwood and hectors segments?

I never found Lucius to be problematic.

He has less defense, but that doesn't matter quite as much in Blazing Sword as it does in Fates because the RNG works differently - chances tend to favor the dodgy more in this game, so you could have someone with 0 defense and 30 speed easily survive a massive mob of enemies.

 

One other thing that'll surely help...

Try to build up supports!  You have to really force them to happen because units must remain adjacent to one another for support ranks to go up (not all in one go, but them being next to each other when a turn ends is the only way for their support levels to increase).  And while they're limited and don't offer the same benefits as they do in Awakening or Fates, they're still extremely useful.  Here's a list of supports you can acquire.

Advice for building supports is basically just have units smushed together at all times.  I was able to build a support between Eliwood and Ninian from a flat 0 to max by having them consistently end their turns next to one another.  If one or more units in any given pair are liabilities, try to have them stick around on forts and forest tiles.

Also, rescue may seem bad, but it can save your bum from time to time.

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1 hour ago, eclipse said:

1. Choose one of Sain/Kent.
2. Florina
3. Erk (you're doing this to see how the RNG treats him)

For Erk, if he gets a bunch of stellar levels, he'll be usable for a long time,  If not, he can be dropped in favor of someone else (Lucius isn't a bad choice).

^This is the simplest answer. I would add that there's no problem choosing both Kent AND Sain.

As for playing the games in general, you should look at the site's calculation pages and learn the arithmetic behind the damage so that you can calculate how much damage you can expect a character to receive if you position them in range of x enemies.

IIRC, Blazing Sword's damage calculation is a simple ATK - DEF (RES if Magic), +1 or -1 ATK depending on Weapon Triangle disadvantage and finally effective weapons simply doubling the MT value on the weapon (in other games it's usually tripling)

Edited by Dr. Tarrasque
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I'm not sure which characters you're using, but yeah, most of the older games are not like Awakening and Fates where everyone can be made strong with grinding and whatnot.  Generally you need to pick one or two units for each role you think needs filling (I want to say class, but the truth is you don't need one of every class to beat the game, although it's more fun that way) and drop units when they struggle to contribute.

And don't underestimate the pre-promotes.  For the most part they're better than you might think, especially Pent.

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I'll echo everyone else and say that this is one of those games where you're better off picking a squad and sticking to it. As far as weapons go, I generally have my units stick to the cheap stuff (iron weapons and lower ranked tomes) for most situations. Also of note, your unit's speed stat might not necessarily be their actual speed stat - weapons in this game have a weight stat. If the weapon's weight is greater than the user's Constitution, the unit loses speed according to the difference between the weapon's weight and the unit's constitution (for example, an Iron Lance has 8 weight. A Steel Lance has 13 weight. Sain has 9 Con. He can use the Iron Lance without losing any speed, but the Steel Lance makes him lose 4 speed); this means that heavier weapons make double attacking and dodging harder.

Edited by Shadow Mir
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Three units is a little too little for Lyn Mode. In the end you'll need a decent-sized cast (12 in the final chapter), and there are quite a few good units in Lyn's story. Just plan ahead on who you want to use and who you don't. As others have said, I suggest one of each class line. 

Just don't use Wallace. So long as you level your lords well enough, you may never see him again (he only appears in Eliwood Mode if Lyn, Hector and Eliwood have a combined 49 levels or less by the time you reach his chapter. 

For units, I firmly agree with Erk. That man was a piece of speed whenever I used him. Same with Matthew. Be sure you keep an eye out for items he can steal by the way. 

While Serra is your only healer now, I suggest not using her much in the long run. You eventually get Priscilla, who has a higher movement, which can be crucial for healers. 

Kent and Sain are equally fine. I'll suggest Sain though, since he comes with a higher Lance grade to start with, which makes it easier for him to stand out, compared to the sword-wielding Kent, who needs to compete with units like Lyn, Karel, and Eliwood. 

Don't worry about Wil. You get Rebecca almost immediately in Eliwood mode, and she is far better than he could ever hope to be.

Dorcas, Rath, and Lucius can go either way. Rath is the only available Nomad, so consider him, though bows aren't quite as useful in Blazing Blade as they are elsewhere. Lucius and Dorcas are solid picks, but there are also characters who come later who may or may not outdo them. 

Also, don't be afraid to use your lords. They're all decent to amazing. 

Also, be sure you keep using the refresher twins (Nils and Ninian). They don't deal damage, but it's best for them to be bulky.

 

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I think it might be a good idea to address your specific difficulties.

"Units run out of weapons"

If your first experience with Fire Emblem was Awakening, this makes perfect sense. Unlike Awakening, not every chapter in Blazing Blade has a shop where you can replenish your supply of weapons, so it is important to pay attention to which chapters have shops. I would suggest making sure you have at least one more Iron weapon of each type than you have characters who can use it. (Cavaliers may be an exception, since they can use two different weapon types, but you WILL want to buy at least one Iron Sword and one Iron Lance in chapter 3, for example.)

"and die all the time and it just feels like my army is just BARELY trudging through levels."

It's more difficult in the GBA games since there is no way to automatically track the attack range of enemy units, but paying attention to who is in position to attack whom is the best way to make sure that your weaker units don't die. On that note, some units can take more punishment than others, so position your tougher units in front of your weaker units.

As you become more familiar with the game, you'll probably come up with some more tricks for making sure that everybody lives.

"It feels like I get to levels and am just completely screwed because my army is extremely unprepared."

Buying weapons whenever you can and not letting anyone die will go a long way to making your army better prepared.

One more thing: Lyn's tale (Prologue through Chapter 10) is intended to be a tutorial, and if anything about it makes you uncomfortable, there is no shame in playing it again and again until you get comfortable. (Full disclosure: That's what I did.)

I hope that helps. I see that others have given you advice about which units to use, but honestly, I think everyone does reasonably well.

If you measure "doing well" by how many Tactician Stars you get (I assume you're deep enough into the game to know what I'm talking about), don't be afraid to make mistakes. You will learn from them, as I learned from mine.

Summary: Buy weapons at every opportunity, and learn how to use your stronger units to protect your weaker units. It's quite a bit different in the GBA games than in the 3DS games.

Edited by Paper Jam
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