Infantry Only Run - Advice Wanted

[ZanaLyrander]

I assume others have considered the possibility of doing a no-mount run, and probably done so themselves, so I want some advice, be it from experience or theory crafting.

Basically, for my fourth run of Three Houses, the church route, the last path for me to run, I’m planning on doing an infantry only run. That means no flying units, no cavalry- on foot at all times. This means that for the most part, with the exception of Gremory, War Master, and Mortal Savant, I’m not going to be using many Master classes.

In general, I’d like to hear advice and experiences from players who’ve attempted or considered a similar run: what are things to be careful about? Who would you prioritize recruiting? What worked well, what didn’t? Just an open discussion of a infantry only run, and what you would do, or what you did do if you’ve done something like this. 

[Eltoshen]

You can run whatever you want, this game is really not that difficult. I did a 6 mage run my second playthrough, with 4 gremorys and Byleth and Dimitri essentially soloing every map as they had higher movement than my other units. In your fourth run, just have fun with it if you have no other goals like LTC or efficiency runs.

One thing I will mention in regards to mages is that they have ridiculously low movement and survivability so if you do plan on using them, they'll still fall behind your other characters. Therefore I'd recommend healers with Physic, but that's true for any run, mounted or infantry only.

Edited September 3, 2019 by Eltoshen

[timon]

I actually did it for a bit in BL, but I got bored at about chapter 17 and upgraded to get to the end. Anyway from what I saw it's all about Assassins, they have 1 more Mov and they ignore Mov penalties, they're basically your "mounts without a mount".

War Master are probably amazing, though I'm not sure as I just never use Gauntlets on principle. MS is worthless, if it's a female go Gremory (you also get double healing, infantry only means that sometimes you'll be in a meat grinder), if it's a male stay as Warlock (1 less mov is less relevant since you're advancing slowly anyways).

Your Dancer will be a lot more relevant as they're always up to speed, actually more than most of your party (assassins aside).

Also obviously bows are crucial, even more than usual. Not only on Assassins, eg. Snipers gain relevance as you'll have to compensate mov loss with range.

That said, it's not that difficult. It can get frustrating because it's very slow at times, and if you're at your 4th playthrough or something sometimes you just wish you had a wyvern and get it over and done with. Especially if you're doing Church as the last one, which means you already did GD, which means you basically already did Church...

[Eltoshen]

War Masters are actually a really fun class and have the best armor (or lack of) for male classes.  Also, that movement...so good on an infantry run. You can give them handaxes for range.

[freewaffles]

2 hours ago, ZanaLyrander said:

I assume others have considered the possibility of doing a no-mount run, and probably done so themselves, so I want some advice, be it from experience or theory crafting.

Basically, for my fourth run of Three Houses, the church route, the last path for me to run, I’m planning on doing an infantry only run. That means no flying units, no cavalry- on foot at all times. This means that for the most part, with the exception of Gremory, War Master, and Mortal Savant, I’m not going to be using many Master classes.

In general, I’d like to hear advice and experiences from players who’ve attempted or considered a similar run: what are things to be careful about? Who would you prioritize recruiting? What worked well, what didn’t? Just an open discussion of a infantry only run, and what you would do, or what you did do if you’ve done something like this. 

I'm in the process of a no-crest, no-master class, no mount run.  A few notes:

(1) Lack of mounts hurts physical damage female characters the most because they don't have access to Warmaster.  Swordmaster/Assassin/Warrior are decent, but undeniably inferior to Warmaster.  Snipers are restricted to Bow Range +1.

(2) Slap a Knowledge Gem on one of your strong males with sword proficiency (Felix or Ferdinand preferred.  I'm doing this with Caspar right now on no-crest run) and watch the combination of Vantage (Merc), Wrath (Warrior), and Defiant Strength (Hero) destroy everything that tries to attack them.  Once you have Wrath, swap the Knowledge Gem for a Crit Ring.  You don't have to master Merc if you want to stay in Hero, but you can trade 2 hp and 1 luck for 10% crit, 2 Speed, and 2 Dex by going Swordmaster.

(3) Warlock has higher damage output than Gremory (+3 mag and Tomefaire vs. +5 mag) for every mage except Lysinthea.

(4) Since you don't need riding/flying, you can get a bunch of units to C-rank Heavy Armor for -3 weight through weekly group activity that you otherwise wouldn't consider.  That extra 3 speed is very nice for everyone, and will often allow you to pass the Fortress Knight (17 base defense) exam for anyone who you might hand an Axe to but could use a little defense love (Felix for example).

(5) You have to play slower than you'd normally like.  The lack of Canto, +2 bow range, and lower movement puts more of your units in harms way.

 

Edited September 3, 2019 by freewaffles

[Flere210]

 

The sad thing is that unmounted wyvern lord may actually be good on this.

[freewaffles]

9 minutes ago, Flere210 said:

 

The sad thing is that unmounted wyvern lord may actually be good on this.

It would be okay, but largely a side grade from Warrior for the Females.  Warrior has bonus crit and 1 more strength, but 1 less speed, 2 defense, and 1 move.  Unmounted Wyvern Rider only has 1 dex and 1 defense more than Warrior, but at the cost of 1 Strength and 2 HP.

Warmaster clearly beats unmounted Wyvern Lord for the males:  1 more hp, 3 more strength, same speed and move for just 2 less defense and 1 dex.
 

 

Edited September 3, 2019 by freewaffles

[ZanaLyrander]

I should clarify that I’m not going to use dismounted cavalry/flying classes, that still doesn’t count as far as this run is considered, though it’s still an interesting idea.

[akelbann]

I just finished doing this on BE-E. I also had a no stride/no dancer rule. 

 

1. Bows on everyone helps more units get into the action. 

2. Weight -3 helped my speedy characters to start doubling sooner. 

3. Something I really enjoyed was not rewinding too far back. In chapter 17, I had a team of 3 units fighting a monster far away from the rest of the team. Then a whole bunch of units and monster reenforcements appeared, and, since I had no mounts, I couldn't escape. I had to figure out how to hold off 10ish units off in an open field until my main team arrived. Was the funnest part of my playthrough, I actually ran out of divine pulses. 

4. Mastering sniper is actually useful. Sniper imo is one of the best classes in this run. 

 

Overall, I really enjoyed it. Thinking of doing a horses only run on Maddening soon. Hopefully you enjoy it! 

[Wolfen09]

I would say technically if you dismount that counts as a non mounted character, but with all growths and mastery abilities, but I'm assuming that's not what you want.

And much like Akelbann said, if you split up you might not be able to get over to help the other party as quick as you used to, so plan your teams accordingly.  I would also think this makes fortify a little more viable to heal multiple units where normally you could pick off that last guy with a flyer helper before he gets one of your three hurt characters.