Maddening mode is out

[Strullemia]

Finished BE on maddening. Wyvern Lord Byleth, Edelgard and Lysithea were easily the stars of the show. The rest just ended up helping out. It's my first time I completed a FE game on the hardest difficulty and it had its high moments and low moments but overall I didn't like it that much. Earlygame (ch. 1-5) was really difficult and not in a fun way. Lategame I mostly used Byleth, Edelgard and Lysithea as "power units" while the others tried to overwhelm other enemy units. It made a lot of the units feel a lot weaker.

Honestly in the future I'll just do other runs on hard while avoiding doing auxiliary battles as much as possible so that I don't get too overleveled.

[AxelVDP]

Just recruited Caspar (wanna do Mercedes' paralogue) on chapter 11 BL and I'm really unimpressed. He's slightly underlevelled even tho I did not ever grind (I'm even splitting exp with 2-3 units that are not in my core team) and his stats are completely unremarkable.

His weapon ranks are TERRIBLE, I was expecting at least B/B+ in axe/brawling instead they're just C+, eww. and no authority rank to speak of.
Comparatively, Alois, which I recruited at the same time, has better stats on every front and actual good ranks (A axes, B brawling, C in armor and authority)

some numbers
Caspar stats: lv21, HP 45, STR 25, MAG 8, DEX 14, SPD 15, LCK 16, DEF 14, RES 4, CHA 11

Alois stats: lv21, HP 50, STR 27, MAG 8, DEX 12, SPD 15, LCK 12, DEF 18, RES 8, CHA 16

my team averages around lv23 btw

I don't think I'd advise late recruiting

[Silly]

Well one thing is that Caspar isn't one of the better units in the game. Compare him to level 21 Hilda, for example, who joins with roughly:

HP    Str    Mag    Dex    Spd    Lck    Def    Res    Cha
47     26    10        11      18      13      15      5        18

The second thing is that late recruiting is really good for axe users because they join with C+/B axe rank, so you can spend about two months boosting flying and then immediately reclass into Wyvern, which gives them additional stats beyond that.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Silly

[Stroud]

I am really surprised. Just cleared Chapter 18 and Bernadetta is still good. The only thing which was missing for her is Hit +20 with that she can one hit DK with an attack rate of 85% with Scythe of Sariel or maybe other good hitting Lances. But 26 Defense is really almost too much for her. Still the perfect range though. Maybe 22 - 24 Defense is a good value for her to get into the right range of HP more easily. 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Stroud

[Draith]

Finished CF maddening today, the post-timeskip chapters are all pretty easy. Hardest one imo was Claude's due to the large amount of constant reinforcements at the start.

41 minutes ago, AxelVDP said:

I don't think I'd advise late recruiting

I think after you unlock paralogues you start to outlevel the people you recruit. Leonie was still good as a late recruit (level 19 or so?), although she did lack skill ranks to switch to paladin at 20.

 

[DefyingFates]

2 hours ago, Hekselka said:

Finished BE on maddening. Wyvern Lord Byleth, Edelgard and Lysithea were easily the stars of the show. The rest just ended up helping out. It's my first time I completed a FE game on the hardest difficulty and it had its high moments and low moments but overall I didn't like it that much. Earlygame (ch. 1-5) was really difficult and not in a fun way. Lategame I mostly used Byleth, Edelgard and Lysithea as "power units" while the others tried to overwhelm other enemy units. It made a lot of the units feel a lot weaker.

Honestly in the future I'll just do other runs on hard while avoiding doing auxiliary battles as much as possible so that I don't get too overleveled.

Did you play NG or NG+? I know F!Byleth is better overall, but I'd like ot know how your experience with M!Byleth was: was it difficult to get to Wyvern Lord?

[pekingduck]

8 hours ago, Hekselka said:

Finished BE on maddening. Wyvern Lord Byleth, Edelgard and Lysithea were easily the stars of the show. The rest just ended up helping out. It's my first time I completed a FE game on the hardest difficulty and it had its high moments and low moments but overall I didn't like it that much. Earlygame (ch. 1-5) was really difficult and not in a fun way. Lategame I mostly used Byleth, Edelgard and Lysithea as "power units" while the others tried to overwhelm other enemy units. It made a lot of the units feel a lot weaker.

Honestly in the future I'll just do other runs on hard while avoiding doing auxiliary battles as much as possible so that I don't get too overleveled.

I completely agree with this. Because the enemy movement and coded strategies did not change that much, I think Hard is the most fun sweet spot for FE:3H. There's a point in Maddening where even after you "figure out" the map, you still have a ton of grinding on the map left, which is a true bore.

[Strullemia]

8 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Did you play NG or NG+? I know F!Byleth is better overall, but I'd like ot know how your experience with M!Byleth was: was it difficult to get to Wyvern Lord?

NG, I wanted the golden title screen no matter what xD. Earlygame probably would have been a ton easier on NG+.

Whoops, I forgot to specify that I used FByleth and even with her it was difficult to become Wyvern Rider. Originally I didn’t bother with going Pegasus Knight but because my flying skill wasn’t good enough when I reached Wyvern Rider  I decided to become one anyway but that ended up being a very good thing because my Byleth ended up having both Death and Daring blow which in the long run made it so she almost never got doubled and she even managed to double the enemy herself from to time as long as she used a training+/iron axe+.

Edited September 23, 2019 by Hekselka

[pekingduck]

7 minutes ago, Hekselka said:

NG, I wanted the golden title screen no matter what xD. Earlygame probably would have been a ton easier on NG+.

So, is it confirmed the beating Maddening with just NG grants a golden title screen? If you have it, what does it look like you don't mind sharing?

Edit: Nvm, got it here:

 

Edited September 23, 2019 by pekingduck

[ZeManaphy]

I’ve heard a lot on Maddening... So is it yay or nay? 

[Modirufa6317]

5 hours ago, ZeManaphy said:

I’ve heard a lot on Maddening... So is it yay or nay? 

It will test your patience in some missions, but it give enough leeway to not feel rigid.

It has some unfortunate oversights, but overall a welcome addition for me personally.

[VallaKnight12]

I'm currently on Chapter 17 on Crimson Flower on Maddening, and oh boy, due to Rhea and her troops moving the first time they appear, and the powered up stats the Pegasus Knights and the other enemies that come to attack me when I cross to the other side is intense. I usually aim to try to defeat Rhea, who's combined sum total of stats being 317, with a critical hit, and I also destroyed Dimitri with a critical hit twice, but I still lose, but I'm not saying this as a bad thing, I welcome this intense time, and to figure out how to beat it. Some of the reasons I lose in Chapter 17 in Maddening is because I try to take out Dedue before he transforms, and Lysithea ends up dying for that after defeating him easily. Chapter 17, to me, feels like Conquest Chapter 26 in an outdoor map. Also, going across the bridges in Chapter 17 on Tailtean Plans, the one that goes up for 'easy' access to Dimitri and Dedue, and the left one are hard to traverse, and that got me several of the screw ups I got on Maddening Mode.

Edited September 24, 2019 by VallaKnight12

[Stroud]

Just finished the Church Route on Maddening. I don't know if I will find the will to do it again on New Game. The last Chapter is the only one Bernadetta is struggling. But only because of all the RNG around there. It may be the only chapter she may walk around as a Bowknight instead of Paladin. 

Spoiler

Going against Miracle with Vengeance is just nope. The rest of the enemies without Miracle she can 1 hit though. 

But again. My Bernadetta turned out pretty strange. And got good HP growth. In the last chapter she had 76 HP and I just boosted HP for the last chapter to 86 just out of fun. I'm kind of torn as I really think that she is a fun unit to use. But with this chapter her strength gets cut. Outside of this I didn't have much problem to set her up and use her. 

Edited September 24, 2019 by Stroud

[Wuzzy]

21 hours ago, ZeManaphy said:

I’ve heard a lot on Maddening... So is it yay or nay? 

If you can survive the first 4 (maybe 5, I didn't find Miklan's chapter too difficult but, I know quite a few people who struggled in that chapter), then it really does get easier (moreso once you unlock saint statues if that's your forte). The only other chapters that are tricky is Chapter 12/13 (killing thieves chapter) and the final chapter.

Also training weapons, swords, and bows are saving graces early on. You need other units to poke with Bows, and you need training weapons/swords for more AS

Really depends if you have the patience since I've spent like 20+ turns in the early chapters since you move so slowly (and also needed to reset multiple times), I'd go NG+ Maddening or Casual Maddening if you aren't sure, then move on to Classic Maddening if you want more of a challenge.

Edited September 24, 2019 by Lunarly

[DefyingFates]

5 hours ago, Lunarly said:

Casual Maddening

Is Casual Maddening enough to unlock the new title screen?

[Wuzzy]

9 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

Is Casual Maddening enough to unlock the new title screen?

I believe so, the data miner who did all the Maddening mode stuff said they got the title screen on Maddening Casual

[DefyingFates]

16 minutes ago, Lunarly said:

I believe so, the data miner who did all the Maddening mode stuff said they got the title screen on Maddening Casual

Phew! Now I know if Maddening ever gets overwhelming I can switch to Casual. Thanks!

Is there a consensus for which route is the easiest yet?

[Wazoo]

29 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

Phew! Now I know if Maddening ever gets overwhelming I can switch to Casual. Thanks!

Is there a consensus for which route is the easiest yet?

Don't go Silver Snow if you're looking for the easiest! I did that and when I got to the first post-timeskip mission (the one with a 1000 thiefs to kill in the first three turns) I really thought my run was over. I managed to finish it without losing a single unit but honestly it was a miracle (thank God my Petra, though not a flying unit, had a March Ring and was my best unit overall, she saved Byleth's ass big time.
In Silver Snow, you lose your Lord and it gets replaced by lesser units (Seteth is OK mind you, but not nearly as OP as a flying Edelgard). 

For the early game I think Blue Lion is the best pick, you get Dedue who can take most enemy attacks if he waits, and you also have Annette's Str rally (she also learns Spd rally which is a big plus in Maddening). Golden Deer should also be a nice fit since Claude is a bow God, and you'll need bows (at least for the first part of the game, which is admittedly the hardest part of the game.

[DefyingFates]

28 minutes ago, Wazoo said:

For the early game I think Blue Lion is the best pick, you get Dedue who can take most enemy attacks if he waits, and you also have Annette's Str rally (she also learns Spd rally which is a big plus in Maddening). Golden Deer should also be a nice fit since Claude is a bow God, and you'll need bows (at least for the first part of the game, which is admittedly the hardest part of the game.

Yeah, this seems to be the consensus for the early game thus far, while Barbarossa makes a good case for late-game. What about CF? On one hand it's the shortest route, but on the other its final map has The Immaculate One and her army of robots she can buff.

[Wazoo]

Yeah that last CF map is hell, I can't imagine how painful it must be on Maddening... Being the shortest route doesn't necessarily means it's easier, especially since CF's last two chapters are so hard (let's not forget that muddy slaughter that is that battle against Dimitri), it also means you have less time to grind and optimize your units

[DefyingFates]

46 minutes ago, Wazoo said:

Yeah that last CF map is hell, I can't imagine how painful it must be on Maddening... Being the shortest route doesn't necessarily means it's easier, especially since CF's last two chapters are so hard (let's not forget that muddy slaughter that is that battle against Dimitri), it also means you have less time to grind and optimize your units

So it comes down to AM and VW, huh?

Is there a consensus between the two of those, then?

[Reality]

I don't see how it couldn't be AW - Felix is almost as silly an earlygame advantage as Dedue and  RallyAnnette. You have extra 1range delete options because Dimitir is a high strength tempest lance and Ingrid has a +3 on it with her personal(although her enemy phase combat is garbage until reclassed). 

Edited September 24, 2019 by Reality

[VallaKnight12]

I'm currently trying to use all three Warp users to help make Crimson Flower Chapter 17 smoother, and kill the Bishop Boss in Chapter 17 to stop the reinforcements, while the others deal with Rhea, Dedue, and Dimitri.

[ZeManaphy]

I’m doing BLs on Maddening, and I’m stuck on Ingrid’s paralouge. That priest keeps summoning Thieves every turn, and I’m getting overwhelmed. What are some suggestions?

[Silly]

20 minutes ago, ZeManaphy said:

I’m doing BLs on Maddening, and I’m stuck on Ingrid’s paralouge. That priest keeps summoning Thieves every turn, and I’m getting overwhelmed. What are some suggestions?

Having a strong flier helps, as it does with most maps.