Best Route Progression Advice?

[MageInTraining]

Hi there,

So I am currently working my way through my second play through of the game. I am surprised how much I love it; as an old school Fire Emblem fan, I didn't like the mechanics at first and nearly quit. Everything was also very confusing during the first play (killed half the school that I didn't recruit because I didn't fully understand it), but now I have a much better grasp on things.

My first play was the Blue Lions, and my current play is with the Golden Deer. I plan to finish the Golden Deer and continue the New Game + Route for one of the two Black Eagle routes, but I also want to make a separate play for Maddening Mode/the title screen quest.

So- a few questions:

1. For plot purposes, which should I do first? The Church Route or Edelgard's? I have managed to remain relatively spoiler-free in terms of the larger plot, and am still confused on who I am and who Rhea is/the rest of the folks in the church. I got an A support with her on this Golden Deer route so I am hoping by the end of the route I will understand everything and Byleth's relation to Nemesis, etc.

2. Which of the two remaining routes would be good to do for Maddening mode? This would also impact point 1. I;m excited for the challenge but if one of the two routes is significantly easier or ridiculously difficult to the point where it should be avoided, I want that taken into consideration.

3. My first play was just a cluster in terms of recruitment, and in this Golden Deer route I recruited everyone. I was thinking of doing one of the two remaining routes with just the Black Eagle house (and maybe recruiting Lysithea if in the Maddening Route because Dark Spikes for the Death Knight). Knowing the last two points, which route should I stick just to the BE recruits and which should I pick up Lysithea/maybe Mercedes for Maddening?

Hope this all makes sense.

Thank you to all in advance! (Side note..it's been nearly 10 years since I posted on this forum..any old heads still lurking? ⛺ )

[Dandy Druid]

1. Since you're doing Golden Deer now, I'd recommend going with Crimson Flower (Edelgard) next.

2. I'm not exactly sure how difficult they are compared to each other, but (minor spoilers, nothing about the plot, characters, or maps)

Spoiler

one route is shorter the other. So you only have to do Maddening Mode for a shorter amount of chapters than the other one.

3. Putting this in spoilers just in case. (I'm not taking any chances)

Spoiler

Both routes would like a recruit or two, to be honest. However, Crimson Flower may need more. It's entirely possible to do it without recruits though.

Lysithea is a good choice for the Black Eagles House because she has a couple of support conversations with them and shares a paralogue with one of them.