ENM Ranked Run EXP Help

[Seraphin290]

So I decided to make an attempt at Ranked Runs in FE7 (after having played this game for 16 years) to see if I could pull it off. I'm happy to say that I was able to S-Rank Lyn's Normal Mode and Hard Mode, but I felt like that was easy pickings, so I gave Eliwood Normal Mode a shot next. I've been meticulously planning everything with regards to Funds and Tactics rankings, so I stole every item I could, used only iron/steel weapons for 99% of the campaign, and cut down on turns wherever I could. I checked my in-progress ranking at the start of each chapter to make sure I was doing alright, and I have been getting 5 stars in each rank consistently.

Fast-forward to the final chapter. I check with Nils, and I still have 5-stars in all categories (save Funds, which is 4-star, but it's easy to make that up in the final map) and things are looking good. However, after finishing the final map and eagerly getting to the end of the epilogue so I can look at my Battle Data... I only have 4 stars in EXP. The entire time I never went below 5 stars in EXP, but at the very last map, I drop off down to 4.

At this point, I've tried going back and re-playing the final chapter to see if I can redeem my rank and walk away with 5-stars (I made a save-state at the start of the final chapter). I've tried four times now and I've been unsuccessful each time. I've even gone so far as to take out the six promoted spellcasters in the second half (the ones that are stuck in boxes with siege magic/staves) with Pent and a Bolting tome, but even that didn't put me over.

I'm pretty convinced that I'm screwed and I didn't feed enough EXP to lower-level units throughout the course of my playthrough and there's nothing I can do to save it. The final map requires 3500 EXP earned to get 5-stars, but I can't see how that's even possible - there are only 28 units that grant any EXP at all in both halves of the map, so even if I got a perfect 100 each kill, that still leaves me 700 short. I can use Nils' rings and staff abuse with a couple other folks for another couple hundred, but if I'm really that far off, I'm wondering if even that will be enough. Assuming that I'm right at the cusp of a 5-star average on EXP when I get to the final chapter, is it possible to squeak out what I need? FYI, I have about 10 extra turns I can throw away and still make 5-star Tactics rank, so if turting a bit is necessary, I can do that. I will also post my final chapter team and their levels if it helps. Thanks in advance!

Eliwood: Lv. 10 Knight Lord
Nils: Lv. 13 Bard
Lyn: Lv. 14 Blade Lord
Hector: Lv. 11 Great Lord
Kent: Lv. 14 Paladin
Rebecca: Lv. 10 Sniper
Fiora: Lv. 14 Falcoknight
Heath: Lv. 15 Wyvern Lord
Canas: Lv. 9 Druid
Pent: Lv. 10 Sage
Harken: Lv. 8 Hero

[SSJDennis]

Got staffs to burn? Warp, Silence etc give plenty EXP. Let someone like Serra use them, or promoted Priscilla. I believe promoted healers get extra EXP mods.

You should try to use less pre promotes if you have any hope solving this.

I remember having the same problem back in the day. EHM was much easier in this regard.

Just my two cents.

Edited February 28, 2020 by SSJDennis

[ping]

Late answer, obviously, but the XP requirements for some of the later chapters are virtually impossible to reach. Cog of Destiny and Victory or Death in particular have absurd requirements. This means that you can't really tell how well you're actually doing XP-wise just by the ingame readings - you can have 5 stars for the entire game and still be doing badly. In fact, if you're not at 5 stars for XP at any point in the game (past the earlygame, I guess), you can probably just restart.

To be honest, I think you might just be screwed, sorry If spamming high-end staves doesn't cut it, you can try to get more XP by chipping unnecessarily, but 3500 XP is a lot.