My Plans to Tackle Maddening Mode right now

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

If there is one FE I will beat on the highest difficulty, it will be Three Houses. Currently, my end goal is to beat all paths on Maddening NG after testing things out on NG+. As for units, here are my current plans for them. It is a WIP, as the Golden Deer is the only finished faction right now.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18EAi089k46UQ6640HEUtagbH-GYWQj3EE5Np1oMzO18

I am open to revisions and advice to be put on this thread.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Wow... you're nothing if not thorough! For the record, I've only played BL Maddening NG+, so my advice is hardly expert.

Most of the builds sound pretty good. I do have a few thoughts, though -

Byleth: You mention using DLC shoes to make up for move as a Swordmaster. But an item that makes a 7-move Swordmaster also makes an 8-move Assassin. And no item can give Swordmaster free move through forests. Use the class if the slight advantages in power, bulk, and crit make it preferable. But in most cases, Assassin is simply superior.

Alois: If you're planning to use him in combat, particularly with Gauntlets, Death Blow is a must. Brigand mastery may take awhile, but should be reachable in a few chapters with Aux battles. I used him Brigand -> Grappler -> War Master (CF Hard NG+), and was fairly impressed. If you'll just use him as a guard adjutant, though, Death Blow is irrelevant. 

Ingrid: If you have her spend a little time as a Soldier, rather than Mercenary, she'll be able to gain Authority and Lance rank, plus access the very useful Reposition combat art. I've gotten a ton of use from it on my current BL run.

Overall: 27 units is... a lot. Are you planning to train all of them long-term, or just focus on a select few? Considering already-reduced experience gains, I'd be worried that the enemy might come to outpower your own army. Plus, training more units just takes longer, and forces you to rotate instructing sessions.

Those are just my impressions. Feel free to respond with what you think of them. And good luck!

[eclipse]

Less talking, more doing.  Hands-on experience and failure will be far better than writing everything out.

That being said, pay attention to how your units grow, and adjust accordingly.  Claude will most likely be fine no matter what, but Ignatz will live or die by his.

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

Response are in bold.

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Byleth: You mention using DLC shoes to make up for move as a Swordmaster. But an item that makes a 7-move Swordmaster also makes an 8-move Assassin. And no item can give Swordmaster free move through forests. Use the class if the slight advantages in power, bulk, and crit make it preferable. But in most cases, Assassin is simply superior.

I will consider your advice. If I feel I need the power and bulk, I’ll take Swordmaster. But Assassin will be my second choice.

Alois: If you're planning to use him in combat, particularly with Gauntlets, Death Blow is a must. Brigand mastery may take awhile, but should be reachable in a few chapters with Aux battles. I used him Brigand -> Grappler -> War Master (CF Hard NG+), and was fairly impressed. If you'll just use him as a guard adjutant, though, Death Blow is irrelevant. 

Yeah, he’ll likely just be a guard adjutant/rally strength bot at most. Maybe I’ll take the time to build him in another one of these Playthroughs.

Ingrid: If you have her spend a little time as a Soldier, rather than Mercenary, she'll be able to gain Authority and Lance rank, plus access the very useful Reposition combat art. I've gotten a ton of use from it on my current BL run.

That might actually be better. Thank you.

Overall: 27 units is... a lot. Are you planning to train all of them long-term, or just focus on a select few? Considering already-reduced experience gains, I'd be worried that the enemy might come to outpower your own army. Plus, training more units just takes longer, and forces you to rotate instructing sessions.

To you and @eclipse, I kind of considered things in a vacuum. I at least plan on using Byleth and Claude full time. I am willing to bench people to pure adjutant status when necessary. Even some of the other Golden Deer after chapter 13. As for the rest, that will have to be determined when I get to it. Which will be a good while from now.

Thank you both for your advice.

[Smokie1437]

Agree with most of what I see so these are my only comments:

Not sure why you are recruiting so many characters. Yet not recruiting Petra, one of the best units in the game?

Why aren't you making Balthus a War Master? I made mine a tank with Vantage, Quick Riposte and Wrath. His personal skill is truly amazing. Just a suggestion.

I think Constance can do Gremory for +1 Movement. Mine had good magic stat and had no problems oneshotting, but it's possible you might need Double Tomefaire if she didn't roll well. Also I never had issues with accuracy, even against Assassins and War Masters the accuracy was 65-90% (and I did not have Uncanny Blow). Maybe mine had great dex rolls too or something, but then again when would you ever need to bolt assassins anyway

[Relytive]

Looks fine, and prep is good, but the first thing you're going to realize after doing any/all of the routes on NG is "well, I uh... kind of over prepared for this". My first playthrough was a blind BL NG maddening run (which, though not a popular opinion, is imo the one that offers the maps with the most challenge (13, 22<easily the most divine pulses used on any map in the game for me. At the time I wasn't aware of things like a dodge tank Petra with strength and speed boosts forced on her + retribution, warped into the middle of the room and watching everything die, though. Still, it's exponentially more rewarding than the slog that is CF's final map, or warp Raging Storm turn one cheese spamming).

I'd say hop on it, know who you want to recruit and when a good time for them to join is (I prefer getting units I'm going to use long term at chapter 6 for skill tutoring on NG (not named Catherine in VW/AM, who if I use I get in 4 or 5 with level 9/C+ support) even on SS/AM, because despite what is said, you only need a strong Blyleth (and Dimitri in the latter case) to complete 13 with inhouse units. My dancer Ashe, Gilbert, and rally Annette just sat in their corners while Byleth choke point murdered the first wave on both routes). Rush prof level A+ and every little thing will be alright.

[PPPPPPP270]

I'm kind of against making one of your own starting units a dancer. I think it would be better suited to fill the dancer slot by someone completely different. 

Also for the early game every physical unit should have an iron bow in their inventory. It will make the first half of maddening much easier to handle. No need to teach them bows though. 

[LoneRecon400]

My thoughts over some units:

- Byleth is much better off going Brigand -> Pegasus Knight -> Wyvern Rider -> Wyvern Lord. Swordmaster just doesn't offer that much to be really considered over classes. You should also get them to C Armor to allow other students to get it faster and also allow them have a chance to pass the Fortress Knight Certification for a base 19 Defense as a Wyvern Rider. 

- Hilda would be fine being raised to C Authority for Alliance Wyvern Company rather than Galatea. While it may be slightly inferior stat wise, Impregnable Wall is a really good Gambit that really be useful to have on hand and would free up Hilda to learn things like C armor quicker.

- Raphael would be much more useful as a Grappler using Fierce Iron Fist than a Fortress Knight. While Fortress Knight can take hits, the lack of Movement, Offense, and the presence of tools such as Impregnable Wall really make the class not as useful.

- Marianne should focus only really on Riding. Dancer are going to be dancing every chance they get, so anything else isn't really useful. She's also a very good choice for Chapter 13, considering that when combined with Warp you can beat the map in five turns with minimal combat and a base Claude.

- Ingird wants to be recruited a lot sooner than Chapter 10 considering that she doesn't autolevel flight and A+ Flying takes a while to get. Petra would also be the better recruitable candidate for Dodgetanking with Alert Stance + due having higher crit rates with Battalion Wrath. 

In general:

- I'd recommend focusing on using recruitable units over starting House units. The stats they come with typically greatly overshadow starting house units, especially when recruited by Chapter 6. Here's exactly what they're stats would look like.

- Authority Prowess isn't worth getting units since Gambits don't do that much of damage due to not benefiting from- faire skills, Deathblow, or Battalion benefits. They're more useful for weakening enemies and holding them in position rather than outright dealing damage. 

- Don't be concerned with stealing, as there's very little actually worth stealing. About the only real notable things are the Evade / Accuracy Ring in Chapter 7 and some of the weakness nullifying shields, but a Chapter 6 recruited Ingird/Petra can easily steal almost all of those things at base considering that stat boosts such as Rally Speed count toward stealing.

- Only Lord gives extra Authority skill, not mercenary, and that class is locked to the lords.

Edited February 26, 2020 by LoneRecon400

[Wishblade]

Too many recruits. It’s hard to give concrete advice when your roster is this large.

I don’t think you’ve set any weapon rank goal at S+. According to my experience, you can get 2 S+ weapon ranks in maddening without excessive grinding. The reason behind the number 2 is that there are 2 knowledge gems in this game. I usually glue the knowledges gems on the biggest nukers on my team. It happened to me that one of my two biggest nukers was always a grappler because Fierce Iron Fist with double fistfaire really hurts.

 

Raphael: I honestly wouldn’t make him an armoured unit. He is a good grappler and Fierce Iron Fist consistently ORKO. Also a candidate for brawl S+.

Ignatz: If the Goddess of RNG does not shine on him, make him the adjutant of Raphael. They have a special support that gives +3 mt.

Lorenz: Dark seal is easily obtainable on VW so you can make him a Dark Bishop.

Marianne: With the DLC you can make her a Trickster for enhanced combat abilities. She is a good user of the Levin Sword.

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

So, what do you suggest I do to build a team to use?