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Let's Grade Some Gambits, Epilogue: Results on Page 4!


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It's rather obvious these gambits were made to overshadow others. Each is tied to a specific route as a deliberately overpowered toy for the player to have on that route. I don't think they're quite the three best gambits in the game, but they are fairly close, and you could make the case for it.

Raging Flames: What if Blaze had two uses? We can debate whether the 2x5 AoE is better than the half-diamond... the 2x5 has on more panel and is probably marginally better overall, but you can debate it. Raging Flames is also a bit stronger too. So the question is, how much do I value two uses over one? I gave Line of Lances +3 over Linked Horses for its second use, but obviously I shouldn't keep the bonus the same regardless (a two-use Resonant Flames is not 12/10, funny though that would be... it WOULD be better than any gambit that actualy exists, though, so +2 isn't crazy). Alternatively, let's compare this to Poisoned Arrows. It's down 10 hit, and offers a bit less range flexibility, but... twice as many panels! Yeah, that's hard to argue with. So it's a low 9/10, but still there.

Wave Attack: Its AoE is basically just Blaze again, but it also gets the panels adjacent to the user, a slight improvement. Is it better than Raging Flames' AoE? Maybe. Very close certainly. So this is easy, Wave Attack wins because it has +10 hit. But I think there is space for a gambit to still be better than it. As such, I'll give what I expect to be my only decimal score, 9.5/10.

Ashes and Dust: 10/10. Everything good about Resonant Ice (magic damage aside), Fusillade, and Raging Flames rolled into one overpowered package, and seeing as those gambits are already good individually that says a lot! I will say that it is notably better than even Wave Attack IMO. Against the 3x3 boss monsters, it can hit every piece of their armour, while Wave Attack can not. Against everything else, the incredible added flexilbility of 3 range is far too much to ignore. I like +10 hit, but not that much!

It's extra insulting that Ashes and Dust is the only one that can be used by fliers, making it even better than the other two in practice.

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It should come as no surprise - the Lords' Gambits reign supreme. People went mad for Raging Flames, and were pushing even harder for Wave Attack. But, when all is said and done, Ashes and Dust found enough allies to bury its rivals. And with that, the consideration of offensive gambits is complete! Thank you all so much for your contribu- wait, there's more?

Chapter 10: Impregnable Wall and Sacred Shield

Today, we begin taking a look at support gambits. Might and Hit are irrelevant here, but these gambits offer effects more varied than anything else we've yet considered.

Impregnable Wall

Spoiler

Type: Support

Might: - -

Hit: 100

Range: 1

Uses: 5

AoE: Front

Effect: All affected allies receive, and deal, no more than 1 damage per hit for the remainder of the turn.

Sacred Shield

Spoiler

Type: Support

Might: - -

Hit: 100

Range: 1

Uses: 5

AoE: Front

Effect: All affected allies receive 0 damage from ranged attacks (physical or magical) for the remainder of the turn.

A recap of the rules, if you wish to refresh yourself:

On 6/3/2021 at 9:17 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Here's what I'm thinking - each Gambit will be graded on a scale from 1 to 10. If difficulty would be relevant to the ranking, let's assume New Game Maddening (if you're ranking by a different standard, of course I won't stop you, but please make it clear). In case it's relevant, again, assume access to DLC and Nintendo Switch Online. I'll provide my score, and everyone else is welcome to share their own score, too. Gambits will be graded on:

  • Damage and hit rate (offensive only)
  • Charges per map
  • Range and Area-of-Effect
  • Side and/or support effects

As important to figure out, though, is what I'd rather NOT see gambits graded on, such as:

  • What battalions they're attached too
  • Availability and Usability
  • Aesthetic considerations or personal taste

...Okay, maybe a +/-1 bias point will be allowed on the last one. But attributes of any associated battalion should not be considered. Why not? Well, when we eventually get to grading the battalions themselves, then those considerations (stat boosts, availability, usability) will be factored in, alongside gambit performance. For the time being, however, I'd like to try looking at each gambit, as much as possible, in a vacuum. Make sense?

The discussion is going to change a bit - rather than comparing numbers (i.e. points of Might and Hit), we'll be comparing the relative utility of the support effect, as measured against such other factors as area-of-effect and uses. What do I think? Well, see below:

Spoiler

Impregnable Wall is, as support gambits go, one of the biggest game-changers out there. Now, even the humblest Priest can choke the point with the best of them. The ability to turn as many as three allied units into effective "roadblocks" is a serious boon. By blocking off enemies coming from one direction, you can devote more of your units to facing down a squad coming from the other direction. Used properly, it can be as effective at freezing foes in place as a high-Hit offensive gambit - at least, on the right kind of map. Or, say you have to lure out a really threatening enemy, such as the Death Knight. Impregnable Wall is perfect for luring them out, without risking death, so that you can gang up on them the very next turn. That said, there are limitations here. Flying enemies tend to ignore most terrain, so they're far less susceptible to chokepoints than grounded foes. Thieves and Assassins, too, get the Pass skill on Maddening, letting them bypass your supposedly "impregnable" ally. Finally, there's the issue that the "impregnable" effect is a double-edged Falchion - you'll receive next-to-no damage, but you'll deal just as little in return. Ergo, it's not a good support for dodgetanks and critical builds that do most of their work on enemy-phase. Still, it's an undeniably versatile tool - and it makes up for a small AoE with as many as 5 charges per map. It's hard rating the first support gambit, but I don't think an 8 out of 10 is seriously off the mark.

Sacred Shield is a rare alternative to Impregnable Wall, associated with a single battalion on the Azure Moon route. Which is a serious shame - the effect it provides is a very cool one. Much like Impregnable Wall, it dramatically reduces damage from enemy attacks. This time, however, it depends on range - your unit will receive no damage from afar, but full damage from up close. Regardless of the in-game description, this applies to both physical and magical attacks. And do note, the enemies are aware of this effect -  mages who would normally attack at range will get up close and personal, if it's their only chance to deal damage. At first, it may seem like a generally worse Impregnable Wall - however, it doesn't possess that gambit's critical disadvantage, that of neutering its target's offensive potential. An ally affected by Sacred Shield remains just as capable of fighting back as ever. This makes it a great accompaniment to, say, dodgetank and Wrath/Vantage builds. More casually, it can also be used (in conjunction with Retribution) to safely bring enemy siege mages to a swift end. Or, if that's not an issue, giving your fliers assured safety against enemy bow users is always welcome. The effect here is a strong one - and while its range is, again, limited to three allies per turn, getting five uses per map is always welcome. It's not as revolutionary as Impregnable Wall, but it's still a clever trick to pull out of the bag, so I think a 7 out of 10 is well-deserved.

Thanks for reading! Looking forward to seeing what y'all think about these support gambits.

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  • Shanty Pete's 1st Mate changed the title to Let's Grade Some Gambits, Chapter 10: Impregnable Wall, Sacred Shield

It's going to be difficult to move from ranking offensive gambits to ranking support gambits because it's hard to really judge how best to compare one set against the other. For the most part, having a second copy of a particular offensive gambit is about as good as having the first one. I'm pretty much never going to think "oh, I already have one person with Resonant Flames, so I don't want to take it on someone else". Sure, I might prefer some other gambit instead to cover more different bases (maybe Fusillade, for instance) but if there's a battalion that I want to use for stats then I'm never going to be upset at having a second copy of a good offensive gambit. This is very much not the case for utility gambits. Even for some of the best utility gambits, the value of second and subsequent copies falls off a cliff. In any given map, I would probably love to have a copy of Stride, for instance. I might get some use out of a second copy of Stride but not nearly as much. And if I have 10 people all with Stride then I'll be wishing I could replace some of them with Absorption or Random Shot. How, then, to rate them? I think I'm going to rank all utility gambits based on how good it is to have a first copy -- mainly because I can't think of nay better way to do it -- but I do think that most of them should carry an asterisk next to their scores.

Impregnable Wall: Way back in chapter 0, I mentioned how there were some gambits that I would rate very differently on different difficulties. this is certainly one of them. On lower difficulties, I consider this to be somewhere between mediocre and terrible, since it's relatively easy to make effective tanks without having to give up your own ability to deal damage. Maddening, though, is where this comes into its own. Being able to make a completely guaranteed tank who doesn't care about inflated enemy stats, doesn't care about enemies getting lucky hits or lucky crits, doesn't care about magic, doesn't care about being gambited, just completely is guaranteed not to die? That's huge in Maddening. It lets you do all the things that tanks (be they armour tanks, dodge tanks, or anything else) normally let you do, like blocking doorways and chokepoints or safely drawing aggro. Enemies with Pass do hurt its effectiveness a little, but you aren't always facing such enemies, and can often get at least some use out of this even when you are. 5 charges is also great, and means it can be used with reckless abandon. Overall, and with all teh caveats of my first paragraph in mind, I'm going to give this a 7/10.

Sacred Shield: I've never actually used this one, so this is another gambit where I'm left with theorycraft only and not theorycraft that I'm all that confident about, if I'm being honest. However, it would seem the the biggest problem with this is that in most of its use cases it's overshadowed by either Impregnable Wall or Retribution. Yes, I could use this for tanking and damage mitigation, but wouldn't Impregnable Wall usually be better? And sure, I could throw this on an enemy-phase dodge tank or wrath/vantage build, but wouldn't Retribution usually be better? Now, on the one hand, there's a lot of room to be worse than Impregnable Wall and Retrubution but still be good and I can also imagine that this does have a few niches where this can do things that those two can't. On the other hand, this feels like the existence of those two gambits would make this suffer from diminishing returns even for its first copy. In a world where those two gambits didn't exist, I can see myself rating this higher, but in this world where they do, I give this 4/10.

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34 minutes ago, lenticular said:

It's going to be difficult to move from ranking offensive gambits to ranking support gambits because it's hard to really judge how best to compare one set against the other. For the most part, having a second copy of a particular offensive gambit is about as good as having the first one. I'm pretty much never going to think "oh, I already have one person with Resonant Flames, so I don't want to take it on someone else". Sure, I might prefer some other gambit instead to cover more different bases (maybe Fusillade, for instance) but if there's a battalion that I want to use for stats then I'm never going to be upset at having a second copy of a good offensive gambit. This is very much not the case for utility gambits. Even for some of the best utility gambits, the value of second and subsequent copies falls off a cliff. In any given map, I would probably love to have a copy of Stride, for instance. I might get some use out of a second copy of Stride but not nearly as much. And if I have 10 people all with Stride then I'll be wishing I could replace some of them with Absorption or Random Shot.

I think this is very well said.

Another thing I find very difficult about rating utility gambits is that it really does depend a lot on the charm stat of the user! For instance, Stride is a great gambit, but I'm generally going to try to avoid Byleth having it... s/he has enough charm to easily achieve 80% rattle rates against most targets AND supports everyone so I want him/her having access to that. Or, for another example, Black Eagle Pegasus and Cichol Wyverns have pretty similar stats (both A rank flying battalions)... but I go to great lengths to ensure Wyvern Edelgard isn't using Black Eagle Pegasus, which means I obviously prefer Assault Troop to Retribution on her. But with someone like Felix, it's a different story.

So I'm just gonna go with some kneejerk numbers.

Impregnable Wall: 7/10

Impregnable Wall is a nice, flexible gambit, that even has a lot of uses. At the cost of gambit action (not a small thing, it must be noted), you can use this to keep someone alive who was otherwise overexposed, or you can use it to bait out enemies. Both definitely cool! I'll also mention that this gambit is particularly potent on Hapi in monster maps, since you can use it on her and be virtually guaranteed that your entire team will survive that enemy phase (really breaks the Sothis and Marianne paralogues).

It declines in worth a a bit as the game goes on and your dodgetanks get better and better, negating the need for the baiting part of it. It's still nice for the other use in a pinch though. I think the best offensive gambits are better but it's a nice one to have.


Sacred Shield: 3/10

There's really only one map where I'd consider using this one, and that's AM Endgame, since it allows you, when comboed with Retribution, to safely counter siege tome users to death. As a two-gambit setup that's extremely niche (especially since a good enough dodgetank negates the need for it)... but AM endgame's siege tome reinforcements are that rude and this is a valid way to deal with them (though not the only one). On any map with few/no siege tomes I consider it a big waste of your gambit slot, it's just a more limited Impregnable Wall, and siege tome users are one of the few enemies where countering them is so valuable.

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Finally some interesting Gambits worth talking about.

Impregnable Wall: 8/10

An extremely useful gambit. Not only is it able to make any unit effectively ignore any enemy for one turn, it also allows for more aggression positioning. You could, for example, afford to place units in the range of same turn reinforcements to lure them out or prevent units from being Gambited, as the AI will always prioritize attacking regularly than with gambits since they do more damage doubling. It also has some good synergy with Assassin's Stealth, as enemies will ignore the assassin completely if there's another unit in range even with Impregnable Wall applied, but that's admittedly pretty niche. 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is just how much can help to speed up Class Mastery. Being able to be attacked without the fear of death means you can afford to have units face a lot more than the usual 1-2 enemies on Enemy Phase they're limited to in the later segments of Part 1. It's espically useful since it exists before setups like dodgetanking or Vantage / Wrath begin to become consistent. That's admittedly less important if you regularly  partake in Aux Battles, but for those who don't it's pretty invaluable.

Either way it's a gambit most certainly worth bringing to every battle.

Sacred Shield: 8/10

Another very useful Gambit that's unfortunately route locked, but this list doesn't care for that. The thing about this Gambit that makes it good are how it enables Enemy Phase setups and it makes Bosses a non issue.

Dodgetanks often struggle with magic hit rates since their Luck tends to be notable lower than their Speed and most enemy mages use accurate spells. Sacred Shield makes this a non issue since most mages won't have the range to attack at one range and prevent them from getting in lucky low % Hits in.  It also enables Vantage / Wrath users by eliminating their weaknesses to siege weapons / magic and mitigates the threat of monsters somewhat with proper positioning. If you want an example of how well it enables Vantage units, Here you go.

But the main thing that makes it shine is how much easier it makes boss killing. A lot of units have to worry about being one rounded by lategame bosses and have to use things like Blessing and Guard Adjutants to avoid that. With this gambit, a lot of units that'd otherwise be unable to survive such as a Snipers have free reign to attack a enemy like Claude or Hegemon Edelgard without so much as a scratch in return.

It's definitely the most underrated Gambit in Three Houses. I blame the mistranslation for that one.

Edited by LoneRecon400
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8 hours ago, lenticular said:

It's going to be difficult to move from ranking offensive gambits to ranking support gambits because it's hard to really judge how best to compare one set against the other. For the most part, having a second copy of a particular offensive gambit is about as good as having the first one. I'm pretty much never going to think "oh, I already have one person with Resonant Flames, so I don't want to take it on someone else". Sure, I might prefer some other gambit instead to cover more different bases (maybe Fusillade, for instance) but if there's a battalion that I want to use for stats then I'm never going to be upset at having a second copy of a good offensive gambit. This is very much not the case for utility gambits. Even for some of the best utility gambits, the value of second and subsequent copies falls off a cliff. In any given map, I would probably love to have a copy of Stride, for instance. I might get some use out of a second copy of Stride but not nearly as much. And if I have 10 people all with Stride then I'll be wishing I could replace some of them with Absorption or Random Shot. How, then, to rate them? I think I'm going to rank all utility gambits based on how good it is to have a first copy -- mainly because I can't think of nay better way to do it -- but I do think that most of them should carry an asterisk next to their scores.

I think the value of the "first instance" of a support gambit is a good basis for grading. Like - how great would be the loss, not having this gambit for one map, versus having it? I don't think a "10" needs to carry an "I will bring as many copies of it as possible to the map" with it. But I get the difficulty of comparison. 

8 hours ago, lenticular said:

. In a world where those two gambits didn't exist, I can see myself rating this higher, but in this world where they do, I give this 4/10.

Ironically, I'd say Sacred Shield is made stronger by the existence of Retribution. As the two support gambits can be applied to a single target simultaneously. This way, I can pull off Retribution stats, without worrying about damage from ranged foes. That said, I agree that Impregnable Wall is better overall.

8 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

Another thing I find very difficult about rating utility gambits is that it really does depend a lot on the charm stat of the user! For instance, Stride is a great gambit, but I'm generally going to try to avoid Byleth having it... s/he has enough charm to easily achieve 80% rattle rates against most targets AND supports everyone so I want him/her having access to that. Or, for another example, Black Eagle Pegasus and Cichol Wyverns have pretty similar stats (both A rank flying battalions)... but I go to great lengths to ensure Wyvern Edelgard isn't using Black Eagle Pegasus, which means I obviously prefer Assault Troop to Retribution on her. But with someone like Felix, it's a different story.

It's hard to find users of support gambits from high-rank battalions (i.e. Retribution from Indech Sword Fighters), since Authority boons tend to be associated with high Charm stats. Even someone like Ignatz, who doesn't have a grearlt Charm stat, still has good hit rates with offensive gambits due to his personal ability. So it feels like something of a waste, say, giving Gautier Knights (Stride) to my Lord or Teach.

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52 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

It's hard to find users of support gambits from high-rank battalions (i.e. Retribution from Indech Sword Fighters), since Authority boons tend to be associated with high Charm stats. Even someone like Ignatz, who doesn't have a grearlt Charm stat, still has good hit rates with offensive gambits due to his personal ability. So it feels like something of a waste, say, giving Gautier Knights (Stride) to my Lord or Teach.

In addition to Ignatz, Lysithea has a shaky charm stat, and Annette/Hubert aren't great at it either (closer to average). Although it's worth pointing out that of that group (except Ignatz), something like Indech or Gautier can mess with the magic stat that allows them to play their primary role. I sometimes find snipers are good candidates for some of these physical utility battalions... since snipers need to train so few skills in general (a vanilla sniper build needs nothing but bows, authority, and D+ axes), it's reasonable to get them to A authority in a decent amount of time. I have a harder time finding good candidates for Dance of the Goddess since that ruins your offensive stats regardless.

 

8 hours ago, LoneRecon400 said:

With this gambit, a lot of units that'd otherwise be unable to survive such as a Snipers have free reign to attack a enemy like Claude or Hegemon Edelgard without so much as a scratch in return.

That's a fair point about Hegemon Edelgard. It does mean you're devoting two units' actions to attacking her and receive only the offensive benefit of one, but if neither could attack her safely normally, that's still a net win. Definitely adds to my feeling that AM endgame is the one map where this gambit is worth using!

Not so impressed by its performance vs Claude though... any mage can hurl a spell from range 4+ to chip him safely, and a properly-built sniper shouldn't need more than a little chipping there.

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5 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

Not so impressed by its performance vs Claude though... any mage can hurl a spell from range 4+ to chip him safely, and a properly-built sniper shouldn't need more than a little chipping there.

Claude has Flier Effect Null, so Snipers won’t do that much damage as you might think. Mages could strike from 4 range, but 65 Avoid makes their Hit rates pretty shaky without Maculi or Uncanny Blow.

Besides, it’s just not Claude that’s an issue. A lot of bosses from chapter 16 onwards are usually very bulky while being quite evasive. Like Cornelia has  the same Protection as Edelgard in Grondor while also having 56 Avoid on top of being able to one shot most units. Being able to apply damage without retaliation makes her easy to get rid of without having to rely on High Strength / Magic units or specific set ups.

Edited by LoneRecon400
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@LoneRecon400

Sorry for the late reply, I wanted to wait until I had time to actually look at the numbers properly. Anyway, it's much easier to kill Claude/Cornelia than you're implying. I'm going to assume extremely vanilla setups only for this.

Level 30 Gremory Annette with Thyrsus / Excalibur: 100 hit + ~20 from dexluck blender + 20 from prowess + 10 Timotheos Mages (one of the lower-hit magic battalions, Edmund/Gloucester/Ordelia/Macuil all give more) is already 150 before any supports are considered, already over 95 real hit (and if you miss, you don't even take a counter!). Damage is ~33 + 11 Excalibur + 6 Fiendish Blow + 8 battalion - 20 res = 38 to Claude, easily softening him for over half his health. If you made Annette a wyvern instead you can use Mercedes with higher-hit battalion for this and get similar results (Bolganone is -15 hit and -3 mt, or Ragnarok is -20 hit and +4 mt).

Level 30 Sniper Ashe with Silver Bow+: ~22 str + 13 bow + 5 Bowfaire + 6 Death Blow + 1 Hunter's Volley + ~7 battalion - 32 = 22x2 = 44, easily finishing Claude off after Annette's attack. If accuracy's a concern use Iron+ instead, you lose 12 damage but that still does enough with room to spare. I'm well aware Claude has Effect Null; if he didn't then Snipers would reliably ORKO him!

Cornelia is much more resistant to magic chipping (well, except Luna) due to her 48 res. On the other hand, it also really doesn't take much chipping to get her into Atrocity kill range since unlike Claude she lacks Effect Null. Heck it's quite possible to one-shot her with Atrocity... it takes 104 atk to one-shot her and Areadhbar+Atrocity provides 53 of that by itself (with Lancefaire or strength mod/Death Blow/battalion providing another 18-23, meaning you just need another ~30 from strength and other sources). Regardless, if it's just missing, a range-4 spell like the above Annette Excalibur or Mercedes Ragnarok will push her over the edge (and unlike Claude her magic avo is low). Obviously other setups can do this too, Atrocity is just a vanilla one that the player is almost guaranteed to have.

My point is that there are lots of ways to kill these bosses safely using two actions and it doesn't require out-of-the-way setups (though those certainly exist too, like Windsweep). Giving up a gambit slot (which if it's not clear, I consider valuable post-timeskip, when we're almost entirely using gambits I'd rate at least 6/10) just for another way to do it is a tough sell even before considering that the battalion that grants it gives subpar stats (which to be fair, we aren't supposed to consider for ratings here).

 

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A 85% displayed Chance to hit with a 100 Hit Spell isn't exactly impressive, especially when most mages are going to be a lot lower than that without better +Hit Battalions. Issue with doing that is that mages are a lot better off utilizing support gambits since they struggle to oneshot with spells by this point due to rampant HP inflation. Losing out on something like Blessing or Stride so that mages can do accurate Chip damage just simply isn't worth it by that point.

The great thing about Sacred Shield for bosses is just how stat agnostic it makes units. Like with Cornelia, if a unit doesn't have the Strength to one round her, they are absolute of no use against her considering how easy it is for her to one shot them. With Sacred Shield, any unit can contribute to any boss fight regardless of how lacking they are in durability they may be so that you don't have to rely on tools like Atrocity or a 4 range Excalibur to be relevant in a fight.

I'd also say the opposite on the matter of Gambit slots. Offensive Gambits become a lot less appealing as Enemy phase Set Ups become a lot more effective with support gambits like Sacred Shield and Blessing.

Edited by LoneRecon400
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On 7/7/2021 at 10:49 AM, LoneRecon400 said:

Cornelia has  the same Protection as Edelgard in Grondor

A mage boss with the same amount of defense as an armored unit... What the buck?? 

On 7/7/2021 at 7:50 AM, Dark Holy Elf said:

I have a harder time finding good candidates for Dance of the Goddess since that ruins your offensive stats regardless.

Or doesn't come until late in the game while requiring the use of specific characters.

Anyway, are there plans to do something like this for combat arts?

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I haven't participated in this topic too much, but these two are worthy of note.

Impregnable Wall: 10/10.  If Ashes & Dust is a 10/10, then call Impregnable Wall an 11/10.  It, Stride, and Dance of the Goddess are the strongest gambits in the entire game that break the game in different ways.  All three enable you to play in fundamentally different ways that isn't true from the "here's some damage" ones.  This gambit is so strong that I try to soft-restrict myself from using it too much after being a little too Wall-happy in some playthroughs.

So a few things to note.  Wall has an amazing 5 uses.  it can hit up to 3 characters each time.  That's a lot of turns where you can stonewall / blockade.  Wall is very flexible in how it's used. You can get damage in first then Wall afterward for Enemy Phase (great for player phase glass cannons, who can be moved into danger safely), or you can Wall a unit then send them forward to bravely aggro a cluster of enemies while shrugging them off.  You can create an unbreakable chokepoint, even with random force-deployed underlevel units or backline healers.  You can bait forward dangerous enemies & lure bosses off defensive terrain / formations.  You can use Wall to more easily break monster shields, even terrifying boss monsters.  You can navigate some nonsense ninja reinforcements and take paths that will be in their paths that wouldn't be safe to do otherwise.  While this is more a styling thing, Wall also allows for some goofy weapon-break strategies against dangerous units equipped with weapons that don't have a ton of uses - Wall a unit, send it way ahead to draw out Gronder 2 Edelgard and let her waste all her Raging Storm uses, say (as long as nobody else is in range!), or break the C6 Death Knight's Scythe of Sariel, or just wear down limited Siege Tome uses like enemy Meteor / Bolting.  

As noted, the baiting use of Wall overlaps a bit with dodgetanks, but I don't consider that a flaw of the gambit.  Dodgetank builds are extremely broken; the fact that Wall emulates it just makes it also broken.  I got the heaviest use out of Wall in my Crimson Flower playthrough where I didn't really use many flyers (just Byleth, and only sometimes) nor a dodgetank dancer, and Impregnable Wall's value was obvious as a result (doing the Deirdru map sans flyers was a choice all right - I can't imagine how to deal with Nader without Wall in such a situation, especially if you want to save a Meteor shot for Claude.  Maybe Stride but then you have to survive all his friends.).  Even if you are running some proper dodgetanks, well, the more the merrier - sometimes you want to safely bait in two different directions, or you don't want to risk an unlucky hit.  And the main usage of "change a dangerous overextension into a safe one" remains of course.

Finally, while this is theoretically a battalion agnostic ranking, this gambit is on a flying battalion for the Deer; since this gambit has exceptional synergy with Canto, that's pretty handy.  (Not the end of the world to use Empire Armored Co on a cavalier or something though, of course.)  

Sacred Shield: 6/10.  It's very situational and worse than Impregnable Wall in most situations, but that's not a bad place to be, and it's actually better for a few rare situations (the already noted Azure Moon final maps where some sort of Retribution / Sacred Shield setup can allow you to clear a bunch of siege tome users in a single turn - and the AM final map is hard, that's worth something).  It's niche, but powerful in that niche.

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Really appreciate all the feedback this has been getting, especially with the dive into support gambits! As for the first two we considered, Impregnable Wall stood the few criticisms levied against it, while Sacred Shield may not be quite as holy as it wants us to think.

14 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Anyway, are there plans to do something like this for combat arts?

Eventually, perhaps. Right now, my plan is to get through the gambits, then parlay that into rating the battalions as a whole (likely a lengthier endeavor, since there are more of them). I'd love to hear your own thoughts on them, too. If anyone else wishes to pilot a "Let's Consider Combat Arts" sort of thread, though, I would absolutely be here for it!

Anyway, what have we got today?

Chapter 11: Resonant White Magic and Retribution

Let's consider a couple more support gambits - each affecting a slightly larger area, albeit with fewer charges.

Resonant White Magic

Spoiler

Might: - -

Hit: 100

Range: 1

Uses: 3

AoE: Box

Effect: Applies the Heal spell to all allies in range.

Retribution

Spoiler

Might: - -

Hit: 100

Range: 1

Uses: 2

AoE: Box

Effect: Applies the Counterattack ability to all allies in range, for up to 5 turns.

The grading guidelines can be reviewed in my previous post (Chapter 10). So, what do I think of these two gambits?

Spoiler

Resonant White Magic is one of the first support gambits that becomes available to the player, along with Stride, on all routes. It can be thought of as a weaker Fortify, covering only 6 allies at most, and restoring HP equivalent to the Heal spell. Fortify is a rare and late-coming spell, so getting an earlier version of it may seem very welcome. And in certain scenarios, it's actually preferable to Fortify (say, a unit in a low-HP build is within Fortify range, but out of RWM range). That said, its range is a very limited one - if I have two units baiting foes from different parts of the map, they'll generally not fall within a narrow Box of one another. It can help if, say, multiple units take hits from nearby enemies. But this can very with your method of play - I often try to prep a single unit (say a defensive tank, or a dodgetank) to draw in multiple enemies per enemy-phase. In that case, if any healing is needed, the Heal spell does just as well. In fact, Heal is just as strong as this gambit when only one ally is in need - and with this gambit's association with magic-oriented battalions, along with the ease of achieving D-Faith, most conceivable users will retain Heal access. Ultimately, it can provide a welcome resource in the earlygame, but once better support (and offensive) options arrive, it simply finds itself eclipsed. I'm grading this one a very modest 4 out of 10.

Retribution is a bit harder to get access to - while the Blue Lions (who seem to receive all the good support gambits) get it from the earlygame, it's otherwise only associated with A-rank battalions. And with good reason - the ability it grants is an incredibly powerful one. Weapons are often balanced, at least in part, around range. High-might weapons (like the Lance of Ruin) and High-crit ones (like the Cursed Ashiya Sword) are generally held to 1-range, thus limiting their ability against ranged enemies on enemy-phase. Bows are something of an exception, but even those require a skill slot (Close Counter) to deal with 1-range foes. The Retribution gambit throws this consideration out the window - now any weapon can be a potent enemy-phase tool, regardless of innate range, even against enemy Bow Knights and siege Warlocks. This power single-handedly enables certain builds - Battalion Wrath/Vantage Dimitri, perhaps the most revered enemy-phase build in the game, would be far less game-breaking if he could only engage with 1-range attackers. It's no small exaggeration to say that Retribution completely changes the way you play, and opens a whole world of options to the player. And while only 2 charges sounds weak, IS (in their unbounded wisdom) decided that each use will last for 5 whole turns. 2 charges, then, can manifest as 10 turns total - more than enough time to take on most maps, particularly while playing in an efficient manner. And while it can only affect up to 6 allies at a time, it's rare that you'll have more than 6 strong enemy-phase units (oftentimes, a single one is more than enough to break a map). With the ability to counterattack only learned innately by a single unit (Jeritza), and otherwise limited to the Chalice of Beginnings (thus exhausting your equippable slot), a gambit that grants it to any ally is revolutionary. For all that this one enables, I think Retribution deserves a perfect 10 out of 10. It's really just that good.

Looking forward to everyone else's thoughts!

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  • Shanty Pete's 1st Mate changed the title to Let's Grade Some Gambits, Chapter 11: Resonant White Magic, Retribution
1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

If anyone else wishes to pilot a "Let's Consider Combat Arts" sort of thread, though, I would absolutely be here for it!

As an onlooker I'd love to see a Let's Consider Spells and Combat Arts

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Resonant White Magic: I usually stick this on someone in the early game, never use it, and then replace it with something better as soon as I can. There's a lot that works against this one. It's pretty rare to have occasions with two people who need healing in the relatively small area of effect. Theoretically, you can move people around to set up for a big heal with this, but if you have the time to do that, you probably have time to heal with spells instead. Unlike most support gambits (which have unique effects) or offensive gambits (which rattle), this isn't doing anything that you can't do without gambits other than being slightly more efficient if you ever can get it to land on multiple targets. Then there's the problem of all mages being able to cross-train in Faith, meaning that it's rare to ever run out of healing options. If you only had a single character who was able to heal then being able to turn to something like this in a pinch might be useful, but in Three Houses, if your healer is overwhelmed then you can have a mage help out. This is especially the case given that Recover and Physic are both available from very early on, requiring only C rank Faith, which means it isn't long before this is getting thoroughly outclassed. If I had the choice of giving a unit one use of this or one use of Physic, then I'd prefer the one use of Physic. But Physic is readily available, doesn't take your Gambit slot, and has five uses. For its early game mediocrity and late game awfulness and for the fact that I never use it when I do equip it, I give Resonant White Magic 2/10.

Retribution: More than any other gambit, this is the one that I hope we never see in any future Fire Emblem games, because it's just too good. For starters, this has two uses, with each use hitting up to six targets and lasting for five turns. A lot of the time, this ends up being roughly equivalent to "half of your army, for the whole battle". Just from this, the effect wouldn't have to be particularly great for this to still be worth using. Even relatively small effects are nice to have when applied so broadly. However, this is not a relatively small effect. Counterattack is hugely powerful and is relevant in a lot of different situations. You can throw it on any enemy-phase unit (either a dodge tank or a vantage/wrath build) and have them completely break the game. You can completely negate the range advantage of enemy archers or mages. You can take out mages with siege tomes with ease. You can put it on your own archers to free up the ability slot that they would otherwise reserve for Close Counter. You can use it by itself or in conjunction with other buffs. It's great on all difficulty levels. There's really not any more to say. This is just good. I can't see any way to give Retribution anything less than 10/10.

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Resonant White Magic: 3/10

Probably the worst support Gambit.  It might see some use in Chapter 3 an maybe 4 since most mages will only have half Heal uses, but once they promote to Monk it really falls to the wayside. A 3x2 box at one range is pretty awkward to make good use of, not to mention how earlygame units really don't want to be eating counters since they want one shot with steel weapons after some chip damage instead. It doesn't even has the courtesy of healing most units to full, usually barely even healing for 12 HP.

Not much to say here other than Cethline Monks would've benefited a lot more from not having it as it's gambit.

Retribution: 9/10

A core reason as to why Wrath/Vantage is as strong as it is. Making unit who'd otherwise be constrained to one range makes otherwise intimidating enemies like Siege magic users a non issue. Only reason why it's not a 10/10 is because of it being locked to A rank battalions on non AM routes and you need to a enemy phase set up to really make great use of it.

It's gambit that takes a lot of investment to get and make use out of, but is worth every bit of that investment.

Edited by LoneRecon400
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Resonant White Magic: 2/10. Honestly, that feels kinda generous, but it does have some slight niche in theory. I'd certainly rather have the likes of Assembly or Disturbance, I find, when it's relevant early in the game. Rattling enemies good, healing people... I mean, I already have healers? To make matters worse this is on magic battalions, it'd have a bit more use in physical ones, but my magical units can already heal by chapter 3 (i.e. the start of this battalion's availability). Very, very rarely the AOE might be useful enough to justify it.

Retribution: 8/10. Obviously good stuff, I basically agree with what has already been said. I'm a little less high on it than some because, as I've said before, we already have Cichol Wyverns vs Black Eagle Pegasus staring me in the face and telling me I prefer Cichol sometimes just for still having AOE rattle, if the user's charm is high enough. FE3H is just a very player phase-focused game, at least the way I play it, and Counterattack still has some considerable holes (ballistas/onagers, gambits). But Retribution is still nice; at worst you get some extra counters you wouldn't otherwise; at best it can allow someone to try to do some sweeping with (Battalion) Wrath, for all that I do find those setups rather finnicky on average. And it's a 10/10 gambit against siege tomes, and those are one of the bigger dangers in this game, so there's that.

 

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Well, it seems like Resonant White Magic didn't really brighten anyone's day. On the flip side, Retribution has come back with a vengeance, to reign supreme among all support gambits (thus far). Which ones will we be considering today?

Chapter 12: Stride and Recovery Roar

Here, we look at two gambits - one ubiquitous, the other obscure - which share the ability to affect a huge number of allies simultaneously.

Stride

Spoiler

Type: Support

Might: - -

Hit: 100

Range: 1

Uses: 2

AoE: Diamond

Effect: Grants Movement +5 to all allies within the AoE, for the remainder of the turn.

Recovery Roar

Spoiler

Type: Support

Might: - -

Hit: 100

Range: 1

Uses: 5

AoE: Diamond

Effect: Resets the status condition of all allies within the AoE to normal.

First, a brief recap of the grading guidelines:

On 6/3/2021 at 9:17 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Here's what I'm thinking - each Gambit will be graded on a scale from 1 to 10. If difficulty would be relevant to the ranking, let's assume New Game Maddening (if you're ranking by a different standard, of course I won't stop you, but please make it clear). In case it's relevant, again, assume access to DLC and Nintendo Switch Online. I'll provide my score, and everyone else is welcome to share their own score, too. Gambits will be graded on:

  • Damage and hit rate (offensive only)
  • Charges per map
  • Range and Area-of-Effect
  • Side and/or support effects

Now, what do I think of these gambits? Find out below!

Spoiler

Stride is one of those gambits that, when people first learned about it, seemed too good to be true. It can affect up to 12 allies at a time? It basically doubles the range of infantry units, while further extending my mounties? I get to use it twice per map? Support gambits are gonna be busted! While "busted" may not be the case for all support gambits, it is most certainly true for this one. Previously-unreachable enemies become reachable. Mounties who couldn't attack without leaving themselves in harm's way can now canto back to safety. Boss-kill maps that otherwise demanded a long slog, are now one-turn affairs. And more often than not, the player's starting unit formation allows you to Stride at least half your army on turn one. Even if it were a single-use gambit, in a Diamond shape, granting +2 move, it would be good. As it exists, it's simply outstanding. That said, this is one gambit that I would consider less outstanding on Maddening, than on lower difficulties. Maddening adds a ton more enemies, and the ones that exist are harder to take down. So, while Normal mode might see you one-round a few enemies, with your remaining units out of things to do without Stride support, Maddening presents more nearby allies that often take more than one unit to take down. Moreover, strategies of hyper-extending a particular unit, that are bold (but ultimately) safe on Normal, can become perilous amidst tougher foes. Considering this gambit on Maddening mode, a grade of 9 out of 10 is what I think it deserves. It's excellent, better even than Impregnable Wall - but not quite as game-busting as Retribution. Still a must-bring to most maps.

Recovery Roar is treated, I think, as something of a joke. Much like Sacred Shield, it's exclusive to a single battalion on Azure Moon (seriously, why is Dimitri hogging all the support options?), and people don't necessarily understand what it's there for. It can basically be thought of as the Restore spell, but in miniature. The Diamond AoE is a large Area-of-Effect, to be sure, but the Restore spell can affect an area several times its size. Not to mention, Restore gets an absurd 10 uses per map, in a game where status effects aren't especially common. So, is Recovery Roar completely outclassed by the Restore spell? I'll say "Yes, But." Restore is stronger, but there's no guarantee that A) you have a Restore user on your team, B) your Restore user is in range of the units who need help, and C) your Restore user doesn't have something else they'd rather do with their turn (i.e. attacking). While status effects are largely inconsequential (Poison is non-lethal, the enemy almost never Silences, and threatening conditions from prior games like Sleep and Berserk are non-existent), there is one exception - Rattling. If your units get their bones Rattled (stats lowered, frozen in place) by an enemy gambit, you most likely want to get them moving again, which Restore (and Recovery Roar) allow you to do. So they can have their uses, saving a turn, or an imperiled ally. At the end of the day, though, it's a nicher version of a niche spell. It deserves some theoretical props for its charge count and AoE, but the former is overkill, while the latter is generally overshadowed by Restore. I don't think this gambit deserves any higher than a 3 out of 10.

Can't wait to hear what you all think about these two gambits!

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  • Shanty Pete's 1st Mate changed the title to Let's Grade Some Gambits, Chapter 12: Stride, Recovery Roar

1/10 for Recovery Roar. Simply put, in a game where Restore exists, I'd find it hard to find a use for this. Worse yet, the one route that gets this gives you Mercedes and fish girl (iirc, the latter joins before the one battalion with this is made available).

9/10 for Stride. The move boost is huge, though Maddening puts a damper on its usefulness because enemies are tougher and there are more of them.

Edited by Shadow Mir
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I don't consider Stride to be any worse on Maddening when compared to Hard mode. I find that cheesing certain maps is even more useful considering that the alternative is that much more difficult. At worst a stride use allows the player to easily kill a group of enemies on any given without having to lure them which still probably ranks it among the best gambits.

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Stride. This is similar to Retribution, in that it has so many potential use cases. +5 movement to multiple units at once is very powerful and it's up to the player to decide what they want to do with it. Want to combine it with Warp and Dance and send a unit to the opposite corner of the map to kill the boss on turn 1? You can do that. Want to turn Raging Flame Wyvern Lord Edelgard into even more of a wrecking ball than she already is? Sure. How about using it on turn 1 to completely reposition your entire army and fundamentally shift how the entire engagement for the map is going to take place? That's good too. Or how about putting this on some ranged attackers with Canto like Bow Knights or Dark Fliers to give them ridiculous effective range for hit and run attacks? Or making sure you can chase down a secondary objective in time before you finish a map? Or desperately trying to get a unit where they're needed if you get yourself into a tough situation? Or throwing an enemy-phase unit far forward into the middle of the enemy formation and watching the carnage? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. And because it has so many different uses, you don't even necessarily have to know exactly how you're going to use it beforehand. You can just stick it on one of your main units, bring it along every time, and be safe in the knowledge that you will always be able to find some strong use for it. The only question in my mind is whether to give them a 9 or a 10. While I agree that there are some uses of Stride that are not as strong on Maddening as on lower difficulties, I also think that there are other uses (eg, hit and run attacks, claiming secondary objectives) that are better -- or at least more often necessary -- on Maddening. Due to the sheer wide array of uses, I think I'm going to give Stride 10/10.

Recovery Roar. From the sublime to the ridiculous. This is straight up just a worse version of Restore. If you had access to both Recovery Roar and Restore on the same character, then there would be some cases where they're basically the same, some cases where Restore is better, and basically no cases where Recovery Roar was better (technically it's possible to think up situations where you'd prefer Recovery Roar, but they're so unlikely that they can be safely ignored. Add to this the fact that Restore isn't particularly good in the first place. Or rather, Restore is completely useless for 99% of the game and then suddenly critically important on the two or three times per game when you do need it. Except that we aren't rating Restore, we're rating Recovery Roar. Which is useless 99% of the time and then probably also useless the other 1% of the time because you probably already have Restore on someone else. (Linhardt, Mercedes and Flayn all have it, as do Balthus and Jeritza if you have them in half-magic classes, and a few other people who generally have no business going anywhere near magic classes.) However, while you're probably going to be running one of these characters, you might not be. Recovery Roar also has the benefit that you can put it on a character with higher movement. Linhardt, Flayn and Mercedes will typically all sit in either Bishop or -- where available -- Gremory, which are low-movement infantry classes. Having Recovery Roar on a flier can make it easier to get it where you need it to be. But, ultimately, even in the situations where you cna't just use Restore instead, this still isn't very strong because there just aren't enough dangerous conditions out there for it to be useful. It has enough about it to barely save it from the absolute bottom of the barrel, but only barely. 2/10.

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Stride: 9/10. Really good, the best support gambit we've rated yet. First off, Stride can potentially target your entire team, except the user, depending on how they're arranged. Second of all, its effect is Warp. While it loses range to a powerful lategame Warp in range, it's quite comparable to a midgame one (with some terrain limitations), or one used by a lower-magic unit like Manuela. Warp is really good, right? And this is like Warping, potentially 8-10 people at once. It completely changes what you can do on any given turn, in a very good way. You can reach enemies you wouldn't otherwise reach, get moving faster towards secondary objectives (hello Raphael/Ignatz paralogue, Chapter 8, etc.), reach allies you couldn't otherwise reach (to heal/dance/etc.), allow a canto unit a more flexible retreat or progress following their action, and so on. It's so good that I've sometimes used it to target just one or two people, especially when I need a sudden change to my plans, and it's still really useful even then!

The only reason I'm not giving it 10 is that it does suffer a bit from diminishing returns; Stride has basically one guaranteed super-useful use each fight, and each one is steadily less useful thereafter, to the point where a second Stride battalion is obviously not bringing as much to the table as a first. I don't find Gautier Knights to be a must-use battalion the way Immortal Corps is (although it's certainly a usually-use) And it doesn't singlehandedly make the hardest fight in the game way easier the way Ashes and Dust does. But honestly I could be argued for a 10 (and I would definitely give it a 10 if I considered Warpskip-style fast completitions, since it's invaluable then). It's better than Retribution IMO, since it's guaranteed very useful in every map, regardless of your setups or the types of enemies you're facing (and replicates IMO Retribution's best use, enabling safe kills on siege tomes etc.).

Recovery Roar: 1/10. Yep, it's a crappy version of Restore, and gambits should never be "crappy version of an existing ability" (although RWM does this with Fortify as well, I suppose... at least Fortify is A rank). It's even worse than that, though. Restore is an effect you never know when you'll need. You rarely plan to get hit by a gambit, you just accept that if you leave a unit in range of one, it might happen. I docked Sacred Shield points for being situational - that there are many fights where it's just basically useless. Like Sacred Shield, there might be one or two maps where Recovery Roar might be very useful. The difference is, you don't know which maps those will be in advance, since you don't know when someone might be hit with a gambit! Annnd that's even assuming you have nobody with Restore; if you do, there's a good chance RR is just never useful, period. If you're using someone with Restore (very high chance on any route except Golden Deer, not a terrible chance then), RR will basically only see use on a turn where someone is rattled AND you have more pressing uses for your white mage's turn than your RR-user's turn. It's very possible that doesn't ever occur. I was gonna give this a 2, but I think I've argued myself it's appreciably worse than Resonant White Magic, so... to the basement it goes.

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Welcome back, everyone! Of the two gambits we considered last time, one of them really took the positive reception in stride. The other one, though, I don't see recovering anytime soon from the roaring denunciation it received. So, what's on the docket today?

Chapter 13: Blessing and Dance-of-the-Goddess

Whereas yesterday, we considered two gambits with large areas of effect and multiple uses, today we consider those that can impact far fewer allies, just once per map. Do their effects make up for this shortcoming?

Blessing

Spoiler

Might: - -

Hit: 100

Range: 1

Uses: 1

AoE: Plus Sign

Effect: All allies in range receive one guaranteed Miracle effect, surviving a would-be-lethal blow on 1 HP.

Dance of the Goddess

Spoiler

Might: - -

Hit: 100

Range: 1

Uses: 1

AoE: Plus Sign

Effect: All allies in range, who have already taken their turn, can move and take their turn again.

Brief reminder of the guidelines:

On 7/13/2021 at 9:14 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Here's what I'm thinking - each Gambit will be graded on a scale from 1 to 10. If difficulty would be relevant to the ranking, let's assume New Game Maddening (if you're ranking by a different standard, of course I won't stop you, but please make it clear). In case it's relevant, again, assume access to DLC and Nintendo Switch Online. I'll provide my score, and everyone else is welcome to share their own score, too. Gambits will be graded on:

  • Damage and hit rate (offensive only)
  • Charges per map
  • Range and Area-of-Effect
  • Side and/or support effects

And now - what do I think of these two gambits?

Spoiler

Blessing is, to be sure, a fairly interesting tool. Miracle can find itself the butt of many a joke, as far as skills go - it's a Luck-based ability that, should it not activate, makes for a dead unit. A guaranteed Miracle, then, is a welcome addition. Suddenly it's something you don't have to cross your fingers, pick a god and pray for, but that you can count on instead. It synergizes splendidly with units in low-HP builds - users of Vantage/Wrath shenanigans, the Defiant skills, the Vengeance combat art, or any combination of the aforementioned. That said, it's not the only way to safely get a unit down to 1 HP - guard adjutants reduce the damage a unit takes, including turning lethal enemy follow-ups into just-barely-not-lethal strikes. And while it's slower, Devil Weapons or (for the crestless) Relics take a non-lethal 10 HP from their wielder every phase. As such, while the effect offered by Blessing is a situationally powerful one, it's not unique. And since it can only be cast once per battle, if you absent-mindedly restore a low-HP unit's health (say, via Fortify, or by wielding a Sacred Weapon), you'll need to get creative to get their HP back down again. The small area-of-effect is unfortunate, too - although you'll likely hit all your low-HP units, other units outside of said builds would still appreciate the insurance of living on 1. This feels like a gambit that they could have given more uses (a la Sacred Shield), or a larger AoE (a la Stride) to. As it stands, the effect isn't quite strong enough to justify the constraints. Bring it if you have a flying unit (since they can't use Guard Adjutants) in a low-HP build, otherwise leave it behind. 4 out of 10.

Dance of the Goddess is, immediately, an incredibly attractive gambit. If you've played the series long enough, you know how powerful of a technique Dancing is. And if you've played it far back enough, you know how particularly broken it was in Genealogy. In that game, your Dancer could refresh not just one, but all four adjacent allies, with a single routine. In this case, you can refresh just as many, albeit in a rather different space. While the Plus Sign gambits ostensibly cover 5 tiles, those with a range of 1 have to deal with the fact that one of the "affected" tiles is occupied by its caster (who remains unaffected by it). While it may seem sensible to give this ability to your Dancer, there's a solid case for putting it on a non-Dancer unit (since doing so allows you to refresh your Dancer - who can, in their own right, Dance twice in one turn). It can be very good for getting certain units out of trouble, or making trouble for the enemy by reaching otherwise-inaccessible targets. It combines phenomenally with Stride, permitting its caster, and its targets, to practically cross the entire map in one turn. That said, we do need to be cognizant of its limitations. At only one use per map, you need to be sure that you're using it at just the right moment - waste it, and you won't get a second shot. And while its small area-of-effect seems to be balanced around its great impact, it's just that - balanced. This gambit's an excellent one, and with proper planning, it can help you trivialize certain maps. But its downsides leave it somewhat short of potentially being the best support tool in the game. 8 out of 10.

I'll look forward to reading your own thoughts!

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  • Shanty Pete's 1st Mate changed the title to Let's Grade Some Gambits, Chapter 13: Blessing, Dance of the Goddess

Blessing: 8/10

A very valuable Gambit that aids Enemy Phase setups pretty substantially.  It helps boost the consistency of dogdetanking in conjuction with Wrath or Defiant Crit, allows Vantage users to keep on living if they miss criting an enemy, enables a quick setup on flying Vengeance users rather than having to rely on Devil Weapons or not having a crest, and allows a good amount of units to fight bosses that otherwise would've just straight up oneshot them.

Guard Adjutants also doesn't fulfill the same role as Blessing as they do nothing for the first attack. If a unit doesn't get doubled, Guard Adjutants aren't accomplishing anything of value. Of course if a unit does get doubled, they work best together as a Guard Adjutant will prevent Blessing from activating if it's the one taking the lethal blow, which can be very useful for Vantage users.

A very good Gambit that really complements the reliability of Enemy Phase setups. It may be valued less if one doesn't value EP setups, but the extent it helps them out cannot be understated.

Dance of the Goddess: 10/10

A flat out gamebreaking gambit. Allowing for potential 5 extra actions per turn in a game with battle Canto is just asinine. It's one use sure, but it's the primary reason why incredibly bulky bosses like the SS Immaculate One and Indech are able to be one turned. One use is all you need when 90% of this game objectives are defeat the boss.

Even if you don't use it for one turn clears, the Gambit is still extremely busted. It can be used to help remove enemies with Battalions on Player Phase so they're not a a threat on Enemy Phase, allow additional uses of other support gambits like Impregnable Wall, and can allow up to 4 actions per turn on your best unit. It's practical applications are quite versatile and can fit in a variety of situations.

The only that keeps it somewhat balanced is it's availability and stats, but this list doesn't account for the former and isn't even a factor in AM where you get in Chapter 14. The latter cannot be somewhat annoying, but the gambit is worth bringing for itself. It also could be used on a unit on that's not reliant on stats like Ignatz, who can provide utility in rallying and using Break Shot on monsters. But those things are footnotes to compared to how useful this gambit is.

In short, if Stride was not in this game, this would be the best Gambit in the game hands down.

Edited by LoneRecon400
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Blessing: I'm not really sure how to rate this. On the one hand, it's very useful with Vantage/Wrath, Defiant and Vengeance builds, either for setting them up in the first place or as an insurance policy against having one unlucky hit somehow manage to sneak through. On the other hand, if you aren't using this kind of setup then it's borderline useless. Just throwing it on a few people at random as protection against dying doesn't really do anything. Unless you are specifically set up for it, surviving on 1hp often just means you get killed by the next enemy attacking you instead. Yeah, you can get some use out of it even if you just play it straight and don't look for synergies, but it really isn't a lot of use. This is maybe an 8 if you're using specific builds that have good synergy with it and maybe a 2 if you aren't. I'm going to split the difference and say that overall, this gets a 5/10.

Dance of the Goddess: In terms of action economy, despite having a five-tile AoE, this only actually gives you an extra three actions per turn. You can only refresh 4 units at maximum since you need to stand in the fifth space. then it also takes1 action to activate this, so you're only gaining a net of three extra actions. Well, I say "only" but three extra actions on a turn is pretty huge, especially since it also has the regular benefits of Dance: namely, being able to use it on your best unit (or more specifically, whichever unit is best suitred to deal with the threats you are facing at a particular time). Being able to use your best unit four times in one turn can let you pull off some extremely powerful feats. Regardless of whether you're using this for one-turn shenanigans or just more casually to get a super powerful turn, this is going to do great things. Only having one charge and requiring slightly finnicky positioning are its biggest drawbacks and hold me back from giving this a 10, but this is still absurdly good and easily warrants a 9/10.

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