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Reclass recommendations for early on


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Hello, I have gotten started playing FE12 Hard mode. I wanted to get used to the game before I try Lunatic mode. I’m at chapter 1 and while I have some ideas about who reclass early on but I’m not sure on what to start with.

So far, I have made my male avatar a mercenary then reclassed him into a pirate so I can work on my axe rank. I do plan on eventually turning him into a Hero. Unless I should just stick to merc for now.

My other units are Ryan as a Archer, Luke as a Myrmidon, Rody as a Cavalier, Cecille as a Mage (though I am considering Pegasus Knight instead), Gordin as a Archer, Draug as a Knight (though I am considering a Dark Mage instead) and Arran as a Paladin.

If any can give me some reclassing tips to at least get me started that would be great. Thanks in advance.

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It's been a long time since I've played New Mystery on Hard mode, so I'll just share how I tend to reclass when I play on maniac (my preferred difficulty choice) and Reverse Lunatic (if you don't know what that is, it's lunatic, but every enemy attacks first even on player phase, as if they had vantage+). Kris, being an avatar, can be used in many ways and work out pretty well. Since you've gone with the mercenary route, I'd say pirate is a pretty solid choice for the early game, as having a decent axe rank will allow him to use hand axes and steel axes if reclassed temporarily to a wyvern, which is a very useful class in the midgame (chapter 7 through chapter 13). Afterwards, you can choose to play as hero Kris and have proficient ranks in both swords and axes. Mercenary is generally helpful in the prologue for his high base speed and great speed growth, but pirates also have a formidable speed growth, along with a good strength growth, so it's usually much more helpful than mercs (although pirate reclassing is very limited). The main downside of pirates is their lackluster defense, but that could also help when baiting out enemies, as new mystery AI (at least on higher difficulties) prioritizes maximum damage input over all else. The hero class should suffice for the entirety of Hard mode, but you might consider Berserker Kris on the late game for the slightly better speed cap + the 30 strength cap. Alternatively, you could go for swordmaster/horseman Kris on lunatic if you want absolute focus on speed to double most thing on the final few chapters. Point is, enemies are really fast on lunatic, and you'd want classes such as swordmaster, horseman, sniper, and berserker over the rest if you wish to reliably double enemies. Caps in this game are important, as growth rates are pretty high in this game. This is why wyverns aren't so great past the halfway point, as they have a mediocre 23 speed cap, while most enemies in chapter 15 on lunatic will have 20 or above. If you want, I could clarify on speed benchmarks per chapter, but that might be a bit too much of just me telling you how to play, which I hope I'm not accidentally doing right now. Most of what I'm saying doesn't matter on Hard mode. 

Here's my take on the others: (I forgot to mention this earlier, but many more reclassing options become available when beating the game on hard, so most of what I say about reclassing can't be applied on a first playthrough)

Ryan: Archers are useful for not getting countered from the enemy, which hit REALLY hard on lunatic/reverse lunatic, so having archers is helpful. However, if no one else is occupying the hunter class, I'd suggest having be that, at least for the first couple of chapters. Archers have a slightly higher speed growth, but hunters have better base stats (mainly +2 speed), and the ability to double in the early game will help him get kills a lot more easily, and Ryan is mostly a growth unit. You could either keep him that way throughout the game and have him be a horseman, or you could reclass him back to archer/sniper to reach the cap speed much faster (and he gets slightly more defense). Horseman are, for the most part, objectively superior, as they have higher movement, and most capped stats are identical, with horseman having 1 more speed cap. But, there's always moments where you might want to frequently change between the two depending on the moment. (Archer is fine on hard)

Luke: He is one of the most helpful units in the game if given just enough levels to not struggle too much in chapter 1 on Lunatic. He has a 60% strength growth and 50% speed growth simply as a cavalier and has the 2nd most availability throughout the game (along with Rody of course). Personally, I think Luke is the best candidate for being reclassed into a hunter, especially on Reverse Lunatic, as he has 65% growth in both strength and speed while still having a somewhat decent 30% defense growth, letting him be great chip damage for the early game and become an ohko'ing machine later on. Once, he's promoted to a horseman, he can make use of his sword rank again if needed. He can also be a great pirate, holding a 120% hp growth (and a 70% speed growth), allowing him to easily reach 60 hp and max speed by the late game/mid-late game. As for your current reclassing options in hard mode, Luke is most likely best off remaining as a cavalier in the early game to keep using javelins and having the movement needed to stop running thieves from ruining your day. Of course, if myrmidon is doing really well for you or if you're simply having fun having him in a different class, then by all means keep using him like that (I love being in silly classes in the ds games so I just wanted to clarify that I don't wish to tell you how to play). Luckily, swordmasters actually have 8 movement in New Mystery, so you could relcass him into that once he promotes if you wish to do so. Either way, Luke is a great unit that will almost never let you down.

Rody: There's not too much to say about Rody since he's similar to Luke in his starting class and join time. He's slightly faster than Luke, but has less strength. I'd say that cavalier is a safe option. His lank rank won't matter in other un-promoted classes. Funnily enough, Rody having 1 less stat than Luke in most areas is enough to make Rody become much less valued than Luke in Lunatic, as it's often enough to get him doubled and killed immediately. That and most early game enemies are axe users, making Luke's steel sword much more helpful for getting kills. Of course, he's still a decent unit. The main thing is that you're probably choosing to train either Luke or Rody, and most will pick Luke. Training both is near impossible on Lunatic and is generally not worth it. You wouldn't want to spread your exp too thin so early on.

Cecile: I'm assuming you put her as a mage because nobody else can use tomes at this time. If that's the case, then don't worry, because you'll get another mage very soon. Usually I have Rody as my mage because he's going to get ohko'd anyways. May as well let him attack from range. You'll get a couple of Pegasus fliers soon, and you can't have that many falcon knights, as they promote with a specific item that there are only 3 of. Her thing is having super high speed, but being very frail in hp. If she isn't a cavalry, then I might suggest archer Cecile to let her avoid counterattacks. Fe12 is largely a player phase game, so not being able to counterattack shouldn't hurt her too much. Again, she can be pretty good in most classes when trained, as that is how the cavalry trio works. Using all of them is nice in Hard and I'd say go for it as long as you enjoy using them all, but you'd probably pick only Luke to focus on if you play Lunatic in the future.

Gordin: Pretty much the same advice as Ryan. The only thing I'll add is that Ryan has better growths, while Gordin has better base stats. Ryan can easily surpass Gordin if given kills throughout the prologue, which is best done in prologue 4, where you can have Kris make a chokepoint in the top left corner of the map, having Ryan in range of the enemy archer (assuming you do the route with Athena instead of Jeorge). Then, you're free to shoot from your little bunker and get some easy levels to catch up. This is what I did on my Reverse Lunatic playthrough to have a decent early game archer, but definitely isn't needed on regular lunatic. I'd honestly suggest mostly givning kills to Kris on Lunatic prologue to help him tank enemies once the main campaign begins.

Draug: This guy has an oddly great speed growth and base stat when reclassed out of an armor knight. I'm guessing his defense in nice in Hard, but he will absolutely get destroyed in any higher difficulty. Once again, he is known to be a decent hunter, but he can actually reclass into this without needing to beat the game once. His strength isn't that great though, so he might want to be a fighter or pirate to fix that flaw (Plus he'll have 90% hp growth). I might suggest fighter Draug if you wish to use him for the long run. Unfortunately, Draug's lance rank won't do him much good outside of being an general. Axe rank training would probably help, or bow rank if you go to the hunter route. Dark mage Draug only has a 20% magic growth, so don't expect much from that. One defense for hunter being such an optimal class is the frequent number of enemy fliers in new mystery's early game, making forged bows your best friend.

Arran: The good ol Jagen of the game. He probably falls off the hardest given new mystery enemies actually scaling pretty high. In hard mode, paladin should be fine. High movement and balanced stats never hurt anyone. However, most people will make him a general in higher difficulties, as he gets an amazing defense boost that make him be one of the only people that can take 2 hits, and he has just enough speed to not get doubled for a little while. Of course, once he starts getting consistently doubled, it's probably benching time. Luckily, you'll have more units by then. 

New Mystery is a game where reclassing will play a major role in success, at least on high difficulties. The following four classes are very helpful to be trained in on the second half of the game to ensure high speed caps required to double late game enemies: Swordmaster (30 cap), Horseman (30 cap), Sniper (29 cap), and Berserker (28 cap). These classes generally increase speed growths to levels that will let you reliably reach doubling benchmarks for most of the game. Berserker/Hunters also carry good strength, giving them the best chances of ohko'ing enemies. Classes like warrior and general may help at certain instances depending on how you've been training your units, but have low speed caps that will prevent you from leveling up the needed points to consistently double enemies (generals will be doubled and destroyed in the final few chapters on Maniac/Lunatic even with cap speed). Fighters and Pirates share growths in hp and strength, but pirates have much more speed, while fighters have more defense and a better base hp sets. Remember to not relcass too much, as weapon ranks are pretty important in the DS games. C rank weapons let you use super effective which can be quite handy in many chapters. Reaching A rank will give you adequate stat bonuses (A rank sword give you +3 might when using that weapon type, A axes gives you decent hit rate boosts, lance/tome/bows give +2 might and a slight accuracy boost). Generally, you wouldn't want to change people from being physical to magical units or vice versa, as the conversion between strength and magic growths will be poor. However, reclassing sages to swordmasters can actually be beneficial in some cases, as it will allow them to use the Levin sword which has a pretty decent might, while increasing the sage's speed drastically, helping them double enemies they might not have double before. There's only a few Levin swords though, so don't rely on this as a full build. This is likely a lot to take in, but New Mystery is usually a game where you improve a lot through experience. Before moving on to lunatic, I'd suggest evaluating yourself once you beat in on hard. If it was an absolute piece of cake, then feel free to jump to Lunatic. But I'd honestly recommend playing on Maniac first after hard. New Mystery is a pretty hard game, and each difficulty jump is high. Lunatic will make you use everything you have just to survive. It often incentivizes fast play, as not quickly dispatching of enemies or heading the seize room quick enough will usually lead to you getting overwhelmed by reinforcements and getting screwed over. If you couldn't tell, I'm a New Mystery fanatic, but even I think Lunatic can be a bit much at times. You don't really appreciate the design until you've played enough times to know how to get around the maps and enemy positioning. Sorry if I'm overwhelming you with information. I'm new to this site, so I'm not to experienced with how to properly respond to others. Hope this helps more than it hurt to read through. Good luck on the game and I hope you enjoy it. 

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If you're playing on a new save file, your reclass options for male characters won't be as broad as they will be once you've beaten the game on hard - see the bottom paragraph of this page. There's a bunch of neat options that you can't use yet - for example, Ryan and Gordin can't swap between Archer and Hunter. Some options that I personally enjoy, both with and without the restrictions in place:

  • Ryan: Myrmidon [--> Horseman, once it's unlocked]. Ryan has bad innate Speed, so the Myrmidon's 11 base and high class growth is very appreciated. This becomes better with unrestricted reclassing, because you can use his bow rank again after promotion , but I think this suits him better overall than his Archer class.
  • Luke: He starts with some Sword WEXP, so Myrmidon is a valid option for him. With full reclass, I like him either as a Mercenary (if he still hits the Spd benchmarks, for the additional bulk compared to Myrm) or as a Hunter-->Horseman (basically the opposite path of Ryan). Or just keep him as a Cav/Paladin. He can go Dracoknight after promotion, although I prefer to make use of his Sword rank.
  • Catria and Palla: Make sure you get the Lady Sword in chapter 2. It makes their Cavalier reclass option even better , and it's already good in basically every chapter that doesn't have terrain that a pegasus can fly over. If you delay one of their promotions until chapter 11 (which I like to do with Catria), you can find an Elysian Whip to promote her into Falcoknight, which can use the Lady Sword, as well. After promotion, General is a genuinely useful class to have access to, especially since they can still use their Lance rank.

As far as bow users are concerned, the Sniper class is actually very, very good, in sharp contrast to the basic Archer class. Maybe it's worth to suffer through Ryan or Gordin's (or Luke's, honestly) Archer phase to get a strong Sniper out of it. You do get Jeorge as a good prepromoted Sniper, but I think a trained growth unit will outstat him by a fair amount.

Disclaimer: I'm not that good at this game and have only beaten it on H3.

Edited by ping
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Thank you @Shaky Jones and @ping for your input. And don't worry about if you aren't trying to come off as you're telling me how I should play. The impression I am now getting is that almost each FE game tends to have a different meta in mind when it comes to which classes are good to use and which are not.

So I think I have a decent idea thanks to you two for how I am going to approach at least the first few chapters of this game. I want to at least give it a shot and see how they turn out. Also part of the reason why I may make Cecille a mage is because while her base magic stat is 3, her magic growth is 50% and her speed would be at 80% so she should be able to double rather consistently at least early on. I can still make her a Falcon Knight or Draco Knight because she also seems like to be a good candidate to be a flier. I can always relcass her as a sage or bishop pending on how things go.

 

MU! Chris

Mercenary, Pirate (get axe rank to D). Mercenary (get sword rank up to C before promotion). Promote to Hero. Reclass to Draco Knight for chapters 7 - 13
Reclass to Hero by chapter 14. End game class Hero or Berserker

Ryan

Archer. Promote to Sniper

Luke

Myrmidon. Promote to Swordmaster

Rody

Cavalier. Promote to Paladin

Cecille

Mage.  Reclass to Pegasus Knight as soon as Lady Sword is obtainable. Promote to Falcon Knight

Gordin

Archer. Promote to Sniper

Draug

Hunter. Promote to Horseman.

Edited by Barren
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I think I'd recommend using fewer of the starting characters. It's both easier and more effective to concentrate on Kris plus one or two other units in the prologue than to distribute XP between all of them. There's a constant influx of great characters in the earlygame - Catria in ch.2, Palla and Linde in ch.3, Ogma and Sirius in ch.4, Barst in ch.5 - so there isn't much pressure on you to train up a big group of the 7th Platoon.

6 hours ago, Barren said:

Cecille

Mage.  Reclass to Pegasus Knight as soon as Lady Sword is obtainable. Promote to Falcon Knight

A word of warning: Cecille is already quite frail to begin with (she has a -2 penalty to her Def at base...) and it's even worse in those two classes. As a mage, her Def growth is literally zero, and as a Peg knight, her defensive stats are only 17 HP / 3 Def (at base level).

The Lady Sword is only usable by Cavaliers and the promoted Falcoknight, sorry if I wasn't quite clear about that. For that reason, I don't think Pegasus Knight is a good class for Cecille if you want to use her long-term - it allows her to lure enemies away from a bigger pack, or to pick up items from caves more easily, but it's really not good for her combat. If you want Cecille as a permanent unit, I'd recommend...

  • Cavalier --> Paladin/Falcoknight. Hopefully, she'll grow her HP and Def a bit, in which case Falcoknight is a nice way to utilize her Sword and Lance rank. For your earlygame flyer slots, Catria and Palla completely and utterly dunk on Cecille, and the additional slot can be used by Arran an later Sirius to pretty good effect.
  • Archer --> Sniper, as @Shaky Jones suggested. She'll have an insane 95% Spd growth in this class, so she should be able to double a lot, and her bad bulk doesn't hinder her as much.
  • Mage --> Sage, as the ultimate glass cannon. She's ridiculously frail (16 HP at base, zero Def until she promotes, unless she got a point or two in the Prologue), but her offensive growths are quite good. Starting without any weapon XP is a bit of a problem, especially since Linde joins early with access to Aura, which Cecille won't have for a good while.
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@pingso it’s a good idea to later or rather earlier to bench Cecil because of how frail she is at the start. I guess my thinking was that I was going to see how she fares for the first time. But still it’s good to note that I don’t have to train all the members of the 7th platoon if I shouldn’t have to. If the other pegasus knights are way better than her in terms of bases and growths then yea I’ll definitely bench her from that point.

 

I did look at her growths and damn her speed growth as a archer is insane. But yea super weak  in most other areas otherwise. Using her to obtain treasure easier or at least be a distraction is probably a decent time to reclass her as a Pegasus Knight like you said. And thanks for the clarification regarding the Lady Sword. I think I should be a bit more prepared on who to keep using and when to bench some. I’ve read that Luke and Ryan are good and Rody is neither here or there. Still, I want to use them for at least a couple of chapter battles.

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@Emperor HardinFor now I chose, Orphan’s Child, Beauty and Enlightened. So I got the +2 in strength and magic but 5% growths. +1 in skill and speed but 10% growths. And (I think) 30% growth in HP. I’m trying it out on hard mode now before I go lunatic and my avatar is currently a pirate but he started out as a mercenary.

I do have plans to try the avatar out as a Hero or Berserker pending on how well he levels up.


Luke I’m going for Swordmaster and then Hunter to Horseman once I try it on Lunatic since the two male class sets merge together when I beat the game. 

 

Ryan I may just have him as a Sniper since he’s potentially a good unit on lunatic.

 

Rody I’m not 100% sure on but I am currently going for Draco Knight once promotes to Paladin. I know his axe rank being low will be annoying but arms scrolls exists. Then again I might not waste it on him pending on how things work out.

 

Cecille I’m trying her out as a Pegasus Knight but I could reclass her as a General maybe or Falcon Knight. I know I have been told that she’s hard to train because of how frail she is but she’s lightning fast and maybe General or Falcon Knight at least on hard mode might not be a bad fit for her.

Edited by Barren
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41 minutes ago, Barren said:

@Emperor HardinFor now I chose, Orphan’s Child, Beauty and Enlightened. So I got the +2 in strength and magic but 5% growths. +1 in skill and speed but 10% growths. And (I think) 30% growth in HP. I’m trying it out on hard mode now before I go lunatic and my avatar is currently a pirate but he started out as a mercenary.

I do have plans to try the avatar out as a Hero or Berserker pending on how well he levels up.


Luke I’m going for Swordmaster and then Hunter to Horseman once I try it on Lunatic since the two male class sets merge together when I beat the game. 

 

Ryan I may just have him as a Sniper since he’s potentially a good unit on lunatic.

 

Rody I’m not 100% sure on but I am currently going for Draco Knight once promotes to Paladin. I know his axe rank being low will be annoying but arms scrolls exists. Then again I might not waste it on him pending on how things work out.

 

Cecille I’m trying her out as a Pegasus Knight but I could reclass her as a General maybe or Falcon Knight. I know I have been told that she’s hard to train because of how frail she is but she’s lightning fast and maybe General or Falcon Knight at least on hard mode might not be a bad fit for her.

With your build, leveling as a Fighter or Pirate may get +2 HP on a level up as your HP growth rate will be 130%. You'll have 50 Speed growth as a Fighter and 70 Speed as a pirate. 

Hero isn't that great of a final class in the end game, but you're not on lunatic and not close to capping your stats, so probably not to worry. May be worth noting that Berserker is one of the best classes, including final classes, within the game.

With class merges on, Lukas makes a great mercenary in the early game before going Horseman or Swordmaster.

Ryan can make a great hunter on Lunatic.

Rody will be switching in and out of Armored Knight and Cavalier in lunatic.

Speaking of which, Draug is a godsend on lunatic where his ability to switch in and out of cavalier, Knight and Dracoknight will make him one of the best units in the player's army.

I'd probably stick Cecilie as a Cavalier for HP and defense, then do some levels as a General when she promotes for more HP and defense as her speed is high enough that she'll still get good levels as a General.

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49 minutes ago, Barren said:

Good to note. Thanks for the advice. I’ll do my best to keep those things in mind when  I eventually tackle lunatic.

Sure.

I'd make a bit of use of Cecile's sword rank if its still good.

Rody will have better stat ups as a Paladin than Dracoknight, but a thing to remember in FE12 is you're going to be changing alot, especially before you reach your stat caps.

There are classes that are good for leveling up but aren't good final classes like Hero and General.

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22 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Sure.

I'd make a bit of use of Cecile's sword rank if its still good.

Rody will have better stat ups as a Paladin than Dracoknight, but a thing to remember in FE12 is you're going to be changing alot, especially before you reach your stat caps.

There are classes that are good for leveling up but aren't good final classes like Hero and General.

Makes sense. Cecille has been the hardest for me to figure out because of her frailty. But her sword rank can let her pull off Paladin like you said especially with Lady Sword. 

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15 minutes ago, Barren said:

Makes sense. Cecille has been the hardest for me to figure out because of her frailty. But her sword rank can let her pull off Paladin like you said especially with Lady Sword. 

Oh and if you get a Elysian whip, FalcoKnight is good for her sword rank too. The HP/Defense from Dracoknight is nice, but sword rank will probably be more useful in the long run.

That said most of her levels should be spent on Cavalier/Paladin given the higher HP, STR and DEF growth.

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8 hours ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Oh and if you get a Elysian whip, FalcoKnight is good for her sword rank too. The HP/Defense from Dracoknight is nice, but sword rank will probably be more useful in the long run.

That said most of her levels should be spent on Cavalier/Paladin given the higher HP, STR and DEF growth.

Awesome. Thanks again! Though pending on the maps I may need to reclass her as a Pegasus Knight to pick up items and whatnot. But I’ll definitely try to level her up as a cavalier.

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