Starting my 2nd Maddening Playthrough(RNG for Level Ups)

[BloodRonin]

I am about to clear the game for the first time, and after will be doing an RNG maddening run.

What units do you think would be fun to use/pair up with emblems/classes? With RNG level ups, I am assuming the growth rates for class and character will be very important.

I for sure am going to be using caster Anna, but besides her, everything is free game and I want to know what you think I should 100% add to my team, dlc included.

[Speedy]

Is it possible to switch dancer on someone else? Cause Vander dancer sounds hilarious 😄

[BloodRonin]

I wish.

[Xylaugheon Daily]

Depends on if you're the type who will reset/pulse for above average gains on each level up or not. If so, then I'd consider a units maximum stats to help decide who goes where with what. If not, I'd heavily go into specialization and min maxing growth rate, then worry about the final class you'd have them in after enough leveling is done. Obviously getting Tiki to pass around would be best done as early as possible, I'm just unsure when you'd want to put yourself through that. If you plan on babying Jean, Cav into Pali for growths with Tiki attached will put everything but Magic and Luck to 65%+. Then put him in whatever final class you like, should max most things.

As for Emblem pairing, maybe go for more experimental combinations? That's assuming you have already went with BiS for your first clear. Or honestly, for added spice, why not make a rule that you have to switch who is equipped with what every map? That's how I'm going to do my needy playthrough.

[bookwormbabe29]

I would also ask/wonder if you trying to use new characters or prefer to use favorites.

 

For me, I did not do maddening my first run, as I want to grind supports and stuff. Still, I am planning a maddening run so I track the maddening tips where I can. And from what I've seen, most would suggest using the units joining later with high bases like Kagetsu (on a RNG non-maddening run, he joined with a base total higher than anyone on my team). And being pre promoted, saving a second seal for him and a few bond fragments, you could make him anything from a Hero for some archer/support to a flying unit for mobility, etc. 

I haven't tested them out yet, but later recruits like Panette, Merrin, Goldmary, Rosado, etc, would likely benefit from this as well. 

Pairing Lyn with an archer seems a good idea too. Alcryst seems to be to be the best of the bunch for that role. 

Dancer. 

Ivy + Hortensia would likely make the cut, for a strong mage and healer. Still, they are not 'mystical' units, so no overlap with magical Anna. 

I don't know if it would work on maddening yet, but I do wonder how abusing Miciah's great sacrifice would work for grinding exp/SP. I remember Anna's map, the boss did not move, was on a heal tile, and had several emblem energy tiles not far. It was handy for boss abuse, and for quickly recharging Miciah's skill. Again, don't know if it will work on maddening, but something to keep in mind. 

As for other units, Yunaka seems like one of the better 'early' investments, with how powerful daggers get from forging, covert unit evade bonus, and her personal. You could use someone else as a thief, I suppose, but Yunaka is strong out of the gate, especially with Corrin, as you yourself told me 😉

Before Yunaka, most of the units are HIGHLY vulnerable to RNG, so most tips I've seen are to funnel as much xp as possible to Alear. You get a lot of stats boosters early on (dlc, I think) so pumping them onto Alear could help them survive/solo Maddening's early chapters better. Alfred and Celine are likely the better of the early game units, and Alfred + Sigurd will likely be useful early on. Loius is strong early on, but tends to drop off in maddening. Chloe has uses a flyer, etc. You know this. 

 

I may be rambling a bit here, but hopefully something in this mess is useful lol

[BloodRonin]

I am going to try to use characters I haven't messed around with much for this playthrough. (sadly that means the 2 flying casters are out). 

I found that the first maddening run became pretty easy at the end with all the units leveled up ect. So I want to make this even more challenging. 

[RobinLucinaFan]

I started maddening as my first run, got to the middle of the game and then restarted on maddening on a separate save and it was much easier. What made it much easier was that I did not waste exp on trash units. In my initial run, I actually gave Alfred, Clanne and Boucheron the time of the day. On my followup run, I minimized my use of lol-tier units and funneled a lot of exp into Alear early game. Made things so much easier. Oh and Lyn is amazing. Easily the best emblem in the game after Tiki. Speaking of Tiki, I recommending doing her paralogue right after you get Alcryst (assuming you haven't built up Etie). I then recommend farming the 10 rounds of reinforcements that come in at the bottom of the map. Great source of early game exp.

[BloodRonin]

2 hours ago, RobinLucinaFan said:

I started maddening as my first run, got to the middle of the game and then restarted on maddening on a separate save and it was much easier. What made it much easier was that I did not waste exp on trash units. In my initial run, I actually gave Alfred, Clanne and Boucheron the time of the day. On my followup run, I minimized my use of lol-tier units and funneled a lot of exp into Alear early game. Made things so much easier. Oh and Lyn is amazing. Easily the best emblem in the game after Tiki. Speaking of Tiki, I recommending doing her paralogue right after you get Alcryst (assuming you haven't built up Etie). I then recommend farming the 10 rounds of reinforcements that come in at the bottom of the map. Great source of early game exp.

On my first playthrough I did this paralogue literally as soon as it was open.  I think I will take your advice on this though. I love Alycryst.

[Raphael]

I'm also looking to experiment with a few new units on my 2nd run through. I've been looking at Etie/Amber reclassing into thief. I'm not entirely sure what the base stat formula is (based on character growths?) but they start with a lot of strength compared to their class bases and would have more strength in thief than Yunaka/Zelkov/Merrin at comparable levels (~3-5 point trade between strength and speed, some dex loss). 

It might be fun considering daggers are really strong, a lot of units don't double anyway, and strength is more important when it comes to engage specials. Speed inheritance skills are also a lot cheaper point for point compared to Str/Magic.

[BloodRonin]

6 hours ago, Raphael said:

I'm also looking to experiment with a few new units on my 2nd run through. I've been looking at Etie/Amber reclassing into thief. I'm not entirely sure what the base stat formula is (based on character growths?) but they start with a lot of strength compared to their class bases and would have more strength in thief than Yunaka/Zelkov/Merrin at comparable levels (~3-5 point trade between strength and speed, some dex loss). 

It might be fun considering daggers are really strong, a lot of units don't double anyway, and strength is more important when it comes to engage specials. Speed inheritance skills are also a lot cheaper point for point compared to Str/Magic.

Etie has such low BLD so going daggers on her wouldn't be a bad idea.