FE4 AAAA Ranking Run

[Phinius Dolphinius III]

So I've been working on a Ranked run of this game for a while, but I didn't want to post anything until I finished Gen 1. Since the RNG in this game is fixed, I have a VERY detailed log of every single move I've made so far and I might eventually record the run in its entirety so that people can see some cool strategies that I've come up with.

In the meantime, here's the results of Gen 1.

Pairings:

Aideen x Jamke - This is about as standard as you get. Lester gets full inheritance (Silver Bow, Brave Bow, Killer Bow) and all the multi-hit skills aside from Pursuit. He'll also have the Skill Ring to make up for the low Skill growth. Lana has about 5 different staves for easy experience early (Mend, Physic, Recover, Warp, Silence). Pairing was achieved in Chapter 3, Turn 12.

Ayra x Dew - This is easily the most offbeat pairing I've ever done but I have to say, I quite like its practical application when grinding for it. Dew and Ayra have the same move and it gives Dew a bodyguard while he swipes the cash from a lot of enemies. Once Dew promotes, Ulster gets full inheritance so I gave him a Steel Blade while Larcei gets the 50 Kill Silver Sword. Most importantly, both kids get Bargain, allowing them to basically ram level 30 in the arena without requiring a lot of cash. Pairing was achieved in Chapter 3, Turn 12.

Rachesis x Beowulf - All I care about is full inheritance for Dermott along with Pursuit. This pairing required a LOT of cash for Beowulf since his weapons cost a total of 23000G (Silver Blade, Slim Sword, Armorslayer, Wingslayer), along with a 40000G Renewal Band. Nanna's inheritance consists of the Earth Sword, Prayer Sword, Return and Restore (I would have loved to pass down Rachesis's Silver Axe but meh...). Pairing was achieved in Chapter 4, Turn 16.

Sylvia x Lex - I spent a lot of time thinking about this pairing but ultimately decided that Paragon is too important of a skill to let go to waste. In addition, for Sylvia to hit level 30, she needed all 6 villagers in Chapter 4, along with a Paragon Band run of the Arena in Chapter 5, on top of spending 40000G on the Knight Ring. As for Caipre, he'll inherit a Return Ring for an instant cash transaction when he arrives. Pairing was achieved in Chapter 4, Turn 27.

Taillte x Lewyn - Horsety and the Bargain Band to fund it. Plus, Tinny inherits Elwind in this transaction. Honestly, I'd rather have Forseti from midway in Chapter 6 than halfway in Chapter 8 on a unit who only has 16 more levels to gain and can do so via staff usage. Pairing was achieved in Chapter 5, Turn 12.

Fury x Claude - Making this pairing really had me sweating it out. Fury doesn't want to be chained to Claude for both Chapter 4 and 5 since she has some tasks that she'd like to do (village saving, siege mage killing...). However, by sending Fury out over the sea in Chapter 3 to help out Claude, Taillte, and Bridget, you can actually work in a bunch of turns to help out the love growth. Fee's inheritance is awesome (B Staves and full inheritance) with her getting the Brave Lance, Horseslayer, Thief Sword, and also the Wind Sword along with the Magic Ring for Magic Sword Fee. Ced's staves are Fortify, Sleep, and Valkyria. Pairing was achieved in Chapter 5, Turn 17.

Bridget x Holyn - The problem with pairing Dew with Ayra is that Bargain on your thief is invaluable for a run where money directly translates into experience. That being said, Holyn gives Patty something that Dew can't: the ability to get through the arena before promotion with B Swords and Luna. Bargain does also help Faval fund his Yewfelle use but Ayra won out in the end of the day. Patty also got the Power Ring and Barrier Ring for early help (and cash flows should someone else need them). Pairing was achieved in Chapter 5, Turn 21.

Celice/Lief/Altenna/Finn - Seliph gets the usual smattering of Speed Ring/Shield Ring/Leg Ring/Paragon Band along with the Brave Sword and Light Brand as his weapons. Lief gets the other Silver Sword, Thunder Sword and Pursuit Ring to facilitate his early damage issues with no Pursuit. Altena inherits the Gae Bolg, Silver Lance, Javelin and other Return Ring while Finn has the other Silver Lance and Javelin (he finished Chapter 3 at 20.04).

Tactics:

Prologue: 13

Chapter 1: 35

Chapter 2: 39

Chapter 3: 29

Chapter 4: 34

Chapter 5: 33

Total: 183 out of 399

Experience:

Gen 1: 583 levels out of a possible 606

Deirdre - 30.00

Quan - 27.10

Ethlyn - 30.00

Finn - 20.04

Edited February 5, 2023 by Phinius Dolphinius III

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

6 hours ago, Phinius Dolphinius III said:

Gen 1: 583 levels out of a possible 606

Deirdre - 30.00

Quan - 27.10

Ethlyn - 30.00

Damn, how did you get these values? I've never come close to level-capping any of these early-departing units.

6 hours ago, Phinius Dolphinius III said:

Pairings:

Woah - I went with almost all of these pairings on my most recent playthrough! The only difference I can identify is, I paired Raquesis with Azelle, for funky magic sword shenanigans in Gen II. I was especially happy with Dew's Sword Twins (Bargain translates into Paragon with 20K gold) and Lex x Sylvia (20 exp from each dance gives me feelings of power).

[Phinius Dolphinius III]

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

Damn, how did you get these values? I've never come close to level-capping any of these early-departing units.

Woah - I went with almost all of these pairings on my most recent playthrough! The only difference I can identify is, I paired Raquesis with Azelle, for funky magic sword shenanigans in Gen II. I was especially happy with Dew's Sword Twins (Bargain translates into Paragon with 20K gold) and Lex x Sylvia (20 exp from each dance gives me feelings of power).

Deirdre: B Staves is a godsend for her. Three Silence uses (twice on Sandima and third on Clement) gives you 3 levels. Three rounds of a full Warp Staff gives you another 18. After that, a little bit of combat and all three arenas to date should get you to 30. Deirdre can usually OHKO the early stuff in the arena and has access to Prayer for some shenanigans.

Ethlyn: Similar story but you're working with Return instead of Warp. Ethlyn's advantage is that she's mounted, allowing her to keep up with your army. You can burn the staff fully in the first two chapters (with cause, I might add) and use the arena to help. Cool thing about Ethlyn's arena: She has A Swords and Critical, meaning that she can clear the arena with the Silver Sword if you play the RNG right.

Quan: He's the toughest to level quickly. My trick was to feed him the highest level enemies where possible. The Paragon Band comes in Chapter 2 so Quan should be picking that up and only doing the arena afterwards. Maximize the amount of time that he holds the Paragon Band and he should hit about 25 by the end of Chapter 3. Past that, experience given by enemies is just too low that it's not worth going for much more.

 

Honestly, the entire first generation is all about money management. I had to plan out weapon inheritances quite early since some are quite costly (Beowulf really comes to mind).

[Phinius Dolphinius III]

So after the arena in Chapter 7, my promoted Seliph is now literally a god. And this is still Turn 1.

I've also included a quick and dirty model that I just built to understand where his stats should be. HP, Strength, and Speed are all above at least 1 standard deviation while Magic, Luck, Defense, and Resistance are below 1. Offensively excellent, lacking a bit defensively.

God bless the Paragon Band.

EDIT: The model is based off of my FE7 stats model where you can accurately determine how good or bad a unit is. If you're interested, please take a look at it.

 

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by Phinius Dolphinius III