Merciless/Hard 5 Walkthrough

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Introduction:

Merciless is the name the difficulty was given in the European version of the game, it is known as H5, the hardest difficult in this game.

This a simple guide with basic, general and sometimes incredibly cheap strategies to help you with Mericless mode. Lategame chapters will have a "traditional" and a "cheap" method which, in some opinions, may take the fun out of the game. This guide assumes that you know the controls and most of the basics found in the game's tutorial pages.

If you have any comments questions, just ask here or PM me about it

General words of advice:

1. Avoid eating counter-attacks. Unless your unit is a good General or someone with lots of HP and decent DEF, he/she will likely die in 2 hits. As you progress through the game, you will encounter enemies forged Javelins, many packing the MT of a Silver Lance and Brave weapons which will nuke low DEF units with ease. Indirect weapons like Javelins, Hand Axes and Bows in the hands of a decent Sniper are highly recommended as later in the game,it is best to use unit with high durability to lure the enemy and use of indirect weapons means there's less chances of your units receiving a counterattack.

2. Keep your party close together. Even on maps where it may be a good idea to separate, it's often better to stick together allowing you to gang up on enemies and reduce the risk of losing valuable units. In Merciless, you can't go around sending a Cavalier to finish off a unit if that cavalier is gonna take 2 hits next turn so be sure to always check to see what will happen with each move you make.

3. Find and use chokepoint areas to reduce the number of attacks you're going

to take. Chokepoint areas for instance would be a spot in which you can only

be attacked from as few positions as possible. Here's an example:

OOEOO

OEEEO

AAEAA

OBBBO

OOBOO

B = Your units.

A = Positon in which no unit can move in, such as wall.

E = Enemy.

O = Empty space or anything not affecting the situation.

As you can see, only 1 enemy is adjacent to your bow unit. The other

enemies would need to have an indirect attack weapon such as Bow, Javelin

or Hand Axe in order to be able to attack while the unit behind the one

blocking these enemies can help out by either attacking indirectly or heal

if it's a Curate or Cleric. Be careful though, if you happen to use an

indirect attack unit that ends up crippling the enemy to the point where

your blocker will kill that enemy on the counterattack, this will open up

your blocker for another attack which could potentially kill him or her.

4. Forge. You get plenty of money in this game even if you're not someone who

uses Arenas so do forge some MT but don't go overboard with it. I highly

recommend forging MT into weapons that are effective against Cavaliers as

they're quite common in this game. 1 MT into an effective weapon means 3 more

damage. Example: Forge +5 MT on Marth's Rapier and he'll go from doing 12

damage to 27 to Cavaliers with his rapier. Again, don't go overboard with

forging, it is quite useful but reckless and unwise use of it will hurt later.

5. Having a general with massive defense. Not essential, but having one

certainly means less headaches and they're probably the best units to give the

Dracoshields to. The Defense stat is MUCH better in this game compared to other

Fire Emblems.Great Generals would be Sedgar and Wolf. Darros reclassed into a

Knight will be somewhat difficult to use just like most units but it's likely

that he'll reach 20 DEF before level 20 and you could promote him once that

happens to have a tank of 24 DEF when the highest ATK for the most part is 27

and his DEF growth is 60%. Generals make the mode easy so if you're looking

for a challenge on your first playthrough of this mode, you may want to avoid

using them.

6. Use the save points. Most maps have 2, use the first after taking care of

the hardest bunch of enemies and use the second before fighting a difficult

boss. If the Boss is something like an Knight holding a Silver Lance, he's not

difficult when you've got Magic users so you wouldn't really need the save

point.

7. Lure the enemies. Rushing often means death, you'll want to lure the

enemy so you can deal with it 1 by 1.

8. This one's pretty much my opinion, if you're taking advice 1 and 2 quite

often, I would recommend switching a Paladin or 2 to Sniper/SwordMaster/Draco

Knight. Since you'll be keeping your units close together, that extra

movement really isn't necessary so better stats for a slight loss of

movement that you're not even gonna use may be better. Draco Knights can

switch to Axes which have weapon triangle advantage which can sometimes

help improve your units' survival.

9. Sniper and Archer classes. While the Sniper is great, the Archer is

simply terrible. The only reason you would want someone to be a Sniper is

just for the 30% SPD growth this class offers and it's only a good idea

to use this when you're on an easy chapter such as 12x. Feel free to do a

"trial run" of a chapter to see how your reclassed unit will fare as an

Archer and if he/she isn't doing to well as one, try it on a different

chapter.

Edited November 8, 2009 by Vergil

[Dr. Tarrasque]

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4. Walkthrough

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Strategies for each chapter as well as some notes at each chapters end to give you an idea of what kind of output

you can get.

Chapter 1:

The first chapter is quite difficult if you don't know what you're doing. The best way to deal with this one is to wait for the enemy to come to you. Although the pirates only have a critical rate of 2, it's still possible for one of them to get lucky and critical Jagen so if you want him alive for a little bit, you may end up restarting cause of this.

Start by having Marth visit the Village for 10,000 Gold. Use Shiida, Cain and Abel kill the Thief. Abel should indirectly attack with his Javelin, Shiida should be the second one to attack the thief (since she doesn't get doubled and Cain should finish him off using an Iron Lance. You could have someone else of the 3 to finish him but with this way, you take less damage.

Jagen should visit the Armory and buy 3 Javelins. Move Gordin and Draug (Do not put either of them on the fort) down to Join up with Abel and Cain.

NOTE: Although it is best to use Iron Sword for this chapter, I recommend that you have Cain often use the Iron Lance so that he gets a D rank on Lances. The sooner he gets it, the better.

On turn 2, you'll see pirates moving towards you, if you killed the Thief, chances are that one pirate can attack the people you used to kill the thief with. Perfect, move whoever took the most damage from that thief to that fort so he/she can heal. Move the rest of them out of range from that Pirate and put Jagen in with the Silver Lance. Also, while you're at it, distribute the 3 Javelins you bought among Draug, Jagen and Shiida. Move Marth close to the rest of the party.

The pirate will attack Jagen and eat a heavy counter-attack if hit with the Silver Lance. Finish this one off by adding more damage with an indirect attack and a direct attack once his HP is low enough. Another pirate should be nearby, move Jagen or a fully healed Shiida equipped with her Winged Spear so that this next pirate eats a decent counter-attack.

Again, finish this pirate like you did with the last one. Before you end your turn however, try to make sure that no1 will take 2 attacks and die. Draug can take some hits and if someone needs healing (Jagen if you had him be the one to feed counter-attacks earlier), move him/her to the fort for healing.

Kill these 2 pirates and avoid putting people with low HP in the range of the next 2. If those 2 pirates happen to be in the Sea terrain, retreat to safety and wait for them to come to you instead, Sea terrain bonus for them is bad for you. These 2 pirates are the last ones that will come at you, so kill them and then have your units healed with the Fort.

For the rest, just proceed slowly and take on each enemy 1 at a time. Watch out for the hunter since he's capable of doubling someone like Cain, I recommend having Jagen give him a counter-attack with a Javelin (Abel if his AS is enough to avoid being doubled).

You can get the Priest Wrys by saving the second village with Marth, I recommend that you make minimal use of his staff in this chapter though, it's best saved for Chapters 2 and 3.

Boss (Gazzack):

For the boss, just shower him with Indirect attacks to drop his HP and when he's weak enough, bash him with swords and Silver Lance (preferably as a counter-attack). He'll have a chance to critical Jagen and if he does, you'll have to restart the chapter.

Notes of my playthrough: Cain, Marth and Abel got the most EXP. The rest did not level because I intend to have Gordin and Draug killed in chapter 3. Shiida doesn't need EXP so much right now.

Edited August 7, 2009 by Sirius

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Chapter 2: (I'm playing this one off the top of my head, please point out inaccuracies and I'll fix them ^_^ ).

There's not much I can add from what I said in the first chapter. From now on, I will refer to 1 or more indirect attacks followed by a direct attack to finish an enemy off as an ID attack (it sounds stupid I know, if you've got a better suggestion, let me know.)

Save point use: Once the boss is left and all your units are healed up by forts and heal staff... or when there's only the last 2 pirates left.

You get 4 new units to start with: Ogma, Barst, Bord and Cord. Ogma and Barst are the only 2 of these I will really put to use. You don't have to use the same units I use. You can recruit the enemy Hunter, Castor, with Shiida. People say he's a good unit but I don't use him because I dislike the Hunter/Horsemen class and haven't looked into what kind of Reclass I should give him. There's also Darros, who sucks as a Pirate but I hear is almost as good as Ogma. I have him suicide in this chapter.

Anyway, to start off, you've got 2 enemy Cavaliers to the left, a nearby pirate and a group of enemies north (2 Thieves, 1 Hunter, 1 Pirate and Darros). You can start and end your first turn by simply moving the Axe fighters you just got from Darros' range and move Marth in his range. Keep Oguma on the fort, if the nearby Pirate to the left has 8 Speed on him, equip Iron Sword on Ogma so he can double and deal a decent counter-attack. If his speed happens to be 9, you'll have to use Steel Sword for the better damage (or you can play it cheap and restart the chapter just so that Pirate has 8 Speed :P ).

Anyway, the nearby Pirate takes a counter-attack from Ogma and Darros is recruited. What happens now is that you have a Pirate and Thief on the left alive which you can kill off quickly with ID attack. The enemies on that NE island will probably be crossing the bridge, I have Darros suicide against that Pirate, finish him off and move Jagen to block the bridge with a Javelin. You don't have to kill Darros but if's still recommended that you kill that pirate so he doesn't cause much trouble.

That part's pretty much covered since that Thief and Hunter shouldn't be much trouble, now you worry about the approaching Cavaliers. To deal with these, just have Marth on 1 bridge and Shiidda on the other (and hope that their counter-attacks ARE NOT CRITICALS).

The thief will probably play it stupid and attack Jagen so finish him off with some1 who needs the EXP and also deal with the hunter. The Cavaliers that Marth and Shiida should have taken damage (Shiida's cavalier being the weaker one). Finish them off with ID attacks.

Once that's done, proceed to the left slowly so that a pirate come at you and you can kill it off with ease. In comes the last bit of concern in this chapter, recruiting Castor and keeping every1 alive. As suggested, move slowly so that enemy will come at you, Castor will start moving once you're just a little bit outside of his range (and the same goes for his hunter buddy). Again, Shiida recruits him. Before recruiting him though, make sure that you can accomplish the following in that same turn:

1. Castor is out of harm's way once recruited... or you can use him as bait if he's not some1 you'll use :P

2. His hunter buddy is dead.

3. The 2 nearby pirates cannot attack 1 single unit, if they do... that one is most likely dead.

If you can't manage that, then have some1 with an indirect attack weapon on the 2 bridges to lure Castor and the nearby hunter but make sure that no1 is behind the units that are on the bridge (unless he can live and counter-attack) or behind the river. With that outta the way, kill the last 2 pirates, have Marth visit the village to get more gold, heal and prepare for the boss.

Boss (Gomer)

Crud, he's carrying a Hand Axe >_< . Your best units against this guy are Jagen with his Silver Lance, Ogma with a Steel Sword and your other sword users (Barst with an Iron Axe will do decently too). Start by having whomever has the best hit % and damage on Gomer stand right next to him (probably Ogma) and having every1 else who's attacking Gomer ready for the next turn. If Gomer missed, have Ogma end his turn there again so to give him another counter-attack. When you think you're ready to kill him, bash him with your best hit % and damage.

Also, if the Boss is packing more than 11 SPD, you may want to restart since he'll be much harder.

Notes on my Playthrough: Every1 but Darros is alive. Cain, Barst, Abel, Marth and Ogma get the most EXP.

Edited August 7, 2009 by Sirius

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Chapter 3: (Had a backup so I can actually analyze this one as I write it).

This chapter isn't too bad, easy IMO. The problem here is the boss and trust me, THAT IS PUTTING IT MILDLY. You get 2 new units at the start in this one and they're pretty essential. You have Julian, the first and the better of the 2 thieves in the games. He has decent growths all around and can become a decent fighter, so I hear. I've never used him but his averages look quite decent and he's definitely necessary, unless for some stupid reason you wanna waste your money on keys. The second unit is Lena, a cleric who unfortunately has some low growths. She's a decent healer, your first character capable of using the cheap warp staff and the ONLY character that can use Hammerne, the repair staff which allows for more warp and A rank weapons usage, that alone is reason enough to keep her alive and if you have Marich as your main healer, she wouldn't make a bad mage. The other character you get starts out as an enemy, Narbarl. Unfortunately, he got nerfed in this game and his class isn't too good. I hear he makes a decent cavalier but I dunno, never used him. Use Shiida to recruit him.

Save points: From now on you've pretty much got 2, use the first one after taking care of the enemies that move towards you. Use the second one once you're ready to take on the boss, I highly recommend that you use it when he's the only one alive.

To start this one off, you'll want Julian and Lena to run away from the mob, Shiida on the peak, avoiding the hunter's range, Marth going for the village to get the Devil Axe on the 2nd turn and every1 else to prepare for Nabarl's group. In addition to Nabarl's group, you'll have 3 Axe fighters coming from the west (left), you'll want to focus on Nabarl's group first. On turn 3 or 4, recruit Nabarl with Shiida and block the passage with some good fighters, making sure that no 2 enemies can attack 1 single unit. A good example of such a position, is the plain 2 spaces North (up) from the fort and the mountain on its right side.

Alternatively, you could focus on the western fighters first and have units you're going to kill off in this chapter block the Fighters from Nabarl's group.

Actually, placing units on the fort and the 2 spaces right next to it works too, it makes it so that 3 enemies are eating a counter-attack (but an enemy will be standing on a mountain and attack an ally unit on the plains), that spot works mostly if you recruited Nabarl on the 4th turn though... meaning the western Axe fighters will be closer so if turn 4's position doesn't work for you, try turn 3 (which is basically the same, close just in the center of the passage where Nabarl and the thief on his right will stand on turn 3). As usual, deal with the Axe fighters by having them eat counter attacks and ID attacks, once the fighters from Nabarl's group are gone, take care of the income western fighters which shouldn't be difficult unless some bad luck hit you. Don't be too afraid to use the Devil Axe here, it can kill your Axe user but when it certainly makes the opposition easier to handle.

Once all those fighters are taken care of, the rest is easy. The Hunter in Nabarl's group probably stayed behind, kill him for some EXP or leave him alive, whatever works for you. The western hunters will start to move when you approach their range (not when you're in, a little before it), they're just hunters and little to worry about but don't leave some1 with 7 Speed on their range.

After the hunters, it's just the 2 fighters near the boss. They'll move when you reach that fort (or maybe a bit before) but you can easily take these 2 by having a unit standing on the fort and a unit capable of indirect attack right behind this one. example:

Ogma is on the fort, takes a hit and counter-attacks. If he dodged, keep him there and only attack with the indirect unit if Ogma's next counter-attack will not kill the first Axe fighter (cause then the 2nd will attack Ogma again and he'll likely die.

Boss: (Reynard)

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the toughest boss in the game. I'm not joking, you're freaking limited at this point and there's little you can do about this guy. He's packing a Hand Axe, 23 ATK, 84 HIT and here's the worst part: 14 ATTACK SPEED. I mean it, there's little you can do about this guy because any1 with an attack speed of 10 and lower gets doubled. Chances are that only Ogma and Nabarl can take him on without getting doubled, not to mention that Ogma has to have at least 1 Speed or STR growth if he's going to use a Steel sword and Nabarl HAS to use an Iron sword unless he leveled up and got an STR or Speed growth. There is seriously little you can do about this guy (I know, I said it 3 times) so I'll get straight to the point (Save point before fighting him).

If you are going for gaidens and are willing to have units suicide here:

You have it easier, have units you're not gonna use suicide and hope that they score some hits on him. Then, use the units that don't get doubled to deal more damage (leaving 1 spot for a direct attack) and hope that either Barst or Bord hit with the Devil Axe.

If you are not going for gaidens and wish to keep every1 alive:

Sucks to be you, only way I can see this guy going down is to have Ogma score a critical (with Nabarl's killing edge), hit him with Nabarl (and whoever else doesn't get doubled) so that the Devil Axe user can finish him off. He's easy if you can comply with this method, otherwise you'll need to be really lucky if you don't want anyone dead. You could also just have him waste all the Hand-Axes if you don't mind being slow (Credit to Mekkah for pointing this out).

If any1's got other ways to deal with this boss, I seriously wanna hear them because that seems to be the only way.

Notes on my playthrough: Only Shiida, Cain, Jagen, Ogma, Barst, Wrys, Abel, Julian and Lena remain alive.

Edited October 26, 2009 by Vergil

[Rodykitty]

Just so people know, it's actually possible to keep everyone alive on H5, even if you don't need to. I want to throw that out there.

5. Have a general with MASSIVE defense. Not essential, but having one certainly means less headaches and they're probably the best units to give the shield boosters to. The Defense stat is MUCH better in this game compared to other FEs.

Only use a General that starts out as an Armor Knight (which even then that Armor Knight will be an extreme liability to your team). Zagaro as a General makes H5 too easy, so I don't recommend using him for first time H5 players, and only recommend him for those trying to do a rank-esque run. It's still very possible to beat H5 without getting anyone killed without a tank.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Just so people know, it's actually possible to keep everyone alive on H5, even if you don't need to. I want to throw that out there.

Only use a General that starts out as an Armor Knight (which even then that Armor Knight will be an extreme liability to your team). Zagaro as a General makes H5 too easy, so I don't recommend using him for first time H5 players, and only recommend him for those trying to do a rank-esque run. It's still very possible to beat H5 without getting anyone killed without a tank.

True, I've done so myself. I've never tried General Zagaro (he's always been Hero) before and on one run I lacked a tank so I am going to use him this time around just to see for myself how easy he makes it.

Darros and Castor seem to be 2 units you can reclass to armor knight for the best defense growth of the unpromoted class B people... Problem is that they won't get any speed but I suppose you'll hardly ever need it in Darros' case. Think I should add these 2 characters as a note to advice #5?

[Rodykitty]

I honestly don't know. Getting doubled means you take twice as much damage as other characters. An alternative is really to grind one of your social knights far ahead of your other characters to have someone usable as a lure while still being good in other areas.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

I honestly don't know. Getting doubled means you take twice as much damage as other characters. An alternative is really to grind one of your social knights far ahead of your other characters to have someone usable as a lure while still being good in other areas.

I personally wouldn't mind the lack of speed too much on Darros' case with the kind of DEF growth he's getting. It would be difficult to level him up while he's got an E rank on lances though =\. Then again, him getting doubled means more faster growth for your primary healer and If you're good with AKs, you can probably deal with that minor inconvenience for a bit.

Edited December 5, 2008 by Boo

[Dat Nick]

Now's a good time to put those enemy stats to use, eh?

C3, when Darros can swap to Knight:

37 (38) HP

19 (20) atk

100 (101) hit

10 AS

3 def

Fighter lvl 3 [steel axe]

40 HP

24 atk

91 hit

11 AS

4 def

21 HP, 12 def Daros has. AS is a big fat 1, he's obviously getting doubled.

...How does the weapon triangle work, again? I think it's +1 damage and +10 hit? Anyway, they damn near one round him, and the steel axe DOES one round him, plus the AS is seriously going to hurt later on. You can't really cheat the system of Armors sucking unless you use Zag.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Now's a good time to put those enemy stats to use, eh?

C3, when Darros can swap to Knight:

37 (38) HP

19 (20) atk

100 (101) hit

10 AS

3 def

Fighter lvl 3 [steel axe]

40 HP

24 atk

91 hit

11 AS

4 def

21 HP, 12 def Daros has. AS is a big fat 1, he's obviously getting doubled.

...How does the weapon triangle work, again? I think it's +1 damage and +10 hit? Anyway, they damn near one round him, and the steel axe DOES one round him, plus the AS is seriously going to hurt later on. You can't really cheat the system of Armors sucking unless you use Zag.

First, class swap happens in chapter 4. Secondly, it's obvious he's getting doubled by everything and that Axe users will kill him with ease.

I think a good solution for this is to class swap Darros into a Merc on chapters where enemy forces are mostly Axe users (you did say he's almost as good as Ogma) and not level him as anything but a knight. The problem with this is that his Lance Rank will go up slower than it normally would. Basically, you want Darros to level up as a knight for that DEF growth but you don't want him to start tanking just yet because he will initially get slaughtered (and so will every other early armor knight).

The whole Darros AK suggestion is pretty much an alternative for people like "FE3 Player" (Are you GFaqs' Darth_Haro?) who feel that Zagaro would make H5 too easy and would want some1 who can start as an Armor knight to be their tank. Doga sucks and your other choices won't really excel in DEF like Darros would.

As for the weapon triangle, I think you were right on that guess.

Edited December 5, 2008 by Boo

[Dat Nick]

Oh right. Stupid me.

Btw, get this. They actually do pretty good against most of the stuff in C4.

lvl 3 Thief

27 HP

13 atk

108 hit

15 AS

2 def

Fighter:

33 (34) atk

19 (20) atk

100 (101) hit

10 AS

3 def

Hunter:

27 HP

15 (14) atk

103 (104) hit

10 (11) AS

3 def

Archer:

28 HP

18 atk [steel bow]

93 hit

8 (9) AS

6 def

Armor:

31 HP

18 atk

102 hit

3 AS

11 def

Horseman:

33 HP

14 (15) atk [...surprisngly tame]

106 hit

6 def

3 res

Cav:

30 HP

18 atk [lance/sword] 20 atk [armorslayer]

86/102/107 hit [Armorslayer/Lance/Sword]

9 AS

7 def

Apart from the cav with armorslayer, Fighters, and Archers, they're not really in much danger. And there's only 4 fighters, and the archers just stand there like morons.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Chapter 4:

I'll start by saying... Battle prep screen, Disposable Generic Units (DGUs), Forging and all the gold you get before starting makes this a piss easy chapter. You've got 2 recruitable units, Merric and Matthis. Merric is recruited by visiting the Southwestern village, which will be under attack by the thief you see on your left and the thief near the Northeast group of enemies. Merric is a great unit, the best mage in the game and he comes with Excalibur which is deadly against Pegasus and Dragon Knights that you will encounter in the next few chapters. As for Matthis, eh I don't care about him, he seems to have decent STR and DEF growth but his speed sucks. Recruit him with Lena.

Save point use: As I've said, easy chapter, you don't really need use of these. To suggest anyway, use the first one after getting rid of the enemies that chase you and use the 2nd before taking on the Knight and Horsemen.

Short and quick walkthrough: Big Bridge on the left. Do note however that if you happen to block the thief's path to the village with Merric, he will go after the other village near the arena.

To start off, attack the thief and finish it off with some1 whom you wish to give good EXP to. Have every1 else head towards that big square bridge around the center of the map.

The hunter near the bridge will move, kill him if possible or simply have people block him from harming your more fragile units.

By turn 4, you should have your party in safe positions and should be able to move 2 units with good counter-attack capabilities 1 space right below the bridge. This will pretty much lock the enemy so that they can only attack the 2 units you place below the bridge and every1 else is safe. Each turn, you can have the counter-attackers retreat for healing, indirect attacks attack and have 2 other direct attack units block for so they can counter-attack.

Example:

Turn 4, Ogma and Marth (hope that Marth doesn't critical, if you fear his critical rate, use some1 else) end their turn on the 2 spaces right below the bridge and have 2 Indirect attack units right behind them. Enemy will attack Marth and Ogma, eat a counter-attack and be open for indirect attacks. Ogma and Marth got wounded, so I have them retreat and have Lena and Wrys (or a generic healer) use Heal/Mend staff on them. 2 Direct attack units move to where Marth and Ogma were and wait so they counter-attack the enemy turn. Always make sure that a counter-attack will not kill the enemy.

Once they're done, that's the end of the most troublesome part of this chapter. Heal, use the save point and go for the last bunch. The last enemies are just 2 pathetic archers, a Knight blocking a bridge holding an Iron Lance and 2 Horsemen. The archers will attack once your get in their range, have some1 there to give them a counter-attack, recruit Merric and bash those 2. Don't worry about the armor, he won't move unless you stand adjacent to him or attack him indirectly. Avoid the Horsemen range until you're ready to kill both... if you're using DGUs, have the ranged ones wait in the Horsemen's range and then bash them with your Cavaliers, Rapier and Wing Spear if you're able to kill them. These guys are more of a treat than a threat thanks to their pathetic attack power, only thing you have to fear is their speed.

Once they're done, all that will remain is a priest and the boss, kill the priest and go for the boss. (Don't forget the other village for more gold).

Boss (Bentheon) /b]

Pathetically easy since Ridersbane is a 1 range weapon. Bash him with indirect attacks and counter-attacks. All you gotta avoid is putting a cavalier adjacent to him if you don't want said cavalier to die.

Notes on my playthrough: I ended up with a Dark Mage, regular Mage, Cleric, and Armor Knight for generic units. I switched the Cleric to Archer because I didn't need that much healing. All generic units got killed (suicide against the boss), who needs them alive?

During preparation, I forged Marth's rapier (which had 26/28 uses intact) +5 MT (called it Knightmare hahaha). The purpose of this was so that his counter-attacks would deal 27-29 damage against the Cavaliers and not kill them(except Matthis). Truth be told, I didn't use it that much (just 2 uses) but having it for later will certainly help. Cain finally got a D in Lances and Barst got a C in Axes so he could use a Pole Axe if I were to buy one.

Marth has 5 STR.

Edited August 7, 2009 by Sirius

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Chapter 5:

This one can be tough... mostly if you wanna keep Zagaro (Sedgard but I will not call him that!) & Wolf and those other cavaliers alive as well as getting the village for that fire dragon stone. In this chapter, you're only allowed to deploy 10 units (which sucks) because you'll be getting 5 automatically and one that starts off as an enemy. Zagaro and Wolf are the 2 best out of those 5, they have crappy bases and are promoted but their growths make up for it. Hardin is a good cavalier, pretty close to being as good as Cain and Abel. Not gonna comment on the other 2. Then there's Wendel, a promoted sage who also sucks but is a good replacement for Wrys if you're not gonna use him (just switch Wendell to Bishop) and he helps with killing this boss... not bad to have around for some time. Recruit him with Marth or Merric (Marth's better due to the extra movement).

Save point use: Use the first one after killing a few enemies. Anytime you want, just worry about the reinforcements really.

Reinforcements: One Cavalier will appear from the northern Fort during Turns 9-14 of the Enemy Phase. Similarly, one Pegasus Knight will appear from the north-western Fort during Turns 11-16 of the Enemy Phase. - Taken from the Chapter Data

Ok so start off, keep the western team of yours away from enemies, the archers will come at if you don't have your eastern team come to help them quickly (don't worry too much though, you have to be REALLY slow for this to happen). The first thing you wanna do is kill off the 3 eastern enemy cavaliers. You can achieve this on your 2nd turn with just 3 units if you can use 3 of the following:

1. Silver Lance

2. Wing Spear

3. Pole Axe

4. Ridersbane

5. Rapier (would need some MT in order to be really effective)

6. Devil Axe

7. Silver Sword on Oguma and he's capable capable of doubling.

The weapons effective against cavaliers and the Devil Axe are the best in this case.

Here's how I pulled it off:

1. Highlight the 3rd enemy cavalier (counting from the left, 3rd being the cavalier on the right), you'll see that he can attack some1 on the river. Place Sheeda with the Wing Spear there. De-highlight that cavalier once that's done.

2. Highlight the middle cavalier and you'll see he's got 2 spots that are just 1 space above the bridge. Place some1 on the left spot. De-highlight when you're done. (Mine was Abel with Ridersbane)

3. Finally, place another unit right next to the unit you just finished positioning (on his/her left side). (Mine was Marth with 10 MT rapier from chapter 4).

Result: Sheeda had 13 Speed so she pretty nuked her Cavalier. Abel hit his enemy with the Ridersbane (he has a 70% chance of hitting so he may miss...) and left it with 5 HP. Marth left his cavalier with 3 HP. Sheeda's free to go join the team heading towards the left, Abel and Marth can finish off their Cavs and join up later. The rest of the units on Wendell's team won't move till you get closer to them, so ignore them for now and work on the western enemies.

If you're going to pull this one off, you can have the rest of your units work their way towards the left side of the map. Otherwise, you'd have to use those other units to help finish off those 3 cavs, delaying your advance towards the left side (and making it harder to deal with them).

Once those 3 cavaliers are gone, have your units wait just outside the range of the incoming western enemies (and heal those that got wounded if possible. 3 Archers and 2 Cavaliers and 2 thieves going for the village... try to end your turn so that you have some1 like Jagen on bridge with a direct attack weapon. The other bridge should end up in with an archer on the right panel, of the bridge and the Javelin cavalier or another archer on the bridge's left panel. 1 of your units should be adjacent to that archer on the right panel of the bridge (he must be able to live through a ranged attack from the left panel enemy) and have 1 or 2 units in range of the archer on the right panel (with a direct attack weapon). What this will do, is trick the AI so that the right panel archer will stay in place and attack. The Javelin wielding Paladin will have probably attacked the person you sent to block the bridge and the other archer will attack the person you left adjacent to the right panel archer regardless of the range of the weapon (unless you ended up putting Shiida in his range XD).

I need a picture of the map so I can provide a better explanation of this tactic. If you can't manage to pull that off, your chances of losing the fire stone will increase. Using this strategy, I managed to have all those enemies (including the 2 thieves) killed and a capable fighter in range of the Pegasus knight by the end of turn 4, you may end up better or worse... (Also, you could use your western team to lure a few archers or 1 cav away to make that easier).

That's probably the hardest part of the map, once that's done, work on getting Wendel and eliminating the rest of the enemies (as well as block the forts the reinforcements come from).

Boss (Merach): An Armor Knight with a Silver lance... definitely not good for your direct attack units as only the Rapier and Wing Spear (Marth and Shiida will most likely die from a counter-attack), Devil axe and magic will do good damage on him.

Notes on my playthrough: I recruited Wendel and had Roshea, Villuck, Wrys, Hardin and Jagen die. I had them suicide against the boss which was stupid since it pretty much took a few uses out of that Silver Lance I just acquired...

EDIT: I re-did the chapter and found an easier way to deal with the western enemies.

On turn 1, you can move Zagaro (he must have Iron bow on instead of the steel bow to not get doubled) or Wolf on the nearby forest that's in range of the archer adjacent to a thief. The archers will be distracted (and maybe one or both of the cavaliers), take this opportunity to have a good fighter from the eastern team move inside the range of whichever cavalier reaches the farthest to the right.

I find that this method is quite effective since the won't pose a problem and you'll only have to deal with a Steel Lance and a Javelin cavalier, making it much easier to kill both thieves and move past the bridge.

Edited December 6, 2008 by Boo

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Read chapter 5's EDIT if you thought the strategy sucked.

Chapter 6:

First, I apologize if I seem like a douche for this one...

Easy chapter, perhaps too easy because I can't find much to say about this one and I've tried it with and without Generals/Armor Knights. The one character you can recruit here is Rickard and you do that with Julian. I'd rather leave him where he is, Julian is better and you only need 1 thief. Only thing good I find about him is that he starts as an enemy thief, you can him kill for some EXP which will serve you better than having a second thief.

Save points use: ... I don't use any. Use them however you want really.

No reinforcements in this chapter.

Anyway, this chapter should be self-explanatory when you look at it. You've got several Armor Knights, Archers, Thieves, 2 Mages, 2 Priests and 2 Cavaliers. The Cavalier with the Silver lance and the mages are the biggest threat here but they're quite easy to deal with. The thieves will go around opening chests and once they grab a single item, they'll head for the exit which is on the north-east side of the map. One thief will quickly grab the Killing Edge and will head for the exit... you CAN kill him before he manages to leave but I say that's just too much trouble for what it's worth. The other thieves will be quite easy to stop, just get rid of the blockade at the beginning of the chapter and have 1 or some units wait near the treasure chest the Killing Edge gets taken out of.

Bring weapons effective against Armor Knights like Hammer, Armorslayer (if you bought it from the shop), Wing Spear and Rapier (Mage Merric can double if he gained some speed). As usual, take on each enemy 1 by 1, mostly through counter-attacks and attacking them in a manner in which you can't be counter-attacked. By the time the Cavaliers get close, you should be able to block that small passage the enemy Armor Knight was blocking... only problem being, that Silver Lance Cavalier + an attack from a steel bow will easily demolish any1 but a full HP General Wolf, so watch out for that. That's all I can say for this chapter.

Boss (Emereus):

He's a General holding a Silver Lance... nuke him indirectly with magic and counter-attack with an Armorslayer on some1 who can take a hit from this guy. Oh, and hammer helps too.

Notes on my playthrough: Class Swapped Wolf and Zagaro to General, got every treasure here but the Killing Edge, like I said, it's too much trouble. Also ended up with a generic Archer whom I switch to Cavalier and used as bait and a generic mage (also dead). My unit count is now 12 so I have access to chapter 6x.

Edited December 6, 2008 by Boo

[Defeatist Elitist]

Good job here. I love HM5.

I'll really recommend not eating a counter-attack. Especially early on. When most enemies can kill you in 2 hits, ending the turn after taking one hit is practically suicide. :D

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Good job here. I love HM5.

I'll really recommend not eating a counter-attack. Especially early on. When most enemies can kill you in 2 hits, ending the turn after taking one hit is practically suicide. :D

Thank you, it's good to know I'm doing well so far (and yeah, HM5 is mostly the reason I play FE11... I probably will play normal to make a Wi-fi team next time). After chapter 10 it all gets easier so hopefully I don't end up making 1 word comments on the chapters past that. I'm still wondering just how efficient my chapter 5 strategy is... I tested it about 5 times but I still think there may be some error there...

Edited December 6, 2008 by Boo

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Chapter 6x:

Another easy chapter. The only reason you would wanna go here is if (like me) you're hell-bent on getting as much EXP as possible in the earlygame without abusing reinforcements, bosses or the Arena or if you're hell-bent on having Athena on your team. Otherwise, there's really no reason for you to play in this chapter. Athena is recruit by visiting the only village in this chapter, she starts out as Myrmidon and I hear she makes a decent Pegasus Knight... that's I all can say about her. I would recommend keeping her alive since she sort of helps in the next chapter as Pegasus Knight.

Save points use: No suggestions, use them whenever you want.

Reinforcements: None.

What you see is what you get, just a bunch of Pirates, Mercenaries, Archers and 2 Mages. 2 of the pirates are carrying Hand Axes, keep a close eye on these to avoid death. 2 of the Mercenaries are carrying Armorslayers, 1 of them being an enemy that will come after at the beginning so use your Armor Knight/General carefully.

The first enemies you'll fight are 2 Mercenaries (1 with an Armorslayer), some direct attack pirates and 1 Hand Axe pirate. Deal with these in whatever manner works for you, they're no big deal.

And that's it, the rest of them will attack you when you're in their range and are easier to deal with than the initial enemies. Have weapons capable of counter-attacking the enemies and kill them off as you wish.

Boss (Bathys):

A pirate with a Steel Axe (1 range weapon) and 10 SPD. Yawn.

Notes on my playthrough: I made Merric a Curate for this chapter, he leveled up twice. General Zagaro got Bow rank to D, Lena was a Mage and leveled up to. Barst, Ogma, Cain, Abel ended up lvl 10 or 11. Marth and Sheeda are Lvl 5.

Edited December 7, 2008 by Boo

[Judge Judy]

Awesome Boo!

I just finished reading it. Thanks for the tips ^_^

[Admiral "Bull" Halsey]

I'm really dying to play this game...

[Judge Judy]

I'm really dying to play this game...

Same here. I pre-ordered it and it hasn't arrived T_T

[VincentASM]

I'm really dying to play this game...

What's that got to do with this topic?

Anyway, I'm wondering if reinforcements change in Hard mode. I heard that Chapter 24's reinforcements are prolonged to around infinite turns.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Chapter 7:

Once again, easy. The trap here could be a problem but there's an easy way around that. Recruitable character here is Bantu and the only reason you would want this guy to recruit Tiki in chapter 19, possibly his 12 DEF with the fire stone and that's about it. Visit the village to recruit him.

Save point use: Use the first one after taking care of the Dragon Knight and 2 Pegasus knight (or after recruiting Bantu). Use the second after recruiting Bantu and when you've got people ready for the trap.

Reinforcements: It's the trap I keep bringing up. "If you have an unit wait south past the area indicated by the cursor (or on it), four Cavaliers will appear from the southern Forts for two Turns, up to a total of three times." - Chapter Data

Draw a horizontal line starting from that square. Place any1 on or past this line and the trap activates, bringing out 4 cavaliers at the end of your turn (meaning, they will move and attack on the enemy phase). The Western fort Cavalier comes with a Ridersbane, if you've got cavaliers on your team, make blocking this fort with a Pegasus a top priority. The fort closest to the thief's starting position deploys the steel sword cavalier. The southernmost fort deploys a Javelin cavalier and the easternmost fort deploys one with a Steel Lance.

Anyway, to start off, just sit and wait for the incoming generic Dragon Knight and Pegasus Knights. Take them out with good counter-attacks, Bows, Ranged attacks and Excalibur tome. The thief will also move and head for the village, once you're done with the Pegs and Dragon Knight, take him out. The non-generic flying units: Minerva, Catria, Palla and Est will not attack you (they may if you happen to attack them but I don't know as I've never tried) so feel free to move in their range. They'll leave on turn 6 so you can pretty much say that they were never there. After that, if you're recruiting Bantu, kill the archers using indirect attack units or open the door if you can kill the Longbow archer, lock the other archer and have units wait so that they aren't killed by the Mercs.

Once you're done with that, assemble a good number of fighters near the save point, avoiding the trap till you're ready. You can block the Ridersbane fort (West) with a Pegasus, do so. The Steel sword fort can easily blocked with a cavalier or decent movement unit that waited 1 space below the save point. You can block another fort by warping a unit there, the easternmost fort is recommended in this case since there's 2 Javelin wielding Armor Knights waiting (who will attack people in their range) near the southern fort. That fort can be blocked with a second Pegasus knight a few turns after activating the traps. Once you've got all forts are blocked and the enemy Armor Knights (plus the priest >_>) you don't have to worry about anything else besides the boss.

Boss (Harmein):

44 HP, 17 DEF (that's including the gate bonus) general holding a Silver Lance... another pathetically easy boss that needs no strategy.

Notes on my playthrough: Lena was switched back to Cleric and Merric to Mage. I thought I was gonna need Excalibur but Generals Zagaro and Wolf took care of flying units with Steel and Iron bows. I had a generic Curate, made him an archer but he never had to attack the flying units and I just used him as bait for the Armor knights.

Edited December 7, 2008 by Boo

[Dr. Tarrasque]

What's that got to do with this topic?

Anyway, I'm wondering if reinforcements change in Hard mode. I heard that Chapter 24's reinforcements are prolonged to around infinite turns.

That doesn't seem to be the case for the earlygame chapters. I'll look into it starting on chapter 9.

[VincentASM]

I could help out if you'd like, since I know reinforcement listings can get a bit time-consuming. I could start backwards or something : o

[Rodykitty]

I have not studied the reinforcements of Chapter 24, but I am certain that reinforcements don't change for any other chapter, not even the final chapter.

The person that said that the reinforcements were infinite was probably because they go up to turn 49 and they just seemed that way.