Ownagepuffs

Nohr has a lot of money, you just have to go out of your way to get it. You'll be fine.

The only time I've ever done Hero Xander was a mid chapter switch in N26 so that he would lose the beast weakness for the generals in the bottom room lol. Aside from that it's pretty hard for Xander to die to anything physical and Hero does nothing for his Res (he actually loses some!). It's a fun novelty idea if you don't mind dropping the horse for a bit.

Soleil's a cool kid though. Base 60% Str growth is higher than Shinonome and her base class is gr8. Actually yeah she's like a female Shinonome except she can go horse. She just has problems existing.

The pairing was simply about making a good Soleil. Kids as a whole still kinda suffer from lack of supports, yes. Me and Shephen were actually chatting about this a bit the other day. Hana!Kanna is probably one of the better Kannas you can have. Variable parent (Hana) has 1st chapter availability and passes good growths along with being able to take their sword rank into Samurai. Kamui will also always have access to Samurai via marriage seal as well so they can always hop into it for the final bosses. Inigo!Kanna is another interesting option (Kanna can carry sword rank into Merc, Kamui has access to Merc) though the problem is that Laz joins midgame in Nohr. Silas!Kanna is another pretty good one for Cavalier!Kanna and Kamui having access to Cavalier. In Nohr Silas also has first chapter availability too (second chapter availability in Hosh is still good). If you're fine with sacking Effie, something like Arthur!Kanna might be good too. Kamui benefits from Arthur's pair up bonuses and has access to Hero (post promotion). Kanna's growths aren't too bad since they also can go Hero (post promotion). Edit: If you go something like +Str for this pairing (ideal) then you also get a Lutz that benefits from Kamui's strength growth, as well as being able to pass down Noble Lineage to him to make training him easier (like how Robin passes Veteran). Sophie and Soleil would also benefit from this.

She spends time as both. I take her to Rev 5 --> Wyvern 15 --> Rev 16 --> Wyvern again. Sometimes if I feel silly I'll do Zerker Camilia around level 15 or something then Rev then Wyvern. Children are fun filler units in case their parents fall super behind on their averages or something. Early Effie!Lutz is as good as kids get since he has a great, quick support option in daddy, comes before midgame, and has similar bases to Belka but much better growths. He can sub in for Effie if her speed growth doesn't cooperate too. Deere and Foleo are great drop in staffbots with good movement and their dads see a lot of use. If you pair Silas with a good strong mommy (Hana or Kagerou) then Sophie benefits a lot from their strengths and can sub in for Silas. Hana!Sophie in particular has like a million practical skill combos she can do. Velour is kind of a kill machine but suffers from Garou problems. Edit: For Soleil, have you tried Pieri for her mom? She can combine open assault and patient assurance, the couple joins at the same time and has a fast support due to being a retainer-to-retainer support, and Soleil can go Cavalier or Bow Knight for Horse options while retaining her sword rank from Merc. Also Ignis isn't cursed by mods, he's cursed by having the worst unit in Nohr as a dad in addition to being a Knight, kinda like Hoshido!Tharja

Olivia 10 times outta 10.

No one answered? Very useful in both routes. More useful in IK because she's a sorta early strong prepromote who can either weaken enemies for you growth units to pick up or kill problem enemies (FE6 Zealot?). She's good as a GKW because her bulk is nothing special and Yumi are a strong weapon type that lets her avoid payer phase counters.

In IK Takumi needs the offense of Holy Bowman to keep up long term. However, in Hosh GKW is admittedly better because offensive requirements nowhere near as high.

Felicia (C16)/Flannel. Also, have we banned first servant mounted reclassing?

Leo and Pieri.

Arthur

Consider me the 4th, though I don't have my game atm. If at any point someone wants to take my place while I'm still unable to play then I resign to them.

I've gotten warrior weapons as a gold prize before and since those are the Hoshidan equivalents of Braves I'm sure it was from the level 3 lottery since that's the only one that drops gold prizes.

I'm in support of a Cam ban post C10 (where she should be free). Question: is pupeteer Kamui considered "mounted"?

An extra quickdraw Katana. Doesn't sound special, but then you realize that makes the 4th total quickdraw Katana you get, meaning you can forge it to +2. A 10 Mt Weapon that gives +5 Speed is pretty sexy. Edit: I didn't forge it to +2 though because it was a personal challenge to not do any forges outside of the game's realm of possibility (including extra weapons from lottery). I also got a statbooster at some point but it was something useless like a skill book or talisman lol. 2nd edit: I think Gwimpage got a Brave Lance once lol.

Dread Fighters are cool because they have a bunch of magic resistant skills and their skill that lets them escape statuses 2x quicker is cool too. It gives everyone Shuriken/Dagger Access and for most of your unpromoted physical units it's a really nice boost. A little too nice in the early game, since you have a unit with promoted stats but gaining exp like an unpromoted unit. Dreads are much less impressive later on. Anyone with an existent magic growth (or even better, an existent tome rank) can rock Dark Flier though and it's a pretty broken class early on and stays broken for a loooooong time, which is probably why they locked it behind an even bigger paywall than Dread (3 routes instead of 2).

Children are never more useful than their parents, in my experience. Even Velour, who is a straight upgrade to Flannel, isn't useful because whoever Flannel is being pair up fodder for is likely better than both of them by the time you get her. A super early recruited Effie!Lutz in Nohr (comparable bases to Belka and if the current growth formula is assumed correct, has ~ 40%HP, 60% Str, 55% Spd, 50% Skl, 65% Def growths as a Wyvern which is ridiculous and can inherit HP +5 and Def +2 easily) or +Str Kamui!Shigure (who has problems existing anyway) are the only notable kids that make a difference, aside from drop in staffbots like Foleo and Dia who are better off recruited later.

My team size in the routes is usually: Hoshido: 5 combat pairs (most recent pairings are Ryoma/Kagerou, Silas/Hinoka, Takumi/Hana, Kamui/Servant, and Oboro/Saizou), Crimson (and maybe some pair up fodder for her which makes it 6 combat pairs), Staffbot, and Azura. Nohr: 6 combat pairs (Kamui/Servant, Zero/Belka, Leo/Felicia, Marx/Charlotte, Effie/Flannel, Camilia/Harold), Azura, and a staffbot. IK: 4 combat pairs at most prior to chapter 18, where I'll fit in a 5th, Azura, and a staffbot. Lowmanning is much more encouraged in IK than the other routes.

Leo's a ORKO machine. At base he has like, 33 Atk hitting resistance (30 + 2 Devilish Wind + 1 Weapon rank bonus), 35 with magic tonic. W/ Felicia pair up, tonics, and possibly spd food (milk in Nohr) he has 21 AS, 37 Atk which lets him ORKO the Zerkers, Sorcs, and every unpromoted enemy save the Outlaws. Even in his join chapter, he OHKOs the Bowmen and with Luna pair up he ORKOs the Oni Savages which makes up 2/3rds of the map. 17 and 19 are admittedly awkward for him, but if he gets a speed proc in C16 and builds C support with Felicia he can hit 22 speed to ORKO the puppets in 17 in addition to the pupeteers in 17 with good accuracy due to bind. Chapter 18 he can ORKO the Paladins with 21 AS along with still ORKOing the Sorcs and he 2HKOs the General boss(es) because defensive formation so he can definitely put in work there. If he gets the N17 speedwings he could probably even hit 25 spd to ORKO the bow Knights/Heroes or if you have Azura's special dance that works too. Long story short he's way too good of an offensive unit to be relegated to Chip n' Heal. I see the route you're talking about and I wonder why I've never tried it. fwiw The enemies that don't have Nihilistic Curse (0 exp) give fairly generous experience and it's good for building support between Marx and Charlotte since he doesn't get much of a chance to in 21 (wind is sorta obnoxious). Also yes, visiting 3 is the same as 5. I tend to visit the initial one, the lower left one and the lower middle one, skipping the northmost one and the middle right one entirely. But I just realized a different route I could take now. Tbh it's not a problem until reeaallly late, like N27 late and N27 is derp. Even in N26 a capped spd Leo with Felicia S rank and tonic is at 32 speed and spd food puts him at 33 so he doubles everything on the map except the 29 spd Zerkers. Treat Leo the way you treat Marx (speedwings, +Spd support), and you'll get more or less the same unit. The difference between them is actually sorta big in IK in Leo's favor because with Exorcist Sakura support and Horse God access Leo ORKOs more enemy types at base than Marx, resulting in Leo gaining exp quicker.

I'd say he's better as a Dark Knight. Bulk mage is his defining niche, and on average Leo is fast enough to double what you need him to. The extra magic from Strategist is superfluous since Leo overkills anything he doubles anyway except Falcoknights. This goes double for IK where Leo needs that bulk because IK enemies are very strong. Pairing off Leo with a good magic waifu (Felicia or Nyx) will give you a high magic Foleo anyway who can serve your mounted healing needs and Elise has been with you forever. Out of curiosity, is there a situation where you need a healer to take a hit? I'd be lying if I said I didn't have Sakura get whacked here or there in the Hoshido early game, but I don't think I've ever taken a healer to the front unless I need to use a status staff (fun fact: did you know base Elise can take one hit from Flora in chapter 8? It's important because the tile 1 south of Flora is just barely close enough to use Freeze on the Soldier who targets the middle left village).

Just use him as a staffbot.

does not take approve of unit discrimination.

Effie!Lutz is like, the best kid ever. He'd be better than Belka down the line, but they are pretty comparable at first. With some serious focus you could get Effie!Lutz by C13. I have a random play file on C14, checking the bases of Effie!Lutz who inherits Arthur's HP+5 and Effie's Defense +2 at that time (Effie is GK promoted as well, but I'm not sure that has much of an effect on his bases), he is level 14 with 30 HP, 16 Strength, 14 Skill, 12 Speed, 17 (capped) Luck, 20 Defense, 5 Resistance, and D rank axes, halfway to C. Belka's relevant level 14 averages are approx 26 HP, 17 (Str +2 skill included) Str, 17 Skill, 11 Speed, 12 Luck, 17 Defense, and 8 Res. A Belka that has been used to that point will definitely have C Axes though, but Lutz will have a readily available C support with Arthur that grows quickly due to them being related. Also for Servant!Kanna I just meant the easy and early part to apply to them since Kamui can marry the servant by like C11 or something crazy like that. Not so much practical for combat, but an early recruited +Mag Dia/Deere would give you another Troubadour to have around which is nice.

It's a pretty amazing pairing. Flannel being locked to 1 range and having an unforgable weapon is kind of a PITA. Tbh as good his frontal combat is, he's better off supporting. After all, he is to female physical units what Charlotte is to male Physical units. Velour is pretty much a slightly less durable but faster Flannel but she's bulky enough. Still, no kids have ever had anything to offer over their trained parents with maxed support ranks. In Nohr Effie!Lutz is probably the easiest, earliest, most practical kid you could get aside from Servant!Kanna and early recuiting him gives you another statistically competent Flier by like C13 who can take his father for a support option which is nice so there's potential there but other than that I don't see much use for the kids.

His list didn't include support bots. It was more "how does this character perform as a combat unit except for staffers". Edit: I do agree that Rinka's bonuses are pretty damn helpful early on.