[So is possible to beat Lunatic difficult without ever reclassing (among other things)]

So one of many way in I able to actually get enjoyment out of Awakening was play with made up rules among those was never using a second seal (as I think reclassing has no business being in fire emblem, not to mention how broken it was in Awakening and Shadow Dragon) this worked great on hard mode, though a lot of units became useless and whole classes became irrelevant (Sages, Dark Riders, Generals, Warriors(though warriors being useless is par the course for fire emblem), Valkyries (oh far one of my favorite classes has fallen), and War Monks.), still it worked I had my fun. But I when tried to do no Grind, no Second Seal, and no Added Stuff (renown rewards, secret shops,momentary stat booters, no abusing the Fredrick button, among other misc weapon rules) Lunatic playthough it didn't work, first abusing Fredrick was not an option (I know some people like playing Sacred Seth, and Path of Titania but I enjoy Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance quite a bit more), and second I found that while it might be possible in theory to play with the rest of my rules in place it became clear that the game resented me for having them and it became nigh impossible to beat it, because the game had to compensate for all of its broken systems. So without further adieu I will get on with my questions.

1. What is Lunatic like in Fates? is it like Hector Hard Mode, hard but flexible (ie. Most units can still be relevant and useful), it like Radiant Dawn Hard Mode, harder, not as flexible, but still fair, or is like Awakening Lunatic, linear(as there is not often more that on way to approach the map), unbalanced, and no sense of what a difficultly curve is.

Awakening Lunatic is pretty fun tbh. Anyway Hoshido LM is like... Ephraim Hard Mode? A little tricky in some parts but still easy overall. Nohr LM is pretty mean but manageable for the most part (FE12 Maniac?), but the last few chapters are straight Lunatic+. IK LM plays very similarly to FE13 LM where you are expected to keep a handful of units over the exp curve for basically the entire game.

2. To me a lot of the replayibility of fire emblem comes from bringing different sets of units to end game, so are most of the units end game relevant (keep in mind that a good unit does not equal being end game relevant, ie Rebecca is not a good unit but she is end game relevant because she can eventually hold her own, Lissa is not end game relevant as all Sage's and War Monk's have no use beyond skill abuse).

In Hoshido, yes. Nohr is pretty punishing of suboptimal team compositions and IK Lunatic requires some pretty hard commitments. For IK there are a handful of characters that are worthless but for the most part it's all about extreme favoritism (or being a prepromote).

3. Are Knights as good as Owsin or Gatrie in this game or at least Gilliam or Brom... I don't need any more Arden's and Kellam's in my life...

Kellam's actually one of the series' better Knights. Anyway, in Nohr, Effie is a shitstomping goddess of destruction and Benoit is arguably the worst character in Nohr. In IK they are both worthless.

4. Are Healers useful for anything other than being a staff bot or I my days of watching Serra wreaking entire armies on mountains over....

They can fight if you want them to, but they are better off staffing.

5. Are Sages back to the former glory or do Dark Mages make them completely irrelevant again (impression of the same IS employee who thought giving sages knives was a great idea "you know what we should really do give dark mages anima too just to make sages all the more pointless, that is a great idea, also don't forgot to not actually give dark magic to any of the other classes labeled as dark cause that's not confusing at all...)

Exorcists (this game's version of Sages) are pretty powerful, having high growths in the key areas. Nosferatu is not as stupid as it was in Awakening, but Sorcs have Crit bonus and better skills overall. One is not clearly better than the other.

6. Do have to abuse my Jagan for a long time.

There is no Jagen in Nohr and Hoshido. In IK you do not have to abuse the Jagen because he's kept in check pretty quickly. You should still use him for attack stance, pair up bonuses, or rescue utility though.

7. Are there any weapons that are broken as heck that I need to avoid using (ie. FE13 so many things, but mostly Nosferatu)

The Prf weapons of the royals are broke as fuck but besides that nothing else.

8. Would it be possible to come up with my own weapon durability system (like for example I can only use a weapon for 2-4 maps before have to sell it or put it away I wouldn't actually count the amount of times I used the weapon I am not that boring) or does the amount of weapons I can get/buy make that totally impractical.

Impractical.

Answers in bold.

[Those who've beaten the Birthright/Revelation bosses… what do you do to ensure decent hit rates?]

Takumi.

Always Takumi.

You know, he's not joking. Takumi's skill eventually gets so high that he pulls like 88% hit at least after WTD on Swordmasters and Raven Strike gives him a really silly player phase. Unfortunately, he's not playable on Conquest.

In Nohr, I just rock Ninja Kamui for high avoid bosses. Ninja is a very accurate class.

[Do you think there will be gameplay changes in the localization?]

I'd realy like for them to reduce Nohr throne bonuses. IK throne bonuses are the usual +20 Avo but Nohr's +30 avo gets really fucking dumb sometimes since they love putting dodgy enemies on them.

[I need some advice for My Unit]

Note that Hero growths are almost identical to Blacksmith. From level 1 to level 20, the average stat gains for Hero and Blacksmith are the same except for 1 more SKL/SPD point for the former and 1 more DEF point for the latter.

Looking at it closer, Hero growths are also near identical to Weapon Master as well, with the former only being down like 10% in Skl. I've really gotta start looking into Weapon Master!Hana lol.

[Xander is so good he's bad]

Is Normal Mode in Nohr comparable to Awakening's? The lack of difficulty was almost unplayable. Nohr Hard is certainly challenging enough however.

I hear Nohr NM is close to Awakening HM. I also agree that Nohr HM is a good difficulty. Based on what I've watched of it, there's enough to throw players for a loop for their first time through without being brutal.

[I need some advice for My Unit]

Hero has like the dankest growths in the game.

Lol +20% HP/15% Str/20% Skl/+10% Def growths. That's your best bet if you're looking at just growths.

[Tips to beat the chapter 12 xander?]

I've tackled him a few times for fun. Usually relies on Oboro's defense seal and Takumi crit or something since he still has by far the best offense on the team at that point.

[Xander is so good he's bad]

Lol Xander is kinda funny in that you sorta wanna hope he doesn't proc defense too much because enemies just avoid him. But that's just unpromoted enemies which don't last long. Late game enemies packing silvers and capped weapon ranks can actually dent him but he still scoffs at them compared to everyone else. Normal mode Xander sounds pretty hilarious though. Here's this god unit who no enemy wants to attack ever unless they target res

[I don't want to give up on Kanna]

Isn't Kanna's only problem literally not being as good as Kamui?

You probably can say about every other unit when you think about it in in deep detail anyways.

Kanna is also not as good as other children. He/She doesn't have the kickass base classes of Grey, Shino, or Lutz. They don't have ridiculous personal growths like Velour. They are just meh and so is their personal skill because Dragonstone suck.

[Unit Practicality Thread]

On this note, would you do Matoi's paralogue early or not?

Rally Speed (or Soar) + D rank secondary weapon after Ch. 20 [as you said] or early Swordslayer?

I'm guessing you'll say early given the item example you cited, but I'd just like to double check.

I guess if you did Oboro/Tsubaki you could get her early because she would make for a good replacement if Baki is faltering. Early Swordslayer is also nice.

[Trying to pick characters for my Lunatic run for Nohr]

You have said again and again that the reason you skip something is never because you are not good at it.

Your Luna is in a better class than Bow Knight. Or you can use other units as they are also better units in better classes.

​The right side should be easy for you even with less units and less staves.

?

I don't use Luna. It's true that with my improved team, the right would be easier for me now. I just haven't done it because I don't see the point unless I need the money. In my first run through 25 I didn't have Luna or Zero for Kunaibreaker and I was going in blind so it was a messy run.

[Trying to pick characters for my Lunatic run for Nohr]

I was describing my experience without Kunaibreaker. I haven't acutally gone up the right side with it yet.

[Trying to pick characters for my Lunatic run for Nohr]

How ugly was it?

Used all my staves just to get through it. The left is pretty tame but the right side is so ugly. Master shuriken Ninjas everywhere along with an Ogre Strike/Raven Strike/Ogre Club Weapon Master isn't very fun.

I remember you said you always run ninja or samurai. I see why lol. But if you do Kamui solo that level, is the loss of exp noticeable? Does it make your units slightly underleveled? Especially with the hardest chapter next...

Not really. You can head up the left to get silence and squeeze exp out of any time spent there and the preceding chapters give a lot of exp per battle. Any exp gained from the right side isn't worth the trouble or staves. You really want Camilia to be set up for the bottom room of 26 though.

[Trying to pick characters for my Lunatic run for Nohr]

Oh lol so if your Kamui can't solo the boss, you gotta go through all the mess. Can you just focus all your units one side?

My first run through it was just awful. I focused everyone onto one side at a time. They give you a 20+ turn buffer before the boss aggros for a reason lol.

[Trying to pick characters for my Lunatic run for Nohr]

If your Kamui was a ninja, he can snake venom the boss in 25 to death, and use copycat as well. Im not sure but maybe the boss can be drawn with the draw staff if he is in range.

You can't use transportation staves in the field

[Children worth getting in a Hard/Lunatic run~]

Lutz is fine doubling if he has Effie or Cam for a mother.... Which he usually does. He's my favorite kid so I spoil him and he really is amazing. Paired with Velour he's pretty much another Camilia.

[Trying to pick characters for my Lunatic run for Nohr]

Best husband and classes for Azura and Luna?

Azura shouldn't do any fighting. Luna really likes Arthur and Flannel.

Am I the only one that likes to use Effie?

She is one of my most reliable character in Lunatic. Her high STR combined with her personal skill will cut down enemies like butter. She's also has pretty good SPD growth for a Knight and will prevent most enemies from attacking twice with the exception of faster units, but those won't deal much damage to her.

She's a goddess.

[Trying to pick characters for my Lunatic run for Nohr]

A lot of people suggest Luna/Felicia for Leo. What about Nyx? With one level, she can be insta-promoted and swapped into Adventurer, which gives +6 speed at S-Rank. Is the two seals not worth it?

The 2 seals aren't really worth it but it is a good option.

[Trying to pick characters for my Lunatic run for Nohr]

Aqua is a dancer. Always worth deploying.

Luna is pretty good, either for combat or utility. For combat, she does great with Flannel and Arthur. For utility, you could just parallel then instant promote her for flying rescue, feeding her the occasional kill so that she can get rally speed.

Camilia is God. She does great with Arthur, Flannel, or Kaze. I'm looking into buddying her with Luna for Patient Assurance to stack with Overbearing for a certain room full of Generals in the late game.

Marx/Xander is also a god. He does great with Luna or Charlotte, with the latter being significantly more effective. Give him a speedwings.

Elise is an amazing staffbot. You could probably instant promote her then have her use tomes for attack stance once in a while because her magic is so high but she is better off not fighting.

Kamui/Corrin is a unit that can range from "okay" to "absolute best unit" depending on your build. Check this thread for ideas. They are always best off with the servant.

Leo is as amazing as his siblings. He does great with Luna or Felicia. Also give him a speedwings.

Charlotte is much better as pair up fodder than as a fighter. Training her can be pretty fun, but ultimately I would recommend it. If you must, she works well with Laz.

Laz is an okay unit. Good bases and growths, along with a nice starting weapon rank of C. He's a bit awkward to use given his join time, though. He works well with Pieri and Charlotte.

Odin is pretty bad. You are best off using him for attack stance early on.

Female Kamui is usually better since Jakob's personal skill is so strong, but there are some builds where male Kamui is preferable (+Mag/-Lck Paladin for Felicia's damage boost, for example.)

Nohr Lunatic blind will probably get to you since it has a lot of nasty surprises for the unaware.

[Kamui builds for each route on Hard/Lunatic~]

Yeah, obviously you want the Dragon Fang skill for that occasional extra power. Not entirely sure how Prince MU does against Kakumi... Do you go for the Dragonstone method there? I recall his res being the lowest of his defensive stats, and you can't slay him in one round since he cannot be doubled.

I don't normally even try beating Takumi in C10 Nohr lol.

The only time I beat Takumi in N10 was with a risky super dark flier run which is obviously not your standard run. He's so far away and Kamui/Camilia (the only people with a chance to beat him) have so much to do throughout the map that neither of them have time to try to take him on. When you beat him, the map becomes pretty derpy though since no water drain.

I imagine a beefy +Mag Spellcaster/Dark Mage or normal Prince with a bunch of magic procs and Nyx pair up + dragonstone would 2RKO him so it's not impossible. Sounds fun, actually.

[Kamui builds for each route on Hard/Lunatic~]

Mozume's Paralogue. Also level 10 is the usual reclass level because you get Dragon Fang.

[Kamui builds for each route on Hard/Lunatic~]

Last time I tried a Ninja MU, he had abysmal strength immediately upon reclassing @ L10, which didn't help considering Bronze Shuriken's poor mt. I really don't like the idea of turning MU into an awful growth unit when they can be played efficiently. Why turn MU into a Mozume?

Gotta roll with +Str and get as much exp as possible to ride that 75% growth as a prince during the prologue then build rank to D in 1x. Should be set after that. I was able to ORKO the non HP +5 Fighters in N8 which is the bulkiest enemy on the map and pretty much shit stomps all of N10 after getting C in N9. It's not really turning Kamui into Mozume. It's a slight temporary offensive dip for a massive payoff until the end of the game.

[Kamui builds for each route on Hard/Lunatic~]

The main take away from Lancer (in my opinion) is breaking sky access. Spellcaster gives you Basara for Sky and so much more lol. No need to pick Lancer unless you wanna pass the class to a unit.

[Kamui builds for each route on Hard/Lunatic~]

We are talking about Kamui here. Make him whatever you want, and he will still be good regardless. This isn't FE13 with OP Robin/Morgan Solo. Hell, some other characters are just as good or maybe even better then him (Ryoma, Camilla, Xander)

Kamui is better than them by a significant margin, assuming you rock a good build.

2 questions.

1. Why is hero considered not to be a good class?

2. I thought hoshido was a good skill cause isn't it like rightful king?

1) I don't know why either. The class is great statistically (20 HP/15 Str/20 Skl/15 Spd/10 Def is pretty rad), has great skills, and has Yato for Kamui.

2) RK wasn't good in Awakening, it's not good here either.

Going back to +Speed vs +Strength, I understand +Speed is probably overkill, but does it help Siegbert with his speed if I'm planning on marrying Marx? I know Marx has a reputation of being turtle slow, so would going +Speed help patch up his kid in that aspect? Or is +Strength still the way to go? Thanks in advance!

+Str is the way to go.

bonuses from yato are gained even if you can't use swords?

I'm asking mostly cause as a magic kamui i don't really wanna stick to the dark blood/dark knight classes, right? :S

Yes.

Edit

So is magical Paladin really better than a Dark Knight MU for Nohr Hard/Lunatic? Paladin deals comparable magical damage because of the outdoor +3 dmg skill and is faster, while DK has better mag damage on terrain and can use 1-2 range magic before Levin Sword can be bought, also being fully able to double with it. Dark Knight isn't really much worse as a Yato user, either, but it's not like you're really compelled to use that sword tbqh; just keep it in the inventory for the stat boosts.

I think Paladin's selling point (namely for efficiency runs) is that it has +2 mov over Dark Mage prior to promotion after reclass, and retains sword rank which is sure to see plenty of use.

Magical pally can also exist in Hoshido...

I would say Magic Pal is better for Nohr while Dark Knight is better for Hoshido. There's no Levin in Hoshido and Horse God is a thing there along with slower enemies (so DK being slower doesn't matter) and Hoshido Yato boosts speed.

[Kamui builds for each route on Hard/Lunatic~]

The title mentions Hard too, so I'd like to inquire about it too.

I don't like reclassing on a first run, so Corrin will be a White Blood because I'm buying Birthright. I'm also planning a no-grind run for my first run as well.

However, I don't really know the intricacies of White Blood. What stats does it not need? I'm assuming - Res or -Skl would be the best because it might not need them?

You have the exact same avi as Shephen and it confused the hell out of me lol.

Here's something that isn't discussed with white blood very often; the class has huge strength. It's tied with Great Knight for 3rd highest base strength in the game, beaten only General (11) and Zerker (12). It also sports +15% HP/Str/Def growths so it's really thwomp as well. I should try it out one of these days myself. It's skills kinda suck but it's a really strong class statistically so if you're on hard it's not a bad class to go on. I feel like it was designed for players who picked a bad subclass so they could fall back on it or something lol.