fatgamecat

Any reason why you're not trying lunatic reverse? I'm guessing you've beaten Lunatic by now? Haven't been making much progress on my run because I've been playing Valkyria Chronicles II.

That's a nice find. Presumably they added that so you can't reload until you get a stat up in every stat. I was recently searching all around the JP web for some turn counts or any rank above A and didn't find anything.

Hmm I think it's reasonable to get her up to lv 15-17 promoted by Ch 23 even if you're speedrunning. It depends if she has enough SPD by then to avoid being doubled (22 spd).. she'll certainly have more SPD than Etzel at least. I've taken Etzel and Malliesia on my latest run so I'm just trying to figure out a better way to kick his butt than spending a fortune on boosts for Etzel.

Um ok.. a meaningless statement about tier lists that contains no argument whatsoever about Rody's position. Great. And in my opinion, Rody is far from 'crapsack tier' (see previous posts for the math). Oh dear, maybe I shouldn't mention more than one character in one post as to not confuse poor General Spoon. I just gave you an example where she can be more than a healer.

How do you figure? You can kill the thief in two attacks with Catria even if she recruits Warren on turn 2.

I assume your run isn't a 'no deaths' run. :P How about getting all recruits, or getting all items? By the way, you don't need Cecil to help kill the thief. Catria can do it on her own as long as the thief procs 1 DEF.

Nobody is arguing he's better than Draug. I think he's better than a lot of the cast currently above him, though. The whole mid and lower tiers are not in very good shape. The top tier is more or less good, though, which I suppose is the most important thing. Although I think more respect needs to be paid to Malliesia as she is a critical unit if you want low turn counts because she is the only unit that can use Hammerne for all but the final chapter. She can even kick Gharnef's ass if you give her an arms scroll due to her high MAG/SPD stats.

Yeah Sirius is definitely useful early and most of mid game. It's around Ch 16 when the 24 SPD enemies start popping up that he begins to falter. An SM that can't double is pretty weaksauce. And his SPD is even worse as a slower unit by that point in the game.

Rody's growths do allow him to pull ahead of Draug, let me do the math for you. At 20/20 Hunter->Horseman Rody will have (ignoring class caps) 52.40 hp, 27.90 str, 28.00 skl, 38.40 spd, 27.80 lck, 16.40 def, and 6.80 res. Hunter->Horseman Draug Draug will have 43.80 hp, 24.85 str, 23.85 skl, 37.75 spd, 16.20 lck, 15.90 def, and 3.00 res at 20/20. Talking about Rody as a cavalier is pointless. Yes, we know he sucks as a cavalier, most units do except for the ridiculous My Unit or Catria or Shiida w/ her Wing Spear. He's good as a high SPD bow user and best compared to hunter Draug. It'd be foolish to not level either Rody or Draug as a hunter, as you have pretty much no other option for leveling a good bow user. I don't recommend giving him a lot of levels during the prologue as his growths are better as a hunter. He'll naturally gain levels as a hunter during Ch 2-3 as there are plenty of dracos and other targets to shoot down. I wouldn't take Rody over Draug but he is far from a worthless unit, in fact he is one of the few units that can hang in a low turn count speedrun that this tier list is based on, which makes him far more useful than the late joiners and prepromotes that are placed above him who will be dead weight if you try to slot them into a team by the time they join. His bases are 1 point lower than Luke in STR and SPD. They are not bad for a lv 1 unit. Cite numbers if you're going to be making hyperbolic statements like 'disgustingly bad', so we can see that you're just exaggerating. I've successfully run Rody through my lunatic with speedrun times and although I would take Draug if I had to choose again, I do think Rody is a far more useful high SPD bow user than you're giving him credit for, and the Rainbow Potion would significantly help out while he gets out of that 500XP lead Draug has on him. And yes, his support for MU is worth considering.

After playing through lunatic and being pretty disappointed at Sirius' mediocre SM stats compared to the uber 3 women and even Luke, I'm wondering if there's a good replacement for him.. I don't think Cecil is it, though. She's got the same (or worse) durability as Shiida without the wing spear to make up for it. Meanwhile a 25 SPD Paladin Shiida can ORKO the generals in Ch 20 without breaking a sweat.

If your will was strong, you'd reload until he had exactly average growths.

It's pretty obvious he's reloading for SPD growths given that he's gained a SPD point (almost?) every level. Arguing about 'on average' doesn't apply so much to the prologue when you can finish most prologue chapters in 1-2 mins max and it only takes a few mins to get a SPD proc at 45%. I think my lunatic reverse run proved pretty effectively that knight MU is the best MU to start out with. Also, lunatic mode with knight MU reloaded for growths, wifi items, class limits unlocked, and base store stat boosts is going to be pretty easy.. just saying.

Wing spears are not rare. They are in shops all over the game. I got to ch 20 Lunatic on a single +1 wing spear with 6 uses left on it. You want Shiida to be a cavalier for Ch 5, so she can help with the base assault. It's worth giving her an angelic robe to start out with and it will help her durability as a draco or falco. I'm finding Sirius to be a bit stale in my current speedrun of Lunatic, due to his mediocre base stats. The rainbow drop would help him but it's not going to make him more useful than Shiida.

I don't ever plan on using it, but if I did I would be using it mostly on already good units - My Unit, Catria, Palla, Shiida, etc. Using it on Marth so he doesn't get doubled, or using it on someone who needs a 2 extra SPD to double or some extra STR. Will also help facing off against mages/sages with the +RES. I'd definitely save a few uses for Ch 22 and 23.. not everyone is guaranteed to be capped especially in DEF and RES. Buffing your sages vs Gharnef would be a good idea as well. And if you are speedrunning, Marth is practically guaranteed to be underleveled (I'm on Ch 19 and he's only lv 15.. and that's after putting him in the arena like 3 times), so saving one for him on Ch 24 could be a lifesaver.

They should have gone further and not allowed wifi obtained items. Pretty good run for Maniac, though.

While choosing not to use available features that make the game easier (such as wifi) is a player defined challenge, the OP states "Also, Wifi is not assumed to be accessible."

That's disappointing they are continually making the game easier.. that's a pretty overpowered item there. Free star orbs for everyone basically.

I tried aggroing both of the longbow snipers in range near the start point and the heroes didn't aggro. Afaik the reinforcements appear from enemy turn 4 onward if you've aggroed the 2 heroes or the enemies behind them that are also linked.

This isn't true. I've had the general kill Est before on Lunatic shortly after killing the boss and recruiting Abel (edit: oops.. got the guys mixed up). So there is something that triggers it. I'm also kind of skeptical about the AI being different between modes. So here are some of my own interesting facts: If you kill all the thieves in Ch 16 before any chest is opened, you can sit around forever until you decide to open a chest or the temple doors. If you visit the Ch 18 village on turn 1, the 4 paladins not with the wolf team will remain hostile. If you kill the Ch 19 boss, no further reinforcements will appear.

I haven't tried equipping a longbow on a warrior or general, but I'm certain horsemen can't use them. Chapter 17 Lunatic Reverse Unit Choices: Berserker My Unit, Falco/Swordmaster/Draco Palla, Catria, and Shiida, Horseman/Sniper Draug, Swordmaster Luke or Sirius, Feena, Malliesia, Etzel, Xane. You'll need a 28-29 SPD sniper/horseman and two 28-29 SPD swordmasters to ORKO the enemy snipers and warriors with. They'll also need A level weapons or forged silvers to put out enough damage. I chose to take Palla as a SM, Catria as a Falco, and Shiida as a Draco. Chapter 17 Lunatic Reverse Turns Taken: 6 Similar strat to Lunatic mode. Use your Falco to help kill the east berserkers with MU and Xane. Use your draco w/ Iote's Shield to chase down the Nosferatu thief, then send your falco south to help kill the dracos and enemies in the treasure room. Use your two SMs and sniper/horseman to slay all warriors and snipers in your way. Use Fortify to patch everyone up. MU and Feena are on a very tight movement schedule to reach their positions by Turn 5 and 6. Give Etzel an arms scroll to reach A tomes, then change him to Bishop so he can use B staves and B tomes. If Etzel doesn't have B staves by turn 6 you can't complete the chapter in 6 turns. If your Again staff needs repairing, try to get it repaired during this chapter before turn 6. Turn 1: Visit E village. Kill the 3 dracos to the east with MU, Xane, and Falco w/ Starsphere. Move Etzel west in position to counter one of the west dracos. Place Draug in range of the tomahawk warrior for a counterkill. Kill the nearby sniper with SM 1 and the nearby warrior with SM 2. Heal SM 2 if needed. Move your Draco south towards the nosferatu thief w/ javelin equipped. Turn 2: Use Fortify. Kill the two west dracos with Etzel and SM 1. Kill the sniper in the fort with Draug and the other nearby sniper with SM 2. Attack the nosferatu thief with your Draco. Move Marth W towards the village and everyone else SW. Turn 3: Kill the nosferatu thief while staying out of the snipers attack range. Move Marth and SM 1 west. Move your Falco and Xane SE. Move everyone else SW towards the throne room. Turn 4: Kill the warrior near the throne room. Kill the SE sniper with Xane and move your Falco south towards the SE room. Keep holding off the two dracos with your draco. Dance for MU and move him into the snipers attack range. Visit the village with Marth. Turn 5: Open SW door w/ MU. Open SE door with your Falco holding the Iote's Shield and Javelin. Move Xane in and kill the killer axe warrior. Move Marth west into the corner. Use the save point. Turn 6: Ignore the draco reinforcements. Kill the sniper in the SE room for the door key and have Etzel use the thief staff on the treasure chest. Clear the way in the throne room then rescue Marth so he can recruit people. You don't have to kill every enemy in the throne room, just enough so Marth can reach the throne. Cast again on Marth with Etzel then capture. Start of Ch 18 Marth 14.85 MU 17/20 Rody 12/11.28 Luke 12/10.00 Malliesia 16/9.73 Catria 14/12.53 Palla 18/12.00 Sirius 6.64 Shiida 12/11.40 Etzel 14.03 Chapter 18 Lunatic Reverse Unit Choices: Dracoknight My Unit w/ Star and Light Orbs, Dracoknight Sirius, Paladin/Falcoknight Catria, Shiida, and Palla, Horseman Draug, Swordmaster Luke, Sages Malliesia and Etzel, Xane, Feena. Marth needs 19 SPD to be able to survive an attack from one of the Paladins. Chapter 18 Lunatic Reverse Turns Taken: 2 Turn 1: Kill 3 of the paladins near the village using 3-4 of your 9-10 MOV units except My Unit. Visit the village with Marth using Feena to dance. Make Xane copy My Unit. Place My Unit w/ Hammer equipped into aggro range of the generals to pull them. MU is guaranteed to kill 3 of the generals with his hammer, no luck needed. Turn 2: Clear a path to the castle and kill any enemies that drop items - you need to kill 5 targets total - 3 generals and 2 bishops. Move Malliesia or Etzel east, rescue Marth close to the castle, then capture. Don't forget the arms scroll in the cave. Start of Ch 19 Marth 15.21 MU 17/20 Rody 12/11.60 Luke 12/10.20 Malliesia 16/9.73 Catria 14/12.64 Palla 18/12.20 Sirius 7.54 Shiida 12/11.53 Etzel 14.35 My Turn Counts as a Knight (+2 STR, +1 DEF, +SKL/SPD) on Lunatic Reverse while following the conditions stated at the beginning of my guide: P1: 4 turns P2: 4 turns P3: 4 turns P4 vs Athena: 4 turns P5: 5 turns P6 vs Draug: 3 turns P7 vs Cain: 3 turns P8: 11 turns C1: 8 turns C2: 7 turns C3: 17 turns C3x: 6 turns C4: 8 turns C5: 12 turns C6: 7 turns C6x: 1 turns C7: 5 turns C8: 6 turns C9: 7 turns C10: 5 turns C10x: 1 turn C11: 7 turns C12: 6 turns C13: 8 turns C13x: 3 turns C14: 10 turns C15: 8 turns C16: 6 turns C16x: 2 turns C17: 6 turns C18: 2 turns C19: 7 turns C20: turns C20x: turns C21: turns C22: turns C23: turns C24: turns Total: Chapter 19 Lunatic Reverse Turns Taken: 7 Turn 1: Move MU NE, dance for him then move him NE into Paladin attack range w/ +4 forged Poleax equipped. Move everyone else NE. On enemy turn MU will counterkill (one shot) 3 paladins. Turn 2: Move NE, kill the two nearest paladins with Mu and Xane w/ Feena.. trade the Poleax to Xane so he can also one shot a paladin. Move your Falco w/ Star Orb in aggro range of the crit axe warrior. Keep moving everyone NE. On enemy turn the silver axe warrior should attack MU. Turn 3: Kill the crit axe and silver axe warriors and thief closest to the village. Position your Paladins so they are in range of the tomahawk and silver bow warriors. Keep moving everyone NE. Vyland shows up on enemy turn, and the tomahawk and silver bow warriors should split up attacking your falco and one of your paladins near the thief you killed. Turn 4: Move one of your paladins in position to aggro the horsemen. Trade the Iote's Shield and Star Orb to MU and send him west over the mountains to aggro two nearby generals and a horseman. MU should have Iote's Shield, Star Orb, and Life Orb with Hammer equipped. MU will counterkill both generals. Kill the last two warriors. Make sure Feena is as close as NE as she can get without getting into ballista range. Move Marth towards the village and everyone else E/NE. Turn 5: Use the save point. Visit the village with Marth. Kill the boss with MU's Hammer. Place Xane right in Vylands attack range with a handaxe equipped. Vyland will attack but even if Xane has 26 STR and doubles Vyland he won't kill him barring an unlucky crit. Kill the horsemen and eastmost ballista - having multiple units that can ORKO the horsemen either with 28 SPD or forged ridersbane/wing spear is essential here. As long as you place your Falco near Sedgar, Sedgar will ignore Feena and attack the Falco. He hits so weakly that as long as your Falco is at full health, he has no chance of killing them. You'll want to place your Falco further north so Sedgar starts turn 6 closer to the castle and Wolf. Turn 6: Rescue Marth towards the castle and move Marth west. Recruit Vyland with Roshea and Sedgar with Vyland all on this turn. Move Sedgar west towards Wolf. Move MU away from Wolf's attack range, but close enough to the Mend bishop that he can kill it on turn 7. Wolf will naturally head NE towards Marth and Sedgar without a target. Kill or blockade any remaining paladins. Turn 7: Kill the Mend staff bishop. Kill any horsemen in the way of Sedgar and Marth, although there shouldn't be any. Recruit Wolf with Sedgar, move Marth towards the castle then again staff him to capture. Try to get some shots on the horsemen for XP. Start of Ch 20 Marth 16.44 MU 17/20 Rody 12/12.50 Luke 12/11.70 Malliesia 16/11.33 Catria 14/13.61 Palla 18/12.78 Sirius 7.94 Shiida 12/12.21 Etzel 15.60 Here's what's coming to Ch 20.. let's see what those sages, sorcs, and bishops think of this! Still might decide to go draco or berserker.

I'd like to try berserker, although that would make the rest of the map more difficult with 5 less RES and 3 less MOV. Berserker with hand axes does seem appealing. He'd get 51% crit w/ Geosphere and Marth, Luke, and Ryan A support. Since he'd be doubling the paladins that's 76% chance to land a crit over 2 attacks. Forging more crit onto a hand axe is pretty inexpensive as well. I think the sages are more dangerous and potentially costly for your turn count than the Paladins, which is why I'd rather have the Paladins base RES. My Paladin MU will have 18 RES by Ch 20. Add Starsphere and Holy Water and he'll have 27 RES, taking no damage from swarm bishops and very little from the sages. As a berserker he'd be far more squishy in both DEF and RES.

I agree with you on the General vs Paladin argument. Only Knight MU is likely to have enough DEF to cap DEF as a Paladin, and even then he needs stat boosts to get there. However I'm also considering that once that first paladin wave is dead in Ch 20, a pokey general is not going to be nearly as conductive to a speedrun. I'd also like to see if I can vaporize those paladins without having to spend a fortune on a forge. So I just typed up a Lunatic Reverse class review. Here we go: Classes are rated in usefulness based on the stated objectives of my guide/walkthrough. Good Classes: Pegasus Knight - Great class for doubling almost every early game enemy and covering difficult terrain. Their high base RES lets them kill early game mages easily. Their only weakness is that their 8 MOV isn't quite as good on flat terrain compared to the Cavalier. Dracoknight - Pretty much the most useful damage dealing class for the mid game as far as MU, Palla, Catria, and Shiida are concerned. They will all be fast enough as Dracos to double most enemies while taking advantage of the Dracos high base STR, DEF, and MOV. Even slower Dracos like Sirius can be useful when you need to bring as many fliers as possible to a chapter. Falcoknight - Due to the circumstances involving when Elysian Whips are handed out (Ch 9 and 16) and when you're likely to early promote all of your units (Ch 12), you can realistically only have one Falcoknight. It's a choice between Shiida, Palla, and Catria. Falcoknights are extremely useful because they are flying sword users with 26 SPD. Add in the Star Orb +2 SPD buff and you've got a 28 SPD flier, making them essential for flying over difficult terrain and ORKOing enemies. Dancer - While ridiculously frail, the dancer is essential for countless strategies - they make the impossible possible. You'll want to take them on almost every chapter you possibly can. Chameleon - What's better than one My Unit? TWO My Units, of course. Another essential class you'll almost never want to go without, despite their drawbacks. Sniper - Let's count the ways that the sniper is awesome. 5 bonus hit and crit. Only class that can use longbows. 29 SPD cap. Base C in bows. 30 SPD growth. Just plain better bases than the Horseman. The only thing holding them back is their 7 MOV and bow-only weapon usage. Swordmaster - Another case of terminally awesome. 10 bonus evade. Base C in swords. Extremely high SPD base and growth along with 30 SPD cap means they will almost always double their targets. STR cap of 24 is also excellent considering their SPD cap. Sage - You can't reasonably get through Lunatic mode without a healer or two, and Sages are the best healers you can get. Their high MAG means better heals and more damage. Male sages are especially useful for nuking flying enemies with Excalibur. You can't get past Chapter 23 without a good Sage to kick Gharnefs ass with, unless you want to try killing Medeus without the Falchion in a reasonable amount of time. This makes the Sage more important than most classes for clearing the game. Decent Classes: Lord - Annoyingly low SPD growth and 25 SPD cap ensures your Lord will never be a stellar sword user like the SM. They'll also be annoyingly slow mid-game and get doubled by all but the slowest enemies. Not to mention they are usually running like hell towards some castle or throne or other and won't have much time to stop and hit things for XP. Cavalier - Decent all around class. With the highest MOV of any unpromoted class, you will rely on them to cover great distances during the early game. However it takes a certain type of uber unit to make up for the Cavaliers mediocre base stats and growths, namely My Unit, Palla, Catria, and Shiida. Hunter - If you want to level someone as a bow user, these guys will perform very well. Still, they aren't nearly as good as snipers or horsemen due to their low MOV and lack of base weapon level. Mage - An OK class if you need to level a caster like Merric, but they can't use staves. Promote to Sage asap. Cleric/Curate - An OK class to level your healers in, but their 5 MOV is terrible. Promote to Sage asap. Bishop - Sacrifices MAG for higher staff level and more RES. Not the best caster class to be in, but if you need to bump a units stave level up temporarily so they can use a certain level of staff, you don't have much of a choice. General - Generals have great base DEF, but their low SPD and MOV hinders their usefulness. If you can get a Draco or Paladin to 30 DEF they will be superior to the 30 DEF General in almost every way. Generals are useful for the mid game when My Unit hasn't quite built up the huge amount of DEF needed to get anywhere near the Paladin or Draco cap of 30. Catria, Shiida, and Palla all make good generals because they'll never hit the Paladin DEF cap without a boatload of stat boosts. General Aran and Sirius can make some early game chapters much easier since they are fast enough to not get doubled and still have ridiculous DEF for that point in the game. Horseman - Inferior to the Sniper except for one stat - MOV. Sometimes you'll need that extra MOV to pull off a strategy that the Sniper just can't reach. Unlike the Sniper, they can keep up with your 9-10 MOV units on long distance run chapters. Their 29 SPD means they'll be kicking ass all the way to the final chapter. Paladin - Unlike the Cavalier, Paladins aren't quite as useful by the time you're in the mid-game and everyone is promoted. This is mostly due to the superior Dracoknight and Falcoknight, who have higher base DEF and STR and can fly. Paladins do have a very high base RES, though, which makes them ideal for tanking if you can get them to 30 DEF, which is pretty much only possible with a Knight MU unless you dump stat boosts on Palla or Catria. Their abnormally high RES also makes them useful for tanking mid-late game casters that would hit like a truck otherwise. Berserker - 30 STR and 28 SPD means they will double almost everything and hit like a ton of bricks. Bonus 10 to crit makes them even more destructive. Their 2 MOV cost on water combined with their SPD makes them useful in several situations where a flier is too slow or too vulnerable to do the job. Unfortnately their 7 MOV sucks and their low DEF/RES makes them especially fragile against multiple enemies or casters. They are also the perfect class to start leveling your My Unit axes with. Outclassed Classes: Knight - Only useful on flat terrain where movement isn't an issue. Their 5 MOV and very low SPD really hurts them, especially in the early game where nobody has a very high base SPD yet. Only a SPD blessed knight MU can pull off the knight class with any success, and even then you'll want to switch them to Cavalier once you're past Chapter 1. Archer - That extra 5 SPD growth doesn't make up for their worse bases and 1 less MOV compared to a Hunter. Mercenary - While they have a bit more HP, STR, and DEF than the Myrmidon, their loss of 2 SPD is usually not enough to allow your unit to keep doubling early game enemies, which is far more important than 1 more STR and DEF. Fighter/Pirate - An OK set of classes, but their extremely low DEF means they will be paper tigers at best. Unfortunately your early game healers are not likely to be able to keep up with the large amount of HP that needs to be healed every time they take damage. Dark Mage - Compared to a Mage they sacrifice 10 MAG for 10 RES and 5 SPD growth, and 1 base MAG for 2 base DEF. Since MAG is the more important stat, there's no real reason to use this class. Sorceror - Similar to the Dark Mage, they sacrifice MAG for DEF and RES. No point in using this class over the Sage. Hero - Easily the worst promoted physical damage class. No 10 crit bonus like the Berserker and no 10 evade bonus like the SM. Terrible caps with nothing useful to make up for it. D base swords and E axes - he can't even use a hand axe at promotion. They get 1 more MOV and 1 DEF cap over the Berserker and uh.. that's it. I'm not aware of any strategy in the game that would make you want to take a Hero over a Berserker, Swordmaster, or axe Dracoknight. Warrior - Warriors are supposed to be 'axe tanks' with higher SPD and STR caps than the general, but lower DEF cap. The problem is that their low DEF/RES bases, DEF growths, and 28 DEF cap ensure they'll never be as good a tank as the General, Paladin, or Dracoknight. Compared to a Berserker, they lack the 10 crit bonus, 2 MOV on water, and have 4 less SPD cap. Manakete - The only reason this class is marginally useful is because their Divine Stones are effective against most dragons. Maybe possibly worth taking in one chapter if your other units can't kill dragons as effectively.

If he's hauling around a big ass shield, why is his DEF cap only one higher than the berserker?

Already confirmed on JP wikis that nothing is unlocked. If there's a rank above A, nobody has seen it yet to my knowledge. I'm not shocked. The super high DEF knight MU kind of breaks the game because once he's a 25-30 DEF Draco or Paladin, you can literally solo half of the map with him while the rest of your army handles the other half. Reminds me of Ike in FE9 in how stupidly uber he is. Add all the shop stat boosts and male class limits removed and sometimes it seems easier than my original lunatic run. I haven't been smashing my original turn counts because I suddenly improved my skill at tactics games, but because of the factors I just mentioned. As for Ch 22-23, just spam Fortify to make up for the damage everyone will be taking.Which brings me to some class criticism. Paladin and Draco should not have a 30 DEF cap.. maybe 27 for Draco and 28 for Paladin. General needs 2 more base RES, Paladin needs 2 less. It's mind boggling why the General has a RES cap of 20 while the Paladin gets 25, one less than the Falcoknight. And it's not just an academic argument. You can buy 6 Talismans and get 2 more during the game, which is a total of 16 RES on top of class bases and the occasional growth. And if you want the lowest possible turncounts, you will care about being able to tank mid-late game sages. The Hero should have a SPD cap of 27 or 28 and maybe 9 MOV, which would go a long way towards making them a somewhat appealing alternative to the SM. Giving him a base D in axes would be nice as well. Maybe give them 5 crit and 5 evade, which would be half and half between Berserker and SM. Warriors should have 8 MOV to distinguish them from Berserkers and maybe a higher base DEF, because even though their cap is 28, it's still nearly impossible to reach esp. if leveling as a fighter/pirate with their near 0 DEF growths. A D in bows wouldn't hurt either. Why go General when you can go Paladin with the same 30 DEF and more RES, SPD, and MOV? 2 less STR isn't a big deal when dealing with ridersbane because STR doesn't factor into the 3x multiplier.

+7 might? Isn't that overkill even if you planned to one shot them? I'm probably going to try saving my funds for forging a wyrmslayer/dragonpike to one shot Ch 22-23 fire dragons. Already wasted a lot of funds unnecessarily on stat boosts in the shop.