Xos

I messed up and didn't pass down underdog, and figured it would give some utility if I ended up needing someone to dodgetank. Is there an obviously better option? (Assuming I put Nah with another sage and stick Laurent as support for Morgan)

I could do the same with my Olivia!Lucina!Morgan but only as an assassin, I guess that frees up a faster support for someone more in need(and I sorta like silly wwii references). The calcs I've done for Noire were sort of surprising, for some reason I never took her too seriously. That said, this noire is stuck(?) with ricken as a father, does that make noire@sage preferable to noire@sniper? or is it too early to tell? Yeah that was a typo (hes currently a sorc but my plan for him was sage). Though now that you mention it, I have seen apo sets with him as a sorc, what is the reasoning behind that? lol yeah. I've definitely grown over the course of this thread in terms of my understanding and readiness (obviously I have you guys to thank for that).

Got it, thanks. Seems so obvious now that you point it out. Yet another question: In your team from the other thread, several pairs dont add up to 60 speed without barracks bonus, e.g. MUxLucina (unless I'm doing the calculations wrong or forgetting another stat source). With my current children whom I'm trying to build into a team for a practice run, it certainly doesn't seem possible to get many pairs over the 60 threshold with barracks; if children are paired optimally from the beginning, is it? As for said team, so far I have: Lon'qu!Laurent@Sorcerer, TF/hex/anathema/mag+2/vengeance x Donnel!Nah@sage, TF/GF/DSu+/mag+2/demoiselle because nah looks too slow to do anything else and don't know what else to do with either of them; Olivia!Lucina@Assassin, SF/Luna/Aether/DS+/GF x Ma!Mu@Assassin, SF/Anathema/Hex/Str+2/idk because I don't see how else to meet the 60 spd threshold with that pair; and Lucina!Morgan@Hero, SF/GF/Str+2/Vengeance/spd+2 x Gregor!Yarne@Berserker, SwdBr/LncBr/Str+2/wrath which I believe comes out to 61 spd Also have Chrom@sniper, RK/Luna/Aether/BF/DS+ and I assume I'll pair him with sumia, even though they arent married. I'm looking at anyone who can get vengeance and sage/sniper/hero(/assassin if i need the speed, which I will) as a lead with slower sages and berserkers as support. I suspect I'm going to have issues getting the none-morgan pairs over the speed hump though. It's really starting to look like meeting the thresholds with the pairings of this file and the conditions set forth might be beyond my abilities, if possible at all, but given what you all have said I still want to flesh a team out to gain some experience with secret apo before starting a new file for a more serious attempt.

I see, thank you. Another question: Why is beserker more popular than swordmaster as a support unit? Is the damage boost mandatory? I cant recall seeing any swordmasters on apo teams, despite the +5 speed.

mmkay, that definitely gives a helpful starting point for team building. In another thread, you said: (Apologies if I'm being the Tharja to your Robin) That's sort of the approach I'd like to take here. I don'r recall if it was you or Knusperkeks or someone else entirely who said that Apo tests strategy/teambuilding more than tactics but that seems sort of contradictory to me. Is "not knowing what I'm going up against" different from thinking of different possible 'archetypal' enemies that I should be able to deal with? Is the latter something that I should learn through experience? Sorry I still dont have a more specific team to work with, contrary to my earlier promise--I am still working on it and will very likely have a first draft tomorrow. Also, if this starts to morph into a general "guyz teach me how to teambuild" thread, feel free to stop me.

Should most/all pairs have 220 hit/60 speed?

I cant seem to get the macro/buttons working, do you know if they work in OpenOffice? I'd be ok with one non-spotpass rally bot, but I'd like to avoid it if possible (I could deal with Katarina). I don't think determining whether thats possible is feasible as of right now. I'm warm towards snipers as I have actually never used one in awakening and I can see their uses in Apo. Trying to do the calculations its very clear that I need to get my feet wet. I don't want to literally look at each enemy's data and ensure I have a pairing that can beat it, and from what I can tell that's not necessary. I what should I look at when doing calculations then?

Thanks for the spreadsheet, I've been looking for something like that for a while. Regarding chip damage, that was primarily noire's role on your setup if I'm not mistaken? I definitely see why this might be a naively ambitious endeavor, and that's part of why I was wondering whether I should try normal Apotheosis with this "random" setup just to get sort of a feel for it; it sounds like I need to identify the specific threats Apotheosis will throw at me and construct a team that can deal with them, and that whether or not this means starting over is something I'll have to figure out by trying with what I already have. I will study the enemies a bit more and come up with a more complete proposal tomorrow so I have something more specific to ask for help with. Thanks for the enthusiasm and patience :)

Seems reasonable enough. I'll give it a go tomorrow and hopefully come up with some more specific questions. Though I'm more iffy about skills than stats, I assume I can get that the same advice applies.

Lol I just spent quite a bit of time reading that thread actually--and I guess I did it lazily. To be clear, I'm not asking how to beat Apotheosis with the pairings/conditions I mention, I just want to know if it looks possible before putting in the hours of grinding a team to try. Well, I guess I am also asking if I should give it a go with an insufficient setup to get a feel for what it requires. Thanks for the feedback, I tried to condense it a little.

Hello all, I just finished my first lunatic run and, having found it to be fairly easy, am eager to have a go at Apotheosis. However, there are certain limitations I would impose on myself, and unfortunately, I think I my current pairings my prohibit me from meeting these limitations. First and foremost, I do not want to use LB (I'm willing to make an exception for the purposes of avoiding spotpass characters when possible). I would like to avoid dlc in general (though I don't mind using brides/dread fighters), and minimize bot usage. I'd also like to use less optimal children whom I like (e.g., nah, laurent) in meaningful combat roles. Finally, I'd like to avoid a physical avatar if feasible. From the research I've done, I'm unsure if my current pairings would allow me to pull this off. Furthermore, as this is a lunatic playthrough (i.e., high internal level cap), I'm concerned that fixing the mess that is my current skill distribution will take an annoying amount of grinding. I am considering doing another playthrough to get better pairings and maybe correct skills quicker, but I don't want to grind out a team literally from scratch unless I know it is possible to beat Apotheosis's secret path with it. As I have no actual experience with Apotheosis, I am also wondering if I should grind out my current lunatic file and give it a go, even if I do need to start another file. My current situation is as follows: *=intention to replace -Olivia!Lucina, GF/Vantage/SFaire/Astra(would replace with luna obv)/Aether -Libra!Owain, GF/Vantage/Av+10*/Renewal*(replace w/vengeance?)/Despoil*(replace with hex?) -Chrom!Inigo, GF/Vantage/Av+10*/Patience*/Armsthrift* -Gaius!Cynthia, GF/Luna/Sp+2/Sol*/Relief* -Stahl!Severa, GF/Vantage/Av+10*/Luna/Armsthrift* -Vaike!Gerome, SBreaker/Str+2/Renwal*/Pass*/Tantivity* -Lucina!Morgan(f), GF/Vantage/Aether*/Av+10*/Armsthrift* -- MU is +sp -skl -Gregor!Yarne, SBreaker/Vantage/Armsthrift*/Sol*/Patience* -Lon'qu!Laurent, Vengeance/Vantage/TFaire/Mag+2/Focus* -Ricken!Noire, Luna/Vengeance/Skl+2*/Pavise*/Lifetaker* -- no GF :/ -Donnel!Nah, GF/Counter*/Sol*/Armsthrift*/Patience* No Brady or Kjelle yet. None are married save Lucina. In Summary: -If this situation is salvageable given my self-imposed limitations, how should I proceed from here? I am aware of different main strategies for Apotheosis (VV enemy phase combat, rally/rescue/GF player phase, etc.), which would be more optimal/possible for my situation? -If this situation is not salvageable, should I still max out the team to get a feel for Apo before attempting to build a new team? Thanks very much in advance for any advice/help you guys can give me. I don't mind failing many times as long as I can get through eventually. -edited for brevity(still very wordy)-