[What units do you use most in casual playthroughs?]

I tend to spam N.O.W.I., Cordelia, and Lucina in my "for fun" playthroughs.

[Lunatic efficiency playlog (no galeforce?) (Up to Chapter 14)]

Lucina is a better option, in my opinion. She gives up 9 damage base due to weapon difference, but it's way easier to get her trained because of Veteran. And the DS chance is plenty high with an A-rank support. Are you planning on a ranged Lead unit to get past Grima's Pavise?

[Least favorite character refrains]

I hate the Lucina "Oh gods no" line, which has a 50% chance of being inappropriate.

"Do not put any faith in that destiny hogwash."

Tough crowd. I like this one even out of context, because he has such a great delivery.

[Worst unit in the game]

Okay so ricken's is far from ideal, and Donnel has a great set. I don't feel like its a huge difference though.

Uhh, it's a huge deal in the context of grinding/maximization, which is why I called you out on it.

[Worst unit in the game]

Grinding: What difference does it make here?

Class set and stat caps.

[Worst unit in the game]

Not everyone worships values rescue as much as you do.

Yes, but those infidels don't matter, naturally.

[Worst unit in the game]

Also, why do people think Ricken is bad? Being a Rescuebot with high magic makes him a good unit in every context there is in the game.

The Man Who Never Listened: a One Act play by Interceptor

LOLwen: lol guys, why do people think that binder clips are good? staples are better in every context.

Person A: Staples are nice, but clips can hold larger stacks of paper.

Person B: Well, there's more than just paper. You can use them to hold cables at desk height.

Person C: You could put a couple together and make a smartphone stand.

Person D: Plus, they don't damage things, and you can take out the wires if you want.

LOLwen: lol guys, why do people think that binder clips are good?

*sound of four facepalms*

exeunt

[Worst unit in the game]

The only contexts I consider are challenging ones. You are replying to me, and it is therefore your task to come up with a context that is challenging (like the ones I have listed) in which Donnel is useful.

And now we circle back to why I consider your comments basically useless. They are either banal, hyperbolic, or so narrowly defined as to require a microscope to see. Sometimes it's a combination of the three.

For the sake of argument, I'll take this for granted.

It's not subject to your approval, son. Morgan only gets a third of his bases from dad: fact. His tier 1 reclass gets a level-up every kill with Veteran: also a fact. I suppose you could say that Avatar isn't over-leveled? Best of luck. I'd accept it, but you wouldn't argue it.

[...] pairing him with the Avatar is a complete waste.

A complete waste. Well, look at that, time to pull the ripcord on this "conversation".

[Worst unit in the game]

I just listed a bunch of playstyles which you ignored.

Buckle your seatbelt, because I tend to ignore most of your bleating, and have no intention of stopping any time soon.

Care to suggest a challenging playstyle in which Donnel is useful?

This is more of your "moving the goalposts" garbage, which will be summarily rejected. Challenge is only a single aspect among the many that people play this game for, where a unit could conceivably be rated as the "worst" at something.

Anyway, Donnel's crappy base stats drag Morgan's bases down, so it makes him/her harder to train as well.

Newsflash: decisions sometimes have negative consequences. Film at eleven.

Morgan doesn't suffer too badly since he only gets a third of his bases from Donnel. The other two-thirds are his immutable bases, and what he gets from his mother. Who is the over-leveled Avatar, in all likelihood. With Morgan getting a complete level every kill in his joining chapter, it doesn't take very long before he's ridiculous. It's entirely possible that he's already capping stats before he hits 20 in his tier 1 reclass, even.

[Worst unit in the game]

Donnel can't contribute to anything that isn't casual.

That encompasses a pretty wide swath of playstyles, though. There's a single One Ring™ baloney, and then innumerable other things. For example, even untrained Donnel is a pretty decent father to Morgan, because of Aptitude.

Anyone can be used as a "blood sacrifice," so that isn't a point in Donnel's favor.

Whoops, looks like someone is mad that Donnel isn't actually useless. The Chiki Method of argument: if you're wrong, don't admit it, just change the parameters until you can be right.

[Worst unit in the game]

Donnel is completely useless in an LTC context.

The sun is warm, the grass is green. More banal observations from Chiki.

Pretty much every character has some aspect of play that they can contribute to, depending on context. Even Donnel is useful as a blood sacrifice in his Paralogue, honestly.

[Worst unit in the game]

Dark Knight with Luna doesn't appeal to you Int?

Not more than alternatives possible with other characters.

There are no truly awful characters in this game, so you're sort of limited to class set and caps if you want to complain about something.

Ricken can be a good unit in any context and is surprisingly tank for a mage and a brat.

A useless point from Chiki, as usual. Anyone in this game can be good and/or has some redeeming quality. Even Virion has advantages that he can leverage.

[Worst unit in the game]

Ricken. WTF at his class set.

[Best units for Lunatic?]

We've covered some good characters now, any characters I should avoid?

I'd stay away from units with paper defenses, personally, unless they are also able to get their Avoid rates super-high. That means you probably want to not use a unit like Miriel or Ricken, or mages in general unless they are going to be DM/Sorcs with Nosferatu. Even a high-avoid guy like Lon'qu can run into problems late once the enemies start using illegal forges.

Also avoid Virion, obviously. Enemy Phase is hugely important in vanilla Lunatic, so bows are no good. And I'd forget Donnel if you're one of his fans; even though he's trainable and turns out good eventually, it's a pain to get him there.

useless advice for a player with no experience playing lunatic mode

can't resist your urge to be a contrarian, can you

And in addition to his altogether useless contribution, we have the fact that that "necessary" was Chiki's word. Everyone else just implied that Frederick was important, which is basically true. But there's no way to be a contrarian here unless you change the battlefield, naturally.

[Lunatic+ playlog/guide/walkthrough - COMPLETED]

RL interfered for a bit, but OP is now updated with Ch6:

[spoiler=Chapter 6: Foreseer]

Welcome to Chapter 6, AKA the reason that we spent so much time training in the first place. This map is similar to Ch2, in that you're rushed right from the start (by everything, here). Unlike Ch2, we have more than two useful units, can deploy at will, and also have Wireless access.

Keys to the chapter: assassinate the thieves quickly, help Marth stay alive as long as possible, and keep enemies out of the Emm room.

Here is where we're going to break the glass on the Bonus Box and Spotpass. For this map, we'll be using Mjölnir. You'll also want to secure a Mire tome (Shadow Dragon -> Gharnef), and make sure to have one or two Physic staves available. I deploy Louise, Lissa, Miriel, Frederick, Vaike, Kellam, Ricken, Maribelle, and Sumia.

Strictly speaking, Miriel should be strong enough that normal tomes would suffice, but Mjölnir enables both OHKOs (many enemies will just outright die to a 38mt+ hit) and allows you to counter Aegis+ with overwhelming power. My Miriel is a little MAG-screwed, but with a Ricken support (and possible Dust usage), is able to get into reliable kill range here. Her previous training allows her to double, and use A-rank tomes.

Louise and Frederick will each be killing a thief on Turn 1 Enemy Phase; for this reason, you will probably want to reset if either of the thieves closest to Marth have Pavise+. Fred + Kellam on the right-hand side with a Silver lance can easily stand only in range of the thief and OHKO on counter (add a fighter if they don't have Counter and you feel up to it), and Louise with a STR tonic and Vaike support only needs about 16-17 base STR in order to insta-blick the one in the center (if she kills the fighter at 1-range, the thief will just barely reach her). It's not a problem if the fighter has Pavise+ (have Ricken or Chrom help out first), or Counter (have Lissa heal afterwards).

With this basic setup, Miriel (with or without Ricken) can finish the deal by killing the LHS fighter. She can handle this entire side for the duration of the map. Dark mages cannot fight her effectively (they will deal damage, but not enough to be dangerous), and she is able to kill the fighters and cavaliers through the wall before they can reach her. Gaius can be recruited on Turn 2 using the same method that we used for Kellam in Ch3 (walk up with Chrom, Talk, Pair Up, run away, Separate).

The general idea for finishing the rest of this chapter is to have Frederick run interference unequipped, while Miriel blows up the left hand side and Avatar does what she can in the middle (without endangering herself), with Lissa having escaped (on either Sumia or Maribelle's back) into the Emm room for Physic spam. Chrom can participate in the middle with a Panne support, but be careful with him, since he is not that durable. Hopefully Marth doesn't die too early, and is able to kill a couple guys or soak some hits. If Frederick stands next to Marth, this gives Avatar a lot of room for doing work, since enemies are reluctant to attack Avatar over Marth or Fred. It's also possible to turtle up in the room to the left of Marth, especially if Miriel aggressively pushes out the left hand side (which will give Lissa some room to work). Keep in mind that Miriel can probably OHKO a thief with Mire if it becomes necessary, only needing about 18 adjusted MAG for the job (Mire has 10mt, A-rank gives a further +2).

By the time that Validar gets to you, he should be a non-factor, since everything else will have been cleaned up already. Blow him up, and then give yourself a pat on the back, this is the last legitimately hard chapter in Lunatic+. Everything else can be powered through by over-leveling your units and playing smart.

I gave the boss kill to Louise. I want her out of Mercenary ASAP. Wish that I could have gotten that last level, but c'est la vie.

Turns: 9

Heroes: Louise & Vaike

           Level HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS Wlvl
Louise      8.99 38 23 11 14 21 22 22 7  B Swd
Chrom      13.00 29 12 3  16 13 14 12 3  B Swd
Frederick   3.34 30 15 2  13 11 6  15 4  D Swd/Axe, A Lnc
Lissa      20.00 27 7  15 12 11 21 6  13 A Stf
Miriel     10.55 33 2  12 15 18 13 9  16 A Tome

Supports   B - Louise|Frederick/Chrom/Lissa
           C - Chrom|Sully/Lissa, Louise|Miriel/Vaike, Miriel|Kellam/Frederick, Frederick|Lissa

[Best units for Lunatic?]

I've finished hard mode once, and once I finish my other hard mode run, I'll try a Lunatic run. I tend to be defensive in my strategies and take my time when fighting. I'm willing to adapt to new things.

Then in addition to the obvious pick of Avatar, you may want to try using Nowi. Manaketes are really good in vanilla Lunatic due to strong concrete durability and perma 1-2 range. Pair her with Gregor and spend a couple chapters training her and getting her going, she becomes basically unkillable. Tiki is also excellent, though late.

Other solid unit choices would be Panne (reclassed to Wyvern Rider), and one of the two starting Cavaliers. Cordelia tends to be a stronger combatant amongst the pegs due to superior combat stats, but both she and Sumia are usable and recommended.

[Best units for Lunatic?]

Frederick's far from necessary.

Just about how far from necessary would you say that he is?

[Best units for Lunatic?]

@OP: what is your experience with Awakening? Have you already finished Hard mode? what kind of play style do you have? Are you willing to try things that you are not accustomed to?

[The Lunatic Club]

Many thanks, Interceptor. Sorry about my horribly late reply, I really do appreciate your quick reply though. *Follows thread* (That strat in prologue was pretty sweet by the way.) And yes I am playing Lunatic+ Casual mode. I started to scapegoat units it when I got annoyed. I wanna play Lunatic+ Classic now though(even though I haven't beaten Casual mode). Is something wrong with me?!

No problem.

There's no shame in a blood sacrifice in Ch2, imo; that chapter is just all kinds of stupid in Lunatic+. Other maps will usually only have a couple of key enemies you need to reset on, but this one has about half a dozen or more. You can play "sort of Classic" and only allow units deaths just that once in a Casual mode run. It will result in less headache.

[Single Pair Lunatic+ Run (Plus Other Restrictions)]

There go the dreams of keeping the thread to a single page. Nice work on the run; I never would have thought at the beginning that a mere duo would have run over those lategame Routs like you ended up doing.

[Why is LTC hated?]

Oh look, it's this shit again. Another Chiki vanity thread, where we the innocent forum-goers are invited to participate in the spectacle of watching him insult people who dare have different values than he does. At least this isn't a mechanics thread, where we would additionally be subjected to watching him make all sorts of careless errors, covering everything from base stats to support partners.

It sounds like Interceptor wasn't going to the lengths Chiki was to shave turns. The only thing we can conclusively say is that they were both playing to have fun. For this reason, I consider both playthroughs to be equally good, since it sounds like they both had fun.

Give this man a prize. My playthrough very specifically was not designed to shave turns, it was intended to be a rough approximation of SDS's tier list criteria, e.g. a "brisk pace" with high reliability. At the same time, I threw some bad units into the mix, and tested a few hypotheses about certain match-ups. It's nothing more than a single brick in the wall, a set of data that people can use to either frame tier arguments or use as a base with which to build their own runs. Ashera forbid that someone detail their intentions, and then deliver on them.

There are several styles of play that I don't particularly care for personally; LTC is merely one of them. I also don't care to build perfect teams of children, or do completionist runs, or stat-maxing stuff, or "fun" runs with only certain characters, or casual "que sera, sera" strolls, nor do I dabble in overly self-restricted stuff like "Lunatic with no Sol" and the like. Despite that, I'm duly respectful of people who choose go their own way, or manage to accomplish difficult things.

Now, I thought that this was just basic common courtesy, but it appears that I am wrong. Apparently, tolerance is some kind of goddamn superpower on the level of being able to do backflips and spit fireballs. Who knew?

[How should we handle a long-term Lunatic tier list?]

I've said repeatedly that I don't know how the chapter is cleared without Frederick. How is it?

Of course he's not. We clear Prologue with an Avatar/Chrom pairing that gets 30 consecutive Dual Guards.

You need lots of magic crits, ninja dodges, and DG procs to survive Prologue without Frederick. The boss group is no problem, but there are too many units near the starting position that rush you, and too many lethal combinations of attacks.

[How should we handle a long-term Lunatic tier list?]

Just how many lategame maps can be summarized by lolrescue, anyways? >_>

Could be worse: FE11 H5 with Caeda and Warp. At least Lunatic Awakening has some legitimately difficult earlygame chapters, plus some tricky Routs for the LTC'ers.

Apparently no chapter is complex at all if we turtle, who knew? -_-

Not even sure how reasonable this is, honestly. Avatar is going to get doubled by the Mercenaries, both Chrom and Avatar have two 1-range enemy facings in a corner, the mage can blast anyone for high damage at 2-range, etc. Like many of the things he says, Chiki probably didn't actually think this one through.

[How should we handle a long-term Lunatic tier list?]

Of course he's not. We clear Prologue with an Avatar/Chrom pairing that gets 30 consecutive Dual Guards.

[How should we handle a long-term Lunatic tier list?]

I would disagree with the claim that the Premonition has no impact on the actual game since it is necessary to get past it to even see the Prologue.

Taking it to its ultimate absurdity, are you going to tier "pushing A on the continue screen"? There's no value in ranking something like this.

OK, how about this: I separately include in Required tier the Premonition incarnations of the Avatar and Chrom. The "present" Avatar and Chrom can then have their post-Premonition contributions tiered as is. If Red Fox of Fire can tier the 3-13 Archer in RD, I think this should be OK too. Although having never played RD, I cannot tell if the Archer was a serious inclusion or a joke one.

It was a joke. There's an Archer in 3-13 with AI that randomly is or is not helpful, jumping into a pit of laguz and being a tasty snack/decoy.