Aggro Incarnate

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Few things that came to my mind 1. Niche Weapons (1) Effective weapons The x3 multiplier on weapon might already makes them incredibly powerful against those that it's designed to kill, and with weapon durability gone there simply is no reason not to use them. Not to mention that the -4 Atk, -10 Hit loss against non-effective units is hardly a penalty at all. All in all they're a tad too reliable against those it cripples, and desperately calls for some kind of abuse-prevention methods in play. (Bows and Blessed Weapons need no further nerfing, I feel, given how mobile fliers are and the negative defensive properties that follows blessed weapons.) Effective weapons for me are the only question-marks against weapon durability, but if we take their infinite usage as given other nerfs should be in play. These can outright trivialise certain chapters in the game. (Ch. 18, 19 in Conquest, all of Birthright and Revelations after access to Swordcatchers/Pike-Ruin Clubs/Axesplitters, some child paralogues) I'm thinking that something along the lines of -2 Mt, -5 Hit for per combat (on the weapon itself, not on the unit) entered as a lead unit while equipped, with 1 Mt and 2 Hit recovering each turn: this doesn't discourage players from using other weapons, but effectively decreases actual damage by 6 with repeated usage due to the x3 multiplier, and the weapon-intrinsic hit penalty with each combat makes them more unreliable with repeated abuse. The lead unit condition encourages different strategies using Attack Stance, kind of like the case of Silvers and STR/MAG-halving S-rank weapons. (2) Killer and Dual weapons The x4 crit multiplier is just ridiculous, and frankly -10 Avoid isn't enough of a penalty. Dual weapons are powerful given reverse weapons triangle advantage to the extent that they become preferable over normal weapons (Iron/Steel) with WTA given their relatively high might compared to standard weapons, especially with high weapon rank. Their comparatively low Hit becomes moot given reverse-RTA since they double all weapon triangle effects. All this without weapon durability makes them too much of a standout, and while I'm fine with removing durability on these weapons compared to effective weapons, some kind of defensive/avoid nerf should be in play to better balancing these weapons. I'd reduce the crit multiplier back to x3, as the high crit rates are already enough of a bonus. Perhaps I'd also consider decreasing Dodge as well, making them a bit more situational and a risk vs. reward gamble to rely on, especially in the enemy phase. With Dual Weapons less tinkering is needed though probably: I'd just make their might comparable to standard irons. (3) Weapons with Defense/Resistance increasing properties The Guard Naginata with the +5 DEF/RES is one of if not the most ridiculous weapon in Fates, and there's too many of them available in Birthright and Revelations. Either. Similar for the Illusory Yumi: flat +10 RES, what were they thinking? Either lower its availability, nerf its defensive benefits, or further increase its Avoid/Dodge penalties. 2. Staves - A restore staff would be nice, but I feel that too many of them renders enemy offensive staves completely obsolete. If it has to be implemented, its availability should be very limited, either by having few charges such as the Rescue staff or by giving it in the Lategame like the Silence staff. Personally I think the Rescue staff route is more reasonable, giving 2 sets, each with 2 charges allows a bit of an ease with enemy staves in the Early game, while allowing players to bail out themselves out of some really tricky situation in the late-game if they managed their resources right seems reasonable. (for instance rendering Staff Savant on Conquest Endgame a bit less devastating, while still actively discouraging turtling on that map) 2-4 charges throughout the entirety of Conquest/Revelations seem reasonable. - The game hands the player a bit too many Freeze staves. Some legitimately-challenging maps can be trivialised by repeatedly spamming Freeze. Either its price should be higher, or its availability should be lower. - Healing staves recovery increasing with MAG/3 instead of MAG/2 doesn't differentiate the magic stat enough, though given units like Elise and the comparatively lower HP in Fates perhaps it was a change for the better within the context of this game. 3. Debuffs The fact that in principle, hidden-weapons allow for the following debuffs to occur simultaneously I think is a bit too much - lowering HP via skills like Poison Strike - stat debuffs via Seal skills - stat debuffs via weapon properties In particular this makes Hidden Weapon wielders too powerful compared to others in terms of balance. (esp. with shuriken also receiving +2 SPD) In addition, some of these weapons like the Caltrop, Spy's Shuriken, Chakram and arguably the Silver Knife/Shuriken have too insane of debuffing properties. Enemy debuffing your units is in principle a good idea in that it encourages player phase action, but the low recovery speed comparative to the amount of stat debuff rather encourages players to turtle instead and discourages EP action a bit too much. For instance I feel that -6 on a stat with a Seal skill with only +1 recovery per turn does the gameplay more harm then good. I'd say either lower its affect to -4 or -5, or increase recovery speed by +2 per turn would do the job (I prefer the latter). Similar comments go to weapon debuffs and Enfeeble/Dragon Fang, especially Enfeeble since most early game Conquest chapters with Enfeeble Shrine Maidens can be trivialised by simply letting units take the hit and deplete their usage (Ch. 9, 14) 4. Forging Forging is a bit too favourable towards Iron and Bronze weapons for the reasons already discussed. Given that forging has a lot of potential, though, I think giving +1 Mt to +1 (and maybe +2) forges, then consecutively give +2 Mt for further forging could be more balance while maintaining the benefits of forging while not making other higher-end weapons too irrelevant. Or focusing more on Hit and Crit rates and less on Might could also work. I'm actually fairly alright with the treatment of higher-rank weapons other than that though, given the presence of reliable Dual Attacks with Tag Team in this game. The game hands out enough Steel weapons for forge which somewhat mitigates their disadvantage compared to forged Iron already, though they could have +1 more Might in average upon reflection. Silvers and stat crippling S-ranks are still relevant without any because +6~+8 Might translates to double that amount given enough speed to double, and yet more damage with Dual Attacks, and that +3 forges or higher are rather difficult to attain under a no-grind context. (For similar reasons I don't think any of the S-rank debuffs are unreasonable: for those that halve STR/MAG, a single dual attack is all it takes to get rid of said debuffs) Also considering the comparatively lower HP in this game on both the player and the enemies, I don't think it makes sense to differentiate Might greatly between weapons, though it makes sense for forges to give less benefit to Might as well accordingly. But spending a lot of funds on a weapon to considerably increase the offensive parameters of a weapon, especially for units that initially fall behind, is a viable strategic decision that helps make more units viable, and I'd not nerf the might increases on bronze/iron by too much, hence the above proposal. 5. UI In general, the UI of Fates does not keep up with the added complexity; with more intricacy with mechanics should also involve better explanations of those added features. Many of these are related with weapon effects. For instance, effective speed, while a neat notion, is horribly explained for the weapons they apply to. The stat bonuses that come with Katanas/Shuriken/Naginata/Yumi are also rather poorly presented as well, as only in their Iron variants are they given a proper explanation, and it's not clear from that alone that they receive the corresponding stat bonus/penalties while equipped due to them being the particular weapons they are. (Sure they show up on the stat screen when you click on them, but it's not clear to players, especially newcomers, as to why equipping a Steel Katana decreases your DEF and RES) All this said, I do think Fates did a very good job balancing the different weapons, especially when being very experimental with this new system which could possibly indicate a step forward. I like it when new titles innovate and try something new, and while something like the lack of weapon durability or weapon debuff/bonuses aren't exactly novel to the series, it's something new for the recent FE entries and adds a new element of strategy to these games. I don't feel like the rough edges break the game to any significant extent, though I'd appreciate them being addressed in future titles if some of current changes in Fates were to be re-implemented.

Cool, thanks for testing that out.

I'm a bit confused, do Sky Knights and Falcos no longer count as Beast Units and Flying Units at the same time? I recall that being the case for the Pegasi and their promotions in Awakening (Why no effective weapon icon in Fates urgh), and I could have sworn that I've seen Beast Killers do effective damage on C22 and C24 Falcos... As for my 2nd example, since Golembane allows a unit to do x2 effective damage to Stoneborn while Blessed Lance does x3, if they don't stack I'm guessing having both simply does x3 damage, kind of like how for Seal/Shuriken debuffs the greater debuff applies out of those acting on the same stat? Thanks for the clarification on the ballista btw.

1. Does effective damage stack? Ex.) Suppose a unit uses a Hunter's Bow against a Sky Knight, or Golembane user uses a Blessed Lance against a Stoneborn. What's the effective weapon multiplier? 2. Do Ballistas do x2 or x3 effective damage against fliers? Number of times you hit with the weapon. Not sure if misses count too. But it should be around 25 hits or so per rank. Pegasusknight and FEWoD lists Weapon EXP gain for Fates as follows E->D: 20 D->C: 30 C->B: 45 B->A: 65 A->S: 90 I'm pretty sure misses also contribute to WEXP. Though I wonder, if you say WEXP increases by the number of times you hit with the weapon, what happens when you use brave weapons, and when you proc skills like Aether or Astra? Weapon Rank Bonus Effect depends on the weapon rank and type of the equipped weapon. (1) Sword/Katana, Dagger/Shuriken (2) Lance/Naginata, Bow/Yumi, Tome/Scroll, Dragonstone, Beaststone, Fist, Breath, Puppet, Stone (3) Axe/Club (4) Staff/Rod E/D Rank: (1) None / (2) None / (3) None / (4) None C Rank: (1) Attack +1 / (2) Attack +1 / (3) Hit Rate +5 / (4) Recovery +1 B Rank: (1) Attack +2 / (2) Attack +1, Hit Rate +5 / (3) Hit Rate +10 / (4) Recovery +1, Hit Rate +5 A Rank: (1) Attack +3 / (2) Attack +2, Hit Rate +5 / (3) Attack +1, Hit Rate +10 / (4) Recovery +2, Hit Rate +5 S Rank: (1) Attack +4, Hit Rate +5 / (2) Attack +3, Hit Rate +10 / (3) Attack +2, Hit Rate +15 / (4) Recovery +3, Hit Rate +10 * Note: Weapon Rank Bonus does not apply to units at disadvantage in the weapon triangle It would help if SF had an actual calculation page (I have a shoddy attempt at a calculation post here: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=61733&hl= , though it's a bit old)

In Conquest Ch. 25, can Ryoma be lunged outside of the duel chamber before actually opening the doors via killing Saizo and Kagero? I know that rescue staff doesn't work, but I was thinking something like getting Corrin to lure Ryoma then lunge him with a ranged weapon to the bottom edge of the chamber, where he would subsequently be lunged out of the chamber, this time by another character stationed just outside of it. Is this possible?

OUGI I voted "For the Glory of Hoshido" because there's something very memetic about the delivery, but I get why people like "You die, NOW!"

Odin gets a forged Odin's Grimoire dubbed Draugadróttinn Ophelia gets a forged Moonlight tome dubbed Opheliaura A forged Killing Edge is dubbed Cake Knife Sakura gets a forged Shining Bow dubbed Senbonzakura

This shouldn't happen. Are you sure this isn't her personal skill activating? (Playthings: After the start of the user’s Turn, all enemies that are adjacent to the user have their HP reduced by 5)

It works if supported by a same or higher-level unit. Funny how the devs did not let his personal skill go to waste even until the last moment... https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69jFge2UrKnUndA We should have a list of builds that can ORKO him lol

Don't we need 77 flat damage with a Brave Weapon because Takumi has Competitive which activates by being in Bold Stance with his replica? I guess tome users and sword users are neat to use in this context due to the additional benefit from the Weapon Triangle advantage as well. S-rank Sniper Mozu is also in the interesting position of pulling it off with a Crescent Bow given the help of a Strength Rally due to being able to grab Life and Death and Spendthrift within her natural reclassing options. Sure she's not turn-wise effective overall in the game, but she can be used as last resort in the Endgame if you have happened to have raised her and your Corrin, magic users and berserkers don't work. 31(Sniper Mozu Max STR)+2(Strength Tonic)+3(Bow S-rank)+4(Rally Strength)+8(Crescent Bow Base Might)+4(Quick Draw)+5(Bowfaire)+10(Life and Death)+10(Spendthrift)-26(Takumi Def)-1(Competitive)=50 (Max-STR Merchant Mozu with A-rank in Bows works too, though then you need other means to patch up her SPD) Bold Stance Takumi has 30 SPD, so SPD-Capped Sniper Mozu with a Speed Tonic gives her 36 SPD which is enough to double him.Takumi’s Dragonskin cuts damage in half, so the actual damage done per hit becomes 25 Hence damage done is 25*3=75, which is exactly enough to ORKO him.

Just wondering, I know that units with Staff Savant can stack Enfeebles on you, but can Hexing Rods stack and keep halving a unit's HP? (So 50%, 25%, 12.5% and so on?)

I love my Dragonstone+ Kana with Golembane way more than I should in C21 and C26. With the 25 base might on the Dragonstone+ and twice effective damage with Golembane, a Kana with decent enough MAG should be able to OHKO Stoneborns. Ninja Corrin can grab the skill and fulfill the role as well, though you might want him in a different class for mobility/stat/skill whatever reasons. Of course this only works in C26 for causal strats with little regard for turn counts, but it makes routing the chapter for the EXP grab significantly easy. I find it really funny that once you break the bottom left door open (the one above the Entrap maid on the left) and the 2nd round of Faceless/Stoneborne reinforcements arrive, they will start going berserk (Rrarrrrr) and start destroying all the other doors in the enemy phase, leaving them free to roam throughout the map. But then these monsters are not the smartest so that the enemies split into two groups, bottom and top, with significantly lower density on the top side. Hence circling the entire map counter-clockwise allows you to divide and conquer and kill all the enemies with ease. (This kinda assumes that all other part of the map has been taken care of, though) Also, I like my 3-range Spy's Shuriken, so I'll usually going through the left chamber by some means. (Probably an easier way than the above would be to use Niles with Pass or something). It helps with the Lunatic Endgame if you're being a masochist and not allowing yourself to use the Rescue staff... If you're also trying to feed EXP to certain units, tanking in one of the chambers in C27 is a thing and the Spy's Shuriken is good for chipping away enemy HP as necessary to give mooch kills to units to smother with extreme favouritism. Curiously I've heard that the Spy's Shuriken reportedly turns into a Spy's Yumi in Normal Mode if Kaze doesn't have B-rank in Shuriken/Knives or higher (I find this really weird), but I've never tested that out for myself, but maybe this isn't the place to discuss...

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I believe the formula is as follows (Staff/Rod Hit Rate) = (Magic) + (Skill) + (Raw Staff/Rod Hit Rate) + (Weapon Rank Bonus) - (Enemy Resistance) x 3/2 - (Enemy Luck) x 1/2 - (Terrain Bonus) The Weapon Rank Bonus for Staves/Rods are as follows E/D Rank: None C Rank: Recovery +1 B Rank: Recovery +1, Hit Rate +5 A Rank: Recovery +2, Hit Rate +5 S Rank: Recovery +3, Hit Rate +10 I'm pretty sure that distance does not affect hit rate. With reference to My Castle battles, PvP or Royal Royale though, does anyone know whether supports bonuses from adjacent units or pair-up increase staff/rod hit rate or avoid, and whether any My Castle bonuses apply to the case of staves/rods as well?

Regarding 11:45, Chest Keys and Door Keys in Fates disappear after you complete the map they appear in. They only stay in the inventory of whoever obtained it or the convoy for the duration of that particular chapter. Come to think of it this kind of makes sense since one wouldn't expect, for instance, the same keys fit for Fort Dragonfall to also work in the Ninja Hideout in Mokushu, and so forth, but it definitely comes across as an interesting game design choice.

Yes, this is the case for all half-STR/MAG after use weapons in Tag Team. It's quite a neat touch, and makes them much more viable for use.

In my most recent Conquest Lunatic run, I went for the following pairings. My priorities were primarily skill inheritance, and then growths. 1. Female Avatar (Ninja as 2nd base class) & Jakob Jakob doesn't have the best growths, but I wanted to make their children into situational utility units more than caring about their overall stats. With the marriage seal, I reclassed Jakob into a Ninja to get skills: Locktouch, Poison Strike, Lethality, Shurikenfaire, Golembane and Replicate. Jakob remained a useful unit until midgame, but was dropped at around Ch. 20-ish. I wanted Dwyer to do some work as a Butler and especially as a good Flame Shuriken user, and so passed down Shurikenfaire from Jakob and Dragon Fang from the Avatar: getting him to the Knife/Shuriken C-rank took time but it was worth it, with the MU giving pretty decent MAG growths. He did some nice healing and did decent damage particularly with the Flame Shuriken up until the Endgame. Kana did decent damage with a Levin sword mid-late game with the not-amazing but fairly nice MAG growth, but his primary utility was in Golembane that Jakob passed down. Stacking Kana's 20-something MAG with Dragonstone+ with 25 base Mt, and Golembane doubling Might against Mechanists, Automatons and especially Stoneborns, Kana proved useful in One-Hit KO-ing Stoneborns in Chapters 21 and 26 which made those chapters a lot easier to farm EXP. In the endgame became a useful Tag Team unit. 2. Arthur & Effie This was more of a decision to maximize Effie's damage output in the early game, with Arthur primarily acting as Pair-Up fodder until getting ditched early on. Theirs was the first child paralogue I unlocked at around after Chapter 14. Percy's paralogue can be a bit tricky; I ended up using Camilla quite extensively. I was able to farm around 6000G, so I'd say this was a success. Percy had some really nice base stats, but somehow I didn't really find the space to fit him in the team. 3. Silas & Azura I like this pairing because it benefits all of Silas and his two children. Silas benefits from Azura when paired, although this didn't happen very often because Azura needs to Sing for other people. But primarily this pairing was for the children, because I intended to use both Sophie and Shigure. Silas reclassed into a Hero and got Sol which he passed down to both of his children; Azura passed down Voice of Peace, also to both her children. Although a bit low in bulk, Sophie made for a very balanced Great Knight with good STR SKL and SPD, who ended up replacing Silas near the late game. Shigure is a nice unit to have if simply for his Rally Speed, ranged healing, and his Personal Skill which allows for an extra bit of ranged healing, but he also got decent STR and DEF growths from Silas and so capped DEF and did decent enough damage in battle as well; his utility was particularly felt in Ch. 24, where the Malig Knight Camilla / Beastkiller Falcon Knight Shigure / Kinshi Knight Mozu wrecked most of the Fliers in the map. 4. Niles & Mozu I like this pairing because it potentially mutually benefits both parties as well as the child, not so much in the pair-up benefits but primarily in classes and skills. Having immediately reclassed Mozu into an Archer in her prologue, she eventually got all the cool archer/sniper skills like Quick Draw, Certain Blow and much later Bowfaire. Since Niles gets the Archer class from Mozu, he reclassed into a Sniper midgame to get the cool skills as well. Mozu passed down Aptitude, and Niles passed down Quick Draw to Nina. Initially I regretted passing on Quick Draw and though I'd be better off passing down Certain Blow, but in hindsight this decision didn't really make a big difference. Bow Knight Nina grew really well, and allowed for a more manageable Endgame with her base 9 movement, Shurikenbreaker, and very solid stats that allowed her to double, hit hard and accurately. 5. Keaton & Camilla I feel that this pairing makes a very well-rounded Velouria with decent DEF, RES, SKL, SPD, and damage output; she's not quite the tank at the same level as Xander Keaton or Benny might be, but this pairing makes her fairly resistant to both physical and magical damage. Pairing Keaton with Camilla also benefits Camilla by giving her a lot of STR and SPD. Ended up ditching Keaton, but used Camilla and Velouria extensively on this run. 6. Xander & Charlotte Need I say more about this pairing? It gives like +8 STR and +5 SPD to Xander. His child's paralogue is a pain though, and didn't really find the space to use him either. 7. Leo & Felicia Maid Felicia supplements Leo's MAG, SKL and SPD very well. Plus Forrest gets super-pink hair, which is a plus. I didn't end up using Forrest extensively as a unit, though being able to capture Gazak in his paralogue was a big boon. 8. Kaze & Selena TBH this was kind of a left-over kind of pairing; I made extensive use of Kaze throughout my playthrough, Selena I used a but kinda dropped midway. Midori's paralogue I primarily did for experience, didn't end up using Midori at all except for staffing the Lottery Shop. I'm not sure to this day whether this makes any difference though. 9. Nina & Shigure Ah I almost forgot about this one. I made use of the Kinshi Knight access on Nina for the Endgame And the ones below I tried after beating the Endgame once, now allowing myself to grind off of My Castle supports. 10. Benny & Beruka Another one of those left-over pairings that I didn't really care about, did just to see the paralogue. I kind of liked doing this paralogue though, though I happened to have cheesed it with fliers shuttling most of my units near the village. Didn't really use any of them though. 11. Laslow & Peri Again, another one of those left-over pairings that I did just to see the paralogue. Soleil's paralogue was surprisingly fun to play though, though I didn't use any of the parents or Soleil. 12. Odin & Elise I used neither in this playthrough, so this was mainly for experience for Gazak (since I wanted to max his levels to get him on the support log) and the tomes you get in Ophelia's paralogue. Her paralogue took me a lot of tries but I managed in the end. Ophelia turned out to be better than Leo in every way except HP and DEF, which makes her a more useful Sorcerer that can double but not as a Nostank (but for that you want Odin, but I haven't used him as that), and so I ended up using her for the successive Endgame tries instead of Leo.

I recall hearing that Accessories that you receive from other people are updated 12 hours? 24 hours after they send them. Can anyone confirm this?

I dunno. Forrest may be a crossdresser, but he identifies himself as being male nonetheless, just with a feminine style. Considering how a maid refers to a female domestic servant (in terms of gender and not in terms of attire), I'm not sure if it would be accurately reflective of his sexual identity. If he could on the other hand promote into a butler with custom feminine attire in his 3D model, that may be a different story...

In the first encounter with Hinoka in Conquest after the route-split, Hinoka has special convo with the Avatar, Azura and Camilla

That's funny, but actually makes sense, because all the stones, saw, fist, rock and whatnot give the same weapon rank bonus, and I found that a bit curious. I mean it's not the obvious conclusion to draw from my particular piece of information alone, but given your conjecture all of this finally makes sense :)

It's interesting cuz from what I've been hearing so far, Odin seems to be like this hidden gem of Conquest that has potential of shining either as a Nostank or Swordmaster, but can be trashy if you don't know what to do with him, because his bases and growths seem so hybrid as a Dark Mage compared to the other ones we get in this game. (I can see how Odin's the best nostank mage with the right skill setup due to his bulk and growths, but is he the best mage, esp. if you were doing something like a native class only run?) I don't think people would be initially willing to invest in the large sum of money to Nosferatu, especially when there's a lot of hype of Conquest having limited funding in-game, and that's why many of us don't end up really discovering his potential. It doesn't help that in Chapter 8, his recruitment chapter, he has lower RES as a Dark Mage than Niles, and seems relatively ineffective at killing either Mages or Fighters that feature in this chapter, and in my runs he's served little more than as Heartseeker-bot to give Niles better hit rates for killing mages with a Weapon Triangle Disadvantage. I'm guessing what you'd do here is to buy Nosferatu before entering the chapter, and give it to him immediately? Or would you immediately reclass him into Samurai for Vantage...? To someone who's never tried it before, the idea that Odin saves turns by killing things while not getting himself killed as a Nostank when simply placed in enemy range is kinda hard to take in. In many ways he wouldn't seem to be the beginner's choice for a good unit... For those who know how to use him, when and how would you reclass him? The limited amount of heart seals and funds early-game seems to be the slightly challenging part of optimising his uses...

If you want to high-man Invasion 2, trying to beat it within 4 turns kinda helps because otherwise reinforcements start popping up. The sides can be taken care of relatively quickly; you'd be able to kill two enemies on each side within one turn if you use your units well, and as long as there is a destructible building or two on each side they'll waste a turn My strat for it was to kill as many merchants in the first turn with tanks that can survive the villagers, daggers and Enfeeble so that you don't get Spendthrift-ed to death. Using the mess hall, STR/DEF/SPD tonics as necessary helps as well if your team doesn't have enough power or durability, though it's up to you to decide how much gold you want to spam on them. On top of that, you might want to experiment with different castle styles and edifice positioning, since the enemy deployment number, stats and positioning are made intentionally quite difficult in response to the player being able to make use of My Castle related mechanics. The Lottery Shop, Arena and the Smithy are indestructible, so use them if you want to block enemy trespassing through a certain region. Statues and buildings can distract enemies as they try to take hold of your seize point. Units are deployed in front of a building, so where you place them have direct bearings on the initial starting position of your units. Different castle styles come with different possibilities of choking and so on. Also make use of Dusk Dragon and the Golems if you can afford them, and they'll chip away enemy HP every turn. That said, as joshcja said earlier, throne nostanking works quite well for Invasion 2, but only if you have a viable nostank with enough MAG and DEF at that point, particularly when considering that at some difficulties some of the enemies have Lunge. It's not something everyone playing the game might have at that point in the game though...