Espinosa

Do we know? I just read a bunch of stupid GameFAQs posts insisting she's actually seventeen.

Some sort of "brisk pace" type (of any level of... hardcoreness) can definitely be enjoyed and employ a variety of nifty strategies, but lowest possible turns includes a bunch of unlikely requirements. The latter is best not started until (unless?) we figure out the trick to creating MU / starting the chapter for the perfect / optimal levelups for a couple or so key units. I can see myself doing a bunch of challenge-type runs because the games and their replay value are so good. The best I've got so far is an 8-turn of chapter 4, but I did have MU travel all the way to where Sakura is. The last two turns are always no action at all other than Ryoma slowly getting to the nosferatu that targets Sakura on the last turn. Does the 7-turn involve MU retreating for good and not going after the Dragon Vein near Sakura? I need to try that one to see how it works out. No idea how Kaze gets to level up with this strat (he never gets the bosskill in the C4 strats I'm aware of though), but I guess there are some stragglers to bait / kill while Ryoma heads northwest. Checking if a 5-turn is at all feasible with a rigged +spd asset MU getting perfect levelups is probably a good idea on Hard, just to know what we could be aiming for here. My MU is +def (you need +def/+hp to shave off 1 turn off Xander's "map" on both Hard and Lunatic, which are hardly optimal builds for maximising MU's offence to say the least, and leave you prone to RNG screwage on Lunatic) so there's no chance of 1RKOing anything without Yato crits. Jakob kinda steals most of MU's exp in chapter 2/3 since he can counter 1-2 range myrms in C2 and can kill a myrm on the same turn MU DVs in C3 (needs a str proc to OHKO him with a Gunther attack stance, but C2 is so trivial to restart for that proc); granted, it's exp invested well considering what Jakob does after getting a PS, but MU wants his raw stats maximised for C4 and, to a much lesser extent, C6.

How's Benoit in Revelation btw? He looks like a decent attack stance partner, but Silas has much more workable stats with essentially the same availability.

The +spd level-up for Kaze is for LTC purposes alone, isn't it? Based on my limited experience, he also needs to proc strength (not his most reliable growth) a ludicrous number of times in a row to 2HKO the Dark Mages with the Rinkah pairup to grant you that 5(?) turn clear. Doesn't help that chapter 4 is a hellhole for LTCing (I believe you need a rigged MU + a Yato crit on the boss to Dragon Vein the mountain to Sakura ASAP), and you have to re-start it each time you find the Kaze you got has bad early levelups. Lunatic LTC isn't for most mortals. It seems more reliable to just have dragon MU OHKO all the mercs, included paired-up ones, with an Azura dance to take care of all of them on time, while Kaze debuffs people and tanks Dark Mage attacks. I do agree that him getting level-ups early is helpful to take more Dark Mage hits in C5; each point of res or HP matters. After C5, he's still a dood who doubles and debuffs with shurikens - I like debuffs whenever I decide to sandbag.

I didn't consider 1x at all to be frank; sounds like a pointless map to do unless you're playing for full recruitment. Children seem pretty pointless on all routes tbqh. Even if the parents are units with actually good stats (e.g. royals), the child loses access to whatever Prf weapon the parents might have used. I like the Revelation Takumi idea a lot - the meaty chip is much-needed there. Don't really get the Hoshido Kaze enthusiasm though. How is he doing anything with Rinkah when he will *spoilers* literally die after Flannel's map if A rank with MU hasn't been reached? This severely limits what both he and MU should be doing in the chapters.

Ryoma's stats are outright ridiculous when he joins. He's no common SM.

tbqh You might as well compare them to Orlandu now

Rutger doesn't clean enemies at 1-2 range (aside from Light Brand shenanigans, but these only serve to break the novelty sword prematurely), which Ryoma does nicely. Ryoma also sorta gets to 30-ish crit because of high skill, his Prf's crit bonus, SM's innate crit and his personal skill (which should pretty much always be active considering he'll be doing all the killing and not his support partner). I think I'd still choose Rutger because he competes against total scrubs, whereas you could still go without Ryoma's help easily in Hoshido and Revelation.

I figured a list or discussion of this sort could be helpful to help people decide who's more fit for usage on any given path. Kaze (Nohr) - doesn't face any significant competition from physical shuriken users (who actually have some firepower unlike him), and you needn't pair him up with MU till A-rank support to keep him alive. Selana (Nohr) - flier with a staff is a niche on this path since peg!MU is an inferior MU build in Nohr with no storebought shocksticks around. Elise (Nohr) - in Revelation, she starts later and rather far from a promotion so Sakura could well be a Falcoknight wielding a staff by the time she would be able to promote. No such issues here; a mounted healer to heal, rescue allies and cripple enemies. Elfie (Nohr) - has very real utility early on and can continue contributing after promoting into a mobile GK, fixing her main crippling problem, in great contrast to horrid bases and jointime in Revelation. Niles (Nohr) - I don't really buy having to get him so many levels just to reach that Pass skill all the way as a L15 Adventurer, but good luck finding a reason to use him in Revelation where Takumi has more damage output 7 chapters earlier. Crimson (Hoshido) - actually sticks around. Hinoka (Hoshido) - superior availability on this path and combat is quite rad compared to your early flier (who's also pretty hard to compare with the usual FE Thany/Florina prototype). Subaki (Hoshido) - Beruka takes care of the 'bulky flier' role better in Revelation, and competing against two prepromoted fliers leaves Subaki with little chance to be considered for a good army. Gunter (Revelation) - far superior availability makes him a longer-lasting Jeigan and MU's offensive support partner. Tsukuyomi (Revelation) - joins early with a much more usable base level. Kagerou (Revelation) - meaty strength advantage over the other ninja without the Hoshido availability problem.

Well, Ryoma has poorer availability than Rutger, and is nowhere as necessary for bosskilling. Pairing him up with somebody who gives str/def and moving him in some direction is pretty much this game's way of effortless playing, sorta like Robin with their Veteran in the previous title. Basically, Ryoma is a fast user of 1-2 range who's not so easy to kill. Hana and Hinata are both scrubs tbqh.

Yeah, it's either him or Rutger.

Pair Chrom up with a flier. Pair up everyone with a flier or a tome/staff user for that matter. Don't be negligent during the first two turns and nobody should die. Watch out for the wyvern reinforcements if you spend too much time on the map.

USA or not, a royal named Marx would provoke all sorts of endless jokes and couldn't be taken seriously (just like the Lobster Lord because of his appearance).

Fates capture doesn't give you any weapons though (afaik).

slice it apart and scan it

Was there no chance to steal that Red Gem at all?

Canas is hardly essential with all the other staffers you could train up.

You can also finish the game without anyone getting to lv. 20 promoted...

Marcus may have a high res growth but Sain/Kent proc str/spd more often, and will likely emerge as superior combat units thanks to their faster speed of levelling, by CoD certainly. It hardly matters whose stats you will be rigging anyway, though...

Correct, but the value of each point in the stat is lower than before. Different phrasing the express the same idea I guess?

Don't forget you also need to get Warp while low-turning that map. It may not matter in more reliable(-looking-ish...) clears of the chapter, but it does make the 3-turn even less realistic, coupled with the problem of connecting attacks on extremely numerous, often very agile, enemies scattered in different corners of the map. Harken shows up way too late to be recruited in LTC context (no question about it), but I don't see why you wouldn't train up a squad of competent, rigged-stats units to do what you want them to do. Maxed mag Priscilla can probably do the fighting without being affected by the enemy attacks much, but you could always just rig the res growth of a Javelin/Hand Axe-using paladin. I think Prissy still needs crits to 1RKO the valks and other promoted enemies there?

Are we sure it's them at all?

Yeah, but the luck stat also does less than before.

Well, that sure was quick, thanks a lot Vincent! It's recorded LTC run time in my world now! I'll be sure to report how everything works.

aye, might as well keep those goddess icons this time around.