[How does my GD Maddening NG+ plan look?]

The only riding classes I feel are worth going for are dark knights and bow knights. Black/Bowfaire respectively and canto are good hit and run options for those classes and helps their mobility and allows them to inflict extra damage on top of that. Paladins while I acknowledge that Ferdinand and Sylvain brings out the best of these classes thanks to swift strikes and lancefaire, the speed drop could be the biggest issue here. But having 8 move is hard to turn down. Then there's Wyvern Lord which is harder if not impossible to turn down because fliers are great, unless you would rather have extra damage from lancefaire instead of axes.

[Mixed Builds - A Thread]

I actually tested out darting blow + battalion desperation on ingrid and from what I gathered it does indeed work as long as you're able to double attack your opponent. So I'm wondering if perhaps if for a Dark Flier build for her one could try Reason Level 5, Fiendish Blow, Darting Blow, Bowbreaker and Battalion Desperation? It might not necessarily work all the time I would think on higher difficulties but the idea would be an effective hit and run strategy with magic. Transmute helps if you were to be targeted by magic but that is situational at best after some experimentation. But when it does activate the +3 to all stats makes it more manageable for the next player phase. 

I understand if Dark Flier Ingrid might not be optimal but at least classing her as a mgae then warlock should help out her magic stat a bit and having strong blizzards and thorons with a good crit chance can be fun to try out

[Mixed Builds - A Thread]

4 minutes ago, haarhaarhaar said:

Despite his Reason budding talent, I've heard not-so-good things about Dark Knight Sylvain, basically along the lines of "you're still gonna be spamming Swift Strikes as a Dark Knight, but you won't have the Lancefaire". Across Reason and Faith it appears like his spells have a lot of utility, but I'm not convinced that his magic would hit harder than a Short Spear. Actually they might do with the faire skill, but it's definitely a concern. I wonder if there's any point in making Sylvain a hybrid when Sylvain is so good in physical classes. 

 

Yea that's my thing too. If his growths in magic was a little better (maybe even speed which is at 50% and that is pretty good), then perhaps he could pull it off. But yea, Paladin Sylvain inflicting more damage then running off or Wyvern Lord Sylvain doing a fly hit and run with Swift Strikes seems to be more optimal than DK Sylvain. While somewhat off topic, I've always wondered if Wyvern Lord Sylvain is really better than Paladin Sylvain because Swift Strikes with Lancefaire does more damage than Wyvern Lord Sylvain since Paladins have Lancefaire as a class skill, making the strength class modifier for Paladin an effective +7 as opposed to the Wyvern Lord's +4

[Mixed Builds - A Thread]

I've tried Dark Flier Ingrid on my GD play through. I had to class her as a Warlock so she can a buff in her magic and defense stat. With Bowbreaker along with fiendish blow and alert stance she did good in baiting in enemies and getting a stat buff thanks to transmute from enemy mages though that ability came through as situational to me.

Warlock Hilda seems fun as well with 2x of black magic as well as black tomefaire.  She gets Thoron and Bolting for some juicy long range attacks. 

War Cleric Catherine seems be fine as a front liner or guard adjutant. I've also done War Cleric Constance and while OHKO'ing low HP enemies with Mystic Blow or using Aura Knuckles was fun, she seems to be a one trick pony here.

I never tried Holy Knight Ingrid though with I would think Dark Flier would probably be a better choice since flying beats riding and she can still use physic all the same. I've also seen Holy Knight Dimitri if you want him to function as a bulky healer. He also gets Aura too but his low magic growth isn't really worth it for him to use offensive magic to begin with. Even if Aura has a good critical hit chance, 20% I think.

There's Dark Knight Sylvain which could work because he could function as a dodge tank with black magic and he at least has a decent spell list. Though he's more leaned towards physical classes than magic so getting him to be at least a mixed attacker can be tough pending on RNG

I've tried Holy Knight Bernie. She has rescue and physic which is nice but her magic growth is bad unless you keep feeding her magic stat boosting items if you're that determined. At least Holy Knight Marianne can use white tomefaire and aura for good damage but 3 uses of it is really limiting. She her running around with a sword and sword avoid with blutgang and levin sword was fun. Giving her frozen lance was also a nice option too along with fiendish blow and dex +4 for more added damage

[How does my GD Maddening NG+ plan look?]

2 minutes ago, samthedigital said:

In some maps dismounting and taking damage from terrain probably also works if you really need to hit 1HP.

That's a good point. Dismounting is useful especially against enemy archers and snipers since it neutralizes the flying weakness

[How does my GD Maddening NG+ plan look?]

4 minutes ago, samthedigital said:

She makes a good Falcon Knight too, but just about everyone makes a good flier. It really depends on what units you're willing to handicap in order to have access to some gambits and utility spells.

The only thing about Falcon Knight Bernie is that you really need the blessing gambit in order for her to safely reach 1 HP and achieve max damage vengeance. At least with a guard adjutant she can survive follow up attacks which fliers can't equip. Though I guess the best alternative is for her to have a devil weapon (probably sword since she needs to get at least a D+ rank in them and she has a bane in swords). Defiant Avoid though at least gives her some longevity pending on her avoid.

[How does my GD Maddening NG+ plan look?]

23 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

You ask me, it's impractical, period. Rescue only has Magic/4 for range, and Bernie's doomed to have suck for magic.

Yea that's what I figured. So she's really better as a Paladin or Bow Knight pending on what your team needs. Either killing bosses in one hit or freezing them in place

[How does my GD Maddening NG+ plan look?]

I'm considering a vengeance bernadetta myself on my Black Eagles/Church of Seiros run when I try it on maddening. I saw Mekkah's video on Bernie and he actually detailed on how to make the vengeance strategy work and even shared his set up using vantage and battalion wrath. Something of which I was considering for some other units on the squad as well. 

I was also experimenting around with Holy Knight Bernie on normal mode just to see how it would work. Rescue is nice on her with high move but seems impractical to bring on a serious team

[How does my GD Maddening NG+ plan look?]

Would having both Bernie and Claude be a good idea to have on a GD maddening team? Because I know both of them learn Encloser at rank A bows. So maybe Barbarossa Claude and Bow Knight Bernie both rocking hit +20 and maybe accuracy ring using encloser could help make maddening easier somehow. Freezing two enemies in place seems to be better than one. I didn't consider Valkyrie Bernadetta until now. While it seems more possible on NG+, Uncanny Blow plus Hit +20 looks to be pretty much a surefire way to land high accurate hits from attacks and combat arts.

[How does my GD Maddening NG+ plan look?]

For Constance, I would recommend having her mastering Warlock before going into Dark Flier since she will be consistently be using black magic. Bowbreaker on a Dark Flier is a sure way to have her fly in more safely. Otherwise I think everything else looks pretty good. Having black magic range +1 is also a nice to have as well. Maybe magic +2 too if you want to combine it with fiendish blow for more raw damage potential.

It can also be a decent idea to have felix go from fighter, brigand, war monk, grappler then warmaster so you can get death blow, brawl avoid +20 and then the occasionally useful tomebreaker and then quick riposte. Strength +2 and Death Blow is also a nice combo for that +8 attack in addition to having that 20 avoid too. I know it's a little overkill but it's a good filler ability especially when being engaged on enemy phase.

[Byleth End Game Class Build]

Would battalion desperation combo well with darting blow? Or is that simply redundant?

I know that regular vantage combines with battalion wrath because they are both enemy phase skills and a number of characters can do that. Dimitri included and he also gets battalion vantage which obviously makes him the best enemy phase counter unit in the game. Give him counterattack and there you go

[Byleth End Game Class Build]

I'm planning on doing that combo for Dimitri on my eventual maddening run. It is too bad that that the battalion variations have such niches. At least Dimitri is the best candidate for it. And to an extent anyone else that has battalion wrath along with regular vantage like Bernie, Petra and even Dedue.

I'm also a bit disappointed that battalion desperation isn't really worth using either as much as regular desperation is. I mean I guess you can make it work but then how useful is it really?

[Byleth End Game Class Build]

That's unfortunate. Though thanks for testing it out

Though with that said, what does battalion vantage work well with?

[Byleth End Game Class Build]

Quick Riposte I've been tempted to bring to a Male Byleth Brawling build because of how much it makes player phase so good. As far as battalion vantage + quick riposte being a thing, I have not tested it out yet but I am now curious to find out.

[Byleth End Game Class Build]

Good point about Retribution actually. That would mean that I can pick a different ability in it's stead. Wrath or Defiant Crit seems to be best when paired with Battalion Vantage and/or regular vantage anyways. I was thinking on being able to combine it with a killer weapon or even wo dao so I can score high crits. But yea good to note, thanks

[Byleth End Game Class Build]

I have another question: Is Battalion Vantage good on any build? Someone might have already answered it but I was reading up about battalion vantage and it works when a battalion's endurance is around 1/3 of it's health. I know also it acts like regular vantage but it's a safer condition to be going for. I know someone else said that battalion desperation isn't that good so I might probably choose to avoid that.

What I am thinking in that case is I could go Assassin with Sword and Bow Prowess at level 5, Close Counter in case I happen to be wielding a bow, Death Blow so I can deal really good damage with something like Windsweep and Curved Shot, and maybe battalion vantage if it works the way it should or maybe just go for sword/bow crit + 10 just to clean up enemies. Plus Assassin is easier to build towards since I only really need to invest a little into axes to get brigand and keep focusing on sword and bow. Not sure if having healing focus as a combat art is worth it or am I better off using something like swap or reposition.

Falcon Knight seems like a sure bet also so something similar using a bow as an option, maybe Killer Bow if I want that extra crit chance in addition to the hit + 30 I get from curved shot. Alert Stance and Darting Blow is also obvious as well. And of course similar abilities/combat arts as mentioned above. If I am going Falcon Knight maybe I could go for Tempest Lance/Knightkneeler in case I need to attack up close against someone with swordbreaker pending on the matchup.

I know that Warmaster/Grappler as Male Byleth is another strong option, it's just a matter of if I want 20 crit or attack three times with fierce iron fist

 

Those are the three class options for Byleth that I am strongly considering to use in Maddening after much pondering

[Blue Lions, Maddening, NG--How do my plans look?]

I get the impression that the devs made the holy knight to be an offensive white mage as well as a heal and run support. The idea makes sense but with nosferatu, seraphim, aura and abraxas being the only spells boosted by white tomefaire makes it difficult for it to work considering their limited uses. Granted Lysithea has 3 out of the 4 spells listed gremory is already a better option for her. And for Marianne, I know she's built for it but there are better options for her, like dancer, gremory, dark flier, valkyrie or even trickster if you want her to use swords.

Of course if you already have a physic healer as well as a silence user she could in theory try swordmaster to help her strength and speed growths but she'll struggle to inflict any serious damage unless you're RNG blessed. I would also bring up Mortal Savant as it allows her to be a hybrid attacker but the -10% speed drop though does hinder her growth. I know she's not the fastest off the bat but it is really worth it? 

[Personal Master Classes: What Would they Look Like?]

Here's something I think might be interesting as well. Please let me know if I should change something about it or not

Kinshi Knight (Leonie)

Spoiler

• Unlocks when completing Legend of the Lake Paralouge Battle and receive The Inexhaustible Bow
• Class Skills: Bowfaire, Lancefaire, Canto
• Skill Boosts: +3 Lance, +3 Bow, +3 Flying
• Stat Mods: +1 HP, +1 Str, +3 Dex, +4 Spd, 1+ Luck, +4 Move
• Class Growth: +20% HP, +10% Str, +10% Spd, +10% Dex, +10% Luck, +5% Charm
• Mastery Skill: Encloser, Bow Avoid +20
• Description: Proficient with up close attacks with the lance as well as long range combat with the bow. Uses the ability to fly into range and mow down any foe with ease
• Reasoning : I think that bringing back a class from Fates might not be a bad idea and for those who want to see something different for Leonie to do, she can be essentially a flying Bow Knight but without needing to worry about the minor speed penalty that Bow Knight gives.

 

Crusader (Marianne)

Spoiler

• Unlocks when completing Forgotten Hero Paralouge Battle and receive The Blutgang Hero's Relic
• Class Skills: Swordfaire, 2x White Magic, Canto
• Skill Boosts: +3 Swords, +2 Lances, +3 Faith, +3 Riding
• Stat Mods: +3 HP, +2 Str, +4 Mag, +1 Dex, +1 Def, +2 Res, +1 Charm, +4  Move
• Class Growth: HP +30%, Str +10%, Mag +10%,  Dex +5%, Def +5%, Res +5%, Charm +5%
• Mastery Skill: Confidence
• Description: Sworn by the sword and magic gifted from the goddess, this holy warrior rides into battle to protect those in need with haste
• Reasoning: I think that Marianne is one of those characters that really could do anything but feels like secondary to me. She has the right boons to make just about any class work if you plan ahead. Plus I think that her character develop would play a role into this class since she does gain more self esteem in the post time skip and having a class that is frankly a better version of Holy Knight is what she needs more than the actual Holy Knight class itself. Plus having a rider with no speed penalty should be fun to use at least. 

 

[Byleth End Game Class Build]

I initially was thinking to have a decent dodge tank that can heal as well as fight physically because having recover can be a big deal and even if I run out of nosferatu, just equipping a heal tome (at least according to Chaz when he discussed his "pitfall" build") can still add evasion. Speed +2 sounds a lot more attainable then weight -3 though of course if I go weight -3 and death blow then that means I can master brigand while passing the armored kngith exam and get a nice defense boost.

 

Jeralt's Mercernaries were the only ones I thought of off the top of my head and I couldn't think of a good one. Edmund troops I just remembered gives you Hit +40 when maxed out and has good range too. 

 

My guess is that in gerenal the EO class would have a hard time contributing in maddening because while it can do magic and physical it doesn't excel particularly in either one because it's not fast enough. Still, it's good to get this kind of feedback so I can adjust my plans.

[Byleth End Game Class Build]

For me whenever I try to make a team I try to not overdo it on fliers myself because of how flying battalions function. Still, having at least 3 or 4 fliers are still good to have on a team.

I sometimes opt to go for alert stance anyways if their personal ability can be augmented because of it. i.e Dimitri's post time skip ability or Ferdinand's confidence.

So I think that if you're looking for an evasion set like I am, then I think AS+ compliments those ideas really well. Sword Avoid +20 deserves a mention. Brigid Hunters battalion granting a good amount of avoid as well as Aegir Astral Knights too

 

[Golden Deer Maddening Help]

1 hour ago, Shadow Mir said:

The bigger problem is that the Bolt Axe and Crusher are drearily inaccurate (both have a lousy 60 base hit). I dunno about you, but I believe how hard you hit means jack shit if you can't hit in the first place. Also, the Crusher is only obtainable in Azure Moon; not that that's a big loss, because it sucks harder than SSB64 Link's recovery.

Ha! I see what you did there. Yea those kind of weapons can be inaccurate. 

[Blue Lions, Maddening, NG--How do my plans look?]

40 minutes ago, Mousefire said:

Caspar can actually pretty reliable KO the DK at chapter 12 base. Freikugel+Smash gives him about 80% hit and 30% crit, and it's a OHKO with the crit. Without the Freikugel, you can reclass him into a warrior, and the devil axe will be strong enough to OHKO with a crit. 

 

I actually just did this on my NG maddening BL run, so I can vouch for it

So I'm guessing for Caspar you must have given him Axe Prowess Level 5, Lancebreaker, Vantage, Death Blow, Wrath with a Critical/Accuracy Ring? Because that is the easiest approach for him if not Grappler or War Master for him.

I was also considering Caspar being a Grappler because he would get Fierce Iron Fist. In that case, his progression would probably be fighter, brigand, war monk, grappler. The War Monk is there for the Brawl Avoid +20 and I guess pending on his stats he gets a nice boost to his Res which he is severely lacking in.

[Blue Lions, Maddening, NG--How do my plans look?]

I'll give my two cents on the polls here. I went with DF Flayn and Dancer Marianne because Flayn can already become a pegasus knight to get darting blow and then unlock her budding talent in reason magic so she can level up her black magic better. I still would train her white magic on the wide because rescue and fortify are potent spells to have even if without the 2x of white magic you would get from bishop and gremory. Plus Dark Flier really wants Bowbreaker since you'll always be using magic. She can also use the Caduceus Staff for longer range so you can run Reason Level 5, Fiendish Blow, Darting Blow, Bowbreaker, Alert Stance +. Of course you would need a flying battalion in order for her to gain any additional stat buffs or other utility but this is totally doable for her.

 

Marianne as a dancer I've used on my GD playthrough and she was excellent. Sword Avoid and her hero's relic gives her good damage potential against monsters as well as dodge support too. Her boon in riding really helps with movement +1 and you can still give her something like a forged levin sword for example. Though if you're going to go all the way with her as a dancer and have her heal, dance when needed, you can probably go for something like sword prowess level 5, sword avoid +20, special dance, movement +1, and maybe even magic +2 because at least physic will have some more healing power. For accessories there is healing staff if you her healing to be a bit better or march ring if want her to have 8 move (can be a bit much but hey at least she can get in range a lot better). 

 

Felix can do about any physical class you want him to because his growths support the idea. Assassin is easier for him to obtain though because sword and bow are both of this boons and CA's like Sunder which can be nice for higher crit and Finesse Blade while strong he needs to have a higher dex stat in order for the damage output to be better and since Assassin gives 20% this will help him out. Heavy Draw is strong but lacks range like Curved Shot though the difference in damage is noticeable. Kind of like switching from a pistol to a shotgun. And having close counter should felix start using bows can prevent him from being a sitting duck.

Though in fairness Sniper Felix is also very enticing because of Hunter's Volley and his strength growth will jump up from 55% - 60% making him one of the hardest hitting snipers in the game. Bernie and Shamir are the other notable sniper candidates too of course. So if were to go Assassin, he would want something like Sword Prowess Level 5, Bow Prowess Level 5, Close Counter, Death Blow, and perhaps Axebreaker, Hit +20, or maybe even Strength +2 to go really well with Death Blow. Sniper would probably want something like Bow Prowess Level 5, Hit +20, Close Counter, Dexterity +4 (maybe) and Weight -3 (maybe) if you care about him having Aegis Shield. Aegis Shield does help out his shaky defense and let's him fire away with Hunter's Volley. So IMO either one is good.

 

And of course, I think that raising 10 units should be enough and you can have someone you don't train too much be your dancer and then maybe some other recruit you can use to rally spam. Ignatz is another okay choice for rally support unit as speed and dex can be helpful. Rally strength as well but you would have to raise his authority all the way to rank S which is no fun. If not then the Ashen Wolves should be more than enough for you.

[Golden Deer Maddening Help]

Yea Annette is really easy to pick up if you spend a battle and just have her spam rally strength on you. She gets the most rallies out of anyone else. Perseverance (Rally Strength), then she gets Rally Res, Rally Speed, then finally Rally Movement. And 3 out of the 4 rallies you'll want to use a lot.

As for rally bot ideas, I've been thinking that Annette can be either a Dark Flier with Bowbreaker and a rally if you can fit one (you could probably fit both rally speed + movement if you're willing to invest hard into authority). Otherwise I'd just stick with Alert Stance+

Valkyrie/Dark Knight also works because you can combine rallies with movement +1. Of course objectively Dark Knight offers better stat growths than Valkyrie and has 7 move as opposed to Valkyrie having 6. But Valkyrie has black magic range +1. So that's the trade of I suppose. 

Then there is Wyvern Lord with Bolt Axe and Crusher along with Fiendish Blow + Axefaire which allows her to be a pseudo malig knight basically since we don't have that class this time around. However the -5% in magic might be a slight problem depending on your perspective.

[B.E Maddening/OP Builds]

1 hour ago, haarhaarhaar said:

Yeah agreed - I just about managed it on Hard with Ingrid in VW, but that was at the cost of getting Death Blow and Alert Stance+ (I ran her through Cav and Paladin instead of Brigand and Wyvern so I could continue to train Lances and Swords). It's probably possible if you grind and abuse aux battles though.

And that's why I like to experiment with such things on normal mode. I even once did Dark Flier Ingrid before transitioning to Falcon Knight because I was curious to see how well Transmute would work for a FK. It turned out rather well when hit with magic but it depends if you have said transmute user bait in the enemy mages and warlocks. 

 

I was even considering Ingrid to be a Dark Flier because I had her master Mage, Pegasus Knight, Warlock then Dark Flier afterwards because of how Bowbreaker in conjunction with being a flier using magic would be a great idea. It is a great idea though her spell list is Blizzard, Thoron and Fimbulvetr. It can use white magic too most notably physic and seraphim. With a spell list like that being backed by Black Tomefaire, It's serviceable enough I think although I would say that anyone with a higher magic stat and probably a better reason magic pool that isn't dark could probably pull off dark flier better.

 

Regardless of who you chose as a Dark Flier, I like to throw in Reason Prowess Level 5, Fiendish Blow, Bowbreaker, Alert Stance+ and maybe Black Magic Range +1 to actually fend off enemy Snipers