sinfonic18

Man it sucks that Armor Knights aren't well looked upon (the class admittedly deserves the bad reputation). These guys are easily some of my favorite units to use in the series. I play slow though, and I suck at FE. The only game I would really say Knights are above average units is Engage.

I didn't forget about it, I just had all the information I needed so I didn't think continuing the thread on forever was necessary. Haha yeah FE has consumed pretty much all my time off the past year. But in reality, it was actually 8 playthroughs of the Tellius series since the 3 other POR playthroughs were just to get stat bonuses in RD. So I've played both of them equally. Blazing Blade, Sacred Stones, POR and Radiant Dawn are definitely my favorite Fire Emblems released in the west. (Three Houses is but it's post Awakening)

Oh, wow. I haven't been on this site in like a month and didn't even see this. I wasn't ignoring you! I apologize I have been having some things going on in my life that have been taking a lot of my time away but anyway I have finished 4 playthroughs of Radiant Dawn since then and about 7 of POR (I wanted the transfers and every time I played I went to POR before). Yeah... Fire Emblem pretty much takes up all my free time anymore XD

Well, I have 2 Paragons equipped to other units not Astrid and Geoffrey, so I think I took it off of Astrid... But Geoffrey's? I don't think I did. Which now looking back was... Very stupid of me. BUT I just found out recently that you could reuse the skills you removed from units!

Pretty much this... On all seriousness though, I was trying to keep her away from combat and the reinforcements from the beginning of the map got her. She was so useless she couldn't even defend herself

Alright well thanks to everyone for giving me advice again on my 900th best unit post. I really appreciate all the detail you put into all these answers lol. I read all of what Gonzo said and I'm almost going to beat part 3 with only 2 chapters left. I am not going to fight my Ike on Ch. 13 because he has 4 stats maxed and is a level 20 Hero. Compare him to my *** micaiah units and I am asking for trouble. I am going to try the strategy Gonzo gave because I'm really dreading that. I also beat Chapter 9 pretty easily and I didn't even have to use the Master Crown, which I was debating about using but I left it there and if I was unable to beat the map I'd use it. I had a pretty easy time with it thanks to Devdan, Geoffrey, Kieran and Marcia. Calill and Makalov didn't contribute much, and Astrid didn't contribute at all because she died on turn 3. Only MC I've used on any unit is Gatrie because I wanted to give him more speed since his cap was low. Oh and I never had one green unit on 3-10 die for me because like I said, my GM units are so OP that the game is easy as pie with them around. I think I also completed it in like 6 turns. The bridge chapter afterward is what sucked, those dang pits. But I was able to manage it in 10 turns and I just had Tibard and his hawks Avoid using the direct command and Haar pretty much kill everything himself. Would've gotten it faster and I could've looked up where the pits were but I didn't feel like it. Speaking of Haar, I couldn't agree more. I gave him a speedwing after I promoted him and he's unstoppable. Thunder mages do kinda scare me around him but he seems to dodge them luckily. I'm going to have to use Nolan sadly because I have no other option. Good to know he can do something at least. Is there any possible way I could transfer Aqqar to the DB? That doesn't matter though, because he should be able to KO them with a regular crossbow. My nolan is terrible though and I'd rather be safe than sorry. Okay thank you for this, this is also really important because I've been trying to avoid using my Ike since he's max level and 4 stat caps, and I want everyone else to get XP so now I can use him more often after. A lot of this information is useful. Thanks! Maybe moreso for my second playthrough because I know I missed a lot of details this time lol. I also never gave him a speedwing and he didn't get transfer bonuses. Would've rather Nolan turned out better than him but alright.

Okay I am very sorry for such a belated reply but I've been really busy and haven't been able to play as much as I want normally I'd have already beaten the game , but family and a lot of life issues got in the way and I've just now for the past two days played the game and I've gotten past Part 2 (It was really short) and am 7 chapters into Part 3 and the game has been a lot easier and better for me taking youns advice into account as well as getting the Greil Mercenaries which are OP as all hell and has made the game infinitely easier for me. Yes I already cleared the swamp after you posted this but this is really good advice for my next playthrough. Everything will be easier next time since I won't be playing blind. I COULD'VE used Vika to kill those wyverns already but she didn't transform for 900 turns and I didn't have olivi grass which I now have stockpiles upon stockpiles of! Having to use an item though just so laguz units can fight is a pain though and reminds me why I don't use them unless I have to. Oh that note, I just played 3-6 today and I didn't find it hard at all. Maybe because I didn't use Tauroneo much in the beginning like Shadow mir said but I had Jill promoted and gave her all my stat boosters. I gave her and Nolan as well as Edward a bit of Bonus EXP and they were great with their weapons they got from the base. Then the black knight came along and proceeded to nuke everything so it wasn't bad at all. Actually, the part 3 chapters haven't been hard at all. Maybe because it's normal mode, but I had a huge problem with part 1 and even part 2 on the last chapter was a nightmare. Only thing I am missing is a few items from villages/tens and some secret ones but I will have to get those next time. Volug contributed a bit but he mostly sucked compared to Jill, nolan and edward. Sothe did too, which I expected. And yeah, I am DEFINITELY canning Nolan whenever I get the chance. I had to use him this chapter, and even give him some exp just so he could fight a bit but he has been completely speed screwed only getting 1 SPD level at level 2 Warrior. He now has 11 speed. Meanwhile, I've gotten completely different results with Boyd! He has 26 speed now and has gotten a spd level on almost every level up as well as strength. He's a monster along with titania, ike, shinon and mia. Nolan doesn't even compare. My Haar is good too, but he doesn't double at 22 speed. Gatrie is good for me too combat wise, but he almost never sees any action because of his move. On the chapter where you only have Micaiah and the BK I did struggle with that one. Mainly because I was setting it up to rescue her and just have him destroy everything but when I went to do it I wasn't able to. Really put a dent into my strategy (lazy one) where I could just have him eat everything. I didn't know you could unequip skills from units and put them onto someone else, and I didn't really pay attention to skills in part 1 because I was too focused on just trying to beat it lol. I know the game better now and wish I could've got celerity from tormod before the end but I'll just have to save it for next time I guess. And I agree pretty much with SM on everything he said about laguz units, I've said my piece on them though. Oh, and crossbows weren't really a problem for me except in part 2 where I had Marcia and elincia, they suck bad other than dealing with pegasus. Not my boyd. He's doubling everything after a few levels now.

OKAY I got lost in all this and honestly didn't expect it to turn into such a heated argument, I just wanted some tips on how to play the game since I've never played RD before but I've played all the other FEs, so I wouldn't consider myself a FE noob just a noob to RD. I'm not going to quote anybody in this reply because that will take up a ton of space so I will just write down my thoughts and what is going on in my RD adventure as of right now. On the Tauroneo thing, I actually haven't used him much BUT without him I wouldn't have had my other units survive most of the chapters. Actually, he was key to Chapter 6 part 2 and Chapter 7 simply for the fact that he is invincible right now and the reinforcements in this game are constant and my other units (the ones I should be training) are incredibly weak sans Edward and Jill now and having him there to block and deal with the reinforcements saved me multiple times. I don't think I would've been able to beat those chapters without him. This is the hardest game I've played in the series because dodge rates are horrible even when the enemy is below 25 hit and you can almost never double. That on top of the numerous reinforcements and feeling like I have to rush and get the map done fast so I can get bonus EXP just makes it extremely hard for me. I am never for using prepromotes in FE since I like growth units but without Tormod, Volug and Tauroneo I wouldn't have been able to get myself to chapter 9. On the Laguz thing. I generally hate shapeshifting units in these games and go out of my way to not use them. Volug and Nailah have been an exception but I will give a good example as to why I don't use them: Here I am on Chapter 8 (the swamp ch.) and I cannot field Jill or Tauroneo so I am stuck with most of the Laguz. While I'm using most of my units that can't go into the water to defeat the main army a wyvern comes out of nowhere and starts murdering the villagers. I then have nothing up my sleeve for that since Jill had to be left behind and all I have to rely on is... Vika. There she goes, standing right by the civilians as they get brutally slaughtered by a man on a flying lizard, being able to do absolutely nothing but watch, do to not being able to transform. It took 6 TURNS for her to FINALLY shapeshift and actually do something, and when she was finally able to it wasn't even worth it. Nailah is godly though and Volug has saved my butt numerous times. Oh, and my Jill is great. Nolan is the one who has turned out terrible for me. 10 speed at LEVEL 20 I didn't even know Olivi grass or the Rune existed...

Well, I think only Ike is the one who reached level 20 in both my playthroughs of POR so I guess it worthless to transfer data but I guess it don't hurt. I just beat Chapter 6 and now I have Jill, Tauroneo and Zihark. I really liked jill in POR, how does she fair here? My Nolan is good but he hasn't gotten a single speed level from 9 to 16. And yeah, I've had a ton of trouble with the game right now especially since none of my units can double. Micaiah in fact gets one shotted by archers. Hmm. Idk if I like that honestly, that really messes with my team building. BUT there is no benching of units in that case so everyone gets some use, which is also nice I suppose. Oh wow. I know he's a wyvern and that kind makes me wish I would've trained him in POR. Okay if that's the case then what is the best possible candidates for stat boosters? I've been holding off for this exact reason because I have a dracoshield, energy drop and a seraph robe that I don't want to waste on anyone yet. My Nolan is slow as molasses, he hasn't gained one point of speed in 7 levels and his base is 10. But on that fact nobody in my army can double besides Edward sometimes (Volug can but he's a laguz unit) so it's not really that much of a negative for him. Is that swordmaster Zihark? If so I got him but he's a prepromote. My leonardo hasn't gained 1 level since the beginning of the game, I've already found out how useless he was from the start and I don't even feel like babying him. Perhaps with the stuff you mentioned he might be worth it but I just don't feel like it because if I want an archer I'd rather have a mounted one. I see. On that note actually, who is worth giving BEXP to? I don't have much because I'm very slow finishing maps in FE, but I can still use the bit I have. What I've been doing right now is just leveling a unit with it that's above 70 EXP, so I can give them a level. Also does promotion work like it did in POR or do I have to use the Master seal I got?

I'm on Chapter 1 (not prologue) and I'm using my save transfer from my second playthrough of Path of Radiance. Actually off topic, is that even useful? I have no POR characters in my army yet, how much stronger does it actually make them? Okay circle back. Right now I have Micaiah, Nolan, Edward and Leonardo. I want to use Micaiah obviously even if she isn't worth training but the others I will drop if they lack anything useful. I'm playing on Normal mode if it helps.

I remember viewing a support in my last playthrough of TH between Lysithea and Felix that somehow didn't come until after the timeskip when it was supposed to appear before the timeskip. It just seemed... Very awkward and out of place for those characters since they changed a lot. This is probably unrelated to the topic and isn't a useful post, but I wanted to share how out of place it felt lol.

Haha, I can't disagree with that. They're always in good faith, and it's very entertaining to participate in and hear other peoples opinions on how to go about my favorite franchise ever. My binding blade question like this garnered a ton of debates and it was pretty huge haha. My Garcia is level 16 Fighter with 20 strength, his Str has went up every single level. He has the most strength in my army right now (Seth has 17 for me but I have used him as much this time around) with 9 speed. If he was a just a bit faster, he'd be monstrous and easily my best unit. I'm hoping when I get the speedwings and promote him to Hero this will fix that issue and he'll be my best unit. He doubles some units, like soldiers and Shamans, but not much. So yeah, he's pretty much working out for me like everyone said he would. I honestly couldn't agree more with that statement. You see, I like every FE game (even the first one) and I admittedly still have a soft spot for Awakening and Fates: Conquest because those games are what introduced me to the series when I was a teenager. But, now that I've played the GBA games, POR, and and Shadow Dragon and Genealogy, it's hard to go back to the 3DS era and enjoy it. It's just not as fun and is missing the charm of the older games. Now that I'm older and I've played a lot of the series, I've began to see why FE fans are so adamant on the series returning to it's roots. And I agree with them. I haven't played Radiant Dawn yet, so I can't say how I feel about it. I also haven't played Gaiden or it's remake, so I can't judge those either. BUT, I do love Three Houses and I believe it's a step in the right direction from what Awakening and Fates was. I'm a relatively new fan of the franchise though, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. Nothing will ever beat this game or the other GBA titles for me though, lol. That's also what my biggest gripe with FE6 was when I played it. The shear amount of mediocre and downright terrible units they give the player is a negative for the game in my opinion, especially considering it's difficulty. (Hard mode for me was omg) I loved it just a little less than Sacred Stones for that reason. I mean, Bors? Gwendolyn? Wade? Excuse me while I barf. This one doesn't have that problem and every unit I have is useful in one way or the other. They're also very pleasing to look at. I mean, even the early game archer can be good. (My neimi is a beast). Long post but I'm done now xP

Well I tried to rig him a couple levels today for speed but, I only got 2 speed levels but the rest were INSANE growths but without speed, so I think that might be enough. I do not want to start a binding blade level debate again XD. On the last note, I'm on Chapter 10 right now and I really think this is my favorite FE out of what I played. If the difficulty was just a little higher and on par with, let's say, Binding Blade, then this is easily the best one in the series and definitely on the GBA. And this is coming from a person who thought Three Houses was the best thing since sliced bread.

So then he is probably better for the route I'm taking (Eirika's) than Garcia but when I do Ephraim I'll probably keep Garcia. Yeah I'm kind of leaning on on General > Great Knight. Although, if there is only 2 horseslayers in the game then it's not much of a difference and it still gets 6 move I see. I'm going to try that instead of save stating because that doesn't reset the RNG like this method does. So Hero Garcia can still be viable though? I'm not much of a fan of prepromotes so I'd prefer to use Gerik + Garcia instead of Dozla.

Well damn if they are this highly touted I'd be dumb not to invest something into them at least. They don't sound like no Eliwood or Roy. I'd really like to have a Valkyrie for two reasons: Mounted healing + damage. I mean, the class is like Sage on a horse. BUT, it might be dumb to use Moulder/Natasha, Lute AND Artur all on the same team. That might be a little too many frail magic users so I might just use Moulder and Lute and drop the other two. I'm not sure yet, but I'm leaning on those two. Well then that solves everything. I can just easily promote her to Cavalier and then Great Knight to get a general on a horse, not having to mess with a garbage lance-locked knight until I get there. I think I'll make Duessel and Dozla filler units when I can but for now they can warm the bench. Oof that seems like he is very unpredictable with his growths. I was kind of unlucky on him last time but by the sound of that maybe, just MAYBE I will get very lucky on him this time. I haven't got to chapter 2 yet because I just restarted yesterday but we'll see. Well, my Franz on the last run was almost offensively as good as Seth, but his defenses were no where near the level of Seth's so many times I did not feel comfortable putting him out there a lot because he was frail, but offensively very potent for a cav. So yeah, I agree. A mini Seth is a good way to describe him. xD So THERE IS A TRICK to the arena. When I read about Arena abuse it always puzzled me how people did it on an actual cartridge without savestates, speed up and all the other fancy amenities that emulators give you. But here's the thing, how do you check what the enemy is and what they carry prior to paying? This sounds like a much easier method than save states. Gerik... Hmm. When do you get him? My Garcia might be better by the time I get him maybe. I'll have to look at his growths if he is underleveled. I'm taking that advice because you're right. I have too many magic users planned so I'm either going to drop artur or lute depending on whoever turns out worse. (I'm leaning on artur for now) GK only has 6 move in this game though right? I would figure the mount is a flaw with the class since it adds a horseslayer weakness that General doesn't have. Oh yeah, those entombed zombies. Reminds me of Awakening. Yeah but it's not his first promotion which makes him it's his last which is Berserker with 15+ crit and a 30 strength cap. Oh, that's a little detail that I wouldn't even have looked over. I thought you got Orson back later but apparently he disappears after that so I didn't even think about taking his weapons. Well maybe in his older Dad years he's become more worn and his growths reflect that. At least until his son put the fire back into him.

Is Ephraim really that good? I wasn't planning on investing in him too much (I was still gonna use him) but now I'm thinking over my decision. Everyone here has said Ross can be excellent if trained and I love training units that start weaker to grow into strong ones so he will be apart of my core units. (receiving promotion first, stat boost items, etc) I might use Dozla for the map he joins on but other than that I'll probably bench him since he is a prepromote. That's a good strategy, thanks! That map was giving me a headache because I really need that Orions bolt for Niemi. I'm not worried about seth charging in, but I am reserved about letting an unpromoted Franz charge in without any backup because it always ends in failure for me. Hmm. I'll take it into consideration, I like axe users so much though that I might end up using all three axe infantry. (Garcia, ross, dozla) but that doesn't give much variety, so, idk. I'll have to see when I get there what I decide. If you want to hear, I plan on my core 12 being: Eirika, Ephraim, Ross, Garcia, Tana, Joshua, Molder/Natasha (whichever one is better, I need to look those two up sometime.) Seth, Franz, Lute, Artur and finally Neimi. Good case for Ross. I mean, by the way you make it sound, he could be the best character in the game (I mean, he probably could if you were really lucky with his growths) but like I said, I'd rather give Ross the first Ocean seal and make Colm wait since he seems to not need it as fast as Ross does. I've actually never used door/chest keys in FE games because I always have a dedicated thief but that is a great strategy for saving up some since i guess I'll have to this time around. Well I'd like to have pocket money for secret shops. BUT, if the Tower is much easier to level up on than the Arena, I am all for it. I dread the arena every single time. Well regardless of what personal bias/vendetta to have against axe users, everyone has said Dozla is outclassed by Ross once he gets there so it's a moot point anyway. That's true, I guess. I don't mind grinding past Knight though to get General with axes, but Great Knight in this game is basically general but with swords. Huh... I didn't know that. That will be good to keep in mind for the rest of the game. Axe hit rate is only a problem in Binding blade though. (Gonzales gets better though, I swear) but not so in other games since enemies don't have any luck (the stat). But yeah, I can agree with the notion that they have no other stats other than Str and Hp, they are severely lacking in speed. There are exceptions though. What do you think of Boyd from FE9? He is probably the best foot axe users in the series. He's accurate, fast and hits hard, he's just a frail sponge though.

That may be true but I never have any luck in the arenas. Even at a low bid, the enemies always just seem way too strong for me to handle and usually get Silver and Steel weapons while I'm stuck with a crappy iron one. Doesn't help when the enemy has a hit of 25-30 and manages to hit every single darn time lol. JUST. ONE. MISS. AND. I. WILL.- *Dead* I agree with that. Personally, this one has been harder for me than Blazing Blade or Path of Radiance even. I mean, it's not on binding blade level hard but it's certainly not as easy as what I've played. It's a fun little challenge. Yeah I need to save those villagers in 6. The reason I failed to do it last time is I wanted to keep Seth going west and dealing with all those enemies over there and to the north, while simultaneously not realizing that there is also a crap ton of enemies on the east where the villagers reside. I was too busy trying to kill all those and before I knew it the spider was there. Fog of War maps suck. I'm going to do Eirika's route first so I'll get the speedwings. If nobody else on my planned team (Lute, Artur, Ross, Neimi, Franz, Seth, Eirika and Ephraim, Tana, etc) doesn't need them, I will dump every one onto him since I don't think those aforementioned units will need it really. I may be wrong though with how RNG works against me usually. That's also a really good statistical observation (literally) which an average player like me wouldn't think much into. I'm 90% probably going to make Ross into a pirate for that reason because everyone has stated multiple times here that that is the route to go. I'm just curious as to why SM is so against it lol. I'll take it into consideration but I'm pretty adamant on not promoting him especially since I want Ross (Kid berserker, I mean c'mon) I really only ever use thieves for stealing and chesting purposes but I will definitely level colm so he gets speedy enough to steal. I just don't want him to turn out to be another Matthew and completely waste the resources on him because he sounds exactly the same. I mean I agree personally, and I probably still will make him one, but idk, I'd like to see Mir's opinion on it lol. I asked SM this already but how does Dozla fair? I might not even give Ross the time if he is decent. Yeaaaah.... 20% for me in FE is more like 0% lol. Yes it's low, but there is still a chance for it to happen for most people lol. He did get a ton of strength, skill and luck level ups though. And yeah, ugh. I'm definitely going to have to pay more attention and slow down with that map. I'm back on Ch 4 now, so tomorrow I'll make sure to do it better. @Benice said it would be fine to make her a General, since I didn't want to cav spam the game. Idk if she is worth it at all no matter what the class she is in because her growths looking at them are, ew. Her base stats wouldn't be so bad if she had amazing growths but... Oof well I'm getting mixed messages here. xD How about this. Is the other Berserker you get in the game that is prepromoted any good? Because I could just use him and have Ross be a fighter/Warrior/Hero. I don't like prepromotes but like seth and titania I'll give this one an exception.

I really wanted to train Gilliam into a General because I like using armors but he was just terribly bad and was not getting any better with growths so I dumped him. Maybe in this next run he will get luckier but for now if I was an armor I will have to use Amelia I guess. Training her though in the arena will be dang near impossible though since she is so weak sounding. Idk about using all three. Going to give Gilliam one more try. I cannot for the life of me, BELIEVE that Joshua was on chapter 5! I completely missed him. I didn't think the myrmidon on the map was anything special and I just zoomed right by that entire area taking my team through that corridor to the west and killing the boss. I knew I would miss a few villages but I didn't know I missed him omg. I'm restarting tomorrow especially since I failed to save the villagers in chapter 6 because I am that bad at FE, even the "easy" ones. Idk what I missed in the villages but they were probably good. I only got like 3 hours of sleep yesterday and playing anything was a bad idea. I'm going to definitely level colm regardless since I want that support boost for Neimi but I just didn't think it was worth using the ocean seal on him. Reason I asked that was because my Garcia got zero speed points on his levels from 4 to 12, so I was just considering the worst since I definitely got screwed on him. :( Even if he can't double, he's pretty strong and durable for me. One more tiny thing. Is Erika worth leveling? I managed to beat the boss but the villagers were killed anyway, so I have to restart again with this advice pounded into my head. That chapter is hard. Well I like to grind so getting those wouldn't be a big deal for me. I just never thought they were worth it from playing FE6, 7 and 9. Well would you recommend fighter Ross and Assassin/Rogue Colm? I personally want a pirate, but I don't want to cripple myself anymore lol.

Oh... Well, alright. I will say though, if you like growth mages, Erk is awesome. That's a very cool feature that I'm surprised they wiped after this game (I think). I mean, granted, like you said they are really freaking weak as Ross is for me right now and his growths aren't very good for me. They have a niche (ross is early, amelia can become mounted, and ewan is the only other dark mage) but they're probably just average. At least, in my experience with one. I'm planning on using them too, only leaving out Amelia because I don't feel like paladin spamming the game to oblivion, and play with more variety. On the note of Neimi, I'm glad there is finally an early-game archer than can turn out good (or decent at least) and is worth the investment after all the other garbage FE archers like Wolt, Wil and even Rolf. Idk if I'll end up using colm for combat, it depends on how Neimi is performing I guess. I don't see the point in promoting him if he just going around lockpicking. What chapter do you get Joshua if I may ask? Oh, and also, Tana, since I'm going to use her instead of Vanessa when she comes. (I haven't researched them because I wanna keep myself a little blind to it) Alright, well let me ask you this. Considering the worst possible situation where Garcia gets zero speeds levels from 1 to 20 and I promote him into Warrior instead of Hero, will a single speedwing still suffice to get him up to at least 12 AS? Or would he require two? I'm just asking incase the worst happens with growths since they're so unpredictable and looking at his speed growth it doesn't look like I'll get 1 or maybe 2 levels of that anytime soon. Well I'll just use prepromotes to fill in a few holes in those types of chapters like I always do. I really like mounted archers (anything mounted though is good) so I'm going to raise her and maybe Colm if she doesn't perform well without his support. On that note, if I'm using Ross and promote him to Pirate, doesn't he need the Ocean Seal? I might as well drop colm already and use him only for chesting. I'm literally playing chapter 6 right now and that spider is inching ever so closer to those villagers smh. Seth is over there but he's also dealing with a ton of other enemies over that way. I need that Orion's bolt but I'm having trouble getting it because Vanessa is just too weak to take them on by herself. Aren't both classes considered suboptimal due to no 1-2 range? (Not that I care really about being optimal, I just like to use what I want regardless if the game is slower/harder etc. Swordmasters are always a staple on my FE teams usually. Lol, if I wanted to be optimal I wouldn't use anybody else and just use Seth!) I mean yeah, there's Runesword and Light Brand but those suck. Well FE6 has a route split and FE7 (Kind of) has 2, though those aren't really splits, since it's pretty much the same story with a few different maps. you're right though, It just seems like a lot of games do but that isn't true. Bad base stats aren't really a problem for me as long as growths are good because I prefer babysitting and grinding characters. Basically I like growth units and prepromotes or high-base stat characters aren't preferable. That's a thing I've never utilized much out of fliers. For my entire time using them (in the GBA games with the rescue command) I've strictly utilized them as combat units. Only a while ago while playing through FE6 again did I realize how useful rescue-carrying was for putting a really good combat unit into position to take out a lot of tough enemies. But it helps for them to be good at combat though, and Vanessa just isn't, at least right now for me. Yes a mounted mage is always good in my book. Warriors suck in the other 2 GBA games so Hero it is for Garcia. Summoner sounds cool especially since I get kind of tired of the same Druid/Sorcerer dark magic users. I'm going to give Ewan a try with that class and see how it goes (whenever I get him)

Idk about Vanessa. She seems to be doing alright on this chapter I'm on right now but looking at that base strength and growth is... Yikes. Unless I get really lucky (I never do) her damage output will never get better (and it's already not good for me) Of course there would be a route split... Wouldn't be FE, would it now. 🤦‍♂️ So in short anyone is viable and I shouldn't headache myself about it too much, right? I will say, I'm on Chapter 4 and I haven't had any units die on me yet, and that is rare for me, so... I like to use the most characters as possible, so can I get by with a core team of twelve and perhaps another? How many deployment slots in the chapters towards the end? I'm using Artur but didn't plan on using Moulder (I got him but I didn't plan on promoting him when the time comes). Speaking of mages, is Lute good? I liked anima magic in the other GBA titles so does she perform as well as Hugh and Erk? That's another thing, how does the "trainee" unit work? From what I'm reading, there is 3 in the game and they don't require a seal to promote? They can essentially get 50 levels in total as opposed to 40 like the rest? If that's the case, they should be the most op characters in the game. Only if their growths are good I guess, but I haven't checked that out. Also, Niemi and Colm. Are they good in combat? I know people don't hold early game GBA archers in very high regard and thieves are best kept lockpicking but I'd really like to try them out, since I like bows and have never used and assassin. I'm going to try and use all those units you listed except if they're a prepromote because I don't do those unless it's FE6. I'll add Ross regardless because Berserker = best class in all of FE. What about his father? Garcia? This guy is... very peculiar looking for a FE game lol. I like it.

I played this one several months ago but dropped it after the first 2 chapters. It's not that I didn't like it, I loved it. I just... Dropped it, and never touched it again. Which was a shame because this looks like a truly fun one in the franchise so here I am back in the FE kick after a good break. I remember Seth being unstoppable in my last short playthrough but I am not sure about the other ones. Right now, I'm playing Hard mode and only have Seth and Eirika. What are the best characters in the game you get in the future and how many units is best to train? Thanks again!

I finally got to the 2 gen this evening and everyone of the children I have, Seliph, Larcei, Edain's daughter (I forget her name) and Ulster all have everything I had on their parents so I think it's determined by gender. Welp, I've done screwed that up. At least my Seliph is decked out.

I've gotten to Chapter 5 today and I've given it to Sigurd, since I figured I'll want Seliph getting as many levels as he can. That's the thing, do the children inherit items from their mother or father? I'd imagine I can't buy items from the pawnshop then since they no funds starting out, so that is a further incentive to inherit items. One more question, I got Talitu killed on Chapter 4 but I didn't sweat it too much since I plan on using the Valkyrie staff on her this chapter, she was married to Azel before she died. If I were to resurrect her, would she still be married to him? Would she still have thoron?

Yeah but getting him to that promotion is probably hard (Promotion stat gains are OP) I can't front you for using someone underrated/bad. I did the same thing with Wil in both my FE7 runs! :D That sounds like a decent way to get her. What I did this run was keep my entire party right beside that village on the road and then snuck Sigurd around the castle to seize it while Ayra focused on the army. I gave one Javelin to Sigurd but I never use it. Yeah thanks, I wasn't able to play for a couple days due to being out of town but I was back to it today and I've made it all the way to Chapter 4 now without any hiccups. I agree with everyone here, the game isn't as polarizing once you get familiar with it, since it's much different from other entries. After about 3-4 trades I decided to just pawn it and leave it there. Even if the EXP gain is nice, it's way too expensive.

Hmm, interesting. I wonder if they changed the RNG in Fates for balance reasons. Quan is my sole enemy-weakener (Bad term for it but whatever) in this new run I started. He gets them just in the right range for just about anyone to finish off and collect all the EXP. He's also 1 of 3 that can actually finish the arena without getting blocked by annoying myrmidons. The first time through he died and I didn't think much of it because he was a pre-promote but then when Ethlyn left with him it blew my mind. My Noish, Alec, Lex, Finn and even Azel sometimes could never get past the first or second round in my last two runs, but I seem to be having better luck with it this time because my Lex got to the myrmidon before being defeated and Finn almost cleared the entire thing while getting stuck at the last round. For that matter, I seem to be having better luck period this run. Growths, hit rates, all that I seem to be getting the better end of the stick. (KNOCK ON WOOD, DON'T JYNX IT MYSELF😫). This could just be me creating my luck though, since I've been using almost everyone available to me and just taking it a lot slower than I was. Helps to know what I'm getting into, though. I also got the brave axe for Lex this time and he has come around to be very viable. It helps to know that though! Although, looking at your roster I can't help but be curious as to why you are using Arden? As a person who believes that armored characters are treated unfairly by FE fans and how I personally adore them that piques my interest. I try to use them every game but I skipped the armor this time because I thought and read that being a knight in FE4 is a death sentence, so I skipped out on him and he has been relegated to castle-guard duty. What uses did you find for him and get him to level 12? I did get the brave sword last time but it was with Lex/Ayra instead of Holyn and then they married. Thanks for that. The secrets are kind of a pain but it makes the game a lot easier with what you get. Does Alec ever get better? I've found Noish to be a lot better than him even though he lacks Pursuit because Alecs stat-growths and damage are terrible for me. I've been using them mainly for just weakening enemies. I also did just today what you suggested and gave Lachesis the Paragon Band and used the Return staff to abuse her up to level 20 and promoted her and holy, she's become a completely different unit. Not only can she use almost every A rank weapon but her stat gains were insane and she was able to clear the arena completely with her Miracle Sword with ease. If I gave her the skill ring to boost her accuracy a bit she will definitely surpass Sigurd for my best unit, bar none. And to be believe I let her die on my last run *sigh* I'm now doing the same thing with Ethlyn, hopefully she turns into a beast too. The only way I know to play this game in english is with a ROM and the patch, so yes... I will have to this tactic. Yes. All of them this time, as of last though, I benched Midir, Alec and Noish because they were mediocre, but you need everyone in this game. There is no tossing units away. I've had him on village duty going around getting all that money so he can give the gold to everyone that needs it so he doesn't see much combat this time around. You see, this is why I want to marry my units with the best pairings (thanks for those by the way!) because I want OP characters that can make the game easier, especially with how hard of time I'm having with it. Also thanks so much for this guide! This is exactly what I needed for all the secrets since the guide I was looking at just stated the chapter it's in and not the location on the map. It does help because now I know who to pair and won't have to mess with researching it. This is actually the guide I've been looking at, as well as the one you gave me on Reddit for beginners. I can second this. I delete all my files and restarted the game from scratch yesterday and now that I know what kind of things I missed, what I could do differently, etc. the game is so much more enjoyable. It's definitely not a game you can just pick up and learn. That may be true but too me personally it just feels like a massive inconvenience and has nothing to do with strategy. I agree that is probably what they were going for, but they were completely wrong on it and it's just a slog instead of strategy. That's just me I guess. Doesn't make it a bad game, just a frustrating one. Something is definitely "unique" about the RNG in this one. While it's not as random as other FEs it somehow feels more random and completely out of whack. This is the only FE I've played where I could have a Hit of 80 or so and the enemy will have 30 and I will miss, twice, and the enemy will land both hits. It's mind boggling and makes me laugh every time. But, as you stated this can be circumvented by doing something different after saving in-game or with a save state. This is also true for other FEs after FE4 because I've done it numerous times to get better growths or get out of a fatal situation. Sometimes though there isn't any way out of trouble and you have to take the blow... I've noted that site, thanks for that. I was thinking of that perhaps, but, I'd rather just not play the game than cheat. I like to play FE for it's gameplay because it's gameplay is addicting as hell and cheating just to witness the story which is my least important FE feature just takes all the fun out of the game for me. Now that I've gone through a couple chapters of the game (several) times I'm having a lot better time with it and am actually enjoying myself to the point of grinding a little. Plus, a lot of things I learned on here has helped me with the game, and it's not as daunting of a game as I thought it was previously. Yeah I wish I would have paid a bit more attention to the guides Benice gave me on here a little more before jumping in like a moron. Like the GBA FEs for instance I barely looked at a guide during all of them (except FE8 since I only played like a chapter of it). This game is a whole 'nother ball game and without a guide you will miss a lot, as I did, twice. The trouble I'm having with money is everyone needs it for the Paragon band lol. That and the Pursuit band. As far as weapons go though, you're right. That's something I'm guilty of not doing and I need to break that habit. It'd save a lot of money and time. Now about 1-2 range... Is that really that important in this game? I understand why 1-2 range is good but things like Javelins and Hand Axes in this game are so darn heavy that for a while here I thought I was better off not using them. A lot of times I wielded one (like my Quan for instance) I would get doubled easily and my dodge chances were worse than they already were. I've been debating whether to give some of them those weapons as of now they are setting at the pawnshop. Noted. As of now, I've been doing it before the chapter starts and then departing. I don't use Alec or Noish in this playthrough for anything but chip damage because they are honestly terrible, and I don't feel as if giving them items just to make them decent would be a great idea when I could give another unit that's actually worth it those.