5PointGordin

I mention that Fates explicitly does not explicitly tell you said information, such as how the AI will be acting the next turn. Understanding what the AI will do makes three houses much easier. Three Houses is a largely player phase centric game. I have tried strategies such as dodge tanking, as well as Dimitri's Battalion Wrath + Vantage and these are effective strategies, but player phasing is overall much stronger in this game since you have a lot of options that you don't during enemy phase, like combat arts, gambits, ability to use blow skills, etc.

3 Houses is technically more difficult than other games in the series on maddening, esp in end-game (even on hard mode). However, the game conveys so much information to you that easier entries did not, which I believe makes the game much easier overall in practice, esp combined with Divine Pulse. I think Fates Conquest Hard mode is significantly harder than 3 Houses because you don't have as much leeway in error due to no divine pulse nor does the game explicitly tell you so much information, like how an enemy beserker targeting Corrin will deal 28 damage with a hit rate of 50% the same way 3 houses does. For me, playing Fates Conquest is so much harder because I have to manually calculate a lot of information, as well as manage a delicate balance between player and enemy phase combat, wheras in 3 Houses, its largely skewed towards the former. Additionally, you have to accounting for a lot of other factors like debuffs, skills , etc. which makes things more difficult. At the same time, manually calculating this information, predicting the enemy movments and developing on the fly strategies does have its own charm. I do recall a point near the end of a long Revelation chapter, where I noticed that Hinoka would be KOed by an enemy Malig Knight. I was really scared of having to restart the charpter, but then I noticed that I could do some clever trade chaining and heal Hinoka up so she wouldn't be KOed. There was another point where I was able to properly set up a Dual Guard, allowing me to go into a small squad of enemies and survive their attacks on enemy phase. I do kind of wish Fates had a proper Divine Pulse mechanic similar to Three Houses since it would make it easier to shift one's tactics and learn from my mistakes. Playing on Casual Mode isn't my cup of tea since you are able to brute force a lot of maps and Battle Saves aren't my cup of tea.

I mean, you can still technically do that, running forged Levin Sword / Bolt Axe / Vixkam instead of spells.

You can't proc pavise + Thyrsus at the same time (so no stacking DR there), but the probability of procing Pavise + Thyrsus = 1 - (1 - (dex/100))^2. So in that case, you would be making the skill more reliable even if your dex is middling. However, I think its possible to proc Pavise + Guard Adjutant on follow-up attacks, in which case I believe the DR would stack, though I haven't seen much research on this, so I can't say for certain.

Eh, Nosefuratu is still way better than it was in SoV since it has 80 hit instead of 60 hit. Though its weight is still a pretty big problem. Pavise halves damage, so the more damage the opponet does, the more useful pavise is. If Lysithea has 40 HP, and opponent does 25x2, then a single pavise proc will allow her to survive an otherwise lethal blow. If she heals 15 HP from Nosefuratu, and procs double Pavise, then she will leave the exchange losing only 10 HP Unlike other skills like lethality, Pavise scales directly off of Dex (rather than nonsense like Dex/4) and can be combined with the effects of hero's relics to allow for more reliability. I believe Lysithea would have a 51% chance to proc it if she had 30 dex. I think it can also be combined with the effects such as Adjutant Guard, allow for even more damage reduction, though to my knowledge, damage reduction stacking has diminishing returns. Ultimately, this is more of a gimmick idea than anything concrete. It seems fun though, so I'll give it a try on my next NG+ run.

I could see Pavise being a situational useful skill pickup too. When using Lysithea, there were some cases where an ambush spawn or enemy I couldn't see in a fog of war map like Marraine's paralogue would have killed me, but because of the Pavise effect on Thyrsus, she survived an otherwise lethal round of combat. If Pavise and Thyrsus stack, that'd actually be pretty awesome since Lysithea's high dex would give her a high trigger rate on the effect. I could see it being pretty fun to use with Nosfuratu.

The hypothetical skill you mentioned seems awfully similar to Blue Lion's Rule, only with Null Follow-up and slightly less damage reduction. Also for what its worth, Oboro is a five star locked seasonal. Personally, I would take Scathach's greater availibility over her better statline, though I will not be looking into seriously investing into him either way until a better doubling skill than Quick Riposte is introduced for infantry units. At the very least, he's got a really good attack stat with a super asset, so he could be a possible budget check to Fallen Edelgard in Arena assault.

Girls: Initially I S-Rank supported Bernadetta / Lysithea. I still like the two characters, but atm, I think my preferences have shifted more towards some of the other female characters in the game. Ingrid, Marriane, Hilda, and Flayn are probably my top picks, with Hilda I think winning out overall. Guys: I don't plan on playing as Female Byleth anytime soon, but if I did, the main choices I would probably S-Support are Dimitri or Felix. Felix is the ultimate chad lad, though I imagine the way he talks would be offputting to some. Still, he always means well. His A-support ending w/ Dimitri has him crying harder at dimitri's death than his own wife which says a lot. Dimitri himself is the ultimate chad-lad. Indeed, that eye patch of his looks pretty good, though I sorta wish it was explained how he got that eye patch in the first place lol. Still, regardless, he is quite handsome, strong, kind, and charming, which I think the dance cutscene shows off particularly well. Also his S-support w/ Female Byleth is pretty great.

So I decided to start a new CS playthrough. I finished the first two chapters, and once again, Edelgard is proving to be the MVP. I gave her a steel shield and her tanking prowess is unmatched Her ability to block chokepoints and soften up enemy Assassins / Brawlers with an Iron Sword is invaluable since the mode doesn't have tools like Reposition or other movement assist combat arts to allow for more risky strategies PP strategies. She can enemy phase extremely well due to just not taking any damage from the enemy. My only complaint is that her accuracy is less that desirable. I don't even find her movement to be an issue since my other, more mobile units are usually just cleaning house after she's soften'd up the enemy. I decided to pick Female Byleth this time around since I've never used her before and she is similarly wrecking house as an enemy phase monster. Her bulk is still good with a Steel Shield equipped. Unlike edelgard, she is a bit more reliant on dodging to reduce damage, though she is more than capable of taking hits. She's more reliable at chipping the enemy on enemy phase due to doubling and having better accuracy than Edelgard.

Giving QR to my Felix doesn't sound like a bad idea (he has S-Rank in Fist & Bows, so War Master seems like it'd be doable. And yeah, once I get my first Golden screen, I don't plan on dealing with turtling hell that the first few chapters are lol.

Yeah, I didn't really understand Battalions gave stat boosts until my latest playthrough of Blue Lions lol. Previously, I played the game in handheld mode. My vision is really bad, so I had a really hard time seeing what Battalions even did. I would just choose the ones with the best AOEs & ignore the rest outside of maybe one stride user. I also didn't understand how Adjutants worked until recently either, outside of just being free EXP for units I don't really wanna use atm. I didn't realize skills could be attained from online adjutants until recently either. I know the game has hints that explain this stuff, but again the small size of the text made it really hard to see in handheld mode.

IDK, this may be a stretch, but the yellow aura surrounding her and her demeanor make it seem like the Ascendent is Ishtar's spirit. I don't know much about legendary sigurd, but the way her smiles and has the yellow aura surrounding him is similar. The way they ominously give positive comments and encouragement seems very reminiscent of Rinea from Shadows of Valentia after she died.

Ah, good point. I could counter with "but slow infantry swordie spread is unique", but even I know that point is complete rubbish since fast sworides still have good bulk, actually have far better defensive utility due to avoiding doubles and getting damage reduction, and have better offensive utility due to being less affected by the opponent's dodge skills and being able to double. The only slow sword infantry units that I know can kinda work all have some prf that basically nullfies the weaknesses of being slow by granting a brave effect, auto follow-up, or a ton of speed. At least we've got Yen'fay as a decent "cheap" fast Swordie. Also, what is this really good inheritable dagger from Divine Codes? Is it Lachesis's weapon? Asking cuz I am planning on +10ing Cath.

Scathach didn't get anymore screwed over than the previous 2 demotes, Karin and Cath. I'm really not sure what the big deal is here. Even if his statline is bad, I guarantee that his greater availability will put him in a much better position than a character like Galzus or Niime.

Reinhardt never died tho. He was captured by Lief's army and released, never to be seen again.

I remember it being a meme around when Ayra came out that when eventually more FE4 characters would come out, Scathach would get completely screwed while Larcei would get the preferential treatment from IS. Looks like its become a reality lol. It kinda sucks he doesn't get Regnal or Imperial Astra, but I was never gonna invest into him so IDRC.

I did try to make a late recruit Marianne a trickster in the Maddening Blue Lions run I am doing, but even with Soulblade / Levin Sword+, her damage output and utility was just not cutting it compared to my other fighters and I had to bench her. At the very least, using her in her paralogue was a bit easier since I just bolted her to heal tile above. I think Forged Levin Swords + Silence is really nice, especially if you combine it with a skill like Poison Strike, which I did on Yuri. However, even for this combo, I would rather go Mortal Savant thanks to not having halved uses of Spells, on top of Swordfaire and Black Tomefaire (And Mortal Savant itself is just a poor man's dark knight). Really, the halved use of spells is the big dealbreaker that I have with this class. If that restriction didn't exist, then the class would be a more appropriate sidegrade / alternative to Bishop. However, it does, so I generally feel less inclined to use it. That being said, I am willing give the class another try on a Golden Deer run Maddening run. Part of the reason I think it didn't work with Marriane was because I recruited her so late. I am planning to use a lot more armors in this run, so I'd imagine Foul Play would be nice to position them.

Yeah, this battalion is pretty great. I gave it to my Great Knight Sylvain and his bulk on enemy phase winds up being pretty good. Route exclusivity doesn't matter to me. On all future maddening runs, I plan to use NG+ lol. I wanted to try a more enemy phase oriented build. One nice thing about Swordmasters over Falcon Knights / Wyverns that I never really considered before is that they have access to some pretty strong battalions in addition to guard adjutants. Either high avoid battalions or high prt battaltions seem like they'd be nice.

What are the best Battalions for Swordmasters and Fortress Knights?

Sol could just be like Lethality, with a trigger chance of Dex/2 or Dex. Would be a good enemy phase skill, making Heroes more like Heal Tanks as opposed to dodge tanks. Great Knight's main issue is just the weapon ranks required to get to it. High ranks in Armor and Riding, which are difficult to train otherwise, is unfeasible for most characters to get to. its also pretty weird that the class has less strength than paladin, which it has traditionally been much stronger than.

See, I was thinking that Hero should have been made into a Master class too, but then I realized that 3 Master classes already have Axefaire, which I think is greater than other master classes. Master Class Hero would still be cool though and would give Sword users a more specialized class to slot into rather than Mortal Savant, which has only ever worked for Mages from my experience (esp if you have Viskam lol). Axefaire, Swordfaire, and something else like Lifetaker, Vantage, or even Sol would be awesome (kinda sad Heroes and Great Knights don't have Sol or Luna in this game).

I like Female Shez's design more, so I'll be picking her over male Shez. I like Female Byleth's design, but I think Male Byleth looks really cool, so I will be picking him. Def gonna go Azure Moon.

Hmmm, I am hoping Shez doesn't take over Byleth's role pre-timeskip. Feels like it would be robbing them of most of their accomplishments in Three Houses, which was mainly teaching at the monastery. Still, we'll have to see the direction they go for Shez.I'm not too big on Shez's backstory, though this is because it is quite similar to Infinite's backstory from Sonic Forces and I am not a fan of that game's story. To give them some props, I like their design, especially the female design. Larva is cool. I recall reading in a fake leak that Shez (called Belt in the leak) was a TWSITD experiment meant to reincarnate the old god & would not be surprised if the devs go in that direction.

Trailer looks interesting, though I am disappointed that Byleth is not the main character.

IDK, I see the merit with Dodgetank + Battalion Wrath since you can clear out a good chunk of strong enemies fast with it. If the enemy is alive, that can put the rest of your army at risk ,esp since maddening enemies can be pretty OP at times. Dimitri's Battalion Wrath + Vantage is also still pretty good, but I see the merit in dodgetanking over Battalion Vantage since you kill enemies more reliably and don't have to run things like the chalice or retribution, worry about enemy battalions, Monsters, etc. Also, not getting hit means that you stay in Battalion Wrath Range significantly easier. I will try it with Falcon Knight Petra on my next run of the game.