sapphicmage

God, I ain’t gonna know what to do actually having holy weapons to use lmao. It’s interesting planning on which subs to focus on…Creidne obviously but I definitely want to use Linda as well. She’ll probably get the pursuit ring after Leif promotes. Definitely gonna take a lot of luck! I did actually start this at one point but ran into a slight issue right away: the forced movement in the tutorial. Of course, now I find that there’s a way to get out of that…maybe Blazing Blade is in the future. Of course, with my no subs run and me getting into a playthrough of Tactics Ogre Reborn it’s gonna be a while, but hey it’s never too early to plan. Weirdly the Rebecca solo doesn’t scare me too too much. She can actually double things! She shares money with the whole group! The guys around her can unequip themselves in the field! If her iron bow can make it through chapter 11 (no shop is rough) she might be okay. Being stuck at 2 range is rough I’ll admit, but that’s what naked bodyguards are for.

I bet Caeda’s even more of an mvp than usual in Shadow Dragon! Sacred Stones would be fun (and Eirika’s a better unit than she’s given credit for imo), but that stupid mandatory Ephraim paralogue bothers me lmao. Someone on Reddit was doing some really interesting things with a Thracia girls-only challenge (using a broken bow to get Tanya super leveled up early on, killing off male recruits to keep the army size low to get around the fatigue mechanic…), but I don’t know if they ever finished it. I told myself I’d take a break from Genealogy but I’ve already jumped back in to do my first subs only run (what do you mean the prologue doesn’t have to take 300 turns?). Should be cake compared to this, but I’m actually kinda curious if there are any parts that’ll end up a little harder. Inheritance was planned meticulously, and the army size meant I was forced to build tall and not wide so everyone snowballed pretty quick. As for doing a girls-only run in a different game…I think it’s a more interesting run in pre-Awakening games (since that’s about where the gender ratio balances out plus the presence of an avatar simplifies things), but I’m not really leaning towards one right now. A good number of those have asterisks to them anyway (Binding, PoR, Radiant Dawn, Echoes…). New Mystery would be fun at some point, and really wouldn’t be that bad apart from keeping Marth alive. They really throw Pegasus knights at you real quick! Blazing Blade too if I can make sure I can actually kill the dragon.

Closing Thoughts: Genealogy is one of the few pre-3DS games that can be beaten with only female units with zeros asterisks. No male unit ever needs to deal damage, heal, or otherwise do anything that gains experience. And overall the challenge is much less daunting than it seems. There’s a few problem parts, but being forced to build your army tall instead of wide plays well to the type of enemies Genealogy throws at you. Inheritance and weapons powering up with kills means you can essentially make your own holy weapons to make up for the fact you don’t get hardly any. Once your units get going there’s only a few challenges for them. Of course, there are still a few problem sections: ⁃ Ethlyn’s solo section. This isn’t necessarily hard, but it is tedious. And if you want the speed ring, the timing is tight ⁃ Saving Patty. This is the one spot you can get softlocked if you don’t get the inheritance right. She HAS to have the Return ring if you want her to live ⁃ Edda. This is more minor than the rest, but you really want someone to hit that resistance benchmark ⁃ The Pegasus sisters. Though let’s be real, they suck in a normal playthrough too One of the fun things about this run is really getting a feel for each woman’s niche. Every single unit played an important role, though some stood out more than others. My gen 1 tier list: S: Lachesis, Ayra, Erinys A+: Ethlyn A: Sylvia, Edain B: Tailtiu C : Brigid D : Deirdre Lachesis is a monster once she promotes, and as a healer she has easy access to levels. Ayra is your best damage dealer for a loooong time and your best boss killer for the entire gen. Erinys’s combat gets carried by the brave lance but her mobility is essential and cannot be overlooked. Ethlyn gets an early lead thanks to her prologue promotion and continues contributing with the light brand, but her lack of pursuit starts holding her back around her last chapter and her leaving keeps her out of the top Sylvia dances which is essential for a small group that’s mostly infantry, and Edain has some excellent utility as a staff user Tailtiu is your best source of magic damage but is held back a bit by poor growths and lack of pursuit. Her level isn’t too much of an issue (she’ll still promote by the end of chapter 4) but she has other issues Brigid could be so much better if you didn’t need to keep her HP low for Patty miracle strats (damn Ullr holy blood)…Yewfelle is nice especially against the Thracia wyverns. If she could be used more she’d easily move up a tier, maybe two Deirdre is very tragic…being locked to Aura is not good, and she’s barely in the party. BUT she brings a very important silence staff and she’s a great unit for leveling up the healers by constantly failing in the arena (Sylvia can help with that too). She can also use the arena to help reset the RNG if you need it for something like the Knight ring. Just not…actual combat. Gen 2’s a lot more balanced since that’s half the point of planning their inheritance. But that also makes them trickier to place, since it does depend on who their fathers are. So, purely based off personal experience my gen 2 tier list: S: Fee, Tine, Lana A: Altena, Nanna, Larcei, Laylea A-: Patty C : Julia Lex!Fee was, without a doubt, the MVP of both runs. I made sure she had the leg ring and she made sure all of my far off objectives were completed (there was only one village I couldn’t save after her recruitment: the village by Ares’s castle in chapter 7). Good defense from Lex and good resistance from her class/promotion helped her survivability and paragon meant she snowballed nice and quick. Also helped that no one was competing for her brave lance. Azelle!Tine had a slower start, but has her own title as the queen of Endgame (have a problem? Just throw Tine at it!). With Julia unavailable half the time, Tine is THE source of magic and 2 range damage in gen 2. Wrath and Thoron hits like a truck, and by Endgame she doesn’t even need wrath to crit. No one else can replicate her contributions. Claud!Lana is the ultimate utility unit. Rescue from chapter 6 is incredible, and going Claud is the only way to have Rescue for recruiting Altena (which makes getting Leif to her MUCH easier). Being able to start with things like Rescue, Fortify, Silence, and Physic from base is absolutely busted. Altena is obviously essential as the main holy weapon user of the run (especially for Arvis). No one hits harder than she can, and as a set unit there’s no way to mess her up. Her limited availability and lower speed does put her lower than the top three for me though. Lewyn!Nanna was the second Nanna I tried (the first being Beowolf!Nanna) and I gotta say it was a huuuuge improvement. Adept was so much more useful than accost and her magic score was actually useable for the Light Brand (and Nanna’s the best candidate for it anyway imo). No natural pursuit, but hey that’s what the pursuit ring’s for and none of the others are fighting her for it. Dew!Larcei was a lot like her mom: a killing machine. Her solo section was so much easier than Ethlyn’s and she’s a great unit for dealing with the Ishtars of the world. She does however struggle against the later Nihil foes where her insane skills do nothing and she had the resistance of a wet paper bag. Obviously she performed better than Creidne did, though Creidne carved out an impressive niche as a stronger defensive unit (again, somehow gained enough resistance to help with Edda!). Laylea is again, a dancer! More turns mean more turns. For this run I genuinely think Laylea might be the better choice between her and Lene. An extra charm user is really nice for Arvis, and I actually used her exclusive barrier blade on my second run. Plus there’s lots of fun potential with Charlot’s berserk staff. Holyn!Patty isn’t significantly worse than the others but she does have a very slow start and is fragile. Still, she’s important for helping Lana maintain funds for staffs and once she promotes she can do some fantastic damage with a brave sword. Her HP also means she can take a hit if need be, and swords make her nice and accurate. Julia’s hurt by when she leaves and the fact that she’s locked to one tome. Nosferatu is fantastic (if heavy) and she does have some important contributions both early on and in the end. The period right before she leaves and that gap though put her well below the rest. Overall this is a run that I really enjoy, especially the strategy and planning that goes into it! It leads to some very unique strategies. For example, Lewyn and Lachesis is normal not pair you’d ever consider for a normal run since it wastes Forseti, but when you’re only optimizing one child it goes from a terrible option to one that’s absolutely worth considering. Anyway, it’s been fun!

Endgame: Strap in folks, there’s five castles to go more than double that number of bosses and some of the biggest challenges of the run. But first, a nice and easy warm up before sleep staff hell. Go ahead and make sure Tine and Fee have the barrier rings, and if another sword user has enough resistance with the barrier sword to help in Edda might as well slap that on her as well (Creidne somehow hit this benchmark for me on run two). Even if Fee doesn’t have the resistance to deal with Edda’s sleep staffs she’ll want the barrier ring for some of the other sleep staffs on the map (notably Friege). If no one has the resistance for Edda…well, the best bet might be leg ring Fee plus Lana Rescue hit and runs until the high priests are dead. Pre-Edda is easy. The bishops have silence which is much less threatening. Keep Lana inside if she can’t take a hit while Altena and Fee work on taking them out. The others can handle the cavalry with zero issues. For Edda itself, Tine makes excellent bait in the forest (assuming she has the resistance). Stick her on the right spot and the Swordmaster will even have to attack her from a distance where he’s much less threatening. The bishops and high priests themselves aren’t difficult (again assuming at least one unit can’t be put to sleep), just tedious. The more units that can’t be put to sleep, the quicker it will go. First time around Tine had to solo it which took ages, but when Fee and Creidne could help the second time around it went much quicker. The boss himself isn’t worth noting. Before taking the castle, someone needs to head back to the home castle to prep for the swarm of axe Cavs about to spawn (Larcei is a good choice). When you’re ready, take the first castle (1/5!). A whole bunch of axe cavalry units spawn and head towards both castles. Neither group is threatening (Larcei or Patty is untouchable in the castle), but there is one big issue: Helswath. Larcei could handle it in run one, but Creidne needed some help. Altena and Fee can do some hit and runs from the mountains and a well timed crit from Altena did the job in run two. There’s nothing to watch out for before taking this castle, so as soon as you can get Seliph there do it (you can also take advantage of it wiping out remaining enemies if need be). Second castle down! As you make your way up to Friege, send Tine and your light brand user (mine was Nanna but absolutely NOT Fee unless she has Nihil) down where the archers are gonna spawn. Have them wait in a forest above their spawn and have the others start moving up towards Friege to trigger their appearance. The two of the them should be able to manage (the miracle band from Arion can come in handy if Tine ended up with it). Once they’re done, Hilda and her gang are also fairly simple. The mountains are great for the fliers to do some hit and runs and Tine (noticing a trend?) is a great choice to fight Hilda and deal with the Thoron knights. She and Fee can also take out the sleep mages once the coast is clear. Before you take Friege though there’s a lot of setup to do. Altena needs to head to the bottom right corner of the map to intercept Arion (a warp or return staff can cut down on the number of turns it takes). Everyone but Seliph and someone with the return staff (I like Nanna) needs to head to the forest near Dozel. When that’s done, you can take the castle and prepare for the biggest challenge of the game: not Ishtar, not Arion, not saving Julia, and not even Julius himself. A random trio of Pegasus knights. First order of business is warping Seliph back home to get him out of the way, then rescuing that warper back to the rest of the group. It’ll take a few turns for them to reach you, but their leg rings mean you can bait them away from the Ishtar easily enough. The forest is nice for the extra avoid it gives you, but the trade off in mobility does hurt a bit. Tine makes the best bait since she can handle the two range version of the earth sword really well with her resistance, and then the fun begins. Nihil really sucks here, and they’re loaded with a bunch of other skills to make this even more awful (plus earth swords to heal). And Altena can’t really help you here since she’s occupied with Arion, and even once she has them as allies they can be more of a hindrance here by making the sisters move AWAY from where you want them. You’ll likely have to make liberal use of the save system, but it’s doable. Focus your attacks on the leader first…taking out her leadership stars makes the other two much easier to deal with. Tine’s best suited for hitting from a distance but everyone else wants to hit up close. With a little luck (and maybe a few resets) they will go down. Good news is they should go down before Ishtar and her group become a problem. First time around the went around the mountain; second time they actually went through it (skipping Friege entirely). That one was…interesting. Ishtar on a mountain tile is not fun. But this is round three against Ishtar so however you’ve dealt with her in the past still works just as good now (both times in Endgame it was actually Patty who took care of her for me). Julia should be getting close to you around now. If need be, burn a silence staff to get the bulk of your army past her but leave someone behind as bait (I use Fee…combination of good resistance, the mobility to outrun her, and a life ring to keep her hp up). It’s a long walk to Velthomer. Meanwhile, you can put Arion and the wyverns to use (careful to keep them away from Julia). They can start picking off a couple of the Deadlords by Belhalla to make your life a little easier. If they all end up dead, well, their sacrifice wasn’t in vain (and they all did end up dead in both runs for me). Velthomer is protected by a bunch of mages with sleep staffs and Hel tomes so that will have to be taken care of. Fortunately the ol’ reliable “just throw Tine at it” works for them (just watch out for Manfroy’s range). Manfroy himself hits hard but he’s just one guy and and you can handle a single boss. Take the castle (almost done!) and work on leading Julia towards him. You won’t need another silence use to get him to talk to her as long as you watch her range. Grab Naga, get her any arena levels you want, and start the assault on Belhalla (you can go promote her if you want but it’s not really necessary). The Deadlords are tough but absolutely no match for your army. Tear them apart and let Julia do her thing to Julius. If she’s not promoted she’ll want some Physic support, but she will win the battle of attrition. The game doesn’t end when Julius goes down, so walk Seliph down to the castle so he can take credit for all of the women’s hard work. First time took 137 (part of which came from promoting Julia) turns which I dropped to 91 on my second run. And that’s the run! I will give some closing thoughts and especially some opinions on how the units play. All of the girls contribute something important to the run (even Deirdre…and yes more than just her silence staff lmao) and I’m happy with the adjustments I made in the second one (and I hit all of my goals in it: the prologue speed ring, the knight ring, and going Creidne instead of Larcei). Next time: closing thoughts

Chapter 10: This first section requires a bit of aggression thanks to the sleep staffs, siege tomes, and the first Hel tomes of the game but honestly looks more annoying than it is. Fee and Altena can contribute on the first turn but both have other priorities: Fee, the magic ring village for whoever has the light brand and Altena, the children (perfect for helping her get to level 30 before Arvis). Lana’s silence staff can counter the sleep staffs and the others can handle this crowd with no problem. This entire section should go pretty quickly and smoothly. Hilda isn’t very threatening (Tine’s a natural counter thanks to the anima triangle…Thoron should be hitting 50 kills in this chapter if it hasn’t already, so she won’t even need wrath for crits then) and Fee should be able to handle other castle boss while she’s over there. Really the longest part of this section is just getting Seliph to each castle (both runs I managed it before the the brigand across the mountain even started on his first village). Watch your positioning before he takes the second castle though…first run Fee started in range of a sleep staff user and this was the run where she didn’t have the resistance to avoid sleep. The next section is a bit trickier. The sleep staffs are the priority, since otherwise you’re limited in who can progress forward. Once those are taken care of the real problem appears: Julius and Ishtar. One of them has to be killed and Ishtar is the clear easier option, but she still sucks. Especially since she’s even harder to hit than normal when she’s near Julius and Julius’s leg ring means it’s difficult to separate the two. Movement priority means you can make sure it’s Ishtar that attacks but that’s still a hard hit to take. Again, you’re pretty stuck hoping someone hits and crits, be it Fee and her brave lance or Patty and her brave sword or Larcei and brave sword. Fee did it for me both times. Last part’s a lot easier. The bridge works as a nice chokepoint and a great way to get any last levels anyone needs (everyone but the dancer should be maxed by now but just in case). Coipre/Charlot gets a very important conversation with Altena for +5 resistance! Technically you don’t need to save the children and the old man but I did both times because I’m not heartless. Once you’ve cleared out all the enemies, it’s time for the big one: Arvis. Arvis hits very hard and is stupid bulky. You need units that can survive his massive 70 attack AND punch through his effective 40 defense/resistance without crits or sword skills (thanks Nihil). There are two units that reliably fit both bills: Altena and Tine. Altena’s raw power is second to none. Her resistance is atrocious but her HP is fantastic (135% growth!) and she gets a free +10 resistance from a ring and an event so you’ll always be able to make sure she can take a hit (hell, on my second run she could take a hit on just her HP). Tine won’t be able to deal as much damage but will double him (and can even quad him with adept) and benefits from the anima triangle, plus will comfortably have the bulk she needs if she’s hit the benchmark for Edda. Before they start attacking Arvis there’s a little more setup you can do to help them. Nanna, Seliph, Laylea if you have her, even Diarmund if you want…they can use all the charm support they can get. As for how long it will take, it depends. I got incredibly lucky both runs with Altena proccing adept right away and hitting both hits which meant it went really fast (literally one turn on my first run between all my units), but it could definitely drag out if the RNG doesn’t go in your favor. First run took 53 turns, the second 45. Despite Arvis and Julius/Ishtar it’s one of the easier maps of the run. Next time: Endgame, and the toughest challenge of the game: the Pegasus sisters

Chapter 9: Time for the very fun task of getting a naked level 1 Leif to talk to his very armed and very surrounded sister. The terrain doesn’t really help with that…the mountains are great for fighting the wyverns but not so much for actually getting him to Altena. Fortunately, a dancer and a rescue staff (thanks Claud!Lana) can be a big help here. To start, Fee should head straight to the villages to get save the barrier ring village but don’t have her actually visit that village. Altena will want it for Arvis later on so you might as well save the money. Stick Tine and another two range fighter in the mountains (I like light brand Nanna) with Lana just behind them to deal with Althea’s squad (careful to stay out of her range). When she gets close enough, rescue Leif in and have him talk to her. The first time there were still a lot of wyverns and he got bodied on enemy phase (but survived thanks to those mountain bonuses!); the second time I’d cleared them out much better and he never saw combat. The others should be setting up to deal with Hannibal’s group when they aggro. Take advantage of the forests and as soon as you can get Nanna moving that way do it. Travant and his group are more of the same. Take advantage of two-range attacks and mountain avoid bonuses to deal with them. For Hannibal be careful not to kill him and watch how many of his troops you kill. Once he starts fleeing, there’s a nifty trick you can use to stop him from attacking you: block the entry to the castle. Makes it much easier to escort Seliph over to the other castle and get Coipre/Charlot over to Hannibal. And we want to do that, because both of them have things they can contribute to the run (mainly Coipre/Charlot but still). Some time during all of this, Altena should join you! The final female recruit is the second holy weapon user of the run, and the first (and really only) one you really get to USE! No one has more raw power in your party than she does, and she has a few very important jobs to do (namely being your best way to punch through Arvis’s ridiculous defenses). Get her some arena levels to help her promote sooner for that sweet pursuit and make sure you have everyone near the far castle before you talk to Hannibal. The northern reinforcements aren’t too bad (especially with the mountains there to help you), but the Tornado boss hurts. Don’t forget to grab the northern villages (especially the barrier ring village for Altena! Really most of the villages should go to her. Gae Bolg ain’t cheap) before you head south for another ballistae heavy castle that’s pretty laughable for this point in the game. Before you take it though, make sure your home castle is defended (really even just Julia is fine) and I’d stick Fee or Altena in the mountains to protect the other castles. The auto advancing wyverns are more of the same. Arion’s group can be very obnoxious though, especially if the sleep blade wyverns hit and proc their sleep. Arion himself also presents a very special challenge. His miracle bracelet means you really want to do your math carefully when you fight him…he’s hard enough to hit with those leadership stars already. He also has Nihil, which is an extra bad skill for this run. The arrow effectiveness means nothing since we have no archers but this run thrives on build-your-own holy weapons, aka run of the mill weapons that have like 100 kills on them. No sword skills either, so no Patty Lunas and no Larcei Astras. Fortunately he’s a wyvern with the resistance of a wet paper bag so Tine can still one round him like a chump (and the miracle bracelet’s pretty nice for later on) but it does not bode well for a few enemies to come. Namely, Arvis and the Pegasus sisters. Well, Arvis isn’t bad (a little luck dependent for how quick it’ll go, but you can 100% guarantee you’ll be able to beat him without needing to get lucky dodges) but the sisters are awful. As always, make sure you do any conversations you want before you finish the chapter. Notably, Altena has a conversation with Finn or Hannibal for +3 HP that she needs and if you went for Charlot he can get a Berserk staff for Lana. First time this chapter took 88 turns, second time 46. As a general sort of check in Julia was around 17-18, Altena 23-25, Tine and Patty 28ish, and everyone else either 30 or going to hit 30 in the next arena. Lana hit 30 first in both runs and everyone (besides Julia of course) will hit 30 before the end of chapter 10. At least one unit needs to hit that 16 resistance benchmark (or 14 as a sword wielder IF you have the barrier blade). Altena will need at least 71 magical bulk by the time you reach Arvis (don’t worry this one’s easy. Guaranteed so long as you have a barrier ring, recruited Charlot/Coipre, and level her up) Next time: Chapter 10

Chapter 8: Thankfully this chapter is much more straightforward than the last, though the beginning can be a little tricky (sort of a trend for the gen 2 maps). Nanna, Leif, and Finn start separate from everyone else, so you’ll want to get Leif and Finn back to the home castle somehow (walking should work, as does the return staff if Nanna has it). People should be hitting promotion range by now. Larcei/Creidne, Fee (note she did have paragon from father Lex), and Lana were all able to comfortably promote by the start of this chapter. Nanna was able to before I took the first castle here (with help from the paragon ring). That leaves Tine and Patty as the two projects of the run (and sort of Julia, but promoting her isn’t necessary). Nanna’s job for the start of the chapter is to hold Leonster. Fee (ideally with the leg ring) has a village to save for a nice power ring. She can comfortably reach it in time and snipe the annoying mage sisters while she’s at it, and can draw the cavalry charging Leonster away to buy Nanna more time. Patty should head towards Leonster to save Febail (or you could kill him you heartless monster). The rest should focus on the mob closest to your start, being careful of the brave weapons. This chapter also introduces everyone’s least favorite reoccurring moving baddie: Ishtar. Ishtar and her Mjolnir. Not fun. You’ll be able to clear out the initial enemies (especially if you gave Fee a two range weapon) and move your army up to Leonster before she gets there, but actually dealing with her might mean a lot of resets (bless FE4 and its start of turn saves). She doesn’t have Nihil so a someone who can crit or activate a sword skill is the way to go, especially if they have a brave weapon. A Tine in wrath range can easily one shot (though her hit rate is not the best against her), Fee’s brave lance will almost definitely crit if it hits (ditto though), or Larcei’s lightweight swords and busted skill set might be your best answer. Once she’s out of the way there’s not much left in the chapter to challenge you. Blume’s magic hurts, but that’s nothing a silence staff won’t fix. Before you take the castle, Fee should head westward so she can setup in the mountains to intercept the wyvern spawns and Tine and Patty should be closest to where the bridge spawns (Nanna just behind them). The villagers that appear are perfect for helping them get the last few levels they’ll need to promote, and what promotions they are. Tine finally gets Thoron (and a very important +5 resistance) and Patty finally gets pursuit! You can hold off on promoting them until the start of chapter 9 though. Nanna’s perfect for nabbing the thief ring if you want it. Ced’s more than capable of defending the castle, and it’s up to you if you want to recruit him. I have no problem with greens killing enemies but it just feels wrong to recruit him you know? He doesn’t have any useful conversations anyway. The last castle is super easy. This is the point in the game where balistae just aren’t threatening anymore to non-fliers (especially with all the mountain terrain around them). Make sure you’ve done the conversations you want before you take the castle! First time around this chapter took 65 turns; 2nd only 43 (the fastest map in either playthrough) Next time: chapter 9 and its tricky recruitments (because believe it or not you actually want Hannibal and Coipre/Charlot for this run)

Chapter 7: This one’s a doozy! Most of the tricky action is done but turn 3, but what a 2-3 turns it is. First move is dealing with Nanna. All of the villages are saveable (and the speed ring and barrier blade village can be very valuable), so the bandits are first priority. Fee is best off helping Nanna, so I send her down there to help. Once those two have moved, the real fun begins. Carefully position Patty away from the castle and equip her with the Miracle sword. You can get it to where she’s in range of all three sword mercenaries and only in range of two mages, but do note that runs the risk the sword mercenaries being wonky in their movement and the third one only being able to target Shannan. You might have to mess around with the movement. Have Shannan move towards the castle and mages hit end turn and just…pray. If Patty doesn’t survive or if one of the sword mercenaries decides to target Shannan, reset and run an arena fight and try again. With any luck, eventually you’ll make it to turn two with Patty alive and Shannan not having hurt anyone (and with a little more luck, maybe some damage from a mage). For turn 2, again start with Nanna and Fee to get them out of the way. Then, immediately use the return ring on Patty and move Shannan close towards the castle (making sure he isn’t in range of any of the swordsman). Best case scenario, the mages take him out here. He needs to have taken at least one hit from a mage on this turn. If it goes to turn 3, you’ll need to position him so that the mage on the lower platform (which will move before the enemies closest to Shannan) can hit and kill him. Once Shannan dies a pacifist, things simplify. Nanna and Fee can focus on cleaning up the enemies assaulting Leonster (defeating the general will stop enemy spawns which should be a priority). Once the crowd thins out, Fee can rejoin the others for their assault on the shrine. There’s no rush at this point (though the boss will almost definitely get his Fenrir tome…luckily a leg ring Fee has more movement than it has range), and you can focus on leveling your lower level units (probably Julia and Patty, who has a very slow start). Don’t forget to bring Arthur with you for Tine! Taking the shrine itself is not difficult (Fee plus rescue from Lana allows for some very safe hit and run shenanigans if you’re intimidated by Fenrir), and taking the shrine unlocks a very nice Brave sword conversation (and whichever of Patty and Larcei doesn’t have one will definitely appreciate it!). The next section always gives me a little trouble. It’s easy to bait Ishtore’s army towards you thanks to the ballistae, but with your unpromoted units (though Larcei and Fee should be very close) it’s still a lot of units for this point in the game. Still, with some persistence the horde can be taken down. If Lana’s gotten enough levels she might be able to silence Ishtore to deal with his annoying Bolting tome. Before you take the castle, you have some positioning to to do. Fee needs to head back to Nanna to prepare for the reinforcements. Arthur and at least one other unit (I suggest Julia) needs to be ready as far west as they can go. Larcei needs to head north to prepare for the mercenaries, and Lana is probably best in a central location where she can heal as needed. Patty…likely isn’t ready for frontline combat yet, but I like her as backup for Larcei. When you’re ready, take the castle and let the chaos commence. This is one of my favorite parts of the run. There’s several different objectives going on at once but you actually have the units to handle it. You’re stretched thin yes, but in just the right way. Julia can handle Tine’s gang until Arthur can talk to her, Fee and Nanna are perfect for hit and runs against the reinforcements and the mage sisters, and Larcei might have to be real careful with dodging but she’s a one woman army (Ares is easy to keep out of the enemies’ range). Once the enemies are thinned out, it’s just a matter of taking the castle to recruit Lene/Laylea and visiting the villages (and going Laylea isn’t a bad idea for the barrier blade…I actually took advantage of that for my second run of this challenge). For Blume, with enough levels Lana can also silence him which makes his Mjolnir much easier to deal with and brings one of the most important chapters of the run to a close. Some units should be very close to promoting if not there already, so it’s a very good time to mention a stat benchmark to look out for. Endgame is sleep staff hell. Edda in particular is very nasty. Theoretically a Fee Leg Ring-Lana Rescue style hit and run could work, but would be incredibly tedious. You WANT a unit that can’t be put to sleep by them. The High Priests have 21 Magic, and a Barrier Ring gives +5 Resistance, so you need someone with 16 Resistance. None of your units will have stellar growths there apart from Julia, so your two best shots are the two that get a nice +5 on promotion: Fee and Tine. Tine will also start with at least 5 Resistance (potentially 6) at level 3, so that’s 27 levels to get the 5-6 Resistance that she needs. On my first run, she was the only one to hit that benchmark (and ended up soloing Edda). On my second run, Fee hit it too, as well as a surprise third unit: anincredible Resistance-blessed Creidne (who assisted with Laylea’s Barrier Blade since there’s only two Barrier Rings). Just something to keep in mind as you level, especially during beginning of the chapter arena runs. First time around this chapter took 111 turns, and the second time…110! That’s the second longest gen 2 chapter on my first run and the longest gen 2 chapter in my second one Next time: the much more straightforward chapter 8

Chapter 6: It’s back to to just one offensive unit this time, but Larcei is a very different unit than Ethlyn. Astra, Nihil, and whatever skills her father contributed plus whatever swords Ayra passed down make her a one woman army. She can and will slaughter the initial army with ease (with Lana patching up her wounds). Saving the first village won’t happen, but the first castle goes down much easier and quicker than the prologue’s did. If you went Creidne, things go a little differently. First turn will need to be spent having her and Seliph go home so Seliph can sell Ayra’s old Iron Blade (which needs as close to 100 kills as you can get it) so Creidne can buy it. It’s very important that it’s the Iron Blade: it has the perfect combination of good MT and affordability, because Creidne’s 2000 starting gold can’t afford much else. And with no initial lover and no arena, she has no way to make money for a while. Because of the turns this takes you’re forced to play more defensively, using the castle to turtle and Lana to heal. It’s doable though, and between Ayra’s old Iron Blade and Creidne’s starting one she has the weapon uses to get through the first castle (though you’ll want to use your Ayra one wisely). Once you take the first the castle, the axe brothers appear with their armies and you get Julia and Fee! And Arthur, who you need for Tine. Creidne has a nice event with either axe brother that gives her a good stat boost (very useful since she’ll miss the Shannan event), but recruiting one causes a slight problem: it prompts Schmidt’s squad to move (something I did NOT remember on my Creidne run). His squad is equipped with hand axes, and are much easier to deal with once Julia picks up Nosferatu. For the Larcei version, she can easily just massacre both brothers and their armies while Fee saves the villages and picks off any stragglers (two jobs she’ll have a lot). Julia can safely Nosferatu tank Schmidt’s hand axe cavaliers and Larcei can take Schmidt himself. If you recruit an axe bro, Schmidt’s group will reach you before Julia gets Nosferatu. If Fee or Larcei didn’t inherit a two range weapon it’s going to be slow, and if you went with Creidne you might have to rely on Fee’s berserk sword on Schmidt. Still, it’s doable if a lot harder. Once Schmidt is out of the way, it’s just a long walk to take the last castle (made longer by the fact that Seliph has no horse). Currently this is the only chapter I’ve had a time loss in on my second run, going from 58 turns to 70. The Creidne version is also the only gen 2 map on either run that I had to use the naked bodyguard strategy (I had some bad Lana positioning at the beginning of the map) Next time: Chapter 7 (AKA saving Patty plus making plans for Endgame’s sleep staff hell)

Chapters 4 and 5: Grouping these two together because strategy wise they’re fairly straightforward. For chapter four you’re going to want to have all of the ladies glued to the hip of whoever you want them to marry. With the exception of Brigid, you should be able to establish all of the pairs you want by turn 50 of chapter 4 (Tailtiu, the other late join, has a conversation with Azelle for a nice boost that makes them possible in one chapter). According to their starting love support points on this very site Edain and Claud SHOULD become lovers on the same turn Brigid and Holyn do (it has both pairs starting at 150), but in both runs Edain and Claud hit it in chapter 4 and Brigid and Holyn hit it in chapter 5. Which actually shouldn’t be possible for Edain and Claud…they start at 150, and both times I don’t recruit Claud until after turn 50 so they shouldn’t be able to build support in chapter 3. They get the maximum +5 for 50 turns in chapter 4, but that’s only 250 for a total of 400, 100 points short of what they need. I wonder if Claud showing up briefly at the start of chapter 3 means he counts as being on the map for supports? But then logically that would extent to Tailtiu and she’d be guaranteed to end up with Finn. Anyway, while at first glance it might seem like a good idea to hole up to work on supports since the guys aren’t allowed to fight (and are also super squishy because of it), you really don’t want both groups to reach you at once. Instead play it offensively, taking advantage of Erinys’s range for the annoying sleep mage (just wait until Endgame). The mages are likely the most threatening enemy here to your physical juggernauts so take care. Watch your positioning with the Pegasus knights and prepare for the long trek through the mountains. Without Dew (who isn’t allowed any thief duties), you have to go through the mountains which is slow but doable. All of the villages should be saveable here (good timing too: time to start thinking about who should pass down what and who needs the money more). The castle itself shouldn’t be too challenging, but start moving your army south (minus one unit…I suggest whoever has the Light Brand) before you take the castle). Once you can head south, prioritize the siege tomes and getting your weakest unit the villager levels (come on it’s probably Tailtiu…you should be able to get her close to promotion if not promoted in this chapter). Afterwards just watch out for Lamia and the rest is simple. First time around this took 124 turns; second time just 68. By chapter 5 everyone should be promoted and holding their own (special cases Sylvia and Brigid aside). The moms should all either have what they want to pass down to their children or be about to purchase what they’re going to pass down. In the case of Brigid she needs to make sure she and Holyn combined have enough money to buy the following: - the Return ring - a BROKEN Miracle Sword (Holyn cannot buy it otherwise and will need to repair it…this should be done last though because Patty will not need full uses and having the money for the other two items can be tight) - if you have it, as there is only one in gen 1, the speed ring (not mandatory, but speaking from experience it’s a lot less stressful trying to rig 4-5 misses as opposed to 7-8) Between all the villages in chapters 4 and 5 and the arena (careful not to over level Brigid lest it affect miracle) the funds ARE there. Beyond that just ensuring that everyone has a strong weapon or two and that things are being passed down to units that can actually use them. Do note that there is no arena in chapter 6 so Larcei might want a couple of swords just to have some options since she won’t be able to make money. Also note that Nanna starts by herself with no access to her storage so watch the order have Lachesis’s items. As for the chapter itself, make the villages your first priority and send someone (probably Lachesis) to deal with the eastern enemies. You start a little surrounded, but once you get past the initial bit everything’s in your hands. The archers are a bit annoying, but nothing you can’t handle. Now the bosses in this chapter can be a pain…they’re your first look at holy weapons. Magic is your best bet here. Tailtiu in wrath range can deal some damage or a crit from the light brand (or when in doubt Ayra can still deal some damage). Trouble or not, he can still go down. I refuse to believe the Ethlyn that carried this run went down like that Anyway the next boss is reason number 139 why I like the leg ring on Erinys -> Fee. It’s just really great for hit and run situations, especially since she can completely avoid siege tome range. Thanks to that nice +5 promotion bonus she’s also unable to be hit by status staves, at least on my second run. She takes down these enemies while I get set for the wyverns (no Lachesis though: horse slayers). The wyverns themselves aren’t bad, which just leaves the final hurdle. As soon as you initiate with the non-siege tomes you get help, which just leaves taking out Reptor who comes with the very scary Mjolnir tome. Eh, nothing the Silence staff can’t fix. Before you do though, one thing to look at. If you have anyone you want to leave unpaired, MAKE SURE THEY’RE STILL UNAPAIRED. Sylvia in particular has a few +3 love growths and WILL pair with someone if you aren’t able to finish this chapter fast enough. My second run I thought I was in the clear but she decided to marry Dew on the exact last turn, forcing me to reload. Once you kill Reptor, all that’s left is to talk to Aida. Before you do, it’s a great time to double check that everyone’s ready for gen 2. Make sure Ayra, Erinys, Edain, and Lachesis especially have their weapons fully repaired. Make sure you’ve done the Edain-Claud conversation for the rescue staff (not mandatory but super useful). Make sure Holyn has all of his Patty things. On the off chance you went for the Ayra unpaired route (meaning Creidne has to solo the first part of chapter 6…it’s doable!), make sure Sigurd has bought her old Iron Blade (which really needs 50+ kills, preferably closer to 100) and anything else you’d like to eventually pass down to her when she can make money (I did the brave sword and the shield ring). Once you’re absolutely ready, it’s time to say goodbye to gen 1. First time this chapter took 61 turns, second time 47 (the first sub-50 chapter across both runs) Next time: Chapter 6

Chapter 3: This chapter is relatively straightforward. You want to promote Lachesis asap if you didn’t promote her in the previous chapter. Steal all of Deirdre’s possessions (definitely get Edain to buy the Silence staff at some point!). This is likely the first chapter you’ll really get to start focusing on pairings (depending on speed and/or preference you might’ve been able to start on a couple in chapter 2 but this where it really picks up). There’s only one man left to recruit, so almost all of your units should have a man attached to the hip for the first 50 chapters of this map. For reference, the pairings I went with were: - Edain and Claud for both runs (10/10 would recommend…Lana having Rescue for all of Gen 2 is incredibly useful) - Ayra and Dew for my first run (Sol came in clutch several times and honestly Larcei doesn’t need much help) and for my current run I left Ayra unpaired (I can confirm it is doable but obviously not optimal. I just like Creidne better okay) - Lachesis and Beowolf for my first run (pursuit and that strength!) and on my current run I did Lachesis and Lewyn (for the adept and better magic). I’m only at the beginning of chapter 7 in my second run (just through the process of saving Patty/killing Shannan), but Lewyn!Nanna is making an excellent first impression (passed down the pursuit ring to her to make up for the lack of it naturally) - Erinys and Lex (paragon helps Fee snowball and that defense helps her on rescue missions) - Left Sylvia unpaired. The first time this was because I just wanted to use Laylea but her charm does come in handy for a few things - Tailtiu and Azelle (it’s what Tine deserves) - Brigid and Holyn (Holyn IMO is the best dad for a combat Patty, and with the limited number of units you have a combat Patty is the way to go. Luna plus brave sword access at base when she doesn’t have pursuit helps her a ton before she promotes, and her HP gets insane. Like, capable of tanking Arvis off of just her HP insane) Anyway, you want to send a woman off in each direction to take out the approaching mobs, watching your spacing to get that sweet +5 love boost per turn. It’s possible (if a bit difficult thanks to the two behind the castle) to save all the villages here). Before you take the castle, everyone needs to set up back home to get ready for Eldigan. Eldigan’s group is not difficult (just a bit slow thanks to all the 2 range weapons), but Eldigan himself sucks. Get Lachesis to talk to him as soon as possible, you know, standard strategy here. Move forward, yada yada, but before you take the castle you’ve got some more prep to do. Erinys needs to fly as far north as she can, as close to where Tailtiu and Claud will spawn as it will let her. Everyone else needs to wait by the bridge. Once you’re set, have Sigurd take the castle so the last three units can join, including our last two ladies! This includes our first permanent mage! …who lacks pursuit and has a truly awful magic growth. But that’s fine because wrath is very powerful and Thoron is an incredible tome. And her daughter will get to be around a lot longer with some of her biggest problems fixed (and was high key the MVP of endgame in my first run). And we get our very first Holy Weapon user of the run! The first of only three! Except there’s a teeny tiny problem. Patty. Or, more accurately, Shannan. In chapter 7, Patty’s join chapter, she and Shannan are isolated far, far away from your starting location. There is zero way for you to get to them in any reasonable time, not with the leg ring or with staff shenanigans (if only we had Thracia or Archanea staff ranges…). Patty and Shannan are on their own. You have to get Patty out of there alive and figure out SOMETHING to do with Shannan without him laying a finger on anyone (and it’s Genealogy so he can’t just unequip his weapon and as a set unit you can affect his inventory at all). The solution is to have Patty bait the swordsmen with the miracle sword while Shannan moves towards the castle to get killed by the mages. Where Brigid comes into play is that Brigid’s HP growth is an INSANE 90%, and every time she procs it with a level up adds .2 to Patty’s starting HP (so essentially every 5 Brigid levels adds 1 HP to Patty). 1 HP means a difference of 10 avoid when miracle procs. Patty already has to dodge a minimum of 4 attacks (and that’s IF you got the speed ring and get the positioning just right so one of the mages can’t target her…otherwise it’s 7). You don’t want to make it harder than it already is, especially if Patty has a dad that already gives her a higher starting HP/Def (which Holyn does…he actually gives her her highest starting HP which is unfortunate) So what does this mean? It means in the case of Holyn she gets 4 free levels before she starts negatively messing with Patty’s stats, one of which she’ll get while fleeing towards Tailtiu and Erinys, and the rest she’ll get in the arena making money. The rest of her time will spent on moonlight strolls visiting villages so she can give her future husband money to provide for their daughter. Yep: the first holy weapon user is benched. Anyway, when she shows up she’ll head straight towards Tailtiu and Erinys. In both runs Brigid had a harder time than those two, but she’ll get there eventually. The others will catch up when they can, but it’s not super dire and you’ve got horses and they don’t. Oh, and there’s the matter of the leg ring. I know people like it on an infantry unit to keep up with horses but I really like it on Erinys and later Fee to give them that utility that fliers usually have. Definitely a personal preference though. Eventually it’ll be time to take Orghail, but before you do SELL ETHLYN’S GEAR and mourn the loss of the woman that made this all possible. First go around took 96 turns; second 84. Next time: Chapter 4, where marriages happen

Theoretically it could (the sword does work the same way as the skill I assume?) but actually making Finn Patty’s dad would be insanely difficult. You have to spawn Brigid in what, 18 turns? That’s two castles to take with not a lot of units. Though neither army is particularly threatening apart from Eldigan (a lot of back and forth though, especially to set up to protect Tailtiu and Brigid). He shouldn’t have a problem affording the return ring though which is nice…speed ring could be an issue (that was kind of tight on my most recent run and I had through chapter 5 to get that Holyn), but that’s not mandatory to save her

Chapter 2: I hate chapter 2. It’s not a particularly hard map (unless you’re going for the knight ring, which is actually possible to get!) but it ends up being long and fairly grindy. After your typical start of chapter maintenance (minus the arena for Deirdre…provided you didn’t grind her last chapter, the tier 4 sword fighter is a pretty hard wall for her anyway which actually works in your favor for this chapter) it’s time to save Lachesis. If you don’t want to the knight ring it’s straightforward enough: Ethlyn and Ayra charge full steam ahead and do what they can to protect her with Sigurd and Edain following behind. If you do want the knight ring you’ll need a little more luck. Eva’s going to be near death by the time Ethlyn gets up there no matter what you do, and Ayra can’t get there as fast. So, you can pull out ol’ reliable: naked bait. On the run I went for the knight ring I got lucky and only lost Alec baiting Ayra. That meant Midayle and Noishe were available and the perfect options to play decoy here (Lex has a baby to make, Quan dying forces Ethlyn to leave, and Finn still needs to get the brave Lance for Erinys so none of them are options). Deirdre stays in the castle and gets to run the arena until the RNG falls your way (because not only do you need the enemy to target the right units you also need your green allies to not be stupid). And of course, once you get Lachesis recruited you still need to keep her moron brigade AWAY from the enemy lest they get themselves killed (easier said than done) which also has the side effect of making her harder to train her up (and boy do you want her trained up). If you don’t care about the knight ring she can follow the others up as they take Harhein; otherwise she’s best off staying home getting levels healing the injured and Deirdre when she gets up there (thank you tier 4 sword fighter!) At some point grab Ethlyn’s light brand and Holyn from the arena (Ayra or Ethlyn should have zero issue with it). I like him as a dad for Patty (A swords at base means Brave sword which does a lot for her offense before she promotes plus she gets Luna) plus he gives Ayra a brave sword (Lex can give it to her too but come on, Larcei doesn’t need him. There’s other kids that benefit more from Lex and with Holyn’s later join time he’s a safer option to grab the sword from). After taking Harhein (which needs to be done relatively quickly so the bandits won’t have destroyed all the villages), Lewyn and Sylvia will have no issues making it to safety. They’ll be out of range of the enemies to the north and as long as you don’t dawdle the brigands are more focused on villages. This is actually a good time to focus on leveling Lachesis and Edain. Sylvia and Deirdre are hopeless in the arena, which means lots of heals and experience. It’ll take a while, but you WANT Lachesis to promote (even if it’s not until the start of next chapter). Harhein is set up very well for you: stick Ethlyn and Ayra on either side and they’ll perfectly block the castle. When the brigands finish the villages and come after you, this triggers cavalry mercenaries. As a whole they’re child’s play, but Voltz can be dangerous. I recruited Beowolf both times (the first time to pair with Lachesis and the second just for his conversation with her). After that, the castle is simple (but make sure to prepare for Erinys and the mob heading towards Nordlion before you take the castle). Recruit Erinys and immediately give her the brave lance. She won’t get to do much this chapter with all the ballistae but she needs what kills she can get. Once you’ve survived the first wave of enemies (keeping Lachesis’s knights alive if that’s your goal), the rest isn’t too bad. You’ve got enough of an army to handle the enemies and you can start focusing on getting kills on specific weapons and deciding which person should get certain boss kills. By the end of this chapter in both runs Ayra and Edain were promoted. Lachesis was the first time, and was at 18/19 the second time. Turn counts were 163 (no knight ring) and 138 (knight ring). Next time: Chapter 3 and no more Ethlyn 😞

True, but she already has Yewfelle. And actually, depending on the dad you pick for Patty you might have to LIMIT how much you use Brigid. Brigid’s HP growth is insane, and every 5 points of HP she gains is another point of HP Patty starts with which is another 10 points of evasion she’ll lose when the miracle in the miracle sword procs. I like to use Holyn which already gives Patty a slightly higher starting HP+Def so Brigid gets 4 levels of usefulness unless you want to rig against that 90% HP growth. …Yeah, you don’t really get to play around with a holy weapon until Altena

Chapter 1: First thing’s first, the arena’s finally available! No more money woes for Ethlyn. Clearing is a cakewalk and she can grab Sigurd’s silver sword to start wracking up kills. For the map itself she heads straight south to meet the approaching hoard. If her strength is high enough she can stick with her slim sword (but will need to stay on the road so she’ll be targeted), otherwise she wants the silver sword to hopefully be able to two round the enemies. Ignore the village…she doesn’t need the money. Dew and Edain should be able to outpace the enemies chasing them. If you’re lucky, Ethlyn might be able to thin the crowd out enough for them to get to safety on their own (this is mostly dependent on how lucky you get with Kinbois and if you can kill him before you he gets reinforcements). If you aren’t, the same naked escort strategy from Azelle and Lex works here too. Eventually they’ll be safe and Ethlyn will have taken out the attacking horde and the next obstacle will make itself clear: Ayra. Obviously, you don’t want Ethlyn to fight Ayra. So, you send some naked bait out to the west of castle (I like Alec and Midayle) to draw them away from the castle so Ethlyn and brother and boo can quickly take the castle (this’ll be the last time I recommend Quan for his support bonus). Your bait will probably die, but the castle will be yours and you can FINALLY get a combat unit with pursuit (and what a combat unit at that!). Ayra laughs at the rest of this chapter and makes herself your clear boss killer right away. Ethlyn’s far from useless (and in fact is still vital with her mobility and the light brand next chapter) but god is it nice to have a unit built for combat. Jamke shows up but there’s no reason to recruit him if you aren’t pairing him with someone…he doesn’t really have any conversations that benefit anyone and he’s not a high value dad. Deirdre shows up too, but she’s not important to train up (despite being our first mage). Being locked to just Aura isn’t great, and she struggles in the arena and won’t be with us long. Her silence staff is useful though and her lack of arena prowess is actually useful for leveling Edain and Lachesis. Not a particularly difficult chapter, but a little luck dependent for how long it will take. If the beginning doesn’t go smooth it could be a longer one. First time around went 163, second time 66 turns. Next time: Chapter 2. I really hate chapter 2. Not because it’s particularly hard (though getting the knight ring, while possible in this challenge, is annoying as hell) but because I just don’t like this chapter normally and it ends up being pretty grind heavy in this challenge