ClLoulD

Meg, with a max might/crit forged iron or steel sword named *Useless* in an attempt to put her on the front line a bit more. Meg to go with Tibarn's army for P4

When Marcia is so OP she ends up in top 10 twice

res.

Meg: Meg has quite a strange build for an armour knight and has a great speed growth...but suffers in strength and defence. Coming as a level 3 with mediocre bases means she'll forever play catch up and in my eyes defeats the purpose as a tank who cannot tank. The fact Meg arrives with growths similar to a weak myrmidon beg the question; why would I bother when I can use two of my other myrmidons in the team with better stats, growths, skills and movement for less investment? You have to put so much into Meg to make her a usable unit and I'd much prefer to have a 20/20/20 Edward than a 20/20/20 Meg anyway. 3/10 Volug Volug is a character that if trained well can last you from the chapter he joins all the way up to the start of endgame. As he joins he'll be able to kill everything with the exception of fire mages and although he lacks 1-2 range it's probably for the best so he doesn't sap too much XP from the rest of the Dawn Brigade. Part I all he needs to do is focus on hitting the S Strike rank which; shouldn't be too difficult and he'll perform his role just as good as any other Jeigan. Part III Volug then gains full control of his shift gauge which is much more managable than cats, slap resolve and beastfoe on him for 3-6 and maybe a bit of BEXP and he'll fly through levels if you manage his HP accordingly. Volug then joins Ikes army IIRC for Part IV and assuming he's been given a bit of support until now he'll run through just about anything. Oh, and did I mention he has earth affinity too? The best affinity in the entire game? 9/10 (gauge and the initial investment cost him a 10/10 rank)

Ilyana: Sadly she's over looked and has issues in areas like speed, skill and weapon utility but she does have some redeeming qualities in PoR boosts. Ilyana with boosts is fairly decent in normal mode and if you can somehow scrape together funds for an expensive forged thunder tomb she can retain usefulness after moving over to the Greil Mercenaries too. Is all this effort worth it for Ilyana? Probably not, the Greil mercenaries don't need the extra muscle and they have a valuable mage in Soren anyway; so although Ilyana can turn out quite useful it's probably not worth the effort in a team that doesn't actually need another low level mage. Ilyana can turn out quite well, has a decent crit rate and has access to the RexBolt tomb which is good for the one dragon chapter I guess. Ilyana can actually prove useful and I think I'd rate her much higher if she stayed with the DB but alas she does not; so in the interest of considering both NM/HM I'll give her an overall rating of 4.5 (6.0 with transfers). Aran: Aran is the type of unit I really wanted to turn out good and with the right investment he turns out pretty sweet...But nothing incredible. Aran starts out with some nice tanky stats but rather low hitpoints, this really affects his tanking utility and is very noticeable on hard mode. He's going to struggle to double literally anything and that's going to continue to be his problem throughout his lifespan due to that 35% speed growth and 1 speed gain on promotion; what's even worse is that he's completely overshadowed by Nephenee in this class so if you choose not to use Royals then Nephenee is going to be your first choice over this chump. Aran is also going to need a forge immediately if he hopes to hit/kill anything which although it isn't a heavy investment; could still be utilised by someone like Nolan or Jill first. Aran can perform quite well in chapters like 3-6 but on NM+ He's not going to dodge anything and he certainly won't be doubling any cats, tigers are also going to hurt him quite badly so he's "meh" even at best. For front line characters just stick with Nolan, Jill, Zihark, Volug and Sothe. 5/10

It's an opinion and we're all entitled to them. You quoted another user and complained about their choices too and suggested Gatrie is a better unit than Boyd; personally I disagree but I don't feel the need to call you out on it and tell you that you're wrong for a myriad of different subjective reasons. I mentioned that Micaiah can heal, healing items are very useful in this game compared to other versions and that Laura can sometimes prove to be a liability. The point can be made to keep her out of range but at times that can be tricky, such as chapter 1-8 where there are wyvern riders and terrain effects; on harder difficulties I tend to bench her as soon as I can. Micaiah also obsoletes Laura in the sense she is a better overall character from my perspective, if in my mind Micaiah is a 5.5/10 I wouldn't feel comfortable rating Laura a 6 or, whatever value you think I should have rated her at. You also mentioned if I bothered to train Laura she would have rank c in staves by the time Micaiah promotes; Micaiah gains C Staves upon promotion so that's not an issue. You mentioned that two healer units are route locked in Part IV; actually it's three and they're all route locked to different routes and Soren being route locked isn't a big deal because I can put Rhys on one of the other two teams if I feel they need it and Rhys will also have the staff rank for Physic and is much easier to train than Laura. Mentioning Soren wasn't a mistake, it frees Rhys up to do other things if needed and Soren can help a lot with his high magic to cure units like Ike if they get put to sleep in Oliver's mansion. There's plenty of versatility without Laura and I don't want to spark a debate on this thread just giving you my reasoning for what you've stated, Laura is by no means an essential character and that's just what I rated her as; though she is by no means without her merits.

Laura: A staffbot which ensures she'll always have utility but Laura has her own issues within the game. Firstly Micaiah is a forced unit within the game who gains staves on promotion and has the unique "Sacrifice" ability which allows her to heal own allies HP/Status at the cost of her own HP and this grants 10xp a cast. Laura not only has to compete with Micaiah but keep up with her as well, at 11x a standard heal and not much more from other staves she's going to struggle to promote by the end of part I; especially as she arrives at level 1. Throughout part I Laura will most likely get 1HKO'd and isn't going to bring much as Vulernaries heal 20hp in this game and Concotion's heal 40hp! - this is on a team where pretty much everyone needs shielding and experience. Throughout part III even if you boost Laura with BEXP she's still going to be too frail to do anything because most of the dawn brigade's chapters are now going to be filled with either Laguz or the Greil Mercenaries; at the same time Laura is going to be even less useful as Micaiah will gain access to Physic staves which will solve any need for healing utility. Part IV is even less useful for Laura and she'll stand out less; she's never going to keep up with the arch sages you probably have by now like Soren (Who can also heal) and you'll also have units like Mist, Elincia and Rhys who can heal just as well if not better than Laura. She has her uses and utility, use her in the part I chapters where she's required and bench her after that. 3.5/10 - I just can't justify giving a unit that's so frail, contributes no DPS value, arrives under leveled and who's role can already be performed by a forced Micaiah; a higher rank than... Micaiah! Sothe: Sothe is a really nice Jeigan character but with a ton of utility. Sothe can steal and pick locks and chests with ease and also comes with a higher movement range than the rest of the Dawn Brigade which is useful especially when chests in these chapters contain things like "Thani" and "Energy drop". Sothe also brings Bronze Daggers which give him a 0% chance of landing a critical hit and reduced damage levels; allowing boosting EXP relatively easy and this is definitely appreciated by the rest of the Dawn Brigade. Sothe also has quite a varied use of weapons, high damage weapons with a decent critical hit rate like Kard's and 1-2 weapons like knives which can be thrown; beast killers are also readily available for chapters with Laguz which makes Sothe seemingly unstoppable. He even comes with an A support with Micaiah and can be utilised with POR transfers for even greater stats. Daggers aren't the best weapons but Sothe comes at a time where his stats can compensate for this and he can breeze through earlier chapters. He does have his flaws, forced deployment in endgame of part IV and a forced promotion late into the game really destroy the potential for this character; alongside level caps and weapons but he performs his Jeigan role well. I also like the character so I'm going to add in .5 bias 8.5/10

Leonardo: Leonardo is one of those units who never really works even if you give him capital investment because his potential is usually less than other units. Leonardo like all archers lacks an 1-2 return in EP and comes in looking quite frail and never really recovers from it. Leonardo lacks speed and none of his other stats are defying laws either. Leonardo can turn out okay if you give him resources but in a party that doesn't have resources to spare he's not entitled to take them over units like Jill and Nolan so it's not even worth considering. Leonardo just get a weapon that addresses his obvious speed issues but it's not until the lions share of DB chapters have been completed and he's hardly going to be a candidate for a part IV team when there are other units that can do his crappy job better, like Shinon. 3/10 Nolan: Nolan has a strange setup for a fighter but oddly it works. Nolan has certain issues such as strength and speed growths but with a bit of love and care he can usually turn out pretty great. Some people like to compare Nolan to Boyd but I tend not to as both characters perform roles well for both parties without either leeching EXP from the other; part IV endgame is only a small portion to what both characters contribute throughout the entire game. Nolan also has an earth affinity with two candidates to pair up with, Zihark or Volug which can allow him up to +45 avoid which gives him and another character a fantastic amount of durability; both Volug and Zihark are front line characters which means these charactesr can actually make use of their supports. Nolan is also a character who on numerous occasions has been my MVP for the Dawn Brigade and never tends to slow down once he gets his momentum going, he's a character that has great availability and can actually stand toe-to-toe with some of the Greil Mercenaries without fear of getting 1RKO. Nolan is a unit that performs his role well and will sometimes have a slow start but the Dawn Brigade will make use of him either way. 8.5/10

Haven't caught up to a lot of things yet so just going to comment on part I. Ilyana, honestly the most balancing thing you can do here is keep her with the Dawn Brigade as they don't have any mage unit apart from Micaiah who sucks anyway and can't risk combat. Of course, people will complain she can't carry things over to the GM that way (Which I don't think they really need anyway) so perhaps make it a choice option like pelleas? Tauroneo. You buffed him to make him more useable in late game but his unit class is never going to make him usable in late game. I think the best thing to do as a balance is to reduce his unit level and stats so he can leave units close to dead with weaker weaponry and allow for chip units to get some easier levels. He'll still be able to ORKO units, just with the use of silver weaponry instead. Fiona. Why would you make her a soldier? That gives you both the choice of Aran or of Fiona. She'd also not have enough strength to kill anything but would be super tanky and speedy and then on the other hand you'd have Aran who will be a bit tankier and physically stronger but too slow.

I'm...Not really sure what is going on here. If we pick 1-5 units each and you can pick units to fill in when you have slots open in the game we're really only voting for the tower team essentially right? Nonetheless, Meg.

@Levant to be honest, all light magic is terrible in this game but Rhys was necessary early on. Whewww, been so busy but I still wanna get this run complete so here we are! Chapter 16: The search begins!

I was thinking the exact same thing Soul, his ability to refresh 4 units on turn one is far more valuable than any other in the game.

Volug and Reyson obviously have dibs on this. Volug would basically trash everything in his way and gain strikes quicker which he wouldn't really need until part IV anyway, while Reyson would refresh 4 units and canto away every single turn of every single map and that's a 10/10 unit from me. Then next in the list of demand would be Ranulf seeing as he struggles with transform gauge due to being a cat as well as being forced. He'd ORKO everything anyway so I don't see the point in bringing Mordecai around too especially when his gauge issues are nowhere near as bad as Ranulfs. It would seem wasted on Gareth/Nasir and there seems little point putting it on Kurthnaga/Ena due to their availability. Skrimir also falls down on the pecking order because he's around for two chapters before he get's replaced by laguz royals with superior stats/strike levels than him. TL;DR I'd put it on Volug or Reyson...or if not either of those it'd go to Ranulf because he's forced and has issues with his gauge.

Honestly...I never imagined the dark god having a physical being and was more just an evil entity, it's essence being captured inside the medallion. I always thought the dark god would rise and take control of Ashnard through the medallion just due to the evil look he had and his motives. I wasn't really happy with how it turned out to be Ashera that was the final boss and Yune was on our side, I think it would have been much cooler if it got to Part IV - E-4 and Sephiran was the final boss. I mean I think it could work, having Sephiran dramatically reveal he was infact Lehran or Ike slowly came to realize it after his fight with Zelgius. As for being the final boss, Lehran becoming the embodiment for the Dark God and was controlled that way. I just think it would be kind of ironic, Yune blessing Ike's Ragnell to help strike down the man who sealed her in the medallion :P. ...Much better than the boss fight we get with him where he just stands there with his Tomb and pretty much just falls over and kisses the floor once you take out his barriers. Ashera just looked really bland too, no emotion or anything like that and I never felt really excited or into the story at that point like I did with Path of Radiance. When Ashnard touched the medallion on hard mode and transformed for a second beatdown, I was excited and scared at the same time. I mean look at this brute!

Reyson because I find him enjoyable and the most relateable out of all the herons. Ilyana Naesala Shinon Soren Volug > Nailah due to support Nephenee sometimes Nolan Either Zihark/Mia/Edward or more usually Zihark or Mia on Hard mode. Boyd This spot is usually open and tends to go to Tibarn or someone else I want to bring along. Sometimes a non laguz royal with an S or SS strike.

Volug was pretty insane, that was fun to see.

Chapter 15: Two steps at a time!

Best of luck on this run, it looks interesting to say the least.

I facepalmed too hard I'm not even going to bother arguing anymore. Snowy Logic Mia - Use Mage band/energy drop/spirit dust/Rhys A support/Wrath scroll (Which has Ike's name on it for hard mode anyway)/Sonic Sword Zihark - Can't have one of the three strength boosting bands, too in demand. Yet Zihark supporters are hypocrite's. Mind = BLOWN!

Yeah just taken Muarim out and errm...Zihark still damages more. Without throwing everything to Mia she's always going to be less powerful than Zihark. Responses are in bold.

Your entire playthrough just revolves around Mia and you're unable to see past that. Nephenee can do exactly what Mia does at a lower resource cost with higher result. - Giving Nephenee Vantage isn't as costly as giving Mia Wrath. The Vantage scroll also appears at chapter 14 as opposed to chapter 18, not forgetting that Day Breaks itself is essentially 4 extra chapters. - Nephenee's growths are better than Mia's aside from 5% in speed, which becomes significantly less if we give Nephenee the Knights Ward for a few levels and then switching back to a different band if needed. Mia also wins in resistance and magic. Big woop. - Nephenee has access to a stronger weapon as well as 1-2 range. - Doesn't need a magic based weapon to kill enemy Generals/Paladins - 80%+ Crit rate with killer lance + Wrath - Doesn't need an energy drop - Given a seraph robe Nephenee can easily be in Wrath! mode without being at too much risk of dying - Has access to Knight Ward for increased durability - Doesn't need additional units to fall in behind for support bonuses Now obviously what I've just done is shown shear favouritism to Nephenee and highlighted a few points to make Mia look bad, this is exactly what you're doing with Zihark! I agree with your case for Mia, to an extent. Someone says "Mia has no offense" and you reply with give her an energy drop which is a fair point...Until the argument for 1-2 range occurs and you suggest giving Mia a mage band for the sonic sword...Well...You only just made up the strength deficit on Mia a moment ago by giving her the energy drop to her which only just "evens" her strength out to Ziharks on average. If we give Zihark a strength boosting band, which let's be honest is the only one he needs; he's got a 15% strength growth higher than her with a higher cap as well. Rhys is also...Not an option to make up this strength deficit when Mist outclasses him as do the other Sage's in our party. Ignoring Ziharks obvious 20% defense growth and increased HP growth/levels I guess you do have Zihark beaten somewhere...Skills. I'll admit here you have him beat on skills! You will need to combine it with something else to make it viable, pushing that aside though it really doesn't matter too much. Zihark is going to dodge pretty much everything, As could Mia! Which is why I don't understand the over-emphasis on vantage here? Both are good units, Ziharks just more cost effective in my eyes...

WTF IS THIS? Consistant updates for a change? :) Chapter 14: Fog of War!

It seems cool now I guess, but back then you had four people all wanting to play the same game at the same time ^^

Vapo I would recommend Puush, I'm not sure if you've ever used it before? I can upload images within seconds with the use of a hotkey and it will also (If set up correctly) paste the screenshots into a specific folder on my PC which helps keep things nice and tidy, see below. It's a pretty decent piece of software and fairly lightweight, however I've never tried Imgur so can't really compare; failing Puush I know that Greenshot is also a useful screenshotting tool as well. Nice run by the way.

From this point forwarding I'm going to include Soren's reports of the previous battles. Chapter 13: Thunder Knight Gatrie returns!