Czar_Yoshi

OK, Conqueror should get skills as well, preferably really good ones to make up for being a 1st gen unit with no supports. Perhaps a command-based skill that converts all Risen within 7 tiles into green ally units for three turns (or nerf the range and duration but make it apply to all non-boss units except the Deadlords). His other skill could give all legendary weapons Brave effects and not lose uses. OK, perhaps that's a tad overpowered, but he's currently pretty weak for such a canonically strong guy. Maybe he could get Aegis+ and Pavise+ instead.

Falcos get Galeforce, Paladins get Lancefaire and Dark Fliers get Aegis. Troubadour now promotes to Falco instead of War Cleric. Now every child can get Galeforce.

There are only 3 Tome enemies without Hawkeye in Secret Apo, don't bother with Tomebreaker. Slow Burn actually gives no boosts after turn 15 so don't bother with it either. If you do want to dodgetank in Apo, use Lon'qu!Severa, who gets all the Breakers, Patience and Avo+10 along with a +6 Spd mod (and who you're already getting). The two places dodgetanking really is a good idea is against the Snipers on wave 2/5 and Anna. First playthroughs are first playthroughs and you don't get another, so just enjoy the game and don't worry about pairings until your second or third. You probably won't even get half the children without grinding, another thing to avoid on first playthroughs. Pair units because you like them, not because they'll do well postgame. If you're going to go for perfect pairs anyway, Lucina fits your asset/flaw well and is Avatar's best pairing in general.

Oy, he's grinding heavily and going for postgame. The only thing that matters is the first four chapters.

Ingame it is, but Postgame I'd say it's the best asset after Mag and Spd (and maybe Str). If it breaks the 100% DS threshold on either Morgan or Avatar and you don't have a specific goal in mind for the extra Mag or Spd, then it's possibly the best. Of course, on challenge runs you almost always will do some degree of planning and once imperfect RNG is back on the table, it's not that great, but still useful.

Lissa was the one hating on bear, Fred pretended to like it. Anyway, if you want to cast the story in that sort of light, focus on how Chrom went to Ferox to request aid against Plegia/the Risen, then went back a second time to... Tell the aid he needed it now, and then went back a third time for apparently no reason (maybe they forgot the army?) before finally rousting Gangrel. He should have just brought back a pile of troops on his first trip.

If I'm going for aesthetics, I just use Tactician.

Fair enough. So you're marrying Aversa not for Shadowgift but because she's got Galeforce/Vengeance and is the best suited of all the childless 1st gen women to lead Avatar?

To my knowledge nobody's done Secret Apo with two units yet (mainly due to timers), and if they did, it wouldn't be contingent on an asset that tips the RNG a little, it would be based on Spd/Atk/Def thresholds. There's an Avatar/Chrom normal Apo duo floating around out there, but it's still possible to do that without +Skl. That said, Skl is an awesome asset and I use it all the time. +4 Skl is a whole 1% of DS rate on Avatar and Morgan, and if you've tried to get 100% DS without DS+ you know how big that is. Possible? Probably. Fun? No. Since Vengeance, Rescue and Aggressor are still on the table, you could just Vengeance crit your way through every enemy on the map after thousands of resets. I won't be the one to try it, though.

Not if you don't know how to beat the Prologue.

Typically maximum attacks/turn sets use 3rd Gen Morgan for 7 2nd Gen pairs, though if you have something specific in mind for Shadowgift (as in, something Micaiah/Katarina can't do) then it's fine. The one pairing that seems a little odd is Morgan x Inigo, Stahl!Inigo is definitely physical but Aversa!Morgan is magical. Since Noire has the tools to go either physical or magical you may want to swap her with Morgan (Morgan/Brady and Noire/Inigo) instead. Virion!Brady: Henry!Brady can choose between Vengeance and Luna as his offensive proc. Virion!Brady is stuck to Luna, but has two more Spd. It's mostly a matter of taste. I think. Let me check. Virion!Brady@Sage's Spd (Sage support): 42(base) +3(mods) +10(LB) +10(Rally) +3(Sage support) +2(tonic) =70 (doubles Thronie). With a DF support instead, it goes up to 75 (Doubles Anna/NS). I'd say that's a pretty big difference, Virion!Brady is definitely superior in most cases.

You asked for advice, I gave you mine and you're free to take it or leave it. Things will go easier for you if you take it, though. Solidarity is Tactician 10. Going through 4 promoted classes when other characters are going through ~2 will create a big gap between the stats of certain characters, resulting in some of them being glory hogs and others underperforming. You could just grind everyone up equally, but then stuff will die if you so much as look at it and all those skills will be useless because your units are so strong. A general rule of thumb in Awakening (especially on easier difficulties) is that even the stuff that's considered "bad" (like Bow Knight) is actually really strong and is only bad when you compare it's maximum potential to that of other classes. BK and Hero will both destroy stuff, Hero will just destroy it a little harder.

Lck and HP boost both Str and Mag which can be useful if marrying Nowi (large Ignis boosts), though it isn't optimal. Lck gives easy 100% AT without LB (Avatar needs a tonic or any support with 10+ Lck, Morgan needs an alternate parent with at least 0 Lck). Res might be useful for breaking some threshold in Apo in tandem with Res+10, most likely on the Wave 4 Sages, but it's best use is having an earlygame unit with high Res (otherwise you have to wait until Nowi to get someone with both defenses good enough to tank). Bowbreaker is superior, if for no other reason than Apo's Nightmare Sniper. He has Luna+, a Brave Bow, and enough atk/Spd that it's impossible to survive him through stats alone, but he lacks Hawkeye and even though he has 83 Skl he can still be reduced to 0 Hit with Bowbreaker. There are 3 other ways to reach 100% survival rates on him (0% Hit without Bowbreaker/S.Bow, 100% Miracle and 100% Aegis) but all the rest are super-gimmicky and not feasible to pull off in normal combat. With Bowbreaker, Limit and Rally it's pretty easy to get him there though. Other than him, Bowbreaker works for everything instead of just fliers. It's particularly useful when fighting Archer Risen on Cht.5 and can render them helpless even on Lunatic+ (yes, even if they have Hawkeye), or for Cht.12 in general. The one other specific enemy that deserves special mention for being wrecked by Bowbreaker is Lunatic+ Bovis (the Bow Knight on Cht.22), who is a massive troll and can even give you a headache with grinding.

Look again, there's a Manakete in the Bonus Box. Panne wrecks Lunatic by relcassing into a Wyvern. Nowi wrecks Lunatic by staying as a Manakete. Shouldn't be too hard to guess which is better.

That's a fun bit of logic. I think I'll apply it to real people I've probably seen before but don't remember and see how it works out. If someone says they're not insulted by something, they aren't, and telling them that they are won't change it. Pheros never claims to be in love with Walhart. She never says anything close to that, she only says that he's powerful and that she serves him.

Luna becomes exponentially less useful for ORKOes as your Atk (including number of hits) goes down to the point where I don't even bother equipping it. Bosses take special strategies anyway so you won't miss it there, and on the masses it both doesn't make a big enough difference and is unreliable due to fewer hits. It still makes a great damage booster in general, just can't be used for KOes. Vengeance is practically required for reliable ORKOes. Speaking of which, Killer weapons are also great with no Braves, it's very easy to surpass 50 listed crit on the lead unit if you try. With Wrath active, some support units can even do it. Luna crit = pain. Manaketes and Taguel: Manaketes should be OK with the right skills/mods, though they still mostly come from Avatar. Taguel are interesting because with Beaststone+ they're the fastest class in the game, though if you use Balmung (with Braves off the table, legendary weapons are really good!) then they lose that title again. Speaking of legendary weapons, the ones that give you skills are fun with no Braves because you can effectively use them for another skillslot without losing any hits. Luna and Vengeance deserve special mention here. DS is almost more important than it is with Braves, your damage output is much lower so you need to milk every source you can to get kills.

Chrom: Sniper (LB/Agg/Aether/Luna/RK) Lissa/Emmeryn: Sage/Valkyrie (LB/TF/GF/All+2/DS+) Frederick/Walhart: Dread Fighter (LB/Pavise/Aegis or Deliverer/Res+10/Luna) Sully: Paladin (LB/SF/Luna/Astra/Deliverer) Virion: Sage (LB/Agg/TF/All+2/Mag+2) or (LB/Agg/TF/Deliverer/Lifetaker). Stahl: Sniper (LB/Agg/BF/Luna/Astra) Vaike: Berserker (LB/Agg/AF/All+2/Lucky 7) Miriel: Sage (LB/TF/Anathema/DS+/All+2) Sumia: Sage/DF (LB/TF/GF/Luna/All+2) Kellam: Sage (LB/Agg/TF/Luna/All+2) Donnel: Hero (LB/Agg/AT/Axebreaker/Sol) Lon'qu: Assassin (LB/Agg/SF/Astra/Deliverer) if leading, Wyvern (LB/Agg/Deliverer/Mov+1/All+2) if supporting Ricken: Sage (LB/Agg/TF/Luna/All+2) Maribelle: Sage/Valkyrie (LB/TF/GF/All+2/DS+ or Mag+2) Panne: Wyvern (LB/Deliverer/Mov+1/Pass/Lucky 7) Gaius: Assassin (LB/Agg/SF/Lucky 7/All+2) Cordelia: Falco (LB/GF/LF/Vengeance/Anathema) or DF/Hero/Sorc (LB/GF/AT/Vengeance/Anathema) Gregor: Hero/Assassin/Berserker (LB/Agg/SF or AF/AT/All+2) Nowi/Tiki: Manakete (LB/Str+2/SB/Deliverer/All+2) or Sage/DK (LB/Mag+2/Deliverer/Lancebreaker or Bond/All+2) Libra: Sage (LB/Agg/TF/Vengeance/All+2) Tharja: Sniper (LB/BF/Vengeance/Anathema/All+2) or Sorc (LB/Vengeance or Luna/Pavise/Anathema/All+2) Anna: Assassin (LB/BF/Bond/Lifetaker/All+2) or Sage (LB/TF/Mag+2/Bond or Lifetaker/All+2) Olivia: Dancer (LB/SD/GF/SF/Astra or All+2) Cherche: Sage/Valkyrie (LB/TF/Deliverer or Bond/Healtouch or DS+/All+2) Henry/Gangrel: Berserker (LB/Agg/AF/Anathema/All+2 or Vengeance) or Sorc (LB/Agg or Gamble/Anathema/Wrath/Vengeance) Say'ri: Assassin/Wyvern (LB/GF/SF or LF/Astra or Deliverer or Spd+2/All+2) (note: Spd+2 is recommended as a Wyvern because when paired with a Spd+4 Einherjar it allows doubling of Thronie) Basilio: Berserker/Hero (LB/Agg/AF/Luna/All+2) Flavia: Hero/Assassin (LB/Luna/AT/Mov+1 or Lucky 7/All+2) Yen'fay: Assassin/Sniper (LB/Agg/SF or BF/Astra/Deliverer or All+2) Aversa: Dark Flier (LB/SG/GF/Deliverer/Tomebreaker or LF) Priam: Hero or Assassin (LB/Agg/SF/Luna/AT or Lancebreaker or All+2) That should be everyone. Context is Apo with Einherjar but no children. Notice a pattern? Most of these are pretty straightforward except Chrom. I don't really feel Chrom has a best set. When all the rest of the team is in play and all options on the table (including children), he's somewhat relegated to poking stuff as a Sniper. if you try to use him for more than that, he's actually quite good at rising to the challenge, but involves subtle skillset/class tweaks for pretty much everything, so I can't really say something's the best. To be fair, this probably applies to most of the characters, Chrom's just the only one I've looked super-in-depth at. That said, take everyone with a grain of salt, these setups may be good in a vacuum but there's always going to be something that performs better if tailored to very specific needs (the only threshold I considered in all those sets was Say'ri's Spd). What are you doing minmaxing the parents if you don't have DLC?

If you're tanking, you're using a unit with good all-round Def/Res, not a flier, so it won't help much on tanks. If you're not tanking, you have full control of what enemy you attack, so you can just avoid the enemies who would kill you (or kill them before they can attack if they lack Vantage+ which is really rare even in Apo).

The purpose of Bows is to avoid Counter, Vengeance, and EP encounters. If you can't retaliate at 1-range, you'll never take more than 4 battles on an EP, 3 if you stand against an ally and 2 if you stand against an ally and a wall. Since you'll never damage the four that are sitting in front of your units, you won't have to worry about any Counter/Vengeance they may have. The AI doesn't recognize the presence of skills so you don't have to worry about it moving a fresh one out of the way to make room for a hurt Vengeance one. As long as you can heal off the damage the few that can reach you do every turn (you have easy convoy access and their hitrates stink), you can tank them all day.

No, Nah shouldn't get one of those. Gaius!Noire has Vantage, Vengeance, and Luna (and Astra if you like procstack), perfect tools for killing stuff reliably with Galeforce. Donnel!Kjelle has Luna and Astra to go with her Galeforce. Donnel!Nah has nothing and Gaius!Nah has just Astra. If your primary focus is on killing stuff with your Galeforce units, Nah is the best one to leave out (she also has much worse Spd than the other two). Her best role is generally as a hard support, she can support physical Inigo as a Hero with Vaike/Gregor as her father (or a General in Vaike's case, but I prefer Hero) and can magically support Owain, Brady or magical Inigo with a ton of different fathers (Henry and Virion being the best). You'll always get better efficiency out of a single Galeforce pair if the Galeforce unit is purely for leading and the support is purely for Dual Strikes because you don't waste procs on the rear. If you don't want to take an EP, pull out after one kill with Galeforce or use Rescue.

I dragged a -Def Avatar through Lunatic+ Cla earlygame without playing Frederick Emblem too much once.

Better one Faire and All+2 than two Faires if you truly have nothing better to put there. See axes, if you're at a WTD you lose 1 atk from no WRB and 1 atk from WTD, which is perfectly made up by All+2 (you also lose 25 Hit but if you know in advance that will be an issue you can use Swordbreaker, all the characters who it could cause problems for can equip SB without disrupting their optimal skillset too much). Not to mention all the other nice boosts from All+2 (especially Spd on non-dedicated supports, I frequently use it just for the Spd boost). Of course, the optimal strategy would just be to avoid encounters with WTD, with 7 attacking pairs you should have ample room to maneuver around it. Yarne's skillset is already full with LB/Agg/AF/All+2/Str+2 or SB, he doesn't have room for DG+.

That's because there aren't any Lunatic+ Skills in the Scramble maps. The only DLC maps with L+ skills are Apo (all difficulties) and FP3 (Lunatic+). The Revenants die really easily to Bows, especially if you have Pass/have two units fighting side by side.

Who's Pheros? Not being happy about a character having wasted potential is one thing, but I think you're making this into a bigger deal than it should be.

Lunatic+ DLC only differs from regular Lunatic on FP3, everything else is just like Lunatic.