Czar_Yoshi

Congrats on finishing the game. How much playtime is on your file? Here's some general skill advice/class paths: If you had trouble on Normal with grinding, I'd strongly advise not attempting to complete a Lunatic playthrough like some folks are suggesting. Maybe look at the prologue to see what it's like but stick with Normal/Cla or Hard/Cas for now.

Funnel some exp, give up on Galeforce or restart are your best options. Without funneling you won't get it in time anyway, so you might as well try to squeeze out those last few levels. Hard isn't too hard to blitz through and challenge runs are always easier the second time, so if you do restart and favor Sumia more heavily next time it really will pay off (on more characters than just her, there are probably other little things for other characters that seem insignificant but add up over time).

Inigo works with Chrom, Stahl, Ricken, Libra and Kellam.

As far as I know, the only ones that aren't buffed are the Golden Pack and Apo (well, one Warrior has a different forge on his Bow but that's it). Scrambles are buffed, in Harvest at least the Revenants have at least twice as much HP.

Chrom is force deployed on all DLC maps anyway, and he's usually just running around as a Paladin restocking people's weapons. Main story keep him behind Avatar/Lucina and train whoever Avatar will support after you unlock the endgame. With those mods, Yarne is probably best. The best other option I can think of is to put Miriel with Laurent and give her all her Auras, but Avatar performs much better.

Have Avatar lead with someone like Laurent or Yarne supporting depending on your asset/flaw. See first post, this thread is about gameplay and not shipping.

That sort of thing actually does exist in Awakening, you just don't see it much because the range of chapters in which both promoted and unpromoted enemies are deployed is very small. The first promoted enemy is the boss of Cht.9, non-boss promotes start appearing in Cht.11 (there's a Hero leading a group of Mercs, a Sage leading a group of Mages, and a Hero in the reinforcements), and all enemies are promoted by Cht.17. The grouping thing occurs particularly in Cht.11 and 12 though where promotes are rarer. As for other points in general about unit cohesion: the maps are designed with Lunatic enemy placement and enemies are then removed for Normal/Hard, not the other way around. On lower difficulties they look quite disorganized, but on Lunatic they do make up troop formations (at least, on the maps where they have a proper military commander such as Gangrel or Walhart). The clearest examples of this are in Cht.12 and 19. I found it to be an interesting way of demonstrating the competence of leaders without using Leadership stars that do nothing but tilt the RNG in your foe's favor.

The songs are named after lines from the game because for whatever reason the devs didn't feel like giving them normal names (except the map themes). It's kind of a recurring theme with this game, just look at the names of towns and cities. Anyway... All the Ids including Hope, both versions of Chaos and Divine Decree, and Don't Speak Her Name are the obvious ones. Ones I haven't seen here yet that I like include: Menace (the first boss theme), All the non-ablaze versions of the map themes except Duty which I didn't care for (Priam's map being my favorite of those), Negotiation's Not My Strong Suit, You Have Power... Like Mine, and The Life Force Here Shall Renew Me! Actually the skirmish theme is Conquest, Duty plays during early chapters/paralogues.

He also only gets Trickster and Hero from Vaike, putting him on par with Virion!Nah for class overlap (though Nah already has all she needs).

Manaketes are actually really overpowered for regular Lunatic, it's far and away where they do best. Without Counter and Luna+ from L+ to stop them they're invincible due to being high-Def growth units. Manakete Morgan is even moreso good there because Merc/Hero Avatar makes a perfect pairup for getting Nowi going, so if you use her she's already going to have some support with your Avatar. Manakete Morgan tends to do best if Avatar passes her AT, she reclasses to Tactician and picks up Veteran and Ignis, and then goes back to Manakete.

Might want to chuck on a Superior Axe for WTC. Braves are usually overkill on the lead, I prefer to carry things like a Blessed Lance instead (if you still want them, remember that you can use Cordelia to effectively expand your inventory).

Can't buy Second Seals post-cht.6. If you want them in any sort of bulk quantity before post-Cht.12, you're at the mercy of the RNG (Merchants, Rift Doors and Outrealm villages).

Owain should stay magical. Magic is better than physical due to 1-2 range Braves, enemies having lower Res in general and Sage having really good distribution, so don't worry about his Str. But if you really want Dread Fighter Owain, Libra!Owain will have 41 Str and 42 Mag, which isn't too bad. Owain naturally has all three DF Faires, so he can work out. For comparison though Sage Libra!Owain has 50 Mag, 8 more than DF. Since Owain is likely to be in a double Gale pair unless paired with Nah, that means on Apo he'll do 16 less on his initial dual strikes and 32 less if he gets all 8 in. It's a pretty big difference.

Galeforce vs Lancefaire: The only boys who can inherit Galeforce are Morgan, Owain, Inigo and Brady. Owain and Brady are built for magic and have no reason to do anything else, so they're out. Morgan and Inigo both get natural Berserker, if they want to go hard support than they'll just be Axefaire Zerkers. So there's not really a case when you'd even use Lancefaire outside of training. Also keep in mind that there are no classes Morgan, Owain and Inigo can get that they won't have at least one Faire in already. Magical Gerome: if doing that, I'd advise Henry!Gerome because he gets +2 Mag while keeping Barbarian for roleswaps (which Kjelle, Noire and Virion!Severa can all pull off well with him).

Risen lack Dragonskin and PavGis+, so the extra +5 atk from a Faire usually won't change the number of hits it takes to KO something. Against the Risen it's better to use utility skills like Pass and Renewal. Enemy SMs with capped Spd/Lck have 91 base Avo, with a possible 10 from Avo+10. Assume Avatar has neutral Skl/Lck mods, Skl =42 and Lck =48 (no tonics). Avatar's Hit: 87(base) +60(Helswath) +15(Cordelia) -15(WTD) =147. That's 46 listed Hit, not so glorious. If the SM has a Wyrmslayer, you're in trouble. So yeah, it's good to at least keep a Lance on hand, and Gradivus is the best one there is. DK's stats add up to just one less than GM, and their Mag/Def is better. While they're technically weaker, the difference is practically insignificant (unless you're referring to their Beast weakness, which sometimes does hurt).

Even though Hit is nice for reliability and all, it's not necessary and I go +Crit whenever I'm not doing an Apo challenge run, if for no other reasons than that it's fun to occasionally OHKO something with a Luna crit. Outside of Apo, I always forge max crit on everything.

Alright. Now that I'm awake and less grumpy... A) Wyverns aren't a class that's easy to throw around. They're outclassed by some pretty common classes for support (namely Berserker), need a lot of Spd to lead and also need to maximize their highlight (Str) in order to shine when compared to leads with higher proc rates like Hero and Assassin. Because of that, Wyvern should always be used on Galeforce girls paired with a Berserker. Since all Galeforce girls have Lancefaire, that's the preferred weapon type. With a Berserker, LB, Rally, a neutral Spd mod and a tonic, Wyverns have 68 Spd. That's not bad for taking down mooks. In order to double Anna/NS 75 Spd is needed, meaning a Spd mod of +7 or +5 and All+2. The only Wyverns who get that high are Lon'qu!Severa, Virion!Severa and various Morgans. If you're OK with the next Spd benchmark down, 69 (doubles everything except Anna/NS), a Spd mod of 1 without All+2 is sufficient, freeing up a skillslot for procstack (probably Astra/Luna) or Deliverer or something. Donnel!Kjelle is the only notable one to do that. Wyvern has pretty bad distribution, and is hard to use outside of those three (Morgan, Kjelle, Severa). Of course, if your lead is fast enough to not mind the Spd loss from no Berserker support, the support unit can be a Wyvern- it's not optimal, but with Limit/Rally it's sufficient for skirmishing if you just like Wyverns. Outside of Apo, I'd go with Paladin, Lancefaire and the three skills you mentioned. The last one is fairly free, Pass, Bond, Aegis, or even Rally Spd are fun to play around with if you're just playing casually, but equip Luna and swap Lancefaire for Swordfaire if you're doing FP3/the final chapter.

A dedicated support unit is pigeonholed into being a dedicated support. A unit who can freely move back and forth is pigeonholed into trying to fulfill both roles at once because if they don't, you don't get maximum Galeforce potential. A unit who doesn't have to worry about how they perform in the back is free to spend more resources on leading, and will thus do a better job. It's called specializing, and it's not a bad thing. 7:2 gives 16 kills per turn, 6:3 gives 15. 7:2 also allows your units to specialize more, as well as act over a larger area. There's also more HP to go around on your lead units, which is important when the bulk of the attacks you take go to your HP and Fortify/GS is locked by Vengeance. Explain how 6:3 is superior. Marrying male Avatar with 1st gen means your best potential VV sweeper can't get 100% DS from Lucina and you can't get Aether on Morgan. I don't care about median anything, I care about whether or not I can kill whatever I happen to be fighting at the time, and the enemies with above average stats are the only ones I care about. Hero can bypass Pavise by not fighting Pavise foes, that's what the rest of your team is for. Assassin can't use axes which are needed for WTA on Anna. Hero also has more Str. As for Hero's Spd... Lon'qu!Severa@Hero (Vengeance, Galeforce, All+2/Spd+2, Lancebreaker, Bowbreaker) with S Berserker Gerome: 42(base) +6(mods) +2(All+2/Spd+2) +8(Gerome) +2(tonic) =60, exactly the threshold for doubling Invincisorc and not being doubled by Thronie. Anna and NS don't matter because they don't have Hawkeye. Do I see any other non-Morgan children who can do that? No. Now, about this Sniper business (context is no Limit/Rally/Agg)... The only things you should need to snipe are Anna (to get her off the Throne) and Thronie/his wave 5 counterparts. All weaker enemies can be taken by Avatar x Lucina on EP, or by regular Galeforce users if they have Counter (only the wave 1 Warriors). +Mag/-Def Avatar@Sage (Vantage, Vengeance, Tomefaire, Mag+2, All+2) x Maribelle!Lucina@Sage (Tomefaire, DS+, Mag+2, All+2, Galeforce). Avatar's atk with 1HP: 46(Sage) +4(mods) +9(Lucina) +5(Tomefaire) +2(Mag+2) +2(All+2) +2(Tonic) +42(Vengeance) +11(Celica's/WRB) =123. Lucina's atk: 46(Sage) +3(mods) +5(Tomefaire) +2(Mag+2) +2(All+2) +2(tonic) +11(CG/WRB) =71. Against Anna (throned): 32+6+6+32+6+6 =88 damage. Against Anna (unthroned): 34+8+8+34+8+8 =100. All the sniper needs to do is poke Anna so she aggroes and comes off the Throne. Against Thronie (55+3 res): 16+6+6+16+6+6 =56 damage. Thronie needs 43 chip damage. Severa time. Stahl!Severa@Sniper (BF/Vengeance/All+2/Defender/Gale) x VG@Berserker (AF/DS+/Str+2/All+2/filler). Severa's atk: 41(base) +4(mods) +10(VG) +5(BF) +2(All+2) +1(Defender) +42(Vengeance) +20(DB/WRB) +2(tonic): 127. Damage is 127 -67 /4 =15. VG's atk: 50(base) +7(mods) +5(AF) +2(Str+2) +2(All+2) +2(tonic) +18(Brave Axe/WRB): 86, damage is 86 -67 /2 *2 =18. All told, they get 33 chip damage in, 10 more is needed, and that's contingent on having Severa actually at 1HP (Snipers are a little harder to manipulate than melee units because they can't hurt themselves on Wave 1's Counter). Now, Lon'qu!Severa@Hero (SF/Vengeance/All+2/filler) x the same Gerome. Severa will start the battle at full HP on enemy phase with Ragnell equipped. Severa's Spd: 42(Hero) +6(mods) +8(VG) +2(All+2) +2(tonic) =60, enough not to be doubled by Thronie. Thronie has 97 atk against Ragnell (-1 for WTD and -1 for no WRB). Severa's Def: 40(Hero) -1(mods) +5(Ragnell) +3(VG) +2(All+2) (no tonic) =49, Thronie treats it as 24. She'll thus take 73 damage for a Venegance boost of 36. Counterattack: 42(Hero) +2(mods) +10(VG) +2(All+2) +5(SF) +36(Vengeance) +19(Ragnell/WTB/WTA) +2(tonic) =118, or 25 to Thronie. 25 +18 from VG is 43, exactly enough for Avatar to get the kill and without the hassle of setting up Vengeance. Specialized boss killer > generic Sniper. I didn't even need Str+2, there's still room for Galeforce and a Breaker. That's true, Severa does excel at roles that are in demand. Why are they in demand? Because they're pretty hard to fill. Need snipers? Use the bonus box. Or Chrom, he's sitting there with Aether and Luna and nothing to do. And yes, Galeforce skirmishing is a role that's in demand, and fortunately Lon'qu!Severa can do that quite nicely as a Wyvern Lord that hits harder than and is just as fast as any Stahl!Severa, and still has the means to take on other roles if need be.

Against the Risen, it's because you cover pretty much every single base. Wyvern has high Mov and isn't slowed by terrain, your Str and Def are high, and Cordelia fixes any Spd/Res issues (Aegis/PPO are enough to take down the occasional wind mage, mage groups aren't arranged by element). Since Cordelia has Galeforce she can go after those targets without needing to tank an EP either, though she has Sol and plenty of Breakers if she does need to. Second, if you're doing Lunatic Risen with no DLC, your preparation options will be limited. That's why Gradivus is important- you get it at the start of the game, Helswath comes at the end. Once you have it it's best to hang onto both, Gradivus is still good sometimes for hitrate issues, and is slightly stronger, though Helswath is great (also hang on to Superior weapons for full triangle control). Also relating to preparations, 1st gen units can get their S supports earlier with Avatar, and Cordelia is the only 1st gen female with Armsthrift which is great for forges. Having two Morgans with incredible starting classes for this sort of thing (Peg/Merc) is also a good thing, only Olivia's children have them better. All this is primarily based around Lunatic Risen, but there's nothing the non-Apo DLC maps throw at you that they don't, other than RaR's breakers and a rare few legendary wind tomes (none of those in the challenge pack, though), so it works there too.

OK, being "pigeonholed" to a lead role is a good thing. Out of the children, Nah, Gerome and Yarne are forced to be hard support, and Avatar-M and Laurent have the option to do it as well. Anyone else going hard support will waste a Galeforce, so they have to be either a dedicated lead or able to switch back and forth (really, all that takes is a Faire and one of the pair to have Aggressor). In a 7-2 setup, you're only going to have two double galeforce pairs, who are usually involving Owain and Brady. Only Ricken!Severa is built for magical double galeforce, but it doesn't matter because there are already plenty of good skirmishers (Cynthia is the most obvious, Noire and Kjelle work nicely too) without Severa's help. While you could try to use Ricken!Severa x Owain/Brady, why make two units swap roles when they're both better off without the swap? Basically, Yarne and Gerome need physical girls to support, and Severa with her +1 Str and natural Hero is the best candidate. Making her a dedicated lead is a good thing. If she were to support, however, she already has Hero which is a lot more effective than GK thanks to better pairup bonuses and the ability to hit a barn (and she still gets Swordfaire). Snipers are nice for Apo challenge runs, but again, using Severa as a generic Sniper is a waste of her unique dodgetanking/Vengeance skirmishing abilities because anyone can do that, and in fact the best Sniper is an Outrealm character. tl;dr you need to think about the rest of your team and how Severa will fit in with it, not just about her as a single unit. Severa is good because she can fill unique roles, not because she can do common roles well. GK Gerome: GKs aren't that great. They have the lowest Skl out of any promoted class (yes, even worse than Berserker), their pairup bonuses are subpar (Warrior has the same base Str and gives one more Str, Berserker gives one more Str, has two more base Str and gives the much more useful +Spd instead of +Def), and as a result of that Skl they frequently have hitrate problems without a Breaker/Hit+20, thanks to being in the back. But really, none of this should matter as Vaike doesn't have much competition.

Set the camera to fixed if it bugs you. I also say Wyvern, Wyvern Avatar x Falco Cordelia is one of the best setups for no-DLC Lunatic Risen and is pretty foolproof anywhere but Apo. Gradivus spam is fun. Wyvern doesn't really need Iote's though, it would like Deliverer/Renewal more, especially if Boots are in play or Cordelia has Galeforce.

I consider Lon'qu!Severa to be the best Severa, while she is outclassed by other Severas at certain jobs the ones she can do with Lon'qu are ones that no other unit can fill (Kjelle can Luna/Astra skirmish, Cynthia can be a Tomefaire/Luna DF, etc). Her main two gigs are as a Wyvern Lord or Hero. Wyvern Lords usually aren't used because they're too slow, but with Severa's +6 Spd/Skl she can make them work with no drawbacks. 38(Base) +6(mods) +10(LB) +10(Rally) +8(Vaike!Gerome@Berserker) +2(tonic) +2(All+2) =76 Spd, enough to double any enemy in Apo using LB/GF/LF/Vengeance/All+2. Note that Virion!Severa can also do this, which is why I also like him as Severa's father. Her atk is 46(base) +2(mods) +10(LB) +10(Rally) +10(Gerome) +5(Lancefaire) +2(tonic) +2(All+2) +17(Brave Lance and WRB) =104 before Vengeance, which is pretty good for a non-agg unit. On the other hand, as a Hero with Lancebreaker, Vengeance, a Helswath/Tomahawk and some +Spd/Avo skills (also with Vaike!Gerome@Berserker, DS+ and Charm), she can dodgetank Anna even without Limit/Rally, and with them she has a lot more freedom in her skillset. She also gets all the breakers, which is nice on any dodgetanking gig (although you never want more than two equipped at once). Gerome can go with any of Vaike, Gregor or Henry. Since your Vaike seems to be free, I'd strongly advise giving him to Gerome, passing Gerome DS+ and pairing him with Severa. Nah is sort of fine with anyone, Virion actually works nicely on her if you aren't giving him to Severa or Brady (Virion!Brady is sometimes used because all Brady cares about are mods and all Virion has to offer (to most people) are mods). If you do go for a physical Nah (Axefaire Hero, usually), you'll want to make sure to pair her up with a physical Inigo, which likely means Inigo gets Stahl or Chrom. Magical Nah (LB/TF/All+2/Mag+2/filler, Skl+2 in Virion's case) can go with magical Inigo, Owain or Brady. The reasoning for that is that Nah is going to be hard support without Avatar as a father, and that means she needs to support a Galeboy. Lucina has dibs on Morgan-M if he's around, and Owain and Brady are magical only.

If you're using DLC and don't care about levels (or just don't want to waste exp), you can use Master Seals from Harvest Scramble and then Dread Scrolls/Wedding Bouquets to keep resetting your level. As for purely ingame utility, I'd advocate for Gaius because having a well-trained thief with a good place to hide makes chapters with chests a lot safer.

All Libra gives over Virion is 1 Mag in exchange for 2 Spd and some Breakers, removing her ability to dodgetank. Ricken is in high demand elsewhere, Virion isn't. Not really. She can use the Astra/Luna combo well as an Assassin/Hero, or go VV, but she can't dodgetank, can't be a Lancefaire Wyvern and lacks Tomefaire which hurts the effectiveness of her VV. Essentially she's restricted to PPO- which she can do well, but I wouldn't call it a variety of roles, especially when other Severas can fill such useful niches nobody else can (in Apo challenge runs, anyway). Gregor!Laurent is one of those units who looks average at best on paper- mod clash, class overlap, no Galeforce or Luna- but is absolutely incredible if you actually use him. For reference, he's only 1 Skl and 1 Mag behind Lon'qu!Laurent.

Keep in mind that Virion gives Severa Tomefaire, and is in fact her only +Spd father to do so. He's good, but for different reasons than Lon'qu (although their Severas can still fill many of the same roles, such as Lancefaire Wyvern Lord or Lancebreaker Vengeance Hero).