Czar_Yoshi

Unless you have 100% skill activation (which requires a very specific setup that only Chrom!Inigo!Morgan can do, anybody can play offense), you have a chance of death when fighting the Nightmare Sniper, which is completely unacceptable outside of extreme challenge runs. Anything else, and pretty much any capped promoted unit, even those lacking LB/Rally, can take a hit and stay alive, so PavGis and DG+ will make no difference on whether or not you survive. And why bother tanking a hit when you can do all of Secret Apo without getting attacked at all?

Olivia's main draw for Lucina is Myrmidon (Vantage/Swordfaire). The other two reasons I see Chrom x Olivia recommended are that it's required to get three RK+Lethality units for Streetpass, and that it's the easiest (albeit most tedious) way to break Lunatic(+) without DLC. I personally like it for efficiency playthroughs because if I use it alongside an Avatar pairing with someone who has a son, I can get two second gen pairs from only two first gen pairs, but that doesn't matter in a minmax run. I'm honestly not that fond of any of Stahl's pairings myself, he works on a lot of units but I always feel like there's someone better for whatever he's trying to do at the time.

Fair enough. My point is that you can't really call out physical girls for being slower than magical ones when physical get an extra +5 Spd from Berserkers, which puts Wyvern Lord 1 Spd above Sage/DF.

Gerome should be hard support, doing everything he can to boost his Str after making sure his Hit is fine. Defensive builds don't work so well in Secret Apo because there's too much Luna+ to deal with.

He's kind of in the middle- Virion doesn't give him anything bad, so I'd count it as a decent pairing. While a Luna/Vengeance Inigo will be better, there are so many worse Inigos (Gregor and Donnel come to mind) that Virion's still near the top of the list. VV users actually don't care for Skl/Spd. If your foe gets to attack, you die, so doubling doesn't matter, and Vengeance is pretty much 100% on a Sage no matter what. Hit rates usually aren't an issue because Celica's has plenty of hit and can't have a WTD, if they are for one particular foe (Invincisorc) just get an Aura support standing nearby. That said, Noire shouldn't be dedicated VV because she can't marry Lucina for 100% DS. She can use it as an offenisve proc, she can use it to mop up grunts that don't require DSes, but Laurent and especially Avatar are better cut out for the job.

Lunatic skirmishes fall flat on their face in terms of difficulty the moment DLC/grinding (especially LB) is introduced. Dark Magic isn't needed. Chrom!Morgan is the worst Morgan in the game because not only does it lock Lucina out of both of her ideal husbands (Avatar and Morgan), it also doesn't pass Morgan that good of mods, forces you to bench a child due to only having 13, and Lucina doesn't get anything she wants from Avatar. Literally all Ricken gives Laurent is +2 Mag when what he wants is Vantage. Owain, on the other hand, can actually use that +2 Mag and gets Luna to boot. I'm not sure where you're looking, but Sumia x Frederick is recommended for maingame, not postagme. Cynthia will be slow and her offenses all messed up. Her father should always be either Chrom or Henry. Noire can get Galeforce anyway from Gaius while Kjelle gets it from Donnel. Noire also gets her Vantage that way. That video is about Morgan. Laurent isn't doing the VV sweeping, and regardless the same trick can be done with +Mag/-Def Avatar x Lucina. Most Secret Apo grunts have 55 Lck. You need at least 50 listed crit to break even with Celica's Gale, and if you're that into critstacking there are more potent skills than Zeal to use. You can't break the maingame with Gamble/Zeal/Wrath/Sorc because by the time you get all that stuff together (requires Fighter, Barbarian, Berserker, and then Sorc, not to mention building up your Mag and Tome rank) the hardest part of the game will be over. It also requires two base class reclasses, a big no-no on higher difficulties. Watch the video, Morgan is a Sage. Because it means no Galeforce and you already have 237 spotpass/DLC/guest units with access to all classes to serve as Rallybots for you.

There's no way I'm quoting all that. Aside from what Gaia said, All+2 isn't necessary for Apo, Roy doesn't have a Final Smash, Zeal is bad and Gamble is useless unless alongside Wrath and a forged Killer, Vaike!Laurent doesn't have Vantage, Hex is useless on a Sage, you forgot to give your Ricken!Laurent LB, Assassin!Severa should use Bowfaire (Swordfaire is for Heroes) and most of all, Owain should never inherit Rally Res.

Here's why Gregor!Gerome is a good idea (and Henry/Vaike). Gerome lacks Galeforce. There's absolutely nothing you can do to give it to him, and units lacking Galeforce have all of three options: be an enemy phase tank with Vantage/Vengeance and Celica's Gale, be a dedicated support unit, or be benched. Obviously the last one is terrible, and Gerome can't get Vantage and Vengeance without Avatar (and has poor Mag to boot) so the first is also out, leaving hard support. One look at Gerome's mods tells you he needs to be physical. As it would happen, Berserkers are the best physical support units in the game- they share the highest Str caps in the game with Generals, the highest Str pairup boost with Warriors, and also boost Spd by 3. They're axelocked, but you want your units sticking to one weapon type anyway so they can get the best benefit from Faires. When you're supporting, your only stats that matter are Str/Mag and Skl, Str/Mag for damage and Skl for dual strike rate/hit rate. Gerome already has a pile of Str, so what he needs is Barbarian (also gives Axefaire) and decent Skl. Gregor, Vaike and Henry all give both of those, along with more Str. Vaike!Gerome is the most common one, with a skillset of LB/Agg/Axefaire/All+2/Str+2 he does 116 damage per swing of a Brave Axe, for up to four swings before the enemy gets a chance to attack. He can also swap Str+2 for Swordbreaker to help any hitrate issues in Secret Apo. Gregor!Gerome is pretty much identical, but swaps one Str for one Skl. Henry!Gerome is pretty similar, -1 Str from Gregor and the same Skl, but he has the option to use Anathema instead of Swordbreaker or Str+2 which benefits the lead unit as well. The reasons Vaike is the most common father are because his Str is highest and because he's the least in demand elsewhere, Gregor gives Vantage and is wanted by all the Dark Mage children or anyone seeking good Str/Skl without Frederick's Spd gimp, and Henry is busy with Sumia if Chrom doesn't marry her and a candidate for Owain, Inigo and Nah if he does. For your other pairings, Sumia needs to be with either Chrom or Henry, your Chrom's taken so Henry it is. Olivia's best pairings are Chrom, Stahl, Ricken and Libra, Tharja should definitely be with Gaius unless you have a strong objection to the pairing (he gives Noire Galeforce, allows her to be physical or magical and completes her Vantage/Vengeance combo). Maribelle goes well with anyone who doesn't lower her Mag/Spd/Skl, Brady will almost always be a Sage with LB, Agg, GF, Tomefaire and Luna, all of which he gets from her. You could potentially swap Luna for Vengeance on Libra!Brady, but it doesn't matter. Panne is best with Frederick because he passes Wyvern Lord, Yarne's deal is essentially the same as Gerome's except he already has Berserker.

Alright, Nightmare Sniper has 70 Def, Pavise and Dragonskin. That Severa with max Vengeance will do 146 -70 /4 =18 x4 damage to him, and Vaike!Gerome (LB, Agg, Axefaire, All+2, Str+2) will do 116 -70 /2 =23 x2 per DS. That's incredible overkill, Gerome just needs to nail one DS out of four and down the Sniper falls. Even if Severa just got two attacks, Gerome still only needs to get one DS proc for the curbstomp. On the other hand, Ricken!Severa x Lon'qu!Laurent, also versus the Nightmare Sniper (who only has 46 Res- a lot bigger than that 9-10ish average gap). Ricken!Severa is a Dark Flier with LB, TF, Vengeance, All+2 and GF, Laurent is a Sage with LB, Agg, All+2, Mag+2, and Tomefaire (which isn't an optimal setup for L!L, he should be VV). Severa's damage: 42(base) +2(mods) +10(LB) +10(Rally) +5(TF) +2(tonic) +2(All+2) +11(Celica's) +9(Laurent) +42(Vengeance) =135. That's 22 damage per hit. Laurent's doing 46(base) +4(mods) +10(LB) +10(Rally) +10(Agg) +5(TF) +6(+2 skills and tonic) +11(Celica's) =102, or 28 x2 per DS. In both cases, NS is effortlessly destroyed, and he's probably the biggest example of a Def/Res discrepancy in Apo. Essentially, my point is that there comes a threshold where that 6 point discrepancy between Str and Mag simply doesn't matter. Oh wait. Ricken!Severa's Spd. She has 42(base) +3(mods) +10(LB) +10(Rally) +2(all+2) +2(tonic) +3(Laurent) =72, which is too slow to double the Nightmare Sniper. Looks like a DS will be needed after all (and physical Severa gets to attack four times, so she has better odds of felling the NS than magical, despite targeting it's much higher Def!). Laurent has 42(base) +5(mods) +10(LB) +10(Rally) +2(All+2) +2(tonic) +8(Severa) =79, but the Galeforce unit is the one that needs to do the doubling. See, physical females may be slower, but they can S with Berserkers/Assassins while magical females can't S with Dark Fliers. With an Assassin pair, a Wyvern just needs a +4 Spd mod to double anything (Lon'qu and Virion are great +Spd Wyvern fathers) with All+2. Dark Fliers/Sages with a Sage pairup and All+2 need at least +6 Spd, so even Virion!Severa falls a point short. Said the Wyvern Lord to the Dark Flier: "You're too slow!"

If you have a digital copy (or a save dongle) you can mitigate the risk by making backups before starting each pairing.

If the reason for Henry x Sumia is that Chrom's already taken, it should be by Maribelle and not Olivia. Chrom!Inigo is practically the same as Stahl!Inigo minus RK and with different mods (1 more Str, 1 less Spd), and Inigo can also work well with Ricken or Libra as parents. Maribelle!Lucina, on the other hand, is the best magical support in the game, and Brady doesn't care who his father is.

FYI, 130 hours for this game is nothing. There are plenty of people who are around 1,000 hours, and some who have done more. Even if SoC did all the supports on that 130 hour file (which isn't possible because you need separate files for male and female Avatar), you have to remember that a) that time doesn't reflect the time that the children spent grinding to A with their parents, and b) the amount of time it takes to gain supports varies heavily based on how fast your menu management is, what method of support grinding you use, and whether or not you actually watch the supports themselves.

...That is true. I spent a while trying to get Chrom to one-shot Lunatic+ Grima through Pavise+ and was stacking All+2 and Defender. It didn't work, King Marth is required for an OHKO (and he doesn't need either), but I suppose it is a use.

Forget Luna, 100% skill activation is far more useful for PavGis, which has a lot of interesting uses in Apo (including being one of the two surefire ways to tank the Nightmare Sniper, the other being Avo stack).

First off, if you want to pair for aesthetics, then do so. You don't need pairings to beat the game, and Lunatic is actually harder if you try to use full deployment because your resources are spread thinner and you can't deal with the rushes. I'd advise trying Hard first, Lunatic is already a huge jump in difficulty from Hard to Lunatic. Avatar x Chrom is considered bad because it means Lucina can't marry either of her ideal husbands (Avatar and Morgan), and Lucina is the most important character in the game to get a good pairing for because of her Dual Strike+ skill. Gregor x Cherche, Libra x Maribelle, Donnel x Sully and Lon'qu x Miriel are all great. Henry works with Lissa, but Owain usually gains more from Libra or Ricken (it's not a bad pairing though). Frederick x Sumia is very potent maingame, but also very bad for Cynthia. Virion x Olivia means that Inigo gets no Vantage/Luna which isn't that good, though it still works. Panne goes fine with any physical unit, Frederick is the best but it's hard to wreck Yarne. Thatja goes a lot better with Gaius because it means Galeforce for Noire. Vaike x Cordelia gives Severa redundant Mercenary, but isn't bad if Vaike isn't needed elsewhere. You don't mention Cherche, she needs a husband with Barbarian (Vaike, Gregor, Henry). As for Nowi, Nah is a bit of a special case in that she can't run any normal skillset without Avatar as her father, and is instead stuck as a dedicated support unit, where she does fairly well with a lot of fathers. Henry!Nah is one of the better Nahs, if you really want to give Gaius to Nowi instead of Tharja then he works too. You can do Stahl if you want, Nah will probably wind up as a support Sniper. Again, if you're willing to use a male Avatar x Nowi, Nah can do anything- this creates a bunch of problems for other units but if you're going for aesthetics/personal preference then it's worth it (Avatar can also get actual black hair- Stahl's is slightly greenish imo).

That's absurd. Chrom!Cynthia has the coveted Aether+Luna combo, along with natural Galeforce/Tomefaire/Sage. All Henry gives is +1 Mag and Anathema without hurting her Spd, but Aether is a lot better than Anathema (Henry's still far and away her best second choice). Frederick, meanwhile, is easily Yarne's best father, he gives him perfect mods and the option to run both Str+2 and Swordbreaker, and doesn't hurt anything Yarne cares about. He's not even in high demand elsewhere.

Defender: it both only works when you're up front and is directly inferior to All+2. Don't use it. Good Snipers are folks with lots of procs, namely Chrom and DLC Ike for epic Double Bow poking. If you're using them in the back of a pairup, go for high Skl units instead because Snipers already have the highest Skl in the game (tied with Assassins) and give the biggest boost in the game, so 100% DS isn't unfeasible with them. Lon'qu!Severa@Wyvern Lord with a Berserker support, tonics, rallies, and LB/Galeforce/All+2/Vengeance/Lancefaire has 76 Spd, enough to double any enemy in the game. She also has 104 atk with a 5/15 Brave Lance, before a Vengeance boost, and 247 Hit, assuming no DSp+. Are those not up to your standards? GKs, however, are indeed legitimately terrible.

Mashing start in RaR3 to get a ton of Limit Breaks.

Fortunately 3 tiles should be enough to reach them if you pair them up and send them to the bottom right corner of that ledge they're on. If it's not, give Lissa a Miriel pairup. It's also possible to have Avatar rush upwards into the range of everything and distract them all, while Frederick (even untrained) can use the Gradivus with a Sumia support and help from Virion/Miriel/Lon'qu to take out the enemies to the left.

Gregor has -1 Mag. I've tried to come up with a good Pokemon-Awakening comparison of breeding mechanics, but there's no getting around that they're just completely different. The biggest differences are that Pokemon is extremely random, while there's absolutely no RNG in FE pairings, and Pokemon allows you unlimited generations to sift out certain qualities. FE, however, has a lot more that's strictly hereditary, aside from Egg Moves the only point of careful Pokemon breeding is RNG control to try to lessen the time it takes to find a perfect specimen. That, combined with FE having a finite number of parents, each with their own unique qualities, means that pairings become a matter not just of filling out important qualities one by one, but getting them all in one go without hurting anyone else. Hopefully this doesn't sound mean, but VVW is older than this thread (and out of style- it's just VV now). The primary draw of using Vengeance is it's reliability- the boost is independent of enemy Def and it has a 100% proc rate on just about anything. Because of that, it's much more suited to offensive purposes, so drop Lifetaker (you don't want to heal for maximum damage) and Wrath (not reliable and you can kill everything without it anyway). Because it's so based around reliability, it also needs a 100% DS rate to work. The best way to do that is with Maribelle!Lucina's DS+. The optimal setup for VV sweeping is +Mag/-Def Avatar x Maribelle!Lucina, both as Sages, with Avatar sweeping. Using it to stay alive is pretty much LB farming only- either it won't heal enough to help, or you won't be taking damage period.

That's easy to say in theory, but you can't simply take Gaius's Str and give it to someone else while keeping everything else he gives Noire (unlike Pokemon, where you have EVs to distribute as you please). Galeforce > mods, and Noire is lucky enough as it is to have a potential father who gives her everything else she wants in addition to it (Vantage). Even if Gaius left her with 0's and 1's he'd still be her best dad, but as is he both completes her skillset and lets her run different sets. Even if you ignored Galeforce, what then? Noire's only other option would be a VV tank (has to be magical), but Lon'qu is your only Vantage option that isn't +Str/-Mag (he's neutral and in high demand elsewhere) so you'd be left with the same mod layout you ditched Gaius to avoid, sans Galeforce. One other thing to keep in mind is that while Noire won't be switching between Str and Mag min-battle, there will be people who build teams that call for physical Noire and people who want ones with magical Noire, and that is a place where her dual mods will come in handy.

Arvis defeated his enemies and took the throne and everything was most definitely not OK forever, despite his intentions. Regarding that Zelgius quote, it's funny how that's actually a really good strategy in Lunatic+.

Ike should be a Sniper with LB, Agg, Aether, Luna and Ignis for Double Bow poking. Marth has no noteworthy niches and is up to you.

Any 3rd gen Morgan except Lucina!Morgan will require grinding to be useful in Lunatic+ by virtue of arriving too late (and even Lucina!Morgan requires some care). You need to think about Morgan's parents in addition to just her, they have to be viable for combat as a pair or you've just traded two units for one. Cynthia x Avatar is directly inferior to Lucina x Avatar because it means Lucina can't marry either of her ideal husbands (Avatar and Morgan) and she has DS+ meaning she should get pairing priority over everyone in the game. Henry!Noire lacks Galeforce and pairing Avatar-M with someone who lacks Galeforce just won't do. Aversa is a first gen pairing and means you'll have to bench a child because they have no spouse, which is bad. The -most- powerful Morgans are generally considered to be +Mag/-Def Maribelle!Lucina!Morgan (Sage, LB/Aether/Luna/GF/Tomefaire) and +Str/-Def Vaike!Gerome!Morgan (Berserker, LB/Agg/Axefaire/GF/filler). But neither of those work for Lunatic+ because taking a Def flaw through the first few chapters is more trouble than it's worth. Go -Str instead of -Skl if you're doing postgame. Skl is pretty important postgame for procs and the like, and Avatar's Hit is already sketchy during the first few chapters. Male-exclusive skills honestly don't see that much use on female children- sometimes Axefaire on Nah and that's about it.

Noire's father should be Gaius, giving her Str/Mag mods of 2/3. She can be a Bowfaire Assassin/Sniper on the physical front, or a VV Dark Flier on the magical. It's a pretty even split. Ricken!Severa gets Luna/Tomefaire and +2 Mag to go on Sage or Dark Flier, Lon'qu (or Stahl)!Severa gets VV which works best with Tomes. Virion!Severa also gets Tomefaire. On the other hand, Lon'qu!Severa can be a good Hero and Stahl!Severa can be a Hero, Assassin or Sniper.