Resource Allocation Discussion topic

[Cdijk16]

This topic is for discussing the optimal recipients of limited resources in FE6 in the context of an efficient playthrough of the game. Efficiency is defined here as completing the game as quickly and reliably as possible, measured in ETC (Expected Turn Count). Note that I assume the game is played on Hard mode unless otherwise stated. An interesting thing about FE6 is that Boots are buyable in the Chapter 21 Secret Shop, meaning that any sold stat-boosters can effectively be exchanged for Boots in Chapter 21. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Chapter 4 Angelic Robe: 

Rutger: Base Rutger with the Angelic Robe has a physical durability of 32HP/5Def. This enables him to hit the following defensive benchmarks in the upcoming chapters and greatly improves his survivability and reliability overall.

1. Chapter 4: Lets him take 2 hits from Erik.

2. Chapter 5: Lets him take 2 hits from Iron Axes users in greatly improving reliability unless they roll high on attack. Takes 3 hits from the Iron Sword Mercenaries and 2 hits from the Steel Sword Mercenaries.

3. Chapter 6: Takes 2 hits from Iron/Steel Lance Soldiers and Iron Lance Knights.

Roy: All maps in this game are seize maps, meaning that Roy needs to get to the Seize Point in order to complete a chapter. +7 HP helps him survive more enemies and be positioned more aggressively, making it easier to get him to the Seize Point. It also lets him survive a few siege tomes here and there. It also makes him easier to train in the early game, which helps you in the long term especially after his promotion. A strong promoted Roy is especially helpful in Chapter 22-Final.

Alan/Lance: They're both good combat units and are likely to be fighting multiple enemies on the frontlines thanks to high move, so they appreciate +7 HP greatly. I don't have the numbers on me, but this improves them significantly.

Chapter 6 Goddess Icon: 

Sell: +2 Luck isn't usually very significant, and this item gives 4000G upon being sold, enough to afford a whole pair of Boots later on. I recommend this in a non-ironman playthrough.

Rutger: A lot of enemies have low % crit rates on him, which really adds up over the course of a chapter. +2 Luck mitigates the chance of him dying to a low % crit significantly. I would recommend this in an ironman setting.

Chapter 7 Hero Crest:

Rutger: Rutger practically has a monopoly on this. Rutger's +30 Crit on promotion makes him the most reliable boss-killer in the game by far. I recommend promoting him ASAP and by Chapter 8 at the latest as the Chapter 8 and 8x bosses are hard to reliably kill without a promoted Rutger. Rutger is a strong candidate for early promotion as gets a big boost to his offense, durability and +1 movement, meaning he will only have 1 less movement than a cavalier.

Chapter 8 Elysian Whip: Use on Shanna, who is the only candidate for this. I strongly recommend early promoting her by the start of Chapter 9 as gaining access to Swords greatly improves her combat in the Axe-filled Western Isles Arc.

Chapter 8 Guiding Ring:

Saul: He has a high base staff rank of C, which lets him reach the prestigious A rank to use Warp staves by the time Chapter 14x comes around with a +50 Staff exp which can be obtained through normal healing + some barrier spam and an early promotion. If you're interested in having an Aureola user, you can early promote him and grind his light Magic rank, although the slow rate of weapon rank increase makes this hard to do in an efficient context.

Chapter 8 Knight Crest:  The cavaliers pretty much have a monopoly on this one as they are much better units than any of the Armor Knights. Giving these to one of the Armors is not reccomended as this will result in your not having a promoted Cavalier during Western Isles.

Alan/Lance: I recommend promoting either one of these during the Western Isles arc. Which one you promote depends on who was favored more by the RNG. +2 Speed from promotion helps Alan in particular to hit doubling benchmarks on enemies in Western Isles, while Lance appreciates +2 strength to hit 1RKOing benchmarks.

Noah: Alan/Lance would both get you more mileage out of a promotion unless they are stat screwed, but if they are, then Noah is also a good user of this item. Pretty much the same principle as Alan/Lance applies to Noah.

Chapter 8 Secret Book: +2 skill only translates to 4 hit and 1 crit, which is not very valuable.

Sell: Gives 4000G, which is enough to afford a pair of Boots in Chapter 21.

Feel free to give your opinions on the above resources. I will discuss the other resources at a later date.

Explanation of what ETC is and how to calculate it by Irysa: 

 

Edited March 4 by Cdijk16

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I'd say the goddess icon on Rutger is more valuable for just the raw +2 avoid. Can't crit him if they never hit in the first place, and a Berserker's 28% chance to crit isn't any less scary to me than a 30%. Having said that I don't think I've ever used a goddess icon lol. They're good to sell and money can be tight in any FE6 playthrough.

[Cdijk16]

5 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

I'd say the goddess icon on Rutger is more valuable for just the raw +2 avoid. Can't crit him if they never hit in the first place, and a Berserker's 28% chance to crit isn't any less scary to me than a 30%. Having said that I don't think I've ever used a goddess icon lol. They're good to sell and money can be tight in any FE6 playthrough.

The reason I considered Goddess Icon on Rutger is that a lot of enemies have 1 or 2 % crit on him due to his very low base luck of 3. +2 Luck from Goddess Icon helps eliminate these. I think selling the Goddess Icon is better overall, but Goddess Icon on Rutger may have some merit in an ironman context.

[Jotari]

The only proper way to play Binding Blade is to give all the stat boosters to Roy and then never let him get into any combat once he hits Level 20.

[Cdijk16]

Chapter 11A/10B Orion's Bolt(2): It sells for 5000G, which is equivalent to 1.25 Boots. I recommend using the first on Shin and selling the second one. If you're using Sue in the long term, she can use the second one as well, but Sue is not very good in long term due to her poor strength growth and middling stats overall.

Shin: He has no competition for his promotion item, which is a rarity in FE6. The +50 WEXP from his promotion lets him use Killer Bows, which lets him reliably one round Wyvern Riders and gives him a ~60% chance to ORKO almost any generic enemy with a hit + crit. He also gains Iron Swords upon promotion, which can help him in dealing with the Chapter 14 bandit reinforcements but are mostly useless otherwise. It also gets him to B rank for Brave Bows much faster. I recommend promoting him around Chapter 13 as he can one round the Chapter 13 Cavaliers and Paladins with a Killer Bow Hit + Crit once promoted, can one round them somewhat reliably if using a Brave Bow, and Brave Bows make him more reliable against the Chapter 13 and 14 Wyverns.

Sell: If you're not using a 2nd unpromoted bow user, which I would recommend, you can Sell the 2nd Orion's Bolt in exchange for 5000G (1.25 Boots) with no downside.

Chapter 11A/10 Dracoshield:  This one is hard to decide on. +2 Defense is a boost that pretty much all physical combat units appreciate, but it is fairly hard to decide who benefits you the most by gaining it.

Alan/Lance(whichever is promoted): These two are both strong combat units with high movement and benefit a lot from being able to be positioned more aggressively and requiring healing less often. 

Bulk of 16/1 Alan + Dracoshield: 36HP/13.75 Defense(Rounded to 14), Bulk of 16/1 Lance + Dracoshield: 35HP/13 Defense, Defensive Benchmarks in spoiler below. Numbers are not completely reliable due to stat variance in Hard mode.

Spoiler

Defensive benchmarks:

1. Chapter 12: This can let them take 1 extra hit from the Steel Axe fighters(2HKO to 3HKO) and Steel Bow archers(4HKO to 5HKO) depending on how high they roll on strength. The numbers are a bit unreliable due to stat variance in Hard mode.

2. Chapter 13: This can let them take an extra hit from the 23 attack Cavaliers(3HKO to 4HKO)  in this chapter depending on enemy growths.

 

Miredy: Level 10 Miredy + Dracoshield has 38HP/17Defense. Once promoted, 10/1 Miredy + Dracoshield has 43HP/19 Defense, both of which can be slightly higher depending on growths. Just to put into perspective how massive this is, promoted Miredy + Dracoshield is only 11HKOed by 23 attack Cavaliers in Chapter 13. Dracoshield takes her already huge durability to massive heights.

Defensive benchmarks in spoiler below comparing Dracoshield and non-Dracoshield promoted Miredy

Spoiler

Defensive benchmarks

10/1 promoted + Dracoshield= 43HP/19Defense, 10/1 promoted + Dracoshield= 43HP/17 Defense

1. Chapter 13: 23 attack Cavaliers 11HKO with Dracoshield, 8HKO without. 27 attack Wyvern riders 6HKO with Dracoshield, 5HKO without.

2. Chapter 14: 23 attack Mercenaries 11HKO with Dracoshield, 8HKO without. 

[Cdijk16]

Chapter 11A/10B Speedwing: Speed is one of the most important stats for combat units in this game, and doubling reliably is hard for most units in FE6. These two factors make the Speedwing one of the most contested statboosters.

Alan: An average Alan can have doubling issues on hard mode, Speedwings help in remedying this. 15/1 Alan averages 14 speed, which fails to double most of the faster Cavaliers in Chapter 13 for example, but he can double nearly all of them with Speedwings. There are many more examples of enemies he can double with +2 speed but cannot otherwise. Notably, he becomes more consistent at doubling some of the Wyvern Riders and Cavaliers in the route-split chapters.

Spoiler

Doubling benchmarks with and without Speedwings

1. Chapter 13: Can double 12AS Cavaliers w/Speedwings, can only double 10AS Cavaliers without. With Speedwings he doubles all the Cavaliers unless the Steel Sword/Killing Edge ones roll very high on speed. Non-Speedwings only doubles Steel Lance/Javelin ones or ones that roll super low on speed. Can also double Paladins w/Speedwings.

Dieck: Same principle as Alan applies here. 10/1 Dieck averages 13.5 Speed(Rounded down here to 13 speed), which is just shy of doubling a lot of enemies. +2 Speed is enough to push him into doubling territory on Chapter 13 Cavaliers for example.

Noah: Same principle as Alan above. This is lower on my list because Noah is usually weaker than Alan overall.

Zeiss: Same principle as Alan above. 10/1 Zeiss averages 14 Speed(assuming he rolls 11 base speed), which gives him the same benchmarks as Alan. +2 Speed makes him more consistent at doubling the Cavaliers and Wyvern Riders in the Ilia route chapters and Chapter 21(the unpromoted ones).

Resource for enemy stats: