FE4 Blind/1st Playthrough Ranked Run Help

[NinjaHero4265]

Hi, am playing FE4 for the first time, with a guide but still, am mostly spoiler free on things. I'm using a pairings guide and I seem to be alright for every other rank since am using save states but... EXP is being the worst.

Okay, for other ranks, Survival and Combat are easy, I have save states, so yeah, they're both guaranteed A's. Tactics, as of rn, which is right now, um, 80 turns, flat. I'm pretty sure, uh, chapter 2 and it's plateau was a big ol' bitch, and I just couldn't get off of it, but I did get everything. Lots of gold, the knight ring, the bargain ring, etc.

But EXP. How? I must be missing something. Out of the 606 available levels in Gen 1, I only have 191. And I'm losing a bunch of units this chapter, including Deirdre at the start, who only got to level 12 and yeah, she's just gone. Have done the arena fights for chapter 3 also btw. But yeah, rn it seems super fucked. Like, um, what do I do? I know Quan, Ethlyn, and Finn leave next chapter, so I must have been like, subconsciously not using them because I knew that. Uh, Quan got to level 19, almost 20, Ethlyn is level 12, almost 13, and Finn is halfway to 16.

So yeah, with all that said, how would people salvage this run? I didn't know it was this tight btw, Arden's still level 6, Dew's level 5, I just feel so screwed. Granted, it's my fault for trying a ranked run on my first try, but I heard ranked is really fun and I thought I put a lot more prep into things than I did, but, uh, I guess not enough.

Anyway, if it is salvagable, please if any of you could, I'd love some advice, uh, I can give even more information on each individual unit if needed, will list their exp, gold, and stat boosters. As well as planned pairings.

Sigurd- Level 22 (16), 50,000, has Skill, Speed, and Return Rings, (Is wed to Deirdre.)
Noish- Level 15 (84), 28,040, has no rings, (Unwed.)
Alec- Level 10 (71), 20,400, has no rings, (Unwed.)

Arden- Level 6 (41), 39,000, has no rings, (Unwed.)
Finn- Level 15 (65), 41,820, has no rings, (Unwed.)

Quan- Level 19 (76), 50,000, has no rings, (Is wed to Ethlyn.)

Midir- Level 16 (3), 43,460, has Barrier Ring, (Planned for Aideen, is at 400+ Love Points.)

Lewyn- Level 11 (32), 49,400, has no rings, (Planned for Erin, is at 200+ Love Points.)

Holyn- Level 16 (6), 35,940, has no rings, (Planned for Ayra, is at 200+ Love Points.)

Azel- Level 11 (60), 31,000, has Magic Ring, (Planned for Tailtiu, is not recruited yet.)
Jamke- Level 13 (52), 37,225, has no rings, (Planned for Brigid, is not recruited yet.)
Beowulf- Level 11 (42), 24,740, has no rings, (Planned for Raquesis, is at 300+ Love Points.)

Lex- Level 24 (10), 44,330, has no rings, (Unwed.)
Dew- Level 5 (24), 5,000, has no rings, (Unwed.)

Deirdre- Level 12 (86), 28,250, has no rings, (Is wed to Sigurd.)

Ethlyn- Level 12 (87), 19,390, has no rings, (Is wed to Quan.)

Raquesis- Level 9 (55), 400, has Bargain, Pursuit, Paragon, and Knight Rings, (Planned for Beowolf, is at 300+ Love Points.)

Ayra- Level 17 (2), 46,680, has no rings, (Planned for Holyn, is at 200+ Love Points.)

Erin- Level 10 (28), 23,700, has no rings, (Planned for Lewyn, is at 200+ Love Points.)

Sylvia- Level 4 (64), 10,655, has no rings, (Planned for Claude, is not recruited yet.)

Aideen- Level 12 (20), 12,000, has no rings, (Planned for Midir, is at 400+ Love Points.)

But yeah, that is... about all the info I can give you, uh, please try and save my run if possible, and if not... Please just tell me I'm fucked now so am not disappointed later lol. I just feel so stuck. And again, this is my first playthrough, so if you give help, try to keep it as light on spoilers as possible, like... idk, you can say something like, oh, there's a lot of axe units on blank chapter, or oh, you can do this strategy to get lots of exp super fast, like idk how am getting anyone to 30, but I'd like to know how lol~ Even if I fail this challenge, maxing out exp is probably something I need help with since even with all of this save state abuse to get better levels and faster turn counts, am still coming up short. And I'd just like to get better at the game, or at the very least, learn funny strats~

Anyway, that's all I can think to ask about, if you can help, great! And if you tell me, yeah, it's hopeless, that's also great lol! I can give more details also, like I thought about listing each character's preferred weapon, but that's a lot of work, so like... yeah, I opted not to. Anyway, will shut up, but if people do talk, I promise to be very active and do my best to help you help me! But yeah, love y'all, peace outs~!

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

So, for A-rank Tactics, you need 1000 levels-up. This can also be conceived as 500 levels-up per generation. And with 24 units per generation, that's about 21 levels-up per unit. Obviously, some can't get this many because they join at too high a level. So others will need to pick up the slack.

12 hours ago, NinjaHero4265 said:

Paragon

Essentially, the "secret" to capping on experience is, pass the Paragon Band around. Especially when you're Arena-ing. Completing all 7 rounds awards 17.5K gold. The Band costs 40k, and can be sold back for 20k, so you're only losing out on 2.5k gold overall. A lot of your units are rich, so they can definitely afford the Band. That said, if they've already partially Arena'd it may not be worthbuying and reselling. Still, something to keep in mind for next chapter.

Having said all that, this is your first playthrough of Genealogy, yes? If so, I wouldn't worry too much about Rankings. I would just focus on getting to know the story and characters. Find out what you like, and what you're not a fan of. Learn by experience. Then, you might be ready for the added challenge of Rankings on your next playthrough.

[NinjaHero4265]

That does make a lot of sense, lol. I think I literally did that with Azel, Ayra, and Raquesis lol. Just didn't really consider doing it with everyone else cause I thought it would be too gold inefficent. Yet also wondering what in the world to spend all my gold on lol~ Guess that's the answer lol! But yeah, am mainly going for ranked because there's a special ending or something I wanna get~ That and bragging rights, I guess~ I'm not too concerned with ruining my first playthrough as this has been more fun than like... When I tried to play it a few years back and just dropped it cause of chapter two annoying me lol~ Now with the extra challenge, it feels like I have a goal to work towards, and that really keeps me wanting to play, if that makes any sense~

Still, I do like hearing that there is some hope in maybe getting exp rank after all, though I definitely fumbled with my unit choices, probably putting too much exp into Sigurd and a few others, like Lex~ Kinda hard not to when hero axe destroys everything lol~ But yeah, I'll just reset and do CH3 arena over again, which is... work, but I think I gotta lol~ This will make everyone signifigantly stronger too, so will be good even if I drop the ranked goal later on in my playthrough lol~ But yeah, use Paragon Ring more, that does make sense lol~

Thanksies~

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

7 hours ago, NinjaHero4265 said:

Still, I do like hearing that there is some hope in maybe getting exp rank after all, though I definitely fumbled with my unit choices, probably putting too much exp into Sigurd and a few others, like Lex~ Kinda hard not to when hero axe destroys everything lol~ But yeah, I'll just reset and do CH3 arena over again, which is... work, but I think I gotta lol~ This will make everyone signifigantly stronger too, so will be good even if I drop the ranked goal later on in my playthrough lol~ But yeah, use Paragon Ring more, that does make sense lol~

Thanksies~

No problem. I definitely think it will be possible. And it's not like you need to get everyome to level 30.

One suggestion I would add is, if someone can't beat a certain level of the Arena, get them a better weapon. The Brave Sword, in particular, is dynamite. High-powered, light, and accurate, with the Brave effect. It's costly, sure, but it can help if you buy it at a less-than-full use count. Don't repair it, or other weapons, until you have to.

Finally, note that - if a weapon breaks mid-battle - the unit can keep using it until they finish. So, if Silvia does 1 damage to a 50 HP foe, she can beat him with a 50-use Iron Sword... or a 10-use Iron Sword. Obviously, the latter is cheaper.

[NinjaHero4265]

Update: I got like 17 extra levels, since I had a save state before I did any arena-ing, so like... Yeah, it definitely helps lol~ And yeah, hero sword will be really nice next chapter's run, I just didn't have it for this turn one lol~ I plan to take this chapter a bit slower to spam staffs and get aideen, raquesis, and ethlyn especially to 20~ I'll definitely need to go slower for a bunch of reasons also, most notably, Arden and Dew are way too underleveled, so as long as I prioritize any villages, I should be fine to spend a few turns training them up, alongside Raquesis to get the paragon band off of her~

But again, thank you so much, I felt like it was near hopeless before, but now it's totally doable, and again, without you, it would be like... at least 15 levels lost every mid chapter arena grind, probably even more once I get dew going to farm heaps of gold lol~ So complete thanks to you~!

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

24 minutes ago, NinjaHero4265 said:

But again, thank you so much, I felt like it was near hopeless before, but now it's totally doable, and again, without you, it would be like... at least 15 levels lost every mid chapter arena grind, probably even more once I get dew going to farm heaps of gold lol~ So complete thanks to you~!

You're very welcome! Let us know how the run goes! Or if you have any more questions.

[Jotari]

Anyone with C rank staffs you don't have to worry about levelling up. Using Warp or Return grants a lot of exp. Spam it every turn, especially now with Deirdre before she leaves. It costs money to do so, of course, but probably less than you might expect, especially if you can manage to get the paragon band on your staff spammer without denying it to anyone else doing the arena.

If someone has trouble clearing a particular enemy in the arena and has a bow rank, try using a bow instead, as it can sometimes change the actual enemy you're fighting to a weaker one. Though, off the top of my head, the only characters that can do this are Promoted Arden, Johalva and Hannibal.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Though, off the top of my head, the only characters that can do this are Promoted Arden, Johalva and Hannibal.

Also promoted Lachesis and Leif.

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Anyone with C rank staffs you don't have to worry about levelling up. Using Warp or Return grants a lot of exp. Spam it every turn, especially now with Deirdre before she leaves.

Warp is B-rank. Deirdre has B-rank Staves, so of course she can use it. Except... in chapter 3, she's stuck in the home castle, so she can't warp to anywhere else. And by the time another castle is seized, she, y'know...

The tip stands for Return. Have Ethlyn spam it, and then sell it before the end of chapter 3. From there, it can be good on Lachesis, if she's not yet promoted.

[Jotari]

18 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Also promoted Lachesis and Leif.

Warp is B-rank. Deirdre has B-rank Staves, so of course she can use it. Except... in chapter 3, she's stuck in the home castle, so she can't warp to anywhere else. And by the time another castle is seized, she, y'know...

The tip stands for Return. Have Ethlyn spam it, and then sell it before the end of chapter 3. From there, it can be good on Lachesis, if she's not yet promoted.

Yeah, I know Warp is B rank, but you only need to use one of them. Give Warp to your B rankers and Return to your C rankers. Apply Arena for extra money where necessary (arena exp is just a bonus).

[Rapier]

On 3/22/2024 at 7:38 PM, NinjaHero4265 said:

Update: I got like 17 extra levels, since I had a save state before I did any arena-ing, so like... Yeah, it definitely helps lol~ And yeah, hero sword will be really nice next chapter's run, I just didn't have it for this turn one lol~ I plan to take this chapter a bit slower to spam staffs and get aideen, raquesis, and ethlyn especially to 20~ I'll definitely need to go slower for a bunch of reasons also, most notably, Arden and Dew are way too underleveled, so as long as I prioritize any villages, I should be fine to spend a few turns training them up, alongside Raquesis to get the paragon band off of her~

But again, thank you so much, I felt like it was near hopeless before, but now it's totally doable, and again, without you, it would be like... at least 15 levels lost every mid chapter arena grind, probably even more once I get dew going to farm heaps of gold lol~ So complete thanks to you~!

another thing that is handy (but will be handier for the 2nd generation) is that if you get a lot of kills with a weapon (I forgot how many, been a decade and half since I played FE4), it crits much more easily and it gets way easier to gain exp due to how you kill higher lvl units (and clear the arena). You probably won't reach the threshold on the 1st gen, but the 2nd gen will appreciate it a lot more for exp. They'll usually get more exp than their parents.

also, abuse staves. They'll get Lachesis, Ethlyn and Aideen a LOT of exp (you may promote Lachesis right at chapter 3 but idk how feasible it is without losing a few turns). Make sure wed units pass money to each other when you need to pass around the Paragon ring.

also, abuse dance more. Sylvia should be higher leveled than this! Combine Sylvia's dancing with the aforementioned staffbots and you'll get tons of exp for them pretty fast. If Sylvia has the movement ring, even better.

also, for the arena, if you're having issues beating it with someone, do an arena match with someone else then try again with some save scumming. iirc if you reset the game the results also change. That is, if you want to do some save scumming, idk if it's a self-imposed challenge not to.

For the next run, back on chapter 1, I recommend letting Dew take hits on a forest. He'll almost always dodge and get a good chunk of exp (and money that he can pass to others!).

Lex gets a good chunk of exp getting beaten by the prologue's boss, but you might lose some turns in your ranking, so bear that in mind.

 

Edited March 24 by Rapier

[NinjaHero4265]

Hihi, sorry for late response, if you didn't know, FE4 maps, they take awhile~ Especially this one cause even with more rigging, I beat it in 38 turns because I had to play slow for a lot of it. So I believe that makes my turn count, uh... 118? Give or take about five turns.

Anyway, before leaving, Ethlyn is 25, Quan is 23, and Finn is 18. I'm mostly marking these in particular down so I remember them, cause I am writing this as I play lol, rn in this part of the message, I haven't even done the arena stuff yet lol. Only just beat the map.

Okay, arena is done. Chapter 3 was a struggle but I tried my best to make that be my 'slow' chapter so the rest of the game is much more bearable. Also, story did happen. And Eldigan was... wow. He took so much savescumming to not die to lol. Also, Holy weapons sure are good~ I didn't use Quan's cause like... He was already pretty overleveled, but Bridget's just kills and kills lol~

Anyway, everyone cleared level seven of the arena except Arden, who's level 7 but even with power rings and other cheesing, uh, yeah, armorslayer with 53 hit wasn't beating that op Baron lol. Must've tried over 200 times in different orders lol~ Oh, I rambled, also Dew and Sylvia didn't beat it, Dew did pretty well though, getting to rank 4, and Sylvia... Beat one guy. That's better than chapter three lol~

Also, yeah, combat and survival ranks are always 100%, I know save scummin's a crime and all that, but it makes this challenge a lot fun-er so... Idc lol~

But now, time for me to do some math~ Brb for two seconds for you, and like thirty mins on my end~

I have 377/606 Levels so far! Yay! That's lots~ I maxed out Aideen, and Sigurd and Lex are not far behind~ Also, there's a surprise contender for best unit and oh my good lord, wtf is Lachesis~ Like I thought my girlfriend, we is gay trans lesbians btw, was joking when she said Raquesis was her best unit, like really, the foot locked level two unit? Who needed a whole squadron to keep her safe? But, um, no, her promotion is... Cwaza. So many stats. Paragon ring Return staff with dancer turned her online very fast. And that is how she's the best~

But for other lacking units, um, Dew is 10 with 99 exp lol~ Sylvia... Okay, to the one person who commented she needs more exp than that, like... How? She can't do combat and dance at the same time lol~ And am not giving her rings and all that, cause like... why? But she's level 8 and has 84 exp lol, so as decent as I can make her lol~ Arden is Arden, but I got him some exp and he's at about level 14 with 77 exp, I think he'll promote next arena session and that's good enough for me lol. And Alec is... so screwed, he's level 17 but mine has like... 12 speed which sucks. He'll promote but yeah, fuck alec.

And everyone else promoted or is gonna. Taillte is fine, 14 is arden level except y'know, she got it in a third of a chapter instead of waiting the whole game lol~ Azel and Erin are 18, so close enough to promotion~ And the rest are in fact, promoted~ And wow, promotions are so nice~ Noish is good, Beowolf is good, Midir is great, Lex and Raquesis are great, etc~ 

Anyway, if people have more questions, can answer, didn't wanna list every specific level and junk, buh yeah, I think that's about it for now, am feeling confident I can pull this challenge off, peaces~! Will try to answer more questions also~

(Oh, one last thing, I uh... Lost my return staff on Ethlyn as she leaves, so that kinda sucks, but at least Leif gets it, I think, it, uh, broke, do broken weapons get passed down? Actually, how does weapon inheritance work in general lol? Like do the non fathers need to sell all their things or...? And wha about pawn shop lol?) 

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, NinjaHero4265 said:

(Oh, one last thing, I uh... Lost my return staff on Ethlyn as she leaves, so that kinda sucks, but at least Leif gets it, I think, it, uh, broke, do broken weapons get passed down? Actually, how does weapon inheritance work in general lol? Like do the non fathers need to sell all their things or...? And wha about pawn shop lol?) 

No, Leif won't get it because he doesn't have staffs at base (but he should!). You'll have to buy it from the armoury, I think it's available right away on Chapter 6. Not sure what it's durability is like if you don't inherit though.

[NinjaHero4265]

Well, that should be fine, my units are so good rn and Aideen still has warp lol~ Still, I heard Raquesis and Leif played the same, and again, the Ethlyn inheritance he has for some reason made me think he gets staffs lol~ Plus Sigurd has Return band and that's like... the main one who needs to go home often~ Actually still debating on who wants the second return band lol~

But yeah, inheritance is still weird to me, but I'll figure it outs, or well, I'll be kinda forced to, unless a make a savestate before the generation split but I really don't wanna do that if I can help it, will break emmersion as I've heard that's a major story moment and junk lol~ Still, nice to know I won't guaranteed lose it, am mainly concerned about other crucial items... Like Lex's Hero Axe since he barely missed the dad mark. Like was so close between Jamke and Bridget or Lex and Bridget, buh I decided to use Jamke cause... I think they have an ingame conversation and I wanted all my pairings to have an air of canonicty to them lol~

[Jotari]

21 minutes ago, NinjaHero4265 said:

Well, that should be fine, my units are so good rn and Aideen still has warp lol~ Still, I heard Raquesis and Leif played the same, and again, the Ethlyn inheritance he has for some reason made me think he gets staffs lol~ Plus Sigurd has Return band and that's like... the main one who needs to go home often~ Actually still debating on who wants the second return band lol~

But yeah, inheritance is still weird to me, but I'll figure it outs, or well, I'll be kinda forced to, unless a make a savestate before the generation split but I really don't wanna do that if I can help it, will break emmersion as I've heard that's a major story moment and junk lol~ Still, nice to know I won't guaranteed lose it, am mainly concerned about other crucial items... Like Lex's Hero Axe since he barely missed the dad mark. Like was so close between Jamke and Bridget or Lex and Bridget, buh I decided to use Jamke cause... I think they have an ingame conversation and I wanted all my pairings to have an air of canonicty to them lol~

Lex can never pass down his Hero Axe because none of the child units use axes at base. Weapons that don't get passed down are either sent to the armoury at a certain point or they become enemy drops. There are a few exceptions, I think the Wind Sword is lost for good if you don't pick it up and pass it down, and maybe one or two others, but largely you don't have to worry about a weapon being gone for good. Inheritance is more about getting it in your inventory right away and for no cost.

Edited March 26 by Jotari

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

5 hours ago, NinjaHero4265 said:

But for other lacking units, um, Dew is 10 with 99 exp lol~ Sylvia... Okay, to the one person who commented she needs more exp than that, like... How?

Arena'ing, basically. Since the game doesn't spell Miracle out for you, I will. (11 - HP) * 10. This is the Avoid boost provided by Miracle. So, if Sylvia is at 4 HP, she gets an extra 70 Avoid. If she's facing a foe with 70 Hit or less, then she becomes literally untouchable. It may take a while, but she will kill any foe in front of her. I recommend using the Iron Sword, since it's the cheapest to repair.

*Side note: if you get defeated, then go back into the Arena with 1 HP, Miracle won't trigger (although other low-HP skills, like Wrath and Vantage, will). Instead, you need to be clever about it. If a foe does 16 damage to Sylvia, try to go in with 17 health - or just slightly over. That way, you can set up the perfect Miracle scenario.

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

and maybe one or two other

The Shield Sword and Knight Band, to be specific.

2 hours ago, NinjaHero4265 said:

buh I decided to use Jamke cause... I think they have an ingame conversation and I wanted all my pairings to have an air of canonicty to them lol~

It's definitely not a bad pair. In my opinion, it makes the best possible Febail, thanks to Jamke's growths and skills. It's more a mixed bag for Patty, admittedly. I'd suggest having Jamke pass down an item of value, like the Renewal Band or Knight Band. There's an argument for the Return Ring, too, since Patty shows up in a somewhat tight spot.

On 3/22/2024 at 9:52 PM, Jotari said:

Yeah, I know Warp is B rank, but you only need to use one of them. Give Warp to your B rankers and Return to your C rankers. Apply Arena for extra money where necessary (arena exp is just a bonus).

Sorry, I misinterpreted your wording.

On 3/23/2024 at 8:51 PM, Rapier said:

For the next run, back on chapter 1, I recommend letting Dew take hits on a forest. He'll almost always dodge and get a good chunk of exp (and money that he can pass to others!).

Worth noting that, if enemies can't hit their target, they just... won't even try. Dew "suffers from success" in this regard, in chapter 1, when placed on a forest tile. Their commander (who can one-shot him) is the sole exception. The others treat him as an obstacle.

...Er, actually, perhaps this is only the case on Clever Mode.