Some help and advice please?

[nacho]

Hey all,

I have just begun Eliwood's story, and I got Eliwood, Marcus, Lowen, and Rebecca to play with. The first time I played the game was in 2004 when I just used any character I wanted, but then I found out about tier lists. In your educated opinion, which characters should I focus on training? I am not that good with supports, but when I do pair 'em up, I go for KentxLyn (my avatar gives that away), ErkxSerra, HeathxPriscilla, etc., etc. Guy/girl combos, mostly :) .

I'd appreciate it if you could help me out with this!

<3

nacho

[CrashGordon94]

Well, I haven't played this game, but you should be sparing with Marcus, as he can hog EXP.

[nacho]

Well, I haven't played this game, but you should be sparing with Marcus, as he can hog EXP.

Yeah, I heard that happens. He's a geisha or something like that :P. But seriously, I forgot what they call his sort.

This is my 2.5th time playing this game, so I'm still very much a beginner, despite the fact that I've been a fan of this game and series for over 5 years

[Just call me AL]

2.5th time playing it, huh? If you're playing efficiently, one thing I can help you with would be supports themselves.

Kent X Lyn? Not my favorite Lyn pairing (In fact, my "About me" page gives away my favorite Lyn pairing) but I won't deny that it's a good and reliable support pairing, so that one can stay. (Unless if you're trying to unlock all of the songs that is.)

Heath X Priscilla? Well, I don't really know. I find it good, but from a gameplay perspective, it's overshadowed by other Priscilla pairings. (Guy X Priscilla and Erk X Priscilla both come to mind.)

Erk X Serra can be struck off the list, because if you're playing efficiently, it's one of the pairs you wanna avoid due to that pair's support speed.

Yeah, I heard that happens. He's a geisha or something like that . But seriously, I forgot what they call his sort.

The term you're looking for is Jagen. Edited August 3, 2009 by Little Al

[nacho]

2.5th time playing it, huh? If you're playing efficiently, one thing I can help you with would be supports themselves.

Kent X Lyn? Not my favorite Lyn pairing (In fact, my "About me" page gives away my favorite Lyn pairing) but I won't deny that it's a good and reliable support pairing, so that one can stay. (Unless if you're trying to unlock all of the songs that is.)

Heath X Priscilla? Well, I don't really know. I find it good, but from a gameplay perspective, it's overshadowed by other Priscilla pairings. (Guy X Priscilla and Erk X Priscilla both come to mind.)

Erk X Serra can be struck off the list, because if you're playing efficiently, it's one of the pairs you wanna avoid due to that pair's support speed.

The term you're looking for is Jagen.

Ah, it was Jagen. :D

Up until about a year and a half ago, my most favorite FE pairing ever was Hector and Lyn, but I started reading (KentxLyn) fanfiction at that point and fell in love with them. I'm glad I can keep them together this time around. I'll definitely go for Erk and Priscilla and separate Erk from Serra (poor thing! Actually, maybe not. She gets annoying after a while).

Thanks for your advice!

[Just call me AL]

You might also wanna consider B level supports as well, as sometimes A level supports alone ain't just gonna cut it. (Just a little something I forgot to mention.)

[Scarlet]

@nacho: Unless you're trying to S-rank the game, I'd recommend you to simply use whoever you like, even if said unit is called Marcus or otherwise "bad". The game can be beaten with pretty much any combination of units, even on Hector Hard mode, as long as you take care of them and do not let too many of them die (if any, of course). What you should pay more attention to is, as Little AI mentioned, supports. Try to support your characters efficiently unless you just want to unlock all supports for your reading pleasure; and efficiency means you'll have to both watch how long each support takes as well as both partner's affinities. Anima and fire are generally regarded to be the best affinities, while dark and especially wind are usually regarded to be the worst; however, any affinity can be good or bad depending on the units that receive it.

Generally try to combine affinties that give similar boni, as otherwise all the boni your units receive are rounded down. So fire x thunder, for example, would give you the full 15 Avd at an A level, while something like fire x wind would only give you 7 Avd. This is especially bad if your Atk or Def boni are rounded down, obviously.

[Just call me AL]

And there's also the consideration of what types of units that certain support options are per character. Usually any two characters with similar movement might benefit more from the support than two characters who have a hard time catching up to each other. This is one of the reasons why pairs like Kent X Fiora is considered a good pairing as opposed to a pairing such as (ugh) Hector X Florina, which doesn't share that same benefit of having similar movement. There are some exceptions to this, pairings such as Lyn X Florina or the aforementioned Kent X Lyn are considered good pairs due to being reasonably fast. Also, support affinities explain why affinity pairs like Ice X Wind are considered bad while Anima X Thunder are considered good, but depending on the support options a character has, even the worst of affinity combinations can be plausible if the support speed is high enough. (Like Raven X Priscilla for example.)

[Raven]

My most favoured characters to use are Nils/Ninian, Hector, Lyn, Eliwood, Matthew/Legault (for chests/doors/stealing/fog of war chapters, hardly ever fighting), Oswin, Rebecca, Florina, Raven, Priscilla and Nino.

A playthrough where I use just these characters and no one else is an easy run. Plus your current run is probably ENM, so using just Raven and Priscilla would clear most of the chapters with little or no problems.

[nacho]

Thanks everyone for your informative comments! It seems I have to do some more Serenes Forest reading to understand the support system a little better.

Raven, I think I'm playing ENM...easy mode, right? It's probably easy or normal. Like you, I want to have a small team of very strong units. I never used Lucius in Lyn's mode, and just focused on Erk, Lyn not as much, Serra (mandatory healer), Matthew, Florina somewhat, and Kent definitely.

Little Al, now I know that it's good to take into consideration the amount of time it takes to actually get these characters to talk to each other. I never thought about that. And movement is also a big factor in supports I see.

So Raymond, if I understand you correctly, it's best to have supports between affinities with similar boni...for example, I would couple Fire and Thunder, Wind and Ice, and Light and Anima? I think I got it.

I think I can finally get the hang of Fire Emblem...it's been a long time coming :)

[Just call me AL]

So Raymond, if I understand you correctly, it's best to have supports between affinities with similar boni...for example, I would couple Fire and Thunder, Wind and Ice, and Light and Anima? I think I got it.

I think I can finally get the hang of Fire Emblem...it's been a long time coming.

Even though this wasn't directed to me, if you wanna know which support affinity combinations give similar bonuses, I believe this would help. And on a side note, Wind X Ice is one affinity pair that you would generally wanna avoid, but I did state that there would be some exceptions like Priscilla X Raven, a pairing which has the affinities in question respectively. Edited August 3, 2009 by Little Al

[Scarlet]

So Raymond, if I understand you correctly, it's best to have supports between affinities with similar boni...for example, I would couple Fire and Thunder, Wind and Ice, and Light and Anima? I think I got it.

Yes, except that the combinations you listed actually have pretty different boni; especially wind x ice is bad, because the only boni they share are Hit and CrtEvd, and both of those are pretty much superfluous in FE7.

The best pairings generally are those that have exactly the same boni on both sides (or in other words, the same affinity - fire x fire, anima x anima, ice x ice, thunder x thunder, etc.) or only one difference (anima x fire, thunder x ice, etc.).

[Rei Rei]

You should usually do various playthroughs, testing and stuff.

And note that even that it's marked as A, Pent/Louise conversations happens on specific chapters.

[nacho]

Al - thanks for the link. I've been looking at it for a while now. Still trying to match the best affinities together...

Raymond - that clarifies it :)

[Fei Mao]

(Just my opinion)

People you should probably focus on.

Eliwood (not mandatory to raise your lords unless if you want to skip Lloyd's chapter though I recommend raising Hector)

Hector

Lyn

Sain (I prefer Sain over Kent)

Priscilla

Serra (if can bear her 5 movement)

Raven

Canas (he's alright)

Pent

Heath and Fiora (if you like flyers)

Florina (if you don't mind giving her some kills)

Oswin

Dart (I recommend using him on Hector's mode because of a free Ocean Seal on the desert level)

Rebecca (if you don't mind feeding her kills)

People that you should use depending on your strategy.

Lowen (he's average though he has great HP and Defense if you want a mobile tank)

Marcus (he's pretty good throughout the whole game, use him for weakening people)

Isadora (she can be used for weakening people despite her low con she has alright speed.)

Louise (if you want another archer in your part she's decent)

Rath (if playing for ranks you can level him to boost EXP rank he's also good)

Matthew and Legault (they should be assigned to do thieves stuff nothing else)

Harken or Karel (both are good though Harken is better due to having a brave weapon and axes)

So.. yeah pretty much what everyone said that most people are usable in this game.

[nacho]

Thanks Jason, I really like the characters you chose.

Let's see...

Eliwood - I'm training both Hector and Eliwood. I train Eliwood just so that he can survive, and Hector so he can be really strong by the end of the game.

Hector

Lyn - I've been giving her kills to other characters to level them up...when I get her back in the story, I will train Lyn.

Sain (I prefer Sain over Kent) - Me, it's the other way around :P. Just for kicks, nothing statistical.

Priscilla - Seems to give good support options. Definitely going to use her.

Serra (if can bear her 5 movement) - It's kind of like, should I abandon her for Priscilla? But then, I've trained her up all this time.

Raven - Cool dude, and if I remember correctly, he did fine for me during my first playthrough.

Canas (he's alright) - I suck with magic users, but I will try Canas out.

Pent - Again, I'm not so good with magic...

Heath and Fiora (if you like flyers) - Love flyers. Love Heath, but I think I prefer her sis over Fiora :P.

Florina (if you don't mind giving her some kills) - Been trying to give her a few kills. I noticed that she has a high critical number!

Oswin - I've just been avoiding using this guy because he's so low on the tier lists I see here and other places. Is he really good? In your opinion, of course.

Dart (I recommend using him on Hector's mode because of a free Ocean Seal on the desert level) - Yeah, cool guy...I used him a lot before.

Rebecca (if you don't mind feeding her kills) - I feel I've missed out on kills for her, so I don't know about this one...

Out of these, I've been using Lowen, Rath, and Matthew. I haven't gotten Isadora, Louise, Harken, and Karel yet.

People that you should use depending on your strategy.

Lowen (he's average though he has great HP and Defense if you want a mobile tank) -

Marcus (he's pretty good throughout the whole game, use him for weakening people)

Isadora (she can be used for weakening people despite her low con she has alright speed.)

Louise (if you want another archer in your part she's decent)

Rath (if playing for ranks you can level him to boost EXP rank he's also good)

Matthew and Legault (they should be assigned to do thieves stuff nothing else)

Harken or Karel (both are good though Harken is better due to having a brave weapon and axes)

Thank you so much!! It's really nice to hear different opinions on this.

[Quintessence]

Well personally I recommend:

Hector*

Lyn*

Eliwood

Lowen

Rebeca

Dart

Serra

Lucius

Priscilla

Raven

Canas

Pent

Louise

Nils/Ninian

Florina*

Support Combination(IMO):

Hector: A Lyn; B Eliwood

Lyn: A Hector; B Florina

Eliwood: A Lowen; B Hector

Lowen: A Eliwood; B Rebeca

Rebeca: A Dart; B Lowen

Dart: A Rebeca; B (someone else like Wil)

Serra: A Florina; B Lucius

Lucius: B Priscilla; B Serra; C Raven

Priscilla: A Raven; B Priscilla

Raven: A Priscilla; C Lucius

Canas: B Pent

Pent: A Louise; B Canas

Louise: A Pent

Florina: B Lyn; A Serra.

Please have in mind that is just my opinion, I recommend this team, it's not perfect but it stands, you should alternate supports and decide which do you like the best.

[Fei Mao]

Oswin has great defense it's just that his low movement hinders him alot and he wont be doubling much in the hard mode.

On abandoning Serra it's your choice if you want a second healer Priscilla is prefered cause her supports are faster and has better movement than Serra, but it's okay if you want to use Serra and Priscilla also.

(Damn I forgot about Lucius He's great also but his low defense will hurt him alot for a while.

Edited August 4, 2009 by Jason W.

[dondon151]

Marcus is the best character in the game. Don't listen to what everyone else tells you.

You might want to just check out the tier list if you want decisions based on the tier list.

Edited August 4, 2009 by dondon151

[Quintessence]

Marcus is the best character in the game. Don't listen to what everyone else tells you.

You might want to just check out the tier list if you want decisions based on the tier list.

Marcus is only an exp drainer, he's only Str, Skill and stamina but at later chapter he won't even double a Wyvern, try Lowen, he's the more average and once, he capped me Str, Skill, Speed, Luck and Def and his Res was high for a Paladin. Marcus shall be useful in the first chapters because he's a prepromo and the enemies are weaklings. I prefer him to kill what the others don't. He isn't excellent, just useful.

[dondon151]

Marcus is only an exp drainer, he's only Str, Skill and stamina but at later chapter he won't even double a Wyvern,

False. Chapter 24 WKs have 5-7 AS, which Marcus can double at base level. Chapter 27 WKs have 6-7 AS, which Marcus can still double at base level. The only WKs that Marcus can't double are in chapter 26 and 32, and this is only because they're not weighed down by Steel Lances (though some in chapter 32 are weighed down by Horseslayers).

By the way, since the OP is asking about EM and not HHM, enemies won't have HHM bonuses, so expect AS to be even lower (i.e. Marcus has less doubling trouble).

try Lowen, he's the more average and once, he capped me Str, Skill, Speed, Luck and Def and his Res was high for a Paladin.

Fun fact: Lowen won't match base Marcus's offensive prowess against most enemies until 20/6, but Marcus will not be base level by then, so Lowen needs even more levels to catch up.

Edited August 4, 2009 by dondon151

[CATS]

Honestly, if you're not playing HHM, use whoever you like. The game is not very difficult at all.

If you want the best units though, then try Marcus, Raven, Kent, Sent, Lowen, Serra, Priscilla, Hector and Oswin. I'm probably forgetting a few, like dondon said, you can check the tier list topic.

[Quintessence]

False. Chapter 24 WKs have 5-7 AS, which Marcus can double at base level. Chapter 27 WKs have 6-7 AS, which Marcus can still double at base level. The only WKs that Marcus can't double are in chapter 26 and 32, and this is only because they're not weighed down by Steel Lances (though some in chapter 32 are weighed down by Horseslayers).

By the way, since the OP is asking about EM and not HHM, enemies won't have HHM bonuses, so expect AS to be even lower (i.e. Marcus has less doubling trouble).

Fun fact: Lowen won't match base Marcus's offensive prowess against most enemies until 20/6, but Marcus will not be base level by then, so Lowen needs even more levels to catch up.

The thing about Wyverns was just sarcastic or ironic say, not so truly but Marcus won't stand so much because his bases are too low to be a Paladin, and a well-trained cavalier such as Lowen rushes Marcus. He's just a meattank and "savior" for me. However I respect your opinion and I'm no one to tell you what to do or not, simply I see that I could a better Paladin excluding Marcus, that's why I had chose Lowen, because in personal exp he went a thousand times better than Marcus but let us not drown in the whirlpool, we're just giving an advice so nothing goes with opposing comments. Let's just give our opinion and lets let her to choose the Paladin she wants. It's free decision, it's like: "choose between all the meats, chicken, pork, etc..."

Well, Lowen actually DID MATCH Marcus's offensive prowess and DID MUCH BETTER (PEXP). In fact, each player has a personal affinity with the character, you choose Marcus (a prepromoted Paladin whose bases aren't as good as to having a lv.1 paladin) and I choose Lowen (a cavalier with nice bases that if trained to lv.20 and promoted to Paladin will KO Marcus with 2 or 3 strikes).

Edited August 4, 2009 by Dan

[NoNameAtAll]

Danny-boy, I think you don't understand just how much fail FE7 enemies are made of.

Also, lol@comparing base level Marcus to promoted Lowen.

[Dat Nick]

Danny-boy, I think you don't understand just how much fail FE7 enemies are made of.

Also, lol@comparing base level Marcus to promoted Lowen.

lol @ copypasting what I say on MSN