Hard Mode Diary

[Blackbird]

C21

When I began my H5 run, I expected that this would be one of the hardest maps, because of the large number of reinforcement Dracoknights. This expectation was fairly accurate; the map was a pain. Lots of extremely mobile enemies with deadly weapons. The terrain frequently works against you; the enemy Dracoknights can fly freely over the large areas of forest, leaving them out of reach of your units and free to pick on whoever they want on the next turn. There are a few nasty individual units, too. Forged Killer Bow Sniper returns, one of the Pallies has a Killer Edge, and the Thoron Sages hit for a truckload of damage, and might crit lower Luck units.

It took me a few attempts to figure out the best way to deal with the reinforcements. Ymir was generally quite useful on this map, as a Hero. His speed was good enough not to get doubled by anything, and with his large HP pool and average Def, he wasn't dying any more quickly than my other average units. He did just fine tanking the Dracos with his Steel Axe, even if his damage output wasn't great. His Luck is a little low, however. On one attempt, the enemy got one of those amazing 1% criticals on him; 14x3 damage, killed Ymir at 42/44 hp exactly. Wow. Since Ymir seemed pretty useful, I opted to try one more time to see if I could keep everyone alive, and I succeeded.

It's best to bring all your good gear to this map. Drop the Star Orb on Marich or a Horseman with Parthia; the ability to one-shot Dracos is valuable here, and you'll want to do it at every opportunity. I found the Fortify and Physic staves very useful, too, because it's such a huge map and your Sages can't be everywhere at once. You'll need a few Horse-killing weapons for the initial wave of Pallies, and there will be Cavalier reinforcements later. Obviously, bow units (preferably mobile Horsemen or Snipers) are good for taking out the Dracos. Barrier or Pure Water couldn't hurt for the map's few Thoron Mages. There's not really a need to be conservative when you have Lena and 12 uses of her Hammer staff, if need be.

I deployed Draco!Cain and Abel to the east. They worked their way gradually up that side of the map, defeating a few enemy Dracos. I gave Abel both the VIP and Silver cards, and bought out the Secret Shop of stat ups.

In the center of the map, I deployed my slower units, like the Axemen and Horace. They moved up very gradually, fighting one cluster of enemies at a time. First I cleared the Brave Lance Generals, then the Killer Bow Sniper (A Supported Cord negated the crit chance), then the line of Paladins in front of the boss, and finally the Thoron Mages.

On the west side of the map, I deployed Sage!Marich, Sniper!Minerva, Hero!Ymir, and Draco!Shiida. I moved these units up towards the center of the wooded area in the NW of the map. Between Excalibur, Axes, and Bows, they fought off the Dracoknights that come from the NW corner of the map, as well as the Draco reinforcements that later come from this direction.

It is best to plan for the enemy reinforcements ahead of time. It is a pain if reinforcement Dracoknights fly to a position where you cannot reach them. They are mobile enough that being left alone generally means that they can reach most of your units. If there are several of them, it can be hard to protect units from getting ganged-up on. For this reason, I found it easier to place units in position to lure the Dracoknights ahead of time; sitting a few tanks at the extent of the Dracoknights' range, so that the enemy would fly unit into a favorable position for my Sages and Snipers to kill the Dracoknights on my turn.

Having cleared the enemy reinforcements in this manner, I decided to rush the boss with my Axe units, rather than fool around with future waves of reinforcements. The boss isn't anything special. He's got a Forged Javelin, so he's not a free kill, but he's still pretty easy with the numerous horse-killing weapons you've accumulated til now.

You could say my general strategy was a slow advance, luring/killing units one group at a time, eliminating the first wave of reinforcements, then eliminating the boss.

Recruited: None

Dead: None

Notable Loot: 3x: Goddess Icon, Secret Tome, Energy Drop, Spirit Dust, Speedwing, purchased from Secret Shop. Master Seal obtained from boss, Killer Bow.

MVP: The whole darn party, just for getting through this map.

I promoted Oguma. It's been a long time coming, and Axes make him a lot better on the last few maps. I'll probably get everyone else promoted in C23 (I'll purchase more Master Seals if need be).

Bord is set for life on weapons =). He's got a huge stockpile of like 4 Killer Bows to inflict ruin with, and he's got pretty much exclusive rights to them because of his 3x A Support pushing his crit rate far higher than my Snipers.

I distributed the Stat Ups pretty evenly, basically giving them to whoever was lagging in the given stat. Marth got a couple of them because he's grown pretty underwhelmingly, this run. Spirit Dusts got distributed evenly between Marich and Lena, no fuss there. No one was in dire need of a Speedwing, so I gave them to people like Bord and Minerva to keep them solid for endgame. Most of my Dracos will be cap-ramming Speed sooner than later, anyway, and units like Cord or Marich don't really need any help. Cord was a little low on Skill; he's not having trouble hitting with supports, but I gave him one anyway to up his crit rate a bit.

On to C22. Probably another challenging map. I recall it being difficult to approach the boss, because the reinforcements appear in clusters right next to him. This map features the Orb tradeoff; I think I'll get the Falchion this time, and then cheat into 24X. I've come this far, I might as well finish every chapter.

Edited October 22, 2009 by Blackbird

[Rodykitty]

I do recommend the Falchion over keeping the orbs as it'll make Marth more useful while there are only a few more chapters left, one of which is filled with mages that you wouldn't need extremely powerful weapons besides Starlight on, and around three (one being a Gaiden) filled with dragons that the Falchion would be useful on, as well as Dragon Killing weapons.

[Blackbird]

C22

This chapter felt pretty similar to the last one. Gobs of fast, mobile, and strong enemies like Paladins, Dracos, and Peggies rush you. There are also reinforcements that you don't want to deal with.

The same preparations you made for the last map are also good here. Star Orb + Parthia Bow on a Horseman or Sniper to help kill the swarms of Dracoknights. Horsekilling weapons for units that can equip them. Bring the Excalibur tome.

What made this chapter tricky was the solitary Thief, though. More than any other Thief in the game, I think this one is the most annoyingly placed. This is assuming you want the village, you might not. In this playthrough, I opted to get Falchion, simply because I've never tried it before. The Thief in question races you to the NE village, and he begins closer than you are. Compounding this problem is the tendency of the map's many enemies to obstruct your way, forcing you to rush through the numerous threatening enemies. This is pretty much the worst thing to do in H5. Having experimented with the enemies' movement pattern a bit, I came up with a solution that lets you take things at a reasonable pace, without hacking through the better part of the map just to kill the Thief.

Although it's a little slower, I found it best to send the majority of my units to the west. I left the Draco Bros. near the starting location. By sending most of my units to the left side, I was able to lure the enemy hordes in this direction, leaving only the Thief and the odd straggler moving towards the northeast. After the enemies have committed to moving towards my forces the left side of the map, Cain and Abel move up from the starting area to block the village in two turns, shortly before the Thief arrives. Since almost all the enemies went left, there are few enemies nearby to prevent your Dracos from eliminating the Thief.

This still leaves the problem of the numerous enemies on the west side of the map. The first wave of rushers was a group of Dracos and Pegasi. One of the Peggies has a Forged Killer Lance to be wary of. I positioned my units in such a way that only a couple of them could attack at once, getting countered by Javelins and Handaxes. Then I finished them off with bows, magic, and more axes. Next, a group of Paladins and Horsemen arrives. One of them has a Forged Armorslayer, so I put Marth on the fort with his Rapier, instead (allowing only a few Pallies to attack him, of course). Then I finished them off with all my units.

With this, the worst of the rushers are cleared, but there is one more challenging element to the map. Reinforcements spawn continuously from the six forts in front of the castle. First only a two reinforcements appear at a time (A Draco and a Paladin, both with Brave Lances), then eventually six at a time. Some of the reinforcements are just plain mean, too; a Ridersbane Draco, a Killer Bow Horseman, and a Swarm Bishop among them. The reinforcements that come out of the forts are as follows, from left to right (If I remember correctly):

Brave Lance Dracoknight, Ridersbane Dracoknight, Brave Lance Paladin, Swarm Bishop, Brave Lance Dracoknight, Killer Bow Horseman.

Needless to say, the reinforcements are a pain; you don't want Swarm Bishops accumulating on the map. It's a ticking time bomb with the Killer Bow Horsemen, too, and your Dracos won't be able to approach the area. Time is a factor; it's best if you can close with the forts before all six forts start reinforcing. Try to block the forts before that happens, especially the ones that spawn the Killer Bow and Swarm units. It's even better if you can block the majority of the forts at the same time. It can be difficult to shield your Sages and Archers from every Dracoknight if you commit several of your units to blocking the forts.

The boss is a Dracoknight, Michalis, with his Iote's Shield. Arrows and Excalibur don't do effective damage to him. He's equipped with a Brave Lance by default, so you can still freely attack him at 2-range (until he switches to his Javelin). Even without effective damage, his Res is still terrible, so any Tome makes him very dead, very quickly. I recommend blocking all the forts, advancing your Sages to take out Michalis, then clearing the map.

Recruited: None

Dead: None

Notable Loot: Starlight, Iote's Shield

MVP: Bord. Star Orb + Parthia = dead Dracos.

The Iote's Shield is good for anything tough and flying. I gave it to Shiida, reasoning that Cain and Abel are more likely to survive Surprise!Arrows than she is. Starlight is identical to Thoron, except with no crit. It's basically a Gharnef killing weapon, and is a little better than Bolganone if your legendary tomes are in danger of being exhausted (unlikely, between Lena's Hammerne and previous Star Orb availability).

Next map is the second of the token magefest maps, and the final confrontation with Gharnef. Marich is here to kill mages and spam staves, and I'm all outta Mends.

[Blackbird]

C23

One of the most genuinely challenging maps I've played in a while. I really had to think about how to beat this one. I'd love to hear how other people did it; I scraped by, but I have a feeling my strategy isn't optimal. The challenging part of this map is the two Swarm Bishops; they are a real pain to deal with. For one thing, they can move, so they will attempt to gang up on vulnerable targets, and they do magical damage, meaning the majority of your units have little resistance against their attacks. Together, they do 40+ damage to the average promoted unit. Furthermore, they both cover the entire northern area of the map, notably, a "ramp" or chokepoint which lets them attack you for several turns as you move around it, while you cannot approach them. If you try to walk up the ramp, your forces are the proverbial "fish in a barrel". Odds are the Bishops one-two KO whoever they attack, and by the time you get up the ramp, the situation is complicated by a wave of Thoron Mage reinforcements. Getting hit by any enemy unit and a Swarm Bishop on the same turn is also likely to kill the majority of your characters.

For this map, I recommend bringing one or more Warp staves, Physic staves, the Geosphere, the Fortify staff, the Barrier staff, and Pure Waters. Reclassing your Sages to Bishops isn't a bad idea; they might benefit from the extra Res. Then again, you may stop doubling other Mages. Take a look at your stats before deciding. You might want to reclass units like Cain or Abel into Paladins for the extra Res.

Edit: Actually, save all 3 uses of the Geosphere if you can. It makes the final map much easier.

I'm sure everyone knows this trick already, but you can use the Geosphere to figure out where the real Gharnef is at the start of the map; he'll be the only guy that didn't take damage. (Afterwards, you'll probably want to use the Fortify staff to heal your units back up). You might want to reload the map a few times until Gharnef is in an optimal location. I recommend that you leave him alone until you've cleared the Fortify Curate near the throne. Gharnef's speed is capped, so none of your casters will be able to double him, even if your unit is capped in Spd as well. It'll take forever to kill Gharnef, during which time the curate will spam all the uses of the droppable Fortify staff that he holds. Additionally, you might run out of Starlight uses as well. Clear the fortify user, then you can eliminate Gharnef easily. Alternatively, bring 2 Sages and trade the Starlight between them to get in 2 attacks per turn. You should be able to defeat him that way.

I experimented with various ways to try to kill the Swarm Bishops early; you can't really warp anyone up there, with the Gharnef clones being pretty threatening to people that aren't Bishops/Sages. Eventually, I found that I could deal with them by luring them to the far NE corner of the map with a Paladin. I Barriered and Warped Pally!Shiida to the far NE of the map (the SE corner of the top of the ramp), in such a way that the Bishops had to advance very far to hit her. Then she ran up and eliminated them with a Javelin. She still ended up luring the Brave Bow Sniper, but at this point you can either warp an additional helper or have Shiida eliminate the Sniper herself. Then she can lure the second Bishop and eliminate him the same way. You'll probably want to give her a Pure Water so she can refresh her Res, and you'll need to heal her periodically with a Physic. Using this strategy, I was able to eliminate the Swarm Bishops, allowing my units to safely advance up the ramp and reinforce Shiida in time to fight the Thoron reinforcements.

The Thoron casters in this map are all fairly threatening, by themselves. They have a chance to crit units with poor luck, and they do a ton of damage to anyone that's not a Sage or Bishop, generally 2HKO. Fortunately, they are flimsy; you can generally kill them in 1 or 2 hits, as well. Barriered Marich or Lena can fight Mages all day, taking minimal damage. I recommend using them against the map's numerous Thoron Mages, and the Gharnef clones. Particularly, the cluster of casters in the SE of the map, as well as the reinforcements that warp in near the throne. Aside from that, just advance slowly and carefully, being sure not to allow the enemy casters to gang up on your units.

I bought one Master Seal in the secret shop to promote all of my remaining units. Ugh... what a late promotion though... I'll definitely use more prepromotes and classes with tier 2 next time.

Recruited: Ellis

Dead: None

Notable Loot: True Falchion, Talisman, Barrier staff, Master Sealx3 (bought one), 10k gold, most of a Fortify staff.

MVP: Shiida. She was instrumental in eliminating the problematic Swarm Bishops. Marich wins too, for being able to kill Gharnef.

Promoted Navarre to Sniper, Athena to Dracoknight, and Hardin to Paladin. Finally...

The next map is the big Manakete chapter. Lots of Mage and Fire dragons. I'll sacrifice one unit and resurrect him later, so that I can go to C24X.

Edited October 25, 2009 by Blackbird

[Blackbird]

C24

To be honest, I kind of lazy mode'ed this one. I didn't feel like dealing with 49 turns of reinforcements (I'd probably break all my weapons...) so I equipped Draco!Cain with a Forged Dragonpike and had him fly over and eliminate the boss early. Move carefully so as not to pull the Snipers prematurely, and equip an Iote Shield, and it's quite doable.

This chapter is packed with Manaketes, so bringing Dragon-slaying weapons along is a must. Annoyingly, the game blatantly cheats on this chapter. The Manakete class caps at 20 Spd, and a Firestone grants +4 Spd, so a Manakete should have, at most, 24 Spd. However, enemy Fire Dragons in this chapter clearly have greater than 24 AS, for no justifiable reason. Mage Dragons have more speed than they should, too.

That said, I didn't feel too bad about ruining them. If Marth's Speed is high enough not to get doubled, he can do pretty well against them; Falchion does a ton of damage to Manaketes. While my flyers ended the boss and skirmished with nearby units, the remainder of my forces worked their way through the mountain chokepoint immediately south of the start location. I was careful not to fight too many enemies at once, especially the Manaketes, because they hit like a truck.

Meanwhile, Athena went on an errand. She flew south along the western edge of the map to pick off the Thief before she bought out the secret shop.

Hardin took one for the team and got sacrificed so I could go to the gaiden chapter. Just before leaving the map, I traded him the Falchion and a Master Key, then warped him to the southern chamber. He looted the Aum staff on the same turn and then got insta-gibbed by the nearby Manaketes.

With the Falchion "lost" for now, I seized the castle and moved on to C24X.

Recruited: None.

Dead: Hardin, for now.

Notable Loot: Aum staff, a pile of Arms Scrolls and stat ups purchased.

MVP: Draco!Cain. Saved me a lot of trouble with the reinforcements.

I distributed the stat ups to whoever was lagging the most in the respective stats. Lena got a Dracoshield and Seraph Robe. Marth got several stat ups. Bord got a Seraph Robe, etc.

C24X

Honestly, this map was like a vacation. The enemies here are weak and slow. Most of my units were doubling and one-rounding most enemies here. There are a few odd threatening enemies with Killer weapons, but it was very easy for the most part. Just don't be over effective to the point that you allow too many enemies to attack you in a row =P. I sent one party to each side of the map, and generally tried to get my underleveled units as much EXP as possible.

The boss here is another Manakete; not really threatening when you have 2-range weapons.

When you clear this chapter, you recruit the lovely Nagi. She can hurt the final boss quite a bit, but will likely suicide if you haven't weakened him first =P. I also had Ellis revive Hardin with her Aum staff.

Recruited: Nagi

Dead: None.

Revived!: Hardin

Notable Loot: Fake Falchion (not necessary for me though), Excalibur and Aura no. 2.

MVP: Eh, this chapter was really easy. Hard to assign an MVP when no one really had to work for it.

This brings us to the final chapter, and what a ball-buster...

Edited October 25, 2009 by Blackbird

[Blackbird]

C25, Final Chapter. It's a long post, I apologize. Strategy was notable, and I got creative with the ending.

Awww man, this chapter was brutal. A rude awakening after the cakewalk that was C24X. A lot of my bad decisions earlier in the run really came back to bite me here. Taking a look around... most enemies have capped HP, high to capped str, capped speed, capped skill, high def and res. They're all packing forged brave weapons, too. Hey wait a minute, I thought I was playing campaign, when did I start playing Wi-fi!? All the Manaketes are hacking their AS again. Jerks.

There were a few elements that conspired to make this map a huge pain. First, my team is split up into tiny groups. On hard mode, this sucks. You really need to keep your forces together to take advantage of your supports, and to have enough power to fight multiple enemies. This map makes it very difficult to group up.

Second, the multiple enemy siege units are extremely annoying. The Pachyderms and Swarm Bishop are horribly positioned in such a way that, if you attack them, you expose yourself to attack from several nasty enemy units. They tend to pick off your injured units, or combine with other enemy attacks to 1-2 KO your units. Lena was even OHKO'd by the Pachyderms, even after a Seraph Robe and Dracoshield. Argh, wtf! What I wouldn't give for a Forged Thunderbolt about now...

Finally, the Fortify curate in the center of the map was a pain. Yes, the curate. Enemies here are extremely tough, so I found myself attacking a lot on the enemy phase with counters, and needing several hits to down individual enemies. This healer kept mitigating my work by bringing the enemy's health back up to where I couldn't finish them off in one hit. Additionally, it would have been nice to use the Geosphere to soften up enemy units, but that would have been pointless so long as the Curate was still alive; he would just Fortify all the enemies back to full.

I could have made the map a lot easier by saving all three uses of the Geosphere. Using two charges of the sphere, fortifying, using the third, then fortifying again, I would have killed both enemy curates and left the rest of the map irreparably and severely weakened, letting me clear out enemy units and regroup much more easily.

Be sure to equip units with all their best weapons, and bring along Warp, Fortify, and Physic staves. No need to conserve resources; it's the last chapter, and you are going to need every advantage available to you.

It took me a lot of tries to figure out how to complete this without deaths. I experimented with numerous strategies. I didn't have enough Warp users to make defeating Medeus early a viable option, nor were my units strong enough. I hadn't planned in advance towards this sort of strategy. I experimented with other Warp strategies, such as warping units to clear the Snipers and Curates in the throne room, then attacking. This still left the siege units, though, and my forces outside were overrun. I also tried turtling in the rooms, but again, the siege units made this risky, and it was hard to position my Sages.

I found that, if I could just get past the first two turns, regroup, and eliminate the siege units, I'd be a lot better off.

Eventually, I resolved it this way:

I ended up reclassing Barts and Cord to Heroes, for the higher speed and more WT control. The crit rate of Berserker was awesome, but I really needed the units to be doubling and to have better defense on this map. I reclassed Shiida to SM, so I would have a 30 speed unit to fight the Manaketes with. I also ended up fielding unpromoted Ellis (wtf!?) for extra Warp and healing utility.

On the first turn:

I warped Marich from Marth's start location to the NW room with the Fire Dragon, Pachyderm, and Levin Hero. Marich Excalibur'ed the Dragon. If it wasn't a crit, Oguma, Hardin, and Cord finished it with indirect weapons (so as to avoid fighting the Levin Hero and Brave Lance Pally outside on the same turn). With the Dragon dead, everyone else in the room could survive the Levin Hero and Pachyderm.

In the center, the Draco Bros. flew as far at they could, finishing off the central Pachyderm with a Silver Lance and Javelin. Cain traded Abel's Javelin for a Ridersbane afterward, so he could counter the Wyrmslayer Pally more effectively on the next turn. Athena moves up with a Javelin to just within the Thoron Bishop's range; she baited this unit into attacking her so Abel wouldn't get attacked by several units. With the central Pachyderm eliminated, Lena was safe from siege fire at Marth's start location. I had Marth open the door NE of his start location, where he sat as bait so the Javelin Paladin would attack him, and not gang up on the Draco Bros.

Finally, in the east, Barts advanced and took out the Swarm Bishop with his Hand Axe. He was able to tank both the Draco and Brave Lance General at the same time. Nice. Ellis and my two snipers moved back a bit so the Draco would leave them alone.

On the second turn:

The NW gets threatened by a Brave Sword Hero, Brave Lance General, and a Brave Lance Pally. Athena's in danger of getting gibbed by the Thoron Bishop. Marth's threatened by a Javelin Pally. Barts barely survives. Ugh.

I had Marich one-round the General in the NW. Cord Poleaxes the Pally, and the rest kill the Brave Sword Hero. I ignore the Pachyderm and Levin Hero for now. Cain finishes off the Thoron Mage with a Forged Silver Lance. Abel flies east and Ridersbanes the Pally fighting Marth, allowing Nagi to finish him off.

My snipers in the NE room advance and kill the Draco fighting Barts, allowing him to turtle up in the doorway and fight the General and Brave Sword Hero one at a time. I heal my units by fortifying/vulnerary, etc.

Third turn:

I finally get to eliminate the Pachyderm in the NW, as well as the Levin Hero. By this time, the enemy reinforcements from the top of the map are arriving; I have Cain and Abel equip axes and prepare to tank the Dracos in the hallway south of Medeus, while Shiida pulls the Manakete in the SE with the Wyrmslayer equipped. Athena hides. Barts and company finish off the General and Hero in the east room between them.

Fourth turn: Cain and Abel tank the Brave Axe Dracos. I heal them, then use the Geosphere to chip down the swarm of enemy units' HPs a bit. Then I finish them off with everyone in the area. I had Marich Warp Cord in to assist with his Forged Poleax, as well. Nagi finished off the Manakete that attacked Shiida. I put Ellis on the east stairs, and Hardin and Bord sit on the stairs in the NW room. I moved Athena up to cover the stairs later, she was underleveled and slow. You really want to block these stairs, or else the enemy reinforcements will quickly overwhelm you. The NW room, in particular, spawns nasty Pachyderm Ballisticians and Thoron Mages, a deadly combination. Entertainingly, Ellis sat on the eastern stairs for the remainder of the battle in perfect safety, by herself. She still contributed, too, with her Physic staff =P.

With this, most of the map's enemies were eliminated, allowing me to regroup. Barts, Cord, Bord, and Oguma become noticeably better when they got back into their support formation ;). After that, the map was much, much easier. I left the Draco Bros., Sniper!Minerva, and Lena to chokepoint the door NE of Marth's start location. Reinforcements were approaching from the SE shops area. Everyone else gradually worked up towards Medeus' chamber, fighting the Heros and Manaketes that spawned from the central stairs as I went. When I was able to safely do so, I eliminated the Snipers in this room by baiting them with Hand Axe units, then I eliminated the Curates. Finally, I waited until the timing was good, and Warped one unit onto each of the central stairs, cutting off reinforcements entirely. A few more turns of cleanup, and Medeus was alone in his throne room.

The Final Confrontation:

Marth and company, battered and bloody from their trials, had at long last cornered Medeus on his throne. They sized up this terrifying foe, and it had to be decided who would fight such a formidable opponent. Terrifyingly, Marth's forces came to the conclusion that no one amongst their ranks would be guaranteed to survive a round of combat with him. Navarre's Longbow could evade Medeus' reach; but it's arrows were like straw against a boulder. Shiida was confident that she could evade all but one of Medeus' attacks; surely she could live, but even her strongest weapon, the Devil's Blade, was but a papercut to Medeus.

Nagi spoke up.

"As a divine dragon, it is my duty to be accountable for the crimes committed by my people, the Manaketes. Even if I will surely die, I will strike at him and leave a terrible wound. Marth, I can buy you the opportunity to finish Medeus. Please, let me, I was prepared for this from the moment I joined you!"

Marth considered this sacrificial tactic with sorrow, when Oguma and his mercenaries approached. The fellowship of these men was strong; each of them had the strength of four men. They had spoken among themselves, and concluded that they could evade Medeus' attacks with clever strategy. Cord, the most confident, agile and fortunate among them, stepped forward.

"The road to our victory will not be paved with the bodies of women and children. Not this day, not while I'm still alive. If I can survive one, no, just two rounds with this fiend, I am confident I can buy us a chance at victory."

This was a risky proposition. It is true that Cord could evade the dragons attacks, however, if ill fortune struck, and he was victim to all the dragon's blows, he would surely die. However, Cord's bravery had swayed Marth; if there was a chance the battle could be concluded without further sacrifices, he would trust to that hope.

And so brave Cord stepped forward with a steely determination, the shouts of his comrades in his ears, and his Hauteclere axe, borrowed from Minerva, tightly gripped in his hands.

Medeus growled like a cornered animal upon his throne. "Hah, hahaha! Finally, one of you cowards is prepared to face me! You shall be the first to die, this day!"

Cord scowled. "No, you are the last. Hyaaaahh!!!"

The titans clashed. Cord struck a terrible blow against Medeus as he attacked, and narrowly avoided the dragon's breath with a hurried shout of warning from his companions.

"One..."

Cord struck true again, leaving two gaping wounds in the dragon's chest. "Two..."

The dragon's jaws snapped down, aiming to consume Cord wholesale. A cloud of dust concealed both figures, and the throne room fell quiet.

"Is he dead!?" murmered Nagi. She moved to step forward, but Marth held out an arm to stop her.

The dust cleared and Cord was still standing, bloodied, and straining to hold Medeus' jaws apart with his bare hands.

"Enough, Cord! Our opportunity is here!" screamed Marich. He rushed forth and swung his Warp staff as the dragon's jaws clamped shut. Medeus turned on Marich, foaming with rage, and Marich reflexively caused a torrent of gusts to buffet from his Excalibur tome, again filling the throne room with dust.

Medeus bellowed in rage. "Inferior beings! I will kill every last one of you cowards! I will stomp your bones beneath my feet! I will boil your blood and feast on your flesh! I will kill you all and rule atop a throne built above your broken bodi... Gwuaahghhh!"

"How ironic..." Marth murmered.

Medeus looked down. The Blade of Light was impaled, to the hilt, in his chest.

"...that this would be the one time you weren't looking down on me." he twisted the blade, and Medeus shuddered, then slumped to the ground with a slick thud.

Marth seemed in a daze for a moment, then returned to himself. "Cord! Does Cord still live!?" he shouted.

A figure emerged from the haze of dust and smoke.

"Aye. I'm still here." Cord limped forward, his friends supporting him.

The room burst into celebration. The nightmare was over; Cord's bravery had brought an end to the deaths.

[i had no units that could fight Medeus and have guaranteed survival, while still doing significant damage. Marth and Nagi could do 30 damage, but would surely suicide. I needed to weaken Medeus first. I briefly considered sacrificing Nagi, then saw that the support circle reduced Medeus to a 33% hit rate against Cord. However, Cord was getting doubled; if he were hit twice, he'd die. I needed to survive two rounds to deal 30 damage with Hauteclere. I decided to risk it. Cord survived both rounds, without getting hit once, on the first attempt. I Warped Cord out of the way, then had Marth finish Medeus with his Falchion.]

What a satisfying victory. I had a ton of fun playing this mode =).

Recruited: None.

Dead: None!

Notable Loot: Victory over H5!!!

MVP: Cord wins for tanking the boss. Marich wins for awesome Excalibur offense, and for keeping my army alive (in tandem with Lena) with his Fortify staff and timely Warp reinforcements.

Cleared: 20 turns, without Warping directly to throne. Not gonna win any records, but I'm pleased just being able to clear it.

Thanks for reading, everyone. I'll make another post later as an epilogue, if you will, to recap and summarize my experiences with H5, overall.

Edited October 26, 2009 by Blackbird

[Rewjeo]

The Final Confrontation was EPIC. Never played H5, but man, that chapter sounded HARD. And extremely epic, too. It must've felt good to finally beat back Medeus' armies and finally defeat the dragon himself. The hardest battles are always the most gratifying, no?

[Candlejack]

Cord is fuck yeah.

Should've included something about Ymir crying in a corner.

[Blackbird]

The hardest battles are always the most gratifying

Tru dat. Also, lol at Ymir crying in a corner. More tl; dr, it's a long recap =P.

H5 Campaign Recap:

H5 is concluded. My turn count is not gonna break any records, but I feel that I did well, regardless. I completed what is regarded as one of the hardest FE campaigns, and did so in a manner that took the least advantage of elements that mitigate that difficulty. I didn't use the arena once in the game, I didn't buy any weapons from Wi-Fi, I didn't use outright broken characters (Zagaro, Wolf...), and I didn't even use Generals (who make the game easier with their tankiness), with the exception of some minor Horace use. Essentially, I beat the hardest game in the hardest way that it was intended to be played, without intentionally handicapping myself. So I feel pretty accomplished about that.

Some random observations about the game:

I might put Marich in top tier, if it were up to me. This guy was awesome all game long. He's the only Sage I've used thus far that combines great offense with good durability in FEDS. Furthermore, he can use haxcalibur immediately, and it oneshots Dracoknights, one of the most dangerous enemy types, all game long. He helped me win a lot of chapters faster.

I usually dislike Snipers and bow users in general, but H5 really made me respect them. My units were so frail for so much of the game that the ability to contribute good offense without taking a counter was extremely valuable. You get a lot of Killer and Silver Bows in this game, too, so there's no reason not to have a character or three doing massive damage to Pegasi and Dracoknights with them. Sniper is a good class in general, with good caps, decent Str and Def bases, above average speed, a crit and accuracy bonus, and good growths.

Indirect damage in general is great on H5.

Archers, on the other hand, -suck-. They have terrible mobility, and none of the Sniper's excellent Speed bonuses. They chip enemies with their low Str for little damage, and don't double. The only decent thing going for them is their growths. Stay away from Archer; grow as a different physical class, then go for Sniper after promotion. Getting bow WEXP early isn't worth the hassle of having an underwhelming unit, when Sniper starts you at C bows and you can improve your rank much more quickly (by being a useful combatant).

I experimented with Navarre as an Archer in this run, and it seriously hindered his growth to the point where he wasn't a useful character for most of the game. His only real purpose was to support Oguma on most maps.

On the other hand, Shiida as an Archer -> Sniper doesn't seem too bad. Shiida's overkill Spd helps her double quickly, so she's at least doing small chip damage twice. Sniper takes good advantage of Shiida's growths, letting her Speed reach it's full potential. Shiida's high Skill and A Marth support let her crit often with the Killer Bow. Her offense won't be as good as Sage!Shiida, but she's got existant Def and better HP growth as a Sniper, so she's less of a glass cannon.

That said, I ran Shiida as Pegasus -> Draco in this game. Her Wing Spear utility never really gets old; Paladins are so common in this game, and she's great at busting them, especially with a Forge. If you combine a Seraph Robe with her Def bonus from Dracoknight, she's got decent durability. It's not quite to the level of the Draco Bros., but it's passable. She can tank some enemies. Of course, her offense isn't as amazing as if she were a Sage, but that's the tradeoff you make for survivability.

Swordmasters have a bad rep. They have WTD against a lot of the game's enemies, but at the same time, they are one of the few classes that can reliably double, unless you are a hax unit like Shiida or Abel (the other classes being Sniper and Merc/Hero). This is pretty important, especially at endgame, where a lot of enemies have capped Spd, so much so that some classes stop doubling because their Spd cap just isn't high enough (Sage, Dracoknight, Pally). Swords are especially good at killing Manaketes with their hacked 26 AS. I ended my run with a huge pile of swords left over; something like 5 Silver Swords. What a waste.

Avoid is unreliable in this game. You get, at best, 45 Avo from your raw stats, assuming capped Spd and Luk as a Swordmaster or Horseman. When most of the enemies are packing Forged accuracy weapons, sometimes with over 100% inherent accuracy, this doesn't get you anywhere near reliable dodge. Stacking supports was the only way I found to gain any real avoid chance in this game; if you can add 30% avo from supports to decent Spd and Luk, a terrain bonus, and a weapon triangle bonus, then you're getting somewhere. I never once got an enemy down to 0% hit though, which I can say for numerous other FE games. I don't even think I got the enemy below 30 hit very often.

Defense is amazing in this game. Enemies pack forged weapons that hit like a truck, and are strong to begin with. Characters with low HP/Def combo get one shotted. Characters that get doubled are probably one rounded. Later, enemies get Brave Weapons, where high Def applies even more frequently. Most characters cannot take more than one or two hits without dying. If a unit could attack on the player turn and counter on the enemy turn, I was honestly pleased. A far cry from FE7, where you just have an ownage unit run into the middle of a field and watch a horde of enemies die on them. This is part of the reason Generals are so good in this game (Zagaro and Wolf particularly) because they are the only class that can really get away with this.

That support circle with Oguma, Barts, Cord, and Bord paid off dividends; it made the run easier, and really pulled me out of a fire during the endgame. Even if Bord never became better than "decent", he still did pretty will as a Killer Bow Horseman, getting 40% crit or so with the Killer Bow, and he made Cord and Barts into killing machines. Having 30% base crit as a Berserker is nuts, and 20% is nothing to scoff at as a Hero. It would have been a lot harder to beat the boss without deaths if Cord didn't have excellent evade from supports.

Other characters that benefit a lot from support include Abel, Shiida, and Cain.

These characters were also the only ones in my party that I could count on to avoid attacks (some of the time).

Brave weapons aren't bad, but Forged Brave Weapons -suck-. When the enemies started equipping Brave Weapons, it was a mixed blessing. Yeah, they attacked more often, but individual attacks were pretty weak, and their accuracy took a huge hit compared to the Silver Weapons they had been using. Brave Lances and Swords are a little worse than a Steel Weapon on any individual attack. My supported units had great avo vs the basic Brave weapons. I actually had a harder time against the Silvers, which almost always hit. Forged Brave Weapons, on the other hand, with their increased damage per hit and increased accuracy, hit like a truck. I didn't let anyone with less than 45 HP fight them.

Marth was pretty lame this run. He got really RNG screwed across the board. After a period of early game utility where he was busting cavaliers with his Forged Rapier, I just kind of realized at some point in the later midgame that he'd stopped being useful. I didn't even get him to cap in this run; he finished the last chapter at level 25.

I had huge problems with promotion in this run, because I had too many units that needed Master Seals to promote. Several of my units didn't promote until C23, a scant 2 chapters before endgame. This left a lot of my units underleveled and underpowered for the last chapter, making it significantly more difficult. In the future, I would make more effort to field more units without promotions, or that are already promoted.

Notably, In the future, I should:

Field a Thief (Julian). They aren't that much worse than a Swordmaster, regarding their Caps, and they save me a promotion item. There are a few chapters with a ton of chests in one place, where it would save a lot of time to have someone help Marth open them all.

I spent about 5000 gold on Master Keys to make up for not having a Thief, which could have forged another effective weapon for endgame, or bought a couple more weapons.

Consider fielding a Ballistician (Jake). Ballisticians contribute useful chip damage, and kill Mages without taking damage. There were a few points where having a Ballistician would have been extremely useful for countering enemy siege. Perhaps against the Swarm Bishops in C23, and a Forged Thunderbolt would have been amazingly helpful against the Pachyderm Ballisticians in the Final Chapter. Ballisticians are another class that don't need promotion.

Field more prepromotes. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of good ones in this game. Jeigan and Wendell are great for the earlygame, but won't last to endgame.

Zagaro and Wolf become even better. Not only are they brokenly awesome, but they don't even compete with other good units for promotion items. Lol.

My opinion of Minerva has improved even more. I liked her before on NM. On H5, she was good enough to remain viable even through the endgame, as a Sniper. Her growths are pretty good for a prepromote, especially in this game. She never really becomes better than decent, but she doesn't need to promote, and that's a big advantage.

Ymir is passable as a Hero, and Horace is pretty decent for a while.

Chainey might be another great option, because he doesn't promote either, and can duplicate a promoted unit.

Hardin and Athena fell victim to late promotion the most. I think I squandered a lot of their potential. I haven't gotten Hardin to work as well as he could, yet. He always seems to play second fiddle to Cain and Abel on my playthoughs, because they have several useful supports, while Hardin has few. I had a ton of trouble raising Athena as a Pegasus. She was really slow, and had 70% accuracy. That's bad when enemies hit hard when you miss. She never became better than a filler unit, I have a feeling I should have raised her differently.

What Next?

So, with H5 defeated, what should I play next?

+ H5 again, this time with different/low tier units.

+ H5, with the condition that all units must survive.

+ Low turn count NM.

+ RNG abuse a Wi-Fi team?

+ Play a different FE? I've got Sacred Stones lying around, and could pick up Path of Radiance or Fire Emblem 7 easily enough. I've beaten all of these games on NM, but I don't think I've beaten HM for any of them.

Thanks again for your interjections of advice, everyone.

Edited October 28, 2009 by Blackbird

[Candlejack]

FE 8 Hard Mode.

Or alternatively, use the hack for FE8 Very Hard Mode. It's around here somewhere.