FE8 100% Enemy growth hack

[Tables]

Chapter 9: This called for some clever movement, inspired by Mekkah. Tana gets ferried as far south as possible, carrying just a vulnerary, then weaves between Pirates to claim the Rapier. She has to take a hit, but her speed stops her being doubled. After that her massive movement over the water makes the trip back easy enough, although she also flys around distracting the pirates for a bit, buying me time and getting them to come over land rather than from behind me.

Meanwhile, Vanessa flies off to the Dracoshield village. She takes the village and manages to kill the Killing Edge Myrmidon, but is also left in a bad position, surrounded by Pirates, pinned in by the Sniper (who OHKOs with 97% hit), and with soldiers, mages and archers advancing from the south. She moves around trying to make an opening and eventually makes a break onto the beach, dodging the hand axe pirate and a few other attacks, making it out with single digit HP.

Everyone else has a much easier time, just forming a nice simple wall against the enemies. Eventually everything coming in at once means the wall is about 3 enemies deep, but then the soliders leave with Amelia and everything else slowly falls.

Finally, the Sniper was epic. Max stats in everything except HP (mid 40s) and Luck (23). Fortunately, he was a long way from ORKOing Gilliam (2RKO, I think, due to supports, might have even been 3RKO), so Gilliam took the blow and countered with surrounding. He needed to die to complete the chapter, so cue Gilliam and Vanessa beating him down at 44/46% hit rates for 4 damage (Vanessa had a Silver lance). That took a while, as you might expect, so I sold the Ocean Seal and went shopping while waiting. After that it was just taking down a few mercenaries and other pathetic enemies, and the boss, who was weaker than his Generics.

Name    | lv | exp  | HP | SM | SK | SP | LK | DF | RS | Supports             | Boosts
Eirika  | 25 | 7.43 | 35 | 13 | 19 | 20 | 22 |  9 | 10 | B Seth, C Ephraim    |
Seth    |  3 | 3.62 | 32 | 15 | 15 | 12 | 14 | 11 |  9 | B Eirika             |
Franz   | 26 | 5.00 | 38 | 15 | 13 | 20 | 17 | 15 |  7 | A Gilliam            |
Gilliam | 26 | 9.03 | 45 | 20 | 17 | 17 |  5 | 20 |  7 | A Franz, B Moulder   |
Vanessa | 25 | 9.72 | 29 | 14 | 20 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 13 | A Moulder            |+2 DEF
Moulder | 23 | 9.16 | 33 | 10 | 16 | 17 |  5 |  8 |  9 | A Vanessa, B Gilliam |

Nothing particularly special with those levels, except maybe Gilliam's +5 DEF, which was certainly nice. Gilliam will probably get promoted once Skill and Speed cap, since after them it's only Luck (not vital), RES (it's okay already) and HP (great already) that can increase.

[Tables]

Chapter 11 sucks. Instead of just talking about it, allow me to use an image.

Right, so, obviously I need to keep everyone alive, since they're all important. But I also need to save the Green units, since they each carry at least 5K worth of items, some up to 10K, and my money isn't all that high due to frequent stave/weapon use. But nobody has the durability or offence to go running off fighting on their own, although Vanessa's flying means that she can move pretty far, as long as she doesn't get hit by an archer. Unfortunately, there are a few on this chapter, which is a real problem. So to explain what I and the enemies do in this chapter...

Everyone but Vanessa first must make a wall, since they need to hold a defensive line. So they move forward into position, away from the ballistae on the right but in a nice chokepoint (1). The enemies move in to attack (2), backed up by tons of other units also moving in. Meanwhile, Vanessa flies around the enemies (3), past the lolstationary archer and up to the three green units, who fare badly against the beefed up enemies and die by about turn 4. Unfortunately, as pointed out earlier, if you move towards this fort, Marisa and her army start moving (4). This means that Vanessa can't stay there and help, rather, she has to grab someone and run. Of course, some enemies are likely to chase her, and double while she rescues, so she needs to be especially careful. The other two green units will then get overrun and killed (5) but it's virtually unavoidable. Of course, Marisa is going to have to die, since saving Gerik, then recruiting her, then dealing with a Falcoknight and Ranger would be too hard, even if it would be an exp pool.

My current progress is having saved Innes, Tethys and Gerik are dead, Innes and Vanessa are safe, and my line is strong. I think it's just a matter of killing about 20 enemies then advancing on Pablo now.

And the Arena is ridiculous now. I just sent Vanessa in to test it, and she went up against a Knight, with about 45HP, dealing 13 damage at 88% hit (Iron Lance) to Vanessa's 9 damage with 44% hit. Oh, and the Knight doubled, meaning it had 21 SPD and 15 DEF.

Edited April 1, 2010 by Black Bomb

[Life]

You know, you can also field Tana? Or did I miss the part where she died?

If you field Tana, she can recruit Innes to recruit Tethys and Gerik. Then rescue one of them while the other two escape (Tethys' dancing is great for this).

[Tables]

Tana can recruit Innes? I should have thought of that. I need to casual FE8 more. But I don't think she could get through to him without a rescue from Vanessa, and Vanessa then might not survive getting there (she gets chased by a Mercenary, and attacked by a Hand axe on the first turn, I think... being doubled by both would be bad). If she can then, yeah, I can do logical stuff with those 3 (plus Vanessa) and hopefully live... but even they, they basically need to escape and rejoin the others. I'll see if it's possible.

[Tables]

Big update today, due to many easy chapters after chapter 10, and a long day away from home playing Fire Emblem.

Ch 10:

I tried using Tana - it's very much possible to get her through, but since she struggles to get back, it means Vanessa has to try and hold out with everyone else, which unfortunately they're not strong enough to do anyway. So that means, my initial strategy went ahead. After bringing Innes back, Vanessa took the axereaver and flew onto the mountains to stop approaching bandits (she later switched to a slim lance, just for economy reasons), then I beat everyone up, no strategy, just fighting as hard as I can (or something... it wasn't hard). Marisa suicided against Eirika. Then I went and killed Pablo, no real problems there.

Name    | Lv | Exp  | HP | ST | SK | SP | LK | DF | RS | Supports             | Boosts
Eirika  | 32 | 9.72 | 39 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 27 | 12 | 10 | B Seth, C Ephraim    |
Franz   | 34 | 9.05 | 43 | 19 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 17 |  8 | A Gilliam            |
Gilliam | 33 | 8.25 | 50 | 20 | 17 | 20 |  5 | 20 |  8 | A Franz, B Mouler    |
Vanessa | 32 | 7.00 | 41 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 15 | 15 | A Moulder            | +2 DEF, +7 HP
Moulder | 27 | 8.00 | 35 | 14 | 17 | 18 |  5 |  9 | 10 | A Vanessa, B Gilliam |

I'm taking Seth out now - he's weaker than everyone, and his durability has reached a point where he dies in 1-2 rounds, so he's kinda pointless. He still gets fielded for supports and occasional ferrying.

Ch 11:

We've reached the easy midgame now - my team is getting stronger quicker than the enemies, and it mwans I'm generally able to blast straight through enemies with minimal problems. This chapter was no exception, with feeble monsters falling left, right and center (actaully, mostly on the right, but that's irrelevant). I sent everyone right, with the aim to get as many chests as possible, and possibly save L'arachel and GWA HA HA. I failed in that respect, as Dozla ran into the fog and was never seen again, with L'arachel following but staying alive for story purposes. Asides from that, there were some 1 range promoted enemies now. Challenging? Not really, one is a Deathgoyle who weighed himself down, and so got killed easily by Eirika and Mr. Bojangles (That's Gilliam, BTW, and it's not a canon name). The other was an Entombed with lolcaps (everything beneath 25, and 21 SPD, and only 17 AS IIRC)

Name    | Lv | Exp  | HP | ST | SK | SP | LK | DF | RS | Supports             | Boosts
Eirika  | 37 | 6.80 | 42 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 30 | 16 | 13 | B Seth, C Ephraim    |
Franz   | 39 | 9.68 | 48 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 18 |  8 | A Gilliam            |
Gilliam | 39 | 6.18 | 55 | 20 | 18 | 20 |  5 | 20 | 10 | A Franz, B Mouler    |
Vanessa | 39 | 7.00 | 45 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 16 | 17 | A Moulder            | +2 DEF, +7 HP
Moulder | 30 | 8.00 | 38 | 15 | 19 | 19 |  5 | 11 | 11 | A Vanessa, B Gilliam |

How come Vanessa always ends chapters able to Juna Fruit in preparations?

Ch 12:

Imagine doing this chapter normally, but having to protect Saleh and Ewan a bit better, and the Entombed in the corner being harder to kill. That's basically all that happened. I suppose the reinforcements required some nice strategy to deal with, though, since there's two groups of flyers, almost of whom can ORKO Seth and/or Saleh. I sent Vanessa straight towards the bottom left group, but avoiding the Mauthe Doogs, while Gilliam, Franz and Eirika went right, and made a defence against said doogs, and the bottom right group of Gargoyles. Since 2/4 Gargoyles on the left have Javelins, Vanessa could fly the group around how she wanted, but a lack of vulneraries meant she headed back to be healed, while Moulder was rescue saved away (by that point, the other fliers were dead and only 2 people need to kill the Mauthe Doogs), and the rest were easy enough to kill, after Seth and saleh were away.

Eirika  | 45 | 7.52 | 47 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 30 | 19 | 16 | B Seth, C Ephraim    |
Franz   | 46 | 6.00 | 54 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 20 |  9 | A Gilliam, C Seth    |
Gilliam | 45 | 9.56 | 60 | 20 | 19 | 20 |  9 | 20 | 11 | A Franz, B Mouler    |
Vanessa | 45 | 8.59 | 47 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 24 | 17 | 19 | A Moulder            | +2 DEF, +7 HP
Moulder | 33 | 6.11 | 40 | 15 | 20 | 20 |  5 | 11 | 12 | A Vanessa, B Gilliam |

Bojangles got Luck . And everyone has now capped Speed, which is nice.

Ch 13:

I finally promote someone! I was holding back on promoting Gilliam, since his Luck was low enough to often face non-zero crit rates when out of support range, but he's fixed that now. So as soon as he got a level, he took a Crest (actually, my only Crest) and promoted to a General, then immediately started working on his axe rank.

Strategy wise, this chapter is actually somewhat difficult. The enemies are too strong to just smash through and attack Aion (I wanted to, for the other Crest), so instead I took a defensive approach, breaking through and holding the bottom-right corner of the map. The Ranger that moves was taken down by being Rapiered, but unfortunately if you just do that, Amelia Speedwing decides she wants to be killed too, which isn't ideal. So I killed the Ranger and then Moulder stripped Eirika of her weapons, and thus Speedwing makes a totally useless attack.

Speedwing stored all her stuff, and got killed fairly quickly by Cormag's Elysian Whip's men. Eirika recruited him, took all his stuff, and Gilliam helped kill some of the other Wyvern Riders, but had to hold the Chokepoint as well, so they got away to go heal (until the end of the map, fortunately).

On the right, Franz and Vanessa held a line, just killing enemies. There was probably about 20 enemies there at the end, but it didn't make much difference, since only a few could attack at once (and only 1-2 died each turn due to their defence and gettin healed). There wasn't really much going on there, but Eirika helped in the last few turns after her interesting recruitment fight.

Pablo and his men didn't even reach me. Pablo managed to Purge Elysian Whip, killing him, but that was long after depositing his stuff so no real loss. I had no chance of getting the Swordreaver, since it would have meant killing a Warrior in about 3 turns, if I was over there in the first place.

Name    | Lvl  | Exp  | HP | ST | SK | SP | LK | DF | RS | Supports             | Boosts
Eirika  | 49   | 8.19 | 49 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 30 | 20 | 16 | B Seth, C Ephraim    |
Franz   | 48   | 8.52 | 55 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 23 | 20 | 10 | A Gilliam, C Seth    |
Gilliam | 45/1 | 1.82 | 60 | 22 | 21 | 23 |  9 | 22 | 14 | A Franz, B Mouler    |
Vanessa | 48   | 9.00 | 50 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 26 | 17 | 20 | A Moulder            | +2 DEF, +7 HP
Moulder | 34   | 6.11 | 41 | 16 | 20 | 20 |  5 | 12 | 13 | A Vanessa, B Gilliam |

[Tables]

Right, I've been thinking ahead a bit and I need to know, including chapter 14, how many chest keys are there left to find? I counted 18 chests left to open, if I can reach them all (6 here, 4 in chapter 16, 6 in chapter 19, 2 in Endgame but one is worthless and the other might be too), and I have 4 lockpick uses and 3 chest keys. Should I buy some keys once I have the silver card (from the chapter 9 shop, apparently), or will killing thieves/getting keys from kills be enough?

Secondly, promotion routes: I've already promoted Gilliam to General, for the better stats and caps, and the losses (-1 MOV, E instead of D Axes) are minor in comparison. Franz, I'm planning to take Great Knight (better promotion gains, axes and higher caps, but he doesn't get any sword WEXP, and he's going to S swords). Vanessa and Moulder are the debatable ones:

I'm going to promote Vanessa once STR and DEF are capped. So her base stats in each class are something like:

Class  | HP    |  STR  |  SKL  |  SPD  |  LUK  |  DEF  |  RES  | CN | Other
Falco  | 60/60 | 22/23 | 20/25 | 22/28 | 30/30 | 22/23 | 22/26 |  6 | E Swords
Wyvern | 60/60 | 22/24 | 21/27 | 22/29 | 30/30 | 21/23 | 21/23 |  9 | Pierce

Looking at that... Wyvern seems superior to me, swords aren't so useful when there's Gilliam and Franz with Sword/Lances already (although Gilliam won't be training swords, so perhaps swords would be good?)

Finally, Moulder. He's gonna promote... I dunno when. He's unlikely to get up to S rank in attacking magic, since he'll need to use Staves still. Anima has the obvious advantage of being, well, better, which is a plus for staves, but then again bishop will help in the promoted monster dense chapter 20, and Endgame, and until that point the only other tough levels are Chapter 19 (little difference either way, Moulder won't be on the frontline) and chapters 16 and 17 (and I don't even know if he'll be promoted by then, probably though. So... I'm thinking Bishop, even though he loses out on (C rank) Anima and potentially better stat caps (the loss of Anima is the main thing, of course).

[Anouleth]

Is getting Rennac that hard? If you go round the left route on C14, you can probably catch him. Although I suppose L'arachel is probably dead and you don't have enough money to buy him. Well, I know one guy in C16 has a chest key, but I don't know about C14 Eir. Route. There aren't any Chest Keys in C14 Eph. Route, I remember.

Wyvern is generally the superior choice, for the extra constitution.

Moulder should go Bishop. Anima magic is a measly +2 attack against humans, while Light is a whopping +8 to +16 against monsters. Given that you will probably want to Warpskip C19, I'd rather have Light.

[Tables]

Ah, good point. I might not warp on ch. 19, actually, as long as I can contain the enemy (2 units at the bottom with vulneraries and 2 at the top), I can survive quite easily, I expect, and then I can break into all of the chests.

And, yeah, I don't have enough money and L'arachel is dead. My strategy is going the long way around, then breaking the wall to get into Rennac's room, killing him on the same turn (easy).

[Anouleth]

You can use Warp to hit the chests as quickly as possible. Since Moulder's magic is probably really high by now, you can have him warp Colm/chest key man on turns 1 and 2, and take down Riev on turn 3. That's enough time to get the really valuable items - the Fenrir, the Speedwing, and the Fortify. The other items are worth maybe a 1000 each, which is barely worth what you'll spend in healing items over 12 turns. Still, Warp itself is about 750 a use, so you might be better off selling it, unless you want to warpskip C20.

In addition, you'll need 5 characters, not 4. The space at the bottom of the throne room is 3 wide. Unless you're not talking about the throne room, but reinforcements appear on the right of the map as well occasionally, so you'd need someone to take care of them anyway.

[Tables]

Actually, yeah, I was planning on using warp to get around the chests, I just realised after posting :P. Thanks for pointing out the cost of it though. I think by that point, funds won't be an issue (I have about 8K now, 20/25K from promotion items coming up depending on if I use the MS (ch 15) or Knights Crest (ch 16) on Franz, Silver Card, Various items in the desert, and any other cash injections)... so actually, buying chest keys won't be a problem, either . I know some enemies come from the sides, but if I have, say, Franz and Gilliam at the top, and Ephraim and Eirika at the bottom, then I have Vanessa and Moulder to deal with anyone wandering around, plus Myrrh who... may be able to fight by that point (I might try to raise her, otherwise Dracozombies might be nasty).

[Tables]

Chapter 14:

My strategy was basically as the post 3 above said, but with a lot of complications. I broke into the room just to the north, looted it, then headed west, went around and generally destroyed everything until I got to the path above the archers, while Moulder Barrierspammed and the reinforcements were dealt with by Vanessa and Gilliam (who did most of the fighting in this chapter, actually, since they need the exp and wexp more than others).

Then things got interesting. There's a Silver Bow Sniper, with enough MT to 2RKO almost everyone, while taking miniscule damage from ranged attacks. In addition, I have Colm, Seth and Vanessa (who was literally promoted one enemy before this section) with me, who are OHKOed/ORKOed, making things extra difficult. Oh, and did I mention there are hand axe Fighters as well? Basically, the original strategy had no chance of working, but those Hand Axe Fighters helped... Vanessa, Seth and Franz all rescued someone, and blitzed left. The Hand axe fighters attack first, targetting Vanessa and Seth, being the only people in their range. Gilliam takes the Snipers blows, while Franz gets through unscathed. There's a corner on the left where the Sniper can't reach, which I used to regroup, although the Sniper still covered some ground on the left, so I had to rush straight past that.

After that, there's a Berserk staff Priest who managed to mess stuff up by Berserking Franz, causing a pretty much instant load (in case you hadn't guessed, I'm using savestates, I value my sanity), but Vanessa made quick work of him. Then I worked my way into the centre, lured the Silver Bow Sniper out and surrounded him, then went all the way back around to kill Rennac and get the member's card, for a Lockpick (primarily). Blah, blah, blah, killed everything, Colm opened some chests, Franz ran back with a key to open one I missed (I originally intended to lockpick it, but decided it was a waste of time and I have enough keys), and I also bought a Physic and Knight's Crest (10K gold chest) for Franz, since I can just sell the Master Seal for the same amount, and he wants to promote ASAP.

87 turns . Told you I wasn't going for efficiency (hmm, this run, no savestates, going for minimum turn count... that's a scary thought.

Name    | Lvl  | Exp  | HP | ST | SK | SP | LK | DF | RS | Supports             | Boosts
Eirika  | 51   | 7.00 | 51 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 30 | 20 | 17 | B Seth, C Ephraim    |
Franz   | 51/1 | 1.00 | 60 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 25 | 22 | 11 | A Gilliam, C Seth    |
Gilliam | 45/6 | 6.56 | 60 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 11 | 26 | 16 | A Franz, B Mouler    |
Vanessa | 58/3 | 3.93 | 60 | 22 | 22 | 23 | 30 | 19 | 22 | A Moulder            | +2 DEF, +7 HP
Moulder | 40   |13.48 | 45 | 18 | 20 | 20 |  7 | 14 | 14 | A Vanessa, B Gilliam |

Gilliam almost has A axes, Vanessa has S Lances. Vanessa promoted to Wyvern Knight and Franz promoted to Great Knight.

More promoted enemies coming up soon, including a 48mt, 29 crit Devil axe Berserker (only 23 AS though, so still lol), and more notably a 42 mt, 29 crit, 28 AS Dragon Axe Zerker. A little more fun. I could promote Knoll for Summons next chapter too... might come in handy, actually.

Edited April 15, 2010 by Black Bomb

[Anouleth]

I'm sure you meant Chapter 14, not Chapter 15.

It's a shame you're not on Eph. Route, where there's an additional Knight's Crest, two if you save Duessel's cavaliers (not impossible, the AI doesn't attack them for a while), since you didn't get Aias', but trying to do Phantom Ship or Father and Son (lolol15rangeberserk/sleep) under these conditions seems impossible, so it's probably for the best.

The Berserk staff Priest was always easy for me, since he doesn't move. But I guess now he has 10 range instead of 5 range. Still, you don't have a Restore lying around? What are you going to do in Ruled by Madness?

[Tables]

I had 2, but Moulder hadn't moved up yet, since the Sniper was covering 5 squares on the left so he needed to be in exactly the right place to move (or be rescued, but whatever, I fixed it fairly easily).

And the problem was, he did move . I hadn't expected him to, but he ran straight up to Vanessa and Berserked Franz on the edge of his range. I think he had something like 16 MAG or so, not capped yet.

Yeah, but Eph route as you say would be insane to impossible.

Chapter 9 starts with a bunch of very long range sleep users, which would require RNG abuse just to avoid, probably, but then isn't too bad after that.

Chapter 10, Duessel is actually fragile. His Cavaliers have those epic growths too, so they can actually fight well, but no HM boost hurts them (I had a look, I think) since the enemies are stronger.

Chapter 11, lol flying enemies, some promoted enemies (I think), would make defending Moulder probably tough, but asides from that, maybe not too bad.

Chapter 12, Meh, nothing too difficult I think

Chapter 13, again, I don't think would be too hard, asides from the Great Knight and some other fliers causing grief

Chapter 14, Epic range Berserk staffs, almost guaranteed not to get/kill Rennac, basically insanity.

Hmm, really, it's just the first three and last chapter that are difficult. And anyway, it's not a huge cost to promote Franz - 5K really I'd get elsewhere, plus I'm about to pick up the Silver Card and if I'm really desperate, I have a fair number of stat boosters sitting around, waiting until they're needed.

And I fixed the chapter

Edited April 15, 2010 by Black Bomb

[A Whaler on the Moon]

I tried the link you gave for the patch, but it doesn't seem to work. I tried both hard and soft patching, but all the enemies have normal HM stats. Does the patch work for anyone else?

[Tables]

Hmm... nobody else has complained. Remember that enemies in the Prologue and chapter 1 are barely boosted, you really need to get to chapter 2 to see the changes - get to there (or use a savestate from later in the game).

[chococoke]

Just so you know, you DO still have fans.

[Narga_Rocks]

Just so you know, you DO still have fans.

Fans that want to see you finish.

[Tables]

lol, yeah, I was planning to, but asides from revision, being ill recently has meant I've kinda been motivated to do nothing... don't worry, I am planning on finishing this now I've got to the good bits.

[Tables]

I've just played to the point Ephraim rejoined... these are his stats (for the record, he gains 6 levels):

Level    | HP   | STR  | SKL  | SPD  | LUK | DEF  | RES |
Previous | 29   | 16   | 15   | 18   | 14  | 12   | 3   |
Expected | 33.8 | 19.3 | 18.3 | 20   | 17  | 14.1 | 4.5 |
Actual   | 35   | 19   | 16   | 20   | 18  | 13   | 3   |

I hate his defence and RES, especially since next chapter has magic enemies.

[chococoke]

Fans that want to see you finish.

Way to make me sound like an asshole :(

I'm just interested!

[Anouleth]

I've just played to the point Ephraim rejoined... these are his stats (for the record, he gains 6 levels):

Level    | HP   | STR  | SKL  | SPD  | LUK | DEF  | RES |
Previous | 29   | 16   | 15   | 18   | 14  | 12   | 3   |
Expected | 33.8 | 19.3 | 18.3 | 20   | 17  | 14.1 | 4.5 |
Actual   | 35   | 19   | 16   | 20   | 18  | 13   | 3   |

I hate his defence and RES, especially since next chapter has magic enemies.

Enjoy the Purge carrying Sages!

[Tables]

I know . But I think I have a Talisman or two lying around... er, no, I don't . But I do have an Angelic Robe, a Juna Fruit, and savestates (which I hope I don't have to use). Ephraim's probably going to get most of the kills this chapter, if he's able.

[Anouleth]

You don't have any Barrier staves? I know you can buy them in the Secret Shop.

If worst comes to worst, you can Warp someone up to kill Monsieur Purge.

[Tables]

Nah, I do have Barrier staves (well, 2 uses, but that should be enough anyway), but I also have a few Pure Waters anyway, kept just in case. I'm not crazy concerned about Ephraim, he'll just take a while to get up to awesome.

[Tables]

Chapter 15: Flying enemies + weak units separated from the main group + various promoted enemies scattered around + a desert to find hidden items in = fun chapter. I deployed Colm for sanity purposes, which along with Seth gave me two liabilities to defend (Seth's support boosts are still just about worth it, though). This wouldn't have been a problem, weren't it for the Mercenaries in the north-east that move in and then later the mages and Pegasii.

Everyone started off moving west, to deal with the fighters, Myrmidons and Mercenaries in the west. Vanessa also helped Ephraim and Co out, due to being relatively weak compared to enemies. She quickly came back north, as I got overwhelmed by Pegasii, but Gilliam and Franz's axes helped to counter that (and being promoted, doubling and ORKOing). The Shamans were dealt with by Vanessa, Gilliam and Franz, and by this point Ephraim had made his way north and was fighting a few enemies too. He got his B support with Eirika, then was the main force fighting the reinforcements from the south, with Vanessa helping to take out Mages that scared Ephraim. She also dealt with the Paladin, along with Moulder's support (both figurative and literal).

After all the reinforcements were dead, Ephraim had gained plenty of experience and the rest of the chapter is cake. Gilliam and Franz went to deal with the Dragon Axe 'Zerker, trapping him and beating him with Swords, while Colm got the Silver card and other people picked up the Wyrmslayer, Body Ring, Silence and Warp staves. Ephraim also killed Calleach, with Vanessa's help. Then everyone advanced south, generally slayed the enemies - the Rangers proved annoying, doubling and almost killed Ephraim, but a Rapier hit followed by a Reginleif hit killed them off. Asides from that, a steady advance, dealing with the Paladin and Berserker when needed, was all I did.

Now, who should get the Metis tome... Gilliam would benefit for his high stat caps and low RES and LUK growths, but then again he's a high level already. Ephraim isn't promoted and has a good chance to gain DEF and RES, which could be good. Moulder also could benefit to his LUK and defences. Hmm... Ephraim makes the most sense.

Name    | Lvl  | Exp  | HP | ST | SK | SP | LK | DF | RS | Supports             | Boosts
Eirika  | 53   | 9.87 | 52 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 30 | 20 | 17 | B Seth, B Ephraim    |
Franz   | 51/2 | 2.52 | 60 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 25 | 22 | 11 | A Gilliam, C Seth    |
Gilliam | 45/8 | 8.26 | 60 | 27 | 25 | 24 | 12 | 27 | 16 | A Franz, B Mouler    |
Vanessa | 58/7 | 7.41 | 60 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 30 | 19 | 23 | A Moulder            | +2 DEF, +7 HP
Moulder | 46   |10.56 | 46 | 20 | 20 | 20 |  8 | 15 | 17 | A Vanessa, B Gilliam |
Ephraim | 39   | 7.65 | 52 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 30 | 16 |  8 | B Eirika             | Metis Tome (lvl 39)

I have no idea what happened with Ephraim's Luck. I'm not complaining though.

Chapter 16.

This chapter can be accurately summed up in a single image, if you're willing to think about what's missing and why.

Basically, this chapter has a weird AI. It doesn't do anything at first until you're well within the castle, the both thieves spawn, all the enemies spawn in the south, and all the warriors/druids start moving. This unfortunately makes things pretty tricky, and I hole myself up in the pictured room. You'll notice Vanessa is missing in the screenshot - warped to the northeast to kill the Thief - he got the 5K chest, but I saved the other two (with a Talisman and Hero's Crest, so 10K saved there). Ephraim did a bit more fighting, ready for promotion at the end of the chapter, and also took down the thief on the far left - well, after I stopped him stealing the Juna Fruit, that is. After all the reinforcements are dead, which with my wall, wasn't hard, the chapters easy. A few Heros to lure out and kill, a few Sages to bait, and that's it. I didn't use Knoll. I planned to. I forgot . He might have helped with healing, but that's it really, since Phantoms weren't really necessary anywhere.

Name    | Lvl   | Exp  | HP | ST | SK | SP | LK | DF | RS | Supports             | Boosts
Eirika  | 54/01 | 1.00 | 57 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 30 | 22 | 22 | A Ephraim, B Seth    |
Franz   | 51/10 | 9.00 | 60 | 26 | 24 | 24 | 30 | 25 | 12 | A Gilliam, B Seth    |
Gilliam | 45/12 | 7.00 | 60 | 27 | 26 | 24 | 13 | 29 | 17 | A Franz, B Mouler    |
Vanessa | 58/10 | 9.45 | 60 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 20 | 23 | A Moulder            | +2 DEF, +7 HP
Moulder | 47/05 | 5.12 | 53 | 25 | 24 | 22 |  9 | 20 | 20 | A Vanessa, B Gilliam |
Ephraim | 49/01 | 1.00 | 60 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 30 | 22 | 16 | A Eirika             | Metis Tome (lvl 39)

Ephraim's +5 RES at promotion has sure come in handy. His low caps, however, won't.

Edited April 23, 2010 by I Eat Tables