Fighting Ashera

[Haar the Pirate]

The one chapter where you absolutely need those broken Mastery Skills the most, and your units can't use them.

But seriously, right now I'm on Normal mode and I'm having a little trouble on this map. The main concern is Ashera and her area attacks. Is there like a set pattern or something? The first attack hits all units and targets Def, apparently. The next one targets one random character (does it target Def or Res?), and the one after that hits all units and targets Res, I think...

I wasn't having this much trouble on Easy mode because the area attacks didn't come every turn, and this is my first time on Normal mode.

[Tables]

Do you have the Fortify staff? That really helps if you do.

Anyway, the simplest strategy is to use Parity and Nihil on your main Aura attackers, and also use both Red Dragons for attack boosts and Nasir for Speed boosts (if you aren't deploying them, drop someone like Sothe and someone else weak so you can - the benefit from their skills, especially Nasir's, far outweighs those of your worst characters). At the start of turn 2, use Fortify to heal everyone, and hopefully finish off the Auras, and if you have enough attackers, kill Ashera, but it might take one more turn.

[Integrity]

Do you still have the Fortify Staff? Hit that shit every time Ashera hits her AoEs. I actually brought Mist for that express purpose supporting Boyd.

I've...never done it without, so that's all for my advice.

EDIT: What the fuck, IET.

EDIT2: On Nasir, he's VERY worth having if you didn't kill him in Dheg's map. His +5 SPD is just enough to, say, bring a maxed Shinon up to doubling speed.

Edited June 1, 2010 by Integrity

[Haar the Pirate]

I still have the Fortify staff and the Hammerne staff as well, so I'm pretty much set on mass HP recovery.

I primarily want to know if there is a set pattern in what type of area attacks Ashera uses.

As for Nasir, I really only recruited him for the extra Nihil scroll.

Edited June 1, 2010 by Haar the Pirate

[chococoke]

I still have the Fortify staff and the Hammerne staff as well, so I'm pretty much set on mass HP recovery.

I primarily want to know if there is a set pattern in what type of area attacks Ashera uses.

As for Nasir, I really only recruited him for the extra Nihil scroll.

There is.

1st Turn- AoE physical attack

2nd Turn- Long range magic attack, single unit

3rd Turn- AoE magical attack

4th Turn- Long range physical attack, single unit

5th Turn- Slience everyone

6th Turn and on- Repeat order from turn 1

EDIT: Unless you have a unit that absolutely needs to be deployed, Nasir is VERY useful due to his White Pool, plus he has a reasonable chance of hitting Ashera's auras for good damage.

Edited June 1, 2010 by Chococoke

[Haar the Pirate]

Hey, thanks for the info. :)

Huh, so Nasir's more useful than I initially thought. Maybe I should replace either Sanaki or Leanne. Plus I can at position Ike better, as he has crap for Resistance.

[_____]

It would be best to get rid of Sanaki for Nasir out of those two if you want to the game ASAP. She's pretty useless here.

[Tables]

Keep Leanne out - if she can survive an attack. 2 Extra attacks per turn from some of your best fighters > one attack per turn.

[Shimmachi]

Wait, why did you dump Leanne in the 1st place...

Also, abuse Fortify, Physic, Ashera Staff, Matrona, Nasir, Nihil, Blood Tide, basically everything. I don't recommend deploying Gareth though, his fail SPD and RES is demanding for a ORKO from Ashera.

[Narga_Rocks]

Wait, why did you dump Leanne in the 1st place...

Also, abuse Fortify, Physic, Ashera Staff, Matrona, Nasir, Nihil, Blood Tide, basically everything. I don't recommend deploying Gareth though, his fail SPD and RES is demanding for a ORKO from Ashera.

If you have a good team, you can two turn. Ashera never gets her single target magical attack at all since that's turn 2 enemy phase, and you should finish on turn 2 player phase.

For a less epic team, kill all the spirits as they pop up, ward Gareth on turn 2 and keep him at full hp and he'll survive Ashera doubling him. With like 2 hp or something, but that's all you need for him to not die. Or you could not bother with ward/pure water and simply have him stand on a wardwood tile and he'll survive, but frankly I'd rather be able to position him wherever I want for better blood tide use. Oh, and he obviously needs to be transformed, but you hopefully have either the laguz gem or a few laguz stones and either is sufficient if used on turn 1.

Blood Tide > the difficulty of figuring out how to think enough to keep Gareth alive. It is worth using him. You want all 3 of the useful dragons (Ena, Nasir, Gareth) on the field to make this easier. +5 speed with Nasir allows much more doubling, and +5 str/skl from Ena and Gareth allows more powerful and accurate attacks. And considering those things have 135 avo, even the +10 accuracy boost is a big deal.

Can I assume you aren't getting Lehran? Ashera staff is so much better for this than Fortify, though Fortify is still pretty good.

Edited June 2, 2010 by Narga_Rocks

[Anouleth]

Leanne should be deployed. Since this map is so Player-Phase focussed, she's like two units on her own. Not quite as h4x as Rafiel being 4 units, but still useful.

[Shimmachi]

And you demand for Canto utility? Also, lol, base Gareth warded can survive Ashera's magical single target... BUT, he survives at 1 HP.

Can you kill teh spiritz in time, before they even proceed to kill Gareth? Everyone would be busy killing crap, you would probably prefer him to sit on Wardwood instead, digest Pure Water every turn, eat up all your Talismans...

(I think I'm exaggerating, but Gareth is pointless.)

[Integrity]

I don't deploy Gareth. I find Snacky's blessed siege tome to be more useful than worrying about him. Nasir is too worthwhile and Kurth and Ena are forced IIRC, so :/

Plus, I killed Gareth accidentally the first time I got to Ashera.

EDIT: "accidentally" being "I didn't think he was recruitable and after Snacky Meteored him I saw Nasir and realized they're probably both recruitable"

Edited June 2, 2010 by Integrity

[_____]

Kurth and Ena aren't forced onto the actual maps.

[dondon151]

(I think I'm exaggerating, but Gareth is pointless.)

Nah, you're just wrong. But Fire Emblem is not a game for thinking men, anyway.

I mean, there are easy ways to get around this, as Narga has detailed. There are no excuses.

Edited June 2, 2010 by dondon151

[Narga_Rocks]

And you demand for Canto utility? Also, lol, base Gareth warded can survive Ashera's magical single target... BUT, he survives at 1 HP.

Can you kill teh spiritz in time, before they even proceed to kill Gareth? Everyone would be busy killing crap, you would probably prefer him to sit on Wardwood instead, digest Pure Water every turn, eat up all your Talismans...

(I think I'm exaggerating, but Gareth is pointless.)

Um, there's a total of 5 spirits by turn 2. If you can't kill those 5 spirits (3 on turn 1, 2 on turn 2) before turn 2 enemy phase then I should probably give up on you.

Anyway, all he needs is those 2 hp. And it is 2. 82 hp facing two attacks could never end on an odd number. It's worth killing those spirits. It is disgustingly easy to KO Ashera on turn 2, so if you are delaying until turn 3 anyway that you even face Ashera's single target magical attack then you might as well kill the spirits, too. If I can kill all the auras + 3 spirits + Ashera herself all by turn 2, surely others could kill a few spirits + all that by turn 3 or 4. Believe me when I tell you that thinking is worth it when it comes to an extra +5 damage and +10 hit for people adjacent to Gareth.