Axe only playthrough

[Tables]

Rules:

Except 1-P and finishing Ashera in 4-E-5, Axes are the only weapon which will be used. This includes staves and the like

All characters that can use axes when recruited, plus Ike, will be used

That's about it really. I think it will get lol by part 3, but... whatever.

1-P:

Lolzergrush

1-1:

Nolan takes and uses the Dracoshield - he has to solo a few chapters so it'll come in handy. He then smashes two loldiers, gets Sacrifice healed and finishes one on his turn. He moves next to the Javelin Solider, while Eddie moves up to the gap so the Archer doesn't get in the way. Everyone moves forwards, he stands in front of the boss with a Hand Axe and kills both enemies while everyone else escapes.

1-2:

I probably didn't play this level like I should have - choosing to rout pretty much the entire map leaving me short on axes (until 1-4, all I have is a Steel and a Hand axe). Still, it wasn't hard. Got all the chests, left the boss and a few enemies alive. Left the level with 8 Steel Axe uses and 5 Hand Axe uses. Hmm

1-3:

Here things get fun. With the ability to kill about 6 enemies, I have to complete the entire chapter. The solution? Break through the door to the east, then get Sothe to steal an Axe from a Fighter with a spare. Then have Sothe blockade the enemies from the north at the door while Nolan punches through to the escape point. Easier said than done, though - those enemies are 2RKOing almost everyone while I can only kill a few enemies, and they're mostly in front of me. Kurth meatshields valiantly, distracting a number of enemies, while Eddie, Sothe, Ilyana and Leonardo all take turns getting hit. Meanwhile, Nolan kills the few enemies ahead and gets everyone through as quickly as possible. After spending about 5-10 minutes working out the best strategy for this, I go ahead and implement the plan - and work out it has something like a 1% success rate (Laura must dodge two attacks from an archer at about 80% true, while Eddie has to dodge 1/2 from around 80% true, working out at about a 1% success rate). Since my name is not Vykan, I cheat an use an Elthunder critical to finish the archer (so just Eddie has to dodge), since I could have abused to get the same result anyway ¬_¬. After that, it's smooth sailing to the escape point as Sothe blocks the door.

So, now I'm at the base in 1-4, with 1 Steel Axe use, 1 Hand axe use and another 13 use Hand axe. Fortunately, I can now buy and forge axes. Nolan is about level 15, with average or above average stats all around. 1-4 should be a doddle, while 1-5 is a little trickier for a solo. Then I get Tauroneo and Jill.

[Fenrir]

it doesnt sound to terrible...but who is urvan going to =p. and 1-5 will be hell but then u do get tauroneo but he leaves and you get jill 1-8 and 1-E could be a bit tricky/really really long

[Anouleth]

Part 3 should be the easiest bit, since you have Brom, Gatrie, Titania, Boyd, and Haar at your disposal, and Kieran later on.

Except 3-9. I guess if you dumped 2-3 BEXP on Makalov, you could throw him a promotion which gets him Axes, so it's not a Kieran solo. Gets you another character for Endgame, although he'll probably suck when you have to BEXP and Crown Makalov and ruin his solid growths. Maybe you could make up for it with some boosters...

But even without the turn BEXP from 2-2 (no chance in hell) and 80% of the pacifist BEXP from 2-3, you have 20k in 3-9. That's more than enough to promote Makalov even without a Crown. Shame about the impact on his stats. The only things he caps easily with a stat booster are speed (which is kind of a waste of your 2-3 Wing) and HP (you don't have a Robe). Still, plenty of opportunity to fix that in Tier 3.

[Integrity]

You stole my FE8 playlog. D:

Normal Mode?

[Tables]

Yeah, well, RD Normal is far, far harder than SS Hard.

Urvan: Don't care, it's kinda irrelevant at this point and probably irrelevant by then.

Yeah, asides from 1-5, I think I've dealt with the hardest part. Axe stock in 1-1 and 1-2 might be the only other problem, but I intend to transfer Haar's axe(s) via Leanne to Brom.

[Rewjeo]

So, I assume Ike will only use axes after promo (besides Dheg/Lehran/Ashera)?

[Tables]

Combine rules 1 and 2, and yes. Ike will be BEXP'd up to --/20 or somewhere around there, then will use axes once he promotes. Ragnell will be used soley for killing Ashera.

Edited June 7, 2010 by I Eat Tables

[Rewjeo]

So Ike won't be able to attack Dheg and Lehran?

[Joerachi]

So Ike won't be able to attack Dheg and Lehran?

We can assume Yes

[Psych]

I know you probably won't, but if you did, Meg can use Axes at third tier. It wouldn't to have another user I suppose.

[Tables]

I know she can. But to be even somewhat usable, she'd need about 35 levels worth of BEXP. For something like 2 chapters of use, stuck with an Iron Forge. I could also use Makalov by the same token, but better to go with the amazing Kieran, I think.

[Anouleth]

Did you not read my post? Makalov can get to third tier just off the BEXP from Part 2. This is NM, so you have enough to spend.

Meg could reach 3rd tier for a larger amount (probably around 35k), but still feasible. But it's not so worth it, since by the time you can splurge on her in that way, you're probably at Part 4 (and also Meg sucks). Arms Scrolls fix her shoddy starting rank, and you should have some spare.

[Psych]

I know she can. But to be even somewhat usable, she'd need about 35 levels worth of BEXP. For something like 2 chapters of use, stuck with an Iron Forge. I could also use Makalov by the same token, but better to go with the amazing Kieran, I think.

Arms Scrolls fix her shoddy starting rank, and you should have some spare.

There's also Discipline. Just saying.

[Tables]

Missed Discipline, Sothe was too busy meatshielding the door at that point. I could have sent someone back to hold it instead, but I didn't think I'd need it.

I know I can promote Mak with BEXP - I said that in the post as you'd already mentioned it. But if I have that much spare BEXP, I could just use it to make Kieran better. I don't think 3-8 will be a major problem - Kieran will likely be promoted by then, after all.

[El Rey León]

Combine rules 1 and 2, and yes. Ike will be BEXP'd up to --/20 or somewhere around there, then will use axes once he promotes. Ragnell will be used soley for killing Ashera.

But Ike is forced to bless Ragnell. So I guess you'll be benching him for 4-3 and 4-4?

[Anouleth]

Missed Discipline, Sothe was too busy meatshielding the door at that point. I could have sent someone back to hold it instead, but I didn't think I'd need it.

I know I can promote Mak with BEXP - I said that in the post as you'd already mentioned it. But if I have that much spare BEXP, I could just use it to make Kieran better. I don't think 3-8 will be a major problem - Kieran will likely be promoted by then, after all.

I think that if you miss out on Makalov, you're seriously shooting yourself in the foot.

[Psych]

Missed Discipline, Sothe was too busy meatshielding the door at that point. I could have sent someone back to hold it instead, but I didn't think I'd need it.I know I can promote Mak with BEXP - I said that in the post as you'd already mentioned it. But if I have that much spare BEXP, I could just use it to make Kieran better. I don't think 3-8 will be a major problem - Kieran will likely be promoted by then, after all.

There's the one in 2-2 you could get with Heather.

[Fenrir]

I think that if you miss out on Makalov, you're seriously shooting yourself in the foot.

definitly he is. "using it to make kieran better" isn't the best idea. because a unit who can solo a map vs. a good unit and another good unit who can double up the map is much much better IMO but its not my game.

[Joerachi]

Will you be using other utilities for the axe users? (I.G. blood tide)

Edited June 7, 2010 by Joerachi

[Tables]

But Ike is forced to bless Ragnell. So I guess you'll be benching him for 4-3 and 4-4?

Er, no, he can attack with other weapons or take an axe off someone else .

I think that if you miss out on Makalov, you're seriously shooting yourself in the foot.

Hmm... well, I can't promote him at the start of 2-3, so that means it would just be on 3-9, and after that they join the GMs. It doesn't help that Mak needs 13 levels of BEXP just to promote, either, and I have enough axe users in the GM at that point (Boyd, Titania, Haar, Kieran). I'll tell you what. I'll dump BEXP on him and see what it looks like compared to not using BEXP or dumping it on Kieran. But at this point, getting an extra person for a big BEXP cost doesn't really seem worth it when that BEXP can make everyone else better.

Will you be using other utilities for the axe users? (I.G. blood tide)

Yes, anything at isn't using a weapon is okay. So people have been shoving, meatshielding, Micaiah has been sacrificing etc. for a while already.

Anyway, I'm going to go play 1-4, 1-5 and maybe 1-6 now.

1-4:

What happens when you get a rout map where a lot of enemies are 2RKOed and you have only one attacker? A lot of turns ¬_¬. Eddie, Sothe and Meg all help block entrances while Nolan takes down the enemies in the south, then turns north and kills the enemies at the entrances. Then he goes South-west, followed by his (current) support partner Micaiah and Sothe, and they cirlce around and finish everything off, getting all the chests and Beastfoe. Nolan also promoted in this chapter, which will make 1-5 a lot easier.

1-5:

Surprisingly simple. Nolan heads north while everyone else stays out of range. Then he moves into the central area, stands by the ledge on the right with a hand axe and kills about 6 ranged enemies, then left again to do the same to the reinforcements, then finally up to defend Jill and Co. Micaiah and everyone else basically just tagged along behind them.

Edited June 7, 2010 by I Eat Tables

[Fenrir]

Hmm... well, I can't promote him at the start of 2-3, so that means it would just be on 3-9, and after that they join the GMs. It doesn't help that Mak needs 13 levels of BEXP just to promote, either, and I have enough axe users in the GM at that point (Boyd, Titania, Haar, Kieran). I'll tell you what. I'll dump BEXP on him and see what it looks like compared to not using BEXP or dumping it on Kieran. But at this point, getting an extra person for a big BEXP cost doesn't really seem worth it when that BEXP can make everyone else better.

it only takes 3 lvls of BEXP if you have a crown ;) and 3 lvls + crown makes 3-9 a hell of a lot easier

[Tables]

Oh, yeah, Anouleth said something like that. Ehh... I suppose I could do it. It's not like I'm going to struggle with levels and Kieran might even be promoted before then anyway.

1-6-1:

Yay, Jill and Tauroneo. They pretty much make a wall, Jill gets some potshots and I try to give her as many kills as possible, but she's not too great at first. After using her to take down some Pegasii, I realise I was planning to give her the Seraph Robe and Energy Drop . Oh well. She manages to get some great level ups (read: +RES followed by +HP, +LUK, +SPD, +RES) and ends up at about level 17. There's not much else to say about this, the team stays together, nothing unusual happens etc. Jill did get to go hammertime twice, which was nice.

1-6-2:

Now Jill got those items, and suddenly she's pretty decent. She starts by rushing upwards along with Nolan (her future support partner), while Tauroneo holds the bridge. She then heads towards the northeast to help Failona out, which goes okay, but Nolan has to come by to help - in the meantime, Tauroneo and Sothe stand on the bridge doing not very much. After the northeast is clear, Jill and Nolan return and wipe the remaining Cavaliers out, before sweeping up, Jill reaching level 20, and Nolan killing the Boss after Tauroneo found a Master Seal I'd forgot even existed (which was nice).

Jill is... interesting. 16 DEF, 10 RES at 20/1. HP is a little above average (adjusting for the Robe), while other stats are pretty average except for bad Skill. Nolan has good SKL, and I think everything else is about average. Nolan is 20/4 at this point.

Edited June 8, 2010 by I Eat Tables

[Anouleth]

It's Normal Mode. You can spare the BEXP.

I don't really like the idea of Crowning him, though. The idea is to get another guy who will be useful for the rest of the game, not a guy that will be useful for two chapters.

I'd be a little bit scared about 1-8. It will be hard to keep Nailah and Volug from those tasty humans with just Nolan!

Edited June 8, 2010 by Anouleth

[Tables]

Oh... yeah, Jill's not in that chapter, is she? . Eh, I can probably spare the BEXP, I'm just not sure if it's worth it. Well... we'll see when we get there, anyway.

Hmm... I'm not sure how exactly I'm going to handle 1-8. It might be simply impossible to keep Nailah and Volug from attacking, and with enemies closing in from all sides keeping Micaiah safe as well seems a pretty tough task...

Edit: Oh, and 1-9 is obviously going to be another exception to the axes only rule.

Edited June 8, 2010 by I Eat Tables

[Mekkah]

You can have Nolan or Sothe or whoever use Savior to keep Micaiah safe. Vika can rescue Tormod and fly off to nowhere. Dunno if Nailah can rescue Volug, or if she can untransform while carrying him.