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This is a topic for sharing any kind of strategies or information about Lunatic Reverse, since there isn't any other place to do so. This is not a tier list thread, but you can certainly compare units. I am not going to be arguing with anyone about unit suggestions here, so relax. I'm personally still playing trying to get all recruits and chests/item drops while still maintaining a fast clear time.

Some things to note about Lunatic Reverse:

My Unit starts with 2 vulneraries instead of 1.

Counterattacks rise in importance because they free you to heal on player phase.

Healing is more important because everyone but ranged units are taking more damage. Against 1-2 range enemies, anyone but longbow snipers will be taking damage.

Ranged units are more important (go figure).

Killing an enemy in as few attacks as possible is more important, because you can no longer 'finish off' an enemy without taking damage.

Learning to manipulate the AI into attacking multiple targets is practically a requirement. There's no avoiding it if you want to survive.

Enemies attack first even in the arena/coliseum. This makes leveling growth characters more difficult.

Any character that gets one shot will need to level up as a ranged unit, or level up exclusively in the arena. You can't really feed them melee range kills because they'll probably get one shot, barring a miraculous dodge.

Male class limits are removed by default since you have to clear Lunatic mode first. There are also stat boosts in the shop, 3 of each type besides the Boots.

Units that can be 3RKOed or higher instead of 2RKOed are much much more valuable because they don't have to be healed every time they want to attack.

I predict double Fortify will be an essential tactic in the mid to late game to fully restore everyones HP before enemy phase and make up for the damage everyone will be taking. That means sticking Feena next to your A staff user, bringing 2 A staff users, or making Xane copy the A staff user for at least part of the chapter. That also means you'll need to grab as many Fortify staves as you can get your claws on.. you can get about 5 over the course of the game (not including the two in Ch 24, which are basically useless), although some of them will be very well used by the enemy bishops formerly carrying them.

What happens with attack phases on Lunatic Reverse? Some examples:

You attack an enemy and neither of you double - Enemy, You.

You attack an enemy and you double - Enemy, You, You.

You attack an enemy and they double - Enemy, You, Enemy.

You attack an enemy w/ a hero weapon and both of you double - Enemy, You, You, Enemy.

As you can see, the game mercifully lets you get in an attack even if the enemy is doubling your unit.

8/15/2010 Edit:

After tooling around with Lunatic and Lunatic Reverse as a Knight, Cavalier, and Fighter, I'm almost certain that the Knight has the lowest turn count on both Lunatic and Lunatic Reverse, provided you reload for SPD growths so he doesn't get doubled. I found the best knight build for prologue turn count to be +2 STR, +1 DEF, and +SKL/SPD. This lets him finish P1 in 4 turns. His knight growths will be 45 STR, 65 SKL, 45 SPD, and 55 DEF. Reloading for a 45% SPD proc is easy to do in the first few prologues because they take 1 min or less to complete. You don't have to reload for his other stats as long as they aren't getting RNG screwed.

The first noticeable chapter for the knight is Prologue 4 vs Athena. He can quickly grind the enemies to dust, clearing in 4 turns and recruiting Athena. The Fighter and Cavalier just can't muster the knights ridiculous DEF to pull this off no matter how good their growths are. This theme repeats in P7 vs Cain where he can stand on the middle fort and almost solo the entire map. Finally in P8 he can literally chain pull the stationary bandits and hunters while handling the incoming reinforcements at the same time, leading to a very fast clear. Knight seems like the easiest and most efficient choice to plow through the Lunatic Reverse prologue.

Edited by mjemirzian
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Out of curiosity, who are you going to use this time for Lunatic Reverse? I assume that Ryan would be a better choice thanks to 2 range, but are you going to try out anyone else that you didn't use in your Lunatic playthrough?

Well I've got class limits removed this time, so I'm enjoying using general Aran the first 3 chapters. But his 8 SPD as a general isn't going to hold up for long.. once he starts getting doubled the party is over for general Aran. Archers are definitely much more useful.. Ryan has been quite useful so far in the first 3 chapters. I'm having a lot of trouble leveling my melee guys like Luke or Draug just because after they take a hit they are nearly dead and I don't have the healing power or vulneraries to spare to keep them healthy. I need all the healing power I can muster (Malliesia, basically) to keep general Aran and MU alive.

Also the fact that I'm trying to do more of a speedrun this time (8 turns chapter 1, 7 turns chapter 2) means it's hard to get the melee guys more than one kill per chapter. I'm thinking draug might be good if I somehow get him hand axes so he can throw at range.. but I'm really considering letting him go and just making MU into a berserker when needed and using steel axes or something.

As for different characters, I'm still considering whether Merric or Etzel is a better idea in Lunatic Reverse. Merric has great stats, but I like that Etzel has a D in staves already and Lunatic Reverse is so healing intensive. I'm thinking I'll need at least 2-3 range units, and there's not a lot of competition for good bow users. So different characters I'm considering long term that I only used temporarily in my first run: Ryan, Rody, Etzel, Malliesia.

Still considering hunter Rody or Ryan for two reasons: My Unit gets support from them, and supports stack. I think My Unit backed by Marth, Luke, Ryan, and Rody would be pretty beastly. I really like the idea of a 30 DEF paladin MU with 3-4 stacked supports.

Edited by mjemirzian
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When it comes to General Arran, you don't have to worry about 8 speed for a good while. I'm up to chapter 4, I don't see anyone with 12 speed outside of thieves and the boss.

I'm willing t think the party ends at chapter 7, though you could switch him to Dracoknight to fly and nab some thieves. 12 Def and 24 HP at base, I think thanks to reducing their weapon ranks, he knocks them down to 4 damage thanks to nulling the weapon rank and A lances letting him get full benefits of WTA. Even if they do double, it's still a 3RKO.

Most likely, party ends at the bridge.

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Actually mjemirzian, do you mind doing us a favor? Could you record the levels of your main party at the end of each chapter? You don't need to record their stats, just their levels would be great. Just to get a rough idea for the tier list. That would be great if you could, thanks!

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You chose Athena over Gordin? You'd think he would be more useful in this mode. And Jeorge would be easier to fight since reverse doesn't effect him.
Athena still kicks ass in Lunatic Reverse prologue. Mostly because she can double almost everything, ORKO archers and nearly ORKO bandits. Athena's chapter is actually faster and easier with a SPD blessed knight MU. I admit you do have to spend a few mins reloading for SPD growths in the first 3 prologues so he doesn't get doubled by bandits and mercs, but it's very much worth the minor time investment. I doubt you'll be able to pull speedrun-like numbers with any other MU choice in the prologue.
I'm willing t think the party ends at chapter 7, though you could switch him to Dracoknight to fly and nab some thieves.
Yeah making Aran into a draco is a good idea for Ch 7, I did that on my first run, anyway. We'll see if I have to change my strategy for L'.

I've been speedrunning pretty hard so far. 3 things making it possible that I didn't have in my first run on lunatic - stat boosts in the shop, general Aran, and godly DEF MU able to take 3-4 hits.

Lunatic Reverse levels:

Start of Ch 1

Marth 8.13

MU 9.89

Luke 6.21

Draug 6

Gordin 5

Aran 3

Cecil 3.10

Rody 2.30

Ryan 2.83

Start of Ch 2

Marth 8.29

MU 10.58

Luke 6.74

Draug 6.19

Gordin 5.62

Aran 3.37

Cecil 3.61

Rody 2.30

Ryan 3.36

Malliesia 2.32

Start of Ch 3

Marth 8.59

MU 12.05

Luke 7.62

Draug 6.37

Gordin 6.13

Aran 3.69

Rody 5.49

Ryan 4.36

Malliesia 3.27

Catria 6.61

Bord 2.30

Warren 2.55

Start of Ch 3x

Marth 8.72

MU 15.17

Luke 8.55

Gordin 6.13

Aran 4.09

Rody 6.92

Ryan 4.64

Malliesia 4.44

Catria 6.71

Palla 11.48

Linde 4

Start of Ch 4

Marth 8.92

MU 15.66

Aran 4.14

Catria 7.71

Palla 11.87

Linde 4.60

Start of Ch 5

Marth 9.17

MU 16.70

Luke 8.84

Aran 4.19

Rody 7.39

Ryan 4.94

Malliesia 5.39

Catria 8.50

Palla 12.90

Sirius 1.51

Shiida 7.10

Edited by mjemirzian
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Very nice mjemirzian. I really want to know how much more difficult the valley gets, but then again I remember a lot of the action was Enemy Phase aside from killing the Dragons...

Best of luck to you man.

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Very nice mjemirzian. I really want to know how much more difficult the valley gets, but then again I remember a lot of the action was Enemy Phase aside from killing the Dragons...Best of luck to you man.

Thanks a lot I am still looking forward to reading your strategies and your guide. Not sure which level you mean by the valley. Chapter 21 translates to "Wyvern Valley" but it's pretty easy.
Your turncounts seem excellent for Lunatic Reverse, seeing as they're the same or lower then pretty much everyone else's on Lunatic. I see that Ryan is somewhat levelled, are you still planning on using him as a Hunter?
Yeah I am really surprised how ridiculously good a high DEF over-leveled MU is for the early game. How uber is he? Right now as a lv 3 promoted unit he has 20 DEF as a paladin.. granted I did give him a +2 DEF buff but still. Maybe it will come back to bite me at endgame if I overuse him but right now I'm enjoying the uberness. Yes I am going to keep using hunters Ryan and Rody as long as I need them.

Completed Ch 5 in 12 turns w/ all items including the Physic. I early promoted MU at level 17 and ditched Aran. Took Dracos MU and Sirius, Cavaliers Catria, Palla, Shiida, and Luke, Hunters Ryan and Rody, Malliesia, and Myrmidon Ogma. MU is ridiculously beastly just tearing everything apart.. as a draco I am starting to develop his axe level for future berserker use. I am trying not to overuse him. I ended up giving up on fighter Draug. He's just not useful, especially with his terrible DEF.. maybe he would be a decent hunter again, but I'd rather experiment with Ryan and Rody this time.

Start of Ch 6

Marth 9.40

MU 17/3.23

Luke 9.69

Rody 8.16

Ryan 5.87

Malliesia 8.23

Catria 9.33

Palla 13.75

Sirius 1.97

Shiida 7.70

Ogma 7.56

Start of Ch 6x

Marth 10.16

MU 17/5.20

Luke 10.45

Aran 4.68

Rody 8.56

Malliesia 9.42

Catria 10.09

Palla 15.16

Sirius 2.18

Shiida 8.03

Start of Ch 7

Marth 10.16

MU 17/5.63

Luke 10.65

Malliesia 9.90

Palla 15.30

Sirius 2.32

Shiida 8.30

Start of Ch 8

Marth 10.16

MU 17/6.61

Luke 11.18

Rody 8.97

Malliesia 11.08

Catria 11.54

Palla 15.44

Sirius 2.74

Shiida 9.50

Feena 1.85

Yumina 4.75

Start of Ch 9

Marth 10.29

MU 17/8.04

Luke 11.80

Rody 11.58

Malliesia 12.11

Catria 12.39

Palla 16.55

Sirius 3.47

Shiida 10.56

Feena 2.87

Yumina 5.77

Edited by mjemirzian
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Hmm...when do you plan on promoting your unpromoted characters? You're almost at the non-stop Dragon part of the game and it would suck if your other units couldn't keep up with them.

Also, its kind of cool that Rody caught up to Luke in levels, despite being 4 levels lower coming out of the prologue. I guess having 2 range really is that essential.

Great work so far, your turncounts look excellent.

I'm starting to regret taking Rody despite catching him up in levels. Draug is way easier to level up with his bases and he would be higher than lv 11 if I was giving him the XP that I gave to Rody. But I'll still check out how the support stacking works between MU, Luke, and Rody.

I definitely plan to have everyone promoted by Ch 12, which is when the game gets down to serious business. I early promoted everyone at ch 12 on my last playthrough as well. Things are looking ok for levels. I will probably have to early promote one of Palla, Shiida, or Catria to clear Ch 9 quickly. I'm thinking Palla since she's highest. It really sucks you don't get a Elysian Whip until Ch 11.. you can't realistically have more than one falcoknight unless you leave someone unpromoted for way too long. But falcoknights are so useful with their 26 SPD cap.

Still haven't decided between Etzel or Merric. If I can get Etzel to A staves faster than Merric I might just take him and patch him up with stat boosters, which there are a ton more of in Lunatic Reverse thanks to the base store. I am still of the opinion that double Fortify will be essential for late game when everyone is taking heavy hits from 1-2 range enemies, and I'd rather avoid committing Xane or Feena to double Fortify. Also considering giving the boots to Marth, MU, or Catria.

Thanks a lot again. I don't think my mid-late game turn counts will be nearly as 'smoking' as my early game ones compared to my first playthrough for several reasons - ran out of +STR/+SPD items in the stat boost shop, enemy's stats will eventually catch up to MUs, and I was already going pretty fast by then. I hope the mods don't mind if I double post in here since this has sort of become a playthrough log. Or I'll start a new thread or something.

Edited by mjemirzian
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Am I going crazy, or did you use to have a list of forges/stat boosters used? Maybe I'm going crazy...

Yeah I did, sorry. I just forgot to put it back up after an edit.

Forge List:

Ch 2: +1 to a Steel Spear

Ch 3x: +2 to a Rapier

Ch 4: +1 to a Wing Spear

Ch 6: +3 to a Hand Axe

Stat Boost List:

Marth - +2 SPD, +2 STR

Catria - +2 STR, +7 HP, +2 SPD (yeah the +2 SPD was stupid, oh well)

Palla - +2 SPD

Shiida - +7 HP, +2 STR, +2 SKL

Chapter 9 Lunatic Reverse Unit Choices: Dracos My Unit and Sirius, Pegasus Knight/Cavalier Shiida, Catria, and Palla, Myrm Luke, Hunter Draug, Feena, Julian, Malliesia, Yumina.

Chapter 9 Lunatic Reverse Turns Taken: 7

Turn 1: Move Marth east, dance for him, then send him to the village which he should reach on Turn 5. Send Julian to the treasure chests. Use the Barrier staff on MU. Kill the steel spear thief with MU then rescue him. One shot the thief staff thief with draco Sirius. Move counterattackers in range of the two incoming NW dracos.

Turn 2: Kill the draco next to the river with MU's forged hand axe from the south, then dance for him and kill the farthest draco with the hand axe. Take care of the other two dracos with the rest of your party. One shot the master proof thief with Sirius. (Screenshot 1)

Turn 3: Position counterattackers in enemy mage range, but out of dracoknight range. Lure Etzel towards the village with one of your pegasus knights (Screenshot 2) - he should reach the village by Turn 6, so Marth can talk to him. You can use the save point with Marth and still reach the village on Turn 5.

Turn 4: Aggro the two dracos by the castle with MU.

Turn 5: Visit the village with Marth.

Turn 6: Etzel should be within talking range of Marth. Talk to Etzel with Marth and slay any mages that may have came with him. Start killing the bishops by the castle with MU and your fliers. (Screenshot 3)

Turn 7: Rescue Marth next to the castle, kill the boss, then capture.

Start of Ch 10

Marth 10.59

MU 17/10.59

Luke 11.97

Rody 12.61

Malliesia 14.05

Catria 12.52

Palla 17.32

Sirius 3.88

Shiida 10.95

Feena 4.06

Yumina 7.08

Etzel 6.16

Edited by mjemirzian
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Ah, so promoting Palla wasn't necessary? I guess having an uber MU makes up for not having everyone promoted yet.

Also, do you have access to start of Chapter 10 levels? I'm kind of curious if everyone's on track for promoting at a reasonable level in Chapter 12.

Just added it, sorry. So I finished Ch 10 and 10x. 5 turns and 1 turn. Early promoted Rody so he could kill one of the bishops from the water as a sniper. Then early promoted Palla on Ch 10x so she could ORKO a roro as a draco.

Looks like Ch 11 is going to be another 'rush staff user and fliers to the castle then rescue marth'.

Start of Ch 10x

MU 17/11.17

Rody 13/1.73

Malliesia 15.96

Catria 13.08

Palla 18/1 (early promotion in base)

Sirius 4.74

Shiida 11.73

Feena 4.91

Start of Ch 11

MU 17/11.68

Luke 12.22

Malliesia 16.42

Palla 18/1.30

Feena 5.08

Chapter 11 Lunatic Reverse Unit Choices: Dracos My Unit, Sirius, Shiida, and Palla, Malliesia, Etzel, Yumina, Wendell, Swordmaster Luke.

Chapter 11 Lunatic Reverse Turns Taken: 7

Send My Unit and Shiida north and everyone else west. Use My Unit to solo the NE enemies and swordmasters. Rush your casters and dracos west, use Luke to deal with the bandits and hunters to the west or just ignore them. Keep chain pulling dracos with Etzel and healing him. Don't even bother triggering the northwest castle trap, just rescue marth close to the castle, kill the boss, grab the treasure, and capture. If you want to use the secret shop, hand the member card from Shiida to Jake after recruiting him (you may want to pick up a wyrmslayer and dragonpike). Make sure to pick up all the treasure before capturing - Grab the NE treasure with Shiida and Luke and the SW/W treasure with Sirius.

Start of Ch 12

Marth 10.99

MU 17/13.52

Luke 12/1.73

Malliesia 16/1.82

Catria 14/1

Palla 18/2.46

Sirius 5.21

Shiida 12/1.08

Yumina 7.84

Etzel 7.45

Edited by mjemirzian
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Shiida seems pretty terrible in this mode. She takes a lot of resources, paladins/armors aren't that common, and being able to OHKO things is much less valuable. She is basically Cecil that comes 5 chapters later with a pretty lance.

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Did you really collect all the treasure and still finish in 7 turns? Or did you skip out on a few less useful items like the Goddess Icon?

I did collect all the treasure, yes. Mages grabbed the middle stuff while walking NW, Shiida and Jake grabbed the NE stuff, Sirius took the SW and W treasure, Palla grabbed the skill book and goddess icon, MU took the energy drop while soloing the SMs, then on the last turn I sent a flier in to grab the whip. It helped to bring 5 fliers.

Shiida is still quite useful to me. Since doubling and killing an enemy almost is the same on Lunatic as it is on Lunatic Reverse (you get attacked by the enemy either way, they just attack first), as long as Shiida isn't one shot, she'll be just as good. She definitely helped make some of my speedrun times possible being able to ORKO armors and knights. Her durability is not as bad as Cecils, although I admit she needs +HP and +STR buffs to be more useful than a knight/armor slayer. But I'd like to hear your suggestion on a better unit to train up or replace her with.

One of the good things about lunatic reverse is that you can patch just about anyone up with stat boosts if they have one stat they suck at (Palla's SPD, Shiida's STR, Marth's everything).

Edit:

Chapter 12 Lunatic Reverse Unit Choices: Berserker My Unit, Draco/Falco Shiida, Palla, Sirius, and Catria, SM Luke, Sage Etzel and Malliesia, Horseman Draug/Rody, Feena.

You'll want at least two fliers with 22 SPD to double the fire dragons. MU can kill the dragons without needing a dragonpike, but your other fliers won't have that level of STR. Give Marth the Boots if you want to continue speedrunning.

Chapter 12 Lunatic Reverse Turns Taken: 6

Turn 1: Kill the two nearby fire dragons on the forts. Move MU north then dance for him then move him further north to kill the bandit from the west with a javelin or hand axe. MU will be attacked by a large number of enemies, hopefully he gets a few crits so you have less to deal with on turn 2.

Turn 2: Kill any nearby enemies. Recruit Darros. Position your fliers so that they can reach at least the left and right forts in the group of northmost middle forts on turn 3 to prevent reinforcement wyrms.

Turn 3: Kill the 2 fire dragons and bandits then block off the forts. You must block the left and right forts in the northmost middle group of forts or wyrms will spawn from them.

Turn 4: Kill the two fire dragons on the right side and position to kill the two wyrms on the right.

Turn 5: Kill the wyrm on the left and the nearest fire dragon. Block all of the northmost middle forts again.

Turn 6: Use the second save point then kill all of the fire dragons in the way including the boss.

Start of Ch 13

Marth 11.30

MU 17/14.26

Rody 12/3.98

Luke 12/3.35

Malliesia 16/2.82

Catria 14/2.79

Palla 18/4.70

Sirius 5.90

Shiida 12/4.21

Etzel 8.45

Edit:

Quick update.. finished Ch 13 in 8 turns.. will edit with details later.

Edited by mjemirzian
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Actually, there is a major benefit with giving Marth the boots, and I can point it out in chapter 18.

Marth moves, danced, he can get the village with the Life Orb instantly. Visiting the village makes it so the Wolfguarde generic paladins/horsemen retreat so that all you have to deal with are the group near the fortress. Due to starting position, even with Dance it would take 2 turns without the boots on Marth, 3 without dance.

Even if you don't care about turncount, this makes things significantly easier in grabbing stuff from villages, and can keep up with his more mobile units that he gives supports to, namely Shiida.

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Actually, there is a major benefit with giving Marth the boots, and I can point it out in chapter 18.

Marth moves, danced, he can get the village with the Life Orb instantly. Visiting the village makes it so the Wolfguarde generic paladins/horsemen retreat so that all you have to deal with are the group near the fortress. Due to starting position, even with Dance it would take 2 turns without the boots on Marth, 3 without dance.

Even if you don't care about turncount, this makes things significantly easier in grabbing stuff from villages, and can keep up with his more mobile units that he gives supports to, namely Shiida.

Yeah I'm finding giving Marth the boots to be good so far. I'm worried about having to readjust some of my later strats that relied on 12 MOV units though. I'm regretting not buying 3 dragonpikes instead of 2. One of them just broke in Ch 13 and the other two are on their last few uses. Also my healers have been eating up Physics like candy because they are rarely near my other units.

Chapter 13 Lunatic Reverse Unit Choices: Berserker My Unit, Draco/Falco Shiida, Catria, and Palla, Horseman Draug/Rody, Feena, Sages Malliesia and Etzel, SM Luke, Julian.

Chapter 13 Lunatic Reverse Turns Taken: 8

Similar strat to Lunatic mode. Split up east and west, allow the thieves to open the SE and mid chest and kill them for the contents. Solo the NE wyrms with My Unit. Place Marth on the river near the castle on turn 7, then swoop in to kill the boss on turn 8. You don't even have to kill all the enemies around the castle or deal with the ambush, just enough for Marth to capture. If you've been eating through Physics as fast as my group has, you'll want to buy 1-2 at the secret shop.

Start of Ch 13x

Marth 12.06

MU 17/15.39

Rody 12/5.55

Luke 12/4.71

Malliesia 16/3.89

Catria 14/5.00

Palla 18/7.28

Sirius 5.90

Shiida 12/6.33

Etzel 8.84

kf5agl.png

Chapter 13x Lunatic Reverse Unit Choices: Paladins My Unit, Catria, Shiida, and Palla, SMs Luke and Sirius.

Chapter 13x Lunatic Reverse Turns Taken: 3

Send Marth NE flanked by Paladins for his protection. Send MU directly east to kill the boss while others work on the ballistas, bandits, and myrmidons.

Start of Ch 14

Marth 12.06

MU 17/15.98

Luke 12/5.38

Catria 14/5.25

Palla 18/7.59

Sirius 6.55

Shiida 12/6.56

Edited by mjemirzian
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Speaking of boots Feena doesn't make a bad candidate either. Sure, she doesn't have canto and refresh 4 units at once so she won't be using that full 8 move all the time but it does come in handy.

Actually, there is a major benefit with giving Marth the boots, and I can point it out in chapter 18.

Marth moves, danced, he can get the village with the Life Orb instantly.

I can point out benefits with giving Feena the boots as well. Including a major one for the final chapter if you're hoping to 1-turn it.

Actually, even if Marth doesn't have boots he can be again staff'd to the village in one turn although I do realize giving him boots does save an Again Staff use.

Edited by Joey
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