Team advise (Lyn Normal Mode)

[Snowy_One]

I was shuffling through my GBA games today and I found the one game among them that I have never beaten. FE7. There are multiple reasons why I hate this game. They are not important. This is not about that. Last time I played this game, I ended up with a team that could not handle saving Nino and defeating the boss of the chapter without dying (long since forgotten what that team was). I do not want a repeat of what happened that time to happen again, and am thusly looking for advise on what team I should use.

1) I am not in this for the turn count or rankings.

2) I have no aversion to using bows.

3) I would rather take characters who end up being strong than ones who are strong initially, but end up weak (if I use Marcus, he is guarding Merlinus and not fighting much else otherwise for example).

4) I want to use all the lords (Hector, Eliwood, and Lyn, but maybe not Hector as I don't like his character)

The following responses will result in gunshot wounds and notification of next of kin.

- It's Lyn normal! Use whoever you want! (I don't care. I want a strong team that can allow me to at least say I beat the game.)

- Bows suck! Don't ever use them! (If I'm not using a bow user, I want it to be because they actually do suck instead of because they can't counter on the enemy phase).

- Why are you not using Hector? He's great! (I hate Hector because of one asshole who played him on another forum. Florina is in the same boat, but is cute enough in the game to recieve a reprive. Bad memories and general disgust. I'll use him if he's really that good, but would prefer not to.)

- Use Ninian/Nils! (It's not actually any problems with their character. I just value dancers less than tier posters and do not desire to make them a perminate part of my team. /End discussion.)

- You're being very selective/cagey about this. (If I wanted a tier-response, I would use a tier list. Tiers do not reflect a good team of necessity. Plus, I would rather not get several responses telling me to use a character I outright don't want to use).

- Tier debates. I don't mind some things, but this is not a tier list. You are free to give reasons, but hard-core debating should be done in a tier topic.

Sorry for all the conditions and such. I just REALLY want to have fun and REALLY don't want to hit another wall and end up ditching the game again.

Current team: Lyndis

Eliwood

Hector

Florina

Serra

Erk

Rebecca

Matthew

Lucias

Nino just because she's so dawwww.

Edited December 8, 2010 by Snowy_One

[chococoke]

First things first, train 1 cavalier in Lyn mode. Just pic one and dump pounds of EXP on their silly little noggin. I usually go with Sain, but you can't go wrong with either, really.

EDIT: By the by, the bow users in this game DO suck. The best is probably prepremote Louise, and even she has a few issues of her own.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Chococoke

[Balcerzak]

If you're going to use an archer, use Louise. She comes with Pent, and is immediately awesome, and they both make each other better. Failing that (or maybe even instead of that, depending on personal preference) use Geitz, who is really, really good with a bow, as that initial B rank will attest to. Warrior!Bartre is not a bad choice either, but requires the obvious serious investment to get up there. Failing that, use Rath, because mounts are awesome for flexibility. Failing that, use Rebecca, despite perhaps the shittiest start of all the candidates, if you baby her ridiculously, she'll turn out pretty sweet. Wil... is just not a good choice. All my recollections of his performance indicate that his speed is too shaky.

Yes. Hector just is that good. Assuming you've never beaten it, like you mentioned, you'll be playing Eliwood mode, which means Hector's promotion isn't as gimped as it would be in his own mode. Coupled with his excellent strength and durability, fantastic Prf weapon, and fast-building and useful supports, you will be kicking yourself if you leave him on the bench. His speed could get slightly shaky if you're screwed by the RNG, but it's usually more than adequate, though not stellar.

As for your unit selection, I wouldn't put too much investment into Dorcas in Lyn mode. While dondon gave a very nice Dorcas Bartre comparison in his recent ranking topic, it's assuming early promotions and level leads and things that may not exist for your playstyle. I've always had better experience with Bartre than Dorcas, you just need to make sure he gets that first point of speed early. Once he gets going though... That said, you may just be better off not taking any axe users until Geitz (unless you're not using Hector, in which case shame on you).

As far as Lucius vs Erk, I'd really advise on Lucius. He gets much better staves on promotion, isn't subject to the potential of getting Mag screwed that always seems to happen to my Erks, and while he has the durability of tissue paper, he shouldn't have to be taking too many hits to begin with. Supporting him with Raven will help a little bit too. I always tend to prefer Pent to Erk anyway, so moot point is moot there.

Florina is definitely a good choice. You want to build her up nice and strong in Lyn mode. In fact, if she leaves Lyn mode with the highest level (aside from maybe Lyn), no-one could really tell you "you're doing it wrong".

Kent/Sain. Why, oh why do I see people saying "Imma use one, but not the other"? Their incredibly fast, incredibly useful support with each other helps so much. Kent needs more strength because he grows it slow, and Sain needs more strength because he caps out on it so early. Furthermore, they share equivalent movement, will be performing the same duties, and thus always have each other for support. If you absolutely must take only one of them, which is probably a really stupid decision, then I think general consensus is that Sain is the better choice, because Kent's Speed win is almost non-existent, and all he has left is Skill, which is lol compared to Sain's strength.

Use Serra as much as possible. Having her exit Lyn mode at level 6+ will be a great benefit for you in the future chapters. Try to feed as many kills to Matthew as you can on that FoW chapter while you're at it, as he also greatly benefits from some initial improvement.

Lyn mode summary. You should probably be benching: Wallace, Dorcas, Rath, Wil, and Erk. Use everyone else, with order of preference being Florina, Lyn, Sain, Kent, Matthew, Lucius. Serra gets her own pool, due to staves.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Balcerzak

[eclipse]

Here, everyone, read this:

3) I would rather take characters who end up being strong than ones who are strong initially, but end up weak (if I use Marcus, he is guarding Merlinus and not fighting much else otherwise for example).

If you use bows like I do (read: level 10 Rebecca at Chapter 21), you can get away with using Rath. Supports for him are gravy. He won't need too much experience in Lyn's mode.

I'm not saying this because Rath helped to salvage my first run of FE ever

[dondon151]

Since you specifically mentioned saving Nino/Zephiel in chapter 26 on EM, using both Sain and Kent in addition to Lowen and Marcus would certainly help.

Heath is also good.

[Florete]

Since you don't seem to mind training weak characters, the best bow user for you would be either Rebecca, Rath, or Geitz. Rebecca if you support her with Lowen/Dart, Rath if you want a horse, Geitz if you want someone who can fly solo for the entire game.

How good Hector is really depends on the mode you are playing. If we can assume you'll be on ENM due to having never beaten the game, he's good, but not overly so. Enemies just aren't good enough to pose a threat for the majority of the game, so his lack of mobility can make him fall behind. Keep this in mind if you want to use Oswin, as well. Either way, be sure to get him high enough (~13-15 should work) to get yourself to Linus's FFO.

Seriously, use Ninian/Nils, especially if you end up on any hard mode. It's not just normal Dancing, the ring effects are also pretty sweet.

As for Lyn mode itself, I'd suggest, along with Lyn herself, the use of Florina and at least one Cavalier, though you can't go wrong with both. Give Lyn the Energy Ring and Florina the Angelic Robe. Also use Rath if you plan to use him later. Other decent options, in the order that I would suggest them: Serra, Erk, Lucius, Dorcas. Probably avoid the likes of Wil, Matthew (in terms of combat), and Wallace.

When you get to the main game, something I always do and find useful is supporting Lyn and Florina, and, if you do choose to use him, Hector and Eliwood. Kent and Sain make a good pair. Have Priscilla heal as much as possible to reach promotion fast, and if you want, support her with Guy so that he can receive a crit boost. Raven is pretty awesome alone but can also be supported with Lucius. Dart can turn out pretty good if you don't mind the cost of his promotion, and will be even better with a Rebecca support, though he may not need it depending on your mode. Florina is the best flier, but you can also pair with Fiora, and Heath may turn out pretty good as well if you want to trade the pegs Res for his Def. Pent is very good alone, and if you have the extra space you can field Louise to help out alongside him, though I wouldn't suggest that unless you have no one else to fill the space. Try to get Harken over Karel since he's plain better. Train Nino if you feel like it, if you get her up fast enough she can actually be really amazing for the remaining few maps.

Since you mentioned Battle Before Dawn: mounts. A team with the likes of Florina, Kent, and Sain ought to be able to handle that map just fine if trained well enough, and any others you choose to bring (Fiora, Lowen, Heath, etc.) will only make it easier. Someone with good Res should find Ursula easy enough to beat, especially if you get up to her while Bolting is still equipped.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Sadistic Fox

[Anouleth]

Since you don't seem to mind training weak characters, the best bow user for you would be either Rebecca, Rath, or Geitz. Rebecca if you support her with Lowen/Dart, Rath if you want a horse, Geitz if you want someone who can fly solo for the entire game.

How good Hector is really depends on the mode you are playing. If we can assume you'll be on EHM due to having never beaten the game, he's good, but not overly so. Enemies just aren't good enough to pose a threat for the majority of the game, so his lack of mobility can make him fall behind. Keep this in mind if you want to use Oswin, as well. Either way, be sure to get him high enough (~13-15 should work) to get yourself to Linus's FFO.

How is he going to be able to play HM if this is his first time?

In any case, RFoF covered most of the important points. Probably the best measure of how good characters are is the S Rank Tier List. Raven, Sain, Kent, Lowen, Erk, Lucius, Guy. For fliers, Florina is probably the best especially with Lyn Mode, but Fiora can fill in fine. Heath and Farina are probably better statistically but join late and in Farina's case, cost a lot of money to recruit.

However, keep in mind that all of these characters are subject to the possibility of RNG-screwage and blessage, so you should really see for yourself who does well or poorly and take it from there.

[Florete]

How is he going to be able to play HM if this is his first time?

He hates it, so I find it more likely he didn't buy it and is emulating it, meaning he can get game saves to automatically unlock the hard modes. Though, since he's doing LNM as it is, that might not be the case, but I figured I'd cover all bases.

EDIT: Unless you were talking about the typo I just fixed, in which case it was supposed to be ENM.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Sadistic Fox

[Life]

Honestly Snowy, you anyone that you like in either mode. I personally love Rebecca (stems from love for Neimi) and I know she sucks. I still use her because I like to. There's very few characters that end up horrible in ENM.

Couple of notes:

- I know your dislike for prepromote Paladins so let me get this out of the way first. Marcus is redundant in E/HNM. Simple. He's not needed to really help speed up the maps in the Normal modes and knowing you, going as fast as possible isn't one of your goals.

- There is no reason to bench Hector if you're not doing a ranked run. Bal said it the best.

- Do not get Wallace. This is akin to shooting yourself in the foot since you lose out on Geitz and a much more fun map too (FFO Lloyd is FoW).

[Loki Laufeyson]

Farina

Hes playing EM so Farina isnt gonna be an option. Heath has a bit of a shaky start so i think the best bet would be Florina and Fiora.

I agree with mostly what RFox had to say. Kent and Sain is either or, or both. Whatever blows yer skirt up. I like using Rath so i usually get at least two levels in him before ending Lyn Mode. Serra is decent, so heal spamming isnt a bad idea. As for Lucius or Erk, that all depends if you want a magic user and arent planning on holding out for Canas. Lucius is better in the long run in my opinion, but Erk works well. Not sure about Dorcas cuz i rarely use him. Hes good for backup in Lyn mode with that handaxe of his. Wallace? Pfff. Like Cthulhu said, dont freaking bother. Florina is an excellent choice. Getting her around level 8 in Lyn mode will help a lot in the long run.

[Parrhesia]

Both Christmas Brigadiers. Seriously. And while I'm loathe to admit it, Florina's a good unit. I just despise ... everything about the character, and many things about the class. Geitz, Louise and Rath are likely the best bowmen in the game in roughly that order...if you can stand Louise's rather fairy-floss personality. Of course, if you aren't using Hector, you aren't getting Geitz anyway, and if you'd rather train a unit from low level, that leaves Rath...he's pretty good, I'd say. I wouldn't be too worried, though...given Pent, Hawkeye and one of Harken/Karel (from what I understand, they're more or less even in non-HHM apart from Karel's inferior equipment), you're basically set for the rest of the game.

And TRAIN ELIWOOD. To my experience at least, it's not Zephiel's map that kills you...it's Georg's. Don't do what I did and have Eliwood as a 7/1 by that point. Or...a 7, I forget whether he promotes before or after.

[Snowy_One]

I did buy the game. I refuse to emulate games due to a general dislike of piracy (My life for the Ninja!). I DO have HM unlocked since I bought this used (didn't even know what FE was until SS, and didn't get to actually play more than the store demo until FE9) but I have chosen to not play on it. I don't doubt my strategic ability, but I want to beat the game before I turn the difficulty up. Anyways, updating team list.