I want to S-Rank HHM while playing ALL Chapters & Recruiting all characters...

[DarkBladeSeth]

Topic title should be pretty self-explanatory :-)

I already completed LHM, and got Nils to level 7 (It was a S-Rank run, so no boss abuse and only the Angelic Robe has been used)

I tried to S-Rank HHM once, but I only managed to score a B-Rank (Funds and Experience were the ranks below 5 stars, IIRC)

So, this time, I want to do a "Complete" S-Rank run (All chapters played & All characters recruited) and I need all the help I can get

Do you have any hint/tip to give me, FE veterans?

[Peppy]

Recruiting Farina might be a no go. She will easily jeopardize a 5 star in funds rank.

[Paperblade]

for max funds you want to get the Silver Card and use it to buy everything. Due to the way the Silver Card works you are basically printing money (spend 230g on an Iron Sword, which is worth 460g = free 230g out of nowhere), which lets you sell those gems and stuff at no loss. You should probably not use stat boosters because they're worth quite a bit and their benefit isn't really THAT significant. However, note that you can buy Silvers/Killers with the Silver Card, so you CAN use those quite a bit.

Don't drop the S rank weapons and don't use them, they're worth like 150k in total (note that the Prf weapons are free). You probably don't want to use the Brave Weapons either.

Don't use the Fel Contract or Ocean Seal if you can help it, they're worth 50k. Heaven Seals are also worth 20k and Lyn is pretty bad anyway.

For EXP, units like Heath and Rath are really good for this because they join fairly late and low level, but can still get kills. Typically you want a relatively small core team of good units, and then some other units that you rotate through to buffer EXP.

edit: Farina jeopardizes it no more than promoting Eliwood, she's really not that bad especially since she REALLY helps EXP rank because she can just solo the horde of Monk reinforcements in her joining chapter

Edited November 19, 2012 by Paperblade

[MacLovin]

Darts promoting costs as much as getting Farina IIRC

[General Horace]

I have an old log somewhere in the fe7 forum of an S rank with all the characters and chapters sans karla (which would still be easily doable)

Recruiting Farina may seems like a bad thing, but she's very good for the exp rank, since she's a relatively low base level and has good enough combat. If you're confidant in your tactics rank, feel free to abuse the FFO arena for a few extra turns, it helps a lot with funds and exp.

Don't bother buying what you don't need and save money to buy fell contracts or some other promo item you won't use in Victory or Death SS. Keep at least one other save in case you mess something up.

Edited November 20, 2012 by General Horace

[dondon151]

In 31x, empty out your convoy onto units that you aren't using, give a unit the Silver Card, and buy as many Elixirs as you can to double the worth of your cash assets.

[escroc]

How much do you guys train your non-main team units? I know there's a table for S-rank on serenes, but just generally speaking since it can be hard to keep track of the exact exp gained. I found that getting most people to lv15 got me 5* exp, but I could have overdone it and maybe the exp would be better off for my main team.

[DarkBladeSeth]

Things to do:

- Grab the silver card

- Never use the S-Rank weapons

- Do not promote the Lords (Except Hector: Free promotion is free), the thieves and Dart

- Abuse the hell out of the arena (If I manage to save some turn)

- Abuse the hell out of Ch 31x

- Keep 2 separate save files

- Keep a small core of good units and deploy at least 1 weak unit every chapter

Now, some specific question:

- Will losses in the arena penalize my tactics rank?

- Which version of FFO and PFOD should I aim for? Last time, I got Linus & Kenneth

- I noticed that nobody plays Ch 19xx during ranked runs. Is it because it's hard to unlock or because it's a 0 Requirement chapter?

- How many units should I promote?

Edited November 20, 2012 by DarkBladeSeth

[Baldrick]

1. You mean combat rank? I think it does. At least, it increases your Battle count.

2. Definitely aim for Kenneth's chapter, because otherwise you have to deal with snow.

For FFO, maybe Linus' for Geitz? It would require you to level the lords more than is ideal, though.

3. I'd say the former. Many people don't even do LHM, let alone get Nils to level 7.

4. You should probably only promote a couple, since money will be tight and there's no shortage of decent prepromotes. My rule of thumb is to promote those who have the best 20/1 stats, since they'll give the best return for the investment of the promotion item.

[General Horace]

Most people don't do 19xx in ranked runs because its a total pain to s rank lyn mode whilst getting nils to level 7. The chapter itself is pretty good for funds and exp due to high levelled enemies and treasure.

And yeah Linus FFO is way better due to more lax requirements, and Geitz is better than Wallace.

[dondon151]

For FFO, maybe Linus' for Geitz? It would require you to level the lords more than is ideal, though.

that's not much of a problem in a ranked run where you'd want to get your unpromoted units to ~L15 anyway before dumping them

[Paper Jam]

Regarding arena abuse, what I do is rig the arena fights by burning Random Numbers so that I always have WTA, usually by using sword users like Lyn or Eliwood against axe users. (Axes are notoriously inaccurate, especially against sword users, so chances are your character won't take any damage at all.)

I also suggest doing as much arena abuse as the 5-star Tactics requirement for the chapter will allow, but no more than that; it's fairly easy to reach the arena by turn 5 or 6 of chapter 17x (giving you five or six turns of arena abuse) or turn 3 of chapter 21 (giving you about seven turns of arena abuse). With clever use of the Rescue ability and Ninian's dances, that gives you about ten arena fights in chapter 17x and about twenty in chapter 21. That's quite a bit of money and experience, at no cost to your Tactics rank.

[DarkBladeSeth]

I hope you guys don't mind if I keep using this topic to discuss my HHM ranked run instead of opening a new one

Is 7 a good number of turns to complete chapter 11?

Edited November 23, 2012 by DarkBladeSeth

[Jave]

Does Merlinus leveling up affect the Exp Rank?

[Veracor]

If you aren't against using glitches, you can use the Mine Glitch on Chapter 29 (assuming Merlinus promoted) to offset the cost of recruiting Farina earlier, or promoting a couple others. Lots of expensive tomes can be gotten there, without even moving north enough to trigger the Valkyrie spawns which can often jeopardize attempts at that chapter. The bandit will always move first on this chapter, so the Mine Glitch is easy to pull off.

It also makes the Experience rank easier to 5-star due to more free Fortify staves to spam, aside from the other obvious benefits like bringing your level 4 Archers and Nino into the map to shoot all the unarmed Shamans / Druids with rescue penalties.

[DarkBladeSeth]

I completed Chapter 11 in 8 turns: Is it possible/recommended to complete it in 7?

[Paper Jam]

I completed Chapter 11 in 8 turns: Is it possible/recommended to complete it in 7?

It's possible, but my Matthew was particularly RNG-blessed on Lyn's tale (lots of strength increases on his level-ups), and he couldn't have 2HKO'ed the enemy archers otherwise. And it's kind of a pain if you can't get rid of the archers quickly.

One thing I am sure of, though: You can't complete chapter 11 in fewer than 7 turns.

As for whether it's recommended to shave off that extra turn... I probably would, but I don't think the extra turn has doomed your S-rank run. You can/will make up for it later.

Edited November 26, 2012 by Paper Jam

[DarkBladeSeth]

Thanks for the suggestion: I tried Ch 11 again and I managed to complete it in 7 turns

Now, another question: Should I abuse the arena in Ch 17x or wait for later chapters? And, is the Exp rank very hard to 5-star?

[General Horace]

you can finish chapter 11 in 6 turns, but its not recommended in ranked play.

[DarkBladeSeth]

How? Skipping all the enemies on the lower side of the map?

[General Horace]

Yeah, you can do it by going directly left at the start. You get hardly any exp though, so its not worth it in a ranked run in my opinion.

[DarkBladeSeth]

Question: Should I abuse the arena in Ch 17x or wait for later chapters? And, is the Exp rank very hard to 5-star?

[Paper Jam]

Question: Should I abuse the arena in Ch 17x or wait for later chapters? And, is the Exp rank very hard to 5-star?

Every turn that you save in chapter 17x is one more that you can spend in chapter 21 when you have Ninian, but I found it very handy to have extra gold in chapter 18.

[escroc]

you only get like 3-4 (?) arena fights in 17x because deployment and tactics requirement is limited.. linus' chapter is just easier for arena abuse imo cos you can deploy more mounts/fliers for rescue/drop (more arena fights per turn).. of course that's if you get the lords lv to 50 total

[DarkBladeSeth]

Guess I'll wait for Chapter 21' arena then :-)

Important question: I managed to complete chapter 17 in 11 turns, getting all the chest items...but letting 2 green soldiers die

So, instead of the Red gem, I got a Mine.

I still have 5 stars in every rank (Except Tactics, which is 4), but I have a doubt: Will missing the red gem damage my run?

Edited December 11, 2012 by DarkBladeSeth