Lunatic isn't very mage-friendly.

[Scarlet]

So, after beating the game on Hard mode, I had the extremely bright idea to jump straight to Lunatic... ...with MyUnit as a mage.

Turns out that everything after Prologue IV doesn't seem to be very possible like this unless I rely on completely absurd amounts of luck (which I'm not known to have).

I eventually survived Prologue V by pure dumb luck, ate two losses in Ogma's version of Prologue VI, and... ...am now finding myself unable to pass Prologue VII.

I picked the Est version because I thought her weakness to Ryan would make her easier to dispose of. Apparently, it doesn't. Most of the time (when I even survive until she comes withhin range), he simply misses altogether.

I need help, because I sure as hell can't come up with anything that works. MyUnit dies in one hit from the fighters and the cavalier reinforcements, Cecille dies in one hit from the cavalier reinforcements, Caeda dies in one hit from the archers, Wrys and Ryan are insta-killed by absolutely everything. Ogma is the only one who can survive one hit from anything, and one hit only.

So far, the best thing I came up with was to kill the mercenary directly to the right of my starting position by attacking with Ryan from below, following up with MyUnit from the left (who then draws an archer and is left with 2 HP) and then getting the kill with Ogma. Ogma then needs to survive two attacks, however, which he... ...can't, unless the fighter misses at 65 Display Hit.

And from there it only gets worse - no matter what I do, it doesn't seem to work.

I'm willing to accept any loss that won't make Prologue VIII impossible to beat.

And no, restarting the game with a different MyUnit is not an option.

I could also deploy Luke or Rody, but Rody is still at base level (and thus basically useless) and Luke survives even less things than Cecille does because the mercenaries double him.

[arvilino]

I'd imagine your best bet would be to field Athena(if you have her) and Merric if the other characters are going to die in one hit or one round.

[Scarlet]

Those two happen to be the two units that I lost in Prologue VI.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

And no, restarting the game with a different MyUnit is not an option.

Why's that? Your thread title pretty much nailed it. Mages have abysmal bases in this game that make them extremely weak versus enemies that are quickly strong and their 25 SPD cap isn't great either. Your best bet IS to restart, Knight or Fighter MUs seem to be the best IIRC.

Lacking Merric and Athena only gives more reason for you to restart this.

Edited November 30, 2012 by Sirius

[Ema Skye]

Cain's version is much better than Est for the final map, and he's not too tough to kill with Caeda, Luke and Merric. You pretty much require him for Prologue 8 to not be obnoxiously hard.

I've found that in any level of difficulty, Mage MU requires a strong enough Luke/Rody to not make prologue annoying. Your best bet is restarting your run to get some levels on Luke/Rody, and so that you'll have Merric, Athena and Cain.

Also, Draug's map is much easier than Ogma's, and I find Ogma to be a bit redundant when I have Athena, Cain and Marth.

[Peppy]

What traits did you pick for MU?

I find that Farmer's Child, Beauty and Recluse works well for a Lunatic mode MU mage.

[Scarlet]

Why's that?

I'm dead-set on beating Lunatic as a mage, that's why. I want to work with that condition in mind.

That said, I do have Knight!MU planned for Lunatic Reverse, but for that to get anywhere I obviously need to beat plain ol' regular Lunatic first.

Though I did get fairly bad level ups for the most part... And I seem to have mostly picked the wrong maps. Maybe I should restart...

...again...

What traits did you pick for MU?

I find that Farmer's Child, Beauty and Recluse works well for a Lunatic mode MU mage.

I picked Orphan, Wise and Humane, fully with growth rather than base stats in mind.

[Espinosa]

How about a strategy where you don't attack everything on turn 1? Have your party move north, occupy the fort, leave Shiida to counter the Merc while keeping her out of the archers' range.

I personally wouldn't keep playing if I lost two crucial characters, but there should be some solutions to this situation. Mage MU is just one of the units in your party, and no matter what class you choose and what growths you get, it's not soloing Lunatic mode without all those other units.

[Peppy]

I'm dead-set on beating Lunatic as a mage, that's why. I want to work with that condition in mind.

That said, I do have Knight!MU planned for Lunatic Reverse, but for that to get anywhere I obviously need to beat plain ol' regular Lunatic first.

Though I did get fairly bad level ups for the most part... And I seem to have mostly picked the wrong maps. Maybe I should restart...

...again...

I picked Orphan, Wise and Humane, fully with growth rather than base stats in mind.

Those aren't really the best options.

Orphan gives you good strength and magic bases but the mage ends up with 50% Magic, Which is basically hit or miss.

Wise gives Luck and Resistance bonuses and those stats aren't that important...

Humane gives a Defense Growth but it's not really worth it since picking Farmer's Child will give you good enough HP to tank at least a hit.

Also, i agree with Espionosa about MU not soloing stuff but MU can still use a little improvement so she has good endgame performance.

Edited December 1, 2012 by Otacon

[Scarlet]

How about a strategy where you don't attack everything on turn 1? Have your party move north, occupy the fort, leave Shiida to counter the Merc while keeping her out of the archers' range.

...I never realized the tile next to the fort up there is a peak. Thanks, after a few tries this worked; I lost Wrys, but I finally passed that damn chapter. Now just one more chapter and I finally get access to the rainbow potion to make my life a bit easier...

Those aren't really the best options.

Orphan gives you good strength and magic bases but the mage ends up with 50% Magic, Which is basically hit or miss.

Wise gives Luck and Resistance bonuses and those stats aren't that important...

Humane gives a Defense Growth but it's not really worth it since picking Farmer's Child will give you good enough HP to tank at least a hit.

Also, i agree with Espionosa about MU not soloing stuff but MU can still use a little improvement so she has good endgame performance.

Luck may not be very important, but I sure wish I'd had more resistance at several points in my previous playthrough. Maybe it's not the best choice, but meh. I suppose I could've picked the HP option for present instead, but I kinda like Orphan and Humane.

[Peppy]

...I never realized the tile next to the fort up there is a peak. Thanks, after a few tries this worked; I lost Wrys, but I finally passed that damn chapter. Now just one more chapter and I finally get access to the rainbow potion to make my life a bit easier...

Luck may not be very important, but I sure wish I'd had more resistance at several points in my previous playthrough. Maybe it's not the best choice, but meh. I suppose I could've picked the HP option for present instead, but I kinda like Orphan and Humane.

Well, if you wanna stick with those, That's fine too but I'm just saying to pick these bonuses if you want good Magic and Speed for your MU Mage.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Luck may not be very important, but I sure wish I'd had more resistance at several points in my previous playthrough. Maybe it's not the best choice, but meh. I suppose I could've picked the HP option for present instead, but I kinda like Orphan and Humane.

Your opening post indicates your previous playthrough was on Hard Mode right? Lunatic is much more demanding, you may have to use high tier units you don't care for and you probably shouldn't just settle for one of the least important stats just because you wish you had more RES on certain instances or else you might just be sending yourself into a playthrough you won't finish and the further you go in and find that you should restart, the worse it is. Go for the traits that give good stats, forget about RES and use Pure Water when the need for it comes up.

Edited December 1, 2012 by Sirius

[dondon151]

bases are way more important than growths for a class that's as terrible as mage to survive in H3 prologue

and unless ogma's offense is really good (and iirc he's slower than athena), you're a little boned if you lost athena. i would not advise continuing prologue if you lose a single unit because of the money penalty in chapter 1.

[Espinosa]

Ogma has the same AS but less Strength and sword rank than Athena, but actually more HP and defence, though that's negligible since both are usually 2RKO'd. I guess Ogma still has good offence with Steel Sword (though he'll do 4 less damage when doubling)?

Your chances don't look too bad for P8, as you have a powerful nuke with Elfire, as well as Caeda, Est and Ogma. The absence of Wrys looks bad but you have Vulneraries, and you can modify your tactics to hang around the starting point until the reinforcements are gone while you slowly fight off enemies 1-2 at a time.

[Anouleth]

If Cecile is dying in one hit, shouldn't you think about using Luke or Rody instead?

[Scarlet]

I pulled through. Prologue VIII actually was fairly tame compared to what the previous three prologue chapters threw at me. I took like 35 turns, but I don't really care, I just want to beat the game.

So, I'm now starting chapter 1 with 5000 gold and the knowledge about the extra gold in the cave, the latter of which I didn't have in my previous playthrough. Thanks for the advice up until now, but I think I'll be fine now that I have access to the rainbow potion and reclassing.

If Cecile is dying in one hit, shouldn't you think about using Luke or Rody instead?

They get doubled instead, which causes pretty much the same results, haha.

[Integrity]

They get doubled instead, which causes pretty much the same results, haha.

Well, it does mean that any sub-100% hit rate has an increased chance to not kill them. It also fuels the rather niche situation where a low-HP enemy will hit them once and die to a counter (before the enemy can double) rather than 1HKOing them and laughing about it.

So it *is* definitely better.

[Scarlet]

Well, it does mean that any sub-100% hit rate has an increased chance to not kill them. It also fuels the rather niche situation where a low-HP enemy will hit them once and die to a counter (before the enemy can double) rather than 1HKOing them and laughing about it.

So it *is* definitely better.

Fair enough. Though now that I'm done with the prologue, I can just use all three of them, I guess.

[Integrity]

Fair enough. Though now that I'm done with the prologue, I can just use all three of them, I guess.

I'm using precisely none of them, except for Rody as a Curate.

It's probably contributing to why I'm struggling with Lunatic.

[Espinosa]

Fair enough. Though now that I'm done with the prologue, I can just use all three of them, I guess.

Unless any of them got out of Prologue at, like, lv 4-5, I'd abstain from using any of them on Lunatic and pick Draug instead (who comes at a decent level ready to double when reclassed to Pirate or Merc). If you did train one of them enough to withstand a round of combat, just pick one and focus on him/her. Luke has strength and durability and is close to C swords, Rody grows more speed and Cecille can access Lady Sword but is the worst at taking hits. If you decide to use all three, none of them will turn good and you're going to struggle with the early chapters, Rainbow Potion or not.