The Lunatic Club

[Starscraper]

Hi guys~

I'm starting a Lunatic/Casual file (hey, last time I attempted Lunatic/classic I died so badly I just sticked with hard mode)

Does anyone have any asset/flaw suggestions for a Henry!Morgan? Henry is going to be my husbando for the walkthrough...idc if it causes the beginning to be bad..besides, I'll only really need a +defense asset in Lunatic+ (Which I have not unlocked...:P)

I also dont know how to do water trick :P

I'll just set my DS down till I get a good Asset/flaw, from myself or someone else~

In anycase, wish me luck. I'm picked a god and praying.

[Ownagepuffs]

Good to know about the water trick, though I'm not sure how that's different from grinding. If anything, that's exploiting something the game didn't even intend to give you to avoid a resource the game does give you. Not sure if I follow that, to be honest.

Either way, I managed to get by chapter two with a little more experience, but Frederick is still doing all the heavy lifting. I keep hoping for more chances to let the others get EXP, but with the enemy so close together, it's usually suicide to use anyone else. Maybe with Kellam's support boost a unit can survive long enough to kill something. Only one way to find out. Charge!

The water trick is actually intentional design, otherwise they wouldn't give you 2 units who could walk on water and 2 who couldn't. It is very helpful in giving Robin a very strong head start.

Hopefully by heavy lifting you don't mean Fred is taking kills. He should only be doing chip damage.

Hi guys~

I'm starting a Lunatic/Casual file (hey, last time I attempted Lunatic/classic I died so badly I just sticked with hard mode)

Does anyone have any asset/flaw suggestions for a Henry!Morgan? Henry is going to be my husbando for the walkthrough...idc if it causes the beginning to be bad..besides, I'll only really need a +defense asset in Lunatic+ (Which I have not unlocked...:P)

I also dont know how to do water trick :P

I'll just set my DS down till I get a good Asset/flaw, from myself or someone else~

In anycase, wish me luck. I'm picked a god and praying.

No one here cares if you're doing casual. Heck Lunatic casual is probably the funnest difficulty. Henry has a craptastic speed base but high skill for his class. The result will be Morgan also getting low speed so you may want to go +Spd/-Skl or Lck

The water trick is basically Lissa pairs with Robin and Chrom pairs with Fred. Chrom and Rob then walk on the water tiles. They can walk on the water but the enemies can't. So Robin can pick all of them off with thunder and gain a lot of levels in the process.

Walhart moves, I promise~!

Check the Warriors - sometimes, they spawn with Counter, and it sucks. Otherwise, get everyone the hell away from the bottom of the map ASAP, because that's where the first wave of reinforcements spawn from. Good luck~!

Thanks, eclipse! I've gotten bit in the behind by a counter warrior before so I definitely know to watch out for them.

Just for kicks I did a hit rate check. The enemies have shockingly low hit rates (33%-49% displayed) on my faster units aside from the snipers. They aren't tough at all. The plan will be to for Sumia to pull and crit blast Wal-mart with either Katarina's Bolt or Mjolnir with Robin adjacent to Sumia for the solidarity boost. Because I don't have to worry about Wal-mart procing Sol with the Sol Sword this time he might actually be easier than he was in C19.

I'd like to get at least 1 of either the Dragonstone+ or the Spirit dust but I don't know how feasible that would be. When exactly do those reinforcements spawn again?

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Either way, I managed to get by chapter two with a little more experience, but Frederick is still doing all the heavy lifting. I keep hoping for more chances to let the others get EXP, but with the enemy so close together, it's usually suicide to use anyone else. Maybe with Kellam's support boost a unit can survive long enough to kill something. Only one way to find out. Charge!

Enemies will typically target the thing they can do the most damage to, excepting if they can score a kill. This makes it so that a main tank to pull a group of enemies, then, assuming the main tank isn't also a powerhouse that murders everything it engages, a weaker unit can sit within range of one, maybe two of those units to pull them off of the tank. With the enemy now isolated right next to the rest of your team, dogpile and crush their face.

The water trick is actually intentional design, otherwise they wouldn't give you 2 units who could walk on water and 2 who couldn't. It is very helpful in giving Robin a very strong head start.

This. The maps with water in them typically have interesting unorthodox things that can be done to mess with the enemy. Chapter 2 is another one of those, as is paralogue 2 (both of which are great for divide-and-conquer tactics).

I'd like to get at least 1 of either the Dragonstone+ or the Spirit dust but I don't know how feasible that would be. When exactly do those reinforcements spawn again?

The reinforcements show up from each of the south entrances on... something like turn 3, IIRC. Anyway, the side halls have a very low enemy count, which are all concentrated in the south. It's not particularly hard to sneak someone up to either of the rooms, so long as they can handle taking on the single guard at each treasure room door.

[Ownagepuffs]

The reinforcements show up from each of the south entrances on... something like turn 3, IIRC. Anyway, the side halls have a very low enemy count, which are all concentrated in the south. It's not particularly hard to sneak someone up to either of the rooms, so long as they can handle taking on the single guard at each treasure room door.

Turn 3? That's pretty early. I mean I have an approximate 5 turn clear in my head but this is assuming reinforcements spawn at the end of turn 4 like they always have been.

The generals guarding the treasure are easy to smash, it's just a matter of letting the thieves both open the door and the chest since I lack keys. If the thieves take too long then I'll have to ignore the treasure. The spirit dust would just be sold but the Dragonstone+ could go to Nah. I have an extra one from Tiki and since Tiki is benched I could just take that one but if I get this one I could sell it.

[bookwormbabe29]

Fred's gained more kills than I'd like. I have my other units get kills as they can, but often Fred's swarmed with enemies and going out to nab a kill results in getting killed. It's part of the whole 'am I using fred too much' thing I was mentioning.

For example, I was able to finish chapter 3. Heading over to the arena, Miriel and Sumia are level 1, Chrom, Stahl, and Virion are all level 2, Sully and vaike are level 3, Avatar and Lissa are level 4, Kellam is level 5, and frederick is a level 6 Great Knight. If I keep going with this file, I'm almost certain I'll have to do some DLC or risen to get the low level characters up. Which brings me full circle of asking: is that normal? Does everyone use this water trick? am I being too cautious and not taking enough risks? Any input is welcome, just trying to judge how I'm doing at this point.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Turn 3? That's pretty early. I mean I have an approximate 5 turn clear in my head but this is assuming reinforcements spawn at the end of turn 4 like they always have been.

Hmmm, it might be turn 4, then. I might be thinking of when the soldier gives the advance warning.

Bookworm: How many of those are you actively trying to use? Spreading experience too thin can cause issues, even if Fred ends up hogging less of the kills. You're kind of coming up to some of the maps that are good for training. Chapter 4 and paralogue 1 should give you a chance to feed a unit or two a bunch of experience (paralogue 1 especially, since there's no point at which the entire map decides to zerg, just very small groups). Chapter 6 can be a bit of an opportunity too, although without a second strong unit, you might not be able to sandbag for that. After that, chapters 7 and 8, as well as paralogue 2 (if you ignore Anna and the village), are also good training opportunities.

As for the water trick, it's kind of the mainstay strategy at this point. I have a riskier one that I used to use before it was discovered, although it still involved feeding Robin as much experience as possible. I just pulled the second group normally and settled for an end level of 4 instead of 6.

You're probably being too cautious. As I said, one of the weaker units should be able to pull one of the enemies away with careful manipulation. Sure, they'll take a huge chunk of damage, but then the rest of the team can beat on said unit, patch the puller up and then repeat. You can give Fred Kellam and a weak weapon (or unequip it entirely) to draw things out, keep him from taking kills and let the rest of the party pull the enemies away one by one.

[Ownagepuffs]

Sumia and Miriel can grab a couple of kills to level up in C3 and paralogue 1 so them being level 1 going into C4 is a bit neglectful. Likewise Chrom should be like level 3-5. Avatar should be at least level 7. Level 6 is high for Fred. I'm currently going through a no grind myself and a no grind is common practice amongst the people in this thread so it isn't the norm to have to resort to DLC. However, exp distribution is not something that comes automatically. You'd have to get better at it. I was terrible with exp distribution at first so it's nothing to feel bad about. If you don't intend to use DLC you *might* just have to start over since Fred's reign will come to a screeching halt around the mid game.

Sounds like you have been spreading your exp far too evenly, a common mistake for people going through Lunatic for the first time. A sound piece of advice is to focus on a small team. Equip Fred with weaker weapons so he has an easier time weakening things without the risk of killing them. Another sound piece of advice I can give you is to seriously check enemy ranges. Note that enemies in this game move in squads, so being in range of one enemy of a squad will cause all of them to come after you. If you stay out of range of a squad then it gives you more breathing room to deal with the current squad of enemies you face.

The water trick is common practice, yes. It allows Avatar to take on Frederick's job if you chose Defense asset and allows him to be the best combat character on your squad regardless of your asset.

Edit: Lol wow Kuroi totally ninja'd me. I did forget to address your last question on whether or not you're being too cautious, though. I haven't seen your gameplay but Fred at level 6 tells me you may have been attempting to be aggressive but ended up getting overwhelmed thus having to rely on Fred to break you out. You have to be willing to let some characters take a hit. A really, really strong hit that will leave them on the edge of death but a hit nonetheless. The game is designed in such a way that you are always pressured but never overwhelmed (unless you try to pull like 3 enemy squads at once lol).

Paralogue 1, 2 and C5 are a decent opportunity to bring some units up to speed. You haven't gotten that far yet but I'll also drop another piece of advice. Post chapter 4, enemies do not get much stronger at all. In fact, some of the enemies are statistically identical to earlier ones until around C9 or so. What this means is that the enemies don't get much stronger but your units do. This is to prepare you for the difficulty hike at C12.

Also, assuming you beat normal mode, you should have some renown. Don't be afraid to use it! Some spotpass weapons are also incredibly useful too.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Ownagepuffs

[bookwormbabe29]

Good to know, good to know. To be fair, I do know a bit about exp. distribution in general, though I'm still fairly new to this particular game's quirks. As for the units above, I listed them all as an example. To elaborate, I haven't used Vaike or Miriel at all, only support bonus' at this point. Stahl and Kellam have been used as walls with their defense and gained some exp, but I haven't been feeding them kills or anything. Virion's fired 2-3 times to weaken a foe for a kill. Chrom is struggling as he is never where he needs to be, being short movement more times than I can count. Avatar has soaked up the most kills after Fred. I'd like to train Chrom, Avatar, Sully, and Sumia with Lissa as support, but again, getting them a kill without being killed has been harder than I'd like.

Though honestly, if the water trick is the accepted way of doing things to get to level 7, I see no reason not to use the DLC to make up the difference. I don't see a distinction in one exploit or the other. I have roughly 3,400 renown, so I just grabbed those items. The stat boosters might work as a band aid for now, but I do need to get some exp into someone other than Fred.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Good to know about the water trick, though I'm not sure how that's different from grinding. If anything, that's exploiting something the game didn't even intend to give you to avoid a resource the game does give you. Not sure if I follow that, to be honest.

What counts as grinding differs from person to person, but there are a few common lines people draw: whether or not DLC is used, whether or not Logbook/Spotpass units are used, whether or not Spotpass shops, Streetpass shops and/or Renown are used, and some people will also go the extra mile and ban Barracks, Event Tiles and Anna shops. Most of us here focus on no DLC, moderate Renown, no Logbook units, and Barracks and stuff allowed. Shops are somewhat fair game because you still have to pay for everything and money is tight early on, so they're usually used with moderation. Nobody fights the Risen though, Lunatic/Risen is a challenge run category all of its own and one of the hardest ones out there.

Everything that can be done purely using resources from in maps is generally considered fair game. Since you can't grind for exp on Fort enemies, this doesn't lend itself to may infinite type strats- even grinding Staves on infinite damage sources is held back by money issues and time constraints (seriously, why ban something nobody wants to do?) and Dance grinding Olivia isn't actually a free ticket to Galeforce for Lucina and Inigo, which is the main reason you'd want to invest in Olivia.

So the water trick is fair game in most of our books. And even if it feels like cheating, odds are you'll feel like Lunatic's cheating before you're done with it and want to cheat back. Anyway, good luck with your run!

Good to know, good to know. To be fair, I do know a bit about exp. distribution in general, though I'm still fairly new to this particular game's quirks.

It's actually a good bit different in Awakening than it is in previous FE titles. Generally the way to do it here is to get one unit so far ahead of the curve that they're invincible, and then have them run interference for a few chapters so your squishies can be fed however you wish while the bulk of the enemy force is goofing off with your tank (alternately, use the tank for massive support boosts for training the squishy of your choice, assuming you've got a few other moderately leveled units who can hold their own). Fred should serve this purpose for Avatar up through Cht.2-3, Avatar should continue the bulk of the training through Cht.6 along with one or two others (Miriel and Sumia are popular choices) and then Avatar takes the role of tank for Cht.7-11 and all the Paralogues (Chrom can get on his feet during Cht.5 and 7). After that, you should have a good team of 2-3 solid pairs to fight with, and several kids coming your way with inheritance and recruitment already set up. Proper money and Seal management are critically tied in with your ability to get everything set up on time.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Czar_Yoshi

[Starscraper]

I went with +Speed -Skill.

Ouch, It took me 5 tries for prologue, and 2 trys for the Chapter 1. Chapter 2? Im dead.

Fredrick is level 3-4 I think, Robin is level 3, Chrom is still level 1 :# And Lissa is level 2..

Any tips? Feels so hard when you are ambushed...this is as farthest as I've gone before~

[Knight Falchion]

I went with +Speed -Skill.

Ouch, It took me 5 tries for prologue, and 2 trys for the Chapter 1. Chapter 2? Im dead.

Fredrick is level 3-4 I think, Robin is level 3, Chrom is still level 1 :# And Lissa is level 2..

Any tips? Feels so hard when you are ambushed...this is as farthest as I've gone before~

I guess my tip would be to tank with Freddy at this point, but your Avatar may be under leveled. I can't remember what level my Avatar was on my first successful run (I think I lost Sully in Ch. 2 and just didn't care enough to restart), but I know I used a Freddy tank for a good part of it. Czar_Yoshi's tips at the bottom of his post are good.

Are you going to be doing any level of grinding?

Edited February 10, 2015 by The Legendary Falchion

[Starscraper]

I guess my tip would be to tank with Freddy at this point, but your Avatar may be under leveled. I can't remember what level my Avatar was on my first successful run (I think I lost Sully in Ch. 2 and just didn't care enough to restart), but I know I used a Freddy tank for a good part of it. Czar_Yoshi's tips at the bottom of his post are good.

Are you going to be doing any level of grinding?

Apparently Fredrick dies from being ambushed because of the fighters...Oh yeah and my Avatar? I take *LOTS* of damage.

I might have to restart, even though I love how I survived chapter 1 so easily (153 turns, dodged hammer attack, and broke boss and a archers weapons, free exp for fredrick/robin

I think I might have to go Defense+ Luck- or something.

I plan on grinding once I get DLC.

[Ownagepuffs]

If you plan on DLC use then don't be afraid to play Frederick emblem until outrealm. The 30 uses of the Silver lance should carry him until that long.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Ownagepuffs

[Czar_Yoshi]

I take *LOTS* of damage.

There's a very big difference between taking damage and living and taking damage and dying. If that "lots" isn't enough to OHKO you, your Avatar can still help out, even if you can't be the lead tank.

[Knight Falchion]

Apparently Fredrick dies from being ambushed because of the fighters...Oh yeah and my Avatar? I take *LOTS* of damage.

I might have to restart, even though I love how I survived chapter 1 so easily (153 turns, dodged hammer attack, and broke boss and a archers weapons, free exp for fredrick/robin

I don't know if you have to reset just yet. Like Czar_Yoshi said, if your Avatar can at least survive a hit, he's still usable. Something that worked for me was actually giving Freddy a sword that he could switch to, which negated more of the axe user damage. The soldiers are generally less of an issue to be at a disadvantage against than the supremely hard hitting fighters.

Granted, giving Freddy the sword was also a strat that relied on him doubling the enemies (while paired with Chrom) and benefited from the increased dodge chance against the fighters.

You do need to find a tank for Ch. 2, though, somehow; the pressure is just too great as you clearly know. As others have mentioned, the future use of DLC for grinding lets you be a lot less focused on exp. distribution for the units you want to use, so you can just pump it all into the tank.

But if you do restart, Defense+/Luck- would be good, though I also suggest Speed+/Luck- since having the Avatar double opponents (paired with Sumia) helped me immensely in Ch. 3.

Edited February 10, 2015 by The Legendary Falchion

[isetrh]

I was thinking that I should play Lunatic again and not cheese it this time. Are there any pairings or reclasses that are interesting? Not necessarily the strongest ever, just something fun about them gameplay-wise.

Also, I'm thinking if going with dragon twins. What should I do in terms of reclassing them? The Manakete class is their main selling point, but it seems like a waste to nit use their perfect skill pools.

Edited February 10, 2015 by isetrh

[Ownagepuffs]

Chrom x Sumia is surprisingly powerful. I knew it was a strong pair, but I didn't expect it to be as strong as it turned out. If you can get GF by C13 (not that hard unless you're a certain GFaqs user that thinks Chrom x Sully is worth a damn) then you're set.

Henry x Cordelia could be interesting. It is working out in my head but I don't know how it'll be in practice. Dark Flier x Sorc may be a good combo.

Gregor x Tharja has some theory potential if Gregor isn't off with Miriel. Tharja has a surprisingly high speed base and Gregor gives more Spd and Def, along with Skill since Tharja's skill base is very low.

Don't expect to recruit that many kids. I suggest trying to get Laurent anyway. Me not getting Laurent is something I regret.

[eclipse]

Frederick: Griffon Rider (after getting Dual Guard+). Assuming you have the patience to stick with him, it's hilarious.

[T-Bone]

I'll agree that the water trick is cheap when someone figures out a way to consistently beat Ch2 L+ without it.

[Ownagepuffs]

@isetrh Oh and also, assuming that you're also asking for which units can surprise you, Cherche is fantastic. She needs only the C8 speedwings and a high speed pair up then she will be ready to go.

Oh and as someone who went with Nowi, don't worry about their skills. As Veteran Manaketes they will grow like mad, the stat boosts from the dragonstone alone can carry them quite far and Wyrmsbane is very fun on certain maps. Taking them out of Manakete will leave you with E rank weapons which is a hassle so don't go skill hunting.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Ownagepuffs

[Arky]

I'll agree that the water trick is cheap when someone figures out a way to consistently beat Ch2 L+ without it.

I've done both L and L+ via frederick emblem method

As long as you're willing to reset for his levels (you really only need HP/DEF/SPD, STR is totally awesome but not required)

It's actually pretty easy to do.

I think the only thing I had trouble was with chapter 3. I didn't realize that you could open both doors, kill the knights then run the rest of the units in a circle while you beat on their commander.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Arky

[Czar_Yoshi]

I've done both L and L+ via frederick emblem method

That's doable, not consistent. There's a big difference.

I'd consider earlygame consistent if you could feasibly clear Pro through Cht.4 with no saves.

Regardless, Int's Cht.2 clear is fairly consistent with low enough stat thresholds that you can reach them reasonably without the Water Trick. You'll still run into a lot of trouble later with the resulting not-overleveled-enough Avatar, but Cht.2 at least will go down with little trouble.

[T-Bone]

I've done both L and L+ via frederick emblem method

As long as you're willing to reset for his levels (you really only need HP/DEF/SPD, STR is totally awesome but not required)

It's actually pretty easy to do.

I think the only thing I had trouble was with chapter 3. I didn't realize that you could open both doors, kill the knights then run the rest of the units in a circle while you beat on their commander.

Yeah, "Put Frederick+Chrom/MU on a fort and pray that I dodge enough Luna's" doesn't qualify as a consistent strategy. A consistent strategy is something along the lines that everything past the first turn needs like an 80% success rate.

[Starscraper]

There's a very big difference between taking damage and living and taking damage and dying. If that "lots" isn't enough to OHKO you, your Avatar can still help out, even if you can't be the lead tank.

Multiply that x2.

its a 2HKO on Robin.

Yeah Im going to have to restart and to focus on just one unit...:/ Game over Fire Emblem. prepare for Fredrick Emblem :/ (Note to self, this time, TRADE VULNERARIES FROM LISSA. Robins sword aint enough..)

I don't know if you have to reset just yet. Like Czar_Yoshi said, if your Avatar can at least survive a hit, he's still usable. Something that worked for me was actually giving Freddy a sword that he could switch to, which negated more of the axe user damage. The soldiers are generally less of an issue to be at a disadvantage against than the supremely hard hitting fighters.

Granted, giving Freddy the sword was also a strat that relied on him doubling the enemies (while paired with Chrom) and benefited from the increased dodge chance against the fighters.

You do need to find a tank for Ch. 2, though, somehow; the pressure is just too great as you clearly know. As others have mentioned, the future use of DLC for grinding lets you be a lot less focused on exp. distribution for the units you want to use, so you can just pump it all into the tank.

But if you do restart, Defense+/Luck- would be good, though I also suggest Speed+/Luck- since having the Avatar double opponents (paired with Sumia) helped me immensely in Ch. 3.

I did trade robins sword to him. But I wanted to kil them right away.

Alright, Im restarting. Hello Fredrick Emblem. :P

Im just worried on how chapter 3 is going to go...ouich..

[Irysa]

IIRC if Fred procs speed at least twice he can double some enemies in C3 with a Sumia pair up. Having that option makes it way easier to clear the bottom half of the map out quickly (pretty sure that's actually a ORKO on Archers if you equip Silver Lance) so you're way less prone to getting squished at the start, and after that you can just chokepoint the doors, (although I find that rather uneccessary).

Edited February 10, 2015 by Irysa