The Lunatic Club

[Marston]

I beat chapter 13. After some retries to know when and what reinforcements spawned I simply killed a few units the first few turns and then blocked with Chrom/Sully the eastern path and unequipped Chroms weapon. I then sniped the enemies with my other characters (Long Bow Archer and Sniper were the biggest problem then) which resulted in TONS of experience. To be more precise, level 20 Virion (17), 20 Cordelia (16) and 20 Lon'qu (17) as well as some level ups for all other characters. I also reclassed Donnel into a mercinary. I know have to craft a Bronze Sword so he is useful again, but since he only got +stats when I reclassed him he is probably still more useful now then he was before. xD

Edited January 11, 2015 by Marston

[Cat1803]

I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I've already made it through Chapter 4.

Basic summary: Made it to level 8 (and 14 Spd) in Prologue, which made Chapter 1 a breeze despite the Defense flaw. Chapter 2 was basically all Interceptor's strategy (you're a freaking genius, by the way), but I took Sully with me instead of Vaike (Miriel was on Lissa for extra healing Mag) since I needed +1 Speed to double the Soldier across the river. I reset 5,000 times in Chapter 3 because I still suck at that chapter. Most of Chapter 4 went to FeMU, and she's now at Level 16.50.

I managed to get Miriel to level 4 in Chapter 3. I wish I could've gotten her higher, but I couldn't hold a choke with FreddyxKellam forever due to Luna+ and Avatar had to step in. I'll focus on training her in Paralogue 1 and Chapter 5 since she barely contributed in Chapter 4 (so much Aegis+).

With that said, I'm considering allowing fighting Bonus Box teams via the "let Florina's team smack Avatar until their weapons break and let Chrom smack them for 1 exp with his infinite Iron Sword" method. I obviously won't do this for other units, but I'd like to focus training in chapters and paralogues on units like Avatar (gimme Galeforce) and Miriel and this seems like a decent (if painful) way for Chrom to sort of keep up. I've done it before and it sucks, but I wouldn't consider this method breaking the game wide open like DLC.

Anyway, I've got max Renown and a lot of gold, so I stocked up on Str/Def tonics (I didn't stock up enough in my last run, and paid for it when a Risen popped up after Chapter 5 and didn't go away until I was done with Chapter 8). I also gave Miriel a Seraph Robe and Dracoshield. An Anna Shop spawned with a Speedwing, so I got that. I'm considering giving that to Miriel too, since she's underleveled.

I'm...not noticing difficulties with the Def flaw so far, likely due to my overleveled Avatar. Maybe I'm just used to my MU having crap defense after taking it as a flaw so often.

Next order of business: Paralogue 1. I'll train Donnel a tiny bit (Damn you, inner completionist!) and focus the rest on Miriel and MU. I might fight Florina once since Chrom is very close to level 4.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Huh, okay, just thought so because even in early levels they get stronger, so locations doesn't seem to matter on lunatic anymore.

Yeah, they're actually based on the number of maps you've done.

I'm...not noticing difficulties with the Def flaw so far, likely due to my overleveled Avatar. Maybe I'm just used to my MU having crap defense after taking it as a flaw so often.

If you make it to Cht.7 and aren't having trouble because of it, then you're in the clear. But Cht.5 involves a good deal of facetanking atm and it could still give you trouble there.

[Marston]

I took a look at chapter 14 and I am scared. xD

I am actually not sure which map would be the easiest now. From the level of the enemies, Kjelle's paralogue and C14 seem to be about equal. I could also go to Lost Bloodlines 1 or Morgan's paralogue, his however seems to be a bit harder. Then again, I am going to get swarmed in pretty much all maps and I have no idea how I should block all three passages on C14. Huh, will get interesting, I suspect Chrom/Sully and Tharja/Lon'qu with Nosferatu will face tank two locations, while the rest of the team has to heal and kill other units. God, I don't wanna! xD

Edit: I just tried Lost Bloodlines 1. There is no way I can beat that, Raydrick is way to powerful, I can't kill him (as he gets healed) before the whole right side attacks. And in there is stuff like Astra Seliph.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Marston

[astrophys]

Okay, so I cleared Lunatic.

I did grind a few of my weaker characters slightly, but gave up doing so and actually ended up benching them, so it didn't make a terribly impactive difference in most cases. Oh, and I did Nosferatank through 2 random battles.

Basically I just ended up Armsthrift Nosferatanking (altering Aversa-tanking) with the Avatar.

Chrom ended up horrifically under leveled, as did basically all other characters, so I ended up only deploying the Avatar (and the forced Chrom deployment) in battles and hiding Chrom behind the Avatar in pair-up.

In that respect I should have played as the female Avatar instead of the Male Avatar so that I could have benefited from an S-rank over an A-rank. The dual strike increase would have helped me defeat Grima more easily.

Avatar ended up capped in all of his stats by the end of the playthrough. Chrom could manage about 14-15 damage against Grima with the Exalted Falchion, having been poorly trained. He actually gained a few level ups during Endgame because I was taking too long and he got so many dual strikes against the other enemies I was nostanking. I had to take down Grima's health several times due to the physics staves.

I needed to use tonics so that I could double Grima….. I also used tonics on my other key stats as well. That made a big difference.

All in all, Lunatic was an interesting experience, particularly for the first several levels. I'm glad I tried and overcame the challenge of the first several levels. And I'm glad that I can say that I did Lunatic/Classic, although its was not strictly a Lunatic no-grind play through (and therefore not as significant) due to slightly leveling a few of the other characters in the grind before giving up on that as a waste of time.

That said, I think I found Hard Mode to be somewhat more fun overall. Its way easier, but I liked being able to use the characters more freely than in Lunatic and actually being able to fight random battles without having to resort to a Nosferatanking method because the enemies are getting too strong too fast for the other characters. Well, admittedly I could just get better at feeding experience.

But all in all, I'm still glad to have done Lunatic at least once.

[Vorena]

Well, Czar Yoshi is giving me the impression that you actually still do have quite a bit freedom in Lunatic mode. Sort of sounds similar to H5 runs of Shadow Dragon. I recall early impressions of H5 mode being too hard. Then, later hearing about runs to avoid using Sedgar/Wolf (which I think later turned out to not be good, but not exceptionally great units). Or even various lunatic runs in FE12 using non-berserker avatar since avatar made lunatic too easy as well.

[Ownagepuffs]

"Hey this streetpass shop is really helpful! It has every stat booster! Wait, a female Bow Knight named Lynn? Why is this familiar? This is my streetpass team!"

My reaction to streepassing myself when I went to my friend's house (I've been playing Awakening on 2 different systems). I forgot I had made a streetpass shop that is basically an Anna shop on crack to help out anyone who streetpassed me. To think I'd end up streepassing myself. Now I'm conflicted on whether or not buying the boosters would be cheating...

I may be the only one driving this bandwagon, but the other good reason to pick her up is to pair her with Gregor (he does not necessarily need to be trained), who passes down Armsthrift to LAURENT! and thus creates a godless killing machine. Once you get LAURENT! to Dark Mage and give him a forged Nosferatu that never breaks, it's Game Over. LAURENT! also makes an excellent partner for Lucina: with her as a Bow Knight, you have a Pair that can handle a wide variety of situations.

Are you high anyone worth their shit knows Gregor x Miriel is a strong pair.

[...]But all in all, I'm still glad to have done Lunatic at least once.

Congratulations.

Well, Czar Yoshi is giving me the impression that you actually still do have quite a bit freedom in Lunatic mode. Sort of sounds similar to H5 runs of Shadow Dragon. I recall early impressions of H5 mode being too hard. Then, later hearing about runs to avoid using Sedgar/Wolf (which I think later turned out to not be good, but not exceptionally great units). Or even various lunatic runs in FE12 using non-berserker avatar since avatar made lunatic too easy as well.

Hold on now avatar makes FE12 Lunatic much more manageable not "too easy". He/she can't be everywhere at once. There is freedom in FE13 Lunatic but you better have a clear goal in mind with whatever you plan to do.

[eclipse]

Retrying Lunatic. . .and then I remembered why I cheesed my way through the first time 'round.

THE GOOD NEWS: Avatar is almost spot-on (or slightly blessed) in most stats, nine levels later.

THE BAD NEWS: Defense isn't one of them (-2 right now).

WHY I FACEPALMED: This Avatar is +SPD/-RES

Hopefully, this one will turn out much better than the one I had last time. Currently on Chapter 3 - it's doable, as long as I pair him with Frederick/Kellam.

[Ownagepuffs]

Go get 'em, eclipse! Nothing hurts more than being Def screwed.

I'd probably suggest sticking Avatar with Fred as opposed to Kellam because Avatar would prefer to +Mov from Fred.

[Czar_Yoshi]

"Hey this streetpass shop is really helpful! It has every stat booster! Wait, a female Bow Knight named Lynn? Why is this familiar? This is my streetpass team!"

My reaction to streepassing myself when I went to my friend's house (I've been playing Awakening on 2 different systems). I forgot I had made a streetpass shop that is basically an Anna shop on crack to help out anyone who streetpassed me. To think I'd end up streepassing myself. Now I'm conflicted on whether or not buying the boosters would be cheating...

It would be cheating if the boosters were free, but since you still have to pay for them (and they're expensive enough that cost does matter) I put them in the same boat as Spotpass shops. If you're allowing those, Streetpassing yourself should be fine too.

[eclipse]

Go get 'em, eclipse! Nothing hurts more than being Def screwed.

I'd probably suggest sticking Avatar with Fred as opposed to Kellam because Avatar would prefer to +Mov from Fred.

He. . .sorta heard that, and managed to unscrew himself. Reclassed him to Cavalier for future purposes, and he more-or-less soloed Chapter 7 with Lon'qu in his pocket. Had to burn a Strength Tonic to make sure he'd ORKO everything that wasn't the boss.

I am NOT looking forward to Chapter 8. Sumia's flipping me off. She's currently level 6. . .and is more-or-less beaten by Cordelia at base in every stat except for Speed and Luck (with the differential not being enough to matter).

[Ownagepuffs]

It would be cheating if the boosters were free, but since you still have to pay for them (and they're expensive enough that cost does matter) I put them in the same boat as Spotpass shops. If you're allowing those, Streetpassing yourself should be fine too.

Yeah at 2500 a pop it's not like I can just go ahead and splurge on them. I gotta thank my past self for having the idea of a helpful streetpass team instead of a troll one.

At most I'd like, give Cherche another speedwing and give Sumia and Cordelia an Energy drop or something. I swear I am absolutely horrible with statbooster distribution >_>. My run is on hiatus because I left Awakening at my friend's and I'm a little too lazy to go get it. Don't judge me

About the spotpass shops. I haven't been abusing them to their full potential truth be told. My most purchased item is probably Finn's Lance and Ephraim's Lance and maybe a Celica's Gale here or there.

He. . .sorta heard that, and managed to unscrew himself. Reclassed him to Cavalier for future purposes, and he more-or-less soloed Chapter 7 with Lon'qu in his pocket. Had to burn a Strength Tonic to make sure he'd ORKO everything that wasn't the boss.

I am NOT looking forward to Chapter 8. Sumia's flipping me off. She's currently level 6. . .and is more-or-less beaten by Cordelia at base in every stat except for Speed and Luck (with the differential not being enough to matter).

If there's one thing I regret it's not stuffing my avatar to the brim with exp. He's one of my most reliable units for sure, but he's nowhere near as good as he could be. Maybe because I neglected him in favor of Sumia 10/10 idea would do again. In a way I'm in a pretty similar position to Irysa when he did his FE12 Lunatic blind run.

Cordelia beating Sumia at everything from base level is more or less expected. Even with all the favoritism I gave Sumia IIRC she barely tied Cordy in strength. You can probably expect Cordy to beat Sumia in str until basically forever as well. Sumia's only real advantage is that she's likely to have a high support rank with someone by the time Cordy shows up (she was like B or A with Chrom by C7 in my case) so she'll initially have more reliable offense in the form of more frequent dual strikes. Are you setting any restrictions? If not, the Ephraim's lance weapon from Ephraim spotpass shop is really really helpful to Sumia's (and Cordelia's) offense. It's C rank, has a whopping 11 Mt and gives +2 Str/+2 Spd.

[Vorena]

I wish Cordelia had a slightly better speed gain. I recall Sumia always having an appropriate amount of speed to always double things and not necessarily the strength to back it up. Cordelia I remember having occasional issues trying to have Cordelia keep up enough speed to double everything.

[eclipse]

Sumia's issue is that she dies to a stiff breeze. ;/

I'm utilizing my Renown, and have a bunch of stat boosters to my name. Will probably give Sumia the Robe, just so that I can get her enough levels to promote. Chrom had to rely pretty heavily on Frederick until level 11 or so - then he was able to stand on his own. I'll do Paralogue 2, then attempt Chapter 8. With luck, Sumia will be able to promote before that PITA of a desert chapter (Anna was charitable, and sold a couple of Master Seals to me).

So far, the "grinding" I've done consisted of a single skirmish (that'll probably be the last one). Don't regret it in the slightest.

Edited January 12, 2015 by eclipse

[Czar_Yoshi]

I swear I am absolutely horrible with statbooster distribution >_>.

At least you're well past the standard RPG "might need it later" phase.

Sumia's issue is that she dies to a stiff breeze. ;/

It's quite possible that the Mages in Cht.8 won't even be able to manage that. Seriously, they're really weak.

Use whatever you need to on her to get her out of OHKO range, she's got a very large terrain advantage there and can actually get in some very good training if you play it safe and never fight more than one thing at once.

[eclipse]

It's quite possible that the Mages in Cht.8 won't even be able to manage that. Seriously, they're really weak.

Use whatever you need to on her to get her out of OHKO range, she's got a very large terrain advantage there and can actually get in some very good training if you play it safe and never fight more than one thing at once.

Fed Sumia the Robe, which got her out of ORKO range (Arcwind is no joke). Promoted her at the end of Chapter 8, and she's doing much better, though she is still 2HKO'd by just about everything.

Cordelia is strong enough that she doesn't quite need the promotion yet. She's permanently paired with Frederick, which helps both of them immensely. Panne needs a more muscular support (probably Gregor), and I'll move Gaius over to Nowi (so she can kite better). Avatar hit level 14 and maxed out Strength and Speed as a Cavalier; he's now a Great Knight. Chrom can promote whenever I feel like it, and thanks to Anna shops being amazingly generous, I should have enough Master Seals to promote everyone. Got Libra and Tharja - Libra will replace Ricken as Lissa's partner, and Tharja will acquaint herself with Donnel on the bench.

I need to add a single run of The Golden Gaffe to my "grinding" - but Anna keeps selling amazing things (currently have a Speedwings and Beastkiller for sale in two separate places. . .).

[Vorena]

lv 14 avatar by the time uou have nowi?

[Ownagepuffs]

It's totally possible, Vorena. Veteran is capable of great things.

You got really lucky with the Anna shops, eclipse. I'm kinda jealous. Get that Beastkiller and forge it. With either a +2 or +3 Mt forge,it should OHKO Cavaliers in C6 and C8. It'll also help in C12 since there are horses everywhere and C14 to OHKO those annoying Pegasus Knights. It'll start losing its beastly OHKOs in C15 since all horses get kinda bulky by then but it will definitely 2HKO at the least.

Cordy and Sumia are never in need of speed, so while I'm not someone that's super amazing at optimal resource distribution, I'd say Cherche would be a good candidate for those speedwings to help her start. You know this series more than I do, so I don't have to say why having a flier with durability is pretty awesome. Frederick probably appreciates them too.

[Czar_Yoshi]

lv 14 avatar by the time uou have nowi?

That's actually kind of low, believe it or not. If you've only been training one other unit, you can promote at 20/20 in Cht.8.

Edited January 12, 2015 by Czar_Yoshi

[Interceptor]

Are you high anyone worth their shit knows Gregor x Miriel is a strong pair.

No, I just don't keep up on the latest and greatest optimization crazes, hence the disclaimer. A year and a half ago when I broke it out in my PT, I don't remember anyone singing the pairing from the rooftops, esp since Laurent is one of the Galeforce Orphans.

[Ownagepuffs]

No, I just don't keep up on the latest and greatest optimization crazes, hence the disclaimer. A year and a half ago when I broke it out in my PT, I don't remember anyone singing the pairing from the rooftops, esp since Laurent is one of the Galeforce Orphans.

Your PT is really another check on the list of awesome shit Gregor!Laurent can do. It made his case for in game and his post game is self explanatory.

But yeah, a year and a half ago was a looong time. No galeforce = worthless during those days. We know better now.

[Jedi]

Miriel and Gregor huh? Never tried that pair even in my Hard mode runs.

I'll have to check it out.

[Marston]

Tried C14 today. It seems easier then I first thought, but it seems I have to bench Lucina, because I need a thief and I have no keys for the chests. And benching someone of the stronger units is sadly out of the question for now. I hope this doesn't turn into a problem later on, as I definitly want to use her and with being only level 10 she does need the exp... >_>

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Tried C14 today. It seems easier then I first thought, but it seems I have to bench Lucina, because I need a thief and I have no keys for the chests. And benching someone of the stronger units is sadly out of the question for now. I hope this doesn't turn into a problem later on, as I definitly want to use her and with being only level 10 she does need the exp... >_>

It'll definitely get her off to a later start, but you can fix that with paralogues if you have any saved up. If not, if you still have the chapter 11 Armorslayer, it's still fairly easy to feed her Knight and general kills in chapter 15.

Also, the degree of leniency you have is determined by the parents. Level 10 means pretty much nothing aside from fast EXP gain because if Chrom and wife have picked up a lots of stats, she'll still be rather formidable out the gate.

[Czar_Yoshi]

No, I just don't keep up on the latest and greatest optimization crazes, hence the disclaimer. A year and a half ago when I broke it out in my PT, I don't remember anyone singing the pairing from the rooftops, esp since Laurent is one of the Galeforce Orphans.

If I remember correctly, that might have something to do with Endgame or someone pushing Gregor!Yarne really hard around then (because Sol/AT for Apo, of course).