Donny Boy! Something we can all relate to

[Volke29]

This was a great read about Donnell.

If you don't know who he is and don't want to read minor spoilers then please do not click link or read below.

*Minor spoilers below

From Technology Tell.com:

"I am serious about my Fire Emblem. So serious that on the classic games, where there’s only permadeath, I take about 50 hours to play because I will not allow any units to die and the moment anyone falls, the battle is restarted. I figured I’d be fine with Fire Emblem: Awakening due to the casual option that prevents characters from dying for good if they fall in battle, but I was wrong. I’ve ruined my Fire Emblem: Awakening game, in which I’ve invested 26 hours and 23 minutes, because of Donnel.<br style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;"><br style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">See, Donny is the “joke” character, except I learned to late that he’s really not. He’s a villager you can recruit in a side quest. He’s comic relief. He’s a farmer’s son who goes around wearing a pot on his head and is practically useless (initially). He won’t even join during the side quest unless you get him to level up during it. Simply put, he’s a great big pain in the butt. I recruited him for completion’s sake, toyed with pairing him up with Cordelia, then married off Cordelia to someone else and left him to rot because he was too much trouble."

Read the full article here: http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/107255/i-have-to-restart-fire-emblem-awakening-because-of-donnel/

[a.f.k.a. Howard Hughes]

Oh dear the amount of undeserved hype

[Samias]

Shall I quote some random person from my art of Donnel off of DA?

Actually this guy is really good. You kind of have to protect him a little in the beginning but after a while he starts to kick butt. xD I really like this character actually. ^^

Well he's a unit that takes time to level. Though I'm not sure what to do with him now. He's lv. 20 on my playthrough. I may just keep him how he is and continue to level him or I guess use a seal to change him into something else.FE Awakening being kind of the only fire emblem, and my first, game I've ever played I'm a bit confused on some things. Most of the time I kind of herpa-derp my way through the game. I'm playing it on casual mode, so my characters don't die when I mess up. xPI kind of gave Donnel/Donny a Javelin when he was able to use them. Being able to attack from afar helped too. ^^

I like Donnel but for an efficient run he's even worse than Amelia, just because the relative enemy strength is so much higher. But for the people who can't fathom a no-grind run... there's no hope convincing them otherwise.

[Volke29]

I look at someone like Donnell and figure he's like Rolf in PoR and RD.

A total whimpy looking kid that is a pain in the butt to keep alive and level but an absolute powerhouse if leveled properly.

I can't pass up on a challenge like that.

Also, who else restarts their game if someone on their team dies? Like no matter how worthless they are, you restart? I'm in that camp. =D

Side note - I'm on the mission right now to recruit him. I like the challenge of leveling him and getting the chests before thiefs (I'm assuming thiefs go after chest in this game like previous entries.)

MODEDIT: why is it so hard to not doublepost

Edited February 11, 2013 by Integrity

[Kaze]

I think we all should know not to underestimate Donnel. Yes, he's weak when you first get him, but once he gets past level 10, you can reclass him and such. Granted, he's my only unit that isn't above level 10 that isn't promoted yet.

[a.f.k.a. Howard Hughes]

I look at someone like Donnell and figure he's like Rolf in PoR and RD.

A total whimpy looking kid that is a pain in the butt to keep alive and level but an absolute powerhouse if leveled properly.

I can't pass up on a challenge like that.

Also, who else restarts their game if someone on their team dies? Like no matter how worthless they are, you restart? I'm in that camp. =D

Why would you ever train Rolf in RD when he at best turn the exact same as Shinon?

[CinderSkye]

I honestly feel that courtesy of Pair Up, Donny's significantly *easier* to level than Amelia. And I'm talking on Hard, not Normal (but not Lunatic either to be fair.) If you don't try to force it and keep him paired with a Peggy Knight or other high mobility class he can support with, he has a very easy time vulturing weak enemies and provides a decent stat bonus for the Peggys.

[Kaze]

Why would you ever train Rolf in RD when he at best turn the exact same as Shinon?

Rolf becomes a better unit than Shinon.

[arvilino]

Donnel is a special case. Unlike Amelia and the like(you'll know who I mean) he isn't a unit that is basically average or even poorer than the alternatives when levelled up, if however you do somehow get him to end up at level 10 and re-classed to Mercenary(Armsthrift) or maybe even Fighter he actually does eclipse everyone and turns out the way people mistake Amelia and co. to do.

The only issue is how to get him to level 10 conventionally without methods you could have used to overpower another character.

Edited February 11, 2013 by arvilino

[CinderSkye]

Plus, you definitely want his skills on one of the babies you can make, if only to make grinding a little easier. So Pair him Up passively and watch for opportunities to vulture a kill, it'll go much better than the mindset of Must Train Donny.

[Samias]

Basically the first 10 levels of his life are dreadful but as soon as he gets out of the rut, he's great. But it's a lot of effort to have him snipe kills if you did a skirmish/DLC-free run, so he'll never tier well, and that just makes some people angry that their favourite character with the highest stats isn't being rated "BEST EVAAARRR". But honestly, everyone in this game is pretty good and it's hard to go wrong, at least on Normal and Hard mode.

[Agro]

I absolutely love that people are keeping Donny as a Villager.

[CinderSkye]

I got Donny up entirely without DLC. I did do Risen skirmishes, but that stuff ain't remotely plentiful, at least on Hard.

He's not particularly my favorite (though I do like him), I just get the sense that some people are thinking a little bit too much with old FE paradigms when it comes to him - having been burned with the pains in the asses that were Nino et al.

I tried to compile a list of characters I like more than Donny and ended up writing a third of an army, so go look up a picture of a pony instead or something.

[Kaze]

I got Donny up entirely without DLC. I did do Risen skirmishes, but that stuff ain't remotely plentiful, at least on Hard.

He's not particularly my favorite (though I do like him), I just get the sense that some people are thinking a little bit too much with old FE paradigms when it comes to him - having been burned with the pains in the asses that were Nino et al.

I tried to compile a list of characters I like more than Donny and ended up writing a third of an army, so go look up a picture of a pony instead or something.

You should be able to use Reeking Boxes, which cause the Risen to appear on the spot of the map that you've used the Reeking Box at.

[CinderSkye]

Reeking Boxes cost nearly 5k on Hard. By the time I had that much money to blow, I switched to "eh, screw it, Galeforcing my way through the remaining story maps in 2 turns." That is to say, at that point I no longer had need of them.

Edited February 11, 2013 by CinderSkye

[Kaze]

Reeking Boxes cost nearly 5k on Hard. By the time I had that much money to blow, I switched to "eh, screw it, Galeforcing my way through the remaining story maps in 2 turns." That is to say, at that point I no longer had need of them.

Oh damn. I didn't realize they cost that much on Hard mode. o.o||||

[a.f.k.a. Howard Hughes]

Rolf becomes a better unit than Shinon.

Expect the part where They have Same caps and cap everything

[Samias]

Depends on whether or not you're playing FE9 or 10, I guess. Rolf will come out on top in FE9 but requires way more effort. Shinon in 10 is basically perfect, though. Rolf just can't match the master, though 3rd tier archer is pretty great.

If there's one thing about Donnel, he is an amazing parent. He passes off pegasus knights to the female children who need it PLUS aptitude... He doesn't pass the best caps but he definitely passes the best skill as a father.

[Kon]

Maybe some people just like using Rolf more than Shinon? I know I do~

Back on topic now, I can't wait to get Donny and train him up. He might be a pain (especially since I'm going on Hard mode), but I intend to make him that awesome bucket Hero~

[a.f.k.a. Howard Hughes]

I did specify RD

and I was refering to

I look at someone like Donnell and figure he's like Rolf in PoR and RD. <br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);"><br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">A total whimpy looking kid that is a pain in the butt to keep alive and level but an absolute powerhouse if leveled properly.

[Saria]

Donny's easy enough to train on Normal Mode and by the end of the game I think I only got Morgan to rival him before I got lazy and just charged to the end of the game. I'm just starting my Hard Mode run but I don't even know how practical it's gonna be to try to raise him... I do want to pass Aptitude down to someone though so maybe I'll put up with it. Just maybe.

But really, I (personally) think it's hard to deny that Donny can easily be one of the strongest characters in the game if you invest in him. He's just the biggest pain in the ass to raise and sometimes you just don't have the patience to deal with it. Nothing wrong with it, it's not like there's no abundance of units in the game you can spend the same amount of time reclassing and retraining versus spending it all on just Donny.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Donnel is Magikarp Power up to eleven. I actually cannot make this guy work on my current run because he just gets owned. (not playing Casual mode cuz wut.) I thought about pairing him up with Miriel due to pairing the spares, but she got benched very early on as well. My next run, ill probably mess around with Donny. Cuz right now, it aint happening.

[Tormod]

I've been using Donnel on Hard Classic. A little bit of skirmish time helped, and I pushed him up to 15 Villager for Underdog before swapping him sideways into Mercenary. Suddenly he had Weapon Saver and could use Glass Swords with unexpected reliability to carry him through E, and was gaining levels at silly speeds still but now had the stats to actually get them. And then he went Bow Knight and now he's the strongest unit in my army in multiple stats, and most of his heavy competition is Avatar, Chrom, Lucina, Morgan, Vaike, and his own daughter (via Sully).

Even if his caps aren't the greatest, honestly, the high growth rates and fantastic luck + weapon saver means I can easily afford to just give him the best weapons he can wield and let him go.

He will definitely have a harder time if you're avoiding skirmishes/DLC/spotpass content, that's pretty much undebatable. If you're playing more relaxed though, I can definitely confirm he get going even on Hard Classic without too much pain. Not sure about Lunatic.

Edited February 12, 2013 by Garlyle

[Sublime Manic]

If you're playing the game casually enough, repeatedly doing Challenges and DLC runs and whatnot, to raise Donnel into a great unit, I'd assume you're playing casually enough to get ANYONE to become a great unit, since there's infinite leveling and all.

[Tormod]

If you're playing the game casually enough, repeatedly doing Challenges and DLC runs and whatnot, to raise Donnel into a great unit, I'd assume you're playing casually enough to get ANYONE to become a great unit, since there's infinite leveling and all.

I only used Donnel in a couple challenges, honestly, to get him to a point where he was reasonably self-sufficient and didn't need much more special training. It felt like much less of an irritation or time investment than training other slow starters in other FE games.

So I'm not even talking about getting him to max vs getting other people to max; I mean just getting him to the point where he's usable and feels like any other unit - at which point he just starts accelerating on his own