Grandjackal's FE13 HM Playlog!

[eclipse]

Nosfertanking makes things easier, so if your goal is to break the game in half with Morgan (Ignis-powered Nosferatus are a sight to behold), then by all means go Dark Mage! I'd go Dark Flier for Sumia, so she can deal with Wyverns/Griffons/Armors/anything else with bad RES and axes without worrying about WTD.

[Bryan]

I'd definitly go Merc -> Hero for Armsthrift and Sol, since rightful king boosts both of those activation rates and you can use a levin sword the whole time.

[aku chi]

Dark Mage Morgan is probably be better, but it might be informative to find out how well Mercenary->Hero Morgan works. Morgan will definitely have a slower start as a Mercenary, and he will have a tough time working himself out of E Axes as a Hero, but with Sol and Rightful King, he could be a very effective tank later on. It hard to imagine that would be more effective than Dark Mage Morgan, though, who can tank immediately.

As for Sumia, if you plan to keep her paired with Frederick, I'd go Falcon Knight for the eventual Lancefaire. Hammer Frederick can deal with Generals, if needed. You could go Dark Flier and pair her up with Henry, but it doesn't seem like her Magic is high enough for tomes to be her primary weapon.

[Redwall]

Yeah, Dark Mage is probably more effective, but Mercenary is probably more fun/unorthodox. I prefer Falcon Knights to Dark Fliers for the staff usage; mobile Rescue is great for Chs 24 and 25.

Edited April 6, 2013 by Redwall

[Espinosa]

Wouldn't pairing MU with, like, Miriel or Tharja create one hell of a mage? Still waiting for the European release here.

[grandjackal]

Wouldn't pairing MU with, like, Miriel or Tharja create one hell of a mage? Still waiting for the European release here.

Well yes, but I want the kids primarily. Avatar also has Anna to pair up with, who is a fantastic support once Avatar and Chrom want to socialize. Anna's 100% the better pair than Miriel or Tharja, so at the same time as much as they want Avatar, they're SOL.

Want to buy Nosferatu but currently there's a swarm at that shop.

Reclassed Sumia to Dark Flier. Losing Lancefair sucks, but I'll still have Galeforce. Her staff range is too pathetic to make use of her as a mobile Rescue, and the tomes will serve more helpful in the immediate future compared to 1 Str and Def. Even if I wanted Rescuebotting later, I can always reclass to Falco once I hit 15. On top of that, the Mag I'll most likely get from time as a Dark Flier will probably give me more staff range deeper into the game.

I've also noticed an issue with Morgan when it comes to skills: I only have 5 slots. All of his starting skills are good (well, Ignis is debatable, but with Rightful King it will be useful), and then I want Hex, Anathema, Vengeance, Weaponsthrift, or Sol. A little annoying, but I figured I'd ask what you guys think.

Right now I'm on a bit of down time for the playthrough, due to a group of risen swarming the shop I want.

Though now that I remember it, I totally have a Naga Tear! Who should I give that to? Amusingly enough, I'm thinking of giving it to Frederick, since everyone else can get by on leveling speed. Thoughts?

[eclipse]

Give Naga's Tear to whoever you feel like (LIKE RICKEN).

You can skip one of Hex/Anathema, if you want Rightful King.

[grandjackal]

Decided to hold off on the Naga Tear until I decide that I actually need it.

Chapter 14

Decided to dump Miriel and Henry for this chapter for Morgan and Lucina. Much happier with that decision. Also, changed Morgan to a Dark Mage. The 1-2 range I figured was worth more than the speed, seeing as he has Veteran to grow out of that problem, and as mentioned he has a million speed supports.

I basically had Avatar solo the right boat, Anna with her Levin Sword seeing some action (unfortunately also pegasi. Does not change my strat though), Lucina paired with Chrom and Panne paired with Vaike would help headbutt the first group of enemies from the left side (Lucina needed a Def Tonic to have good odds, as that's not entirely safe), while Sumia+Fred and Cherche+Gregor (With a speed tonic for Cherche) went to 2-range the pegasi on the left, Sumia being in range of a mage or two I think. I WOULD have let Tharja solo the bottom boat, if I had extra Nosferatu, but no! My shop was blocked! Because of this, Libra had to take more of the action, and it wound up stalling my progression. So did Lucina, Gregor and Chrom missing a couple key attacks, which really pissed me off.

Basically my strat was a clean 3 turn, if not for horrid horrid luck. The idea was to basically clear out the right and bottom boats, Anna takes the right chests while Libra Rescues Avatar+Morgan to use the freshly gained Chest Key to unlock the last chest, then kill the boss turn 3. However, my lack of Nosferatu to safely eat through the bottom boat made me have to kill a turn just to cut through them.

I was robbed! Only real difference I can really think of though that this made was that Vaike got a bit more exp since he had to help out down below.

By the way, Panne is one shotting Pegasi with Beastfoe and her support. My first Beaststone also broke. Good thing I have another. So, Beastfoe now basically gives Vaike additional protection on top of his high crit thanks to a tag team giving him Beastslayer. The Dark Flier thing payed off too. Saved me Hammer uses like I predicted, namely against the Great Knight. I had to use a Magic Tonic, but whatever.

Turns: 4

Barracks gave me a Rift Door, and gave Cherche 24 exp.

Gregor and Cherche gain B support!

Levels

UNIT             LEVEL    HP ST MG SK SP LC DF RS WEXP                  SUPPORT
Avatar       20/09.06    43 20 23 22 27 21 15 15 E Sword, A Tome       S Chrom, C Fred, C Gregor, B Anna, C Morgan, C Lucina
Chrom            17.28    32 15 03 17 20 15 12 06 B Sword               S Avatar, C Lucina, C Morgan
Frederick     11/2.38    42 21 04 20 13 10 21 05 A Lance, A Axe          S Sumia, C Avatar
Vaike            12.73    51 19 01 20 17 16 11 01 B Axe                 B Sully, S Panne 
Sumia          20/3.64    42 18 08 25 29 19 11 11 A Lance               S Fred
Miriel           14.54    28 01 17 13 13 14 07 10 C Tomes               C Sully, B Lonqu, C Henry
Cherche         16.75    35 17 02 15 15 09 19 03 C Axe              B Gregor
Panne            16.06    38 13 02 15 19 12 13 06                       S Vaike
Gregor           07.75    41 17 00 10 15 11 09 03 D Axe                 C Nowi, C Avatar, B Cherche
Libra           ??/07.06    45 16 18 16 16 13 12 20 C Axe C Staff     C Tharja
Tharja            16.77    35 05 15 07 14 07 14 08 C Tomes     C Libra
Anna           ??/07.25    40 14 21 26 25 31 10 13 C Swords D Staffs
Henry            16.35     32 08 15 16 12 11 15 06 C Tomes C Miriel
Lucina           11.16     32 13 08 18 19 16 11 06 C Swords C Avatar, C Chrom, C Morgan
Morgan          04.22     36 10 15 17 18 17 10 13 C Tomes C Avatar, C Chrom, C Lucina

6 levels from Spectrum, 2 from Rally Move, 3 from Rally Defense. My timings are coming along pretty smoothly.

I'll be honest, I've never really liked Lucina. Her bases just always seem to be slightly underwhelming. However, with a Reclass thanks to the brand new Second Seal I got, I can easily change her to a Cavalier. Seeing as she already has Aether and doesn't give a shit about Rightful King, she has no reason not to go Cavalier immediately. With Chrom as more a support, he can live with being in the back pocket while Lucina mops up the floor. Besides, Chrom getting a horse anyways does fix things up for him. Cavalier Lucina it is!

I probably should have promoted Miriel ASAP. Her jointime and level just sucks, and she never gets high level too fast. She can easily be replaced by her son, so that fast Magic Rally is probably more handy in the long run than her gaining levels. Would have also given me another Rescue Staffer.

Morgan's climbing the ladder mighty quick.

Yes! The paladin cleared out! Time to stock up on tomes...

[grandjackal]

Easy chapter.

Chapter15

Small cramped map that is easily enemy phase oriented? This looks like a job for Dark Mages! Seriously, Morgan and Tharja ripped this map apart. Sumia did her fair share as well though.

This map also kinda showcases why I don't like Lucina: Her Def just always seems to blow. I couldn't put her anywhere to get action without putting her in danger. Because of this, she got like 1 attack and 1 kill. Got her a level, but it wasn't much.

Tharja pretty much solod the beach and got to 20 off it. Going to be making her a Dark Knight. When one considers that she has 21 Def and like 46HP off it with how I gave her durability boosters, going Sorcerer to keep Nosferatu seems just a little bit silly. Besides, as stated, I want Noire having Lifetaker and Renewal.

Morgan on the other hand helped give people his Solidarity since this was a very cramped map with 1-2 range orientation. Vaike loved this map, along with Panne since there are a lot of horse units. Fred helped choke a point initially, but after that it was all Sumia. She got the boss kill, and also got level 5 for Movement Rally. Might need to find Fred a new partner, because it's going to be hard to find an excuse to use him when I could be Rallying.

Also, all houses visited. As for Say'ri, I Rescued her turn 1, had Chrom get out some stuff from the convoy to trade for her, then paired up with Lucina so I lost no movement off it. Paired her up with Anna. With that ludicrous speed buff and Lucky 7, Anna was basically invincible since nothing could touch her.

Gregor and Cherche now both have Hammers. It's Hammertime!

Turns: 4

Chrom and Lucina gain B Support!

Avatar and Morgan gain B Support!

Libra and Tharja gain A Support!

Levels

UNIT             LEVEL    HP ST MG SK SP LC DF RS WEXP                  SUPPORT
Avatar       20/09.27    43 20 23 22 27 21 15 15 E Sword, A Tome       S Chrom, C Fred, C Gregor, B Anna, B Morgan, C Lucina
Chrom            17.33    32 15 03 17 20 15 12 06 B Sword               S Avatar, B Lucina, C Morgan
Frederick     11/2.75    42 21 04 20 13 10 21 05 A Lance, A Axe          S Sumia, C Avatar
Vaike            14.34    54 18 02 22 18 16 11 01 B Axe                 B Sully, S Panne 
Sumia          20/5.62    44 19 08 26 30 19 12 12 A Lance               S Fred
Miriel           14.54    28 01 17 13 13 14 07 10 C Tomes               C Sully, B Lonqu, C Henry
Cherche         17.28    36 18 02 16 15 10 20 03 C Axe              B Gregor
Panne            17.21    39 15 02 15 20 13 14 06                       S Vaike
Gregor           08.52    42 17 00 11 16 11 09 03 D Axe                 C Nowi, C Avatar, B Cherche
Libra           ??/07.42    45 16 18 16 16 13 12 20 C Axe C Staff     B Tharja
Tharja          20/01.00    45 09 18 14 19 11 21 11 C Tomes     B Libra
Anna           ??/08.27    40 15 21 27 26 32 10 13 B Swords D Staffs
Henry            16.35     32 08 15 16 12 11 15 06 C Tomes C Miriel
Lucina           02.16     35 15 07 18 18 17 12 06 C Swords C Avatar, B Chrom, C Morgan
Morgan          10.21     42 12 17 17 20 21 13 14 C Tomes B Avatar, C Chrom, C Lucina

Behold: Tharja is now the most durable unit on my team.

Just need to get Fred 2.25 more levels and I will have Cynthia as I need her.

Vaikehas unnaturally high Skill. He now has 67 Crit with just Panne support and the KillerAxe. Since Morgan now has Anathema and I have 2 of them along wth 2 Solidarities, that can total up to 107 crit. If I bring Henry back? 117. Basically under the right circumstances, Vaike can one shot anything he glances at. He's now hit his stride. All he needs to do now is become a Berserker once he hits 20, and then he probably won't even need a Killer.

Panne has been fine without reclass. The duo gives no shits about mounted units, to say the least. This will come in handy REAL soon for when gryphons start showing up to annoy me to no end.

Cherche is close to promotion. Might go Lord since Gregor gives speed, give Gerome every reason to go Gryphon for Deliverer, then I can drop Gregor. Gregor I'm sad to say hasn't been contributing too much, and onceI have Gerome as a Gryphon, I won't really need Gregor anymore.

Morgan already has Anathema, he now crits the universe. Once I get Vengeance, things will just get real ugly.

Edited April 7, 2013 by grandjackal

[Shadow Mir]

Since Morgan now has Anathema and I have 2 of them along wth 2 Solidarities, that can total up to 107 crit. If I bring Henry back? 117.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but skill effects don't stack.

[aku chi]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but skill effects don't stack.

Plus, I don't think Anathema can reduce Crit Eva below 0.

[grandjackal]

Gweheheheheheh.

Chapter 16

So, Morgan is the posterchild for Nostanking, because this chapter would have been near impossible to do quickly without him just not dying. Funny thing is? With tag teaming and how awful Morgan's Def is, he actually ran chances of dying...If tag teams went off. I was lucky that they DIDN'T happen. It was a very bizarre situation. Basically turn 1 I paired up Sumia with Anna to get a super fat Rescue off Avatar+Morgan so I could position Morgan at a forward chokepoint to keep enemies from the right side flooding in, which potentially would have put Anna in danger. Enemies wanted Morgan's head, so Anna was in pretty good safety. Helps to have Lucky 7 and a support that gives you 100 million additional speed. I only needed 1 Rescue use to pull this off, but I'm sure if you did something absurd like Dance for Tharja holding Libra, you could have done some loopy transportation, but alas I didn't think that far ahead cause I want to actually have fun playing FE13.

This chapter is pretty brutal and is where the game starts getting serious. It's hard to position, considering there are about 100 ways for the enemy to attack you, what with pretty fast Heroes, strong ass Warriors, Bow Knights waiting far in the back and Falcoknights waiting at the unreachable sides. It's a pretty well defended map, and even Cervantes is a hardass considering he has a ton of durability on top of Pavise. All the more reason to throw Avatar at him, seeing as he's not going to take magic anywhere near as well.

Vaike and Panne didn't do much, as neither did Chrom or Lucina. This is very much a flying and Rescue map because otherwise you're moving at a crawl's pace. Funnily enough, I even rescued Fred (had a Say'ri support) so he could get some more action (he was durable enough to take a good amount of punishment). Considering that I need him at level 5 pretty soon, it was for the best.

Really annoying chapter.

Turns: 3

Gregor and Cherche reach A Support! Good thing too, Cherche could do with additional speed.

Levels

UNIT             LEVEL    HP ST MG SK SP LC DF RS WEXP                  SUPPORT
Avatar       20/11.17    45 21 23 22 28 22 15 16 E Sword, A Tome       S Chrom, C Fred, C Gregor, B Anna, B Morgan, C Lucina
Chrom            17.33    32 15 03 17 20 15 12 06 B Sword               S Avatar, B Lucina, C Morgan
Frederick     11/3.09    43 22 04 21 14 10 22 05 A Lance, A Axe          S Sumia, C Avatar
Vaike            15.08    55 19 02 23 18 16 11 01 B Axe                 B Sully, S Panne 
Sumia          20/6.18    45 20 08 27 30 20 13 13 A Lance               S Fred
Miriel           14.54    28 01 17 13 13 14 07 10 C Tomes               C Sully, B Lonqu, C Henry
Cherche         18.29    37 19 02 17 16 11 20 03 C Axe              B Gregor
Panne            17.31    39 15 02 15 20 13 14 06                       S Vaike
Gregor           08.69    42 17 00 11 16 11 09 03 D Axe                 C Nowi, C Avatar, B Cherche
Libra           ??/08.01    46 16 18 17 16 13 13 20 C Axe C Staff     B Tharja
Tharja          20/02.25    46 09 19 14 20 11 21 11 C Tomes     B Libra
Anna           ??/08.59    40 15 21 27 26 32 10 13 B Swords D Staffs
Henry            16.35     32 08 15 16 12 11 15 06 C Tomes C Miriel
Lucina           03.21     36 16 08 18 19 18 13 06 C Swords C Avatar, B Chrom, C Morgan
Morgan          17.21     48 16 22 21 24 26 15 18 B Tomes B Avatar, C Chrom, C Lucina

So uhhhh, Morgan is almost ready to promote...in 3 chapters of existence. One he promotes, there is no doubt he'll be the best unit on my team. In fact, he'lleven have access to staffs for Rescue so I might pair him up with Sumia down the road.

Fred got a stupid good level, considering he's a General.

Next up: The chapter I hate most. 17 can go fuck itself, for real.

EDIT: I also think I ran up the character limit for the OP. I can't seem to add this one without the post just going blank. When I refresh, the post is recovered, but chapter 16 isn't added.

Edited April 7, 2013 by grandjackal

[shadykid]

So uhhhh, Morgan is almost ready to promote...in 3 chapters of existence. One he promotes, there is no doubt he'll be the best unit on my team. In fact, he'll even have access to staffs for Rescue so I might pair him up with Sumia down the road.

er......dark mage promotions don't get staffs

[grandjackal]

They don't?

...

Huh, they don't. Suppose that's a good thing in the end. Sorcerer would be a tad silly if they also had Rescue.

[shadykid]

They don't?

...

Huh, they don't. Suppose that's a good thing in the end. Sorcerer would be a tad silly if they also had Rescue.

Sages would be completely worthless for anyone with access to Sorceror for postgame if Sorcerors had staffs too, haha

[eclipse]

Convert all your chapter summaries to links to the post with the summary. Or, you can make a new "collect everything here" post and point to that in the OP.

[grandjackal]

Been a while since my last update, but can you blame me? It's...

Chapter 17

I have always hated this chapter, but now it's even worse since a good portion of these enemies are super fast, and my team mostly isnt.

I had 2 stat boosters I had to think about distributing, and it was between Fred and Tharja. Tharja I've been spoiling amazingly so far with stuff like Seraph Robes and Dracoshields. A Wing would boos her to 22 speed, so with a Tonic and Libra she would have a total of 25, which would at least let her double Monks, and allow her to double regularly from here. The Wing is a good investment in the least.

It's here that Fred starts hitting his supposed wall, but then again I also gave him the reclass of General, where I can say there are several spots where I have somewhat regretted it. Lacking that +1 Move has caused a couple strats to go awry, and he's slow to the point where I am wishing I reclassed to Gryphon. Sure I'd lose durability, but at least Gryphon has tactical uses. Oh well. 2 more levels, and then Cynthia shows up. I think of giving him the Naga Tear. With his wife or a Sayri support, he could also double monks, and it will help with Cynthia's bases.

I am glad I gave Fred that Naga Tear, oddly enough. First part, you want to break through the left and right portions. Quite difficult when one side is basically 2 heroes, a valkyrie and a monk in the back. The right side is even worse, since there is a sniper that is reinforcing another sniper. Luckily I had Morgan, who takes no shit and could double Heroes with a Speed Tonic, able to ORKO. This let Sumia with Fred slip by to take out the archer. Thanks to an HP and Def tonic, she was durable enough to take a Sniper shot on top of something else. As for why the Tear came into play, after that I flew up and had Fred equip a Javelin. If I didn't have that Naga Tear, I would not survive the 2 valks, the Hero and the Monk. With the dual tag, I was able to essentially one shot the Valks with a Javelin, thanks to Sumia. Basically once you take care of those valks, the map is MUCH easier.

Glad I gave Tharja that Speedwing too. Seeing as with Libra she is among the most durable to everything units on my team on top of being mobile, she helped mow through enemies like butter to pave a way to the upper left chests. Oh right, the left side. Basically, supply that place with Tharja+Libra, Anna+Sayri (Sayri and Anna are s fast, they're actually better as combatants than supporters here thanks to most enemies being fragile or wielding axes), and Panne+Vaike. This is a bit luck reliant, but I hate this map for a reason. Basically, I need to critkill a Hero, and I had Sayri+Anna, or Panne+Vaike to do that. I wanted Panne for the Valkyrie thanks to Beastfoe however, so I relied on Sayri+Anna, which has fair odds cause I only need to crit once or have Anna attack twice. I could have also had Panne+Vaike attack a hero and relied on Zealgamble Killer, which probably would have had better odds...But whatever works! As for the center path? Ignored it entirely, it's an exercise in stupid. Had Chrom and Lucina go to the right to help deal with some hangerons.

The maps not over yet, oh no. Then we have the fun that is the boss room. Basically I want Morgan to be rushed up here, cause he's realistically the only guy next to Fred (Yes, Fred could actually deal with this if I gave him an Elixer. He was clearing out the treasure room) that could actually handle all of those enemies. Being in range of any of the units there is certain death for most. But then we have the boss herself, a stupid fast asshole who sits on a throne so I'm quite highly bound to miss. Again, Morgan is one of the better units to deal with her, along with Panne thanks to Beastfoe.

A GOOD chunk of this turncount was killed due me wanting chests. I had to move Anne basically from the left side to the right without Rescue, and Tharja had to use a Chest Key on top of killing a thief after he did work for me. Along with a bad mistiming on when to attack the most certainly luck oriented boss (outside of Sayri, you are never doubling her), I wound up wasting a lot of turns for those chests. Did not help that I had no other Chest Keys. There's some good stuff here too, so you probably will want to save your keys for here. I could have ended this map as soon as turn 6. But...

Turncount: 10

Seriously, remember your keys.

Libra and Tharja gained S Support! However, I am not going to Noire's chapter quite yet. My team is still pretty weak for it, and I want The Skill Combo for her.

Barracks offered me nothing.

Levels

UNIT             LEVEL    HP ST MG SK SP LC DF RS WEXP                  SUPPORT
Avatar       20/11.37    45 21 23 22 28 22 15 16 E Sword, A Tome       S Chrom, C Fred, C Gregor, B Anna, B Morgan, C Lucina
Chrom            17.63    32 15 03 17 20 15 12 06 B Sword               S Avatar, B Lucina, C Morgan
Frederick     11/4.13    49 25 06 24 16 12 25 07 A Lance, A Axe          S Sumia, C Avatar
Vaike            17.05    58 20 03 23 19 17 13 02 A Axe                 B Sully, S Panne 
Sumia          20/7.25    46 20 08 27 31 21 13 14 A Lance               S Fred
Miriel           14.54    28 01 17 13 13 14 07 10 C Tomes               C Sully, B Lonqu, C Henry
Cherche       20/1.00    44 24 03 21 20 12 24 06 B Axe              B Gregor
Panne            19.11    41 16 02 15 21 15 14 06                       S Vaike
Gregor           08.94    42 17 00 11 16 11 09 03 D Axe                 C Nowi, C Avatar, B Cherche
Libra           ??/08.49    46 16 18 17 16 13 13 20 C Axe C Staff     B Tharja
Tharja          20/04.24    48 09 21 15 24 12 23 12 C Tomes     B Libra
Anna           ??/09.06    41 16 21 27 26 33 10 13 B Swords D Staffs
Henry            16.35     32 08 15 16 12 11 15 06 C Tomes C Miriel
Lucina           05.42     37 16 09 20 21 20 14 07 C Swords C Avatar, B Chrom, C Morgan
Morgan        20/01.36     55 19 28 24 27 29 20 22 B Tomes B Avatar, C Chrom, C Lucina

Yeah uhhh, Morgan is good. Ignis helped against Valks and Monks this chapter. With Rightful King, you basically don't care if your enemy has resistance.

Just one more level, and can basically forget about Fred the rest of the game if I wanted. However, I kinda gave him the Tear. Eh, not like anyone else really needs it.

Vaike oddly enough got the boss kill because he had more accuracy once Panne chipped in. This game has been weird to me.

Cherche has promoted to Wyvern Lord, and s now certifiably one of the better units on my team now. If only I could say the same for Gregor. Really guys, you're probably better off promoting him off the bat. It's too hard to find a good time to use him over his support otherwise.

Tharja had fun on this map.

[Interceptor]

Not looking forward to Ch17.... that map is such a pain in the ass. Seems like Nostanking is in full bloom for you now.

[grandjackal]

Not looking forward to Ch17.... that map is such a pain in the ass. Seems like Nostanking is in full bloom for you now.

For me, it's between chapter 17 and 18 on which is the bigger pain n the ass. Chapter 18 s probably the hardest map in the game while 17 is probably the most luck reliant. Seriously though, save your chest keys.

As for this whole Nostanking thing, it does come with the problem of Morgan having no mount so he lacks move. Might pair him up with Sumia this upcoming map, seeing as Sayri works just as well for Fred. Also, dong math, 16+2+7=25, and most enemies on this map are 20 AS or less. He sucks against Gryphons, but otherwise Fred kinda laughs at this chapter.

Might see how a Holy Water and Sumia+Fred works. Sumia probably appreciates the Def more still. 28 Def with Fred's HP looks pretty durable for this map.

[Interceptor]

What was the stuff in the chests? Is it really worth the effort? I skipped a few items that I thought were useless, along the course of my run (Blessed Bow from Village, Mend staff from chest, etc). Probably should have skipped the Ch15 Second Seal too, seeing as how they are buyable almost immediately afterwards.

[grandjackal]

What was the stuff in the chests? Is it really worth the effort? I skipped a few items that I thought were useless, along the course of my run (Blessed Bow from Village, Mend staff from chest, etc). Probably should have skipped the Ch15 Second Seal too, seeing as how they are buyable almost immediately afterwards.

Well, one of the chests has Boots, so that is definitely worth it (for who? Probably Morgan for me, or Anne), Large Bullion, a Seraph Robe, and something else I can't remember.

Chapter 18

Boots to Morgan. Robe to Suma.

Shopkeep, give me all of the tonics! This chapter doesn't mess around. Rather annoyingly durable Paladins, beeftastic Warriors (Who at times can have Counter!!!!!!!!!!!), Stupid fast Swordmasters (29 speed? Impressive, that's more than the last chapter's boss, and she was the worst), hard hitting Sages, and super annoying Gryphons in a REALL terrain-heavy map. Unlike chapter 17 though, I completely respect this map.

I used my last Levin Sword use to do chip here, and had Chrom regain a bit of lost ground, as he was low on levels. He'll make it up to Lucina through promoted support bonuses. He's still a bit off though, but next chapter should fix that.

So I didn't even need Nostanking here, as Morgan was durable as it is. I actually used Ruin more, as with how much Crit Morgan was packing, it was proving to be a super efficient item. 70% crit. That's pretty reliable player phase, and is mostly 1 use to kill. He even got Vengeance this map, so now he can skillstack. Thanks to boots, he basically motored down the right half of the map and took care of the things that make this map more threatening: namely, the Gryphons. With them out of the way, this map is much easier to deal with.

Everyone else pretty much held their ground as the enemy charged and garnered exp how they could. I wasted quite a few turns to see what was in the chests, along with some Rescue uses (my current staffs were about to break anyways). They contained a fresh Rescue, a Bullion M, a Second Seal, and an Energy Drop. Considering 2 of these items are buyable, I could have actually saved the turns it took to get al 4 and just gotten the 2.

Believe it or not, this map is a 3 turn clear. Just clear the way for Sumia so she can charge directly at Yenfei and punch him in the face. There is no way in hell you are doubling his 33 speed without a speed support, but most speed supports wouldn't have had the Strength I needed ether. Fred proves once again how awesome a support he is by reducing Yenfei's damage to 12 a 33%. Basically I would have had to get super unlucky to die to him, like he'd have to activate Astra on both player AND enemy phase, and then hit me with every attack. He hit me 3 times though, which annoyed me cause that was Amatsu uses down the drain.

Turns: 7, but easily doable in 3. This chapter went surprisingly smooth, all things considered.

Robin and Morgan gained A support! The world is now over.

Gregor and Cherche gained S Support! That is again a chapter I'm not quite ready for. I want to do Tiki's chapter before I do any of the other children maps.

Levels

UNIT             LEVEL    HP ST MG SK SP LC DF RS WEXP                  SUPPORT
Avatar       20/11.55    45 21 23 22 28 22 15 16 E Sword, A Tome       S Chrom, C Fred, C Gregor, B Anna, A Morgan, C Lucina
Chrom            18.85    33 16 03 18 21 15 13 07 A Sword               S Avatar, B Lucina, C Morgan
Frederick     11/4.80    49 25 06 24 16 12 25 07 A Lance, A Axe          S Sumia, C Avatar
Vaike            17.23    58 20 03 23 19 17 13 02 A Axe                 B Sully, S Panne 
Sumia          20/9.45    52 20 09 29 33 22 14 14 A Lance               S Fred
Miriel           14.54    28 01 17 13 13 14 07 10 C Tomes               C Sully, B Lonqu, C Henry
Cherche       20/2.28    45 25 03 21 20 12 25 06 B Axe              B Gregor
Panne            21.88    43 17 02 17 22 15 14 07                       S Vaike
Gregor           09.81    44 17 00 12 16 11 10 04 D Axe                 C Nowi, C Avatar, B Cherche
Libra           ??/09.35    47 17 18 18 17 13 13 20 C Axe C Staff     B Tharja
Tharja          20/05.82    49 09 22 16 24 13 24 13 C Tomes     B Libra
Anna           ??/09.45    41 16 21 27 26 33 10 13 B Swords D Staffs
Henry            16.35     32 08 15 16 12 11 15 06 C Tomes C Miriel
Lucina           06.71     38 17 09 21 22 21 14 07 C Swords C Avatar, B Chrom, C Morgan
Morgan        20/06.69     60 20 29 27 29 33 21 24 A Tomes A Avatar, C Chrom, C Lucina

Morgaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan. Vengeance, Anathema, Rightful King, Ignis. Once I hit 10 or 15, I doubt I'll even care about Veteran anymore. He doesn't even really need Nosferatu anymore, he's just...ridiculous.

Chrom nears promotion. Next chapter offers Wyverns, should be easy to nab.

Fred nears the level he needs to hit before the chapter I need him to be level 5 for. More curiously though, I am dangerously close to level 15 for Sumia to pack Galeforce...Once I hit that, I'm going Falcoknight.

Gregor nears level 10, and I'mma ust promote him. Leaving him like this is painful, so I might as well get the better bonuses while he's still hanging around.

Anna nears reclass level. Considering sticking around for Acrobat, though really does Sage even really need it? I'm going to run out of terrain maps. Only one I can think of is Awakening.

Mostly thanks to Chrom's support and enemies forgetting what speed is, Lucina's pretty much stopped sucking, tough she's still not all that durable.

[grandjackal]

The Threat of Silence

This chapter qualifies as the dumbest in the game as it's completely random. Only thing you can really rely on is that the enemy seems more concerned about accuracy more than anything unless they can straight 2 shot you.

Typical play. Diamond formation around Tiki, let enemy run into meatgrinder, pray the RNG decides to let me dodge. That's about as good as it can go. I would recommend you put those that can deal with threats adequately towards their proper designation. For example: Fred and Sumia were on the left side, Falchions on the right.

Rally skills are very helpful here. Wish I had Rally Def for it. Outdoor Fighter is also exceptionally good here. Thanks for getting it, Lucina. Saved your life.

Avatar got the bosskill. Even with Veteran, it's like the only way she can get exp anymore. She's only 3 levels away from Spectrum.

Turns: 7

Chrom and Lucina gained A Support! Perfect timing. All I really need to do now is get Chrom to 5 for Aether and they will become the most deadly unit ever for a certain final boss...

Oh, also, Panne got the Energy Drop. Whatever makes Beastfoe more effective here, this map sucks. By the way, Panne on the left side is perfect. Evasive, can switch to Vaike as left side is mainly lances, pegasi fall like flies to Beastfoe, gets the occasional Gryphon.

UNIT             LEVEL    HP ST MG SK SP LC DF RS WEXP                  SUPPORT
Avatar       20/12.72    46 21 23 22 29 23 15 17 E Sword, A Tome       S Chrom, C Fred, C Gregor, B Anna, A Morgan, C Lucina
Chrom       20/01.00    39 22 03 21 24 17 16 10 A Sword               S Avatar, A Lucina, C Morgan
Frederick     11/5.50    50 26 06 25 17 13 26 07 A Lance, A Axe          S Sumia, C Avatar
Vaike            20/1.00    71 28 04 26 23 18 17 03 A Axe                 B Sully, S Panne 
Sumia          20/9.86    52 20 09 29 33 22 14 14 A Lance               S Fred
Miriel           14.54    28 01 17 13 13 14 07 10 C Tomes               C Sully, B Lonqu, C Henry
Cherche       20/2.28    45 25 03 21 20 12 25 06 B Axe              B Gregor
Panne            24.07    46 20 03 19 25 16 17 08                       S Vaike
Gregor         10/1.00    53 22 00 15 20 11 13 05 C Axe                 C Nowi, C Avatar, B Cherche
Libra           ??/09.78    47 17 18 18 17 13 13 20 C Axe C Staff     B Tharja
Tharja          20/07.62    51 10 23 17 26 13 24 14 C Tomes     B Libra
Anna           ??/09.90    41 16 21 27 26 33 10 13 B Swords D Staffs
Henry            16.35     32 08 15 16 12 11 15 06 C Tomes C Miriel
Lucina           16.56     46 24 12 26 29 27 18 10 B Swords C Avatar, B Chrom, C Morgan
Morgan        20/07.41     61 20 29 28 20 34 22 24 A Tomes A Avatar, C Chrom, C Lucina

If you were wondering why I wasn't using Chrom too seriously, take a look at Lucina. That's why. Chrom is going to be in her pocket the rest of his life.

Fred is done farming.

Vaike finally promotes and holy shit, look at him. He is so swole he doesn't even really care about magic anymore, despite his awful resistance. I might just go do Yarne's chapter right after Cynthia's, seeing as Wrath isn't the greatest skill to pass down willy nilly. Works great for Vaike considering he is the critbot of the century, but if you don't have any stack...Well...

I had to promote Gregor. His stats aren't that much worse than Vaike's, and he's a support bot anyways. His boosts are just enough to hit 20 where it counts.

I'm waiting for Renewal for Libra before I reclass him to Sage. It will help Noire for when Tharja finally gets Lifetaker. I know I keep repeating it, but I love dat sustain.

[grandjackal]

Recruiting Cynthia

Not a hard map at this point in time. Fun fact: Make Severa, you can access this chapter immediately. Otherwise, you're waiting till after chapter 18 at the soonest.

This map has 22 speed enemies, a threat that I roll my eyes at now. This would have been hard a couple pages back, but it's a joke now. Avatar solos one side by sitting in a forest (I want my Spectrum, dammit!), Tharja solos the other with some others giving assistive pulls. Libra rescues Avatar to the boss, Morgan smokes him with an 80% Ruin. The boss is an annoying bastard cause he is absurdly fast and has Lucky 7, and when you come up on him he starts running away (he can flee the map, and he has a Large Bullion...)

Cynthia however is a monumental idiot and even though there were plenty of guys south of her, she heads to the right to supply Rally. That annoyed me, but it did give me an excuse to use Rescue for no reason other than to bring Sumia into a proper position. Once recruited, I handed off Fred to her and had her fly him to the upper left portion of enemies, where all he really had to do was not die. Pretty easy for him to do, really.

Cnyhia got a kill. ALMOST got a level. That annoyed me cause I set it up for her and everything.

Turns: 4

Cynthia gets a C with Sumia and Fred!

Levels

UNIT             LEVEL    HP ST MG SK SP LC DF RS WEXP                  SUPPORT
Avatar       20/14.26    47 23 23 23 31 24 16 19 E Sword, A Tome       S Chrom, C Fred, C Gregor, B Anna, A Morgan, C Lucina
Chrom       20/01.00    39 22 03 21 24 17 16 10 A Sword               S Avatar, A Lucina, C Morgan
Frederick     11/5.84    50 26 06 25 17 13 26 07 A Lance, A Axe          S Sumia, C Avatar, C Cynthia
Vaike            20/3.01    73 29 05 27 25 20 18 03 A Axe                 B Sully, S Panne 
Sumia          20/10.05    53 20 09 29 34 23 14 14 A Lance               S Fred, C Cynthia
Miriel           14.54    28 01 17 13 13 14 07 10 C Tomes               C Sully, B Lonqu, C Henry
Cherche       20/2.94    45 25 03 21 20 12 25 06 B Axe              B Gregor
Panne            24.60    46 20 03 19 25 16 17 08                       S Vaike
Gregor         10/1.05    53 22 00 15 20 11 13 05 C Axe                 C Nowi, C Avatar, B Cherche
Libra           ??/10.95    48 18 18 19 18 13 13 21 C Axe C Staff     B Tharja
Tharja          20/09.47    53 10 23 18 26 14 25 14 C Tomes     B Libra
Anna           ??/10.53    42 16 22 28 26 34 10 13 B Swords D Staffs
Henry            16.35     32 08 15 16 12 11 15 06 C Tomes C Miriel
Lucina           17.60     47 25 12 26 30 27 19 11 B Swords C Avatar, B Chrom, C Morgan
Morgan        20/08.73     61 20 29 28 20 34 22 24 A Tomes A Avatar, C Chrom, C Lucina

Of course, meet Cynthia!

Cynthia 10.97 36 15 5 21 23 18 12 12 C Fred C Sumia

Speed+2, Refresh, Defense Rally, Movement Rally

An instance of Promotion to Falco...

40 HP 17 Str 6 Mag 24 Skl 26 Spd 18 Lck 14 Def 15 Res

Outside of HP, this is actually pretty similar to Sumia. Should also note that I have the option to reclass to Wyvern Rider if I so wish it. It's...a bit clear she's a Rallybot, but I don't think it will take much effort for her to be good. She has access to Lances which have Beastkiller and Killer Lance available to her (fun fact: I have barely used that weapon). I might just instapromote her for the additional boosts and get her to Rally Speed quicker. There's not much game left, and she's going to level fast anyways.

As for my other units, I am DANGEROUSLY close to 15 for Avatar, and once I hit it I'm reclassng to Dark Knight so that I have this super stupid pairing between her and Morgan giving eachother all the durability in the world, and then never using Avatar again outside of Rally when applicable. Morgan pretty much destroys her in terms of power, so it would be silly of me to continue giving Avatar more exp at this point.

Fred's still proving to be useful thanks to that Naga Tear. Cynthia is 5 levels away from Galeforce, and it was a relatively painless exercise going Dark Rider.

Lucina nears promotion...

Yes. Tharja and Libra are close to level 15...

As a note, I am thinking of giving Libra a Weapon Scroll for instant A Staffs so that I have a Fortify user some time this century. I have 3 that I have never used at this point. My other options are to wait for the other kids. Gerome would probably appreciate instant access to Silvers when he goes Gryphon, and Yarne would appreciate a weapon that doesn't suck, and Noire would prefer D tomes for instant access to Nosferatu and other good dark magic spells. Thoughts?

[Florete]

Fun fact: Make Severa, you can access this chapter immediately. Otherwise, you're waiting till after chapter 18 at the soonest.

Or "make" Owain.

[grandjackal]

Recruiting Yarne

Considerably annoying, but out of all the Paralogues, this isn't exactly one of the hardest.

This chapter is neat in that it lets you decide the concourse. There are 2 groups warring with one another, and you can decide to fight one or the other. However, doing this is kind of annoying because it causes the enemy to ignore you unless you're all that's in range, and charge to the much inferior "ally", which actually slows you down. How does one fix this problem...

Well clearly...You fight the both of them.

1-2 range fighters are best on the right as well as anything Beastfoe and hardassed (so for me, guys like Vaike, Panne and Fred. Even let Sumia fight a bit. Had a 30% from bows and was durable enough to take 1 shot+others. She did get wounded though so she did have to drop to Fred, who performed perfectly fine here. Probably one of his better maps as a General). Cynthia's Rally was super helpful this map as it allowed me more positional advantage despite the foresty starting terrain, and granted pretty much my entire team a good +4 Def off the bat.

As for the left side...Well, Avatar and Morgan with some pulls, Tharja and Libra as emergency attackers while supplying Physic. This is a pretty violent map, and heals are much appreciated especially since on the left side you want to go in deep to reach the General boss, and the right side is an absolute swarm.

Map's fairly simple in design. Basically it's all epic enemy phase, and on the right side you can rely pretty well on avoid while on the right side you have positional advantage with your superior movement so you can just avoid being attacked if necessary. Of course, I had Morgan who didn't care, but that's besides the point. I've done this map with Tharja as a Dark Knight blitzing the hell out of these armors, and by now I normally would have Lifetaker so in the case I was low, I could just kill something the next turn and be fine.

You are rewarded with a LOT more money for attacking both parties, along with both villages which offer some pretty good stuff. Namely, a Beastkiller, some Bullion, a Dracoshield, and uhh...Something else.

As for Yarne, he was an annoying prick. Now thinking about it, I should have just paired him up then Rescued with Anna, but instead I had him run to the right into a forest where he switched to Panne, and then Vaike sat nearby with Anne as a support. Worked anyways.

Turns: 6, though it was more due to me wanting all the villages and not expecting the asshole General boss to sit his ass in front of one of them, delaying me from a 5 turn.

On top of the Bullion from the bosses, you are rewarded 10K!

Yarne gained C support with Vaike and Panne!

Levels

UNIT             LEVEL    HP ST MG SK SP LC DF RS WEXP                  SUPPORT
Avatar       20/15.29    48 23 23 23 31 25 16 19 E Sword, A Tome       S Chrom, C Fred, C Gregor, B Anna, A Morgan, C Lucina
Chrom       20/02.93    40 22 03 21 25 18 16 10 A Sword               S Avatar, A Lucina, C Morgan
Frederick     11/6.30    51 27 06 26 17 13 27 07 A Lance, A Axe          S Sumia, C Avatar, C Cynthia
Vaike            20/5.38    76 30 05 29 27 20 19 03 A Axe                 B Sully, S Panne, C Yarne
Sumia          20/11.58    54 20 09 30 34 23 15 15 A Lance               S Fred, C Cynthia
Miriel           14.54    28 01 17 13 13 14 07 10 C Tomes               C Sully, B Lonqu, C Henry
Cherche       20/3.05    46 26 03 21 20 13 25 06 B Axe              B Gregor
Panne            25.74    47 21 03 20 26 16 18 08                       S Vaike
Gregor         10/1.05    53 22 00 15 20 11 13 05 C Axe                 C Nowi, C Avatar, B Cherche
Libra           ??/11.65    49 18 19 20 19 13 13 22 B Axe B Staff     B Tharja
Tharja          20/10.70    54 11 23 19 26 14 26 14 A Tomes     B Libra
Anna           ??/11.09    43 16 22 28 26 35 10 13 B Swords C Staffs
Henry            16.35     32 08 15 16 12 11 15 06 C Tomes C Miriel
Lucina        20/1.00     48 32 12 27 30 29 27 13 B Swords C Avatar, B Chrom, C Morgan
Morgan        20/11.14     65 20 30 30 32 37 25 26 A Tomes A Avatar, C Chrom, C Lucina
Cynthia        10/2.84     41 18 06 25 27 18 14 15 B Lance D Staff C Fred C Sumia

Meet Yarne!

Yarne Level 10

50 HP 17 Str 3 Mag 17 Skl 16 Spd 16 Lck 15 Def 4 Res

HP+5, Even Rythmn, Beastfoe

Crappy skills to inherit, but he's not really gonna make use of critstacking starting off as a Taguel. His durability thanks to +5 HP is actually fairly similar to his mother's, but his offense is not quite as good. Lacking 4 less Str and a whole lot less speed. However, if he does have workable speed, it doesn't really matter as much as that Str does. Luckily, there are chapters up ahead that have plenty of mounts for him to chew on, so any problems he has will go away fairly quick. Yes, I'm leaving him as Taguel (for now anyways). Going anything else just limits his movement, and shits up his offense with awful weapon ranks. I'm going to get Beaststone+ pretty soon, so not much point in just changing him to make him worse.

As for the team, Avatar has finally hit 15 for Spectrum, and can essentially retire into a safe mobile magic class. However, I notice there are 2...Dark Flier, or Dark Knight? Chances of me getting Galeforce before the game ends are pretty much zilch. Even with Veteran, she's gotten to the point where she levels so slowly that there's pretty much no point bothering with thinking of any more skills past this. I'm thinking Rally Move if only cause that's the closest thing I can hope for, and I don't think Rally Spectrum gives Move. That, and I can just have Morgan go Dark Knight, so I can fly in with Avatar into a good location then have Morgan blow up the world.

I'm trying to get Chrom to level 5 for Aether before I forget he exists for the rest of the game. Reason being? Grima is why.

I'm actually considering having Fred level to 10 to reclass again into Gryphon for super lategame. One thing I will need for some of the later chapters is someone mobile to act as a transporter, and with use of Rally Move, I can make up for him not having Deliverer. As for Sumia....So close...

I don't think Panne needs to reclass to a Wyvern to be good. She has been perfectly fine acting as a Taguel. However, she may question who would be an appropriate support for her. Vaike was fun, but he has his problems and she doesn't really fix him much. She appreciates the Strength though, so if you want go fully one sided (I wouldn't blame you), you can easily do that. Iusually pair her up with Gaius, since once he hits 10 he can reclass to Myrmidon where he actually becomes fairly good (the +10 Avoid with his speed and the additional that Panne gives makes him pretty evasive), and at least before class change he supplies her with a nice +1 move. As a Wyvern though that's a lot more justifiable, cause then they have stats that work well with one another. Then you can give Yarne the nice combo of +10 Avoid, Quick Burn, and his natural Even Bio so that he can have 34 avoid turn 2 for no good reason.

Morgan is close to Tomebreaker. I might as well get it, really.

If you're wondering what the hell I promoted Lucina into, I promoted her into a Great Knight. The lack of 8 move is annoying I guess, but she has the actual speed to make use of the class to it's fullest potential. I give her an Arms Scroll. Now she has Hand Axes and Hammers X3...Oh, Beastkillers are D Lances? Ok, so I have those too!

Cynthia was fairly useful. Not fantastic, but she was helping with a Beastkiller on this map. Getting her to 5 I imagine is all I'll really need.

Vaike for the most part has become a complete character as he has all the critstack in the universe. Getting to 15 will merely be a nice bonus.

I'mma hold off doing Gerome and Noire's chapter. I want Noire with her Skillset, and I want Cherche to hit level 5 so she can pass down Quick Burn. Quick Burn+Patience. Lovely.