Starting tips

[GawainBS]

Hey.

I recently purchased Awakening, and I'm baffled by the mechanics. Despite doing some research, I can't figure out which skills/classes are good, and which aren't.

What's a good route for my main character? Preferably some melee. Currently, it's a toss-up between Dark Knight, Swordmaster or Pegasus Knight. Which skills synergise well with these classes?

Which other classes are nice to have in your party?

I prefer to have a fixed team, so that swapping is down to a minimum.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[Randa]

For skills and classes you'll want to experiment and find what works with your style of play.

For the MU I would say go female sword master. Skills could be, Galeforce, Astra, Swordfaire, Luna, and Limit breaker(vengenance if your in a European region)

It comes down to what you like ask a hundred people get a hundred answers.

For a last piece of advice since this is your first time playing I would advise two things:

1) Ignore the tier lists till you feel you have experience. They can be helpful but they also might create unfair bias.

2) Start on normal casual till you get a good grip on how the game is played.

[GawainBS]

What are the Tier Lists?

I intended to start on Normal Casual anyway, I get quite attached to my people. ;)

I suppose having a healer isn't a luxury? A couple of flying units?

One other class that intrigues me: Warcleric. Are they worth it?

[Shadow Mir]

What are the Tier Lists?

I intended to start on Normal Casual anyway, I get quite attached to my people. ;)

I suppose having a healer isn't a luxury? A couple of flying units?

One other class that intrigues me: Warcleric. Are they worth it?

I'd recommend a healer and some fliers.

As for War Clerics, Lissa might work well as one. Maribelle... not so much. Though in all fairness, War Clerics are more durable.

Also, one more thing to take note of: Getting one of the children characters is an escort mission where said character has to talk to an enemy unit.

Edited May 12, 2013 by Levant Fortner

[Randa]

I still prefer both of them to have magic though. The war cleric is a good Mage killer though.

[GawainBS]

Warclerics don't get magic? I thought they were some kind of armoured healer. I got a lot to learn...

[Darros]

They can use staves to heal your allies, but not tomes. Instead, they weild axes, a physical weapon. If your cleric/priest has good strength they might do well in that class.

[cyron]

on normal casual you really can do what ever you want it is very easy i would advise just jumping in and trying things you will work things out as you go(most likely i never read instruction manuals for games stumbling around trying to find out how things work is half the fun)

[Melonhead]

On normal casual, you won't have to get the "best class" or whatever, but wait until Level 15 Grandmaster for rally spectrum before reclassing :)

War Clerics are healers with more defence, HP, Resistance and strength than Sages, but have lower speed, magic, and skill. They also get axes, but don't expect them to do much damage.. They get an awesome skill (renewal) but I wouldn't really recommend it for any of the healers in the game, aside from maybe Lissa.

[GawainBS]

Alright, Grandmaster is the "upgrade" of Tactitian, the MU starting class, right? I guess I can wait that long.

[Shadow Mir]

Alright, Grandmaster is the "upgrade" of Tactitian, the MU starting class, right? I guess I can wait that long.

That it is.

[Talvisota]

Once you figure out the Pairing-Up system to give your weaker units boosted stats you'll be fine.

That's the main learning curve within Awakening, once you get good at pairing your units the game gets a lot easier.

[Raine]

alright-- a few good starting tips would be:

If you're just playing the game without using the DLC option-- you'll want someone whose gone through barbarian for Mug and mercenary for Armsthrift. This eliminates right off the bat any money problems you might have at any point in the game since you'll get 1k gold per kill not to mention you'll have a chance not to use any uses from the weapon itself. If you're playing with DLC and everything forget this since you can just Golden Gaffe whatever gold you need.

as far as actual builds go, I'd say just focus on finding a strategy that works for you and build your unit toward it. My first build was a Grandmaster I made with; Vantage, Wrath, Ignis, Armsthrift, and Tomefaire. put a superior jolt on him with maxed crit and added damage and paired him with an s-ranked bond, support +, anathemia, dual guard+ sage Cynthia in the end, he had mostly 60%+ crit rates that one shot anything. It wasn't the best build in the game, but I enjoyed it. It's not good enough for Lunatic+-- but it doesn't have to be when you're playing on normal/hard mode.

Better builds, for example, would be Nosfutanks-- these are characters who use Sol in conjunction with the 'Nosfu' dark spell that increases your HP to half the damage you receive These abilities stack to give you 100% of the damage you deal in HP. Likewise, these characters are often given Armsthrift themselves to save on finding and purchasing Aversa's Night's and often they're Forged to max damage and up Hit.

there are many types of characters that produce a good variety in strategy that can be used to make the game enjoyable and difficult. Heck, I ran into a breaker bot in a streetpass (a character with every breaker skill) come up with your own and have fun with it~

[GawainBS]

THE thing every guide so far has recommended is Galeforce. Is it that good? And is it necessary/handy to have on Normal?

Also, for MU (Grandmaster/Swordmaster later on), which stats should I favour and disfavour during creation? I considereed SKL favoured and MAG disfavoured, but then I saw that skill that adds 1/2 MAG to attack damage with weapons...

[GawainBS]

THE thing every guide so far has recommended is Galeforce. Is it that good? And is it necessary/handy to have on Normal?

Also, for MU (Grandmaster/Swordmaster later on), which stats should I favour and disfavour during creation? I considereed SKL favoured and MAG disfavoured, but then I saw that skill that adds 1/2 MAG to attack damage with weapons...

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Galeforce are nowehere near neccesary in Normal and Hard

Its reccomended because it allows you to finish map faster and being a useful skill in general, although its not going to show up any soon if you played the game without grinding

[Vashiane]

THE thing every guide so far has recommended is Galeforce. Is it that good? And is it necessary/handy to have on Normal?

Also, for MU (Grandmaster/Swordmaster later on), which stats should I favour and disfavour during creation? I considereed SKL favoured and MAG disfavoured, but then I saw that skill that adds 1/2 MAG to attack damage with weapons...

Galeforce is a great skill, as it allows you to move again if you defeat an enemy on your turn. Especially handy for some characters like Lissa and Maribelle, as they can kill an enemy on their first move and then heal on their second.

Having Skill as your asset is excellent for two very important skills it seems like you'll be getting: Ignis and Astra. It'll increase the chances of them activating, and those two skills already have a high activation rate. Skill is also good in case you branch over to Assassin and pick up Lethality - it gives you a better chance of seeing the skill activate since its rate is your Skill stat divided by 4.

While on Normal mode, your Avatar can do fairly well with anything as their flaw - but in later difficulties it's best if your flaw is Luck, as it doesn't hinder you nearly as badly as having some of the others has your flaw.

[Shadow Mir]

THE thing every guide so far has recommended is Galeforce. Is it that good? And is it necessary/handy to have on Normal?

Also, for MU (Grandmaster/Swordmaster later on), which stats should I favour and disfavour during creation? I considereed SKL favoured and MAG disfavoured, but then I saw that skill that adds 1/2 MAG to attack damage with weapons...

Personally, I prefer a Skill flaw since Ithink anything else as the flaw would not sit well with me.

Galeforce is a great skill, as it allows you to move again if you defeat an enemy on your turn. Especially handy for some characters like Lissa and Maribelle, as they can kill an enemy on their first move and then heal on their second.

Having Skill as your asset is excellent for two very important skills it seems like you'll be getting: Ignis and Astra. It'll increase the chances of them activating, and those two skills already have a high activation rate. Skill is also good in case you branch over to Assassin and pick up Lethality - it gives you a better chance of seeing the skill activate since its rate is your Skill stat divided by 4.

While on Normal mode, your Avatar can do fairly well with anything as their flaw - but in later difficulties it's best if your flaw is Luck, as it doesn't hinder you nearly as badly as having some of the others has your flaw.

Ehhh, I'd skip over Lethality, as that activation rate's a dealbreaker. (Even with a Skill asset, at best, you ONLY get a 13% chance) And see above on the flaw - I'm particularly opposed to a Luck flaw because I've had more than my fair share of rotten luck with enemy critical hits.

Edited May 13, 2013 by Levant Fortner

[Vashiane]

Personally, I prefer a Skill flaw since Ithink anything else as the flaw would not sit well with me.

Ehhh, I'd skip over Lethality, as that activation rate's a dealbreaker. (Even with a Skill asset, at best, you ONLY get a 13% chance) And see above on the flaw - I'm particularly opposed to a Luck flaw because I've had more than my fair share of rotten luck with enemy critical hits.

Something must be seriously wrong with my Yarne then - his chance is 2% lower than mine and he activates Lethality a LOT.

True. The only other flaw I'd be okay with having is Resistance, as WarCleric!Lissa and Libra are the ultimate mage killers. Especially Libra. So long as your Avatar stays out of range or you pair them up with one of the two and put them in front, you're fine.

[Shadow Mir]

Something must be seriously wrong with my Yarne then - his chance is 2% lower than mine and he activates Lethality a LOT.

True. The only other flaw I'd be okay with having is Resistance, as WarCleric!Lissa and Libra are the ultimate mage killers. Especially Libra. So long as your Avatar stays out of range or you pair them up with one of the two and put them in front, you're fine.

Adding a Beaststone% would add 8 Skill, which, in the case of your Yarne (yours is fathered by Stahl, right?), would lead to 52 Skill at best. I'd say you've just been getting lucky - I'd pass over Lethality because something with that dreary an activation rate just doesn't deserve a skill slot.

[Vashiane]

Adding a Beaststone% would add 8 Skill, which, in the case of your Yarne (yours is fathered by Stahl, right?), would lead to 52 Skill at best. I'd say you've just been getting lucky - I'd pass over Lethality because something with that dreary an activation rate just doesn't deserve a skill slot.

Yes, he is. Must be... maybe his foot really IS lucky. ;)

Well, I'm working on getting him Bowbreaker so he can become the ultimate Bow Knight destructor unit. So I just reclassed him into an Archer a while ago and he's at level 8 right now.

[shadowofchaos]

I never got Galeforce for the girls on my first Normal Classic run ever of the game for (assuming you don't know the spoilers yet here)

children skill inheritance.

You simply do not need it at all. It's just a nice extra if you're messing around.

By the time you reclass the girls for it, you'll be so horrendously overpowered unless you're playing certain DLC maps.

[BlueFire]

If you have the time and want to do a second playthrough, I'd say don't worry about your first playthrough's pairings and classes. Then once you have experienced the game's mechanics, you'll be able to formulate a strong team to beat a higher difficulty, the hardest DLC, or to make a deadly StreetPass team.

In Normal mode you'll be fine without any optimization. Without looking up the game mechanics on my first playthrough, I found normal mode too easy - so much that I didn't do paralogues or xenologues till after the story because it was too easy - and I was a pair up noob and I reclassed into the same promoted class many times because I liked them and I picked too easy of a difficulty.

TPDR; if you're doing fine in normal casual, then just keep playing and don't worry about perfecting your characters.

[GawainBS]

So, Luck or Resistance as flaw? Resistance seems important, since I like to be in the thick of things.

[Shadow Mir]

So, Luck or Resistance as flaw? Resistance seems important, since I like to be in the thick of things.

Neither. Take a third option (Skill).