Currently on FINAL CHAPTER of my first ever run of FE4; any last minute advice?

[PKLucas531]

Everyone gets 7 fights in an Arena. I mean that in the way that, if Sigurd wins 7 times in the Arena, anyone else can still use it. The fights just run out for him.

Dew can't take money from someone and give it to someone else, he can only give.

Ayra is a bit hard to recruit. People recommend using Alec or Finn, Alec has Nihil to avoid her activating Astra, while Finn has Prayer/Miracle so he *might* dodge all 5 hits. You'll basically want Sigurd to rush the castle and Seize it before Ayra gets to close, then have Sigurd rush back and talk to her. Use savestates if you have to, because if Sigurd misses the boss like a jerk it'll only make things harder on you.

[Guy Starwind]

Thieves can not receive money unless they have a lover. However, that rule applies to everyone who has a lover.

The arenas can be used by anyone at any point in the chapter. If your unit doesn't make it very far in the arena try again in the next castle. If he fails there try again at the castle after that.

[secondworld]

Ayra is a bit hard to recruit. People recommend using Alec or Finn, Alec has Nihil to avoid her activating Astra, while Finn has Prayer/Miracle so he *might* dodge all 5 hits. You'll basically want Sigurd to rush the castle and Seize it before Ayra gets to close, then have Sigurd rush back and talk to her. Use savestates if you have to, because if Sigurd misses the boss like a jerk it'll only make things harder on you.

Savestates really aren't necessary when you can save in game whenever you want...

[PKLucas531]

I dunno, savestates are more convenient for me. I just assign save/load state to a shoulder button so I don't have to go clicking through menus/skipping the opening and stuff. '3'

[Silver Lightning]

Thanks for the answers! I got another question:

Since you can repair most any weapon in this game, should a unit only focus on using the strongest weapon currently held exclusively (since you can repair it)? Like Steel > Iron, or Brave/Legendary weapon > any other inferior weapon?

[MacLovin]

That's a good idea.

Though, hero weapons like all the kills they can get.

Sigurds Silver Sword from prologue can easily get over 50 kills, so I'd say use it until the brave sword comes and pass it to the secondary sword using mount that can use it.

Magic Swords are a good idea to keep using, and keep in mind that Azel/Artur can use them too.

Magic is a bit tricky to get up to crit levels. LEvins Elwind has a good chance.

The only axe you'll probobly be using is the hero axe on lex. He's a good combat unit and the hero axe is his best weapon for the entire game.

[Baldrick]

On the other hand, the better weapons tend to be more expensive, especially the legendary weapons, so you should probably use whatever weapon gets the job done. For a first playthrough, the only weapons worth stacking kills on are Brave weapons.

[Silver Lightning]

Hmm, ok, it seems that the better weapons should be used usually, but maybe inferior weapons could be used to generate lower hp enemies for easier kills and to get rid of low hp enemies. It looks like money is a huge factor in this game more than the others....

Two questions:

I already know who I want to pair Adean with, but at the same time I want her to heal the other guys to get experience. Does she earn love points with others by healing them, or only by ending the turn next to them? I hope its the latter, because otherwise I won't know how to get her experience other than healing Sigurd/Quan/other girls.....

I finally got Ayra, and I intend to pair her with Lex. I have heard however that its not smart to pair her immediately because one of the two will only get a hero weapon in a later chapter when not lovers. Should I wait to pair them even if I already have them both?

Actually, for future reference, I should list the pairs that I am intending to make:

Lex x Ayra

Jamke x Adean

Finn x Raquesis

Midir x Briggid

Lewyn x Ferry

Azel x Tailto

Claude x Sylvia

[PKLucas531]

Keep in mind, every turn that passes, a girl gets love points with all potential love interests(up until Turn 50)
However, they get an additional +5 points to standing next to a love interest, which is more than enough to outdo the passive love points if they're spending a lot of time next to each other(which isn't hard, unless you're doing a mounted unit + unmounted unit)

You can also get Love points through conversations, like Dew giving Raquesis the Thief Sword. Once again, the points from standing next to each other is more than enough to outdo the conversation bonuses(the only exception being the Chapter 4 conversation between Lewyn and Ferry, since it basically auto-pairs them) so you should still do the Talks between people that you don't want to pair up since you can get good stat boosts and items from them.

Adean won't get love points for healing someone, only through the passive points + ending a turn next to someone, so don't worry about her healing someone you don't want her to marry. Just have her heal before that person has moved, so they can end their turn away from her if you're really paranoid.

Don't pair Ayra with Lex until Chapter 3. If Ayra doesn't have a lover, one of Lex or Holyn can talk to her and she'll get a Brave Sword plus a boost to her love points with whoever talked to her. You have plenty of time to pair everyone in Ch 4 ~ 5 if you glue them together.

Your pairings look pretty standard fare, and I hate myself for butting into your pairs, but the only thing that really bothers me is not doing Holyn + Briggid. Faval will come out good either way since he always gets the Ichival/Yewfelle, but Patty kinda wants Luna to hurt things, and all those cool swords Holyn will pass down to her. She's gonna be your thief for Gen 2, and Holyn makes her much better at fighting(and thus makes getting gold easier for her) so it's much more convinient.

I like Patty ok

[Silver Lightning]

Ok, thanks for the info peeps! On to Chapter 2! I'm having trouble trying to keep that one Paladin alive.....isn't there a good reward for that? Any more advice is appreciated; I'm beginning to learn that this game is all about hidden surprises....

@PKLucas531: Yeah, Midir x Briggid was really the only one that's up in the air for me; I heard that having Briggid (when I get to her) marry a bow wielding father was good, and since I'm already pairing Jamke, I thought Midir would be good since he can have some conversations with her. I guess Holyn could be better, but I personally feel like I want to have at least one pairing that isn't overdone......and I dunno, for some reason I don't really like Holyn much from what I've seen....maybe it's just me.... :P

[PKLucas531]

The reward for keeping all three Paladins alive throughout the entire chapter is the Knight Ring, which lets an unmounted unit holding it move after attacking like the units on horses can. If even one Paladin dies, you don't get it. I wouldn't worry about it if it's looking too hard to keep them alive, it's not super essential, although Sylvia with the Leg Ring + Knight Ring can actually keep up with Sigurd and the other horsies to dance for them.

I kinda want to avoid butting into your pairing again, but the thing about Midir x Briggid is Midir is kinda "eh," and Faval will already have Pursuit from his class, so all Midir passes down is a bunch of Bows that are all not as good as Yewfelle(he'll be passing down like, an Iron Bow) Basically Faval will always be good thanks to lolYewfelle, but Patty is the one who needs the help from Holyn.

Also keep in mind, Finn x Raquesis can be a bit tough to make happen. Finn leaves at the end of Chapter 3(along with Quan and Ethlyn, as a warning) so you basically have 1 and 3/4ths of a Chapter for them to get married. If you can, keep them together through Chapter 2 and get Raquesis the Paragon Ring from that one Master Knight boss(might take a bit of RNG abuse) so she can promote way faster. You can have someone kill themselves in the Arena over and over as she heals them for a really fast promotion(could even promote her in Ch 2 itself) with the Paragon Ring, which will make them easier to keep together since Raquesis will have a horse.

[Guy Starwind]

If you're pairing Fin make sure you give all his weapons to Fury.

[BluBlaDe]

Lex x Ayra : A lot of people are really good with her. Lex really is.

Jamke x Adean : Midir is better with her.


Finn x Raquesis : This one is canon but pairing Finn isn't a good idea. However if you do pair him than make sure to do as Guy Starwind said.


Midir x Briggid : Here I like to pair Deu... Deu has kickass growth, sun sword and the bargain skill that will help a lot if you tend to use a lot of the Ichival. Holyn is probably better for Patty. Midir isn't that good to be honest. Reason is Midir is much better with Adean and Midir won't be able to give his weapons to his child.


Lewyn x Ferry : Canon and can't really go wrong with this one. Azel and Claud are good too.

Azel x Tailto : This one is good too ! you can also try Lewyn or Lex.

Claude x Sylvia : Probably the best for Sylvia. Lewyn is good too.

Also don't worry about your pairings anyway, you'll be able to finish the game just fine.

For Chapter 2 you really need to rush and you might have to restart a few times. You'll need to save all the villages too.

[cloudropis]

Freely use save states in the arena. Using them is exactly like fighting in it, pressing B to return to the castle's inside, going outside the castle, hitting start and saving. If you're grinding in the arena no units are moved yet, so you can always save: it just takes longer than savestating, it's not cheating at all.

Do not rush the arena with the strongest units all together. First use weaker units, so if they get stuck against an opponent, you can fight with the powerful units like Sigurd in ONE BATTLE, thus rolling the RNG again giving the weak unit a chance to win his battle. Like this:

Alec 2/7 battle. He gets killed by an unlikely hit. Everytime you re-load the save the same thing will happen. Choose Sigurd, or Lex, or Aira etc and do one round of their own arena, they'll likely win. Now the RNG is changed so Alec has a chance to survive that hit and win, going to the 3rd battle. If you've already done the arena with the strong characters, you'll be basically stuck with Alec at 2/7, wasting more 3-4 potential rounds (let's be honest, he'll never get to the last round).

You're pairings are good, I'll suggest to do Midir x Aideen and Dew x Briggid, but it's not a big deal.

Even Alec and Noishe can be usable with the right rings. Alec with Defence and Power ring is basically a second Sigurd, Noishe can still do something useful. Unlickily Arden, powerful may he be once promoted, gets part of Chap 4 precluded by the map, and in Chap 5 you'll meet Mr Desert, if you really don't feel like using everyone, just give him some kills in Chap 1 and call it done.

I'm not there yet, but I heard that giving Dew the Return Ring is gonna be useful in second gen, same with Ethlin and the Pursuit ring and Sigurd and the Elite Ring.

Use the Events/Secret events section, there's no reason to don't other than missing very useful stuff.

Chap 3 final boss is VERY ABUSABLE and can be useful for weaker units. I promoted everyone thanks to him.

Before seizing a castle with Sigurd, move all the other characters to the next castle. Sometimes the road will be unusable until Sigurd seizes, just get the nearest possible.

Please make Lachesis get the Elite Ring in her chap.

[PKLucas531]

To clarify, when Lachesis is done with the Elite/Paragon Ring and promotes at lv20, have Sigurd buy it. He doesn't really need it, but he'll pass it down to Seliph, who can get a ridiculous amount of level ups as soon as he joins and promote as early as Ch 7.

Pursuit Ring on Ethlyn is so she'll pass it to Leif, who needs it for combat/getting out of his rut faster. When Seliph is done promoting with the Elite/Paragon Ring, you can pass that to Leif(hopefully he can afford it) and pull a Lachesis, since he promotes to Master Knight as well.

[BluBlaDe]

Do not rush the arena with the strongest units all together. First use weaker units, so if they get stuck against an opponent, you can fight with the powerful units like Sigurd in ONE BATTLE, thus rolling the RNG again giving the weak unit a chance to win his battle. Like this:

Alec 2/7 battle. He gets killed by an unlikely hit. Everytime you re-load the save the same thing will happen. Choose Sigurd, or Lex, or Aira etc and do one round of their own arena, they'll likely win. Now the RNG is changed so Alec has a chance to survive that hit and win, going to the 3rd battle. If you've already done the arena with the strong characters, you'll be basically stuck with Alec at 2/7, wasting more 3-4 potential rounds (let's be honest, he'll never get to the last round).

Awesome never thought about this.

You can also abuse the hell out of chapter 2 lvl 22 baron if you want to level your character a little sooner in the game.

[cloudropis]

Awesome never thought about this.

You can also abuse the hell out of chapter 2 lvl 22 baron if you want to level your character a little sooner in the game.

Meh, Generals-Barons are not good for abusing because of high defence and Great Shield. But at that point fo the game a little abuse can be handy for weaker and/or newly joined characters, especially Lachesis, so I can recommend this to anyone with patience.

IMO 3ch Boss is perfects, almost non-existent hit, bad defence, high HP on a throne/castle. It took me just 40 minutes I think, to raise Dew from Lv3 to 19. And I levelled Alec, Arden and Noishe too.

[Silver Lightning]

Hooo-kay, FINALLY got to Chapter 3; after hours and hours of restarts in trying to keep the paladins alive and trying to get the bargain ring in time, I finally got fed up and said "SCREW IT", left the game hanging for a week and returned to just finish the damn chapter. I really hope I don't need either of those rings in the long run. The one thing that I am proud to have accomplished is getting Finn and Raquesis to the "fond" stage and getting Raquesis, Lex and Ethlyn promoted!

Now that I've almost reached the end with Quan and his gang (and possibly Dierdre), what are the things I must do to ensure the right things get passed on to kids or passed on to people who can use stuff if not the kids? Also, any actual chapter advice is welcome too. I'm really not a fan of any surprise reinforcements and stuff (I nearly lost Arden guarding the castle to Ferry's squad last chapter.....which reminds me, I hope I didn't lose anything by killing two of her pegasus squadmates before I reached her with Lewyn....) :P

[RJWalker]

You'll do fine without the Knight Ring. No Bargain Ring makes me sadface though,

And no, you don't lose anything by killing Ferry's Pegasus Knight Squad. In fact, I always send Lewyn Guard home castle with Ethlyn's Return Staff and let him kill Ferry's Squad. He'll do it easily and probably won't even get hurt. And Ferry won't attack Lewyn and will just fly around the castle if Lewyn's guarding it. So once Lewyn's done killing her squad, he can just waltz out and talk to her to recruit her.

[cloudropis]

^Yeah, I think you're almost supposed to kill them. I don't know if they even turn neutral.

The knight ring is somewhat nice but it's not so important, the Bargain Ring on the other hand... Well, I didn't get it either, and I finished Gen1 yesterday with no problems. Don't know if this will bite me in the ass in gen2 but I highly doubt so.

[PKLucas531]

You can get the Bargain Ring if you missed it in Gen 1 at the very start of Ch 7. Shanan will most likely be the one to get it since he's right next to the boss holding it and can wreck him.

Edited May 31, 2013 by PKLucas531

[cloudropis]

Hey, I'm right there! It seems like I didn't bother to check the boss's equipment. A pity I'll have to sell it and buy it with Lana... How much does it cost BTW?

[PKLucas531]

It costs 40k. Lana probably won't be able to buy it for awhile until she gets a Lover or Patty puts in a lot of effort.

Just keep it on Shanan so he can spam his Balmung and repair it for a lot less, might as well use it for something until Lana can afford it.

[cloudropis]

Oh dang, I thought so.. Well, at least it goes to a character with a Holy Weapon

Don't know if it was already mentioned but try to make characters joining in the mid of the chapter to do the arena, or you'll waste 7 rounds of experience. There are no reinforcements from the nowhere, so if the way is clear and only the castle's boss is alive you just need to spend some minutes moving those characters. It may be silly but I actually forgot sometimes, the Arena is available in every conquered chapter, not just the starting one.

Oh, at least in the first gen there is no risk of getting the main castle taken, so if you're actually using Ardan there is no reason to leave someone guarding it.

[PKLucas531]

Someone guarding a castle can be very helpful when abusing the save anywhere system.

Save/Savestate > fight an enemy > unfavorable outcome? > reload and burn RNs with Arden since he's guaranteed to lose eventually in an Arena.

Useful for something like trying to get the Elite/Paragon Ring for Lachesis, since her hitrate is shaky on that boss iirc.

Edited May 31, 2013 by PKLucas531