Lunatic+ playlog/guide/walkthrough - COMPLETED

[Knusperkeks]

I have four secret books sitting in my inventory should that become a problem. Also tonics, rally skill, charm, anathema/hex, the list goes on! :D

[Knusperkeks]

Update for chapter 17: Inexorable Death

I hope you like my paint skills, I put a bit effort into the important parts being discernable, though I didn't come here to paint pictures. I used a different strategy than Interceptor.

[Varidan]

Since I dont have Lunatic+ yet, I started Lunatic, and followed this since it works well enough, and from what i see, the enemies have similar stats, minus bogus skills. In any case, even with the "reliable" ch2 clear Interceptor wrote in his other post, I'm still running into a number of problems, most notably the barbarian on the mountain with gamble critting stahl 3x in a row at 8%...

Even when I got past that to the water hopping with chrom/fred, enemies started flocking over to the left hand side and ended up killing avatar. Granted, i probly could have avoided this had i remembered to give avatar the elixir... but either way, i still have to reset alot, and i'm not even doing lunatic+ yet...

[Czar_Yoshi]

A lot of these strats are complete overkill for vanilla and will wind up having you take unnecessary risks to compensate for threats that don't exist yet. You should just go for regular EP tanking with a +Def asset, the top wave can't touch you if you're on a Fort with Fred and don't have Luna+ to worry about.

[Varidan]

Well i went with +speed instead. I got through the first few chapters before with more Fred spam, but that didnt do me any favors later. Interceptors method sounds great for maximizing exp, especially since i'm also trying to get more for Chrom and Sully, since i want to train her.

[Vascela]

Wouldn't Interceptor's method actually not be that beneficial on vanilla Lunatic? It's probably more reset heavy than what Czar recommended.

[Czar_Yoshi]

It's actually pretty bad for maximizing exp (for Robin, at least) due to kills going to Sully, Fred and Miriel.

I think Int once referred to doing that on vanilla as "bringing a nuclear missile to a knife fight."

OK so apparently Robin needs at least 10 Str for Fred to get his OHKO on the Soldier in Cht.3 wave 1.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Czar_Yoshi

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Either that or Fred picking up a level and getting Str (or Vaike getting a level and Str, but I don't think giving him that much EXP is a good idea).

[Cat1803]

So, I've come to a standstill in my latest L+ run, and I've decided to do something with it.

I had to burn my last Rescue staff usage in Chapter 10 due to high usage in Chapter 9 (Libra refused to recruit himself onto Chrom even though he was always in range, so I brought a promoted Lissa and did some Rescue chain shenanigans).

The problem is that progressing in Chapter 12 or Paralogue 4 requires a Rescue staff use that I don't have. I could (a) wait around for an Anna shop to spawn with one or (b) try to figure out a way to clear either without Rescue. There's been a considerable amount of work in Chapter 5 without Rescue; I think I might be able to figure out something here.

I've mostly been working in Paralogue 4 - I plan on using it to train Chrom so that he can be promoted by Chapter 12 and used in place of Gregor, and his stats aren't up to snuff yet - he's a Lv.10 Archer with only 14 Spd in my file.

Even with Bow Knight Avatar in the best space possible (and someone eliminating the middle myrmidon), she cannot ferry Chrom far up enough to reach Anna, which means she has to survive Turn 1. Eliminating the myrmidon means that combatant is in range of another myrmidon, a fighter, an archer if attacking from 1-range, and 1-2 mages depending on if that combatant is attacking the middle myrmidon from 1-range or 2-range. This means the direction I'm going is highly allergic to Counter, not to mention surviving the mages if they have low res (like my Gregor), the myrm if they have low Spd (my Lissa and Chrom), and the fighter/myrm if they have low Def (everyone that isn't avatar). This also means that the Silver Axe fighter and Myrmidon by Anna can't have counter or must be eliminated on PP, and even hawkeye/bad RNG can be a death sentence to her.

...I should just start over or wait for a Secret Shop with Rescue to spawn.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Cat1803

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

The odds of Anna surviving on her own are pretty low. Waiting on another Anna to sell you one might take a while too. If you have a friend who owns the game, you can fudge Streetpass to buy one from them. If you don`t mind leaning on luck, you could bring a bunch of crit weapons and hope the dice let you punch through on the rare attempt where she doesn`t die. I really don`t want to recommend restarting, but it really depends on your tolerance for waiting and frustration.

[Knusperkeks]

Currently I can't progress due to a risen pack on top of chapter 12, it blocks rescue staff access.

It has beeing there for over 24 hours now. I might snap soon and kill it off.

[Radiant Dragon]

Why do you need a Rescue staff for Chapter 12?

[Knusperkeks]

to optimize exp distribution among my units via Olivia in chapter 18.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Knusperkeks

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

So I'm pretty happy with my progress last night. I found an opening move that, while not completely fool/RNG-proof, helps cover for a large portion of the weakpoints in Interceptor's strat (namely, if those jerks bring Luna+ on the near Archer, Pavise+ on the Soldier or Aegis+ on the Knight). Because of the way the AI works in determining its target, Fred effectively becomes a ninja.

Basically, if Fred's Def is high enough, he can run into range of all four enemies and half of them will completely ignore him (and they all would if he wasn't the only one in range of two of them). Depending on if we want the Knight away from everyone or to be pulled closer so that they can burst him down, Fred either goes above the Knight and hits the Soldiers with the Javelin or 1 tile down and 1 tile right of the Soldier and hits him (don't want to body block him). This will draw the Knight onto the rear Archer onto him and make them take retaliation damage. Robin is placed along the top wall at the very edge of the Soldier and nearest Archer's range (can be edged a little closer and still be out of the Knight and rear Archer's range if something more aggressive is required). So long as Fred is outside the threshold of dying to all four when Luna+ and Counter is mostly not taken into account, the Soldier and near Archer will gun for Robin. The reason I say mostly, is that the Knight will always go first if it can hit someone. So Luna+ and Counter matter here because the AI adjusts according to numbers on the fly. So if fighting the Knight hurts Fred enough, everyone else will suddenly target him. What this means is that there are still problem ability sets that can mess Interceptor's strat up, then mess up this strat.

Another possible issue is if Robin has some bad stat luck, particularly in Speed (Defense and HP are important, to a lesser extent, too). She wants 15 (which is the low end of expected average for +Spd) so that a Sully C lets her double the Soldier in the typical tanking situation. With 11 expected Mag, she likely won't kill anyone (except maybe with Sully Iron Lance dual strikes), but can at least significantly weaken the enemies she engages.

Now for the problem guys. The Knight is the biggest issue, as he has a couple combos that make things really bad. Luna+ and Counter together make it so Fred can't take on the Knight, meaning we lose positioning and some damage output, since Fred needs to go up and out of the Knight's range (he can attack the near Archer while doing so, although it's probably not a good idea if the near Archer has Luna+. He can then still injure the rear Archer during EP. Now for the partially problematic scenarios:

Knight with just Luna+

-Fred can no longer get away with 17 Def (base plus Virion C). 19 Def, however, will work, but it requires Fred to nab Kellam.

Knight with just Counter

-Base Fred has 13+3+2+1=19 Attack at base with a Kellam support. Leveling up (likely) has a chance of pushing this up to 20. If right beside the Knight, it won't move out of the Woods to attack Fred. Against 11+1 Def, Fred will do 7x2 or 8x2, depending. The first scenario will work with 20 Def (65% of getting that +1 on level up), but the second just plain won't. If the Knight also has Def+2, suddenly that becomes 5x2 or 6x2. At level 2, he can get away with the first with 19 Def (he's guaranteed at least 1 HP), but the second scenario requires 20 Def. Pavise+ will also make either scenario work with 19 Def.

Knight has Counter and Aegis+

-This is really bad because of the problems mentioned above, compounded with magic going from ganking him to being required to set up Fred finishing him off with the Silver Lance on PP. It's a major damage commitment. This also stuffs up Interceptor's strat and makes mine significantly less reliable. If anyone has any ideas of how to deal with this, I'm open to them.

Soldier with Counter

-Robin needs to tank unequipped, which completely destroys the team's damage output. If the enemy team has lots of Pavise+ and Aegis+, this may make the scenario unrecoverable.

Both the Soldier and near Archer have Luna+ (bonus points if the Soldier also has Counter, making everything way worse)

-With 10 Def (low expected) and a Sully C pairup (+3), 29 HP (low expected), Robin can easily survive a single Luna+ from the Soldier and a non-Luna+ from the Archer (highest damage output without dual Luna+). Dual Luna+ brings that benchmark up to 15 Def (either low expected with Kellam or high expected +1 with Sully C) and 30 HP (high expected). Obviously, this is a big survival problem if they decide to bring dual Luna+ here and one of Fred's problem scenarios. Granted, Robin can have Kellam and Fred can go up to avoid the Knight, but team damage drops so much that survival is very iffy (although not as iffy as if the Soldier has Counter).

Anyway, the bottom line is that even with the two strats in play together, the game can still randomize bad skill sets that have overlap against each. My strat can still make an earnest attempt, but it goes from being fairly reliable to a crapshoot. The scenarios are:

-Knight with Aegis+ (Int) and Counter (mine)

-Soldier with Pavise+ (Int) and Counter (mine)

-Soldier with Luna+ and Archer with Luna+ (Int) (both required against mine)

EDIT: May have found a very tentative solution to dual Luna+ against Robin. It involves positioning Robin one tile to the left of where she would normally pull from and then placing Vaike with a Sumia or Chrom pair to the right of Robin. If Robin can kill the Soldier in retaliation (generally an iffy amount of scenarios, since Fred needs to weaken him for average Mag Robin to have a chance and Pavise+ or Aegis+ mess that up, barring two Sully Iron Lance dual strikes) and the Archer's non-Luna+ hit can't kill her (almost a given), it should run up in her face and shoot Vaike, instead. This means losing some damage output, but it's better than hoping Sully dual guards Robin or messing up Fred's first PP damage output.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi

[Czar_Yoshi]

For that anti-double Luna+ strat, whoud moving both of them yet another tile forward prevent a failed Soldier kill from stopping the Archer from attacking Vaike, or would that bring you in range of the Knight?

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Not the Knight, but the rear Archer, unfortunately.

[Knusperkeks]

My run is updated to chapter 20.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Knusperkeks

[Knusperkeks]

Unless something comes up, I'll probably end up making Lucina an Assassin. Her current stats (were she to be reclassed at lv 18, right now) would be:

77 hp, 40 Str, 14 mag, 44 Skl, 49 Spd, 48 Lck, 30 Def, 22 Res. I would give her Sol (the sword) and go to town. (unbreakable thanks to armsthrift)

The low defense already got mentioned, but I hope Sol can make that work out somehow, and I'd like to keep both, bows as well as Swords.

Of course I could re-class her into a lv 1 Bow Knight, but that's a bit boring in my opinion.

What do you think?

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Sol will help if she's doing enough damage, but there's also always the issue of Counter, which means, barring a crit Sol proc, she'll generally be losing ground. Swapping to bows will, of course, avoid that, but then deprive her of life drain. If she engages very small numbers of enemies (1-2), she should probably be fine. Otherwise, she'll likely need Physic support or to be carrying around an Elixir just in case.

[Knusperkeks]

So you want me to make her a sniper instead?

[Interceptor]

Doesn't really matter what you make her. The real powerhouse in that couple is LAURENT!, who is a complete badass, and Lucina is already contributing the necessary stats and DS+ for her part. I think that Bow Knight is strictly better overall, but honestly the difference is something that a mouse could starve on. I'd say just go with your gut.

[Knusperkeks]

Well he doesn't even care about counter anymore, it's a bit disturbing.

[Thor Odinson]

If you want to front Lucina but with bows only, The free Aether she comes with can still help. It's not as likely to proc as Sol but, given some positioning it still worked in my favor. As long as she has still some leeway after taking 2 hits (the max you should face without being able to counterattack with bows in a defensive corner formation) she can still do the regen thing, just not as reliable.

I kinda just cycled through BK like, 3 times on my own L+ run for Lucina because I wanted to keep Falchion access for endgame and didn't know how much exp she'd be getting. But it worked for her.

[Knusperkeks]

Went with Assassin to see how viable dodge tanking is with capped speed (52), she is at 49 right now. Also curious about Aether+Sol at ~50 skill.

Theoretically, the chance of attacking without a skill triggering is 37.5%, which isn't so bad. She has Bow Breaker against the super precise bows in endgame, everything else I have to cross my fingers for.

[spoiler=This is her post chapter 20]

[Knusperkeks]

My run is done now. I couldn't be bothered with killing all the enemies in the last three chapters, so I just used a bunch of rescues to rush the bosses down, turns out having three high magic support units is extremely useful, especially if one of them can fly. GG.