Lunatic+ playlog/guide/walkthrough - COMPLETED

[Interceptor]

I might have a solution... I just scanned the Ch14 map again, and there's an upside-down U-shaped place where I can cram into, right above the mast. There is one square that is not adjacent to anything if I put units on the left and right, and the those wings only have one facing each. Although I either have to spill out a bit, or make do with six units.

I need Lucina, Morgan, Anna, Miriel, and Gregor. Since Chrom is forced, that's six.

I'll have to... UNDEPLOY AVATAR.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Hitting a Res tanky unit like a Peg Knight with 21 might probably isn't going to cause huge problems with Counter, even if you find yourself in a position where you can't trade her sword out for a turn or two.

Worst comes to worst, you could just leave her unequipped, spamming self-healing with Parallel until Avatar or Morgan can take care of all the peg reinforcements.

[1% critted]

NO, IMPOSSIBLE, NOT AVATAR

Edited July 4, 2013 by 1% critted

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

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Valm Destination

[Interceptor]

Hitting a Res tanky unit like a Peg Knight with 21 might probably isn't going to cause huge problems with Counter, even if you find yourself in a position where you can't trade her sword out for a turn or two.

Worst comes to worst, you could just leave her unequipped, spamming self-healing with Parallel until Avatar or Morgan can take care of all the peg reinforcements.

This is a good point. The Pegs in this chapter have 19 RES, so naked Lucina hits for 2 damage; not exactly going to end the world on Counter when she has 41 HP. I was going to pair her with Lissa for the +MAG, but maybe the better plan is Louise or her brother. They both have a 50%+ DS chance, thanks to DS+ and the auto-C support.

I do like this new spot, though; the "ends" only have one facing instead of two, so it's more resilient to dumb skill combinations. I might go with the reverse "J" formation, give someone a double, and cram a healer in there somewhere.

Time to play around with it a bit.

Edited July 4, 2013 by Interceptor

[Interceptor]

Chapter 14 posted. Piece of cake once I got Lucina away from the danger of 1-range. Somewhat weirdly, she got a lot of +MAG.

[spoiler=Chapter 14: Flames on the Blue]

Morgan had his time in the sun; now it's time to train Lucina. This might blow your mind, but this map's strategy has us turtling in a corner and killing enemies one by one. Give Lucina a Second Seal and a Levin Sword.

Keys to the chapter: train Lucina, collect the treasure before killing the boss.

Deployment: Avatar, Lucina, Miriel, Lissa, Morgan, Anna (for the chests), Gregor. This map can also be six-man cleared. The defensive point is the spot right above the mast on the central ship: if you cram six Paired-up units in there, the one in the center cannot be attacked at 1-range, and the two side positions only have one enemy facing.

I chose to deploy eight units, and spilled out a little bit (two facings on the left side). Lucina/Avatar, Morgan/Chrom, Miriel/Anna, Gregor/Lissa. These pairs are more for building supports than anything else; I swapped Lissa/Miriel for a short time and gave some kills to Gregor in other to build up that support as well.

Nothing fancy here: just turtle up, reclass Lucina to Mercenary, and stuff her full of kills. I didn't quite make it to level 20 and a Bow Knight promotion, but she capped four stats and could be promoted regardless. I'm just holding out for a little more DEF.

Clean up the chests afterwards, and then finish the boss.

Turns: 39

Heroes: Louise & Lucina

           Level HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS Wlvl
Louise     16.94 68 33 21 25 37 35 33 20 A Swd, A Bow
Chrom      20.00 34 14 3  19 17 18 13 4  A Swd
Gregor     12.58 64 34 2  36 30 17 21 7  A Swd, B Bow
Miriel      5.81 55 5  27 29 32 24 16 32 A Stf, A Tme
Lissa       5.76 34 9  20 18 17 24 10 13 A Stf, C Tme
Lucina     18.89 59 27 15 27 28 34 26 13 B Swd
Morgan      4.18 60 30 22 33 31 32 33 19 C Bow
Olivia     13.54 28 7  4  18 18 13 7  4  D Swd
Henry      14.67 32 7  15 16 11 12 14 7  C Tme

Supports   S - Louise|Chrom
           A - Louise|Frederick, Gregor|Miriel/Lissa
           B - Louise|Lissa/Miriel/Lucina
           C - Chrom|Lissa/Lucina/Morgan, Louise|Morgan, Lucina|Morgan

Yes, Chrom hit 20 and only got +LCK. Womp womp. Lucina is now very nearly as tough as Morgan, and Gregor built A supports with both Lissa and Miriel.

[Interceptor]

Chapter 15 posted. It's on like Donkey Kong; payoff from all of this training and preparation.

[spoiler=Chapter 15: Smoldering Resistance]

Now THIS is more like it: with a full complement of bow-using Lead units (Avatar, Morgan, Gregor, soon-to-be-Lucina), you can roll up your sleeves and power right through this chapter. Put on your party hat and get ready for a real throw-down.

Keys to the chapter: save Say'ri, match up against the beach enemies, visit all four houses, give Walhart's advance force a good what-for.

Deployment: Avatar, Gregor, Morgan, Lucina, Lissa, Miriel, Olivia, Frederick, Cherche. You'll notice here that I've broken up the band a little bit, and given people partners purely for stats. This chapter is very straightforward: send Gregor/Miriel onto the beach (Gregor can deal with the Knights/horses, Miriel can deal with the mages), and have everyone else rush up the ramp and blitz the enemies up there, while Lissa Rescues Say'ri.

No choke points on this map: just have everyone stand shoulder-to-shoulder to maximize Support bonuses. When Gregor/Miriel are done, have Lissa Rescue them over to help with the clean-up. My preferred pairs: Avatar/Frederick, Lucina/Cherche, Morgan/Chrom. I had to take a few turns to get a couple more levels into Lucina before I promoted her to Bow Knight, but you may already have her up to par. In any case, get her into combat ASAP.

Kill the boss after visiting all of the houses. I gave the boss kill to Lucina.

Turns: 10

Heroes: Chrom & Morgan

           Level HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS Wlvl
Louise     17.88 69 34 21 26 38 36 33 20 A Swd, A Bow
Chrom       1.00 39 18 3  21 19 18 16 7  A Swd
Gregor     13.36 65 34 2  37 30 17 21 7  A Swd, B Bow
Miriel      6.79 55 5  27 30 32 25 16 32 A Stf, A Tme
Lissa       6.99 35 10 21 18 18 25 10 13 A Stf, C Tme
Lucina      3.66 68 31 15 31 33 36 28 17 B Swd, E Bow
Morgan      6.93 62 31 22 34 33 34 33 19 B Bow
Olivia     14.66 28 7  4  18 19 14 8  5  D Swd
Henry      14.67 32 7  15 16 11 12 14 7  C Tme

Supports   S - Louise|Chrom
           A - Louise|Frederick, Gregor|Miriel/Lissa
           B - Louise|Lissa/Miriel/Lucina, Chrom|Morgan
           C - Chrom|Lissa/Lucina, Louise|Morgan, Lucina|Morgan

Chrom promoted to Great Lord. Louise is nearly ready to reclass into her final stop -- Sniper -- but I want to squeeze out those last three levels of stats first. I am expecting Miriel and Gregor to S-rank after the next map.

[Sportnlife]

Impressive run to say the least. I look forward to seeing where everyone ends up.

[Interceptor]

Updated with Ch16.

Bit of a decision point here: Laurent is now unlocked, but I'm wondering if I should get Miriel to 15 for Dual Support+ (to pass down to him) before attempting. Otherwise I'll give him something sorta-lame like Demoiselle. Downside: it will slow down the Lucina/Laurent support. Laurent, incidentally, is better at base level than Henry is, so he's getting replaced basically immediately once I recruit.

[spoiler=Chapter 16: Naga's Voice]

And now back to reality. Even though this chapter can be successfully rushed, the promotes and reinforcements can be problematic if you get caught up anywhere, or take too much Luna+/Hawkeye damage. I'll be using a safe strategy that kills two of the three thieves.

Keys to the chapter: kill the thieves you can get to, turtle up on the southeast isle, and kill the remaining land enemies with Longbow before taking on the boss group.

Deployment will be our primary combatants (Avatar, Morgan, Lucina, Gregor) along with a set of utility units (Miriel, Cherche, Cordelia, Olivia, Frederick). Before beginning, make sure to have a fresh Rescue staff handy, Physic, access to some Concoctions, and put Rexcalibur (or whatever your best Wind tome is) on Miriel. Strategy as follows:

• The designated defensive area is the small strip of land in the southeast. It is surrounded by Lake tiles, which can only be traveled by fliers.
• On Turn 1, you'll want to have Frederick + Avatar run straight north from the upper-left deployment slot to kill the Speedwing thief from 2-range. This is possible due to Fred's +1 MV Pair-up bonus. It's fine to Rescue Avatar back over on Turn 1 if you like.
• The rest of your crew should blitz the right-hand side, killing as many units (including the thief) as possible. Put the fliers in a holding pattern over the Lake to the right, out of range of the enemies but in range of unpaired Miriel and Olivia.
• Next, fly Miriel and Olivia over to the defensive zone. Rescue someone with Miriel, Dance her with Olivia, and then Rescue someone else. Rescue the final pair on the next Turn.
• Only fliers can reach you here. Pegasus reinforcements are going to show up on Turn 5, including one that spawns right on top of you, so take the time to box in Miriel and get your combat pairs set up.
• Defend until all of the map's fliers are dead. The Longbow reinforcements may come to bother you; they are easily handled by putting Morgan w/Longbow where they can reach him.
• For Phase 2, move one or two unit pairs into the tiny choke (barely visible: check the map tiles) located 4 WEST and 2 NORTH of the southeast corner of the map. You can accomplish this by flying in Miriel, having her Rescue a pair, and then using your other flier to trade someone more suitable (like Avatar) to Miriel before the land enemies arrive.
• Sit there and plink away. Keep in mind that Morgan can stay on the defensive zone, shooting over the Lake and killing things with his Longbow (Dance him with Olivia for maximum effectiveness).
• My preferred pairs here are Lucina/Chrom, Miriel/Avatar, and Morgan/Gregor. You should be able to keep Cherche and Cordelia floating adjacent to the bottom pair, out of range of everything, for a Support rank boost.

Once you're done with all reinforcements, it's a simple matter to deal with the boss (who does not move) and his five-man group (who can be steamrolled by your army). I gave the boss kill to Gregor, since I want to get him that last bit of distance to Pass ASAP.

Turns: 27

Heroes: Chrom & Lucina

           Level HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS Wlvl
Louise     19.37 71 34 21 27 40 36 35 20 A Swd, A Bow
Chrom       1.45 39 18 3  21 19 18 16 7  A Swd
Gregor     14.24 66 34 2  38 31 18 22 7  A Swd, A Bow
Miriel      9.65 56 6  27 33 35 27 18 35 A Stf, A Tme
Lissa       6.99 35 10 21 18 18 25 10 13 A Stf, C Tme
Lucina      9.29 74 32 15 33 38 40 31 18 B Swd, C Bow
Morgan     10.39 66 32 22 38 36 37 36 21 B Bow
Olivia     17.29 30 8  5  21 21 16 10 5  D Swd

Supports   S - Louise|Chrom, Gregor|Miriel
           A - Louise|Frederick, Gregor|Lissa
           B - Louise|Lissa/Miriel/Lucina, Chrom|Morgan
           C - Chrom|Lissa/Lucina, Louise|Morgan, Lucina|Morgan

Gregor and Miriel finally tie the knot. Olivia is absolutely nowhere near being able to take a hit, but she has Special Dance now. Louise is a mere 63 EXP from her final reclass.

[1% critted]

Unless you have some FREE chapters for Laurent to train, or you train him and promote him in his paralogue, I'm against waiting. Go get him right away before he has no chance to catch up reliably, without gimping your other units.

[Redwall]

It doesn't seem like Miriel is getting to 15 in any reasonable amount of time. You may as well recruit Laurent ASAP.

[Interceptor]

Alright. I'm going to go for the gusto, and will pick Laurent up before moving on to Ch17. It will sting to lose Support+, but he'll have good synergy with Lucina anyway due to her Dual Strike+ skill. I have the crazy thought of using the Mire-bombing chapter to get him some EXP. Not because it's useful or cost-effective or efficient, but because eff those guys.

So... I've never actually done this Paralogue before, so the dry run was messy. It appears that I have no choice but to bum-rush the Barbs/Zerkers if I want to be able to collect EXP from the reinforcements (couldn't care less about the items, other than the Speedwing I guess). I have a basic framework of having Mirel/Gregor recruit Laurent and hold down that corner, while Laurent himself supports the main army by Mire-bombing as they rush the village in the NE. I may need to have Lissa and Olivia dance a bit back with Physic to make this reliable, because holy crap the damage potential can be scary.

Any veterans of this Paralogue have any useful tidbits that they want to share? I mostly have mounts that suck in the desert, but mobility doesn't seem like a big deal since the oasis in the center portion has Plains around it. Every time I've tried, I can make it to the village first, as long as I leapfrog my bow-users to clear space for each other.

Edited July 15, 2013 by Interceptor

[1% critted]

I have played this paralogue enough to know that it's better to clear everything off. Avatar can tank off the left side on a bush provided no Hawkeye, while the rest of the party annihilates the right side. I can reliably get to the village before the barb gets there (the barb gets there first, but the berserker is in range with his Tomahawk. The enemies near the village won't move till you get in range of them. SO, if the barb isn't in range of the village to destroy it, he will prefer to attack instead of going towards it.

The reinforcements that I do remember are:

2 warriors and 4 barbs near the boss when the first village is visited.

4 barbs and 2 berserkers from the southwest and they are heading towards the new village in the northwest.

4 Pegs and 2 Falcos from the south after you vist the northwest village.

4 barbs and 2 berserkers from the northeast after you visit the northwest village.

I forgot the other ones but they appear from the sides once you visit the last village.

Just take your time in the chapter, hope this helps and it isn't something redundant or useless.

[Interceptor]

Thanks for the input. The information about the AI behavior is helpful, it seems like the barbs/zerks work against the villages sort of like the Ch6 thieves do for the door: they prefer to attack first. That makes it a bit easier to manipulate them to do what I want, at the margins.

I've been using a Google-translated version of the Japanese wiki for information that SF is still missing. The translation is hilariously bad, but is somewhat useful for reinforcement data. There's also a guide on GFAQs that seems to have the locations. It seems the general behavior is that the reinforcements will arrive to the left and right of where the new target will be. Falcos, Warriors, and Zerks are the last wave, allegedly.

So far the best strategy seems to be to use Miriel to recruit Laurent (instead of Chrom). The recruitment spot puts in her perfect position to counter 2 enemy Pegs at 2-range (she Wreckscaliburs them), and there aren't enough enemies left to box in Gregor (who has a mobility advantage over them in the sand). Allows me to focus the entire rest of the army to the right-hand side, which seems to work pretty well so far.

We will see! I'll submit a proper clear at some point and write it up. The nice thing is that the EXP here should help for Ch17, when things get Real™.

[1% critted]

Just a heads up, a spear Falco will also attack Miriel(they have insane range and in the desert it gets worse), and they have either 31 SPD or 33 SPD(depends on SPD+2) and even up to 37 SPD if one of the other falcos uses Rally speed at the end of EP.

And if the Falcos survive the EP counter, the other ones will heal them with physic.

[Interceptor]

Yeah, the Spear Falco is one of the two fliers in range where she visits the village (the other Spear user is just an ordinary Peg). The second Peg can't actually reach her, because of 1-range weapon, but it will move closer during EP.

But I think I am cool. Miriel has 35 base SPD and another +9 from Gregor, and including a Tonic would that puts her 8 points overkill for doubling. With 27+2 MAG and Rex, she hits 25 RES for 36 damage, more than enough to ORKO the target 53 HP (she's 19 points overkill). If the Falco has Aegis+, Gregor is 79% Dual Strike (AKA 95.59% DS chance when doubling) with a bow, and just in case that's not enough, Miriel has 10% listed crit too.

tl;dr: Miriel says, "get on my level, Falco."

[1% critted]

So I see you used the Marth counterpick.

Oh well then, best of luck to you. All I can really say is to watch out for the falcos and the warriors, they are your biggest threat (falcos 2fst, warriors 2 stronk)

[Interceptor]

Success. Paralogue 14 posted.

Laurent is more powerful than I was expecting. 2RKOs with Mire all over the place, made for some tasty EXP gain.

[spoiler=Paralogue 14: Shadow in the Sands]

And now, a quick detour to recruit Laurent and stock up a little bit more EXP before tackling the upcoming army of promoted enemies.

Preparations: buy a couple of Mire tomes for Laurent to use, pass him Armsthrift and Miriel's best skill (Demoiselle in my case), have a Second Seal available, and equip Miriel with your most potent Wind magic (WrecksRexcalibur is good for this).

Deployment: Miriel, Gregor, Avatar, Lucina, and Morgan as primary combatants. Olivia, Henry, Cherche, Cordelia, and Lissa as utility units.

The most difficult part of this chapter is the mad rush to prevent the upper-right village from being smashed. Not only does this cost you items, but also reinforcement EXP. Time constraints prevent setting up any sort of defensive knot, but by this point you have enough power to punch through the enemy units with Player Phase superiority. Here's the general strategy:

• Pair Gregor with Miriel and visit the lower-left village to recruit Laurent. This puts Miriel in range of exactly two 2-range fliers, which she will obliterate on Enemy Phase. Keep them over in this quadrant of the map. Alternate: Rescue them with Lissa to augment the main force if needed.
• Run Laurent over to Chrom, access the Convoy, and pull out all necessary Dark Magic tomes and a Second Seal. Promote to Dark Mage immediately.
• Use fliers to get Lucina and Avatar deep north quickly. Follow with Morgan. These three will spend their time smashing their way toward the upper-right village, leapfrogging and staying close together to make sure that nobody gets boxed in.
• Lissa, Olivia, Henry, and Laurent will form the back line. Augment Laurent's MAG with Henry and Rally MAG (from Lissa), using Dance to give him extra shots. Focus on wounded units that he can kill, preferably without Aegis+.
• Lissa should heal units with Physic (using Olivia too if necessary) whenever someone is hurt. The main force should not be wasting actions doing self-healing.
• High priority targets: fliers of all kinds, Berserkers, anyone with a dangerous Hawkeye/Luna+ combo.

Try to give Laurent as many kills as you can. The more levels he gets, the better he will be with Mire. His bases for me:

           Level HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS Wlvl
Laurent    10.00 46 11 16 23 20 18 14 15 C Tme

Not bad, really. At base level he doubles and can ORKO a lot of the unpromoted enemies with a Pair-up.

Don't visit the village until you have cleared all non-boss enemies, and are in position to deal with the Enemy Phase reinforcements. Northeast village spawns reinforcements by the boss and in the lower left. Northwest village spawns enemies in the upper right and lower left. Final southeast village spawns reinforcements to the left and right. Reinforcements tend to be Berserkers, Warriors, and Pegs/Falcos.

After all waves are clear, collect the Goddess Staff (2S/1W from boss), and then give Nombry what-for.

Turns: 29

Heroes: Chrom & Morgan

           Level HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS Wlvl
Louise      1.94 68 34 23 30 40 37 39 21 A Swd, A Bow
Chrom       2.22 40 19 3  22 20 19 17 7  A Swd
Gregor     15.71 67 35 3  38 31 19 23 7  A Swd, A Bow
Miriel     10.09 56 6  27 34 36 28 19 35 A Stf, A Tme
Lissa       9.63 37 11 24 21 19 27 10 14 A Stf, C Tme
Lucina     11.28 76 33 15 34 40 41 32 18 B Swd, C Bow
Morgan     13.21 68 34 23 38 36 38 37 22 A Bow
Laurent    13.02 58 15 19 27 22 23 23 20 B Tme
Olivia     20.47 31 9  6  22 22 19 10 6  D Swd

Supports   S - Louise|Chrom, Gregor|Miriel
           A - Louise|Frederick, Gregor|Lissa
           B - Louise|Lissa/Miriel/Lucina, Chrom|Morgan, Lucina|Morgan
           C - Chrom|Lissa/Lucina, Louise|Morgan, Laurent|Gregor/Miriel/Lucina

Louise reclassed to Sniper (her final class) once hitting level 20, and Laurent is swimming along as a Dark Mage. Gregor has Pass, but he doesn't have enough SPD to reclass yet. Tons of supports built.

EDIT: fixed the supports.

Edited July 16, 2013 by Interceptor

[1% critted]

REMINDER: Falco appears when you kill 100 enemies in multi-man Melee.

I MEAN, 2 Falcoknights appear from the left branch (where the thief is in turn 2) and parallel to that on the left side 2 more appear. One more appears from the southeast and one in the south west. Why I mention the falcos, it's because they can turn around the fight completely, annhilating a slow unit that gets one their way, and since 2 of them have spears, they can die and fast.

[Interceptor]

Wait, what? There are no Falcos in Ch17, are there? I thought it was all Valkyries and Monks and shit.

[1% critted]

Messed up, meant ch.16. Wait you already passed that didnt you? I'm crazy

Umm, on chapter 17 what you have to watch out for, is for the reinforcements. What I did was made a choke with Lucina+Avatar on the box on the middle of the map.

Edited July 17, 2013 by 1% critted

[Interceptor]

I'm thinking of setting up shop in the horizontal corridor near the left-middle. There's a thick wall underneath it, so as long as I kill off the three initial Longbow users, I could make a sandwich with people in the middle who can't be targeted. That means being able to deploy Olivia, as well as being able to use Laurent to snipe the Thief who goes for the chests. Although I'd need Anna or Gaius for this map, too, so it'd get a little crowded.

I'll do some dry runs when I have time, but for now I think my strategy is going to be TMNT without the TMN.

[Shengar]

Chapter 16 was hell even in Lunatic, thanks to those Falcon Pegs reinforcement. With Lunatic+ skills, I thought not rushing the boss simply is a bad idea since there is no actual chokepoint for them and put the live of many squishy unit in total danger. How do you deal with those Falcon Pegs?

[Interceptor]

Check the write-up for that chapter. Basically I ferried people onto the island on the right-hand side (only Pegs or Longbows can reach here), and then just make a defensive formation to protect your squishies (this works because you can use the wall as part of your defense). The fliers are pretty easy for me to deal with because my army is full of bows. Once the pegs/falcos are dead, you can deal with the rest of the map at your leisure, since they can't get to you.

If you don't have bows, standing unequipped works too. Just wait for the reinforcements to show, and then you can deal with any Counter guys as normal.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Interceptor

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

"If you don't have bows, standing unequipped works too"

Fucking derp hax strats that I don;'t even think was possibru

Fuckkkkkk

some genius strat right thar

Edited July 29, 2013 by I have a Dragon Boner