PAIRINGS The Pairing Thread

[Lapistier]

I've been thinking about making a more optimized team lately, and I'm looking for some opinions, specifically on some of the better units for m!Robin to marry. I'd rather have two Morgans than a single third-gen one with a few more stat points, so I'm mostly considering first-generation ladies with kids tied to them.

Some of my planned pairs are Henry/Sumia, Libra/Maribelle, and Ricken/Miriel, but that doesn't leave any magical fathers for Owain, which I've read is the optimal way to go for him. A +Mag -Luck Robin would give him and Morgan +5 Mag and +2 Spd, which I think is pretty good for both of them. However, I've also read a few opinions that Robin is better off giving his classes to either Noire or Nah, who need Galeforce. Thoughts?

[Czar_Yoshi]

If you must go Gen1 with Avatar, the priority is Nowi -> Sully/Tharja -> Sumia/Cordelia ->Lissa/Maribelle/Olivia -> Panne/Cherche/Miriel, reasoning being that Nah gets a proc and Galeforce, Kjelle/Noire get Galeforce (they already have procs), Sumia/Cordelia give Avatar a Galeforce/proc wife, Lissa/Maribelle/Olivia give Avatar a Galeforce/no proc wife (well, Astra for Olivia), and the last three get nothing. Nah, Kjelle and Noire can only all have Galeforce if Avatar fathers one of them because there are only two other fathers who pass down Pegasus.

Ricken!Laurent gets a bit of Mag and not much else, it's better to give Laurent a Vantage father like Lon'qu or Gregor so he can use VV. If you really want that pair though, you could give Owain Libra instead because Brady doesn't care who his father is as long as there isn't a terrible Mag mod involved.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Czar_Yoshi

[Airship Canon]

I've been thinking about making a more optimized team lately, and I'm looking for some opinions, specifically on some of the better units for m!Robin to marry. I'd rather have two Morgans than a single third-gen one with a few more stat points, so I'm mostly considering first-generation ladies with kids tied to them.

Some of my planned pairs are Henry/Sumia, Libra/Maribelle, and Ricken/Miriel, but that doesn't leave any magical fathers for Owain, which I've read is the optimal way to go for him. A +Mag -Luck Robin would give him and Morgan +5 Mag and +2 Spd, which I think is pretty good for both of them. However, I've also read a few opinions that Robin is better off giving his classes to either Noire or Nah, who need Galeforce. Thoughts?

The catch is: What are you doing with two MU kids?

There's a Gale-pair deficiency [it's better to go with second gen for the team]

All Skills isn't all that useful in the long run.

If you're dead set on 1st gen, Nowi's the only real option here.

[BANRYU]

Right, so at the moment I'm trying to hammer down the last few of my pairs that I'm working on.

- Maribelle x Libra / Ricken

- Miriel x Stahl / Lon'qu

- Cordelia x Stahl / Lon'qu

Maybe Laurent likes Ricken as a dad, but I'd rather allocate him to Owain or Brady.

What are the pros and cons of each of these prospective pairings? I recall from my last question session that Libra!Owain acts as a sweeper while Ricken!Owain is more of a striker, but I'm trying to weigh my options on Brady (and the other two) before I make the decisions.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Maribelle and Libra: Brady gets Vengeance, but no Vantage so it's not as useful. It's still good though.

Maribelle and Ricken: Brady gets one more Mag than Libra and the Archer tree which he doesn't care about.

Miriel and Stahl: Somewhat of a waste of mods, but gives Laurent VV. He gets Luna too, but doesn't need it.

Miriel and Lon'qu: Still VV but with a little more Skl and no wasted Luna.

Cordelia and Stahl: Severa gets a Luna/Galeforce combo and good physical mods, but lacks Tomefaire and is actually outclassed by Sumia.

Cordelia and Lon'qu: Severa gets amazing offensive mods but no Luna. She has VV and Galeforce however. She can also be a Lancefaire Wyvern if it floats your boat, but Dark Flier is probably better...

There's your rundown. You might also consider Ricken for Cordelia as he gives Tomefaire, Luna and +Mag. Personally I'd go Maribelle/Libra, Miriel/Stahl and Cordelia/Lon'qu, but it's your call and depends on your other pairings- do you want Laurent to sweep or support, and do you want Severa to be physical or magical?

[Airship Canon]

Cordelia and Lon'qu: Severa gets amazing offensive mods but no Luna.

Instead, she'd be using Vengeance [either as V/V, or as a simple offensive hammer (stage incoming damage so that she gets a reliable power boost), like seen here (the 61 Damage she takes from the Ignis Sniper effectively gives her Luna+ against these enemies (they have 60 DEF).]

[BANRYU]

Yikes, shakycam was pretty awful on that vid. Nice demonstration aside from the headaches though...

I was planning on having Severa be physical, but I suppose I'm not opposed to the Darkflier option. Not sure what I'm doing with Laurent TBH. I kind of want to keep my options open, but I suppose I gotta choose sometime-- and I suppose Support is probably the way to go with Laurent, since he's not getting ... I'm sure I'd rather not waste Stahl's good mods, so I think that was why I was considering him for Severa. But it sounds like Lonqu is the superior parent in both cases, so maybe Stahl is the better parent for a support Laurent? (I'm learning here… ~__~ Trying, anyway)

Here's a quick summary of what I'm doing with the other kids, if it helps. I'm not particularly familiar with the roles they'll take yet, I suppose that'll depend on who they marry and whatnot. (Actually, I was sort of asking in the first place more to get an idea of what kind of roles they could take; I can check what skills they get myself, I'm not TOO lazy ._.' )

- Olivia!Lucina (possibly Assassin / Sniper but no objections to Paladin)

- Chrom!Inigo (most likely Hero, maybe zerker)

- Donnel!Kjelle (probalby Hero / whatever)

- Henry!Cynthia (Darkflier since Henry doesn't make her suited to much else)

- Fred!Yarne (support berserker since I hear that's what he's best suited for)

- Gregor!Gerome (pretty much same as Yarne)

- Gaius!Noire (Darkflier or Assassin maybe)

- Vaike!Nah (Hero or Wyvern Lord if I feel like it maybe)

- Lucina!Morgan probably; maybe someone else, I'm in no real rush to decide

[Airship Canon]

Yikes, shakycam was pretty awful on that vid. Nice demonstration aside from the headaches though...

I was planning on having Severa be physical, but I suppose I'm not opposed to the Darkflier option. Not sure what I'm doing with Laurent TBH. I kind of want to keep my options open, but I suppose I gotta choose sometime-- and I suppose Support is probably the way to go with Laurent, since he's not getting ... I'm sure I'd rather not waste Stahl's good mods, so I think that was why I was considering him for Severa. But it sounds like Lonqu is the superior parent in both cases, so maybe Stahl is the better parent for a support Laurent? (I'm learning here… ~__~ Trying, anyway)

Sorry about the shaky. That video and this one were just parts of a much larger video [being a clear of SR Apoth without Limit Breaker [and without Rallies, and without Aggressor. Basically Pair Ups, tonics, and maybe All+2].]

Doing that challenge is hard. [AFAIK, I'm the only one to have done that. No one else has come up to bat for it.] Doing it a second time while holding a camera... is harder.

Stahl!Laurent does indeed give Laurent what he wants [the mods don't exactly matter much.].

I'd point out that so does Gregor!Laurent. [and you can give Vaike to Gerome, throw Virion at Nah.]

(Note, one day... I'll gear up and do that challenge again... This is not that day.)

[BANRYU]

It might not hurt to have some sort of steady surface to hold the camera on, but in thinking about it, yeah, I can see how that would be cumbersome.

Ohh, but I'm reluctant to drag Vaike away from Nowi (as eugh, creepy as that sounds when I think about it) his parenthood to Nah, dat strength. Also that seems to somehow entail not using Stahl as a parent, which I'm equally reluctant to do...

Heck, who IS Stahl supposed to be a good dad for if his pairings compared to Lonqu are apparently suboptimal?

[Emerald Ink]

I've got a slightly related question - is it really so imperative that Severa ends up as a magical class? Considering Cordelia's magic stat is relatively lackluster, I can't imagine her mods would be all that great for it unless you sacrificed Ricken, Libra, or Henry to be her dad, all of whom seem to be more in demand elsewhere. Especially with her easy access to Sol and its relatively high activation rate, I would've thought that the main drawback of going physical melee - Counter - would be kind of mitigated.

[Airship Canon]

I've got a slightly related question - is it really so imperative that Severa ends up as a magical class? Considering Cordelia's magic stat is relatively lackluster, I can't imagine her mods would be all that great for it unless you sacrificed Ricken, Libra, or Henry to be her dad, all of whom seem to be more in demand elsewhere. Especially with her easy access to Sol and its relatively high activation rate, I would've thought that the main drawback of going physical melee - Counter - would be kind of mitigated.

I typically run Severa as physical.

But, Sol isn't a good skill. [Counter can just be picked off, or abused for Vengeance power.]

The base idea is that Magic hits harder than Physical.

For a point... In SR Apoth, DEF averages at 50 [actually it's 4596/92, but that's an irrational number] vs. RES at 45 [4282/92, again... irrational].

However the swings in between can range as much as +24 DEF vs. RES [in the case of Nightmare Sniper, who is the -last- guy you want to swing Physical at, thanks to lol70DEF and Pavise+.]

And there's more Pavise than Aegis. [E.G. all of Wave 1 SR has Pavise.]

Any V/V'r will have to be using Magic, since Celica's and Waste are the only 1-2 Braves, and V/V can't afford a deadzone.

[Emerald Ink]

I typically run Severa as physical.

But, Sol isn't a good skill. [Counter can just be picked off, or abused for Vengeance power.]

The base idea is that Magic hits harder than Physical.

For a point... In SR Apoth, DEF averages at 50 [actually it's 4596/92, but that's an irrational number] vs. RES at 45 [4282/92, again... irrational].

However the swings in between can range as much as +24 DEF vs. RES [in the case of Nightmare Sniper, who is the -last- guy you want to swing Physical at, thanks to lol70DEF and Pavise+.]

And there's more Pavise than Aegis. [E.G. all of Wave 1 SR has Pavise.]

Any V/V'r will have to be using Magic, since Celica's and Waste are the only 1-2 Braves, and V/V can't afford a deadzone.

But if that's the case, then why bother with Severa's magic stat at all? If Vantage/Vengeance runs on magic, why not instead give her Luna and make her a physical support unit, while saving a Vantage dad for someone who's magic stat actually matters? Galeforce should still let her pick off a weakened enemy or one without Pavaise and then switch to someone more appropriate for dealing/dealing with magical damage at the end of her turn. Alternatively, if her dad passes down the Archer line, she strikes me as a decent Sniper. Her magic stat just doesn't seem high enough to me to be worth giving her a dad that enhances/preserves it so that you can stick her in a magical class.

Edited March 17, 2014 by Emerald Ink

[Airship Canon]

But if that's the case, then why bother with Severa's magic stat at all? If Vantage/Vengeance runs on magic, why not instead give her Luna and make her a physical support unit, while saving a Vantage dad for someone who's magic stat actually matters? Galeforce should still let her pick off a weakened enemy or one without Pavaise and then switch to someone more appropriate for dealing/dealing with magical damage at the end of her turn. Alternatively, if her dad passes down the Archer line, she strikes me as a decent Sniper. Her magic stat just doesn't seem high enough to me to be worth giving her a dad that enhances/preserves it so that you can stick her in a magical class.

Lon'qu!Severa is more for the mods [+6 SPD/SKL], and perhaps Breaker access, TBQH. She CAN V/V with it though.

Vengeance can be used as a normal offensive proc. [Note the video I linked earlier]

And as a note, she doesn't have much of an issue with Magic at all. Same deal as Lucina. Just because their determinate parent sucks at it, does not mean they will.

[Emerald Ink]

Lon'qu!Severa is more for the mods [+6 SPD/SKL], and perhaps Breaker access, TBQH. She CAN V/V with it though.

Vengeance can be used as a normal offensive proc. [Note the video I linked earlier]

And as a note, she doesn't have much of an issue with Magic at all. Same deal as Lucina. Just because their determinate parent sucks at it, does not mean they will.

I must have missed the video :/ Sorry.

Well, to make Lucina good with magic, you generally have to give her a mom that's good with magic - namely a +MAG avatar or Maribelle, which is kind of the point I was driving at with Severa. While having them be good at magic is nice, it generally means giving them a parent that's good at it. But they'll never really be as good at magic as an already magically-inclined kid would be with that parent. I'm not trying to deny that Lon'qu!Severa has great mods or anything, it just seems to me that Lon'qu's mods are better suited for a kid that's already magically-inclined, like Brady.

[Airship Canon]

I must have missed the video :/ Sorry.

Well, to make Lucina good with magic, you generally have to give her a mom that's good with magic - namely a +MAG avatar or Maribelle, which is kind of the point I was driving at with Severa. While having them be good at magic is nice, it generally means giving them a parent that's good at it. But they'll never really be as good at magic as an already magically-inclined kid would be with that parent. I'm not trying to deny that Lon'qu!Severa has great mods or anything, it just seems to me that Lon'qu's mods are better suited for a kid that's already magically-inclined, like Brady.

Any of the Galeforce mothers work for Magic!Lucina. [Case in point: The Dark Flier Lucina in my No LB/Limit/Agg SR clear is an Olivia!Lucina]... the only Lucinas that can't do magic well are Sully and Maiden [who literally deny her access to all tome classes]

Lon'qu's mods are... neutral. He gives +3 Speed and Skill [-2 DEF and RES].

All classes/roles use that. His classes are physical.

[BANRYU]

It sounds like the best use of Lonqu's assets is probably on any prospective magic user that doesn't get one of the magically-inclined fathers.

/juststatingtheobvioushere (or else trying to get a feel for this stuff sorry if I'm contributing nothing useful)

_{Someone should really like write a guide for this shit or something}

Edited March 17, 2014 by BANRYU

[Airship Canon]

_{Someone should really like write a guide for this shit or something}

(I'm thinking of writing a "Postgame Optimization Guide", TBQH.)

[MelonGx]

Whether Severa will become magical or not is determined by whom she gonna marry.

There are only 2 children definitely to be physical: Gerome and Yarne.

Lucina / Inigo, Severa, Morgan and Nah depend on their mother/father.

Kjelle and Noire are neutral.

Others are all magical.

Edited March 18, 2014 by MelonGx

[Emerald Ink]

(I'm thinking of writing a "Postgame Optimization Guide", TBQH.)

Honestly that sounds like a really great idea. I'd definitely read it. Would you be going over multiple potential parents and sets for each kid?

Whether Severa will become magical or not is determined by whom she gonna marry.

There are only 2 children definitely to be physical: Gerome and Yarne.

Lucina / Inigo, Severa, Morgan and Nah depend on their mother/father.

Kjelle and Noire are neutral.

Others are all magical.

I thought Noire really wanted to go magical because of Tharja. She gets decent Strength growths, but the only physical class I can really see her excelling in is Sniper unless you gave her an appropriate weapon that runs off magic (like Levin Swords or Bolt Axes).

So if Severa really wants Lon'qu as a dad, then who does Stahl like to go to? I barely ever see him recommended for any of the other kids. I guess he wouldn't be a bad choice for Olivia if someone else marries Chrom, but that's about all I can think of. Kellam could probably go to Maribelle if he doesn't get Nowi for whatever reason, but other than that, I can't think of anyone else he'd be good for.

[CoolCoolCool]

Gaius!Noire only has 1 more magic than strength and no sage (tomefaire) so she can definitely go physical as well. Sniper and assassin are both reasonable choices if you don't want to go the dark flier route.

Stahl can also go to Inigo as you mentioned as he is effectively the same as Chrom minus RFK. Stahl!laurent is also basically the same thing as Gregor!Laurent as long as you don't care about armsthrift. He is also up there with Vaike as the best choices for physical Nah.

[tuvarkz]

Stahl!Inigo makes for a quite effective Sniper.

[Airship Canon]

Honestly that sounds like a really great idea. I'd definitely read it. Would you be going over multiple potential parents and sets for each kid?

I'm probably going to do it.

At least the sidegrades, yes. Downgrades [E.G. Kellam!Owain vs. Ricken!Owain] won't be covered

I'd also be covering both MUs... and Child Pairings [see Inigo/Nah mention previous].

And... as far as skill sets go, I'll be doing at least 1 "No Big Three" [Limit, Agg on units, Rallies on the field] build for each.

[BANRYU]

That sounds bloody fantastic to me.

Allright... I'm having second thoughts about my MUxLucina pairing again for sentimental reasons. (I really want to see how the story plays out like that, but...)

I'm on Hard mode. How usable is Tiki!Morgan for challenge maps, possibly Apotheosis, and what some good possible uses of said Morgan be?

(I realize people probably haven't done this so it's likely to be a lot of theorymonning, and I'm okay with that)

_{Also I have absolutely nothing against Lucina, she's super cool really but I like Tiki a lot TwT}

Edited March 20, 2014 by BANRYU

[Gaia]

I'm on Hard mode. How usable is Tiki!Morgan for challenge maps, possibly Apotheosis, and what some good possible uses of said Morgan be?

There are definitely problems with that Morgan, but most of the problems lie in the MU x Tiki pairing itself. TBH Tiki isn't that great of a unit, with a -1 mag mod, and the fact that Sage is her best class. She also lacks GF, which is a huge determining factor of a unit's usefulness in Apotheosis. Having both units in a pair up not have GF is rather risky.

[BANRYU]

Is using Tiki a necessity if I'm having MU marry her, though? I guess the S-rank support bonuses are pretty important... and yeah, the galeforce thing is an issue... What about outside Apotheosis, then?

Edited March 20, 2014 by BANRYU