PAIRINGS The Pairing Thread

[The Geek]

Just for beating the game, go Gen 1 or Lucina (only do Lucina if you haven't beaten any Paralogues yet and still have the Seed of Trust from Renown). Good candidates for wives are Lissa (early access, gets staff exp and can train without robbing Avatar of exp, gives a boy and a girl allowing two Gen 2 S pairs with only 2 Gen S pairs), Sumia (early access, good base Spd, comparatively easy Galeforce pass), Panne (incredible growths especially on Yarne, good pairup boosts, also gives a boy and a girl), and Nowi (early Second Seals, Nah has the easiest Paralogue, high Def, but hard to start, expensive and not as effective as in Lunatic).

The most important trait is early access, which is why 2nd Gen isn't recommended (Lucina is only possible with a lot of foresight, every other 2nd Gen makes Morgan come too late to help). Beyond that, either Spd or Def needs to be exceptional or staff access needs to be present in order to train. Having good starting classes for Morgan and her sibling is very useful but not required, though if you're willing to dance spam Olivia then it might be worth it (Cordelia is also good at passing useful starting classes).

This is assuming Nogrind, of course. With grinding it doesn't matter.

Wat.

[MelonGx]

Nah's Paralogue is only easy when you have Mire users.

To have Mire users before Ch.14, you have to rely on SpotPass and/or Logbook, at least for buying Mire.

But once you accessed SpotPass, it was never no-grind anymore.

[Czar_Yoshi]

I don't count Spotpass shops (or Streetpass shops) as part of Nogrind because they can't give you exp or money and don't raise your battle count. I'd call going without that stuff no Wireless instead.

But yes, if you're not using Wireless shops/Mire/Dark Mages, then Nah's Paralogue is definitely not the easiest.

[The Geek]

I personally think that Brady, Kjelle, and Morgan have the easiest paralogues.

[MelonGx]

For no-grind wise, I'll rate Owain < Kjelle < Morgan < Brady < Laurent < Cynthia < Nah < Gerome < Severa < Inigo < Noire < Yarne.

For overgrind wise, I'll rate Nah < Brady < Morgan = Laurent < Owain < Kjelle < Cynthia < Severa < Inigo < Gerome = Noire < Yarne.

Edited May 27, 2014 by MelonGx

[Duke of Dozel]

I personally think that Brady, Kjelle, and Morgan have the easiest paralogues.

Brady's paralogue is a breeze. All you need is a flying unit with galeforce posted at the most Western spot.

Morgan's is a bit easy, too. But since it's longer and can't be completed in one go, it's still more difficult to complete over Brady.

Kjelle is the hardest of the 3.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Brady's paralogue is a breeze. All you need is a flying unit with galeforce posted at the most Western spot.

You don't even need that- the boss moves, and all you have to do is leave a unit in his range on turn 1 and he'll waltz over and suicide before anyone else moves (even to attack Villagers). I did this on Lunatic btw.

[Duke of Dozel]

You don't even need that- the boss moves, and all you have to do is leave a unit in his range on turn 1 and he'll waltz over and suicide before anyone else moves (even to attack Villagers). I did this on Lunatic btw.

What?? I'm going to do this in my current Lunatic playthrough. I always thought the boss AI would be smart enough not taking the OP unit in it's range unless it had no choice.

[Raftina]

Does anyone care to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of my new setup?

Gen 1

Chrom x FeMU (+spd/-luk)

Ricken x Lissa

Frederick x Cherche

Vaike x Sully

Stahl x Cordelia

Gregor x Miriel

Henry x Sumia

Kellam x Olivia

Lon'qu x Maribelle

Donnel x Nowi

Gaius x Tharja

Gen 2

Laurent (sage) x Lucina (dark flier)

Morgan (sage) x Nah (valkyrie)

Owain (dread fighter) x Cynthia (dark flier)

Gerome (wyvern lord) x Severa (bow knight)

Inigo (hero) x Kjelle (general)

Brady (sage0 x Noire (sorceror)

Forever alone

Virion

Panne

Libra

[TheBattyOne]

Raftina, why would you want Panne to be forever alone? Even if you change nothing else, Virion!Yarne isn't too shabby. Plus, most people recommend Robin x (someone from Gen 2) so you have seven pairs in Gen 2 instead of six.

[Raftina]

1. I dislike her immensely.

2. I dislike Yarne somewhat.

3. I have an extra male gen 2.

4. I see no point in fielding 7 gen 2 pairs.

[MelonGx]

Gen 2

Laurent (sage) x Lucina (dark flier)

+Spd -Lck makes the pair better on Hit & Away but a little bit powerless on VVDS+.

Morgan (sage) x Nah (valkyrie)

Dunno why choosing a no-proc Nah. Just because of Tomefaire and a slightly higher Mag than Donnel!Kjelle?

Owain (dread fighter) x Cynthia (dark flier)

It's OK because it's the only method to make Cynthia Spd.75+ and keep Owain as a tome class.

Gerome (wyvern lord) x Severa (bow knight)

If I were you I would bench Gerome instead of Yarne since Gerome is always inferior to Yarne on both father selection and hit.

Inigo (hero) x Kjelle (general)

It's OK but I tend to use Inigo as a Warrior since the only difference between 0 mod Hero and Warrior is whether doubling the SR Wave 4 Boss Sage or not. Kjelle also has Deliverer so even decreasing output Wyvern Lord makes her versality higher.

Brady (sage) x Noire (sorcerer)

For Hit & Away, Dark Flier has more versality.

Edited May 29, 2014 by MelonGx

[Czar_Yoshi]

Laurent (sage) x Lucina (dark flier)

Morgan (sage) x Nah (valkyrie)

Owain (dread fighter) x Cynthia (dark flier)

Gerome (wyvern lord) x Severa (bow knight)

Inigo (hero) x Kjelle (general)

Brady (sage0 x Noire (sorceror)

I'd like to hear why you did what you did before making too many comments, as a lot of that stuff looks out of place for "normal" play but having some highly specialized use. Skillsets would also be cool.

[Raftina]

Skill builds

Parentheses indicate builds if I decide to do a no DLC Apo run.

Chrom: LB/DS+/BF/Charm/Agg as sniper (DS+/Charm/Hit+20/Skl+2/BF as BK)

FeMU: LB/V/V/GF/Anathema as valkyrie (Vengeance/BF/Anathema/Deliverer//Mov +1 as sniper)

Laurent: LB/TF/Anathema/Mag+2/AT (TF/Mag+2/Anathema/Skl+2/AT)

Lucina: LB/V/V/DS+/GF (V/V/TF/DS+/DS+ as sage)

Morgan: Spectrum/Strength/Skill/Luck/Mov+1

Nah: Heart/Speed/Magic/Move/Resistance (Speed/Magic/Move/Mov+1)

Owain: LB/TF/Agg/GF/Luna

Cynthia: LB/TF/Luna/GF/Anathema

Gerome: LB/Deliverer/Tantivy/Agg/Lancebreaker

Severa: LB/Luna/GF/BF/AT

Inigo: LB/Luna/GF/Aggressor/AF

Kjelle: LB/AF/AT/Axebreaker/Lancebreaker

Brady: LB/Luna/GF/Aggressor/TF

Noire: LB/Luna/GF/Hit +20/Anathema

FeMU and Lucina

+spd/-luk is because I did not relish the idea of trying to get to the DLC chapter with a +mag/-def MU--in L+, the few points of difference in starting stats makes for an order of magnitude of difference in resets needed to get the level up stats/enemy skills I need to beat the map.

Compared to a +mag/-def setup, I believe the only difference is that the +spd/-luk setup is unable to VV tank 64 res non-throne sorcerers in a no DLC run. Every other enemy either can be engaged by both or can be engaged by neither.

Laurent

I could've salvaged the +spd/-luk FeMU!Lucina by pairing her with a Ricken!Laurent instead. This would give a Lucina x Laurent (cannot take on boss sorcerer on wave 3) that has comparable killing power to Ricken!Laurent!Morgan x Maribelle!Lucina (cannot take on 99 hp, 50 res berserkers on wave 4) (neither setup can take the 99 hp, 55 res berserkers).

But I decided that I preferred having AT on Laurent so I did not need to think about positioning in no-restriction runs. As a matter of fact, Ricken!Laurent could've gone with sorcerer, Hit +20, and 3/25 Waste tomes to give me more leeway in no-restriction runs. I decided against it.

Morgan and Nah

I decided to not use Einherjars. This means MU, Morgan, or Morgan's sibling needs to be a rally bot for Rally Spectrum. I chose a setup that would allow me to field 2 pairs with VV and 100% dual strike. It is possible, with certain builds, to have 100% DS and VV without DS+ (e.g. sniper Frederick!Yarne!Morgan (+skl/-def) x dark flier Lon'qu!Severa), but these builds are restrictive enough that they are really not significantly better than FeMU x Chrom. Plus they require All Stat +2, a skill that I do not have.

The other rally bot needs pegasus for Rally Speed and Rally Move and valkyrie for Rally Resistance (this is useful against the Mire dark fliers on wave 4). I chose to give those to Nah rather than use Maribelle because I like the Morgan x Nah supports.

The staff classes are for thematic reasons. Flying classes would have been better for positioning.

Everybody else

Has thematic builds. Noire and Owain are the only ones that are not promoted from their starting class. Owain is dread fighter because the class fits Mr. Don Quixote better. Noire is a sorcerer because I wanted her to be a dark magic user.

I expect to use Chrom's family to carry everyone else should they fall short.

[Czar_Yoshi]

So mostly classes for aesthetics with as much RNG/Player error leeway as possible? I've always wanted to try that. Interesting to see the lack of Galeforce on the no DLC builds though.

[Rydell]

So I'm about to start lunatic with a goal of good post-game pairings (picked up apotheosis and such) and after skimming 20 pages as well as searching some I've got a decent idea. Although one thing I really need (that's a bit off topic but important in the grand scheme as well as to just get started) is MU gender and asset/flaw. I understand MaMU pairs with lucina? For the V/V combo and lucinas DS in order to get 100% DS with multi hit weapons, although I'm not sure on other skills/classes for Mu/Lucina aside from that.

Anyway, this draft is what I've come up with from lurking

MaMU x Lucina (is FeMU a good option, or is MaMU better?)
Chrom x Sumia/Maribelle/Olivia (? Not sure which)

Lissa x Ricken/Libra
Sully x Donnel (Anything specific they want to pass on? What role for the kid?)

Miriel x Lon'qu/Gregor/Stahl (I understand Laurent makes a great V/V?)

Sumia x Chrom/Henry

Maribelle x Chrom/Lon'qu/Libra/anyone without negative Mag

Panne x Frederick/anyone without negative Str (I understand he ends as berserker support?)

Cordelia x Lon'qu/Stahl/Ricken/Virion

Nowi x Virion/Vaike/Henry

Tharja x Gaius

Olivia x Chrom/Stahl/Ricken/Libra

Cherche x Vaike/Gregor/Henry

The plan would be to consolidate who pairs with who as to save time, eventually with what skills get passed, who the kids get paired up with and what they endclass as and skill setup.

The list is basically what czar_yoshi put in a slightly older pairing thread I found (sure am glad we have a single one now) since lurking for good post-game setup appears to be what he listed. I'm still a little fuzzy on acronyms sometimes, had to think a bit to realize what v/v meant for starters, and some of the calculations and shorthand on threads talking about speed clearing apo I think had me confused, but that's a bit off-topic, although it is in general what I plan to build my team around in lunatic.

I'm sorry if it seems ranty or long it's 1 am

also first post pls no bully

[Bloo]

So I'm about to start lunatic with a goal of good post-game pairings (picked up apotheosis and such) and after skimming 20 pages as well as searching some I've got a decent idea. Although one thing I really need (that's a bit off topic but important in the grand scheme as well as to just get started) is MU gender and asset/flaw. I understand MaMU pairs with lucina? For the V/V combo and lucinas DS in order to get 100% DS with multi hit weapons, although I'm not sure on other skills/classes for Mu/Lucina aside from that.

Anyway, this draft is what I've come up with from lurking

MaMU x Lucina (is FeMU a good option, or is MaMU better?)

Chrom x Sumia/Maribelle/Olivia (? Not sure which)

Lissa x Ricken/Libra

Sully x Donnel (Anything specific they want to pass on? What role for the kid?)

Miriel x Lon'qu/Gregor/Stahl (I understand Laurent makes a great V/V?)

Sumia x Chrom/Henry

Maribelle x Chrom/Lon'qu/Libra/anyone without negative Mag

Panne x Frederick/anyone without negative Str (I understand he ends as berserker support?)

Cordelia x Lon'qu/Stahl/Ricken/Virion

Nowi x Virion/Vaike/Henry

Tharja x Gaius

Olivia x Chrom/Stahl/Ricken/Libra

Cherche x Vaike/Gregor/Henry

The plan would be to consolidate who pairs with who as to save time, eventually with what skills get passed, who the kids get paired up with and what they endclass as and skill setup.

The list is basically what czar_yoshi put in a slightly older pairing thread I found (sure am glad we have a single one now) since lurking for good post-game setup appears to be what he listed. I'm still a little fuzzy on acronyms sometimes, had to think a bit to realize what v/v meant for starters, and some of the calculations and shorthand on threads talking about speed clearing apo I think had me confused, but that's a bit off-topic, although it is in general what I plan to build my team around in lunatic.

I'm sorry if it seems ranty or long it's 1 am

also first post pls no bully

MaMU/Lucina

Chrom/Sumia

Lissa/Ricken

Sully/Donnel (pass on Aegis and Armsthrift/Aptitude, make Kjelle a General.)

Miriel/Gregor

Maribelle/Lon'qu

Panne/Gaius

Cordelia/Stahl

Nowi/Kellam

Tharja/Vaike

Olivia/Henry

Cherche/Frederick

All these pairings are fairly popular and effective. Probably the most unorthodox is Vaike/Noire, but it's essentially Laurent with Luna and DG+.

That's generally what I like to go with if doing MaMU/Lucina. I do prefer two good Morgans instead of one amazing one though, and if you want to, pair MaMU with Maribelle to get two excellent Sorcerors. If this is only Lunatic and not Lunatic+, asset and flaw don't really matter for the first few chapters because you can do Frederick Emblem and then grind later, so I would go +Mag -Def to maximise Vengance power.

Edited May 31, 2014 by Bloo

[Raftina]

If you are playing with DLC, it matters very little what pairings you use, because they are mostly different ways of overkill. How you choose the pairings depend on what you want out of the pairings more than anything. As for me, I like to, as much as possible, leave all the thinking to the planning stage instead of the execution stage and minimize RNG. I also like to leave room for non-DLC and non-rally challenges.

MaMU x Lucina (is FeMU a good option, or is MaMU better?)

It's is still fine, because you have MaMU married to a Galeforce user with a damage proc. MaMU Lucina is mainly to get a 3rd Aether user. This is not as good as using FeMU to give Lucina MU class inheritance or giving Lucina a 3rd gen Morgan as husband. MaMU also results in 1 less action per turn if than FeMU if he marries gen 2.

Chrom x Sumia/Maribelle/Olivia (? Not sure which)

Olivia is bad because it relegates Chrom to a mobile convoy (she is the worst for direct combat among the Galeforce options). This pair's only significant advantage is 3 characters with Lethality+Rightful King for Streetpass trolling.

Maribelle and FeMU make Chrom into a powerful combat unit and leave you with a Lucina that is good for no DLC clears.

Sumia makes up to 3 generically good Aether+Luna sweepers.

Sully x Donnel (Anything specific they want to pass on? What role for the kid?)

Pass Underdog. You can use this skill to make Kjelle into a powerful avoid tank against lances and bows.

Olivia x Chrom/Stahl/Ricken/Libra

The main gain is a damage proc (Vengeance or Luna) for Inigo. Frederick is also an excellent choice because he gives Aegis, Lancebreaker, Tantivy, Outdoor Fighter, and Indoor Fighter. He is also quite unlikely to cause Inigo to compete with others for a father.

[Czar_Yoshi]

^Chrom x Olivia: True, it's not very useful as far as Chrom is concerned (he can still be a Double Bow Sniper if you want him to fight, but all Chroms can do that), but it does have a use- Chrom is Inigo's only +Spd father who passes Luna.

MaMU/Lucina

Chrom/Sumia

Lissa/Ricken

Sully/Donnel (pass on Aegis and Armsthrift/Aptitude, make Kjelle a General.)

Miriel/Gregor

Maribelle/Lon'qu

Panne/Gaius

Cordelia/Stahl

Nowi/Kellam

Tharja/Vaike

Olivia/Henry

Cherche/Frederick

All these pairings are fairly popular and effective. Probably the most unorthodox is Vaike/Noire, but it's essentially Laurent with Luna and DG+.

Gaius!Yarne gets no Hit+20, is inferior modwise to Fred and Gregor, and Gaius is effectively locked to Noire.

Vaike!Noire lacks Sage, Tomefaire, Vantage, the ability to marry Lucina, and is down 1-2 Mag compared to a good Laurent.

Fred!Gerome gets no Faires, no Berserker and no Hit+20.

Alright then...

So I'm about to start lunatic with a goal of good post-game pairings (picked up apotheosis and such) and after skimming 20 pages as well as searching some I've got a decent idea. Although one thing I really need (that's a bit off topic but important in the grand scheme as well as to just get started) is MU gender and asset/flaw. I understand MaMU pairs with lucina? For the V/V combo and lucinas DS in order to get 100% DS with multi hit weapons, although I'm not sure on other skills/classes for Mu/Lucina aside from that.

Anyway, this draft is what I've come up with from lurking

MaMU x Lucina (is FeMU a good option, or is MaMU better?)
Chrom x Sumia/Maribelle/Olivia (? Not sure which)

Lissa x Ricken/Libra
Sully x Donnel (Anything specific they want to pass on? What role for the kid?)

Miriel x Lon'qu/Gregor/Stahl (I understand Laurent makes a great V/V?)

Sumia x Chrom/Henry

Maribelle x Chrom/Lon'qu/Libra/anyone without negative Mag

Panne x Frederick/anyone without negative Str (I understand he ends as berserker support?)

Cordelia x Lon'qu/Stahl/Ricken/Virion

Nowi x Virion/Vaike/Henry

Tharja x Gaius

Olivia x Chrom/Stahl/Ricken/Libra

Cherche x Vaike/Gregor/Henry

The plan would be to consolidate who pairs with who as to save time, eventually with what skills get passed, who the kids get paired up with and what they endclass as and skill setup.

The list is basically what czar_yoshi put in a slightly older pairing thread I found (sure am glad we have a single one now) since lurking for good post-game setup appears to be what he listed. I'm still a little fuzzy on acronyms sometimes, had to think a bit to realize what v/v meant for starters, and some of the calculations and shorthand on threads talking about speed clearing apo I think had me confused, but that's a bit off-topic, although it is in general what I plan to build my team around in lunatic.

I'm sorry if it seems ranty or long it's 1 am

also first post pls no bully

That list is fairly solid, but add Stahl as an option for Gerome. No Berserker, but Bowfaire Warrior is almost as good (better, Hitrate-wise) if you don't care about Berserker's +Spd boost.

Anyway, when building your team the main thing to keep in mind is making sure the pairup boosts of your 2nd Gen pairs match their partner's main attacking stat, making sure every pair has at least one Galeforce/Proc unit, and making sure you have at least one pair with 75+ Spd. If you have all that, you can clear Apo pretty reliably as long as you make all the right ingame preparations beforehand (forge your weapons, use tonics etc). Male unit's physical/magical alignment tends to matter more than female's because all girls can access Bride, which attacks physically but gives +Mag/Spd. That said, most units depend on their parents and can actually go either way (sometimes simultaneously like Nah and Gerome).

Lucina: Physical (Olivia/Avatar), Magical (Maribelle/Sumia/Avatar)

Kjelle: Both (good Bride candidate)

Cynthia: Always Magical

Severa: Physical (Lon'qu/Stahl), Magical (Ricken), Both (Virion)

Nah: Physical (Vaike/Gregor/Stahl), Magical (Virion), Both (Henry)

Noire: Both (good Bride candidate)

Owain: Always Magical

Laurent: Always Magical

Brady: Always Magical

Yarne: Always Physical

Inigo: Physical (Chrom/Stahl), Magical (Ricken/Libra)

Gerome: Physical (Vaike/Gregor/Stahl), Both (Henry)

So, when putting a team together, Lucina gets first priority because she has DS+ which allows her to either support VV or safely fight more dangerous things. Her preferences are generally Avatar-M > Morgan-M > Laurent > Libra!Owain > everyone else, though she can work well with anyone and generally wind up as part of your best pair.

Second priority goes to Morgan. Morgan-M will prefer Lucina best with everyone else mostly equal (keep in mind Nah means no double Galeforce), Magical Morgan-F is generally Owain/Brady >Magical Inigo, Physical is Physical Inigo >Yarne/Gerome. I tend to prefer Owain to Brady, but the two are pretty much equal.

Third priority goes to Nah because she has no Galeforce and must marry a boy with Galeforce to be useful. Physical Nah is locked to Inigo unless Physical Morgan-M wants her, Magical Nah can go to any of the Galeboys.

Fourth priority goes to Physical Severa because her high Spd, natural Vengeance, loads of Breakers and inclination toward Physical give her a very large niche-filling potential. Namely, Lon'qu/Virion!Severa, paired with a Berserker and using All+2 can hit 75 Spd (the threshold to double every enemy in the game) as a Wyvern Lord, and are the only unit suited to do so besides Morgan. Gerome and Yarne are her best candidates, though Physical Inigo can work as well.

Everyone else can then get matched up however you like, there should be a magical Galeboy or two, Cynthia, Kjelle, Noire, possibly Laurent and a Galeforceless Berserker left.

Passing skills: Always Galeforce, if that's missing then DS+ is fine. Panne passes Str+2 or Swordbreaker unless marrying Fred in which case it doesn't matter. Donnel passes Underdog, for male-only skills Axefaire is good for combat and Despoil is nice for training.

End classes: Sage and Dark Flier are good for magical. For Physical, Assassins are weak but give +Str/Skl/Spd and have very high Skl, Snipers can attack at 3-range, give +Str/Skl and have very high Skl, Paladins are high-Mov and give +Str/Skl/Spd/Def, Berserkers are very strong/fast and give a ton of +Str/Spd but have terrible Hit, Warriors are very strong and give +Str/Def, Wyvern Lords are slow but have high Str/Mov and give +Str/Def, and Dread Fighters look cool. Brides attack physically but give magical pairup boosts.

[Raftina]

^Chrom x Olivia: True, it's not very useful as far as Chrom is concerned (he can still be a Double Bow Sniper if you want him to fight, but all Chroms can do that), but it does have a use- Chrom is Inigo's only +Spd father who passes Luna.

I can only think of one notable threshold that the extra 1 spd mod allows Inigo to hit: 69 spd as a dread fighter without any class pairup spd bonus. There are probably others when we take away DLCs, but without some examples, I would not consider that 1 spd difference between Chrom and Stahl important enough to sacrifice Chrom's combat ability--Chrom is force deployed; Inigo is not. Olivia as a combatant means you lose your dancer; Maribelle and Sumia do not have any special use.

Though my newfound favorite for Inigo is Frederick for being able to stack avd higher than Lon'qu!Severa (though he loses to Donnel!Kjelle).

Edited May 31, 2014 by Raftina

[Rydell]

^Chrom x Olivia: True, it's not very useful as far as Chrom is concerned (he can still be a Double Bow Sniper if you want him to fight, but all Chroms can do that), but it does have a use- Chrom is Inigo's only +Spd father who passes Luna.

Gaius!Yarne gets no Hit+20, is inferior modwise to Fred and Gregor, and Gaius is effectively locked to Noire.

Vaike!Noire lacks Sage, Tomefaire, Vantage, the ability to marry Lucina, and is down 1-2 Mag compared to a good Laurent.

Fred!Gerome gets no Faires, no Berserker and no Hit+20.

Alright then...

That list is fairly solid, but add Stahl as an option for Gerome. No Berserker, but Bowfaire Warrior is almost as good (better, Hitrate-wise) if you don't care about Berserker's +Spd boost.

Anyway, when building your team the main thing to keep in mind is making sure the pairup boosts of your 2nd Gen pairs match their partner's main attacking stat, making sure every pair has at least one Galeforce/Proc unit, and making sure you have at least one pair with 75+ Spd. If you have all that, you can clear Apo pretty reliably as long as you make all the right ingame preparations beforehand (forge your weapons, use tonics etc). Male unit's physical/magical alignment tends to matter more than female's because all girls can access Bride, which attacks physically but gives +Mag/Spd. That said, most units depend on their parents and can actually go either way (sometimes simultaneously like Nah and Gerome).

Lucina: Physical (Olivia/Avatar), Magical (Maribelle/Sumia/Avatar)

Kjelle: Both (good Bride candidate)

Cynthia: Always Magical

Severa: Physical (Lon'qu/Stahl), Magical (Ricken), Both (Virion)

Nah: Physical (Vaike/Gregor/Stahl), Magical (Virion), Both (Henry)

Noire: Both (good Bride candidate)

Owain: Always Magical

Laurent: Always Magical

Brady: Always Magical

Yarne: Always Physical

Inigo: Physical (Chrom/Stahl), Magical (Ricken/Libra)

Gerome: Physical (Vaike/Gregor/Stahl), Both (Henry)

So, when putting a team together, Lucina gets first priority because she has DS+ which allows her to either support VV or safely fight more dangerous things. Her preferences are generally Avatar-M > Morgan-M > Laurent > Libra!Owain > everyone else, though she can work well with anyone and generally wind up as part of your best pair.

Second priority goes to Morgan. Morgan-M will prefer Lucina best with everyone else mostly equal (keep in mind Nah means no double Galeforce), Magical Morgan-F is generally Owain/Brady >Magical Inigo, Physical is Physical Inigo >Yarne/Gerome. I tend to prefer Owain to Brady, but the two are pretty much equal.

Third priority goes to Nah because she has no Galeforce and must marry a boy with Galeforce to be useful. Physical Nah is locked to Inigo unless Physical Morgan-M wants her, Magical Nah can go to any of the Galeboys.

Fourth priority goes to Physical Severa because her high Spd, natural Vengeance, loads of Breakers and inclination toward Physical give her a very large niche-filling potential. Namely, Lon'qu/Virion!Severa, paired with a Berserker and using All+2 can hit 75 Spd (the threshold to double every enemy in the game) as a Wyvern Lord, and are the only unit suited to do so besides Morgan. Gerome and Yarne are her best candidates, though Physical Inigo can work as well.

Everyone else can then get matched up however you like, there should be a magical Galeboy or two, Cynthia, Kjelle, Noire, possibly Laurent and a Galeforceless Berserker left.

Passing skills: Always Galeforce, if that's missing then DS+ is fine. Panne passes Str+2 or Swordbreaker unless marrying Fred in which case it doesn't matter. Donnel passes Underdog, for male-only skills Axefaire is good for combat and Despoil is nice for training.

End classes: Sage and Dark Flier are good for magical. For Physical, Assassins are weak but give +Str/Skl/Spd and have very high Skl, Snipers can attack at 3-range, give +Str/Skl and have very high Skl, Paladins are high-Mov and give +Str/Skl/Spd/Def, Berserkers are very strong/fast and give a ton of +Str/Spd but have terrible Hit, Warriors are very strong and give +Str/Def, Wyvern Lords are slow but have high Str/Mov and give +Str/Def, and Dread Fighters look cool. Brides attack physically but give magical pairup boosts.

This helps a good bit, although one thing I'm not sure on is raftina mentioned going MaMU lowers actions per turn by 1 (since he wouldn't have galeforce). I'm wondering all the pros/cons of going MaMU/FeMU (and it looks like +mag-def is the best setup trait wise?) Since some of these things I can think on and decide while doing the run but I can't really start the run without knowing the possible effects of the MU choice.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Generally, the number of Galeforce units you have is less important than the number of pairs with at least one Galeforce you have. With Avatar-M x gen 2, you have 7 Galepairs, two of which have double Galeforce. With Avatar-F x gen 2, you still have 7 pairs, but there are 3 double Galeforce pairs. With Avatar-F x Chrom, you only get 6 gen 2 Galepairs (one boy will have to be benched- probably Yarne or Gerome), and Morgan can't marry Lucina, but Avatar and Chrom can get 100% DS so they're possibly better than a 2nd Gen pair. With Avatar-M x gen 1, you only have 6 Gen 2 pairs. Avatar can still perform decently when paired with someone like Cordelia or Sumia, but it's not as good as Gen 2. Avatar x Nowi is a special case and fairly complicated. Any non-2nd Gen pairings that give only one Morgan aren't very good (though still serviceable), but if you want to do one anyway then Walhart and Aversa are the best.

[Elieson]

Are donnyXsully and gaiusXtharja interchangeable?

[HeoandReo]

Are donnyXsully and gaiusXtharja interchangeable?

If you're just looking at Galeforce, then yes. Aside from that though, Gaius gives Noire Myrmidon access for Vantage while Kjelle doesn't get that due to already getting Myrmidon from Sully, hence why Donnel!Kjelle and Gaius!Noire tends to be the more popular setup.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Are donnyXsully and gaiusXtharja interchangeable?

In theory, yes they're interchangeable. However in practice there are only two possible outcomes, and with so few factors involved (compared to pairings in general) one of those outcomes tends to be just slightly better. In this case, Kjelle would have Myrmidon overlap from Gaius and Noire doesn't, so by giving Gaius to Noire she gets the option to procstack Luna/Astra.

I also happen to like the supports better this way. It's nice when aesthetics and functionality line up so well.