PAIRINGS The Pairing Thread

[Zoran]

My hope was to set up a team like that without messing with the Galeforce boys, so for my purposes the answer is yes. I think it's better, in the end, to settle for Stahl!Gerome x Lon'qu!Severa; they can do a lot of neat tricks together, like 100% DS Severa@Assassin or 75 Speed Severa@Wyvern Lord.

I'd like some advice about using Boots. Right now my planned team has three pairs with 6 Mov: Nah@Hero x Owain@Sage, Yarne@Assassin x Noire@Sniper, and Sumia!Lucina@Sage x Avatar@Sage (my VV unit). Who loses out on Boots?

I suppose Male Avatar has the option to run V/V/TF/Deliverer…

[isetrh]

How is Magic MaMorgan x Henry!Nah?

[Czar_Yoshi]

100% DS/75 Spd only matters on Snipers if together they allow you to ORKO any target. Going for higher Spd by, say, bumping the support from a Sniper to an Assassin, is only worth it if you actually have the Atk to ORKO your target (Anna has 99HP and NS has Aegis+ and 70 Def, so this isn't always the case). However, if you can still double a slower target without sacrificing 100% DS and get a guaranteed ORKO for it, then you're good. So I'd look into Stahl!Gerome@Sniper again.

There's no math whatsoever behind using Boots unless you plan on using only two combat pairs or are planning a strategy so specific that you know what enemy you need that extra 2 Mov to reach. I set 8 Mov as a goal on my 100% DS team because I didn't have much room for Staffbots and I had the extra skillspace due to not using procs, but you don't have to do that- they're mostly a thing that you give to units you like, or that need a little boost. I'd hang onto them for now until you've done a few clears, and if there's some pair that's always lagging behind due to being unable to reach the enemy, use Boots on them.

How is Magic MaMorgan x Henry!Nah?

Good, if you don't mind him leading a non-double GF pair.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Czar_Yoshi

[isetrh]

Good, if you don't mind him leading a non-double GF pair.

The reason I ask is because after thinking over the advice Ownagepuffs gave me I was thinking of revising my pairings to allow for Laurent x Lucina. I could do this with

FeMU x Ricken!Brady

Sumia!Lucina x Lon'qu!Laurent

Henry!Nah x Ricken!Brady!Morgan

Chrom!Cynthia x Libra!Owain

or

FeMU x Ricken!Owain

Sumia!Lucina x Gregor!Laurent

Henry!Nah x Lon'qu!Brady

Chrom!Cynthia x Ricken!Owain!Morgan

My current pairings are:

FeMU x Ricken!Laurent

Sumia!Lucina x Ricken!Laurent!Morgan

Henry!Nah x Lon'qu!Brady

Chrom!Cynthia x Libra!Owain

Which looks best?

Edited August 15, 2014 by isetrh

[Alastor15243]

The reason I ask is because after thinking over the advice Ownagepuffs gave me I was thinking of revising my pairings to allow for Laurent x Lucina. I could do this with

FeMU x Ricken!Brady

Sumia!Lucina x Lon'qu!Laurent

Henry!Nah x Ricken!Brady!Morgan

Chrom!Cynthia x Libra!Owain

or

FeMU x Ricken!Owain

Sumia!Lucina x Gregor!Laurent

Henry!Nah x Lon'qu!Brady

Chrom!Cynthia x Ricken!Owain!Morgan

My current pairings are:

FeMU x Ricken!Laurent

Sumia!Lucina x Ricken!Laurent!Morgan

Henry!Nah x Lon'qu!Brady

Chrom!Cynthia x Libra!Owain

Which looks best?

Well first of all, Ricken!Owain is probably the safest choice of the three for morgan's dad with Ricken as a grandfather, since RickenxLissa is a recommended pairing to begin with. Ricken!Brady wastes Ricken's rare combination of a positive magic mod and luna, and Ricken!Laurent also wastes this luna offering on somebody who's never going to use it in the front lines (if he's going to be in the front he'll be doing VV). Unless you actually have the pairings set up so that Ricken isn't needed elsewhere, I'd definitely go with Ricken!Owain!Morgan.

[isetrh]

Well, Ricken doesn't have to be the grandad, nut if he goes to Ricken then Brady would have to to take Libra to be worth it, so I'll go with that. Thanks! Now Libra is unused though :/ I know he's supposed to be a good dad, but he just doesn't seem to fit anyone besides Owain.

[Alastor15243]

Well, Ricken doesn't have to be the grandad, nut if he goes to Ricken then Brady would have to to take Libra to be worth it, so I'll go with that. Thanks! Now Libra is unused though :/ I know he's supposed to be a good dad, but he just doesn't seem to fit anyone besides Owain.

I find he suits Brady just fine. Brady, like Sumia, has pretty much everything he needs between galeforce, Luna and Sage access, so Libra's slight magic boost and the addition of the dark mage class is a nice little bonus. Then again, I don't do brave weapons, so I put a higher value on Sorcerer as a endgame class than most.

[isetrh]

I find he suits Brady just fine. Brady, like Sumia, has pretty much everything he needs between galeforce, Luna and Sage access, so Libra's slight magic boost and the addition of the dark mage class is a nice little bonus. Then again, I don't do brave weapons, so I put a higher value on Sorcerer as a endgame class than most.

Oh. Well, I'm going for 75 Speed on every pair since I can, and having anyone but Lon'qu or Virion forces him to take All +2. I think I'll go for Lon'qu!Brady!Morgan to help Morgan get that Speed too, and then he can marry Nah with plenty to reach 75.

Edit: Something interesting about Virion!Severa. Not only can she be the best non-Morgan Wyvern Lord, she also has the mods to be a 75 Speed Sniper without All +2. She can use that spot for Deliverer if she has competition for the Boots. You guys probably know this, but I felt like gushing about it.

Edited August 15, 2014 by isetrh

[Czar_Yoshi]

Well first of all, Ricken!Owain is probably the safest choice of the three for morgan's dad with Ricken as a grandfather, since RickenxLissa is a recommended pairing to begin with. Ricken!Brady wastes Ricken's rare combination of a positive magic mod and luna, and Ricken!Laurent also wastes this luna offering on somebody who's never going to use it in the front lines (if he's going to be in the front he'll be doing VV). Unless you actually have the pairings set up so that Ricken isn't needed elsewhere, I'd definitely go with Ricken!Owain!Morgan.

If one was absolutely 100% concerned with not "wasting" a single Luna, Avatar should be marrying Nowi, without exception (the metagame actually looked like this once, believe it or not).

Class overlap/giving units good skills they don't need is never beneficial, but it also isn't a bad thing if the child still gets everything they want and the pairing doesn't rob someone else of an important skill that they do need. If one is using Libra!Owain, a physical Inigo, giving Brady a +Spd/Skl father, and you aren't going for a rare magical Severa, then it's perfectly fine to use Ricken as a universal +2 Mag mod for Laurent or Nah.

Oh. Well, I'm going for 75 Speed on every pair since I can, and having anyone but Lon'qu or Virion forces him to take All +2. I think I'll go for Lon'qu!Brady!Morgan to help Morgan get that Speed too, and then he can marry Nah with plenty to reach 75.

I think you're putting a little too much value on 75 Spd units. In Apo's final wave (the only one where there's more than one 70 Spd enemy), there are four different groups of enemies, one on each side of the map. Two of them have no 70 Spd enemies... So any 75 Spd units you send to deal with them will just have their hard-earned Spd wasted. Having your entire team take each side one at a time is possible, but generally a worse strategy because there's a time limit. And three of the four sides have few enough enemies that a single double galepair could take the whole thing, so it's not like you might accidentally be stuck with only <75 Spd units to fight them with (and if you are, they aren't that hard to take down without doubling anyway).

Edited August 15, 2014 by Czar_Yoshi

[isetrh]

If one was absolutely 100% concerned with not "wasting" a single Luna, Avatar should be marrying Nowi, without exception (the metagame actually looked like this once, believe it or not).

Class overlap/giving units good skills they don't need is never beneficial, but it also isn't a bad thing if the child still gets everything they want and the pairing doesn't rob someone else of an important skill that they do need. If one is using Libra!Owain, a physical Inigo, giving Brady a +Spd/Skl father, and you aren't going for a rare magical Severa, then it's perfectly fine to use Ricken as a universal +2 Mag mod for Laurent or Nah.

I think you're putting a little too much value on 75 Spd units. In Apo's final wave (the only one where there's more than one 70 Spd enemy), there are four different groups of enemies, one on each side of the map. Two of them have no 70 Spd enemies... So any 75 Spd units you send to deal with them will just have their hard-earned Spd wasted. Having your entire team take each side one at a time is possible, but generally a worse strategy because there's a time limit. And three of the four sides have few enough enemies that a single double galepair could take the whole thing, so it's not like you might accidentally be stuck with only <75 Spd units to fight them with (and if you are, they aren't that hard to take down without doubling anyway).

Hmm... I guess I.have to rethink things then. I already started over, but that's fine since it gave me the chance to switch difficulties. Ricken!Nah does sound good if I'm not bothering with 75 Speed (it happens naturally on Severa, Noire, Kjelle, Inigo, and possibly Morgan, so that should be plenty). Would you recommend I go with Ricken!Laurent!Morgan or Laurent x Sumia and marry a Galeboy? I'm still on the fence after all and I trust your advice.

[Czar_Yoshi]

This may not be the case for you, but my preferred team is pretty small with a ton of Staffbots and 2-3 single galepairs at most (Chrom, Avatar, and sometimes Severa) and even if I make the rest of my pairs useful, I'll just wind up benching them for more room to support the big guns. If that sounds at all like something you'd do, marry Avatar to a galeboy for more consolidation and Laurent to keep a more even power spread.

[Airship Canon]

If one was absolutely 100% concerned with not "wasting" a single Luna, Avatar should be marrying Nowi, without exception (the metagame actually looked like this once, believe it or not).

...The G/D/L meta.

Back when Dual Guard+ was "good"; when it was good to throw Luna and Gale on all the things without thinking to actually worry about things like Pairing Limits or what you're actually using.

Pairings like Stahl!Severa and Frederick!Gerome were highly valued [where as pre-launch things like Lon'qu!Severa and Vaike!Gerome were largely ignored or scoffed at]... because one must Luna all the things, even if it has no value to do so [see: Gerome].

Mods were ignored, because... lolLuna lolGaleforce.

...AKA: The Neo Dark Ages.

...Right after Apoth launched and before Matt5ter and I blicked some Apoth Challenges.

...Dark times.

Very dark times.

Many sheep.

Did I hate that meta? Yes, I hated that meta.

(On the video for the No Limit/Agg/Rally SR Apoth, when I say "Forget your Meta", that's EXACTLY the meta I'm referring to.)

On a different note: Two things:

1. Counter Agg Squad completed. Fun thing that. ...went out... got like 12 streetpasses, and only passed 2 relays, so a surprising number of actual streetpasses. Watched a guy wipe on the team at GameStop. [Err... he didn't wipe per say, but one of the bombs detonated, exploding his Nosfertank (AKA Corde, AKA, the dude's MU had an S rank with her, so AKA his Waifu). He raged.]

2. SoC's right, I'm a masochist. Starting the run for "#Wannoob Punches Dinosaurs", and I gloriously picked Lunatic+.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Airship Canon

[Czar_Yoshi]

I thought about Avatar x Nowi for a while... And there actually is a way for it to have some merit even when using all the children, though it's by no means overpowered (basically, Lucina stays unmarried and fights with Avatar at A, using DS+ to keep up a decent DS rate. It's even possible to bring them up to 100% with a Sniper/Assassin setup if you want to. You're effectively trading a free 100% DS and good mods on Morgan for the ability to run a 3/7 setup with Avatar-M). The bigger problem is trying to make Morgan/Nah's mods be useful... +Skl/-Lck is the best I've found so far, but I'm tempted to try +Skl/-Res.

The "A + DS+ = S" concept can be applied in other ways that are less dubious, though. Notably Chrom + Chrom!Inigo results in a dual Agg pair, though this does sometimes run into issues with child pairing mismatches. Still fun to play with, though.

1. Counter Agg Squad completed. Fun thing that. ...went out... got like 12 streetpasses, and only passed 2 relays, so a surprising number of actual streetpasses. Watched a guy wipe on the team at GameStop. [Err... he didn't wipe per say, but one of the bombs detonated, exploding his Nosfertank (AKA Corde, AKA, the dude's MU had an S rank with her, so AKA his Waifu). He raged.]

I love it when things explode. Good luck with L+.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Czar_Yoshi

[isetrh]

I think I'll for a FeMU x Laurent then. I was hoping to use everyone. I felt pretty confident in the pairings I had, and I'm a little worried I would mess something up if I changed them drastically. Nah isn't using Valkyrie from Henry anymore, but she will still appreciate the skills he gives her.

I'm leaning towards Morgan marrying Nah since he is the only Galeboy with Vengeance who reaches 69 Speed (how important is that?) without AS+2.

Alternatively Lon'qu!Brady works. He doesn't have Vengeance, but he puts his mods to use.

Thank you!

Edited August 15, 2014 by isetrh

[Airship Canon]

...I was thinking about something.

That Counter/Agg team is basically Dark Souls.

...It's REALLY easy to beat if you think about it. They're 1-locked which means they're very kitable.

But... a slight screw up, even the slightest screw up [like thinking Nosferatu will work] means... YOU DIED.

It's punishing to mistakes. Very much so. But if you've got a bit of a brain [which a large chunk of the fandom seems to lack] ...it's easy.

AKA: It's Dark Souls.

I totally wasn't playing Dark Souls while waiting for that repair to finish [so many issues with it... so many that Ninty dropped the cost. Win.] because I found it for $5 and found it to be much easier than I expected/was told.

(Also I think I need to do some L+ to get over the disappointment there of.)

[Alastor15243]

...The G/D/L meta.

Back when Dual Guard+ was "good"; when it was good to throw Luna and Gale on all the things without thinking to actually worry about things like Pairing Limits or what you're actually using.

Pairings like Stahl!Severa and Frederick!Gerome were highly valued [where as pre-launch things like Lon'qu!Severa and Vaike!Gerome were largely ignored or scoffed at]... because one must Luna all the things, even if it has no value to do so [see: Gerome].

Mods were ignored, because... lolLuna lolGaleforce.

Stahl!Severa isn't good? The hell?

[Ownagepuffs]

Stahl!Severa isn't good? The hell?

Stahl!Severa is fantastic. It's just that during those times she was the new meta. "LQ!Severa is overrated all she has is speed" "Stahl!Severa is the uncontested best Severa". It was everywhere. Back then Vengeance wasn't a good proc lol.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Ownagepuffs

[Shinehollow]

Does anyone think that Ricken!Inigo with Inigo as a swordmaster is a good idea?I usually do this just to get Life Taker on Inigo,but I found he runs pretty well.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Shinehollow

[Alastor15243]

Does anyone think that Swordmaster Ricken!Inigo is a good idea?I usually do this just to get Life Taker on Inigo,but I found he runs pretty well.

Lifetaker is overrated, honestly. By the end of the game you can have staff bots spamming fortify turnly to the same effect. I suppose Ricken does have Luna, meaning he's decent to make Inigo an effective mage galeboy, but there are already two of those.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Alastor15243

[Byron]

So I'm going to be a pain unfortunately and ask if people could rate my pairings. The twist being that these pairings are already in place so I guess the question is how to make the best of what I've got. Everyone has Galeforce except Nah and the children who can't get it at all.

FeMu x Chrom

Lissa x Stahl

Sumia x Frederick

Maribelle x Libra

Donnel x Sully

Cordelia x Lon'qu

Tharja x Gaius

Gregor x Nowi

Cherche x Virion

Ricken x Miriel

Vaike x Panne

Olivia x Henry

Lucina x Laurent

Kjelle x Yarne

Nah x Brady

Cynthia x Owain

Severa x Gerome

Noire x Inigo

Morgan is spare given that he's a walking ball of destruction and death.

So yeah any advice you guys can give would be much appreciated, if the verdict is that I've got the pairings equivalent of a train wreck I can restart but I'm not going for a full min/max strategy.

Avatar is +Magic -Luck

[Alastor15243]

Morgan is spare given that he's a walking ball of destruction and death.

Actually, Lucina's inherently better than Morgan in this setup, in that she gets everything Morgan does, and access to all the lord skills, namely aether and DS+. All Morgan gets is Rightful King, and while he can make good use of it in the right setup with his "every proc but aether" skillpool, Lucina is the superior child, unless you REALLY value aggressor or axefaire or critical hit rates.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Alastor15243

[Byron]

Yeah to be fair Lucina is my main attacking force, but I've never looked at Morgan and thought he desperately needed someone to pair with, possibly a mistake on my part

[Airship Canon]

Stahl!Severa is fantastic. It's just that during those times she was the new meta. "LQ!Severa is overrated all she has is speed" "Stahl!Severa is the uncontested best Severa". It was everywhere. Back then Vengeance wasn't a good prof lol.

It's basically that.

People acted like if it didn't have Luna it was worthless. [see: Gerome.]

...Really the -entirety- of the G/D/L meta was shoving Galeforce, Dual Guard+, and Luna on as many things as possible.

Now, out of that, it did break the old Sol/Armsthrift "Launch" meta. [which is good, because while the G/D/L meta was blind, it wasn't pointless (Except Dual Guard+)] (BTW: Launch meta was hilarious(ly bad). I remember reading about how hard P20: A Hard Miracle was for some people because of it. Everyone was stacking up on Sol, Armsthift, and Sorcs so much that Sage was considered a bad class (Sage has -10 Defense compared to Sorc! OMG)... and no one had any staves, because who needs staves when everyone self heals like crazy?)

Some good things did come of it, but it really was very blind.

Regarding Stahl!Severa, a year ago, I would've pointed out Lancekiller and went "lolnope".

I'd still say that Lon'Qu!Severa is still the best Severa (for having that Build), but Stahl!Severa's Bowfaire-Assassin is a thing.

...something I've seen is a shift with the Owains.

During the Neo Dark Ages, a Libra!Owain was shunned. [Who'd take Vengeance over Luna?] Ricken was absolutely needed for Owain. [since Ricken is the only magic father who passes Great Knight]

...Now, don't get me wrong, Ricken!Owain is very sound pairing, and it generally survived the fall of the G/D/L meta [except from those who jumped on the Ricken!Laurent!Morgan boat, or blindly jumped on Ricken!Laurent when they weren't going the whole nine yards] ...but him and Libra!Owain are basically even.

Lately, I've been seeing Libra!Owain make a hard come back. [i'm gonna be using a Henry!Owain, but 50 Skill. Libra's 49 just doesn't cut it.] This may be due to a rise in popularity of Magic!Inigo [who wants one of the Magic and proc fathers, Ricken, Libra, Henry] (I don't know if this has anything to do with the 7:2 revelation leading to Nah/Inigo being more of a thing or not, but eh.)

[Czar_Yoshi]

Does anyone think that Swordmaster Ricken!Inigo is a good idea?I usually do this just to get Life Taker on Inigo,but I found he runs pretty well.

Building pairings isn't a game of bad and good, it's one of good and better. Anyone can do well (outside of Apo, at least) if you grind them up, get them five skills, LB and an S support. But why settle for doing well when you can do better?

SM is one of the worst classes in the game- Swordlocked, poor Str, one-track pairup bonuses, and almost completely eclipsed by Assassin which all SM users inherently have. If you were to use one, it would need a very high Str mod (Ricken!Inigo has 0) and would need to devote all its skills to boosting damage, so no room for Lifetaker (which neither comes from or combos with SM).

Basically SM is at the bottom of the barrel. If you favor one, it's not going to be bad... But Ricken!Inigo@SM has tons of extra potential (switch to Sage, equip LB/GF/Agg/Luna/TF and a 5/15 Celica's).

Or, in the event that you meant to say Dark Knight, then he's not bad.

So I'm going to be a pain unfortunately and ask if people could rate my pairings. The twist being that these pairings are already in place so I guess the question is how to make the best of what I've got. Everyone has Galeforce except Nah and the children who can't get it at all.

FeMu x Chrom Good.

Lissa x Stahl Mod clash on Owain, he wants a magical father.

Sumia x Frederick Bad mod clash on Cynthia, she wants Chrom or Henry.

Maribelle x Libra Good.

Donnel x Sully Good.

Cordelia x Lon'qu Good.

Tharja x Gaius Good.

Gregor x Nowi OK.

Cherche x Virion Good.

Ricken x Miriel OK.

Vaike x Panne OK, but an Archer dad would be better.

Olivia x Henry OK.

Lucina x Laurent OK.

Kjelle x Yarne Good.

Nah x Brady OK if Nah is a Hero.

Cynthia x Owain Would be good if Owain was magical.

Severa x Gerome Would be good if Gerome had Berserker.

Noire x Inigo Good.

Morgan is spare given that he's a walking ball of destruction and death. Absolutely terrible. Unpaired units just can't get kills in Apo so his Galeforce will go to waste.

[Waifu Severa]

Im starting to lean towards Virion!Brady because he gets 1 more skill and 2 more speed and Luna, which gets him to 75 speed if i have All+2/RallyHeart. Libra!Brady only gives him 1 more magic and Vengeance, and some people do say Vengeance>Luna, but that extra 2 speed and 1 skill can matter a ton. And i might actually go Brady x Nah and Kjelle x Yarne now.

Also, should i get the Aggressor/RallyHeart/All+2 DLC? I dont see any good games i can get on the eShop with 8.75 funds, so i was thinking of getting Rally Heart and All+2, or just save up my funds.