PAIRINGS The Pairing Thread

[Czar_Yoshi]

Rate My Pairings

Super outdated, overemphasis in all the wrong places, overlooking many vital things such as synergy, Hit, class variety, secondary mods, opportunity cost and Cynthia's potential. Calm down and I'll elaborate.

Isn't Dread 43/38 or something?

42/38 but it's effectively the same for Ignis threshold purposes: most classes fall into either 40/30, 40/40 or 50/30. A margin of error of ~4 is OK for generalization purposes here (and it makes it a lot easier to describe).

The problem is that sniper Brady as well wants speed for hitting 75 threshold. In other circumstances I would've opted for a different dad indeed.

How important is giving him 75 Spd?

Edited March 2, 2015 by Czar_Yoshi

[serpentskirt]

Very 8\ I can't bear imperfect pokemunits!

Anyway I would consider last attempt as a warm-up and will move on generic class combos.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Then you'll need to either give Brady a faster father or a different wife.

[astrophys]

Now, in my case I've already made these pairings and I'm perfectly aware that some of them are suboptimal by reasons of things such mod-clash or for a few cases in which I intentionally paired characters (Cordelia, Lissa, etc.) based on support preferences rather than on gameplay considerations despite knowing their blatantly suboptimal nature [for Cordy there is the consideration that the Avatar should most likely go for 2nd gen characters for postgame, in addition to the mod clash].

That said, purely out of curiosity, how would you rate the various pairs? Its fine to criticize what I did; some I did full well knowing they weren't that good.

Lissa x Frederick (this is one of the ones intentionally chosen for the support despite the obvious sub-optimal nature of it)

Sully x Donnel

Miriel x Kellam (can function as a healer/locktouch unit, although honestly this was also just support preference)

Sumia x Chrom

Maribelle x Lon'qu

Panne x Virion

Cordelia x +Mag/-STR Male Avatar (obvious mod clash, but preference for Cordy and feeling this asset/flaw represented my intended character)

Nowi x Vaike

Tharja x Gaius

Olivia x Stahl

Cherche x Gregor

Edited March 2, 2015 by astrophys

[Ownagepuffs]

A lot of those are fairly standard stuff. Fred!Owain lacks speed but still has Luna for proc stacking, Gregor!Gerome isn't really all that due to lacking a +Hit skill but still has Zerker access. Kellam!Laurent suffers from total lameness but can still aura bot/Sage hard support. Everything else is okay.

[Moishe Oofnik]

Then you'll need to either give Brady a faster father or a different wife.

Well they were made Long ago

They are joke pairings and Ill really just use good pairings when Ill replay hardmode (mabye 2 weeks I wanna do a best pairing secret apo run)

Edited March 2, 2015 by TTPK_Tal

[Czar_Yoshi]

They are joke pairings

I wondered if that was the case.

Anyway good luck on your runs.

[serpentskirt]

Well, going with sniper-assassin combos is really easy. Quite a lot of stuff naturally results in your pairings.

Assuming Noire and Nah will stay hard supports and Kjelle on front that already forces you into following:

- Gaius is indeed best for Kjelle, you shouldn't even think twice;

- Brady is fixed by Lon'qu or Virion and Lon'qu offers far more possibilities;

- Stahl!Nah is ideal for that Brady. To support Inigo she needs Virion which is kind of a waste;

- indeed either Gerome or Owain needs to pair with Lucina, other goes to Morgan.

I'm still deciding who'll get Avatar - Kjelle or Cynthia (Kjelle has better better mods but I need to look at the class combos).

I as well need to check properly what are the differences between Vaike!Gerome/Ricken!Gerome and Ricken!Yarne/Vaike!Yarne. They seem to be almost equal but distribution of classes is a bit wider in first option.

Edited March 3, 2015 by serpentskirt

[SorasKingdomKey]

Thank you again, OwnagePuffs (love the Durarara images) and Czar! Do you guys mind if I ask who would be a good pairing for him and what class should they be to get the best out of Dread Fighter? He will be one of my main units. Just out of curiosity, what would be a better end class for Morgan?

[serpentskirt]

On my way home I've got a bizzare idea on how to fix my valk team. I suddenly realised that I have one extra valk in Maribelle x Chrom themselves. To fix Brady I paired him with femavatar and Morgan went to Nah. After shuffling dads a bit I've managed to get two pairs with double gales and agg:

Maribelle!Lucina x Libra!Owain (valk-zerk, I need to check this one as I've kinda copypasted it and completely ignored this pair)

Vaike!Inigo x Lon'qu!Noire (assassin-sniper)

Donnel!Kjelle x Stahl!Yarne (assassin-sniper)

Henry!Cynthia x Ricken!Gerome (assassin-sniper)

Brady!Morgan x Gaius!Nah (sniper-assassin, double gale)

Virion!Severa x Gregor!Laurent (sniper-assassin)

+Spd-Def!Avatar x Chrom!Brady (assassin-sniper, double gale)

Maribelle x Chrom (valk-bow knight, Chrom can even use his Falchion in this set!)

[Ownagepuffs]

Thank you again, OwnagePuffs (love the Durarara images) and Czar! Do you guys mind if I ask who would be a good pairing for him and what class should they be to get the best out of Dread Fighter? He will be one of my main units. Just out of curiosity, what would be a better end class for Morgan?

Chrom!Morgan doesn't really have notable modifiers. You could rock anything. Dread Fighter is a solid choice.

A lot of classes benefit from Dread Fighter, if not every class. IIRC it's pair up bonuses are 3 Strength, 1 Speed, 1 Magic, and 3 Res. Dark Fliers and various physical classes work well with it. Dread Fighter's dual nature also allows it to benefit from every class.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Henry!Cynthia x Ricken!Gerome (assassin-sniper)

Cynthia: 48(base) +5(mods) +10(LB) +10(Rally) +8(pairup) +2(All+2) +2(tonic) =85

Gerome: 48(base) +0(mods) +10(LB) +10(Rally) +2(All+2) +2(Skl+2) +2(tonic) =74

[Ownagepuffs]

Cynthia: 48(base) +5(mods) +10(LB) +10(Rally) +8(pairup) +2(All+2) +2(tonic) =85

Gerome: 48(base) +0(mods) +10(LB) +10(Rally) +2(All+2) +2(Skl+2) +2(tonic) =74

What a cruel world we live in

[serpentskirt]

Riiiiight, I thought she still had defender.

In that case Virion and Ricken are swapped.

Edited March 4, 2015 by serpentskirt

[Czar_Yoshi]

That'll work but you'll have to drop something nice on Severa to make up for Skl+2...

[serpentskirt]

Well, that was a quick fix, I still may end up with something better if I shuffle pairs once again. I had several working combinations before but I really dislike the idea of assassin-assassin pairup which usually happens to Cynthia/Severa pairs in this setup.

-add-

Stahl!Gerome and Ricken!Yarne fixes it. Kjelle can run defender.

-add2-

I've run through class combinations and indeed Kjelle is not able to run wyvern with 75 speed and Donnel anymore. Another pretty useless outside of DS pair is Henry!Cynthia x Stahl!Gerome. Vaike!Inigo x Lon'qu!Noire might get some use if I switch Vaike with Libra - Sage-Bride will reach 75 speed - but then Owain will be not that great at magic and berserking around though it'll be still possible to make him dread fighter to give Lucina nice bonuses. The rest looks okay so far.

So I guess in current conditions it's a choice between Kjelle and Nah in terms of flexibility and I see no way of expanding Cynthia's one unless I pair her with Morgan. Might be not that bad idea if I'll get two more flexible pairs in place of one double gale.

Or I can just ignore that 75 speed threshold fix as there's only one unit with that speed required for.

-add3-

No, supporting Morgan will require either Brady or Owain lead and both are just impossible to fix in current setup without hindering others. And Nah without Gaius is forcing Morgan to abandon aggressor for defender so I guess I'll keep him. So I need to finalize Owain and Inigo 's dads and I guess it will be it. Not that flexible indeed but that's the price for having five ranged pairs (and no flyers).

Edited March 4, 2015 by serpentskirt

[Yunanuy]

I've probably restarted a combined of 1500 hours of save files because I ended up being unsatisfied with pairings. My main issues have been hair colors, support conversations and probably most importantly...optimization. However, because I also prefer characters to stay in their base class-tree, choosing fathers for the children's preferable final class have been difficult, and I've just restarted a 70+ hour save today because of this. Anyways, let's get to the point...!

Most of the pairings are already set in stone; remaining fathers are:

Avatar ~ Frederick ~ Virion ~ Stahl ~ Kellam ~ Lon'qu ~ Ricken ~ Gaius ~ Gregor

The fatherless children are:

Owain ~ Laurent ~ Cynthia ~ Brady ~ Severa ~ Nah

Kellam and Nah's S-support is the bane of my existence, this will never happen again in my lifetime. I'm also a bit anti-Stahl!Owain/Severa.

I like Lon'qu with Cordelia, but I feel Brady wants him as well...I could give Gaius to Brady instead, but then Nah loses Galeforce (although she doesn't really need it).

I would also rather not pair Avatar up with Nowi (nor Ricken with anyone) because they're both like 12, and I don't like Ricken's hair color on anyone except Nah, but what the hell does she need magic for...

My previous playthrough match-ups were:

Virion!Owain (Owain looks swell with his hair...but Virion's skills are crap, although his mods are great.)

Gregor!Laurent (great pairing, no complaints...but I'm willing to send Gregor elsewhere if needed.)

Frederick!Cynthia (Cynthia with Frederick's hair is awesome, but her MAG and SPD...not so much.)

Avatar!Brady (the child that probably needs MU the least)

Lon'qu!Severa (I like this pairing a lot, but I don't even know anymore...)

Gaius!Nah (Ginger Nah is cool, and so is Vantage+Sol/Astra)

Avatar will be optimal for all children mod-wise as I'll change his asset and flaw based on who he's gonna father.

[rickheg]

I'm going around gathering up my second generation now, these are my pairings for first gen;

Chrom x Sumia
Vaike x Cherche
Ricken x Lissa
Virion x Miriel
Donnel x Sully
Henry x Maribelle
Libra x Olivia
Lon'qu x Cordelia
Gaius x Tharja
Gregor x Panne
Kellam x Nowi

FeMU x Owain

I have two questions now. Firstly, what should I be looking for in final classes for everyone? Also, how important are second generation marraiges? Should certain kids be looking for certain traits in partners, or does it not matter as much since they won't be passing down stats (save Owain in this set up)?

[Yunanuy]

[...]

I have two questions now. Firstly, what should I be looking for in final classes for everyone? Also, how important are second generation marraiges? Should certain kids be looking for certain traits in partners, or does it not matter as much since they won't be passing down stats (save Owain in this set up)?

You generally want to pair-up classes who buff their main attack stats, speed and mobility for those who are lacking. The general consensus is to pair Galeforcers with each other as well.

Examples for this would be:

Dark Flier Cynthia marries Sage/Sorc Brady or Sorceror Inigo.

Manakete Nowi marries Zerker Gerome (for strength) or Dragon Lord Gerome (for mobility).

Rather than marriages, S-rank supports are important to increase bonus stats, hit, dodge and dual strike/guard chances. You don't want to pair those that can't support eachother if you can avoid it... The pair-up function is rather broken anyways, so having S-rank pairs aren't a must, but they do make the game a lot easier.

If you're really going all out on optimization though I'd recommend getting Morgan hitched with Lucina for a close to 100% dual strike.

[Czar_Yoshi]

I've probably restarted a combined of 1500 hours of save files because I ended up being unsatisfied with pairings. My main issues have been hair colors, support conversations and probably most importantly...optimization. However, because I also prefer characters to stay in their base class-tree, choosing fathers for the children's preferable final class have been difficult, and I've just restarted a 70+ hour save today because of this. Anyways, let's get to the point...!

You can use the 3ds playlog if you want to see how many hours you've actually put into the game.

Anyway, it's difficult for me to properly recommend pairings when aesthetics are involved, but the two that you seem good with (Lon'qu!Severa and Gregor!Laurent) are excellent so definitely keep those. Virion!Severa performs just as well and has nice hair too, though, if you want to try her.

Some of the pairings are going to be very problematic if you want the best of both worlds thanks to having either very poor availability (Kjelle likes all of one father (Gaius) gameplay-wise, and tolerates one other) or being a huge jerk to pretty much everyone (Nah).

Stahl or Fred will work best for Owain staying in Myrmidon promotions. All the others will be really lackluster.

You've got Cynthia on your child list but no Chrom or Henry on your parent list, which pretty much requires you to give her Avatar to be anything near optimal. Sumia's class is also pretty good on Morgan so you're fine there (though her hair is fairly boring). After that Nah likes Avatar most- I know you said you'd rather avoid their pairing but Ignis on Manaketes is good, and with a small build Avatar it's not that awkward- he's actually one of Nowi's tamest supports (no threats/cajoling, and not even a mention of her age). Alternately Fred!Nah will do well, and Gregor!Nah can pull her weight if you give Lon'qu to Laurent and then Virion to Severa.

Finally Brady loves Ricken and will be good with either of Lon'qu and Virion if that's not an option.

I have two questions now. Firstly, what should I be looking for in final classes for everyone? Also, how important are second generation marraiges? Should certain kids be looking for certain traits in partners, or does it not matter as much since they won't be passing down stats (save Owain in this set up)?

Final classes: usually 8 Mov on the female lead with enough Spd to do whatever you're doing well, and a lot of Atk/Skl on the support. Ingame/non-Apo postgame, I really like Dark Knight and Paladin as ending classes for leads.

2nd gen marriages are very important if you're playing the harder DLC maps (Challenge Pack, FP, Apo) due to giving +10 DS. Other than that, they make very little difference. Generally they're just looking for whoever compliments their stats best and/or who they can run the most good sets with: eg Virion!Severa x Gregor!Laurent has everything needed (+5 Spd on Severa and +Hit skills on Laurent with decent Str on both) to run Wyvern Lord x Berserker, but they've also got all the tools to run a good DF x Sage.

[serpentskirt]

Every time I'm thinking that I cannot improve team layout anymore I just somehow manage to find a way of doing so. That shit is incredibly addictive I must say.

Maribelle!Lucina x Libra/Vaike!Owain

Vaike/Libra!Inigo x Lon'qu!Noire

Gaius!Kjelle x Ricken!Gerome

Frederick!Cynthia x Stahl!Yarne

Brady!Morgan x Henry!Nah

Virion!Severa x Gregor!Laurent

+Skl-Def!Avatar x Chrom!Brady

Everyone is able to grab a fairie apart from Nah. Sadly Avatar and Cynthia need to have Spd2 for 75 and Kjelle still needs defender, so no Deliverers on them.

[Kamui vi Britannia]

[This message has been deleted at the request of the original poster]

Edited March 5, 2015 by CloudJumper

[Yunanuy]

You can use the 3ds playlog if you want to see how many hours you've actually put into the game.

[...] Virion!Severa performs just as well and has nice hair too, though, if you want to try her.

[...]Stahl or Fred will work best for Owain staying in Myrmidon promotions. All the others will be really lackluster.

You've got Cynthia on your child list but no Chrom or Henry on your parent list, which pretty much requires you to give her Avatar to be anything near optimal. Sumia's class is also pretty good on Morgan so you're fine there (though her hair is fairly boring). After that Nah likes Avatar most- I know you said you'd rather avoid their pairing but Ignis on Manaketes is good, and with a small build Avatar it's not that awkward- he's actually one of Nowi's tamest supports (no threats/cajoling, and not even a mention of her age). Alternately Fred!Nah will do well, and Gregor!Nah can pull her weight if you give Lon'qu to Laurent and then Virion to Severa.

Finally Brady loves Ricken and will be good with either of Lon'qu and Virion if that's not an option.

Hmm..I've looked at Virion!Severa, and it's attractive in its own way, but what set would you even run on that? Same Breakersevera? That only gets you so far though... The great thing about Lon'qu!Severa is that she can also run Armsthrift Ragnell + VW..but I'll keep Virion in mind, in case I DO actually decide to give Lonnie to Brady.

Chrom is for Olivia, as Inigo is actually the only one I tolerate outside his "base class", and I prefer him as a Paladin. Henry is with Cherche as Critsupport Gerome is pretty nifty, + he gets Axefaire.

As for hair, I won't use FemMorgan anyways, so consider Avatar only having his wife's child.

On second thought, I'm just gonna put up the "decided" pairings and note those I am willing to change to actually get somewhere. According to the Activity Log I've put 1369 hours (not that far off my guess) into the game...AND I STILL HAVEN'T FINISHED FUTURE PAST OR APOTHEOSIS because I'm stuck on pairings...gaaah, this game. Anyways:

THE PAIRINGS

• Paladin Chrom!Inigo (this won't change...no matter what.)

• Assassin Frederick!Owain (I think I'll go with this pairing, cause I like their supports, he looks good, and appreciates Luna)

• General Vaike!Kjelle (I DID consider giving her Gaius, but this is General Kjelle...I could opt for Lancefaire and Gradivus, but that means I'm losing AT, although I'm getting GF out of it, but does she even need GF? If Vaike!Nah is that much more optimal, I may bend on this...)

• ​Sorcerer Gregor!Laurent (Gregor's been his father since my first playthrough, so I might as well just keep it that way)

• Sage x!Brady (I'm not really worrying too much who Brady gets as a father, because he's gonna be good regardless, still unsure about Ricken because of shota tho-*shot*)

• Hero Lon'qu!Severa (has never failed me, but I am going to check out Virion!Severa. If I open up to it, Lon'qu is free to jump on Maribelle, Panne or Miriel..any other ideas for physical Severa's that don't include the name Stahl or Freddie are also greatly appreciated)

• Sniper Donnel!Noire (I like the support, she gets AT+GF and bombing hair, her mom gets a slave, and everyone's happy...don't know if I'm willing to change this pairing actually, unless it's for MaMU, and even then maybe not...)

• Wyvern Lord Henry!Gerome (Critsupport, and he does it well, I am considering giving Henry to Cynthia, but then who fathers the G? Kellam? Virion? Stahl is a no-go because of hair...)

• Taguel Libra!Yarne (On the off-chance that Yarne has to be frontline, he really appreciates Tomebreaker...also, Critsupport like Gerome, Deliverer and Aggressor helps make the Taguel class less sucky, I MAY just give him Stahl, Kellam or Ricken for DG+ instead though, and that leaves Libra open for someone like Brady)

• Dark Flier x!Cynthia (If Gerome get's another dad, Cynthia gets Henry for sure..but Gaius is also open. If not, MaMU and Sumia might get hitched)

• Manakete x!Nah (Actually...I might just throw Stahl on Nah, I actually like the washed out green on her, and it's fairly optimal. I may just pain myself through giving MaMU to her.)

  "Remaining" fathers are then: Avatar, Virion, Stahl, Gaius and Ricken, feel free to mix and match as you please. All ideas are appreciated (even if you think I'll puke because of it), because they might give me some as well!

On another note, how does Falcon Knight Cynthia perform compared to Dark Flier? I'm only considering this because of Rescue.

EDIT: IF my MaMU hooks up with Sully (Kjelle as a General - Valkyrie Kjelle seems tempting for some reason though...) what would be the best asset/flaw? I usually go +SPD -DEF, but +ATK might be better in this case?

Edited March 5, 2015 by Mezzo

[bodybagfor8bucks]

I'm working on making my own 100% DS team and I was wondering if anyone knows from experience if there are any pairings that are set in stone to achieve a 100% DS team?

(edit: nevermind)

Edited March 5, 2015 by bodybagfor8bucks

[Czar_Yoshi]

Vaike!Yarne@Hero (All+2/Str+2/AF/Agg/LB) --> Can be swapped to Gregor!Yarne to give Kjelle Luna but that would mean Vaike!Severa which has it's issues

Gaius!Kjelle@Assassin (All+2/Defender/SF/GF/LB)

If you're conflicted about this one, I highly recommend running damage calcs and seeing if there's anything they can't KO already without Luna.

On second thought, I'm just gonna put up the "decided" pairings and note those I am willing to change to actually get somewhere. According to the Activity Log I've put 1369 hours (not that far off my guess) into the game...AND I STILL HAVEN'T FINISHED FUTURE PAST OR APOTHEOSIS because I'm stuck on pairings...gaaah, this game.

If you have no experience with/idea what to expect from Apo you're going to be in for a rude awakening if you try to use some of those pairings there. Namely, everything has 55-99 Lck there so your critstacking Gerome won't work (Henry!Nah is the only unit in the game who can pull off a non-dedicated critstacking build there, though some Laurents can pull off a full dedicated one). Taguels have borderline zero damage output even before considering that they have no Braves- 50 Atk between class and weapon base is the lowest in the game, no contest (and it lacks a Faire, too). He'll be looking at 85-90 non-Brave Atk tops. Sorcs are highly ineffective in Apo due to Nos and Def not doing anything useful and Sages beating them by miles in all relevant stats (Sorc also isn't even in Laurent's base class line). Vantage is never safe there without Vengeance, 100% DS and a ton of number crunching for thresholds and setups beforehand- trying to use it with anything else is guaranteed to either do nothing or get you killed. There are a lot of very simple strategies that can smash Apo, but it has a reputation for a reason- people have tried to extrapolate good ingame strats to it and they don't work.

Anyway, if you're not using Morgan then definitely go Avatar x Sumia. Avatar x Nowi in base classes can't really do much in Apo, but Avatar x Sumia can and Cynthia will turn out really good.

Virion!Severa has BF if you want to go BK, though Lon'qu is definitely better for Hero. However, if you're willing to leave base for either of them, they both make incredibly good Wyvern Lords with a set of LB/GF/LF/All+2/Vengeance and a support that gives at least +8 Spd (your Fred!Owain would get the job done) who have everything necessary to wreck bosses. Having a dedicated boss killer will give the rest of your team a lot more leeway in goofing off.

I'm working on making my own 100% DS team and I was wondering if anyone knows from experience if there are any pairings that are set in stone to achieve a 100% DS team. I have seen ricken! Gerome, for example, in the few teams I have seen in this thread.

There's nothing that's 100% required but Sumia!Lucina x Libra!Owain is pretty much completely optimal for the context while being a great pair outside of it. Gaius!Kjelle is also very hard to trump, and Nah and Gerome both have dibs on Sniper dads.

Again those aren't required but they help a lot.

Edited March 5, 2015 by Czar_Yoshi