PAIRINGS The Pairing Thread

[Czar_Yoshi]

Morgan: Asset/Flaw?

Cynthia: Gerome or Yarne for Paladin, Brady, Owain, Laurent or Yarne for Sniper.

Severa: Gerome for Hero/Paladin, Yarne for Hero/Paladin/Sniper, Inigo for BK.

Nah: Brady, Owain or Inigo. Definitely Hero.

Kjelle: Gerome, Yarne or Inigo. Probably Wyvern Lord.

Noire: Yarne for BK, Laurent, Owain or Brady for Sniper.

[Noah25648]

Morgan: Asset/Flaw?

Cynthia: Gerome or Yarne for Paladin, Brady, Owain, Laurent or Yarne for Sniper.

Severa: Gerome for Hero/Paladin, Yarne for Hero/Paladin/Sniper, Inigo for BK.

Nah: Brady, Owain or Inigo. Definitely Hero.

Kjelle: Gerome, Yarne or Inigo. Probably Wyvern Lord.

Noire: Yarne for BK, Laurent, Owain or Brady for Sniper.

Oops, this Morgan has Magic asset and Defense Flaw.

Thanks again for the help! :)

[Czar_Yoshi]

+Mag/-Def? Great. Make her a Valkyrie, give her a Sage. She's fine with a Galeboy or a hard support.

[Admiral "Bull" Halsey]

Tbh, I find that +Mag/-Luck to be somewhat balance, either that or its just me.

[Vascela]

-Def is typically the ideal flaw since the only relevant stat decrease is only -1 Luk. For the most part, as long as you don't shoot yourself in the foot, it won't matter. There's just no real reason to pick Luk flaw over Def flaw since Def is extremely malleable through stat bonuses (tonic, rallies, temporarily in a different class) even if you had something specific for a vengeance setup.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Yeah, -Lck decreases both Atk stats. While not by much, it is by some, and some is enough to quantify none as better than it.

It also bothers me ingame because I like AT and -Lck ruins your chances of getting that realistically going any time soon.

[TheSilentChloey]

I have a couple of questions for my +def -lck run (which I am posting progress as I make it) and was wondering what skills would suit Gregor!Nah if I want to keep her a manakete. I know that is not the best class for her, but I wanted to keep everyone in their base class promotions (Save F!Robin, Lucina and M!Morgan because I want to play with my head cannon a little bit ).

Of course I will be putting everyone through their reclass options because I can do grinding to get needed skills. Also would like to know what suits Noire!Henry that will allow her to make use of her magic or will she be better off as a physical sniper unit?

Aside from those two I am thinking of working with Libra!Inigo, so what should Libra hand down to save the grinding time on Inigo?

Edited February 21, 2016 by TheSilentChloey

[amiabletemplar]

I have a couple of questions for my +def -lck run (which I am posting progress as I make it) and was wondering what skills would suit Gregor!Nah if I want to keep her a manakete. I know that is not the best class for her, but I wanted to keep everyone in their base class promotions (Save F!Robin, Lucina and M!Morgan because I want to play with my head cannon a little bit ).

Of course I will be putting everyone through their reclass options because I can do grinding to get needed skills. Also would like to know what suits Noire!Henry that will allow her to make use of her magic or will she be better off as a physical sniper unit?

Aside from those two I am thinking of working with Libra!Inigo, so what should Libra hand down to save the grinding time on Inigo?

In that case, the usual go-to inheritance skill (Axefaire) won't be useful. Your main alternatives: Despoil (gold farming), Counter (minimal use), Wrath (risky like Vantage), or Rally Strength (only useful if you make her a Rally unit). So what would help you most? I'd probably go Despoil (slowly beginning to love that skill) or Wrath; Gregor!Nah can't get Vengeance, which is disappointing, but Wrath+Vantage might work out alright. If you really want a Rally unit, though, and aren't interested in one of the alternatives from SpotPass, Nah might work, since few of the skills she can get will improve her offense much as a Manakete.

For more general skills, simple procs and always-on benefits are the best bet. In addition to the skills mentioned above: Dual Support+, Quick Burn, Deliverer, Swordbreaker (to deal with Wyrmslayers), Astra (her only offensive proc besides Lethality), Armsthrift. Maybe a second Breaker if you're real worried. Pretty much everything else is either inefficient, weapon-specific, or unreliable (e.g. Lethality).

It looks like Noire's stats aren't dramatically different between being Henry's daughter and Gaius', mostly just switching from +5 Mag/+2 Spd (Henry) to +3 Mag/+4 Spd (Gaius). [Edit: just using Gaius for comparison since he's usually picked so she gets GF; the pertinent differences between them really just boil down to classes provided and 2 more Mag vs. 2 more Spd.) It probably won't make a lot of difference which direction you go with her. Henry!Noire@Sniper still hits 50 Skl (just like Gaius!Noire would), which is pretty good. Sadly, Henry!Noire won't get Tomefaire, though she can get Vengeance+Wrath which could make Sorcerer (Nos-tank) an interesting path to take. I honestly don't know enough to speak to Sniper being better than a magic unit (though, if you can live without the Nos-tanking/Mire shenanigans, Valkyrie is nice.)

Libra!Inigo should almost certainly inherit Renewal for least overall grinding--you're basically guaranteed to get it on Libra, and it's the only really worthwhile skill in Priest or War Monk (excluding Sage, for hopefully obvious reasons). You won't need to grind Libra to get it, and it'll save Inigo a slog through an otherwise not-so-great class. (Obv. he should get GF from Olivia.) If you're concerned about losing him in the recruitment chapter, Renewal is probably your best bet simply because you're almost guaranteed to have it and it works every turn. Alternatively, if you aren't concerned about healing (which, TBH, you probably shouldn't be too worried about it), Vengeance isn't a bad choice, to speed up acquisition of the full VVW triad, and you can just ignore Priest/War Monk entirely.

Edited February 21, 2016 by amiabletemplar

[TheSilentChloey]

In that case, the usual go-to inheritance skill (Axefaire) won't be useful. Your main alternatives: Despoil (gold farming), Counter (minimal use), Wrath (risky like Vantage), or Rally Strength (only useful if you make her a Rally unit). So what would help you most? I'd probably go Despoil (slowly beginning to love that skill) or Wrath; Gregor!Nah can't get Vengeance, which is disappointing, but Wrath+Vantage might work out alright. If you really want a Rally unit, though, and aren't interested in one of the alternatives from SpotPass, Nah might work, since few of the skills she can get will improve her offense much as a Manakete.

For more general skills, simple procs and always-on benefits are the best bet. In addition to the skills mentioned above: Dual Support+, Quick Burn, Deliverer, Swordbreaker (to deal with Wyrmslayers), Astra (her only offensive proc besides Lethality), Armsthrift. Maybe a second Breaker if you're real worried. Pretty much everything else is either inefficient, weapon-specific, or unreliable (e.g. Lethality).

It looks like Noire's stats aren't dramatically different between being Henry's daughter and Gaius', mostly just switching from +5 Mag/+2 Spd (Henry) to +3 Mag/+4 Spd (Gaius). [Edit: just using Gaius for comparison since he's usually picked so she gets GF; the pertinent differences between them really just boil down to classes provided and 2 more Mag vs. 2 more Spd.) It probably won't make a lot of difference which direction you go with her. Henry!Noire@Sniper still hits 50 Skl (just like Gaius!Noire would), which is pretty good. Sadly, Henry!Noire won't get Tomefaire, though she can get Vengeance+Wrath which could make Sorcerer (Nos-tank) an interesting path to take. I honestly don't know enough to speak to Sniper being better than a magic unit (though, if you can live without the Nos-tanking/Mire shenanigans, Valkyrie is nice.)

Libra!Inigo should almost certainly inherit Renewal for least overall grinding--you're basically guaranteed to get it on Libra, and it's the only really worthwhile skill in Priest or War Monk (excluding Sage, for hopefully obvious reasons). You won't need to grind Libra to get it, and it'll save Inigo a slog through an otherwise not-so-great class. (Obv. he should get GF from Olivia.) If you're concerned about losing him in the recruitment chapter, Renewal is probably your best bet simply because you're almost guaranteed to have it and it works every turn. Alternatively, if you aren't concerned about healing (which, TBH, you probably shouldn't be too worried about it), Vengeance isn't a bad choice, to speed up acquisition of the full VVW triad, and you can just ignore Priest/War Monk entirely.

I haven't really decided Nah's role in the amry yet and could just as easily switch out for Donnel (for galeforce/underdog) though I am not so sure.

One of the things I love about the dark mage class is Mire shenanigans, which is why I plan to use it as Robin's finishing class, it's a whole lot easier to chip away at the enemy from a distance to allow the weaker units an easier time in killing said enemies.

Sounds like a plan for Inigo then, that will make my life easier for his paralogue that's for sure (also because someone wants to play hero )

[amiabletemplar]

I haven't really decided Nah's role in the amry yet and could just as easily switch out for Donnel (for galeforce/underdog) though I am not so sure.

It sounds like you've already got Tharja married (to a non-GF-providing father), so it sorta depends on whether Kjelle will or won't get GF. If Sully isn't already paired (or betrothed in your headcanon :P), Donnel!Kjelle may be the better choice. He gives Kjelle a slightly better selection of classes (Troubadour, Merc, and Pegasus, as opposed to Thief/Peg that Gaius would give), and none of their male-only inheritance skills is especially compelling for Kjelle. Aptitude is the best from Donnel, and Donnel!Kjelle can learn Sol/Axebreaker on her own (instead of inheriting one like she'd need to from Gaius). And if you do go Donnel!Kjelle, there's always the possibility of Gaius!Nah, which offers many of the benefits of Gregor!Nah while also providing Galeforce, while doing something to offset the Manakete's low Spd (it's only a difference of +3, but given that that's nearly a 10% increase, you take what you can get!)

The one really solid thing to be said in favor of Donnel!Nah is that the "special classes" (e.g. Manakete and Taguel) count as un-promoted but have the stat caps of promoted units, so Underdog becomes plausibly viable as a skill once you're facing exclusively promoted units. Even a max-level special class gets the bonus for promoted enemies of level 11 or higher (and you'd Second Seal to reset her level at that point anyway). Although Underdog isn't as big a bonus as Lucky Seven, it has no time limit, so it's better than Quick Burn if you can have it activate consistently. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of removing the one offensive proc that Gregor!Nah and Gaius!Nah possess, Astra (well, and Lethality too, but it hardly counts), meaning Donnel!Nah@Manakete is even more relegated to a pure-support role than she was before and, thus, sort of a waste of GF. That is, Donnel!Nah@Manakete can't get Brave weapons, will struggle to double enemies, and gets neither offensive procs nor a Faire to boost damage, so killing enemies is far less guaranteed--which means GF may not even activate.

So if Gaius is available, he's probably the better choice to get GF on Nah, and Donnel is pretty clearly better for Kjelle, if none of them are married yet. I also find the Donnel/Sully supports rather endearing; the two are cut from similar cloth, and Sully's belief that she should earn her knighthood rather than receiving it meshes well with the Donnel/Sully epilogue (she becomes, more or less, the Knight of the Farfort, while remaining close to the people of 'her land.') That's neither here nor there in terms of optimization, of course, but since much of this is 'for fun' it's worth considering.

One of the things I love about the dark mage class is Mire shenanigans, which is why I plan to use it as Robin's finishing class, it's a whole lot easier to chip away at the enemy from a distance to allow the weaker units an easier time in killing said enemies.

Understood. Sniper fulfills a similar role, then, so it's more a question of whether you already have *enough* Mire users on your team. Having a unit that can chip away at low-Def units the way Mire Sorcerers chip away at low-Res units can be useful.

Sounds like a plan for Inigo then, that will make my life easier for his paralogue that's for sure (also because someone wants to play hero )

I remember finding his paralogue an unexpected challenge, though TBF it was also one of the first I completed on my most recent file (because the shop there sells Second Seals and I had nearly run out). Good luck!

Edited February 22, 2016 by amiabletemplar

[TheSilentChloey]

It sounds like you've already got Tharja married (to a non-GF-providing father), so it sorta depends on whether Kjelle will or won't get GF. If Sully isn't already paired (or betrothed in your headcanon :P), Donnel!Kjelle may be the better choice. He gives Kjelle a slightly better selection of classes (Troubadour, Merc, and Pegasus, as opposed to Thief/Peg that Gaius would give), and none of their male-only inheritance skills is especially compelling for Kjelle. Aptitude is the best from Donnel, and Donnel!Kjelle can learn Sol/Axebreaker on her own (instead of inheriting one like she'd need to from Gaius). And if you do go Donnel!Kjelle, there's always the possibility of Gaius!Nah, which offers many of the benefits of Gregor!Nah while also providing Galeforce, while doing something to offset the Manakete's low Spd (it's only a difference of +3, but given that that's nearly a 10% increase, you take what you can get!)

The one really solid thing to be said in favor of Donnel!Nah is that the "special classes" (e.g. Manakete and Taguel) count as un-promoted but have the stat caps of promoted units, so Underdog becomes plausibly viable as a skill once you're facing exclusively promoted units. Even a max-level special class gets the bonus for promoted enemies of level 11 or higher (and you'd Second Seal to reset her level at that point anyway). Although Underdog isn't as big a bonus as Lucky Seven, it has no time limit, so it's better than Quick Burn if you can have it activate consistently. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of removing the one offensive proc that Gregor!Nah and Gaius!Nah possess, Astra (well, and Lethality too, but it hardly counts), meaning Donnel!Nah@Manakete is even more relegated to a pure-support role than she was before and, thus, sort of a waste of GF. That is, Donnel!Nah@Manakete can't get Brave weapons, will struggle to double enemies, and gets neither offensive procs nor a Faire to boost damage, so killing enemies is far less guaranteed--which means GF may not even activate.

So if Gaius is available, he's probably the better choice to get GF on Nah, and Donnel is pretty clearly better for Kjelle, if none of them are married yet. I also find the Donnel/Sully supports rather endearing; the two are cut from similar cloth, and Sully's belief that she should earn her knighthood rather than receiving it meshes well with the Donnel/Sully epilogue (she becomes, more or less, the Knight of the Farfort, while remaining close to the people of 'her land.') That's neither here nor there in terms of optimization, of course, but since much of this is 'for fun' it's worth considering.

Understood. Sniper fulfills a similar role, then, so it's more a question of whether you already have *enough* Mire users on your team. Having a unit that can chip away at low-Def units the way Mire Sorcerers chip away at low-Res units can be useful.

I remember finding his paralogue an unexpected challenge, though TBF it was also one of the first I completed on my most recent file (because the shop there sells Second Seals and I had nearly run out). Good luck!

I haven't even gotten to Tharja at all yet, I don't even have Nowi and Gregor but I was leaning towards Henry!Noire because their supports were both entertaining and the ending is actually very nice. Also Sully's already hitched but I'll certainly keep Donnel in mind next time I do a playthrough. I guess that it will leave out Severa and Yarne again because their mothers are always hard to pair up. I think I'll do Gregor!Severa and Gaius!Yarne and Donnel!Nah (for a bride/manakete build) at least for this run maybe. Afterall those are pairings that I can change up so for now they'll work...at least I'm hoping so!

Which is why I'll have Virion as the resident Sniper (as well as whoever else fits that role) that said I'll probably have lots of fun with the team this time though

Yeah I hope that Inigo's side story isn't too hard. I just have to make sure that I have Olivia get Galeforce and we're grouse

[ckc22]

I'm so depressed that no thread like this is going to exist for Fates... :(

[amiabletemplar]

I'm so depressed that no thread like this is going to exist for Fates... :(

I still think there will be a use for such a thread, even with the new system. There are still pairing choices (theoretically more of them?). I don't want to say anything in-depth because Czar_Yoshi has already requested that we avoid revealing anything before he gets a chance to see it personally.

For the topic of the thread at hand, I'm just about at the point where I can start pairing up the kid generation. I have some characters I already know the role I want for them, but others I'm less sure about. When I'm not dog-tired from having failed to sleep, I'll try to post something more substantive.

[Dangerus]

I have been trying to make a pairing chart which would sum up what pairings I had more easily... Aw well, here goes.

Chrom x Sumia (Lucina and Cynthia)

F!Avatar x Virion (Morgan)

Lissa x Lon'qu (Owain)

Frederick x Nowi (Nah)

Sully x Stahl (Kjelle)

Kellam x Miriel (Laurent)

Maribelle x Gaius (Brady)

Ricken x Panne (Yarne)

Gregor x Cordelia (Severa)

Cherche x Henry (Gerome)

Olivia x Donnel (Inigo)

Tharja x Libra (Noire)

Lucina x Brady

Laurent x Cynthia

Nah x Yarne

Kjelle x Owain

Inigo x Noire

Severa x Gerome

Morgan gets no love because of memory-loss

[TheSilentChloey]

I have been trying to make a pairing chart which would sum up what pairings I had more easily... Aw well, here goes.

Chrom x Sumia (Lucina and Cynthia)

F!Avatar x Virion (Morgan)

Lissa x Lon'qu (Owain)

Frederick x Nowi (Nah)

Sully x Stahl (Kjelle)

Kellam x Miriel (Laurent)

Maribelle x Gaius (Brady)

Ricken x Panne (Yarne)

Gregor x Cordelia (Severa)

Cherche x Henry (Gerome)

Olivia x Donnel (Inigo)

Tharja x Libra (Noire)

Lucina x Brady

Laurent x Cynthia

Nah x Yarne

Kjelle x Owain

Inigo x Noire

Severa x Gerome

Morgan gets no love because of memory-loss

Well I have a couple of suggestions if you're looking for optimization as well as fastest support building units, I hope this is helpful because I am compling everything I have learned both by playing the game and what others have suggested. Below is the pairings that I think work better or just have personal experience with.

~Tharja x Gaius:

This is the pairing if you want Galeforce of Noire. Your best bet would be to hand down a male exclusive skill to Noire as she won't be able to get them any other way (unless you use hacking, but then that's not fun). Another option would be Henry, however he doesn't give galeforce and there are some classes that over lap, Henry does give troubadour as a reclass option and can hand down a male exclusive skill like Gaius, so he is a viaible option as well. I belive that Libra is better placed elsewhere

~Sumia x Frederick:

While Chrom is alright as a father for Cynthia, Frederick gives her more stat mods over all. Most of the differences is who gives what classes and stats. Frederick give more skill while Chrom gives speed. Chrom gives you the archer classline while Frederick gives you the wyvern class line, so really it depends on what you need from Cynthia. I prefere a Cynthia that has strength and defence. Alternatively you could go for Henry. He's a more magical set up, but he's the only mage that Sumia can marry if you're doing a magical build Dark Flier Cynthia

~Cordelia x Virion:

With Virion as Severa's father she gains speed as well as the archer classline, and while Gregor is a good father who hands down a male exclusive skill, Virion gives bowfaire which could make Severa a decent bowknight if that is what you want for her. That said other fathers include Lon'qu (although you've given him to Lissa, which makes a good Owain), Ricken (magical Severa). I have heard praises for Virion!Severa, but Gregor!Severa is as close as you can get to cannon hair colour

~Nowi x Gregor:

If you want to build up support quickly, then Gregor is the best man for the job. Nowi and Gregor both grow relatively quickly in their supports and are the easiest to marry with minimal grinding required. Plus Gregor can hand down male exclusive skills.

~Sully x Donnel:

Used most to give Kjelle galeforce because she can cope with Donnel's horrific stat mods. Another more viable option is Gaius x Sully, but really Noire wants Gaius for galeforce and not Donnel. Stahl is alright though because I have used Stahl!Kjelle, but Gaius and Donnel are the better fathers here if you want Kjelle to be a little more mobile.

~Maribelle x Libra:

I've heard of this pairing and while I haven't used it, I can sort of see why it's used. It gives Brady his cannon hair colour and might give some more magical mods. However I would prefer using Vaike as Brady's father, mostly because of a headcannon of my own, but I won't go into detail because it's a little far fetched.

~Miriel x Ricken:

For the love of all that is holy do not use Kellam! He is the worst father for Laurent. I have seen this a whole lot and I will hasten now to add my own two cents. Since I have used Ricken!Laurent, here are a couple of things that I will say. Firstly Ricken!Laurent gets a +6 magic modifier over Kellam!Laurent's +4. Meaning Ricken!Luarent is better at magic and could make a great Sage even without tomefaire. That and I have some more head cannons but I'm not going to mention them, they're not worth getting into.

~Chrom x Robin:

This pairing is without a doubt the best pairing for Chrom. Not only does he benefit, but Lucina gets a good deal out of this pairing. She can get Veteran allowing her to grow quicker, Ignus as an alternate or added proc with Aether. The other advantage is that Lucina gets all of her gender permitting classes instead of a limited few. I believe the words game breaking apply here because Robin is Chrom's best match despite the less than stellar supports. Of course you could go with Chrom x Olivia if you can keep Robin away from Chrom and stop them from gaining support levels (nice and difficult). However Lucina won't gain anything worthwhile from Olivia that she can get from Robin so I wouldn't suggest it. Unless you can get Olivia to get galeforce really early on (a lot of DLC grinding which you might not want to do), then alright she might work, but I don't like the modifiers Lucina gets from Olivia.

~Stahl x Panne or Frederick x Panne would make for a better Yarne

~Olivia x Libra is good if you want a magical Inigo off the top of my head

And that is all I have for so far...I'll have to think on it more.

[Dangerus]

Well I have a couple of suggestions if you're looking for optimization as well as fastest support building units, I hope this is helpful because I am compling everything I have learned both by playing the game and what others have suggested.

I don't think I was looking for optimization (as these pairings I've stuck with in most of my runs.) I think what I was looking for was a standard rating based on the pairings themselves. Granted, your stuff would be helpful for my brother who definitely tried to do this, but these pairings I wanted rated (based on the actual support dialogue and children interactions).

I personally HATE Chrom x Robin mainly because of their support with each other being disturbing to read and very unfunny. I felt any other pairing was more organic than this pairing, even Lissa X Lon'qu which I am pretty sure nobody I know liked outside of me and my boyfriend.

Though in runs where I wasn't trying to ship myself with Virion, I shipped him with Nowi and Lissa, so I guess this helped me pair Frederick and Lon'qu in some sort of fashion in the run where I'm going to marry Yen'fay. (I think I paired Frederick with Maribelle in the run where I married Tiki).

[Admiral "Bull" Halsey]

Well it was sort of implied, judging by your list. If its not for optimization then you're free to pair with whichever characters you want at your discretion.

[Dangerus]

Well it was sort of implied, judging by your list. If its not for optimization then you're free to pair with whichever characters you want at your discretion.

Ah. That is a good point. I was just wondering what people thought of these pairings in particularly.

[Admiral "Bull" Halsey]

Well in that case:

Chrom x Sumia (Lucina and Cynthia): One of the best pairings

F!Avatar x Virion (Morgan): Okay I guess

Lissa x Lon'qu (Owain): Not great due to Myrmidon overlap : (

Frederick x Nowi (Nah): Good skill inheritance, but bad speed mods imo.

Sully x Stahl (Kjelle): Not good because of class-overlap :/

Kellam x Miriel (Laurent): Slow though... :I

Maribelle x Gaius (Brady): I guess the mods are okay...

Ricken x Panne (Yarne): uhhh is it to run a Magic Yarne?

Gregor x Cordelia (Severa): An okay pairing imo.

Cherche x Henry (Gerome): Not really sure about this one...

Olivia x Donnel (Inigo): Terrible mods/class overlaps : I

Tharja x Libra (Noire): I guess its good for getting Tomefaire, but thats really it.

I don't really have anything to say for the children...

[TheSilentChloey]

I don't think I was looking for optimization (as these pairings I've stuck with in most of my runs.) I think what I was looking for was a standard rating based on the pairings themselves. Granted, your stuff would be helpful for my brother who definitely tried to do this, but these pairings I wanted rated (based on the actual support dialogue and children interactions).

I personally HATE Chrom x Robin mainly because of their support with each other being disturbing to read and very unfunny. I felt any other pairing was more organic than this pairing, even Lissa X Lon'qu which I am pretty sure nobody I know liked outside of me and my boyfriend.

Though in runs where I wasn't trying to ship myself with Virion, I shipped him with Nowi and Lissa, so I guess this helped me pair Frederick and Lon'qu in some sort of fashion in the run where I'm going to marry Yen'fay. (I think I paired Frederick with Maribelle in the run where I married Tiki).

And I didn't mention that Chrom x F!Robin has the worst supports of the game? Chrom and Morgan's parent support are good and Lucina's supports with Robin (as her mother) are lovely. For hell sakes I hate Chrom x Sumia. Like really hate it. But I won't judge you on it.

[Dangerus]

Well in that case:

Chrom x Sumia (Lucina and Cynthia): One of the best pairings

F!Avatar x Virion (Morgan): Okay I guess

Lissa x Lon'qu (Owain): Not great due to Myrmidon overlap : (

Frederick x Nowi (Nah): Good skill inheritance, but bad speed mods imo.

Sully x Stahl (Kjelle): Not good because of class-overlap :/

Kellam x Miriel (Laurent): Slow though... :I

Maribelle x Gaius (Brady): I guess the mods are okay...

Ricken x Panne (Yarne): uhhh is it to run a Magic Yarne?

Gregor x Cordelia (Severa): An okay pairing imo.

Cherche x Henry (Gerome): Not really sure about this one...

Olivia x Donnel (Inigo): Terrible mods/class overlaps : I

Tharja x Libra (Noire): I guess its good for getting Tomefaire, but thats really it.

I don't really have anything to say for the children...

Knowing how speedy I am, the pairings where speed is a concern actually help me slow the Hell down. I mainly pick the pairings based on the supports themselves, and read how they interact with each other. It's mainly why Chrom x Robin is such a turnoff for me since it's a cliche in itself.

I had no idea class overlap was such a bad thing. I thought if they optimized their class skills, then they would be the best at that skill and therefore someone we can depend on for the skills in there (and seeing the classes that people complain about happen to be melee, I went for it). But if it is bad because nobody can be flexible, then that is okay too.

And I didn't mention that Chrom x F!Robin has the worst supports of the game? Chrom and Morgan's parent support are good and Lucina's supports with Robin (as her mother) are lovely. For hell sakes I hate Chrom x Sumia. Like really hate it. But I won't judge you on it.

I didn't mention it either. I was just saying I personally hated it and said my reasons. I didn't say it is the worst support in the game. That's the female!Robin and Tiki support. I mean, I love Tiki, but I really think Female!Robin was being childish.

It's fine. I had other people explain why they hate Chrom x Sumia and my brother himself prefers Chrom x Sully. Like the only reason I ship Chrom with Sumia is because I can't ship Chrom with Cordelia.

It's funny, every person that does an optimal pairing thing picks Vaike over other people. I don't know why, but I don't see the specialty in Vaike. He's one of the people I just never ship regardless of the playthrough.

[Bane]

Knowing how speedy I am, the pairings where speed is a concern actually help me slow the Hell down. I mainly pick the pairings based on the supports themselves, and read how they interact with each other. It's mainly why Chrom x Robin is such a turnoff for me since it's a cliche in itself.

I had no idea class overlap was such a bad thing. I thought if they optimized their class skills, then they would be the best at that skill and therefore someone we can depend on for the skills in there (and seeing the classes that people complain about happen to be melee, I went for it). But if it is bad because nobody can be flexible, then that is okay too.

I didn't mention it either. I was just saying I personally hated it and said my reasons. I didn't say it is the worst support in the game. That's the female!Robin and Tiki support. I mean, I love Tiki, but I really think Female!Robin was being childish.

It's fine. I had other people explain why they hate Chrom x Sumia and my brother himself prefers Chrom x Sully. Like the only reason I ship Chrom with Sumia is because I can't ship Chrom with Cordelia.

It's funny, every person that does an optimal pairing thing picks Vaike over other people. I don't know why, but I don't see the specialty in Vaike. He's one of the people I just never ship regardless of the playthrough.

Vaike is really good in specific circumstances. Severa can run pretty good physically oriented lead sets with him, he's a good choice for Kjelle, Nah and Noire if you don't give them a galeforce dad, and he's good for Yarne and Gerome if you can patch their accuracy issues while running Berserker (by having other people run Hex, Anathema and Charm or using the situationally useful Tantivy). He also provides Axefaire to the girls if you pass it to them along with the highest strength physical class (General) and also offers Hero to use Axefaire and give Speed on pairup. He passes Berserker to boys that don't have it, and Berserker is quite good if you can fix the hit rate problems it has due to low skill.

As for your pairs:

Chrom x Sumia (Lucina and Cynthia): is quite good.

F!Avatar x Virion (Morgan): Pick a class that uses one of Virion's -faire skills and he'll do fine.

Lissa x Lon'qu (Owain): Owain won't have a reliable damage boosting proc skill (Luna, Vengeance), but he'll at least be fast.

Frederick x Nowi (Nah): I'd recommend a father with a physical weapon -faire skill to take advantage of her high strength, but if you keep her a manakete it won't matter. You can put both Pavise and Aegis on her if you're feeling that but by the time you get those skills her stats will be high enough it won't matter.

Sully x Stahl (Kjelle): Archer offers little besides Bowfaire, she's basically Sully but has higher stats.

Kellam x Miriel (Laurent): Laurent doesn't really need anything Kellam gives, but you can pass Pavise from Kellam without much difficulty and try running a bulky mage during the maingame.

Maribelle x Gaius (Brady): Brady gets the skills and classes he wants from Maribelle, he wants better stats from his father and Gaius gives him more of the speed and skill he wants.

Ricken x Panne (Yarne): Yarne can run support Berserker with Hit +20 patching Berserker's poor hit rate and he can run Tomefaire sage if you like that. A solid pairing for a support unit.

Gregor x Cordelia (Severa): Gregor gives Swordfaire and Axefaire and gives Severa more physical options.

Cherche x Henry (Gerome): Gerome gets Berserker from Henry and Anathema and Hex to patch Berserker's bad hit rates. This is the best Gerome you can run if you want a physical support,

Olivia x Donnel (Inigo): Inigo doesn't get any new classes from this, but you can pass Aptitude if you want him to grow quickly. Donnel...unfortunately doesn't give much to Inigo.

Tharja x Libra (Noire): Tomefaire is good, but that's just about the only important skill she gets out of this pair due to the large overlap class overlap Libra has and that he shares with Tharja.

Unless you're trying some of the hardest stuff in the game you have a lot of freedom to run whatever you want and be okay.

[aeroblast]

Hey, I'm the person who asked for help on a gay Apo run a few pages back. Thanks to some new hacking advances, the Spotpass characters, Flavia, and Say'ri can now support. I was originally planning on Chrom/Gaius, MU/second gen, Olivia/Sully, Cordelia/Panne, Sumia/Cherche, Maribelle/Miriel, Lissa/Tharja, and just kinda ditching Nowi. Now, though, Aversa, Emmeryn, and Say'ri are also viable wives, and they all pass Peg. Slightly less relevant are Flavia (passes GK, Assassin, and BK), Anna (passes Sage, Sniper, and Assassin), and Tiki (passes Sage and Wyvern).

Problems I've noticed with the old pairings are that Severa is basically just at base with better mods and Assassin (EDIT: wait, never mind, I'm wrong, she gets Wyvern and the speed for it, this is actually kind of great), Cynthia gets absolutely nothing relevant from Cherche, and of course Nah just doesn't exist.

Note that this is specifically a gay run, so I'm not doing any straight marriages (to mix things up). I'm also going to be restarting the run with FeMU this time.

What should I change?

Edited February 29, 2016 by aeroblast

[TheSilentChloey]

What skill should I have Gaius give Yarne? I know that Gaius is not the best father, but he's the one that I have left and I think he might actually give some speed to Yarne...at least I'm hoping so.

[amiabletemplar]

What skill should I have Gaius give Yarne? I know that Gaius is not the best father, but he's the one that I have left and I think he might actually give some speed to Yarne...at least I'm hoping so.

Actually, for Yarne it's less a matter of what he inherits from his father (who will never have anything truly special to offer) than from his mother: Yarne is one of the few children who fails to inherit a non-gender-exclusive class, getting Barbarian instead of Wyvern Rider. Since Gaius!Yarne doesn't get that class line, you'll want to pass down one of its skills; generally Lancebreaker is favored to deal with Beast Killers. (For a Yarne that spends most of his time in the back row, though, you could get away with Quick Burn, or maybe Deliverer if you really need the extra Mov.) Given that one of the factions in his recruitment chapter specifically *has* Beast Killers for their fight with the other faction, it's probably a really good idea to go with Lancebreaker, if you have any concerns about his survival--+50 Avoid is *huge.*

As for what Gaius can give him: Yarne starts in a dangerous position, so something that helps save his bacon can be really useful. Vantage is a possibility, but risky, so I wouldn't do that. I'd go for Lucky Seven, personally: it's a solid boost, you'll have it for more than long enough to get him to safety, and works for everyone, regardless of weapons or stats. Alternative possibilities: Astra (weapon-agnostic, offensive proc) or Sol (healing). But my money is still on Lucky Seven. If you go for the grand prize (fighting both merc groups), you'll want that extra safety net. Combined with Lancebreaker, you're looking at +70 Hit/Avo against lances for the first 7 turns--should be enough to keep him safe. :P

Edited February 29, 2016 by amiabletemplar