PAIRINGS The Pairing Thread

[Knusperkeks]

What would a good skill set be for Gregor!Noire? I'm thinking I could use her as a sniper for bosses. So maybe LB/Astra/Luna/Bowfaire/All +2?

From personal experience; If you like setting up crits:

Use a staff bot with Anathema/Solidarity next to Noire.

Skills: Vengeance, Dual Support+, Wrath, Bowfaire, Limit Breaker

If you don't want to rely on rng crits, exchange Wrath with All+2.

To make crit good, one really needs to balls to the wall with forges and all kinds of stuff. But I believe it's worth it. Though relying on multiple die rolls is dangerous in it's own right.

This is why I like Vengeance. It's very reliable to go off and deal huge damage even if one does not crit. Incidentally, Wrath works wonderfully with Vengeance.

Even Thronie craps his pants whenever he is about to get crit by a Longbow. I've been there. It's not as unlikely to happen as one might think, especially with Limit Breaker. Exploiting Olivia to the max is a given.

[Irysa]

After having spent the better part of a few days reading through support conversations across the cast, I've pretty much given up on trying to be a good matchmaker in terms of actual chemistry between characters in this game. There's a few that are nice, but the total number is so small and overlaps a lot. I basically just decided to give up and instead go for eugenics and hair colours.

However, I don't really have the will to just blitz through the game again, seeing as I've been through it once on nogrind Lunatic and nogrind Lunatic+ each, and would like to use some of the cast I missed a chance to use before. So whilst the most sensible thing to do might be just to go play through the whole game, then check out Apo stats and stuff, then experiment with pairings and marry everyone in DLC maps , I feel that sort of takes away from the ingame Lunatic playthrough experience where I'm doing some goofy stuff like Myrmidon!Stahl and Cleric!Avatar. I mean I guess technically I have a Lunatic+ file sitting at endgame with everyone alive and only a ChromxRobin pairing but it's really not the same when you don't get to experience the regular maps and stuff, you know? (plus I want to marry Libra)

So um, the idea of doing a purely cookie cutter setup seems kind of dull, so I was wondering - how important is final class choice for S.Apo anyway? I kinda wanna just run aesthetic final classes. I guess I should just go like, actually play the damn map with whatever basic setup first before I start caring about stuff like that, but that runs into the problem of not having any preference towards many pairings due to not liking most of the cast. <_<

Oh well whatever. The easiest way to go about this is probably just listing characters I definitely want to actually USE on the map.

Valk/WarCleric!Robin x WarMonk!Libra - Pure support. Maybe if I really need it I'll just have a DarkFlier!Robin x Sage!Libra, but the idea of a supporting only pair is fun.

WarMonk!Morgan - He probably won't marry anyone, and will take up the cloth, just like his dad. Then again, his dad fathered a kid, so I guess that's not the best analogy. Plus he could actually like, get AxeFaire for that totally neccessary +5 Mag with a BoltAxe! >_>

GreatLord!Chrom x DarkFlier!Sumia - Don't actually know if DF is a good idea, just chucking ideas out, but Czar says she can front as 1st Gen and I'd assume a Tomefaire Dark Flier is her best way of doing it, unless Falco is somehow viable, since I prefer how it looks. I'm guessing Bow Knight or Sniper on Chrom would be better due to Bowfaire from Sniper and more useful pairup bonuses, but I really like infantry lance users...if I have to I don't mind making him one of those though, just I'd really prefer not to.

GreatLord!Lucina x ? - I know Dark!Flier is probably (if not definitely better) for the same reasons as Sumia but once again, I really love infantry lancing, and she can get Lancefaire so it's not a total wash. Plus I really do love her Lord and GreatLord designs.

DarkFlier!Cynthia x ? - Once again if possible I'd prefer to Falco.

DarkFlier!Cordelia x ? - I was originally going to just put her with Gregor because I think that's the only decent romantic support line she has but considering I don't actually like Cordelia herself very much and enjoy Gregor's demeanour, I figured that was kinda a waste, so I can settle for someone else. Once again I am simply "assuming" Dark Flier is ideal, but would prefer to use Falco. Honestly she's more like filler since I don't like her that much but may be lacking on combat pairs otherwise.

Hero!Severa x ? - ...Having said that being said about pairing Cordelia with Gregor, an Axefaire Hero sounds nice, and she gets red hair, which is pretty appealing! I guess Vaike or Henry can substitute for this but you get a way worse Severa haircolour. There's DarkFlier I guess, and if Falcos are viable I can work with just about anyone else, but Axefaire Hero is something I'd like her to do. Unless Swords are supposed to be better or something. IIRC Inigo can pull it off no matter what too so, eh.

Brady - It's silly, but some way of making him into some kind of AxeFaire BoltAxe supporting WarMonk would be cool...Warrior would be fine too, but IIRC his Str Mods are pretty bad. I can live with Sage I guess, since he does look pretty swag in it.

Inigo - I have honestly no clue what I'd want him to do. He seems pretty versatile on paper.

Kjelle - I guess I'm probably locked to doing a Gaius x Sully for her, but I have NFI what I'd want her to do either.

Unless Morgan actually does marry a girl after all I'd need more dudes, and I hate Owain, so that leaves Laurent and Gerome I guess? I care even less about what they do. Although I really hate Berserker, so thats a thing I'd try to avoid. I can cut Kjelle though and maybe have Morgan marry after all I suppose. Agh maybe Cynthia x Owain would be kinda funny after all, they do kind of fit...

Say'ri x Tiki - Surely Dark Flier Sayri x Sage Tiki can work? lol. Although I would prefer Swordmaster Say'ri and a Manakete Tiki, but I kinda doubt that would be acceptable in Apo. I do really want to use both of them though.

Gregor x ?

Stahl x ?

Virion x ?

Henry x ?

Lon'qu x ?

Dudes I don't dislike and all have faires so they can probably support someone acceptably? Probably a bigger problem is finding other first gen women I'd want to use combatatively to go with them. Although honestly, in Henry's case I'd way rather use him in Sorc, even if that's a garbage pairup for Apo. Is using Mire on stuff reason enough to use him as one? If Henry's mirin' (kill me) then he can probably get whoever as a Mag support and not give much of a shit and still be deployed, which would be nice. I'd also kinda prefer if Stahl could be a Swordfaire Paladin instead of a Sniper/BowKnight, but if needs must...

Maribelle x ? - Can she frontline in Apo? I mean she does have Tomefaire DarkFlier available to her so...I'd rather she be in Valk, but I can live with just being like, a Rescue/Demo bot. Or something.

Cherche x ? - I get the impression she doesn't have the tools to actually do stuff in Apo besides staffbot. :(

Combat Olivia x ? - I really doubt this is better than dancing even if she can pull off a frontline role, so this is kinda just out there for kicks.

That about sums up chars I wanna use

Edited April 16, 2015 by Irysa

[Shadow Mir]

Although honestly, in Henry's case I'd way rather use him in Sorc, even if that's a garbage pairup for Apo. Is using Mire on stuff reason enough to use him as one?

In a word: Nope. Mire sniping is NVE in Apo.

[isetrh]

Boots: I used them so I could have 8 Mov on my main 8 combat pairs (basically using them as spare Deliverers). If that's not a concern, you should give them to one of the pairs you expect to use most outside of Apo (because face it, you're not deploying 8 combat pairs on every map and some of your pairs are going to be funner to use than others). This would probably be either pairs who have an exceptionally large amount of class options (such as Stahl!Owain), or double Armsthrift access. Also try to give them to the female over the male, since females tend to end their turns in front in Apo.

Skills: I plan my in-game team ahead of time so that all the units I plan on using will also be able to get their passdown skills in a reasonable amount of time. Not getting the children until later is an option for some pairs where the mother is really useful anyway (like Owain), but it generally works out best this way.

Thanks. Looking at it that way, there really are a lot of girls who would like the Boots--everyone but Kjelle, Nah, and Sumia. I guess I'll wait until I've seen them all in action.

The bit on skills also interests me, because my current optimization run is going surprisingly well just out of Ch 4 (besides 8 Def lv 17 Avatar...) without having done any grinding, and I think I might be able to get through L+ before going all-out and collecting skills. I got an early Master Seal from Anna, so I'm considering going Tact->Grandmaster->Berserker to be able to pass down Wrath or AF to Lucina!Morgan. My Avatar is +Mag -Def though, so Berserker doesn't suit him very well... Would this be a bad idea? The alternative is probably waiting until postgame to get Morgan.

Edited April 16, 2015 by isetrh

[Bovinian]

Final class choice is mainly for movement and reaching Spd caps, and to a lesser extent Str/Mag and Skill for Dual Strike procs. Regardless, Pair Up and Brave weapons break S. Apo so you can probably just go with anything and style all you want.

Limited deployment slots and not being able to double/trigger DSes/trigger procs makes Mire pretty terrible in Apo, especially since the supporting partner won't really be able to make any contributions.

You don't really need or want too many combat pairs, so you might want to have any Gen 1 unit who has access to a staff-using class (besides Robin and I guess Sumia) just stick to staffbotting and let the children do the fighting. If you decide to go with "less than optimal" combat units you're gonna need a good number of staffbots, so you might as well leave that role to the parents.

As for Libra, if you want to make him a supporting War Monk the best you can do skill-wise is probably something like LB/Aggressor/AllStats+2/Hex/Anathema.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Bovinian

[Czar_Yoshi]

After having spent the better part of a few days reading through support conversations across the cast, I've pretty much given up on trying to be a good matchmaker in terms of actual chemistry between characters in this game. There's a few that are nice, but the total number is so small and overlaps a lot. I basically just decided to give up and instead go for eugenics and hair colours.

Every one of those "I'll do this for gameplay, but I'd rather..." can work the way you want it (some of yours are actually better). The only one to watch out for is SM Say'ri x Manakete Tiki- they won't self-destruct or anything but they will be extremely underwhelming and probably miss kills even with all boosts applied (no S support, no Aggressor, no supporting Braves, and the lead is in a class with bad Str).

GLs give really nice Spd bonuses when supporting. If you can find a way to take advantage of those, they're perfectly good units. Sumia will be fast enough with a GL supporting that she won't see any Spd benefit from switching to Falco, but with Chrom's 100% DS she can still get KOes easily. The biggest benefactor of Lucina's high Spd and DSt+ is going to be Monk Brady, since he's normally going to be pretty slow and without Braves he'll want her 100% DS. Henry is an Axefaire dad with +1 Mag, so he fits well on Brady if you like.

Falco Cynthia is cool. She'd like a Dread Fighter support (Laurent/Gerome? Stahl!Owain@DF, were you to use him, is the best of the best at this).

Falco Cordelia is fine too (though keep in mind that there are a lot of Axes in S.Apo and having half of your team lancelocked might be annoying). A +Spd support would really float her boat, and Virion/Lon'qu would really float Severa's.

Vaike and Lon'qu are Hero Severa's best options (Axes only have 1mt more than Swords, it's not a very big difference). If you prefer Gregor's hair, she'll have to use Vengeance over Luna but is otherwise pretty similar to Vaike.

Stahl and Henry are Inigo's favorites out of those fathers. Since you've got a lot of girls wanting +Spd supports, that would be a good job for him to fill- he has Assassin, Hero and BK at base, and Stahl gives him Paladin too.

Gaius!Kjelle is really good but not mandatory- if you do use her, she's best as a Paladin/Wyvern Lord.

My Avatar is +Mag -Def though, so Berserker doesn't suit him very well... Would this be a bad idea?

I took my +Mag/-Def Avatar through Barb on my most recent for fun run (Hard/Cla) and he was really derpy. In Lunatic+ nogrind I think that would be shooting yourself in the foot about as hard as you can- if you do it anyway, have an Arms Scroll on hand to get Hand Axes immediately, and get out as fast as possible.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Czar_Yoshi

[dannycalad]

Can I get some input on my pairings?

MU(+Mag/-Str) x Tharje

Chrom x Olivia

Donnel x Sully

Ricken x Lissa

Gaius x Nowi

Henry x Sumia

Stahl x Cordelia

Fredrick x Panne

Gregor x Miriel

Lon'qu x Maribelle

Vaike x Cherche

Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again guys.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Have you made them yet? It would be good to know if changes are on the table or if you're trying to make the best of what you have.

Anyway those pairings look pretty old- some of them are tried and true but a lot of them have fairly major weaknesses. Stahl doesn't put Severa in a good position to take advantage of Cordelia's +2 Spd and natural proc, Chrom x Olivia leaves the kids with no high mods and Lucina with no Tomefaire, Vaike doesn't give Gerome any +Hit skills (same goes for Fred!Yarne, though he cares a little less), Henry fathering Cynthia means he can't father anyone else, Donnel puts Kjelle in the same situation as Severa (unable to take advantage of her naturally high Spd and proc, but is now painfully slow instead of average), Gaius's Spd and GF don't go to very good use on Nah, and marrying your Avatar to Tharja both saddles him with a really bad wife and gives you an extra GF unit you'll never be able to use due to them not having a husband. You're also not using Virion, who is one of the best fathers in the game.

Anyway, Severa will either want to be a Hero, Sniper or Paladin. Unless she's a Hero she'll want All+2, and either way she wants a Berserker support (Gerome or Yarne). Lucina will take whoever Severa doesn't take. Cynthia will probably wind up doing a generic Sage x DF (or Valkyrie if you prefer them), Laurent is a good partner for this. Kjelle will either want to take an Assassin pairup or be an Assassin herself (either way, she's stick with Inigo). Morgan and Noire will both want good magical husbands so use Owain and Brady there. Nah will get stuck on the bench since there's nobody left for her to marry (a shame to waste a dad as good as Gaius, but Donnel!Kjelle is still better than her).

Edited April 17, 2015 by Czar_Yoshi

[Byron]

So if I've read the advice correctly, my best pairings are likely to be;

Chrom x Sumia

Donnel x Tharja

Gaius x Sully

Maribelle x Lon'qu

Cordelia x Virion (I can live with blue hair)

Nowi x Henry

Panne x Libra

Frederick x Olivia

Lissa x Stahl

Cherche x Vaike

Ricken x Miriel

My avatar I believe is +Mag -Def so I'm looking at a 2nd tier husband with good Magic mods. Brady or Laurent spring to mind.

Thanks for Joycdonnell and Czar_Yoshi. I feel as if I'm almost there just looking for any last touch ups effectively.

So pairings are all now set (as in most are now married, with the exception of a couple) and I'm looking at how I want these characters to develop. I am thinking Apo/Future Past completion, as they are the only DLC missions I've not completed. So.....

Lucina: Sumia seems to give her big Skl/Spd mods, so that would learn her towards a class with ranged abilities. She does seem to boss any class she's in, but currently I got her through Great Lord, then Paladin and now she's on Bow Knight. I'm thinking Bride for her final class after that.

Cynthia/Morgan: They've always gone Falcon Knight/Grandmaster. I'm happy to take suggestions, but am under the impression that these two kids are basically broken no matter what they have.

Noire: Noire is one of my favourite kids, and I'm not sure where to go with her. On previous playthroughs she's always ended up as a Bride, but now she has Donnel as a dad (Gaius was always her father previously) I'm wondering if that's still right. Previously she was set up as a Bride with Vengeance and Lethality.

Kjelle: She usually got benched fairly early on, but I'm thinking cookie cutter Hero, once she's got Lethality, Swordfaire, Astra and the like.

Brady: No clue here. Previously Mari was always married to a magic user, so being able to go physical Brady is strange. I am thinking a Nosfertank for him though, with Lifetaker, Vengeance, Tomefaire and possibly a physical breaker?

Severa: The only kid other than Luci that I've recruited. She's already bossing through the Hero class but being Virion's daughter she doesn't seem to have many other options. Wyvern Lord maybe?

Nah: No clue here, this pairing is completely new, so welcome to suggestions. Thinking Manatank though.

Yarne: He seems to need Berseker, so providing that line is available, that's where I'll be going.

Inigo/Owain: No clue. He's always gone Dread Fighter in the past. They are grouped as I've always taken them down the same or similar lines.

Gerome: Berserker right? Seems like there's no other real option for him.

Laurent: Likewise, seems like he should go through Dark Knight/Sorc and then finish up as a Sage.

None of these are set in stone and can be changed (I've got the patience for it) so all and any suggestions welcome, especially on Skills.

Also as a random question, I've noticed it said that Virion is now one of the best fathers in the game? Any idea why? I get that for Severa, he's freeing up a father who can be much better served elsewhere (like Lon'qu). I guess I'm just confused as to how the meta has evolved, as my last playthrough was all about Chrolivia and Virion being consigned to the dustbin at the first possible opportunity.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Byron

[Knusperkeks]

Also as a random question, I've noticed it said that Virion is now one of the best fathers in the game? Any idea why? I get that for Severa, he's freeing up a father who can be much better served elsewhere (like Lon'qu). I guess I'm just confused as to how the meta has evolved, as my last playthrough was all about Chrolivia and Virion being consigned to the dustbin at the first possible opportunity.

I don't know what meta you're talking about since the game didn't evolve in any way since it's launch, but Virion has Archer, Mage and Wyvern Rider available to him. He is very versatile with +2 skl, +2 spd, -1 lck, -2 def as mods. He can't help improve his children to the point at which they're top dogs, but they'll be decent at what they do, at least that's my impression.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Lucina: try Sniper as an ending class. Bride will work, but if you haven't got Luna yet you should definitely do that first. Renewal is also a a useful skill for non-Apo postgame she can get, so it's on the table too.

Cynthia: exact same thing as Lucina but without GL and DSt+. Fliers, Paladin and Sniper all make for good ending classes, though she's pretty frail so you may want to stick to something bulky until Apo (where durability doesn't matter).

Morgan: who's her mother?

Noire: Lethality has no effect in Apo so don't use it there. She can be a Bride, but Sniper is pretty much the same thing but better (in Apo, at least).

Kjelle doesn't have Hero. Don't bench her either, she's one of the top performing children- use her as a Paladin or Wyvern Lord.

Brady: Lon'qu has 0/0 Str/Mag mods, he's completely neutral. Brady's Str is going to be 5 below his Mag (-2/3), so I don't really think this counts as an opportunity to go physical. Nostanks don't work in Apo, so don't bother with one of those- stick to offense as a Sage (or DK if you like movement). Luna is good.

Severa has tons of options, including four good Tome classes (do Sage first for TF), four flying classes (Wyvern and Peg promotion trees- only Griffon is bad), and Sniper.

Nah: tanking doesn't work very well in Apo. Henry!Nah's special gig is as a Valkyrie with either a ton of support auras (like Hex/Anathema) or a critstacking build (Anathema, Wrath, DSp+, Vengeance, 3/0/15 Katarina's Bolt).

Yarne: pick up Hex/Anathema for him first, and run through Assassin or something before heading to Berserker- you don't want to have him all ready for Apo but with a massive hole in his Hit (if you stick to low Skl classes, he might not cap in time).

Owain will make a good DF, but Inigo probably wants something a little more physical- a support Paladin would float his boat, as would a Hero.

Gerome: yep, not much else he can do. You could take him through Sage for fun but his Mag will stink. Running through the Wyvern tree for Breakers (+Hit mostly) is also a good idea.

Laurent: pretty much. But you could also send him through some physical classes prior to doing Apo if you want- he's got a pretty great selection to choose from.

Virion hasn't changed, people have just realized that he's actually great. Initially he got bypassed in the main game due to not being able to soak up exp on enemy phase (which is apparently the same as being a bad unit) and as such everyone figured he must be terrible and completely overlooked him; he also contributed no Luna/Galeforce to any children at a time when the people running the show were completely blind to things like Spd mods and hitrates.

The reason he's considered good now is because of how many children he's good on: he's the best for certain builds of Severa, Yarne and Gerome (his Severa and Yarne being top-tier children) and useful for hard support Nahs and an excellent filler option for Brady. Being the situationally best father for three different children is not common; most fathers can only hope to be the best for one or two, and there are a few that can be good on ~four, but being the best on that many is really rare.

Note that the reason I say situationally is that there are some cases where it's a tie in general usefulness and who's better comes down to how your other pairs play out; Stahl and Virion!Yarne are functionally very similar but Stahl offers +2 Str and Virion offers +1 Skl over eachother.

[Byron]

Thanks Czar. Morgan's mother is FeMU. Her father is yet to be decided but was thinking Brady or Lauren for a Super Sage.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Her father

?

Anyway both of those will work. Morgan-M cares more about Atk and Skl than Spd so they'll be fine.

[Irysa]

Every one of those "I'll do this for gameplay, but I'd rather..." can work the way you want it (some of yours are actually better). The only one to watch out for is SM Say'ri x Manakete Tiki- they won't self-destruct or anything but they will be extremely underwhelming and probably miss kills even with all boosts applied (no S support, no Aggressor, no supporting Braves, and the lead is in a class with bad Str).

Thanks again for the feedback.

Actually, what you said made me think again - how legit ARE A support only pairs anyway at those kinds of stat thresholds? Obviously I'd imagine you aren't going to be reaching 100% DS, but I'm kinda intruiged by what one could expect, given you said full on A supports were still fine earlier or something.

Sorry for going off on tangents a lot about frivolous things, just geninuely curious.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Irysa

[Knusperkeks]

A supports aren't as reliable as married couples, that's all.

[Vascela]

If you don't care about dual strike, dual guard, and 5% hit rate, then A supports really aren't different from S supports.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Vascela

[Irysa]

Well, sure, that much I can gauge myself. I was just wondering how important those extra points of dualstrike actually matter is all. People make a big deal about 100% DS among other things.

[Knusperkeks]

Generally, 1 or 2% of Dual Strike isn't a big deal, but if you lose percents to not having Limit Breaker, or utilize classes with low skill stat cap or a combination of these and other smaller but similar reasons, then it will make itself apparent soon enough.

[Vascela]

I use 0% dual strike, so it doesn't really mean anything to me. But there is a noticeable effect if you go from 85% to 95%. It's worth your time to do S ranks unless you specifically have reasons to exclude them.

[Irysa]

I use 0% dual strike, so it doesn't really mean anything to me

I'm guessing you just VVcrit everything but instead of oneshotting just calc and balance the damage you're taking constantly so that there's enough of a damage boost to get ORKOs but you're never exposed for death?

It's worth your time to do S ranks unless you specifically have reasons to exclude them.

I was briefly entertaining the idea of "Girls only" or something along those lines, staffbots aside, since I'm so loathe to many of the opposite sex supports in this game. But I guess I should really stop going on about what ifs and just settle for some aesthetic classes and try it myself before I bother laying on extra challenges.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Irysa

[Vascela]

I don't use crit, I just V/V with Ursula supported by Nino. It's just not really plausible for those two to get 100% Dual Strike...

Just know that you'll be down 10% on dual strike--that's going to be the most noticeable downfall. If you play your cards right, then it shouldn't be too bad after all. Since Apo is much, much more about knowledge and mentality than a few stat points here and there. As long as you budget rallies, rescues, and good positioning; then, you should be fine.

[Knusperkeks]

I was briefly entertaining the idea of "Girls only" or something along those lines, staffbots aside, since I'm so loathe to many of the opposite sex supports in this game. But I guess I should really stop going on about what ifs and just settle for some aesthetic classes and try it myself before I bother laying on extra challenges.

Don't give up. Homosexuality is a great thing, let it blossom wherever it may. This is the 21st century after all.

Use Lucina's Dual Strike+ to balance the loss of S rank. Same works for Chrom. FOLLOW YOUR HEART!

I'm hetero sexual, just for the record.

[dannycalad]

Have you made them yet? It would be good to know if changes are on the table or if you're trying to make the best of what you have.

Anyway those pairings look pretty old- some of them are tried and true but a lot of them have fairly major weaknesses. Stahl doesn't put Severa in a good position to take advantage of Cordelia's +2 Spd and natural proc, Chrom x Olivia leaves the kids with no high mods and Lucina with no Tomefaire, Vaike doesn't give Gerome any +Hit skills (same goes for Fred!Yarne, though he cares a little less), Henry fathering Cynthia means he can't father anyone else, Donnel puts Kjelle in the same situation as Severa (unable to take advantage of her naturally high Spd and proc, but is now painfully slow instead of average), Gaius's Spd and GF don't go to very good use on Nah, and marrying your Avatar to Tharja both saddles him with a really bad wife and gives you an extra GF unit you'll never be able to use due to them not having a husband. You're also not using Virion, who is one of the best fathers in the game.

Anyway, Severa will either want to be a Hero, Sniper or Paladin. Unless she's a Hero she'll want All+2, and either way she wants a Berserker support (Gerome or Yarne). Lucina will take whoever Severa doesn't take. Cynthia will probably wind up doing a generic Sage x DF (or Valkyrie if you prefer them), Laurent is a good partner for this. Kjelle will either want to take an Assassin pairup or be an Assassin herself (either way, she's stick with Inigo). Morgan and Noire will both want good magical husbands so use Owain and Brady there. Nah will get stuck on the bench since there's nobody left for her to marry (a shame to waste a dad as good as Gaius, but Donnel!Kjelle is still better than her).

No I haven't made any marriages yet with the exception of Olivia x Chrome. But I have a save file before I married Olivia so I can take that marriage back. Seems like I have a lot of unfavorable pairings. Considering I have a MaMU +Mag -Str, what should be my pairings?

[Ezrius]

So full disclosure: I'm not great at this game. I don't play on Lunatic but I have aspirations to go after Apoptosis at some point (and I would use DLC and LB), and I prefer to play classic to keep it from being overly forgiving. Most times I've restarted before getting to that point just to try out different pairing combinations, and this will be my first playthrough with a FeMU, as I've begun to feel that the female avatar will simply be more useful later because of her GF access. Anyway, where I'm still early enough to cut bait on this concept, I figured I'd lay my plans at the feet of the experts and hear your thoughts. I should also mention that, while I know how powerful magic units are in this game, I trend towards physical units with high Skill/Speed (Avatar is Speed/Luck). I always do, it's just a preference thing, but it may explain why I don't necessarily want standard pairings:

Olivia!Lucina: Gives Lucina Swordfaire so she can make use of Falchion, and Galeforce. This was more about Inigo than her.

Chrom!Inigo: Rightful King may not be as good as I think, but it was part of my motivation for this build. Likely either a Hero or Sniper.

Inigo!Morgan: Again, Rightful King may not be what I think it is. Ignis and Rightful King on a Dread Fighter seemed like something that would work well. Pair with Kjelle?

Gaius!Kjelle: Kjelle is awesome and I did not want to ruin her with Donnel. Unsure whether to pass down Sol or Axebreaker.

Henry!Cynthia: Whereas I usually go for the tried and true Chrom!Cynthia, I gave her Henry with Chrom occupied. Dark Flier with Tomefaire, likely paired with Owain or Brady.

Ricken!Owain: I've been trying to build a physical Owain every time I've played ("Sword hand" and all). This is me giving up and making the best of his magic stats. Likely a Sage.

Lon'Qu!Brady: I've never had a bad Brady. Usually I give him Henry, but here I've gone with Lon'Qu. Not sure what to make of it, but should be fine with such high skill.

Virion!Severa: Fast, deadly, not a terrible hair color. Should wreck just about everything with a berserker partner (Germome/Yarne), with the other going to Lucina.

Gregor!Gerome: Slightly worried? He wants an Archer dad for Hit +20, but Armsthrift is great, too. I basically ended up with Gregor/Stahl for AT and +1 Skill? Mistake?

Stahl!Yarne: I wish I liked Yarne, the character, as much as I like Yarne, the stats. Whatever. He'll be good Berseker support for Lucina (or Severa).

Vaike!Nah: This is where I start to get iffy. I don't like Nah, Noire, or Laurent much, and lack motivation to try hard. I hate pairing her up where she looks like she's 12.

Donnel!Noire: Galeforce is just about my only reasoning here. I'd likely attach her to Whichever magic male Cynthia doesn't take.

Libra!Laurent: Best remaining Magic mod? Kellam and Fred offered more classes but seemed strictly worse, and I was out of magi-users to pair him with.

If Rightful King is just bad, I may want to change this (I haven't even recruited Henry/Lucina yet, I'm working on grinding Galeforce moms). If I do restart, I'd still like to trend towards more physical builds, unless that just makes Apoptosis completely and utterly hopeless.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Ezrius

[isetrh]

Ezrius: I haven't actually played Apo myself, but from what I hear and from how the numbers look, any pairings can clear Apo without too much difficulty as long as you have LB and Rallies. Optimal pairings just trivialize it harder. For many in this thread, optimization is a goal in and of itself, but it isn't necessary to beat Apo. I haven't really looked at your pairings (nor am I the most qualified to do so), but it seems like you've put a fair amount of thought into them. You shouldn't have any problem with Apo being unbeatable.

I took my +Mag/-Def Avatar through Barb on my most recent for fun run (Hard/Cla) and he was really derpy. In Lunatic+ nogrind I think that would be shooting yourself in the foot about as hard as you can- if you do it anyway, have an Arms Scroll on hand to get Hand Axes immediately, and get out as fast as possible.

No Morgan this playthrough then, I guess. Oh well. Thanks. Edited April 18, 2015 by isetrh