PAIRINGS The Pairing Thread

[Tawaraya]

Brady doesn't want anything else off the base kit.

Him, Yarne, and Cynthia only need 1 thing to do well in their role: Existence.

Brady: LB, TF, Agg, Luna, Gale- all from his base kit. [Ricken gives him +5 MAG]

Yarne: Has zerker. Impossible to mess him up.

Cynthia: LB, TF, Luna, Gale, [Random filler].

One of the things that eeeverybody say about Awakening is how magic in it is so broken, so I thought about keeping all magic users together to maximize their main "strength" :P and this led me to like the idea of a hat family (Miriel + Ricken = Laurent) and a weird family (Maribelle + Henry = Brady). Then again, after some advices here I kind of came to terms with the idea of Brady being more powerful than Laurent (or so it seems to me) by getting the best magic user father -in my biased opinion based on limited knowledge.. ^^;

Edit: I didn't realize I placed two answers one right after the other until it was done; if this is considered double posting, I apologize and promise I won't do it again~ 0:3

Edited January 30, 2014 by Tawaraya

[MelonGx]

For Brady, you don't need him to have an highest possible Meg without counting MU since it wastes Ricken's Luna for somebody who is magical and doesn't have it.

For Severa, giving her Tomefaire is an alternative method to increase her output to Apo's enemy units, since some SF members thought that Severa's physical output sucks in Apo and they wanted her becoming a magical attacker.

But this makes her lose the Vantage access to complete a Nosferatu tank's usage for Severa, unless you're producing lots of SpotPass Nostanks that you don't need in-game characters to do the same thing, or you're pairing MU with Cordelia.

Vantage is not a must, but it's a good insurance to Nostanks that prevents them from being KOed when the HP is going red.

Edited January 30, 2014 by MelonGx

[Airship Canon]

Ricken goes to 1 of three:

1. Brady

2. Owain

3. Inigo.

For Severa, giving her Tomefaire is an alternative method to increase her output to Apo's enemy units, since some SF members thought that Severa's physical output sucks in Apo and they wanted her becoming a magical attacker.

However this is hilariously false. As demonstrated here. Give her a 'zerker pair up, like Gerome, and suddenly she's doing very well.

[That's Lon'qu!Severa running: All+2, Vengeance, Avoid+10, Lancebreaker, and Galeforce [AKA Lancekiller build]; Gerome with Axefaire, Dual Support+, All+2, Str+2, Lancebreaker.; No Rallies deployed.]

[Tawaraya]

For Brady, you don't need him to have an highest possible Meg without counting MU since it wastes Ricken's Luna for somebody who is magical and doesn't have it.

For Severa, giving her Tomefaire is an alternative method to increase her output to Apo's enemy units, since some SF members thought that Severa's physical output sucks in Apo and they wanted her becoming a magical attacker.

But this makes her lose the Vantage access to complete a Nosferatu tank's usage for Severa, unless you're producing lots of SpotPass Nostanks that you don't need in-game characters to do the same thing, or you're pairing MU with Cordelia.

Vantage is not a must, but it's a good insurance to Nostanks that prevents them from being KOed when the HP is going red.

Well, that was how the first thoughts looked like. Currently, it looks like Ricken is not only going to help Maribelle escape her Plegian captors, but also elope with her~ x3

Ricken goes to 1 of three:

1. Brady

2. Owain

3. Inigo.

However this is hilariously false. As demonstrated here. Give her a 'zerker pair up, like Gerome, and suddenly she's doing very well.

[That's Lon'qu!Severa running: All+2, Vengeance, Avoid+10, Lancebreaker, and Galeforce [AKA Lancekiller build]; Gerome with Axefaire, Dual Support+, All+2, Str+2, Lancebreaker.; No Rallies deployed.]

Then, it seems it'll be Maribelle - Ricken in the end ^^

That video over there shows one of the handful of things that make me love Severa and Gerome! 8D

I'm fully aware of your preference for Lon Qu!Severa, and as I said before, Severa is one of my top priorities (and favorite characters), so going for Cordelia - Lon Qu is pretty much the way I'll go; and this fact would prompt me to set things up the following way:

Olivia - Stahl

Maribelle - Ricken

Cordelia - Lon Qu

Cherche - Vaike (though, for this setup, I really, really like Gregor here)

Tharja - Henry

Miriel - Gregor

Nowi - Gaius

In any case, I'm utmost interested in thoughts or impressions on the setup detailed below. You'll notice it includes a Gregor!Severa that I already know is not what you believe to generate the best Severa possible. Nevertheless, I am curious on what you think would come out right and wrong about both, Gregor!Severa and the setup as it is listed. How bad does this look?

Maribelle - Ricken

Olivia - Stahl

Cordelia - Gregor

Cherche - Vaike

Tharja - Henry

Miriel - Lon Qu

Nowi - Gaius

Note: I continue to be utterly clueless about what to do with Kellam and Virion.. D:

Edited January 30, 2014 by Tawaraya

[metalsnowman3]

kellam is nice because he gives knight tree but his -2 speed mod kind of sucks so its probably ok if he is out of the loop. I also have a hard time pairing Virion even though I like him, he just doesn't give good class trees (archer, mage, wyvern rider). Mage is a good tree but it seems like everyone who wants to be a sage can get there regardless of father.

[Czar_Yoshi]

There are more eligible guys in Awakening than there are mothers. Some of them are going to get left out in the cold no matter what you do.

No reason to put Gregor on Severa though- Laurent likes him more than Lon'qu, and Severa likes Lon'qu better. Severa will be out several rallies and Renewal (she still gets Sol and Lifetaker if you need self-healing), but get better mods and all the Breakers (good in non-Apo later DLC) from Lon'qu. Laurent, on the other hand, loses a bit of Spd but gets AT and decent Str, so he can either be a better Berserker support or not break his Aversa's Nights.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Oh, a guide certainly could be made, and it could be quite good, as well, provided it did two things that most guides fail to do: not confuse complexity with reliability, and not try to compare characters and instead focus on using each one to their maximum potential (this may require a section for each possible child).

There is also stating the purpose of the guide

If its for Hard Mode, then limit it to HM

If its for min maxing, limit it to min maxing

If its for Luna and +, then.... you know the drill

Like here's an example early chapters guide for HM

Prologue - MU x Fred take liek 0 Damage!

Chapter 1 - Same shit. Sully is pretty kewl becuz stats. Virion is an Archer with shit stats

Chapter 2 - C support. Same Shit. Stahl is pretty kewl becuz stats

Chapter 3 - Sumia is hard to use. Otherwise same shit

Granted this is not limited for this game but eh

Edited January 30, 2014 by JSND

[Tawaraya]

kellam is nice because he gives knight tree but his -2 speed mod kind of sucks so its probably ok if he is out of the loop. I also have a hard time pairing Virion even though I like him, he just doesn't give good class trees (archer, mage, wyvern rider). Mage is a good tree but it seems like everyone who wants to be a sage can get there regardless of father.

Kellam's lack-of-presence tropes kind of dulled the character as a whole for me. Yet, Virion is quite funny so I feel like giving him some extra attention despite his average efficiency on the field. I like the idea of getting/keeping all characters (a bit of a perfectionist/completionist), but, then again Classic mode is a b*tch, so now I'm thinking that if they're not really key characters I must have, maybe next time they fall I simply won't restart~ >:3

There are more eligible guys in Awakening than there are mothers. Some of them are going to get left out in the cold no matter what you do.

No reason to put Gregor on Severa though- Laurent likes him more than Lon'qu, and Severa likes Lon'qu better. Severa will be out several rallies and Renewal (she still gets Sol and Lifetaker if you need self-healing), but get better mods and all the Breakers (good in non-Apo later DLC) from Lon'qu. Laurent, on the other hand, loses a bit of Spd but gets AT and decent Str, so he can either be a better Berserker support or not break his Aversa's Nights.

Since the flaws/weaknesses a Gregor!Severa/Lon Qu!Laurent outweight the benefits that such characters would entail, I'm sticking to Lon Qu!Severa. In the case of Gregor though, I kind of like the idea of him marrying Cherche, or maybe Nowi (?)

Would you say that Cherche - Gregor, Miriel - Vaike, and Nowi - Gaius would be too far from the optimal pairs? What about Cherche - Gregor, Miriel - Gaius, and Nowi - Vaike instead? ^^;;

There is also stating the purpose of the guide

If its for Hard Mode, then limit it to HM

If its for min maxing, limit it to min maxing

If its for Luna and +, then.... you know the drill

Like here's an example early chapters guide for HM

Prologue - MU x Fred take liek 0 Damage!

Chapter 1 - Same shit. Sully is pretty kewl becuz stats. Virion is an Archer with shit stats

Chapter 2 - C support. Same Shit. Stahl is pretty kewl becuz stats

Chapter 3 - Sumia is hard to use. Otherwise same shit

Granted this is not limited for this game but eh

Just the thought of how much work that task would require wore me out completely x_x

This far, it seems I'm going with the following pairs:

Olivia - Stahl

Maribelle - Ricken

Cordelia - Lon Qu

Cherche - Vaike (or Gregor)

Tharja - Henry

Miriel - Gregor (or Vaike/Gaius)

Nowi - Gaius (or Vaike)

I imagine you'd want to kick me by now, but if I didn't deplete your patience yet, would you care to comment on the doubts I still have on this mess of pairings I want to get myself into? Pretty please~~ :3

Edited January 30, 2014 by Tawaraya

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Not much problem with that, really

....Okay except Tharja Henry. Do Tharja x Gaius, and Vaike x Nowi.

[Tawaraya]

Not much problem with that, really

....Okay except Tharja Henry. Do Tharja x Gaius, and Vaike x Nowi.

Ok, if I go with Tharja - Gaius, and Nowi - Vaike, I'll pretty much have only Gregor to adequately fill in as Gerome's father. Which will lead to Miriel marrying.. Henry? o.O

[Czar_Yoshi]

Henry only gives Laurent Thief, I wouldn't advise that. He will give Gerome Berserker, though, so you could consider putting him there. Gerome will also get Hex and Anathema in case you feel like using them to boost his hit rate.

[Airship Canon]

Henry!Gerome is legit.

Not as hard hitting as Vaike, losing 1-2 damage on Apoth targets [1 from a 5 mod vs 7, 1 from using Anathema over Str+2] but has Anathema which is one of the better auras, and it works from Support.

If Henry isn't being used on Cynthia, he's great for Gerome.

Edited January 30, 2014 by Airship Canon

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Yeah, go Henry x Cherche and Gregor x Miriel

[Tawaraya]

Henry only gives Laurent Thief, I wouldn't advise that. He will give Gerome Berserker, though, so you could consider putting him there. Gerome will also get Hex and Anathema in case you feel like using them to boost his hit rate.

I see your point. Not only Henry would hinder Laurent, but also Gerome benefits from having Henry as his father for he will gain some versatility; so Miriel - Henry is a no-go. Yet, maybe I'm wrong here, but I thought the best candidates for Gerome's dad were Gregor > Vaike > Stahl. That's why I want to save Gregor for Gerome, and thus, now I wonder who I could marry Henry with. If Tharja marries Gaius and Vaike goes to Nowi, the only bachelorette would be.. Miriel ==;;

Henry!Gerome is legit.

Not as hard hitting as Vaike, losing 1-2 damage on Apoth targets [1 from a 5 mod vs 7, 1 from using Anathema over Str+2] but has Anathema which is one of the better auras, and it works from Support.

If Henry isn't being used on Cynthia, he's great for Gerome.

Wow! I thought the difference would be way more significant. The thing is I really want to give Gerome the father he wants the most, and I thought that was either Gregor or Vaike. In any case, which of the three would you advice as the best candidate here? If it were Gregor things would be looking as follows:

Sumia - Chrom

Lissa - Libra

Sully - Donnel

Panne - Fred

Olivia - Stahl

Maribelle - Ricken

Cordelia - Lon Qu

Cherche - Gregor

Tharja - Gaius

Miriel -

Nowi - Vaike

Bachelors: Henry, Virion, and Kellam

Apparently, I shouldn't stay up this late for I keep getting these crazy ideas! I just thought of marrying Henry to Sully and then the pairings would end up looking like this:

Sumia - Chrom

Lissa - Libra

Sully - Henry

Panne - Fred

Olivia - Stahl

Maribelle - Ricken

Cordelia - Lon Qu

Cherche - Vaike

Tharja - Gaius

Miriel - Gregor

Nowi - Donnel

I'm guessing Vaike and Gregor could still be swapped easily. I wonder how efficient this setup would be.. any thoughts..? ^^;;

Yeah, go Henry x Cherche and Gregor x Miriel

So, out of these three, Henry, Gregor, and Vaike; will Henry be the best father? o.oa

Edited January 31, 2014 by Tawaraya

[Czar_Yoshi]

It's difficult to say who's the "best" because they're just different- Vaike gives more Str, Gregor gives Armsthrift, Henry gives Auras.

Henry x Sully: Decent Skl, but otherwise there's a bit of mod clash. But what exactly would you do with her? She'll be supporting without Galeforce...

[tuvarkz]

Laurent can use Henry as father for Mirespam if Ricken or Libra are already used.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Libra!Laurent is also bad because he only gets two classes (promoted and base) out of it, and Libra's mods aren't very interesting. All Libra and Henry would contribute to a Mire-spam cause is +1 Mag, which isn't something that should be the highlight of a pairing.

[tuvarkz]

yeah, but given that Ricken, Libra and Lon'qu are already getting used, Henry as a filler dad isn't a bad choice.

[MelonGx]

For pure supporting or front side attacking, Laurent doesn't care because of his natural TF and Vengeance. So you don't need to worry about Libra/Henry's classes overlapping since they are unimportant for these purposes.

Edited January 31, 2014 by MelonGx

[Tawaraya]

Henry only gives Laurent Thief, I wouldn't advise that. He will give Gerome Berserker, though, so you could consider putting him there. Gerome will also get Hex and Anathema in case you feel like using them to boost his hit rate.

Henry!Gerome does look not only fearsome (as any batman should!), but also more rounded around the edges; though I was kind of looking forward to a nasty output of raw damage~ >:3

Henry!Gerome is legit.

Not as hard hitting as Vaike, losing 1-2 damage on Apoth targets [1 from a 5 mod vs 7, 1 from using Anathema over Str+2] but has Anathema which is one of the better auras, and it works from Support.

If Henry isn't being used on Cynthia, he's great for Gerome.

From that point of view -IF i understood your numbers accurately- it seems like Henry!Gerome gives away only a bit of his offensive power in exchange for some decent boost to his defensive capabilities when he's compared to the almighty Vaike!Gerome o.o

I am nonetheless a bit concerned with the fact that I plan to pair him with Severa; a Severa that's not minmaxed as to achieve her offensive potential to the fullest -because of Sumia. My fear is that by forfeiting some firepower capabilities on both of them in order to have them gain a decent increase in their defenses, I might be in fact not "balancing" them, but instead "averaging" them -I don't know if this makes any sense to you, though. Do you consider that Sumia!Severa/Henry!Gerome would make for a couple of frontliners with their combined firepower so hindered that it'll harden my playing through the hardest DLC? u.u

Yeah, go Henry x Cherche and Gregor x Miriel

This is the road I must go through [this time], it seems.. ^^

It's difficult to say who's the "best" because they're just different- Vaike gives more Str, Gregor gives Armsthrift, Henry gives Auras.

Henry x Sully: Decent Skl, but otherwise there's a bit of mod clash. But what exactly would you do with her? She'll be supporting without Galeforce...

A rather poor choice of words really, my bad. What I should have said instead is: which would be the most useful for the type of group I'm building (Galeforce raiders with as much [magic] power as I can muster and the most effective support/pairs)?

Gao.. I was considering so many things at the same time I lost track of Henry!Kjelle's lack of Galeforce (I was thinking about having her support either Inigo or Brady) ==;;

yeah, but given that Ricken, Libra and Lon'qu are already getting used, Henry as a filler dad isn't a bad choice.

This is the case, exactly... I don't really like him there but I simply ran out of more suitable choices u.u

For pure supporting or front side attacking, Laurent doesn't care because of his natural TF and Vengeance. So you don't need to worry about Libra/Henry's classes overlapping since they are unimportant for these purposes.

Now, for this particular game, I like the idea of each and every magic user in my roster being as broken as possible~ >:3

Well, well.. It is now very clear to me I will simply have to go for another playthrough after finishing this one; there's no escaping it.. One based on Olivia - Chrom so I can rearrange all dads and children in the most effective manner ¬¬;

For now though, I'll have to either make do with a possibly subpar Laurent (fathered by Henry), or hamper Gerome for the "common good" by going with Cherche - Henry, Miriel - Gregor, and Nowi - Vaike.

With regards to my crazy ideas, I could simply withstand a subpar Henry!Nah in exchange for the bliss of having Vaike!Gerome and Gregor!Laurent.. Then again, I'm really not sure if I'd need Nah's best game in the long run o.O

Edited January 31, 2014 by Tawaraya

[Czar_Yoshi]

For pure supporting or front side attacking, Laurent doesn't care because of his natural TF and Vengeance. So you don't need to worry about Libra/Henry's classes overlapping since they are unimportant for these purposes.

He does care because he won't have either Galeforce or Vantage and you can't do a Vengeance sweep without at least one of those.

Well, well.. It is now very clear to me I will simply have to go for another playthrough after finishing this one; there's no escaping it.. One based on Olivia - Chrom so I can rearrange all dads and children in the most effective manner ¬¬;

Chrom x Sumia and Chrom x Olivia are actually about dead even in minmax potential. But I do advise doing many playthroughs with different pairings just to see for yourself what works, what doesn't work, and what you don't need.

If you care enough about raw damage output to leave Laurent in the dust to squeeze out an extra 1-2 damage per hit from Gerome, then you might want to reconsider Henry!Gerome because Anathema also lowers the Dge of all enemies within 3 tiles meaning that your units effectively get +10 Crit when fighting those enemies. That will do more extra damage in the long run than the extra Str.

[Tawaraya]

Chrom x Sumia and Chrom x Olivia are actually about dead even in minmax potential. But I do advise doing many playthroughs with different pairings just to see for yourself what works, what doesn't work, and what you don't need.

If you care enough about raw damage output to leave Laurent in the dust to squeeze out an extra 1-2 damage per hit from Gerome, then you might want to reconsider Henry!Gerome because Anathema also lowers the Dge of all enemies within 3 tiles meaning that your units effectively get +10 Crit when fighting those enemies. That will do more extra damage in the long run than the extra Str.

Yeah, I think both of them are pretty much the same thing, yet Olivia - Chrom now seems to give some more room to better pair the other fathers. Though, maybe that's just a biased perception due to the uncertainty I experienced trying to pair the other parents after Sumia got Chrom ^^;

The plan already includes another playthrough after I finish this one, but I'm afraid I won't be able to experience as many reruns as I'd like to because of work, school and whatnot :(

I didn't think of that! So, looking at it again from that perspective I believe Henry!Gerome would be the best choice for this particular case and the roster [finally] will look like this:

Sumia - Chrom

Lissa - Libra

Sully - Donnel

Panne - Fred

Olivia - Stahl

Maribelle - Ricken

Cordelia - Lon Qu

Cherche - Henry

Tharja - Gaius

Miriel - Gregor

Nowi - Vaike

Many, many thanks gals and guys for your help and assistance -and your patience! :3

Edited February 1, 2014 by Tawaraya

[Czar_Yoshi]

Not a problem.

The one thing to remember about Sumia x Chrom "pinching" your pairings is that Sumia has incredibly limited supports and can only marry Avatar, Chrom, Fred, Gaius, and Henry- Avatar will be busy elsewhere, Gaius gives the dreaded Pegasus overlap (Peg.Knight is one of the worst classes in the game to waste), and Fred is slow, so you'll pretty much have to pair her with Henry to make Cynthia worth it.

This means you have only Gregor and Vaike to split between Nowi, Miriel, and Cherche (which is an argument towards Avatar x Nowi, by the way).

[Tawaraya]

Not a problem.

The one thing to remember about Sumia x Chrom "pinching" your pairings is that Sumia has incredibly limited supports and can only marry Avatar, Chrom, Fred, Gaius, and Henry- Avatar will be busy elsewhere, Gaius gives the dreaded Pegasus overlap (Peg.Knight is one of the worst classes in the game to waste), and Fred is slow, so you'll pretty much have to pair her with Henry to make Cynthia worth it.

This means you have only Gregor and Vaike to split between Nowi, Miriel, and Cherche (which is an argument towards Avatar x Nowi, by the way).

Yeah, thinking about a setup that has Olivia - Chrom in it, I guess the only way to go with regards to Cynthia, Gerome, Laurent, and Nah would be pairing their parents something along these lines: Sumia - Henry (as you advised), Cherche - Vaike, Miriel - Stahl (since I won't need him for Inigo anymore), and Nowi - Gregor (this one is interchageable with Vaike) ^^

[Airship Canon]

Yeah, I think both of them are pretty much the same thing, yet Olivia - Chrom now seems to give some more room to better pair the other fathers. Though, maybe that's just a biased perception due to the uncertainty I experienced trying to pair the other parents after Sumia got Chrom ^^;

The plan already includes another playthrough after I finish this one, but I'm afraid I won't be able to experience as many reruns as I'd like to because of work, school and whatnot :(

I didn't think of that! So, looking at it again from that perspective I believe Henry!Gerome would be the best choice for this particular case and the roster [finally] will look like this:

Sumia - Chrom

Lissa - Libra

Sully - Donnel

Panne - Fred

Olivia - Stahl

Maribelle - Ricken

Cordelia - Lon Qu

Cherche - Henry

Tharja - Gaius

Miriel - Gregor

Nowi - Vaike

Many, many thanks gals and guys for your help and assistance -and your patience! :3

[spoiler=so Meta it hurts]

(Like seriously, flip Vaike and Fred, and that's spot on)

Yeah, thinking about a setup that has Olivia - Chrom in it, I guess the only way to go with regards to Cynthia, Gerome, Laurent, and Nah would be pairing their parents something along these lines: Sumia - Henry (as you advised), Cherche - Vaike, Miriel - Stahl (since I won't need him for Inigo anymore), and Nowi - Gregor (this one is interchageable with Vaike) ^^

To be entirely honest, I did that and it wasn't that great.

Gregor/Nowi is mostly just a speed pairing that allows for early Second Seal access. [Gregor/Nowi is fast support that only takes 7 battles, 4 if you have Seeds of Trust]

Flip Stahl and Gregor.