Ephraim Route LTC Strategies

[Carmine Sword]

Hello everyone. After watching General Horace's most recent Sacred Stones LTC, I felt compelled to LTC Sacred Stones myself. However, to make things slightly more interesting and not just a total copy of what Horace did, I'm going to try and complete this LTC on Ephraim Route.

Now, there is very little information around on this or other sites about Ephraim Route LTC, most likely due to the fact that Ephraim Route takes more turns than Eirika Route, and as such is not the optimal route for a true LTC of Sacred Stones.

So I'd like to take this opportunity to come up with LTC strategies with the assistance of you fellow Serenes Forest members, most of which probably have more experience with LTCing this game than I do.

With that said, the first thing I would like to know, and one of the most important, is whether it is possible or not for Sage Artur to reach A staves by Chapter 16. With Saleh arriving too late to be used as a warper on Ephraim Route, Artur is the only choice we have for an endgame warper (Moulder won't have the magic stat required for 1-turn clears of Chapters 17 and 20). Whether Sage Artur can hit A staves or not is very important, because otherwise Chapter 20 has to be cleared in 2 turns due to Bishop Artur lacking the necessary warp range.

For reference, here are the projected turncounts I've come up with through theory-emblem:

Chapter 9: 8 Turns

Chapter 10: 3 Turns

Chapter 11: 5 Turns

Chapter 12: 3 Turns

Chapter 13: 3 Turns (2 turns might be possible by skipping the Barrier staff village)

Chapter 14: 5 Turns

Chapter 15: 4 Turns

Chapter 16: 2 Turns

EDIT: Current Turncount:

Prologue: 1/1

Chapter 1: 3/4

Chapter 2: 4/8

Edited December 1, 2014 by Carmine Sword

[Irysa]

If you're planning on trying this, you'll probably have to adjust some of Horace's earlier chapter strategies to get more exp into Artur (if that's even possible). If you skip the barrier village then you'll be buying one at the secret shop yes? That seems like it would cost extra turns given the nature of CH14...

Edited November 30, 2014 by Irysa

[Carmine Sword]

The barrier staff in Chapter 13 probably costs less turns than trying to get to the secret shop in Chapter 14.

I don't think I can even get the Member's Card anyway, since I'm pretty sure I have to kill Rennac to get the Spear that he stole, and if he drops the Spear then he doesn't drop the Member's card.

The bigger problem with Chapter 14 is trying to figure out how to deal with Vigard. He is both bulky and oddly dodgy for a General due to the throne bonuses. I'll probably have to rig a pierce with Heavy Lance!Vanessa or something.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Carmine Sword

[momogeek2141]

You also have to watch out for Great Shield. That's also pretty annoying.

[General Horace]

Note that when I got Artur to A Staves, he used:

7 mend
3 torch
4 unlock
14 barrier

he hit warp on the 22nd turn, which is 28 staff uses, and the barrier staff comes much earlier

Saleh also used

11 Mend
2 Unlock
2 barrier
2 hammerne
2 silence
4 rescue
1 torch

and also hit warp on the 22nd turn after his recruitment (and warped on the same turn!) but he used staves that Artur likely won't have access to,

You might have to burn a Hammerne use to let Artur hit A Staves, since it gives 8 WExp, and you won't have to spam rescue on anyone else to get them to hit A Staves (although having only Moulder with Rescue might hurt you in chapter 18)

I'll try to look in from time to time, but I'm skiing the next three days. I'll help more when I get back!

[Carmine Sword]

Don't worry, this probably won't be started for a week or two due to College Finals, so you won't miss any actual progress.

EDIT: Well I did the Prologue and Chapter 1. Only differences from Horace's run is that Eirika didn't crit the fighter in Chapter 1, so she has less exp, and Franz got skill on his level up in addition to the HP, Strength, and Speed Horace got. I also used the Silver Lance to kill the boss because I'm lazy and Seth will hit S Swords anyway.

EDIT 2: Ok, I think it is possible to get Sage Artur to A Staves by Chapter 16, but it involves him using staves every player phase from Chapter 9 to Chapter 15, with Tethys sticking to him for the entirety of Chapter 14 and most of Chapter 15 so that he can use staves twice per turn. It also involves using the Hammerne staff once.

Artur needs 150 weapon exp to get from D Staves to A Staves. If the predicted turncounts I've come up with are correct, Artur will hit A Staves on the 4th and final turn of Chapter 15.

Chapter 9: 7 Mends and 1 Unlock for 25 wexp.

Chapter 10: 3 Mends for 9 wexp.

Chapter 11: 5 Torches for 25 wexp.

Chapter 12: 3 Mends for 9 wexp.

Chapter 13: 2 Mends and 1 Barrier for 10 wexp.

Chapter 14: 8 Barriers and 2 Unlocks for 40 wexp.

Chapter 15: 6 Barriers and 1 Hammerne for 32 wexp.

25+9+25+9+10+40+32=150

So that's:

15 Mends (45 wexp)

15 Barriers (60 wexp)

5 Torches (25 wexp)

3 Unlocks (12 wexp)

1 Hammerne (8 wexp)

Assuming I haven't screwed up a calculation somewhere, A Staves looks just barely feasible within the turns available. Sweet.

EDIT 3: Wait, if the Barrier staff breaks, then Artur won't get any wexp from it on the final use.

I guess I'll have to use Hammerne on the Barrier staff than. That's fine, as I had no real plan for which item to repair. Potential crisis averted.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Carmine Sword