Making the most of LHM before other playthroughs

[isetrh]

I just finished ENM for the first time, and I want to try the other modes in ascending dificulty. First is LHM though. I want the exp, but Lyn's story gets old fast. I'd like to just do it once and be done with it for a while, keeping a save at Chapter 10.

I'm looking for tips on how to plan things out so one LHM file can serve me well for a few playthroughs. I have two questions, and any other advice is also appreciated.

I've read about Sainadin, and he sounds pretty awesome. Just how strong is he? For casual play, would he break the game so hard that it isn't fun anymore?

I've read that Wallace and Rath are better if you kill them off in this mode. Is that still considered true, and are there other characters like this? The idea of letting someone die is weird to me, even if they come back, but I might do it.

Thanks!

Impressions from my first run, after having played this game and Awakening, if anyone's interested:

My Eliwood was actually pretty good... until he got stuck at level 20. He managed to become decently tanky after promotion though.

I didn't use Marcus all that much, because it wasn't really necessary on ENM. He wasn't often on the front lines, but he did a good job guarding Merlinus from reinforcements. Being serious though, he's way better than Frederick, without even taking into account the power creep. I expect to see a lot more of him when I'm playing not-ENM.

Rebecca did pretty much what people said she would on her Rate The Unit, except for the being hard to train thing because lolENM.

Hector - Somehow I got it into my head that I should only use one of the two non-main Lords to avoid a second unit rhat has to wait a ridiculously long time to promote. Lyn already had a bunch kf levels, so... I didn't use Hector. This mistake will not be made again.

Priscilla was a little Magic-screwed, but she did her job.

Lyn was Lyn. Crits, dodging, meh but not terrible Strength.

Florina capped three stats. Wasn't expecting that.

Sain was MVP of the run. He's amazing.

Lucius turned out well in the important stats. Great offensive unit mid to late game, Staff user in Final.

Canas just didn't get very good stats. 13 Mag didn't make Luna shenanigans too appealing.

Dart started to shine once he promoted. He would typically do about six times more damage than he needed to for the ORKO.

Isadora was mediocre. I think it was at least partly my fault for trying ti get her to S Swords, which turned out to be completely useless since Regal Blade is the last S-rank weapon.

Nino capped Magic, Speed, and Resistance. She also for 16 Defense, so she was tankier than I expected, not that anything ever hit her. Pent probably could have done the same thing more or less, but using Nino was fun.

[General Horace]

Depending on how good your Sain is statwise, having him early promote can make him really strong early in HHM, but he'll fall behind a little bit in the later chapters since his speed and durability likely will be even more mediocre than it already is, and he has some very real hit issues with Javelins. If it's any other mode though he'll probably steamroll it. Sainadin is essentially a faster Marcus with awful skill. I'd actually argue having him go into Hector/Eliwood mode as a level 12/13 cavalier is better for casual play since the 4-8 extra levels actually do make a difference.

Obviously using the Robe and Energy Ring is definately a good idea, although who you use them on may vary. Florina is a good recipient of both boosters honestly, but there's no point in giving them to her if you're not gonna use her! If you like Lyn, she's not bad with the energy ring, and neither is Kent or Erk.

Rath comes at a higher level if you kill him off (with a higher bow rank) but if you use him at all, the short bow gives more WExp than normal, so if you get a good level on him and actually have him fight stuff he'll likely have at least close to B Bows and not suffer too much. Wallace is pretty worthless even if he comes back as a general in Hector/Eliwood mode, but I guess it saves a knight crest.

[eclipse]

FIRST. . .what kind of run do you want to do? Pouring everything into Florina's great for something like LTC/efficiency, but if you just wanna screw around, you can do things like give the stat boosters to Matthew or something.

From there, ask yourself if you want to use anyone specific. About the only people that don't want the Energy Ring are Nils and Sain (unless the latter's Strength-screwed). The Robe can go to just about anyone. Alternately, you can keep one (or was it two?) of the Knight Crest, Energy Ring, and Angelic Robe unused, for a bit more money in the chapters after LHM. If you're doing Hector Mode, and want EVERY CHAPTER PERIOD on that one, you'll need to train Nils up to level 7. Otherwise. . .have fun experimenting~!

[Vorena]

I just finished ENM for the first time, and I want to try the other modes in ascending dificulty. First is LHM though. I want the exp, but Lyn's story gets old fast. I'd like to just do it once and be done with it for a while, keeping a save at Chapter 10.

I'm looking for tips on how to plan things out so one LHM file can serve me well for a few playthroughs. I have two questions, and any other advice is also appreciated.

I've read about Sainadin, and he sounds pretty awesome. Just how strong is he? For casual play, would he break the game so hard that it isn't fun anymore?

I've read that Wallace and Rath are better if you kill them off in this mode. Is that still considered true, and are there other characters like this? The idea of letting someone die is weird to me, even if they come back, but I might do it.

Thanks!

As mentioned Nils needs to be level 7 by the time you exit Lyn Mode to be able to access chapter 19xx for some weird reason.

If you are looking to have a single save file to go off of from Lyn Mode I think the best thing you can do is spread out your investment in all characters. Which is actually quite easy. If you try to give all the experience in the game to say Lyn she ends up being so overleveled that she cannot get more than say 3-5 experience per kill on an enemy throughout all the chapters. That is a complete waste of experience. From my own experience it is entirely possible to get all characters to lv 7+ with a few reaching level 10 or close to level 10 through boss kills and such.

In reference to Wallace and Rath, Rath is actually useful in a number of ways while Wallace is not. I would not bother with wallace at all and maybe give Rath a level (he comes at lv 7 and it is hard to gain exp for him). Along with not using the Knight's Crest that Wallace comes with. Sain/Kent should not be paladin locked going into every single mode you might use this lyn save file.

Otherwise, as I said you should simply try to level up everyone evenly. Afterwards choose probably a favorite character you want the strength and angelic robe to go to that you think you might use more frequently. I am bias towards pegasus knights. Thus, Florina for me all the time.

[dondon151]

if you care about maximizing outcomes for all characters, you should probably kill rath off.

[Yojinbo]

I've always preferred Kentadin over Sainadin in every mode.

[isetrh]

Thanks for the advice! I'll train everyone to 7-10ish and leave the Knight Crest unused. I'll plan to give Lyn the Energy Ring, because I'll likely use her every playthrough and it's pretty unlikely that she'll ever cap Strength. Might give the Seraph Robe to Florina. Both depend on stat blessing/screwage, of course. I think I'll leave Rath alive so I at least have the option of overlevelling him in Chapter 10.

[Yojinbo]

If you wanna whore the absolute maximum out of that one time you play LHM then you might as well do some boss abusing. You can use Rath + Serra to gain a good batch of WExp on Lundgren while you bring Nils to lvl 7.

[SSJDennis]

If you really want to grind a bit, you probably are better off at Eagler (chapter9). Sure, he can take LESS hits. But what if you drive it to far? And get an critical hit, just at the moment you can't use it? When you kill Eagler (also a promoted unit!!), you'll still have fun with Lundgren. Also, you KEEP ALL your effort if you do it in chapter 9 and save it into 10. If not, I believe you'll also have to redo everything in chapter 10.

Forget about the White Gem. Use the Knight Crest on Sain or Kent. Just train up both and deceide half way through which stats you like better. Sain will probably get an overkill on strength, while Kent is always solid, but might mess up strength.

Energy Ring can go to anyone, I prefer both stat boosters on Erk. Second Pent is never wrong, especially when he joins up early.

[isetrh]

Yeah, I guess I might as well abuse Eagler. If I don't go overboard the results should be similar to if I had focused a few characters. For the stat boosters and Crest, I think the best solution is to leave them unused until Chapter 10 so I can change who they go to each playthrough. Thanks.

[Eselred]

I got Sain to level 15, promoted him and he is obscene. 32/13/11/16/10/14/2. He ended up this way without any RNG manipulation or stat boosters. I can't wait to get him in my current HHM play through and have a second Marcus. He promoted right after getting level 15 by taking out Lundgren.

All the other characters gained some nice levels as well. Lyn is level 7. Kent is level 8. Florina is level 5. Dorcas is level 4. Erk is level 4. Lucius is level 5. Serra is level 5. Matthew is level 3. Wil is level 3(!). Rath and Wallace are the same because I didn't use them. Nils is level 7, and I only did this for 16xx and after Lundgren was already defeated. All of the above levels were reached without any boss abuse whatsoever. All it took was some planning to optimize Sain but to also make sure other units didn't get left behind.

After all, Marcus and Sain can't do everything! Or can they?

[MacLovin]

It honestly depends on what kind of run you're doing.