Advice for Hard Mode

[Radiant head]

Ok I'm ready to start RD on hard mode, and just wondering if anyone had some tips on how to go about it.

From what I understand, both CExp and BExp are very limited, so I think the idea is to just use as few characters as possible and build them up all the way up.

So for Part 1, I'm just going to focus on Nolan, Jill, Zihark, Volug, and Sothe. I guess Micaiah too since you kind of have to. Any other tips for Part 1?

Part 2 should be alright, although is it actually possible to kill Ludveck in the endgame? I feel like he's surrounded by too many thunder mages and crossbows for Elincia or Haar to be able to pull that off.

The only thing I'm really worried about in Part 3 are DB Chapters, but I didn't know about Beastfoe last time, so hopefully it won't be too bad.

Also I think I'll just keep bumping this thread if I have any further questions, instead of starting 50 threads like I've been doing.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Radiant head

[dondon151]

don't bother with micaiah unless you're planning to 4-turn chapter 1-9; she's unsalvageable in HM.

[Lord Raven]

It's pretty possible to kill Ludveck in like 2-3 turns, I believe if you put Haar in the right place and give him the Chapter 2-3 Speedwings then he doesn't risk getting attacked by Thunder Mages. I also think Ludveck attacks first, and putting Haar in just the right spot ensures that Ludveck attacks him from 1-range.

See:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP55i32ZJbc

EDIT: I could also be thinking of Normal Mode too, so beware.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Lord Raven

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

• forge an iron axe for Nolan and Jill and a steel axe in 1-F for Jill

make earth-earth supports (Nolan-Volug / Nolan-Zihark / Zihark/Volug)

try to support Jill with one of the earth units

if you spend status items, then only give them to Jill

give Tauroneo's resolve to Micaiah. This makes 1-9 a lot easier.

I'd recommend to use Edward in part 1 too because of his high speed.

[Florete]

Your part 1 team looks fine. Don't be afraid to use Micaiah, but don't bother investing much in her. It won't pay off. With that team, the part 3 DB maps shouldn't be too bad. I would suggest supporting Nolan with Zihark and Jill with Volug.

[Radiant head]

don't bother with micaiah unless you're planning to 4-turn chapter 1-9; she's unsalvageable in HM.

Well that sucks. Last playthrough I had her bless the Rexaura for Lehran, but I dunno now.

It's pretty possible to kill Ludveck in like 2-3 turns, I believe if you put Haar in the right place and give him the Chapter 2-3 Speedwings then he doesn't risk getting attacked by Thunder Mages. I also think Ludveck attacks first, and putting Haar in just the right spot ensures that Ludveck attacks him from 1-range.

See:

EDIT: I could also be thinking of Normal Mode too, so beware.

Wow. I'll give this a shot I guess.

• forge an iron axe for Nolan and Jill and a steel axe in 1-F for Jill
• make earth-earth supports (Nolan-Volug / Nolan-Zihark / Zihark/Volug)
• try to support Jill with one of the earth units
• if you spend status items, then only give them to Jill
• give Tauroneo's resolve to Micaiah. This makes 1-9 a lot easier.
• I'd recommend to use Edward in part 1 too because of his high speed.

I shouldn't give Leo's Dracoshield to Nolan?

I'm thinking I'll do Volug-Jill and Nolan/Zihark.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Radiant head

[dondon151]

Well that sucks. Last playthrough I had her bless the Rexaura for Lehran, but I dunno now.

you can still have micaiah bless rexaura for lehran; just buy/find 2 arms scrolls and use them on her when she's light priestess.

Wow. I'll give this a shot I guess.

i do have a better strategy for this chapter now but there are many ways to go about it. on FEWoD they mark the tile that you should have haar wait on so that ludveck rushes in on enemy phase before everyone else and finds himself on the receiving end of a hammer. you're going to have to be a bit more creative if you want to steal the dracoshield, though.

I shouldn't give Leo's Dracoshield to Nolan?

I'm thinking I'll do Volug-Jill and Nolan/Zihark.

jill is a way better return on investment than nolan. nolan is serviceable if you're going slow, but you really want everything on jill to make her good quickly.

• give Tauroneo's resolve to Micaiah. This makes 1-9 a lot easier.
• I'd recommend to use Edward in part 1 too because of his high speed.

the first is not necessary because 1) resolve is useless if micaiah can't survive a hit and 2) there are foolproof strategies that require only the black knight. resolve is more useful on an actual unit in 1-8 like sothe or tormod.

edward is bad in HM, do not use more than necessary unless you really want to use him.

[Radiant head]

I would suggest supporting Nolan with Zihark and Jill with Volug.

Oh FWIW I didn't see this until after I said the same thing in the post below.

you can still have micaiah bless rexaura for lehran; just buy/find 2 arms scrolls and use them on her when she's light priestess.

Yeah I guess, but last time I had to use two arm scrolls, and I don't want to have to dump more than that.

jill is a way better return on investment than nolan. nolan is serviceable if you're going slow, but you really want everything on jill to make her good quickly.

Yeah I know Jill ends up being way more worth it, especially with speed and movement, butI was just thinking there's some immediacy to make Nolan tank the first 3-4 chapters.

the first is not necessary because 1) resolve is useless if micaiah can't survive a hit and 2) there are foolproof strategies that require only the black knight. resolve is more useful on an actual unit in 1-8 like sothe or tormod.

I wish I could train Micaiah in this chapter, but she can't ORKO any of the enemies, so BK inevitably gets the kills. I guess what you could do is have Micaiah carry a different sword for BK that doesn't OHKO?

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

In 1-9 BK kills everyone with his 38 strength.

Edited February 9, 2015 by The Taninator

[Yojinbo]

Statboosters in Part 1 should go to either Volug or Jill. Volug gets higher boosts from it because the +2 are added to his untransformed stats so it's actually +3 in halfshift and +4 in full transformation. If you're going for a low turn count then you wanna give the stat boosters to Jill but if you take it a little slower she actually becomes good enough without them. Feel free to give her +7 HP from 1-4 though.

Zihark is awesome because of good bases, Earth affinity and being actually competent in Part 4 without needing any resources. Depending on how much time you wanna take you should definitely try to come up with a good support for him for Part 3. Nolan probably won't be fighting a lot in Part 3 but as long as he can provide increased Avo for Zihark that's good enough. Speaking of Nolan, you wanna use one of the Master Seals you get in Part 1 before 3-6 on him. The sooner you give it to him, the better though. You get your 3rd Master Seal in 1-6-2 iirc which is the one you wanna use on Nolan, unless you wait on promoting Jill in which case you can give Nolan the 1-5 Seal.

You should not forget about Ilyana. Give her the 1-4 Master Seal asap and she's good to go.

Removing Imbue from Fiona and giving it Tauroneo in 3-12 is optional. At worst it makes him a decent filler unit in part 4 where he becomes borderline immortal due to healing 12+ HP each turn and actually having a res stat. He probably won't be of much use because he's not mobile enough to get shit done and Part 4 are all rout chapters [except 4-5]. It's not terribly important but it's better than nothing.

[Radiant head]

In 1-9 BK one-shots everything including Jarod even with a bronze sword. BK has at worst 41 attack (38 strength + 3 might of bronze sword) and all the enemies have <=39 HP.

Damn. I'm guessing a really bad forge won't do the trick either.

Zihark is awesome because of good bases, Earth affinity and being actually competent in Part 4 without needing any resources. Depending on how much time you wanna take you should definitely try to come up with a good support for him for Part 3. Nolan probably won't be fighting a lot in Part 3 but as long as he can provide increased Avo for Zihark that's good enough. Speaking of Nolan, you wanna use one of the Master Seals you get in Part 1 before 3-6 on him. The sooner you give it to him, the better though. You get your 3rd Master Seal in 1-6-2 iirc which is the one you wanna use on Nolan, unless you wait on promoting Jill in which case you can give Nolan the 1-5 Seal.

Yeah the only problem with Zihark is that he level sup too slowly being a prepromote. I could try Paragon. Is it worth using a Master Crown, or just stick with Tier 2?

Removing Imbue from Fiona and giving it Tauroneo in 3-12 is optional. At worst it makes him a decent filler unit in part 4 where he becomes borderline immortal due to healing 12+ HP each turn and actually having a res stat. He probably won't be of much use because he's not mobile enough to get shit done and Part 4 are all rout chapters [except 4-5]. It's not terribly important but it's better than nothing.

Yeah, Taureneo is useful in 3-12 for going down on that ledge and destroying people with the javelin. Part 4, I last time put Gatrie on Tibarn/Elincia's team because the GM's don't need that much muscle, and he's not going to be able to move in Micaiah's team, so he ended up making Tauraneo obsolete. Though I imagine Tauraneo is a good Master Crown candidate because of his Jeigan-ish growths.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Damn. I'm guessing a really bad forge won't do the trick either.

Actually I did make a mistake, when I said BK can one-shots everything.

I think he cannot, because I forgot to calculate the defense of the enemies.

Nontheless BK would kill everything. He has 38 strength and doubles everything. Jarod has 39 HP and 18 defense. That means even without a weapon BK would kill Jarod.

Edited February 9, 2015 by The Taninator

[Yojinbo]

Yeah the only problem with Zihark is that he level sup too slowly being a prepromote. I could try Paragon. Is it worth using a Master Crown, or just stick with Tier 2?

What you end up doing with Zihark after Part 3 is up to personal preference. I personally choose to promote him and keep on using him for the rest of the game because he still provides awesome support buffs and he can use the Vague Katti while Mia gets Alondite. He's not super-good in Part 4 anymore but there's little reason to not use him so I'd just go for it.

Don't give him Paragon though. Zihark's virtue in this game is that he doesn't really need anything he doesn't already bring along by himself. You may wanna give him the Master Crown if you plan on using him after Part 4 but anything more than that is kinda superfluous as long as you give him enough kills in 3-6 and 3-12.

[Radiant head]

Yeah but he's going to have a rough time against those tigers, I thought maybe a boost in defense or speed/avo would help. Or do you mean the extra Earth support from Nolan is all he needs for this?

Also, he's the only one who Ike can't double, so I thought giving the possibility of activating astra would be nice if you want to kill Ike.

Actually I did make a mistake, when I said BK can one-shots everything.

I think he cannot, because I forgot to calculate the defense of the enemies.

Nontheless BK would kill everything. He has 38 strength and doubles everything. Jarod has 39 HP and 18 defense. That means even without a weapon BK would kill Jarod.

...with his fist?

Edited February 9, 2015 by Radiant head

[Jedi]

You should pass paragon around as you need it, don't forget if you want to send the Mercs anything via Ilyana to do so. Although the Brigade needs most of the stuff she could offer the Mercs, you may want to consider a gem.

[Yojinbo]

Yeah but he's going to have a rough time against those tigers, I thought maybe a boost in defense or speed/avo would help. Or do you mean the extra Earth support from Nolan is all he needs for this?

Also, he's the only one who Ike can't double, so I thought giving the possibility of activating astra would be nice if you want to kill Ike.

Everybody has a rough time against Tigers in 3-6. Zihark with a support from Nolan can dodgetank stuff in Grass Tiles and you can cover the Choke Points to fight Laguz one at a time. Also keep in mind that throwing stuff from 2 range at them is good because you can run them out their tranformation gauge even if you miss. Even worthless shit like a Fiona!Javelin or a Meg!Wind Sword can contribute there but Zihark has better chances to survive than anybody except a full transformation Volug. He also one of the only units there that can actually ORKO stuff.

Taking on Ike with Zihark is meh because he probably can't reach him as fast as Jill can. Every Tier 3 units can beat him easily if they proc a mastery skill and/or can double him. Just make sure you equip a Bronze Sword on him at the end of 3-11 and you should have no issue taking him down.

[dondon151]

you do actually get less EXP by defeating untransformed laguz though.

it's not worth boosting zihark's defensive parameters. they are bad to begin with and don't improve much by level ups; he needs a lot of investment to even go from being 2HKO'd to 3HKO'd in 3-6.

[Radiant head]

You should pass paragon around as you need it, don't forget if you want to send the Mercs anything via Ilyana to do so. Although the Brigade needs most of the stuff she could offer the Mercs, you may want to consider a gem.

Yeah I give Illanya a gem and Meg's fortune. The GM's are hardpressed for cash unfortunately, even with the Silver Card in the first base.

Taking on Ike with Zihark is meh because he probably can't reach him as fast as Jill can. Every Tier 3 units can beat him easily if they proc a mastery skill and/or can double him. Just make sure you equip a Bronze Sword on him at the end of 3-11 and you should have no issue taking him down.

Yeah but isn't Jill at a serious disadvantage because of wta? Also I sometimes recruit Jill with Haar, because even though it screws the DB, it gives Jill plenty more availability to train up to tier 3. But since this is HM, I guess I'll keep her there.

[dondon151]

dragonmaster can use lances and there is no weapon triangle in HM anyway.

[Radiant head]

dragonmaster can use lances and there is no weapon triangle in HM anyway.

Really? Edward, meet bench. But seriously, that prologue is going to be rough.

you do actually get less EXP by defeating untransformed laguz though.

it's not worth boosting zihark's defensive parameters. they are bad to begin with and don't improve much by level ups; he needs a lot of investment to even go from being 2HKO'd to 3HKO'd in 3-6.

Yeah, I was thinking more about boosting Zihark's avo than his defense.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Radiant head

[Dual Dragons]

Yeah I give Illanya a gem and Meg's fortune. The GM's are hardpressed for cash unfortunately, even with the Silver Card in the first base.

Yeah but isn't Jill at a serious disadvantage because of wta? Also I sometimes recruit Jill with Haar, because even though it screws the DB, it gives Jill plenty more availability to train up to tier 3. But since this is HM, I guess I'll keep her there.

Depends on how many units you're focusing on in the GM. I've also had Ilyana send over one or two Wind Edges so that takes off some of spending the GMs might do. Except for occasional uses of Zihark, I have no sword-users so the Wind Edges were no trouble.

And if you have room, Lucia's stuff. Free Silver Sword, Wind Edge, and Iron Sword.

I would think Ike, Titania, Oscar, Gatrie, Shinon, and Marcia would be good for the GMs, give or take less units. If you're hard-pressed for cash, might as well sell off unused weapon types and weapons that sell for a lot of cash but will be unused or are interchangeable with another weapon, like maybe the Steel Greatlance/Silver Lance, for example.

Intelligent Systems thought that taking out weapon triangle would make it disadvantageous to the player... only maybe they didn't anticipate that it can be exploited.

Really? Edward, meet bench. But seriously, that prologue is going to be rough.

Yeah, I was thinking more about boosting Zihark's avo than his defense.

It will be the warmest of benches.

Tell me how that goes. I'm not planning to use Zihark--and that might screw me over because Earth affinity is coveted by all.

[Ownagepuffs]

Do any of your units have transfers?

[Junkhead]

don't bother with micaiah unless you're planning to 4-turn chapter 1-9; she's unsalvageable in HM.

Yeah, don't you just love having to bet on the chance of that Spd proc pretty much every single level-up

[Radiant head]

I would think Ike, Titania, Oscar, Gatrie, Shinon, and Marcia would be good for the GMs, give or take less units. If you're hard-pressed for cash, might as well sell off unused weapon types and weapons that sell for a lot of cash but will be unused or are interchangeable with another weapon, like maybe the Steel Greatlance/Silver Lance, for example.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I'm guessing you mean Mia, not Marcia. I wish I could use Rolf, but in HM circumstances, I guess Shinon is your only real choice here.

Intelligent Systems thought that taking out weapon triangle would make it disadvantageous to the player... only maybe they didn't anticipate that it can be exploited.

Yeah I mean it's just as much a disadvantage for the enemy AI, so I dunno why they put that. Now it's even easier to hammer BK.

Tell me how that goes. I'm not planning to use Zihark--and that might screw me over because Earth affinity is coveted by all.

Will do!

Do any of your units have transfers?

Jill, Marcia, Nepehenee, Ike, and Mia got transfers. Jill only got skill, unfortunately, though I think that will help her cit with an iron forge? Marcia and Neph got speed and skill. Ike and Mia got strength and speed (Ike got a few more, but I don't remember which ones exactly).

Edited February 10, 2015 by Radiant head

[Dual Dragons]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I'm guessing you mean Mia, not Marcia. I wish I could use Rolf, but in HM circumstances, I guess Shinon is your only real choice here.

Jill, Marcia, Nepehenee, Ike, and Mia got transfers. Jill only got skill, unfortunately, though I think that will help her cit with an iron forge? Marcia and Neph got speed and skill. Ike and Mia got strength and speed (Ike got a few more, but I don't remember which ones exactly).

I thought Marcia joined the GMs earlier but I was mistaken. I would still prefer Marcia over Mia for that flying utility and Canto. Mia's Vantage just doesn't have that edge it had in PoR.

Eesh. What Jill needed most was HP, Str, Spd, and Def at the least. Her base HP is not that great and she could always do for more Str and Def. With the transfer of Speed, she was 3 away from capping and that's her highest growth stat (at 65%). Her actual lowest growth is in Def (35%). You could have BEXP her earlier if Speed and some other stat capped to help her with her problem stats. Pretty much a forge would have fixed any accuracy issues, which her Skill starts at 12.

Not that it's devastating because I'm sure people have played HM without transfer bonuses but those bonuses can help a lot.

Did you rig any level ups at all in PoR?