Ranulf

[Radiant head]

Has anyone succeeded in using Ranulf to his full potential? Like giving him SS strike, Rend, and deploying him in the endgame with Laguz gems? For a unit with such awesome bases and is forced for most of Part 3, I feel like it's just a waste that his terrible gauge keeps him from being a top tier unit. But for fun, I'm thinking about trying to give him tons of favoritism and make him an endgame unit? Has anyone been able to do that without a huge number of turns of grinding?

I know the easiest level for grinding wold be 4-5, but it would be nice if I could raise his strike rank before that.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Radiant head

[dondon151]

in 0% growths i buy flourish in 3-3 and use it to grind a little extra WEXP on player phases where ranulf doesn't need to kill something. i haven't gotten to part 4 yet, but he should reach S strike before 4-2 in the current playthrough.

3-7 is not the friendliest place to grind because there are a lot of enemies with 2 range, but it's definitely a map designed for free grinding. with growths, if ranulf procs spd, you can slap resolve on him and he can double most of the enemies untransformed in resolve range.

Edited April 15, 2015 by dondon151

[Ownagepuffs]

It's sad, really. Ranulf truly is a good character in a bad class. Those bases are nuts, he's got wicked availability (3-4!) and he doubles forever. It's that damn cat gauge, argh.

For reference, I got Janaff to SS strike in 4-E-2 and S strike around 3-11 going without slowing down, so you could probably get him to SS around 4-E-1. He could probably do miracles with an energy drop (there's 2, and neither are that contested unlike the speedwings). Also, Rend rapes. Good luck.

[eclipse]

Just how bad is a halfshifted Ranulf? I never tried this, but if his bases are that good. . .

[Shadow Mir]

Just how bad is a halfshifted Ranulf? I never tried this, but if his bases are that good. . .

Halfshifted Ranulf has 21 strength and 23 speed (I THINK it's rounded up), and 15 Res and 20 Def. I'd say... not very good, to say the least.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Levant Caprice

[Ownagepuffs]

Half shifted anyone really blows, unfortunately.

Halfshift Base Ranulf has

21 Str (29 Atk), 24 Skl, 22 Spd, 19 Def. Considering that Halfshifting cuts XP in half, he's gonna stick with these for a while. The big deal here is his AS going from awesome (30) to bleh (22). In just 3-4, he stops doubling like everything except Sages who he still ORKOs because Sages are just that bad but he ends up 4HKOing Warriors, Halbs, and Snipers while not doubling which kinda blows. He doesn't come back until 3-7 and his performance is, more or less, equally poor since it's the same enemy types there. All this while dealing with cat gauge. In 3-8 it's still the same enemy types and Generals are pretty much out of his reach. Same deal for 3-10 and he doesn't even double all the paladins there. It gimps him pretty bad.

[Radiant head]

Janaff is decent with Wildheart. Obviously he'd prefer a full shift, but with half, he can ORKO pesky mages, feed kills to other characters, and not worry about his gauge. Also, needing more hits to KO an enemy makes it easier to raise his strike rank. The biggest downside is that he no longer laughs at archers like he does when fully shifted.

Half shifted Skrimir is good in 4-P; especially if you're trying to raise someone, but he'll get murdered in 4-2 half shifted.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I'll see how this goes.

[dondon151]

For reference, I got Janaff to SS strike in 4-E-2 and S strike around 3-11 going without slowing down, so you could probably get him to SS around 4-E-1. He could probably do miracles with an energy drop (there's 2, and neither are that contested unlike the speedwings).

janaff is way easier to grind strike rank because having flying + canto is a huge difference. in 0% growths i got both hawks to S strike during 3-10, but ranulf isn't projected to reach S strike until some time during 3-E.

hawks are fine halfshifted, especially if you don't need both of them to be fully transformed. dealing with gauge sucks and halfshifting means that you can still do certain things without worrying about it.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Hm, I've never thought of Ranulf as a difficult unit to get to endgame before. If you actually focus on using him he should get SS strike by the end of the game, and Laguz Gems make cats suddenly quite powerful in Endgame with that skill/speed/capacity, you can do some silly combos with them. Of the three Ranulf has by far the easiest time reaching this potential. Even before then... cat gauge is a downer, but not as bad as I think it's often made out to be? It's only -1 per battle or round compared to tigers/hawks/ravens/Volug, which adds up to an extra Olivi Grass every few rounds. I'm aware losing one extra player phase every few rounds isn't a trivial disadvantage, but it isn't the end of the world, and Ranulf stats make up for it except when compared to the hawks (who are way too good). And Volug, but those two don't really compete ever.

That said, to be clear, he is obsoleted by enough people at the end that I rarely actually use him in endgame, either. (I'm pretty apathetic about his character, so no dice there either.)

[Radiant head]

Well if anyone has a better strategy I'd love to hear it, but the way I'm seeing it, Ranulf is at risk of untransforming in enemy phase because of his stats, which means he's mostly just eating grass and I have to rely on enemy phase counterattacks for him to gain Wexp.

I have a much easier time with Volug, Janaff, and Ulki.

[Shadow Mir]

Hm, I've never thought of Ranulf as a difficult unit to get to endgame before. If you actually focus on using him he should get SS strike by the end of the game, and Laguz Gems make cats suddenly quite powerful in Endgame with that skill/speed/capacity, you can do some silly combos with them. Of the three Ranulf has by far the easiest time reaching this potential. Even before then... cat gauge is a downer, but not as bad as I think it's often made out to be? It's only -1 per battle or round compared to tigers/hawks/ravens/Volug, which adds up to an extra Olivi Grass every few rounds. I'm aware losing one extra player phase every few rounds isn't a trivial disadvantage, but it isn't the end of the world, and Ranulf stats make up for it except when compared to the hawks (who are way too good). And Volug, but those two don't really compete ever.

I'm not sure why you say cat gauge isn't as bad as it's made out to be - that extra -1 cats get compared to other laguz can really add up (to put it in perspective, two enemies and a turn are -13 on a cat's gauge, which is nearly half a transform gauge, as well as nearly the amount that one use of olivi grass restores, at that).

[dondon151]

Well if anyone has a better strategy I'd love to hear it, but the way I'm seeing it, Ranulf is at risk of untransforming in enemy phase because of his stats, which means he's mostly just eating grass and I have to rely on enemy phase counterattacks for him to gain Wexp.

throw resolve on ranulf and let him untransform. like i already said, 16 > 24 spd doubles most enemy types in 3-7 and you just have to make sure that he doesn't die from getting hit too often. rather than having to use olivi grass every turn and worrying about how much he fights every enemy phase, you only have to use olivi grass on turns where he's untransformed.

[Radiant head]

Thanks; that sounds good. I usually like giving Resolve to Zihark, but I guess there's a trade off for everything.

[Shinlucifeh]

No, no put halfshift, but don't do it, use a laguz stone, when you are almost transforming back, revert, now i don't remember if you have to halfshift and then revert to fill the bar again or just because you have halfshift the bar fills up again

OR, just make a blessed laguz gem in AR

Edited May 18, 2015 by Shinlucifeh

[Junkhead]

Randulf is amazing. It's quite unfortunate that people happen to overlook him because of his "awful class". Yes, being a Cat sucks when you're gauge sucks, but, that's about it. In Randulf's case, he happens to have great bases that almost last forever (kind of like Janaff & Ulki) and only really needs a few levels for Rend + some Spd (the 34 AS some people are OCD over, otherwise, he doubles forever) and raise his strike.

[Kyea]

Has anyone succeeded in using Ranulf to his full potential? Like giving him SS strike, Rend, and deploying him in the endgame with Laguz gems? For a unit with such awesome bases and is forced for most of Part 3, I feel like it's just a waste that his terrible gauge keeps him from being a top tier unit. But for fun, I'm thinking about trying to give him tons of favoritism and make him an endgame unit? Has anyone been able to do that without a huge number of turns of grinding?

I know the easiest level for grinding wold be 4-5, but it would be nice if I could raise his strike rank before that.

I've used him in endgame; actually I've done a whole Laguz-only run (with the exception of the main characters). They are definitely usable with a few tricks. Sometimes that means taking a couple extra turns or having units fight in phases/shifts. Laguz stones and gems will take you a long way, but honestly so will Olivi grass. Don't discount such a simple effective item. It certainly makes for easier and more effective training.

Not too mention Laguz still turn out pretty well even if most of their levels are Bonus XP level-ups. Just saying.

[dondon151]

Randulf is amazing. It's quite unfortunate that people happen to overlook him because of his "awful class". Yes, being a Cat sucks when you're gauge sucks, but, that's about it. In Randulf's case, he happens to have great bases that almost last forever (kind of like Janaff & Ulki) and only really needs a few levels for Rend + some Spd (the 34 AS some people are OCD over, otherwise, he doubles forever) and raise his strike.

ranulf is weaker than janaff, has a lower base level than either hawk, and can neither fly nor canto, which in conjunction with cat gauge make raising his strike rank much more difficult. he is mediocre precisely because he is in an awful class, as not being able to fly nor canto nor attack from 2-range are all attributes of being a cat.

janaff's base spd is so high that he can do things even with halfshift; ranulf's base spd is not high enough for him to be usable when halfshifted.

Edited May 19, 2015 by dondon151

[Junkhead]

I knew all that much, although I do admit I understimated just how bad a Cat guage can be, to the point it hinders his ability to raise his strike rank. And I'm not saying he's exactly like Janaff & Ulki, but pretty similiar in the way that they have great bases and only really need to raise their strike to keep going (as combat units, anyway). It's amazing how Janaff & Ulki can work even in their half-shifted forms, yeah (hello Ulki and a whopping 27 AS...).

[Darros]

Ranulf isn't really unusable, but you could do better. Honestly laguz aren't your best bet other than a few exceptions ((Royals, Janaff, Ulki, Volug..)) and Ranulf isn't one of those exceptions. He's workable but you could do the job better with a lot of other units. He's also a foot unit, so during part 3 he's kind of left in the dust against like Haar and Titania. You could do worse, to sum it up.

[Radiant head]

I keep Ulki full shifted because of his low str, but Janaff is great even in that form.

[Augestein]

Ranulf is awesome by endgame. You can take that one stone that leaves him transformed the whole chapter, and then chant the night away and watch him wreck things. His stats are no joke. Cat Gauge is his only weakness, and in his case, it actually kinda feels balanced...

[Radiant head]

I dunno, the cat gauge works too much against him to be balanced.

I agree though he's great when you have the gems.

[Augestein]

I don't know, he feels kinda like an archer in that sense. Limited enemy phase, but a really strong player phase. He's just weird in the fact that he's pretty much locked at 1 range though. I'd say archers were 2, but crossbows technically exist. But I did have fun using Ranulf, and didn't feel that he was incredibly terrible like he other cats. Ugh.

[BrightBow]

Ranulf doesn't look like a really good choice for endgame for me, given that the Hawks don't just have higher bases but also have a better gauge, flight and Canto.

[PKL]

I don't know, he feels kinda like an archer in that sense. Limited enemy phase, but a really strong player phase. He's just weird in the fact that he's pretty much locked at 1 range though. I'd say archers were 2, but crossbows technically exist. But I did have fun using Ranulf, and didn't feel that he was incredibly terrible like he other cats. Ugh.

His player phase is almost nonexistent as he's always grassing...