A newcomer in FE8

[Nym]

So here I am. Almost 1 year ago, I bought Awakening but now I manage to get my hands on FE6,7 and 8. I decided to play FE8 first.

However, I have some issues with this game:

1. I think I got what I call a ''Awakening marriage support syndrome'' because I alway feel the need of pairing a man and woman together ( don't tell me anything about end game mariage, I will see by myself). Yes, I know they get a bonus in (almost?) every stat but it's kinda silly at some point. For now I only have Neimi & Colm and Joshua and Natasha at A support.

2. Is that good if I trained ALL the kids? (trainees).

3. Because of these 2 problems above, I grinded JUST for that.

4. At what point should I promote my units? Because now I'm at chapter 11.

5. Idk what unit is good. I'm not sure who is best and who is not (*cough* Vanessa *cough*) For example, I trained Neimi as my main archer but now I got Innes, I'm not so sure anymore. (He recked every one on the map but I'm sure once I promote Neimi, she will become a badass. (I also play in normal).

6. Speaking of which, Erika, I really like you, I even took your path but can you PLEASE get a strength grow at one point because early game, you were killing everything who was not a lance user but now that your rapier only have 1 use, YOU ARE NOT THAT BADASS ANYMORE AND YOU CAN BARELY HURT AN AXE USER WITH YOUR IRON SWORD.

The struggle from the Awakening's newcomer XD.

Edited July 16, 2015 by Nym

[momogeek2141]

So here I am. Almost 1 year ago, I bought Awakening but now I manage to get my hands on FE6,7 and 8. I decided to play FE8 first.

However, I have some issues with this game:

1. I think I got what I call a ''Awakening marriage support syndrome'' because I alway feel the need of pairing a man and woman together ( don't tell me anything about end game mariage, I will see by myself). Yes, I know they get a bonus in (almost?) every stat but it's kinda silly at some point. For now I only have Neimi & Colm and Joshua and Natasha at A support.

2. Is that good if I trained ALL the kids? (trainees).

3. Because of these 2 problems above, I grinded JUST for that.

4. At what point should I promote my units? Because now I'm at chapter 11.

5. Idk what unit is good. I'm not sure who is best and who is not (*cough* Vanessa *cough*) For example, I trained Neimi as my main archer but now I got Innes, I'm not so sure anymore. (He recked every one on the map but I'm sure once I promote Neimi, she will become a badass. (I also play in normal).

6. Speaking of which, Erika, I really like you, I even took your path but can you PLEASE get a strength grow at one point because early game, you were killing everything who was not a lance user but now that your rapier only have 1 use, YOU ARE NOT THAT BADASS ANYMORE AND YOU CAN BARELY HURT AN AXE USER WITH YOUR IRON SWORD.

The struggle from the Awakening's newcomer XD.

1. Not all men and women get supports. If that's what you're asking.

2. Ross can be good as a Berserker. If you're willing to grind for them then they're not that bad. Oftentimes other units of the same class(es) will suffice.

4. If you want to get as many stats as you can, level 20. Level 15 is probably good enough for this game.

5. Innes is Neimi but without requiring effort. Tana is Vanessa who becomes better: IF you're willing to train her. Seth is god. If you need growth rates or average stats or anything else, you can look on the Sacred Stones page of this website. (http://serenesforest.net/the-sacred-stones/) There are some postgame things you can do in which the non-prepromotes generally do better.

6. That's why Ephraim's better.

[Blackzero]

So here I am. Almost 1 year ago, I bought Awakening but now I manage to get my hands on FE6,7 and 8. I decided to play FE8 first.

However, I have some issues with this game:

1. I think I got what I call a ''Awakening marriage support syndrome'' because I alway feel the need of pairing a man and woman together ( don't tell me anything about end game mariage, I will see by myself). Yes, I know they get a bonus in (almost?) every stat but it's kinda silly at some point. For now I only have Neimi & Colm and Joshua and Natasha at A support.

2. Is that good if I trained ALL the kids? (trainees).

3. Because of these 2 problems above, I grinded JUST for that.

4. At what point should I promote my units? Because now I'm at chapter 11.

5. Idk what unit is good. I'm not sure who is best and who is not (*cough* Vanessa *cough*) For example, I trained Neimi as my main archer but now I got Innes, I'm not so sure anymore. (He recked every one on the map but I'm sure once I promote Neimi, she will become a badass. (I also play in normal).

6. Speaking of which, Erika, I really like you, I even took your path but can you PLEASE get a strength grow at one point because early game, you were killing everything who was not a lance user but now that your rapier only have 1 use, YOU ARE NOT THAT BADASS ANYMORE AND YOU CAN BARELY HURT AN AXE USER WITH YOUR IRON SWORD.

The struggle from the Awakening's newcomer XD.

1.You don't have to grind to get supports up. Just have your units sit next to each other before the boss of the chapter(Will take longer,but you won't break the game's difficulty curve.)

2. If you don't want to spend time babying them, Amelia and Ewan aren't that good of options, and the other options do a good job as well. Ross doesn't need as much babying duh to his much earlier join time.

3.Grinding is the for weak(Unless it's Awakening's Lunatic mode because it's pretty much required.)

4.Whenever they hit level 20, duh.

5.Most of the units are good, but the non-promoted units usually turn out better than the prepromotes(Unless your Seth.)

6.Erika's rapier is meant to take down cavaliers and Knights, not everything else. You only get like two. And that's FE for you. The RNG can screw you over with levels sometimes.

[Baldrick]

There's no penalty for grinding (apart from having strangers on the internet judge you). Most supports take a long time to build up and grinding is the best way to get the trainees into shape.

If you want to do the postgame, it's best to promote at level 20 and use units like Neimi over units like Innes. Prepromoted units in general are pretty good, but they'll usually be less strong at max level. With FE's growth system, it's by no means certain.

Eirika usually has good enough speed to use heavier weapons and still double. If she's been screwed in speed as well, rip. She's a forced unit (unless you go with Ephraim in chapter 9) so it's worth trying to use her unless she becomes an outright liability.

[eclipse]

Without looking at the other posts. . .

1. I think I got what I call a ''Awakening marriage support syndrome'' because I alway feel the need of pairing a man and woman together ( don't tell me anything about end game mariage, I will see by myself). Yes, I know they get a bonus in (almost?) every stat but it's kinda silly at some point. For now I only have Neimi & Colm and Joshua and Natasha at A support.

See those affinities? They actually do something! Also, people can support others of the same sex, so you can have Joshua support Artur (just. . .don't do this for real).

2. Is that good if I trained ALL the kids? (trainees).

You don't have to. Of the three kids, Ross will usually turn out passable, Amelia rarely turns out well, and Ewan's a coin toss. Amelia is outclassed by just about everyone, and Saleh will almost always be better than Ewan (due to weapon ranks/CON).

3. Because of these 2 problems above, I grinded JUST for that.

Grinding is NOT necessary to beat this game!

4. At what point should I promote my units? Because now I'm at chapter 11.

Minimum level is 10. I usually wait until the last minute (15+), because experience gain goes down upon promotion. The exception are the staffbots - they get promoted as soon as practical, so they can fight back.

If you're going for postgame, take Baldrick's advice and promote at level 20.

5. Idk what unit is good. I'm not sure who is best and who is not (*cough* Vanessa *cough*) For example, I trained Neimi as my main archer but now I got Innes, I'm not so sure anymore. (He recked every one on the map but I'm sure once I promote Neimi, she will become a badass. (I also play in normal).

Neimi can go Ranger, and fill a different niche (but do beware of her CON). Innes can function just fine on his own.

The absolute best units are Seth and Saleh, with Franz not far behind.

6. Speaking of which, Erika, I really like you, I even took your path but can you PLEASE get a strength grow at one point because early game, you were killing everything who was not a lance user but now that your rapier only have 1 use, YOU ARE NOT THAT BADASS ANYMORE AND YOU CAN BARELY HURT AN AXE USER WITH YOUR IRON SWORD.

Remember that thing I mentioned about affinities? They can help Eir with her inability to scratch things! Support her with anyone BUT Innes, and she'll deal more damage. If you can get five support points total (A support someone/B someone else, two B supports and a C support, etc.), she should get a +5 damage bonus as long as all of her partner(s) are within three tiles of her!

Innes, sadly, has a defensive affinity, so Eir won't get as big of a damage boost.

[The Geek]

Don't worry too much about Sacred Stones. Even on Hard mode it really isn't that difficult.

And about Amelia: I recently did a Girls Only playthrough and she was an MVP as my sole Axe user and unit with the highest CON.

[Nym]

Ok, thanks for all the answers!

[General Banzai]

Vanessa is like the second best unit in the game last I remember

Aka the best unit who isn't Seth

[Water Mage]

Honestly, I would focus more on Tana rather than Vanessa, since she can support with Cormag, probaly the best support option a Pegasus Knight can ask, since he has a Fire affinity and can fly as well, and he really appreciate the Wind support bonus as well.

Edited July 18, 2015 by Water Mage

[Nym]

I maybe got RNG screwed because never got a single point in strengh for Vanessa.

Also I find Tana have a better personnality than Vanessa.

[Dark Throwback]

Grinding is best saved for postgame. It is very unnecessary for the maingame, and doing it in postgame will keep it fresh because Sacred Stones postgame does not stay fresh after a while.

[Katie]

Ignore eclipse, Amelia is the best General in the game. Her great speed growth means she can be a general that actually evades and doubles things, unlike Gilliam with his crappy speed.

[Tables]

Ignore eclipse, Amelia is the best General in the game. Her great speed growth means she can be a general that actually evades and doubles things, unlike Gilliam with his crappy speed.

So many things wrong with this post.

1) Her 'great' speed growth is a below average 40%, compared to Gilliam's 'crappy' 30%. So she gains 1 more speed over him every 10 levels on average. She does end up with significantly better speed than a trained Gilliam, but you're comparing a character whose strength is her speed to one whose weakness is. A pretty unfair comparison, really. Gilliam for reference smashes Amelia's growths in HP (30%) and DEF (25%), and also beats her in STR (10%) and RES (5%). He only loses in the two unimportant stats - SKL (5%) and LUK (20%), and of course Speed (10%). So uh, in terms of growths, Gilliam has a pretty big lead over Amelia. Hardly surprising - Amelia has some of the worst growths of any unit in the game (this is a fact by the way, go check the numbers if you want).

2) General Amelia is a great idea, if you like shooting yourself in the foot after shooting yourself in the leg. Amelia is a terrible unit - this is pretty much unanimously agreed (it's hard to find a main game tier list, for any kind of criterion, which puts her outside the bottom 3). She joins at an awful level halfway through the game, with terrible growths and generally struggles to do anything but throw Javelins with mediocre hit rates. Hence, using Amelia is shooting yourself in the arm. From there, promoting her to anything but Cavalier is such a massively inferior choice that'd you only do it for the challenge or just for personal preference reasons. Cavalier gives a huge 3 move advantage, as well as a second weapon type, which isn't to be overlooked. The other stat gain from promotion is slightly better for Knight (2 DEF and 1 STR in particular are good for Amelia) but, man, losing almost half your move for that is just nowhere near worth it.

3) Amelia as a Knight/General still has unimpressive defence. By the time she promotes to General (probably about chapter 18-19), Gilliam could easily be 20/8 or so, and have about an 8 defence, 12 HP lead over her. Her being a Knight/General doesn't mean much in terms of her defence. Her avoid is just what she naturally ends up with lategame, and it's still not even that good - about 56 avoid going into maybe chapter 18 gives enemies something like a 40-50% hit rate against her. Some of which 2HKO her. Um. At this point Gilliam's big HP and DEF lead mean he's much more durable, even if he gets hit more often most physical attacks just don't do anything. And, of course, Gilliam has been decent throughout the entire game up to this point. Amelia's been training for pretty much the entire time, and finally caught up. Even if she's better in the final few chapters (which is frankly arguable anyway) it's not going to be by much.

4) Comparing Amelia to any of the Cavaliers, her superior promotion line, really highlights her shortcomings. But that's not really relevant to the points you made, I just throught I'd throw it in.

[Katie]

^You forget that Amelia has a whopping 13 or so extra levels to gain more stats than Gilliam. And honestly, the point of the game in which someone joins hardly matters when you can just grind them in Tower of Valni. Also, Fliers>>>>>>>>>>>Cavaliers.

[Nym]

There is no way Amelia could be a good general for me.

1. Like Tables said, her defence growth is not that amazing for a knight

2. Which leads to this problem: even if she can double everything compare to Gilliam, this is something that is useless to me.

I always use knight like a sponge (absorb damages) and after, he can deal some in return without killing the attacker

Because if I manage to kill the attacker that means an open space which means another unit will either attack my knight or someone behind him.

3. I already have my flier and Amelia seems a decent cavalier (for now).

[Mekkah]

^You forget that Amelia has a whopping 13 or so extra levels to gain more stats than Gilliam. And honestly, the point of the game in which someone joins hardly matters when you can just grind them in Tower of Valni. Also, Fliers>>>>>>>>>>>Cavaliers.

Nobody forgot anything. Amelia's extra leveling potential has been taken into account when making comparisons, only they did it without assuming tower grinding. Because when you tower grind everyone, everyone is godly. Only some people take longer to grind up.

Fliers > Cavaliers has what to do with anything? Last I checked neither Amelia nor Gilliam has wings.

[Tables]

^You forget that Amelia has a whopping 13 or so extra levels to gain more stats than Gilliam.

No, I didn't. I factored that in to why she's so underlevelled, and of course her stats.

And honestly, the point of the game in which someone joins hardly matters when you can just grind them in Tower of Valni.

Oh, we're grinding in the Tower like scrubs now? Okay, sure. Capped Gilliam... 1) Has 60 HP and 30 DEF. Basically, he's invincible against anything but magic. Even for magic he has 13 RES. These stats are much better than Amelia's, who has 10.8 HP less and 5 DEF less. In other words, she can die. Amelia is slightly more tanky against magic thanks to 33 avoid and basically identical RES, but magic based enemies are less common. So lead for Gilliam in durability. 2) Has higher Strength and crucially has enough speed to double most enemies now. Like, maxed Gilliam doubles almost everything in Endgame (he maybe doesn't double a Maelduin, and doesn't double the Gwyllgi, but neither does Amelia). Earlier in the game there's a few enemies he doesn't double, in like chapters 19 and 17, but not a huge amount. Gilliam doubles the vast majority of enemies. So lead for Gilliam in offence.*

So at max stats, Amelia is better than Gilliam at everything, except for offence and defence. Uh wait, what was your point?

Of course, this ignores the fact that nobody takes using the tower seriously, because as Mekkkah just said:

When you tower grind everyone, everyone is godly. Only some people take longer to grind up.

And there's no point comparing characters when the comparison is "killing everything trivially" vs. "killing everything trivially"

Also, Fliers>>>>>>>>>>>Cavaliers.

Yes, fliers are the best classes, cavaliers are barely behind as the 2nd best class. Then there's a big gap to everything else, and finally you have Knights with their lolzy 4 move at the bottom.

*Gilliam's strength lead might not actually matter all that much since Amelia might reliable ORKO with affordable (Silver/Killer/Javelin) weaponry anyway. But the point remains that even at max level Amelia doesn't have a significant lead, if any lead at all.

Edited July 30, 2015 by Tables

[Radiant Dragon]

The ideal of a "General with great Speed" is an appealing one because Generals typically excel in the other important stats (HP, Strength, Defense) so this would theoretically give you a unit with the power to kill almost everything and never die.

However, just because Amelia is a General doesn't mean she has their excellent HP, Strength and Defense as well. Unlike the later installments, character growths are not influenced by their class in this game, so she'll always be stuck with her below-average 60%/35%/30% growths in HP/Str/Def, even as a General. As Tables said, she'll have slightly more HP/Str/Def as a General than Paladin due to promotion bonuses, but she will lose out on a point of Speed.

If you do want to use Amelia (and there's no reason why you shouldn't use her if you want to, especially on Normal mode), you'll find her much more useful as a Cavalier than a Knight, due to the extra 3 move and option to use Swords against Axe users. In addition, this still gives her the option to go Great Knight later for a little extra HP/Def and the ability to use Axes.

[mewyeon]

So here I am. Almost 1 year ago, I bought Awakening but now I manage to get my hands on FE6,7 and 8. I decided to play FE8 first.

However, I have some issues with this game:

1. I think I got what I call a ''Awakening marriage support syndrome'' because I alway feel the need of pairing a man and woman together ( don't tell me anything about end game mariage, I will see by myself). Yes, I know they get a bonus in (almost?) every stat but it's kinda silly at some point. For now I only have Neimi & Colm and Joshua and Natasha at A support.

2. Is that good if I trained ALL the kids? (trainees).

3. Because of these 2 problems above, I grinded JUST for that.

4. At what point should I promote my units? Because now I'm at chapter 11.

5. Idk what unit is good. I'm not sure who is best and who is not (*cough* Vanessa *cough*) For example, I trained Neimi as my main archer but now I got Innes, I'm not so sure anymore. (He recked every one on the map but I'm sure once I promote Neimi, she will become a badass. (I also play in normal).

6. Speaking of which, Erika, I really like you, I even took your path but can you PLEASE get a strength grow at one point because early game, you were killing everything who was not a lance user but now that your rapier only have 1 use, YOU ARE NOT THAT BADASS ANYMORE AND YOU CAN BARELY HURT AN AXE USER WITH YOUR IRON SWORD.

The struggle from the Awakening's newcomer XD.

Well, I have a somewhat unique perspective on this because I hate grinding and I also love using pre-promotes because I don't have the patience or the time to bother working on weaker units. But to respond to your points:

1. I actually never did any of the supports. A lot of ppl think supports are the best part of Awakening, but I only ever go after the ones that I'd use. And in Sacred Stones I just did them if they appeared, randomly. Some ppl had C ranks, and I think Ephraim and Erika made it to A once. But that's about it. You can easily beat the game without meddling with all of that, but if you want to, go ahead.

2. I never used Amelia, or Generals/Armor Knights at all for that matter. Gilliam became too tedious, and then by the time I got Amelia I had plenty of other good units to use instead. Ross, on the other hand, didn't really require much babying and he turns out excellent. I highly recommend using him.

3. Grind as much as you like.

4. Try to get them to level 20. In my experience though, it didn't make a significant difference even if you do it at, say, level 17 or 18.

5. Dude, Neimi's not worth it. I got so sick of babying her that I just decided to wait for Innes, who as you mentioned, takes care of business. If you're one of those people that loves grinding up weaker units and really wants to stick with them, that's fine. Just know that they are not necessary at all. And don't get me started on Pegasus Knights, it's my least favorite class. But I forced myself to make a challenge run where I babied Vanessa and she turned out okay. Just okay, though. Still flimsy and vulnerable, but less so than when she originally started. I've done multiple runs with just Cormag as my flier, and never had problems with that. (Cormag, by the way, is a boss. Keeper fo sho)

6. Ah, Erika. If it's your first time playing, it was definitely a good decision to pick her route. Because Ephraim's route, even on Normal, is annoying as ;LKSDJF;LAKJSD;FLKAJSD;FLKJASD;LK. I was literally just doing another run earlier, and I died on the Phantom Ship chapter AGAIN. And then on Chapter 15 I died twice, do you wanna know how I died the second time? I used Saleh to butter up Caellach a little bit, just to bring down his HP until Joshua could take him out. Saleh MISSES on a 72% hit, and then I was like 'Whatever. Joshua, do yo thang' and he hits once, then Caellach KILLS HIM WITH A 1% CRITICAL. THAT'S THAT B.S!!!! I ragequit after that. Ahem.

In regards to handling Erika, give her steel swords or better ASAP once she reaches that weapon level. It's true that earlier on, her and her iron sword can't do much. You'll have to baby her for a bit, but she turns out great in the end. Don't use that 1 use left of the Rapier, wait till you get the Hammerne and have one of your staff users fix that rapier right up. Alternatively, there's a chapter in her route (I forget the number, it's the one where you get Tana) where one of the houses also has a rapier. Make sure to pick that one up, if you broke the previous rapier.

[Nym]

Oh well about Neimi, she seems very good for me right now. At first, she was a little bit crappy but now that she got an A support with Colm, she kill everything in her path.

Also I accidentelly use Erika's rapier and well it's kinda... gone xD and I didn't find the other one (mistakes were made).

Oh yeah, I prefer using L'Arachel instead of Natasha because of the extra movement.

Edited August 4, 2015 by Nym

[Tragonight]

Innes trumps Neimi as a Sniper. But if you want to use a Bow Knight, go right ahead. Personally, I don't think they're that good.

Pack Steel or bonus-damage dealing weapons on Eirika. She needs the extra firepower.

L'Arachel makes a decent Mage Knight, so I'd keep using her over Natasha.

[Emperor Zurg]

Also I accidentelly use Erika's rapier and well it's kinda... gone xD and I didn't find the other one (mistakes were made).

If you choose Eirkia's path, there is a house in Chapter 9 that gives you a free rapier. You'll have to use a strong Pirate/Berserker Ross or Vanessa to get across the pirates and bowmen.

[Tamanoir]

Innes trumps Neimi as a Sniper. But if you want to use a Bow Knight, go right ahead. Personally, I don't think they're that good.

Pack Steel or bonus-damage dealing weapons on Eirika. She needs the extra firepower.

L'Arachel makes a decent Mage Knight, so I'd keep using her over Natasha.

She's generally better at a Valkyrie, because you're gonna use Light Magic more than Anima (Those damn Eyeballs...)

<If you invest in

Natasha as a Bishop have Slayer, but in Normal, it may be a little overkill (and Arthur is better anyway).

And if you want a Mage Knight, Lute do the job better (I thinkn it's commonly admitted she's better as a Mage Knight than Sage, because Move.)

Neimi is good at Avo tanking, but she tend to lacks strength.

Seth is god.

Cormag is a monster. Cormag and Tana, as someone else said is a great idea.

On the trainees :

Ross is the easier to train and makes a great bersrker.

If you train Ewan, amkes him follow the Shaman Route.

He's the best dark magic user (you get another one later, but he's not as good, and join far too late)

Amelia is the worst of the bunch, because she doesn't have any good niche.

I mean, I train her every time because I have a huge bias towards her, and she turned awesome each time.

Genrally, the game is easy enough so that you canuse whoever you want without to much trouble.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Tamanoir

[Tragonight]

I forgot Valkyries existed in Sacred Stones. I always went Mage Knight with L'Arachel.

I actually disagree with you on a few points. I find Lute to be a great Sage because of her really high Mag. And I think they have a higher Skill than Mage Knights too, which is helpful in boosting her crit rate.

Correction: Seth is an Oifey. A half-Jagen that can actually turn out really good for endgame. I recommend training Eirika more when you have the chance to though.

I go the Wyvern Knight route for both Cormag and Tana. It's great for boosting Tana's Strength and Cormag's Speed, although the latter is always good no matter what you promote him into.

Amelia is amusing. Her classes don't affect her growth rates, so she can net a decent Speed as a General. I find that she doubles more than Gilliam, but lacks his Strength and Defense.

[Tamanoir]

I forgot Valkyries existed in Sacred Stones. I always went Mage Knight with L'Arachel.

I actually disagree with you on a few points. I find Lute to be a great Sage because of her really high Mag. And I think they have a higher Skill than Mage Knights too, which is helpful in boosting her crit rate.

Correction: Seth is an Oifey. A half-Jagen that can actually turn out really good for endgame. I recommend training Eirika more when you have the chance to though.

I go the Wyvern Knight route for both Cormag and Tana. It's great for boosting Tana's Strength and Cormag's Speed, although the latter is always good no matter what you promote him into.

Amelia is amusing. Her classes don't affect her growth rates, so she can net a decent Speed as a General. I find that she doubles more than Gilliam, but lacks his Strength and Defense.

I usually go the Sage Route too, because Move is not that important in my way of playing. She's gonna max her Mag anyway.

Her skill won't be maxed (unless you're taking of promotion bonus ?). As a Sage, she kinda reminds me of Lilina : obliterate all ennemies in one hit, but don't last that long.

Tana (and Vanessa) are generally better as Wyvern Knight, unless you want to use the Triangle Attack.

I never regretted using Amelia, but I have a huge bias towards her.