Tonics, Confects, and Tears?

[Xenomata]

I've not been doing this long enough to properly know why myself, but I don't really see anyone mention the stat tonics, candy confects, and Tiki's Tear no matter whatever is being asked.

I know +2 to whatever stat doesn't seem like much of an increase, but in most cases it might be the difference between doubling an enemy (I mean, you only need 5 speed more than the enemy), surviving with even just one HP, or just hitting slightly harder, if at all. Plus, some of these boosts can increase max HP, which is impossible otherwise. Perhaps your VERY particular about the activation of Miracle and Armsthrift and want that small extra boost to bring said skills activation up to par/all the time? Also, the boosts aren't affected by stat limits (they are treated like support boosts), and they are available in infinite quantities in quite a few of the armories in early chapters (the earliest being Chapter 3 armory). Not to mention those units who have terrible growths in certain stats (Stahl = Resistance, Avatar in whatever the flaw stat is), so by the endgame those units wind up having those stats being in the tens or twenties if not properly trained.

Besides, Rally Play is definitely a thing people recommend, and those give +4 to whatever stat the rally skill is, save for Luck, Spectrum, and Heart. What is wrong with an extra +2 that can be applied before you even begin battle? Is it just the tediousness of using so many stat boosters on your entire active army? Does buying so many Tonics eat up funds (even though it doesn't seem to go up in price like the Reeking Boxes do between difficulties)? Do people think the boost just isn't large enough to be considered worth it? Or perhaps it's just that it isn't mentioned because no der, stat boosts gimme 99 of everything?

Could also apply to Barracks stat boosts, though those are just too random and eat up too much time waiting for the units you want to be boosted....

Edited July 31, 2015 by Xenomata

[Maritisa]

Honestly the things are so damn cheap there's no reason NOT to use them, I think people just kind of forget they exist. But people doing maximum potency calculations usually include them and other rare boosts, like the Barracks, so it's not like people don't see the worth in them.

[General Banzai]

Stat tonics pretty invaluable in Luna+ runs, they're available so early and so cheap it's basically free stats

[Flying Shogi]

I usually use them when I play Apotheosis. That Speed Tonic sometimes determines who doubles the Berserker/Annna.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Magician Lugh

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

I use Def Tonics in pretty much every campaign run I do. They're available very early and make a drastic difference unit survivability. Str Tonics are also good, although not quite as helpful. Don't get me wrong—the extra damage is nice, but it's not quite the same as a durability increase when it comes to a game that puts a ton of emphasis on enemy phase. Actually, I'd probably have higher regard for them if it was the primary offensive stat of Robin, since I usually use her as a tank. Mag Tonics are still really helpful, but come a fair bit later and by then, Robin's usually steamrolling. They're still helpful for niche strats and compensating for being Mag-screwed by the RNG, though. Otherwise, I typically don't use the other tonics, except for stacking every last advantage I can for Endgame (in general), the final four chapters (Resetless Lunatic+), or especially challenging DLC (Future Past, Apotheosis).

[deskita]

I find that defense and resistance tonics are great for being able to train Donnel as when paired up with Kellam he can actually survive on his own in the villager class.

[eclipse]

Strength tonics are useful to do some ORKOs. Defense tonics allow characters to survive certain situations (Paralogue 3 I am looking at you). The one I abuse most are Speed tonics - either to make someone double, or to prevent someone from being doubled.

[Xenomata]

So... I guess it's a simple case of no der, stat boosts gimme 1 billion.

It seemed weird to me before that it was never mentioned in any guides I've seen, so I kinda began thinking that they were glitched where the stats weren't truly applied or something...

Plus for some reason I thought you couldn't stack multiple stat boosts from different tonics/confects (Not like stacking Strength Tonic and Gaius Confect, I mean like Kris' Confect and Gaius' Confect), though I did check to make sure of this before posting, and I was wrong (fortunately).

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

I suppose so?

Oh, and I forgot to shill HP Tonics. They're available pretty late, but they're really helpful for the additional buffer, especially when combined with Def Tonics or the HP+5 skill. I pretty much put them on everyone I expect to do more than 1 or 2 rounds of combat in a map when I expect Counter and Luna+ spam to be a thing (and sometimes even when I don't, since they can do stuff like bring kids out of OHKO range when they're vulnerable and being trained).