[FE4] SOYO Draft

[General Horace]

Probably have to either sit around and wait for it to happen or just skip Leen. Such is the misfourtunate of giving me Levin and not having Alec

CHAPTER 10 - 16/77 TURNS

TO HILDA - 2/2 TURNS

Laylea bought the prayer sword and shield ring for later. thief sword is the real mvp. Lana rescued Celice ahead on turn 1 after being danced, then rescued Laylea down on turn 2, and she danced Celice and Lana after being restored by Hawk. Celice got rescued by Lana again and seized after killing Hilda

TO RANDOM DARKMAGE CASTLE - 3/5 TURNS

Lana rescued Celice ahead, and Hawk warped Laylea to Hilda's castle, allowing her to dance Lana again, and she rescued Celice ahead a little more. Celice beat some dudes up on the enemy phase, and Lana rescued Layela ahead, and she survived the incoming enemy phase thanks to the prayer sword. Lana rescued Lester (who was warped ahead the previous turn to kill the dark mage dude guarding the castle, and Celice killed the boss to seize.

TO MILETOS - 5/10 TURNS

Not having Leg RIng Celice hurt here a bit. Did some rescue shenanagins and Oifaye tanked a sleep staff, Lana and Laylea both returned home since rescue broke and Laylea couldn't get to close since she got oneshotted, and Hawk warping her would get her farther ahead. Celice got hung on for a turn since noone was able to clear out a random dark mage around the boss.

TO CHALPHY - 6/16 TURNS

Femina lured the Bishop over (she previously tanked damage so he'd move to heal her) to get Tyrfing easier. Once Celice got Tyrfing he killed Alvis over the course of 2 turns and seized. If I was able to warp Hawk up I probably could have saved a turn since he could have theoretically layed a bit of a preemtive smackdown on Alvis since he could have had a magic ring and capped magic and pretty good hit with the lightning tome, but sadly I don't have another staff user.

EPILOGUE - 16/93 TURNS

TO EDDA - 2/2 TURNS

Rescued Laylea ahead a few times to get Celice in range to seize. Lana returned home on turn 2, and Femina used the return staff on Laylea to send her home.

TO DOZEL - 2/4 TURNS

the real hero AMID bought the pursuit ring off Femina at the chapter start, and nuked the entire Dozel squad with a 50 kill Elwind tome (thanks Levin), allowing Celice and Lana to dance through unscathed. Hawk could have done this too easier but I wanted buttface to have his time to shine.

TO FREEGE - 3/7 TURNS

Rescue chained Laylea and Celice ahead and killed Hilda.

TO VELTHOMER - 5/12 TURNS

Rescue chained Laylea around Ishtar's squad for the most part, and Amid was warped up to fuck them up rather poorly, eventually Lester and Oifaye were able to help. Hawk killed all the pegasus sisters because his offence is ridiculous, and lured some of the deadlords over the cliff above Dozel.

TO BARHARA - 4/16 TURNS

Julia got Narga and eventally nuked Julius.

UNIT ANALYSIS

Celice - He did his job, even if he's slow the speed ring makes everything better.

Badney - She was as bad as her name implies, but she was good at one thing, burning RN's.

Lana - I'm really glad I had Levin (he's honestly pretty awesome even in gen 1) to pair with Aideen, since it let Lana use Elwind on promotion, and gave her good combat stats and skills, since she occasionally needed to kill a few things (like against the enemies before Alvis). She's still only the third best rescue bot though, although having her in tandem with Laylea is nice since you can just warp Celice after recruiting Laylea saving a few turns.

Lester - he helped killing a few enemies here and there (notably in chapter 7 and 10) and Levin isn't really a bad dad for anybody, so his combat was passable despite mediocre strength.

Oifaye - did Oifaye things, helped in Chapter 7, did very little else.

Femina - she's honestly not that terrible, and usually saves a turn in Chapter 8 (but I had Hawk so that was rendered moot). She could never reach Celice after he seized a castle to return him after seizing letting me warp Laylea there preemptively, but it wasn't a huge deal, still saved turns in chapter 10 and endgame.

Buttface - has a butt for a face. could be worse I guess, really sucks that he doesn't get staves or a horse. I like how he has tordo blood but is a wind mage so he can't use thunder tomes until he promotes.

Laylea - Lana needed the leg and knight ring anyway so she didn't really need that much money, just enough for the return ring, shield ring, and prayer sword, and she could usually beat level 1 of the arena at least and then looted some enemies and villages with the thief sword to get that money when she didn't need to dance (ie chapter 8).

Hawk - Was the warp bot after Lana became rescue bot. Did his job, I guess.

Julia - did nothing of value other than killing Julius.

this means a gen 1 clear of 108 turns + gen 2 clear of 93 turns = 201 turns NO NOT UNDER 200 RAGE

Edited November 28, 2015 by General Horace

[Yojinbo]

I'm definitely skipping Leen at this point. That will at least give me Sharlow and I'm not gonna let all these turns I'm saving upon restarting go to waste. But man ... the SOYO is real. To think that Sylvia of all units would give me trouble -.-

Chapter 2: 26/57

To Heirhein: 8 turns

Pretty straightforward castle, Sigurd collected a bunch of more kills on the Steel Sword & killed Phillip to get the Return Ring. Made a mistake with Fin that ended up likely costing a turn at the next castle.

To Anphony: 5 turns

I had Fin go west at Nodion rather than using the northern roads to get him a headstart. Not sure why I thought I needed Fin to help out at Nodion but he was too far behind and didn't have the Hero Lance in time to insta-attack the Lance Knights that also trigger Voltz' squad. So I took the additional turn here for the Elite Ring.

To Mackily: 8 turns

No way of doing this castle any faster without a return/warp user. Sigurd had to return home and then move towards the castle. In the meantime Deidre [who had healed Lachesis' Knights and Cuan] Holyn, Azel and Dew baited out the castle guards and brought them in range where Cuan and the Cross Knights could chime in and do their bit. By the time Sigurd got there most of the squad was cleared out and the boss used his Sleep Staff on the Cross Knights. Dew couldn't get the bosskill this time but he should be able to afford whatever he needs fir Ch.3 regardless.

To Agusty: 5 turns

Not 100% sure what caused me to lose a turn here but Sigurd fell 2 squares short of reaching Shagall on turn 25. He made full use of his movement except for one turn, I don't think that should be enough to cost a turn since it was only max movement minus one whereas I was missing 2 tiles. Weird. Azel was warped back home by Deidre to take care of Fury's squad and Fin who had stayed up at Anphony castle chipped over the cliff with his Javelin.

Overall I'm OK with how this chapter went. I could've saved one turn or two but I couldn't get back to the save state where I hadn't moved Fin to the west before Nodion yet so that's kind of unfortunate. But it's a one-turn improvement over my previous attempt, Sigurd got more kills on the Steel Sword and Dew is all set up to do his thing.

Edited November 29, 2015 by Yojinbo

[Yojinbo]

Chapter 3: 16/73

To Madino: 3 turns

Promoted Fin, Hero Lance Cuan and Sigurd were boosted ahead by Sylvia. They made full use of their movement on roads, the Duke Knights took out the dudes that block the way to the castle, Sigurd ORKOd Jacobans with a Steel Sword critical [that thing has like 75 kills on it] and seized.

To Silvail: 5 turns

Dew took out the Cross Knights again, Sigurd used the return Ring and got help from Sylvia, who gave Holyn, Dew and Sigurd another dance to take out castle guards that block the way, Dew attacked Shagal with the Light Sword [has 25 kills on it right now] for 5k and Sigurd finished with his new Hero Sword on turn 8.

To Orgahill: 8 turns

Hero Lance!Fin took most of the Pirate at the bridge including Pizarl on turn 8 enemy phase. Sigurd returned home. On the next turn, Fin ran to Madino, sold the Leg Ring to Sigurd who ran across the world until he was in reach to seize Orgahill. Fin collected kills on the Hero Lance on straying Pirates, Azel also got a few kills. Huge improvement compared to the previous attempt, 16 turns really isn't that bad especially without a Warp user. Leenless 2nd gen confirmed, no way I'll get Holyn and Sylvia paired up. Oh well.

Chapter 4: 21/94

To Thove: 9 turns

As it turned out I still couldn't facilitate the 8 turn despite having kept Azel at full HP. You need to take out two castle guards which may possible to do with only Dew, Sylvia, Azel and Sigurd but I couldn't figure it out. Still a good turn count.

To Zaxon: 12 turns

Andrei did not waste turns this time, I don't think he can be manipulated to seize Silesia castle any sooner *shrug*.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Yojinbo

[Yojinbo]

Chapter 5: 18/122

To Lubeck: 4 turns

Easy. Sigurd, Azel and Dew got boosted ahead by Sylvia and took out mooks with Hero&Light Sword, Magic Ring!Azel destroyed Langbart with a Lightsword crit.

To Phinora: 4 turns

Item/Money management was my biggest concern because Sigurd is the only unit who can pass down stuff so dumped everything possible onto him and used leftover money to repair Tyrfing a bit.

To Velthomer: 10 turns

Dew took on the Thracian Wyvern's, Azel served as a decoy to kill dudes over the cliff in the desert and got killed along the way. Sigurd Tyrfing'd, Earth&Herosworded his way to Velthomer solo. It was kinda tight but the enemy units move in a really dumb way that forces Reptor to attack Prayer!Sigurd from 1 range and get pawned over the course of 1 EP + the following PP.

Units:

Sigurd - Sigurd

Azel - Was super duper important because he was my only frontliner except Sigurd once Fin and Cuan left. He's honestly really good in these draft runs, I've learned to appreciate him a lot.

Dew - Simply amazing, there's nothing more to say. Investing a lot of shit for him early game payed really great dividends in the end and it was totally worth it. He was actually helpful in every single chapter except Ch.1 which says a lot about how good he is.

Holyn - Completely useless. I've tried my hardest to squeeze some utility out of him ... nothing came of it. I think he did two rounds of combat in Ch.2 and one in Ch.3 and Ch.4 each.

Sylvia - Caused me more than just a little headache. This time I would've prefered Aideen - Syvia is still broken but not as good in SOYO drafts as usually.

Pics coming later/when I'm not lazy. Doing Ch.6 for now.

Ch.6: 17/17

Celice does his thing where he runs across the world with all the expensive rings equipped as well as the Hero Sword and the Earth Sword for healing purposes. Tried to feed Johalva's squad to Tristan but Oifaye took most kills. Oh well, at least Oifaye procced mag which is pretty awesome. I also made sure Julia gets the Relive staff but couldn't get any of the villages =(

Edited December 1, 2015 by Yojinbo

[Yojinbo]

Ch.7: 21/38

Celice ran around and seized castles. Oifaye, Tristan, Julia and Buttface charged south towards Melgen castle. Oifaye killed a couple of mooks + Ishtor with the Light Sword and used th Earth Sword to heal himself when needed. Tristan held back and dealt with Jabarro's squad and got a whole bunch of kills and Exp. Fin collected kills on the Hero Sword [has 50+ kills at the end of the chapter] and Janne visits villages. 20 turns would've been possible but I couldn't finish it any time sooner than 21 because I had to drag buttface all the way to the south the recruit Linda. 9 to Yield, 6 to Melgen, 6 to Alster I think.

Ch.8: 13/51

I make use of Fin's great starting position to have him clear out Ovo's squad right off the bat. Celice runs all over the place and eventually catches up with Fin near the bridge before Conote castle. Janne healed when needed but I actually had to keep her out of danger because she really sucks at fighting. Fin destroyed Ishtar and Celice seized on turn 7. He then proceeded to go all the way south on his own, the Draco Knights are actually very weak and Celice can easily take them on by himself - they may actually not even attack him if he has too much Def and I had to keep him off mountain tiles or else they would've just ganged up around Celice and cockblocked his way. Janne saved civilians and got awful level ups. Linda, Julia, Tristan and Oifaye stayed back at Alster castle. I tried to feed as much Exp into Linda as possible. I didn't do a good job at it though.

[Yojinbo]

Ch.9 16/77

Turns were lost because of the Berserk Staff aka having to recruit Hannibal. I think it's only one or two turns overall though. Really nice how recruiting Hannibal insta-seizes to make things a bit easier. Chapter was mostly a Celice solo with Linda defending the home castle, getting lots of Exp and promoting in the process ... so I have my two endgame staff users now. Oifaye did his usual violate-Wyverns-with-Light-Sword thing, Fin killed Altenna, Linda killed Trabant and Celice tiptoed his way around Arion because fuck Arion. Sharlow spammed Libro, got&sold the Berserk Staff and bought Warp.
Don't remember the individual turncounts, I think it's 5 to Luthecia + 6 to Grustia + 5 to Thracia or something like that.

[Yojinbo]

Ch. 10: 22/99 turns

Epilogue: 19/118 turns

Too lazy to do writeups for the chapters, I may or may not do them later. For now I'm just glad I got it done. The most important things you have to know is that I lost turns on the way Miletos castle because only Celice was immune to Sleep. Fortunately Oifaye was in a decent position and the first to wake up to dissolve the traffic jam that occured on the bridge. Celice got the Tyrfing and killed Alvis over the course of 1EP + 1PP.

In the final chapter I have promoted Janne return Celice from Edda while Oifaye and Tristan wiped out the Grauen Ritter. Tristan, Oifaye and Fin mainly carved paths through enemies for Celice to do his thing, Tristan and Janne also baited the enemies around Barharra away from Celice via squad AI [and got killed in the process]. Linda berserked the hell dude and all that jazz.

122 + 118 = 240 turns overall. Very meh. Would've been a lot faster in the last 3 chapters if I didn't have to play it Leenless. The soyo was strong with my team.

Also I never posted my dudes so here we go:

[spoiler=Units]Gen 1:

I took this pic before I picked up and repaired the Tyrfing but the stats are of course the same as his level had been capped long ago. Did Sigurd things.

I really learned to appreciate him in draft runs since I had him like 2 or 3 times in my last 3 drafts. He's really awesome from Ch.4 onwards which was extremely important because Fin and Cuan left.

He's ridiculously good. Definitely a top 10 units in drafts. Helped on the way to Mackily and Agusty castle, destroyed the Cross Knights, saved a turn in Ch.4 and kept my main group clear off Thracia in Ch.5.

WHY SYLVIA WHY

Completely useless. Either him or Jamka are the worst gen 1 pick in drafts. At least Ardan's free.

Overall my gen 1 team was really epic and I got decent turncounts in all the chapters except maybe 2. Ch.4 and Ch.5 was pretty crazy with me running on 2 actual combat units, 1 dancer and 1 auxiliary unit and still doing well. Sylvia broke my heart though.

+++

Gen 2:

Celice.

The best.

Mounted fighter with solid physical stats, good skills and perfect availability. Got no complaints though he'd be a lot more valuable if Oifaye weren't free. Got sacrificed on the very last enemy phase of the run because Janne failed to prayertank stuff.

Would be so much easier to promote her if her combat parameters weren't so damn awful. Even after getting promotion gains her stats are dreaful and she has no skills. But she's a mounted return user which would've been amazing if I actually had a gen 2 dancer so she did contribute a bit.

He's an amazing unit for drafts in general but I think in SOYOs he's even better. You don't have to worry about pairing him up which is a major concern for Sylvia, Fury and Lachesis. He's very helpful in the tough/annoying early game maps, has a great starting position in Ch.8 and from then onward he basically lives on crit!Hero Lance, Prayer, Pursuit and leftover resources like Rings. He obliterated Ishtar in Ch.8 and prayer tanked the barons at Freege castle. Top 5 in SOYO? Wouldn't be surprised if it were the case.

Really good and underrated unit in drafts. She's probably one of the best substitute characters because she can use all the important staffs exept Rescue and is extremely easy to promote. She costs a turn or so if you have neither Lana nor Amid but I think he's still a lot better and more practical than Tinny and if you have Leen/Laylea you can recruit her while you're already losing turns anyways. Should've used her status staves more I think but I'm really happy with her performance.

Warp never actually did anything crucial iirc but there are worse gen 2 characters. He's not completely worthless so I won't complain.