haarhaarhaar Posted October 25, 2022 Share Posted October 25, 2022 (edited) In what already feels like an age ago, I returned to 3H after a pretty long self-imposed timeout, all excited to start on Three Hopes when it came out in the summer. I decided I'd do a challenge run of CS to get myself in the mood. However, while playing through that run, my Switch got broken, and no amount of begging nice repair people/praying/cursing the gods would fix it. Which also means I've lost upwards of 500 hours of saves between 3H, SMT V, Catherine and a couple of other assorted games. Now, I've finally been able to treat myself to a new Switch, and face the possibility of re-earning my golden home screen, actually starting a Three Hopes save file, etc. Losing the save files was obviously grim, but the silver lining (I'm telling myself) is that I get to completely immerse myself in Fodlan prior to Engage, which is already coming around soon. So - my plan is to do a Maddening NG run of 3H, with DLC (I will complete CS the moment I unlock it again), followed by completing the same house's route on Three Hopes (will make a thread in that forum when I do, I've avoided most spoilers for Three Hopes so far so please do the same in comments). What I'm looking for from you is interesting ideas for this run, bearing in mind that I'm going to do Three Hopes afterwards with almost no knowledge. Will happily take suggestions on just about everything, including route choice, character build, restrictions on play, and so on. I'm mainly looking for ways to increase the fun factor. I don't mind a challenge, but the CS challenge run I had started previously was very very hard, and I don't want to be so challenged that I'm retrying levels loads of times. I'm also more than happy to spend time in the monastery. I'll probably start the run next week, and will update my progress on here as I go. Looking forward to hearing everyone's ideas below!! Edited October 28, 2022 by haarhaarhaar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted October 25, 2022 Share Posted October 25, 2022 Whatever class paths you choose for your characters in Three Houses must be mirrored to the best of your ability in Three Hopes. That includes characters who you recruit. Shez will stand in for Byleth. Class mastery in Hopes is a lot less irritating than in Houses. Which reminds me, you must play at least one map with a character's class in Three Hopes if you used it in Three Houses (so no skipping an intermediate class because it sucks). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar777 Posted October 26, 2022 Share Posted October 26, 2022 (edited) I'm a noob who played it (only twice) on the lowest difficulty and in casual mode, but here are a few things that come to mind: -Take full advantage of the monastery; in high difficulty you won't be able to level grind, so take advantage of every last activity point to either boost stats, boost supports between two characters that'll translate to some battlefield advantage, etc. Granted, there's a trade-off between monastery and fighting battles to gain EXP. But on days where you have to do the monastery, don't leave even a single point unused. Ever. Search the internet to find tips for the most efficient ways to use your activity points. -On the above note, scour the monastery for every hidden item you can find. Fish and garden. Look up on the internet where goodies are hidden. -Accept and perform all of the "help me with X" mission postings for as many rewards as you can possibly get. Carefully consider how you're going to spend your points on the statues based on the final party that you plan to have. -If you're playing on casual, choose your party carefully. Ideally, you shouldn't waste a single battle on a single character who you don't have to use and are not going to use long-term. The only exception is if, by recruiting a unit to replace an old one, you get a level boost but it takes you a little while in-game before you can replace the old ones with them; even then, you ought to prioritize giving that EXP to the units you plan to keep later. On that note, figure out what stats you'll need to recruit the characters you want and don't waste resources by not planning beforehand. -On the above note, if you're fighting battles where you have the option of ending it early (without defeating all enemies), ideally you shouldn't take this option unless necessary, and do this no earlier than the very last round that you can keep going. -Plan your unit classing carefully and don't waste limited resources on boosting any weapon stats unrelated to classing them up. -I've heard Lysithea is pretty good. -I never played Rhea's route so I don't know if you get her as a replacement for Edelgard. If not, however, then don't choose Rhea's route (IIRC there's no Rhea route in Three Hopes anyway). Edelgard's invariably going to be one of your mains so you can't afford to lose her mid-story. -Edelgard's route is the shortest and presumably easiest in the game. Just something to keep in mind if your goal is just to finish the challenge. For Three Hopes, which I've played through once, my advice is much the same: there will be annoyingly many opportunities to spend activity points that you feel like are useless. Don't waste them. Probably the most useful will be the Training Grounds; know exactly who you want training together and increase slots early on to take maximal advantage each time. Edited October 26, 2022 by Hrothgar777 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar777 Posted October 26, 2022 Share Posted October 26, 2022 (Also, my condolences. Something similar happened to my brother recently. Almost all of his Switch games were digital copies and his Nintendo account got deleted so it's all lost.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted October 26, 2022 Author Share Posted October 26, 2022 10 hours ago, eclipse said: Whatever class paths you choose for your characters in Three Houses must be mirrored to the best of your ability in Three Hopes. That includes characters who you recruit. Shez will stand in for Byleth. Class mastery in Hopes is a lot less irritating than in Houses. Which reminds me, you must play at least one map with a character's class in Three Hopes if you used it in Three Houses (so no skipping an intermediate class because it sucks). Done and done! I'm thinking of doing a couple of wacky builds this time around, so am excited to see how that turns out in Hopes 8 hours ago, Hrothgar777 said: Take full advantage of the monastery; in high difficulty you won't be able to level grind, so take advantage of every last activity point to either boost stats, boost supports between two characters that'll translate to some battlefield advantage, etc. Granted, there's a trade-off between monastery and fighting battles to gain EXP. But on days where you have to do the monastery, don't leave even a single point unused. Ever. Search the internet to find tips for the most efficient ways to use your activity points. -On the above note, scour the monastery for every hidden item you can find. Fish and garden. Look up on the internet where goodies are hidden. -Accept and perform all of the "help me with X" mission postings for as many rewards as you can possibly get. Carefully consider how you're going to spend your points on the statues based on the final party that you plan to have. Yeah I'm normally very completionist about the monastery, so will take that on this time as well! 8 hours ago, Hrothgar777 said: If you're playing on casual, choose your party carefully. I think I will play on classic, just because I like the stakes - should have specified in the OP 8 hours ago, Hrothgar777 said: I've heard Lysithea is pretty good. She is! I normally recruit her though, so I'm thinking this time I won't just to introduce some variety. 9 hours ago, Hrothgar777 said: For Three Hopes, which I've played through once, my advice is much the same: there will be annoyingly many opportunities to spend activity points that you feel like are useless. Don't waste them. Probably the most useful will be the Training Grounds; know exactly who you want training together and increase slots early on to take maximal advantage each time. Thank you for the tip! Will bear in mind! 8 hours ago, Hrothgar777 said: (Also, my condolences. Something similar happened to my brother recently. Almost all of his Switch games were digital copies and his Nintendo account got deleted so it's all lost.) That massively sucks - I was lucky enough to keep my account so I didn't have to repurchase stuff, I really feel for him. Ideas for this run are beginning to crystallise now - here's what I've got so far (critique where you like): Run Outline: AM Maddening Classic NG, completing CS in Ch. 2 of the main story. It was a toss-up between AM and SS as routes I haven't done that much, and I think I will enjoy AM more, especially given it's a lead-in to Hopes. Final Party: F!Byleth, Dimitri, Felix, Sylvain, Mercedes (adjutant Annette), Ingrid, Catherine (adjutant Shamir), Cyril, Balthus (adjutant Hilda), Hapi, Constance, Yuri. I will drop Ashe after Ch. 13, and I'm not sure what to do about Dedue - I would really like to include him in my endgame party, but I raised him as a def-tank last time and he was getting outmatched after he returned from hiatus. Builds: I've only settled on Monk > Mage > Valkyrie > War Cleric for Constance. I know this is probably sub-optimal for her, but magic gauntlets user is one of the few things I'm desperate to have saved records of. Monk > Mage > Archer (probs with Knowledge Gem favouritism) > Sniper for Mercedes, with magic sniping as her niche. Two magic attacker builds might be unnecessary, especially on AM, but I'm looking forward to trying to raise both on one run. Fighter > Thief > Dancer (> Assassin) for Yuri. Unsure if I want him to fight or not, but he will definitely take part in the White Heron Cup. Monk > Mage > Warlock/Dark Flier > Gremory for Hapi. She will probably be the only pure mage I field at endgame, and am not sure what her endgame class should be yet. Monk > Mage > Warlock > Armored Knight for Annette. She's getting sacrificed to Mercedes after her paralogue. F!Byleth is just so I can S-Rank Dimitri, not a statement on whether she becomes a Falcon Knight, although I'm open to that. I have ideas for everyone else, but nothing firm, so very willing to hear your suggestions. Recruitment: Ashen Wolves (Ch. 2), Catherine/Cyril (I will try to use them all the way through), Shamir/Hilda as adjutants, Anna/Lorenz/Caspar/Raph whenever convenient for their paralogues, and if I meet recruitment requirements for anyone else naturally then I will recruit them for their paralogue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 (edited) On 10/25/2022 at 9:27 AM, haarhaarhaar said: Which also means I've lost upwards of 500 hours of saves between 3H, SMT V, Catherine and a couple of other assorted games. Yo SMTV??? Love that game, played on Hard on that game and I remember it taking me like 5 hours just to beat Demi-Fiend after figuring out my strat to beat him. Awesome game. 13 hours ago, haarhaarhaar said: Ideas for this run are beginning to crystallise now - here's what I've got so far (critique where you like): Run Outline: AM Maddening Classic NG, completing CS in Ch. 2 of the main story. It was a toss-up between AM and SS as routes I haven't done that much, and I think I will enjoy AM more, especially given it's a lead-in to Hopes. Final Party: F!Byleth, Dimitri, Felix, Sylvain, Mercedes (adjutant Annette), Ingrid, Catherine (adjutant Shamir), Cyril, Balthus (adjutant Hilda), Hapi, Constance, Yuri. I will drop Ashe after Ch. 13, and I'm not sure what to do about Dedue - I would really like to include him in my endgame party, but I raised him as a def-tank last time and he was getting outmatched after he returned from hiatus. Builds: I've only settled on Monk > Mage > Valkyrie > War Cleric for Constance. I know this is probably sub-optimal for her, but magic gauntlets user is one of the few things I'm desperate to have saved records of. Monk > Mage > Archer (probs with Knowledge Gem favouritism) > Sniper for Mercedes, with magic sniping as her niche. Two magic attacker builds might be unnecessary, especially on AM, but I'm looking forward to trying to raise both on one run. Fighter > Thief > Dancer (> Assassin) for Yuri. Unsure if I want him to fight or not, but he will definitely take part in the White Heron Cup. Monk > Mage > Warlock/Dark Flier > Gremory for Hapi. She will probably be the only pure mage I field at endgame, and am not sure what her endgame class should be yet. Monk > Mage > Warlock > Armored Knight for Annette. She's getting sacrificed to Mercedes after her paralogue. F!Byleth is just so I can S-Rank Dimitri, not a statement on whether she becomes a Falcon Knight, although I'm open to that. I have ideas for everyone else, but nothing firm, so very willing to hear your suggestions. Recruitment: Ashen Wolves (Ch. 2), Catherine/Cyril (I will try to use them all the way through), Shamir/Hilda as adjutants, Anna/Lorenz/Caspar/Raph whenever convenient for their paralogues, and if I meet recruitment requirements for anyone else naturally then I will recruit them for their paralogue. Now I don't remember too much about Azure Moon in terms of maps but I remember a lot about the units. I'll say what I think about the units you picked except Byleth and Dimitri since they're mandatory and I'm sure a lot of people already said something about em. I also don't know how DLC affects the other routes as I don't own DLC so I won't be commenting too much on that. Units: Sylvain is good and shouldn't be benched as he has good early game and has Swift Strikes. His ending classes are generally going to be Wyvern Lord or Paladin, it really depends on how many Wyvern Lords you plan to have and how many you've already decided on. Felix is a good unit who can essentially end up as any class that is physical and succeed. His personal is also very good however you will want to give him a battalion eventually so do train his authority after he reaches the necessary skill ranks for other classes. Mercedes is probably the worst healer in the game so you can actually decide to replace her with Linhardt later on. Since they're both just meant to be healers you won't be needing to invest in them and Linhardt has a better late game spell list than Mercedes due to Warp. However, if you are newer you might end up turtling often which Mercedes can end up being better at. I would not recommend giving Mercedes Annette as an Adjunct as a mage Adjunct isn't good in the first place and Annette is a perfectly fine mage/meme Wyvern Lord. Annette already has a lot of utility by giving Rallies which is important for mages in general when they start to lag behind the rest of your party in later maps. In house Ingrid is honestly pretty bad so I would consider replacing her with Petra or Hilda. Ingrid can still be used in house but I would rather set her as a flying Adjunct or just bench her entirely. I'll be honest I think Catherine is a pretty bad unit. Her performance will be really good early on but she'll become extremely mediocre in part 2. It's even worse with Sharmir as her Adjunct as Shamir is a unit that is better than Catherine in almost every way. Shamir I highly recommend to use over Catherine as she comes with Sniper already which allows her to learn Hunter's Volley the earliest in the game. Once she gets Hunter's Volley she'll essentially just start ORKOing anything she can reach with her bow. Cyril is a decent unit but I can see better recruits like Lysithea. Cryil's whole thing is essentially early Point Blank Volley and Vengeance which allows him to be pretty good but you will have to still deal with his mostly mediocre early. I don't know anything about Balthus but I know he can be a good Brawler/War Master or Wyvern Lord. You should prolly make him Grappler as I find War Master not as good on AM due to Dimitri. I don't know much about Hapi and Constance all I know is that Lysithea is still better and I've hear Yuri is pretty mediocre. Lysithea should be on essentially every route and it's not even due to her being like the best combat unit or something but rather due to her having the earliest access to Warp and the highest range Warp as well. Warp is essentially the best skill in the game as it allows you to do so many things you wouldn't be able to do otherwise. Ashe sucks but can be used if you forget to buy keys or as a Sniper. Dedue is good as he is essentially the only unit in Maddening that can be used as a tank due to his personal skill. It's why you see him so much in LTC AM runs as he can effectively bait units early and he comes with Vengeance which is an insanely good Weapon Art early. The class orders: So for the first one for Constance, I actually know that War Cleric is just not good. Good luck on the magic guantlets though. I'm assuming you're planning to use Hunter's Volley with Magic Bow on Mercedes? That is indeed one way to make her combat viable and honestly probably the only way to make her combat useable. If you're making Yuri a Dancer I would highly not recommend making him an assassin later as assassin is a bad class that is only good for stealth memes and I think it's never worth it to throw away a Dancer for Sword Avoid dodge tanking. Dancers are just way more valuable than any Dodge Tank. I would say after Mage it would be better to go into Valk as it's just a better class than Warlock and transitions nicely for mages into Gremory or Dark Knight. Uncanny Blow also allows mages to avoid mastering Archer for Hit +20. Ah I see the reason you had Annette as an adjunct was to give a Guard Adjunct to Mercedes. Yeah I still don't think that's good. Since Mercedes is going to be a Sniper there isn't much of a reason for her to be counter attacked or baiting. Guard Adjunct is just simply better on other units that are actually getting enemy phased or are in the frontline. Byleth can easily become a Falcon Knight but I would recommend Wyvern Lord as Falcon Knight is essentially just a worse Wyvern Lord. The only units who want to be a Falcon Knight over Wyvern Lord is like Bernadetta who has difficulty reaching the skill ranks for Wyvern Lord. Honestly it's quite easy to recruit every student so you can do it. I would recommend trying to recruit Lysithea by chp. 3 or chp. 4 while any other unit will generally like getting recruited by chp. 6. Of course the biggest issue on team building for AM is chp. 13 so you will have to consider that when team building. Maddening is honestly not too difficult and you can make any unit good in Maddening late game. Can't wait to see how your run goes. Edited October 27, 2022 by Mordred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 8 hours ago, Mordred said: Yo SMTV??? Love that game, played on Hard on that game and I remember it taking me like 5 hours just to beat Demi-Fiend after figuring out my strat to beat him. Awesome game. That boss fight is absolutely obscene, although I think it took me even longer to beat Shiva first time round (I spent like an hour attempting it with protagonist at lvl 90 before I was actually like oh, let me max his level out first, so I'm also the idiot). All lost progress now though 8 hours ago, Mordred said: Sylvain is good and shouldn't be benched as he has good early game and has Swift Strikes. His ending classes are generally going to be Wyvern Lord or Paladin, it really depends on how many Wyvern Lords you plan to have and how many you've already decided on Definitely won't bench, am thinking Wyvern Lord because I tended to use Paladin on him in past playthroughs. 8 hours ago, Mordred said: Felix is a good unit who can essentially end up as any class that is physical and succeed. His personal is also very good however you will want to give him a battalion eventually so do train his authority after he reaches the necessary skill ranks for other classes. Absolutely agree - I think I will be gunning for endgame War Master (perhaps B. Vantage, Quick Riposte, Hit +20, Axe Prowess, Lancebreaker/Axe Crit +10 for an late-game crit build, but before he masters WM he can just do a classic player phase build with Death Blow). 8 hours ago, Mordred said: Mercedes is probably the worst healer in the game so you can actually decide to replace her with Linhardt later on. Since they're both just meant to be healers you won't be needing to invest in them and Linhardt has a better late game spell list than Mercedes due to Warp. However, if you are newer you might end up turtling often which Mercedes can end up being better at. I'm assuming you're planning to use Hunter's Volley with Magic Bow on Mercedes? That is indeed one way to make her combat viable and honestly probably the only way to make her combat useable. Correct, she will be a Magic Bow Sniper, a build I love but haven't yet tried on her. She will only act as a healer in early game (which is her best time to heal anyway, and Live to Serve is really good for early maps). I might pick up Linhardt by accident, but I'm not planning for it. Hapi also exists, so I'm not too worried about him. 8 hours ago, Mordred said: I would not recommend giving Mercedes Annette as an Adjunct as a mage Adjunct isn't good in the first place and Annette is a perfectly fine mage/meme Wyvern Lord. Annette already has a lot of utility by giving Rallies which is important for mages in general when they start to lag behind the rest of your party in later maps. Ah I see the reason you had Annette as an adjunct was to give a Guard Adjunct to Mercedes. Yeah I still don't think that's good. Since Mercedes is going to be a Sniper there isn't much of a reason for her to be counter attacked or baiting. Guard Adjunct is just simply better on other units that are actually getting enemy phased or are in the frontline. Yeah I don't care about Annette specifically being a Guard Adjutant (although I might still make her one because the other adjutant forms are pointless on her as well), but what matters to me here is the extra Mt/hit rate boost from A support with Mercedes. In the latter chapters, Mercedes' hit/kill rates could fall a bit (as they have whenever else I've run this build) so Annette is there to keep them up. You might still have a point that someone else could need an adjutant more - I can play that by ear I think. 8 hours ago, Mordred said: In house Ingrid is honestly pretty bad so I would consider replacing her with Petra or Hilda. Ingrid can still be used in house but I would rather set her as a flying Adjunct or just bench her entirely. Completely agree, I'm using her now because I don't normally use her, because she isn't great. I'm thinking Sniper/Bow Knight for her with Death Blow, to see if that saves her combat (I think I've already tried everything else she can do decently well). 8 hours ago, Mordred said: I'll be honest I think Catherine is a pretty bad unit. Her performance will be really good early on but she'll become extremely mediocre in part 2. It's even worse with Sharmir as her Adjunct as Shamir is a unit that is better than Catherine in almost every way. Shamir I highly recommend to use over Catherine as she comes with Sniper already which allows her to learn Hunter's Volley the earliest in the game. Once she gets Hunter's Volley she'll essentially just start ORKOing anything she can reach with her bow. Again, agree, but same reasons for Catherine as Ingrid (although I do think it's easier for Catherine to keep up). Shamir is one of my favourite characters in the game, so I'm deliberately not going to use her/early HV because I do that a lot. I'm thinking Catherine will eventually run as a dodge-tank War Cleric - it won't be optimal from a damage perspective, but should keep her relevant-ish for the late-game, and adjutant Shamir will help with Mt/Avo boosting. 8 hours ago, Mordred said: Cyril is a decent unit but I can see better recruits like Lysithea. Cryil's whole thing is essentially early Point Blank Volley and Vengeance which allows him to be pretty good but you will have to still deal with his mostly mediocre early. Lysithea should be on essentially every route and it's not even due to her being like the best combat unit or something but rather due to her having the earliest access to Warp and the highest range Warp as well. Warp is essentially the best skill in the game as it allows you to do so many things you wouldn't be able to do otherwise. I don't like using Cyril, have always been underwhelmed by him, so hoping PBV Wyvern Lord will eventually change my mind. Lysithea is amazing, another unit I used to use regularly, which is why I will avoid recruiting her this time round I think. Hapi's Warp is not as good or as accessible, but it'll do (there aren't many Part 1 chapters I care about Warp for anyway). 8 hours ago, Mordred said: I don't know anything about Balthus but I know he can be a good Brawler/War Master or Wyvern Lord. You should prolly make him Grappler as I find War Master not as good on AM due to Dimitri. I don't know much about Hapi and Constance all I know is that Lysithea is still better and I've hear Yuri is pretty mediocre. I'm not actually sure about what to do for either Balthus or Dimitri. Balthus has kinda sucked for me so far, which is why I was going to try and use him, but I also think his worst route is AM because there are so many powerful physical options on that route (and it doesn't make massive story sense either). Hapi is great, although slightly worse than Lysithea. Constance is a decent mage, but I'm not using her optimally anyway. Yuri is great on paper, but only alright in practice. 8 hours ago, Mordred said: Ashe sucks but can be used if you forget to buy keys or as a Sniper. Dedue is good as he is essentially the only unit in Maddening that can be used as a tank due to his personal skill. It's why you see him so much in LTC AM runs as he can effectively bait units early and he comes with Vengeance which is an insanely good Weapon Art early. I will probably make Ashe a Wyvern Rider so he can run away in Ch. 13 and then dump him. This is what I used Dedue for originally, and his Part 1 was great, his Part 2 was so-so. Grappler would probably keep him competitive, but maybe he should be an adjutant for Dimitri and I scrap another pair (probably Balthus/Hilda). 8 hours ago, Mordred said: If you're making Yuri a Dancer I would highly not recommend making him an assassin later as assassin is a bad class that is only good for stealth memes and I think it's never worth it to throw away a Dancer for Sword Avoid dodge tanking. Dancers are just way more valuable than any Dodge Tank. Maybe you're right, Yuri probably won't be a good enough dodge tank to justify losing a dancer. But what if... I scrap Dancer Yuri, give SA +20 to Dimitri and let him dodge tank (with Battalion Wrath if necessary). His Str should let him keep up on kills, and there are plenty of other lance users who won't waste Areadbhar. It's also viable before Chapter 13, which is ideal. Hmm, that's tempting me now. 8 hours ago, Mordred said: I would say after Mage it would be better to go into Valk as it's just a better class than Warlock and transitions nicely for mages into Gremory or Dark Knight. Uncanny Blow also allows mages to avoid mastering Archer for Hit +20. I agree, and will definitely do this for Constance, but I'd rather not spend my Renown on Abyssian Exam Passes unless I absolutely have to. Currently I've planned to use 3 out of 4 free ones (1 on Catherine, 2 on Constance). Not sure yet what I do with the 4th - maybe it's so Hapi can switch between Gremory/Valkyrie or Dark Flier. 8 hours ago, Mordred said: Byleth can easily become a Falcon Knight but I would recommend Wyvern Lord as Falcon Knight is essentially just a worse Wyvern Lord. The only units who want to be a Falcon Knight over Wyvern Lord is like Bernadetta who has difficulty reaching the skill ranks for Wyvern Lord. Yeah, I'm thinking Wyvern Lord as well. I've actually never run her in that class before, so am looking forward to it. 8 hours ago, Mordred said: Honestly it's quite easy to recruit every student so you can do it. I would recommend trying to recruit Lysithea by chp. 3 or chp. 4 while any other unit will generally like getting recruited by chp. 6. Of course the biggest issue on team building for AM is chp. 13 so you will have to consider that when team building. I've done it before, I'm just not sure if I want to do it now. Recruiting selectively also takes some pressure off support-building/Byleth's build requirements, so would be less planning-intensive on the whole. Lysithea is basically the only unit who I'd actually consider using all the way through this run, that isn't already a free recruit - and while Hapi isn't as good, she's good enough that I don't think I need Lysithea at all. 8 hours ago, Mordred said: Maddening is honestly not too difficult and you can make any unit good in Maddening late game. Can't wait to see how your run goes. Thank you very much - and for your detailed response! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 (edited) 12 hours ago, haarhaarhaar said: Correct, she will be a Magic Bow Sniper, a build I love but haven't yet tried on her. She will only act as a healer in early game (which is her best time to heal anyway, and Live to Serve is really good for early maps). I might pick up Linhardt by accident, but I'm not planning for it. Hapi also exists, so I'm not too worried about him. Yeah I don't care about Annette specifically being a Guard Adjutant (although I might still make her one because the other adjutant forms are pointless on her as well), but what matters to me here is the extra Mt/hit rate boost from A support with Mercedes. In the latter chapters, Mercedes' hit/kill rates could fall a bit (as they have whenever else I've run this build) so Annette is there to keep them up. You might still have a point that someone else could need an adjutant more - I can play that by ear I think. I agree, and will definitely do this for Constance, but I'd rather not spend my Renown on Abyssian Exam Passes unless I absolutely have to. Currently I've planned to use 3 out of 4 free ones (1 on Catherine, 2 on Constance). Not sure yet what I do with the 4th - maybe it's so Hapi can switch between Gremory/Valkyrie or Dark Flier. So if you plan to use the Magic Bow sniper Mercedes and you haven't decided on the other Abyssian Seals, I would actually use one on Mercedes. This is so she can pick Uncanny Blow and if she still has shaky hit rates she can also pick up Hit +20 as she should still have an extra slot. Her build would likely be Uncanny Blow, Fiendish Blow, Bow Prowess, Magic +2, Hit +20. Depending on how much favoritism you give her you can replace Magic +2 or Hit +20 with Bow Crit +10 when she reaches S rank Bows. Having +50 hit should be enough to make up for lower hit rates while freeing up an Adjunct slot for a unit in the frontline that would want it more. For example guard adjunct for Dedue to set up Vengeance shenanigans or just to be even more tanky, Felix to set up Wrath/Vantage/Quick riposte, or Dimitri to protect him if he somehow misses an 80% crit while B.Vantage/Wrathing. 12 hours ago, haarhaarhaar said: Again, agree, but same reasons for Catherine as Ingrid (although I do think it's easier for Catherine to keep up). Shamir is one of my favourite characters in the game, so I'm deliberately not going to use her/early HV because I do that a lot. I'm thinking Catherine will eventually run as a dodge-tank War Cleric - it won't be optimal from a damage perspective, but should keep her relevant-ish for the late-game, and adjutant Shamir will help with Mt/Avo boosting. So on Catherine I think she won't end up being relevant late if used as a dodge tank War Cleric. War Cleric itself is pretty bad and will ruin Catherine. She's honestly better used as a discount Shamir past Part 1 as a sniper. Of course you already have one sniper, potentially two with Ingrid which makes this option even more unappealing. I would say in AM specifically a lot of dodge tank builds suffer just because they can't compare to Dimitri's B. Wrath/Vantage and become more obeselte or rather unnecessary due to Dimitri. In this case it might be better to make Catherine a Wyvern Lord/Falcon Knight but that also isn't great as you only really want 4 flyers at most due to there being not enough Flying battalions. I guess Catherine really is just stuck as a War Cleric. 12 hours ago, haarhaarhaar said: Hapi is great, although slightly worse than Lysithea. Constance is a decent mage, but I'm not using her optimally anyway. Yuri is great on paper, but only alright in practice. I do know for a fact that the monster Ai will always prioritize aiming at Hapi first if she is in range. The only way to make them not attack her is if another unit gambits the monster. This means you can give her a guard adjunct to essentially freely position any frail unit around the monster without it targeting them and without having to hit a gambit. And since you seem unsure about Dimitri and Byleth here: Let's start with Dimitri, Dimitri is the best unit in AM and it's not even close. Like all Lord's he wants to train authority early but Dimitri gets a bigger bonus of B.Wrath/Vantage which you would normally have to master one or two classes for. This makes Dimitri the best enemy phase unit in the game and Atrocity allows him to nuke any units you may have difficulty with. AM also has early acces to the Retribution gambit allowing him to effectively enemy phase with just a Killer Lance. You could also go for dodge tank Dimitri but that is higher investment and you will have to sacrifice your dancer to him. Now Dimitri does have a weakness and it's that he has difficulty reaching classes he may want like Wyvern Lord or War Master. However, this can easily be ignored as AM isn't like CF and Paladins are good on the last maps. Dimitri is going to most likely want to be a Paladin, though you can reach Wyvern Rider or Grappler. I don't recommend keeping him in his part 2 prf classes cause they kinda stink, better than Edelgard's prf classes tho. Byelth as a flyer is really good but there are marks against it. First of all if you don't grind your professor rank with fishing then you may be strapped on Exploration Points. This may lead to Byleth lagging behind in Skill Ranks. In this case Enlightened one is actually a serviceable class with a very nice Mastered Skill. Some people say that Falcon Knight is the better class to go into for Byleth due to Flacon Knight having a C Rank in Swords which Byleth naturally reaching C swords oftentimes and Flying only being a B+ requirement. However, Wyvern Lord is the better class with higher bases and a better Mastered Skill. Add upon the fact that once you get A rank professor levels and you generally have too many points that you can use to grind Byleth's weapon ranks. Wyvern Rider which is only slightly worse Wyvern Lord also only has a B rank Axe and C Rank Flying requirement. Edited October 27, 2022 by Mordred No Wyvern Meme Lord Annette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 1 hour ago, Mordred said: So if you plan to use the Magic Bow sniper Mercedes and you haven't decided on the other Abyssian Seals, I would actually use one on Mercedes. This is so she can pick Uncanny Blow and if she still has shaky hit rates she can also pick up Hit +20 as she should still have an extra slot. Her build would likely be Uncanny Blow, Fiendish Blow, Bow Prowess, Magic +2, Hit +20. Depending on how much favoritism you give her you can replace Magic +2 or Hit +20 with Bow Crit +10 when she reaches S rank Bows. Having +50 hit should be enough to make up for lower hit rates while freeing up an Adjunct slot for a unit in the frontline that would want it more. For example guard adjunct for Dedue to set up Vengeance shenanigans or just to be even more tanky, Felix to set up Wrath/Vantage/Quick riposte, or Dimitri to protect him if he somehow misses an 80% crit while B.Vantage/Wrathing. Not a bad idea at all actually. There really isn't huge competition for her skill slots. 1 hour ago, Mordred said: So on Catherine I think she won't end up being relevant late if used as a dodge tank War Cleric. War Cleric itself is pretty bad and will ruin Catherine. She's honestly better used as a discount Shamir past Part 1 as a sniper. Of course you already have one sniper, potentially two with Ingrid which makes this option even more unappealing. I would say in AM specifically a lot of dodge tank builds suffer just because they can't compare to Dimitri's B. Wrath/Vantage and become more obeselte or rather unnecessary due to Dimitri. In this case it might be better to make Catherine a Wyvern Lord/Falcon Knight but that also isn't great as you only really want 4 flyers at most due to there being not enough Flying battalions. I guess Catherine really is just stuck as a War Cleric. I should specify, I want Brawl Avoid +20, not necessarily for her to stay in War Cleric from Ch. 13 to endgame (I wrote misleadingly before). She will need to master War Cleric, and it'll probably be her endgame class because Fistfaire, but outside of that she can be levelling in Swordmaster/Assassin until her power drops off too far (i.e last few chapters). Brawl Avoid +20 and her speed growths should be enough to give her competitive avoid even in the late chapters. I won't need her to serve as a primary dodge tank because as you point out I have better options, but what this does allow is a solid Player Phase (Vajra-Mushti/Killer Knuckles+ Nimble Combo with Death Blow) and survivability against at least some enemies on Enemy Phase. A general struggle I've been having is to figure out twelve complementary roles for my endgame party, and this is the best I could think of for Catherine, given what else I'm running. 1 hour ago, Mordred said: Let's start with Dimitri, Dimitri is the best unit in AM and it's not even close. Like all Lord's he wants to train authority early but Dimitri gets a bigger bonus of B.Wrath/Vantage which you would normally have to master one or two classes for. This makes Dimitri the best enemy phase unit in the game and Atrocity allows him to nuke any units you may have difficulty with. AM also has early acces to the Retribution gambit allowing him to effectively enemy phase with just a Killer Lance. You could also go for dodge tank Dimitri but that is higher investment and you will have to sacrifice your dancer to him. Now Dimitri does have a weakness and it's that he has difficulty reaching classes he may want like Wyvern Lord or War Master. However, this can easily be ignored as AM isn't like CF and Paladins are good on the last maps. Dimitri is going to most likely want to be a Paladin, though you can reach Wyvern Rider or Grappler. I don't recommend keeping him in his part 2 prf classes cause they kinda stink, better than Edelgard's prf classes tho. I think Battalion Wrath/Vantage is a great combo, but I think SA +20/Battalion Wrath is the more reliable choice here (I can run Battalion Vantage as well if I have space I guess). I don't like EP builds generally, or sacrificing Dancer which I normally like running, but this run is all about trying new things. Not utilising Areadbhar to its fullest extent is a shame, but I will certainly be running other lance users so it won't go to waste. If I do the sword dodge tank, that also means I won't use Paladin (which I have run before for him, is certainly amazing), so he'll be switching between SM/Assassin. 2 hours ago, Mordred said: Byelth as a flyer is really good but there are marks against it. First of all if you don't grind your professor rank with fishing then you may be strapped on Exploration Points. This may lead to Byleth lagging behind in Skill Ranks. In this case Enlightened one is actually a serviceable class with a very nice Mastered Skill. Some people say that Falcon Knight is the better class to go into for Byleth due to Flacon Knight having a C Rank in Swords which Byleth naturally reaching C swords oftentimes and Flying only being a B+ requirement. However, Wyvern Lord is the better class with higher bases and a better Mastered Skill. Add upon the fact that once you get A rank professor levels and you generally have too many points that you can use to grind Byleth's weapon ranks. Wyvern Rider which is only slightly worse Wyvern Lord also only has a B rank Axe and C Rank Flying requirement. So I will definitely take the monastery seriously this run (just because it'll make my life easier eventually, and it's also what I do anyway). I don't much care about the mastery skill (I don't like running Defiant skills/Vengeance builds even though I accept how powerful they are) but Wyvern Lord is pretty attractive for Byleth, so I think we'll go with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted October 28, 2022 Author Share Posted October 28, 2022 (edited) Okay, so I'm beginning to flesh out build plans for everyone now, and I've given up on some of the stuff from my earlier post sketching it out. F!Byleth: Soldier > Brigand > Pegasus Knight > Wyvern Rider > Wyvern Lord (endgame Sword/Bow, Sword Prowess Lvl 5, Death Blow, Darting Blow, Axebreaker, Bow Prowess) Weapon ranks will be a bit of a pain, but I'm happy to save-scum certs so hopefully it shouldn't actually be that bad. I won't assume S-rank Swords given the build demand, but Crit+10 would probably make it in there if I got it. Dimitri: Fighter > Archer > (Dancer cert) > Assassin > Swordmaster (endgame Sword/Bow, Sword Prowess Lvl 5, Hit+20, Sword Avoid+20, Battalion Wrath, Axebreaker/Battalion Vantage/Sword Crit+10) As long as he isn't Str-screwed, I'm expecting big things. Dedue: Fighter > Brigand > Brawler/Grappler (guard adjutant for Dimitri) On second thought, if anyone deserves an Adjutant it's Dimitri, so I won't raise Dedue particularly seriously after his paralogue. Felix: Fighter > Archer > Brigand > Warrior > War Master (endgame Axes/Bows, Axe Prowess Lvl 5, Hit+20, Battalion Vantage, Quick Riposte, Lancebreaker/Axe Crit+10) Warrior isn't as good as Grappler, but for this build every bit of Str growth counts, so I don't mind his combat taking a slight hit in mid-Part 2 (and he doesn't need to master it). I still expect him to destroy stuff. Ashe: Fighter > Archer (>Brigand) > Wyvern Rider (dropped after Ch. 13) Sylvain: Soldier > Brigand > Archer > Wyvern Rider > Wyvern Lord (endgame Lances/Bows, Lance Prowess Lvl 5, Death Blow, Hit+20, Swordbreaker, Lance Crit+10) Player Phase delete button, no need to say more. Mercedes: Monk > Mage > Archer (> Valkyrie) > Sniper (endgame Bows, Bow Prowess Lvl 5, Hit+20, Uncanny Blow/Bow Crit+10, Fiendish Blow, Mag+2) Slightly suspicious of having a build use four masteries, and I may just use the Abyssian Pass on someone else, but I already said I was showing her favouritism, so what's a little more? Annette: Monk > Mage > Warlock > Armor Knight (guard adjutant for Mercedes) Mercedes already has a lot of help. However, Annette helps make her a near-guaranteed delete button from four spaces, so for now she's adjutant no. 2, but still subject to review. Ingrid: Fighter > Brigand > Archer > Sniper > BK (endgame Bows, Bow Prowess Lvl 5, Hit+20, Bow Crit+10, Death Blow, Mv+1) For now, I'm thinking Bow Knight because it brings something more interesting to the table than another sniper. Catherine: (Swordmaster) > Brigand > Assassin > War Cleric (endgame Fists/Bows, Brawl Prowess Lvl 5, Death Blow, Brawl Avoid+20, Brawl Crit+10, Bow Prowess) Willl give her a battalion with solid crit/avo, so hopefully she can do a bit of both. Assassin is just so she has a choice in classes with better growths, I don't need the mastery. Cyril: Fighter > Brigand > Archer > Wyvern Rider > Wyvern Lord (endgame Bows/Axes, Bow Prowess Lvl 5, Death Blow, Hit +20, Close Counter, Axe Prowess) If things go well, he's Sylvain with range. Let's see what happens. The build won't be quite as demanding as Byleth, but Cyril also isn't as usable as Byleth, so not going to assume S Bows. Shamir: (Sniper) > Armor Knight (guard adjutant for Catherine) I would be using Shamir properly except for the reasons I gave above. I also suspect Catherine will need the help. Hapi: Monk > Mage > Warlock > Gremory (endgame Reason/Faith, Reason Prowess Lvl 5, Faith Prowess Lvl 5, Mag+2, Fiendish Blow, Black Magic Range+1) Not sure about Warlock, although if she ends up as Gremory then there's no particular need to complicate her build for the boost Valkyrie/Dark Flier may bring. Constance: Monk > Mage > Valkyrie > War Cleric (endgame Fists/Reason/Faith, Brawl Prowess Lvl 5, Fiendish Blow, Uncanny Blow, Mag+2, Brawl Avoid+20/Reason Prowess Lvl 5) I'm not expecting Constance to do much dodging, so I'm not sure if Brawl Avo+20 is worth an endgame slot. Another labour-intensive build - let's see if I can give it the attention it deserves. Lysithea: Monk > Mage > Valkyrie > Dark Knight (endgame Reason/Faith, Reason Prowess Lvl 5, Faith Prowess Lvl 5, Uncanny Blow, Fiendish Blow, Black Magic Range+1) I wasn't planning on running Lysithea originally, but changes in other people's roles meant there was now no reason to raise up Yuri or Balthus, leaving two open slots for endgame. Given I only had one other pure mage on previous plans, I figure why not. Unsure whether to have Valkyrie or Dark Knight for the final maps. Ferdinand: Soldier > Archer > Brigand > Fortress > Paladin (endgame Lance/Bow, Lance Prowess Lvl 5, Death Blow, Hit +20, Swordbreaker, Pavise) Idea is to create a broadly tanky unit (what Balthus would probably have been), making use of the Cichol lance/shield to restore Ferdinand's personal every round. Going to Paladin instead of Great Knight gives a better stat spread for this. Other recruitment: Lorenz/Raph/Hilda/Caspar for their paralogues, and anyone else whose requirements I meet naturally for their paralogues. Edited October 28, 2022 by haarhaarhaar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneRecon400 Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 -One thing you could do with Byleth is make them a Falco Knight with Battalion Desperation. The required ranks are bit lower, and so long as you are regularly cooking speed meals, she can double and one round pretty consistently. Might require a Speed wing or two plus Weight -3 to keep that up by the late game though. -Dimitri doesn't really need an +Atk Adjutant. One rounding benchmarks with crits aren't hard to reach. He could one round 90% of enemies at endgame with 30 Strength alone, and he averages much more than that by level 40. Giving him someone like Ashe would be good enough. -Likewise, Mercedes also doesn't need one. A Brave magic attack deals so overkill the only part of the game you'll have to worry about damage is Endgame, where enemy HP is highly inflated. And even then she will be able to one round so long as she stays on her averages. Also no point in making her a Valkyrie, Hit+20 is more than adequate with some of the hit boosting magic battalions. -Str +2 > Lance Crit +10 for Sylvain. Won't matter much by the time he gets S Lances, but would help out a lot all game long better than +2 Def. -Don't expect Ingrid to double as Bow Kinght. Speed Growth alone is not enough to consistently double by the lategame. Skills and Classes play way more of a role in doubling than growths do. -Would not recommend Paladin Ferdinand as a tanking role like you described. Face tanking as anything other than a Fortress or Great Knight is just not effective. They take way too much damage to take more than 1-2 rounds of combat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted October 28, 2022 Author Share Posted October 28, 2022 1 hour ago, LoneRecon400 said: -One thing you could do with Byleth is make them a Falco Knight with Battalion Desperation. The required ranks are bit lower, and so long as you are regularly cooking speed meals, she can double and one round pretty consistently. Might require a Speed wing or two plus Weight -3 to keep that up by the late game though. Interesting idea! Will keep it in mind, although I don't normally cook meals in Part 2 . 1 hour ago, LoneRecon400 said: -Dimitri doesn't really need an +Atk Adjutant. One rounding benchmarks with crits aren't hard to reach. He could one round 90% of enemies at endgame with 30 Strength alone, and he averages much more than that by level 40. Giving him someone like Ashe would be good enough. -Likewise, Mercedes also doesn't need one. A Brave magic attack deals so overkill the only part of the game you'll have to worry about damage is Endgame, where enemy HP is highly inflated. And even then she will be able to one round so long as she stays on her averages. Also no point in making her a Valkyrie, Hit+20 is more than adequate with some of the hit boosting magic battalions. Agreed on both, it's mainly to shore up their hit rates (in Mercedes' case at 4 spaces), and the adjutants are specifically for endgame. Till then, adjutant roles are for whoever needs training with Knowledge Gems. 1 hour ago, LoneRecon400 said: Str +2 > Lance Crit +10 for Sylvain. Won't matter much by the time he gets S Lances, but would help out a lot all game long better than +2 Def. Fair point - the motivation for Soldier is to have someone else with Reposition, but I agree that Str+2 is more relevant. 1 hour ago, LoneRecon400 said: Would not recommend Paladin Ferdinand as a tanking role like you described. Face tanking as anything other than a Fortress or Great Knight is just not effective. They take way too much damage to take more than 1-2 rounds of combat. Yeah I'm not expecting Ferdinand to def-tank per se, I just want above-average survivability so I can play more aggressively. I did something similar with Sylvain on a previous run and most non-Wyvern physical damage was in single/low double digits (fully kitted out of course). 1 hour ago, LoneRecon400 said: Don't expect Ingrid to double as Bow Kinght. Speed Growth alone is not enough to consistently double by the lategame. Skills and Classes play way more of a role in doubling than growths do. Yep, it'll be either revert to Sniper if she's really bad, or just Brave Bow+. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted October 29, 2022 Author Share Posted October 29, 2022 I ended up with some free time today, so I decided I'd start my run, and my progress log - am hoping to write updates twice a week. The main purpose of this log is so that I record things for when my Hopes run rolls around - my plan for that game is to hew as closely as possible to the decisions I make here. Also, I haven't played Maddening NG for a long while, and am excited to see how it feels. Prologue: Spoiler MVP: Dimitri Turn Count: 12 It's good to be playing again! I know I'm going to run swords Dimitri and wyvern Byleth in the end, so in turn 1 I trade around everyone's equipment so Dimitri has an Iron Sword and Bow, and Byleth has an Iron Axe and Lance. Edelgard and Claude will be sitting this one out. The downside of those weapon combinations is that neither of them can use combat arts - that plus using only two characters mean this map takes longer than usual. Both of them are also missing a lot, but even with that this isn't a challenge. Dimitri gets a solid level, but Byleth just misses her EXP threshold. Fun Fact: Jeralt cannot kill Kostas. It's taken me three years to find this out - normally I kill Kostas before Jeralt can reach him because I'm worried about losing the EXP, but turns out I never needed to bother. When Jeralt would deal what is otherwise the killing blow, he instead leaves him on 1 HP. Chapter 1: Spoiler MVP: Byleth Turn Count: 16 When I think of tough early-game maps, my mind goes to Chapter 2 and Chapter 5 - this isn't quite as bad as Chapter 2, but it's still far from easy. My party is Dimitri, Byleth, Felix, Ingrid, Annette. Again, I did a lot of weapon shuffling to match my build plans, and Ingrid was the only one left with an available combat art (Tempest Lance). I was surprised to see how much that mattered, although perhaps I shouldn't be - the gap will only get wider from here. The only properly tough moment was managing the Claude/Hilda pair without anyone retreating. I baited Hilda with Bow Dimitri, then on the next turn beat her with a rallied Ingrid's Tempest Lance and Felix's Iron Bow, before occupying the two spaces Claude could attack them from with Dimitri (who could just about tank two hits) and Byleth (who'd only get hit once if she didn't equip a weapon). Annette's Rally Strength turned out to be essential for this map - it was the difference-maker for beating Lorenz, Ignatz and Dorothea in one player phase, and for the Claude/Hilda situation. Although her Wind is already garbage apparently. There were a couple of turns where I needed four or all five of them to hit, so I can feel the difficulty ratcheting up. Byleth being the MVP is also a pleasant surprise, as it means everyone should have max motivation. Fun Fact: In a special bit of monastery dialogue, Hanneman asks to examine Byleth's Crest, and is stunned by the results - a Crest whose design he's never seen before. Despite all his intelligence, however, he misses a crucial clue - the full design of the Crest of Flames is embroidered into Byleth's cape, visible to the player in that very scene. CS Chapter 1: Spoiler MVP: Edelgard Turn Count: 13 I got to Chapter 2 of the main story and couldn't see the Side Story option in the main menu, so I feared the worst - that I'd have to re-buy it. Turns out, I was an idiot, and just hadn't re-downloaded it from the eShop. I also hadn't downloaded the other stuff, so now I have DLC items and renown to potentially make this run a little easier. Not sure whether/when I'll use it, but since I'm switching to CS now that's future me's problem. Last time I tried CS on Hard/Classic, I couldn't get past the first room because of all the challenge restrictions I'd placed on myself. So I think I must have had an outsized impression of its difficulty - I put Linhardt into Warlock just in case I needed him to help kill Balthus, and both Claude and Ashe into Sniper so they could beat Hapi before reaching the avoid tile area. I also made Edelgard a Warrior because that's a no-brainer in my mind. Of course, there was no need for this caution, because the map is very doable when all your tools are available. There's barely a need for tactics - I basically ate 80% of the enemy strategy (the axe reinforcements/Hapi split your party into two groups and soften them as they run forward, fliers/Constance and her mages rip apart the front group, then Yuri and the grapplers rush in, wiping out your party in disarray and never getting hit due to the avoid tiles) without issue. Ashe crit-killed Hapi (who knew he had it in him), Dimitri one-shotted Constance, and Byleth gambited Yuri's group for Claude to mop him up, just because I was still cautious. I got some great level-ups out of it too (Dimitri got +1 to every single stat! I've never seen that before, perhaps in any FE). Fun Fact: Dimitri has access to the Hero class despite having C Swords and D Axes, and Linhardt has access to Warlock despite having C Reason. If the CS versions of the characters were in the main game, they wouldn't even be able to try for the certification. I wonder why they didn't just provide alternate Intermediate classes instead of Advanced (like they did with Byleth/Hilda) - it's not as if Dimitri or Linhardt would have suffered much for it. I probably won't be able to post for a couple of days now, but would very much like to hear whether people have opinions on how I should spend the DLC stuff (particularly the Mv booster) once I do get back to the main game. Also, is there any reason to go out of my way to get Seal Mv on Dimitri? I ran him as a Paladin last time around, but I don't really remember using the skill much - is it worth three tutoring sessions on a skill I otherwise won't raise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Mir Posted October 29, 2022 Share Posted October 29, 2022 41 minutes ago, haarhaarhaar said: Fun Fact: Jeralt cannot kill Kostas. It's taken me three years to find this out - normally I kill Kostas before Jeralt can reach him because I'm worried about losing the EXP, but turns out I never needed to bother. When Jeralt would deal what is otherwise the killing blow, he instead leaves him on 1 HP. That applies to all NPC units. I like it because it means I don't need to go "Fucking snatcher!! I had him!!!" after losing my boss kill (and whatever drops they may have had) to an NPC unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Holy Elf Posted October 29, 2022 Share Posted October 29, 2022 1 hour ago, haarhaarhaar said: Also, is there any reason to go out of my way to get Seal Mv on Dimitri? I ran him as a Paladin last time around, but I don't really remember using the skill much - is it worth three tutoring sessions on a skill I otherwise won't raise? No, Seal Move is incredibly situational. It only debuffs move by one. There might be some corner case where this matters, but it's too rare to be worth an ability slot. Ingrid might be better at doubling than is implied here, Bow Knight Felix doubles quite a lot of enemies and he's around the same speed (sliiightly faster due to strength?). Just remember you can dismount! You'd still obviously be well-advised to get Darting Blow normally. I also disagree pretty strongly with Mordred with respect to Catherine; she's very effective. I have indeed run her as a brawling dodgetank and she works well at that, better than almost any other brawler because she actually quads more durable enemies (granted, this was with Darting Blow) and has high strength and Nimble Combo (91% chance of at bonus damage) to do huge damage to everything she doesn't. Plus the evade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted November 2, 2022 Author Share Posted November 2, 2022 And we return to Cindered Shadows! I'm going to add in some new features to future logs - a count of Divine Pulses used (I haven't used any before now this run), and any stand-out successes/failures in each map. I don't know how directly relevant it'll be to the Hopes run, but I think it'll help me remember the spirit in which I approached things, so I can try to preserve that when I get round to playing Hopes. CS Chapter 2: Spoiler MVP: Balthus Turn Count: 14 Divine Pulses: 1 I still remember how the Death Knight put the fear of God in me during my last challenge run, so I spend most of my war chest on a Horseslayer for Dimitri, and switch Hilda to a Pegasus Knight running Axes and Lances (specifically Knightkneeler) - I'm gonna kill him one way or another. The rest goes on bows for the Wolves and gauntlets for infantry. Claude and Hilda have switched to flying classes, so they take the two flying battalions and Constance is left battalion-less. We'll see if that ends up mattering. Linhardt goes back to Bishop, I don't need his combat. After the last level, Dimitri's battalion is not far off the red, so I decide to stick Battalion Wrath on him. I normally never run skills or abilities that require low health of any kind, but I've committed to doing it eventually in the main story, so I figure now is a good time to test it out. This chapter is also very doable on the whole - you can run around the map chasing down each wave of reinforcements without massively losing shape. I did end up ceding the initiative at the end, because I was on the opposing side of the map from the Death Knight and the last set of reinforcements, so I ended up waiting to fight both at once rather than charging down one. I spent a Divine Pulse here - Edelgard needed to connect three times out of four with Iron Gauntlets (her displayed hit was 87) to kill a grappler who got too close, but only hit once. Since it was near the end of my turn, I figured I'd be better off playing it safe. As for the Death Knight, he irritatingly didn't use all of his movement the turn before I intended to engage with him, choosing to wait on an Avoid title and basically making it impossible to engage safely on my turn. Instead, Horseslayer + Battalion Wrath Dimitri made, well, horsemeat of him. Poison Strike killed off Dimitri's battalion in return, but by then the battle was done. Also, I have absolutely no idea how Balthus was MVP. He didn't stand out getting kills, although Rally Strength and Heal did mean he was doing something useful most turns. What worked: I don't rate Duelist's Blow normally, but it worked really well on Yuri here, whose health isn't high enough to survive an EP if he takes a counter beforehand. Also, Ashe's Deadeye was surprisingly effective, even at 5 spaces away, and hasn't missed this level. He can't secure kills by himself, and 5 Mv put him at a bit of a disadvantage since everyone was running around, but he still managed to provide useful chip. What didn't work: I tried to gambit the Death Knight off his Avo tile and forgot that his Commander skill makes him impervious to Mv effects. Hilda had to flee the scene. Fun Fact: Every line of dialogue (including NPCs in the Abyss, and nameless enemies with lines) is fully voiced, instead of the usual noises/grunts/short exclamations you get in the Monastery. I know I paid extra for this content, but still it's nice to see. CS Chapter 3: Spoiler MVP: Constance Turn Count: 10 Divine Pulses: 0 The Crescent Sickle I got from the Death Knight goes to Dimitri, the only one who can use it. I like the weapon generally and definitely find use for it (+1 Mt/Wt, +5 Hit, +10 uses compared to a Steel Lance) but it's probably not reward enough for beating a tough enemy. It also turns out Byleth is locked at Professor Level C, so there's nothing I can do to improve it (not that I have the Agarthium for it anyway). Everyone else stayed in the classes they were in last chapter. This is the only CS level that I didn't remember anything about going in, so I figured I wouldn't change up much. Once the game told me the map rules, I decided I'd head down the left, quickly dip into the center to kill the Mcguffin-holding golem, then sweep the goal points as quickly as I could with the fliers, maybe killing people with treasure if I could (I basically had no money after last chapter). Excluding that central golem (who I only devoted some people to fighting, so needed two turns for), I didn't bother with full barrier breaks either. The only issue was reinforcements arriving in the middle of my formation and in front of my vanguard as I pushed down the left corridor, meaning I split my army up a bit earlier than planned. Nothing that a couple of gambits couldn't sort. Some of Yuri's Foul Play trickery meant that I reached the first goal point quite efficiently with Mcguffin in hand, only to find that I'd ended the map without needing to sweep the other goal points (and getting my money). That threw me a bit, but if I'd had to sweep all the way around I guess it would have gotten repetitive. Perhaps the easiest level of the three so far. What worked: Dark Flier Constance is mobile enough to hit enemies on the front lines, can keep herself safe with Canto, and fast enough to double plenty of enemies on this map. I'm still committed to her Aura Knuckles build, but Dark Flier definitely deserves some appreciation here (I know it gets plenty from the fandom anyway). What didn't work: Byleth's hit rates with gauntlets are a bit iffy, even with Prowess, so I had to use Ruptured Heaven to kill one of the reinforcement assassins. Not the end of the world, but Byleth's 5 Mv meant she didn't do that much all map to be honest - fending off reinforcements is the bare minimum. Fun Fact(s): Instead of focusing on one thing, I thought I'd highlight some interesting bits of writing I noticed this chapter. 1. Dimitri asks Edelgard about the colour of her hair. Poignant, if on the more apocryphal side. 2. The 'Mysterious Woman' standing by the Pagan Altar in the Abyss speaks in a similar way to Petra (the VAs use broken Japanese, with missing grammatical particles etc.). It might just be a coincidence, or she could be from Brigid - or even Dagda? Maybe it's just an easy way for writers to convey poor facility with the language, but I'd like to think it's a hint. 3. While in braggart mode, Constance mentions she has an excellent sense of smell. I don't know if this is referenced elsewhere, but it could be explained through her long years of odd experiments? 4. Dimitri is greatly shocked at the nature and extent of the difference between Constance's personalities. Ironic indeed. CS Chapter 4: Spoiler MVP: Dimitri Turn Count: 15 Divine Pulses: 2 This is one of my favourite maps in the entire game, and I'm pleased to report it lives up entirely to my memory of it. I switched Ashe to Assassin for the movement - everyone is in their highest-Mv classes. Edelgard's battalion was in the red, so I gave her Battalion Vantage. Beyond that, my set-up was the same as last map. Yuri and Ashe run over to one side, via avoid tiles, to open the first set of gates and a nearby door. Byleth baits a Wyvern and everyone else rushes towards the gates, then through them. Linhardt's 4 Mv means enemies approaching from the back will reach him first, so Yuri has to weave his Foul Play magic. They'd be easy enough to beat, but I know how strong the golem is so I won't dally here. In any case the normal enemies approach from two sides, so I have to hold them off as I send units through the first seize area. Which is where I make mistake no. 1 - Claude uses his full movement going in a direct line to the lever, which is too close to the reinforcements that then warp in next to the golem. He'll die if I leave him there, so I wind it back and position everyone more conservatively. The thought crosses my mind that I don't need the lever and I can just go round the central room, but I don't want to have to rewind several turns if I end up falling foul of the turn counter, so I decide to stick with Plan A. Even so, I still have to fight off the assassin/mage pair that comes through every turn, who do some decent chip on me. It also means my army is spread across the room as the third faction arrive. A couple of snipers and mages make sitting in the central room uncomfortable, so I get Ashe to open up the door ASAP for Dimitri and Byleth to start trying to clear the area with the avoid tiles. Dimitri takes a couple of massive hits from a mage (I didn't realise the mage would double him), and I'm left with some awkward manoeuvring to try and get enough units through the door to defend him from the numerous axe users that could end his life. In the course of this, I use my second Divine Pulse. Hapi isn't quick enough to double armours, and needed some chip to get a wounded armour to killable range - but when the moment came, I accidentally used Death instead of Banshee (her hardest-hitting spell) and left the armour alive. After rectifying that mistake, I clear out the remaining enemies and start moving into the final area. Which gets congested very quickly due to reinforcements, so I end up gambit-ing my way through. Even so, I only manage to clear the map with two turns left on the counter. What worked: Dimitri's Crescent Sickle allowed me to meet some kill thresholds I wasn't otherwise getting. A Silver Lance would probably have done even better, but this came free. Although I guess I paid for a Horseslayer to get it, so... I'm not going to overthink it. Crescent Sickle + lance combat art = good. What didn't work: Edelgard's Battalion Vantage allowed me to hurt one (1) Pegasus Knight, then the battalion promptly died to a Swordmaster (and of course the vantage attack missed the Swordmaster anyway). Actually, I'm thinking a little harder about that last point, and I think that my analysis is a bit shallow. CS dramatically restricts the options for your characters, meaning you can't build them how you like, and it is severely biased towards Player Phase tactics (mages, gauntlets, and Duelist's Blow/Foul Play are all dominantly Player Phase tools, and CS's purpose is to advertise them). My gut reaction above, though, came from the realisation that my expectations are vastly different for PP and EP builds. I expect a given Player Phase tool not to work against anyone and everyone, so I prepare multiple tools, and use the best one in context. But the same leeway is not afforded to Enemy Phase builds, because their merits directly rely on how well they deal with whatever comes at them. If it can't deal with a given threat arranged in a given way, then it has failed as an EP unit. So, the Battalion skills by themselves make for relatively crummy EP units - they'll do fine for a bit, but a couple of enemy hits and the build stops working, and the unit's overall competency goes down. If you don't have a solid way to protect the battalion (not getting hit is the main one, although there is Defensive Tactics + high-health battalions I guess), then you won't get enough use out of the skill to justify its inclusion. The build lives and dies on how well you protect the battalion - that's the crucial bit to think about, not the battalion skill itself. I think trying the skills out properly has made that clear to me - it certainly hasn't put me off my build ideas above. Fun Fact: In the final area, enemy reinforcements arrive for every unit that passes a particular threshold. Then the gates close, sealing you all up in one cramped place. The unwary player who moves everyone across in one turn would just get wiped out - except there is an extra bit of space, separated by wall, on the left side (where Constance starts in Ch. 1) that you can use to leave people outside of enemy ranges for a turn or so. Even while engineering a difficult situation, the devs make room for different play styles, and ensure less experienced players won't necessarily get soft-locked after having come off two full battles, the latter with demanding turn count deadlines. Really considered level design. CS Chapter 5: Spoiler MVP: Constance Turn Count: 10 Divine Pulses: 0 Ashe is back in Sniper - the trade-off with Assassin is greater power vs. 1 movement, and for now I'm choosing power. I'm also no longer poor, so I upgrade the most worn weapons (Byleth, Dimitri, and Hilda get an Iron+ weapon each). Although I didn't use any Divine Pulses this map, I'd still say it's tougher than the other maps so far (bar Chapter 4) because it's not very obvious how to beat it. With foreknowledge, the ideal tactic is to rush and kill the sub-boss ASAP, triggering monsters to distract red units in the main area and the corner behind you, and then have Balthus lead the giant bird (who can't even hurt him if he carries a shield or uses his personal) out towards the armours on his side of the map, while everyone else helps from the other side. When the monsters arrive, the red units are all immobilised for a turn, so you can use that to approach safely. After mopping them up and the nearby reinforcements, your whole party can engage the central column and any remnants from the corner, before heading over to Metodey. Needless to say, that is not what I did. Everyone rushed to killed the enemies in the corner behind (I figured that would be easier than trying to navigate the ranges of the paladins to the north and east) except Edelgard, Byleth, Linhardt, and Aelfric who stayed to tank the units in the sub-boss's corner (or because they couldn't make it there anyway). That itself went fine, but killing the sub-boss while most of my army was just leaving their corner made for a rough shift. I'd ceded the center ground (since no one was moving into it) but that meant it was wide open for red reinforcements, covered by the siege weapon user. And yet, I had nowhere else to go, as the nearby giant bird could double my mages and I hadn't cleared out any other pocket of enemies. So I was forced to send most of my people over to the ballista side to deal with the units there, taking damage along the way. Balthus came out swinging against the armours and got countered twice in a row with hit rates of 37 (the upside being that his giant bird couldn't hurt him now due to his personal). As I finished up there, I had to then try and stop red units rushing through the center and hitting my backline, as they'd already finished off the two wolves, who were basically useless and only hit about twice across two turns. Basically, I spent most of the combat just reacting to the AI's moves - which was annoying because I know the strategy I described above would have been much cleaner. Still, I had enough space to send Dimitri, Ashe and Hapi to kill Metodey and claim the Silver Sword+ while dealing with the main enemy force, so it wasn't as if I was overwhelmed. What worked: At the cost of sacrificing some EXP for your units, Aelfric can heal big, deal decent magical chip, and tank an attack or two (so long as he isn't getting doubled). I know he's a traitor and all, but he was still a pretty useful meatshield. Also, Hapi's Banshee basically functions like a gambit in terms of limiting enemy movement - every time she used it was in an important moment. What didn't work: Balthus got battered, and got maybe one kill the whole map (and he had to use Vajra-Mushti for it). Not ideal. Hilda's hit rates were also a bit shaky throughout the level - she was still dealing damage, but mostly stuck to archery this map. Fun Fact: My first ever post on these forums was inspired by this chapter - specifically the appearance of Metodey, who also appears in Chapter 12. My theory at the time (which I still think works) is that there's a background connection between the events in CS and TWSITD/the Empire. I won't go into it all here, but I really do hope it wasn't just the devs being lazy. Fun Fact 2: As a bit of Abyss dialogue, Edelgard wonders aloud how House Nuvelle got away with hiding the Crest of Noa from the Empire for generations. Knowing as she does about TWSITD's ravenous desire for everything Crest, and what that led to for her personally, she'd have every right to be even more shocked. Thanks for reading! Will hopefully finish CS and return to the main story later this week! On 10/29/2022 at 2:24 AM, Shadow Mir said: That applies to all NPC units. I like it because it means I don't need to go "Fucking snatcher!! I had him!!!" after losing my boss kill (and whatever drops they may have had) to an NPC unit. Good to know! I've never tested it out before, so nice to hear that applies (althoughI guess there are maybe only a couple of other times in the game where I'm worried about that). On 10/29/2022 at 3:28 AM, Dark Holy Elf said: No, Seal Move is incredibly situational. It only debuffs move by one. There might be some corner case where this matters, but it's too rare to be worth an ability slot. Ingrid might be better at doubling than is implied here, Bow Knight Felix doubles quite a lot of enemies and he's around the same speed (sliiightly faster due to strength?). Just remember you can dismount! You'd still obviously be well-advised to get Darting Blow normally. As I thought, but good to hear from someone else that I'm not missing out. I haven't had the best of Ingrid in the past tbh, so my expectations for her aren't super high. Darting Blow would be nice for Ingrid, but that would make it three Intermediate masteries (along with Death Blow and Hit +20) I'm getting for her build. Given that I'm going to have to favour other units already (i.e. my hybrids), I'm not sure how feasible it'll be. Darting Blow is at its best in the mid-game, before enemies split completely into bog-slow and too-fast-to-bother, so I'd have to go Pegasus Knight first... which is still decent actually. As long as I can get Sniper in time for Chapter 12, I can always go back and master an Intermediate with a Knowledge Gem. Yeah, I'll consider it! On 10/29/2022 at 3:28 AM, Dark Holy Elf said: I also disagree pretty strongly with Mordred with respect to Catherine; she's very effective. I have indeed run her as a brawling dodgetank and she works well at that, better than almost any other brawler because she actually quads more durable enemies (granted, this was with Darting Blow) and has high strength and Nimble Combo (91% chance of at bonus damage) to do huge damage to everything she doesn't. Plus the evade. I think Mordred might have been referring to Catherine in general - I've definitely struggled with her in Part 2 (although that may just be due to using classes that tend to drop off over Part 2, like Swordmaster). But I do have high hopes for her as a brawling dodge tank - I think there's a solid chance that this is her best build for Maddening. Her current build idea is also less demanding than Ingrid's, so there's more leeway for Darting Blow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Holy Elf Posted November 2, 2022 Share Posted November 2, 2022 1 hour ago, haarhaarhaar said: I think Mordred might have been referring to Catherine in general - I've definitely struggled with her in Part 2 (although that may just be due to using classes that tend to drop off over Part 2, like Swordmaster). Yeah, swordmaster specifically is just not a good class compared to other Advanced classes, and you should always have a plan to get out of it if you plan to use her long-term. Catherine as a flier or brawler should be good just because she has extremely good stats in all the places that matter (except her charm, which kinda sucks.. definitely her biggest failing unless you're willing to spam tea more than I am). Note that it does help a lot to get her early, since she pretty much joins with the same bases regardless of when you get her, but her level increases (which is bad, since her stats aren't). If recruited in Chapter 5 she has, for instance, +2.4 strength and +0.4 speed on an equal-level Felix, and only loses growth by 5% strength (i.e. she's always a bit ahead of him in both), and unlike him she can get Darting Blow, and obviously is way ahead on durability (admittedly, she only has one +might support instead of two). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted November 2, 2022 Author Share Posted November 2, 2022 6 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said: Note that it does help a lot to get her early, since she pretty much joins with the same bases regardless of when you get her, but her level increases (which is bad, since her stats aren't). If recruited in Chapter 5 she has, for instance, +2.4 strength and +0.4 speed on an equal-level Felix, and only loses growth by 5% strength (i.e. she's always a bit ahead of him in both), and unlike him she can get Darting Blow, and obviously is way ahead on durability (admittedly, she only has one +might support instead of two). Thanks for the tip! I tend to recruit everyone ASAP because I normally try to raise everyone (or nearly everyone) up until endgame. I think I won't do that this time around - if I'm using people for their paralogue, I will recruit them either at Ch. 6 (for Part 1 paralogues) or Ch. 12 (for Hilda/Part 2 paralogues). The exceptions will be the recruits I actually want for endgame - if I C-rank her, Catherine should definitely be recruitable by Ch. 5. I might be able to do better, depending on how many resources I use on Ferdinand/Lysithea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted November 7, 2022 Author Share Posted November 7, 2022 Apologies for the late post! I finished Ch. 2 yesterday, but have only just gotten round to writing everything up. As a bonus section, I've also written down some general thoughts about my CS run as well. CS Chapter 6: Spoiler MVP: Byleth Turn Count: 16 Divine Pulses: 3 Not much in the way of prep for this map - I bought Byleth a Killing Edge, and upgraded nearly-broken weapons like Edelgard's Hand Axe. No other class changes from the previous map either. Wow, I have a lot of thoughts about this level. First off, this definitely felt like the toughest level in CS. I don't even remember struggling with it as much the last time I played CS the whole way through (admittedly, this is a couple of years ago). It also really hammered home that my last challenge run would have been impossible, even though I'd lowered the difficulty to Normal/Classic. I'm glad I didn't bash my head on this map when I was doing it then. There are three reasons this map is tough: 1. Four Bolting mages, whose combined ranges cover most of the map and Balthus/Hapi's starting positions. 2. The Ashen Wolves are separated from each other and your main force, taking guaranteed damage every turn. 3. Human Aelfric is a surprisingly tough boss. I'm all for making maps challenging, and plot-wise this map certainly warranted it. But my big issue with the level design here stems from the fact that there is only one reasonable tactic for handling the Bolting mages without sacrificing units - and that is Retribution-tanking (and just about everybody would choose Byleth for this, too). In principle, I think leaving the player with only one viable tactic in a strategy game points to flawed design. But the problem here goes even deeper. As I mentioned previously, CS doesn't give you space to build your units like in the main game, and functions (from a gameplay perspective) to advertise the DLC characters and classes. Which is why Player Phase tactics dominate up until this point. So to then turn around, and make completing the level hinge on the use of one unrelated-to-the-DLC, Enemy-Phase-centred gambit, feels particularly small-minded. I'm not a big user of Retribution, but I certainly don't mind it and it has its place (i.e. in late-game AM) - but in the main game, its use isn't forced down your throat. With that big complaint out the way, this map definitely puts a lot of pressure on the player. Constance and Hapi both have solid Mv, and waited outside of enemy ranges as long as they could. I potentially could have done the same with Yuri/Balthus, but then they wouldn't have been able to get away if they got cornered, so I decided to move Yuri down and trigger the enemy pod nearest Balthus. I burnt my first Divine Pulse on this - Yuri died to a hit from a Warrior (displayed hit 14), so I waited till after my main group moved and then moved Yuri/Balthus slightly differently in the hope the RNG gods would smile on them this time. Meanwhile, my main army mostly moved left, attacking the closest armour from range, while Byleth Retribution-baited the Bolting mages with her Killing Edge. No crits and two Bolting hits on that first turn of tanking, so all those Bolting mages were left alive for turn 2, meaning Balthus in particular would have nowhere to go that turn. Yuri and Balthus had survived their Enemy Phase, but so had their enemies, so I had no choice but to run them back to the area with defense tiles left of centre and try to tank there. This worked, and Byleth finally killed the mages on enemy phase (using normal Vantage, getting a crit on the unharmed 4th Bolting mage), creating space for my main army to kill the units in the bottom left corner and the armours on the main path, and saving Yuri/Balthus (who, to be fair, had mostly saved themselves). Pushing up the map, most of my army is now able to head towards the right path (where Constance/Hapi are now emerging from) while I send Dimitri/Claude up the left path to block the seize squares. Yuri goes with them to open the chest... which holds an Iron Lance. I genuinely felt the devs laughing at me in that moment. Anyway, things seem to be progressing more smoothly, except the bottom right pod starts moving to cut off Hapi/Constance, and I only have a couple of units who can reach them for support. My first response is to try Retribution-tanking with Byleth once again (so she can get the sniper), but I realise only after I've done it how stupid I'm being - Hapi can immobilise most of them with a Group Flames and Canto to safety, while Ashe/Byleth can aggro the sniper. I burn a second Divine Pulse here to take up the better tactic, and Ashe goes one better and crits the Sniper, killing him. Problem solved, and most of my army regroups on the right side. Ashe opens up the other chest for an Iron Axe (whoopee) and I seize the third point, and then the fourth next turn. This frees up Dimitri/Claude on the other side, and triggers some of the remaining enemies, who are easily beaten. The only significant threat left is Aelfric, and here I use Retribution-Byleth to bait out his Meteor. She's able to tank it, but no crits are forthcoming over four attacks (displayed crit in the low 40s, hit rate high 70s-low 80s). I decide to send in a Hail Mary Dimitri to see if I can finish the map quickly (using Foul Play Yuri to get him to Aelfric in one turn), since Aelfric can't counterattack once he's run out of Meteor. Irritatingly, Dimitri whiffs his attack, so I have to rewind and take it slow (since Aelfric will heal from his heal-tile next turn, and will switch to Ragnarok, making him a bit faster and able to counter). Aelfric's high Res and Transmute make mages pointless on him, so the mages take their frustration out on the nearby armours instead. My hit rates aren't stellar against Aelfric (Claude misses once) and he's tough enough to tank basically everything Balthus/Yuri could do to him. But Dimitri/Ashe/Edelgard/Byleth/Hilda together are just about enough to kill him - Byleth finishes the job with Ruptured Heaven. What worked: Yuri's Nosferatu turned out to be his best option against armours, and kept him in the fight on two occasions. It's a much-maligned spell, for good reason, so it was nice to be able to use it unironically. His Recover also deserves a general shout-out across the entire side story for being a solid healing option. What didn't work: Aelfric's map-wide AoE was generally more helpful than harmful, but not healing from it was what put Yuri low enough to die the first time around. Being conservative with healing, as I tend to be unless I'm fishing for EXP, ended up backfiring here. Fun Fact: The writing's contortions remain genuinely ridiculous. Aelfric's betrayed the Wolves? And Yuri's betrayed them too? But actually, he's working for Rhea the whole time to keep an eye on Aelfric? But he's playing Rhea as well, because everyone he loves is being blackmailed? But Rhea still suspects nothing of Aelfric (or Yuri?) and lets the kids keep the Chalice until it's too late? My head is spinning. Its hamminess did make me laugh out loud though, so maybe that's a win for the writing. CS Chapter 7: Spoiler MVP: Ashe Turn Count: 7 Divine Pulses: 0 I switched Claude back to Sniper for this last map. He wasn't doing a lot of damage against human Aelfric, so I thought he might need the power boost, even though I knew in advance that Mv would be super-helpful this map. I think the way things went ended up vindicating my decision. It also meant I was using all available battalions for the first time since Ch. 1. If Ch. 6 was the toughest map in the side story, then this definitely has a claim to being the easiest map in the side story. Monster Aelfric can pack a punch, and can double some of your units, but his moveset and AI often prevent him from making optimal moves, meaning there's not much chance that you lose the initiative for the entire map. I spent Turn 1 just getting close, meaning his first heal-by-Aelfric clone was pointless, and I made sure to kill the clones every turn they appeared so he never got to heal from them again. The clones also have a relatively big counter, but as long as I was careful about not leaving low units within monster Aelfric's range they posed no issue. In particular, Claude and Ashe could tag-team to kill a clone from outside its range, which they did every time a clone appeared. Turn 2 was split between clone-killing and barrier-breaking, and then I alternated between dealing damage and recovering/clone-killing for the next few turns. After monster Aelfric uses his AoE (which by its nature cannot kill you, and unless you're very unlucky won't reposition you in a more dangerous position than you were before) he can't attack till his next turn. So the turn before his AoE is the perfect time to smash through one of his health bars, so that you get a turn of at least some attacks/recovery without suffering from his new combat skill. Rinse and repeat till Aelfric dies. What worked: Ashe entirely deserved his MVP status. As well as helping end Aelfric clones (because he couldn't withstand counters from monster Aelfric) he got three crits on Deadeye, which again didn't miss this level. Two of those crits were on monster Aelfric, one ended a health bar and the other killed Aelfric outright. I didn't even get to screenshot my characters for this log because of that last unexpected crit. What didn't work: Even with Monster Blast, Claude was only of limited effect against monster Aelfric, and also couldn't take the counters. Staying as Sniper and focusing on the clones worked best. Fun Fact: The Crest of Seiros is embedded into the floor of the map, which is apparently a secret room behind/near the Holy Mausoleum. Aelfric has a Minor Crest of Seiros. Rhea isn't surprised when Aelfric turns into a monster - she says it's happened before. So, Rhea, what have you been up to? Or, Part Two (hundred) of writers forcing in coincidences to make the plot work. Some thoughts on CS Spoiler (Subjective) Run MVP: Dimitri Average Turn Count (2 sf😞 12 Average Divine Pulses (1 sf): 1 I was already a fan of the side story from the last time I played it through, so I was certainly expecting to enjoy it this time. Although the degree of challenge was definitely variable, and went up in jumps and starts rather than particularly linearly, I think it struck roughly the balance between difficult and approachable you'd expect of a Hard/Classic difficulty. If Hard/Classic in the main game had been this difficulty, I wouldn't have minded that at all. Resources are also parcelled out fairly and you never feel particularly over- or under-resourced for a given mission. If I had been trying to respect canon as much as possible, I wouldn't have done CS till during Chapter 5 of the main story, but this is quite obviously an alternate timeline, so I don't feel bad about that. As I mentioned above, I didn't get to screenshot my units at endgame because Ashe killed Aelfric early. But the spread was roughly Lvl 25 (Linhardt/Hapi) - Lvl 31 (Dimitri), with units falling between those poles depending on how much I used them. Below, I score the units out of 10 based on how well they performed in my run. Character Scores: Byleth: 7.5/10 A weirdly low score, given that this is Byleth we're talking about. I expect her to carry more than her fair share, and I guess this score reflects that she's a good unit, but didn't meet those expectations. 5 Mv and only B-rank Swords is likely a big part of why that is. I also probably could have used Sword of the Creator/Killing Edge more than I did. Finished at Lvl 30. Edelgard: 8/10 Technically speaking, she's the biggest hitter in the side. Also did better than expected using Bows and Gauntlets at E rank. 5 Mv meant she wasn't always as involved as others, but she was still one of my most reliable combatants, and one of the only people never to get into or cause any serious trouble through the run. Finished at Lvl 30. Dimitri: 9/10 Probably my best unit from start to finish. Capable of tanking where necessary, hit only slightly less hard than Edelgard, but crucially was strong against swords and had more weapons to burn for CAs. Also covered more distance than anyone else, and went wherever fighting was toughest. Deserving winner of side story MVP. Finished at Lvl 31. Claude: 7/10 A strong early start and the mobility of Wyvern Rider meant Claude had a lot of promise, and he did function well for most of the run. However, he wasn't getting many ORKOs as a Wyvern Rider, and he tailed off fairly sharply after Chapter 5. Finished at Lvl 28. Linhardt: 4/10 Linhardt did everything Linhardt can do, in the most Linhardt of ways. Issue is it just wasn't that necessary. The occasional Physic was useful (especially in Ch. 5) and he could stand in for killing armours, but 4 Mv made him actively a liability in Ch. 4 and 5. It wasn't ever so bad that I didn't want to field him, but in Ch.4 there is an argument for that. Finished at Lvl 25. Ashe: 6/10 Based on the main story, I had low expectations for Ashe, which he went and surpassed. Crucial to this was Deadeye, which meant that 5 Mv was not as punishing on him as it was on others. He wasn't single-handedly securing kills or anything, but he did useful chip most turns, and fought far better than I thought he would. Which is nice, because I've always wanted to like Ashe. Finished at Lvl 28. Hilda: 7/10 Only a bit worse than Edelgard, but with the option of flying/6 Mv. Similarly did surprisingly well with Bows, especially because her Axe hit rates were occasionally a bit rough. Finished at Lvl 29. Yuri: 5.5/10 Foul Play allowed me to pull off some movement shenanigans I otherwise couldn't. And Duelist's Blow, along with his high AS/Avo, meant that Yuri's Player Phase was normally safe, and he could take a hit on Enemy Phase. However, I also left Fetters on him the entire time (I always forgot it was there), and that probably kept him in fights at the expense of a better infantry unit. Where it counted, he didn't have the strength or magic attack to hurt tough enemies, which is why he scores lower than Ashe. Finished at Lvl 27. Balthus: 5.5/10 I struggled with grading Balthus. On the one hand, gauntlets meant he did big damage against squishier targets, he could always heal or rally on an off turn, and could tank with his personal/Healing Focus if things got rough (although he wasn't fast enough to make Brawl Avo +20 work, even with Wt-3 equipped). So in some ways he was self-sufficient. But he never really had the same power factor as the lords or even Hilda. Maybe it's because I never make proper use of his personal. He was helpful against monster Aelfric, but pretty useless against human Aelfric. Finished at Lvl 27. Hapi: 6/10 Up until Ch. 6, Hapi didn't have the speed to double armours. Meaning she got no kills and was stuck at chip for most of the side story. But hitting regularly from 3-4 range is still generally strong enough to put her above Yuri/Balthus. Once she started doubling armours, she functioned better - if only she had been blessed with better level ups. Finished at Lvl 27. Constance: 8/10 Flight + magic is already OP. On top of that Constance was fast enough to double with Fire/Sagittae, meaning she could double several times a map, and she had Bolting to cover everyone with. Even Fimbulvetr made the occasional appearance. Very solid throughout. Finished at Lvl 28. Chapter 2: Spoiler MVP: Ingrid Turn Count: 21 Divine Pulses: 2 I recruited Hapi and Constance at the beginning of the chapter - Hapi comes with Miasma and Swarm, which is better spell capacity than Mercedes or Annette at this time. Constance is also just 4 EXP off D Authority. I also get the DLC items (+3 Str, +3 Spd, +7 HP, +2 Mv). Optimisation dictates I give everything to Dimitri, but my normal play style is that I save all my boosters and then pile them onto whoever I think needs them before the endgame, just so I haven't wasted them. This time, since I also already know who my endgame party will be, I decide to use them now. Mv+2 and Spd+3 go to Dimitri, Str+3 goes to Ingrid (because I actually do want her to be good for once) and +7 HP goes to Felix (in theory every point of HP counts for QR thresholds, when QR eventually comes round). Going into this map, levels aren't very evenly distributed - after the practice battle (Dimitri MVP, 6 turns) my units array at levels 1-3 and nobody has hit certifications. However, CAs are beginning to roll around for characters' new weapon of choice - Dimitri gets Wrath Strike, Ingrid gets Curved Shot, and a couple of others get theirs during the Chapter 2 battle itself. Dimitri, Ingrid and Ashe get the battalions, Ingrid getting Byleth's birthday gift, Dedue the leather shield from a monastery quest, and the Chalice of Beginnings to get traded around, although it starts on Felix. Annette and Constance are dropped for this map. This map is still tough, although I can feel the difference the DLC items have made. Instead of Dedue, I have Felix with gauntlets wait in the thicket, as I figure there's a better chance he doesn't get hit by the archer. My gamble pays off, and the archer misses him. Everybody swarms the first pod, and are able to kill them all thanks to curved shots from Ingrid and Ashe providing some room for other units to manoeuvre. The second pod immediately come forward, and I'm feeling bold enough to take them on the bridge. Normally, I'd drop back so that more units can engage at once, but now I'm just about able to beat them all... or so I think, Dedue whiffs, and I Divine Pulse it just to be safe. Switching up the order of attacks allows me to beat them, and head forwards. I skirt the range of the bandits near the chest, hoping to fan out so I can get all three of them when I aggro them, but I have to beat a couple of others first. Then another pod heads up over the bridge, so I block it off with Felix and bow Dimitri (who has gotten the Chalice off Felix). Beating any given pod requires basically my entire army, even with the stat boosts. So I'm loath to do the west path strategy this time around, and I move everyone over to aggro the bandits guarding the chest. Assault Troop from Dimitri pins the battalion-wielder, and from there I split the party, Ashe getting some escorts to take him to the chest while everyone else heads down the stairs, slowly aggroing the bandits in front of Kostas. This goes mostly without a hiccup - once again, a miss (again from Dedue, but with Fading Blow, which is actually more powerful and accurate than two attacks right now, not to mention creates space for another melee fighter) makes me Divine Pulse. The final pair come together, and stay within Kostas' range, so I make Dedue tank the archer, Poison Strike be damned. After the priest finally comes forward, Dimitri and Felix head into Kostas' range. Kostas himself isn't particularly tough provided he doesn't double you or land a gambit - I'm careful to position people so that a gambit can't get two units, but Kostas just attacks normally. So everyone gangs up on him to finish the map. What worked: This Reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemThreeHouses/comments/e0vmpi/professor_exp_optimizations/, although a bit old now, put together some really useful tips about how to make the most of the monastery early game. I'm not sure whether I'll be quite this strict pushing for Professor levels, since I also have recruitment to think about, but it's definitely helping me hit early benchmarks. What didn't work: Byleth's hit rates without CAs or prowess skills are not good, and it may be a while before she gets them. Let's hope her performance doesn't suffer too badly in the upcoming chapters. Fun Fact: Seiros is called a prophet by one of the knight NPCs. I don't know if this is how she's normally referred to, or why she might be called a prophet, but now I'm looking out for other references to this. Also, Tomas mentions the elusive cardinals who hung unexplained over CS - I still have no idea why their identities are secret though. That's it for now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 (edited) On 11/1/2022 at 7:47 PM, Dark Holy Elf said: Yeah, swordmaster specifically is just not a good class compared to other Advanced classes, and you should always have a plan to get out of it if you plan to use her long-term. Catherine as a flier or brawler should be good just because she has extremely good stats in all the places that matter (except her charm, which kinda sucks.. definitely her biggest failing unless you're willing to spam tea more than I am). Note that it does help a lot to get her early, since she pretty much joins with the same bases regardless of when you get her, but her level increases (which is bad, since her stats aren't). If recruited in Chapter 5 she has, for instance, +2.4 strength and +0.4 speed on an equal-level Felix, and only loses growth by 5% strength (i.e. she's always a bit ahead of him in both), and unlike him she can get Darting Blow, and obviously is way ahead on durability (admittedly, she only has one +might support instead of two). I actually agree that I was underselling Catherine rereading what I first wrote. She's quite a good Jagen that can still be used late as a stat stick. On the other hand I do think she still has problems especially due to her weapon ranks being quite abysmal which does make her a mid investment unit. Also on the topic of flier I do feel like that is just Wyvern Lord patching any of her problems as Wyvern Lord just generally patches up any unit and Falcon Knight would prolly still be usable with her high enough stats. I don't know how Catherine would be as a War Cleric but honestly I just kinda see that it seems like a lot of work to get a dodge tank. Though I don't know if Abyssian Classes take as long to master as Master Classes. Now on the topic of Catherine she is definitely best recruited ASAP and if you can recruit her by chp. 5 without a battalion she will take 8 damage per hit at most from the basic enemies. This is without any shield you can add on or any other bonuses to her def. I think maybe my latest experience with Catherine in SS kinda soured my image of her as I think in SS she truly is bad due to her low weapon ranks and being stuck in a dead end class. On 11/6/2022 at 7:12 PM, haarhaarhaar said: Apologies for the late post! I finished Ch. 2 yesterday, but have only just gotten round to writing everything up. As a bonus section, I've also written down some general thoughts about my CS run as well. CS Chapter 6: Reveal hidden contents MVP: Byleth Turn Count: 16 Divine Pulses: 3 Not much in the way of prep for this map - I bought Byleth a Killing Edge, and upgraded nearly-broken weapons like Edelgard's Hand Axe. No other class changes from the previous map either. Wow, I have a lot of thoughts about this level. First off, this definitely felt like the toughest level in CS. I don't even remember struggling with it as much the last time I played CS the whole way through (admittedly, this is a couple of years ago). It also really hammered home that my last challenge run would have been impossible, even though I'd lowered the difficulty to Normal/Classic. I'm glad I didn't bash my head on this map when I was doing it then. There are three reasons this map is tough: 1. Four Bolting mages, whose combined ranges cover most of the map and Balthus/Hapi's starting positions. 2. The Ashen Wolves are separated from each other and your main force, taking guaranteed damage every turn. 3. Human Aelfric is a surprisingly tough boss. I'm all for making maps challenging, and plot-wise this map certainly warranted it. But my big issue with the level design here stems from the fact that there is only one reasonable tactic for handling the Bolting mages without sacrificing units - and that is Retribution-tanking (and just about everybody would choose Byleth for this, too). In principle, I think leaving the player with only one viable tactic in a strategy game points to flawed design. But the problem here goes even deeper. As I mentioned previously, CS doesn't give you space to build your units like in the main game, and functions (from a gameplay perspective) to advertise the DLC characters and classes. Which is why Player Phase tactics dominate up until this point. So to then turn around, and make completing the level hinge on the use of one unrelated-to-the-DLC, Enemy-Phase-centred gambit, feels particularly small-minded. I'm not a big user of Retribution, but I certainly don't mind it and it has its place (i.e. in late-game AM) - but in the main game, its use isn't forced down your throat. With that big complaint out the way, this map definitely puts a lot of pressure on the player. Constance and Hapi both have solid Mv, and waited outside of enemy ranges as long as they could. I potentially could have done the same with Yuri/Balthus, but then they wouldn't have been able to get away if they got cornered, so I decided to move Yuri down and trigger the enemy pod nearest Balthus. I burnt my first Divine Pulse on this - Yuri died to a hit from a Warrior (displayed hit 14), so I waited till after my main group moved and then moved Yuri/Balthus slightly differently in the hope the RNG gods would smile on them this time. Meanwhile, my main army mostly moved left, attacking the closest armour from range, while Byleth Retribution-baited the Bolting mages with her Killing Edge. No crits and two Bolting hits on that first turn of tanking, so all those Bolting mages were left alive for turn 2, meaning Balthus in particular would have nowhere to go that turn. Yuri and Balthus had survived their Enemy Phase, but so had their enemies, so I had no choice but to run them back to the area with defense tiles left of centre and try to tank there. This worked, and Byleth finally killed the mages on enemy phase (using normal Vantage, getting a crit on the unharmed 4th Bolting mage), creating space for my main army to kill the units in the bottom left corner and the armours on the main path, and saving Yuri/Balthus (who, to be fair, had mostly saved themselves). Pushing up the map, most of my army is now able to head towards the right path (where Constance/Hapi are now emerging from) while I send Dimitri/Claude up the left path to block the seize squares. Yuri goes with them to open the chest... which holds an Iron Lance. I genuinely felt the devs laughing at me in that moment. Anyway, things seem to be progressing more smoothly, except the bottom right pod starts moving to cut off Hapi/Constance, and I only have a couple of units who can reach them for support. My first response is to try Retribution-tanking with Byleth once again (so she can get the sniper), but I realise only after I've done it how stupid I'm being - Hapi can immobilise most of them with a Group Flames and Canto to safety, while Ashe/Byleth can aggro the sniper. I burn a second Divine Pulse here to take up the better tactic, and Ashe goes one better and crits the Sniper, killing him. Problem solved, and most of my army regroups on the right side. Ashe opens up the other chest for an Iron Axe (whoopee) and I seize the third point, and then the fourth next turn. This frees up Dimitri/Claude on the other side, and triggers some of the remaining enemies, who are easily beaten. The only significant threat left is Aelfric, and here I use Retribution-Byleth to bait out his Meteor. She's able to tank it, but no crits are forthcoming over four attacks (displayed crit in the low 40s, hit rate high 70s-low 80s). I decide to send in a Hail Mary Dimitri to see if I can finish the map quickly (using Foul Play Yuri to get him to Aelfric in one turn), since Aelfric can't counterattack once he's run out of Meteor. Irritatingly, Dimitri whiffs his attack, so I have to rewind and take it slow (since Aelfric will heal from his heal-tile next turn, and will switch to Ragnarok, making him a bit faster and able to counter). Aelfric's high Res and Transmute make mages pointless on him, so the mages take their frustration out on the nearby armours instead. My hit rates aren't stellar against Aelfric (Claude misses once) and he's tough enough to tank basically everything Balthus/Yuri could do to him. But Dimitri/Ashe/Edelgard/Byleth/Hilda together are just about enough to kill him - Byleth finishes the job with Ruptured Heaven. What worked: Yuri's Nosferatu turned out to be his best option against armours, and kept him in the fight on two occasions. It's a much-maligned spell, for good reason, so it was nice to be able to use it unironically. His Recover also deserves a general shout-out across the entire side story for being a solid healing option. What didn't work: Aelfric's map-wide AoE was generally more helpful than harmful, but not healing from it was what put Yuri low enough to die the first time around. Being conservative with healing, as I tend to be unless I'm fishing for EXP, ended up backfiring here. Fun Fact: The writing's contortions remain genuinely ridiculous. Aelfric's betrayed the Wolves? And Yuri's betrayed them too? But actually, he's working for Rhea the whole time to keep an eye on Aelfric? But he's playing Rhea as well, because everyone he loves is being blackmailed? But Rhea still suspects nothing of Aelfric (or Yuri?) and lets the kids keep the Chalice until it's too late? My head is spinning. Its hamminess did make me laugh out loud though, so maybe that's a win for the writing. CS Chapter 7: Reveal hidden contents MVP: Ashe Turn Count: 7 Divine Pulses: 0 I switched Claude back to Sniper for this last map. He wasn't doing a lot of damage against human Aelfric, so I thought he might need the power boost, even though I knew in advance that Mv would be super-helpful this map. I think the way things went ended up vindicating my decision. It also meant I was using all available battalions for the first time since Ch. 1. If Ch. 6 was the toughest map in the side story, then this definitely has a claim to being the easiest map in the side story. Monster Aelfric can pack a punch, and can double some of your units, but his moveset and AI often prevent him from making optimal moves, meaning there's not much chance that you lose the initiative for the entire map. I spent Turn 1 just getting close, meaning his first heal-by-Aelfric clone was pointless, and I made sure to kill the clones every turn they appeared so he never got to heal from them again. The clones also have a relatively big counter, but as long as I was careful about not leaving low units within monster Aelfric's range they posed no issue. In particular, Claude and Ashe could tag-team to kill a clone from outside its range, which they did every time a clone appeared. Turn 2 was split between clone-killing and barrier-breaking, and then I alternated between dealing damage and recovering/clone-killing for the next few turns. After monster Aelfric uses his AoE (which by its nature cannot kill you, and unless you're very unlucky won't reposition you in a more dangerous position than you were before) he can't attack till his next turn. So the turn before his AoE is the perfect time to smash through one of his health bars, so that you get a turn of at least some attacks/recovery without suffering from his new combat skill. Rinse and repeat till Aelfric dies. What worked: Ashe entirely deserved his MVP status. As well as helping end Aelfric clones (because he couldn't withstand counters from monster Aelfric) he got three crits on Deadeye, which again didn't miss this level. Two of those crits were on monster Aelfric, one ended a health bar and the other killed Aelfric outright. I didn't even get to screenshot my characters for this log because of that last unexpected crit. What didn't work: Even with Monster Blast, Claude was only of limited effect against monster Aelfric, and also couldn't take the counters. Staying as Sniper and focusing on the clones worked best. Fun Fact: The Crest of Seiros is embedded into the floor of the map, which is apparently a secret room behind/near the Holy Mausoleum. Aelfric has a Minor Crest of Seiros. Rhea isn't surprised when Aelfric turns into a monster - she says it's happened before. So, Rhea, what have you been up to? Or, Part Two (hundred) of writers forcing in coincidences to make the plot work. Some thoughts on CS Reveal hidden contents (Subjective) Run MVP: Dimitri Average Turn Count (2 sf😞 12 Average Divine Pulses (1 sf): 1 I was already a fan of the side story from the last time I played it through, so I was certainly expecting to enjoy it this time. Although the degree of challenge was definitely variable, and went up in jumps and starts rather than particularly linearly, I think it struck roughly the balance between difficult and approachable you'd expect of a Hard/Classic difficulty. If Hard/Classic in the main game had been this difficulty, I wouldn't have minded that at all. Resources are also parcelled out fairly and you never feel particularly over- or under-resourced for a given mission. If I had been trying to respect canon as much as possible, I wouldn't have done CS till during Chapter 5 of the main story, but this is quite obviously an alternate timeline, so I don't feel bad about that. As I mentioned above, I didn't get to screenshot my units at endgame because Ashe killed Aelfric early. But the spread was roughly Lvl 25 (Linhardt/Hapi) - Lvl 31 (Dimitri), with units falling between those poles depending on how much I used them. Below, I score the units out of 10 based on how well they performed in my run. Character Scores: Byleth: 7.5/10 A weirdly low score, given that this is Byleth we're talking about. I expect her to carry more than her fair share, and I guess this score reflects that she's a good unit, but didn't meet those expectations. 5 Mv and only B-rank Swords is likely a big part of why that is. I also probably could have used Sword of the Creator/Killing Edge more than I did. Finished at Lvl 30. Edelgard: 8/10 Technically speaking, she's the biggest hitter in the side. Also did better than expected using Bows and Gauntlets at E rank. 5 Mv meant she wasn't always as involved as others, but she was still one of my most reliable combatants, and one of the only people never to get into or cause any serious trouble through the run. Finished at Lvl 30. Dimitri: 9/10 Probably my best unit from start to finish. Capable of tanking where necessary, hit only slightly less hard than Edelgard, but crucially was strong against swords and had more weapons to burn for CAs. Also covered more distance than anyone else, and went wherever fighting was toughest. Deserving winner of side story MVP. Finished at Lvl 31. Claude: 7/10 A strong early start and the mobility of Wyvern Rider meant Claude had a lot of promise, and he did function well for most of the run. However, he wasn't getting many ORKOs as a Wyvern Rider, and he tailed off fairly sharply after Chapter 5. Finished at Lvl 28. Linhardt: 4/10 Linhardt did everything Linhardt can do, in the most Linhardt of ways. Issue is it just wasn't that necessary. The occasional Physic was useful (especially in Ch. 5) and he could stand in for killing armours, but 4 Mv made him actively a liability in Ch. 4 and 5. It wasn't ever so bad that I didn't want to field him, but in Ch.4 there is an argument for that. Finished at Lvl 25. Ashe: 6/10 Based on the main story, I had low expectations for Ashe, which he went and surpassed. Crucial to this was Deadeye, which meant that 5 Mv was not as punishing on him as it was on others. He wasn't single-handedly securing kills or anything, but he did useful chip most turns, and fought far better than I thought he would. Which is nice, because I've always wanted to like Ashe. Finished at Lvl 28. Hilda: 7/10 Only a bit worse than Edelgard, but with the option of flying/6 Mv. Similarly did surprisingly well with Bows, especially because her Axe hit rates were occasionally a bit rough. Finished at Lvl 29. Yuri: 5.5/10 Foul Play allowed me to pull off some movement shenanigans I otherwise couldn't. And Duelist's Blow, along with his high AS/Avo, meant that Yuri's Player Phase was normally safe, and he could take a hit on Enemy Phase. However, I also left Fetters on him the entire time (I always forgot it was there), and that probably kept him in fights at the expense of a better infantry unit. Where it counted, he didn't have the strength or magic attack to hurt tough enemies, which is why he scores lower than Ashe. Finished at Lvl 27. Balthus: 5.5/10 I struggled with grading Balthus. On the one hand, gauntlets meant he did big damage against squishier targets, he could always heal or rally on an off turn, and could tank with his personal/Healing Focus if things got rough (although he wasn't fast enough to make Brawl Avo +20 work, even with Wt-3 equipped). So in some ways he was self-sufficient. But he never really had the same power factor as the lords or even Hilda. Maybe it's because I never make proper use of his personal. He was helpful against monster Aelfric, but pretty useless against human Aelfric. Finished at Lvl 27. Hapi: 6/10 Up until Ch. 6, Hapi didn't have the speed to double armours. Meaning she got no kills and was stuck at chip for most of the side story. But hitting regularly from 3-4 range is still generally strong enough to put her above Yuri/Balthus. Once she started doubling armours, she functioned better - if only she had been blessed with better level ups. Finished at Lvl 27. Constance: 8/10 Flight + magic is already OP. On top of that Constance was fast enough to double with Fire/Sagittae, meaning she could double several times a map, and she had Bolting to cover everyone with. Even Fimbulvetr made the occasional appearance. Very solid throughout. Finished at Lvl 28. Chapter 2: Reveal hidden contents MVP: Ingrid Turn Count: 21 Divine Pulses: 2 I recruited Hapi and Constance at the beginning of the chapter - Hapi comes with Miasma and Swarm, which is better spell capacity than Mercedes or Annette at this time. Constance is also just 4 EXP off D Authority. I also get the DLC items (+3 Str, +3 Spd, +7 HP, +2 Mv). Optimisation dictates I give everything to Dimitri, but my normal play style is that I save all my boosters and then pile them onto whoever I think needs them before the endgame, just so I haven't wasted them. This time, since I also already know who my endgame party will be, I decide to use them now. Mv+2 and Spd+3 go to Dimitri, Str+3 goes to Ingrid (because I actually do want her to be good for once) and +7 HP goes to Felix (in theory every point of HP counts for QR thresholds, when QR eventually comes round). Going into this map, levels aren't very evenly distributed - after the practice battle (Dimitri MVP, 6 turns) my units array at levels 1-3 and nobody has hit certifications. However, CAs are beginning to roll around for characters' new weapon of choice - Dimitri gets Wrath Strike, Ingrid gets Curved Shot, and a couple of others get theirs during the Chapter 2 battle itself. Dimitri, Ingrid and Ashe get the battalions, Ingrid getting Byleth's birthday gift, Dedue the leather shield from a monastery quest, and the Chalice of Beginnings to get traded around, although it starts on Felix. Annette and Constance are dropped for this map. This map is still tough, although I can feel the difference the DLC items have made. Instead of Dedue, I have Felix with gauntlets wait in the thicket, as I figure there's a better chance he doesn't get hit by the archer. My gamble pays off, and the archer misses him. Everybody swarms the first pod, and are able to kill them all thanks to curved shots from Ingrid and Ashe providing some room for other units to manoeuvre. The second pod immediately come forward, and I'm feeling bold enough to take them on the bridge. Normally, I'd drop back so that more units can engage at once, but now I'm just about able to beat them all... or so I think, Dedue whiffs, and I Divine Pulse it just to be safe. Switching up the order of attacks allows me to beat them, and head forwards. I skirt the range of the bandits near the chest, hoping to fan out so I can get all three of them when I aggro them, but I have to beat a couple of others first. Then another pod heads up over the bridge, so I block it off with Felix and bow Dimitri (who has gotten the Chalice off Felix). Beating any given pod requires basically my entire army, even with the stat boosts. So I'm loath to do the west path strategy this time around, and I move everyone over to aggro the bandits guarding the chest. Assault Troop from Dimitri pins the battalion-wielder, and from there I split the party, Ashe getting some escorts to take him to the chest while everyone else heads down the stairs, slowly aggroing the bandits in front of Kostas. This goes mostly without a hiccup - once again, a miss (again from Dedue, but with Fading Blow, which is actually more powerful and accurate than two attacks right now, not to mention creates space for another melee fighter) makes me Divine Pulse. The final pair come together, and stay within Kostas' range, so I make Dedue tank the archer, Poison Strike be damned. After the priest finally comes forward, Dimitri and Felix head into Kostas' range. Kostas himself isn't particularly tough provided he doesn't double you or land a gambit - I'm careful to position people so that a gambit can't get two units, but Kostas just attacks normally. So everyone gangs up on him to finish the map. What worked: This Reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemThreeHouses/comments/e0vmpi/professor_exp_optimizations/, although a bit old now, put together some really useful tips about how to make the most of the monastery early game. I'm not sure whether I'll be quite this strict pushing for Professor levels, since I also have recruitment to think about, but it's definitely helping me hit early benchmarks. What didn't work: Byleth's hit rates without CAs or prowess skills are not good, and it may be a while before she gets them. Let's hope her performance doesn't suffer too badly in the upcoming chapters. Fun Fact: Seiros is called a prophet by one of the knight NPCs. I don't know if this is how she's normally referred to, or why she might be called a prophet, but now I'm looking out for other references to this. Also, Tomas mentions the elusive cardinals who hung unexplained over CS - I still have no idea why their identities are secret though. That's it for now! Nice, I didn't read anything on CS as I haven't played CS yet but it seems your chp 2 run went pretty good. It's quite strange for me honestly to see someone say something like that about Byleth. I don't know how CS affects Byleth but going off the base game they should still be your best or second best. Are you using Byleth to attack first? If you are it's likely their hit rate is lower compared to your other units because they don't have any linked bonuses. Or are you using Axes/Lances? If so I would recommend using Swords until you at least get a CA in Axes or Lances as your hit rate is generally gonna rely on a CA or weapon prowess skill (Get Lances to Tempest Strike first since that is the best CA compared to the other weapons). Anyways on the topic of professor exp. just save bait for any multi catch days. Fishing is such a pain but it can give a good amount of money without spamming the sparring competitions and ingredients for cooking. Also if you really want to be mega optimal you could also aim for small fish on the Flayn fishing competition to get a chance of a normal fish to give you professor exp. Edited November 8, 2022 by Mordred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanty Pete's 1st Mate Posted November 9, 2022 Share Posted November 9, 2022 18 hours ago, Mordred said: Though I don't know if Abyssian Classes take as long to master as Master Classes. They require 150 class EXP to master, just like other Advanced classes. Master classes, meanwhile, take 200 class EXP to master. 18 hours ago, Mordred said: Also if you really want to be mega optimal you could also aim for small fish on the Flayn fishing competition to get a chance of a normal fish to give you professor exp. Wait, are you able to get fish that grant Professor EXP in the fishing competition? I remember the fish you catch being distinct from "usual" fishing weekends, and not offering any Professor EXP. Unless perhaps I missed something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted November 10, 2022 Author Share Posted November 10, 2022 Being late on the weekend (and Ch. 5 being a pain) has thrown off my writing schedule a bit, but I'm hoping to get back on track soon. Anyway, here's the next edition of the log! Chapter 3: Spoiler MVP: Sylvain Turn Count: 13 Divine Pulses: 1 Although recruitment is on the backburner in favour of raising Professor Level, I make Lysithea an adjutant for Byleth to raise her support. Which means Constance is getting subbed. No aux battles mean that nobody has hit Lvl 5 (ideally I'm getting people to Lvl 5 this map), but all my mages now have Heal. I'm not rushing Mercedes' Physic or Annette's Rally Speed though. I pick up enough battalions to equip on my party, with the exception of Felix (who has hit D-rank Authority, so power wins out over raising authority here). And a torch for Dimitri - I'm not sure I actually need it for this map, but worst-case I just use it for Ashe's paralogue. The major threat this map is Fog of War (specifically, archers can attack from it without being seen). I've played this level through enough to know what to do - rush the mage in the centre forest ASAP, keeping the formation tight and squishies protected, while keeping green units in top shape. Hapi whiffs against the archer from the first pod, so I rewind that because I can - that's the worst of it in all honesty. The central dark mage is much better protected than I remember - Dimitri misses with Lure, so I pile everyone forward and Hapi uses Resonant White Magic to make sure they (including a green unit) can survive the enemy phase. Obviously Catherine didn't need any help - she took no damage the entire map and dealt out at least three crits. Without the dark mage, the map is very doable. Most of my units charge forward, while I leave the ones closest to Level 5 to deal with the enemies who are just moving out from the forest north of the starting point. They, and Lonato's guards, are dealt with in fairly short order, although I leave behind the two northern enemies who didn't move to attack. This leaves the boss himself (the green units have gone after the lone militia-man in the south corner, and won't make it forwards in time). Hitting him with a Curved Shot the previous turn meant for some reason his Javelin wasn't equipped, so basically everybody was free to pile in on him. And, obviously, Ashe got the killing blow, because how could I not? I would have used a Divine Pulse to ensure it. Irritatingly, Dimitri is just 3 EXP short of Level 5 - this means he probably won't certify for Beginner Classes till Chapter 5. I wish I'd killed more enemies. What worked: Although all my mages had Heal, they only had half-uses - Resonant White Magic took huge pressure off them, and allowed me to heal green units without entering archer ranges. I will always back this gambit for this part of the game. What didn't work: The Torch was as pointless as I predicted. Admittedly, I only bought one, and I was attacked from the dark on the side Dimitri wasn't on. But I didn't want to waste money on more, and I still think I was right to. Fun Fact: Apparently one of Kostas' bandits fled to the Abyss this chapter - you get a support boost from Sothis if you take him away. I felt kinda bad - it's a weirdly smart idea to flee to the Abyss if you're being chased for your life by knights and don't have much to live on. Chapter 4: Spoiler MVP: Dedue Turn Count: 14 Divine Pulses: 2 Since I didn't recruit Lysithea last chapter, there's no chance I'm getting B-rank Reason so she can kill the Death Knight. Irritatingly, I hit her B-rank support at the end of the month and she joins my party just before the chapter battle, meaning her stats and levels are worse than they would be next month, but with no other material difference. I should have save-scummed out of it, but didn't think to before I saved over the file. Oh well. Anyway, neither Dimitri nor Felix are going to get Knightkneeler, so Ingrid has to step up and be the knight she always wanted to be. I also give her three Rocky Burdocks to help in her mission - that's +6 Str over the last two chapters. It doesn't matter, because a rallied Ingrid still has no chance, even if she could hit the Death Knight camped on his Avo tile. I soft-reset after testing that out (which I'm counting essentially as a Divine Pulse to the beginning of the map). Constance gets the Dex/Luck-boosting items I earned from last chapter - I don't really care who gets them, but technically I think they're most relevant to her endgame build so there you go. Since I now know I will have to avoid the Death Knight's range, I split into two groups (Dimitri/Felix/Constance/Ashe/Mercedes, the Dimitri group, and Byleth/Sylvain/Ingrid/Dedue/Annette, the Byleth group, Byleth has a key for the chest on her side) - the Dimitri group head left and the Byleth group head right. For both groups, it's fairly tough going, thanks in no small part to how quick the enemy mages are. Put another way, even though some of them hit hard, physical enemies on this map outside the Death Knight are not particularly scary. Dimitri's group struggle with enemies just before the chest on their side, and owe Constance (alternating between spells and Rally Magic on Mercedes whose Mag stat is about 5 points lower) for being able to survive without much room to manoeuvre. Byleth's hit rate issues are probably at their worst here, and I have to keep them in mind as this group progresses. Ingrid's new workout regime means that she's the hitter of this group, although Dedue is the one doing most of the tanking (and Fading/Rushing Blow helps a lot with unit positioning). Things get dicey for a bit, as a mage lands a gambit on Ingrid and Sylvain, but Byleth is more than able to cover for them, so all remains well. Meanwhile, the reinforcement mages are charging straight through the centre path, but Dimitri group's movement clearly confuses their AI, so they're not able to cut off either group before I reach the boss. I use my second Divine Pulse here - instead of moving to kill the boss straightaway, I have Mercedes use Stride on her group so I can hoover up EXP from all the mages (and support points from positioning) before killing the boss. It works for a bit - then Ingrid gets carried away and crits the boss (she's already in Fighter), leaving Annette 14 EXP from Level 5. I really hope this doesn't become a thing. What worked: I've been taking it for granted so far, because it's just a normal feature of my Maddening runs generally, but Curved Shot is such a boon. What didn't work: I put a battalion on Felix this map, and it definitely made things a bit more difficult than they could have been. Not unmanageably so, but I found myself regretting it during the map. Authority is a fairly consistent focus of his at the moment, so he hardly needed the extra help raising ranks. Not-so-fun Fact: At the beginning of the chapter, I hit Ingrid and Sylvain's C-support, where Ingrid chews out Sylvain in public over various past indiscretions, while onlookers react negatively to his dirty laundry (from the music playing, I think this is meant to be played for jokes). In the English localisation, one of the incidents she mentions is Sylvain hitting on a scarecrow. But what Ingrid actually says is that Sylvain was hitting on a cross-dressing man. Now, there are lots of things one could say about this (including a discussion about why Fodlan's fashion norms have to be similar to ours in lazy ways), but I guess I want to zero in on how different the English localisation is to the original. This is the first run where I can say I've paid serious attention to what the characters are saying (rather than just what is written), and so far, I've just been picking up on interesting but minor differences, like the whole prophet Seiros thing. I didn't expect there to be such big discrepancies between speech and word. But now that I'm aware that the localisation has taken actual liberties, rather than merely fleshing out sense/meaning, I will try to pay serious attention to it. Chapter 5: Spoiler MVP: Dedue Turn Count: 32 Divine Pulses: 3+2 Big month for the monastery. I hit B-rank professor level on the first weekend, and I also hit B-support for Catherine and C+ for Cyril (enough to recruit both as a Level 7 Byleth). Online recon and the saint statues are now also unlocked. The Chalice and stat-boosters are no doubt welcome rewards from the DLC, but the thing I appreciate the most is the early Renown boost. With the quests I did this month, I'm just shy of 20,000 Renown total (if I'd spent more activity points on quests I could have cleared 20,000) which is enough to get basically all the statue reward boosts that I want right now. I also unlocked the Sauna this month - which is all fortuitous timing to finally train Byleth properly. Prior to this, I spent Manuela's original faculty training on Flying, and a couple of points on Armour so I can eventually get Ferdinand, but haven't trained weapon ranks. By the end of the month (and some save-scumming), I have D+ Lances, D Flying, and am 8 points short of C Authority, which is pretty decent if I want to go Peg Knight. And that's with a free day spent on battling to get the item merchants. And then there's the chapter battle. I always think I won't underestimate this map, but it always finds a way to bite me in the arse. Between this month's monastery and this battle, I would have spent about a third of my run so far in real time (and that's excluding the hour or so on quest battles). No one has hit Lvl 10 yet, but Sylvain rushes Helm Splitter and Cyril rushes PBV, although I end up not deploying him. I want Annette to try and get some support in with Gilbert (and she's only just hit Lvl 5) so no Lysithea this map either - Hapi and Catherine are my adjutants. Lots of forging to give people Iron+ weapons, a Killer Bow for Ingrid, and Dimitri gets Thunderbrand. As per usual, I'm going to try keeping Gilbert alive, so Annette, Constance, and Felix/Ingrid/Sylvain are going to move at a slower pace. Dimitri, Dedue, Ashe, Byleth and Mercedes will push up and deal with the first set of enemies. Dimitri's Curved Shot against the bandit guarding the chest triggers his Crest (for I think the first time this run?), so it only takes one more hit to kill him (Ashe picks up the Armorslayer), and the others are easily dispatched. Then the first wave of reinforcements from behind arrive. I realise annoyingly Annette can't rally Gilbert, so she's just going to have to hang out. Constance can cast Ward on him though... and it's actually useful! The mages aren't doing more than 4 damage or so, although Gilbert's hit rates remain crap. Felix has to tank the second mage and takes solid damage, but Gilbert is basically fine? And because I fought off the reinforcements myself, he's happy to head forwards! It seems like things will be well, with my whole army happily heading off in the same direction. But, this is Chapter 5, so I'm not allowed nice things. The second wave of entrance reinforcements arrive, and Gilbert doesn't seem to care at first, so I decide to leave them alone for now (I don't want Gilbert to head back). Of course, the moment a thief gets close that's exactly what he does, and he misses, so I have to send his support group in for cover. And then the two enemy mages gambit Ingrid, Gilbert, Sylvain, and Constance, turning a winnable fight into a brutal one. I burn two Divine Pulses here - one to get Felix close enough to hit the further-away mage, and another because both Ingrid and Sylvain miss must-hit attacks. Everybody survives, after much suffering, but my Heal spells are under a lot of pressure now. I brought Stride instead of Resonant White Magic this map against my better judgement, and am now kicking myself. To add insult (and further injury) to injury, Gilbert stands in range of an archer, receiving solid chip from Poison Strike, but more importantly triggering a cascade effect where almost all enemies start to advance. I remember this map well enough to know that reinforcements will spawn from the stairwell further up, so I have little choice but to try and tank everything before the reinforcement spawn. It's pretty intimidating to see basically all enemies on the map converge on you in the early game, although differing movement speeds mean they basically end up being two waves. The first wave I'm just about able to control with Dimitri's Blaze, but the archers in the second wave can hit my squishies once I clear wave one, so I decide to back everyone up a bit. But I'm really the idiot, for coming up with a plan and expecting Gilbert to follow it. He charges into the fray, missing again and taking damage. Worse, Mercedes' Physic doesn't have the range to heal him from outside the archer's range without Rally Magic, which would then compromise whoever uses Rally Magic. I figure there's no choice but to at least try to save Gilbert, but mess up the positioning and use a Divine Pulse to try again. Gilbert's now nearly on full health, although Ingrid and a couple of other units are exposed (so that ideally the AI doesn't gang up on any one unit). But of course they don't, because the biggest sucker on the map is on his own and incapable of hitting anyone anyway. Gilbert eats a gambit at 20 hit, and proceeds to get wiped out by enemies here. And I'm sick enough of him that I don't bother to rewind. All of a sudden, the quality of my combat improves drastically. I'm able to completely clear out this wave of enemies thanks to their positioning close to Gilbert, and now most of the jeopardy is gone. I send everyone forward, being careful to guard squishies against the reinforcements due. Their dialogue (haha, we'll pincer you) is pretty funny if you've cleared out everyone in front. Although they have great movement and I think Pass, so they still attack squishy people, fortunately not killing anyone. Constance makes short work of the Accuracy Ring armor, and now it's a slog where everyone has 4 Mv to reach the boss. I use Stride once here just so I can speed things up. I then use Stride a second time at the stairwell of Miklan's area, and send Mercedes and Sylvain to kill him (Sylvain gets the finishing blow, obviously). What I didn't realise is that even though your Divine Pulses/positioning resets once Miklan goes monster, it still counts as the same turn - so Stride is still active on everyone, and Sylvain/Mercedes can act again with it! Meaning I don't have the stress of trying to tank Miklan. I send everyone in with gambits (I burn a Divine Pulse here so I can re-equip Ashe with a bow after he uses Onslaught, so he can contribute with Linked Attacks) to wipe his barriers, and then manage to clear out his first two health bars (another Divine Pulse here to get the positioning right, as Dimitri didn't get the Stride effect) that turn. Next turn, I chip him with as many people as I can before letting Constance finish him (Sylvain is already Level 10). She's 20 EXP short of Level 10, but I could see that coming in advance so it's less annoying. What worked: All three mages put in a shift this map, but Mercedes was the pick of everyone. Not as powerful as Constance who could ORKO armours, but Live to Serve meant she could survive a limited enemy phase (like leaving her in range of the archer on ramparts when she had to Physic Gilbert) without external support/healing, and her Heal/Physics did more support work than anyone else. What didn't work: Ingrid has solid Charm and was wearing the Blue Lion Brooch, but gambit hit rates against her were still 45 or so, which is a bit high for one of my frontliners. I'm sure it'll be less of an issue over time, but this is the second chapter in a row that she's been hit by a gambit, so I'm keeping an eye on it. Fun Fact: An Abyss resident brings up Aelfric getting 'removed' from post as in charge of the Abyss, but doesn't know why. Which brings up some questions about how the alternate timeline is supposed to work, since in the side story the last thing ordinary residents of Abyss would know is that he's been kidnapped. Thanks for reading! In advance of next log - do people have opinions on when to recruit people if I'm not using them? I'm specifically thinking of people I will use for Part 1 paralogues but not after (like Yuri/Balthus). Do I recruit them in Ch. 6 and then attempt to level them myself, or is it fine if I recruit them just before I do their paralogue? I normally train everyone I recruit all the way through, so using and dumping recruits is a bit alien to me. 11 hours ago, Mordred said: It's quite strange for me honestly to see someone say something like that about Byleth. I don't know how CS affects Byleth but going off the base game they should still be your best or second best. Are you using Byleth to attack first? If you are it's likely their hit rate is lower compared to your other units because they don't have any linked bonuses. Or are you using Axes/Lances? If so I would recommend using Swords until you at least get a CA in Axes or Lances as your hit rate is generally gonna rely on a CA or weapon prowess skill (Get Lances to Tempest Strike first since that is the best CA compared to the other weapons). It's Axes/Lances. I haven't been doing much faculty training on them yet so she didn't have prowess skills (as I wrote above), which is why her hit rates weren't great. 11 hours ago, Mordred said: Anyways on the topic of professor exp. just save bait for any multi catch days. Fishing is such a pain but it can give a good amount of money without spamming the sparring competitions and ingredients for cooking. Yeah, this is the classic tip, although if you want a high professor level quickly (especially pre-Chapter 5) then fishing isn't enough. On 11/8/2022 at 8:17 AM, Mordred said: Also if you really want to be mega optimal you could also aim for small fish on the Flayn fishing competition to get a chance of a normal fish to give you professor exp. On 11/9/2022 at 2:54 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said: Wait, are you able to get fish that grant Professor EXP in the fishing competition? I remember the fish you catch being distinct from "usual" fishing weekends, and not offering any Professor EXP. Unless perhaps I missed something? You normally get Carassius (I think they're called), but you can sometimes get normal fish as well - nice catch @Mordred, could definitely use this to top up PEXP if necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lenticular Posted November 10, 2022 Share Posted November 10, 2022 38 minutes ago, haarhaarhaar said: Resonant White Magic took huge pressure off them, and allowed me to heal green units without entering archer ranges. I will always back this gambit for this part of the game. I still find it absolutely wild that you get such good use out of this. I always used to bring it along but I don't think that I ever had a single good opportunity to use it come up. That you do is a good reminder that play styles differ and that one person's trash is another person's treasure, and all that good stuff. 41 minutes ago, haarhaarhaar said: Not-so-fun Fact: At the beginning of the chapter, I hit Ingrid and Sylvain's C-support, where Ingrid chews out Sylvain in public over various past indiscretions, while onlookers react negatively to his dirty laundry (from the music playing, I think this is meant to be played for jokes). In the English localisation, one of the incidents she mentions is Sylvain hitting on a scarecrow. But what Ingrid actually says is that Sylvain was hitting on a cross-dressing man. Now, there are lots of things one could say about this (including a discussion about why Fodlan's fashion norms have to be similar to ours in lazy ways), but I guess I want to zero in on how different the English localisation is to the original. This is the first run where I can say I've paid serious attention to what the characters are saying (rather than just what is written), and so far, I've just been picking up on interesting but minor differences, like the whole prophet Seiros thing. I didn't expect there to be such big discrepancies between speech and word. But now that I'm aware that the localisation has taken actual liberties, rather than merely fleshing out sense/meaning, I will try to pay serious attention to it. As far as I'm concerned, that's an excellent change made by the localisation team. I know some people prefer localisations to be a close to literal word-for-word translations as possible, but I am definitely not one of those people. For me, if a line would come accross as crass or insensitive to an English speaking audience -- and I do believe that this one would -- then it absolutely ought to be changed in the localisation. I am not qualified to speak on whether it was a good or appropriate line in the Japanese original (I leave that judgement to Japanese LGBTQIA+ folks) but I'm glad that it didn't make it to the English version. 48 minutes ago, haarhaarhaar said: What I didn't realise is that even though your Divine Pulses/positioning resets once Miklan goes monster, it still counts as the same turn - so Stride is still active on everyone, and Sylvain/Mercedes can act again with it! The same thing applies in Chapter 10 after killing Kronya. I've seen this taken advantages of in speedruns to be able to quickly go after Solon immediately afterwards. It's a neat trick. 53 minutes ago, haarhaarhaar said: I want Annette to try and get some support in with Gilbert (and she's only just hit Lvl 5) Does this work? I've never thought of trying to build support with the allied unit version of Gilbert, or chapter 3 Catherine for that matter. But I also don't recall ever seeing the little support heart showing up for either of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted November 10, 2022 Share Posted November 10, 2022 58 minutes ago, haarhaarhaar said: Thanks for reading! In advance of next log - do people have opinions on when to recruit people if I'm not using them? I'm specifically thinking of people I will use for Part 1 paralogues but not after (like Yuri/Balthus). Do I recruit them in Ch. 6 and then attempt to level them myself, or is it fine if I recruit them just before I do their paralogue? I normally train everyone I recruit all the way through, so using and dumping recruits is a bit alien to me. It's Axes/Lances. I haven't been doing much faculty training on them yet so she didn't have prowess skills (as I wrote above), which is why her hit rates weren't great. Yeah, this is the classic tip, although if you want a high professor level quickly (especially pre-Chapter 5) then fishing isn't enough. You normally get Carassius (I think they're called), but you can sometimes get normal fish as well - nice catch @Mordred, could definitely use this to top up PEXP if necessary. Honestly just recruit them whenever is convenient, if you aren't planning on using them you might as well just recruit them as they reach recruitment ranges or when they ask to join your house. Honestly Lances and Axes on Byleth don't start being worth it until Tempest Lance/Smash as weapon exp gained through combat is so small that unless you are grinding with a broken weapon it won't really end up amounting to anything. Which is honestly really annoying and one of the things I dislike about FE3H. Pre-Chapter 5 the best way of gaining exp is to spam feed ppl or the professor questions on the first weeks. Honestly I did it my last playthrough and I find that you barely get any extra exp from it. However, if you really want to reach high P level quickly I do think it can let you reach the max PEXP one day earlier I believe. Could be wrong and it's also subject to rng so yea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haarhaarhaar Posted November 10, 2022 Author Share Posted November 10, 2022 30 minutes ago, lenticular said: I still find it absolutely wild that you get such good use out of this. I always used to bring it along but I don't think that I ever had a single good opportunity to use it come up. That you do is a good reminder that play styles differ and that one person's trash is another person's treasure, and all that good stuff. Hehehe yeah I think at least part of it will be me digging my heels in because I know it's unpopular, and also deliberately positioning units so I can use the gambit rather than it coming up that organically. 29 minutes ago, lenticular said: As far as I'm concerned, that's an excellent change made by the localisation team. I know some people prefer localisations to be a close to literal word-for-word translations as possible, but I am definitely not one of those people. For me, if a line would come accross as crass or insensitive to an English speaking audience -- and I do believe that this one would -- then it absolutely ought to be changed in the localisation. I am not qualified to speak on whether it was a good or appropriate line in the Japanese original (I leave that judgement to Japanese LGBTQIA+ folks) but I'm glad that it didn't make it to the English version. Completely agreed! The not fun bit is that the line is there to begin with, and it's nice to see the translation being really thoughtful about it, finding a compromise between the spirit of the support and avoiding insensitivity. I've already spotted a couple of other instances of this as well, although I'll probably wait till next log to talk about them. It's really easy to skate past this stuff, but a lot of work goes into localisation, so now that I'm doing the run I'll highlight it where I see it. 41 minutes ago, lenticular said: The same thing applies in Chapter 10 after killing Kronya. I've seen this taken advantages of in speedruns to be able to quickly go after Solon immediately afterwards. It's a neat trick. Ooh good tip - it's annoying if you let Kronya into the forests, so I may use this when I get there as well. 41 minutes ago, lenticular said: Does this work? I've never thought of trying to build support with the allied unit version of Gilbert, or chapter 3 Catherine for that matter. But I also don't recall ever seeing the little support heart showing up for either of them. I don't think it did, which means it probably didn't work. 36 minutes ago, Mordred said: Honestly Lances and Axes on Byleth don't start being worth it until Tempest Lance/Smash as weapon exp gained through combat is so small that unless you are grinding with a broken weapon it won't really end up amounting to anything. Which is honestly really annoying and one of the things I dislike about FE3H. Yeah it isn't great, but for the lower weapon ranks it could make the difference between spending one activity point or two to reach the next rank, which is why I've been doing it. Hearteningly, Byleth was basically fine in Ch. 5, so I think once she gets in Peg Knight it'll sort itself. 38 minutes ago, Mordred said: Pre-Chapter 5 the best way of gaining exp is to spam feed ppl or the professor questions on the first weeks. So I've discovered this run that tournaments provide the most PEXP. Before they're unlocked, meals are best (choir can give the same amount, but only for certain pairings). The PEXP you get from professor questions is super important (with the price that it happens once a month and you can't pick who it happens to), and scales with the lower professor ranks, so that's also very valuable. 41 minutes ago, Mordred said: Honestly I did it my last playthrough and I find that you barely get any extra exp from it. However, if you really want to reach high P level quickly I do think it can let you reach the max PEXP one day earlier I believe. Could be wrong and it's also subject to rng so yea. I'm not likely to bother unless I'm close to a threshold when it happens. But it is a smart way to use the massive number of fish you get given, so let's see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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