Weapon types and upgrading question

[Lopen187]

This is probably kind of a dumb question but I'm nee to FE and ttactical JRPG's in general.

How do I tell if a character should be using iron, steel, silver etc. weapons? I know heavier weapons diminish speed stat but not sure at what point it means you shouldn't use it in favor of Iron weapons or how to tell. I'm wanting to start upgrading weapons but not sure who should use what, except for Tanks (Louis) using steel and Thief/assassin (Yunaka) using iron.

[Hiroki]

It will really depend on you I would say. How you want to play. But, I can give you some advices.

While attack (or magic) is an important stat in the game, for the damages given, as the defense (or resistance) for the damages taken, speed is also really important! If your unit has 5 more speed than the enemy, your unit will attack twice during every turn. If that's the enemy, who has 5 more speed than you, your unit will be attacked twice. It can make a huge difference between a hit you can take, or a phase that would kill your unit. I would say, be careful of the level of the enemy your facing, if they start to become faster or what.

Then, on the weapons. A higher weight can slow your units. In fact, you have to compare that weight to the build of your unit. If the weight is under the build, no problem. If the build is higher, each point above will slow you down. It's your choice to accept or not to be slowed down by one point, two point, or none.

For my part, I give my unit two primary weapon (and a range one, and an effective one eventually). One weapon light, to keep my speed. And a heavy weapon, that will slow them down. Then, before each encounter with an enemy unit, I consider if the enemy is faster than me, if it mean something to loose on speed or not. Sometimes, my unit would loose too much being attacked twice, so I let it having the light weapon to retaliate (sometimes it can even attack twice depending the enemy. And with skills like Alacrity, it's heaven). Other times, my unit is too slow, no matter what. So I give it the heavy weapon, to retaliate as hard as possible. Plus, I don't really remember, but I think the Iron blade give a boost in avoid or dodge. But I may be mistaken.

In the end, it really is how you want to play each unit, and how fast/powerful they already are. Can you afford to be hit twice per enemy, or not? Also, in general, it's better to attack twice, than attacking once for more or less the same damages. If you attack twice during your turn, you can crit twice (depending the conditions are met, obviously).

[Lopen187]

Great, Thanks for that. I would assume attacking twice is also better in case the first attack missed also. I'll just have to figure out who effectively uses what now but have a basis to go on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Scaramuccia]

It is a complicated question, but there are some general rules:

1) if character bld > weapon weight there is no point in using weaker weapons as there is no additional penalty

2) It is a good idea to use several weapons per character as often another weapon would be better

3) Which one to refine/engrave is usually a case by case basis - tanks are good users of smash weapons and you don't care about weight, knifes are very good refine targets and easily crafted iron +4 could work for a very long time, magic is usually a choice between thoron for slow mages(refine thunder into elfunder into thoron) engraved with hit rate or several spells with ability to choose the one that works best. There are no universal guidelines - the only important thing to remember - cheap +1 upgrades that give +5 hit are really good on weapons you use.