Interesting Idea to Spice up a New Playthrough

[Instinct]

 

Team Backup (AKA: The true power was the friends we made along the way)

 

Preface:  Hi all! I've been using this site to help my theorycrafting for a while, but this is my first time posting. This idea just turned out so well that I had to share it, and hopefully some of you can appreciate it as much as I did.

I had just played through the game for the first time on Hard, and wanted to do a Maddening run next. I really liked the chain attack mechanic and wanted to see how it would look if taken to the extreme, so I made a list of rules and set out to rain terror down upon the Fel Dragon’s forces.

 

Rules:

1. Re-class Alear into a Backup unit as early as possible. Leave Alear as a Backup unit for the duration of the game.

2. When choosing which units to take each battle, start by choosing only units that have the chain attack ability. If there are still empty slots after using all chain attackers, fill the remainder at player’s discretion.

3. The unit holding Emblem Lucina counts as a Backup unit, and all rules referencing Backup units consider this holder as one.

4. All second seals must be used to re-class someone into a backup unit. Master seals must prioritize backup units, but if none are available to promote, they may be used on other units with the intent on re-classing them to an advanced class backup unit when a second seal becomes available. Once the player has a full roster of backup units, seals may be used at player’s discretion, so long as there are always enough backup units to deploy a full team.

5. Upon unlocking Emblem Lucina, train all backup units in order to inherit Dual Assist. After all units have Dual Assist, continue training them to inherit Dual Assist+. Equip this skill on all units. The holder of Emblem Lucina is exempt, as they will have this skill naturally.

6. (Optional) Play on Maddening difficulty to get the most out of this comp’s unique power.

 

Final Roster: 

Spoiler

Alear, Hero, Emblem Tiki, Primary weapon Liberation with Chrom engraving, inherited skills Dual Assist+ and Canter+

Its Alear with Tiki, of course this build will wreak havoc on enemies. Decently tanky, decently dodgy, with good damage. She was someone I could throw on the front lines and not worry about too much. A+

 

Jean, Hero, Emblem Veronica, Primary weapon hand ax with Byleth engraving. Inherited skills Dual Assist+ and Canter+

The idea for Jean was to stack high HP with Berserker’s insane growths, then rely on Veronica’s Reprisal to deal heavy damage. In reality, most of my damage was coming from chain attacks anyway, so I re-classed him as a Hero for the chain value and built around using the book of worlds ability, summon, and contract to play a support role. He did alright in his initial role, but was way more useful after the change. B-, changed to B+

 

Alcryst, Warrior, Emblem Edelgard, primary weapon killer bow with Corrin engraving, inherited skills Dual Assist+ and canter+

Crit Alcryst is always a top performer, and the power of the House Lords only made that more apparent. His flame gambit came in surprisingly useful in a lot of situations when combined with longbow and canter+ to control the map from range. My only complaint is that his damage was often excessive since a 20x3 damage crit does as much as a 10 damage poke when the enemy is at 10% hp after 9 chain attacks in the late game. A

 

Lapis, Swordmaster, Emblem Lyn, primary weapon steel sword with Micaiah engraving, inherited skills Dual Assist+ and Sword Agility 5

Every run needs a dodgetank, and for this run Lapis filled that role. Especially in the late game, she was holding high hit maddening enemies back no problem. She was my go to when I needed to aggro a new wave, and absolutely essential. A+

 

Diamant, Successeur, Emblem Roy, primary weapon brave sword with House Lords engraving, inherited skills dual assist+ and canter+

We love our boy. Diamant is already a big ball of good melee offensive stats, so strapping a big ball of melee offensive stats to him in the form of Emblem Roy just made too much sense. His power was less apparent late game, but he was one of the few who could take large chunks of hp out of the final boss, so he earned his keep all the way through. A+

 

Ivy, Swordmaster, Emblem Marth, primary weapon Levin Sword with Lucina engraving, inherited skills Dual Assist+ and Sword Agility 5

Why stop at 1 dodgetank when you could have 2?! While she wasn’t quite as good as Lapis at the role of dodgetank, she provided my team with a much needed magic damage boost. A divine blessing from Tiki did the trick when I needed her to dodgetank and wanted to play it safe in case of bad luck, but the extra life often didn't get used. All around useful for filling out my team’s balance issues. A+

 

Kagetsu, Hero, Emblem Sigurd, primary weapon Wo Dao with Camilla engraving, inherited skills Dual Assist+ and Draconic Hex

Having canter was a must on my melee units, since it meant I could position them after a kill to get the best chain attack value on the next one. Having canter already built in freed up a skill slot for Draconic Hex, which came in clutch against bosses. Outside of that, he was average. He suffered from the same problem of overkill that my Jean and Alcryst builds had. B

 

Hortensia, Sleipnir Rider, Emblem Lucina, primary weapon Fortify, inherited skills Canter+ and Charm

My team sorely lacked a healer, being made up of all backup units. When it came to choosing my one free cheat in the form of Emblem Lucina, Hortensia was the obvious choice to pair her with. Her unique class ability made it possible to spam rescue, recover, and fortify, which was essential to keep my heroes topped off for their class ability to trigger. A+

 

Rosado, Warrior, Emblem Eirika, primary weapon Longbow with Marth engraving, inherited skills Dual Assist+ and Canter+

When each one of my attacks triggers a 10-15 chain in the late game, just targeting someone with an attack is practically a death sentence. There's no better chip damage delivery mechanism than longbow/canter, so he was never lacking in usefulness. It was so good I used this build 3 times, on Rosado, Alcryst, and Fogado. That said, little of his usefulness came from him as a unit, so this unit slot really felt interchangeable. B

 

Goldmary, Hero, Emblem Ike, primary weapon spear with Leif engraving, inherited skills Dual Assist+ and Hold Out

Sometimes a dodgetank won't cut it, and you just need a good old fashioned tank tank. When those situations came up, Goldmary and Ike were the second duo I called upon. Despite her stellar stats on paper, she did prove to be a bit lacking compared to my other tank, who we’ll get to later. That said, when my main tank’s engage was on cooldown or they were otherwise occupied, Goldmary filled in admirably. A-

 

Fogado, Warrior, Emblem Chrom, primary weapon radiant bow with Tiki engraving, inherited skills Dual Assist+ and Canter+

Fogado, as my highest magic stat archer, was given the exalted title of tank-slayer. With Chrom’s engage bonus and a radiant bow, he could chunk down high defense units that walled most the rest of my team. And when that role wasn’t needed, well, I wouldn’t say no to another longbow/canter user taking pot-shots from the back line. A

 

Timerra, Picket, Emblem Byleth, primary weapon Brionac with Sigurd engraving, inherited skills Dual Assist+ and Canter+

Timerra was someone I couldn’t really justify keeping, but couldn’t really justify cutting either. And since Emblem Byleth’s dance ability is so game-changingly strong, I solved my conundrum by gluing the two together and calling it a day. Picket’s S rank and ability were nice, but often either overkill, unreliable, or just not enough to turn the tide. She could've been replaced by any Byleth user, but her survivability and occasional burst made her slightly better than anyone else I could think to add for this role. A+ on the turn she uses engage, B- on every other turn
 

Panette, Hero, Emblem Hector, primary weapon Tomahawk with Eirika engraving, inherited skills Dual Assist+ and Vantage++

Oh sweet mother of the Divine Dragon, that damage. Let me regale you with a story of how a typical turn with main tank Panette would go. First, I would warp her into the middle of the enemy choke point. Don't mind the fact that she has 15 enemies in range, that won't be a concern for much longer. She charges in unafraid, uses Hector’s engage, and throws down an Eye of the Storm. The first enemy that approaches gets a hit in, bringing her down by about 30-40%. Fine, he gets 2 35 damage 75% crit tomahawks to the face for his trouble. The second guy, he isn’t so lucky. Vantage is up now, and he’s taking that first tomahawk to the face before he can blink, let alone raise his spear. Crit for 105 damage, he’s beyond dead. Rinse and repeat for the next few minutes, and suddenly the full room at the start of the turn is looking rather empty save for the giant pile of corpses. I don’t care what difficulty you’re playing, this build will clear a room 10 times out of 10. If you’re up against some high dodge opponents and can't reliably crit, throw a divine blessing from Tiki on her to give her a second try if she runs into a string of bad luck. I cannot emphasize enough how good this build is. Sombron on maddening crumpled like paper in the rain. S+++

 

Mauvier, Hero, Emblem  Micaiah, primary weapon flame lance, inherited skills Dual Assist+ and Staff Mastery 4

It feels unnecessary to continue after that last one, but I would be remiss if I skipped over my healer. Originally I had Anna in this role, but she was just too squishy and I had to keep her back behind everyone else using physic since if she was even near the front lines she was an easy target. I couldn’t bench her though, she was one of only 2 healers I could have. Along comes Mauvier, the answer to all my problems. Just as good of a Micaiah user as Anna in terms of healing, but with the bulk to match. I swapped him in on the spot and never looked back. A

 

Analysis:

This team was slow to get going, but once I started getting enough bond fragments fir dual assist+ on everyone, it quickly became the most fun I’ve ever had with a FE game. I love watching the entire team chip in on every attack, and seeing the battle forecast of 0x2+6 turn into a death by a thousand cuts time after time brought me pure joy. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new and exciting way to replay the game. 

That said, there were a few pain points. Unlocking the DLC emblems, especially Tiki, on maddening, as soon as possible was a nightmare. If you’re playing on a harder difficulty, get ready for a few early fights that will test your resolve. 

Another pain point I ran into was levels where your units start separated were especially tricky. Cutting your team in half means cutting your damage in half, since dual assist only works if the unit can reach the foe. I had to keep my team grouped together, so maps that made that difficult gave me trouble.

Spoiler

(Looking at you, level 25)

Anyone familiar with the final boss’s abilities will probably have seen this one coming, but:

Spoiler

Sombron’s Bond Breaker ability, reducing my chain attack average damage by about 91% (80% less damage and 60% less accuracy. Ouch!), tested my strategy to the limit. I had to rely on my units underlying strength rather than my silly built-around gimmick to take down his ridiculous HP pool. Thankfully, Panette and Diamant exist, and I could give them both 3 actions in a single turn with Veronica’s Contract and Byleth’s dance. Some clever positioning and wailing on a big dragon with my heavy hitters were able to carry the day. 

That aside, where this strategy really shined was in taking down bosses. I could fairly reliably deal 100% of a health bar with chain attacks, so it was rare for a boss to get a single hit off on me before they died. Stronger enemies fell just as easily as weaker ones, so maps where the enemy fights quantity with quality were a breeze

Spoiler

(like 26)

 

TL;DR: 

All chain-attacks is an insanely fun build around idea for those looking for a way to spice up the game on replay, and once it comes online in the mid game it really is a sight to see. I highly recommend this to anyone who thinks it sounds fun.

[Instinct]

If anyone likes this and wants to see more, let me know. My next run will be an all-staff-users run, going for the ultimate support comp. Im not sure if it will work, but if it does and if this post gets some love, I'll do a writeup for it as well.

[Eltosian Kadath]

Reading about this challenge makes me realize that Engage is particularly good for runs that restrict classes, like this, as the Emblem system lets you have units act like some of the missing classes critical to victory. Byleth gives you a faun dancer, Micaiah gives access to staff utility, Sigurd gives you some of that mobility utility of mounted units, with various others giving you access to the magic of mages, and bow of archer with Emblem weapons, so you at least have some limited access to all these useful niches, despite the restrictions.

On 6/12/2023 at 2:50 PM, Instinct said:

If anyone likes this and wants to see more, let me know. My next run will be an all-staff-users run, going for the ultimate support comp. Im not sure if it will work, but if it does and if this post gets some love, I'll do a writeup for it as well.

I am a little curious how the all-staff-user run goes, as it sounds like an interesting one.

[Barren]

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I am a little curious how the all-staff-user run goes, as it sounds like an interesting one.

I would imagine that it would be a rather expensive run pending in how many staves you end up buying. Especially considering that they will eventually break.