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What are some of your favourite Three Houses Builds that you have come up with? Mostly share builds that are unique and different from the main line. For example: My Yuri is an Assassin with Sword Lv5, Death Blow, Alert Stance+, Sword Avoid +20 and Lethality or Wrath and Vantage. He can be a Dancer if needed

I am currently experimenting with

So, looking at all the attacks mage cannon can have, there is 1 skill that is actually amazing for adding damage. Soren's skill keen insight adds +7 (at max rank) damage when doing effective damage. You start to get effective damage cannon attacks around the solm arc of the game. By then you should easily have enough SP to get this skill on your mage cannoneer. Combine it with Divine pulse and you have a nuke that will do Super damage while also rarely missing. I am having a blast using it. (If you have byleth on a horse unit, the +10 dex is nice to also give you another 10 damage on top). If you are using the 3 houses emblem, you can also add flame gambit or poison gambits from super far too which is nice, or if you don't need the corrin support, you can add corrin debuff/freeze effect too. I love it so much. What makes it even better, (if you dare to) is making Zelestia a mage cannoneer so she will grant all your other units near her the +20 to hit after nuking the enemy down from afar.

Hey all, have any of you moved Veyle to a theif? I recently did this on one of my reverse recruitment runs, and it is hilariously fun. Chrom gives her Str Speed and Dex, all of which she wants as a thief, but with her +3 to magic (overall max stat modifier), and magic growth, she can really make use of her magical dagger as a thief. (even more so when you engage with chrom) I found it to be super fun and it makes me wonder what other unique builds can be done for unique weapons in the game.

I've recently started another maddening run after failing a spin the wheel challenge Ironman maddening run. While doing it, I had two characters I really enjoyed that were reclassed to nonmeta builds I guess you could say. I wanted to share and also hear any fun non meta combos you have done. First is Martial Master Kagetsu. I was blown away by this. He looks so good as that class. His bases along with growths/max stats helped the martial master weaknesses. (And of course starsphere on top of it). I ended up going with a mix of Lucina on him when I needed the bonded shield(100% regardless) or chrom when I wanted max damage. Both give him speed and dex, but chrom gives way more damage, especially while engaged. With the flash fist, along with the speed from those 2 emblems, you will be quadding majority of enemies in maddening. I used a lot of books on him and got him lunar brace and speed/dex skills. Giving him over 40 speed and close to 40 dex. I also engraved my weapons for crit. At max stats, with chrom you'll have over 40 str and be at exactly 40 magic. When engaged that magic goes up to 50. So this gives you a viable option with Robin's magic weapons to attack from ranged, or to simply add even more damage to your fists due to how arts damage is calculated (str+magic/2). With the crit damage skill as well and lunar brace, I was just wreacking havoc on everything. Plus Kagetsu looks so badass as a Martial Master. The other was Sage Chloe. No surprise here since Chloé is a solid unit in just about anything. One thing to note though is her speed(+3 maxed) and she has growths that fit into a caster or hybrid. She looks great as a sage, and her personal skill is easy to proc for extra damage. (Works super well with the dire thunder ring) I used Camilla on her just for the extra speed. And for flying status when needed (which came in super handy) I could go on and explain more, but I think you can imagine how well she does. Plus having a sage with over 40 speed and nova is great. (Overkill, but fun nonetheless). What nonmeta combos have you done?

Compilation of all 13 clips from the run - these are all short clips via the Switch screenshot button: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtwW1CNGs-Y Gallery of all 41 screenshots I took: https://imgur.com/a/l4PaKdF (showing turn counts and time for every mission, post-final boss character reel, map screenshots e.g. large enemy groups) ————— Contents ————— i. Intro (restrictions, preparations, playtime, paralogues) ii. Difficulty Analysis (game mechanics, general strategies, etc) iii. Notes on Specific Maps (including paralogues) iv. Comparison to Other FE Highest Difficulties v. Team Overview (classes, weapon/unit types, teambuilding) vi. My Units (deployment, stats, skills, performance) vii. Weapon Engravings viii. Somniel, Smithy and Shopping ix. Allocation of Permanent Stat-Boost Items ————— i. Intro (restrictions, preparations, playtime, paralogues) ————— Intro summary: Any character death = rewind/reset, completed Hard first, no DLC or Amiibos, all paralogues, all 4 skirmishes, 148 hours (82 battle hours). I’m continuing my tradition of writing reports on my completed gaming challenges. At 16,000 words this is even longer than my Three Houses Maddening report (12,000). This post is partly for my own future reference, but I hope some parts might interest anyone who is either planning a Maddening run or just curious about other people’s runs, and the ways that people’s playstyles can vary. As with every other FE game I’ve played, I reset/rewind if any character dies. I also didn’t let any green allied units die. Restrictions and previous Hard run: Maddening mode didn’t live up to its name for me, as it wasn’t that much of a challenge overall - although I think it could’ve been tough if I’d played it completely blind, i.e. as my first run of the game. I didn’t spoil anything for myself about Maddening mode specifically; in fact, I’ve avoided *all* online discussions and gameplay footage of this game. My only prior knowledge of the gameplay was from completing Hard Classic first, which gave me some idea of what would be effective and ineffective, including characters, classes, Emblems, strategies, etc. That first run also made me aware of the number of missions, and most importantly the point where all Emblem Rings are lost. My avoidance of any online content related to the game was due to my preference for discovering my own preferred tactics. I don’t mind that this often results in overlooking 'optimal' ways to play - it’s more enjoyable to play how you want to, as long as it works well enough to complete the game without too much struggle. I also avoided all DLC and Amiibos for this run. Additionally, I played as though the free Update Bonuses were never received (such as the large amount of extra gold and Bond Fragments), by counting those extra amounts as my new zero equivalent. E.g. I never let myself fall below 10 Steel Ingots or 20 Silver Ingots, as that was the bonus amount. In FE games I never play the highest difficulty as my first run when there are at least 3 difficulty levels; I don’t want the challenge to come from things like being unfamiliar with the game’s unique mechanics, its number of chapters, when characters join, how much gold is available, etc. Although my completed Hard run was useful for testing many things such as units and strategies, I underestimated or overlooked how much the effectiveness of some things would diminish in Maddening, mainly due to the higher enemy stats. However, all of my 14 chosen units still provided valuable contributions. I might have had above-average growths in my Hard run, which influenced my choice of units in Maddening, e.g. Framme who I soon regretted using again. I prefer Fixed Growths when there’s the option between that or Random, but I was forced into Fixed anyway as this was my first Maddening run. I just don’t like the risk of units falling well short of their potential, especially with the crucial Spd stat. Total play time: 148 hours shown on my game file after the final boss, but the actual time would have also included the one time I used up 10 rewinds and then reset a mission - that was on Corrin’s paralogue as I was quite underlevelled for it, but on the second attempt I cleared it quite easily. I also had to reset a few times on Chapter 11, due to not having rewinds for most of it. Only ~82 of the 148 hours were spent in battle maps; the remaining time was spent on mundane/grindy activities in the Somniel, as noted in the 'Somniel, Smithy and Shopping' section. My time was also padded out by viewing many support conversations. Optional battles: The 82 battle hours included completing all 4 skirmishes that spawned (see the 'Difficulty Analysis' section for details), and completing every paralogue. Jean and Anna’s paralogues were done as soon as they were available, as well as Lucina’s because it was very simple even with promoted enemies against my base classes. The other Emblem paralogues were completed as soon as most of my units were promoted, starting with the Emblems whose level 11-20 skills seemed most valuable - Corrin was a high priority, for reasons noted in Zelkov’s part of the 'My Units' section. The Pact Ring paralogue was also done as soon as available, and was the hardest mission overall. Overall, this was one of my most enjoyed highest-difficulty runs of any FE game - much more fun than Three Houses Maddening at least, as there weren’t as many 'grinding' opportunities other than the slow Somniel routine (mainly for maximising Bond Fragments, but also for the fairly small benefits of unit optimisation). ————— ii. Difficulty Analysis (game mechanics, general strategies, etc) ————— Difficulty variation throughout the game: In FE games I usually notice the same pattern on the highest difficulty: A challenging earlygame, easier midgame, then a challenging lategame. The early challenge is mostly due to fewer strategic options, e.g. not having many of the Emblem Rings. You also have none of the class skills of advanced classes, and it takes time to earn enough SP for the most potent inheritable skills, such as Pair Up, Speedtaker and Dual Support. You also don’t have all the weapon engravings available, and some of those are very impactful, such as the ones that boost Avoid by at least 20, even up to 40 (see the 'Weapon Engravings' section for my weapon choices). Although there’s a difficulty spike in Chapter 11 when you lose all Emblem Rings (and the rewind mechanic briefly), the midgame after that was much easier than that chapter, as Alear and Zelkov were already functioning well as Avoid tanks. Only a few of the Emblem paralogues were challenging as I wanted to get decent exp from them; see my points in this section about boss-kill objectives and exp. As for the lategame missions, the main issue was the vast numbers of starting enemies plus reinforcements, which often spawned in from many different directions. Player Phase vs Enemy Phase: In my experience—at least on Maddening—this game favoured units that excel during Enemy Phase, over units that function better on Player Phase. This is partly because of all the strong Enemy Phase options such as Chain Guard, Lucina’s Bonded Shield, Zelkov’s +10 Avoid personal skill, etc. Avoid tanking is even more potent given that Chain Guard stays up when enemies miss, and Bonded Shield doesn’t break from any amount of combat. The only notable things for Player Phase were the Brave-effect weapons (particularly Flashing Fist Art) and the Engage Attacks/abilities, such as Override, Goddess Dance, etc. Avoid tanking: I used both Alear (with Lucina) and Zelkov (with Corrin) in this role. When Avoid boosts from engraved weapons are stacked with support bonuses and skills such as Dual Support and Pair Up, you can make some invincible Avoid tanks. However, on Maddening you often have to limit your Avoid to be 'not quite' invincible, as enemies no longer attack with a 0% hit chance unless they can trigger chain attacks. This intentional limitation is mainly relevant when using Avoid tanks as Enemy Phase lures to weaken but not kill all the enemies that attack, so your other units can finish them for exp. To achieve ideal Avoid stats I simply switched between weapons as needed, often by trade-equipping when Alear and Zelkov were adjacent to each other but away from any other allies. My best Avoid tank was Zelkov; Corrin on a Thief is a huge game-changer in general, as noted in my discussion of Zelkov in the 'My Units' section. The difficulty dropped after getting Corrin, so then the main challenge was just to spread out experience rather than letting my near-invincible Alear and Zelkov take it all. It was important for my other units to be of a decent level as there aren’t always convenient chokepoints, although a couple of Emblem abilities can essentially create chokepoints anywhere: Corrin with fog terrain and Roy with flame terrain. Luckily there aren’t many enemies with Pass, but the hardest mission for me was the one that did have quite a few Thieves with Pass, who actually hunt down your units as there are no chests - it was the Pact Ring paralogue. Trade-equipping weapons: I find it strange how the trade-equip method has still never been hinted at in any of the FE games I’ve played, despite being such a game-changing technique - especially in this game where you can switch Backup units back to their longer-range weapons for more reach with chain attacks. Infinite weapon durability would normally be balanced out by the drawbacks (and/or price) of stronger weapons, but the trade method can often negate that, e.g. by using a heavy weapon then swapping to a safer weapon for Enemy Phase. However, Engage Weapons can’t be changed with this method, and you can’t trade-equip a unit's regular weapons to their Engage Weapons. So the Engage Weapons have an added drawback in that sense, as they require full commitment when equipped during a character’s last action for the current Player Phase. Smash weapons: I hardly ever saw much need for the smash effect. One occasional use was to push an enemy without killing it, so that it would fill in a gap in a line of enemies, making it possible to Override them all. The more relevant aspect of smash weapons was their high Mt, making them good choices for when it wouldn’t be possible to double with other weapons anyway. The high Mt also made them useful for some Engage Attacks, such as Lodestar Rush and Override. Enemy smash weapons weren’t very common, and among my 3 tanks only Jade had to worry about a smash potentially ruining her effort to block a space. Alear and Zelkov were Avoid tanks so they were unlikely to be hit by any weapons, let alone the relatively inaccurate smash weapons. This was yet another way in which Avoid tanking was overpowered. Weapon Break effect: Weapon breaks weren’t nearly as important as I expected, either offensively or defensively. Offensively, I rarely needed Break as I had many options to outrange enemies, such as 3-range weapons. Combined with chain attacks, this meant I could often kill enemies before any potential counter-attacks. However, Break was somewhat more useful against Knife users due to their 1-2 range and high Spd, which made them harder to kill because of high Avoid and less double-attack potential against them. Enemy knife users were easier to deal with once Jean had Flashing Fist Art and either a Hit-boosting engraving or Divine Pulse+. On the defensive side, the Break effect was another case where Avoid tanking made a game mechanic irrelevant a lot of the time - I was usually able to ensure that most of the Enemy Phase combat was directed towards my Avoid tanks. When enemies have multiple choices of targets, they often target a unit who can’t counter very effectively anyway (if they can counter at all). Also, my only non-Avoid tank Jade was Armoured, so she couldn’t be broken by weapon advantage. Reinforcements and map objectives: Thankfully the lategame provided some slight challenge, because when you want most of your team to keep up in levels you can’t rely on a couple of invincible units for everything - you have to contend with wide-open maps combined with the vast number of enemies in the lategame. The later missions included endless or near-endless reinforcements, with Void Curse to further discourage safe but slow strategies. On that note, this game has a surprisingly high number of boss-kill objectives, so it’s relatively easy to speedrun those missions if you want to - bosses actually leave their initial positions (even abandoning terrain bonuses) to hunt you down at the slightest provocation. Even a no-damage attack can trigger their approach, or simply waiting a certain number of turns. The speed strats for boss-kill maps include things like Astra Storm (up to 20 range!) to lure bosses, or using Micaiah’s 4-unit Warps to reach the boss, etc. So the real challenge in Maddening was to resist the temptation of quick boss kills, as it would waste a lot of experience in a difficulty mode that greatly reduces skirmish spawns on the world map; only 4 skirmishes spawned for me. However, the skirmishes have such strong enemies that I ended up deploying only Alear and Zelkov for each one, which took them from "a bit overlevelled" to "a bit more overlevelled". Here’s what skirmishes looked like with just my two Avoid tanks: https://i.imgur.com/oFDAdJL.jpg, https://i.imgur.com/2ayfRqN.jpg. Even without skirmishes, it was still very easy to catch up weaker units that had been benched for a while due to deployment limits - with Dance + Goddess Dance you can give the same unit 4 actions per Player Phase, and you can also use Byleth’s inheritable Mentorship skill (only 250 SP) for even more exp. Thanks to chain attacks, you can even level up non-staff-wielding units that are dealing little or no damage by themselves. Chain attacks: The fixed 10% damage made chain attacks incredibly useful in general, not just for helping weaker units get kills. I found the Warrior class very effective as they can chain attack with Longbow range, even up to 8 spaces away with the Dual Assist skill which my 2 Warriors inherited. It doesn’t matter how bulky a boss is when you can combine Corrin’s Draconic Hex, poison status from knives, and multiple chain attacks per combat. A fun tactic is to give 4 actions (via Dance + Goddess Dance) to a unit engaged with Celica, so you can use Echo for up to 8 rounds of chain attacks, each with multiple chain attackers. That’s one way to destroy bosses, and it’s helped by the fact that so many bosses can be attacked from outside of their countering range, especially when you use a 3-range weapon. Engage Attacks also can’t be countered, so Maddening’s challenge usually isn’t due to bosses. Deaths and rewinds - Draconic Time Crystal: In many maps I only used 2 or 3 of the 10 rewinds, and sometimes that was just due to an unnecessary gamble to make things quicker/simpler (especially when victory was inevitable), or because I’d tried to avoid wasting a precious use of a staff such as Freeze. In other words, it wasn’t always due to a character’s death or an unfixable situation. However, deaths did happen occasionally due to unforeseen events on Enemy Phase. That was sometimes due to the large number of enemies especially in the lategame, or sometimes because of overcommitting to killing a group of enemies on a given turn, rather than retreating and/or creating a defensive formation. Some rewinds happened because Avoid tanking with non-zero Avoid naturally provides the chance for unlucky RNG; when enemies actually hit, they tend to hit very hard on Maddening. Maddening felt quite well balanced around the generous number of rewinds, although the location and timing of reinforcements sometimes caught me off-guard. This led to some 'trial and error' methods such as doing a quick test run of a map, where I’d wait to see what turn numbers trigger reinforcements/movement, or where units can trigger location-based reinforcements. Rewinds were also valuable on the few maps where enemies have Warp - in Byleth’s paralogue I changed a death into an amusing situation where a Silenced enemy tome user got Warped behind my front line. So the AI clearly hasn’t mastered Warp yet. Enemy AI: While the AI is usually smart enough on Maddening to not attack for a 0% hit chance or 0 damage, enemies still attacked my units in those cases if they could trigger chain attacks, even on my units that had Pair Up. So the AI doesn’t appear to check for Pair Up, which makes that skill even more valuable. Enemies also happily went for 1 or 2 damage per hit, e.g. against my General Jade who could counter for much more damage. In some cases, foes on Maddening won’t even move towards your units if they currently have no way to damage your units that they could reach at some point: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y. That means there are some situations where you can potentially halt the approach of enemies until you’re ready to deal with them, without necessarily needing other methods such as Obstruct. Engage Meter and Emblem Energy spaces: On most maps I rarely needed to use the Emblem Energy spaces, especially when I’d unlocked the higher bond levels with Emblems. I mainly used the spaces in situations where bosses and/or enemy groups were approaching while I’d recently used up my Engage turns. Sometimes I intentionally kept units away from passive healing (e.g. terrain or Seadall’s skill), so my staff users could heal them both for filling their own Engage Meters and gaining exp. It’s notable that being double-attacked is sometimes beneficial since the Engage Meter fills for each enemy attack, as well as each player-unit attack. Although being doubled would occur mostly to units that are too slow to perform many double attacks of their own, there are some ways to instantly raise or lower a unit’s Spd as required, e.g. Flashing Fist Art for +5 Spd, or lowering Spd with a weapon exceeding the unit’s Bld. That means some units could maximise their Engage Meter fill rate depending on enemy Spd stats, although in practice I usually forgot about this. The Engage Meter was yet another reason why Avoid tanks were overpowered, as they not only have the Spd to double, but also fill their Meter for each of the many enemy attacks they avoid. This made Alear and Zelkov even more dominant, as they usually had access to Lucina’s and Corrin’s many strong options that required them to be Engaged. Infinite weapon durability and management of gold: Unlike in FE Fates, the higher-ranked weapons generally don’t have major drawbacks to offset the infinite durability, so there isn’t as much need for trade-equipping to different weapons after using a 1-2 or 1-3 range weapon. This noticeably reduced the game’s overall difficulty, as it’s easier to outrange enemies and counter them. Some characters also have enough Bld growth to gradually mitigate the drawback of high weapon Wt, which is one reason why Brave, Silver and effective-damage weapons (mainly Ridersbane) ended up being so useful. Despite the infinite weapon uses and my use of Anna’s personal skill, gold was quite limited up until 50,000 was received at the end of Chapter 20. See the section 'Somniel, Smithy and Shopping' for notes on how I spent money. Incidentally, I tend to find the FE games with infinite durability more enjoyable as it reduces a lot of the tedious inventory management. ————— iii. Notes on Specific Maps (including paralogues) ————— Most missions weren’t particularly challenging, but I did have to play carefully, just nowhere near as carefully as in the older FE games that don’t have rewinds. I don’t discuss all missions here, mainly just the ones that had enough challenge to stick in my memory. Main Story: Chapter 4 was tricky at the start, requiring fairly specific moves to keep everyone alive. Chapter 5 was also tricky - I remember making good use of Louis with Sigurd, and Engage Attacks on the bulky boss. Chapter 9 was fairly tight at first, with saving Jade and dealing with enemies both at the top and bottom. Chapter 10 was a difficulty spike; I had to back up with my whole party after luring Hortensia, using multiple Obstructs around her while I finished off her minions. To deal with the rather bulky Hyacinth, I used Obstruct and the impassable terrain to protect some of my units while I wore him down with chain attacks. Chapter 11 seemed very hard at first, and it can be quite unforgiving to units who are prone to bad RNG (e.g. low Hit). After a few failed attempts with different approaches, my new successful strategy was to move Alear as far south as possible each turn, even if there was a slight chance of dying. The rest of my units just finished off foes who moved up to fight Alear, and it didn’t take long to reach the rewind-recovering point this way. Chapters 12 and 13 were a bit challenging because of promoted foes against my base classes. Chapter 12 was also tough because I made sure to keep all green allies alive, and 13 required very cautious moves in the dark - Zelkov stayed far back behind my party to solo the fliers, and eventually moved up to the front with Alear to block a 2-space chokepoint where the 2 bosses had moved up to. In Chapter 15 I sometimes broke my own ice obstacles (from Obstruct / Dragon Vein) when I was just using them to remove miasma. Chapter 17 was surprisingly easy; I moved to the northeast at the start, then lured each group of enemies to that area as it has two 1-space chokepoints, with plenty of room in the back for the whole party. Chapter 19 also ended up being easy once Mauvier used up his 5 Warps, as I merged my separated party in the southwest, and then kept them safe behind the 1-space chokepoint leading onto the ship: https://i.imgur.com/r6myhyJ.jpg. Also, here’s one of the two times the AI made me laugh with very dumb usage of a movement staff: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=29. Chapter 20 was strangely uneventful as Griss never ambushed me - I had to seek him out, after defeating all other enemies. Chapter 21 was fairly tight at the start; I made good use of Corrin’s Dreadful Aura and Sigurd’s Override. This was where I used the most satisfying Override ever, with maximum Momentum and Ridersbane to just barely reach the one-hit kill threshold: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=38. It was tempting to farm exp from the excessive reinforcements, but I eventually needed Micaiah’s 4-unit Warp to get a group of boss-killers near Veyle, as I’d overcommitted to farming exp further down in the map: https://i.imgur.com/n9jQRJy.jpg. Chapter 22 was a bit difficult as it was hard to make a safe 3-tank blockade (Alear, Zelkov and Jade) in the central area just above the Corrupted Wyrm. That was partly due to the lack of Emblem Rings - or in Alear’s case, having Marth instead of the usual Lucina for Bonded Shield, etc. Despite the large group of enemies that funnelled into that middle area, the mission wasn’t as unforgiving as Chapter 11 thanks to rewinds. Chapter 24’s main challenge was dealing with enemies from both the top and bottom while I converged my separated party towards the middle row of the map. The turn limit was very generous though - I only used 8 turns out of 15: https://i.imgur.com/djFJKMo.jpg. Even if my whole party had been pushed back to the left edge of the map by the middle-row avalanche, I still would’ve had enough turns. That was because I focused on reaching Astra Storm range on the boss to lure her - I could’ve used a Rescue staff on Alcryst after that if necessary, but I didn’t need to. For Chapter 25 I considered using Micaiah’s 5-space Rescues at the start to quickly gather my whole party on one side, but that was just a backup plan. I chose the unit starting locations mainly based on supports and weapon types, including staves. Some of my tankier units briefly stayed behind on each side to hold off the frequent reinforcements, but once Alear had solo-killed much of the middle room with her Killing Edge in one Enemy Phase, I then moved both my left and right groups swiftly towards Lumera. I didn’t slow down my approach just to avoid Lumera’s AOE attacks, unless it was the only way to keep units alive on the same Enemy Phase. Chloé eventually used Micaiah’s Great Sacrifice to undo all the damage from those attacks and many battles. Silence and Astra Storm dealt with the Entrap and Meteor foes. Here’s how easy it was for Amber to finish off Lumera’s last full HP bar: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=54. Also, two screenshots from just before that final action: https://i.imgur.com/3PLb9h7.jpg, https://i.imgur.com/jPl6cDL.jpg. Chapter 26 was fairly simple as I finished off the fourth barrier-creating enemy with one unit at the start of a Player Phase, so my other units could defeat the final boss that turn, making use of Draconic Hex, poison, Dance + Goddess Dance, Bond Blast, etc. Here’s how I finished the run in style: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=83. Paralogues - in order of completion: Lucina’s paralogue was simple enough to clear as soon as it appeared, mostly thanks to Zelkov, Alear and chain attacks. Lyn’s paralogue was difficult at the start with the party being split up - Zelkov kept the southeast fliers distracted and weakened them, while Jade held off some northwest enemies until Alear’s group moved there to help finish them off. Then I retreated all my units to the northeast corner (avoiding the eastern enemy range by using an Obstruct), while Lyn automatically approached by herself. I tanked an Astra Storm then baited her into using her bow at the edge of her attack range, so I could safely bypass her Avoid with Elsurge. I hadn’t defeated any of the stationary tent enemies, but the abundant reinforcements didn’t matter as they only appeared once Lyn finally initiated combat near my whole party: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=114. Byleth’s mission went quite smoothly because of many enemies focusing on crystals instead of attacking my units. I didn’t bother with protecting many crystals, so it was safe to ignore all the crystal-focused enemies while gradually nearing the boss. Byleth was risky to approach due to Warp and Goddess Dance, so I waited until he moved out from his starting spot. Corrin’s mission was a bit difficult as most of my units had quite a level disadvantage, and also because you can’t use Corrin’s Ring for her own abilities that make a huge difference on Maddening: Draconic Hex, Dreadful Aura, Pair Up, and Dragon Vein fog. Her own Pair Up also made her much harder to kill, so I relied on poison, Alear’s personal skill, Engage Attacks, and Dance + Goddess Dance to defeat her while many enemies were starting to surround my party. Ike’s paralogue wasn’t too tough - at the start, Zelkov controlled the right-side crowd of enemies with Corrin’s Dreadful Aura and Dragon Vein fog. When Ike demolished the castle, I retreated my dispersed units all into the right side which had been cleared out mostly by Zelkov. With the help of Obstruct, Chain Guard, Bonded Shield etc, I was able to hold off the many enemies until Ike was close enough in the top-right area to be defeated by my tome users who could outrange Ragnell - mainly used Anna. The final turn looked like this: https://i.imgur.com/JxUqXfh.jpg. Micaiah’s mission could’ve been simple if I’d just rushed for the boss kill, but I wanted a decent amount of exp from it. So I kept my party in the top-middle area, with Jade blocking the top-left space and Alear the top-right space. My only other tank was Zelkov, who was the main unit responsible for holding off the huge crowd of enemies slightly below this top-middle area, despite the 3-space opening. That was possible thanks to Dragon Vein fog as well as flame terrain from Blazing Lion (Boucheron) and the top-middle area’s flame ballista thing. My party was just barely able to hold the defensive line until Micaiah approached and got close enough for several units to reach and defeat her. These two screenshots show how I was on the verge of being overwhelmed: https://i.imgur.com/ga15MCc.jpg, https://i.imgur.com/Yg0x4dl.jpg. Also a clip of the tense situation shortly before finishing off Micaiah: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=128. Sigurd’s map was easier than expected - even the maxed-stats Sages in the bottom corner were no trouble. I just had to block the bridge with Alear and Zelkov next to each other, then I could safely farm exp once I’d used Astra Storm to defeat the other side’s Meteor user. Eirika’s paralogue was somewhat tricky at the start, but I used Obstruct to keep both Thieves close by until I could kill them. My party was split on both sides for that, but then had to converge back into the middle, where I held off many of the central enemies with Blazing Lion’s flame terrain. Roy’s mission was much easier than expected, especially compared to the original one it’s based on. I had plenty of wind tomes and bows for all the wyverns, and used Engage Attacks to bypass Roy’s Hold Out. Celica’s paralogue was still a joke just like on Hard, but there was some self-imposed challenge in getting decent exp from it. Leif’s mission was also surprisingly simple - just had to stall out the ballistae with tanks such as Jade, then blocked the bridge area with her, Zelkov and Alear. The many reinforcements posed no threat to those 3 tanks. Marth’s paralogue was quite simple even with the detour to get the items on the left side. Marth’s automatic approach made things easier, and the enemies in his starting area lined up so nicely for my biggest Override attack. Alear’s Pact Ring paralogue was perhaps the hardest mission in the game for me. Although I only ended up using 3 or 4 rewinds, it was harder than Chapter 11 because that one could be 'brute-forced' with high-Avoid Alear rushing to the rewind-recovering point. For this mission I spent a long time considering every move while my party was surrounded from the top and bottom of the map. Most maps in this game have boss-kill objectives to offset the challenge of vast enemy numbers, but this one combines abundant enemies with a rout objective and a lack of safe spots. See the minimap here for the number of enemies: https://i.imgur.com/m6ev72J.jpg. Straight after I defeated the Ring thief, Zelkov used multiple actions per Player Phase to immobilise the southern group of enemies with Corrin’s Dreadful Aura. Amber used Override on the 3 lined-up enemies just above the Ring spot, and at this point my units were all moving down towards the southern area: https://i.imgur.com/jgW9SVa.jpg, https://i.imgur.com/WJhLgm7.jpg. Here’s a clip of Zelkov dominating the southern enemy group without any terrain or support bonuses, while also showing how good Pair Up is: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=158. After clearing out the enemies at the bottom, I then had Zelkov move up to the 3-space-wide area to prevent the enemies from reaching the rest of my units, who stayed at the bottom for most of the mission. Zelkov created fog on each turn, making sure all 3 rows of fog were in front of most enemies to maximise their movement reduction. There were still a few fliers that could bypass this, but not enough of them to cause any major problems. There were a lot more enemy Thieves with Pass, but that skill doesn’t help against movement-reducing terrain. I also used Blazing Lion’s flame terrain for even more movement reduction: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=178. Although most enemies funnelled towards the bottom 3-space-wide area as I intended, some enemies that came from the sides of the map slipped around both sides of the middle area. They were mostly cavalry foes, so I sent some effective-damage users a small distance towards both sides to prevent them from getting close to my vulnerable units at the bottom middle area. Here’s how the map looked near the end, when victory was within sight: https://i.imgur.com/F5bYL8e.jpg. ————— iv. Comparison to Other FE Highest Difficulties ————— The order is from hardest to easiest; this is just my subjective difficulty ranking based on my own experiences. This only includes the games I’ve completed on their highest difficulties - one day I’ll get around to playing more of those modes. Note: I never use 'pay to win' content (DLC or Amiibos) when playing these modes. 1. Awakening: Lunatic+ Classic. Compared to regular Lunatic it’s much more restrictive in terms of viable playstyles, and it seems to necessitate excessive level-grinding to make just a few characters (or even just Robin) very overpowered. I don’t like the way difficulty was handled in this game, as it’s much too easy on the lower difficulties, while the Lunatic modes seem to require heavy exploitation of busted gameplay mechanics, e.g. pair-up and the huge level-up potential even from lower-level enemies. 2. Fates Conquest: Lunatic Classic. It was a satisfying challenge that rewarded my long-term planning. I think Conquest generally handled difficulty better than the other games on this list, as it was more about strategising to deal with enemies that were dangerous due to their positions and/or skills. There were very few grinding opportunities in Conquest - I liked that design choice. Also, many of the enemy positions and skills were designed to punish or restrict tactics such as turtling and luring (e.g. Lunge chains, Seal Def), and there were many interesting map designs and objectives that added to the challenge. The difficulty was fairly consistent until it spiked in the last few chapters, which introduce potent enemy-exclusive skills. 3. Radiant Dawn: Hard mode. It’s called Maniac mode in the Japanese version. As with other FE games the difficulty decreased after the earlygame, but it was for different reasons relating to the game’s chapter structure with separate parties of units. For most units there was less potential to become overpowered, compared to FE Engage. As with older FE games, the difficulty mostly came from long missions that tested my endurance, in terms of not making any fatal tactical errors over many turns. I found Avoid-stacking support bonuses very useful for mitigating threats on Enemy Phase. 4. Binding Blade: Hard mode (route taken: Elphin/Bartre chapters, then Sacae chapters). Compared to modern FE games it’s a bit harder due to the lack of a rewind mechanic, along with RNG issues such as the lower hit rates (I refrained from using axes). There are also a few nasty chapters such as the Fog of War ones (combined with desert movement restrictions and flying enemies!), and quite a few long-distance threats such as 10-range tomes (Bolting), ballistae, and status ailments. The Berserk staff is particularly dangerous. The challenge eased off around one-third into the game, mainly because I’d built up enough support ranks by then to greatly increase some key units’ Hit, Avoid and Crit Avoid. Without support bonuses, the game can be quite unforgiving on Hard due to the RNG. Some bosses are especially hard to hit without Hit bonuses, but if all else fails and you don’t have the right Hit bonuses on the right units, I assume you could resort to using up bosses’ weapon durability with a bulky unit first. 5. Three Houses: Maddening Classic (Blue Lions, non-NG+). It’s somewhat low in this list due to the downhill difficulty curve, which was partly because of the abundant grinding opportunities. I doubt there would be much difficulty difference in the other story paths, as Part 1 gives plenty of time for units to become overpowered in various ways, either offensively or defensively - this is yet another game where Avoid tanking is overpowered, with skills such as the Dancer’s Sword Avoid +20. The difficulty isn’t as hard as its name suggests - the only thing I found remotely maddening was some ambushing Meteor/Bolting reinforcements at the very end. This game’s rewind mechanic—Divine Pulse—is a major factor in making this mode more forgiving; I think the later parts of the game are too generous with the number of Pulses. But the earlygame was certainly challenging due to starting with only 3 rewinds, and not having overpowered skill sets at that point. Gambits that immobilise groups of enemies are very potent throughout the whole game, and bosses are a complete joke as there are so many ways to hit them without being counter-attacked. 6. Engage: Maddening Classic. As noted in the 'Difficulty Analysis’ section, you can build invincible Avoid tanks very easily, and bosses fall quickly when you have multiple chain attackers, poison stacking, and Engage Attacks that can’t be countered, much like Gambits in Three Houses. Although bosses are generally much more formidable than in Three Houses, Engage’s earlygame is more forgiving partly due to the 10 rewinds from the start, compared to 3. While both Three Houses and Engage have crowd-control attacks that immobilise groups of enemies, in Engage you can use these again each time you refill the Engage Meter - there’s no set limit per mission. Overall, Engage provides more ways to effectively deal with both bosses and large groups of enemies, and it’s quite easy to catch up underlevelled units by using chain attacks, etc. 7. Fates Birthright and Fates Revelation: Lunatic Classic. Even if you don’t take advantage of the generous grinding opportunities, these two paths are so much easier than Conquest. They didn’t offer much of an interesting challenge; it was generally too easy to power through the enemies without having to think too much. Although I vaguely remember some of the later maps in Birthright being somewhat challenging, such as the one against Camilla. 8. Echoes: Hard Classic. Only 2 difficulty settings in this game, it really could’ve done with a higher one. The introduction of a rewind mechanic (Mila’s Turnwheel) takes away much of the challenge that would come from player mistakes and having to adapt to RNG outcomes. The gameplay balance was a bit peculiar (e.g. magic being so powerful against all the low-Res units), but there were enough tools to deal with any challenges the game could offer. 9. Path of Radiance: Hard mode (English version). Relatively easy, but it doesn’t really count since there’s also the Japan-exclusive Maniac mode; I would’ve played that mode if I had access to it. As with the sequel Radiant Dawn, Avoid-stacking support bonuses help a lot on Enemy Phase. ————— v. Team Overview (classes, weapon/unit types, teambuilding) ————— Joining chapters and initial classes: Ch 0 Alear (Dragon Child), Ch 2 Framme (Martial Monk), Ch 3 Boucheron (Axe Fighter), Ch 4 Céline (Noble) & Chloé (Lance Flier), Ch 6P Jean (Martial Monk), Ch 7 Alcryst (Lord), Ch 8P Anna (Axe Fighter), Ch 8 Amber (Lance Cavalier) & Diamant (Lord), Ch 9 Jade (Axe Armour), Ch 11 Ivy (Wing Tamer) & Zelkov (Thief), Ch 15 Seadall (Dancer). Emblem Ring main pairings: Marth & Diamant. Sigurd & Amber. Celica & Céline. Micaiah & Chloé. Roy & Boucheron. Leif & Framme. Lucina & Alear. Lyn & Alcryst. Ike & Jade. Byleth & Anna. Corrin & Zelkov. Eirika & Jean. Not paired: Ivy, Seadall. Final-class weapon ranks and class skills: 2 Warriors - Boucheron, *Alcryst* (A axe, C/*B* bow ~ Merciless). 2 Martial Masters - Framme, Jean (S arts, A staff ~ Diffuse Healer). 1 Divine Dragon - Alear (A sword, B arts ~ Divine Spirit). 1 Vidame - Céline (A tome, B sword, B staff ~ Ignis). 1 Lance Hero - Diamant (A sword, C lance ~ Brave Assist). 1 Thief - Zelkov (S knife ~ Pass). 1 Sage - Chloé (S tome, B staff ~ Spell Harmony). 1 High Priest - Anna (S staff, B tome, C arts ~ Self-Healing). 1 Lance General - Jade (A lance ~ Swap). 1 Lindwurm - Ivy (S tome, B staff ~ Grasping Void). 1 Lance Wolf Knight - *Amber* (A knife, *A* lance ~ Hobble). 1 Dancer - Seadall (A arts ~ Special Dance). Final-class weapon type distribution: 6 Staff users: Framme, Céline, Chloé, Jean, Anna, Ivy. 5 Arts users: Alear, Framme, Jean, Anna, Seadall. 4 Tome users: Céline, Chloé, Anna, Ivy. 3 Sword users: Alear, Céline, Diamant. 3 Lance users: Diamant, Amber, Jade. 2 Axe users: Boucheron, Alcryst. 2 Bow users: Boucheron, Alcryst. 2 Knife users: Amber, Zelkov. Final-class unit types: 3 Backup - Boucheron, Alcryst, Diamant. 3 Mystical - Céline, Chloé, Anna. 3 Qi Adept - Framme, Jean, Seadall. 1 Dragon - Alear. 1 Flying - Ivy. 1 Cavalry - Amber. 1 Covert - Zelkov. 1 Armoured - Jade. Support bonus types - A rank: Balanced (Hit +10, Crit +3, Avo +5, Ddg +5): Alear, Chloé. Hit focus (Hit +20, Avo +5): Framme, Alcryst, Jade, Zelkov, Anna. Crit focus (Hit +10, Crit +6, Ddg +5): Boucheron, Diamant, Jean, Seadall. Avo focus (Hit +10, Crit +3, Avo +10): Amber. Ddg focus (Hit +15, Ddg +10): Céline, Ivy. Pact Ring S rank partner: Amber (Hit +10, Crit +3, Avo +20). Support partners: Alear - all. Framme - Boucheron, Chloé, Diamant, Anna. Boucheron - Framme, Alcryst, Zelkov. Céline - Chloé, Alcryst, Jean. Chloé - Framme, Céline, Jean, Amber, Seadall. Jean - Céline, Chloé, Jade, Zelkov. Alcryst - Boucheron, Céline, Diamant, Ivy, Seadall. Anna - Framme, Zelkov. Diamant - Framme, Jade, Alcryst, Amber, Ivy. Amber - Chloé, Diamant, Jade, Zelkov, Seadall. Jade - Diamant, Jean, Amber. Ivy - Diamant, Alcryst, Zelkov. Zelkov - Boucheron, Ivy, Anna, Jean, Amber. Seadall - Chloé, Alcryst, Amber. Teambuilding decisions: My decision to use 14 units was mainly based on that being the highest deployment limit, for the last 4 story missions. Of course it isn’t a requirement to fill all slots with regularly-used units, but in all FE games I like to have a wide variety of weapon types, stat spreads and roles. As there are only 12 equippable Emblem Rings, Seadall and Ivy just used silver Bond Rings instead - the former because of his support-focused Dancer role, the latter because my other tome users were greatly outperforming her, especially in Spd. As such, it seemed better to give the magic-focused Emblems to Céline (Celica) and Chloé (Micaiah) so they’d each have the highest potential to kill full-HP enemies in one round of combat. My first teambuilding priority was to have Avoid tanks for holding chokepoints. It was also important to have competent users of tomes and staves, so I made sure those units got plenty of exp. Having multiple tome users helped against the Def stats which can be surprisingly high even on enemies other than the expected Generals and Great Knights. I also wanted multiple users of staves such as Obstruct, Silence and Freeze, as these can save units from tight situations caused by the large groups of enemies on Maddening. For unit types, I knew I wanted several Backup units so that I could consistently use chain attacks to wear down the many foes that can be very tanky on Maddening. All of my Backup units inherited Dual Assist to help with that, and it’s why I used 2 Warriors for Longbow-range chain attacks. I only used one Flying unit (Ivy), not so much because of the bow/wind weakness, but because in my Hard run there weren’t many situations where I thought fliers would provide a significant tactical advantage. The advantages of fliers are more map-dependent, whereas other unit types have more consistent advantages, e.g. Backup units can always chain attack, Covert units can get +60 Avoid anywhere with Corrin’s Dragon Vein fog, etc. Even with only one flier of my own, I had plenty of ways to deal with enemy fliers approaching from large flier-only areas, e.g. Lyn’s Astra Storm, her Summon Doubles to create meatshields / disposable bait units, Obstruct staves (especially Micaiah’s 5-space Obstructs), Chain Guard, Corrin’s fog, etc. In addition to my characters’ innate proficiencies and initial classes, my character choices were partly due to my tendency to stick with early-joining units; all my combat units joined by the end of Chapter 11. Personal skills were a somewhat important consideration, as their effectiveness varies significantly - e.g. Zelkov’s was better for my purposes than Yunaka’s, and Alcryst’s and Amber’s skills seemed better than most. I also considered the list of support partners for each unit, to ensure that most had at least 3 supporters. That seemed important because of deployment limits before the lategame. The characters I hadn’t used in my Hard run were Boucheron, Alcryst, Anna, Amber, Diamant, Jade and Zelkov - but most of these I expected to be similar to their 'alternatives' that I’d used on Hard, e.g. Louis and Yunaka. My reasons for Emblem Ring unit choices are covered in the 'My Units' section. My choices for final advanced classes were mainly based on having a wide variety of weapon types, while also accounting for stat growths. I didn’t care about S-rank weapons when considering classes, as they appear so late and don’t make much difference compared to engraved + refined lower-rank weapons. I could at least use Nova, which seemed like the best one. Some weapon ranks did matter though, e.g. Amber having the boosted A rank in lances for Brave Lance, and Alcryst’s boosted B rank in bows for Silver Bow. Timing/level for reclassing and promotion: Most of my non-reclassed units promoted from around base class level 17 to 19, as many of them were struggling once promoted enemies became common. For reclassed units, I typically reclassed as soon as I had a Second Seal - partly to ensure their stat growths would align better with their eventual advanced classes, but also because it takes a while to reach level 10 base class for promotion. When Seals were limited, unit priority for reclassing/promotion was based on which units’ final advanced classes I expected to have the most impact as part of my overall team. ————— vi. My Units (deployment, stats, skills, performance) ————— Deployment priority: When deployment limits prevented me from deploying all my units that would be suitable for the current map, I always chose Zelkov, Seadall, Alcryst and Anna - in addition to the mandatory Alear, these four collectively provided the best offense and support, including the Dance + Goddess Dance combo. When possible, I deployed at least 2 staff users so I’d have both healing and support opportunities in the same turn - this often mattered because I used Obstruct quite regularly. I brought at least 2 tome users when there were significant numbers of high-Def enemies. Apart from those factors, any characters with 3-range weapons were also a high priority. I deployed all Ridersbane users for cavalry-heavy maps. Jade was necessary for maps where I’d need all 3 of my tanks to block chokepoints, e.g. a crucial 3-space-wide area. Backup units were always valuable for chain attacks, but Diamant wasn’t as useful as the others beyond that function, so he was the lowest priority of those. Units that currently lacked Emblem Rings were lower priority choices, except Seadall who didn’t need one, Chloé who was already effective without Micaiah, and Zelkov - he was still an effective Avoid tank without Corrin, although it made him more dependent on careful positioning for support and terrain bonuses. Units whose Emblems were currently capped at bond level 10 were a slightly lower priority than those at 20. Unit summaries: For the class pathways I use '>' to indicate reclassing and '>>>' for promotion to advanced classes. The listed Emblem stat boosts are the maximum values, from bond level 19+. Units' final base stats are from the start of the final mission, and these don’t include any of the boosts from Emblems, skills, etc. My units are listed in order from what I considered the most effective to least effective in my run. For that assessment I’m not taking into account the number of chapters they were available; it’s about how impactful they were while I had the option to use them. I tried to rank each unit mainly based on their individual merits, before factoring in how well they synergised with my other units. Keep in mind that my effectiveness rankings don’t necessarily reflect how well these characters would perform with other players’ different team compositions and playstyles, etc. 1. Zelkov Class: Thief Emblem: Corrin (HP +15, Mag +4, Res +3) Final Base Stats: HP 53, Bld 11, Str 30, Mag 6, Dex 34, Spd 37, Def 26, Res 10, Lck 17, Rating 171 Inherited Skills: Dual Support (2000 SP), Speed +4 (1000 SP) 314 Battles, 124 Wins The MVP of my run, although Corrin deserves much of the credit. In my Hard run I had instead used Yunaka as my Thief, also with Corrin - while Zelkov’s Spd is lower, his personal skill suited my purposes much better. With his role as an Enemy Phase lure for large groups of enemies, I usually wanted most enemies left weakened but alive, so my other units could finish them off for exp. Yunaka’s crit-boosting personal skill wouldn’t help with that, and only Zelkov’s skill is still relevant when he can’t counter. Also, his much higher Bld allows him to use a Peshkatz with no penalty, rather than -4 Spd - that weapon was his stronger killing option, mainly used for bosses or non-mage enemies that wouldn’t take enough damage from his Iron Dagger +4. Corrin can make Covert units essentially invincible with +60 Avoid fog from Dragon Vein, especially when combined with weapon engravings for +30 or 40 Avoid. The fog also benefits nearby allies, and it can create a chokepoint area for holding off enemies, due to the extra movement cost of fog spaces. Draconic Hex is great against bosses, so I usually had Zelkov attack them first, then again through Dance and/or Goddess Dance to stack more poison on top of that. The -4 Spd from Draconic Hex is especially useful. Corrin’s Pair Up made Zelkov even better at his role, as enemies still attacked for 0% hit or 0 damage if they could trigger a chain attack, despite it doing nothing against Pair Up. However, in cases where I needed enemy Hit rates to be non-zero to make them attack, Corrin’s +15 HP helped with taking the occasional hit. I sometimes switched between an Iron Dagger, Steel/Silver Dagger and Peshkatz to give enemies the lowest non-zero Hit. I’m surprised at how few enemies had Surge/Elsurge tomes, as this would’ve been an easy design choice to counter Avoid tanking. Even though Mystical enemies ignore Avoid boosts from terrain such as fog, they still had very low hit rates - and once Zelkov reached 2000 SP to inherit Dual Support, he could often lower them to 0% Hit as well. Zelkov was often adjacent to Alear (who was paired with Lucina) to block chokepoints. That enabled Zelkov to be further protected by Lucina’s Bonded Shield, which meant he could attack instead of spending a turn on Dragon Vein. Or in some cases I just used Dance to follow up Zelkov’s attacking turns with Dragon Vein turns, as the fog was more important on Enemy Phase when facing large groups of enemies. Corrin’s Dreadful Aura is also incredible, freezing up to 10 enemies in place with Torrential Roar, or up to 5 with a regular attack. As any single unit can have 4 actions per Player Phase from a Dance + Goddess Dance combo (easy to set up with Canter on a dancer), that makes Corrin amazing at crowd control by freezing multiple enemy groups. With the Thief class’s Pass skill, it’s easy to reach the right enemies in big crowds so you can immobilise all the enemies you need to. If Zelkov or a similar substitute hadn’t been on my team, I would’ve had to play most maps very differently, and I expect it would’ve made most maps much more difficult. 2. Alear (F) Class: Dragon Child >>> Divine Dragon Emblem: Marth until Diamant joined > Lucina from Chapter 11 onwards (Dex +5, Spd +4, Lck +6) Final Base Stats: HP 57, Bld 11, Str 28, Mag 9, Dex 29, Spd 34, Def 27, Res 20, Lck 19, Rating 177 Inherited Skills: Avoid +10 (500 SP), Sword Agility 1 (500 SP) / Pair Up (2000 SP, inherited last, replaced Sword Agility) Pact Ring partner: Amber 345 Battles, 185 Wins Alear was my main Avoid tank before Zelkov joined, with +20 Avoid from Marth’s inherited skills and a further +20 to 40 Avoid from engraved Libération and Iron Blade respectively. She became somewhat overlevelled once she had Lucina’s Parthia bow that doubles exp; I often used it to finish off bosses. As with Zelkov, the Emblem deserves a lot of the credit - Lucina’s Dual Support is well suited to the character who supports with everyone. Although Alear doesn’t deal much damage with a Levin Sword, I often started turns with that weapon equipped for more Dual Assist range. Bonded Shield can save many allies’ lives in cases where there aren’t any nearby chokepoints, and it combines with Corrin’s Dragon Vein fog to make units very safe on Enemy Phase. The lack of a strong 1-2 range weapon made Alear typically inferior to Zelkov on Enemy Phase, at least in the role of a lure for weakening enemies. As such, when the two of them were adjacent, I often equipped Alear with her highest-Avoid weapon while letting Zelkov be hittable by at least some of the nearby enemies, to ensure that they would target him instead. With such high Avoid as well as the Divine Spirit class skill and high Spd to double attack, Alear was able to fill up Lucina’s Engage Meter very easily. That enabled frequent access to Bonded Shield, and Alear’s personal skill also made her a valuable support unit for adjacent allies. In the lategame I didn’t actually use Engage+ much, except against the final boss. The extra Hit/Avoid bonuses from Bond Forger would have often been overkill, although there was the slight benefit of Boon of Elyos enabling even more reliable crits with Alear and Amber’s high-crit weapons: Killing Edge and Peshkatz respectively. Regardless of the benefits of Engage+, I usually preferred regular Engage because I needed Lucina’s capabilities; other units also tended to prefer their usual Emblem benefits, especially Zelkov with Corrin. 3. Anna Class: Axe Fighter > Martial Monk >>> High Priest Emblem: Byleth (Mag +3, Spd +3, Lck +12) Final Base Stats: HP 43, Bld 6, Str 11, Mag 37, Dex 30, Spd 27, Def 12, Res 35, Lck 34, Rating 192 Inherited Skills: Speed +5 (2000 SP), Luck +8 (1000 SP) / Quality Time+ (500 SP, final mission only, replaced Luck +8) 220 Battles, 136 Wins Anna started out terrible but became one of my best units, and not only due to all the gold (tens of thousands) she obtained from her personal skill. First of all, look at her final base stats compared to my other units, and then add the boosts from Byleth and the inherited skills - 54 Luck makes her personal skill and Divine Pulse+ amazing. As her Luck started at just 3, I only attempted gold farming once she had Byleth for his inheritable Luck+ skill and his innate Luck boost. As an Axe Fighter she was only good for Hand Axe chip damage and chain attacks, but then as a Martial Monk it was quick to level her from 1 to 10, thanks to staff usage (mostly healing) and Byleth’s Mentorship skill. Then she finally became a great unit as a High Priest; I chose that class for having the highest Luck growth, 15 higher than the Sage class. Normally I hesitate to switch default physical-class units to magic classes or vice versa, but her Str growth is only 15 compared to 50 for Mag, the highest of any character. The main advantage of the Sage class would’ve been the higher tome rank, but it didn’t matter since Anna eventually became one of my highest-level units, so her Mag was high enough to get the necessary kills with B-rank tomes. Anna never used Arts apart from rare cases of equipping Shielding Art, but she had too many useful options for her 5 inventory slots anyway - Elthunder was essential for outranging more enemies, plus she also used Elwind/Elfire and sometimes Elsurge for higher damage. She also used status-inflicting staves (Freeze, Silence and Fracture) to take advantage of their eventually perfect hit rate from Byleth’s Divine Pulse+. There weren’t many cases where I would’ve preferred Micaiah’s extra area of effect on status staves. Despite being limited to B-rank tomes due to her class, Anna had enough power and speed to reliably kill enemies, especially in conjunction with chain attacks. While Engaged, Anna could use a 5-range Elthunder and 3-range Elsurge thanks to Byleth’s Thyrsus staff (+2 magic range). Elsurge was mostly just used for its high Mt, as accuracy wasn’t an issue once Anna’s Luck was high enough to nearly always trigger Divine Pulse+, making her the most reliable attacker. Byleth’s Goddess Dance is also incredible, particularly for finishing off boss-kill maps - it makes it easy to deplete all the boss HP bars while surrounded by enemies that could otherwise kill units on the next Enemy Phase. This was important because Maddening often involves excessive or endless reinforcements to discourage slow play. 4. Alcryst Class: Lord > Axe Fighter >>> Warrior Emblem: Lyn (Dex +4, Spd +5, Res +3) Final Base Stats: HP 60, Bld 13, Str 30, Mag 5, Dex 28, Spd 29, Def 19, Res 11, Lck 12, Rating 147 Inherited Skills: Dual Assist+ (2000 SP), Speed +4 (1000 SP) 271 Battles, 176 Wins Naturally, Lyn played a large part in making Alcryst so effective. I chose him for Lyn because of his personal skill which makes it very easy to gain +3 Str, and which can combine with the Warrior class’s Merciless skill for massive damage when double- or quad-attacking, with help from Lyn’s huge Spd boosts. It’s also easy to trigger Alcryst’s personal skill when foes attack summoned doubles. Another reason why I chose the Backup-type Warrior class is because Dual Assist+ is amazing on a Longbow-wielding Warrior for 8-range chain attacks. Alacrity made him a great mage killer even with the relatively weak Longbow. Lyn’s summoned doubles were useful as meatshields for Alcryst, as he didn’t have many Enemy Phase options other than a Hand Axe and Brave Axe. Alcryst mostly used a Silver Bow on Player Phase, which set him apart from Boucheron who was capped at C-rank bows. Speed +4 may have been overkill on top of Speedtaker and Lyn’s innate stat boosts, but some lategame enemies are exceptionally fast. Astra Storm was very useful for luring bosses, although in many cases they eventually approach you anyway after a certain number of turns. It was also good for killing fliers that were out of reach while on flier-only terrain; my only flier was Ivy, who was slow and generally couldn’t one-shot those enemies with her wind tomes. Another use for Astra Storm was to deal with problematic staff users that were too far away for any of my units to safely kill or Silence them - this included the few Entrap enemies in the lategame. It was definitely worth getting through 10 levels as an Axe Fighter to become a Warrior, and Alcryst actually performed quite well as an Axe Fighter; his high Dex was good for axes, and Backup units are always useful for chain attacks. 5. Chloé Class: Lance Flier > Mage >>> Sage Emblem: Micaiah (Mag +4, Res +5, Lck +6) Final Base Stats: HP 43 (capped), Bld 7, Str 12, Mag 32, Dex 29, Spd 29, Def 14, Res 27, Lck 21, Rating 171 Inherited Skills: Speedtaker (2000 SP), Speed +3 (500 SP) 225 Battles, 134 Wins Just like Anna, Chloé went from an initial physical class to being one of my best tome users. She was decent for a few early missions as a Lance Flier, but by the time she promoted from level 10 Mage to Sage, she was already becoming one my best units even without an Emblem - unfortunately Micaiah is absent for a long time. When Micaiah returned, Chloé then had amazing support capabilities with staves, such as 5-space Obstructs and Rescues, and 4-space Warps. I didn’t use status-inflicting staves as much with her, as there weren’t many cases where I would’ve preferred a larger area of effect instead of the reliable staff Hit rate from Anna with Byleth. Micaiah further enhanced Chloé’s offensive prowess with extra Mag and the Thani tome, which is naturally much stronger than a Ridersbane against Great Knights. Also, Micaiah’s Great Sacrifice is an amazing healing ability with an easily-mitigated drawback; even if you can’t stay out of enemy range while at 1 HP, you could still protect her with Chain Guard or Bonded Shield for instance. Although it took a long time to afford Speedtaker as Chloé’s first inherited skill, it was worth the wait. I gave the Nova tome to Chloé in the hope that her Spd boosts would provide many quad-attack opportunities, but it didn’t end up mattering much. Chloé’s personal skill is also fairly easy to trigger, and +2 damage per hit is good on a fast unit, especially with a quad hit from Nova. 6. Amber Class: Lance Cavalier >>> Wolf Knight (Lance) Emblem: Sigurd (Dex +4, Def +4, Bld +3, Mov +1) Final Base Stats: HP 52, Bld 12 (capped), Str 29, Mag 4, Dex 25, Spd 27, Def 20, Res 11, Lck 26, Rating 154 Inherited Skills: Speedtaker (2000 SP), Speed +4 (1000 SP) 253 Battles, 149 Wins Even while in his initial class, Amber performed better than I expected. His personal skill often helped against high-Avoid enemies, and I chose the Wolf Knight class mostly for knives, which also contributed to his high Hit rates as they’re very accurate weapons. It was useful having a second knife user - primarily for the reliable and strong 1-2 range Silver Dagger, but it also provided chances for stacking poison on bosses. Otherwise Amber’s ranged options would’ve been limited to heavy and less-accurate Spears, or weak Javelins. The Wolf Knight’s Hobble skill almost never mattered, but it does pair well with Sigurd’s Canter (ideally with a Dancer as well) for 'hit and run' tactics. I never really ended up needing such tactics though, thanks to Zelkov & Corrin’s amazing crowd control. Sigurd was an obvious Emblem choice for my only Cavalry unit, and Momentum makes it easier to inflict poison on high-Def foes that might otherwise take 0 damage from daggers. However, that didn’t matter much as I had plenty of tome users. Momentum worked especially well with a Brave Lance, Ridersbane or Silver Greatlance - the latter was mainly used with Override, for maximum damage with that Engage Attack. Although in some cases Amber instead used a Ridersbane for Override, to one-hit kill multiple cavalry foes. Amber’s refined and engraved Brave Lance and Ridersbane were much better than Sigurd’s versions of those weapons. Speedtaker triggers for every defeated foe from multi-target Engage Attacks such as Override, so it was worth saving up SP for it - I sometimes kept lined-up enemies alive at low HP to maximise Speedtaker boosts: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=195. Amber was somewhat underwhelming for a while in the midgame when Sigurd was gone, but when Sigurd returned he quickly caught up in levels (eventually overtaking most units) and became one of my better units. Also, Sigurd’s boost to Bld helped with the heavy lances that Amber was often using, e.g. with getting Brave Lance quad-hits thanks to Speedtaker as well. My choice of Amber as Alear’s Pact Ring partner didn’t matter much, but I figured the extra +10 Avoid was more useful than most other units’ S-rank support bonuses. He could at least make good use of Boon of Elyos from Alear’s Engage+, with a refined and engraved Peshkatz for very reliable crit rates. 7. Jean Class: Martial Monk >>> Martial Master Emblem: Eirika (Mag +3, Dex +4, Lck +10) Final Base Stats: HP 42, Bld 7, Str 21, Mag 27, Dex 22, Spd 21, Def 22, Res 30, Lck 20, Rating 170 Inherited Skills: Speed +4 (1000 SP), Mentorship (250 SP) / Divine Pulse+ (500 SP, replaced Mentorship in lategame) 79 Battles, 65 Wins I hadn’t used Jean in my Hard run, but I expected great things from him based on previous FE games’ characters of the same archetype. I knew he wouldn’t be powerful until he had Flashing Fist Art (refined from the Silver-Spirit Art obtained in Chapter 14), and his eventual power also depended on having Eirika after Chapter 16. But it was worth the wait, as Eirika’s skills make Flashing Fist Art very powerful against any type of enemy. That applies especially to high-Def foes as their stat works against them, and the damage is even greater when Engaged and especially when quad-hitting. Low-Def enemies were also absolutely obliterated by Jean’s multiple hits on Player Phase. I never considered any other class, as I wanted both offense (Flashing Fist Art) and utility through Chain Guard and staves. Those utility functions made Jean useful right from the start, well before he gained that crucial weapon and Eirika. He also became surprisingly tanky thanks to Shielding Art and Eirika’s Gentility+, although he wasn’t well suited to Enemy Phase combat. Eirika was one of the trickier Emblems to use effectively, but I think Jean benefitted from all of her attributes - he had enough Str and Mag to competently use both her physical Engage Weapons and her magic Wind Sword, which was his only ranged attack. When Engaged, healing by dealing damage is also useful for regaining full HP for Chain Guard. I didn’t use Twin Strike much, as Flashing Fist Art often had more damage potential, e.g. by hitting 4 times. Eirika’s innate stat boosts included +10 Luck which was good for bolstering Flashing Fist Art’s reliability with Divine Pulse+. That meant I could save the Hit-boosting weapon engravings for other weapons. Before inheriting Divine Pulse+, I used Mentorship since Jean’s role was more support-focused than most, mainly before Eirika’s higher bond levels were unlocked. Once I had max-bond Eirika it was then more worthwhile for Jean to attack, and by that point I had plenty of other healing methods among my team anyway. Unlocking the higher bond levels also granted access to Sieglinde, which is a great Engage Weapon due to effective damage on Corrupted, i.e. almost every non-boss enemy in the lategame. It’s worth noting that some of Jean’s stats were essentially much higher due to Eirika’s skills - he was both bulkier and stronger than his stats alone would suggest. Here’s an example of the huge damage potential: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=214. 8. Jade Class: Axe Armour >>> General (Lance) Emblem: Ike (HP +7, Str +4, Def +5) Final Base Stats: HP 64, Bld 15, Str 29, Mag 11, Dex 25, Spd 13, Def 40, Res 14, Lck 10, Rating 157 Inherited Skills: Pair Up (2000 SP), Hit +15 (1000 SP) 169 Battles, 72 Wins In my Hard run I had used Louis as my General (also with Ike), who performed very well despite some Hit issues. Jade’s personal skill was inferior, and her growths aren’t as optimal for her class, but I figured that having too much Def (if I’d used Louis again) might be a problem by preventing more foes from attacking. However, I didn’t know that enemies on Maddening would still attempt chain attacks with a 0-damage main attacker against a Pair Up unit. Nevertheless, only some enemies are Backup units, and Jade’s lower Def meant she could get more enemies to attack her while using Ike’s Ragnell for 1-2 range and +5 Def. Her survivability against physical attacks was excellent once she triggered Ike’s Resolve+ below 75% HP, for +7 Def/Res. The Res boost wasn’t enough to make her safe against multiple magic attackers though. Pair Up was a massive boost to her survivability, making her very useful against groups of Backup foes. Jade’s offense generally wasn’t great, due to shaky accuracy until inheriting Hit+ (which was late in the game after Pair Up), and no doubling except on some sword-wielding enemies that have Triangle Adept. But while Engaged she could hit hard with Urvan, so she could at least deal respectable damage with Great Aether. Here’s an example of Jade at her absolute best, both defensively and offensively: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=233. I’m glad I chose a third tank to supplement my Avoid tanks Alear and Zelkov - there were quite a few situations where I needed 3 units to block a chokepoint, or to block multiple areas at once. The movement skills Reposition and Swap were also quite useful. I went Lance General for more accurate weapons than Axe General, and also because Ridersbane is one of the better effective-damage weapons. I ruled out swords, as the effective-damage swords (Wyrmslayer and Armourslayer) are less useful because bows and tomes exist. Also, Javelins are more reliable than Hand Axes, which mattered as Jade was using a Javelin regularly. I never really considered Great Knight for her class, as I wanted Ike’s Armoured bonuses and the break immunity, while also lacking the cavalry weakness. 9. Boucheron Class: Axe Fighter >>> Warrior Emblem: Roy (HP +10, Str +6, Res +3) Final Base Stats: HP 64, Bld 17, Str 25, Mag 1, Dex 28, Spd 27, Def 20, Res 12, Lck 10, Rating 140 Inherited Skills: Dual Assist (1000 SP), Speed +4 (1000 SP) 280 Battles, 111 Wins Boucheron has unusually low Str growth for his default class line, but I didn’t find it to be much of an issue - for instance, his personal skill regularly provided +2 damage per hit. Boucheron was initially relegated to Hand Axe chip damage and chain attacks on Player Phase, but he eventually became a solid all-around unit (decent offensively and defensively) when Roy finally returned. By the time he had enough support ranks to fix the accuracy of stronger axes, he was mostly using a 100-Hit weapon anyway: a Binding-engraved Iron Bow +5. That was his most reliable bow due to his C-rank bow cap as a Warrior, which is one reason why he was inferior to my other Warrior, Alcryst. But Boucheron at least had the same 8-range chain attacks with Dual Assist, when equipped with a Longbow. When Engaged with Roy, the level boost from Rise Above combined with the Speed +4 skill for decent doubling potential, at least against Draconic Hexed enemies. Roy’s Hold Out+++ and Binding Blade (+5 Def/Res) also made Boucheron more effective as a fourth tank, but he couldn’t compete with my 3 main tank units. Blazing Lion was mainly used as a backup chokepoint-creating method - flame terrain has a movement cost of 3 compared to 2 for fog, but it can only be used once per Engage, whereas Corrin’s Dragon Vein fog can be used every turn even without being Engaged. 10. Céline Class: Noble >>> Vidame Emblem: Celica (Str +3, Mag +5, Res +4) Final Base Stats: HP 39, Bld 6, Str 21, Mag 21, Dex 26, Spd 26, Def 16, Res 24, Lck 33, Rating 173 Inherited Skills: Alacrity (1000 SP), Speed +5 (2000 SP) 198 Battles, 121 Wins I mainly chose Céline due to her impressive performance on Hard, but this time she fell off more significantly after losing Celica - even when Celica returned, she was inferior to Anna and Chloé as a tome user. When combined with chain attacks, Alacrity at least allowed her to safely kill Generals or Great Knights that could counter, rather than just hitting them once with Thoron. I very rarely made use of her Str, as I had much better mage killers. Céline at least provided extra staff utility for when my other staff users needed to attack on a given turn. Her supportive role also included her personal skill that helped a few times in the earlygame, which was the only time I regularly used healing items. When Engaged with Celica, Echo was very useful for triggering absurd amounts of chain attacks. As you can give 4 actions per Player Phase to a single unit via Dance + Goddess Dance, that means you can use Echo for 8 rounds of chain attacks. Warp Ragnarok is one of the weaker Engage Attacks, so I mainly used it to hit bosses without missing or being countered. Although Céline was a bit underwhelming after the earlygame, I’m not sure who else I’d use instead if I did another run - I’d probably have to resist my tendency to stick with units that join early on. 11. Seadall Class: Dancer Emblem: None Final Base Stats: HP 48, Bld 10, Str 21, Mag 7, Dex 22, Spd 32, Def 19, Res 21, Lck 25, Rating 157 Inherited Skills: Canter+ (2000 SP), Mentorship (250 SP) / Quality Time+ (500 SP, replaced Mentorship in lategame) 4 Battles, 0 Wins Seadall used Dance at least 99% of the time, to the point where I’d mostly forgotten that he could Chain Guard. Mentorship was a useful support skill for a non-combat unit to benefit allies with, and Canter is amazing on a Dancer - among many other uses, it made it easy to position him for dance combos with Byleth’s Goddess Dance. Canter also helped Seadall avoid danger - he only had 4 battles in the whole run. But Seadall could’ve taken hits when necessary, thanks in part to Shielding Art and high Spd to avoid doubles. The free healing from Seadall’s personal skill worked well with Roy’s Hold Out+++ skill on Boucheron, and with bringing Jean/Framme back to full HP for Chain Guard. The +3 Spd from Special Dance was useful in combination with Corrin’s Draconic Hex to help allies deal with very fast enemies. In the lategame, Quality Time+ added even more healing. It’s hard to rank Seadall against other units due to his purely supportive role - although he’s low in this character list, I deployed him every time I could. I guess I ranked him low because he can only be useful himself when he’s within range of another unit that can be useful from their current position - that’s why Canter was so valuable. In other words, his own effectiveness was more context-dependent compared to other units, and that also depended on my other units being effective already. 12. Ivy Class: Wing Tamer >>> Lindwurm Emblem: None Final Base Stats: HP 44, Bld 9, Str 12, Mag 30, Dex 21, Spd 21, Def 21, Res 30, Lck 6, Rating 150 Inherited Skills: Alacrity (1000 SP), Speed +3 (500 SP) 106 Battles, 68 Wins I expected Ivy to be great again after my Hard run, but this time she struggled to keep up with my other tome users, especially in terms of Spd. Compared to Anna and Chloé, Ivy’s higher Bld wasn’t enough to offset that disadvantage, and higher Def didn’t matter much on a somewhat slow unit with a bow weakness. I had hoped she’d be able to inherit Speedtaker at least, but she was struggling to gain much SP. I don’t like the idea of keeping her default Emblem Lyn on her though, as she doesn’t have the Str for Lyn’s physical Engage Weapons. Ivy also has terrible Luck which makes her very vulnerable to crits, but this wasn’t much of an issue once I regained access to the Echoes engraving, which I applied to a Bolganone tome. Ivy’s personal skill didn’t matter much as she could just Elsurge high-Avoid foes. With Alacrity she had just barely enough Spd to double enemy Generals before they could counter, so she was at least reliable as a General killer (aided by chain attacks) and a powerful Thoron user. It was also helpful having another staff user for when my better tome users were attacking. 13. Diamant Class: Lord > Sword Fighter >>> Hero (Lance) Emblem: Marth (Str +3, Dex +4, Spd +4) Final Base Stats: HP 53, Bld 12, Str 23, Mag 5, Dex 21, Spd 28, Def 20, Res 14, Lck 18, Rating 141 Inherited Skills: Dual Assist (1000 SP), Speed +4 (1000 SP) 186 Battles, 102 Wins I didn’t know what to expect as I hadn’t used Diamant on Hard, but I assumed he would be good as one of the 4 main royals. I chose not to use his default class line as I didn’t expect to get much value from a chance-based healing skill (Sol), especially as I had so many other healing options. I also wanted 3 lance users rather than a third axe user - not only for the better accuracy, but also for Ridersbane and for dealing with the fast sword enemies that can be doubled due to their Triangle Adept skill. I chose the Hero class mainly for the Brave Assist skill, although in hindsight it may have been better to just replace Framme (my weakest unit overall) with an extra Backup unit, for the same purpose of having more chain attacks. Diamant’s personal skill paired well with useful weapons such as the Ridersbane, and made him very reliable with swords. It meant I didn’t need to use the Hit-boosting engravings on his weapons. His Str was disappointingly low, so I mainly used him for cavalry-slaying with Ridersbane, or with a refined Steel Sword against magic users. He was usually one of my first units to move on each Player Phase, so I could place him in Javelin range of several enemies for Brave Assist. Ideally he would’ve earned enough SP to upgrade to Dual Assist+, but I figured that Speed+ would help consistently rather than just increasing the chance of something. I had to fit Marth somewhere on my team, and I reasoned that since Marth is absent for so long, he should go on a unit that I wasn’t expecting to play a major role. Marth was more useful in the earlygame (up until his absence), with Blade-equipped Lodestar Rush dealing much-needed heavy damage to bosses. Although Diamant’s personal skill hinders Marth’s Perceptive, an Avoid-boosting skill isn’t as helpful when it only applies on Player Phase, and it isn’t enough of a boost to be reliable anyway. 14. Framme Class: Martial Monk >>> Martial Master Emblem: Leif (HP +7, Def +3, Bld +5) Final Base Stats: HP 37, Bld 6, Str 16, Mag 17, Dex 17, Spd 21, Def 14, Res 20, Lck 15, Rating 126 Inherited Skills: Speed +4 (1000 SP), Mentorship (250 SP) / Reposition (200 SP, replaced Mentorship in lategame) 31 Battles, 21 Wins Framme must’ve been RNG-blessed in my Hard run, as I expected much more from her - notice how much lower her stats are compared to my other units. I used her partly because I tend to stick with units that join early, and her personal skill was useful for giving Alear +10 Avoid in the earlygame at least. That became irrelevant once Alear had excessive Avoid, which was as early as obtaining the Dawn weapon engraving upon clearing Chapter 6. Framme was the only staff user until Jean joined, but Jean gradually overtook her in Mag, Def and Res, making him the better healer and also being bulkier thanks to Eirika’s skills. I figured Leif would be suitable for Framme mainly because of the Bld boost, to use Flashing Fist Art (9 Wt) with no Spd penalty so it would have more quad-hit potential, at least with external help such as Draconic Hex and Special Dance. I also figured that Leif’s defensive boosts would help Framme survive counter-attacks so she could actually make the follow-up hits. That worked out reasonably well, but even with Flashing Fist Art’s +5 Spd she wasn’t particularly fast. The bigger issue was her low Str which Leif doesn’t boost at all, and unlike Jean she lacked Eirika’s skills that enabled Jean’s massive damage with the same weapon. Framme’s low power was at least enough to KO tome users, but that isn’t saying much - merely Breaking tome users wouldn’t be very useful as better units should be able to one-round KO them with the right physical weapons. There’s another reason why I gave Leif to one of my weakest units: I found Leif to be one of the least effective Emblems, at least for my playstyle and my team. His defensive aspects are outclassed by Ike, and his set of Engage Weapons is hard to use effectively due to high Wt, low Hit, or magic damage in the Light Brand’s case. Even the Vantage skill had very limited usefulness for me, as I always aimed to finish off any enemies in range of my vulnerable units, rather than just leaving the enemies at low HP where Vantage could potentially kill them first on Enemy Phase. Once I had plenty of healers and passive healing methods, Framme was only useful as an extra Chain Guard user and staff supporter, e.g. with Obstruct. So she was usually my lowest priority for deployment after the earlygame, and I regret using her past that point - in hindsight it probably would’ve been better to use a third Warrior for even more chain attacks. On that note, chain attacks at least gave Framme some offensive uses even when she was dealing zero or near-zero damage herself. Compared to my other units she depended much more on external support to deal any decent damage, e.g. Alear’s personal skill or enemy debuffs such as poison and Corrin’s Draconic Hex. Here’s an uncommon example of Framme dominating against a non-magic enemy: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=259. ————— vii. Weapon Engravings ————— Some of the engravings had a big impact by making certain units’ roles much more effective, especially the big Avoid bonuses. For the few engravings that have significant drawbacks such as major Wt increases or Avoid drops, this rarely mattered as I was often able to just trade-equip units back to their other weapons after their action (see my notes on trade-equipping in the 'Difficulty Analysis' section). The following are the main weapons I used each engraving on, but some were briefly used on other weapons as well. Beginnings: Javelin +1 (until getting Nova in the lategame) mainly used by Jade / Nova +2 mainly used by Chloé. Jade appreciated the slight Hit boost as her accuracy wasn’t ideal, and Nova benefits from Hit, Mt and Crit with no extra Wt. However, there still weren’t many notable cases where I could actually quad-hit enemies with it. Echoes: Hand Axe +2 (from earlygame until getting Bolganone) mainly used by Boucheron / Bolganone +1 mainly used by Ivy. Boucheron was one of my best defensive units in the earlygame before I had reliable Avoid tanks, and as a lure on Enemy Phase he appreciated the crit immunity. Ivy benefitted from +50 Dodge due to her terrible Luck, although I tried to keep her away from any strong hits anyway. Holy: Libération +5 (until the Fire engraving was available) / Brave Lance +2 mainly used by Amber. For most of the game, Alear mainly switched between equipping Libération for kills or heavy damage, to a Dawn-engraved Iron Blade (+40 Avoid) for maximising survivability. Once Alear had better options later in the game, Amber at that point had enough Spd-boosting skills to quad-hit with the Brave Lance, so he liked the Mt boost with no drawbacks - the +20 Avoid also stacked well with support bonuses and Amber’s boosted Speed. Genealogy: Flashing Fist Art +4 (until lategame) used by Jean / Ridersbane +3 used by Diamant or Jade. The Mt boost with only a +1 Wt drawback was useful for Flashing Fist Art, as Brave-effect weapons can benefit the most from added damage per hit. The Hit boost was to ensure it could reliably hit 4 times, although later I had Jean inherit Divine Pulse+ for that purpose, once his Luck was sufficiently high. Then I moved this engraving to one of the 3 Ridersbanes I was using, as effective-damage weapons are also a good choice for increased Mt and Hit. This made Diamant much better at fighting cavalry such as high-Avoid Wolf Knights, as it stacked with +15 Hit from his personal skill. Binding: Thunder (until Roy returned) used by Céline and Chloé / Iron Bow +5 used by Boucheron. The +8 Wt is why I put it on a weapon that can’t double and that outranges most weapons to avoid counter-attacks. It also could’ve gone on one of Jade’s weapons since a General doesn’t care much about Spd. When Roy returned, Boucheron became much more effective by mainly using the engraved Iron Bow. As he’s capped at C-rank bows as a Warrior, I wanted a very accurate weapon (a +5 Iron weapon is very reliable) that would also have good Mt for heavy damage to fliers. The -30 Avoid hardly mattered as Boucheron was synced with Roy who gives the Hold Out skill, and I could often just trade-equip Boucheron with his other weapons after he used the Bow. Blazing: Killing Edge +3 used by Alear (until Fire engraving was available to replace it on that weapon) / Peshkatz +2 used by Amber. I always prefer to stack more Crit on weapons that already have high Crit, as the goal is to make them as reliable as possible for getting kills or damage thresholds that wouldn’t be possible with any other weapons. With this engraving, the Killing Edge was then used by Alear more often than Libération when going for kills or trying to maximise damage. When available, the Fire engraving was superior for this purpose as it has less of a Mt drop and also +20 Avoid for Alear who was one of my two Avoid tanks. After that replacement, Amber then used Blazing for a high-crit Peshkatz +2, which could gain even more Crit from Boon of Elyos since Amber was my Pact Ring partner. Sacred: Brave Axe +2 used by Alcryst. Alcryst could easily quad-hit anything as he was synced with Lyn, so I wanted to make the four hits reliable with the +40 Hit, and +20 Crit over four hits provides a good chance of getting kills in cases where extra damage is necessary. This weapon was best used while adjacent to Alear for +3 damage per hit, and against bosses with -4 Def from Corrin’s Draconic Hex. Radiance: Ridersbane +4 used by Amber or Jade, mainly depending on which of them were deployed. The +3 Mt would be ideal for Brave-effect weapons if not for the +15 Wt, so it was better suited to slow units; Jade as a General doesn’t mind that drawback. Amber sometimes used it because of the effective damage combined with +3 Mt and Sigurd’s Momentum skill, which enabled him to reach one-hit kill thresholds against many cavalry foes. That was especially useful for one-hit killing multiple cavalry foes in one Override attack - here’s the 'perfect Override’ clip that was also linked in a previous section: https://youtu.be/mtwW1CNGs-Y?t=38. Dawn: Iron Blade (until obtaining a Silver Blade) / Silver Blade / Wille Glanz +2 (final mission only), all used by Alear. The +40 Avoid makes this engraving amazing, and although I rarely saw any need for smash attacks, it seemed reasonable to maximise Avoid on smash weapons as the enemy always strikes first against them. The high Avoid made the Iron/Silver Blade Alear’s usual weapon of choice when luring groups of enemies by herself, or when she was adjacent to allies but I wanted the AI to target anyone but Alear - e.g. because my other units were equipped with weapons better suited for counterattacks on Enemy Phase. The -3 Mt didn’t matter as much on weapons that can’t double, and since these weapons were most often used for luring, it was often ideal to leave some enemies alive anyway, so my other units could finish them off for exp. Awakening: Iron Dagger +4 used by Zelkov. With only a -1 Mt drawback for +30 Hit and Avoid, this engraving was incredibly effective. Before Zelkov reached 2000 SP to inherit Dual Support, it was one of the main reasons why he was nearly unhittable even without terrain bonuses, such as the fog he could create from Corrin’s Dragon Vein. The Avoid also made Zelkov my best mage killer, being able to double and kill at 1-2 range without taking damage. As Zelkov was my best Enemy Phase unit, it was useful having 100% Hit against almost everything since he fought so many enemies; even a slightly lower hit rate could’ve added up to several impactful misses over so many fights. The reliable hit rate also ensured that poison status was spread to many enemies, and it helped when fighting enemy Covert units that gained +60 Avoid from Zelkov’s own fog. Fates: Peshkatz +3 used by Zelkov. As the damage from Zelkov’s Iron Dagger +4 fell off a bit throughout the game, and high-Def enemies couldn’t be poisoned with 0 damage from the Dagger, Zelkov greatly benefitted from a stronger weapon that could consistently get kills thanks to the +30 Crit. This engraving also provides +10 Avoid - while that’s lower than the +30 from Zelkov’s Iron Dagger, sometimes it was just the right amount to turn an enemy’s 0% hit rate into a low non-zero chance, so that the AI would actually attack and get countered. Academy: Thoron +1 used by Céline, Chloé or Ivy, mainly depending on which of them were deployed, as there was some overlap in their roles. Anna was stuck with Elthunder due to her B-rank tome cap as a High Priest. Since Thoron is a powerful attack that can’t double, it’s important for it to consistently hit. The reliability from +30 Hit still mattered when using Thoron from beyond an enemy’s counterattack range, because in those cases it was often intended to weaken them (in conjunction with chain attacks) so my next attacker could finish off the enemy without being countered. Also, the +2 Wt didn’t matter much on a single-hit weapon that’s already very heavy for tome users, and I often trade-equipped after using it anyway. Fire: Killing Edge +3 used by Alear. Although it doesn’t provide quite as much Crit as the Fates engraving, the +20 Avoid contributed to a nice balance of offensive and defensive bonuses when using Alear as an Enemy Phase lure. It meant she could reliably kill several enemies in a single Enemy Phase while being reasonably safe due to low enemy hit rates. This was particularly helpful with the group of enemies in the middle room of Chapter 25, although I had above-average luck with the RNG there. ————— viii. Somniel, Smithy and Shopping ————— To maximise your units’ potential in each battle, you unfortunately need to spend a lot of time in the Somniel between every mission. It was nowhere near as tedious as my Monastery routine for Three Houses Maddening, but I wish they’d make all the gameplay-affecting activities skippable. I complete all the gameplay-affecting activities every time, as I don’t want any extra difficulty in battles to be the result of simply not spending as much time playing. However, it wasn’t necessary since Maddening isn’t as tough as many other FE games' highest difficulty (see the 'Comparison to Other FE Highest Difficulties' section). Final reserves of Bond Fragments and gold: My run finished with 17,982 Bond Fragments remaining (ignoring the Update Bonus that I refused to use), despite the heavy investment into Lyn’s bond levels. I had 8,059 gold left when I was satisfied that I had everything I needed for the final boss. I’m not sure how much gold Anna earned with her personal skill throughout the game, but it would’ve been several times that much. Item Shop: My first gold-spending priority (before anything else such as the Armoury) was to buy enough Heal staves that I wouldn’t run out, then Master/Second Seals when any of my units were nearly ready to change classes, then the limited Freeze staves, then enough Obstruct staves for all my deployed staff users, then a Fracture staff if I’d nearly depleted my only one left. As a lower priority I then bought HP Tonics for my 3 main tanks: Alear, Zelkov and Jade. I eventually bought more finite-supply staves—Warp, Rescue and Entrap—but I never depleted my stock of any of those. After receiving 50,000 gold at the end of Chapter 20, I no longer had to be as frugal, so I bought all types of Tonics for most of my units that regularly engaged in combat. Armoury: Usually the Item Shop was a higher priority when I was low on gold, as most units had enough basic weapons - but some specific weapons were a high priority, especially the 3-range weapons (Longbow and the Thunder-type tomes). In the earlygame I bought some high-accuracy weapons such as the Compact Axe for Boucheron, to compensate for not having maximum Hit support bonuses at that point. Javelins and Hand Axes were also a high priority due to 1-2 range and not having much of a drawback in this game. Ridersbanes were the only effective-damage weapons I needed other than bows and wind tomes; not much need for Armour or Dragon effectiveness when I had several tome and bow wielders. Donations: I raised the donation level to 2 for Firene, Brodia and Solm, all as soon as possible - skipped Elusia as those missions are mostly later in the game. I had more than enough Bond Fragments, so it was mainly for the extra Ingots. Anna’s personal skill eventually made up for the donation costs, and when refining weapons I was usually limited by a lack of Ingots rather than gold. Smithy: For engravings, see the 'Weapon Engravings' section. For refining, I first prioritised weapons that would be used the most and would consistently hit twice, e.g. Libération, Zelkov’s Iron Dagger, Longbows. Then I refined effective-damage weapons to maximise their potential to reach significant damage thresholds. Due to diminishing returns with higher levels of refinement, I only went up to +3 or higher with a few impactful weapons such as Libération, Killing Edge, Ridersbanes, Iron Dagger, Iron Bow. Flea Market: As soon as the cheapest gift items were available (10 or 20 gold each), I maxed out Alear’s support level with every unit in my party. This was worthwhile due to Alear’s Dual Support skill from synced Lucina, and Anna’s personal skill easily covered the gift costs. Ring Chamber: From most of the Emblems I only created one Bond Ring - the stat boosts are small enough that I didn’t feel the need to try for optimal Bond Rings. Once I had the 12 Emblem Rings, only 2 of my 14 units were still using Bond Rings at that point anyway. Arena: For the guaranteed 30 exp that could be gained here between each mission, I first prioritised units that were near promotion or reclassing, or close to advanced class level 5 if the class skill was important. Then I mostly gave exp to Alear and Zelkov despite their higher levels than my other units - this was because they faced the most combat, so every stat point mattered more often. Normally there would be diminishing returns when making units even more overlevelled, but it was very useful having enough Spd to double even the fastest enemies, and every point of damage helps on units that weaken groups of enemies during Enemy Phase. I generally had more than enough Bond Fragments to cap every deployed unit’s bond level with their Emblems as soon as possible, both for the level 10 and level 20 caps. I also had more than enough Fragments to reach the bond levels needed for inheriting skills. Most of the Fragments were used on Lyn due to her potent skills to inherit: Speed+ and Speedtaker. Café: For cooking I always chose the Potted Casserole (Spd +2, Def +1, Res +1) or Candied Fruits (Mag +1, Spd +2, Res +1). I gave the packed meals to Céline when her Emblem Celica was available (due to Celica’s Favourite Food skill), otherwise they went to Zelkov as he was my main tank and he always had enough inventory space. Farmyard: Exclusively for dogs once I had enough of them, as they’re the only animals that give Ingots. Training Yard: I always chose push-ups for +2-3 Strength - HP wasn’t as useful for Alear with her extremely high Avoid. Also, when using weapons such as the Killing Edge in particular, every extra point of damage was significant. Also, I always played the highest available difficulty of Wyvern Ride for Bond Fragments. Fishing: I always did the maximum amount of fishing for Bond Fragments, with the highest available level of rod. Recreation (Pool, Stables, Orchard): For support points I first prioritised units based on their amount of expected combat (e.g. high priority for my tanks Zelkov and Jade), then on factors such as Hit support for axe users or other users of inaccurate weapons. Alear was the lowest priority since she could easily reach A-rank with everyone once the Flea Market opened and had the cheapest gifts. ————— ix. Allocation of Permanent Stat-Boost Items ————— HP - Seraph Robe: Mainly went to Jade; Alear and Zelkov didn’t need HP as much since they tanked by avoiding most attacks, whereas Jade tanked by taking minimal damage. Str - Energy Drop: Zelkov. With the 1-2 range of Daggers, plus his near-invincibility and high Spd for doubling, he dealt out the most attacks of any unit. So he got the most value from extra damage, to weaken many enemies on Enemy Phase so my other units could finish them off. Higher Str also helped to ensure non-zero knife damage against high Def, in order to inflict poison on bulky enemies. Mag - Spirit Dust: Chloé, as she was my fastest and overall best tome user. She was also synced with Micaiah who provides the devastating Thani tome, so I wanted to maximise her offensive prowess. Dex - Secret Book: Céline. Most units didn’t have any major Hit issues once most of the support ranks were attained, so I just increased Céline’s chance of triggering Ignis. Spd - Speedwing: Zelkov. His Spd growth is relatively low for a Thief, so I patched it up with Speedwings and Lyn’s Speed +4 skill. Dealing double attacks was most important for him, due to the his role as an Enemy Phase lure for weakening groups of enemies. Lck - Goddess Icon: Anna, to get gold more often from her personal skill. This stat also contributed to her eventual perfect accuracy with Byleth’s Divine Pulse+ skill. Def - Dracoshield: Jade, for the same reasons as Seraph Robe for HP. Res - Talisman: Ivy, but they would’ve gone to Chloé if I’d known that Chloé would turn out to be the much better tome user in my run. This stat rarely mattered much; I either avoided enemy tomes through high Avoid, or killed them before their counter (e.g. with Brave-type weapons or Alcryst’s Alacrity), or counter-attacked them with units such as Alcryst who wouldn’t gain much from extra Res. Mov - Boots: Alear used these. As an Avoid tank she often had to move far away from the main group so that enemies would only focus on her and Zelkov. Also, as enemy fliers can be more threatening when you’re depending on terrain or distance to protect units, it was sometimes important to reach enemy fliers with the Parthia bow from Lucina. Lucina also provides Bonded Shield, Dual Assist+ and Dual Support, all of which rely on positioning. Alear’s strong personal skill was another reason why it was important for her to reach certain allies to be adjacent to them. ————— End of Report ————— If anyone has read through this entire report, let me know so I can congratulate you on your achievement… although you won’t get any Bond Fragments for it.

Not Sure if this is considered a spoiler or not? So Just in case I will give it the spoiler eye thing.

Exactly what the title says: Show Off your builds, and Rate the builds of others. I'll go first. Builds explained: Arval: Arval's base kit, but with added C feud to give advantage against colorless units, with his usual C skill as a seal. Joshua: Originally, I was just going to copy paste DC Code's Joshua build, but I made a couple changes. His refine gives a +4 to all stats, as does fury 4, during combat. Originally, I thought that bonus doubler makes the +8 into +16 to all stats across the board, but then I learned it only affects field buffs. Bulwark heals most of the Fury chip dmg, and menace, for a +12 to atk/def instead of only +6. (Technically a +18, due to the -6 atk/def bulwark inflicts) Python: The bulky cav archer got even bulkier! Close reversal gives him +5 def during combat, A/D far trace enables canto, and inflicts -3 on atk and def, and menace bc menace is a nice tie in with the plegian bow+. Bracing stance also makes him a little more bulkier, and enemy phase proficient alongside close reversal. Nino: This build is designed to stack tons of Spd onto Flying Nino. Stacking huge amounts of Spd is very important for her if she is carrying the Special Effect Refine for Giga Excalibur. Atk/Spd Push's self-inflicted damage makes it easier for her to fall into Desperation range and when she is there, she can easily take out lots of foes without taking a hit. If a flier ally is carrying flier buffs, it will improve her performance and also trigger the buffs on her weapon. Yuri: Yuri's build idea is quick and simple: Kill with lethality as quick as possible. Special spiral, Time's pulse, and his PRF weapon decrease the cool down, Atk/Spd solo for buffs, and null follow up seal, cuz nfu is busted. Yune (If all else fails): Yune is a last ditch effort, to let loose if I'm on a losing streak. Yes this build was taken from ZeShado. She's here mainly to complement Nino, due to also being a flying unit, so she gets the buffs. She screws other mages over with her refine and far trace, and by being close to Nino, she also gets unity boosts. Any questions?

This post will compile a list of builds people have used to beat the game on Maddening difficulty. A link will be provided that takes you to each build. I thought it would be nice to have examples of teams/builds that people used as they beat the game and for those examples to be easily accessible. This can serve as a good reference for people who want examples to look at whether they are attempting Maddening for the first time or want something to compare their own builds to. This also brings more exposure to some of the quality posts others have put in time and effort to share. To both appreciate those efforts and hopefully help more people enjoy and potentially benefit from them. If you'd like to contribute a build, here are some suggestions for the format and requirements for keeping this a decent quality reference (An example is posted in the next comment below): It should be a team build that you beat the entire game with on Maddening difficulty. Was it an NG or NG+ game? Indicate which house/route was used. Was DLC used? If so, to what extent? Would be nice to have a mid-game progress example as well, but not a requirement. For example what did the team look like in Ch 12/13? Information to include: characters' Levels, Stats, Skills, and Progression should be included. Other useful information can be about equipment setup and battalions. All this information is made easily visible if you take a snapshot of your character's information screen in battle from either the Inventory page or Battalion page. I think images are ideal but not necessarily a requirement as long as this information is provided. Images from the Roster Status and Skills pages also provide all this information neatly. It is nice to include comments you have on your play style and characters. Were they good in your build? strengths/weaknesses? How did you use each character, did they fill a specific role in your team? Would you do something different to improve your build? Etc. Feel free to comment on whether any aspects made certain problematic battles easier in some way. Anything you feel is important/relevant or just want to mention If you built a character in some uncommon way, maybe showcase the character's build with a few screenshots of what they're capable of or how you used them in battle. Even if it didn't turn out too great it would still be useful to know. It might make more sense to have the builds submissions each in their own separate post. Especially since people might want to discuss your build, but since we can link to specific comments as well, feel free to post in this thread if you prefer. Although, if you do want to comment on a listed build, then as per forum rules don't necro-post on an an old thread. And many of these builds are old threads (check the dates). Following is the (hopefully) growing list of builds that people have kindly shared. Please note that this list in no way rates how good the builds themselves are. I think the fact that someone beat the game on Maddening indicates that they are at least 'good enough' for the settings they played the game on (admittedly though, what's 'good enough' might differ from player to player or even run to run). But also note that some builds involved a significant amount of grinding. I leave it up to the reader to go through any individual build/guide they're interested in. If you have previously posted a build somewhere please let me know and I'd be happy to add it to the list. If you are new to the game, in case you’re not aware, please bear in mind that playing the game using DLC can be significantly easier than without, depending on how much dlc content was used. The same can be said for NG+ games compared to NG games. Builds achieved in NG+ runs might be impossible in an NG run. Minor Spoiler Alert: Inevitably these builds will have some minor spoilers like revealing story-related unique classes. Screenshots might include images of enemies or story-related classes. Also, the builds posts themselves may contain spoilers in the text depending on what the poster wrote. Usually build posts don't contain any major spoilers but I won't take responsibility for posts that do. =================================================== =================================================== Blue Lions / Azure Moon Example Builds: Build by @tchin, NG, with DLC, end game stats. Byleth: Lv45 War Cleric. Dimitri: Lv45 Unique Class. Felix: Lv45 Bow Knight. Mercedes: Lv45 Gremory. Dedue: Lv45 War Master. Sylvain: Lv45 Paladin. Catherine: Lv44 Swordmaster. Shamir: Lv46 Sniper. Annette: Lv46 Dark Flier. Ingrid: Lv46 Falcon Knight. Dorothea: Lv43 Dancer. Build & Guide by @DrDimentio, NG, no DLC, offline, end game stats. Byleth: Lv48 Gremory. Dimitri: Lv46 Unique Class. Dedue: Lv45 Great Knight. Ingrid: Lv60 Dancer. Felix: Lv44 Sniper. Sylvain: Lv45 War Master. Annette: Lv48 Dark Knight. Mercedes: Lv60 Gremory. Ashe: Lv45 Bow Knight. Flayn: Lv61 Gremory. Dorothea: Lv50 Gremory. Manuela: Lv33 Bishop. Build by @Geenoble, NG?, no DLC?, end game stats Byleth: Lv41 Unique Class. Dimitri: Lv47 Unique Class. Dedue: Lv47 Fortress Knight. Ashe: Lv37 Wyvern Lord. Mercedes: Lv37 Bishop. Annette: Lv36 Gremory. Felix: Lv44 War Master. Sylvain: Lv36 Wyvern Lord. Ingrid: Lv35 Falcon Knight. Ignatz: Lv41 Sniper. Lorenz: Lv39 Dark Knight. Marianne: Lv25 Dancer. Build by u/salteas on Reddit, NG, no DLC, offline, end game stats. Byleth: Lv47 Falcon Knight. Dimitri: Lv46 Unique Class. Felix: Lv44 Sniper. Sylvain: Lv43 Wyvern Lord. Ingrid: Lv46 Falcon Knight. Annette: Lv52 Dancer. Mercedes: Lv45 Bishop. Marianne: Lv43 Bishop. Lysithea: Lv47 Gremory. Leonie: Lv44 Bow Knight. Hilda: Lv43 Wyvern Lord. Ferdinand: Lv42 Wyvern Lord. Build by @Graveless, NG, DLC class used, then items used in final 3 chapters, end game stats. Byleth: Lv42 Falcon Knight. Dimitri: Lv43 Bow Knight. Felix: Lv41 Bow Knight. Marianne: Lv43 Gremory. Ingrid: Lv40 Wyvern Lord. Marianne: Lv 37 Valkyrie. Catherine: Lv39 Swordmaster. Lysithea: Lv41 Gremory. Dorothea: Lv42 Dancer. Hilda: Lv38 Wyvern Lord. Leonie: Lv42 Bow Knight. Annette: Lv42 Wyvern Lord. Build & Iron Man run video by @Atano (on Reddit), NG, no DLC, complete play through video stream available. Byleth: Lv42 Falcon Knight. Dimitiri: Lv39 Unique Class. Felix: Lv44 Wyvern Lord. Leonie: Lv39 Wyvern Lord. Lysithea: Lv44 Gremory. Mercedes: Lv36 Gremory. Annette: Lv37 Gremory. Dedue: Lv39 Grappler. Sylvain: Lv36 Paladin. Shamir: Lv38 Sniper. Flayn: Lv42 Gremory. Seteth: Lv34 Paladin. Ingrid: Lv38 Wyvern Lord. =================================================== =================================================== Golden Deer / Verdant Wind Example Builds: Build by @LoneRecon400, NG, no DLC, end game stats. Byleth: Lv46 War Master. Claude: Lv38 Unique Class. Lysithea: Lv41 Mortal Savant. Hilda: Lv40 Wyvern Lord. Leonie: Lv41 Wyvern Lord. Catherine: Lv36 Wyvern Lord. Cyril: Lv33 Sniper. Ferdinand: Lv37 Dancer. Build by @hdawgsizzle, NG, no DLC, offline, end game stats. Byleth: Lv43 Flacon Knight. Claude: Lv43 Unique Class. Felix: Lv42 War Master. Leonie: Lv42 Bow Knight. Petra: Lv41 Wyvern Lord. Ignatz: Lv43 Sniper. Lysithea: Lv42 Gremory. Sylvain: Lv42 Paladin. Hilda: Lv40 Wyvern Lord. Lorenz: Lv41 Dark Knight. Mercedes: Lv41 Bishop. Marianne: Lv47 Dancer. Build by @overklok , NG, some DLC without items, no stats provided. Byleth: Falcon Knight. Claude: Unique Class. Hilda: Wyvern Lord. Ignatz: Sniper. Leonie: Falcon Knight. Marianne: Dancer. Lysithea: Gremory. Lorenz: Dark Knight. Sylvain: Paladin. Raphael: Grappler. Linhardt: Bishop? Build & Iron Man run video by @Atano (on Reddit), NG, no DLC, complete play through video stream available. Byleth: Lv41 Wyvern Lord. Claude: LV41 Unique Class. Leonie: LV40 Wyvern Lord. Ignatz: Lv42 Sniper. Lysithea: Lv44 Gremory. Hilda: Lv40 Wyvern Lord. Ingrid: Lv44 Wyvern Lord. Lorenz: Lv40 Dark Knight. Felix: Lv41 War Master. Marianne: Lv35 Gremory. Flayn: Lv40 Gremory. Seteth: Lv31 Paladin. =================================================== =================================================== Black Eagles / Crimson Flower Example Builds: Build by u/Rengor1997 on Reddit, NG, no DLC, end game stats. All Rout rule. Byleth: Lv36 Wyvern Lord. Edelgard: Lv40 Wyvern Lord. Fedinand: Lv36 Wyvern Lord. Bernadetta: Lv41 Gremory. Petra: Lv37 Wyvern Lord. Jeritza: Lv38 Wyvern Lord. Caspar: Lv35 Grappler. Lysithea: Lv34 Gremory. Dorothea: Lv35 Dancer. Hubert: Lv35 Dark Knight. Shamir: Lv35 Sniper. Linhardt: Lv33 Bishop. Build by @SpearBerry, NG, DLC without items, end game stats. Byleth: Lv35 Unique Class. Edelgard: Lv38 Unique Class. Hubert: Lv36 Dark Bishop. Ferdinand: Lv36 Paladin. Petra: Lv35 Assassin/Falcon Knight. Caspar: Lv36 Grappler. Bernadetta: Lv35 Sniper. Dorothea: Lv35 Warlock. Linhardt: Lv35 Bishop. Jeritza: Lv34 Unique Class. Lysithea: Lv38 Gremory. Leonie: Lv35 Sniper. =================================================== =================================================== Black Eagles / Silver Snow Example Builds: Build by @Glennstavos, NG, no DLC, end game stats, with accompanying tier list. Byleth: Lv41 War Master. Caspar: Lv40 War Master. Alois: Lv37 War Master. Felix: Lv41 War Master. Petra: Lv40 Wyvern Lord. Ingrid: Lv38 Falcon Knight. Seteth: Lv39 Wyvern Lord. Lorenz: Lv40 Dark Knight. Ferdinand: Lv37 Great Knight. Dorothea: Lv43 Dancer. Linhardt: Lv39 Bishop. Ignatz: Lv43 Sniper. =================================================== =================================================== My personal reasons for starting this list: As I’m playing my first Maddening NG game, I found myself wondering how my progress is going compared to others. Also, while I was planning my game at the start, I wanted an idea about what to expect in terms of end game character levels and stats, or even for mid-game. While I did find a few posts online showing their end game team and builds, they weren't exactly easy to find and there's a lot of rich discussions on various possible builds or ideal builds for characters that's easy to lose oneself in. Another reason for wanting something like this is because the discussions I see often focus on what are the optimal builds for each character. While I love learning about and discussing optimal builds, sometimes it can feel pressuring that I have to use the optimal build and, at least for me, can make the game less fun if I feel like I have to build my characters a very specific way. Often, the optimal builds advice comes off to someone like me as "if you do anything else you're not gonna make it". But then again considering how people are able to solo Maddening, that can't possibly be the case. Thirdly, I feel that while there is a lot of discussion on character builds, I haven’t seen much consideration given to ‘team builds’. By this I mean how a character build might fit into the context of a full team or how they might synergize with each other. I’m hoping that team example builds can facilitate these kinds of discussions while serving as practical examples. There is a lot of discussion on what is the ‘best’ build for a unit, but the ‘best’ might not always be what a player is looking for. If you’re like me, sometimes a player wants to try something different or just something they enjoy and just wants to know that it won’t be such a bad idea that it’ll make a run impossible. By providing examples of what others have used to beat the game with, I hope this category of sub-optimal but ‘good enough’ builds might get exposed. Lastly, with examples to look at including stats, skills, and battalions, it can serve as a reference for those interested in specific examples of stats at the end game. It can also show real examples of the role that progression paths and/or rng can have on your final stats. Sometimes the devil’s in the details and why one person’s run went much better than someone else’s can have a lot to do with the progression path towards the same final class, how they split up instructions, exp, battalions, gear setup, stat boosters, adjutants, how they used them tactically, whether they grinded a lot or not, etc.

Hello, long-time lurker, first-time poster; hopefully I don't break any rules. I have a warm take that Three Houses does a lot to make hybrid builds more feasible than prior Fire Emblem games, but they are still underappreciated. I won't call this a hot take, because the consensus opinion that it's more efficient to invest in specialized units is not something I disagree with. It often takes a lot of investment to pull off a good hybrid build and Fire Emblem generally favors specialized units that require less input or have a higher/more certain payoff for the same input. Still, hybrid builds are at their best in Three Houses thanks to its mechanics: character-specific spell lists, class promotion base stats, weapon rank tutoring outside of battle, and New Game +. 0. What is a hyrbid? Hybrid refers to a unit that uses both their strength and magic stats in battle. Generally, units are best left using only one of the two stats, as their base stats and growths will naturally favor one. Since enemy resistance is usually lower than defense and magic offers better range than melee physical weapons, the typical hybrid unit will be a physical attacker with a sufficiently high magic stat to use a magic weapon, magical combat arts, or is promoted into a class with magic access (sometimes later in the game) but retaining access to their physical weapons of choice. In Three Houses, mages generally benefit from raising their strength stat as strength/5 is subtracted from weapon weight to determine attack speed. However, it is much rarer for a magic-focused character to actually use their strength stat offensively, because of the aforementioned advantages in targeting resistance and range, so I will not consider merely gaining a strength stat on a mage to qualify as a hybrid build. 1. Spell Lists Three Houses inherits the idea of spell lists from Fire Emblem Gaiden. Unit-specific spell lists are interesting because your best mages are often not able to fulfill every desired magical task on their own. For example, despite their great magic stats, none of Lysithea, Constance, nor Hubert make for great healers due to lack of Physic. Spells are also interesting in that they have limited uses but recharge every map, which prevents the common RPG hoarding problem. Spell lists favor hybrid units because occasionally a character will have a great spell list despite lacking a magic stat, encouraging you to invest in their magic. A great example is Bernadetta, who gets Physic, Rescue, and Thoron despite neutrality in reason and faith, 5 base magic, and a puny 20% growth. While centralizing the healing and rescuing role together, potentially freeing up a deployment slot for someone else, has its appeal, how are you supposed to use her effectively when her base magic allows for a 1 range rescue and her growth is taking her nowhere fast? 2. Class Promotion Base Stats Another mechanic inherited from Gaiden and its remakes, when a character promotes into a new class, their stats are elevated to the base stats of the new class, if needed. This can be used for a few tricks in Three Houses: 12 base defense for an Armor Knight promotion (easily attainable even for squishy characters like Annette and Hapi); 17 base defense for a Fortress Knight; 17–19 base strength from promoting to an advanced physical class (ensures base usability for low-strength physical characters and allows mages to offset weight); and, most importantly for this post, 17 base magic from Warlock and 15 base magic from Bishop. Although 15–17 base magic seems like a pittance relative to, for example, Lysithea's 11 + 60% magic, it's actually quite workable thanks to lower enemy resistance. There are several characters with decent magic growths, such as Byleth, Felix, and Sylvain, who can end up with usable magic if they correct for a low base stat with a promotion. Bernadetta learns Rescue at A-rank Faith, thus she is guaranteed 15 magic and at least a 3-range Rescue (and needs only 1 point for 4 range) at that point. 3. Weapon Rank Training Unlike other games in the series, notably Fire Emblem Fates, hybrid weapon ranks are much less of an issue in Three Houses thanks to the instruction system. In Fire Emblem Fates, several classes gain hybrid weapons on promotion: Dark Mages gain swords as Dark Knights, Wyvern Riders can now equip tomes as Malig Knights, Basaras gain lances or tomes coming out of Diviner or Spear Fighter, and Oni Savages gain tomes when promoting to Oni Chieftans. However, all of the new weapon ranks start at E, restricting usage to low MT weapons, most of which cannot crit nor activate skills. Fates is also stingy with weapon experience from combat and Arms Scrolls, also limiting the viability of any gained hybrid weapons. For Three Houses, however, it's straightforward to raise weapon ranks even without their usage. A Dark Knight Sylvain may have not set foot on the battlefield in a magic class until level 30, yet come equipped with his full spell-list. Of course, despite being easier than Awakening and Fates to have ranks, weapon ranks are still a problem in Three Houses. Instruction time comes with opportunity costs, and prioritizing magic instead of a unit's primary physical weapons might be a losing trade. Sure, Sylvain can toss a chip heal with Physic or help quickly break a monster barrier with Seraphim at B in Faith, but did it come at the cost of getting Swift Strikes (A lances) sooner? Bernadetta may be able to combine a chip Physic with a short-range Rescue at A in Faith, but did she have time to get Death Blow (D+ axes) , Vengeance (C+ Lances), Encloser (A Bows), and prep for her mid and endgame promotions (likely needing high ranks in Riding or Flying)? What about their authority and access to good battalions? 4. New Game + While discussions focused on efficiency will focus on Maddening NG since the highest difficulty helps separate out the best strategies, it is worth mentioning that despite unfocused weapon ranks being one of the primary deficiencies of a hybrid character, especially ones needing at least B+ in reason or faith by level 20 to gain a respectable base stat, NG+ resolves the issue. If you trained Bernadetta in a prior playthrough in Axes, Lances, Bows, Riding, and authority, it's no longer a stretch to train her in Faith and maybe put her into Holy Knight for that Rescue (or, even better, toss in some Reason and Flying for Dark Flier). While this does emphasize one of the limitations of hybrid units in a post promoting them, at least there is a straightforward in-game mechanic to address it. 5. What about mages attacking physically? I focused a lot on physical units gaining magical traits and not the reverse. A lot of that is the previously mentioned advantages in targeting enemy resistance, typically the lower defensive stat, and magic's range advantage. Felix has an amazing strength stat that will typically be much higher than his magic, even with a promotion to Warlock at level 20; however, he still might be able to do more damage to a high-defense Fortress Knight with a magic weapon, and more safely at range with all of them besides the Aura Knuckles. Lysithea's 17 strength after acquiring a promotion to Swordmaster does not particularly encourage her to use physical weapons compared to her 2–6 range magic, allowing her to attack safely despite her frailty. There are a few exceptions though. Annette, for example, has an unimpressive spell list with little utility (just Recover) and not much attack power, so she is better off getting on a Wyvern to focus on Lightning Axe, Bolt Axe, Crusher, and higher-mobility rallies. However, because Wyvern Rider gives her base 18 strength, Wyvern Lord gives +4 strength modifier, and class growths bring her up to 40–45% strength growths, she can end up with surprisingly good strength. For example, it wouldn't be surprising for a Wyvern Lord Annette to have higher strength than the canon Snipers: Bernadetta, Ashe, and Ignatz. Though she will typically get more damage off with magical axe attacks, she could occasionally equip a Brave Axe for a kill she might not otherwise get, such as a fast mage. 6. What about combat arts? Combat arts really open up the potential of hybrids further, particularly in Maddening where inflated enemy speed makes it difficult to double naturally. A Magic Bow combined with Hunter's Volley or Point-Blank Volley will do good damage off just a decent magic stat, and a bunch of archers have decent magic growths (Felix, Ashe, Ignatz, Cyril). Fierce Iron Fist and Aura Knuckles can work as well, though the low MT doesn't scale well with enemy resistance. Ingrid has fairly balanced and mediocre strength and magic bases (in-house) and growths, so she can use Frozen Lance to some effect. While Edelgard's spell list is interesting, with Luna, Hades, and Seraphim, the opportunity cost of Wyvern Lord is simply too high to justify the jump into spell-casting (Dark Flier misses out on Axefaire and 4 points of strength), but she does get Lightning Axe and a 45% growth (14–15 magic at level 20, on average, means she doesn't particularly need the magic rank for a base stat). Sublime Heaven adds 30% of Byleth's magic stat to its physical MT, the closest the game gets to Ignis from Awakening, which might be worth buttressing with a dip into Bishop thanks to their budding talent. In conclusion, are hybrid builds outclassed? Generally, yes. But there are plenty out there and Three Houses does a surprisingly good job making them feasible. Even on Maddening difficulty there's some room for experimentation (just make sure you aren't experimenting on too many fronts at once). If I was able to get a Dark Knight Sylvain to work on Maddening NG Azure Moon while not getting 17 base magic until the Dark Knight promotion at level 30 and him being strength screwed for a good chunk of the early time-skip, I'm sure you can get your hybrid build off the ground too.

I finished Silver Snow recently so now the only route left is Crimson Flower. I wanna finish my time with Three Houses off with a bang, so I decided to play it on Maddening Mode. But I couldn’t find a definitive “These are the best characters, and here’s how to build them” like I could with Awakening, so I took matters into my own hands and here’s what I came up with. Also if you have any tips on how to best spend my days off, please tell me. (Edited Specification) This is a fresh save with the intent on grinding for class EXP via waiting in defensive tile with a rusted/broken/no weapon equipped. THE TEAM F!Byleth (Required, Frontliner) Edelgard (Required, Frontliner) Felix (Frontliner) Petra (Frontliner) Bernadetta (Physical Backliner) Lysithea (Magical Backliner) Yuri (Offensive Jack of All Trades) Mercedes (Healer) Linhardt (Healer) Annette (Rallying Dancer) ADJUTANTS Caspar (Guard) Raphael (Guard) Balthus (Guard) MISC. Sylvain (Free Lance of Ruin) Lorenz (Thyrsus) Leonie (Linhardt’s Paralogue) Ferdinand (Lysithea’s Paralogue) Characters that get me Hero’s Relics Everyone else BUILDS BYLETH Final Class: Falcon Knight Abilities: Darting Blow, Death Blow, Hit +20, Lance Prowess, Swordfaire/Prowess Combat Arts: Windsweep, Tempest Lance, Healing Focus Class Progression: Commoner, Fighter, Archer, Brigand, Pegasus Knight, Wyvern Rider, Falcon Knight EDELGARD Final Class: Wyvern Lord Abilities: Darting Blow, Death Blow, Hit +20, Axe Prowess, Speed +2 Combat Arts: Smash, Lightning Axe, Healing Focus Class Progression: Noble, Myrmidon, Brigand, Archer, Pegasus Knight, Wyvern Rider, Wyvern Lord FELIX Final Class: War Master Abilities: Death Blow, Hit +20, Axe Prowess, Brawling Prowess, Quick Riposte Combat Arts: Smash, Nimble Combo, Healing Focus Class Progression: Noble, Fighter, Archer, Brigand, Grappler, War Master PETRA Final Class: Wyvern Lord Abilities: Darting Blow, Death Blow, Hit +20, Axe Prowess, Bow Prowess Combat Arts: Smash, Waning Shot, Healing Focus Class Progression: Commoner, Fighter, Brigand, Archer, Pegasus Knight, Wyvern Rider, Wyvern Lord BERNADETTA Final Class: Bow Knight Abilities: Darting Blow, Death Blow, Hit +20, Vantage, Desperation Combat Arts: Encloser, Curved Shot, Vengeance Class Progression: Noble, Fighter, Archer, Cavalier, Mercenary, Brigand, Pegasus Knight, Paladin, Bow Knight LYSITHEA Final Class: Valkyrie Abilities: Darting Blow, Fiendish Blow, Hit +20, Reason Prowess/Dark Tomefaire, Dark Magic Range +1 Combat Arts: Draw Back Class Progression: Noble, Monk, Mage, Archer, Pegasus Knight, Valkyrie YURI Final Class: Trickster Abilities: Death Blow, Fiendish Blow, Hit +20, Sword Prowess, Reason Prowess Combat Arts: Windsweep, Finesse Blade, Curved Shot Class Progression: Commoner, Fighter, Archer, Mage, Brigand, Trickster MERCEDES Final Class: Bishop Abilities: Faith Prowess, Miracle, Renewal, HP +5, Magic +2 Combat Arts: Draw Back Class Progression: Commoner, Monk, Priest, Bishop LINHARDT Final Class: Bishop Abilities: Faith Prowess, Miracle, Renewal, HP+5, Magic +2 Combat Arts: Draw Back Class Progression: Noble, Monk, Priest, Bishop ANNETTE Final Class: Dancer Abilities: Rally Resistance, Rally Speed, Rally Movement, Special Dance, Reason Prowess Class Progression: Noble, Monk, Mage, Dancer

Or rather I should say OHKO Frozen Lance, I just happen to be looking at Lorenz right now during my GD Madenning run. I think Lorenz is the most obvious character to use this build on but other characters who can learn Frozen Lance are Marianne, Hubert, Ingrid, and Flayn. I'll get into discussing each of them at the end. I noticed during my current run that Frozen Lance is actually a pretty strong skill with high damage output. Especially when you pair it with one of the Effective spears like Horse Slayer, Spear of Assal, or Blessed Lance. Most commonly though, it will probably be used with a Silver Lance+ making it essentially a 17 mt spell (14 mt from the spear +3 might from the combat art itself). So I started considering building my Lorenz around just spamming this skill and to my pleasant surprise, it looks like he can eventually OHKO most physical and some magic class enemies with the right set up. I don't want to get too ahead of myself here and make any definitive claims though. As of now this is just hypothetical (hopefully sound at least), and I'm hoping others will chime in with their thoughts/experiences to either agree or disagree with this idea. Especially if you've already tried something like this before, I'd like to hear about your experience. Damage Calculation For the analysis I looked up the enemy stats from the final chapter (last 2 battles) using my previous BL saved states that I still have. I got examples of end game stats for Lorenz from those listed in the Builds Examples post. Here are the following stats and setup I used for the calculation: Stats Dex: 28 Mag: 32 Abilities Mag +2 Fiendish Blow (+6 magic damage when attacking) Lancefaire (+5 mt with lances) Distinguished House (+2 Mt if battalion equipped, personal ability) Setup Magic Staff (+3 Mag Attack) Gloucester Knights (+6 Mag Attack) Ferdinand Adjutant (special support with +3 mt) The damage formula is: (Weapon Mt. x Effectiveness) + (CA Mt.) + RoundDown(0.3 x Dex) + [Total Mag Attack] + [Bonuses] - (Target Rsl.) Here the (0.3 x Dex) comes from the way Frozen Lance works. CA Mt. = 3. It's just the mt of the combat art. [Total Mag Attack] includes: Mag stat (32), Mag +2, Fiendish Blow (+6), Magic Staff (+3), and Mag Attack from battalion (+6). [Bonuses] include: Lancefaire (+5), Distinguished House (+2), Ferdinand special support (+3) I tested this formula in one of my current battles to be sure I have it right and it looks to be exact. The one thing I'm not 100% certain about is whether Lancefaire would apply to Frozen Lance. I'm unable to test that at the moment but I think it does. Hopefully I haven't done anything embarrassingly dumb/wrong with these calculations, but here are the results from some example enemies in the BL Maddening final chapter (from both battles): Unless they were on horseback, I didn't bother looking at magic class enemies, including mortal savant. Their resistance is so high that there's no point, but in the case of horses there are effective lances that can overcome that. Admittedly, that means a lot of enemies are left out since the BL end game is full of magic class enemies. Is the GD endgame similar in this way? Without spoilers pls. From the enemies I did include here, it's pretty clear that with this setup, and I think typical end game stats, Lorenz can OHKO many of them and quite a variety. Admittedly for some, just barely or even exactly, making it somewhat sensitive to his final stats in those cases (see hp and damage columns). Thoughts: The most important stat is obviously Mag, while Dex also factors into the damage of Frozen Lance. So the recommended path for this build is probably: Monk* > Mage* > Warlock / Dark Bishop > Paladin / Dark Knight. (REVISED PARAGRAPH) - Being in Paladin might be a requirement to OHKO some of these enemies since it gives you Lancefaire. However, going Dark Knight results in only an instant net loss of 3 damage since it provides +2 mag modifier. That said, in the long run, Dark Knight's boost to mag growth should result in higher damage in the long run after gaining some levels. One can later switch to a Paladin for Lancefaire after benefiting from the Mag growth. The damage output in some cases just barely gets him the OHKO (see hp and damage columns). However if you can get his Lance skill to S+, which is possible with some dedication, you can choose to either go double Lancefaire or, ideally stay in Dark Knight with both Lancefaire and Black Tomefaire to combine with his decent list of spells. It's always possible to squeeze out a little more damage from adjacency bonuses too from Hilda's PA (+3), Byleth's Sacred Power (+3), and any lord's Charm (+3). Getting 2 of those could make up for Lancefaire. In fact, Dark Knight automatically adds 2 Mag as a class modifier, so you only really need 1 of those adjacency bonuses to make up for Lancefaire to get the same amount of damage as a Dark Knight. The nice thing about this build is that it can OHKO many physical units using ordinary weapons that only require smithing stones to forge/repair (silver lance+ and horse slayer). But for magic class cavalry and monsters you need Mythril for Spear of Assal and Blessed Lance which one might want to consider carefully before spending -4 endurance per hit. Looking at Frozen Lance build candidates: EDIT: A very important consideration when attempting this type of build is: How long does one need to spend in magic classes (to aid mag growth) before switching to a riding or flying class? The answer depends somewhat on the character and rng, but i'll offer a rule of thumb. If going as a riding final class, you'll be able to keep a significant Mag boost from battalions (I'm assuming +6 to +8). So you want your base Mag stat to reach a minimum of 28 by the end game to get at least some OHKO's on more vulnerable enemies. Ideally you want to get over 30. This is also assuming +3 mt from a special support, which if you don't have, then add +3 Mag to your base minimum. If however you're going for a flying class, I don't think there are any flying battalions offering Mag Attack boosts, in which case you want a minimum of 34 for your base Mag stat to even maintain at least some OHKO's in the end game. So you should judge based on your run whether the character should spend more time in a magic class or if they're doing okay. Stat boosters can obviously help. One thing you can do, though it can be inconvenient, is if the character is close to a level up before a battle, switch to the magic class for that battle to boost mag growth chances, then switch back to a riding/flying class afterwards. That said, anyone going along a traditional magic class path for example Monk > Mage > Warlock > Dark Knight, shouldn't really have to worry about this. Finally, looking at other characters who might use this build. Bear in mind the paths I'm suggesting are not to be taken as said character's ideal path, simply the path I recommend if you want to focus on optimizing Frozen Lance specifically: Like I mentioned before, Mag is the most important stat here and of the candidates, Flayn and Hubert have the highest mag growth at 55. Flayn also gets 2 possible special supports in Byleth and Seteth. Not the best adjutant, but comes already in a flying class and can add follow-up attack damage so not too bad either. If you build her along Monk* > Mage* > Warlock / Pegasus Knight > Falcon Knight, then she'd have Lancefaire too and could potentially reach higher damage than anyone else with Frozen Lance. Dark Flier allows her to use magic but has neither Lancefaire nor a Mag stat modifier so depending on how high her natural Mag stat gets, might hinder her ability to OHKO with this. Dark Knight is another option but her weakness in riding makes it undesirable for her. The biggest concern with her and most of these characters is how fragile they are. Frozen Lance is a melee attack and even Canto might not allow her to always fly back to safety after attacking. Hubert has a special support with Edelgard only. That's a little harder to guarantee the extra +3 mt than using an adjutant, but not too big of a deal. He too should be able to reach high damage with Frozen Lance and might surpass Lorenz's damage even without Lancefaire. Hubert is only neutral in Riding but that doesn't make Dark Knight too difficult to achieve. Just go Monk* > Mage* > Warlock / Cavalry > Paladin* > Dark Knight. His natural mag growth is good enough to spend less time in magic classes and more in cavalry/paladin to boost his riding while relying on frozen lance during that time. He too is a fragile character however. With his high mag growth and relatively easy access to riding, he might be the best character to pull this off with. Marianne has a mag growth of 50 which is also very high. and can likely deal more damage than Lorenz with Frozen Lance, the major caution being just how fragile she is. Recommended path for her is the Dark Knight route (or even Holy Knight): Monk* > Mage* > Warlock / Bishop / Cavalry / Paladin > Dark Knight / Holy Knight. Dark Knight has an extra point in Mag modifier over Holy. The advantage here being that she still has access to her spells, as well as access to Mag boosting battalions. She may want to use Paladin for Lancefaire if her damage is a bit shy of the OHKO threshold. Alternatively, she can be built similar to Flayn: Monk* > Mage* > Warlock / Pegasus Knight > Falcon Knight. The major downside is that flying battalions don't offer a Mag boost, and depending on how her growth is going this might prevent her from achieving the OHKO threshold. While Marianne is also very fragile, she has decent enough speed to double as a decent evade tank if she goes the flying route. Alert Stance will likely be delayed, but she'll get it eventually. Ingrid - (REVISED) - has a very low mag growth stat of only 35. As a result I doubt she will be able to get many OHKO's with Frozen Lance even if she does follow a magical path unless she gets mag blessed or you give her many boosters. Combined with the fact that flying battalions don't offer a Mag attack boost, she probably won't be doing anything useful with Frozen Lance in a flying class. Her low mag stat makes it super important to fully optimize her build and even then, I'm not entirely sure how well she'll do against anyone other than cavalry using an effective lance. So her suggested path for anyone who really wants to try it is: Monk* > Mage* > Warlock > Dark Knight. She has some decent Black Magic spells in Thoron and Fimbulvetr, both boosting Crit. So if you focus on maximizing her Dex she can follow a crit build and potentially deal some decent damage (maybe even use Killer Lance+ for Frozen Lance and land some crits there and use a Crit Ring instead of the Magic Staff). The added Dex also contributes a little to Frozen Lance damage. Ingrid also gets 2 special supports in Felix and Sylvain for a possible +6 mt although that's not easy to pull off. Never thought of Ingrid in this way before, could be an interesting option for her if someone wanted to try something different, but probably RIP if she doesn't land her crit against certain enemies lol. Finally, back to Lorenz, the reason I say he might be the most obvious option to use this build for is simply because it lies along what is arguably already his best class progression path. He's not great at too many things. Also, his special support is with Ferdinand who can easily be built into an armored class making Lorenz a serviceable tank on top which is very useful when you're getting up close and personal. While his Def growth is higher than most of the other candidates, at 30%, it isn't exactly good. His Str is the highest of the bunch though, a decent 40%, which might allow to him avoid getting doubled a little better but I doubt it'll make a difference on Maddening. His HP growth on the other hand is one of the highest in the game at 55%, while the others in this group have abysmal HP. So again, while most of the others can potentially deal more damage, he will have higher survivability. And since his damage allows him to OHKO most of the same enemies, dealing even more damage is useless, while survivability remains valuable. Well, I hope this offers an interesting idea to others. I haven't seen a lot of discussion of this ability myself. Has anyone already tried this kind of build before, and if so what was your experience like with it? Anyone know for sure if Lancefaire applies to Frozen Lance damage, or is able to confirm? I will be doing this build for Lorenz in my current NG Maddening run of VW so I guess I'll be able to give a more concrete account later on about how good or bad it turned out. Also, if anyone noticed anything I've overlooked or did wrong with my calculations please do let me know. (Hopefully nothing so bad to make everything I said meaningless lol, that would be terrible after all this.)

Hi guys! this is my first post here, I'm SweetiePie! I just wanted some advice and opinions on my Helbindi! Thank you for having me here! <3 <3 <3

so, after gathering enough data regarding the 1st gen( and finally ending the first session of the game for the last time ), i've decided to make this thread in order to not only share some infos, but also to eventually give ideas to new players and veterans alike in case they wanted to try out something new/different in terms of unit build for both 1st and 2nd generation with inheritance. what follows are some of the best units i've managed to obtain throu the first part of the game. there was actually more, however some of them were not promoted yet, so i've decided to leave them out since they didn't manage to reach their default potential. for details about classes and skills: https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/classes/introduction/ https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/classes/weapon-ranks/ https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/miscellaneous/skills/ ...and be prepared for a long topic! [ disclaimer: keep in mind that items swapping was also partially involved, so it's virtually impossible to have multiple rings of the same type in 1st generation, along with other unique items ] - Mid game units - [ Overview ] - Main roles: Mobile tank | Mobile damage dealer - Pros: Cuan's role is basicly a mobile frontline tank that can hit&run, and also counter ranged units with a Javelin when needed. relies mainly on one-shot tactics when dealing damage, and works well at covering angles in wall-formations. works even better with a Shield ring, as he basicly gets close to no damage by physical attacks. can eventually defend castles, as long as there's not many mages around. - Cons: sadly, by the time he will obtain his Crusader weapon, he won't actually be able to use it for long due to story development. his low Resistance also makes him a good target for mages. weak to Knight Killer lances. [ Overview ] - Main roles: Mobile healer - Pros: Ethlin starts as main healer in the first chapter of the game, and becomes a good kiting unit once she obtains the Light sword. her Skill will let her land critical hits quite often, and even more with a Skill ring equipped. a well balanced, multi-role unit. - Cons: same as Cuan, by the time she promotes it will be too late to actually enjoy her new class due to story development. weak to Knight Killer lances. [ Overview ] - Main roles: Mobile damage dealer | Mobile Dodge-tank - Pros: a speed-based version of the Duke Knight, Fin will be able to land 4 hits on most enemies thanks to the sinergy between his base speed, Pursuit and the Hero lance. Prayer also gives him more survival chances when he gets low on hp, and becomes almost untouchable by most enemies. the Speed ring is a nice boost for both damage dealing and survival chances. can counter ranged units as well with a Javelin. can also defend castles well, as long as there's not many mages around. - Cons: low Res means getting tons of damage from magic units, so always be careful about wich targets you want to pick. weak to Knight Killer lances. - Late game units - [ Overview ] - Main roles: Mobile damage dealer | Mobile Anti-mage unit | Mobile Dodge-tank - Pros: here's our main Lord in top form, the anti-mage unit by excellence: Sigurd. he mainly plays as mobile frontline tank, and thanks to Prayer on his Crusader weapon he will become almost impossible to hit when he gets low on hp. he can eventually counter ranged units too with magic swords and Javelins, but against mages it would probably be better to equip the Tyrfing in order to not only lower the damage, but also to increase the chances to dodge attacks. together with a Barrier ring, it's the bane of mages. using his Silver sword as much as possible would be a wise idea as well, since it can unlock the weapon's critical chance quite early compared to other units( 50 kills in total ). the Leg and Elite rings aren't necessary, but Seliph can always make good use of them pre-promotion. - Cons: he can get his Crusader weapon only in the last chapter of 1st gen, he needs to save a certain NPC to actually obtain it, and he even needs to repair it in order to use it( 50.000 gold isn't cheap either, but it can be made easily by visiting villages and farming arenas ). weak to Knight Killer lances. [ Overview ] - Main roles: Mobile tank | Mobile damage dealer - Pros: yet another mobile frontline tank unit, Lex is probably one of the strongest mounted units in 1st generation when equipped with the right tools. he can often deal 4 attacks on armored units with the Hero axe+Pursuit ring, and double on other common enemies as well. the Elite passive skill will help him to become a good unit quite early in the game, and Vantage will turn him into a good counter-attack unit as well when he gets low on hp. he can counter from the distance too with a Hand axe. can also defend castles very well, as long as there's not many mages around. - Cons: low res makes him weak against mages. you also need to know some secret event locations in order to obtain the Hero axe for Lex, and the Pursuit ring from another character. weak to Knight Killer lances. [ Overview ] - Main roles: Damage dealer - Pros: a killing machine, Aira is one of the strongest sword users in the game. due to her high speed, Pursuit, Hero sword and Astra, she'll kill anything that moves in most situations, and even armored units with Great Shield will struggle against her. the Speed ring will also give her better evasion chances, since it's her main way to survive enemy attacks. - Cons: you'll have to be very careful when trying to recruit her, because there's specific conditions that have to be met before being able to talk with her, and she starts the chapter as an enemy unit to make things harder. she will also need some care before promotion, in order to allow her speed to grow properly. [ Overview ] - Main roles: Damage dealer - Pros: an awesome unit, Holyn is yet another strong sword user that will literally destroy the arena. his high Skill will allow him to use properly most Blades, and with Pursuit+Luna he'll deal tons of damage against any unit. he can eventually counter ranged units too, but close quarters combat is where he truly shines. he relies mainly on Speed to avoid damage as well. - Cons: you need to actually defeat him in the arena first in order to recruit him, wich is something that can become quite tedious at times. his default stats also makes him weak to magic. [ Overview ] - Main roles: Healer | Supporter (becomes mobile after promotion) - Pros: she has pretty much the same role as Ethlin, with the difference that she starts on foot, and gains different kinds of gear as the game goes on. an overall balanced unit meant for supporting allies with Charisma, that can eventually kite with magic swords and increase her survival chances with the Prayer sword on low hp. the Earth sword should also be able to negate the Big Shield effect of armored units, while the Thief sword helps with getting some money out of brigands attacking towns. - Cons: if you want the Knight ring for double movement when on foot, you'll have to save all of her Paladins and keep them alive by the end of the chapter. getting the Earth sword is also no easy task, as she will need to speak with her brother during a specific battle. pre-promotion, she's not very suited for combat either, so it would be better to use her mostly as a healer until she can become a Master Knight. [ Overview ] - Main roles: Damage dealer - Pros: probably the best archer in 1st generation, Jamka is meant to be a critical machine thanks to his stats and unique bow. a Skill ring always help with increasing his critical rate, and the Killer bow alone will be more than enough from early to late game chapters due to his passive Critical skill built in, and good accuracy/weight. he relies mostly on one-shot tactics, but can also deal double/multiple attacks on most enemies thanks to his passive skills. - Cons: he's actually even harder to recruit compared to Aira, and starting as an enemy ranged unit fighting inside a forest doesn't make things easier either. prepare yourself for many restarts, if you really want this unit. he is worth the trouble thou, i guarantee on that. [ Overview ] - Main roles: Healer | Debuffer (can be a damage dealer after promotion) - Pros: a good healer that can eventually become quite strong against armored units, Aideen will be the one taking care of your un-mounted units for most of the game. her high Magic will also allow her to debuff most enemies with staffs such as Sleep or Silence. - Cons: starting as a "pure" healer, she'll be stuck with only healing until promotion, and even then, she'll always be more suited for healing rather than dealing damage. her low defence makes her a good target for physical classes, so don't leave her without protection. you'll have to be fast in order to save her from some bandits, and she's also the only one who can recruit Jamka. [ Overview ] - Main roles: Damage dealer | Dodge-tank (can be a healer/debuffer after promotion) - Pros: stats and skills-wise, the best mage in 1st generation, Levin can obliterate pretty much any enemy without Great Shield thanks to Holsety and his critical hits. after promotion, he can also debuff enemies with staffs, and heal allies when needed. his Crusader weapon will eventually allow him to play as dodge-tank as well, althou it's not something really viable due to weapon repair costs. - Cons: he needs some time and dedication before becoming really good. damage spikes based mainly on rng. [ Overview ] - Main roles: Damage dealer | Anti-mage unit - Pros: a good archer that can double attack quite often, brigid can one/two-shot most common enemies thanks to her Crusader weapon, while keeping a good evasion rate too. with a Hero bow, she can deal up to 4 hits and save money to repair the Ichival, wich will become more like a survival tool for critical situations in this case. she works well as anti-mage unit too, even better with a Barrier ring. - Cons: same as Aideen, you'll have to hurry up if you want to save her from some pirates chasing after her. you'll also need some specific pairing if you want to give her the Hero bow too. [ Overview ] - Main roles: Healer | Debuffer | Damage dealer - Pros: actually the best healer in 1st generation, he can AoE heal allies and even resurrect fallen comrades once thanks to the Valkyrie staff. he can't be touched by most enemy spells, and can deal some damage to armored units too. - Cons: you'll need to keep him alive during the pirates raid involving Brigid. while he's very strong against magic, he's also very weak against physical classes, so don't push his luck too much. well, i guess that's all for now. if anyone else is willing to share his/her ideas and discuss about different units and builds, feel free to do so.

I finally, FINALLY pulled Sigurd just a few moments ago only to find he's -atk +res. I plan on using him on a res-based cavalry team (aka lots of ward cavalry and such) along with Berkut, Titania, and a yet to be chosen 4th member, but will his -atk hurt him enough that I should roll for a new one? I'd prefer not to waste orbs if he's salvageable!

I have completed my Revelations pairings and would now like to know which of my kids should be paired with one another or if some should just be completely left out to be a solo galeforce assassins. Your suggestions should have a reason behind the pairings along with the build the pairings should be (i.e: A nohrian trust build, dodge build, galeforce taker build, go wild with your imagination because there are probably plenty other builds out there). Also would appreciate if you went into depth and gave me the whole skillset rather than just name a build as i'm not that experienced in this in the first place. Without further ado, here is the list of kids I need help pairing and optimizing: (I'll also be leaving the class/es that i'll be making each of my kids but feel free to suggest a different class if you feel necessary) Elise!Ophelia - Witch Orochi!Rhajat - Witch Oboro!Sophie - Paladin or Hero Rinkah!Caeldori - General, Great knight or Falcon Knight (Has S rank with Ignatius) Setsuna!Dywer - Master ninja (Has A+ rank with Asugi) Nina!Kana - Witch Kaze!Shigure - Swordsmaster or Master Ninja (If I want him as a Swordsmaster I need to make him A+ with Hisame) Selena!Hisame - Master of Arms, Hero or Blacksmith Felicia!Forrest - Strategist or Sorc Charlotte!Siegbert - Berserker, Hero or Paladin Hinoka!Mitama - Dread Fighter Camilla!Velouria - Wolfssenger Nyx!Nina - Adventurer or Onmyoji Mozu!Kiragi - Sniper or Kinshi knight Effie!Percy - Hero, Wyvern Lord or Berserker Beruka!Ignatius - General Azura!Midori - Master Ninja Kagero!Shiro - Spear Master Peri!Soleil - Paladin or Hero Hana!Selkie - Nine-Tails Sakura!Asugi - Dark Falcon

This is under major overhaul. How do you go about planning builds for your characters for Arena? These are my general build processes, but they need a lot of improvement and streamlining so critique is much appreciated. Hopefully, this will also help players who have trouble figuring it out how to build their own units. Disclaimer: Here is arcticsilverfox's calculator that is required for this process; it is based on Andu2's calculator which you can also use. You can also use the calculator to experiment with your own ideas. The introduction covers general game play philosophy and a little bit about my play style. It is not necessary to read it, but you will have a better understanding of the build process. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — This section's information is pending deletion/revision/overhaul to be incorporated into the above section. Before building a Player Phase unit, you should decide what kind of Player Phase unit you want to build. Player Phase builds are divided into two main categories: high Spd builds and low Spd builds. High Spd builds are your regular Player Phase builds that utilize an A skill that boosts both Atk and Spd and the B skill is usually Desperation. Low Spd builds consists of one shot builds, Brave builds, and Special spam builds. Here is the build process for Player Phase units: Here are my build processes for maximizing wins and minimizing losses on Enemy Phase. I do not enjoy planning these as much since they do not suit my play style as much. Here is the build process for Enemy Phase units: Here is the build process for Enemy Phase survival units: What do you guys think? Are there any flaws or things that I overlooked? Obviously, my build processes are not able to give you cool builds like Medic Lucina, Medic Linde, Galeforce Lyn, Wings of Mercy Hector, or Wings of Mercy dancers/singer; that takes creativity and creativity does not sprout from static formulas. You can also check this same guide on fireemblemheroesforum.com in this thread. The formatting there looks less "wordy" so it may be easier to read. Edit Log: Wishlist: — — — — — — — — — — — — — — - - - BEGINNER POINTERS - - - Here is a list of pointers. Not a big fan of most beginner guides since they fail to mention important concepts and drone on about obvious stuff. If there is anything you think is too obvious on here, please let me know so I can remove it. I do not want new players reading about things they already know about; it wastes their time. —<>—<>—<>— Before you start doing anything, please read these. —<>—<>—<>— Rerolls Natures DO NOT SEND HOME FREE UNITS!!! —<>—<>—<>— Here are pointers for general housekeeping right after the tutorial. —<>—<>—<>— DO NOT COMPLETE CHAIN CHALLENGES ON NORMAL DIFFICULTY!!! Positioning Units at the Start of the Map Upgrade Castle Upgrade Barracks Skip Animation —<>—<>—<>— Playing the game. —<>—<>—<>— Grand Hero Battles Team Composition Ranged Versus Melee Units Player Phase Versus Enemy Phase Combat Use Dancers/Singer/Assists Skill Inheritance Merging —<>—<>—<>— Here are some other pointers. —<>—<>—<>— Online Resources Common Abbreviations/Jargon This section is still under construction. I will add more pointers when I encounter something new players should know.

Mild spoilers for FE13 and FE14 ahead Hi all! So I have had a Revelations file planned for a while now, in which I pair couples based on the colours the mother will pass down to her child to get the closest to the official sprites as I can. Official sprites (as used on Twitter) compiled here This poses some immediate challenges. Some children could use the same mother for the closest hairstyle. My choice? The characters with the most hair or the most plot significance (i.e. Heirs of Fates or Awakening references) will get precedence over non-plot relevant children. For example, this would imply that Soleil wins Felicia's hair colour over Miitama as Soleil's hair references Olivia. There are some highly sought after hair colours (i.e. blonde) that we just don't have enough units for or colours that are rare/inaccessible. So I will be using a female Avatar to wed one lucky guy - though I'm undecided on who. This is where you come in! Below is a list of chosen pairings that create near-canon hair colours for the children. Midori - Kaze x Setsuna (closest to green) Asugi - Saizo x Sakura (commonly paired for near-orange hair) Caeldori - Subaki x Selena (implied as Caeldori's 'canon' mother) Siegbert - Xander x Charlotte (Siegbert is an Heir of Fate. Charlotte provides a near ideal blonde.) Soleil - Laslow x Felicia (Priority over Miitama as reference to Awakening) Ophelia - Odin x Elise (provides same shade of hair as Odin) Shiro - Ryoma x Mozu (Mozu's hair is darker and thus closer to Shiro's canon shade than her other contender, Kagero) Rhajat - Hayato x Nyx (Black hair that references Tharja in Awakening) Miitama - Azama x Rinkah (White is closest to her sherbet pink) Kiragi - Takumi x Hana (Closest to Takumi's hair colour) Hisame - Hinata x Kagerou (slightly lighter brown is closest to Hisame after Hana) Dwyer - Jakob x Effie (Silver hair is close to Dwyer's grey) Unsure: Sophie - Silas x Beruka? Selkie - Kaden x Hinoka? Percy - Arthur x ??? Nina - Niles x Azura? Forrest - Leo x ??? Ignatius - Benny x ??? Velouria - Keaton x ??? Please post your feedback and suggestions below! All suggestions for couples will be considered, even the "established" ones! Let's canonize!

This forum is for any and all over powered builds for pvp to make the best teams possible

So, I don´t know if there is an existing post for this, but yeah, I had some ideas, mostly names for my builds but I´ll try to complete them soon. Well, here is the list of names. Clumsy Maid Felicia - Maid Sol Shurikenfaire Inspiration Live to Serve I really don´t know give me some ideas Multitalented Mushroom Hater Jakob - Butler Luna Shurikenfaire Inspiration Live to Serve Armored Blow Old Spice Gunter - G. Knight Luna Deadly Breath Line of Death Galeforce Aggressor Ice Cold Flora (or maybe Ice Ice Flora...) - Maid Vengeance Shurikenifaire Lifetaker Inspiration Live to Serve Dragoncursed Ninja Kamui - Master Ninja Lethality (or something else, I like Lethality..) Draconic Curse Deadly Breath Replicate Cut Through (couldn´t think of anything else..) My idea with this one is like to replicate the unit and separate them in order to drop the stats of enemies so that others can finish them up. Lobster Wannabe Kamui - Hoshido Noble Astra Swordfaire Hoshidan Unity Dragon Fang Vantage High Lobster of Hoshido Ryoma - Swordmaster Astra Swordfaire Death Blow Line of Death Lancebreaker Lobstar Ryoma - Lodestar Dancing Blade Speedtaker Astra Swordfaire Lancebreaker Dragonborn Hero Kamui . Hero Sol Dragon Ward Swordfaire Replicate Amateratsu My idea is like the Dragoncursed Ninja, use replicate but this one is to support your other units, halve their damage give them health or defense. Greedy Little Anna - Merchant Hana Banana - Swordmaster Tactical Puppeteer Yukimura - Mechanist Suicide Squad Saizo - Master Ninja Line of Death Lethality Shurikenfaire Deadly Breath Galeforce 50 Shades of Niles - Adventurer Little Boy Hayato - Onmyoji Little Cheese of Hoshido Shiro - Weapon Master Friend Bear Benny - General Cirque du Soleil - Hero Fabulous Forrest - Strategist Corn Prince Xander - Paladin Swordfaire Aegis Luna Armored Blow Lifetaker Little Princess Kamui - Nohrian Noble Swordfaire Luna Nohrian Trust Dragon Fang Draconic Curse (or another one?) Pieridorito - G.Knight Hoshidan Dragongirl - Kanna Nohrian Dragonboy - Kanna If you have any ideas for Names for the builds post them, or if you also have builds of your own post them. Edit* I also need you to change my ideas a bit since I haven´t thought much of if the skills will work right.

I haven't seen a thread like this and the regular Unit Optimization thread is super long I didn't bother to look for an avatar section of it. Seeing as how there are so many options for the avatar's optimization, I figured it made sense to start a new thread. Now, I'm new to PvP and do not yet own the game so my whole build is hypothetical and could really suck when it comes down to it. I like the male avatar quite a bit but I think having two children, while apparently not as good as it was in Awakening, is just too hard to pass up. I'll play both male and female to make a final call, but Kamui (+Spd/-Mag) (maybe + Skl?) Dark Blood Growth HP 60 Str 60 Mag 25 Skl 55 Spd 65 Lck 60 Def 45 Res 25 Not bad. Dark Blood Max Stats HP 60 Str 32 Mag 28 Skl 30 Spd 35 Lck 29 Def 29 Res 30 Also not bad. Not sure if I'd end in this class or not, but definitely a sword wielding class. Galeforce Aether Copycat Puppet Hoshido (for Aether, admittedly not the best skill choice but idk what else to do, maybe Dragon Fang or Draconic Curse) Swordfaire Most likely marrying Femui to Zero and Mamui to Camilla. Let me know what you think, suggestions, criticisms, your own builds, anything.

(tl:dr if you are having trouble in PvP due to a certain build the enemy has, then come here and explain the issue, and at least I will analyze the situation and try to create the set and how to check it.) Hello everyone, I made this thread to discuss some of the common(and maybe even uncommon) builds present in PvP and what people can do to check them. You don't have to follow my format, but I like organizing information. If someone brings to my attention a new build or check to a build, I'll add that information to the original post so others can see. Copycat will not be listed in the skills section, as literally any set at least WANTS Copycat. Terminology: Atk = Total Attack Power Cap = Capacity Dmg = Damage FW = Falcon Warrior GK = Golden Kite Ranged = Tome/Kunai/Bow Melee = Sword/Lance/Axe Physical = Kunai/Bow/Sword/Lance/Axe WRB = Weapon Rank Bonus WTA = Weapon Triangle Advantage BOLDED ____ = Strong ____ Ex: A bolded "skills wanted" means it is a strong skill for the build. Underlined ___ = Important ___ Builds: Strength & Skill Based ORKO Character: Any, but prefers FW/GK Matoi, Rinkah, Takumi, Pieri, and any high Str Caps Class: Any, but prefers fliers or high movement classes Weapon: Physical Brave Weapons, Ranged Weapons that allow you to double Skills needed: Flamboyant, Luna, Breaking Sky OR Nohr, Flamboyant with proper teammate Skills wanted: Aggressor, Swallow Strike, Galeforce, Extravagance, Hoshido, Lethality(only Nohr set) Checks: Miracle, Kaze's Miracle, Aegis(for ranged), Pavise(for melee), Defensive Formation(for non-brave weapons), Counter(for melee Brave weapons), Trueblade Dodge Tank, Draconic Shield Magic & Skill Based ORKO Character: Any, but prefers FW/GK Matoi, Rinkah, and any high Mag Caps Class: Any, but prefers fliers or high movement classes Weapon: Snake God, Lightning, strong tome or spell Skills needed: Flamboyant, Luna, Ignis OR Nohr, Flamboyant with proper teammate Skills wanted: Aggressor, Swallow Strike, Galeforce, Extravagance, Hoshido, Lethality(only Nohr set) Checks: Miracle, Kaze's Miracle, Aegis, Defensive Formation(for non-brave weapons), Magic Counter, Trueblade Dodge Tank, Draconic Shield Strength & Damage Based ORKO Character: Any, but prefers FW/GK Matoi, Rinkah, Takumi, Pieri, and any high Str Caps Class: Any, but prefers fliers or high movement classes Weapon: Physical Brave Weapons, Ranged Weapons that allow you to double Skills needed: Extravagance, Line of Death, Aggressor Skills wanted: Swallow Strike, Galeforce, Prescient Victory, Weaponfaire, Raven Strike Checks: Miracle, Kaze's Miracle, Aegis(for ranged), Pavise(for melee), Defensive Formation(for non-brave weapons), Counter(for melee Brave weapons), Trueblade Dodge Tank, Draconic Shield Magic & Damage Based ORKO Character: Any, but prefers FW/GK Matoi, Rinkah, and any high Mag Caps Class: Any, but prefers fliers or high movement classes Weapon: Snake God, Lightning, strong tome or spell, or Magic Physical Weapons(ex: Levin Sword) Skills needed: Extravagance, Line of Death, Aggressor Skills wanted: Swallow Strike, Galeforce, Prescient Victory, Weaponfaire, Raven Strike Checks: Miracle, Kaze's Miracle, Aegis(for ranged), Pavise(for magic melee), Defensive Formation(for non-brave weapons), Magic Counter, Trueblade Dodge Tank, Draconic Shield Critical Based ORKO Character: Any, but prefers Takumi, Ryoma, Arthur, Odin, Ophelia, Charlotte, Crimson Class: Any, but prefers Berserker, Trueblade, Sorcerer, Holy Lancer, Holy Bowman, Elite Ninja, Witch, Lodestar Weapon: Killer Weapons, Aurgelmir, Great Club, Berka's Killer Axe, Excalibur, Odin's Black Tome Skills needed: Ogre Strike, Galeforce Skills wanted: Swallow Strike, Raven Strike, Roundhouse, Awakening, Aggressor, Line of Death, Extravagance, Flamboyant, Luna, Ignis, Breaking Sky, Nohr, Defensive Formation, Vantage Checks: Miracle, Kaze's Miracle, Pavise(for melee), Aegis(for ranged), Lutz' Lucky Soul, Holy Lancers+Suisha, Beast Classes, Marth's Replica, Marth Lodestar+Divine Falchion, Trueblade Dodge Tank, Draconic Shield Lethality Build Character: Any, but prefers Takumi, Pieri Class: Any, but prefers fliers or high movement classes Weapon: Brave Weapons, Lightning, Ranged Weapons that allow you to double Skills needed: Lethality, Flamboyant, Hoshido OR Nohr, Flamboyant, Hoshido with proper teammate Skills wanted: Miracle, Pavise, Aegis, Swallow Strike, Raven Strike, Diamond Strike, Galeforce Checks: Miracle, Kaze's Miracle, Defensive Formation, Trueblade Dodge Tank Physical Tank Build Character: Any high Def Cap but prefers Hinata, Silas, Avatar, Ignis, Benoit, Kanna Class: Great Knight, General, Shura, Wyvern Lord Weapon: Guard Naginata, Javelin, Siegfried, Ike's Replica Sword, Handaxe, Arthur's Manly Axe, Quick Draw Katana, Kodachi, Throwing Club, Diamond Club, Reverse Spell, Horse God, Dragonstones(any of them) Skills needed: Defensive Formation(except for Shura and maybe Wyvern Lord), Counter, Aegis Skills wanted: Miracle, Kaze's Miracle(on an ally), Pavise, Dragonic Shield(on an ally), Magic Counter, Strength/Magic Seal, Confined Defense, Vengeance, Sol, Aether Checks: uh.... taking 2 rounds to kill it instead of one?, use Magic ORKO sets? (???), I'll expand this section if we ever make solid rules of what is restricted. Magic Tank Build Character: Any high Res Cap but prefers Avatar, Ignis, Benoit, Nyx, Hisame, Kanna Class: General, Basara, Falcon Warrior, Elite Ninja, Nine Tailed Fox, Dread Fighter, Paladin Weapon: Any Lance/Kunai, Guard Naginata, Javelin, Siegfried, Quick Draw Katana, Kodachi, Throwing Club, Horse God, Reverse Club, Reverse Yumi, Mirror Yumi, Magicslayer Arrow, Brunnhilde, Missiletainn, Book of Thoron, Robin's Manuscript, Guard Beaststone, Dragonstones(any of them) Skills needed: Aegis Skills wanted: Miracle, Kaze's Miracle(on an ally), Pavise, Dragonic Shield(on an ally), Magic Counter, Strength/Magic Seal, Confined Defense, Vengeance, Sol, Aether, Defensive Formation(for General), Counter, Tomebreaker Checks: use Physical ORKO sets? (???), I'll expand this section if we ever make solid rules of what is restricted. Trueblade Dodge Tank Build Character: Any high Spd character, but Kisaragi, Avatar(with Jakob paired up), and Subaki are notable Class: Trueblade Weapon: Hagakure, Reverse Katana Skills needed: Lucky Seven(NOT FOR KISARAGI), Underdog(only for Kisaragi and other children) Skills wanted: Miracle, Kaze's Miracle(on an ally), Pavise, Dragonic Shield(on an ally), Aegis, Sol, Aether, Flowing Strike, Line of Death Checks: Raven Strike Critical set ups, Raven Strike Swallow Strike Damage Based Set Ups, getting lucky