How do you use the Lion Head Statues?

[Thane]

Hello everyone.

Minor gameplay spoilers ahead.

The Lion Head Statues from Gaiden make their return here, usually allowing you to permanently boost a specific stat of any unit of your choice up to three times, though you normally have to choose between two separate lion heads which share the number of uses and offer different bonuses, meaning there's a lot of tinkering that can be done here.

Right now, I'm being offered to raise either Resistance or Experience. Thinking it won't be too hard to get levels (and the growths are rather low so you can end up disappointed anyway), I figured I should go for the Res. The question is if I want to patch up Valbar's pathetic magical defenses or simply improve the units which are already good at resisting spells. 

Anyway, feel free to discuss which stats you give to whom!

[Jedi]

I don't think it'd be worth it, a unit that is particularly bad at something getting a boost in it, is not as beneficial as someone who is more borderline decent, getting even more attention in the stat. (Unless the stat booster is a Robe or one of the ridiculous FE3 ones).

Thats just my opinion of course, do what you will haha. You could probably make Valbar the best magic tank in existence if you wanted.

[Archeleon]

Resistance is in an odd space. You are either DF and take no damage from magic or you arent DF and spells do nigh true damage. Going for a middle ground is going to leave you disappointed.

[Cyas]

To me it makes more sense to boost already proficient stats. You should aim to hit benchmarks, like going from being 2HKOed by magic to being 3HKOed. That way, the stat boost was actually useful and you can hardly achieve that when your base Res is nigh 0. E.g.: An enemy with 20 attack against a unit with 20 HP and 3 Res will 2HKO you even after a small Res boost. However, 20 Att. VS. 20HP and 10 Res will go from a 2HKO to a 3HKO after a boost.

[grandjackal]

Going to concur with the above. Valvo (I know his name is Valbar, but I'm calling him what he is) getting some minor res will most likely not matter at all with how hard a magic user can hit. On the other hand, if someone can go from somewhat concerned about magic to straight up not caring, that is of greater use. Knowing you can just throw 1 guy at huge magic problems shouldn't be undervalued.

That being said, that gap is very narrow. Pegasi don't care about magic already, as do demonslayers. Everyone else basically has 0 res. If this were a no grind run, I might actually say exp, but if you wanna grind then yeah. 

[Thane]

I ended up giving one Res to Celica, Saber and Mae, seeing as they already had some bulk in that regard. The idea of making Valbar a juggernaut is fun, but three Resistance won't help too much, I figured, just like you all said. 

[Refa]

Too late now, but experience seems more worth it to me in that regard.  I'm pretty sure it gets you from 0 to 99, which is super helpful for units who are overleveled and starting to feel the pain of Gaiden's EXP curve.  Granted, I'm not sure if SoV fixed this.

[Jedi]

9 minutes ago, Refa said:

Too late now, but experience seems more worth it to me in that regard.  I'm pretty sure it gets you from 0 to 99, which is super helpful for units who are overleveled and starting to feel the pain of Gaiden's EXP curve.  Granted, I'm not sure if SoV fixed this.

Yeah i'm not sure either, Gaidens exp curve was almost painful at points.

[Pikappa93]

Nah, I don't think exp is worth it, you'll eventually get your level ups (especially if you buy the grinding DLC). Resistance on the other hand is a rare matter, and it's totally worth it.

[Cyas]

EXP seemed more worthwile to me too since the majority of the cast will gain 2-3 stats on average per level-up and it also brings you closer to the next promotion. Though, I assumed that the OP would grind eventually and it wasn't the question in the first place.

Quote

Pegasi don't care about magic already, as do demonslayers.

I haven't played the game so I may be wrong on this one but DFs and Falcon Knights seem like good recipients for Res boosts. FK Res base is 12 and DF base Res is 6+5. Consider that Res hardly grows naturally and that enemies in Chapter 4 Normal mode already have 24 Attack (including the spell).

Edited April 20, 2017 by Cyas

[Seafarer]

Well, in my recently-completed Gaiden run, I pretty much ignored any statues that weren't HP, Def, or Spd. I didn't even notice there was a Res one - that might have been useful to stop Alm being Sorcerer bait in the lategame.

By and large, though, I found enemy mages slow and fragile, and thus easily ORKOed by my physical units. Res wasn't very important once all the magic enemies were dead.