Rare Weapons and Stat Boosters- Use or Hoard?

[Interdimensional Observer]

This is a problem I myself, and I know others too, struggle with in FE. Every game with durable weapons invariably gives you some you simply cannot replace easily or at all. Things like Legendary Weapons, Braves, or earlygame Killers and Silvers, long range tomes, and effective damage weapons like Hammers. Also, rare staffs like Warp, Fortify, Sleep, and Hammerne. Their power is awesome, but you have to contend with the fact they won't last forever. This means you have to be strategic with them, but as different people play in different ways and with different strategies, people will use rare weapons differently.

And in all games barring Gaiden (though Lion Heads exist) and Genealogy, you get items that permanently increase stats, but are available only in finite quantities (okay, technically you can buy infinite quantities in some secret shops- ignore that). And like with rare weapons, they have to be used strategically, and thus people use them differently.

I'm curious how other FE players tend to be with these kinds of things.

Select one choice from the rare weapons trio of answers, and one from the stat boosters trio of answers.

 

I acknowledge that sometimes a person may play in different ways. One day you're doing an LTC/draft where its abuse every resource available, another its Ranked FE7 where you need to hoard for your Funds rank, and yet another you're just chilling doing a casual run not caring about about turns or funds or anything else. Base your answers on what you'd instinctively do on your definition of a "normal" playthrough.

 

As for myself- I'm a chronic hoarder, no matter how much I want to break out of that irrational mold.

Edited May 15, 2017 by Interdimensional Observer
Forgot staffs existed

[NinjaMonkey]

33 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And in all games barring Gaiden (though Lion Heads exist) and Genealogy, you get items that permanently increase stats, but are available only in finite quantities (okay, technically you can buy infinite quantities in some secret shops- ignore that).

You forgot Awakening, where every now and then Anna will appear on the map and have a random statbooster for sale.

Anyway, in PoR and RD I tend to hoard my statboosters, but in Awakening I don't bother.

As for rare weapons, in PoR and RD I only use the S (SS in RD) weapons in Endgame, but don't care in Awakening (Infinite Regalia FTW!).

[Armagon]

Anything that is rare, i tend to hold on to only when absolutely neccesary. The amount of durability is also a factor as well. For example, Myrrh's Dragonstone is unreplacable but it at least has 50 uses and it can last until the end of the game, and even then, you have a little bit of use out of it left.

Fae's Dragonstone on the other hand only has 30 uses and since you are required to bring her for Ch.24 and Endgame, i tend to not use her at all until Ch.24.

[Magical Glace]

You could have made two questions, but uh okay.

Weapons I tend to hoard.  Especially in FE6 where the game encourages this with the legendary weapons since you're locked out of the true ending if just one breaks.

Statboosters, however, I tend to use.

[Cyas]

The earlier you use a stat booster, the longer it is in effect. Hence why I hand them out early unless the best recipient happens to join later.

FE games usually give you more weapon durability on legendaries than actually needed so I tend to use them quite deliberately as well. E.g.: In my last playthrough, I used Siegmund whenever something wouldn't be a ORKO (or XRKO in the case of Endgame Lyon and Fomortiis) otherwise and still had 17 uses left at the end. A little planning also helps and makes it possible to determine how often and when you can use a weapon without it breaking too early.

[Etria]

I spent statboosters almost immediately if I haven't planned to keep them for someone beforehand.

I only use divine weapons in the last chapters. Mostly because before that, they're kinda overkill. If I managed to easily get through the chapters with just normal weapons, it's not worth to waste the divines. Regarding the non-divine, special weapons like hammer and stuff; I use them so rarely, that most of the time, I just sell them to buy more steel weapons.

[Refa]

Hoarding is literally never worth it.  I was surprised how much easier FE became when I just used the cool shit that was handed to me.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Of course I don't use any of that. It's part of the too-good-to-use club. Like Megalixers or the Master Ball. 

The biggest prompts for me to use stat boosters and weapons are at the end of finite games like FE7. But if there's a post game like in Sacred Stones and Awakening, I'll hang on to everything out of habit. Or any point of the game where such items would be taken away from you, like the final chapter of Lyn's story. That seraph robe and energy ring are far more valuable to Lyn than her showing up with a more expensive gem when you re-recruit her.

[Thinks Their Own Way]

I'm a hoarder, especially with stat boosters; I opened my heavily grind file of Awakening and realized I had:

• 10 Seraph Robes
• 6 Energy Drops
• 4 Spirit Dusts
• 8 Secret Books
• 10 Speedwings
• 9 Goddess Icons
• 6 Dracoshields
• 3 Tailsmans
• 2 Arms Scrolls

 

[Shadow Mir]

You could've made two polls.

Anyway, I tend to hoard both - I'm disinclined to use the rare weapon when it's overkill more often than not, and I'm rather indecisive on the subject of stat boosters.

6 hours ago, NinjaMonkey said:

You forgot Awakening, where every now and then Anna will appear on the map and have a random statbooster for sale.

Anyway, in PoR and RD I tend to hoard my statboosters, but in Awakening I don't bother.

As for rare weapons, in PoR and RD I only use the S (SS in RD) weapons in Endgame, but don't care in Awakening (Infinite Regalia FTW!).

Which is pretty uncommon in general (save for a select few locations, most of which are at or near endgame), as is Anna showing up.

Speaking of, even with Infinite Regalia, I'm still hesitant to use the rare weapons.

[Moblin Major General]

I used to sell my statboosters (except Angelic Robes, huge mistake), and I didn't use even the Prf weapons often because I didn't want to lose them (broke the habit with Shadow Dragon).

[The Malign Knight]

With weapons, I tend to hoard because oh my god, I have only one of them and I'm too scared to break it. However, I use Stat boosters ASAP, especially if a unit is lacking in a certain stat.

[Camus The Dark Knight]

I'm not very liberal about using rare weapons or stat boosters. It's not a very good strategy, but it's my OCD kicking in. A few exceptions, first being I always give Sanaki an energy drop or two, since most of the time nobody else needs them, and I will use effective weapons on powerful enemies, often bosses. Otherwise iron weapons all the way.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Hmm... depends on the game acutally.
As for status boosts I normally wait till near end of the game to check out who does need which boost.
There are still a few cases for immediate use like angelic robe on Roy and a angelic robe on FE10 Jill to ler her take multiple hits in part 1.
I'd say FE6 and 10 are the only parts I use some of them rather early.

As for rare or forge weapons I use them conservatively; only if I have to.