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Shadow Dragon Tips/Pointers/Tricks


Zepler
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Hey, I struck gold the other day, and found a used copy of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. I'm extremely happy that I found this game, and now I finally get to experience the Archanea story line... (Finally! So excited!)

I am an semi-average player when it comes to FE games. I can determine what will be effective and different combinations of res, speed, attack, etc, but I am nothing compared to the pros. I know that the mechanics work differently in Shadow Dragon compared to more recent games, (Especially the no Casual mode... which I'm going to struggle with...) but is there any tips or tricks I should know about? 

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6 minutes ago, Zepler said:

Hey, I struck gold the other day, and found a used copy of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. I'm extremely happy that I found this game, and now I finally get to experience the Archanea story line... (Finally! So excited!)

I am an semi-average player when it comes to FE games. I can determine what will be effective and different combinations of res, speed, attack, etc, but I am nothing compared to the pros. I know that the mechanics work differently in Shadow Dragon compared to more recent games, (Especially the no Casual mode... which I'm going to struggle with...) but is there any tips or tricks I should know about? 

For the first map, pay attention to enemy terrain, it is extremely important on hard not to engage pirates on the sea.

Reclassing is available after chapter 4, here it can be done according to a class limit. Some classes are good for characters to level in, but not use as a final class.

 

Edited by Emperor Hardin
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I guess another tip from an average FE fans experience with it, don't focus all your levels on 1-3 units like I did, that made it really hard come endgame. Also t should be noted that gaiden chapters aka paralogues in this game require a certain unit count in your amy, basically to access the gaiden chapters you have to kill off units. The first example is you lose one unit in the prologues, I'm not referring to an scripted event btw, so you lose one unit besides whatever scripting to get this character. I know this gaiden requirements honestly are terrible and I never let anyone die cause that's how I play FE.

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* If playing on Hard, sometimes sacrificing a newly recruited unit is worth going through as you aren't going to use every unit.

* Reclassing can sometimes reveal interesting things about a character. For example, the starting armor Knight has a low defense growth and extremely high speed in other classes.

* If you lose enough characters, you will start getting faceless generics whose level is based on the level of your surviving units. This creates a very unique and interesting play style if you wanna go that route.

* While virtually all the classes are good for something. Some characters aren't so good unless you really like them. Most pre promotes are going to be bad due to their base stats no longer being impressive in the DS era. Finally some units like the first pirate you get don't have great growth rates.

 

Edited by Emperor Hardin
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-Only Marth can visit villages. Also, after Chapter 6 and onward, Marth can open chests without consuming any keys, lockpicks, or anything of the sort.

-Marth and Caeda are the ones who recruit most of the recruitable red units. If it's not either of them, there will generally be some hint as to who's supposed to talk to them from a previous chapter.

-Thieves can open both chests and doors without consuming any keys, lockpicks, or anything of the sort.

-Constitution = Strength. So if your strength is higher than the weapon's weight you're wielding, you don't lose attack speed. Sadly, unpromoted mages will generally suffer attack speed loss all the time unless you use Strength Boosters on them.

-You cannot rescue/pair up characters at all.

-Lords, Thieves, Manaketes, Freelancers/Chameleons, and Ballisticians cannot promote. However, they cap out at level 30 instead of level 20.

-The Starsphere will make the wielder never lose weapon uses as long as they hold it, so be sure to use legendary/rare weapons like crazy to make the most of it.

-The Lightsphere will make the wielder suffer no penalty from attacking an enemy in defensive/evasive terrain, making it very useful for attacking bosses on gates/thrones.

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This FAQ might be a good starting place for reading material: https://serenesforest.net/shadow-dragon/general/faq/

There's a ton of advice I could give you, believe me, but the main sticking points are as follows:

- For your first time through, definitely use Marth as much as possible.  You might need him for the final boss, and the game will force you to drag him across the maps to visit villages and seize thrones anyway.  Caeda's a good choice as well, if only so that you can recruit more units, though she's a great unit in her own right.

- Jagen may not look like much, but he is your best friend for early game.  Sure, he has awful stats for a unit of his class and level, but they're enough of an edge to protect your other units until they can get their own bearings.

- Use at least one mage, even if they start out as a healer.  There's a tome you get in the game that is the only thing that can do damage against a certain enemy.  The details will be made clear, but it's important to just know that you should be using a mage.  The main candidates for this weapon are Merric and Linde, both of whom can be solid units.

- The Fane of Raman is where you really need to pay attention.  If you let a thief slip away with either of the stones, you will lose access to an important weapon.  Also, bring Bantu there, even if you never use him.

- You can beat the game if you don't use that weapon I mentioned, but you'll wind up getting worse weapons to work with for dealing with the final boss.  And trust me, the final boss has ridiculously jacked stats, so you'll need a solid edge over him.

- Don't concern yourself with getting the Gaiden chapters.  Just play the game however you wish.  You don't miss out on much.

- Wolf and Sedgar have ridiculous growth rates to compensate for the fact that they're now promoted units that join very early on (they originally weren't).  This essentially means they'll always have solid stats by endgame.

- Mind the Hyman.  That is all.  Seriously, there's an enemy boss called Hyman, I'm not making this up.

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5 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

- Jagen may not look like much, but he is your best friend for early game.  Sure, he has awful stats for a unit of his class and level, but they're enough of an edge to protect your other units until they can get their own bearings.

- Wolf and Sedgar have ridiculous growth rates to compensate for the fact that they're now promoted units that join very early on (they originally weren't).  This essentially means they'll always have solid stats by endgame.

- To expand on this, Jagen is excellent for chasing down thief units in the early half of the game due to his high movement..

- Wolf and Sedgar are good reclassed in classes such as General and Hero.

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Forged effective weapons (Ridersbanes and the likes) are ridiculously broken since every additional point of power is tripled against their targets. Caeda's Wing Spear in particular deals effective damage against like 90% of the game's bosses, which combined with her high speed lets her one-round every armor knight / cavalier and their promoted forms in the game, including bosses, at least on lower difficulties.

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Eh, have some early-game advice:

- If you want to level a prepromote, and fast, reclass them to a staffbot.  That will allow them to gain a decent chunk of experience.  Just make sure they don't gain a level!
- Vulneraries are limited until Chapter 8.  Plan accordingly.
- Chapter 6 has no forts.  Bring a healer!
- There's two components to a character's stats: personal stats and class base stats.  Some characters have extremely lopsided bases, while others are in a class that has lopsided bases.  This can be exploited via reclassing.
- Growth rates generally suck, so don't be surprised if you see 0-1 stats go up.  That's normal.
- Reclassing will alter growth rates.  Most of the time, it's not a big deal.
- You don't need gigantic numbers until right before the end.  You'll most likely be fine unless you're starting on H5.
- The weapon forge is meant to be used.
- I believe you can check the shops on the preview map by moving the cursor to them and pressing A.  You'll want to do this on every map, because some of the shops sell good stuff.

And one endgame tip:

- The best weapon on the final boss map is

Spoiler

the Geosphere, even if it isn't technically a weapon.  Use twice to kill the healers, which are arguably the most dangerous things on the map.

 

Edited by eclipse
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-There is a manakete that goes particularly well with the star-sphere for some levelling without wasting the divine stone. It's not Bantu either.
-next to no one has resistance so be ready with lots of pure water for a certain lategame chapter. You'll know it when you see it.
 

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Caeda and her Wing Spear are your best friends. Forge the wing spear and use it often.

Warp is your second best friend, even if you aren't trying to skip a bunch of the game. Being able to put a unit anywhere on the map is broken.

You don't need to level up Marth to beat the final boss - though on the lower difficulties he's probably one of your better options anyway.

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-Tiki, a character you recruit much later does significant damage to the final boss and can be used to cheese the final map.

-Wolf and Sedgar, two prepromotes you get in one of the earlier maps, have awful base stats extremely high growths. If you are playing the game slowly, they can become one of your best units with reclassing.

-On the topic of reclassing, Wendell a unit with 8 personal speed (with is absurdly high for that point in the game) can be reclassed to different classes to take advantage of his huge speed as the Sage class only have 4 base speed.

-Always forge effective weapons.

-Axes are probably the best weapon types in DSFE.

-On harder difficulties, Marth gets ORKO'd by Medeus no matter what, so there's no reason to get the Falchion.

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You don't need Marth for the final boss, sure, but I can think of a few other reasons why you'd want to use him a lot for your first playthrough:

- He's a mandatory deploy

- He needs to seize the throne every map, and ensuring the way is clear and then hauling him all the way to the throne from behind the frontlines is a needless pain

- He's also needed to reap the rewards from villages

- He can open chests, which basically means he's like another thief on the map

- He's actually a fairly solid unit

You can go through the game leaving him as a level 1, but why should you unless you're self-imposing challenges or you really need the experience for some other units?  And on Normal, he's definitely a viable option for fighting the end boss.

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On 2/24/2018 at 7:34 AM, YouSquiddinMe said:

Caeda and her Wing Spear are your best friends. Forge the wing spear and use it often.

Warp is your second best friend, even if you aren't trying to skip a bunch of the game. Being able to put a unit anywhere on the map is broken.

So weapons don't 'disappear' per say like in Awakening? That would be great, since Wing Spear is practically a Cavalier/Armor slayer. (2 in 1!)

And I see SoV mechanics.... (Warp is broken. xD)

On 2/23/2018 at 10:18 PM, Ertrick36 said:

- Jagen may not look like much, but he is your best friend for early game.  Sure, he has awful stats for a unit of his class and level, but they're enough of an edge to protect your other units until they can get their own bearings.

What if I sacrificed Jagen in the Paralouge Chapters... ha, Frey. Well I'll see how that plays out.

Edited by Zepler
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12 hours ago, Zepler said:

So weapons don't 'disappear' per say like in Awakening? That would be great, since Wing Spear is practically a Cavalier/Armor slayer. (2 in 1!)

No, weapons still break, but breaking the wing spear doesn't matter because you can hammerne it or buy more in certain shops.

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On 2/24/2018 at 9:34 AM, YouSquiddinMe said:

Caeda and her Wing Spear are your best friends. Forge the wing spear and use it often.

^
This. 

To add to this; you will encounter a few shops throughout the game that sell extra wing spear's after; make a point of hitting all of them and getting a wing spear at each shop.

Caeda with the Wing Spear is one of the best units in the game; she doubles everything and comfortably one-rounds the ever-prevalent armor and cavalry baddies with effective damage, even on higher difficulties, due to the bonus from effective damage.

Caeda without the Wing Spear struggles to damage anything due to her low strength, and won't be able to contribute much to the team.

Always make sure she has a Wing Spear ready and waiting in your convoy.  

Edited by Shoblongoo
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22 hours ago, Zepler said:

What if I sacrificed Jagen in the Paralouge Chapters... ha, Frey. Well I'll see how that plays out.

Sacrificing Jagen in the prologue is not really something to worry about, well other than the ridicule. On normal mode your other units will be fine without him, it's on higher difficulties that you need him because the enemies have such high stats that the only way to deal with them really is for Jagen to use the Silver Lance on them which isn't necessary in normal mode.

As for a tip I would say when considering re-classing a character pay attention to their Weapon Ranks as well as their Stats. Weapon ranks build slowly in this game as you only gain 2 exp per battle and no more for double attacking or killing enemies like in the GBA games and you really want characters to have a C rank so they can use some of the better weapons. Gaining a few stats but being forced to use Iron weapons is probably not worth it.

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On 2/25/2018 at 7:33 PM, Zepler said:

What if I sacrificed Jagen in the Paralouge Chapters... ha, Frey.

Then you just have another regular cavalier on top of the... *counts in head* other eight you already can get.

Draug's a decent tank for the beginning anyway.  May not be a total killing machine with a silver lance, but that's fine.  Most of your units can at least take a single hit, and imo Jagen's hardly a necessity on Normal mode.  Neither is that early game silver lance, which only really is broken in Mystery of the Emblem because Caeda could use it right away for no good reason.

On 2/26/2018 at 5:47 PM, Sturm said:

As for a tip I would say when considering re-classing a character pay attention to their Weapon Ranks as well as their Stats. Weapon ranks build slowly in this game as you only gain 2 exp per battle and no more for double attacking or killing enemies like in the GBA games and you really want characters to have a C rank so they can use some of the better weapons.

I'll second this.  Often times you will want to reclass ASAP so that your units can start building weapon ranks and levels, though there are also cases where certain classes will actually boost weapon ranks, particularly the promoted ones.  For example, you have a sage with B rank in tomes and C rank in staves, you switch him to a bishop, and he'll have a C rank in tomes and B rank in staves.  Or if you had a unit go at it as a myrmidon for a while, then promote and change them to a sniper, they'll have a C rank in bows even if they never were in a bow-using class prior to becoming a sniper.

This information will be useful for if you want to use a certain staff or weapon in a particular map.  Or if you don't want a unit to be using some dingy iron sword on, like, chapter 16.  Really, I'd just recommend changing a unit to whatever class you'd prefer them to be right away and just leaving them as such unless you only plan to change them to a slightly different class (like sage to bishop).

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