Noble Lady of Caelin Escape Pincer help

[CapnStix]

It's the Time Restricted one. I use Lucina and just solo murder hobo everything. Most kills I get, on average, is around 1100. I can't seem to get more than 1500 kills.

Truly! I am quite stuck. Pair Up doesn't seem to work, even with Sakura attached to my hip. Any help and/or advice  would be deeply appreciated.

EDIT: @Baron the Shining Blade I'm on Switch. The site won't let me reply yet.

Edited November 12, 2018 by CapnStix

[Baron the Shining Blade]

I should ask, are you playing the New 3DS version? I know that one has a lowered kill quota, but the Switch version requires 2000 kills to S-rank.

Mow down large groups of mooks when you see them. If they continue to spawn, just keep mowing them down. You may wish to keep some enemy captains and commanders alive while you do so, since killing them usually makes their group of mooks vanish. Rinse and repeat till you're at or close to 2000, then finish the map. Even with a 15-minute time limit, so long as you're not underleveled and lacking in effective skills; enemy captains, commanders, and even heroes will go down with relative ease. Besides, most maps require that you clear them in under 15 minutes to S-rank in that category, so having a 15-minute time limit ensures you will always do so. Once you've got the hang of reaching the 2000 kill quota, even maps with the Test of Skill restriction become a non-issue. I usually end up with 3k to even 4k kills without even realizing.

Also don't forget, don't gauge your total kills by just the kill count in the lower-right corner. That only shows your kills and not ally kills. It can be less than 2000 kills and still be S-rank so long as your total kills are at least 2000. You can view your total kills and the amount needed for S-rank on the pause/map screen.

[CapnStix]

I see. I forgot to manhandle (womanhandle?) mooks. As I added, I'm on Switch. Kinda makes the game slightly harder.

Also, the AI sucks at defending against shadows. Shadow Elimination is pretty tough, despite everyone being Lv40+.

[Baron the Shining Blade]

Actually, I think it's easier on the Switch since it can render more mooks on screen at one time. But I have the Switch version and only a standard 3DS, so I can't vouch for New 3DS users.

Yeah, Shadow Elimination is tough starting out. -slayer weapon attributes make most of them much easier, well worth the small might penalty. I highly recommend putting -slayer attributes on everyone's personal weapons, especially the ones you're good at using. Rowan, Ryoma, and Marth (because of Paragon and easy-to-acquire weapon scroll) carried me through most of the base game's History Mode maps. Yes, I like the abundance of sword users.

If you still have trouble, try to go for as many personal weapon scrolls and opuses (the latter are DLC) as you can. These will maximize their respective weapon's might (tripling their original strength or more) as well as remove the might penalty from -slayer attributes; this makes everything that much easier to fight. Let me tell you, being a completionist I acquired and activated every single weapon scroll and opus, and by that point there was nothing I couldn't tear through (the lvl 130 Anna battle only took me two tries to S-rank).

Meanwhile, you should also get tons of A supports with Chrom (and maybe Olivia, if you have her) so you can give the Luna skill (and Galeforce) to as many units as possible, especially those with high luck. Luna reduces enemy def and res based on your luck stat, while Galeforce fills a portion of your Warrior and Awakening gauges with every major kill (that is, any enemy with a health bar). Definitely give the latter to Tiki so she can stay in dragon form longer.

If you aren't sure what skills/attributes to use or how you should farm certain materials, I recommend checking out this guide (Google Docs spreadsheet).

Edited November 13, 2018 by Baron the Shining Blade

[CapnStix]

I have Lucina with Luna, the speed attack one (Ryoma's skill), Paragon, Str+10 and HP+50. Lucina is my main, so I'm 100% her before focusing on anyone else.

For P.Falchion, would First Class, Power Up, Fury Builder, Mountslayer, Lancebreaker and perhaps antitriangle (dunno what to put on her last slot tbh) be a good idea? Or is there better skills?

No Anna, Celica, Lyn/Lyndis and/or any DLC yet (going to purchase season pass as it's the best value, I believe), so I'm only working with base game, albeit with 150 Lv cap and the most current update.

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, CapnStix said:

For P.Falchion, would First Class, Power Up, Fury Builder, Mountslayer, Lancebreaker and perhaps antitriangle (dunno what to put on her last slot tbh) be a good idea? Or is there better skills?

First Class and Power Up are for grinding weapons. Lancebreaker is DLC, as are all the other -breaker attributes. Fury Builder isn't really something I would recommend since the boost requires several hundred KOs to become noticeable, and if you're switching, you probably won't be able to get it to that much of a boost.

3 hours ago, CapnStix said:

Also, the AI sucks at defending against shadows. Shadow Elimination is pretty tough, despite everyone being Lv40+.

Yeah, Shadow Elimination sucks. There's always something knocking at your base, and sometimes, I can't leave it or the allied commander unattended because they'll get cut through like paper otherwise. Like in one of the missions on Together to the End - your fort captain is a Wyvern Rider, and the first things that head towards your allied base are archers. You HAVE to eliminate them pronto, else you lose. Speaking of Together to the End, one mission is an Ally Rescue with bows only. I would recommend unlocking Anna, otherwise your only usable characters are Sakura and Takumi. (To unlock Anna, you must complete an illustration, which causes Anna to appear on a History mode map. Clearing the scenario unlocks Anna. [WARNING: The Anna scenarios are level 80.] All that being said, I would recommend completing the Warriors against Fate illustration.)

2 hours ago, Baron the Shining Blade said:

Meanwhile, you should also get tons of A supports with Chrom (and maybe Olivia, if you have her) so you can give the Luna skill (and Galeforce) to as many units as possible, especially those with high luck. Luna reduces enemy def and res based on your luck stat, while Galeforce fills a portion of your Warrior and Awakening gauges with every major kill (that is, any enemy with a health bar). Definitely give the latter to Tiki so she can stay in dragon form longer.

On that note, I would also recommend getting a lot of A supports with Ryoma and Rowan - the former gives Astra (the speed up skill you mentioned) and the latter gives Potent Potion (vulneraries, concoctions and elixirs can be used to heal other units).

Edited November 13, 2018 by Shadow Mir

[CapnStix]

So, what skills should I focus on.

[Shadow Mir]

13 minutes ago, CapnStix said:

So, what skills should I focus on.

Do you mean weapon attributes or skills like Astra, Luna, etc.?

[CapnStix]

2 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Do you mean weapon attributes or skills like Astra, Luna, etc.?

Yes. Both, kind sir.

[Baron the Shining Blade]

I'm about to have dinner, so I'll edit this with my skill/attribute suggestions when I come back.

Ahh, that was delicious. Now back to business.

3 hours ago, CapnStix said:

I have Lucina with Luna, the speed attack one (Ryoma's skill), Paragon, Str+10 and HP+50. Lucina is my main, so I'm 100% her before focusing on anyone else.

For P.Falchion, would First Class, Power Up, Fury Builder, Mountslayer, Lancebreaker and perhaps antitriangle (dunno what to put on her last slot tbh) be a good idea? Or is there better skills?

No Anna, Celica, Lyn/Lyndis and/or any DLC yet (going to purchase season pass as it's the best value, I believe), so I'm only working with base game, albeit with 150 Lv cap and the most current update.

I would replace the two flat stat-boosting skills. Aside from Luck+20, these flat boosts are very minuscule and barely make a difference. So I would instead get Luck+20 (from Celica) and Trample (from Camilla; you do 10% extra damage against anyone on foot, including unmounted heroes). If you use pair up often, I also recommend Solidarity on the units you use as support, as this boosts the vanguard's (the one in front) overall damage by 25%. Once you get the DLC I recommend Lethality (from Niles; your crits have a {Luck/2}% chance to deal 400% damage, complete with a quick red flash effect), Galeforce, and Iote's Shield (from Minerva; not on Lucina, but it's great for all your mounted units especially fliers plus Tiki and Corrin, as this negates their effective weaknesses. All of them, not just bows against fliers).

For attributes (in general, not just for Parallel Falchion) I recommend as before a -slayer (two -slayers if it doesn't have one already. Don't worry, the might penalty doesn't worsen), a Strong # skill or two for the ones you use most often, Critical Focus (one of two 4000 KO-sealed attributes; you do twice the damage to an enemy's stun gauge, making it much easier to get crits in one reveal of the stun gauge) and Armor Strike which will make those crits cut your enemy's def/res in half (careful not to get hit by strong attacks or your armor will break and incur the same penalty). Once you get the DLC I highly recommend getting Amped which boosts all stats except Mov by a respectful 20%. Percentage-based boosts like this are much more significant than the flat stat boosts.

The season pass is the best value, yes. Plus you get Lucina's bride outfit. ;)

Edited November 13, 2018 by Baron the Shining Blade

[CapnStix]

Take your time, I don't mind waiting.

[Baron the Shining Blade]

In case it doesn't give you a "someone quoted you" notification, I edited my previous post with recommended skills and attributes.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Baron the Shining Blade

[CapnStix]

Wasn't aware flat boosts weren't ideal. I'll have to go a grinding then.

[Tables]

For the most part I agree with @Baron the Shining Blade's advice, but there's a few things that I don't agree with:

Trample is very mediocre. It gives a weak bonus to damage (+10%) and is not even active against all enemy types. With just the base game it's borderline on being worthwhile I guess, but that's more just because there aren't many good skills for upping damage in the base game. When you compare to the bonuses given by DLC skills such as Lethality (+400% when it activates), Vengeance (up to +300% at 1 HP), Resonating Power (up to +25% if Str/Mag are equal - even with Str/Mag a massive 75 points apart you still get +10%, the same as Trample) and Lone Wolf (+50% when not paired up), it won't really do much. Also bear in mind these bonuses are additive - so if you have say a +50% skill and two +25% skills between personal + weapon, that's +100% total, or a 2x damage multiplier. +10% on top of that brings you to 2.1x, which is actually only a 5% increase on what you had before.

I personally wouldn't worry about Iote's Shield on Corrin and Tiki. There are only four characters with dracoslayer weapons as enemies (one of which, Lyn, is somewhat uncommon), and extremely few generic enemies. With 4-8 deployment slots on almost every mission, they will basically never be a problem. For the fliers, it's more fair game. There's again only four character enemies with bows, three of which are common, but archer/snipers are common enough to worry about.

Critical Focus and Armour Strike are not really skills I would go out of your way to get, for most characters. Critical Focus is decent, but every character can easily trigger a crit on a generic's stun gauge or a gold character stun gauge, and most characters can combo a character's normal stun gauge reasonably well. On top of that it's a massive pain to grind for, needing 4K kills to unlock and there also being Aerial Focus in the same slot (which is also decent). Armour Strike is really mediocre, especially after you get the DLC. With Lethality and other damage boosts active, one crit is usually enough to kill generics or at least bring them down a lot. For officers, with a solid lethality chance two crits is generally enough. Armour Strike doesn't activate until you land that first crit, so a lot of the time it does nothing, while also making you close to twice as vulnerable. It ends up being often close to as much of a detriment as a help, and with weapon skill slots being very tight, I'd think carefully about if you want to use one on Armour Strike.

[CapnStix]

Wait a sec, are you THE Tables from the GameFAQs forum, @Tables? Does the name ZenTen mean anything to you?

That's a lot of information, I'll keep it in mind. Also, Topsy-turvy on Celica. Yay! or Nay! ?

[Tables]

Yes, that tables. No, don't recognise the name. I'm not very active there now though (well, nobody is). Topsy Turvy in general is not really ever "optimal", especially on physical units as targeting defence on average is better than targeting resistance in this game. But it helps make units more distinct from their clones and can give people a niche compared to others with a similar role. With how many sword users there are, I think Topsy Turvy on Celica is a reasonable choice for this reason.

[WeAreNewcastle1053]

One of the best ways to get more enemies is to not kill all the Fort Captains, etc. until you get S-Rank. That way, more 1-HP mooks can spawn and you'll be able to kill them to satisfy the S-Rank. For me, most cases of not defeating enough enemies is not having enough enemies to kill.

But do keep an eye on the time, and if you need to, just go straight to the commanders and kill 'em to end it quickly.