"Well the universe is shaped exactly like the earth... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- FIRE EMBLEM: RADIANT DAWN An FAQ/Walkthrough For the Nintendo Wii Copyright 2009 Richard Beast =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ...if you go straight long enough you'll end up where you were." - Modest Mouse =============================================================================== Table of Contents: =============================================================================== -!NOTE!- This guide, as you will soon see, is pretty big. Seeing as how this takes effect, you will most likely be lost in trying to find out what you want to read. There is one way to get to it, instantly. Press Ctrl + F, and then look for whatever you want. Let's say you want to go to the Basics section. Type in "IV. Basics", and then you'll go to the basics section, instantly! Pretty neat, eh? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ -------------------------- * TABLE OF CONTENTS * -------------------------- ~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction II. Legal Disclaimer III. Contact Rules IV. Basics V. Characters Va. Dawn Brigade (Part 1) Vb. Crimea Knights (Part 2) Vc. Greil Mercenaries (Part 3) Vd. Gods And Men (Part 4) VI. Walkthrough (Part 1) VIa. Under Gray Skies VIb. Maiden of Miracles VIc. The Dispossessed VId. A Faint Light VIe. A Distant Voice VIf. The Lost Heir VIg. Raise the Standard 1 VIh. Raise the Standard 2 VIi. A Gathering Hope VIj. Glory Unwanted VIk. One Survives VIl. Daein, Arise! VII. Walkthrough (Part 2) VIIa. On Drifting Clouds VIIb. Winds of Rebellion VIIc. Tides of Intrigue VIId. Geoffrey's Charge VIIe. Elincia's Gambit VIII. Walkthrough (Part 3) VIIIa. The Great Advance VIIIb. Laguz and Beorc VIIIc. Stormclouds VIIId. River Crossing VIIIe. The General's Hand VIIIf. Retreat! VIIIg. A Reason to Fight VIIIh. Rivals Collide VIIIi. Incandescent Glow VIIIj. Marauders VIIIk. The Heart of Crimea VIIIl. Just Cause VIIIm. The Price VIIIn. Blood Contract VIIIo. From Pain, Awakening IX. Walkthrough (Part 4) IXa. Chaos Named IXb. Road to the Empire IXc. Silent World IXd. Distortions IXe. Revelations IXf. Unforgivable Sin IXg. Rebirth 1 IXh. Rebirth 2 IXi. Rebirth 3 IXj. Rebirth 4 IXk. Rebirth 5 X. Items Xa. Weapons Xb. Magic Xc. Skills Xd. Shops XI. FAQ XII. Credits =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ I. Introduction ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Well well well. Look who we have here. It's Richard Beast yet again. Writing for Path of Radiance and Sacred Stones just wasn't enough. Oh wait, you don't know who I am? Well, I would normally refer you to my Path of Radiance guide since most people who have played Radiant Dawn have played Path of Radiance as well, which would mean my guide should be second nature to you already in all its awesome (end shameless self plugging), but yeah, if you don't know who I am, I'm basically a twentysomething from southeast Michigan who needs to get a life or something. So to substitute for my lack of life in my life, I play games and write rather long winded guides for said games. It's a decent trade off. To you guys at least. So, my game of choice this time is Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. I say this time because this is six years in progress now and I forget how many guides I've done, plus I suffer from laziness which prevents me from actually checking and seeing, but yeah. And if you're unfamiliar with this game, my advice to you would be to stop reading this right now and go buy it, and it's friggin' amazing. In terms of gameplay, quite possibly the most solid Fire Emblem game ever made, though Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem 7 are close. But yeah, that's me, and that's this game. Check us each out. - Richard "Gbness" Beast =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ II. Legal Disclaimer ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- You are NOT permitted to put this FAQ on your site without my permission first. All you have to do is email me or IM me saying you want this FAQ on your site, then you can tell me your site and the chance is high that I'll let you. But if you put this FAQ on your site without my permission I swear you will regret it. If I let you, not ONE word should be changed from this FAQ! NOT ONE! Got it? Good. Also, make sure that no money is involved. If you want this FAQ to be sold on eBay, then just forget about it, man. And don't sell this guide either, or pay people to use it, or you'll be in such big trouble you don't want to think. Another little note is that I will not have this guide hosted on many other web sites besides GameNotOver, GameFAQs, IGN, and Neoseeker. You need full-on permission if it's not one of the four above sites. I am sick of people ripping me off (I have been ripped off three times in the past), so if I don't like your site, I won't let my guide be posted on it. I am sorry, but this is how it has to be. If you ask politely and I like your site, you will definitely have the luck of getting it up there. Thank you very much. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ III. Contact Rules ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- First of all, feel free to check out the stuff I've written on GameFAQs. Those include a guide for Baten Kaitos, a few other sorted RPGs, and tons of random PSX games. Honor to the PSX, yanno? Hopefully, that'll be added with awesome Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Disgaea 2 guides. As you might be able to guess, I'm a large RPG fan and writer. Alright, enough shameless advertisement about me. You can e-mail me if there is a question you wish to ask that hasn't been answered in the guide, but I REALLY don't want to bother answering questions that have already been done, answered, and done again in the guide, if it isn't too much trouble. Feel free to tell me if there's something I've forgotten, however. My e-mail address is richard_power1000 [at] yahoo [dot] com. Except, replace the [at] and spaces with a "@" symbol and the [dot] and spaces with a period; I have to write like that so I don't get a dozen spam bots e-mailing me and getting me viruses. Just be polite in the e-mail, don't talk like "omg wtf rich ur gides r t3h su><0rz & how du i beat pugo", and don't ask something that's already been answered in the guide, and I'll respond. And don't bother sending things like: "You friggin' idiot. Your guides suck, you suck, and everything about you sucks. DIE DIE DIE!" "BURN IN THE FLAMES OF HELL, YOU STUPID RETARD!!!" "What the hell did you think you were doing writing all that garbage, you piece of crap? "I hope you fall down the stairs and break every bone in your body!" "u su><0rz, eVrYtInG BoUt u sUx, dIe ass!!!!!!1" I will laugh at such e-mails and delete them. So... if you're not just playing a friendly joke on me or something, don't bother with that crap cos I've been through with it too much. Okay, that's enough for that. My AIM name is rbeast288; sorry, I don't have MSN or YIM. The list is closed, but I'll add you if you ask politely via e-mail. I like chatting with people, but try not to overdo it on AIM if I add you to my list. Since I am busy a majority of the time and all. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ IV. Basics ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Odds are if you've played any other Fire Emblem game before, that Radiant Dawn should be at least close to second nature. Odds are if not... it still shouldn't be too bad. But just in case, or for any other case of reference, here I am. Because I'm da man. BATTLES =------= Fire Emblem is a strategy RPG... but odds are you already knew that. That means you're basically going from one battle to another, while developing your army, 10-14 characters per battle, in strategic, turn-based combat. It's turn based in the sense that all your characters do their thing, and then the enemy does their stuff. Simple enough? Each character will carry a weapon or two with them, and then when they attack, the formula goes like this: (Your strength + weapon attack power - enemy's defense = damage). Pretty simple formula, right? Then, if your character's speed is high enough, they'll attack the opponent twice. Of course, when you attack an enemy or an enemy attacks you, the character who's getting attacked will counterattack, as long as the attacker is in his/her range. This makes things just a bit more interesting. However, if a character is reduced to 0 HP, they will NEVER come back. EVER. That's what makes this game so different from other strategy RPGs: how extremely realistic that gets. In battle you'll also weigh in the hit percentage, of which some weapons have a lot more of than others, and the chance of a critical hit. When you critical hit an enemy, the attack does three times more damage than normal. That can easily turn the tide of a battle, even though the chance of it happening is usually around 1-3%, unless you're using special weapons. After every battle after Chapter 1-2, you'll go to the "base screen" where you can buy weapons and items. That's about all for it, so... hey, enjoy it. STATS =----= HP is the driving force behind everything, and is utterly defining. Even if in the long run, defense and resistance will probably do more for you. But basically, you get hit and damage is done to you, right? So the number is subtracted from your maximum HP, and when your HP reaches 0, you're dead. No really, you're DEAD, and you're not coming back. Fire Emblem will let you resurrect characters who hit 0 HP the moment that starts happening in real life, so... yeah, you figure it out. Regardless, you want to keep an eye on this stat, and to do that, don't let weak characters go out in the very frontlines. Use Herbs, Vulneraries, Concoctions, Heal/Mend/Physic... watch out for it. Strength is my next fave stat, just because it's STRENGTH, man. Can't do anything without this. So basically, you get the strength, and that's the main basis for how much damage you do when you attack. To figure out the formula for physical attacks, just take your strength, add the weapon Might, subtract the enemy defense, and there you have it. You're going to want to have this for nearly everyone, and in gigantic quantities. One other thing that it affects is attack speed. If the weapon you're using has a higher weight than your strength, then the difference is subtracted from your attack speed. So yeah, until your strength is high, lay off on greatlances and poleaxes. But yes, strength speaks. Magic is the least important one in the game by far, for almost everyone except the mages (Micaiah, Laura, Tormod, Calill, Soren, Rhys, Bastian). If someone's name isn't there, they don't need magic. But basically, magic damage is calculated by the character's magic stat, plus the tome might, minus the enemy's resistance, so it's basically the equivalent of strength, but since the magic people don't need strength, the physical people don't need magic at all, especially in this game where there isn't a Flame/Sonic/Bolt Lance/Sword/Axe like in Path of Radiance. So even with characters like Ike who have 2 magic, it's not going to affect them at all. Skill isn't in my opinion nearly as necessary as strength and speed, but it can be an extremely deciding factor in one character versus another. Basically, the higher your skill is, the more chance your attacks have of hitting. If you're going to load one type of character full of Skill more than another, definitely give it to axe users like Nolan or Kieran... they need every last bit of this that they can get. Also, Skill plays a role in deciding how often your, well, SKILLS activate. Also, skill very slightly affects your chance of landing a critical, so trueblades benefit too. Speed is life and death in Fire Emblem. Well, sort of. Basically, you can either double attack, trade hits, or be double attacked in battles here, and speed is the deciding factor in that. Basically attack speed is your speed, minus penalties if your weapon's weight is higher than your strength, and if it's 4 or more above the enemy you're attacking, you'll double attack. Speed weighs into your avoid (double speed then add luck and throw biorhythm in there), so in short, speed is one of the most important things out there, and you want everyone to keep it high. It can make or break a character. Luck isn't as important as most of the other stats, but it exists enough to warrant a section here. It weighs into hit, avoid, and critical hit rate, and... that's about it. Basically for hit, it's your skill doubled, your weapon's hit rate, and your luck on top of that. Critical hit rate is essentially the same thing except it's the enemy's luck subtracted from it, and avoid works pretty much the same as hit. So, it affects a lot more stuff than any other stat, but with a far smaller impact. So don't focus on it, focus on strength and speed. Defense is one of the most basic stats and doesn't require any long winded explanation. Basically, the higher your defense, the less damage you will take from physical attacks only. The exact formula is Damage = Attacker's strength + weapon strength - defense. If you have lots of defense (like most generals) and there's no sages around, you can go right in the open and wreak all the havoc you want with no worries. Resistance is just as basic as defense in that the higher it is, the less damage you will take from magic attacks only. The exact formula is Damage = Attacker's magic + tome strength - resistance. I find defense much more important, but resistance can break some characters (the Dawn Brigade...), and it will keep some of your characters safe from sages with spells that have a range of ten, trust me. Also, let me vary briefly explain Biorhythm, as that confuses a lot of people. It's based on five horizontal lines, lined up vertically, as well as a wave. When the wave is between the middle three lines, you have "regular" biorhythm, which has no effect on you at all. When the wave reaches the top, you will receive a bonus to your hit and avoid. When the wave is at the bottom, you receive a penalty to your hit and avoid. That's ALL it is. For skill activation it can also increase your chances there, but otherwise, just don't worry about it. WEAPONS =------= Swords are the most cliched weapon in the RPG universe, and for good reason. They're most commonly used by Ike, myrmidons/swordmasters, generals, falcon knights, cavaliers, and our lone valkyrie, Mist (haha). That's it, but in any case, swords aren't the most powerful weapons around, but if you're using them against axes, you're going to own those guys. Plus Ike, the real best character in the whole game, is a sword user, so you can't deny them of glory. Not to mention there's the almighty Vague Katti and Alondite. Lances are somewhat between the two extremes of swords and axes: they aren't as strong as axes, but they've got an edge over swords there, plus they hit better than axes, just not better than swords. And pretty much everyone uses them: soldiers/halberdiers, most cavaliers, knights/generals, pegasus/falcon knights, dragon riders/lords... the list goes on. Basically they own swords, they just get themselves beat by axes bad. In this game you've got Nephenee, Gatrie, and Tanith to choose for the ultimate lance, the Wishblade, so there you go. Axes are raw power in the making. They may not hit too hot, but hey, they will own you. Especially if you're using a lance. They're most commonly used by the fighter/warrior/bandit, several generals, some cavaliers, and the dragon lords. That's really it, but trust me, you'll get a lot of bloodshed out of 'em. Like I said, they may not be the best choices if you desperately need to hit a target, but there's quite a few good users with them, and in my opinion, they may be the most sound weapon to use most of the time. Bows are neutral among the weapon triangle. The power in them is quite a bit lacking compared to the other three, but you can use them from a range, which is pretty crucial. They're most commonly used by archers/snipers, most cavaliers, and also reavers. Not much, I know, but let's just have a look. Boyd and Nolan can make them click, Geoffrey and Oscar can put them to good use, Rolf is alright, and Shinon is one of the best characters in the game. Plus we have crossbows, which ignore strength and just have a base might. Either way, if you're fighting something with wings... you just win. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ V. Characters ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This is a comprehensive list complete with recommendations and all that for each and every single solitary character in the game. Is that awesome or what. Note, when it says "Dawn Brigade", for instance, those characters aren't necessarily confined to the Dawn Brigade, it's just characters that join you during that time period. Not counting, of course, laguz generals and other complete beasts who obviously aren't permanent until much later. By the way, just a few things to note. I give characters ratings. Do not take them too seriously. The overwhelming majority of them are negative, but they're a total composite based on a lot of things. First of all, characters tend to change drastically over the four parts of this game. There's a beginning and an end component for most characters to take into account. There's potential, but something else I consider is what you need to do to unmask that potential. For instance, I rank Geoffrey higher than Kieran. Kieran's final stats tend to be better than Geoffrey's. However, Geoffrey is a lot easier to nurture stat-wise than Kieran, plus starts at a higher level, plus he will naturally acquire more EXP than Kieran will, so that's my reason for giving him a higher ranking. But again, don't take it too seriously. ~- Va. Dawn Brigade (Part 1) ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ NOTE: Nailah is in the Part 4 section, because face it, she's just not even proportional to anyone else here, not even the already overpowered units. In order: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Sothe, Ilyana, Aran, Meg, Volug, Tauroneo, Jill, Zihark, Fiona, Tormod, Muarim, Vika, Rafiel Name: Micaiah Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Light Mage -> Light Sage -> Light Priestess Attribute: Dark Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 15 HP .......... 40% Str ....... 2 Str ......... 15% Mag ....... 7 Mag ......... 80% Skl ....... 8 Skl ......... 40% Spd ....... 7 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 10 Lck ......... 80% Def ....... 2 Def ......... 20% Res ....... 4 Res ......... 90% Micaiah is the proclaimed Silver Haired Maiden of Daein, and at this point pretty much the only one who the dying nation has any hope in to restore it to its former glory. Of course, fitting hand in hand with that, she's the constant target of the forces of the Begnion Empire because of that. With that, though, she's the leader of the Dawn Brigade. Okay. I have a LOT to say about Micaiah. First of all, when you get her, she's alright. She's absolutely necessary in battle, since you need every extra little bit of manpower that you can get during the Dawn Brigade chapters. That, and she has the special Sacrifice technique, which is handy as a healing manuever. That being said, she has one weakness after another even in the early stages. Her magic power is decent at first, plus when she gets the Thani spell, she'll absolutely slaughter cavaliers as well as armored knights. No question about it. So yeah, she's flawed, but alright at first. Still, look at those stats there, and the growths. It seems those stats are alright at first, but the growths are horrible. First of all, Micaiah's HP is absolutely awful. You are absolutely required to give her a Seraph Robe, and even then she's weak. That's not even the biggest issue. That is her speed. Her speed is freaking horrible. With only a 35% growth rate, she'll get doubled by even the slowest of enemies, and make her a total liability on the battlefield. Factor in that her defense is some of the worst in the game, and she'll just be a burden for you to bear. It's really terrible, and I wouldn't even think about using her if she wasn't the main character in this game and an absolute requirement. Here's another thing. Micaiah promotes twice and is forced in that. At the end of Part 1, as well as partway through Part 4. Part 1 is no problem, but to get her to Level 20 before then will require a hell of a lot of favoritism. You get four or five battles to build her, and that's it. So if you want her to be even remotely salvageable, she needs Paragon as well. It really bothers me, that you have to do such things for a character, just so that they can be half decent because they're forced into battle. So yeah, Micaiah sucks. Just being honest, when you unite the parties, Soren just blows her out of the water. Useful in the beginning, but falls, and very fast at that. To her credit, her luck is the best besides herons in the game, and her resistance is outstanding, but those two stats do not a good character make. My Rating: 3/5 Name: Edward Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Myrmidon -> Swordmaster -> Trueblade Attribute: Light Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 19 HP .......... 85% Str ....... 7 Str ......... 60% Mag ....... 0 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 11 Skl ......... 65% Spd ....... 12 Spd ......... 60% Lck ....... 8 Lck ......... 50% Def ....... 5 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 0 Res ......... 20% Edward is a member of the Dawn Brigade, and one of the most loyal companions of Micaiah. He's a budding swordsman with a good deal of potential, though he's often cocky and overestimates his abilities. He joins you automatically in the prologue. This character is an extremely mixed bag. I'd go so far as to call him one of the most all over the place character in the entire game. First of all, when he joins you, he's average. You don't have anyone else to use until you get loaded with Jeigan-type characters, so Edward is really the best offensive character besides Nolan that you have for a little while. However, you start to notice after a while. Edward is very, very fragile. His defense sucks, and then you've got his resistance, which is even worse. If that wasn't enough, his strength leaves an incredible amount to be desired. His HP isn't great at first either, though his growth is good so that'll be fixed. The main problem, is that very soon, he needs to compete with Zihark. Now, I'll come right off and say it. If you load Edward up with bonus experience and get him higher leveled than Zihark, he will be just as good if not better than Zihark. That being said, during that chapter Edward will be in the low teens in levels, tops, and Zihark will be already promoted. That gives him incredible odds with which to compete. There's also Mia to contend with, though Edward can edge her out as well, depending on endgame treatment. So there's not really much more for me to say. Edward takes a lot of experience to fully nurture. Now, granted, he's not nearly as bad in that aspect as Sothe or Micaiah, but it's still bad. His resistance sucks, although his strength, skill, and speed end up top notch. So, I prefer Zihark, plus Mia usually edges him out just based on levels, but hey. Edward has potential, so he gets points for that. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Leonardo Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Archer -> Sniper -> Marksman Attribute: Water Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 17 HP .......... 60% Str ....... 8 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 0 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 12 Skl ......... 75% Spd ....... 10 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 6 Lck ......... 65% Def ....... 5 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 4 Res ......... 55% Leonardo is another member of the Dawn Brigade, as well as a loyal friend of Micaiah and Edward. As an archer, he will join you partway through the prologue to assist his friends. Radiant Dawn, as well as most Fire Emblem games for that matter, does not give you a hell of a lot to choose from in terms of archers. You've got the two Path of Radiance archers, Shinon and Rolf, and then you've got Leonardo. Guess who comes out on top here. That's right, Leonardo is awful. First of all, as usual, there's the beginning to take into account. Even when you've got only crappy characters to compete with, Leonardo is frail, because he can't defend himself, his avoid is notoriously bad, and his defense is bad and will never recover from that. Sure, he comes in handy a bit in the first two chapters, but after that, he becomes a liability. In the later part of the game, oh god. Where do I even start. First of all, Leonardo's HP is mediocre. His strength, speed, and defense are all lackluster. In fact, the only half decent stats he get are skill (which he doesn't really even need), and his resistance is okay. That's it. Meanwhile, Shinon and Rolf both trample him in almost every stat in the endgame, plus Leonardo is one of the very hardest units in the whole game to level up. That's what comes from only having long ranged attacks. Factor all that in, and he's worthless after the chapters in which you absolutely need him. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Nolan Recruited: CHAPTER 1 Class: Fighter -> Warrior -> Reaver Attribute: Earth Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 29 HP .......... 60% Str ....... 12 Str ......... 45% Mag ....... 0 Mag ......... 20% Skl ....... 11 Skl ......... 70% Spd ....... 10 Spd ......... 60% Lck ....... 7 Lck ......... 30% Def ....... 9 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 3 Res ......... 40% Nolan is the oldest and wisest member of the Dawn Brigade, as well as the strongest, being he wields axes and looks like a barbarian, which is tight. He joins you at the beginning of the first actual chapter. For the first time, I'm actually going to limit this to mostly positive things, which is very rare for a Dawn Brigade member, but hear me out. He comes at a much higher level than Edward or Leonardo, but at a level that you can actually build up without stealing the EXP away from your other characters. Which is definitely good. Plus, it's not very long before the other characters catch up with him, and at that point you realize something. Nolan is actually halfway decent. His strength is good, his speed isn't bad at all, and his HP keeps him alive. His defense is rather mediocre, but so is everyone's in the Dawn Brigade, so given the standards, that's not really something to complain about. There's only two fighters in this game, however. There's Boyd, and then there's Nolan. Now, Nolan ends up extremely similar to Boyd, but here's yet another problem. The Dawn Brigade will have to endlessly compare themselves with the Greil Mercenaries, and the latter are simply higher leveled, and make more with their levels. Plus, in the endgame, there's only room for one Warrior/Reaver. Otherwise, Nolan is one of the few early units that I would consider for it. So, all I can say is to use him only if you aren't going to use Boyd, but for my money, he helps you out. A lot. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Laura Recruited: CHAPTER 2 Class: Priest -> Bishop -> Saint Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 16 HP .......... 45% Str ....... 3 Str ......... 20% Mag ....... 8 Mag ......... 70% Skl ....... 3 Skl ......... 70% Spd ....... 5 Spd ......... 70% Lck ....... 8 Lck ......... 50% Def ....... 2 Def ......... 20% Res ....... 10 Res ......... 35% Laura is a priest who Micaiah and company meet along the way in their journey, and she has a favor to ask of them, which ends in her landing herself in prison with Micaiah. From there, she becomes a member of the Dawn Brigade. Okay, this is going to be yet another instance of a Dawn Brigade member failing compared to their Greil Mercenary counterpart due to a lack of leveling opportunities. First of all, Laura is a priest. Priests are almost completely essential in the first part of the game, since she can heal while Micaiah needs to be finishing enemies off rather than healing them. That being said, the problem with priests is that they are ridiculously hard to level. They gain 11 EXP from using Heal, and while they get more from the higher level staves, it's very, very hard to pull off. So, meanwhile, you've got Rhys with the Greil Mercenaries, who is simply at a much higher level, and is always making a name for himself since he has Ellight and is relatively proficient in light magic. Now, Laura is perfectly fine if she gets to the level he's at, but even then, she's going to have extremely poor HP and defense, which Rhys, while not great in those aspects either, will still be beating her. Granted, Laura has fantastic magic, plus her speed has great potential for growth, but otherwise, stick with Rhys. Only disadvantage he has to her is speed. See, Laura has amazing growths, but you need to abuse bonus EXP for her to utilize them. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Sothe Recruited: CHAPTER 2 Class: Rogue -> Whisper Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 35 HP .......... 30% Str ....... 18 Str ......... 60% Mag ....... 4 Mag ......... 20% Skl ....... 20 Skl ......... 80% Spd ....... 20 Spd ......... 45% Lck ....... 15 Lck ......... 65% Def ....... 14 Def ......... 20% Res ....... 9 Res ......... 30% Sothe was one of Ike's companions in the Mad King's War, who came into contact with him because he was looking for a friend, who just so happens to be Micaiah. Sothe is extremely loyal and close to Micaiah, those through it all he is completely obsessed with Ike. Alright, there will be a few occasions in this section of this guide where I talk about the Sothe Problem. Meaning, Sothe starts out awesome. He slaughters everything that looks him in the eye in one hit, and he just flat out rocks. That being said, one battle later he turns into just great. Then a few battles later he's good; that's the endgame of Part 1. Then Part 3 rolls around and he's very mediocre, paling in comparison to characters like Nolan, Aran, and maybe even Edward. By the end of that part of the game, he blows. Which isn't good, because he is a forced promotion at the end of the prologue of Part 4. So basically, you're forced to use him. Sothe also isn't a character you want to be abusing in the beginning, because he barely gains EXP from enemy kills. Because of that, he's basically another Jeigan character who steals EXP from the rest of your party. So you need to monitor him, and at that point he's barely someone you want to be abusing. He starts gaining more EXP later, but that's when he's a mediocre character, so it just doesn't work out. Meaning if you want him to be level 20 when you promote him, you need to load him with tons of bonus EXP. And trust me, he's all well and good when he's with the Dawn Brigade, but wait until part 4 when all the teams come together. At that point, Sothe will be alright as a thief. His speed and skill are obviously way up there, plus his luck isn't bad either. However, in the endgame, you're FORCED to use him. Sothe is not a character I want to use there. For one thing, Volke beats the piss out of Sothe. That, and if you level Heather all the way up, she's comparable if not better than Sothe. But Sothe is required, meaning Volke gets snubbed. That pisses me off. So, in the end, Sothe can be a very decent character. However, you'll need to load him up with bonus EXP and just flak up his strength stat that way, and when it comes down to that, it irks me. But ah well, he's required in the endgame, so yeah. My Rating: 3.5/5 Name: Ilyana Recruited: CHAPTER 3 Class: Thunder Mage -> Thunder Sage -> Arch Sage Attribute: Light Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 22 HP .......... 55% Str ....... 6 Str ......... 45% Mag ....... 12 Mag ......... 50% Skl ....... 12 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 13 Spd ......... 30% Lck ....... 6 Lck ......... 40% Def ....... 3 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 9 Res ......... 50% Ilyana was another one of Ike's companions in the war, and she runs into Micaiah's group when they get thrown into the prison at the end of chapter 2. She has an extremely frail composition, and has a strange obsession with food. Okay, here's another bashfest for you people, I knew you guys saw it coming. Ilyana's magic power is okay when you get her. When you get her and how it stacks up in the long run are two different things, though. She's level 14, and it's not really that great at that point, though anything seems good when you're in the Dawn Brigade. And see, that's the thing, you ARE in the Dawn Brigade. Even then, though, she's a thunder sage, so thunder spells are what she's limited to. That pretty much guarantees low accuracy, mediocre power, and getting a double is rare as well. I'll point something else out. Ilyana leaves the Dawn Brigade and goes over to the Greil Mercenaries around the beginning of Part 3. What this basically means is that training her is completely pointless for the Dawn Brigade as their three Part 3 battles are all you need to worry about anyway, and at least you completely gave up the rest of the Dawn Brigade in favor of her, she has NO place in the mercenaries. Her stats then as well as in the endgame will be completely destroyed by Soren, and essentially everyone else. Factor in the fact she has possibly the lowest average defense in the whole game, and we have a character who I ain't gonna be bringing to battle. My Rating: 1.5/5 Name: Aran Recruited: CHAPTER 3 Class: Soldier -> Halberdier -> Sentinel Attribute: Thunder Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 24 HP .......... 50% Str ....... 10 Str ......... 75% Mag ....... 0 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 12 Skl ......... 75% Spd ....... 10 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 6 Lck ......... 35% Def ....... 11 Def ......... 70% Res ....... 2 Res ......... 25% Aran is a friend of Laura's, but unfortunately he gets favors from people in Begnion so he has loyalties there. To recruit him, however, all you need to do is have Laura talk to him in chapter 3. What is this?! A Dawn Brigade unit who's actually (somewhat) decent?! It's tough to wrap your head around that, but it's true, Aran is a character with weaknesses, but that aren't quite as crippling as others, which in turn makes him quite usable. He joins at the perfect time. He's the right level -- around the average of what your other characters will be at that point. Sure, Nolan may be higher, but who cares about that. Aran has good defense and speed at that point. Sure, he won't be doubling, but he won't get doubled himself very much, so it evens out. You need to consider things outside of the Dawn Brigade chapters with Aran, though. First of all, in the part 3 chapters, he's an absolute necessity. Along with Nolan, he's really the only guy there who can take more than one or two hits, so what can I say. The thing is, like the rest of the Dawn Brigade, his availability makes his difficult to raise, and in the end, Nephenee is faster and will be hitting enemies with a lot better accuracy than Aran. So basically, you probably won't use him outside of parts 1-3, but oh well. I'll take him over Leonardo, Meg, or Fiona any day of the week, plus he doesn't completely rape your EXP supply, although to supplement his speed, some of it is necessary. Ah well. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Meg Recruited: CHAPTER 4 Class: Armor Sword -> Sword General -> Marshall Attribute: Heaven Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 21 HP .......... 60% Str ....... 10 Str ......... 35% Mag ....... 1 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 7 Skl ......... 40% Spd ....... 8 Spd ......... 65% Lck ....... 8 Lck ......... 75% Def ....... 10 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 5 Res ......... 50% Meg is the daughter of a character you may remember from Path of Radiance known as Brom. She joins your party to look for the man that her parents want her to marry, who is... Zihark. Yeah. She just wears armor for protection. How is that not weird? Alright, I think that little fact I gave about why Meg is fighting at all kind of speaks for itself. She's a character who has potential, but to hell if I'm ever going to get into that potential. She joins at level 3, and as you can see, her stats are crap. Not only that, but she joins at a time of unease, when you're fighting laguz. She can't handle that, and it's just an uphill battle from there. Needless to say, she's a burden even among the incredibly burdensome Dawn Brigade. Now, actually, thre is hope for her. If you look at her growth rates, they're not too bad, plus she's at a low level, so statistically she can probably keep up, but even when she does, she will pale in comparison to Gatrie and other Marshalls. If that wasn't enough, she'll have to be the sole proprietor of your entire stock of bonus EXP. That, and she STILL won't be able to handle herself in battle since when you get back you just have more laguz and other extremely strong units to fight, which you need characters who have half decent strength to be able to fight. Bad character. Very bad character. My Rating: 1/5 Name: Volug Recruited: CHAPTER 5 Class: Wolf Attribute: Earth Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 49 HP .......... 95% Str ....... 11 Str ......... 25% Mag ....... 2 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 12 Skl ......... 35% Spd ....... 13 Spd ......... 40% Lck ....... 13 Lck ......... 90% Def ....... 9 Def ......... 15% Res ....... 5 Res ......... 10% Volug is a servant of Queen Nailah, and joins Micaiah under Nailah's orders because of their similar goals. He's a unique laguz in that he can Halfshift, which means he can be pretty much half dog, half man. Neat. I just wish Volug were neater in battle, though. First of all, when he joins he'll be another tank within your party, and you can equate him to how Lethe was in Path of Radiance. You were thinking she was going to be the next Titania. That's similar here, but Volug's advantage over your characters slips just like Sothe's does, but even more dramatically. This is because he suffers in three key stats: strength, defense, and resistance. I can do one of those, but all three of them? Aw hell naw. Eventually, characters like Muarim join your party, and Volug will become fragile even in the early stages of the game. Consider what that equates to later into the game. When you come back to the Dawn Brigade, Volug will die in about two hits due to his incredibly crappy defense, plus he has almost no potential to improve due to his horrible growth rates. Face it, Volug just ain't a good character. Though I'll give him half a pity point due to how useful he is in the DB chapters. Apart from that, he's not one of the best laguz. My Rating: 1.5/5 Name: Tauroneo Recruited: CHAPTER 6 Class: Lance General -> Marshall Attribute: Thunder Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 38 HP .......... 55% Str ....... 24 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 12 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 22 Skl ......... 65% Spd ....... 20 Spd ......... 50% Lck ....... 18 Lck ......... 20% Def ....... 21 Def ......... 45% Res ....... 15 Res ......... 50% Tauroneo was one of the generals of Daein back in the day, as one of the legendary Four Riders, and to this day his loyalty to Daein remains. He joins the Dawn Brigade for the sake of rebuilding the country. Here we have a pretty damn good character, but one of many in this game that will suffer from poor availability. First of all, Tauroneo is a Level 14 Lance General, making him at the point you get him, the most overleveled character yet, and in the chapters he's in, he's a towering giant. Only that's the problem. He's not in hardly any chapters! You get him in three chapters in Micaiah's story, plus he's unavailable in a lot of the big ones. Making him a little less useful at that point, naturally. When Tauroneo comes back, now he has to compete with characters like Gatrie and Brom. And actually, he can put up a good fight against them. When all your characters become completely leveled, Tauroneo as a Marshall is very comparable although he's a little more well rounded. By that, I mean he tends to have higher speed and resistance and whatnot than the other two (especially Brom), but the problem is, Gatrie will have such a huge level lead over Tauroneo, that he becomes the obvious choice. Sad, but 'tis the case. He's still not bad, though, and he has his uses. My Rating: 3/5 Name: Jill Recruited: CHAPTER 6 Class: Dracoknight -> Dragonmaster -> Dragonlord Attribute: Thunder Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 24 HP .......... 50% Str ....... 11 Str ......... 45% Mag ....... 1 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 12 Skl ......... 45% Spd ....... 15 Spd ......... 65% Lck ....... 14 Lck ......... 60% Def ....... 13 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 3 Res ......... 45% Jill was yet another ally of Ike in the Mad King's War, daughter of General Shiharam, and she used to be a complete hater of laguz, though Ike eventually got her over that. She's found in this game defending her home country, which is, to the end, Daein. I like Jill where she is when she joins. She's at roughly the same place the rest of the party is, and while her strength is a little lacking, she has speed and defense to back that up, on top of a fairly decent skill stat as well. The strength holds her back a little in the Dawn Brigade chapters, though her growth in it is relatively decent, plus you have to admit, while her durability is far from fantastic, it's far superior to the rest of the party's, so yeah. The durability problem rears its ugly head a lot worse in part 3, though, when you start fighting laguz, and she starts taking a number of hits at the same time. In fact, you might even have to give her a Seraph Robe because her HP is so weak, though her promoting makes up for it somewhat. In the long run, though, she turns out relatively good. Her strength will end up better, plus she'll have the speed to back it up, but once again, complete favoritism is necessary. If anyone deserves it, it's her, but it's never something I want to do. Now, I'll give it to her, she can turn out great, but she's competing against Haar, who is arguably the best unit in the whole game, and while she's great throughout her chapters, it's hard to finally make it all work. My Rating: 3.5/5 Name: Zihark Recruited: CHAPTER 6 Class: Swordmaster -> Trueblade Attribute: Earth Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 30 HP .......... 55% Str ....... 17 Str ......... 35% Mag ....... 6 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 22 Skl ......... 75% Spd ....... 23 Spd ......... 70% Lck ....... 11 Lck ......... 40% Def ....... 13 Def ......... 25% Res ....... 11 Res ......... 35% Zihark is another character who Ike ran into in the Mad King's War and got to join his side, but it really wasn't because of Ike -- it was because Zihark has a strange obsession with laguz. That being said, he's a loyal citizen of Daein and is willing to fight to the death for it. When he joins, Zihark is very highly leveled compared to the rest of the party. He's already promoted, meaning he's going to better automatically better than anyone except Sothe, and you know what, no one else really catches up. Zihark has one glaring weakness, though, and that is his defense. It's okay when he joins, of course, but when you consider his level it's not great, plus his horrible growth in it doesn't help. That being said, Zihark has an early gift, and that's his ability to double enemies. So needless to say, he's a hell of a lot stronger than the rest of the Dawn Brigade at the time, and he can still take more hits than the majority of the game. In the endgame, Zihark is actually surprisingly decent. He was one of the characters who I actually genuinely cared about how they turned out in the endgame, and for me, he got a fair share of Paragon, as since he's really the only one besides Nolan and maybe Jill who are going to be consistently earning kills in the laguz chapters (therefore it's not favoritism). A little goes a long way even when he started so much higher, and his levels will just sky rocket. It's a little difficult to have him keep up with Mia later, but you know, it's doable, and a lot moreso than Edward, for instance. And in the end, his stats are actually very comparable with Mia's, and besides her and Edward, there's not really any other swordmasters to compete with. That's right, a Dawn Brigade character who's legitimately good at ALL times! My Rating: 4.5/5 (in reality more like a 4.25, but it rounds up here) Name: Fiona Recruited: CHAPTER 7 Class: Lance Knight -> Lance Paladin -> Silver Knight Attribute: Earth Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 25 HP .......... 45% Str ....... 8 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 6 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 8 Skl ......... 40% Spd ....... 10 Spd ......... 60% Lck ....... 7 Lck ......... 55% Def ....... 8 Def ......... 55% Res ....... 6 Res ......... 50% Fiona is the daughter of Lanvega, one of the original Four Riders of Daein before the Mad King's War. Her father's courage transcends to her now, though, and it leads her to rebel against Begnion. Alright, forget what I said about Meg, I think Fiona is probably even worse than she is. Now, first of all, here's the difference. When you get Meg, she can help you out a bit for like one or two chapters. She can survive an attack or two, plus she can weaken an enemy to the point where someone else can take care of them. Such is not the case with Fiona. Her strength and defense are BOTH lower than Meg's, and she joins six levels higher. See, though, Fiona has potential, as we can see in her growth rates. There's one problem though. There's no time given to build up Fiona. She joins WAY too late, in fact at that point there's only three more battles which she can participate in. At that point she's Level 9 and the rest of your party should hopefully be at least 14-15 or so (at least characters like Micaiah, Edward, and Nolan who are actually helpful, that is). Fiona's stats are far inferior to them at that point, and when you figure in the fact that almost all of the Dawn Brigade will end up better and are a better choice for giving your bonus EXP to, plus the only paladin she's really better than statistically is Astrid (for my money at least), she's pretty much the worst character here. My Rating: 1/5 Name: Tormod Recruited: CHAPTER 7 Class: Fire Sage -> Arch Sage Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 34 HP .......... 50% Str ....... 13 Str ......... 55% Mag ....... 17 Mag ......... 40% Skl ....... 16 Skl ......... 45% Spd ....... 20 Spd ......... 55% Lck ....... 14 Lck ......... 25% Def ....... 12 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 14 Res ......... 45% Tormod was an ally of Ike's, who they met in the desert of Begnion, while Tormod was fighting for a group known as the Laguz Emancipation Army. He's basically a kid who goes around the world with his tiger friend, Muarim. Alright, Tormod is an otherwise good character who comes with one absolutely fatal and devastating flaw, which I will get to shortly. When he joins you, he's a little overleveled, but still decent. His speed is good, his defense is great for a mage, and his magic isn't stellar, but it's good. Here's the thing, though, after Part 1 he goes AWOL with Muarim and Vika until late Part 4, at which point he rejoins at the exact same level he was when you left off with him. How the HELL does that make sense?! I hate to say it, but great in Part 1 equates to complete crap in Part 4. At that point, he's Level 5. My Soren was also Level 5. Promoted. Every single enemy in the whole chapter will double attack him, killing him every time. He cannot possibly get up to where the rest of the party is, and actually, his final stats are incredibly bad anyway. He will feature in the endgame, courtesy of his rather mediocre base and growth, the lowest magic stat of any mage in the whole game. So when you get him, he'll help you out. That is the last time he will help you at all. He does come with the Celerity skill, though, which I'd definitely take right away and give to Rafiel. My Rating: 1/5 Name: Muarim Recruited: CHAPTER 7 Class: Tiger Attribute: Thunder Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 58 HP .......... 60% Str ....... 18 Str ......... 55% Mag ....... 3 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 14 Skl ......... 45% Spd ....... 11 Spd ......... 20% Lck ....... 12 Lck ......... 55% Def ....... 15 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 9 Res ......... 30% If you really want to learn about Muarim, you can really read Tormod's entry, but yeah, just to clarify, Muarim is a tiger laguz with a kind heart and an actual love for beorc, and a brotherly affection for Tormod. Muarim, Vika, and Tormod all share the same problem. They all just disappear, and they don't come back until they're completely obsolete. To be fair, though, Muarim isn't a total waste. When he joins you, obviously, he's quite a good unit. He's strong, he'll beat the living piss out of anything in Part 1, and he has the durability to back it up. Even when he's not transformed, you could say that, but 58 HP is nice, plus 30 def while transformed isn't shabby, ever. His speed isn't great, but I can overlook that, especially in Part 1. So how does he turn out when he's in Part 4 and actually comes back? Well, not very good, but he's still better than Tormod. His strength stat is still solid (face it, 36 strength actually is good even though he's going to get his ass doubled), plus he'll take a few hits and can act as a roadblock. When you get past that chapter, though, you're in the endgame. Muarim just isn't going to hold his own at that point. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Vika Recruited: CHAPTER 7 Class: Raven Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 38 HP .......... 60% Str ....... 9 Str ......... 25% Mag ....... 5 Mag ......... 50% Skl ....... 13 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 15 Spd ......... 60% Lck ....... 14 Lck ......... 65% Def ....... 7 Def ......... 15% Res ....... 7 Res ......... 65% Vika is a newcomer, and to tell you the truth, I don't know much about her, as there was never really any explanation as to who she is and why she's hanging with Tormod and Muarim, but she's there, so yeah. In the beginning of the game, Vika is actually worse than Tormod and Muarim, although she can fly, which is always a bonus. The reason she's worse is because her promoted strength stat is 18. That's not great for a laguz. Muarim creams that, and while Tormod's magic is less than that, the majority of enemies have higher defense than resistance. So, she's not great in the beginning, and if I bring any of the trifecta of AWOL into the endgame, it's Muarim and maybe Tormod. Never Vika. As for how she turns out after that, well, what do you think. She won't get doubled, but she can't damage anything. At all. She'll die in almost no time at all because of her horrible defense, plus there's even snipers there. Spells death right there. As an actual unit, though, she's not terrible. As you can see, her growths are decent, but the only two (besides magic, and who cares about that) that suck are strength and defense. Probably the two most important. Why Intelligent Systems designed her like that, I have no idea. Either way, her growths will never be fulfilled, and they're horribly imbalanced. It's kind of sad, because Vika is the type of unit who I would normally like. My Rating: 1/5 Name: Rafiel Recruited: CHAPTER 8 Class: Heron Attribute: Heaven Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 31 HP .......... 60% Str ....... 1 Str ......... 0% Mag ....... 6 Mag ......... 40% Skl ....... 1 Skl ......... 10% Spd ....... 6 Spd ......... 20% Lck ....... 31 Lck ......... 60% Def ....... 3 Def ......... 10% Res ....... 13 Res ......... 50% Rafiel is the most noble of the three heron children of Lorazieh of the Serenes tribe, and obviously the brother of Reyson and Leanne. Due to Senator Hetzel, though, he got out of Serenes and fell into the paws of Nailah, which was where he stayed for awhile. Herons. Where do I even start with them. First of all, there's three of them, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. What they mainly exist to do, though, is use their Vigor galdr to allies and give them an extra turn. Rafiel completely excels at that aspect, because when he doesn't even need to be transformed to use Vigor on his SURROUNDINGS. That's four characters in one turn. That's just freaking amazing, but here's the thing. He joins in the Dawn Brigade section for two chapters. Which is okay by itself. He's another weak character among them, but he's an asset. An issue with him, though, is that he doesn't return until Part 4. Meanwhile, Leanne and Reyson have a good in between for that. Now, another issue. Rafiel's stats are awful. No way around it. His movement is absolutely horrendous, plus his defense is the worst in the whole game, no question. His resistance is okay, but not particularly good either. Now, granted, he has no idea for strength, magic, or skill, but I like when my herons at least have SOME chance of surviving an unpredictable attack, and that's not the case with Rafiel. However, he's the perfect candidate for Celerity or Boots (once again not favoritism because there's no one else logical to give them to, really), which fixes the movement problem, and let me just impress this on you one more time: any time he wants, he can restore movement to FOUR units. Four units. Enough said. And honestly, despite the danger he faces in the endgame (last two chapters in particular), he's not really that much worse than Reyson, which makes him my pick for the endgame. My Rating: 4.5/5 ~- Vb. Crimea Knights (Part 2) ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ In order: Elincia, Marcia, Nealuchi, Leanne, Haar, Brom, Nephenee, Heather, Lucia, Lethe, Mordecai, Geoffrey, Kieran, Astrid, Makalov, Danved, Calill Name: Elincia Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Queen Attribute: Heaven Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 31 HP .......... 45% Str ....... 19 Str ......... 65% Mag ....... 17 Mag ......... 40% Skl ....... 21 Skl ......... 50% Spd ....... 22 Spd ......... 70% Lck ....... 29 Lck ......... 60% Def ....... 18 Def ......... 20% Res ....... 24 Res ......... 35% Elincia was one of the most important characters in Path of Radiance, so you probably know her already. If not, though, she's the queen of Crimea as it stands now. Unfortunately, Crimea consists of a bunch of asses who want her off the throne, so that puts the whole nation into trouble. One of the game's "main characters" deserves a longer and more in-depth reviewing, so here you have it. Elincia is a very mixed bag. First of all, in Part 2, she gets two battles. Therefore, she runs into a definite availability problem, since after that she's not available until Part 4. Geez, at least have that one Part 3 battle. So, strike one. First battle she's not too hot, but second battle she will help you out tremendously, because she naturally comes with one of the best swords in the game, the Amiti. At that point, she will single handedly slaughter any unit that comes her way. Naturally she's weak against crossbows and other arrows in general, but so are all seraph knights, so that's not fair to hold against Elincia. When she gets into Part 4, she's... okay. She can double stuff, but her strength is too low to really take advantage of that. Strike two. Thankfully, the thing about Elincia is that she has a high strength growth. She's already third tier, which I'm not too crazy, but she can be salvaged. That being said, it's difficult. It's true she's got the infamous 4-5 to level up in, but unless she has Beastfoe, that's going to be difficult. So she'll need specific babying on your part to get up there. Strike three. But wait, I'm not done. Elincia can do more than use the Amiti. She can equip staves and heal you, too. Hell, she's even good enough with them to the point she can equip the Physic in 2-E, which is, for all practical purposes, as good as she ever needs to be. That definitely helps her usefulness out. However, she naturally needs to be compared to Rhys as well as the falcon knights. She will never be as good as Rhys at healing, but that's just a given. It's just an extra, as what she is at heart is a seraph knight. And in my opinion, she's not quite good enough to get to the endgame. She can quadruple hit with a weapon that has infinite durability. That's just a gift, and I'm not going to deny that. I'm not going to bring any seraph knight into the endgame, but if there was to be anyone, it's Elincia. She ends up flawed, but she has a good base behind her, and a hell of a good concept. For that, as well as how amazing she is in 2-E, she gets huge points from me. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Marcia Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Falcon Knight -> Seraph Knight Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 34 HP .......... 70% Str ....... 16 Str ......... 30% Mag ....... 6 Mag ......... 20% Skl ....... 17 Skl ......... 40% Spd ....... 20 Spd ......... 65% Lck ....... 12 Lck ......... 50% Def ....... 16 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 15 Res ......... 35% Marcia was originally a knight of Begnion, though she eventually got super acquainted with Elincia, and now she's one of Elincia's most loyal soldiers outside of Geoffrey and company. I'm not a big fan of Marcia, and there's a number of reasons for that. When she joins you in Part 2, she's... okay. Her strength isn't too terrible, she's fast, has solid defense and resistance, and rather average HP. Not a whole lot to complain about, but then you get her growths. Speed will stay good, as will HP, but everything else will start faltering very quickly. Particularly the strength; with only 30% growth, she's going to have a tough time catching up with any of the other fliers, although she can eventually pull it off, I suppose. Here's the problem, though. Marcia's availability sucks too, as does a lot of the characters in Part 2. Thing is, after Part 2, she gets one battle, then she's thrust into Part 4 and needs to compete with Sigrun, Tanith, and all of the Greil Mercenaries, let alone Haar. Tanith starts at Level 16, for instance. The chance that you're going to level Marcia up that high in those few chapters is very slim. As for her potential, her strength will be rather mediocre, but she'll at least beat Sigrun, though Tanith, Elincia, and obviously Haar (not to mention Jill if we're considering dragon masters) will utterly cream her. My Rating: 2.5/5 Name: Nealuchi Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Raven Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 53 HP .......... 55% Str ....... 10 Str ......... 35% Mag ....... 4 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 9 Skl ......... 40% Spd ....... 18 Spd ......... 10% Lck ....... 24 Lck ......... 80% Def ....... 10 Def ......... 40% Res ....... 10 Res ......... 25% Nealuchi is one of the loyal servants of Naesala, which essentially makes him a knight of Kilvas. His main role, however, is to defend Leanne, which is obviously something Naesala just tacked on him. Here's another character that is going to be plagued by their crappy availability. Nealuchi is available for several battles in Part 2. At that point, he's decent. He's moderately helpful in the endgame of there, plus he will help you out in the prologue and whatnot. That being said, even though he's a laguz and I'm comparing him to a beorc, Haar does everything he does way better, plus Haar doesn't have to worry about transforming back. And that's just the thing. In all his battles, Nealuchi reverts back very quickly, which turns into quite a problem in the end. But yeah, let's talk about his availability. He's available for Part 2, then completely vanishes until Part 4. In those chapters you have friggin' Naesala. Why would you use Nealuchi when Naesala does everything he does way better than he even has the potential to? Seriously. Use him for the chapters he's required in, then ditch him. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Leanne Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Heron Attribute: Water Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 25 HP .......... 60% Str ....... 0 Str ......... 0% Mag ....... 3 Mag ......... 40% Skl ....... 1 Skl ......... 10% Spd ....... 6 Spd ......... 20% Lck ....... 27 Lck ......... 80% Def ....... 2 Def ......... 10% Res ....... 11 Res ......... 40% Leanne is Reyson's sister, and one of the herons who was discovered in the ruins of Serenes Forest. For that, she gets special treatment from the Kilvas clan. She also can't speak English, so yeah. In my opinion, Leanne is the weakest of the three herons. First of all, statistically, she's even weaker than Rafiel. The thing she does have going for her over Rafiel though is her superior movement. Hell, she even has Canto, which is especially nice. Then again, I don't really hold movement against Rafiel since you're not really going to give Celerity to anyone else anyway. When you're in her chapters from Part 2 though, she'll help out a little. As will all herons. Here's the thing with Leanne, though. She can only give movement back to two people at once (two characters on the same axis). That is extremely limiting, since she can't even give movement back to all characters when transformed, or at least let you pick and choose. Factor in the fact she has far lower leveled and will therefore take a lot longer to learn Bliss and the like, and she's by far the worst of the three. To be fair, though, she's still a heron though. My Rating: 3.5/5 Name: Haar Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Dragonmaster -> Dragonlord Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 46 HP .......... 30% Str ....... 23 Str ......... 70% Mag ....... 2 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 24 Skl ......... 70% Spd ....... 20 Spd ......... 30% Lck ....... 13 Lck ......... 45% Def ....... 23 Def ......... 65% Res ....... 7 Res ......... 20% Haar was a former soldier in Daein, though after Jill joined Crimea, he eventually followed. To this day he hasn't changed; he goes around assisting whomever he sees fit, and spends more time than not, sleeping. One could make a very strong argument that Haar is the best character in the game. I'm not even kidding, he has two stats that are NOT ridiculously overpowered: speed and resistance. His speed is only decently good, and his resistance is bad. This makes him rather weak against thunder sages, but there are ways to get around that. Essentially, Haar is a complete behemoth. His HP is extremely high, as is defense, but then factor in his strength and skill. Ridiculously high. Then you've got the fact he uses axes and can use lances. Essentially, Haar can kill anything. The thing I like about dragonlords over seraph knights is that they have no fear of bows or crossbows, just thunder magic (and seraph knights are weak against wind too, so who cares). That, and if you have room for only one flier, which is quite likely, Haar is your man as his HP and defense trample all seraph knights. But you see, the cheap thing is that Haar's base stats are so high, but he's actually LOW LEVELED. Only Level 11, so he still has 29 levels to gain. Then there's the fact he's available for all but two of the Greil Mercenary chapters, and there's not a bad thing to say about Haar. In fact, I'd recommend just completely abusing him until Endgame-4, unless he hits 20/20/20 before the endgame. Now, his speed may bite his ass in the end since it caps at 32, but that's still better than Marshalls and most mages. Overall, Haar is the best beorc unit in the whole game besides Ike. My Rating: 5.5/5 Name: Brom Recruited: CHAPTER 1 Class: Axe General -> Marshall Attribute: Water Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 36 HP .......... 80% Str ....... 19 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 4 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 17 Skl ......... 40% Spd ....... 16 Spd ......... 30% Lck ....... 13 Lck ......... 70% Def ....... 21 Def ......... 60% Res ....... 9 Res ......... 25% Brom is a farmer who was imprisoned by Daein partway through Path of Radiance, though he and his friend Nephenee eventually got together with Crimea but then retired to go back to their (hyuk hyuk hyuk) country life. Brom is not a bad unit at all. Yeah, I know you probably expected me to start bashing him right off the bat like I did in Path of Radiance, but you know what, he's actually pretty good. As a general, he uses axes, which are always a very solid weapon to use, plus he has high HP and defense, and his strength and skill are high enough. His speed isn't too terrible either, although Gatrie will easily edge him out. If that wasn't enough, Brom even has great availability (most all of Part 2 and Part 3). Here's the issue though. You have to compare Brom to Gatrie, who joins higher leveled and will most likely have higher stats as well. For instance, Brom joins at Level 2, while Gatrie joins at Level 10. Plus to me, Gatrie is one of the very best of the Greil Mercenaries, especially in the early parts. So how it's going to turn out, who knows. Brom fortunately is one of the Crimea Knights who joins the GMs, so honestly in my opinion, if you use Brom instead of Gatrie, that's perfectly fine. Their growths are both very balanced so that they'll end up the same, plus in my opinion using axes versus lances is a moot point as Gatrie as a Marshall will already be quite skilled in axes. The only problem is that Brom starts lower leveled, but hell, two generals at once isn't... too terrible. My Rating: 4/5 (actually more like a 3.75 but it rounds up) Name: Nephenee Recruited: CHAPTER 1 Class: Halberdier -> Sentinel Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 32 HP .......... 45% Str ....... 15 Str ......... 35% Mag ....... 6 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 19 Skl ......... 70% Spd ....... 20 Spd ......... 65% Lck ....... 12 Lck ......... 40% Def ....... 15 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 14 Res ......... 45% Nephenee is, like Brom, a country girl who got imprisoned by Daein during the Mad King's War and was then thrust into the battle, though at heart, she is exactly that: a country girl. In my opinion, Nephenee is one of the very best characters in the game. At first, there's absolutely nothing really going against her. She has good growths in the right areas. Strength is okay, plus skill and speed are quite strong. Defense ends up great, because Nephenee will be a sentinel and get ridiculously high avoid. At the beginning, by herself, obviously she won't be quite as strong as characters like Haar or Geoffrey, but she'll get there. That, and she and Brom join the Greil Mercenaries, so she has availability up the wazoo. Once Nephenee gets promoted to Sentinel, her HP and defense will both be outstanding, to the point in which she can double hit most enemies in the game with ease, with great accuracy, both hits doing fantastic damage, as well as avoiding most hits, and when she gets hit, taking very little damage. And for that reason, I consider her to be highly superior to Aran and Danved. She's a great unit, balanced in almost every way, and whenever I play through the game, she maxes almost every single stat except HP. Maxed strength, skill, speed, defense, AND resistance. Throw on the Wishblade and the Imbue skill, and Nephenee is completely unstoppable. One of the best characters in the game, easily, and you'd have to be crazy not to use her in the endgame. My Rating: 5/5 Name: Heather Recruited: CHAPTER 1 Class: Rogue -> Whisper Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 32 HP .......... 40% Str ....... 15 Str ......... 20% Mag ....... 9 Mag ......... 20% Skl ....... 21 Skl ......... 50% Spd ....... 25 Spd ......... 70% Lck ....... 16 Lck ......... 75% Def ....... 10 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 14 Res ......... 40% Heather is a thief that the country people run into in Ohma village during the riot that occurs there. She's also a lesbian, but that's well known. Anyway, talk to her with Nephenee or Brom for the recruit. Okay, a lot of people disagree with me, but I consider Heather to be one of the worst units in the game. The reason being, there's already one other central thief, and that's Sothe. I'll get into that later. In terms of actual thieving, you're not really going to need to do it a whole lot, aside from a couple exception chapters (3-3 being a good example). Obviously she's got the same great availability that Nephenee and Brom do, so that's one thing she has going for her. Thing is, I've always had a personal grudge against thieves in Fire Emblem games in the chapters they're not necessary for, well, thievery. Obviously, the reason for that is combat skills, and in that department Heather is completely lacking. Low strength which will only further decrease upon subsequent level ups, and it's at the point that by the time you reach the endgame of Part 2, she won't be able to do squat to the vast number of generals in that chapter. Part 3 doesn't leave space for a unit like her, sadly, and then in the endgame, even if you level her up, Sothe is REQUIRED in the endgame, so that's a thief spot. Even if you were leaving two spots for thieves, there's Volke to compete with, and both he and Sothe will edge her out. So that's really my take on it. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Lucia Recruited: CHAPTER 2 Class: Swordmaster -> Trueblade Attribute: Earth Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 38 HP .......... 50% Str ....... 18 Str ......... 25% Mag ....... 10 Mag ......... 20% Skl ....... 27 Skl ......... 70% Spd ....... 27 Spd ......... 60% Lck ....... 19 Lck ......... 30% Def ....... 14 Def ......... 15% Res ....... 15 Res ......... 50% Lucia is like a sister to Elincia, acting as her most trusted guardian with the possible exception of Geoffrey. She also receives a rather massive makeover at the end of Part 2 which I thought I'd point out. Okay, I called it, here's the character outside of Part 4 with the absolute worst availability in the whole game, as well as the one who is most hurt by that issue. Lucia is in one battle in Part 2. That's it. She rejoins in Tibarn/Elincia's Part 4 chapters, at which point she is highly inferior to your other characters. For instance, let's say you're spreading the other swordmasters out. She'll be with someone else in that case, and whomever it is, they'll be vastly superior to Lucia. Mia has excellent potential for growth and should be a Trueblade at that point, and Zihark/Edward should be at least Level 10 into Swordmaster if not higher at that point. Lucia is a Level 14 Swordmaster who will definitely help you through 2-2 (though I'd advise not using her at all), but after that, her strength and ESPECIALLY defense (15% growth, are you serious?) will be far inferior to anyone else. Overall, there's five trueblades, and Lucia is the worst of all them by far. Even if you build her up, her strength can't possibly keep up with the others, let alone help in the endgame. My Rating: 1.5/5 Name: Lethe Recruited: CHAPTER 2 Class: Cat Attribute: Heaven Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 51 HP .......... 85% Str ....... 9 Str ......... 35% Mag ....... 6 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 13 Skl ......... 30% Spd ....... 12 Spd ......... 50% Lck ....... 18 Lck ......... 45% Def ....... 9 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 10 Res ......... 20% Lethe is a Gallian warrior who joined the war effort in Crimea during the Mad King's War, and that's where she stuck around. Despite her interaction with them though, Lethe hates pretty much all beorc. One of the worse units in the entire game, the lower tier laguz in this game are in my opinion some of the most obsolete characters you'll ever come across. First of all, put this into perspective. At base, even when transformed, Lethe has 18 attack. Plus she's a Level 21 Cat, making her hard to level up. Seriously? What the hell is that all about? 18 defense, 24 speed, very unspectacular stats for a laguz that's effing transformed. Now, factor in the fact that Lethe doesn't even have high caps for those stats, and why the hell would you ever use her? A cap of 28 defense. Seriously. With those terrible growths, she has no potential, nor is she even good when you get her. Hell, she dies in my 2-E half the time, which is pretty pathetic. That's what you get for transforming in and especially out quickly. My Rating: 1/5 Name: Mordecai Recruited: CHAPTER 2 Class: Tiger Attribute: Water Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 57 HP .......... 90% Str ....... 14 Str ......... 35% Mag ....... 1 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 9 Skl ......... 25% Spd ....... 9 Spd ......... 15% Lck ....... 15 Lck ......... 80% Def ....... 16 Def ......... 45% Res ....... 4 Res ......... 15% Mordecai is another Gallian warrior who assisted Crimea alongside Ranulf and company during the Mad King's War, which is why he joins you this time as well. As a laguz though, he's a little kinder than Lethe, though. Fortunately, Mordecai is slightly better than Lethe, though that's not exactly saying much. His strength is at least passable at first (a full 10 points higher than Lethe's), and although his initial speed is terrible, that's not really going to be an issue offensively, plus defensively you have no worries as he has a base 32 defense transformed. Even out of transformation that's more than probably half your party, even if he'll obviously get doubled. Figure in his much higher HP and you can see why he beats the hell out of Lethe as a unit. Now don't get me wrong, he's still completely out of the realm of possibility for the endgame, but you know, he's at least usable, something a lot of characters aren't. The reason for that is his speed. 15% growth and a cap at 15->30 ain't gonna cut it. My Rating: 2/5 (make that a 1.75 and round it up) Name: Geoffrey Recruited: CHAPTER 3 Class: Lance Paladin -> Silver Knight Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 37 HP .......... 60% Str ....... 24 Str ......... 50% Mag ....... 8 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 23 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 20 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 19 Lck ......... 30% Def ....... 18 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 15 Res ......... 55% Geoffrey is the extremely stern and serious general of the Crimean army, and also an extremely overprotective but loyal servant of Elincia. He's also Lucia's brother. Here we have a character that splits people, but in my opinion Geoffrey is an extremely good, underrated unit. Here's his only disadvantage: availability. He has a couple assets that make up for that, however. He has the Paragon ability, and I don't really see any point in removing it and giving it to anyone else (if you want to give one to Ike's party, just use Astrid's or something), which will definitely help him out. Apart from that, he gets one battle in Part 3, and two in Part 2, which will level him up slightly. Being that you really shouldn't use anyone except Geoffrey and Kieran in 2-3, it's pretty reasonable to promote Geoffrey in 3-9. Geoffrey doesn't come back until 4-5 after that, at which point he'll still be underleveled due to his recent lack of availability, but in that battle he should be one of your strongest characters anyway (he gets a Silver Greatlance and a Brave Lance, enough said), so after that he should really be at least close to Titania and Oscar. At that point it can go either way with who you want to use. Geoffrey has initially rather weak HP, but extremely good growth in it. He will have absolutely no trouble in maxing strength and skill, which makes him a very solid unit. Plus, he's a Silver Knight in the end. I like to have one unit equipped with a blessed Brave Lance and Dragonfoe then, and Geoffrey is the perfect candidate for that. Overall, he's a mixed bag and he may not work out for you, but he always clicks for me, so... yeah. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Kieran Recruited: CHAPTER 3 Class: Axe Paladin -> Gold Knight Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 41 HP .......... 75% Str ....... 21 Str ......... 60% Mag ....... 6 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 20 Skl ......... 40% Spd ....... 20 Spd ......... 30% Lck ....... 16 Lck ......... 30% Def ....... 18 Def ......... 60% Res ....... 11 Res ......... 25% Kieran is a long time loyal knight of Crimea, and in this game he's finally gone back to just that -- what his original duty was. He also has a begrudged rivalry against Oscar, even three years later. Base stats here are a little lower than Geoffrey's, though that's kind of to be expected as Kieran is four levels lower. Anyway, of the four royal knight paladins, Geoffrey is my favorite by far, but Kieran is also an extremely solid character. His HP is extremely high, and his growth in it is utterly absurd. Same goes with strength. The Gold Knight maxes strength at 36, and if you choose to raise Kieran all the way, his strength will only be rivaled by Titania among paladins. Again, availability is an issue though. All the royal knights have only two chapters in Part 2, some in Part 3, and Geoffrey is the only one who misses a Part 4 one. That gives Kieran some opportunity to catch up, but availability to me is more of an issue with Kieran than it is Geoffrey, since the latter has Paragon. It's really that reason that I prefer the latter; he starts at a higher level and is even given the foundation to raise it. Kieran's endgame stats are quite good though and stack up right with the best of the best, however, so if you get the chance to raise him, you won't be disappointed. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Astrid Recruited: CHAPTER 3 Class: Bow Paladin -> Silver Knight Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 33 HP .......... 55% Str ....... 13 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 8 Mag ......... 20% Skl ....... 16 Skl ......... 45% Spd ....... 15 Spd ......... 40% Lck ....... 17 Lck ......... 70% Def ....... 10 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 14 Res ......... 25% Astrid was an enemy soldier for a small part of Path of Radiance, but then after having a word with Gatrie, she turned coat over to Crimea, and with Crimea was where she stayed from then on out. Probably because she obviously likes Makalov. Right up there with Fiona, Meg, and Lyre, Astrid is an absolutely terrible character. And that's quite sad, since she was so good in Path of Radiance, but now, everything has gone to hell. First of all, bows have low might, and Astrid only accentuates that with her piss poor strength. Her skill and luck are honestly her only even half decent stats. Her speed is terrible, her defense is a complete joke, and she's given resistance which starts alright, but with a 25% growth... yeah. If that weren't enough, Astrid has terrible HP. Sure, her growth in there is alright, but it caps at 50, so even if you actually raised her, you wouldn't get much in return. And that's just the thing. Astrid has typical Royal Knight availability, but Paragon. It worked with Geoffrey, but that's because Geoffrey started at level fifteen, and Astrid is level TWO. Even in the very early stages, Astrid barely registers damage, so factor in that she has almost no potential whatsoever, and she's possibly the worst character in the whole game. Fiona is even harder to build up, but even she can get better. My Rating: 1/5 Name: Makalov Recruited: CHAPTER 3 Class: Sword Paladin -> Gold Knight Attribute: Thunder Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 37 HP .......... 55% Str ....... 18 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 5 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 17 Skl ......... 40% Spd ....... 18 Spd ......... 75% Lck ....... 20 Lck ......... 45% Def ....... 17 Def ......... 50% Res ....... 9 Res ......... 25% Makalov is the brother of Marcia, and also one of the most finanically stupid and reckless human beings ever to live. Did I mention that he still has the ugliest portrait known to man? He makes Lowen from Fire Emblem 7 look good. Here we have a character who's... marginally alright. That's the only praise I have for him. Let's go stat by stat. His HP is good, strength is rather poor, skill is alright, speed starts rather edgy but gets better, luck is very good, defense is decent, and resistance is bad. Then you have to go by chapter, though. In the first one, his speed won't allow him to double anything, plus he's a sword user, so even though Kieran barely edges him in strength, you'll find the latter doing far more damage. Especially considering how many lance users there are in that, and most battles in this game. That fits hand in hand with his speed growth, I suppose. Then again, his HP and defense still aren't good enough to give him the endurance that characters like Geoffrey and Kieran have, though. By the time you reach the endgame, unless you gave him a ton of bonus EXP, he's already lagging. And face it, Geoffrey is Level 15 and has trouble. Kieran is Level 11 and can only make it in the end with favoritism. Where does that leave a unit who's Level 7, considering he's weaker when he starts out? Sure, he won't be rotten in the end or anything, but it's impossible to have him compete with others. My Rating: 3/5 (more like a 2.75 but it rounds up) Name: Danved Recruited: CHAPTER 3 Class: Halberdier -> Sentinel Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 39 HP .......... 75% Str ....... 17 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 8 Mag ......... 20% Skl ....... 23 Skl ......... 30% Spd ....... 21 Spd ......... 45% Lck ....... 18 Lck ......... 60% Def ....... 15 Def ......... 45% Res ....... 12 Res ......... 25% Danved is a man who undergoes constant rumors he's a man named Devdan. Uh, yeah, probably, but think about it. Danved/Devdan are black. Figures that Intelligent Systems would do it to the black guy. Okay not really, but yeah. Here's another mixed bag of a character. Danved is definitely better than Makalov and Astrid, and in fact I'd edge him over Marcia slightly too. Here's the reason. Look at his HP. Better than paladins, not bad, and compared to Makalov he's one point of strength lower, but he comes with three more speed points. His defense is rather lacking, but in my opinion, he's got a decent base. I'll just reiterate, though. Availability. He's a Level 9 Halberdier at first, and by the time he joins Ike's team, Nephenee will be what, a Sentinel already, if not Level 18-19? Danved can't compete. To be fair, using lances is better than swords, so I'll give him initial credit for that. In the end, though, his defense is another thing that's going to keep him held back. Danved simply won't have the avoid that Nephenee does, and with slightly lower defense as well, even if you build him up over her, he's not going to be as good as either she, or Aran as a matter of fact. Now, I like sentinels so he gets points for that, but in my opinion he's the worst of the lot. My Rating: 3.5/5 Name: Calill Recruited: CHAPTER 3 Class: Fire Sage -> Arch Sage Attribute: Dark Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 32 HP .......... 35% Str ....... 9 Str ......... 25% Mag ....... 19 Mag ......... 45% Skl ....... 18 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 18 Spd ......... 55% Lck ....... 16 Lck ......... 55% Def ....... 11 Def ......... 15% Res ....... 17 Res ......... 50% Calill, ever since Path of Radiance, has been the owner of a small shop as well as the wife of a large barbarian by the name of Largo. That, and she has a ridiculously large ego. In battle, Calill is rather mediocre. At least, by my standards, since I'm a Soren fanboy. But yeah, she's the only mage in Part 2, so there you go. She joins in the endgame, and at that point there is absolutely no way she can join the actual fray. She might be able to go to the back and use a fire spell or something from the distance to weaken/finish him off some enemy, but apart from that, her saving grace is the Meteor spell. Very useful, and that's what she was meant to do. That'll help you out. After the Meteor is gone, though, Calill's usefulness runs really thin. Her next battle is 3-9, where she'll be incredibly weak. Although her speed isn't bad plus her growth in it is decent, unless you really loaded her with bonus EXP, she'll die instantly. It's that terrible defense that does it. And honestly, I can't justify taking her any further than that. Sure, Calill is definitely better than Tormod or Ilyana just based on stats alone, but she has absolutely no way of competing with Soren after 3-9, who has a huge level advantage as well as better stats. My Rating: 1.5/5 ~- Vc. Greil Mercenaries (Part 3) ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- In order: Ike, Titania, Soren, Mist, Rolf, Boyd, Oscar, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mia, Ranulf, Kyza, Lyre, Reyson, Janaff, Ulki, Sigrun, Tanith Name: Ike Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Hero -> Vanguard Attribute: Earth Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 44 HP .......... 65% Str ....... 24 Str ......... 55% Mag ....... 2 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 28 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 23 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 14 Lck ......... 30% Def ....... 21 Def ......... 40% Res ....... 7 Res ......... 15% Ike is the hero of the Mad King's War. His life started when he was a mere mercenary under his father Greil, but then after he was killed mercilessly by the Black Knight, and from there, he set out for good. Eventually he became the general of the Crimean army, and led them to complete victory over Daein. At the beginning of this game, however, Ike went to work with the rest of the mercenaries, though eventually they make their appearance, and it's swift and felt. Well, Ike was the best character in Path of Radiance, and... he's the best character in Radiant Dawn too! Ike is a god in every way imaginable. He joins at Level 11 promoted, and has the entirety of Part 3 to get to Level 20, which he absolutely will. All his stats except resistance are superb. And indeed, that's really the only weakness that Ike has. His resistance is a little subpar, but apart from that, he's a complete beast. Unfortunately, equipment in the first part of the game doesn't nurture him well, but with his Ettard, and a Wind Edge, he's incredibly versatile. Ike's strength and speed are both stellar, and once you get Ike promoted, he can even equip axes. With axes and the Ragnell, he will double hit every single enemy that the entire game offers, pretty much, and on top of that, his HP and defense are both incredibly strong. I'd definitely try to procure a Talisman at some point though and use it on Ike. Ike has no need for magic whatsoever, so if you do that, he'll be absolutely perfect. You're required to use him, but who the hell has a problem with that. As long as you pay attention that he doesn't get screwed in speed (which almost never happens but I suppose is theoretically possible), he has no flaws. My Rating: 6/5 (one of two characters who gets that rating) Name: Titania Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Axe Paladin -> Gold Knight Attribute: Light Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 36 HP .......... 60% Str ....... 25 Str ......... 60% Mag ....... 10 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 22 Skl ......... 55% Spd ....... 21 Spd ......... 50% Lck ....... 19 Lck ......... 40% Def ....... 20 Def ......... 20% Res ....... 14 Res ......... 30% Titania has been the most loyal confidant of Ike for a long time, as well as the deputy commander, if you will, of the Greil Mercenaries. She also had a very strong attachment to Greil, back in the day. In my opinion, Titania is the best paladin in the game, but she has a few issues with her, naturally. First of all, HP. For a Level 16 Paladin, her HP is rather bad and makes Geoffrey's look good. Hell, Oscar, who is four levels lower, beats her by two. That's just paladins in general, though. For her stats Titania is a little overleveled in my eyes, but she's overall an extremely solid character. Her strength stat caps at 34, which is a bit lower than Kieran, but Titania has far more availability, potential, plus higher speed, so yeah, that's why she beats him out. Another issue I have with Titania is her defense. Decent at first, though a 20% growth is a little weak. Thankfully that's strengthened by the increase she'll get due to promoting to Gold Knight, but it's still a disadvantage. As far as the actual Greil Mercenary chapters, though, she's awesome. Only Oscar is the same as her in terms of movement, plus her strength is extremely high for the time. Just make sure she actually does get some EXP for her name, and she'll turn great. Granted I don't think she's as good as Shinon or Gatrie, plus I'm not a huge paladin fan, but Titania works out in the end. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Soren Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Wind Sage -> Arch Sage Attribute: Dark Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 28 HP .......... 40% Str ....... 9 Str ......... 25% Mag ....... 23 Mag ......... 80% Skl ....... 21 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 18 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 11 Lck ......... 35% Def ....... 9 Def ......... 25% Res ....... 21 Res ......... 70% Soren is one of Ike's most loyal friends, and also the master strategist for the Greil Mercenaries. As a person though he's a complete jackass, owing to the fact that he's a Branded, meaning he's half beorc and half laguz. For that reason, he hates laguz. I have one complaint about Soren, and that is all the negativity I'm going to have for him. His HP is too low. That's all. I would highly suggest obtaining a Seraph Robe and giving it to Soren, because then he'll be able to stand his own ground. Even considering that issue, though, Soren is a mage and comes in a party with characters like Boyd, Gatrie, Shinon, Titania, and Oscar. Aka, characters who can defend him and keep him safe, so that's hardly even an issue in the end. Soren comes at Level 5 and has decent stats to start off, meaning he'll have excellent potential for growth. And for my money, Soren is the best sage in the game, and it isn't even close. Soren's strength is okay, meaning he'll be able to handle heavy tomes just fine. His magic stat is outstanding, plus his speed may have a rather average base but it'll grow just fine. Here's the thing with Soren though, which makes him even better. Before he promotes to Arch Sage, he'll cap several stats. Magic, resistance, probably skill... he'll cap it. This makes him an absolutely perfect candidate for bonus EXP. You should have mountains of it by 3-10 anyway, so get him near promotion around then, and you'll get his speed almost maxed, plus his defense will be quite good. In fact, for me, usually the only stat the guy doesn't end up capping is luck. He caps HP and strength, what do you have to say to that. Overall he's an extremely good asset in the main game, and the only offensive mage I would even contemplate bringing to the endgame. My Rating: 5/5 Name: Mist Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Cleric -> Valkyrie Attribute: Water Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 28 HP .......... 40% Str ....... 8 Str ......... 25% Mag ....... 13 Mag ......... 80% Skl ....... 13 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 15 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 16 Lck ......... 35% Def ....... 7 Def ......... 25% Res ....... 16 Res ......... 70% Mist is the sister of Ike, which obviously makes her the daughter of Greil, and because of that she bears a vengeance against the Black Knight as well. She's also the bearer of the accursed Lehran's Medallion, the Fire Emblem. Statistically, what do you really expect. Mist blows. Her HP is the same as Soren's, which is to say, bad, plus she has less defense and resistance on top of that. What Mist exists to do, however, is heal your party. She's marginally alright at doing that, but a base magic of 13 isn't going to be effective when you have Rhys at a base magic ten full points higher. Apart from that, Mist's other stats are all equally poor except for her 80% growth in magic and 70% in resistance. And come on, those are given. Oh, but wait, Mist is a fighter as well! That's right, she can use swords and comes with the Florete sword. Which is a good sword on its own, but Mist is the only unit who can use it, and she's amazingly crappy at it. Her strength is so terrible she can barely make a dent in enemies, plus she has a 25% growth and a cap at 25. Considering that Rhys and even Elincia are going to utterly crush her in the healing department as well as doing damage, I wouldn't waste my time. Interestingly enough, Mist gets a special item that promotes her in 4-1, but whatever, I'm not leveling her up at all. After Nephenee and Haar join, to hell if you need two healers for the Greil Mercenaries. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Rolf Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Sniper -> Marksman Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 32 HP .......... 85% Str ....... 17 Str ......... 75% Mag ....... 3 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 20 Skl ......... 45% Spd ....... 19 Spd ......... 45% Lck ....... 13 Lck ......... 35% Def ....... 13 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 9 Res ......... 20% Rolf is the younger brother of Boyd and Oscar, though at the same time he's obviously the least physically developed. As an archer, he's the pupil of Shinon, which is an interesting teacher-student relationship. As a character, Rolf is like he is in Path of Radiance. He starts amazingly crappy, but has fantastic growths and can when nurtured, grow into a total beast. Here's the difference though. In Radiant Dawn, Rolf and Shinon join at the same time, and Shinon totally outclasses Rolf in almost everything at the beginning, is a full twelve levels ahead, and has the Provoke ability on top of far higher defense and HP, meaning that he doesn't even need to counter, he can just stay in the front and draw enemies while taking negligible damage. It's badass. And here's the thing. If you level Shinon and Rolf all the way up, Shinon will cap all the stats that Rolf does, except HP. See, here's the problem with that. Marksmen are not going to need overt amounts of HP in the endgame. Rolf has ridiculously good strength growth, but I've never NOT had Shinon max strength. Rolf's skill will be lower, speed will both get maxed at 34, and he'll likely lose out on the defense and resistance departments as well. See, in the end, Rolf isn't a bad unit by himself. I like characters with HP and strength growths which are that high. But the endgame, and the game as a whole, does not leave room for two snipers. When he's this outclassed by someone, he doesn't really get a place in the game. My Rating: 3/5 Name: Boyd Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Warrior -> Reaver Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 45 HP .......... 80% Str ....... 22 Str ......... 65% Mag ....... 1 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 20 Skl ......... 45% Spd ....... 18 Spd ......... 45% Lck ....... 13 Lck ......... 40% Def ....... 15 Def ......... 50% Res ....... 8 Res ......... 10% Boyd is the brother of Oscar and Rolf, and as the middle one he's the most rash and the most impulsive, as well as the biggest warhead. He's the strongest one, though. If you need pure brute force at the possible expense of keeping yourself safe, Boyd is your man. First of all, as far as beorc go, Boyd is the top in terms of HP. As a Reaver, he has incredible HP growth, and will cap HP at 68. He always pulls it off, too. Plus he has extremely good strength, and a 65% growth in it is pretty damn good. Obviously, those are two stats he's going to cap. My complaint with Boyd, however, is his speed. It's average, but come on, it's beaten by friggin' Gatrie (actually by a lot). It's the weakest of the main offensive Greil Mercenaries, by a long shot. Another problem existing in Boyd is defense and resistance. This is obviously a Reaver problem as a whole (not as prominent in Nolan though), but for all his high HP, it's going to get reduced pretty damn quick. Plus defense caps at 31, which is rather poor considering what characters like Gatrie can do. That being said, for what Boyd can double, he's a great unit against them, and hell, he hits some things so hard he doesn't even need to double them. Now I like having axe users in the endgame, so he definitely has room in there, so it's your call. You'll need to bonus EXP him up a little to get his speed up though (35 is the cap, which is hard to reach but at least the cap is high). And I might point out Nolan can turn out better, but yeah, Boyd is obviously far easier to nurture unless you just want to ignore him. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Oscar Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Lance Paladin -> Silver Knight Attribute: Earth Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 38 HP .......... 50% Str ....... 20 Str ......... 35% Mag ....... 7 Mag ......... 20% Skl ....... 22 Skl ......... 65% Spd ....... 21 Spd ......... 60% Lck ....... 18 Lck ......... 55% Def ....... 17 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 13 Res ......... 20% Oscar is the older brother of Rolf and Boyd. There's not really much more to say about him except he looks like he's stoned, is a great cook, and has a rivalry with Kieran. Yeah. To me, Oscar has some issues. First of all, he joins at a good level. Level 12 as a Lance Paladin, that's not bad. Here's his faults, though. His strength is not good enough considering the fact he's not going to be doubling much. See, I cut Boyd slack here, but that's because his strength has a full 30% higher chance of increase. So there's one strike. Oscar's skill is good, plus his speed has the chance for increase, so at some point he'll start doubling more, meaning that'll definitely make him more rounded. My issue is with his defense. Oscar's defense starts at 17, and his growth rate in it is barely better than Titania's. So overall, Oscar is one of those characters that's a jack of all trades but a master of nothing. He fortunately has higher HP in general than Titania, though, so that's an advantage. When he promotes, as a whole, Oscar is inferior to Titania and sometimes Geoffrey depending on your luck of the draw, but he's still a good character. His speed will be caught up, he'll have good strength, but he rarely makes my endgame roster. He'll help you out in Part 3 though, no worries. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Shinon Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Sniper -> Marksman Attribute: Thunder Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 43 HP .......... 50% Str ....... 21 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 7 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 28 Skl ......... 70% Spd ....... 24 Spd ......... 65% Lck ....... 15 Lck ......... 30% Def ....... 20 Def ......... 45% Res ....... 14 Res ......... 20% Shinon is another one of the veteran members of the Greil Mercenaries, and as an archer he's the teacher of Rolf. He was loyal to Greil though; he dislikes Ike and most people in general, so he's basically a jackass. I called it, Shinon is the most underrated unit in the game. And yes, I know a ton of people like him, but see, the way I see it, if one person said Shinon wasn't completely awesome, he'd be underrated. Shinon's stats are fantastic in absolutely every way. Now, I know you're going to jump on me for the 21 str and the 40% growth, but let me just say this. Shinon's skill and speed will get maxed before he promotes to marksman, easily. And at that point, just give him a little bonus EXP. His strength will absolutely skyrocket. See, if that weren't enough, Shinon's HP and defense each have a strong base and a great growth. Alright, I'm not finished. Shinon comes with the Provoke ability, meaning he'll lure enemies towards him. Shinon has an incredibly high avoid so he'll barely take any hits, but even when he does, he's got such good defense that he won't have a problem. Even in the early game, he can survive longer than Oscar and Titania. The hell is with that?! I'm not done. Shinon has the highest speed of everyone except Mia in the Greil Mercenaries, and a critical rate to die for, especially when he promotes. 50-60 percent critical? That's not even fair, plus he has Deadeye and a range of 3 as well. His only even possible downfall is that he can't counter at 1 range without a crossbow, but with something like the Aqqar (and especially when he has the completely overpowered Double Bow), that flaw is eliminated. Overall, Shinon is one of the most absurdly overpowered characters in the game. How can you fault cheaply high strength, skill, speed, defense, avoid, and critical? My Rating: 5.5/5 Name: Gatrie Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Lance General -> Marshall Attribute: Light Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 44 HP .......... 50% Str ....... 25 Str ......... 60% Mag ....... 5 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 18 Skl ......... 45% Spd ....... 20 Spd ......... 60% Lck ....... 15 Lck ......... 30% Def ....... 24 Def ......... 60% Res ....... 11 Res ......... 35% Gatrie is, along with Titania and Shinon, one of the veteran (not to mention one of the best) members of the Greil Mercenaries. He's a total obsessive womanizer who, according to Shinon, will hit on a tree with a skirt. I don't even know what to say here. Gatrie is another absurdly good unit, and as far as marshalls go, Brom can get up to his stats in the end, but Gatrie's bases are so good, plus he's already at such a higher level, that I'm not quite sure why you would want to. But yeah, look at those growths. Just look at them. 60% in strength, speed, and defense. That's insane. Now, typically the problem with generals is that they get doubled by everything, but Gatrie drives the hearse. For the earlier parts of the game, GATRIE will be the one doubling. All the while doing insane damage, and taking no damage. Gatrie is yet another candidate for bonus EXP, as he'll max strength and defense rather fast. Personally though, I'd get his speed up to 25 or so and then just give him the Master Crown, as he'll be wasting his time as just a Lance General. At that point, you'll have a complete tank of a unit who will get even more strength and defense (36 and 37, hell yeah), most likely max his HP albeit a little late, and he makes a perfect candidate for a second Provoke skill. Now sadly, Gatrie isn't quite as awesome in the later parts as he has a rather poor speed cap (31, yeah), though at least it's >30. I'd still take him to the endgame without question though, as even among laguz royals, he'll take impressively low damage. Why did we get the Dawn Brigade again, when we have characters this overpowered? My Rating: 5/5 Name: Rhys Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Bishop -> Saint Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 27 HP .......... 40% Str ....... 8 Str ......... 25% Mag ....... 23 Mag ......... 65% Skl ....... 16 Skl ......... 35% Spd ....... 14 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 21 Lck ......... 60% Def ....... 7 Def ......... 20% Res ....... 24 Res ......... 75% Rhys is a priest who accompanies the Greil Mercenaries as they go, though he's not as much of a fighter, owing to the fact that he can't stand the sight of bloodshed and fighting. Most people think Rhys is a complete epic fail. I disagree. Sure, he has a number of rather nasty issues, but he's not terrible by any means. First of all, based on initial bases, Rhys has 10 more magic power than Mist. I think the better healer between the two is pretty obvious. I might add, both Mist and Rhys have terrible speed, so doubling is out of the question. But here we go. Mist needs to be in close range, and her base att is 22. Rhys's base att with an Ellight spell is 28, and that's not taking into account most enemies have higher defense than resistance. All in all, their other stats are pretty comparable, but Rhys pretty much solidly blows Mist out of the water. Even though the Greil Mercenaries are so strong, you still need a healer, and your only options are Rhys and Mist. I might also point out that he's a Level 3 Bishop initially, and as far as endgame is concerned, I'd love to see Laura get there without complete abuse, let alone maintain a level like that. Sure, for the endgame, you might be able to get by with just Micaiah for healing, but if you need another, you obviously have no better choice than Rhys. In fact, if Rhys had better speed and defense, I'd give him a high score. Now Rhys is a perfect candidate for the bonus EXP you have, so that solves the issue later on, but that's the thing, he has a rough start. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Mia Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Swordmaster -> Trueblade Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 34 HP .......... 70% Str ....... 17 Str ......... 45% Mag ....... 5 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 26 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 28 Spd ......... 65% Lck ....... 18 Lck ......... 35% Def ....... 13 Def ......... 40% Res ....... 8 Res ......... 25% Mia is a purple haired (always good!) swordswoman who was recruited by Greil for some odd missions, so technically isn't one of the main mercenaries, but she sticks on because she has an obvious crush on Ike. Alright, in the first game, Mia has horrible strength and defense, with pretty much decent stats in all other departments. Here, those stats are only average while she has good HP, skill, speed, and luck. So, you could say that it all evens out, although in my opinion swordmasters are rather flawed in this game and a lot of the time, I don't even take one into the endgame. Anyway, when she joins, Mia's strength is pretty mediocre. It's at a Rolf level, but still, she has a whooping 28 base speed. That's incredible, and yeah, it's 9 points higher than Rolf's, so trust me, Mia's speed will never be an issue to you. So as you continue through the Greil Mercenary chapters, definitely beef Mia up. She ends up as a good candidate for bonus EXP, being that she'll max her ridiculously high skill and speed quite early, allowing you to complement her HP, strength, defense and whatnot. See, again, there's five swordmasters and I have issues with all of them since swords are my least favorite weapon in this game and when I need a swordsman I have Ike, but Mia is probably the overall best choice of all the trueblades. Zihark will probably be slightly better statistically since his HP, strength, and defense caps are higher, but Mia is a lot easier to build up. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Ranulf Recruited: CHAPTER 4 Class: Cat Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 55 HP .......... 70% Str ....... 14 Str ......... 30% Mag ....... 6 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 16 Skl ......... 40% Spd ....... 15 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 23 Lck ......... 55% Def ....... 13 Def ......... 15% Res ....... 10 Res ......... 10% Ranulf is the general of the Gallian troops besides Skrimir, but of course, he's the brains behind the operations while Skrimir is the pure brawn. For that he's really the most reliable person there short of Caineghis himself. Alright, Ranulf is decent enough, but here's his biggest flaw: his class. The cat is the worst form of laguz, because for one thing, they have decent speed which is usually more than they'll ever need, but at the expense of strength, which is something laguz are going to need up the wazoo. More importantly, though, their transformation is terrible so they're going to be constantly reverting back to human form, meaning you need to baby them with Olivi Grass. So that's the thing with Ranulf. He would have made an amazing character as a Tiger, but as a Cat he's rather eh. Then again, as far as cat laguz go, there's far worse (look at Lethe or Lyre if you want to see that). Ranulf actually has good stats, and as long as you don't give him Halfshift or some other equally crappy benefactor, he'll retain that. His strength is solid, speed and skill are quite good, and his HP and defense are decent. Granted his defense caps way too early, plus his growths are rather poor, but then again he's a Level 26 Cat. Obviously he's not going to be an endgame candidate as he takes a long time to level up, plus his strength maxes out too early, but that's a moot point as you've got laguz royals in the endgame. Not bad. Just not fantastic. My Rating: 4/5 (the usual case of 3.75 rounding up) Name: Kyza Recruited: CHAPTER 4 Class: Tiger Attribute: Light Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 55 HP .......... 85% Str ....... 10 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 3 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 10 Skl ......... 45% Spd ....... 11 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 14 Lck ......... 50% Def ....... 10 Def ......... 40% Res ....... 5 Res ......... 15% There's not much to say about Kyza. He's a soft spoken Gallian warrior who joins the Laguz Alliance under Ranulf and Skrimir. Kyza is a rather poor character, though he's at least salvageable, which isn't something I can say about a certain character he can be compared to. First of all, he's a tiger, a class that I definitely prefer over cats, but let's look at his stats. You've got a cat that's eight levels higher, and the stats go hand in hand with that. 20 base strength for a laguz? That's pretty terrible. 20 base defense is mediocre, 22 base speed is alright, 10 resistance is bad... what all that leads to is a pretty bad unit. Now, Kyza actually has potential though. His strength has a fair growth (40%) and caps at 23, so 46 strength in the end is as usual, not bad, though Mordecai and Muarim have the same. Then again, he joins in a party full of ridiculously strong units, so he can't really find a place in there. Still, if you must use another laguz besides Ranulf, definitely pick him over Lyre. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Lyre Recruited: CHAPTER 4 Class: Cat Attribute: Thunder Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 47 HP .......... 50% Str ....... 7 Str ......... 35% Mag ....... 6 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 11 Skl ......... 65% Spd ....... 11 Spd ......... 70% Lck ....... 16 Lck ......... 50% Def ....... 7 Def ......... 20% Res ....... 8 Res ......... 30% Lyre is another Gallian warrior who gets recruited unto the Laguz Alliance under Ranulf. Alright, I called it, here's the very worst character in the entire game. Lyre has 14 strength. Transformed. Along with, like the rest of the cats, a rather inconsistent transformation rate which will leave her defenseless more often than not. Now she has 22 speed, which is okay and will at least allow her to double the slowest of characters, but when she's doing the same damage that Mist will do on average with the Florete, she won't be damaging anything worth a damn. Now if that wasn't bad enough, she has 14 base defense. Considering a laguz without Canto is meant to be a front liner, she's going to die, plus there really is absolutely no potential for her to grow. I give her the worst rating in the entire game, because face it. Astrid, Fiona, and Meg may all be quite bad, but they're at least usable for a chapter or two. Lyre is completely unusable. Hell, I take back what I said about Volug, here's the worst laguz in the game. My Rating: 0/5 (DAMN) Name: Reyson Recruited: CHAPTER 5 Class: Heron Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 40 HP .......... 65% Str ....... 3 Str ......... 5% Mag ....... 5 Mag ......... 30% Skl ....... 5 Skl ......... 20% Spd ....... 11 Spd ......... 20% Lck ....... 31 Lck ......... 60% Def ....... 6 Def ......... 20% Res ....... 17 Res ......... 20% Reyson is the elegant prince of the herons, and the actual first heron that Ike meets, when he gets involved in Oliver's illegal laguz slave trade. He doesn't exhibit typical heron behaviors though, as he's pretty rude. Alright, third heron that you get in this game, and... what do you expect from a heron. Reyson is friggin' awesome. Statistically, Reyson is pretty good for a heron. Luck and resistance are standard fare, speed is alright, plus his HP actually isn't bad at all. Hell, he even has a good growth rate in HP, so if you choose to use Reyson from the beginning on, he'll actually develop to a point that if an accident happens, he might actually survive. Plus, he's at a half decent level. Not amazing, but at Level 15, it's certainly higher than Leanne or even Rafiel were at. Here's the catch to Reyson, though. When untransformed, he can only restore the movement of one character. Now, in previous Fire Emblem that'd be seen as incredible, but look what we're dealing with. I'll say this, though. Reyson is capable of using a Laguz Gem, which if you got two of them, makes him fit perfectly into your endgame roster if you don't want to use Rafiel. And when transformed, Reyson is perfectly fine. 22 speed will keep him alive, plus he can restore four people's movement. Plus, I might add. Reyson has by far the best availability of the three herons, along with a party that can actually keep him alive. Therefore, he's the best statistically by far. I slightly prefer Rafiel just based on a battle's first turn, but Reyson is a VERY close second. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Janaff Recruited: CHAPTER 7 Class: Hawk Attribute: Thunder Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 57 HP .......... 55% Str ....... 16 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 2 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 19 Skl ......... 45% Spd ....... 17 Spd ......... 25% Lck ....... 30 Lck ......... 50% Def ....... 12 Def ......... 35% Res ....... 8 Res ......... 10% Janaff is the right hand man of King Tibarn of Phoenicis, and his purpose is the king's eyes. Basically meaning, he can see stuff from a long way away. As a character, he's very bright and happy. Alright, I called it, there's Kurthnaga later in the game, but besides him and even considering in Ranulf, the best non royal laguz in the game are Janaff and Ulki. Now I have a number of reasons for that, but here's the thing. They join at a half decent level. Laguz are frustrating as all hell to level up, so having them with a good base is definitely a strong asset. Janaff, when he joins you, has great stats all around. A base of 32 strength and 34 speed? That's not bad at all. Granted, for a laguz, 24 defense is rather mediocre, plus he's always going to have to put up with the transformation issue, but at the very least he has 57 HP and can actually take a few hits. Naturally Janaff needs to be compared to Ulki, though, and personally, I find that Janaff is better all around while if you're going to take one into the endgame, Ulki works out a little better. What Janaff excels at, in any case, is pure strength. He has a higher strength growth and a lower speed growth, which is really surprising, but that's how it is. Either way, it's up to you if you want another laguz, but honestly you can't really go wrong with either of the two mainstream hawks. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Ulki Recruited: CHAPTER 7 Class: Hawk Attribute: Water Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 59 HP .......... 65% Str ....... 14 Str ......... 25% Mag ....... 3 Mag ......... 30% Skl ....... 17 Skl ......... 25% Spd ....... 18 Spd ......... 40% Lck ....... 25 Lck ......... 35% Def ....... 11 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 10 Res ......... 25% Ulki is the left hand man of King Tibarn of Phoenicis, and his purpose is the king's ears. Basically meaning, he can hear and sense stuff from a long ways away. As a character though, he's incredibly quiet, and has a creepy ass face. You can pretty much read what I said about Janaff to get what I feel about the hawks as a whole. I've never been a huge laguz fan, but you honestly can't go wrong with either of these two hawks. Statistically though, Janaff and Ulki are a bit different. First of all, Ulki is one level lower than Janaff, but hell, with that huge pile of Satori Signs that you're not going to ever have used, one of them definitely goes to both of the hawks, plus Ranulf, plus Kurthnaga. The best four non-royal laguz, but I'm off topic. Here's the only complaint I have about Ulki: his strength is a little low-ish. Ulki does have 28 base strength, which is of course, not something to make fun of, but that's an issue when Janaff has 32 as his base and a higher growth to boot. Ulki is actually the faster of the two, as well as the more durable and easier to keep alive. That all comes down to avoid, since Ulki has the speed to back that up. Not to mention his HP is a bit higher, and every little bit counts. Naturally, though, I think the speed advantage is going to be slightly better than the strength advantage in the endgame. If I need a bird laguz I'm going to bring Tibarn, so actually Janaff ends up being slightly better than Ulki, but still, I can't deny how much better they are than most laguz. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Sigrun Recruited: CHAPTER 11 Class: Falconknight -> Seraph Knight Attribute: Water Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 34 HP .......... 40% Str ....... 18 Str ......... 45% Mag ....... 13 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 22 Skl ......... 70% Spd ....... 24 Spd ......... 25% Lck ....... 28 Lck ......... 70% Def ....... 20 Def ......... 10% Res ....... 22 Res ......... 50% Sigrun is the most loyal confidant of the apostle Sanaki of Begnion, and like her, she loses her voice within the government of Begnion for a long time. Then again, she eventually makes a comeback. Alright, let's get the good and the bad out of the way. Sigrun comes at a level that's hard to pass up. At Level 19, almost ready to promote, that's what I like to see; unfortunately, her stats don't back that up. Tanith, who is three levels higher, is overall better (more HP and strength kind of seals the deal), and has WAY better growths. Because face it, Sigrun has some of the worst growths in the entire game. HP is mediocre, speed is horrible, and defense is that of Leanne and Rafiel. Enough said. So while Sigrun is passable at first, she has almost no potential whatsoever. If you compare endgame stats, Sigrun will be beaten by Elincia, Marcia, and Tanith in almost every stat except luck and maybe resistance. So basically, use Sigrun in 3-11, because she's pretty good there in conjunction with Tanith. Also, I complain about things in Tanith. Apply all that to Sigrun, because it's bad in Tanith and worse in Sigrun. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Tanith Recruited: CHAPTER 11 Class: Falconknight -> Seraph Knight Attribute: Earth Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 35 HP .......... 35% Str ....... 20 Str ......... 55% Mag ....... 10 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 21 Skl ......... 75% Spd ....... 23 Spd ......... 40% Lck ....... 22 Lck ......... 35% Def ....... 19 Def ......... 40% Res ....... 20 Res ......... 30% Like Sigrun, Tanith is a falcon knight of Begnion who serves Sanaki loyally, and makes a comeback after the little Valtome-Zelgius match. Tanith joins with comparable stats to Sigrun. Almost the same HP, strength, skill, speed, and defense; Sigrun just has 6 points higher luck, which ain't going to make her that much better. Plus she's at a higher level and has utterly terrible growths. Tanith's growths aren't bad at all. 55% strength is pretty good, 40% speed/defense are fair (and certainly better than goddamn 25% speed/10% defense). Tanith's availability isn't in your favor a lot, though. Two chapters in Part 3, two chapters in Part 4, then you're at the endgame. It kind of presses you for time. Normally, I'd be quite in favor of a character like Tanith, but let's face it. The seraph knight is a crappy class. Weakness to bows and crossbows is a huge disadvantage, plus their stat caps are terrible. 50 HP, 32 strength, and 28 defense. That's not great. 36 speed is alright, but there's a ton of other classes where you can get something comparable to that. As far as fliers go, Tibarn and even Janaff/Ulki will outclass Tanith, and let's not even get into Haar or even Elincia, who does what Tanith does on top of wielding the Amiti and heal staves, just slightly lower stats. So if you put effort in, Tanith isn't bad, but she just has utterly no space in the endgame, to me, plus her availability doesn't help. My Rating: 3/5 ~- Vd. Gods And Men (Part 4) ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ In order: Skrimir, Sanaki, Naesala, Nailah, Tibarn, Stefan, Oliver, Bastian, Volke, Kurthnaga, Ena, Caineghis, Giffca, Renning, Gareth, Nasir, Pelleas, Lehran Name: Skrimir Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Lion Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 66 HP .......... 90% Str ....... 19 Str ......... 35% Mag ....... 3 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 14 Skl ......... 35% Spd ....... 13 Spd ......... 25% Lck ....... 24 Lck ......... 20% Def ....... 16 Def ......... 50% Res ....... 9 Res ......... 5% Skrimir is a young general of the Gallian army, although as a general he's extremely incompetent, and only really takes over because Caineghis and Giffca are incapable. That being said, he's a future king. In battle, Skrimir is yet another character who joins at the wrong time. I find it all a bit odd that he joins in Part 4, yet is in almost every single storyline cutscene in Part 3, but whatever. Skrimir is strong as hell. You wish you could have used him in Part 3, because Skrimir is essentially a slightly watered down laguz royal. His strength is 38 right off the bat, plus his HP is extremely good, and hey, he has a 90% growth rate, so it's pretty much going to increase whenever he levels up. All his other important stats are pretty decent too. I don't care for his speed much, but he's good. The reason Skrimir pales in comparison to the laguz royals, though, is because he's limited to just a Fang instead of a Great Fang, plus he has no Formshift. That definitely limits his overall ability. Plus even though his strength and defense cap at 48 and 44 respectively, which are obvious laguz royal stats, his speed is weaker. However, give him a Laguz Stone in 4-3, and he will absolutely dominate. He's definitely worth using in the chapters he's in. That being said, I need to be hard on laguz units, since you've already got Caineghis, Giffca, and Nailah for the endgame. My Rating: 3/5 Name: Sanaki Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Empress Attribute: Light Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 28 HP .......... 70% Str ....... 2 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 33 Mag ......... 60% Skl ....... 22 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 23 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 32 Lck ......... 55% Def ....... 10 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 28 Res ......... 50% Sanaki is none other than the empress of Begnion. The thing with her though is that she was powerless while the senate carried out the agenda of Begnion while she was imprisoned, though. Plot twists around her, too, it's tight. Here we have a potentially salvageable, but still otherwise medicore character and yet another weaker type of character that is forced into the endgame. Alright, Sanaki. As you can see, her HP and defense are both terrible. Plus this is Part 4, so we kind of have higher standards now. That, and her speed. Sanaki will NEVER double attack anything, and in fact will oftentimes get doubled herself, simply because her strength is absolutely dreadful and her speed isn't too hot either. Now, thankfully, Sanaki is given good growths to complement the areas she sucks in. 40% strength growth is decent, 70% HP growth is fantastic. Still, consider. She joins in the endgame, in two chapters where she's not going to be getting much experience. So if you need to build her up to decency, you have to abuse bonus EXP on her. Which might actually not be a terrible idea, but that's what you'll have to do. Even in the endgame though, Sanaki won't be good enough to compete with Soren or even Micaiah. Unfortunately, she's someone you're forced to use, though. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Naesala Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Raven Attribute: Dark Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 60 HP .......... 40% Str ....... 17 Str ......... 45% Mag ....... 7 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 20 Skl ......... 30% Spd ....... 21 Spd ......... 45% Lck ....... 20 Lck ......... 55% Def ....... 13 Def ......... 15% Res ....... 14 Res ......... 35% Naesala is the sly, dastardly king of Kilvas. Much like Pelleas, he becomes a victim of Lekain and his blood pacts early on, and because of that, he falls back from the Laguz Alliance, although he's actually a very kind and courageous royal, plus he has an obligation to the herons. Alright, besides the little bit of Nailah from Part 1, Naesala is the first laguz royal that you actually recruit. And, in actuality, he's the worst of the whole lot of them. That is due to his strength stat. That's due to the fact that it maxes at 20, which leads to a strength of 40 transformed. Tibarn will have 44, Nailah will have the same but more defense (plus she's the second weakest anyway), and Giffca and Caineghis will both have 48. That's a rather sizeable difference. Now, to be fair, he's a lot better than most beorc, especially considering his speed is godly (it maxes at 25... meaning 50 transformed, which is incredible). That being said, it needs the strength to cap it off, and I prefer the overall balance that the lions and Tibarn keep statistically. That, and Naesala's HP and defense are both rather lacking for a royal. Now, obviously, Naesala is the fifth best laguz in the game, so it's unfair for me to compare him to the other royals, but he's just not got the punch for me for the endgame. Helps out in his chapters though. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Nailah Recruited: CHAPTER 1 Class: Wolf Queen Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 66 HP .......... 60% Str ....... 17 Str ......... 25% Mag ....... 5 Mag ......... 50% Skl ....... 23 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 19 Spd ......... 60% Lck ....... 35 Lck ......... 65% Def ....... 16 Def ......... 15% Res ....... 13 Res ......... 65% Nailah is the wolf queen, and the one who brought up Rafiel after the Serenes Forest was burned down. She and her accomplice Volug run into Micaiah and the rest of Daein early, and it all goes from there. When Nailah joins you in Part 1, she's not even funny. You have several rather overpowered units there, but except for the Black Knight, she makes all of them look like complete sissies. She's absurdly fast, does 40+ damage a strike, and half the time activates Savage, which makes her even more ridiculous. She doesn't rejoin until Ike's chapters in Part 4 though, and at that point, she's great. I have the same complaint with Nailah that I do about Naesala though, and that is that she is not strong enough. Her strength stat caps at 20, which leads to 40 strength, and since she doesn't fly either, that's particularly crippling for a laguz royal. I prefer her slightly to Naesala though, since she has much higher defense, and if you give her a little of your bonus EXP in the endgame, she will cap her HP to 70, which can really make a difference. Overall, she's pretty good in the endgame. I never bring her there, but that's totally your call, since she works well however you slice it. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Tibarn Recruited: CHAPTER 2 Class: Hawk King Attribute: Heaven Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 68 HP .......... 75% Str ....... 18 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 2 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 24 Skl ......... 10% Spd ....... 20 Spd ......... 20% Lck ....... 29 Lck ......... 40% Def ....... 16 Def ......... 40% Res ....... 10 Res ......... 20% Tibarn is the hawk king of Phoenicis, and one of the main spearleaders of the Laguz Alliance early on in the game. His personality has taken a beating since Path of Radiance though, since he's ridiculously gung ho and reckless, not to mention a complete jackass. But hey, he's a hawk, what do you expect. Alright, if you need a flying laguz, Tibarn is your man, no questions asked. Granted he joins for as much as Naesala or Nailah based on her Part 4 stuff, but he's still the best of the fliers. Now, his strength caps at 22, which means 44 while transformed. For a flier, that's pretty damn good. He's also absurdly fast (46 is as much as you need, people), and his HP and defense are top notch. Sure, they're not as much as Caineghis or those other people, but come on. Tibarn effing flies. His only weakness is wind magic and arrows, and since he's so fast he'll be dodging a lot of that crap anyway. If you're bringing multiple laguz royals into the endgame, he's definitely your second choice after Caineghis. Another great thing he has going for him is 4-5. Enough said, he can level up a hell of a lot there, and since his HP caps at 75, he'll be lasting a while. My Rating: 5.5/5 Name: Stefan Recruited: CHAPTER 3 Class: Trueblade Attribute: Heaven Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 53 HP .......... 55% Str ....... 27 Str ......... 50% Mag ....... 7 Mag ......... 20% Skl ....... 37 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 36 Spd ......... 60% Lck ....... 20 Lck ......... 15% Def ....... 21 Def ......... 40% Res ....... 16 Res ......... 50% Stefan is a hermit who's been living in the deserts of Begnion for several years. What he strives to do there, somehow, is establish peace between laguz and beorc. Very successful, huh? Alright, the first character who joins in the extremely late parts of the game who I need to analyze. Well, Stefan is... alright. His HP is solid, his skill and speed are obviously great, and since he's a Level 8 Trueblade, he'll get them maxed easily. It's his other stats that he really lacks in, though. His strength is only average, his defense is low, and his resistance is quite bad. If you promoted Mia to Trueblade, chances are her HP is slightly lower, but all her other stats should be at Stefan's level or at least extremely comparable (because face it, who the hell needs that much skill). It's quite possible that your other trueblades got screwed over, and if that's the case, then go ahead and use Stefan, he's not terrible. He's not that great either, though, just warning. Definitely recruit him though, he has the Vague Katti. My Rating: 3/5 Name: Oliver Recruited: CHAPTER 4 Class: Saint Attribute: Fire Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 48 HP .......... 65% Str ....... 22 Str ......... 55% Mag ....... 31 Mag ......... 35% Skl ....... 22 Skl ......... 35% Spd ....... 20 Spd ......... 45% Lck ....... 28 Lck ......... 30% Def ....... 18 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 32 Res ......... 20% Oliver is the infamous Duke Tanas, a hypocritical savage who bathes in his delusion that he is "beautiful", and also has a manic obsession with herons. Three years ago, his illegal heron slave trade was discovered, but he's a Begnion senator, so he gets away with it. To recruit Oliver, you need to have Rafiel move into his range in 4-4, and then he'll recruit himself onto your party. That's not absolutely necessary, but of the weaker characters that join you in Part 4, Oliver is by far the least bad. Now, naturally, he's a saint, so what do you really expect. His magic is alright. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but it'll get him through. His speed is alright, defense is weak, resistance is good, and HP is very good for a saint type of character. As a saint, Rhys is one of the more difficult characters to build up in the endgame, so if your Oliver edges him out, yeah, go ahead, take Oliver into the endgame instead of him. The endgame definitely leaves room for a healer besides Micaiah, so there you go. Otherwise though, Rhys or Elincia at full potential completely outclass Oliver in every way possible. My Rating: 3/5 (more like a 2.75 but rounds up though) Name: Bastian Recruited: CHAPTER 5 Class: Arch Sage Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 45 HP .......... 25% Str ....... 21 Str ......... 20% Mag ....... 35 Mag ......... 30% Skl ....... 27 Skl ......... 70% Spd ....... 24 Spd ......... 40% Lck ....... 21 Lck ......... 40% Def ....... 20 Def ......... 25% Res ....... 32 Res ......... 50% Bastian is another one of the most loyal confidants of Elincia, though he spends the majority of the game on an emissary mission to Daein, and therefore does not join until incredibly late in the game. Bastian isn't a bad unit by himself, but he comes at a terrible time in the game, as well as suffers from an incredibly crippling fault, and that's his speed. Let's get to that in time though. As an arch sage, Bastian is okay. His HP and strength are solid, his magic is undoubtedly inferior to Soren's but alright, skill is good, and defense and resistance are typical sage fare. His growths are all relatively poor aside from his skill growth, though, and face it, how much does a sage need skill? Think about that. Here's the thing, Bastian joins extremely late, and that speed is horrible. Soren will ideally, by the time you get to the endgame, be way into the 30's. He'll have roughly the same defense if not slightly higher, higher HP if you were like me and gave him a Seraph Robe early, higher magic, and yeah, a speed that's 5-6 points higher. As a sage, it's important to be able to double, and that's something Bastian won't do. Now he's useful in 4-5 to some extent, as he can legitimately rack damage on enemies and get them hurt, but he has absolutely no place in the endgame whatsoever. My Rating: 2.5/5 Name: Volke Recruited: CHAPTER 5 Class: Assassin Attribute: Wind Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 52 HP .......... 50% Str ....... 30 Str ......... 50% Mag ....... 5 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 36 Skl ......... 60% Spd ....... 35 Spd ......... 65% Lck ....... 19 Lck ......... 20% Def ....... 26 Def ......... 45% Res ....... 32 Res ......... 15% Volke is a man of many mysteries. He's had a good number of connections with Greil back in his day, as well as Ike, though no one knows what his true motives are, as well as why he wants so much money. To get him to join, you have to have Elincia and Geoffrey pay him 3000 Gold in 4-5. To me Volke is like a more badass version of Stefan. More HP, more strength, comparable skill and speed, more defense, just less resistance. Now, the thing with Volke is, however, that he's an assassin, which is essentially a souped up thief. He's definitely great for a thief, since he can do everything that a thief does, but Volke has ridiculously high strength, plus the Lethality skill, which essentially makes him a complete demon. Hell, he joins in 4-5, the biggest EXP chapter in the game, so in there alone, he can max his HP and strength. Here's my issue with Volke though. Sothe is required in the endgame. Now don't get me wrong, Volke utterly blows Sothe out of the water. Did it in Path of Radiance, and he does it here too. The problem is, however, that your endgame lineup likely isn't going to leave room for another whisper/assassin type character. The thing with Volke is that if we want to think of him like a trueblade (hence the Stefan comparison), the trueblade will have a stronger weapon, comparable strength and defense, plus honestly Astra is quite a bit better than Lethality. But oh well. Volke will help you immensely in 4-5, but he just gets screwed over by the endgame being a jackass. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Kurthnaga Recruited: ENDGAME-1 Class: Black Dragon Attribute: Water Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 55 HP .......... 95% Str ....... 15 Str ......... 45% Mag ....... 7 Mag ......... 15% Skl ....... 8 Skl ......... 20% Spd ....... 10 Spd ......... 35% Lck ....... 21 Lck ......... 60% Def ....... 15 Def ......... 25% Res ....... 15 Res ......... 40% Kurthnaga is the prince of Goldoa, and fitting in with that, a fairly normal dragon. He hates warfare and becomes sick at the sight of bloodshed, but that doesn't stop him from fighting for a noble cause. Alright, Kurthnaga is a perfect example of a love it or hate it character. I've heard him called everything from the best non-royal laguz to the worst unit in the whole game. Personally I'm not sure I'd go to either extreme, but Kurthnaga is a very useful character. First of all, in the endgame, Kurthnaga is a requirement, so you might as well level him up. And considering he's Level 20 and has twenty more levels to go while most of your other characters should be at least halfway through their third tier with a number of stats maxed, I honestly don't see any reason not to give Kurthnaga Paragon as well as a little bit of bonus EXP every now and then. I'm not going to lie. Kurthnaga is very weak at first. With only 30 attack power and an average weapon, as well as a horrible 20 speed, he's not going to be too good initially. However, Kurthnaga has a lot of potential. His strength and speed growths are good enough, his HP growth is fantastic, plus I really don't believe his defense growth is as low as it seems, as that seemed to be going up a lot for me, though in the endgame resistance is more important. Now, I would give Kurthnaga a solid 5/5, but there's one issue. He has only an A in strike at first, meaning you may need to give him an Arms Scroll. Now the EXP, I have no problem with, but in order to increase his fighting power you are going to need to do a little babying in that fashion. If you get him at least moderately up to par by 4-E-3, though, he'll be incredibly useful and if you give him Paragon (again I see no reason not to), he'll gain a very decent share of levels at the same time. Also, Kurth gets Formshift after 4-E-3. Can't go wrong with that. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Ena Recruited: ENDGAME-1 Class: Red Dragon Attribute: Earth Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 59 HP .......... 50% Str ....... 10 Str ......... 20% Mag ....... 15 Mag ......... 50% Skl ....... 13 Skl ......... 40% Spd ....... 11 Spd ......... 40% Lck ....... 18 Lck ......... 35% Def ....... 13 Def ......... 15% Res ....... 17 Res ......... 50% Ena is a female dragon whom you could say has a number of loyalties. She's loyal to her king Dheginsea, but at the same time feels a duty to Ike and Kurthnaga, which is what sends her to their side in the endgame. Alright, I ain't gonna sugarcoat this. Ena blows. Her attacking power, as you can see, is absolutely horrendous, plus she has a 20% growth. What the hell is up with that? She even starts two levels higher than Kurth, making her especially hard to raise. But seriously, her speed is I guess marginally better than Kurth's, and her HP STARTS better (but if you leveled them both up ten times or so I promise without a shadow of doubt Kurth would surpass her), plus Kurth actually has a half decent potential in strength, whereas Ena gives all that up for magic, which she has absolutely no need for. Not only that but her defense sucks too. Now to be fair, Ena can be put to good use in 4-E-3 just like Kurth can. Not having anything attack her is an asset you can't possibly pass up, though if you don't give her EXP beforehand, she won't be able to damage crap, whereas Kurth can at least make a dent in the dragons. That and she has one small advantage over Kurth to me in that her Blood Tide gives adjacent enemies added strength and skill, whereas Kurth's Night Tide raises defense and resistance. Both good, but Ena's edges him out to me. Plus let's face it, Ena as a barrier in 4-E-3 is good, but she never gets Formshift either. So honestly, I'm not a dragon guy at all, but even if you completely overload her with favoritism in management, Ena will only be as good if not probably worse than Kurthnaga with only a slight amount of work. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Caineghis Recruited: ENDGAME-1 Class: Lion King Attribute: Earth Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 76 HP .......... 50% Str ....... 22 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 4 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 23 Skl ......... 40% Spd ....... 17 Spd ......... 20% Lck ....... 30 Lck ......... 40% Def ....... 22 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 10 Res ......... 10% Caineghis is the noble king of Gallia, the nation of beast laguz, not to mention he's new to Radiant Dawn. That, and he used to be the commander of Greil, which is tight. Okay, what can I say. Caineghis is the best of the laguz royals, no questions about it. His ONLY weakness is that he cannot fly. And who the hell am I to scratch that off against someone. I would normally say he's weak to fire magic, but since there's about one fire sage in the whole game after you get him, that's a negligible argument. Caineghis has an absurdly high strength stat, with 44 transformed. That's as high as Tibarn's cap. Caineghis caps at 48 total, which is incredible considering he's also ridiculously fast, and will double most everything that the whole game offers. All this, and he has the highest HP and defense in the game besides Gareth, who's a crappy unit anyway. He's really got everything down, and while none of the laguz royals have very high resistance, Caineghis isn't going to be suffering from that either when he's so fast it's a moot point. Overall, if you're going to play it fair and use one laguz royal, make it Caineghis. My Rating: 6/5 (he's the best laguz royal... what does that tell you) Name: Giffca Recruited: ENDGAME-1 Class: Lion Attribute: Dark Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 73 HP .......... 40% Str ....... 21 Str ......... 35% Mag ....... 4 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 22 Skl ......... 35% Spd ....... 18 Spd ......... 50% Lck ....... 28 Lck ......... 25% Def ....... 20 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 11 Res ......... 15% Giffca is the shadow of King Caineghis, and for the most part goes where the king does, though he's been known for carrying out odd tasks such as the final battle of Path of Radiance. Giffca is another complete and total beast, as you can expect. Like Caineghis, Giffca caps strength at 48, and while he's not quite as likely to hit it, that is what it is. His HP and defense are just as high, his skill is just as good, and he's even faster, if that was at all possible. In fact, just get his speed up a little and he'll have over 40 in four stats, which I think only Lehran is able to do besides him. That's absolutely outrageous. So what's the catch? While all the other laguz royals come with Formshift, Giffca does not. Now fortunately, Giffca has a Laguz Gem, so he is able to transform for the entire battle, but this wastes one turn. That seems pretty minute, but it's something that can actually make a difference when comparing such overpowered units. So statistically he's beaten very slightly by Caineghis and for that flaw he loses out to Tibarn for me, but hey, what the hell, he's friggin' Giffca. And in my book, he's the third best laguz royal. My Rating: 5/5 Name: Renning Recruited: ENDGAME-1 Class: Gold Knight Attribute: Earth Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 56 HP .......... 40% Str ....... 31 Str ......... 60% Mag ....... 18 Mag ......... 10% Skl ....... 32 Skl ......... 50% Spd ....... 29 Spd ......... 40% Lck ....... 24 Lck ......... 10% Def ....... 27 Def ......... 70% Res ....... 23 Res ......... 20% Renning is the uncle of Elincia, who has gone missing from the kingdom of Crimea for three years. Reason being, he's undergone transformation because of the likes of Izuka, and lost his mind due to laguz drugs. Here's a good example of a character who would have been great about a whole part ago, but right before the endgame, Renning is going to be pretty much obsolete. Now, to be fair, he's not as bad as some would say. If you totally neglected paladins throughout the game, Renning is okay for at least the first couple chapters of the endgame. His strength is alright (if you actually trained others though, they'll trample him), and his skill is strong. Pretty much any paladin will beat him in speed though, plus his defense and resistance are both rather lacking. Overall, he's cool, but I wouldn't substitute him for Titania, Oscar, Geoffrey, or Kieran. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Gareth Recruited: ENDGAME-4 Class: Red Dragon Attribute: Thunder Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 82 HP .......... 90% Str ....... 22 Str ......... 40% Mag ....... 5 Mag ......... 5% Skl ....... 10 Skl ......... 30% Spd ....... 7 Spd ......... 10% Lck ....... 20 Lck ......... 65% Def ....... 21 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 9 Res ......... 25% Gareth is one of the most loyal guardians of the nation of Goldoa, as well as a trusted soldier of King Dheginsea's, and that carries out to the very end. To recruit him in the endgame... just let him live. That's basically it. Alright, you thought Renning or Skrimir were bad in terms of joining too late? Gareth destroys all that. He has a base transformed defense of 42. Here's one problem though: there is one physical attack in ALL the chapters that follow his joining. So despite his ridiculously high HP (highest in the game, not even close), he's going to die. That, and his speed is a complete joke. It starts at FOURTEEN transformed, and caps at TWENTY transformed with only a 10% growth, meaning he's going to get doubled by everything. What the hell is up with that? Now, to be fair, there's a way to use Gareth, which involves really blatant favoritism. 4-E-5 allows him to perhaps do a little damage to the auras, plus in 4-E-4 there's a decent setup of wardwoods, meaning he'll have +10 res there, then you can use a Pure Water on him. That's horribly restricting, though, and come on. I'm not going to blatantly constrict a character like that, geez. Now, if someone died in 4-E-3/4, then feel free to use Gareth in that empty spot. Otherwise, Gareth is just too much of a tank to be of use. Plus, seriously, isn't 2 dragons enough? My Rating: 1.5/5 Name: Nasir Recruited: ENDGAME-4 Class: White Dragon Attribute: Light Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 74 HP .......... 70% Str ....... 7 Str ......... 15% Mag ....... 24 Mag ......... 45% Skl ....... 13 Skl ......... 35% Spd ....... 8 Spd ......... 20% Lck ....... 19 Lck ......... 45% Def ....... 12 Def ......... 15% Res ....... 21 Res ......... 40% Nasir is the grandfather of Ena, as well as an old companion of Ike's. He's a man of many sides, though, in that he has about as many betrayals as Naesala, really. Plus unfortunately, his ultimate loyalty is to Dheginsea. Like Gareth, keep him alive to get him, capiche? I don't like Nasir in battle in this game very much because once again, he joins WAY too late. Fortunately, he has a little more practical use than Gareth. First of all, almost all of the endgame attacks are completely magic. Nasir has a base of 42 resistance transformed, which you can improve by 4 through levels. Now just think of what he'd be if you give him the kind of special treatment Gareth needs just to survive. =) Now granted, Nasir has slightly less HP, but it's still a freaking ton of it, so that's certainly not a problem. Nasir's speed is still awful. It's a little better than Gareth's just based on base, but it's still horrible. However, I honestly don't care here because he was never going to get to the point where he's going to double, plus with his resistance he'll be taking so little damage it's really not too major. One other thing is that Nasir has Nihil. Meaning he's not going to hit by the dreaded Aurora attack that the final boss's auras have. Again, if you have empty room because of a character death, take Nasir. Otherwise, pass. My Rating: 2.5/5 Name: Pelleas Recruited: CHAPTER 2 (second playthrough) Class: Dark Sage -> Arch Sage Attribute: Water Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 33 HP .......... 35% Str ....... 13 Str ......... 25% Mag ....... 24 Mag ......... 55% Skl ....... 20 Skl ......... 45% Spd ....... 21 Spd ......... 60% Lck ....... 14 Lck ......... 40% Def ....... 14 Def ......... 30% Res ....... 19 Res ......... 45% Pelleas is the unfortunate king of Daein, as well as the supposed son of the late King Ashnard and the branded Almedha. TO RECRUIT HIM: you must be on your second playthrough. Refuse his offer in 3-13, and then he'll join you a couple turns into 4-2. Alright, I bet everyone wants to know what I think of Pelleas, and what is the case with him? He's pretty bad! Yeah, I know you were probably expecting something more than that, but that's really all I have to say. First of all, Pelleas joins in 4-2. The standards jump considerably from Part 3 to Part 4, and had Pelleas joined in Part 3, he probably would have been fairly decent. See, Pelleas has 24 base magic though. His stats are barely higher than what Soren's are when he joins you, and he's seven levels lower on top of joining about 15 chapters earlier. That's a fairly significant difference. Now, the thing with Pelleas is that he's essentially the druid of this game, in that he wields dark tomes. Dark tomes are naturally cool, but trust me, they're nothing special that you can't experience through any other form of magic, so the novelty will grow old after a little while. 4-2 is a treacherous chapter, plus his next chapter, 4-5, will give him a chance to promote him if you want, but his stats are honestly way too low for me to give him my consideration. 31 maxed speed is pretty terrible, 24 defense, all that is mediocre even by mage standards. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Lehran Recruited: ENDGAME-5 (second playthrough) Class: Chancellor Attribute: Light Base Stats: Growth Rates: ------------ -------------- HP ........ 50 HP .......... 0% Str ....... 11 Str ......... 0% Mag ....... 40 Mag ......... 0% Skl ....... 40 Skl ......... 0% Spd ....... 40 Spd ......... 0% Lck ....... 40 Lck ......... 0% Def ....... 23 Def ......... 0% Res ....... 40 Res ......... 0% Lehran needs no introduction. The ancient "hero" as well as the one who sealed Yune in a medallion and serves Ashera. TO RECRUIT HIM: you must be on your second playthrough. Deploy the Black Knight into battle in Part 1's Endgame, then in 3-7, have Ike attack the Black Knight, but make sure that both of them survive. With that, in 4-E-2, view Ike's memory scene. With that, Lehran will join at the beginning of 4-E-5. What am I supposed to say about Lehran, honestly? Well, first of all, Lehran has an SS in light, dark, and staves. So if you're going to recruit him at all, then you might as well train Pelleas so he can come bless the Balberith and get that to Lehran. If he can even get the Balberith, Lehran will be a total beast in the endgame with that. Reason being, he has a 40 in FIVE stats. Admit it, that's pretty damn nice. Considering Lehran can wield the ultimate light AND dark tomes plus comes with a free Ashera Staff, which is a true blessing, he's alright. But come on. He joins for the last chapter in the second playthrough. How high can I rate him? My Rating: 3/5 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ VI. Walkthrough (Part 1) ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The game you are about to begin is probably the longest Fire Emblem game ever made, although going along with that, it's one of the best ever, so it all evens out. Just a few notes before I get started: -> There are spoilers in this walkthrough. Obviously. -> If you've ever read any of my guides before, you know how they are rife with lame jokes. This is no exception. -> The guide assumes you're playing on Normal difficulty. Whether you're a Fire Emblem guru or not, that's an excellent place to start, so I advise you do the same thing. -> When I mention a "cavalier", that basically means I'm referring to a Sword/Lance/Axe/Bow Knight. I'm just old school like that. -> Unless you really, really don't want to use a character ever again, you might as well reset if they die. Let it begin. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIa. Under Gray Skies ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo* ~ Max Turns: 10 Well, we've got a fairly decent cutscene to start this all off, and then you'll realize your main character is Micaiah, the so-called Silver Haired Maiden of Daein. It's probably strange that you're playing as Daein despite seeing how evil the lot of them were in the last game, but anyway, first battle kicks us off on the streets of Daein. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 5 Fighter (Pugo) N/A Lv. 3 Bandit x2 Lv. 2 Bandit x3 Lv. 1 Bandit x2 You might see that even though this is the freakin' prologue, I gave it a 2/5 difficulty rating. That's right, don't be fooled, we get off right into a battle that's not hard at all from an objective standpoint, but if you're just coming into this game fresh, you could easily die without expecting it, so it's one that you need to be on your toes for. But anyway, you've got two characters here to start the battle off, and not one of them is a Jeigan esque fighter who can solo this place. Neither of them have over 20 HP, so what the key here is, is to watch the enemy movement. Unless you're damn sure you can handle it, never let more than one approach you. Two, tops. So, what you're going to want to do is have Edward kill the first bandit, then have Micaiah support him from the back. She has Sacrifice if you plan to keep her back out of harm's way (pretty good idea) and heal Edward that way, although Edward has a Vulnerary and will pick up an Herb along the way. At that point one of the Bandits will come forward, so step up a little bit, but keep your distance. Four turns in, an archer named Leonardo will enter, who is no stronger than the other two, but hey, there's strength in numbers. Gradually make your way up, never at any point letting anyone's HP stay below 10. With any luck, Edward will be able to stay alive through the bandits. Watch out for the enemy at the northeast, though, who is the boss of this place. Stay out of his range for a little, make sure that you're healed, and then have one of the three (preferably Edward) step into his range. He'll come to you himself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pugo | Fighter | 5 | 27 | 11 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pugo is the first boss of the game, and I gotta say, he provides a decent fight given that title. If you compare him to characters like Zawana in the last game, his stats are way higher, notably his strength which leads to a whooping attack power of 19 right here. Here's how to do it, though. Put Edward in his range, then he'll come forward and attack. At that point, use Micaiah and Leonardo to hit him from long range and get his HP down. With that, Edward should be able to deliver a finishing blow to him. If you're going to get hit back and die, though, make sure that you're going to attack last so that he doesn't get a chance to actually hit you. Fortunately Micaiah and Leonardo get the long range advantage, but anyway, don't let this guy get in more than his initial strike. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Undoubtedly, once you finish that little problem off, this battle will be done. Well, you made it through that, but that was of course arguably the easiest battle in the game. It's just one that can very easily catch you off guard, hence its difficulty rating. But anyway, one moment later you'll see the first villain of this game, the halberdier Jarod. Kills one of his own men right on the spot, kinda cues you in. So, anyway, Part 1 officially begins here. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIb. Maiden of Miracles ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan ~ Max Turns: 7 A quick history lesson basically starts this chapter up. So if you didn't know already, in the last game, the nations of Crimea and Daein were at war, and Crimea won the war, giving them reign over Daein, but they passing that over to the Begnion Empire, who are now completely terrorizing them, so now we've got Micaiah of Daein, who is the last hope for the dying nation, along with her Dawn Brigade. But anyway, new area of town, new battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 7 Myrmidon (Isaiya) N/A Lv. 4 Fighter x1 Lv. 4 Soldier x1 Lv. 3 Fighter x6 Lv. 3 Archer x1 Lv. 3 Soldier x1 In this battle, although I definitely wouldn't recommend it in a lot of battles you'll see in the future, I actually find that a good offense is the best defense. By that I mean you've got a new addition to the party in Nolan, an axeman who is a total one man army. He's no Seth/Jeigan/Titania by any means, but he starts at level 9 while Edward and Leonardo start at level 4, and with axes he does much heavier damage than those two do with their swords and bows. In fact, right off you'll find a soldier guarding a house. Well, we know that axes beat lances, so go right ahead and move Nolan right below that soldier so that you can attack. It looks dangerous, and you will indeed move a number of forces towards Nolan, but he should be able to survive their onslaught. Move Edward up a little bit, followed by Leonardo and Micaiah so that he can guard them. At that point, the advantage to what has already taken place is that Nolan has damaged the surrounding fighters sufficiently so that the rest of the characters can one hit them. Nolan may be in too bad of shape (aka, single digit HP) to be able to risk attacking though, so have him move so that he's guarding the others, and use a Vulnerary there so he can get back to top shape. At that point, check out the house and you'll get a Hand Axe, which will make Nolan even stronger, allowing him to attack from a long range. But anyway, at the yellow squares at the top you will see two enemies standing guard. The one on the left, as the little blinking shield will always indicate, is the boss. The other enemies will come to you and die, so just get through those and then you've got the boss to deal with. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Isaiya | Myrmidon | 7 | 27 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ You actually do not need to fight this guy. In fact, the fighter standing next to Isaiya has a long range weapon, making him your first priority. He can be taken down by having Edward double attack him, then either Leonardo or Micaiah can take him down. With that you can just escape on the side of him. Because let me just spill this out now: bosses guarding squares such as these yellow ones will NEVER move. EVER. No exception here even though there are two squares. Therefore, with four characters you can keep your distance while moving on, plan it out, and then deliver all your striking in one turn if you so please. That's pretty much the best idea. Anyway, this guy uses swords, so even though Nolan has probably been performing exceedingly well in this battle, refrain from using him here. Just use Leonardo and Micaiah; Isaiya has no long range attacks, so he'll be defenseless to them, given his inability to move. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Isaiya drops a Steel Sword upon his defeat, which Edward should be able to equip at this point. Anyway, here's something important. You now have the opportunity to escape, but the battle ends after Micaiah escapes. Something that will come into play later is bonus EXP, which is basically free experience that you can award to your characters, and you will gain more later if the other characters escape first. So Edward, Leonardo, and Nolan... in any order, get them out first, then have Micaiah escape behind them. Anyway, more disaster on the streets caused by Jarod, following. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIc. The Dispossessed ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Sothe* ~ Max Turns: 10 And our first indoor battle is about to take place. Before the battle actually starts you'll meet a priest by the name of Laura, who will join with you, and then you'll be taken to this manor, where Sothe is in a different spot than you, but anyway, here's where the chapter takes place. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 8 Armor Lance (Zaitan) Lv. 7 Soldier x1 Lv. 7 Soldier x1 Lv. 6 Archer x1 Lv. 6 Fighter x1 Lv. 6 Soldier x1 Lv. 6 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 5 Archer x1 Lv. 6 Archer x1 Lv. 6 Soldier x2 Lv. 5 Archer x1 Lv. 5 Soldier x2 Lv. 4 Fighter x2 Lv. 4 Soldier x3 As you can see, that's easily the biggest enemy setlist yet. Still, there's a trap right here at the beginning of the battle, and that will be the most you'll need to worry about all battle long. See, this battle is the first introduction to altitude. As you move from left to the middle, you'll see there's an enemy standing right above you. If he comes down and gets to Laura, she'll die in one hit and it'll be a game over right then and there. You obviously can't let that happen, so you'll need to check the guy's range, and make sure that he can't hit you, or that if he can, it's someone like Edward who can take a hit. If he comes down, then by all means finish him off. Have Nolan in the front lines though, handling the soldiers at the right. Also make sure he's got the Hand Axe, since that'll ensure he doesn't take as many hits. Three turns in, Sothe will enter the battle. He is a complete beast compared to the rest of the party, as he is a whole class ahead of them, so use him but don't overuse him, capiche? Use him to take out the two surrounding soldiers, then move down to where there's a small room with two chests. There's two enemies there, and Sothe can easily finish both of them, though I'd suggest using Leonardo to at least land a few hits on them for experience. Anyway, definitely use Sothe to go down there and open the two chests. They contain a Thani and a Wind Edge, which are weapons for Micaiah and Edward respectively. You don't need to go up and equip those now, but definitely hold onto them as they'll be useful in the future. That, and also consider that the archer in the corner drops a Chest Key, which you definitely do not want to have go to waste quite yet. The advantage Sothe has, though, is that he can open chests without them. Nifty. But anyway, the rest of the party needs to move up to the top, and once again, Nolan is great in the front lines to handle the enemies at the upper right, although feel free to have Leonardo and Micaiah land a few hits now and then if it's safe. Note that the boss does NOT move, so that's less you need to evaluate for the worst case scenario. Eventually though, only the boss will be left. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zaitan | Armr Lance | 8 | 30 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'll repeat this if you didn't catch it the first time. Even though Zaitan is not guarding a space, he does NOT move, so you'll have a lot less to worry about in regards to him. Anyway, though, Zaitan has a Javelin, so you can't just use the Hand Axe to hit him with no worries. You have three weapons against him, though. First is Sothe. My Sothe wasn't anywhere close, plus I would strongly advise against using Sothe to solo him, as he will steal EXP from everyone else. Second is Micaiah using the Thani. The Thani deals bonus damage to armored knights and cavaliers, so that'll be almost instant death. And third is just Nolan with a Steel Axe, who will win in a straight fight. Just don't overcomplicate things or push your luck, and this guy won't give you much of a challenge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With Zaitan done with, you may notice there's a chest right behind him. That might be tricky to get quickly if you want to finish the battle in ten turns, but it's definitely possible even if you had Sothe indulge in the two chests below and got the Chest Key as well. The actual chest contains an Energy Drop, which I would strongly suggest giving to Edward so that his attacking power gets halfway decent. But anyway, you need to Arrive here, not Escape, meaning only Laura can do it. Basically, don't try to have anyone else do it, as there's no more EXP to be gained that way. With that, the battle concludes. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VId. A Faint Light ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Sothe, Ilyana, Aran* ~ Max Turns: 10 The previous chapter ended with Micaiah and Laura falling right into the hands of Jarod and then going to prison, where they meet up with a character you may recognize from the original as Aimee, the mage Ilyana, and a mysterious, silent man who is obviously a laguz. But anyway, Sothe comes to break you out, where the rest of the Dawn Brigade joins, but you've got a little more to handle on the outside. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 11 Sword Knight (Burton) Lv. 8 Soldier x4 Lv. 8 Armor Sword x2 Lv. 7 Soldier (Aran) Lv. 8 Armor Axe x1 Lv. 7 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 8 Archer x1 Lv. 6 Archer x1 Lv. 8 Soldier x2 Lv. 7 Fighter x2 Lv. 7 Armor Lance x1 Lv. 7 Archer x1 Lv. 7 Soldier x2 Lv. 7 Myrmidon x3 Lv. 6 Archer x2 Lv. 5 Fighter x1 This battle is substantially harder than the last several, so don't be fooled if this causes you to reset or see the game over screen a couple times. I know it did for me the first time through, so... yeah. First thing to note is that Kurth and Aimee are at the back. That being said, you'll need to make progress throughout this place, so the first enemy that you have to deal with is the fighter to the right. What I would do for him is move Edward within his range, but definitely don't have Edward go all the way over there. Now, for the troops on the left, don't get cocky, as if you move Nolan too far down he'll get shot down in one turn. Move in and hit the first enemy with Nolan, while using Sothe to guard if need be, while the rest of your characters move in that general direction as well. There's one important character here though, and that is Laura. Don't move her far down, but don't keep her in the far back either. One turn in, three soldiers, one of them given the name Aran, will show up. You'll have to do something very specific here, in that you need to have Laura talk to Aran to have him join you. Unfortunately though, Aran will either kill or be killed by some of your own units, and you can't have Laura move all the way down to him either, or she'll be toast at the hands of the mobile boss and other characters. Instead, lure the other soldiers as well as Aran, who has a longer range, in. Have Nolan get into the very back end of Aran's range, and then the other soldiers will come in. If Aran and Nolan fight, Nolan will not kill Aran (Sothe will, so do NOT use him), so just do that, and then he'll be close enough that Laura can approach him safely. If any other soldiers are around you, characters like Micaiah and Leonardo can finish them off. At this point, there's something else to worry about. After seven turns pass in the battle, two enemies will show up at the north. They will then proceed to attack Aimee, who isn't smart enough to move away from them. If she gets knocked out she doesn't die, so it's no tragedy, but you'll miss out on bonus EXP, so my advice is to have Sothe stay behind there once you recruit Aran. The reason being you don't want him stealing the EXP that comes below, and the mere two soldiers at the top certainly aren't a big robbery to you, plus he can actually easily beat them. One of the two by themselves won't knock Aimee out, so that's the way to go. Anyway, now the next order of business is the boss. Note the only character below who is on horseback, and then watch his range, as he is the boss, and he moves. Put Nolan in his range when your turn is over, then he'll come at you on his own. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Burton | Sword Kn | 11 | 29 | 13 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 4 | 13 | 7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The way I see it, Burton (is his first name Tim?) is all bark with not much bite to follow through. He'll come straight at you, but of course your entire party is assembled where he comes, so you'll have an endless supply of options to hit him with. The best, and the safest way at that, to take care of him is to use Micaiah's Thani spell. That did 30 damage for me, finishing Burton off in one hit. If that's not an option for some god forsaken reason, then if you're using Sothe, he'll help. Same applies to Nolan. Otherwise, you can just have characters like Micaiah with a simple Light, Leonardo, Ilyana, and Aran add up the damage on him, but that'll waste a lot of valuable characters. Either way, the key to beating him is to lure him into an area where he'll get screwed over. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With that little problem out of the way, you'll see two knights guarding the way up ahead. Again, Thani eliminates them in one hit, and Nolan and Aran are as good as ever for taking them down. Now, that just leaves what lies ahead. Even without Sothe, they're incredibly easy to handle. Most of them lack long range weapons, so the same strategy you've been using for a long while will work. Note that the enemy blocking the exit, although he does not move and is not a boss, uses an Iron Longbow, so have Micaiah and Laura keep an extremely safe distance from him. At that point, the same idea that having other characters escape before Micaiah applies, although again, for maximum bonus experience, you need to finish in ten turns. Finishing everyone off except the insignificant soldiers on the left is pretty easy, so... yeah, that's that chapter. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIe. A Distant Voice ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Sothe, Ilyana, Aran, Meg ~ Max Turns: 10 This chapter starts off with news that the late Mad King Ashnard, who ruled Daein about as evilly as it could be, has a son somewhere, so he could start a liberation army and free Daein, possibly, just as Crimea did way back. But in any case, you start this chapter off at the base, which is definitely a relieving thing to do. There's a lot to do here, starting with awarding bonus EXP. I try not to expend the whole thing, but if anyone is close to leveling up, you may want to go ahead and give them a boost with the bonus experience. More importantly though, are the shops. When you go to the item shop and scroll to the far right, you'll find items that are somewhat rare now and might be worth an investment. In particular, for the next battle, it is an absolute necessity to buy the Beast Killer for Sothe. That's a dagger that pretty much instantly kills laguz, which the next battle exclusively consists of, so that's a no brainer. Apart from that, there's a Javelin and a Hand Axe up for sale if you need another one of those. And you may have noticed, you have a new character named Meg. She sucks, seriously. Oh well, start the battle, and then Sothe will start talking about Ike. Then again, you get attacked midway. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 6 Tiger x2 Lv. 4 Tiger x2 Lv. 4 Tiger x5 Lv. 3 Cat x2 Lv. 3 Cat x2 Lv. 3 Tiger x3 Lv. 2 Tiger x1 This is a rather unique battle, for a couple of reasons. First of all, the enemies consist entirely of laguz, which leads to a rather different kind of battle than the ones you've seen before. That, and there's actually two bosses this time around, who are the two higher leveled tigers in the upper corners of this area, appropriately named Pain and Agony. In my opinion though, they're not the extent of your worries. Your concern is getting the three treasure chests, which are in the lower left, upper left, and upper right corners of this place. Specifically, the lower left contains a Pure Water, upper left contains 3000 Gold, and the upper right contains a Seraph Robe. By far the most important of those three is the Seraph Robe; the Pure Water I can live without and the 3000 Gold is nice, but again, not essential. So, here's how I did it. Move your characters towards the center a little bit, while moving your main force upward. You'll want to keep a couple characters on standby though, as the tigers will try to break down the upper wall. I found that they're unable of taking out Meg in one hit, so that's always an advantage. Not only that, but they need to attack the wall twice before they can break it down, so that gives you three turns to hit them with long ranged attacks. Ilyana and Micaiah are particularly good for that. And with that, come out of that central shell and then choose how you're going to go here. The object here is to rout all enemies, but getting the treasure is important too. To do this, I had Sothe, Nolan, and Aran take to the right while everyone else except Ilyana and Meg headed left. My Edward had a Chest Key, meaning he could open the chest to the lower left, so definitely send someone who has a key down there while Sothe heads right. The left is not nearly as heavily guarded as the right, so Sothe with his Beast Killer should be reserved for the right. Eventually the two bosses will come your way, though for the left one I would have a decoy like Edward draw him out, so that Sothe can get behind and grab the chest. This will be after he's done taking out the boss on the right, and the reinforcements that arrive from the north if need be. Just make absolutely sure without fail that you get the Seraph Robe at the top and use it on Micaiah at the base, that's most important of all. The bosses should fall into place, just try and give the finishing blows to characters other than Sothe. It seems appealing to just try and solo this place with the Beast Killer, which you could probably do, but don't try it. If you're using a decoy to the left, use a Vulnerary if the boss hurts you too much, rather than attacking. It's narrow, meaning it can be blockaded, which is always good for long ranged attacks. Afterwards, a male voice singing can be heard, to which Micaiah runs over to find a heron much like Prince Reyson, whom you probably remember from Path of Radiance. Matter of fact, this heron, Rafiel, is the brother of Reyson. Plus he comes with the laguz Queen Nailah and her accomplice Volug, the latter of who when you watch an info scene starting the next chapter off, joins you in battle. Which is nice, I suppose. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIf. The Lost Heir ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Sothe, Ilyana, Aran, Meg, Volug ~ Max Turns: 6 When you head back to the base, the absolute most important thing to do is have Micaiah use the Seraph Robe. You can give it to anyone, really, but she has the weakest defense of any of the main characters, plus she could really use the 7 HP boost. Apart from that, you may want to buy an Arms Scroll for 8000 Gold and reserve it for when it's necessary. Also, make sure you watch the info scenes. One of them shows Volug joining your party, and another is Sothe giving you 10000 Gold. Not a bad deal. But anyway, this chapter here will start with Volug sensing beorc to the south, and now we've got to help out some old friends from Path of Radiance. Tauroneo, Zihark, and Jill. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 14 Fire Mage (Wystan) Lv. 11 Fighter x1 Lv. 11 Soldier x2 Lv. 11 Soldier x2 Lv. 10 Fighter x1 Lv. 10 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 10 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 10 Soldier x1 Lv. 10 Soldier x3 Lv. 10 Archer x1 Lv. 10 Fire Mage x2 Lv. 10 Fire Mage x2 Lv. 9 Fighter x6 Lv. 9 Soldier x3 Lv. 9 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 9 Soldier x4 Lv. 9 Archer x1 Lv. 9 Fire Mage x1 Lv. 8 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 8 Archer x1 Lv. 8 Fire Mage x1 Lv. 8 Priest x1 Here's a battle with a slightly different objective. In this case, you need to stay alive and keep the three characters at the top alive for six turns. Not a very difficult task, especially on the part of Tauroneo and the others. First of all, Tauroneo has absolutely no chance of dying, so don't worry about that. Zihark is the one of the three who tends to take the most hits, but thankfully he doesn't hesitate to use Vulneraries if he gets hurt. What you need to focus on is trying to get the most EXP you can out of this battle. So, since you've got soldiers in front of you when you start off anyway, have your characters move forward and beat them down. You may notice three enemies approaching from behind, but don't make a point to have anyone go back and take care of them separately. They'll come to you on their own, then you can kill them. You may also notice a platform on the center which is elevated, but you can climb up there easily. I'd definitely move Sothe and Nolan and characters like that up there to first eliminate the soldiers that are already up there, then naturally some more enemies will come up, and that's just more fodder for you. You may notice in the process how powerful Volug is, but note that he's weak against fire, so be careful with him, and make sure he gets the healing he needs if someone hits him, as you may need him against the boss here if you choose to fight him. Make sure Volug actually does move to the top though, since two fire mages appear there, and your characters may not be able to make it up there in time before they get the first strike. With that, the characters in the center should successfully be able to fend off what comes, while your main force makes their way to the right gradually. There is no way in hell you'll be able to take everyone down, but the boss may or may not come your way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wystan | Sword Kn | 14 | 25 | 7 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here's yet another instance where you're not required to fight the boss. Wystan is one of the punier bosses we've seen yet, though. It's true that he comes with an Elfire, which he can use at any range, but first of all, if you're fighting him on the sands to the east, hit rate will be fairly mediocre, so it's actually pretty safe to have Volug go against him. And naturally, if you're using Sothe or Volug against him, he will die in no time at all. Note that towards the end of the fifth turn, he'll start coming forward, so you don't necessarily need to go down all the way after him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Two notes come in here. First of all, the battle does NOT end just because the boss is killed, so don't go completely out of your way to kill him. Also, there is a soldier who comes from the bottom, who holds a Master Seal. It is really in your best interest to have Sothe head down and steal it off of him. It allows a character to promote prematurely, which can be quite useful in some instances, but even if you don't want to do that, it's handy to have. But anyway, when this battle is over, you'll finally meet the prince Pelleas, son of Ashnard, and his rather suspicious insane accomplice Izuka. And with that, this chapter is done. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIg. Raise the Standard 1 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Sothe, Ilyana, Aran, Meg, Volug, Tauroneo, Jill, Zihark ~ Max Turns: 15 Note that Raise the Standard, here, is a two part battle, and you can't go to the base in between, so just make sure that you're ready to go for what's on ahead. In particular, view the info scenes to get the Renewal scroll on top of 1000 gold, plus if you need another Hand Axe for Nolan, there's another one of those available at the shop. Plus the armory sells steel weapons now, which are a definite improvement over iron. With that, award all your bonus EXP (since you get a LOT of it after these two battles), then get the show on the road. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 12 Armor Sword x1 Lv. 12 Pegasus Knight x6 Lv. 12 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 12 Thunder Mage x2 Lv. 11 Armor Lance x1 Lv. 11 Armor Sword x1 Lv. 11 Armor Axe x1 Lv. 11 Pegasus Knight x3 Lv. 11 Fighter x1 Lv. 11 Soldier x1 Lv. 11 Archer x1 Lv. 10 Armor Sword x1 Lv. 11 Priest x1 Lv. 10 Armor Axe x1 Lv. 11 Thunder Mage x1 Lv. 10 Pegasus Knight x2 Lv. 10 Fighter x1 Lv. 9 Archer x1 Lv. 10 Armor Sword x1 Lv. 9 Fighter x1 Lv. 9 Archer x1 Lv. 9 Soldier x1 Note: I pointed out at the top that the maximum turns for the bonus EXP is fifteen. However, that includes both parts of this two part battle. The second part shouldn't take any more than seven or eight, but still, don't waste too much time in the first part. Okay, as you can probably guess, this is the less serious of the two battles of Chapter 6, Raise the Standard. Hell, there's not even a boss here! The guardian of the "exit" here (which isn't even an actual exit) isn't even the strongest enemy here. Matter of fact, there are more reinforcements here than there are regular enemies. But anyway, here's the first step to get an upper hand here. When you're rearranging your party, move Jill to the bottom left corner. From there, have her fly up to the ledge over on the left, which overlooks the rest of the place. This is because two Pegasus Knights will show up as reinforcements in the next turn, and Jill, carrying an axe as opposed to their lances, will be able to kill the one in one turn, then get right back into the battle while avoiding damage. It's convenient. Note that a number of enemies will show up to the upper right to reinforce. To get around that, I would actually suggest sending Micaiah as well as a heavy hitter character like Sothe or Nolan. Maybe three characters, but no more. The rest of your force should head to the left, as that's where most of the reinforcements will show up. There's a couple pegasi that will show up from the right, but the characters you relocated to the northeast should be able to take care of them. Something else you might want to do here is move Tauroneo up to the front, but remove his equipment. He's a tank and will take just about no damage, but he likes to steal EXP, though if you get enemies to surround him, which they will, then the rest of your characters can have a field day with what comes around. Enjoy this battle, because the next one is far more difficult. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIh. Raise the Standard 2 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Sothe, Ilyana, Aran, Meg, Volug, Tauroneo, Jill, Zihark ~ Max Turns: 15 You'll have a quick moment here to reallocate your equipment and stuff, but you don't get a separate trip to the base to load back up, so make this right here count. First of all, the reinforcements in the last battle undoubtedly dropped new weapons, so make sure those go to the right characters. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 16 Lance Knight (Laverton) Lv. 13 Sword Knight x2 Lv. 13 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 13 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 13 Axe Knight x2 Lv. 13 Axe Knight x3 Lv. 13 Soldier x1 Lv. 12 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 13 Archer x2 Lv. 12 Bow Knight x1 Lv. 13 Fire Mage x2 Lv. 11 Bow Knight x1 Lv. 12 Sword Knight x2 Lv. 12 Lance Knight x3 Lv. 12 Axe Knight x1 Lv. 11 Sword Knight x2 Lv. 11 Lance Knight x2 Lv. 11 Axe Knight x1 Lv. 11 Bow Knight x1 Lv. 11 Archer x2 Lv. 11 Fire Mage x1 Lv. 10 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 10 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 10 Fighter x2 Lv. 10 Soldier x1 Lv. 10 Fire Mage x1 Lv. 10 Priest x1 Lv. 9 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 9 Soldier x1 Note: During this battle, start from the lower left corner. Now count seven OR eight squares to the right, and twelve OR thirteen squares up. Any of these four squares up this hill may contain a Master Seal. It's definitely in your best interest to try and get this. By far the harder of the two Raise the Standard battles; these two aren't even comparable. In fact, this is probably the hardest battle so far, considering the force you're up against, and yeah, basically, you need to really be on it for this battle. First of all, you might notice that at the top, there is Fiona and seven accompanying Marado Knights. After one turn, the enemy will start to bring in prisoners, and those knights will then betray the Daein army and become neutral units. Five of them will take the prisoners and then run down the east path. For every surviving knight AND every surviving prisoner, you will get an additional 200 bonus EXP. There's five prisoners and eight knights, so that amounts to 2600 EXP right there. That's a lot. So what I'm saying is, send a very small force up there. I sent Volug and Jill since they're the fast moving ones, but that's flawed in and of itself. It worked for me, but you'll need to be good to pull it off. So basically, have Jill land a hit on someone on the way if need be, while manuevering to the northeast with Volug. If you want to send another character or two there, by all means do so. Hell, you can have one of the two rescue them and then drop them off, since you won't be fighting anything for about three turns. Edward or Aran would be particularly helpful. At the northeast you will fight a number of fire mages as well as some easier dealings, but that's why I said this might be difficult to do with just Jill and Volug. Volug is weak to fire, plus Jill is weak in general, so three characters will make it easier than just two. But anyway, that's enough for the upper part of the battle. On to the normal part of it. You should probably be able to rout the force directly ahead of you in the first turn, as well as get in a halfway decent position for the huge force of cavaliers that come from the west. Again, this could be rather risky in this battle, and if you have a Bronze Lance that would be preferrable to give to Tauroneo over simply unequipping him, but you're definitely doing yourself a favor EXP-wise if you let the rest of your characters fight them instead of having Tauroneo do all the dirty work. Since the bridge is two squares wide, I'd advise having Tauroneo block it, alongside a character like Aran, Nolan, Zihark, or Sothe. Micaiah should be at a point in which she at the very least won't die from a hit or two, so she can stay in a safe range, using Thani, and get some casualties under her name. Make sure that at the top, the cavaliers all get past Volug and Jill, then you can start pulling back a little bit. It doesn't really matter there if you kill everyone, since I for one could care less about how much experience that Volug gets. Focus more on the left side. On one turn, about six extra cavaliers will show up as reinforcements. In interest of getting EXP, I'd have Tauroneo and someone else (again, Aran, Zihark, Nolan, and Sothe are all extremely good candidates) stand on the hill to block the boss and other characters from whacking at your other characters. As for those six, they like to try and hit characters who have no chance of dying, I've found, so feel free to put Micaiah in the range of a few of them, just as long as you don't get too cocky about it. Hell, most of them probably won't even attack her. Eventually, though, you'll actually have to deal with the boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Laverton | Lance Kn | 16 | 33 | 15 | 2 | 14 | 15 | 5 | 14 | 6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Need I repeat the strategy I've been mentioning for several bosses in a row now? Micaiah, with Thani, will either render this boss dead or really damn close. Thankfully, since you'll hopefully have a phalanx of two characters blocking the way down the hill, you'll be able to hit him at long range anyway. That being said, let me call to your attention that if you kill the boss, the chapter instantly ends. That could work for you or against you depending on if you want additional EXP. If you do, then you'll want to use Tauroneo, and another character such as Zihark, Sothe, Aran, etc. to block the way down, so that the rest of your force can pick down the cavaliers, while Laverton is stuck hitting your strong characters who won't finish him off anyway. But yeah, use Micaiah's magic, seriously. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ And that will instantly finish off the battle, so no worries there. Supposing you got through that unscathed, then congrats, because it's the second most difficult battle in this part of the game (first hardest is actually the last one, in my opinion). Overall, in this battle you will get 2600 EXP for the survival of the knights and prisoners, 400 EXP for finishing the battle quickly, 1400 for clearing it, and whatever experience the neutral units got from attacking and being attacked. Not too bad. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIi. A Gathering Hope ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Sothe, Aran, Volug, Jill, Zihark, Tormod*, Muarim*, Vika* ~ Max Turns: 10 So, as I just divulged, you have a lot of bonus experience to play around with. In the scene that precedes, Izuka's... suspiciousness is once again displayed as he suggests poisoning this whole prison camp. Final Fantasy VI, anyone? Well, whatever, play around with your bonus EXP, watch the info scene with Pelleas to get a Brave Sword (awesome piece of equipment right there), and then start the battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 18 Armor Sword (Djur) Lv. 14 Armor Lance x2 Lv. 14 Armor Axe x2 Lv. 14 Fighter x2 Lv. 14 Fighter x1 Lv. 14 Soldier x2 Lv. 14 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 14 Archer x3 Lv. 14 Archer x2 Lv. 14 Fire Mage x2 Lv. 14 Fire Mage x2 Lv. 13 Fire Mage x1 Lv. 13 Armor Lance x3 Lv. 12 Soldier x1 Lv. 13 Fighter x1 Lv. 13 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 13 Archer x1 Lv. 13 Wind Mage x1 Lv. 12 Soldier x4 Lv. 12 Archer x1 Lv. 12 Fire Mage x1 Lv. 12 Wind Mage x1 Lv. 11 Armor Lance x1 This is another one of those battles in which easily the hardest part of it comes in the beginning. You absolutely can't get cocky there, because it's going to bite you in some way or another. First of all, you'll notice some enemies to your right. Do not go after them. Seriously, just don't, because you're about to get unexpected help soon anyway. Simply head forward, just don't completely rush it. There's a number of soldiers at the top, and that's one of the instances here in which you simply can't rush it. They're actually not too bad, and they might kick your ass if you let them. Just be careful about them, and then when the knight is finished, you'll see the door behind him open. Yeah, that's rather important. While this is going on, you want to have Sothe take the path to the right. That does NOT mean rush ahead and start stabbing stuff. Otherwise he may die. That's right, Sothe may die that way. Right about then, three new characters will join the fray: Tormod, Muarim, and Vika. All of them are extremely powerful, and hey, Tormod is a mage, and he can actually take a few hits here and there. Very useful. But anyway, as I was saying. Those three will wipe out the enemies that were to your right, then gradually make their way up. When they do, have Sothe talk to Tormod or Muarim, and they will all join you, thankfully. With that, though, you may note that there are a number of doors here. Specifically, two on the left, one in the middle, and two on the right. Do NOT open these doors until the coast is clear around them. Reason being, they hold prisoners. It's in your best interest to open the doors and let the prisoners escape, but the enemy will attack them if you do... so, to remedy that, there must be no enemies. Here's the tricky thing, though. Sothe is always the best one to open the doors, although they can be broken down using strong characters like Nolan or Muarim. All the same, you'll get bonus EXP for each prisoner you release and each one that escapes. That is nigh on impossible to do in ten turns, so you need to make a sacrifice. Either the bonus EXP for the turns, or that. I will say that the bonus EXP for the prisoners escaping is higher, so that's my suggestion, but whatever you gotta do. Clear your way to the right, and eventually you'll have the boss to deal with. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Djur | Armr Sword | 18 | 38 | 19 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 20 | 9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Oy, it's finally one of the infantry type units whom I didn't kill in one hit using Thani from Micaiah. Well, again, he's on top of a throne, so you don't need to worry about him moving after you. He comes equipped with a Storm Sword though, so don't get him within your range. Just kill the archers around him first, then you have a whole force that can take him down. While Thani won't finish him off, it'll still devastate him, so if you want Micaiah to get his experience, have her pull the trigger last. As for everyone else, there's plenty of other assets you have for heavy damage. While Nolan with the Hammer is rather risky, it's also ridiculously strong, plus Edward is getting up there in power. Then again if you want to use characters like Tormod or Muarim to do it, go right ahead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Once that little problem is out of the way, you can sit tight and do whatever you need to do. You can either have Micaiah seize the throne right away, or you can have everyone just stand around and wait for the prisoners to escape. Either way, seize the throne, then listen in as you hear that Begnion is taking hostages. Naturally Izuka does not want to help them, though Micaiah sees the situation differently. Anyway, next battle time. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIj. Glory Unwanted ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Nolan, Sothe, Aran, Volug, Zihark, Tormod, Muarim, Vika, Rafiel, Nailah ~ Max Turns: 6 When you get back in the base, there's a few things to do. First of all, you have a ton more bonus experience to play around with, so do that before any thing else. There's absolutely one thing that you must do without fail, and that is buy an Olivi Grass at the special shop items. It's a bit pricey, sure, but it'll seriously help you out in this coming battle and many battles that are to follow. The Antitoxin is optional, but honestly I think the poison effect in the next battle is too widespread for it to be of any use, although the Restore staff for Micaiah might be useful. Enter the battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 1 Thunder Sage (Radmin) Lv. 15 Bandit x1 Lv. 15 Fire Mage x1 Lv. 14 Dracoknight x1 Lv. 14 Soldier x4 Lv. 14 Bandit x1 Lv. 14 Bandit x2 Lv. 14 Fire Mage x1 Lv. 14 Wind Mage x1 Lv. 14 Thunder Mage x1 Lv. 14 Thunder Mage x2 Lv. 13 Bandit x1 Lv. 13 Soldier x1 Lv. 13 Bandit x3 Lv. 13 Dracoknight x1 Lv. 13 Priest x2 Lv. 12 Bandit x1 Lv. 12 Wind Mage x2 As soon as you get into the battle, you'll be joined by a few new faces. You have the actual Dawn Brigade to the top (in which Tauroneo, Jill, and Fiona can not join), Tormod, Muarim, and Vika at the bottom, and to the left will be Volug and newcomers Rafiel and Nailah. Nailah is one of the five laguz royals in the game, all five of which are complete and utter gods. Nailah will do in excess of 40 damage to any enemy, oftentimes activating abilities that do far more than that. So basically, she sees something, it dies. Rafiel, while not so extreme, is also helpful in that he's a heron much like Reyson from Path of Radiance if you remember him, but there's some differences. First of all, his movement sucks ass, but as a trade off, he can use his Vigor galdr to give an extra turn to his entire surroundings, even when he isn't transformed. Anyway, in terms of actually winning this battle, it's a piece of cake, and it is definitely one of the easiest battles in the game. In terms of saving all the prisoners in the mud and finishing the whole thing in 6 turns, though, well that can be a little tricky. It's very possible to do, though. First order of business is the left side (simplest stuff first). Have Rafiel move to the EAST to join the Dawn Brigade. Meanwhile, Volug and Nailah need to move down and dispose of the bandits and mages. Basically, whenever you see a bandit, that should be your first priority, though for the enemies there it doesn't really matter as Volug and Nailah will slaughter all of them anyway. As for Tormod, do NOT move to the left. I repeat, DO NOT HAVE TORMOD GO LEFT. Have him hit the nearby enemy with fire. If it doesn't die, who cares. As for Muarim or Vika, one of them should have the Olivi Grass. Have one of them use it, then the other needs to Trade with them and then use it themselves. This will put them halfway down the path to transformation. Basically, for the top, move the characters to the northeast, so that they can gradually move southeast to where the boss is situated. Eventually, Rafiel will join up with them, giving them a small movement boost. Your priority will be the bandits who are entering the mud, though. Note, however, that there is a Dracoknight to the east. THIS is why you did not have Tormod move west. The dracoknight will basically move towards the lower part and try to kill off the lower right prisoner, but that's why you have Tormod there, who will be able to hit the flier and kill him instantly. Use Muarim to shove him if need be, but make sure he does that. Now, make sure Vika gets the Olivi Grass and uses it again, because you need to have her move in a northeast-ish direction, as a bandit you can't otherwise reach will enter the mud and try to kill one of the prisoners. He's incredibly slow to doing it, so Vika should be able to stop him, but you need to make preparations beforehand, basically. That, and you'll get a couple more reinforcements from the bottom. I would definitely suggest leaving Tormod there, but take something else in account as for the left side. On the sixth turn, two mages will show up there, so you'll want two laguz over there. Nailah will naturally be there, plus Volug may be there, but if Muarim is closer, use him. Otherwise, you can probably have Vika go back and hit them after she's done with the one bandit. If you don't have Vika move, though, have her hit the enemies that are hanging out to the east. Meanwhile, with Micaiah and the rest of the army, move to the southeast to combat the remaining troops. More likely than not, the boss will come out to play himself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Radmin | Thunder Sage | 1 | 30 | 10 | 20 | 17 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a rather important boss, you could say, because it's the first boss in the game that's promoted to the second tier. Ironically, he's also the first boss which has double digits in all stats, but that's beside the point. As you can probably imagine, this man will die in about two hits. If you have a powerhouse like Zihark, Aran, or Nolan close by, they will blow right through him. Same with Edward with the Brave Sword, he'll probably get four hits to one of Radmin's. You just need to make sure you stay out of his range initially. Once a turn passes, he's just child's play. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With that, finish off the remaining soldiers if they aren't already gone, then the battle will be over. What follows that battle is a rather chaotic scene in total. It starts off with Micaiah waving to the people of Daein, then Tormod calls her into a tent to witness Muarim going insane, although Rafiel heals him. Then again, guess who's behind it. Izuka, giving him a drug because "pawns need no individuality". Wow, that's just wrong. Meanwhile, at Daein Keep in Nevassa, Jarod is getting a down talking from the apostle, but he's got his eyes set on Micaiah for good. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIk. One Survives ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Black Knight ~ Max Turns: 13 You'll notice that you only have Micaiah available for use when you're at the base. Well, yes, but that's just due to the nature of the next battle. Well, you'll want to at least give her an extra level boost using your bonus EXP, but otherwise, you really are on your own. There's nothing really of particular use at the item shop, since I don't really care to buy another Arms Scroll, so just start the next battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 4 Halberdier (Jarod) several enemies several enemies Ugh. Now this is a tricky battle if I've ever seen one. First of all, once again, you get only Micaiah and the mysterious Black Knight here, and most of the enemies here can double hit Micaiah to her death. Obviously though, the Black Knight is a complete behemoth and can one shot anything in a two square radius of him on this whole map. So, you're going to have to play this out very carefully, considering what the margin for error is, plus enemies tend to pop out as reinforcements in extremely random locations. My first piece of advice is to move the Black Knight forward to the right, slaughter the enemies you see there, and gradually get Micaiah in the very lower right corner, where she will sit for a few turns. After that, there are a few more enemies to be found directly above. If you have the Black Knight stand two squares ahead, they have absolutely no hope of getting to Micaiah. When the coast looks clear, Micaiah can step out of that little zone, and then you can gradually move the Black Knight move to the upper left with Micaiah following shortly behind. When you eliminate most to all of the enemies (NOTE: YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST CLEAR OUT THE UPPER LEFT CORNER), Jarod will appear to the bottom right. That is why you cannot let Micaiah stay there. I'm not going to count Jarod as a boss here, because Micaiah has no chance of beating him, and the Black Knight will just spit in his face. But anyway, keep Micaiah out of harm's way, and if there's no way to eliminate everyone that can target her, go to a thicket, it'll increase your avoid. Also, use battle saves at the beginning of every turn. Hell, you can abuse them in this battle quite easily, but I wouldn't. About nine turns in, once you've hit the northwest, just go back the way you came to finish Jarod. Once the battle is done, the Black Knight prepares to deliver the finishing blow to Jarod, but then Alder shows up and takes the blow for him, letting Jarod escape, and the very next day, Jarod starts wreaking havoc everywhere. Micaiah's fault for letting him go. Anyway, as you can imagine, Sothe is a little pissed to see the Black Knight join, but he'll go over it. Well, that's the second to last battle done. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIl. Daein, Arise! ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 4 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Sothe, Aran, Volug, Jill, Zihark, Nailah, Black Knight ~ Max Turns: 12 IMPORTANT NOTE: When you're deciding party members for the battle that is to follow, if it is your second playthrough, MAKE SURE YOU BRING THE BLACK KNIGHT INTO THIS BATTLE. It is optional, sure, but do it, it will make a massive difference later in the game, though you may not think it at first. Also, it is HIGHLY suggested that whether you bring the Black Knight or not, you bring Nailah in, and give her the Pass ability. This is to kill the thieves you will see in this battle and snag some treasure. With that, you may also want to give a character or two Chest Keys if you have any. When you are ready, head on to the endgame of Part 1. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 4 Halberdier (Jarod) Lv. 17 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 17 Armor Sword x1 Lv. 17 Axe Knight x2 Lv. 17 Armor Lance x1 Lv. 16 Fighter x6 Lv. 17 Fighter x1 Lv. 16 Fire Mage x2 Lv. 17 Soldier x3 Lv. 16 Wind Mage x2 Lv. 17 Archer x2 Lv. 16 Thunder Mage x2 Lv. 17 Fire Mage x1 Lv. 16 Thief x2 Lv. 17 Wind Mage x2 Lv. 17 Thunder Mage x2 Lv. 16 Armor Sword x1 Lv. 16 Armor Lance x2 Lv. 16 Armor Axe x2 Lv. 16 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 16 Soldier x3 Lv. 16 Archer x4 Lv. 16 Fire Mage x1 Lv. 16 Priest x1 Lv. 15 Fighter x1 Lv. 15 Priest x1 I'm not lying when I call this the hardest and longest battle so far. Hell, all of the last battles of chapters are incredibly long (see Part 2, that is just horrible), and you still ain't quite seen nothing yet, but this battle is quite challenging. First of all, you've already seen my note on the Black Knight and Nailah. As this was my second playthrough I just went ahead and used both; hell, you may want to use them both. I might point out that Tauroneo isn't here anymore, plus Sothe is anything but overpowered anymore, so don't feel bad about using two characters like that plus Volug; there'll be plenty of stuff to polish off with your other characters. First of all, there's the beginning of this place. There's a staircase nearby, in which I'd suggest sending a couple characters. That, and there's a few enemies in front of you just begging for a quick finishing. If you brought the Black Knight, there's two things he can do particularly well here. First of all, you can unequip him and put him in the forefront of the party, since the enemy AI is particularly attracted to characters who have no equipment. Or, alternatively, you can leave him at the entrance. There will be two sets of four reinforcements that pop up there, and to me they're just more of a pain in the ass than an actual experience opportunity. So, do as you will with them. I personally sent Jill and Zihark up the center stairs which led to good results, but that's up in the air. Meanwhile, if you went under my Nailah suggestion, have her Pass through everything, and wait for the Thieves to come out from the right. When they do rear their ugly heads, just smash them to bits. Soon enough, the rest of your party should be able to join up. I might also call to your attention that you may want to Battle Save here frequently, because due to the ridiculous length of this battle, it could go anywhere. As you're moving up the stairs, have Edward and someone else (not Aran unless he can really handle it) kill the fighters that appear from the right, then keep heading to the left. When the gap appears, have Sothe drop down and snag the chest, which contains a Coin, but it's still something that's good to have. Meanwhile, if Nailah is still leading the pack, something that you might actually want to have her take care of is killing the fire mage at the upper left part of this place. He comes equipped with a Meteor tome, which will never double hit anyone, but it can hit at a range of ten. If you don't want to do that, then make sure you always get a decent reading of whether he can hit you. To accurately figure that out, just count ten spaces over from where he is, as the range of the Meteor is ten. If you don't want to do that, I'd have Sothe use that Pure Water you picked up earlier in this part of the game, and pick off the meteor mage, followed by the other mage. In total, the chests here contain a Coin, a Parity, a Vantage, an Unlock staff, and a Speedwing. All stuff that's worth picking up, plus when you reach the top, your characters should be able to safely mow through the blockading forces at the top, supposing Nailah hasn't done so already by accident. That being said, getting the maximum bonus EXP here through finishing the battle in 12 turns is exceedingly hard if you want all the treasure. I would say give it up and get the treasure, but if you really want both, have Sothe take one side of the chests at the top while someone with a Chest Key gets the other side. In particular, Nailah would be decent at that since you're using her in the first place. It's actually convenient to have Nailah head east, as most of the enemies there use long ranged attacks, so Nailah won't be counterattacking. Eventually, though, you'll want to have a small force take on Jarod. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jarod | Halberdier | 4 | 39 | 20 | 4 | 20 | 19 | 10 | 18 | 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jarod puts up one hell of a fight, I'm not gonna lie. He comes with a Short Spear, meaning he can hit at short and long range both. The obvious people who can take Jarod down are Nailah and the Black Knight, and if you have either of them handy, it's not really a big travesty to do so at this point. That being said there's characters who can do it. Aran is a Halberdier who should be at least close to Jarod. Sothe is a little weak defensively, but he should at least be able to do some damage. Jill is great at weakening Jarod earlier on, since she can hit and then run. Nolan is also a complete beast. Because of the surroundings, though, only one person can hit at close range, so unless you really feel Nolan would be better suited for a Hand Axe, you may want to choose this wisely. Do NOT have Micaiah go up against him. She will probably die, plus if you want to finish in twelve turns, you'll need that extra tempo so she can seize the throne when Jarod dies. Obviously, Edward and Leonardo are pretty bad choices, though Volug and Zihark can probably put a good dent in him. If you can't finish him in one turn, don't worry, just rescue the characters within two squares of him who can't survive more abuse from him, and then take it to another turn. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Once Jarod is dead and Sothe and Nailah or whomever else you gave a Chest Key if at all have scored all the treasure here, have Micaiah walk up and seize the throne. Hope you got the full EXP, but if not, who cares, 12 turns is ridiculously short to finish a battle this long anyway. And that brings Part 1 to a rather satisfying finish. Jarod is gone, Daein has reached emancipation, and Pelleas gives Micaiah an honor, which automatically promotes her from Light Mage to Light Sage, and I might add, I hope she's Level 20 or close to it for you. Tormod, Muarim, and Vika hike off, and that's that. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ VII. Walkthrough (Part 2) ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- So you made it through Part 1 of this game. I congratulate you on that, your reward is not having to use the Dawn Brigade for a long period of time. Now we get to take a break from their drama and control characters of Crimea. You will probably remember the majority of these characters from Path of Radiance, but anyway, the first step is Elincia. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIa. On Drifting Clouds ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Elincia, Marcia, Nealuchi, Leanne, Haar* ~ Max Turns: N/A Yeah, you read that above part right, you don't get additional bonus EXP for finishing that battle in a certain number of turns. So you can take as much time as you want with it once it actually starts. But anyway, the concept is, Crimea is rather upset about the fact that Ashnard's son has taken the throne of Daein, and it doesn't help that they don't trust Elincia as a ruler. So, with that, the first battle takes place in the sky. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 9 Dragonmaster (Zeffren) N/A Lv. 18 Dracoknight x3 Lv. 17 Dracoknight x5 Lv. 16 Dracoknight x2 Yeah, I take back what I said about that other battle from Part 1, this is the easiest battle in the game. The concept is, you're flying in the air, though among the characters here is another heron, Leanne. Obviously, she's quite weak, but what the enemy wants to do is capture her alive. That's actually a good thing as far as you're concerned, though. The enemy will make her the absolute first priority, so basically, just follow her every move and surround an enemy if someone captures her. Actually, hard as it may be to believe, Nealuchi is the strongest unit currently here, although he transforms to human form after a short while, plus he sucks in the endgame. That being said, I'm not a fan of any of these units, so it's not much of an accomplishment. Try and keep Marcia towards the upper left corner, since on the fifth turn, Haar will show up there as a neutral unit. You absolutely MUST recruit Haar, as he is one of the best characters in this entire game, certainly in the top ten. Now, the game recognizes how good he is and gives you a second chance for him in Part 3, but seriously, just recruit Haar. After he joins you, he can literally wipe out anything that this battle throws at you. And again, all you have to do here is survive. Keep in mind that you're using a bunch of weak characters, so maybe you will indeed be unable to finish everything off. That being said, the boss has long range and he WILL come after you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zeffren | Dragonmaster | 9 | 43 | 25 | 3 | 23 | 16 | 12 | 21 | 10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This would normally be a pretty long fight, but fortunately you come with a new goliath of a character in Haar. And basically, Haar will kick Zeffren's ass, and then some. Just make sure that if you actually do want to kill him, that either you approach him or let him approach you on at least the seventh turn. Just like the other enemies, though, he will go for Leanne. However, you have four characters, so you're more than able to surround him. Just have Marcia use a Vulnerary if her HP dwindles down, while she and Haar pound on him. A couple of turns in, he'll die. Just for practicality, though, I'd have Haar finish him off as he benefits from the EXP the most. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ That puts an end to that battle, most likely, and if it doesn't, well just sit tight for a little bit. There's actually no reinforcements that show up here, meaning you may just be taking a turn of doing nothing. Just have Elincia use her Mend staff on someone for a little additional experience if you have nothing better to do, then the eighth turn will get done. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIb. Winds of Rebellion ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Nephenee, Brom, Heather* ~ Max Turns: 15 You'll find that the title of this chapter is rather accurate. After the usual narrated scene on the world map, you'll find Brom in his farm (I would normally make a crack here but I'll refrain), when suddenly Nephenee comes up and says that a revolution is starting. Damn right, there's a whole bunch of jackasses gathered up. Might as well start stuff. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 5 Lance General (Yeardley) Lv. 15 Bandit x1 Lv. 1 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 14 Bandit x1 Lv. 19 Soldier x1 Lv. 18 Armor Lance x1 Lv. 18 Armor Axe x1 Lv. 18 Soldier x1 Lv. 17 Soldier x1 Lv. 17 Fire Mage x1 Lv. 16 Archer x1 Lv. 13 Priest x1 Lv. 12 Fighter x1 Lv. 12 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 11 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 10 Fighter x1 Please read this whole strategy. Specifically, the next 3 paragraphs in their entirety. First of all, look at that enemy list. Never does one same type of enemy show up more than once, it's weird. But anyway, this battle is a LOT more complex than it's made out to be, and it's a battle in which you'll need to make sacrifices. Let me start with an outlook. You have fifteen turns to finish everything. Four turns in, a thief named Heather will pop up from the bottom right, and will move up the stairs there and to the left, where she will try to defeat the knights guarding the center (and do a piss poor job, I might add). You need to recruit her, plus once again, you'll want to finish the entire battle in fifteen turns. Sounds like a lot, but it's hard to get stuff done when you only have two or three characters. That, and there is treasure to be had here. The northernmost house has an Ashera Icon, while the left one has a Steel Axe. There is a gap at the bottom where you can drop down. A fire mage will try to block you at first, but eventually he'll climb up himself (if you move back and let him, that is), letting, as I would suggest, Brom kill him and Nephenee go down. There are three houses down there, and going from left to right, they contain a Javelin, a Concoction, and a Spectre Card. However, two bandits will show up at the beginning of turn 8. So what you'll want to do is time it just right; Brom will be at the top, hopefully recruiting Heather, and he can hit the bandit at the top. Nephenee will be at the bottom, and can take care of the one that shows up there. If a character attacks the bandit, the bandit will ALWAYS try to kill that character before they go destroying the villages, which is good, but another element of this battle. THAT IS NOT ALL. Remember when Brom mentioned trying not to kill too many fools? Ten of the fourteen enemies here (plus the two bandits) classify as "Rebels". Four of them, however, classify as "Volunteers". Those are the myrmidon at the very top, the fighter standing in front of the gap, the fighter standing in front of the house at the left, and the myrmidon to the right. Personally, I thought I'd point that out, but I wouldn't even bother trying to save them, though for each one that survives you get an extra 400 bonus EXP. If they come your way, do not attack them. They will get counterattacked on their own and hopefully not die. If they're critical, almost never will they attack, though I've seen one of them go after Heather when the opportunity arises. And for the one in front of the house, just put Nephenee in his range, then he'll attack and then get out of your way. Naturally, Murphy's Law comes into play in that Brom will get a critical or Wrath will activate for Nephenee only on those guys, but if they die, no big deal, just move on. Just don't focus on them. So, here's how to play this out. Have Nephenee move to the top and get the Ashera Icon, while Brom gets the Steel Axe. Kill the non-volunteer enemies that come your way, just don't waste your time with the knights at the right yet. An archer will also come your way, who is rather hard to kill, but manageable. If Nephenee's HP dwindles below 20, make that your priority is to heal unless it's 100% safe. Eventually, you want Nephenee to move to the bottom of the gap, where the fire mage will come up to try and attack. Most likely, he will miss. Nephenee will want to move back and then land in a hit when he comes up, which he will. While all this is going on, Brom can screw around in the middle. Help kill the fire mage if need be, heal if you want, or if it's safe, go ahead and attack the BOTTOM knight. Do not go for the knight at the top; none of these enemies move, but the Wind Sage there will rape you into succession. In this process, Heather will come up and head up the nearby stairs. In the process she will almost definitely kill the myrmidon. I wouldn't even try to save him. If Heather comes Brom's way, have him talk to her, then she can kill the bandit that shows up on turn 8. You'll want Nephenee at the bottom, first getting the volunteer at the bottom out of the way, then moving from left to right through the houses. Around turn 12 or so you'll want her to come up the stairs and join in the attack against the boss. At that point, the bandits should both be dead, and Brom should be picking off the last knight while Heather takes care of the Wind Sage, which she's actually pretty good at. Eventually, you'll have to play with Yeardley and the two soldiers behind him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yeardley | Lance Gen | 5 | 38 | 19 | 7 | 18 | 17 | 7 | 20 | 11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yeardley appears to not move at first, though if you come within his close range, he will not hesitate to hit you. Well, he comes equipped with a lance, so obviously Brom in all his axe-wielding glory is the man for the job. Nephenee can land some decent damage with her Stl Greatlance, especially if Wrath activates, but don't push it with her. Brom will very frequently activate the Disarm ability, which will completely nullify Yeardley's chances in a straight fight. As for Heather, absolutely do not under any circumstance have her attack Yeardley, but she's good at picking off the soldiers surrounding him. If you want the EXP for finishing in time and you're running short, focus on Yeardley, but otherwise you may actually want to get rid of the soldiers first. The battle will end when he's gone, so... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, that fight was definitely enough of a pain in the ass, but at least it's finally over. Following that, Brom and Nephenee will explain their situation, then they'll head over to Melior where they explain to Elincia that there's a man named Ludveck who's leading this whole revolution against her. There's not enough evidence to indict Ludveck yet though, so Elincia sends her confidant Lucia to look for said evidence. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIc. Tides of Intrigue ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Lucia, Lethe, Mordecai, Nephenee, Brom, Heather, Nealuchi, Leanne ~ Max Turns: 7 It took enough chapters in between, but we're finally back at the base. First of all, make use of that undoubtedly enormous supply of bonus EXP that you have at the moment, plus watch all the info scenes. In particular, Elincia will give Lucia a Talisman, and Geoffrey will give her an Elixir. I would HIGHLY suggest not letting Lucia keep either of these (I will explain why later), and just giving them to Nephenee or Brom to hold on to. With that, you can't enter the shops yet, so might as well start the next battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 6 Wind Sage (Maraj) Lv. 1 Halberdier x1 Lv. 2 Sword General x1 Lv. 18 Soldier x1 Lv. 1 Lance General x1 Lv. 17 Thunder Mage x1 Lv. 1 Warrior x1 Lv. 1 Halberdier x2 Lv. 1 Rogue x1 Lv. 18 Armor Sword x1 Lv. 17 Soldier x4 Lv. 17 Archer x1 Lv. 17 Thunder Mage x1 Lv. 17 Priest x1 Lv. 16 Armor Sword x1 Lv. 16 Soldier x4 Lv. 16 Archer x2 Lv. 16 Thunder Mage x2 Lv. 16 Priest x1 This is another battle in which I'm not sure of the number of enemies, since the place is under the guise of darkness, meaning enemies come out of nowhere and it's not easy to keep track of. Regardless, it's not nearly as difficult or as cheap as the last dark battle we fought was, so no worries there. First of all, you've got Lucia leading the pack, and although she's not of my favorite characters in the game by any stretch of imagination, she's a pretty strong leader of this party. Anyways, you'll notice that there are torches scattered around this place, and any character can just burn them at will, which is nice for finding your way through here. Not only that, but some enemies drop Torches, although I never needed to use them. You'll see quickly that there's an upper and a lower path, so... the choice is obvious. Split into two teams, though I'd take a slightly larger one on the bottom path. Actually, though, I took Lucia, Nephenee, and Brom to the top with everyone else in the middle one. Lethe can transform quickly, so once she does, she can charge, while Mordecai prepares, using an Olivi Grass. Remember, if you need extra turns for anyone, align two characters horizontally or vertically with a space in between, and then just use Leanne, though keep her towards the back so that she doesn't get hit. Enemies here aren't too strong, though you might notice at the bottom right corner is a Rogue who won't attack you, and has a Coin you can steal if you want. Inevitably, you'll get rid of everything in the middle and spot the boss and two guarding knights, which are to the upper right. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maraj | Wind Sage | 6 | 35 | 10 | 23 | 19 | 19 | 5 | 13 | 18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This guy is easy as hell. First of all, his Elwind spell isn't even very strong, so you don't have to worry about it. I managed to get my upper party here before the lower one, so in my case I had Lucia, Nephenee, and Brom taking this guy on. The first order of business is to kill off the two knights in front of Maraj so that you can hit him at close range, though for me, I just put Lucia in his range and then she killed him by criticals with her Wind Edge. I wouldn't go that far, but you can do that if you want. Otherwise, Nephenee and Brom, or really anyone else can hit him, or you can have a stronger character like Lucia or Lethe weaken him, and then just use a Javelin or Hand Axe from long range to finish him. Easy, easy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now, again, you might recall that in an Arrive setting, you can't have people escape, so in this case it's actually more of a Seize than an Escape, since Lucia is the only person who can do it. But yeah, just have Lucia do that, and then the battle will end, and you'll be back in the castle, then Elincia gives Geoffrey permission to go after Ludveck. Well, that's that. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIId. Geoffrey's Charge ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Geoffrey, Kieran, Astrid, Makalov, Marcia, Danved ~ Max Turns: 11 Well, we have quite a fun chapter in front of us, let me tell you. Start it off by going to the info conversations. In the process, Danved will join your party (otherwise known as Devdan by the way), Elincia will give Geoffrey a Brave Lance, and Geoffrey will give Kieran a Silver Axe. Yep, now those two are just going to wreak total havoc, but anyways, I'd check out the armory first, as you have plenty of money to kill. Especially check out Aimee's bargains, as you can get all the Killer equipment, plus a Hammer and a Horseslayer, which I'd check out as well. Make sure Marcia is loaded for bear before starting, in particular, then kick it off. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 8 Swordmaster (Tashoria) Lv. 2 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 4 Sniper x1 Lv. 18 Soldier x4 Lv. 3 Lance Paladin x1 Lv. 18 Armor Sword x1 Lv. 3 Bow Paladin x2 Lv. 3 Warrior x1 Lv. 3 Halberdier x1 Lv. 3 Sniper x1 Lv. 2 Axe Paladin x1 Lv. 19 Armor Axe x1 Lv. 18 Sword Knight x2 Lv. 18 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 18 Axe Knight x2 Lv. 18 Armor Lance x1 Lv. 18 Armor Axe x1 Lv. 18 Archer x1 Lv. 18 Priest x1 Lv. 17 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 17 Lance Knight x3 Lv. 17 Armor Lance x1 Lv. 17 Fighter x1 Lv. 17 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 17 Soldier x2 Lv. 17 Archer x2 Lv. 16 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 16 Lance Knight x3 Lv. 16 Fighter x1 Lv. 16 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 16 Soldier x1 Lv. 15 Sword Knight x2 Lv. 15 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 15 Axe Knight x1 Lv. 15 Armor Axe x1 Lv. 15 Fighter x2 Lv. 15 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 15 Soldier x1 Lv. 14 Fighter x2 Lv. 14 Soldier x1 I didn't make up that list of enemies. There really are 50 enemies here, moreso even than in the endgame of Part 1. However, there is SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER ABOUT THIS BATTLE. Remember when Geoffrey gave the instruction, to leave as many enemy soldiers alive as possible? Well, he was absolutely right. For every enemy that's left alive at the end of this battle, you will get an extra 200 bonus EXP. Yeah, there's fifty, so if you leave them all alive (which is impossible by the way), that's 10,000 bonus EXP. Pretty impressive. Plus, if that wasn't enough, you're given 2500 bonus EXP for finishing the battle, and 1750 for finishing it in 11 turns. Not only that, but the allied units you have behind you will likely try to get some glory for themselves, and earn a little more bonus EXP for you that way too. Suffice it to say, this battle is insane. First of all, let's play it safe though. Move Geoffrey, Kieran, Makalov, and Danved up. I'd put Astrid in the middle of them, just to keep her safe, with Marcia on the outside. Note that Marcia is a complete burden in this battle, however. At the top is a number of archers, on top of Warriors who carry Bowguns, which do double bonus damage to pegasus knights. Suffice it to say, she can't really do anything here except help clear a way forward if enemies block your path. But yeah, I couldn't personally care less about the characters in this battle gaining EXP. Then again, when you get bonus EXP, you can give to characters like Nephenee and Haar that need it, after this very battle, so hey, might as well do it that way. So yeah, don't attack enemies. Just charge forward, so that you can get to the boss. Marcia can go with you until you get near the castle, at which point, just have her fly to the side. After you get past the first wave of enemies, have Geoffrey Direct the soldiers so that they're set to Avoid. This way, they'll run away and won't be attacking the enemy themselves, because chances are, they're the ones who will be killing the most fools here. Just get into the castle gates, but pay attention to a certain enemy on the left, who carries a Horseslayer. That is your biggest threat. You can put Geoffrey and Kieran into his range, but watch the hell out for Makalov and Astrid if you're using the latter, which I wouldn't. Danved is also quite usable here, plus he doesn't have to worry about being horseslain so to say. Anyway, make sure Geoffrey has the Brave Lance in hand, as well as a good sum of HP. Then have him strike down the door to the boss. The battle with him starts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tashoria | Swordmaster | 8 | 37 | 17 | 8 | 24 | 24 | 9 | 17 | 12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Okay, I lied in the beginning of the game, here's a boss that guards a throne who actually moves. However, it's a narrow, one square long stairway that's in front of the throne, and this guy will confine himself to that path. Well, this guy... is quite fast. Chances are, he will double hit all your characters except Marcia, if you're using her, which of course I didn't. Geoffrey can very nearly kill this man on his own, though, with the use of the Brave Lance. If he gets a critical, that will do it, so if you want to be a cheap bastard and see if that does it in either the first strike or the counterattack that will likely ensue the next turn, so be it. Otherwise, if you're leaving enemies alive, just play it safe and keep Geoffrey's HP up, while using Kieran for a backup hit if it's safe. Tashoria will be healed by the Physic from a priest above, which sucks, but hey, what can you do. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Assuming you pull through, I hope Geoffrey has high HP. If he doesn't, then, well, you played it too risky. Capture the throne whenever you get the chance, but if it was Geoffrey that delivered the finishing blow, which odds are it was, just have him go to the throne anyway. There, he'll have his defense and avoid increased, so hopefully the archers with longbows that will no doubt be firing at you, will miss. With that, feel free to have your other characters hit enemies without killing them for some extra experience. Otherwise, Geoffrey seizes. Which is followed by Geoffrey realizing it was all a setup, Lucia running out, and Ludveck capturing her. This part is almost done. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIe. Elincia's Gambit ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 4 ~ My Party: Elincia, Lethe, Mordecai, Nephenee, Brom, Heather, Leanne, Nealuchi, Haar, Calill, Marcia, Geoffrey*, Kieran*, Makalov*, Astrid*, Danved* ~ Max Turns: N/A Wow, can you believe it, it's the endgame already. I may point out though, that Part 3 is about a thousand times longer than Part 2, so don't get any big ideas here. Anyway, there's not really too much to do here. Make sure you view both info conversations, which will result in Calill joining your party, and Haar giving Elincia a Physic staff. Before the battle, Elincia will also pick up her Amiti sword, which is quite good, as you'll see during the battle. But anyway, the battle up ahead is a true fight. You guys ready? Cuz I don't know if I am. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 11 Axe General (Ludveck) Lv. 4 Halberdier x2 Lv. 4 Axe General x3 Lv. 3 Sword General x3 Lv. 4 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 3 Lance General x3 Lv. 4 Halberdier x3 Lv. 3 Swordmaster x6 Lv. 4 Sniper x1 Lv. 2 Sword General x3 Lv. 3 Lance General x2 Lv. 2 Warrior x4 Lv. 3 Axe General x1 Lv. 2 Halberdier x12 Lv. 3 Warrior x3 Lv. 2 Thunder Sage x4 Lv. 3 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 1 Sniper x7 Lv. 3 Halberdier x1 Lv. 1 Thunder Sage x3 Lv. 3 Sniper x3 Lv. 3 Thunder Sage x2 Lv. 2 Lance General x1 Lv. 2 Axe General x1 Lv. 2 Halberdier x2 Lv. 2 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 1 Sniper x1 Lv. 20 Armor Lance x1 Lv. 20 Armor Axe x2 Lv. 20 Soldier x3 Lv. 20 Archer x2 Lv. 19 Armor Lance x1 Lv. 19 Armor Axe x2 Lv. 19 Soldier x3 Lv. 19 Priest x1 Lv. 18 Armor Lance x1 Lv. 18 Priest x2 Just take a moment and glance over at that list of enemies as well as that list of reinforcements. I did not make those numbers up. You really do fight that many enemies, as well as that many reinforcements on top of it. But anyway, this is a battle that requires strategy. You can't just waltz in expecting to clear everything with Haar, because as good as that sounds on paper, this battle is just too complicated. First of all, the premise. There are two staircases here, with enemies at the bottom of them. Obviously they're a little winding. So there's a left side and a right side, basically, plus quite a few things lining the middle, though they typically swing to the right. Meanwhile, your characters are way up at the top, with Elincia guarding the throne here. Elincia is an EXTREMELY powerful asset here, so I'd have her move down. Heather can take her place, since she's too weak to really help out against the number of armor knights here. No one will actually get to the throne, but it's just a precaution since she has nothing better to do. Meanwhile, you'll notice Leanne is here. She really helps out, because what I like to have Elincia do is move down in levels. You see where you're situated? One level below that is several enemies. I don't like to have Elincia just drop down and go straight to combat, because for one thing, there's a TON of archers and Warriors with crossbows here, who will completely rape Elincia or Marcia. That, and if you have her hit and then immediately run back, Leanne can use Vigor on her, then she can hit and run once again. Since the Amiti is such a powerful sword with unlimited durability, she'll get two kills every turn, guaranteed. In the meantime, you'll need to have your characters choose where they want to go. I would personally split Lethe and Mordecai, with one heading left and one to the right. At least one should have a Laguz Stone. If not that, then have Olivi Grass, and abuse it during the battle if you get below 10 on the laguz meter. Mordecai is particularly good at doing that, as he can just not attack but still be an effective roadblock. The left, for me, was by far the less of the two evils though, actually. I sent Haar down there with Lethe and Brom (after the latter actually made his way over there), and he completely slaughtered everything. I gave Haar either a Hand Axe or a Javelin depending on the situation, and Brom a Short Axe, and they kicked ass. The only question here is Marcia. She's too weak to handle the overwhelming number of armor knights on the right, but the left side is filled with crossbows. So what I did with here was stay above the huge crowd of enemies on the stairs on the left side, while she kept a Short Spear or a Javelin in hand, and pelted enemies that came up, since she's got the height advantage there. I'd be careful with her wherever she goes though, and hell, I would battle save at the beginning of every turn, because you never know how this will end up. Something that's also important to remember is you have two long ranged utilities here: Physic for Elincia, and Meteor for Calill. Do NOT neglect to have Elincia use Physic when need be. Since I was having her getting a second turn almost every single turn until the very end with Leanne anyway, you can definitely go one turn without swooping down to hit some enemy at the bottom of this place and then coming back. As for Calill, she's a rather interesting character here. Meteor, however, is something I would reserve for emergency situations. If at the end of a turn there's an enemy with like 10 HP or less left alive, and you think you would really benefit from him dying fast, go ahead and use Meteor. Gradually, however, move Calill down and have her join the right side. Since there's so many Crimean soldiers there, she's not really at danger. So basically, my party for the right side was Nephenee, Nealuchi and Mordecai when they were applicable, Calill, and eventually Elincia, when she is finished with the enemies in the middle. So, undoubtedly, the right side is weaker still. But hold on, you get help. About eight turns in, the royal knights will appear from the right. That is extremely helpful, but just be careful. Geoffrey may be a beast, but he is very mortal, so do NOT rush him all the way, as he will die, and a lot faster than you would think. Gradually ease him into enemy range, with Kieran nearby and the others except maybe Makalov staying back. Eventually, though, Ludveck himself may come after you, but the good thing is that the knights on the right side will get lured away. At this point, your other characters should generally be making good progress on the left. In fact, you can have Haar come up and join the fight if you want, especially if it's later in the battle because after turn 12, reinforcements stop coming in, making the left side clear. If someone, even one of the other Crimea soldiers, comes in Ludveck's range, though, he will attack. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ludveck | Axe General | 11 | 45 | 25 | 10 | 22 | 18 | 12 | 26 | 16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ludveck is second only to Jarod in terms of bosses here, but yeah, the fact that he doesn't sit on a throne makes Jarod more difficult than he was, in my opinion. Be careful around this man, though. He has the Vantage ability, meaning it's unlikely, but at random intervals he will get a second attack on top of whatever he had. Because of that, I'd only aggro him if you've Battle Saved, his hit chance on you is low, or his damage on you is low, the latter chance of which is obviously almost nil. Actually, though, the most useful character against him is ironically Elincia. My Amiti did 10 damage a hit, and with four hits that's 40 damage right there, which is enough to get him knocked out extremely fast. Note that Ludveck comes with a Tomahawk, so he can hit you at long range. That being said, some of the Crimean soldiers are especially brave and will throw themselves at him just straight off. Almost invariably, they will die in the process. However, if you're wanting to finish all the enemies here off, it's very easy to surround him, since he likes to work himself into either a side of a wall or a corner. Kieran, Geoffrey, Elincia, all of them are great for surrounding him, while your other units kill everything left. I managed to finish everything off myself, which I'm slightly proud of, but whatever. Geoffrey or Kieran to weaken him, then Elincia can finish him without too much trouble. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ludveck then yields to Elincia and goes to the prison in Crimea, though Ludveck's men appear, ready to execute Lucia if Elincia does not release Ludveck. I'm not going to spoil how this all turns out, but trust me, the whole playout is beautiful. Suffice it to say, you'll run into a character you have not seen for a long time, plus Elincia talks a little bit about the Black Knight, leading the way into the next part of the game. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ VIII. Walkthrough (Part 3) ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The game truly takes a twist at this point. Now, instead of controlling the Dawn Brigade or the Crimea Knights, we're controlling the Greil Mercenaries all over again (assuming you are indeed a Path of Radiance player). So that means we've got Ike in charge, on top of a number of other characters who are all, every single one of them promoted, and all of them complete beasts on the battlefield. Trust me, when you're controlled a team led by Ike, you have no fears. That being said, Part 3 is the longest part of this game and you'll go back to Micaiah, and those are some of the hardest battles in the game. Just a fair warning. With that, Part 3 begins. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIa. The Great Advance ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Soren, Mist, Rolf, Boyd, Oscar, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mia ~ Max Turns: 7 Not really a whole lot to say here, since there's nothing to manage and you can't hit the shops yet. Basically, Ike has finally taken the side of the Laguz Alliance, because the Begnion Empire is completely ignoring them plus murdering their emissaries. It's good though that the enemy here is going to be Begnion again, not just more civil war in Crimea. Your leaders here are the clumsy Ranulf, and the rather stupid Skrimir. Neither are very reliable, but either way, here's the prologue for you. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 8 Sniper (Silvano) N/A Lv. 7 Lance General x3 Lv. 7 Halberdier x1 Lv. 6 Sword General x1 Lv. 6 Lance General x1 Lv. 6 Axe General x2 Lv. 6 Warrior x4 Lv. 6 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 6 Halberdier x5 Lv. 6 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 6 Bishop x1 Lv. 5 Lance General x1 Lv. 5 Warrior x3 Lv. 5 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 5 Halberdier x6 Lv. 5 Fire Sage x3 Lv. 4 Sniper x3 Lv. 4 Fire Sage x4 This is an extremely easy battle, just so long as you don't get completely overconfident. First of all, you're controlling eleven characters, and every single of them are beasts, except maybe Mist. That being said, the game compensates for that by pitting you up against enemies that have all been promoted. Still, you will breeze right through the lot of them. Titania, Oscar, and Gatrie are the characters that you'll want to lead the charge ahead, while Ike, Mia, and Soren follow shortly behind. Note here, though, that there's the guise of darkness once more, so I can't guarantee the complete accuracy of the enemy list above, but I think it's pretty damn close. Anyways, halfway up the path, you'll see a Killer Ballista. I'd have Rolf take that one, so Shinon can get more use. A ballista is a ballista, so it doesn't matter who takes it. While all this is going on, the massive laguz army to the right will mow down the halberdiers and warriors that come their way, although the fire sages are typically more a problem for them, so if you're on a ballista, try to target fire sages above anything else. Not only that, but even MORE laguz will come in as reinforcements, so basically, it's a huge army. I'll say this, though. For every surviving member of the laguz alliance here, you will get an additional 200 bonus EXP. That's huge. There's not really any way you can control them, though, so just get through Ike's section of this battle as fast as you can. There's not really a whole lot more to say after that, so basically just get Ike and company over to the right, and before long, his party and Skrimir's will be about caught up. The boss stands at the top, since the real general has retreated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Silvano | Sniper | 8 | 39 | 21 | 7 | 23 | 21 | 3 | 18 | 13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ One of the easiest bosses in this entire game, you might not even fight Silvano at all. If Skrimir gets there before anyone else, well, this guy's just dead, plain and simple. That being said, you probably will hit it with Ike, so I'll say this. Equip Ike with the Ettard, and then he'll double hit him to death. Now to be fair, Silvano has a Crossbow, meaning he can hit at both close and long range, and in the process will do a fairly harmful amount of damage, so obviously the strategy is going to be to eliminate him in one go. That, or have Ike stand next to him so that he can counterattack to his death, then Skrimir can get past him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So, yeah, if you didn't notice the objective here, the battle ends after Skrimir arrives. Which can be a little tricky to pull off in 7 turns since it is completely out of your control, but based on previous experience I've found that Skrimir goes there if the boss is dead, rather than trying to kill some insignificant enemy needlessly. Surprising, but true, though with any luck if there's still an enemy or two around, the other laguz will take care of it. It's coordinated so that the first laguz revert at about the same time the next set of them transform, so... yeah. The battle ends on its own. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIb. Laguz and Beorc ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Soren, Mist, Rolf, Boyd, Oscar, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mia ~ Max Turns: 10 This chapter starts as the laguz and beorc accomplices contemplate how to attack the next Begnion fort, with not a whole lot of help from Skrimir in the process, which only increases Soren's existing disdain for laguz. Very reliable alliance, isn't it. Anyway, enjoy that heap of bonus EXP the last battle gave you. Watch the info scenes (the one with Gatrie and Shinon is a riot), then move on to the next battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 9 Halberdier (Rommit) a few at the left Lv. 7 Lance General x1 Lv. 7 Axe General x1 Lv. 6 Sword General x2 Lv. 6 Axe General x1 Lv. 6 Warrior x1 Lv. 6 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 6 Halberdier x2 Lv. 6 Sniper x1 Lv. 6 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 6 Thunder Sage x2 Lv. 5 Sword General x1 Lv. 5 Axe General x1 Lv. 5 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 5 Warrior x1 Lv. 5 Halberdier x7 Lv. 5 Sniper x3 Lv. 5 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 4 Sword General x1 Lv. 4 Axe General x1 Lv. 4 Warrior x1 Lv. 4 Halberdier x1 Lv. 4 Sniper x1 Okay, this battle is actually a lot tougher than you might think judging by its appearance and the fact that you have the Greil Mercenaries here. I might point out that it's yet another darkness battle, so my numbers are going to be a little off, but they're close, no worries. The first thing to note, is that if you have a character move to the right to enter the house, you'll get a Blue Gem. That fetches a nice price, lemme tell ya. Move a square forward from there, though, and you'll see some enemies hidden by the darkness. So, as you would suspect, you'll pretty much need to split the team up behind up and right. To the right, send just four characters or so while the main force heads up. I'll say this now, though. The reason this battle gets a 3/5 difficulty rating is because it is so easy to get overconfident, plus there's enemies at every corner, so you can never for a moment let your guard down. It's a very easy battle to actually win, but to come out with no characters dead... that's a little harder. I'd have Ike take the upper path, followed by characters like Shinon and Gatrie, who are the two most elite of the Greil Mercenaries, in my opinion, though Titania is close. Beware that as the enemies are promoted, they have incredible movement and can come from anywhere, so do NOT let Mist and Rolf get close to enemies from any side. Note that enemies hide under the cover of darkness to the upper left, so that's a particular danger spot. But anyways, have someone OTHER than Boyd, Oscar, or Rolf enter the house nearby to get a Seraph Robe. Great item, I'd use that on Soren after this battle. Anyways, the two groups will meet up soon. Beware of the northeast corner on this area though, as there are a number of enemies with long ranged weapons towards the top. Eventually, you'll spearlead your way up to where the boss comes and attacks you on his own. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rommit | Halberdier | 9 | 40 | 22 | 10 | 23 | 21 | 7 | 20 | 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do not attack, or let this guy attack you more than is absolutely necessary. Reason being, he comes equipped with a Killer Lance, so the chance of him pulling a critical on you is way up there. For that reason, I'd definitely suggest only letting him get one attack off. Such as, by having a character like Ike double hit him, and then someone else finishing him off. Obviously, a character like Gatrie who has huge defense will be great against him, since if Rommit criticals him he's not going to be devastated by it. That, and Shinon, Rolf, and Soren are good, though the latter two I'd keep out of it unless by some miracle Rommit actually is the last person to fight. That, and again, Ike is fantastic here as always, so feel free to let him take care of it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Like I just said, though, Rommit definitely won't be the last enemy that you fight here, since he's in a rather central location and comes at you as soon as someone enters his range. So, anyway, now you have to pretty much finish the job, which shouldn't be too hard. The reinforcement load actually isn't too bad here, so if there's still a few enemies left over, they're probably on the west side by the fence. Anyways, this shouldn't be too much of a problem if you got past the area with the boss. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIc. Stormclouds ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Soren, Mist, Rolf, Boyd, Oscar, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mia, Nephenee, Brom, Heather, Ilyana, Haar ~ Max Turns: 15 And now, thankfully, you will have access to shops, plus Nephenee, Brom, Heather, Ilyana, and Haar will rejoin your party, which is a huge treat right there. Especially Haar, he's a complete beast. Let me say this, though. View the info scenes BEFORE you hit the shops. Particularly, the three star convo will have Aimee given Soren the Silver Card, so now you can get stuff at the shops for half price. Take advantage of that now. Give weak characters strong weapons, buy the Wyrmslayer at the bargains, sell crap that Nephenee has that you don't need, use the Seraph Robe from last battle (I used it on Soren, personally), plus make sure most everyone has long ranged weapons and at least a Vulnerary. Then time to move on to a bigger battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 11 Dragonmaster (Istvan) Lv. 7 Dragonmaster x1 Lv. 8 Lance General x1 Lv. 6 Blade Paladin x1 Lv. 8 Dragonmaster x2 Lv. 6 Lance Paladin x2 Lv. 7 Blade Paladin x1 Lv. 6 Bow Paladin x1 Lv. 7 Axe Paladin x1 Lv. 6 Dragonmaster x2 Lv. 7 Sword General x2 Lv. 5 Blade Paladin x3 Lv. 7 Axe General x2 Lv. 5 Bow Paladin x2 Lv. 7 Dragonmaster x1 Lv. 4 Blade Paladin x1 Lv. 7 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 4 Axe Paladin x1 Lv. 6 Blade Paladin x1 Lv. 6 Axe Paladin x3 Lv. 6 Axe General x2 Lv. 6 Halberdier x1 Lv. 6 Dragonmaster x4 Lv. 6 Thunder Sage x2 Lv. 6 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 6 Bishop x1 Lv. 5 Axe Paladin x1 Lv. 5 Bow Paladin x1 Lv. 5 Axe General x1 Lv. 5 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 5 Halberdier x1 Lv. 5 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 5 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 5 Bishop x1 Lv. 4 Axe Paladin x1 Now this is what I call a proper battle. The first thing you're going to notice is the large amount of characters that you're allowed to use for this battle, which is always an asset, but the most notable character that you're allowed to use here is Haar. I don't think I need to remind you guys how badass Haar is, and honestly, this is the kind of battle that he's perfect for. He can withstand the huge number of paladins and dragonmasters to the lower right, so hell, you can go send him there if you want. In fact, this is a perfect battle for splitting into groups. First of all, the reinforcements in this battle aren't terrible in terms of coming from the bottom, so if you're carrying around weak characters, feel free to leave them where you start, so long as they aren't in dragonmaster range. It might be simpler just to exclude them from the battle, though. Apart from that, you're definitely going to want to form two groups. One group, just so they can gain experience, should head to the north. The objective here is just to kill the boss, however, so you can make it last as long or as short as you want, though since you get 15 turns before getting bonus EXP deducted, so you might as well get the EXP. To do that, have a large force head to the north and play with the heap of paladins that are up there. Meanwhile, I'd have Ike, Gatrie, and Haar stick around towards the middle, and head down into the little ravine, since there's a huge number of enemies that will be drawn to you that way. The person who gets the boss kill though is going to have to be planned, though. Personally I think Haar is great for that since you can never have too much experience for him, but it's up to you. He's great for luring the boss out, but the point I'm making is that Istvan, the boss, moves. He also has a tremendous range, considering he's a dragonmaster, so you're going to want to be careful when getting people into his range. There's a thicket for the north group, so that will definitely slow them down, though it's still a great spot for characters like Soren to get some experience. Apart from that, the people you send down to the right are going to get their fair share, no problems. Just mow through what you can, and then eventually Istvan will come after you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Istvan | Dragonmaster | 9 | 40 | 22 | 10 | 23 | 21 | 7 | 20 | 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There's not really a lot to say about Istvan apart from luring him into your range. Obviously you're probably going to want to get to the very end of his range, though, because as a dragonmaster, he has Canto. Therefore, he'll exercise his ability to hit you and then to run. If you allow him to do that, then he'll be able to slaughter your weaker characters and you probably won't be able to get to him unless it's Haar or something. For that reason, just constantly watch his range, and when you're ready to make the finish on him, just enter the end of the range. He'll then come after you. His stats aren't very high, especially his defense, so if you've got Ike, Soren, Haar, or any other such beasts, you should be able to one round him no problem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Managing to one round the boss of that place? That's good, even though it ends the battle immediately. Don't worry about trying to finish off every single enemy here, particularly the meager units that are behind the boss, since they aren't going to do that much for your EXP counter anyway. Watch the scenes that follow, then we're good. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIId. River Crossing ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Soren, Boyd, Oscar, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mia, Nephenee, Haar ~ Max Turns: 10 Not much to say here, except that when you enter this battle you'll see a full fledged FMV cutscene as Ranulf challenges Zelgius to a fight, though before it gets all the way into it, the scene cuts to the beorc, which is unfortunate, but ah well. Before you start this battle you might want to note that there's a Dracoshield and Arms Scroll for sale in Aimee's bargains, but ah well, whatevz. Move on to the next battle when ready. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 10 Sword General x1 Lv. 10 Bishop x1 Lv. 9 Sword General x2 Lv. 9 Halberdier x2 Lv. 9 Halberdier x1 Lv. 9 Bishop x1 Lv. 9 Sniper x1 Lv. 7 Halberdier x2 Lv. 9 Druid (Veyona) Lv. 7 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 8 Sword General x1 Lv. 6 Halberdier x5 Lv. 8 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 8 Halberdier x1 Lv. 8 Sniper x1 Lv. 8 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 8 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 8 Bishop x1 Lv. 7 Sword General x1 Lv. 7 Lance General x1 Lv. 7 Axe General x1 Lv. 7 Halberdier x3 Lv. 7 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 7 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 6 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 6 Halberdier x2 Lv. 6 Sniper x1 Lv. 6 Wind Sage x1 Is this the first battle in which the boss isn't the highest leveled unit? I declare... yes. Anyway, though, this is an incredibly easy battle no matter how cocky you are, and it's actually pretty fun even if it's not a big open ended one like the last one was. So, anyway, one turn in some more enemies will show up to complete this place, plus you'll notice that there's two senators in there. One of them has an Ashera Icon and one has a White Gem, but if you kill them, you'll miss out on 500 bonus EXP. That's really up to you; if you brought Heather then you'll be able to pilfer them, but otherwise you'll have to make a choice. I'd do whatever it takes to get the White Gem, though I don't very much care for the Ashera Icon. But anyway, the objective here actually isn't to kill off the boss and other enemies. It's to burn the supplies. You can identify them as the piles of boxes littered around several sections of this place. If you brought Haar, he's particularly good as he can fly over all the obstructions littering this place. In particular, almost directly above where you start there's some supplies, so after you get the past a couple enemies, go ahead and burn those. Thankfully, the senators don't come with weapons, so you don't have to worry about them counterattacking you. But anyway, note that there are three tents here where you can pick up items. The left one has a Blossom scroll, another one further up has a Master Crown (and do pick that up) and the one in the center behind the boss has a Hammerne staff. But yes, eventually you will make your way up and the boss will likely attack you on his own. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Veyona | Druid | 9 | 34 | 14 | 25 | 24 | 23 | 3 | 13 | 24 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yes, here's our first run-in with dark magic, and it's actually one of the few in the game. But anyway, Veyona is a pushover. If you're using a magic user you won't be damaging him much, but he won't damage you much either, so that's always good for weakening him. Apart from that, Haar can fly over and absolutely smash the living daylights out of this guy. Plus if you're using Ike or Mia and they have a Wind Edge, or less preferably someone with a Javelin, Hand Axe, Short Spear, or Short Axe, that'll also do it. But anyway, your main weapon is Haar. Enough said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The boss may die, but your objective here is still burning the supplies. One is at the bottom left, one is to the bottom right, one is dead center, one is at the top, then there's one on each side there, so split your party up, accordingly. Note that at the bottom there will be several Halberdiers to show up if you want to cash in on some more experience. Also, at some point later in the battle, break the doors to the horse pens. They'll run loose and the enemy may attack them, but you get 200 bonus EXP for each of the eight left alive. With that, the battle concludes as Zelgius beats the crap out of Ranulf, but then Tibarn shows up to reinforce and lets Zelgius go. So that's that. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIe. The General's Hand ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Soren, Boyd, Oscar, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mia, Nephenee, Haar, Ranulf ~ Max Turns: 10 Back at the base, check out the info scene first of all, so that you can get a Blue Gem, plus Aimee will tell you that Shinon made a rare bow, which you can buy at the shop for a whooping 8000 gold. That Silencer, though, is an amazing weapon so I'd definitely suggest investing in it, though. With that, sell your two gems now (you DID get the White Gem last battle, right?), and start the next battle to hear that Skrimir charged up a hill to go after Zelgius. Yeah, typical, huh. Next battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 12 Sword General (Callum) Lv. 10 Dragonmaster x1 Lv. 10 Lance General x1 Lv. 8 Dragonmaster x1 Lv. 9 Axe General x1 Lv. 9 Warrior x2 Lv. 9 Swordmaster x3 Lv. 9 Halberdier x2 Lv. 8 Axe General x1 Lv. 8 Warrior x3 Lv. 8 Halberdier x4 Lv. 8 Fire Sage x2 Lv. 7 Lance General x1 Lv. 7 Warrior x2 Lv. 7 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 7 Sniper x4 Lv. 7 Thunder Sage x2 Lv. 7 Fire Sage x2 Lv. 6 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 6 Fire Sage x1 You're accompanied by Ranulf here, plus you can put Kyza, Mordecai, or Lyre in your party as well, though I'll certainly pass on that. Anyway, I will say this right now: you will receive 200 bonus EXP for each of the laguz soldiers up ahead that survive this battle. Because of that, it's definitely in your best interest to protect them, though they're just as big of warheads as they usually are. Anyway, this battle is on a cliff, but mounted units don't have nearly the disadvantage that they were given in Path of Radiance, though they cannot get up the last cliff. So basically feel free to use them. Otherwise, Haar is even better here than in last battle. I'd have him go straight up the first cliff and kill off the mages and other enemies there, while a couple characters head east and the rest go west. Shinon with the Silencer is great for hitting the enemies that guard cliffs, since it has such good accuracy he'll usually get at least 80% even with a height disadvantage. So yes, he's a good candidate for the right side. Other fast but strong characters like Nephenee are good, since you want to get near the laguz at the top and protect them, which Shinon is also good at because of his Provoke ability. Apart from that, there's not really much else to say. Use abilities such as Soren's Elwind spell to hit the enemies on the upper left cliff so that you can get up. Meanwhile, Haar can rejoin and start hitting whatever comes his way. Make sure Ranulf does NOT fall behind, because for one thing he's a damn good fighter, plus you need him to arrive at the end with Ike to win the battle. Eventually you'll come across the two guardians. The Sword General next to the boss is easy. The boss, errr... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Callum | Sword Gen | 12 | 44 | 23 | 10 | 21 | 21 | 5 | 26 | 17 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This isn't as bad as Rommit, the halberdier from Chapter 3-1 with a Killer Lance, but it's still not something to mess with. Don't stick around two spaces from this man either, since he has a Storm Sword and is not afraid to use it if the need arises. Anyway, basically, use strong units like Haar to hit him, who aren't going to die from a single critical. Ike and Ranulf, since they need to be there anyway, are great for hitting although I would not use the latter to finish him off. Shinon is as good as ever if he got there in time, plus Nephenee isn't bad, as a lance user. Either way though, finish him as quickly as possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With any luck, you'll be on the tenth turn at this point, so that Ike and Ranulf can arrive at the two spots and finish the battle. As soon as you get done, you'll see the Zelgius vs. Skrimir fight. Guess who wins that one. Yeah. Anyway, Zelgius calls a cease fire afterwards, suggesting the peace talk which Soren did a little while ago, and that's that. Enjoy the heaps of bonus EXP you get from that, it's the last time you'll get that much for a while. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIf. Retreat! ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Soren, Mist, Rolf, Boyd, Oscar, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mia, Nephenee, Brom, Heather, Haar, Reyson ~ Max Turns: N/A As you can see, the senators still aren't very open to Zelgius, plus he and Levail are in pretty bad shape as far as duty to their country goes. Anyways, when you emerge, go to the info conversation to talk with Haar for a Corrosion, which still sucks but isn't as bad as it was in Path of Radiance. Give it to Boyd or someone like that, then start the next battle. Contrary to Zelgius's orders, Begnion troops attack. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 14 Axe Paladin (Lombroso) Lv. 10 Blade Paladin x2 Lv. 11 Blade Paladin x1 Lv. 10 Axe Paladin x2 Lv. 11 Lance Paladin x2 Lv. 10 Halberdier x2 Lv. 10 Blade Paladin x1 Lv. 9 Blade Paladin x2 Lv. 10 Lance Paladin x1 Lv. 9 Lance Paladin x4 Lv. 10 Lance General x1 Lv. 9 Lance General x4 Lv. 10 Warrior x1 Lv. 9 Halberdier x2 Lv. 10 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 9 Thunder Sage x2 Lv. 10 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 9 Fire Sage x2 Lv. 9 Lance Paladin x1 Lv. 8 Blade Paladin x4 Lv. 9 Axe Paladin x3 Lv. 8 Lance General x2 Lv. 9 Bow Paladin x3 Lv. 8 Sniper x2 Lv. 9 Sword General x2 Lv. 9 Lance General x1 Lv. 9 Warrior x2 Lv. 9 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 9 Halberdier x3 Lv. 9 Sniper x1 Lv. 9 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 9 Fire Sage x2 Lv. 9 Bishop x2 Lv. 8 Lance Paladin x2 Lv. 8 Sword General x2 Lv. 8 Lance General x1 Lv. 8 Warrior x1 Lv. 8 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 8 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 8 Wind Sage x2 I love this battle. One of my favorites in the entire game. Hell, if you need proof, just look at that enemy list. That being said, there is rather little to say about this battle. Reason being, you're supposed to defend a spot for twelve turns. There's not a whole lot more to say about it than that, except here's a few pointers for the trade. Ike, by default, starts on the big green square, so just move him off. He and his Ettard are going to help you out, plus by 3-7, you're going to want him to have at least 27 speed. So just make sure he gets out in the open and starts hitting stuff, while a weak character like Heather sits on the "throne", just in case something goes wrong. Also, you get Reyson for this battle, since he just recently joined. Use him. He's the man. Here's another thing to point out. There's two ballistas here, and since you get so many characters anyway, why not just sit Rolf on one of them and have him shoot weak crap down? They're relatively good ballistas anyway, so I see no reason not to. Shinon on the other hand can play it by ear. I'd definitely sit him on a ballista at first, since it takes a while to get down in the main fray, though eventually he'll definitely do a lot more down there than at the top with the ballistas, especially since as a strongly defensive unit with Provoke, he'll help you out. Apart from that, the usual of allocating units to the left and right is going to apply here. I will say, however, that the left primarily consists of sages and whatnot, while the right side is going to be a lot more, so I'd definitely send more characters there than to the left. Bottom of the line, don't try to have one person solo either of them. Eventually though, what you'll want to do is lure some of the paladins out towards the middle, and eventually make a strike at the boss. Who doesn't move, by the way, so don't worry about him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lombroso | Axe Paladin | 14 | 43 | 23 | 10 | 24 | 23 | 7 | 23 | 16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here's the first thing to note about this guy. He has an Energy Drop on him, and he doesn't drop it when he dies, so the only way to get it is to have Heather come down after him. Lombroso is one of the toughest bosses so far though, as he has a Silver Poleax and a Short Axe, so basically, he's a huge pimp. My point is, though, that if you're going to come after him and have Heather follow behind to get the Energy Drop (a very good item by the way), then you're going to want to try and finish him off in one round, since he is going to absolutely slaughter a character like Heather. If you're using Ike, though, fortunately that's not going to be very hard. The Ettard will absolutely rip him a new one, plus again, Haar is a perfect offensive character against him. Note again that if he dies, that's it. He may be tough, but the hardest part is actually getting to him in the first place. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, no matter who's left alive, once Lombroso goes down, the battle ends. Plus it's pretty clear that this happened without Zelgius's command, so anyways, afterwards Tibarn will mention how he went to Begnion and talked to Sigrun, who wasn't happy, then a scene will take place between Zelgius and Levail, where it's revealed that Apostle Sanaki has disappeared, and that Sephiran has been dismissed from his post. Damn. Begnion just gets worse and worse. But now, I have bad news for you all. The game makes you take a break from the Greil Mercenaries, and switch over to command of the Dawn Brigade. I wish I were making that up, but no. We're going back to Daein. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIg. A Reason to Fight ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 4 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Sothe, Aran, Volug, Meg, Jill, Zihark, Fiona, Black Knight* ~ Max Turns: N/A Ugh. I hate this. Back at Daein, Pelleas orders Micaiah as the general of the Daein army to join Begnion. Yeah, how stupid is that, now we have to go kill innocent laguz using Micaiah and the Dawn Brigade. I'll tell you what pisses me off more than anything, is that at the shops here, now you can access such weapons as all the Silver equipment, a Physic, an Elixir... all of that stuff in the bargains. To hell if you can afford/equip much of it, though. Oh well, guess we gotta make what we can out of what's there. First of all, there's five info conversations, all five stars. Edward, Nolan, and Leonardo will all get special equipment from King Pelleas that only they can equip, which is far better than the corresponding Silver equipment, so they're set. The convo with Jill will net her a Brave Axe, and yeah, there you go, that's a few characters. I used an Arms Scroll on Aran to get him to A-rank in lances, then bought him a Silver Lance. You absolutely MUST buy Sothe a Beast Killer, since his old one is probably about broke now, plus the Physic and Torch are nice. Apart from that, buy what you want. Try and make all your characters minus Meg and Fiona, who suck ass, into at least half decent characters. Hell, go ahead and use all the bonus EXP. Make sure all your main characters are promoted, too. My Leonardo wasn't, though I didn't really give a damn about him anyway. Well, when you're ready, start the battle. Skrimir and Ranulf on the road, and they get attacked. Why they should be, who knows. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 21 Cat (Lethe) N/A Lv. 17 Tiger (Mordecai) Lv. 15 Cat x6 Lv. 15 Tiger x4 Lv. 14 Cat x7 Lv. 14 Tiger x10 Lv. 13 Cat x9 Lv. 13 Tiger x6 Lv. 12 Cat x3 Lv. 12 Tiger x2 To win this incredibly hard battle, you have to kill 46 innocent laguz. Why it's a retarded number like that, I don't know, but that's what you need to do. And actually, that's almost all of them except for the two bosses and one other odd man out. But anyway, if I didn't mention it already, this fight is quite difficult. Mainly because the Dawn Brigade is weak as hell, plus the laguz can do 20+ damage to most characters. When they're as many as seven of them in one place at a time, which actually happens occasionally, it equates to a bloodbath. Now, I find that I actually have very good luck with this battle, and the laguz actually go easier on characters that are about to die than you would expect, but what do I care, there is no reason that this battle should exist. Strategy is of the essence. First of all, you'll notice there's a definite left side and a definite right side here. The left side is by FAR the lesser of the two evils. Send like two characters over there, while everyone else heads to the right. Anyways, you're absolutely going to need Micaiah and Laura here. I don't think I've said it yet, so I'll say it now: this is yet ANOTHER darkness battle. Meaning you can't see crap, and with the high laguz speed, they can come out of nowhere and slay you. You'll want to have one of the two white mage type characters equipped with a Torch, while the other one has a Physic. If you didn't buy them before starting this battle, then I donno what to tell you guys. You need to kill laguz constantly to be able to keep up, and doing so makes it incredibly hard to keep up with the healing here. In fact, what you may need to do a lot is have one of Micaiah or Laura use the Physic, then have someone trade it and then use it. That's the odds you can be against here. So with that, keep Micaiah and Laura on the island you're at. Unless you seriously trained them up (and I mean by like 10 levels each), keep Meg and Fiona at the back and don't move them at all, supposing you brought them at all. Meanwhile, characters like Zihark, Edward, Nolan, and Sothe need to press ahead. I kept Aran and Leonardo to the left, as my Leonardo sucked ass and was safer there, plus Aran is a great defensive unit, and is surprisingly safe to the left. I'd only use Volug to weaken enemies here, since he's so weak at this point. As for Jill, she's great at hitting and running. So that's your offensive lineup. It's crappy, but it has to do. About five turns into the battle, though, you get a load of help. The Black Knight enters the battle, and although he's too far away to get right in the scene, he's a tremendous help. I sent him to the left, because there he's not stealing EXP, plus he's actually helping out at a spot that needs it. The rest of the party SHOULD be able to handle the right. Remember, that laguz which are transformed or maxed out are your primary targets when you have a doubt in mind. Don't bother with untransformed ones that aren't maxed out, unless there really is nothing better to hit. That, and I wouldn't attack the bosses either, unless you're seriously desperate for EXP. Plus since there's two of them, neither really qualify, so since I hate this battle, I ain't gonna give a strategy, so there. Do whatever you want, just get out of this god awful battle. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIh. Rivals Collide ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Soren, Boyd, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mia, Nephenee, Haar, Ranulf, Janaff*, Ulki* ~ Max Turns: N/A So, Ranulf and the others discuss what's going on here, and the conclusion is that Begnion is completely using Daein for their evil bidding, and they don't have a clue what's actually going on. For that reason, they're going to use the decoy tactic again. Anyways, use some bonus EXP, and when you head to the next battle, you're fighting the Dawn Brigade. THAT is what I like to see. At least you're actually using someone strong. Note that paladins can't do jack shit in this battle, so you're better off using footed characters. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 20 Black Knight (Black Knight) Lv. 9 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 10 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 9 Warrior x3 Lv. 9 Lance General x1 Lv. 9 Halberdier x2 Lv. 9 Axe General x2 Lv. 9 Sniper x1 Lv. 9 Warrior x1 Lv. 9 Dragonmaster x5 Lv. 9 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 8 Halberdier x2 Lv. 9 Halberdier x1 Lv. 9 Sniper x1 Lv. 9 Dragonmaster x2 Lv. 9 Thunder Sage x2 Lv. 9 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 8 Warrior x2 Lv. 8 Swordmaster x3 Lv. 8 Halberdier x2 Lv. 8 Dragonmaster x1 Lv. 8 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 8 Fire Sage x2 Lv. 8 Wind Sage x4 Lv. 7 Rogue (Sothe) Lv. 7 Swordmaster (Zihark) Lv. 7 Halberdier x3 Lv. 7 Sniper x1 Lv. 6 Bishop x1 Lv. 5 Bishop x2 Lv. 4 Warrior (Nolan) Lv. 4 Halberdier (Aran) Lv. 3 Swordmaster (Edward) Lv. 3 Dragonmaster (Jill) Lv. 2 Light Sage (Micaiah) Lv. 18 Archer (Leonardo) Lv. 16 Wolf (Volug) Lv. 9 Lance Knight (Fiona) Lv. 7 Priest (Laura) Lv. 3 Armor Sword (Meg) It just blows my mind that whenever you think Haar could not be more useful, he just surpasses your previous expectations. Haar is a NECESSITY here. But anyway, here's the first and most important note: IF YOU ARE ON YOUR SECOND PLAYTHROUGH, YOU MUST HAVE IKE ATTACK THE BLACK KNIGHT. This is one of the things that goes hand in hand with bringing the Black Knight into the endgame in Part 1. You just have to do it, otherwise you won't recruit one of the bonus characters. So yeah. Ike needs 27 speed to survive, otherwise the Black Knight will double him. Even then he'll get his ass kicked, but he'll live. If you want to kill the Black Knight, use a Hammer, hit and run. It's hard, but it's doable. I see no reason why you would want to, though. But anyways, I'll get it out now. Hot damn, that's one list of enemies. Specifically the lower end. Yeah, there's proof how much the Dawn Brigade sucks. But that was just my levels at the time, so whatever. The reason paladins are so bad here is because this place consists almost entirely of water, with a few islands in between. The Greil Mercenaries are at the northeast, the Dawn Brigade is at the southwest. Almost all of your characters, however, will be limited to two squares of movement per turn, except for guess who, Haar. That being said, if you want to finish everything this chapter has to offer, and ESPECIALLY if you're on your second playthrough, you need to have Ike get to the bottom. Now, don't just have Haar go ahead and rush it. Keep Ike put. Haar can actually go on ahead, but just don't let Ike go wandering anywhere yet. You'll want someone nearby to have an Olivi Grass, though, so you may actually want to take it from Ranulf, or someone else if they just happen to have it for some odd reason. Then at the beginning of the third turn, you get backup in the form of Janaff and Ulki. Remember, Tibarn's lackeys? Have Ike talk to them, and they will join you. They are INCREDIBLY helpful here. With that, have either Janaff or Ulki rescue Ike. Now it's time to fly across this place. Fortunately, the two hawks are so fast that even with their speed halved due to carrying Ike, they still usually won't get doubled, but DO NOT let them lose their state of transformation. Otherwise, they're just sitting ducks. Or sitting hawks, whatever. Keep a Laguz Stone handy if need be, so that they can take care of themselves. Letting them get a Vulnerary or Concoction also wouldn't be a bad idea. With that, they need to head southwest, towards the Dawn Brigade station. When you reach the nearby island, though, make sure whomever picked Ike up drops him off. Haar needs to join in, so now you have four extremely powerful, capable units battling it off against a ton of wind sages, thunder sages, dragonmasters, and halberdiers. A difficult battle, but it's a winnable one, on that side. Also note that on the island nearest the bottom, Aran and Nolan are already waiting. Jill will join in too. You can recruit Jill to this side by talking to her with Haar, but do NOT do that. First of all, there's more Dawn Brigade battles, and you NEED her on your side. She's not a threat to you, and she'll probably die instantly if she joins your side. Just finish her and the others by attacking them, so that they can retreat. Keep an eye on the Black Knight, though. To get it coordinated just right, you'll want Ulki, Janaff, and Haar shortly behind, with Ike in the front. The Black Knight will come forward at the end of turn 10. So with that, move Ike to the end of his range. I've found the Black Knight will actually attack Ike from the northwest (aka, as far away as possible from the rest of the battle). Ike will get raped damage wise, true, but then he can go up the island and attack Micaiah and Sothe for the hell of it. That, or he have Haar or the birds capture him, and then you can get away from the Black Knight. If you get a chance, though, have Ike and Sothe battle, it's oddly poetic. As for the rest of the battle, it's not something to take lightly. I always like to put Gatrie in the front with characters like Boyd, Nephenee, and Mia slightly behind, but how you do it is completely up to you. Whether you charge forward or just stay back and let them come to you. I will note that there's a lot of swordmasters here, but you can't bring Oscar there anyway, so meh. Shinon is EXTREMELY helpful because he has the Provoke skill and draws enemies away from weaker characters like Soren, who need to help out anyway. Put a Crossbow or Bowgun on Shinon, and he can counter anything that the enemy does. Eventually you'll get to the bottom and hammer down the halberdiers there. With that, the twelve turns required to get through in this battle will be over and you can move on. Which is good, this battle sucks. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIi. Incandescent Glow ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Soren, Boyd, Oscar, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mia, Nephenee, Haar, Ranulf ~ Max Turns: 20 Yeah, you guessed it, it's finally a battle that has a turn limit, not one that involves killing a number of enemies or getting through it in a certain amount of time anyway. Quite relieving, if you ask me. Anyway, there's not a whole lot to do at base, since there's nothing great at the shops and there's not even any rewarding info scenes. The battle begins as Ike's party goes into fiery caves, and Zelgius is ready to pull back, but no, the most evil Begnion senator yet, Valtome, orders his troops in there. Which is suicide, as you can imagine, but there you have it. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 15 Lance General (Septimus) Lv. 11 Halberdier x1 Lv. 12 Sword General x1 Lv. 11 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 12 Lance General x3 Lv. 11 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 12 Axe General x1 Lv. 10 Halberdier x1 Lv. 12 Halberdier x1 Lv. 12 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 12 Druid x2 Lv. 11 Sword General x3 Lv. 11 Axe General x3 Lv. 11 Halberdier x2 Lv. 11 Sniper x2 Lv. 11 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 11 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 10 Lance General x2 Lv. 10 Axe General x1 Lv. 10 Warrior x2 Lv. 10 Halberdier x3 Lv. 10 Fire Sage x2 Lv. 10 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 10 Bishop x1 Lv. 9 Warrior x1 Lv. 9 Swordmaster x3 This is a pretty easy, straightforward battle right here, no matter how much the characters exaggerate the danger of these caves. First of all, when you're changing your battle formation, note that you move from top to bottom, not vice versa, so characters like Gatrie can go at the very bottom. But anyways, the battle cues you in to a little trick it has before the actual thing even starts. Note that part of the ground is parched and brown. That part will get blasted by the volcano at the beginning of every turn, for 10 damage. So basically, do not stand there unless it is absolutely necessary. That's the most important thing to know. Anyways, to start it off, there's a left and a right path. Definitely send the majority of your forces to the left, as there's a lot more enemies there than to the right. Only send three or four over to the right. As you head to the left, just avoid the parched ground, and it'll look like a dead end at one point, though all it is a huge rock that you can manuever around. Note that the far left at the path there actually is a dead end but has a sage on it, and a few turns in, two sages will show up as reinforcements, so a character like Gatrie is good there just for clearing them out, while the rest of your party heads right. As for the enemies at the bottom right, which are the main force here, I find that they like to move forward, then just stop when they get to the parched part. And yeah, it seems they're the only enemies here who are even remotely aware of the fact they get scorched if they stand there. That being said, what you're going to want to do is lure a few of them out with characters like Boyd and Shinon. The boss has no trouble going after you, but do NOT forward yourself too much. The druids down there are incredibly damaging, and if you mess around they can easily kill off a character. One of them is at the bottom of a cliff though, so use someone with a Javelin or Hand Axe to hit them down, otherwise just be careful with it. Eventually, the boss will aggro you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Septimus | Lance Gen | 15 | 45 | 25 | 11 | 21 | 20 | 9 | 27 | 17 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Been a long time since we had an actual boss. Thankfully, Septimus is a pushover, even though he comes with the strongest "normal" type of lance in the game, the Silver Greatlance. Though I prefer the Brave Lance, but that's a moot point. Septimus likes to come after you, and although he seems aware of the parched ground effect, he'll step into it. That makes him a great target for your long ranged characters, such as Soren or Rhys. Apart from that, you should at least be on both sides of the parched ground, making him vulnerable to attack from all sides. Just wait for him to do that, and then pretty much anyone can handle him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This battle has always confused me, since it gives you a whooping twenty turns to finish it, yet it really doesn't take any more than ten or eleven, tops. Hell, besides two sages, a halberdier and a sniper, there's not even any reinforcements here. Couldn't they have given us that long in 3-5 or 3-7? Oh well. Most likely, there will be one sage left over at the bottom, so kill him real quick, and then Skrimir will claim to have found the exit. Unfortunately, it leads to Goldoa instead of Gallia, so you're basically in the land of dragons. Dheginsea, the king of the country, is a huge douche, though through pleading, Ike's old dragon companions Nasir and Ena get him an escort back. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIj. Marauders ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Geoffrey, Kieran, Astrid, Makalov, Marcia, Danved, Calill ~ Max Turns: 10 You read that party correctly. Indeed, Valtome tries to get Begnion through Crimea, but Elincia doesn't let them through, so they go through anyway. Now the Royal Knights are going to whoop ass. First of all, watch the info scenes with Elincia and Lucia (both of who should realistically be in this battle...) for a Master Crown and 10000 Gold. You may even consider promoting Geoffrey right here and now, though that's certainly optional. Definitely buy some equipment if you're lacking it, then start the battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 12 Halberdier (Roark) Lv. 7 Halberdier x2 Lv. 7 Axe General x1 Lv. 6 Warrior x1 Lv. 7 Warrior x1 Lv. 6 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 7 Halberdier x1 Lv. 6 Halberdier x5 Lv. 6 Sword General x1 Lv. 5 Sniper x1 Lv. 6 Warrior x1 Lv. 20 Soldier x2 Lv. 6 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 19 Soldier x1 Lv. 6 Halberdier x2 Lv. 5 Swordmaster x3 Lv. 5 Halberdier x4 Lv. 5 Sniper x2 Lv. 19 Soldier x1 Lv. 18 Soldier x2 This is a surprisingly hard battle, just based on the impression you'll get of it at first. First of all, this battle features unpromoted units, something we haven't seen in this entire part of the game, on top of about a dozen medium leveled halberdiers. That's all well and good, but we've been fighting that level of halberdiers for about eight chapters now. However, that's when you're controlling about six great and five good units, instead of one great, two good, and four crappy units as we are here. That's right, we only get seven characters here, and of them, Geoffrey is amazing. He'll mow through this whole place without a problem, especially if you were like me and went ahead and promoted him. Kieran is also solid, and while flawed, he'll contribute to the cause. I also like Danved. Makalov and Marcia, however, are too weak to really be of any help. Calill sucks, and Astrid is just horrible. It's kind of sad, actually. But anyway, have Geoffrey and Kieran spearlead this. Danved can come along, but you'll want him to go back and stand guard with one of either Makalov and Marcia, plus it's up in the air where Calill will get, so maybe her as well. That's because three reinforcements will show up from the west after a few turns, and they can definitely complicate matters. You see, this place has six houses. Begnion soldiers are asses, however, and will burn them. After a few turns, the houses will disintegrate, and you want to prevent that from happening. You'll get 1000 bonus EXP for each one that's left, but to be honest, there's six of them, and it's almost impossible to save a couple of them. In particular, the ones at the top. Unless your Marcia is REALLY good and can stay alive, which mine sure as hell wasn't, I'd forget getting 6000 additional bonus EXP to the 6000 EXP clear bonus this battle offers. Note that this battle comes in ledges, so you may want to have Marcia go up after some time and proceed that way. When you come across a house, though, and it's burning, then no matter what character you're using, go adjacent to it and extinguish the fire. Seriously. By the way, you might notice that there's a thicket in the center. Now, with characters like Danved and Calill, I don't much care which way you go, but for Geoffrey, Kieran, and the other paladins, definitely head to the left and go around. That way, you'll clear the other enemies, you may even give Astrid something to do by being able to hit enemies below from an altitude advantage, and it's faster, even though it's about four times the distance. Anyway, you'll soon come to the top of this place. I'd have Danved head up to the left and handle the armored knight there, while Geoffrey and the others advance to the boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roark | Halberdier | 12 | 42 | 22 | 11 | 24 | 23 | 8 | 22 | 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roark is surprisingly sturdy for a mere halberdier. Or maybe it's just cuz I got used to controlling characters like Ike and Haar, and when I'm using subpar units like the ones in this battle it disappoints me. Might as well stick to the good characters, in Geoffrey and Kieran. Roark does not move, so you can pretty much stick a character there, then he'll get counterattacked to good results. Apart from that, if Kieran can double attack him, do that, because it will do quite heavy damage to him right there. Geoffrey should have a whole pile of weapons available, such as the Silver Greatlance and Brave Lance, which are both excellent. Refrain from using anyone else except maybe Calill if you need backing support, since Roark has a ranged weapon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With that guy out of the way, Elincia and Lucia show up for a greeting, and then you're taken back to the castle. Elincia has a word with Valtome (how someone that ugly got in the royal palace, I have no idea), followed by Zelgius. Sadly, Zelgius requires the use of Crimea for passage into Gallia, which is rather disheartening to Elincia, especially after Zelgius refuses to talk about the apostle. The plot thickens. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIk. The Heart of Crimea ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Soren, Rolf, Boyd, Oscar, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mia, Nephenee, Haar, Ranulf, Reyson ~ Max Turns: 10 Caineghis, Tibarn, and Skrimir are rather upset about Crimea letting Begnion pass through their lands, although they all try to rationalize it. Anyway, a new attack is planned, and afterwards, there is absolutely nothing to do at base. I grow weary of the Dawn Brigade and Crimea Knights getting preferential treatment to the Greil Mercenaries in terms of shops, but anyway, view the info scene with Giffca to get a Satori Sign, then start the battle. Elincia strips herself of a weapon, and stands in the middle of a battlefield between Tibarn and Zelgius's armies. Not bad. Valtome has none of it though, and now you need to defend her. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 17 Bow Paladin (Sergei) Lv. 12 Lance Paladin x4 Lv. 13 Dragonmaster x1 Lv. 12 Blade Paladin x4 Lv. 12 Lance Paladin x1 Lv. 12 Axe Paladin x2 Lv. 12 Bow Paladin x2 Lv. 12 Lance General x1 Lv. 12 Axe General x5 Lv. 12 Halberdier x2 Lv. 12 Sniper x2 Lv. 12 Dragonmaster x1 Lv. 11 Blade Paladin x7 Lv. 11 Axe Paladin x4 Lv. 11 Bow Paladin x2 Lv. 11 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 11 Warrior x1 Lv. 11 Halberdier x4 Lv. 11 Bishop x3 Lv. 10 Warrior x1 Lv. 10 Bishop x2 What an enemy list. Looks shorter, but that's because there's so many Blade Paladins here, making characters like Gatrie and Nephenee rather effective here. But anyway, let's get right to the point. There's a bottom section here, but the Crimean soldiers, as well as the overwhelming majority of the enemy, is stationed towards the northeast. For that reason, send about three or four characters to the southeast while everyone else heads north. One turn in, you'll see Zelgius order Levail not to send in more soldiers, though four Lance Paladins will show up from the bottom a few turns in. Well, that's why you have a small force down there. Everyone else should be heading to the north. Eventually you'll come across Elincia. Who, unless something truly unexpected occurs, shouldn't be dying. The Crimean Knights will be helping you out a little here, though I'd try to go ahead and keep them alive, since you get bonus EXP for their survival (and a lot of it, at that). But anyway, otherwise, you're going to need to brawl your way through the enemies that you see in the way, then when the bottom soldiers are done with, you can have everyone else come in and join as you finish off the boss and surrounding paladins and the dragonmasters with your remaining forces. Now, to finish this battle, you need to rout all enemies. Well, the boss will likely be your last enemy, since he's not going to come after you. If you want the maximum amount of bonus EXP possible, you'll go after him right off the bat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sergei | Bow Paladin | 17 | 43 | 22 | 12 | 25 | 24 | 10 | 23 | 16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Actually, the boss here, Sergei, can move, but he will not come after you. Once you get around him, he tends to skimper around a little bit to find a better character to hit, but if you don't want to kill him right off, or keep other characters safe for whatever reason, you can just have some characters surround him, which isn't hard since he likes to work himself into sides and corners. Then with that he can't do anything, since all he has is a Silver Bow. But anyway, since he'll likely be your last target, he shouldn't be any problem. The usual procedure will finish him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Once that's done, finish the lingering enemies off if any exist, and then Valtome will enact his punishment on Zelgius. He's about to be executed, but then none other than Tanith, a servant of Begnion's apostle who you probably remember from Path of Radiance, will come and strike Valtome down. Well played, I must say. Anyway, with that, Apostle Sanaki finally makes herself shown, and turns half of the army towards Ike's army, and then an alliance is formed between Crimea, the apostle's army, the laguz, and the mercenaries. The general of this all is Ike. Why am I not surprised. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIl. Just Cause ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Soren, Boyd, Shinon, Gatrie, Rhys, Mia, Nephenee, Ranulf, Kieran, Sigrun, Tanith, Leanne* ~ Max Turns: 10 Well, just starting this battle makes me a happy man. Reason being, all of the Crimea Knights except the great one (Geoffrey) join your party. Oh, and Elincia and Lucia don't join, but those two are never available anyway, so whatever. But yeah, Kieran is good as always, so he's a welcome addition to your working party if you want to use him. That, and you can now buy Silver equipment, which is a huge plus. So yeah, restock. When the battle starts, Ike will be presented with Ragnell. Now his godliness is only compounded even more. Easy battle, right? =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 17 Warrior (Goran) Lv. 15 Dragonmaster x1 Lv. 16 Sniper x1 Lv. 14 Dragonmaster x1 Lv. 15 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 15 Halberdier x1 Lv. 15 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 14 Blade Paladin x2 Lv. 14 Axe Paladin x1 Lv. 14 Bow Paladin x1 Lv. 14 Lance General x4 Lv. 14 Axe General x1 Lv. 14 Sniper x5 Lv. 14 Dragonmaster x2 Lv. 14 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 14 Fire Sage x2 Lv. 14 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 14 Bishop x1 Lv. 13 Blade Paladin x3 Lv. 13 Lance Paladin x4 Lv. 13 Lance General x2 Lv. 13 Halberdier x2 Lv. 12 Lance Paladin x2 Lv. 12 Axe Paladin x2 Lv. 12 Sword General x1 Lv. 12 Warrior x1 Lv. 12 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 12 Thunder Sage x2 Lv. 12 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 12 Bishop x3 HOLY SHIT. Now that is a lot of enemies. But anyway, it's true, this battle can be quite tricky. That, and it's almost impossible to finish this one in 10 turns, unless you do incredibly cheap things, like solo the whole battle with Haar. Whom I don't even bring into this battle, because you need to resist temptation. But anyway, this place is basically full of traps. The first notable one is the one directly to your bottom right, under the wall that's already there. Do not go under the obstruction, or you'll get blasted and then trapped in a hole. Anyway, the problem is, enemies here come with Shine Barriers, and will set them in such a way that you cannot proceed through unless you're a flier. Thankfully, you get Sigrun and Tanith at the beginning of this battle, and they will definitely help you out, to say the least. For that reason, you want to go easy on the paladins as well. No more than one, basically, and other heavy units aren't great either, though I brought Gatrie just for the early stages. For everyone else, Sigrun and Tanith can lift them and move them forward. Sigrun and Tanith can be a little weak in battle, though, despite their high levels, so that's where the rest of your characters come in. Thankfully, when you get trapped, you can still move forward afterwards, so take advantage of that. So for that reason, use characters like Boyd and Nephenee and the like to move in the front, and always keep doing that. Do not just have Ike storm ahead and do everything, because odds are he's almost Level 20 by now, and if he's not, it REALLY doesn't matter. Everyone else gaining levels is a lot more important. So for that reason, Gatrie can actually pull this battle off very nicely. A couple turns in, Tibarn and two hawks will show up with Leanne at the bottom. Usually at very bad timing. First of all, Tibarn is someone else I find cheap, so have Ike Direct the yellow units to Avoid. That way they'll just hide to the left and not hog EXP from everyone, which they will. Believe me. As for Leanne, she invariably shows up at a bad moment, so get her to the left as fast as possible. If you need to have her use Vigor on someone and then that person shove her to get her out of range or in someone else's range to rescue her, so be it. Regardless, she's a liability, so use her, but carefully. Note that she's one thing, but Sigrun and Tanith are actually not as vulnerable to the ballistas occupying this area. They're not actually ballistas, they're stone throwers, and they are barely damaging, so no need to check their range. In the end, you'll arrive at the boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Goran | Warrior | 17 | 50 | 28 | 5 | 24 | 25 | 11 | 22 | 13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alright, the most important thing of all. Don't carefully have a flier get close to this guy, because he has a super strong crossbow, the Aqqar. So unless you want to take about 80 damage, don't do that. Personally I wanted to get the battle done, so Ike wasn't the character I wanted to use, plus he was Level 20 already, so that's not really the best choice. I find Shinon exceptionally good since he can hit him from a distance (three spaces if he's promoted, now that is good), plus when he dies, the Aqqar will be immediately transferred to Shinon, but that's just me. Either way, this guy's easy. To actually get there is the hard part. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When that battle is done, just head up and seize the endpoint, so that you can actually move into Daein. Even with a heavy casualty like that, though, Daein just doesn't give up. Do note when that's done, that control will then switch over to the Dawn Brigade. Unfortunately. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIm. The Price ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Sothe, Aran, Volug, Meg, Jill, Zihark, Fiona, Tauroneo ~ Max Turns: N/A Back in Daein, Sothe is ready to flip it on Pelleas, but then you get a flashback from when he became king, and Duke Lekain informs him that he has signed a "blood pact", which is basically a treaty that curses the whole nation to do Begnion's bidding. So yeah, that blows. A lot. Now Micaiah and company really do have to stick around. Anyway, at the base, view all the info scenes. You'll get a Master Crown, 10000 gold, Boots, and a Tomahawk. Also, check out the shops since the equipment there is divine. With that, now it's time to take on the apostle's whole army while Ike is gone. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 20 Falconknight (Sigrun) Lv. 6 Falconknight x1 Lv. 16 Axe Paladin (Kieran) Lv. 5 Falconknight x1 Lv. 16 Falconknight (Tanith) Lv. 13 Lance General x1 Lv. 11 Lance General x1 Lv. 10 Sword General x1 Lv. 10 Axe General x1 Lv. 10 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 10 Falconknight x2 Lv. 9 Halberdier x2 Lv. 9 Bishop x1 Lv. 8 Axe General x2 Lv. 8 Warrior x2 Lv. 8 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 8 Halberdier x6 Lv. 8 Falconknight x2 Lv. 7 Lance Paladin x1 Lv. 7 Axe Paladin x2 Lv. 7 Bow Paladin x1 Lv. 7 Sword General x2 Lv. 7 Lance General x1 Lv. 7 Axe General x2 Lv. 7 Warrior x3 Lv. 7 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 7 Halberdier x4 Lv. 7 Thunder Sage x2 Lv. 7 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 7 Bishop x1 Lv. 6 Lance Paladin x1 Lv. 6 Lance General x1 Lv. 6 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 6 Sniper x4 Lv. 6 Falconknight x1 Lv. 5 Falconknight x2 Lv. 4 Lance Paladin x1 Lv. 3 Bishop x1 Lv. 19 Armor Lance x1 Lv. 18 Soldier x10 Lv. 18 Archer x1 Lv. 18 Priest x1 Lv. 17 Armor Sword x1 Lv. 17 Fighter x1 Lv. 17 Soldier x1 Lv. 16 Soldier x1 Okay, you may have thought last battle was loaded, but this time it's the Dawn Brigade and 23 accompanying Daein soldiers against... 76 soldiers of Crimea. That's another list I didn't fabricate, but don't worry. There's tactics that you can use to get through this battle, which simply did not exist in chapter 3-6, the battle of the Dawn Brigade versus the laguz. First of all, twelve of your characters are to the right, at the top of a massive hill. One enemy after another, mostly halberdiers, warriors, and generals, will come up though and try to do you in, so that's that side. On the left side, you've got Tauroneo and a ton of Daein soldiers at the top of a cliff rather than a hill, with a higher range. Thankfully, there's archers up there, so they'll rack up some kills for you. You need 40 kills in total. Not as bad as 46 laguz, trust me. So, you have a choice. You can stay on the hill. Naturally, put Fiona and Meg at the back, or just don't bring them at all. Then, put Aran, Nolan, Edward, Sothe, characters like that in the front. Enemies will come, and then you sit tight and pray that they don't get their collective ass kicked. Here's something though: initially, have Micaiah Direct the yellow soldiers to Halt. That's either way you cut it, because they're not going to be smart. That, and when you actually do reach a bad situation, you can set it to Roam. At that point, they'll help you out. They'll finish weak enemies that you can't get on your lonesome, plus they'll draw hits away from exposed characters like Micaiah, so that's a good thing. Either way, you need a bit of luck if that happens, unless your Dawn Brigade is actually decent, which odds are, they're not. Otherwise... Yes, there's another way. You don't necessarily need to go down that canyon. You can head up to the top, and have Micaiah direct the AI in the same way. You can actually see what's going on at the top, plus you can gradually make your way to the left and join Tauroneo. Some enemies will come up, but there's always Jill, who in that open space, is great at hitting and running. With your usual characters such as Nolan and Sothe hacking away at what comes your way, that'll keep you alive, and it's not as entertaining in my opinion, but it will certainly get you your points. A lot of kills will come from Tauroneo and the Daein soldiers at the left, sadly, but that really can't be helped. Anyway, I actually wish this fight was longer, but sadly, it ends with the fortieth kill. And no, don't bother going after Sigrun, Tanith, or Kieran. Not worth it. Once the battle is over, Daein prepares to fill the canyon with oil and then light it up. Wow, I love how we actually control these assholes instead of shooting them for doing crap like that, but that's this part of the game for you. Thankfully, Tibarn flies in and grabs Sothe, then nearly flings him to his death, which I have to say, he kind of deserves for doing that. And on another note, Sanaki escapes. Move to 3-13 next, the hardest battle yet. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIn. Blood Contract ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 4 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Sothe, Aran, Volug, Meg, Jill, Zihark, Fiona, Tauroneo ~ Max Turns: N/A A very important decision rears its ugly head here. You get the chance to either kill Pelleas to relieve the blood pact, or pass the duty to another. IF AND ONLY IF IT IS YOUR SECOND PLAYTHROUGH, you can refuse, so if you're in that case, by all means do so. If it's not, though, it doesn't matter. If you pass the duty to another, then Tauroneo does it, and the only difference is that Almedha yells at him instead. Turns out, he just dies in vain anyway, because the blood pact mark is still on his arm. Anyway, here's the very last battle in the game in which you're limited only to the Dawn Brigade. Now, naturally, you can buy a whole heap of equipment that doesn't exist to the Greil Mercenaries, plus the Daein bargains are absurdly good. Anyway, you have a lot of bonus EXP, and I'd use every single last bit of it on Micaiah and Sothe. There's a reason for that which you will see when we get done, but do that, although you can naturally use it on characters who are close to leveling them up to push them up, or if you don't want them to get only three stats up, push 'em up to 99 or something. Whatever. Make sure Sothe has a Beast Killer or two, and someone has Beastfoe before you enter the bloodbath that is the next battle, if that's possible. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 1 Arch Sage (Soren) Lv. 16 Cat x1 Lv. 20 Hero (Ike) Lv. 15 Cat x1 Lv. 15 Cat x4 Lv. 14 Cat x8 Lv. 15 Tiger x4 Lv. 14 Tiger x10 Lv. 14 Cat x6 Lv. 13 Cat x6 Lv. 14 Tiger x7 Lv. 13 Tiger x2 Lv. 13 Cat x2 Lv. 13 Hawk x1 Lv. 13 Tiger x1 Lv. 12 Hawk x2 Lv. 13 Hawk x1 every single Greil Mercenary Lv. 12 Hawk x2 This is possibly the hardest battle in the entire game. And honestly, it's really the only Dawn Brigade battle that I like, since it pits you against Ike. Speaking of which, this battle ends after you stay alive for 12 turns, or kill Ike. Both are extremely hard tasks, and Ike is by far the hardest boss in the game unless you completely neglected him during his chapters, and come on, who the hell did that. Basically, he's at the back and won't come after you, but at the end of turn 11, he'll charge forward, and at that point you can either try to kill him, or run the hell away. First of all, the concept here is that there's a green line at the top of the castle, and Micaiah can NOT cross that. So basically she sucks in this battle, though to make up for it, a soldier will give you a Purge tome, which is definitely helpful here. Still, damn, she's not going to be helping. Now, formation needs to be taken into account. About eight turns in, a number of laguz will pop up from the left. Enter another entity into this battle: the infamous 3-13 archer. This Level 8 Sniper will be using the ballista on the left side, more often than not landing critical hits on whatever he targets, but then he'll get off the ballista, and good timing, because those laguz will be extremely close to the green line, but he'll single handedly beat almost all of them. Same with the allied fire sages and halberdiers there, but all the same, I'd move Fiona and Meg over to that area. Mainly because I couldn't care less if either of them bit the dust, so they act as roadblocks to buy you time. That shouldn't need to happen, but it's a precaution. Apart from that, it's important to take terrain into account. There's a left, middle, and right side. To prevent laguz from completely swarming you in the middle, you need to put three characters at the very end. That way, the laguz can't even come up. However, if you want them to attack you and get counterattacked, just move your characters back. I found I had a halberdier standing at the edge there, but if you want, you can always move two characters back while someone guards the left side, to ensure the battle moves hastily. Meanwhile, I'd reserve the Purge tome for when an emergency arises, although you can feel free to use the whole thing in this battle. The Physic is more important, though. Meanwhile, you'll need some characters on the left and right sides. Personally, I think the left side is more dangerous, but that's just me. Anyways, what you want here is to have Nolan with the Tarvos as usual, but give him a Crossbow as well. Instant death for birds right there. Sothe is great, plus my Aran had 25 Def, meaning he could actually stay alive against some of those tigers. In fact, for me, Edward and he were able to pretty much take the right side by themselves. Jill is a great character here for staying in the back a little bit towards the middle, so that she can move in and out of combat. If your Leonardo sucked as bad as mine did you may want to reserve him for emergency purposes only, but otherwise, he'd be good for the left side I guess. Tauroneo is also good as a roadblock on the left side. If you're just standing on the edge in the middle, it doesn't really matter who stands there anywya, so I guess Volug is good for that, since if he takes a hit from the left that's fine, but he's not that strong anyway so yeah. If your Dawn Brigade sucks though, then just say goodbye now, unless you want to reset and load all your bonus experience into one character or something, and then pray that one gets you through everything. My Zihark was a complete beast, plus he had the Tempest Blade, so he was doing a bit of everything here. Standing overhead the laguz in the middle and hitting them, then moving left when the situation there got nasty. He can really do all purposes here. Note that a few turns in, three laguz will pop up from the right too. My Aran and an allied halberdier just dropped right in there and they died almost instantly, but that was just how it ended for me. Anyway, apart from that, it's just pure endurance for the first nine turns. Remember what I said about the left and the right, but note that for the first nine turns, the laguz in the middle in front of Ike and Soren will not move. In the tenth turn, though, everything, reinforcements, the center, all of it charges. So... unless you have a character who is a complete and utter beast who can take on all of them (maybe your Aran is up there now, who knows), then I'd draw back for that turn. That, and at the end of the tenth, you'll see appearances from mercenaries such as Oscar, Titania, and Mia. Due to their distance though, they shouldn't be able to reach you. Use the eleventh to clean up the laguz you see but do NOT step on the land below, outside the upper left and upper right squares of the center. Use stuff like Sothe's projectiles, Micaiah's Purge tome, Laura's Sleep staff (DO NOT RUN THE WHOLE THING OUT YET) to immobilize one, Nolan's Crossbow, Zihark's Tempest Blade... basically hit them from on high. With any luck, most of them will get finished off. If you can't do this, then just stay put for one turn, with your strongest characters at front, while characters like Laura and Leonardo move back. At the end of the eleventh turn, Ike runs forward. Now is your chance. You do not need to do this. It's tempting, I know. But it's not necessary. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ike | Hero | 20 | 50 | 27 | 3 | 30 | 30 | 16 | 31 | 10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The hardest boss in the game. Don't you love when you fight your own main character in an RPG? Yeah, me too, but whatever. Ike is equipped with the Ragnell, which gives him a massive defense boost, plus if you were like me, at least three of his stats are maxed out. Makes for a hard boss, and unless your Dawn Brigade is extremely strong, do NOT try this. Hell, unless one character is ridiculously overpowered, don't do it until the twelfth turn. Ike is just too far back, plus you'll get raped by laguz. So basically, DON'T rely on killing Ike to finish the battle, because most likely, that will be impossible. But anyway, fast forward to the twelfth turn. Ike charges at you. TO WIN THIS BATTLE, YOU MUST HAVE LAURA CAST SLEEP ON IKE. There is no other way to win. Otherwise Ike will be unhittable, and will probably slaughter someone in the process. Laura should be able to do this from the back at somewhere at least around mid-50s in chance, so it's not too bad. Just Battle Save until you're able to do that. At that point, Ike will be weak and powerless, so the only question is if you're going to be able to scratch his top notch defense, especially since he has the Ragnell. Well, you've got Aran, who for me had incredibly good strength. Jill can hit and run, which clears up space. Tauroneo was moderately strong. My Sothe made a small dent in his armor. Zihark has Adept and if you were like me, he was Level 12 with the Tempest Blade, though true, maybe you're not like me, but that's a great asset. Leonardo MIGHT have a chance of damaging him with the Lughnasadh. I got extremely lucky, in that Ike had 13 HP left for me, then Edward came down with the Caladbolg. He was going to do 8 damage, 100% chance of hitting, but a 9% chance of critical. Guess how it ended? I tell you, beating Ike here is one of the most triumphant moments you will ever have in a Fire Emblem game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Can you beat Ike, in conclusion? Very possibly not, so if you don't think you can, just move back. Gatrie, Shinon, and Rhys will show up at the bottom left at the beginning of turn 12, but they obviously can't do anything. Just thought I'd point that out. You may want to put up a decoy for Ike in the event that he gets up the ledge, but otherwise, just hold on for another turn. If you win the battle, then congratulations, that's the last battle you have to fight exclusively with the Dawn Brigade in this game. =) ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIo. From Pain, Awakening ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Soren, Boyd, Shinon, Gatrie, Oscar, Rhys, Mia, Nephenee, Haar, Ranulf, Reyson, Kieran, Sigrun, Tanith ~ Max Turns: 10 From the skies comes the black dragon Kurthnaga, so if it wasn't already painstakingly obvious, that Kurth you met in the prisons with the Dawn Brigade was indeed the black dragon prince. Ike tries to get him to persuade Daein to stop fighting, but... he joins their side, instead. Meanwhile, the medallion, otherwise known as the Fire Emblem, is glowing even brighter. Which is not good at all. But anyway, use your newfound stock of bonus EXP to some extent, and then enter the final battle with Daein. So great, we get Tibarn's army and Skrimir's army versus... a lot of crap. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 33 Wolf Queen (Nailah) Lv. 19 Axe Paladin x2 Lv. 20 Dragon Prince (Kurthnaga) Lv. 18 Axe Paladin x2 Lv. 18 Dragonmaster x1 Lv. 15 Lance Paladin x2 Lv. 17 Lance General x1 Lv. 14 Lance Paladin x6 Lv. 17 Bishop x1 Lv. 14 Axe Paladin x8 Lv. 16 Warrior x2 Lv. 13 Axe Paladin x2 Lv. 16 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 10 Axe Paladin x2 Lv. 15 Lance General (Tauroneo) Lv. 15 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 15 Dragonmaster x2 Lv. 15 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 14 Rogue (Sothe) Lv. 14 Blade Paladin x2 Lv. 14 Lance Paladin x2 Lv. 14 Axe Paladin x4 Lv. 14 Lance General x3 Lv. 14 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 14 Halberdier x2 Lv. 14 Sniper x1 Lv. 14 Dragonmaster x1 Lv. 14 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 14 Bishop x1 Lv. 13 Blade Paladin x2 Lv. 13 Axe Paladin x3 Lv. 13 Lance General x3 Lv. 13 Axe General x1 Lv. 13 Warrior x1 Lv. 13 Swordmaster x3 Lv. 13 Halberdier x2 Lv. 13 Sniper x2 Lv. 13 Thunder Sage x2 Lv. 12 Axe General x1 Lv. 12 Warrior x1 Lv. 12 Swordmaster (Zihark) Lv. 12 Halberdier x1 Lv. 12 Sniper x1 Lv. 12 Thunder Sage x2 Lv. 11 Warrior x1 Lv. 11 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 10 Lance General x1 Lv. 10 Warrior x1 Lv. 10 Halberdier x1 Lv. 9 Light Sage (Micaiah) Lv. 9 Warrior (Nolan) Lv. 9 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 9 Halberdier (Aran) Lv. 8 Swordmaster (Edward) Lv. 5 Dragonmaster (Jill) Lv. 3 Sniper (Leonardo) Lv. 20 Fighter x1 Lv. 20 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 20 Soldier x2 Lv. 19 Fighter x2 Lv. 18 Fighter x1 Lv. 18 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 16 Wolf (Volug) Lv. 12 Heron (Rafiel) Lv. 11 Priest (Laura) Lv. 9 Lance Knight (Fiona) Lv. 4 Armor Sword (Meg) You thought the last few battles had an excessive number of enemies? Try this battle on for size. Worst of all, the battle objective is rout. That makes it fun, right? Well, you don't have to kill all enemies, and you'll see why that is very shortly. You'll notice immediately that at the upper right corner there is a counter, which increases when any unit on the field dies. That includes you, the enemy, the Dawn Brigade soldiers who retreat but do not die, and the laguz. You'll notice that every five or ten that it goes up, there's some scene or some message that interrupts the battle, but yeah, it makes it interesting. When the counter gets to 80, the battle ends. Who knows how far along the battle will be at that point, although finishing everything in 10 turns is extremely easy no matter how many enemies there are. This battle exists to get more characters promoted. Most likely, your Ike is Level 20 now, so don't let him do anything. Hell, remove his equipment so that he doesn't counterattack stuff and steal EXP from your other characters. Meanwhile, the usual characters who usually kill stuff but aren't overleveled can spearlead, while characters who aren't promoted will come slightly behind. Obviously you don't want to head straight east or north. You'll want to head up to the northeast, right smack dab in the middle of the main force. You'll find Zihark very quickly in the way, and if he had the Tempest Blade, it's definitely in your best interest to finish him off quickly, before he runs its durability down. Once you've done that, keep moving up, though note there's a sage with Bolting halfway up, plus at the top near Micaiah and Sothe there's another sage with Blizzard. After the thirtieth kill, Micaiah and Sothe will retreat from the battle, so I guess that makes Kurthnaga the boss of this battle now. Fair enough, although I highly doubt you'll be able to make it up to him by the time the eightieth kill rolls around. As per usual with battles like this I'm not going to provide a boss strategy because there's no clear cut boss, and on top of that the chance of you fighting him is rather slim, but he's not that strong, and Ike could take him down given time. Meanwhile, you want to be squeezing every last bit of experience you can get out of this battle before you deliver the final blow on the last enemy. Things like using Reyson's Vigor ability, using Rhys to heal one last character, using other characters to weaken that one last enemy... do all that. Major plot twists occur after this battle. Basically, the truth about the dark god, as well as the goddess Ashera, a strange scene involving a mysterious man who I think we can all wager a guess as to who it is talking to what appears to be the goddess, Micaiah coming and helping Sanaki with the galdr of release... all beautiful scenes, they're amazing. I've got to say, I've never seen the story executed more perfectly in a Fire Emblem than it is here in Radiant Dawn. Anyway, Part 3 is over. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ IX. Walkthrough (Part 4) ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- There's a LOT of stuff that occurs before even the prologue of Part 4, Gods and Men, even begins. First of all, the goddess of chaos, Yune, instructs you to form three parties and march on the Tower of Guidance, being that judgment has been cast on the world and everyone has been turned into stone except, miraculously, all of your characters and all the enemies. Hell, you even see Lekain in between scenes, so you know someone else is alive. But anyway, you need three parties, and there's a bit to say about this. -> Silver Army: You are forced to use Micaiah, Sothe, Sigrun, Naesala, Skrimir, and Leanne. YOU NEED FLIERS ON THIS TEAM. I would go ahead and take one of Janaff or Ulki, Haar, plus some good utility units. Also, it's in your best interest to take Laura here as well. -> Greil Army: You are forced to use Ike, Mist, Nailah, Titania, Soren, and Rafiel. Fliers aren't really great here, though you can take one if you want. I would take tank type units here, such as Gatrie or Nephenee, though they're great for the Hawk Army too. You also want something or other on this team that can unlock stuff. The Unlock staff, Door Keys, Chest Keys, Heather, whatever you want, but you need something. -> Hawk Army: You are forced to use Tibarn, Elincia, Ranulf, Lucia, Tauroneo, and Reyson. Fliers are good. Not as good as in the Silver Army, but still good. I would take a few units that need experience on this team, although it's in your best interest to take some strong characters as well so that you don't get your ass beat. Something else to take into account. You don't want four swordmasters on the same team, you know what I mean? Spread them out. Spread paladins out too, same with halberdiers and warriors and the like. Also, there's the Paragon ability. I don't know about you, but I like to spread it around to characters. If you didn't take Geoffrey's, which I didn't either, note that he'll show up for the Hawk Army in their second battle. The Silver Army needs Paragon more than the others though. Another thing, I like Laura on the Silver Army, plus the Hawk Army has Elincia for a healer. Therefore, Rhys is best for the Greil Army. Either way, spread the healers out. Whew. Also, as Ike and Ranulf go their separate ways, Ranulf reveals who the Black Knight is. Yeah. Have fun with that. That's a bit surprising. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ IXa. Chaos Named ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Sothe, Sanaki, Sigrun, Skrimir, Naesala, Leanne, Edward, Nolan, Aran, Zihark, Marcia, Oscar, Haar, Ulki ~ Max Turns: 10 Okay, another note to begin things. Don't you hate when I do that. You'll be limited to the items of the characters on your team, so you're not completely unlimited in that regard, but all three teams will operate from the same EXP pool. If you were like me, you had about 30,000 BEXP at that point, so yeah, don't go using all of it at this point. Note that Sothe will promote at the end of this chapter, so he's the prime candidate for Paragon if he's not there yet. Personally, my Sothe had strength, skill, and speed all maxed, so I couldn't really care less about him not being Level 20 at promotion, but I just thought I'd point that out. Allocate equipment with the fantastic stuff at your dispensal in the shops, watch the info scenes, then start the battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 10 Blade Paladin (Yuma) Lv. 6 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 6 Axe Paladin x1 Lv. 5 Blade Paladin x2 Lv. 6 Axe General x1 Lv. 5 Lance Paladin x3 Lv. 5 Blade Paladin x1 Lv. 5 Axe Paladin x2 Lv. 5 Lance Paladin x2 Lv. 5 Bow Paladin x1 Lv. 5 Axe Paladin x2 Lv. 5 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 5 Bow Paladin x1 Lv. 4 Blade Paladin x6 Lv. 5 Sword General x1 Lv. 4 Lance Paladin x1 Lv. 5 Warrior x1 Lv. 4 Axe Paladin x1 Lv. 4 Blade Paladin x2 Lv. 4 Bishop x2 Lv. 4 Lance Paladin x5 Lv. 4 Axe Paladin x2 Lv. 4 Bow Paladin x5 Lv. 4 Sword General x1 Lv. 4 Axe General x1 Lv. 4 Warrior x3 Lv. 4 Halberdier x1 Lv. 4 Bishop x1 Lv. 3 Lance Paladin x2 Lv. 3 Bow Paladin x1 Lv. 3 Halberdier x3 I gotta say. I dig this music. Very soothing. Anyway, this battle could be the easiest in the whole game, or one of the most straight in the middle ones. I had four Dawn Brigade members, but for me it wasn't bad at all, although I ran into a few close calls. First of all, you'll want to split your party into two. There's the east side, which is almost exclusively paladins, and the north side, which is almost all paladins mixed in with halberdiers and generals. The majority of your force should be heading north, though, as it's a much more open space. I would take Sigrun and Naesala to the east, though, as they're the main fliers. And because Naesala is to the east, take Skrimir north. As they're new units, I'll just mention. Skrimir is great, Naesala is, for now, godly, although soon he converts to being only awesome. He will kill any unit on this map instantly, minus the boss whom he will only severely injure. The reason you want road blocking units on the right, though, is because it has a bridge on it. Put two characters on there (I put Oscar and Aran), and you're set. With fliers and maybe a mage for support, you'll be racking up kills. Micaiah works nicely as a mage because of Thani's effectiveness on paladins, though Sanaki works just as well. Keep Sigrun and Naesala around the water, though, so that they can move back and forth. By far the more difficult part of this place is the north section. You will constantly be joined by reinforcements from the north, so if you have a Horseslayer, definitely whip it out, it will help. Leanne and Micaiah work quite well there, as Thani will usually kill an enemy, or if it doesn't it'll put them within 3-4 HP left. Skrimir is perfect up there once he gets transformed, plus if you have another paladin, that works well. Same with swordmasters, though I'd stick those up north where the reinforcements come in. All this time, beware of arrows. On the east side, if you're using fliers or sages, definitely aim for the Bow Paladins first, as they can slaughter both groups. Same goes for your two tanks, aim for those types of people first if you can. As for the north, that's not quite as much of a problem, but watch out for enemy range, nonetheless, as all the paladins will come after you at once. Matter of fact, having one extra flier up there is definitely good for saving weak characters like Micaiah. Your emphasis, throughout this, needs to be on Sothe. Get him up to Level 20, or at least to a point where the majority of his stats max, because he will promote after battle. His Silver Knives are great here, but notice that the boss will charge along with his paladin accomplices. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yuma | Blade Paladin | 10 | 52 | 26 | 12 | 25 | 25 | 19 | 24 | 19 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beware of Yuma. First of all, his profile picture is beyond creepy. That's worse than what I look like in the morning, if that were at all possible. The reason to beware, though, is because he comes with a Brave Sword. That's a one nasty sword, but when you couple that with his extremely high strength stat, you could be taking a bullet in the ass by fighting him. Thankfully, though, he charges ahead with the rest of his paladins, and will approach where all of your characters are. To ensure your safety, I'd use a decoy with a short ranged weapon, who can take two hits from a strong enemy. Once that's done, Micaiah or Sanaki with Thani or Cymbelline will heavily damage him if not finish him. Otherwise, Naesala works perfectly because he'll do 44 damage, leaving him at a perfect range for a kill. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you get rid of Yuma, the rest of this battle will fall into place easily. Note that three swordmasters show up in strange locations, and two bishops will appear, though. If you want, it's possibly to taunt the bishops into using Shine on your characters, and then using Sothe to steal the Purge tomes they have, though that's certainly optional. Finish everything, and then afterwards Sothe will promote into a Whisper. About damn time, maybe he can actually damage stuff now. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ IXb. Road to the Empire ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Nailah, Titania, Soren, Rafiel, Jill, Nephenee, Brom, Rolf, Boyd, Mia, Rhys ~ Max Turns: 10 The next battle is far tougher than the last one, even if you've got the newly promoted Vanguard Ike on your side in this one. Watch the info scenes as usual, including one where you get the Rexcalibur tome for Soren, which odds are he can't use. But whatever, change your equipment and stuff, reward characters with bonus EXP, plus note you can actually use Ike without robbing EXP from people now. I love it. With that, next battle is another darkness one. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 12 Falconknight (Catalena) several at the left Lv. 8 Axe General x1 Lv. 7 Lance General x1 Lv. 7 Axe General x2 Lv. 7 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 6 Lance General x2 Lv. 6 Halberdier x3 Lv. 6 Warrior x6 Lv. 6 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 6 Sniper x1 Lv. 6 Falconknight x5 Lv. 6 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 6 Bishop x2 Lv. 6 Druid x3 Lv. 5 Sword General x4 Lv. 5 Axe General x1 Lv. 5 Warrior x1 Lv. 5 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 5 Halberdier x7 Lv. 5 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 5 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 5 Bishop x2 Lv. 4 Lance General x1 Lv. 4 Warrior x1 Lv. 4 Sniper x3 This battle isn't naturally difficult, but it's harder to predict, which can lead to a mess if you aren't careful. Again, it's yet another darkness battle, so my figures aren't necessarily accurate, plus I put the enemies and the reinforcements together, so there you go. But anyway, as the scene pointed out, you're already surrounded. There's a left side, a bottom, and a right side, while Ena just sits tight at the top. The bottom is where the majority of the enemies are, although you can take either the right or the bottom paths to get to the boss, who sits at the bottom right, and initially will not move. That being said, she has a Spear and can hit you at long range, plus since she has the advantage weapon triangle wise over Ike, the latter is going to have a difficult time hitting her. I got a 67% chance personally, which isn't great, but it's salvageable. So basically, Ike has the bottom path down with a little help. Nephenee is a great character down there as a Sentinel, because she never dies. Note that you don't want to move too forward down at one time, though. First of all, there's a bishop around the bottom, and in fact there's plenty of bishops here, all of which have Physic staves, but the one at the bottom is particularly easy to run into. That, and there's two Druids at the bottom right, so if you have a character with high resistance besides Soren, definitely pit them around there ahead of everyone else, because the Druids are relentless. Then again, you can have Ike do it with the Ragnell in hand, because he'll at least counterattack and get rid of them. Back at the top, the left side is probably the least of three evils. Soren can handle it by himself at first, but then the swordmasters and whatnot there will start beating down the sandbags there, which actually protect you from them, since Soren is a long ranged attacker. So what I'd actually do is have someone like Titania start at the right at first, but then move over. Rafiel can help her do that faster, so that's no worries. Reason is, you'll have so many enemies there that Soren can't handle them on his own. Note, also, that you do indeed have a laguz royal. That is Nailah, and for the sake of these six battles, I prefer Naesala and Tibarn, but she's still a complete goddess. I'd send her to the right, while you keep two characters or so back there for support, but since Nailah at least gets a little experience out of it, I'd just go ahead and have her run down. By the time she gets to the end, Ike will be almost caught up, and as long as she doesn't fight the boss or anything, that's not really cheap. As for the boss... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catalena | Falconknight | 13 | 44 | 25 | 13 | 29 | 29 | 22 | 22 | 28 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wow, I never thought I'd see a falconknight as a boss in any Fire Emblem game. As it turns out, Catalena is top notch in every single stat. Don't you wish Sigrun and Tanith were like that? She turns into a rather dangerous foe because of it. The thing is, though, the (only) weapon she carries is the Spear. That's an incredibly dangerous long range weapon, but then again, you may have a character with Corrosion. My Boyd had it, and although I didn't bother doing it, you may just want to go up and try and get a chance on her with that, which will leave her a sitting duck. It's definitely worth a try, plus if Boyd can double her, by all means have him do it. Otherwise, just have Ike do this. He should be fast enough to double her at this point, so if he can actually hit her, you'll finish victorious. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you still don't have stuff finished off, note that a ton of reinforcements show up from the bottom left, so deploying a character there might be a good idea. Same with the upper left, but the characters who went there in the first place will probably already be fighting a battle with them. That, and there's a bishop in the middle to the left that's typically hard to see, but certainly after you get through with the boss, you should make him your next target, as he makes handling the left side much harder. There's also a druid that randomly appears at the top, so watch out for that. So... yeah, that's a wrap. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ IXc. Silent World ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Tibarn, Elincia, Ranulf, Tauroneo, Lucia, Reyson, Danved, Kieran, Makalov, Shinon, Gatrie, Tanith ~ Max Turns: 10 Alright, now we finally get to control Elincia again, which should definitely be a pleasant treat. So, with this party, once again, you'll want to change equipment, especially considering you haven't controlled several of these characters in a while. As usual, watch the scenes. I like how they give you magic tomes that no one can possibly use, but that's that. Start the battle and then you get ambushed just like the last party did. BEFORE YOU BEGIN, THOUGH: remove Elincia's Mercy skill. Seriously. Piece of crap skill. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 14 Bishop (Valtome) Lv. 6 Blade Paladin x1 Lv. 7 Sword General x1 Lv. 6 Bow Paladin x1 Lv. 7 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 6 Sword General x1 Lv. 7 Halberdier x2 Lv. 6 Warrior x2 Lv. 6 Sword General x1 Lv. 6 Halberdier x4 Lv. 6 Lance General x2 Lv. 6 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 6 Axe General x2 Lv. 6 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 6 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 5 Lance Paladin x1 Lv. 6 Sniper x1 Lv. 5 Axe Paladin x1 Lv. 6 Falconknight x2 Lv. 5 Warrior x2 Lv. 6 Dragonmaster x3 Lv. 5 Swordmaster x3 Lv. 6 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 5 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 6 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 6 Bishop x2 Lv. 5 Lance Paladin x1 Lv. 5 Sword General x1 Lv. 5 Lance General x1 Lv. 5 Axe General x2 Lv. 5 Warrior x4 Lv. 5 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 5 Sniper x3 Lv. 5 Falconknight x2 Lv. 5 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 5 Bishop x1 Lv. 4 Lance General x2 Lv. 4 Warrior x6 Lv. 4 Swordmaster x3 Lv. 4 Halberdier x2 Lv. 4 Sniper x1 Well, at least it's not all paladins, this time it's more warriors and generals and stuff. And at least this music is back, which I like. Anyway, just like before you're going to need to split your party into two. The vast majority of enemies here come from the left side, so I would send the majority of my characters that way, while three or four take the right side. At least are needed for roadblocking purposes, though a character like Lucia works well there to weaken enemies or finish them off in a pinch. Since she is, of course, the weakest of the five swordmasters in this game. Meanwhile, on the left side you'll want Tibarn and Elincia, who are great at flying around and hitting stuff, plus another flier just makes it even better. You're going to want a weak character or two in there as well, with or without Elincia's Mercy skill intact. Reyson is also good, though there's a catch to him on the left side. A couple turns in, a Wind Sage appears in the middle of the forest, and he has a Blizzard tome. He can most likely double hit Reyson, which is a horrible pain in the ass. Fortunately Reyson's luck is so high that usually he'll avoid at least one of them, but it's still rather dangerous unless he's transformed, although speaking of transformation, him dodging blizzards will definitely shoot that up, so it's a blessing and a curse. Either way, try to have someone fly over and incapacitate that wind sage. Hell, if you want Tibarn to do it, that's all well and good, though he'll steal some EXP. That being said, a lot of enemies will show up as reinforcements to the left. For that reason, you may want to clear out the enemies surrounding the bushes on the left, and then when Tibarn's job is done, have him move back to the right. You'll probably find, actually, that the characters you sent to the right will get down to the boss's area faster than the ones over to the left will. Reason being, my left side was overall weaker, plus there's FAR more enemies with which you need to deal. Eventually, though, you'll want to get the few fliers you have to a point where you can attack the bishops and then run away. If you're close enough, plus the halberdiers are gone, Reyson can definitely move in, being that the boss doesn't move. Speaking of the boss... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Valtome | Bishop | 14 | 45 | 17 | 30 | 24 | 25 | 29 | 17 | 35 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wow, we're finally fighting Valtome. The victory behind this is that this is the last time we need to see his ugly mug. Thankfully, though, he's not too hard. His only spell is Valaura, which as you can imagine, is quite powerful. Its only effect, however, is to do damage and cast poison on the target. Elincia and other fliers are perfect against a target like Valtome, though, because they have typically high resistance. Therefore, Valaura won't do too much damage, plus there's a good chance that you'll be able to double him, as his speed stat isn't anything great. That, or if you were like me and brought Shinon, that's instant death. Getting here was the hard part, trust me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chances are the battle's about over, but if it's not, use Tibarn and maybe another character to scout out the surroundings, and finish off whatever was surrounding Valtome. With that, you're done with the Hawk Army for a little bit and go back to the Silver Army. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ IXd. Distortions ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 4 ~ My Party: Micaiah, Sothe, Sanaki, Sigrun, Skrimir, Naesala, Leanne, Edward, Nolan, Laura, Aran, Zihark, Marcia, Haar, Ulki, Stefan* ~ Max Turns: 12 Okay, the battle you are about to fight using the Silver Army, which follows Yune talking to Sanaki and causing sandstorms out of anger (also revealing that she sank the whole rest of the world by accident... wow), is long and tough. You're going to want your fliers ready, and if you have someone with Paragon, make sure Paragon goes to one of said fliers. So yeah, allocate bonus EXP and then head on to fight Lekain at first. Or so it seems. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 14 Bishop (Numida) Lv. 9 Swordmaster x3 Lv. 10 Sword General x1 Lv. 9 Halberdier x3 Lv. 10 Axe General x1 Lv. 9 Sniper x1 Lv. 10 Halberdier x1 Lv. 8 Warrior x2 Lv. 10 Sniper x1 Lv. 8 Swordmaster x3 Lv. 9 Warrior x2 Lv. 8 Sniper x3 Lv. 9 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 8 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 9 Halberdier x3 Lv. 8 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 9 Sniper x3 Lv. 7 Warrior x1 Lv. 9 Bishop x2 Lv. 7 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 9 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 7 Dragonmaster x5 Lv. 9 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 7 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 8 Warrior x9 Lv. 7 Bishop x1 Lv. 8 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 8 Halberdier x1 Lv. 8 Sniper x4 Lv. 8 Dragonmaster x5 Lv. 8 Bishop x2 Lv. 7 Warrior x4 Lv. 7 Swordmaster x4 Lv. 7 Halberdier x3 Lv. 7 Sniper x1 Lv. 7 Dragonmaster x3 Lv. 6 Halberdier x2 Ugh. What a gigantic pain in the ass, we're in the desert. Remember the battle in the same place (different layout but same place geographically) in Path of Radiance? Exact same thing here, plus there's treasure to be found in the ground. A picture says a thousand words. http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/wii/file/932999/56746 Let me say one thing about this battle as well as strategy first of all. DO NOT MOVE. You can adjust yourself, fliers can move SLIGHTLY, and you can gradually scoot over a little bit, but DO NOT go charging down the battlefield, because you will die. Very fast, too. Let the enemy come to you. The only characters that you want to have moving are Micaiah, and I guess Laura with her at first. Let me say this. Count one square over from the far right, and then move up eleven squares. You need to stand on that very exact square using Micaiah, to recruit the last swordmaster of this game, Stefan. Granted, Stefan isn't great and he's far inferior to Zihark, Mia, and maybe even Edward, but he at least comes with the Vague Katti sword, plus who wants to miss up a new character. Anyway, if you were like me, you brought Haar. Bar minimum, bring Sigrun or Tanith here, though you want one who's a complete titan like Haar, because he's truly an awesome multi purpose character. Plus I gave him Paragon, so he was a Level 16 Dragonlord by the time I got done here. Anyway, you'll want to angle him towards around the bottom right of where you start, but don't head all the way down and attack Lekain or Numida. You'll want to look at the right side, where Micaiah will eventually need to go. Stay around there, as well as at a spot where the dragonmasters can attack him, so that you get rid of them as well. That's just your principal flier, though. Note that there's two bishops around the back, with the Elsilence and Elsleep staves. They have only two uses, but that's why Laura comes in handy here. If she and Micaiah both have Restore staves, then you can heal yourself up just fine. It won't be a big deal if two characters get put asleep and two get silenced, but still, why bother. Meanwhile, have Sothe head down into the desert with your stronger, non flying units. Let me point out that paladins are completely worthless here, so don't bother with them. While Sothe moves down, look at that mountain thing around you. I will say this right now because it is the most important thing. In the corner of that mountain area (it's right below where you start and in the exact corner of it that faces you), there is the Dragonfoe skill. I'll once again direct you to the map above for that, but the Dragonfoe skill is absolutely, 100% crucial for the endgame. You NEED to get it. Apart from that, you're going to want to move Sothe down towards the middle, because the SS dagger, Baselard, can be found there, plus in one of the corners of the other mountain rnage is a White Gem. That sells for 10000 gold, which is pretty damn nice. Another thing. If you move six squares to the left and three up from the bottom right, you'll find a Laguz Gem. That's great in the endgame, but you get another a bit later, and it sells for 37500 gold. So... your choice. Those are the most important items, in a nutshell. Again, a picture is worth a thousand words, so use the map above. Since I recommended multiple fliers, it needs to be said. Move your non-flying units forward in while a few head right. Haar, supposing you brought him, is the most important one; if you don't have him this battle will last a LONG time. Send a couple other fliers to the left, as there's enemies there that need scouted out. Not to mention way too damn many reinforcements. Speaking of which, if you have a Laguz Stone with a few uses left, you might as well use it on Skrimir here. He can't move much when non-transformed, but when he does transform, he has free reign. So basically, he can go anywhere you want at that point. Either way, though, make absolutely sure that you recruit Stefan. Five turns in, the Black Knight also appears as a neutral unit in the center of the area. He has horrible movement, as you would expect, but he appears smack dab in the middle of a bunch of enemies, which is a great place for Haar to stay, just so the Black Knight doesn't steal TOO much EXP. One turn later, Lekain also retreats, which blows. Guess that just leaves Numida. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Numida | Bishop | 16 | 43 | 19 | 29 | 25 | 25 | 23 | 18 | 33 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There's not really a whole lot to say about Numida. He's another bishop, except this time he comes with a Purge tome. Not always a nice thing to behold, so if I were you, I'd try and get rid of him fast. If you're in the center, typically if you strafe over slightly when you hit an enemy, you'll be out of the range of Purge. That assuming you're using a flier, of course. Then again, it's typically in your best interest to not get hit by Purge constantly while you're moving forward, plus the right side (particularly Stefan) runs a risk, so my suggestion would be to clear out the middle as much as you want, move over, and then have Haar close in for a kill. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The battle probably won't end after that, because this place has too damn many reinforcements for its own good, but oh well, if it doesn't, then whatever, just finish off whatever's left, though note several enemies are going to appear from the top, so you're basically going to cluster-effed here. Not to mention finishing this in 12 turns is practically impossible unless you really brought all your good characters here, so don't worry about that at all. Just get through this nightmare of a battle. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ IXe. Revelations ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Nailah, Titania, Soren, Rafiel, Nephenee, Brom, Rolf, Boyd, Mia, Rhys, Tormod, Muarim, Vika, Oliver* ~ Max Turns: 10 You're about to begin another ridiculously long battle (and then the one with the Hawk Army is the longest of all... ugh), plus this one isn't quite as easy to cheat with as the last one was in terms of getting EXP. But whatever, go to the shop and note that there's Chest Keys there. That is INCREDIBLY important. Pick those up. Oh god, pick those up. When you enter this battle, you'll find Tormod and the others fighting Disciples, plus Oliver is alive, somehow. If you haven't yet, ditch Tormod's Celerity skill and give it to Rafiel, then start the battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 8 Saint (Oliver) Lv. 10 Warrior x9 Lv. 13 Sword General x1 Lv. 10 Swordmaster x3 Lv. 13 Lance General x1 Lv. 10 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 13 Axe General x1 Lv. 9 Warrior x5 Lv. 12 Sword General x1 Lv. 9 Swordmaster x8 Lv. 12 Lance General x1 Lv. 9 Halberdier x10 Lv. 12 Axe General x1 Lv. 9 Sniper x7 Lv. 11 Sword General x1 Lv. 9 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 11 Lance General x1 Lv. 9 Fire Sage x2 Lv. 11 Axe General x2 Lv. 9 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 11 Bishop x3 Lv. 10 Lance General x1 Lv. 10 Warrior x2 Lv. 10 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 10 Halberdier x2 Lv. 10 Wind Sage x2 Lv. 10 Bishop x1 Lv. 9 Sword General x1 Lv. 9 Lance General x1 Lv. 9 Axe General x1 Lv. 9 Warrior x4 Lv. 9 Swordmaster x10 Lv. 9 Halberdier x5 Lv. 9 Sniper x2 Lv. 9 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 9 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 8 Warrior x4 Lv. 8 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 8 Halberdier x1 Lv. 8 Sniper x1 Lv. 8 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 8 Wind Sage x2 This is quite possibly the most annoying, cheapest battle in the entire game. Seriously, this battle just pisses me off sometimes, because it gets away with absolutely filling the whole manor with enemies, but then there's almost more reinforcements than there are actual enemies. Hell, there's one turn in which you'll be fighting a ton of enemies, sometimes struggling to get through them depending on how you chose to fight the battle, and then five halberdiers and two snipers appear to your left, followed by a bunch of other crap below you. It's absurd, and I don't know who is that desperate for EXP that they would want that many reinforcements, but either way, what it equates to is a very, very long battle. Granted, it's easier and more fun than the battle in the desert, but it's possibly even longer, if that were at all possible. And the thing is, it gets away doing that through the cheapest, most broken way imaginable, but whatever, I'm just ranting now. Oh, wow, Tormod finally decided to come back? Too damn late. Well, he, Muarim, and Vika are fighting enemies, and they even manage to weaken one of them. Either way, Tormod and Vika will die in about one hit from anything here, so move them down to ground level, at an area in which they're not going to get raped. In order to ensure that, move them to the back, using Rafiel to get them there if need be. Otherwise, you can just use Rafiel to ensure that characters will be able to stand on the edge and the snipers can't hit Tormod and Vika from on high. Muarim is a lot more stable of a character than Tormod and Vika, and when he's actually transformed, which is thankfully more than you would expect, he can put up a damn good fight, and you know, actually stay alive for more than one hit. That being said, Rhys is absolutely essential here as a healer. Reason being, characters will get spread out, and a Physic staff is vital to keeping everyone alive. Now, I'm going to get deeper into strategies for this battle in a bit, but for now, probably the best strategy would be to move Ike up. No matter how you slice it, you're going to want to have Ike killing pretty much everything in this whole battle. Reason being, the objective is to rout all enemies, once again, but more importantly, Ike can do it. With the Ragnell he can counter everything, he's super fast and super strong, he doesn't have to worry about breaking his weapon, and hell, he NEEDS the experience! He's not going to level up to Level 20 from this battle alone, plus because this battle is so multi layered, he's not going to be stealing experience from anyone. So there is literally NO reason why you wouldn't want to have Ike charge and start killing things. Where you want him to do it is another question in and of itself. Let me say, though, that Nailah has the potential to steal more EXP than anyone, so keep her at the right. There's a lot of reinforcements there, including one sage with Meteor. If that's not cheap, I don't know what is. Either way, though, she works well there. She can also move up and kill the snipers there, then move back down. Back to the Ike dilemma. You can either keep him where he is, which is actually probably the preferable option, or you can have the rest of your party move up. First of all, the area that immediately overlooks where your party starts is where the majority of the reinforcements show up. I guarantee that you will be able to successfully stop them if you have Ike stay there. The snipers, halberdiers, and swordmasters will all get counterattacked, plus if there's no one else for them to attack, they'll probably attack Ike, which will kill them off pretty fast. That's probably the best strategy, except there's one little problem. There's a door at the left there, plus at the top to the right there's two more doors. One enemy drops a Chest Key, otherwise you'll want either someone else to have one, or Rhys to have the Unlock staff. Either one works. It's more efficient if you have Ike head to the top while everyone else handles the reinforcements and two characters get the chests, though you can always have two characters stay behind and do that. That's just as far as getting stuff quickly, though. Alternatively, you can have Ike rush ahead while Boyd and other such beasts handle the reinforcements, but there's one problem. There's four bishops around Oliver at the top, and one of them has a Sleep staff. That's the only fault towards moving Ike up to the top, since if he gets put to sleep, he'll become extremely vulnerable, not to mention the fact he can't do jack shit up there then. If your whole party goes up there to handle the ridiculous number of generals and halberdiers there, and one gets put to sleep, big deal, Rhys with a Restore staff can take care of it, or if not, it's just one character. Anyway, this fight will take a very, very long time, no matter how you slice it. TWO IMPORTANT THINGS, OVERALL: if you move Rafiel into Oliver's range, Oliver will actually move and then he'll be recruited onto your side. Overall, that's definitely preferable over fighting him. Secondly, the chests. On the left side, there is to be found a Statue Frag and a Blizzard tome. The first room on the right has a Red Gem and a Blue Gem (basically, big money), and the far right one has a Fortify staff (THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING), and an Arbalest crossbow. Every single bit of that is fantastic, so get it, basically. Many, many turns in, you'll be close to the end. Is Oliver still around? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oliver | Saint | 8 | 48 | 22 | 31 | 22 | 20 | 28 | 18 | 32 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let me say this again if you didn't catch it the first time. You don't have to fight Oliver. You can recruit him by moving Rafiel into his range, and he'll just turn himself over. In battle, he's not great, but I mean, he's decent. So it's either that or the heaps of EXP that will be dropped upon his death. If you choose to fight him, he's not hard, which is mostly owed to his rock bottom defense. The thing is, he has the Nosferatu tome, which drains HP from you. Meaning Ike looks like he'd be able to take him down in his typical double hit, but he might not succeed if Nosferatu activates. So someone else can handle it, I guess. Again, I'll personally take him over the EXP he gives upon his death, but that's just me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ugh. What a gigantic pain in the ass of a battle. Thankfully you'll walk out with a huge amount of experience that only 100+ enemies in one battle can give to you, plus six treasures. Maybe even a new character out of it as well. With that battle done, the scene switches over to the Hawk Army to finish this off at last. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ IXf. Unforgivable Sin ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Tibarn, Elincia, Ranulf, Tauroneo, Lucia, Reyson, Kieran, Shinon, Shinon, Gatrie, Tanith, Geoffrey, Bastian, Volke* ~ Max Turns: 10 Well, we've crawled through two ridiculously long battles using the other two parties, now we might as well finish this entire section of the game off with what can be made into the longest battle of all. Not really much to do at either the shops or the info conversations, but make sure you buy the Birdfoe skill and give that to someone. It'll really help. With that, start the battle and you will finally face off against the mastermind behind the idea of the Feral Ones... Izuka. By the way, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE 3000 GOLD BEFORE YOU START THE BATTLE. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 13 Summoner (Izuka) 4 laguz each turn around Izuka Lv. 23 Tiger x3 Lv. 23 Hawk x1 Lv. 22 Cat x8 Lv. 22 Tiger x6 Lv. 22 Hawk x2 Lv. 22 Raven x4 Lv. 21 Cat x11 Lv. 21 Tiger x5 Lv. 21 Hawk x2 Lv. 21 Raven x2 Lv. 20 Cat x2 Lv. 20 Tiger x2 Lv. 19 Red Dragon x1 Lv. 18 Red Dragon x4 Lv. 16 Red Dragon x1 55 laguz. Plus up to 100 reinforcements of them. Yeah. Enough said. Let it be known right now, 4-5 is the experience capital of this entire game. This is why you wanted to take units who needed EXP here, because they will be able to skyrocket up the levels even faster than the last two chapters allowed for, and that says a lot. But anyway, this battle is against only laguz. That's why I recommended Birdfoe to someone. I gave that to Elincia, though I'd definitely give it to someone with Canto. That way, you can use Reyson for support while hitting and running, but that's just the way I do things. Apart from that, you may notice Geoffrey is back, and as usual, has Paragon. Unless you're totally settled on Titania or Oscar for your endgame paladin, feel free to use him as well. HERE'S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO DO: you may see that in the bottom right corner, Volke is sitting tight there. If you talk to him with Elincia or Geoffrey, and then pay him 3000 G, he'll join you. That's definitely worth it, because even though he has little to no place in the endgame, he'll help you out tremendously during this battle, plus he's friggin' Volke. Why wouldn't you want to use him, he's the only assassin in this game, after all. Either way, Volke will take very little damage from the laguz here while doing excellent damage himself, so pick him up and have him move forward with the rest of the group. Tibarn is the obvious frontman of this group, so if you're not worried about the EXP, just have him rush forward, and then a whole group of birds and beasts will come at him and die in the usual two hits. Anyway, there's not really a whole lot to say here besides the fact you have to play it out a bit defensively at first. Naturally you're going to want to keep Reyson safe, while your main attackers are going to be Tibarn, Elincia, and maybe even Kieran. Even though Tibarn is a laguz royal, he can definitely benefit from getting some EXP here, plus Elincia is a great endgame candidate if you don't like Rhys, so yeah. Same with Geoffrey, I like him even if a lot of other people don't, and even if he swipes some EXP from your characters who are going to the endgame, Kieran is a good asset to have around. I went ahead and used them, but Bastian and especially Lucia are rather bad. Then again, in this battle, laguz have movement of around nine, so you can go from safe to a bad looking situation extremely fast. Bastian helps though, he can pretty much kill any enemy except maybe the dragons in one round, though again, Soren does every single thing he does, way better, which is why he's not an endgame fit. Oh yeah, we have dragons here too, don't we? That's true, you'll see some of those hulkering red monsters, and they're honestly not too much of a worry. Their attacks are a little strong, but they will never double you (and if they do there's something seriously wrong with your characters), plus their hit is terrible. So yeah, treat them like normal enemies, they even have piss poor movement to cap it off. In any case, Shinon with a crossbow here is incredible (I got him up from something like a Level 5 Marksman to Level 20 in this battle alone), since that's honestly strong enough to take down most of the beasts, plus the bird damage is self-explanatory. Besides that, though, fast characters like Geoffrey, Kieran, and Volke should head east, while slower sentry type of characters like Gatrie or even Shinon should head west through the thicket, then gradually move through the water. In this whole time though, I've not talked about the boss, though. Look below for that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Izuka | Summoner | 13 | 53 | 18 | 38 | 29 | 25 | 19 | 18 | 37 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is going to be our first experience with the Rewarp stuff, and sadly it's not going to be the last time. Basically Izuka can teleport virtually anywhere on the battlefield, but his places will be the middle (where he starts off), the east, and the northwest. If you get into close proximity of him, that's what he'll do. Note that this entire time, Izuka will be calling four more reinforcement laguz to surround him, unless you get 26 turns into the battle. Which is actually what I recommend. Seriously, unless you want to rush to the endgame for some ungodly reason, why would you NOT do that? If you do that, or get everyone that you have any intention of using (basically everyone except Lucia) up to Level 20, then just chase him down and hit him. Otherwise, you can kill him a bit faster. First of all, Izuka's spell is the Balberith, the ultimate dark tome, plus his mag is no slouch, meaning he's got high att, so that's your first sign, you want a big gun to take him down at once. So to do that in an easy way that doesn't allow him to run away, take use of three characters who are necessities here: Elincia, Tibarn, and Reyson. With the fliers it may be possible to take Izuka out without even using Reyson, though I like to play it safe on my last turn. Move them in close, have Reyson bring them back, then have Elincia kill off one of his four laguz. With the Amiti and especially if you were like me and gave her Birdfoe, she'll have no problem doing that. Then have Tibarn move in and let his screams be heard throughout Tellius. There you go, welcome to the endgame. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Once Izuka is dead, the battle ends, and... you're done with everything in Radiant Dawn short of its massive endgame. It's oddly climactic, that we have not seen Izuka for so long, yet it's so satisfying to kill him. Hell, you even get his Balberith tome, so if you're on your second playthrough, that will definitely benefit you. That, and Geoffrey explains the whole deal with the man in black. That's none other than Bertram, one of the Four Riders under Ashnard from Path of Radiance. Turns out he's actually Renning, Elincia's uncle, and he joins you after Reyson sings the galdr of rebirth. That concludes Part 4 minus the endgame. =) ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ IXg. Rebirth 1 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Micaiah, Sothe, Sanaki, Ena, Kurthnaga, Nephenee, Haar, Geoffrey, Soren, Boyd, Rhys, Shinon, Gatrie, Tibarn, Caineghis, Rafiel ~ Max Turns: 10 You guessed it, the endgame is a five part series of battles, and it's got some of the toughest enemies in the game, so we'll see if you're up for the test here. Anyway, six characters are required: Ike, Micaiah, Sothe, Sanaki, Ena, and Kurthnaga. Apart from that, you get one heron and ten other characters, so that's 17 total. I might point out, though. Giffca and Caineghis have now joined your party, so that's two more laguz royals. That's five total, and they're all great, but for the endgame, don't take more than two. If you go above, that's just cheap. If you want my ranking of them: 1. Caineghis 2. Tibarn 3. Giffca 4. Nailah 5. Naesala Reason being, it goes pretty much by strength. Giffca may be stronger than Tibarn, but he doesn't have Formshift and instead has to rely on a Laguz Gem, which makes him slightly less reliable, but he's otherwise almost as strong as Caineghis. Nailah is weaker than the above three but still good. Naesala is the fastest, but he doesn't have the strength to compete, sadly. So that's laguz royals in a nutshell. I personally brought Caineghis and Tibarn for versatility, though you can't go wrong with Giffca or Nailah either. Here's my advice. -> Give Ike the Hammer. Seriously, just give him a Hammer. If it has like three uses left, so be it, but give it to him. Also, make sure he has Nihil. He will if you didn't remove it for some reason, though. -> Dawn Brigade units you can bring into the endgame are Nolan, Edward, Aran, Zihark, and maybe Jill. That's really it. You're already forced to bring Micaiah and Sothe, though. So if those characters are better than their Greil Mercenary counterparts, go ahead and take them. Your emphasis is on quality right now, not whether they'll level up later. -> I'd say one paladin is enough, since you don't really need fast movers, even though thankfully they won't be restricted. So basically, go with whomever is the best right now. If Renning is the best, go with him, though hopefully that's not the case. Geoffrey was totally pimped because I never removed Paragon from him and he was a big fighter in the last battle, which skyrocketed his levels. Him, Kieran, Titania, or Oscar though, are all good. -> You're obviously going to want a balanced party. Axe users, you've got Haar/Jill, as well as Boyd/Nolan. Not to mention Ike and Gatrie can wield axes nicely as well. Lance users, you've got Nephenee/Aran and Gatrie. Sword users, you've got Ike and Mia/Zihark/Edward/Stefan. Note that there are two SS swords, though, the Vague Katti that Stefan came with, and one more sword later, so if you have two swordmasters, that's fine. All of mine turned out bad besides Mia, so I didn't, though. Shinon for the marksman. -> You're forced to use Ena and Kurthnaga. If you're not using Giffca, give his Laguz Gem to Kurthnaga, so that he can actually help out in battle. Really helps out. Ena is not nearly as important, so her having only a Laguz Stone is fine. -> Forge weapons while you're here. It's the last chance, after all. That, plus at the shops you can now but Physic staves. One healer (Rhys is great for that purpose) plus Micaiah works great for that. Also, for bargains, there's a Wyrmslayer. GIVE THIS TO SOMEONE. You need something to kill dragons with. There's also Arms Scrolls, so if someone (probably all of your mages) isn't at a high enough weapon level for something, there you go. You also want Micaiah and Rhys/Oliver to have Restore staves. -> Here's what the most people will forget to do. SKILLS. Remove skills from characters you're not using. Essentially, pick a party, and then they get dibs on everything. Skills like Resolve and Nihil work great in every instance. Rafiel gets the Celerity skill, naturally, if you still haven't done that. Stuff like the Shade skill should go to Micaiah for sure, or Rhys or your heron. Imbue is another good skill for tanks. Adept, Vantage, all good. Also, Dragonfoe. SOMEONE NEEDS TO GET DRAGONFOE. I don't care who (though preferably not someone who's a complete beast and can already kill dragons effortlessly like Caineghis), but just give someone Dragonfoe. -> When you leave the base, you can no longer change skills. However, you can do pretty much everything else. Micaiah will promote to Light Priestess, and I gotta say, about time. She still sucks, but just not as bad. She's a candidate for Paragon while you're here, though. I'll also say, give bonus EXP to everyone. I left about 1000 behind for now, myself, but you can give away the vast majority of it to those who need it. -> After you enter the tower, do NOT run the SS weapons all the way down until the third battle. Trust me, you'll thank me later. You can leave only one hit on them, just leave them as they are. If not SS, then the character's best weapon. In fact, there's indeed one exception to that. If you still have a Blizzard or Meteor, save one use of that. That will help you a lot. -> Speaking of the base, after you pick your final party, you get a choice of heron. That's a tough call, but I'd go with Rafiel, simply because being able to revive everyone around him at all times is too good to pass up. I will say it one more time, though. Celerity. 'Nuff said. Whew. That was one hell of a final preparations thing. When you're ready, you have everyone equipped with projectiles and Silver equipment or better and whatnot, plus the SS weapons and stuff, the battle begins. Yune correctly points out that all of Goldoa has joined Ashera, so that's why you need to be able to kill dragons. This battle begins with a quick square off between Sanaki and Lekain, then it all starts. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 16 Saint (Lekain) Lv. 13 Sword General x1 Lv. 14 Saint (Hetzel) Lv. 13 Axe General x2 Lv. 14 Sword General x4 Lv. 12 Axe General x11 Lv. 14 Lance General x1 Lv. 12 Bishop x4 Lv. 14 Axe General x2 Lv. 11 Bishop x4 Lv. 13 Sword General x1 Lv. 13 Lance General x2 Lv. 13 Axe General x2 Lv. 13 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 13 Fire Sage x1 Lv. 12 Sword General x6 Lv. 12 Lance General x6 Lv. 12 Axe General x7 Lv. 12 Sniper x2 Lv. 12 Thunder Sage x1 Lv. 12 Wind Sage x2 Lv. 12 Bishop x2 Lv. 11 Thunder Sage x2 Lv. 11 Fire Sage x2 Lv. 11 Wind Sage x1 Lv. 11 Bishop x2 This is a pretty straightforward battle, all things considered. Hell, besides the two snipers, it's ALL generals and mages. Never thought I'd see a battle where there's not even any halberdiers, but hey, guess I was wrong on my verdict here. Anyway, there's a huge difference in the strength of the enemies you'll fight here, and those that you've been fighting for a long while now. Reason being, enemies here actually have half decent weapons (pretty much all of them are Silver or sometimes even Brave), plus their formation is actually semi organized, generally with the intention of screwing you over. But anyway, first of all, there's two bosses here. There's Lekain, who's at the upper left, and then there's Hetzel, who's at the upper right. All Hetzel will do all battle long, though, is cast long distance spells. Lekain is this battle's true boss. That, and he's like Izuka in that he can teleport around whenever he sees fit. Anyway, though, your first task is going to be dividing your troops up. You have seventeen of them to spare, though some of them, such as Micaiah, Sothe, and Rafiel, will have no business going up in the front lines. First of all, I would recommend allocating one character to each lane of the main walkway. There's five of them, so if you get Tibarn, Caineghis, Ike, Gatrie, and Nephenee, or something similar, that'll work well. Kurthnaga and Ena are good for rear support to that. I would definitely recommend having Shinon head to the left, though. Two or three characters on each side of this place is more than enough. That, and it's ideal to have Tibarn or at least Naesala here. Or if you brought Ulki or another flier, they work, though not as well. The thing with Tibarn, is that he can fly around and hit all the main threats here. Note there are two sages here who use Blizzard and Bolting, respectively. Those are the two biggest concerns here, in my opinion. Actually, strange as it might seem, all the generals here are not your biggest threat by any stretch of imagination. That title goes to all of the sages. The bishops are nasty enough, as they all come with Shine and spells like Silence and Sleep, but the sages here come with top notch spells like the long ranged ones and Thoron and whatnot. Makes for rough battling. Either way, though, you want to have Ike and Caineghis/Giffca press on ahead to the top. Note that the generals at the top, as well as the ones around Lekain and Hetzel, will NOT move. Therefore, you can stick Rafiel right there, and he'll be perfectly safe so long as you take out the bishop reinforcements who do move. But anyways, on the third turn, Lekain will inflict Silence on everyone. To get around this, before he does this, equip at least one of your two healer characters with the Restore staff. Then their own status will be restored at the beginning of the next turn, then you can heal up Sanaki and Soren if need be. The reason I recommended Shinon for the left side is because the Blizzard sage there needs to be gotten rid of at all costs and is best done with a bow, but more importantly there's an archer there with the SS bow, Double Bow. Shinon can easily take him out from below, and then he'll just get the bow from him as a spoil. Very convenient. But anyway, as the battle winds down, I'd keep Kurthnaga at the bottom. Reason being, five bishops show up there later as reinforcements, and that's a great opportunity for him to earn experience, being they can hardly make a scratch in him. Anyway, I'd have Ike head to the left and take out Hetzel, which he can probably do just in his usual two hits of the Ragnell. At this point, Lekain will have probably changed position, so while you're here, get the chest behind him, which contains the Matrona staff. Not near as good as Fortify, but it's helpful nonetheless. As for the reinforcements, they like to alternate between showing up at the bottom and the top. Eventually only Lekain will be left. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lekain | Saint | 16 | 47 | 21 | 35 | 28 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 34 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So I said, Lekain is much like Izuka in that he teleports all around the place, but always goes towards one of the four corners here. If he's at the top, then that's particularly easy, because there's nothing around him. From there you can just have a laguz royal hit him, and he will die, no questions asked. Otherwise though, he'll probably be around the bottom, covered with pillars and only allowing your long ranged attackers to hit him. Well, he has fairly low defense, even though his Rexaura spell is the SS light tome and therefore speaks for itself. Seriously though, I would keep Shinon at the left where he was earlier, so that if Lekain pops up at the bottom, he naturally won't be too far away, plus Shinon is the perfect finisher here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, anyways, that's probably the final enemy here, since Lekain just leaves his men to fight you when he uses the Rewarp staff. Once that battle is done you'll get some more bonus EXP, so I would definitely use that on Ike to pump him up if he's not there yet. That, and Sothe pries the blood pact out of Lekain's dying hands and then rips it, eternally freeing both Daein and Kilvas from his blood pacts. Yay. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ IXh. Rebirth 2 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Micaiah, Sothe, Sanaki, Ena, Kurthnaga, Nephenee, Haar, Geoffrey, Soren, Boyd, Rhys, Shinon, Gatrie, Tibarn, Caineghis, Rafiel ~ Max Turns: 10 The battles in the Tower of Guidance transition rather smoothly and pretty much the same as they did in previous chapters. Basically Yune telling a story in between every one. But anyway, when you get here, Yune will mention that there's someone with close ties to Ike behind the door. You guessed it. You even get an FMV of Ike and the Black Knight clashing, which is tight. Plus the Black Knight finally takes his helmet off. So it's solo Ike vs. Zelgius, and on the other side, everyone else versus Levail. Wow, I was wondering where Levail went. Anyway, make sure Ike is loaded for bear with at least 34 speed. You'll also want the Hammer on him, of course. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 20 Marshall (Black Knight) Lv. 12 Warrior x4 Lv. 16 Sentinel (Levail) Lv. 12 Swordmaster x8 Lv. 13 Sword General x3 Lv. 12 Halberdier x4 Lv. 13 Bishop x1 Lv. 11 Warrior x2 Lv. 12 Lance General x2 Lv. 11 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 12 Axe General x2 Lv. 11 Halberdier x2 Lv. 12 Warrior x4 Lv. 12 Swordmaster x4 Lv. 12 Halberdier x5 Lv. 12 Sniper x5 Lv. 12 Bishop x1 Lv. 11 Lance General x1 Lv. 11 Axe General x1 Lv. 11 Sniper x1 This is a defensive battle through and through. First of all, the room where everyone else except Ike is in with Levail is incredibly small, so charging ahead isn't really a good idea here. Now, granted, it's not necessary to rout all enemies here. That's right, last battle was the final one in which the objective is to kill everything, but you have to kill the Black Knight, using Ike. The battle will end once you do that. Yet it's really in your advantage to defeat Levail, because he drops the Wishblade, which is the SS lance. Easily the best lance in the game, and there's no other way to do it. So, obviously, your first instinct might be to equip Caineghis with the Pass skill so that he can get it. That works. You'll need preparation to do that, plus Caineghis might not be able to do it on his own, but it's certainly possible. Anyway, let's just focus on this part of the battle before even getting to the Black Knight. For that battle, just leave Ike where he is and do nothing. On the first turn, you're going to want to stay roughly where you are. Reposition yourself so that your well defended characters, such as Gatrie, Nephenee, and Caineghis, are in the front, while no one really exceeds the first three or four rows. From there, several of the enemies will charge forward. This will thus allow you to move forward a little bit as you kill them, while Rafiel provides rear support with the mages. You'll naturally want to expand a little bit though, by moving your forces out to the sides, as that's where the reinforcements come in. That, and the bottom, there's a lot of swordmasters that will come from down there. The actual generals around Levail, though, will not move. Neither will Levail. You're naturally going to want to be careful, though, as Levail's Wishblade has long range. So basically don't get too close to him. Eventually you'll take him on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Levail | Sentinel | 16 | 60 | 31 | 8 | 28 | 24 | 23 | 29 | 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ You know, besides the three saints we've fought so far, this is the only true third tier promoted unit in the game, which is kind of sad, but ah well, whatever. You don't have to fight Levail. You can finish this battle in two turns by having Ike Hammer the Black Knight into submission, and just defend for one turn and ignore Levail. Then again, you want the Wishblade. So, it's possible to equip Caineghis with Pass and just go straight to Levail. More than likely, though, Caineghis will double with 29 damage, which isn't enough to take Levail down. Then you can come in with rear support and hit him that way, though Levail's defense is quite good and will make that a difficult task. To get everything going perfectly, though, here's what to do. Have Caineghis move forward and transform. Rafiel or whomever your heron is needs to fly forward and use Vigor on him, then with Pass, Caineghis can run in and beat Levail down. To get around Levail standing in the center, you'll need to have someone go rescue him. Preferably Tibarn or Naesala or someone equally fast like that. If Ike has the Hammer, you MAY be able to squeeze one turn out of the Black Knight battle if he charges forward and is lucky, since the hit rate on it isn't fantastic by any means. Either way, though, the way to kill Levail is to use Caineghis to weaken (or if he's too strong, Tibarn), then someone else can land the hit. That's all you need to do. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So, there you have it, that's the battle with Levail. Every turn that you're going, though, you'll have to do something or other with Ike. As I said, he needs Nihil, and he needs to stay where he is for best results. Meanwhile, with the rest of the party, after Levail is gone, you'll want to focus more on the reinforcements then the generals and bishops around Levail, as they aren't going to move. Again, work along the sides, and focus on getting Kurthnaga leveled up, as he's going to be important in the next battle. Now, meanwhile, the Black Knight battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Black Knight | Marshall | 20 | 70 | 38 | 18 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 40 | 25 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yes, I know he's not actually a Marshall. Gimme a break, he was a General in Path of Radiance so this is what he gets, plus that's what Zelgius is, so there. Alright, the room where you fight the Black Knight in is littered with panels that provide +10 defense. That includes the panels that both Ike and Zelgius are standing on. Therefore, whomever moves off first is at a disadvantage. Now, if Ike's strength stat is maxed out, though, it may be possible to take Zelgius down in one hit. You might be able to head forward and just hit him with the Hammer. If you do that, you may just be able to do so much bonus damage that he dies in one hit. That's not fool proof, though, because the Hammer has like a 68% chance of landing a blow. Not bad, but not great either. That's what you have to do if you want to finish this battle in 1-2 hits. Otherwise, STAY WHERE YOU ARE. If you don't, Zelgius will do far more damage and Ike will have trouble catching up (2-3 damage with the Ragnell... that says it all). Now, the Black Knight will recover 18 HP every turn, so the fight could go on a very long time if you let it. That's why you have to let him come to you. Then he'll strike, you'll hit him back, and Ike will win in a straight fight. That is of course, assuming he has over 34 speed and Nihil. Note that the old Path of Radiance Aether trick doesn't work here, as the Black Knight has Nihil as well. But it protects Ike from Eclipse, so I'm okay with that. Either way, just fight this out. If you want to make it faster, just equip the Hammer, then the Black Knight will do himself in on this one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, that concludes the battle for sure. And I have to say, the scene that follows is actually pretty emotionally charged, for me at least. You wouldn't think that the Black Knight was someone who you just didn't want to see die and would like to see spared as a human being, but that's how it turns out. With that, though, it's time to move on to the fourth part of the endgame. Ike also picks up the Alondite, which was the Black Knight's sword, and oddly enough, anyone can use it. It's exactly the same as Ragnell statistically, so great, if you brought a swordmaster, there you have it. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ IXi. Rebirth 3 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 4 ~ My Party: Ike, Micaiah, Sothe, Sanaki, Ena, Kurthnaga, Nephenee, Haar, Geoffrey, Soren, Boyd, Rhys, Shinon, Gatrie, Tibarn, Caineghis, Rafiel ~ Max Turns: 10 You are given the opportunity, as Rebirth 3 begins, to "bless" your weapons. This is extremely important, as blessed weapons are the only things that can damage the three final bosses. So, naturally, you're going to want most of the SS weapons blessed. The Ragnell is required, both the Alondite and Vague Katti are fair game (though the Alondite has unlimited durability anyway so I'd go with the Vague Katti), the Wishblade, the Urvan, the Double Bow... all good candidates. This game is a douche bag though and doesn't let you bless staves though. Guess they were really specific about them needing to be "weapons". And I said, each weapon gets infinite durability though, so choose wisely. Here's one particular thing though. Let's say you have Soren and you still have one use of Meteor/Blizzard, as well as the Rexcalibur. I would bless Blizzard, if only for the next battle. Reason being, he can be a whooping ten spaces away and double most of the units there with it, all the while doing massive damage and having the chance for Adept, which is absurdly cheap sounding, but it works wonders. Note that everything in the next battle is dragons. So, basically, someone needs Dragonfoe. Since I was using Geoffrey, I gave him the Brave Lance, blessed it, and he had Dragonfoe. A total beast, though you could do similar for any paladin I suppose. It's always good to have someone with high movement to do it, though. Naturally, though, make sure everyone actually has their proper weapons equipped. With that, Yune blesses the weapons, and our battle is with the final and strongest laguz royal of all, Dheginsea. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 40 Black Dragon (Dheginsea) Lv. 24 Red Dragon x7 Lv. 34 White Dragon (Nasir) Lv. 24 White Dragon x7 Lv. 31 Red Dragon (Gareth) Lv. 25 Red Dragon x6 Lv. 25 White Dragon x4 Lv. 24 Red Dragon x6 Lv. 24 White Dragon x4 Lv. 23 Red Dragon x9 Lv. 23 White Dragon x12 NOTE: Do not kill Nasir or Gareth. I'll say that now. This is another possible candidate for the most difficult battle of the game. Now, don't get me wrong. If your party is strong and you blessed all the right weapons, it'll be a piece of cake. If you didn't, though, and your party is weak-ish, you're in for a nightmare that might force you to restart the whole game. That's why I went on so long about blessing weapons. It really matters. Now, first of all, if you didn't notice, I'll spell it out. There's over 50 dragons here when you count all the reinforcements, and dragons are the most damaging enemies in the game. That's why you need to be uber at this point. First of all, it's important to know one major difference. Red dragons do total physical damage and white dragons do total magical damage. That being said, red dragons have ridiculous defense and white dragons have high resistance. So it's a game of opposites here. If you thought the hard part was enduring the dragons, though, you're wrong. It's the boss. First of all, you have to fight the dragons. Unless you have 4-5 laguz royals, Pass on multiple characters, and uber other characters, not to mention calculated risks involving resetting with battle saves to get criticals on the boss, you can't win this is 2-3 turns by rushing to the boss. You'll get your ass scorched on all sides by dragons. Just look behind the boss, there's like four white dragons there, then there's like six on either side of him. So, take it one step at a time. Send two physical characters to the left. Shinon is the neatest character here, as he gets a range of three to attack the dragons, meaning he won't get counterattacked. I wouldn't necessarily send him to any specific piece of this place, though. Just keep him around the middle, so that he can pick off dragons on all sides. Meanwhile, here's a good reason I told you to bless Blizzard rather than Rexcalibur. Soren is a character who will get absolutely raped here if he melees a dragon, but at 10 squares away, with Adept working, Blizzard can typically one round a red dragon. Very nice. Now, here's something else for you to think about. No dragon here, no enemy, nor the boss, nor even Nasir or Gareth will attack Ena or Kurthnaga. EVER. They won't counterattack either. That makes them both incredibly useful here, at least in the latter's case. I spent a lot of my bonus EXP on Kurthnaga while not leaving any for Ena, making her weak, but either way, you can definitely make use of them. If you can at least damage the dragons, you'll also get a tremendous amount of EXP for them. They work particularly well as roadblocks if you want to advance without getting swarmed with dragons who are in your way. Anyway, supposing you're using Tibarn, I'd keep him on the right side, since that one is safer for him at least, plus he'll be able to pick off the dragons one at a time. As for the left side, that's the one I'd relegate Ena and Kurthnaga to, along with someone like Shinon who can hit at a long range. So long as he has support with a Physic staff every now and then, he'll be alright. The three red dragons in front of the top where the boss is will not move, though just having Soren pick them off at a distance with Blizzard (which you can definitely use as backup and like I said, it works wonders) isn't going to just eliminate them on the spot, as there's a ton of wardwood there. Note, however, that the four white dragons behind Dheginsea will indeed come forth as soon as they transform. Speaking of transformation, it occurs fully after about three turns, so don't bother trying to pick stuff off before then (if you're that strong, why not just kill the boss in two turns anyway?), unless you're using Blizzard and have nothing better to target. When you get to the top, though, unless you rushed through this whole place, in which case you have 3+ laguz royals and need no strategy anyway, I'm going to assume you killed all the dragons except Dheginsea, Nasir, and Gareth. A reinforcement or two may come from the bottom, but that's fine, you need to be at the top. DO NOT KILL NASIR AND GARETH. They actually will die. Meaning you're going to have to fight the boss without those two squares. But here we are. The hardest boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dheginsea | Black Dragon | 40 |100 | 50 | 26 | 36 | 30 | 30 | 50 | 46 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Holy... damn. Those stats speak for themselves. This is the boss that causes some people who are underleveled or blessed the wrong weapons to start the entire game all over again. Dheginsea really is that tough to damage. Now, let me spell something out. Dheginsea has an ability that gives him HP based on his luck, so on top of his 100 base HP, he'll restore 30 HP every turn. That, and he has 50 defense, so good luck finding the manpower to hurt him. What's your strongest asset though? Caineghis. Fortunately, Dheginsea's speed is absolutely nothing spectacular at 30, so Cain will be able to double him, and if Cain can do it, that means Tibarn can do it. Ike with the Ragnell is as good as ever, plus I love using Shinon on him, as he gets a range of 3. Keeping him safe from the boss's actual attack, which is a completely devastating attack owing to his 50 strength (geez, was that enough?). If that wasn't bad enough, Dheginsea has the Ire ability. Unfamiliar with it? Well, it's the special dragon ability, which triples the damage. It's not going to be easy trying to survive that, so here's what you'll have to do. Nihil. Ire can activate at close or long range, so that's not going to keep you safe here. Ike has default Nihil, plus my Caineghis had it, so that's a lot right there. Caineghis can survive multiple hits, though if Ike can't, keep him alive with a distant Physic. Apart from that, in order to keep characters alive, if they don't have Nihil you may want to abuse battle saves here, just to avoid Dheginsea using Ire. Otherwise, you're in for a long, LONG battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With the defeat of Dheginsea, he has a few words with Kurthnaga, plus if Nasir and Gareth survived that battle, they'll join you as well. If that wasn't enough, Kurthnaga gets the Formshift ability, so if there wasn't prior proof that he's a proficient unit... well, there is now. There's a scene that follows that which appears to be someone's memory, and I gotta say, Dheginsea has one messed up voice actor. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ IXj. Rebirth 4 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Micaiah, Sothe, Sanaki, Ena, Kurthnaga, Nephenee, Haar, Geoffrey, Soren, Boyd, Rhys, Shinon, Gatrie, Tibarn, Caineghis, Rafiel ~ Max Turns: 10 So, at the beginning of this chapter, pretty much all the remaining things in the plot are revealed. There's finally a reunion between Sanaki and Sephiran, but Ike breaks the ice noting that Zelgius served Sephiran, and was a man who would never serve two masters. So guess where that leaves Sephiran? Guess the whole thing with Daein was his scheme. That, and all the memories you saw were those of Lehran. Coincidentally, Lehran and Sephiran are one and the same. Simply amazing. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 20 Chancellor (Sephiran) several spirits each turn Lv. 20 Thunder Spirit x7 Lv. 20 Fire Spirit x7 Lv. 20 Wind Spirit x7 Alright, ready for an extremely pleasant relief and surprise from that last battle? If so, 4-E-4 is the battle with you. As you can see, you start at the top with Sephiran and an army of spirits at the bottom. These spirits are oddities, in that they can pretty much teleport anywhere in the entire area at ease, plus their attacks are, of course, pure magic. Except it's not necessarily even of their given element, since for instance, the fire spirits won't do bonus damage to your beast laguz. So yeah, don't worry about them that much. Note, however, that they're rather fast, and if you've got a character like Boyd here, for instance, he could end up taking a lot damage, and rather quickly. So yeah, if you have a character like Boyd or Gareth here, just put them on a wardwood and have them pick off spirits that way. Anyway, it's quite possible to finish this battle in one turn, and if you have three laguz royals or more, there's absolutely no excuse not to do that. Here is the catch to the whole thing that you need to know. Sephiran is surrounded with four spirits that have the Guard ability, so they'll take the initial hits for him (and with Sanaki and Sephiran won't hit each other, but who the hell uses Sanaki). With that in mind, all you have to do is kill Sephiran. So to do that, you're somehow going to have to get rid of the spirits. The ideal way to do this, though, is all during one turn. See, the problem is, new spirits will respawn at every turn, and four surrounding Sephiran are an absolute guarantee. So either way you're going to have to do it one turn, considering Sephiran restores 40 HP every turn (seriously, what the hell is up with that), so why not do it all in one turn. If you're not strong enough or don't have Rafiel (again why wouldn't you bring Rafiel), you'll want to spend one turn clearing out the other spirits first. Honestly, it's extremely easy to kill about all of them except for the ones way down at the bottom around Sephiran, so do that while if you have Reyson you transform him, and if you have Leanne you go throw away those drugs you're taking, because they obviously have extremely destructive effects on your head. Your laguz royals as well as strong ass characters such as Ike and Kurthnaga can move down to the bottom and get ready. There is NO reason to just combat the spirits around Sephiran. Just shove them out of the way. Makes it a lot easier. Meanwhile, if you've got Caineghis or Giffca, they can one round Sephiran quite easily (maxed strength and speed for the win). But ah well, if it takes two turns, get on wardwood and keep it safe for that turn. If it takes one turn, well, you know what to do. Just remember that you can't shove if you're a mounted unit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephiran | Chancellor | 20 | 50 | 11 | 40 | 40 | 36 | 40 | 35 | 40 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephiran is truly a force to be reckoned with. As you can imagine, he's basically a glorified Saint, but glorified he is. First of all, like Dheginsea, he is an area affecting attack, and if you're close to him, just expect 40-45 damage right there. Seriously, that just bites, and it's enough to one shot kill characters like Rafiel (though why you would put Rafiel next to Sephiran, I'll never know), plus his Creiddylad attack is pretty damn nasty as well. And he has Mantle with 40 HP gained every turn, a Rudol Gem to cheaply increase his defense to annoying levels, near perfect stats, plus four units with Guard. What's the catch? Very low HP. Again, if you're two turning it, stay the hell away from him. If you're one turning it, then yeah, Sephiran is weak enough to die from two laguz royal fangs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Did you manage to kill Sephiran without someone dying? Frankly there's really no one who should be dying after one turn, and this battle should last utterly no longer than two turns, because let's face it, no one needs that EXP this late, plus Sephiran will just rape everyone with his area bomb. But either way it turns out, Lehran finally dies (supposing you didn't see Ike's memory scene on your second playthrough), and the door to Ashera opens. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ IXk. Rebirth 5 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Micaiah, Ena, Kurthnaga, Nephenee, Haar, Geoffrey, Soren, Boyd, Rhys, Shinon, Gatrie, Tibarn, Caineghis, Rafiel, Gareth, Nasir, Lehran* ~ Max Turns: N/A Well, well, well, would you look where we turned out. It's the final battle of Radiant Dawn, and it's a relatively intense piece of battle, to say the least. In fact, I'd say it's even permissible by my code of Radiant Dawn playing and whatnot, to let one character die here. One, no more, no less. And that means a weak character like Sothe who can't contribute, not a laguz royal or anything. But that's just my take on it. And no, this is no Repatriation or anything, but here it is, it's the final battle. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 20 Order Incarnate (Ashera) a few spirits each turn Lv. 20 Aura x8 Lv. 20 Thunder Spirit x1 Lv. 20 Fire Spirit x1 Lv. 20 Wind Spirit x1 NOTE: One turn in to this battle, supposing you've done all the crap I've told you to do if you're on your second playthrough (and yes, you need to be on your second), Lehran will join the fray. Alright, so I guess I'd better start off with the concept here, as although Yune spells it out at first, someone's going to miss it. You need to destroy the eight auras surrounding Ashera before you can damage Ashera herself. Doing so is definitely the more straining part of this battle, as they each have 90 HP, plus are sitting on wardwood or guards, making them especially hard to damage. If that wasn't enough, they have the Aurora skill, which will reflect half of the damage you do to them back at you, which won't affect your offensive ability, but it's still annoying. Then after that, you've got three spirits to start out, with about three more coming in as reinforcements every turn. For characters who can't do huge damage on the auras, such as paladins or maybe even Haar, you should definitely designate them to take care of those. Plus if you brought a mage here, they work well for that as well. But anyway, let's get down to it. Arrange your party so that the spirits to the left and right of Ashera can be gotten rid of on the first turn. With that, you want to go for about two or three auras per turn or so. Note that Ashera has an area affecting attack just like the last two bosses, which is stronger than Dheginsea's, but not quite as bad as Sephiran's. And roughly, she'll alternate between that and a long ranged attack, and since Ashera has 40 speed, there's a pretty damn good chance it'll double them. To the best of my knowledge it's completely random who she targets, so there's nothing you can really do for protection, so I'd just say, if you have a flying unit or someone else who's rather weak, just rescue those characters. That means characters like Sanaki or Micaiah and whatnot, if you're still using the former. Anyways, the auras each have 90 HP, and you might as well take care of the ones who aren't on guards first, as they die a lot faster. If you're using Nasir, he may be able to help you out for the ones who are on guards. Speaking of which, you should have both Ena and Gareth still alive, and trust me, they can come in handy here since they have the Blood Tide ability. Put them about two squares away from the auras, while you have your laguz royals come up and hit, then meanwhile they'll get their strength boosted. That'll really help you out. If you have the Nihil ability, that'll help you a lot, so if not, Ike definitely does, so that's the way to go. Again, don't try to destroy all of the auras in one turn. After each turn, you should have Rhys or Micaiah or whomever use the Fortify staff, since chances are Ashera's area attack will screw you up pretty good. Eventually, though, the auras will be dispelled ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ashera | Order Incarnate | 20 |120 | 8 | 15 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 35 | 50 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, here we are, it's the final boss of the game. I've already run down what she can do, but here's a brief recap. She has a long ranged attack that doesn't even show up in her equipment which I don't even know the power of, but I'm pretty sure it's a physical based attack. It's also extremely fast and nasty, so just be ready for that, since she'll use it on her second turn. That, and the first and third turns you'll get blasted with an area attack which isn't as bad as Sephiran's but is still bad, so expect about 25-30 damage nearby, with a little less on the outside (though Rafiel likes to be about 8-9 spaces away and still take 31 damage). Apart from that, though, Ashera's attack is Judge, which has a whooping Mt of 50. That being said, Ashera has a mag of 15. I have no clue why they did that, as if the Judge's Mt was 15 it'd still be way higher than say, Rexaura, plus 50 mag is a lot more intimidating looking for a final boss, but whatever, I digress. She has 120 HP, and very high avd (that's what 40 spd and lck will do for you), but with a whole slew of overpowered characters such as your laguz royals pounding down on her, that'll go down quick. VERY IMPORTANT, THOUGH: the finishing blow MUST be done with IKE WIELDING THE RAGNELL. There is NO way around that. Just get her down to where Ike would normally be able to finish her off, then you know it'll happen when a cutscene interrupts as Yune blesses Ike, and the animation occurs even if it's turned off. If that scene pops up, congratulations, you know you've beaten Ashera, and Radiant Dawn on top of it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, that's that, there's not really a whole lot more for me to say. Everyone turns back from stone, the world is saved, Ashera and Yune exist in perfect harmony, the world is all good, and then the absolutely massive epilogue begins. Naturally it's extremely long owing to the fact there's 70 characters, but oh well, that's what you get. Ah well, it's not bad, so yeah, congratulations on beating Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, the longest and hardest Fire Emblem game in a while. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ X. Items ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- And by items, I obviously do mean all forms of weapons, magic, as well as regular items. ~- Xa. Weapons ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- It's a broad section. It does, after all, contain swords, lances, axes, bows, knives, and whatnot. Swords are all strong against axes, axes all against lances, lances all against swords, and bows all against flying enemies. Just so I don't have to add those all to the special. ;] ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+ Name | LVL | DUR | MT | HT | CR | WT | RNG | COST | SPECIAL | ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+ Slim Sword | E | 35 | 2 |100 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 560 | None | Bronze Sword | E | 50 | 3 | 95 | -- | 5 | 1 | 350 | No criticals | Iron Sword | D | 50 | 6 | 90 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 500 | None | Venin Edge | D | 50 | 6 | 90 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 300 | Poison | Wind Edge | D | 20 | 6 | 60 | 0 | 10 | 1-2 | 700 | None | Steel Sword | C | 40 | 9 | 85 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 800 | None | Brave Sword | C | 40 | 9 | 90 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 2800 | 2x Attack | Iron Blade | C | 40 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 800 | None | Wo Dao | B | 30 | 7 | 90 | 20 | 7 | 1 | 3000 | None | Killing Edge | B | 30 | 8 | 85 | 30 | 8 | 1 | 3600 | None | Wyrmslayer | B | 20 | 11 | 70 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 3600 | Dragons | Steel Blade | B | 35 | 13 | 65 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 1400 | None | Storm Sword | B | 20 | 12 | 50 | 0 | 11 | 1-2 | 4000 | None | Silver Sword | A | 30 | 12 | 80 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 1800 | None | Silver Blade | A | 30 | 16 | 60 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 3600 | None | Tempest Blade | S | 20 | 18 | 55 | 5 | 15 | 1-2 |10000 | None | Vague Katti | SS | 50 | 20 | 95 | 5 | 10 | 1 |20000 | Def+3 | Alondite | SS | -- | 18 | 80 | 5 | 20 | 1-2 | None | Def+5 | Ettard | -- | 50 | 12 | 75 | 10 | 17 | 1 | None | Ike | Florete | -- | 45 | 14 | 95 | 15 | 5 | 1-2 | 9000 | Mist | Caladbolg | -- | 40 | 15 | 85 | 5 | 8 | 1 | None | Edward, Luck+8 | Amiti | -- | -- | 15 | 90 | 0 | 10 | 1 | None | Elincia, 2x | Ragnell | -- | -- | 18 | 80 | 5 | 20 | 1-2 | None | Ike, Def+5 | | | | | | | | | | | Slim Lance | E | 35 | 3 | 95 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 490 | None | Bronze Lance | E | 50 | 4 | 90 | -- | 6 | 1 | 450 | No criticals | Iron Lance | D | 50 | 7 | 85 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 600 | None | Venin Lance | D | 50 | 7 | 85 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 350 | Poison | Javelin | D | 20 | 7 | 65 | 0 | 11 | 1-2 | 600 | None | Horseslayer | D | 20 | 12 | 65 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 1300 | Horses | Steel Lance | C | 40 | 10 | 80 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 960 | None | Brave Lance | C | 40 | 10 | 85 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 2960 | 2x Attack | Iron Greatlance| C | 40 | 11 | 75 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 640 | None | Killer Lance | B | 20 | 9 | 80 | 30 | 10 | 1 | 4320 | None | Short Spear | B | 20 | 10 | 55 | 0 | 12 | 1-2 | 3000 | None | Stl Greatlance | B | 35 | 14 | 70 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 1120 | None | Silver Lance | A | 30 | 13 | 80 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 2160 | None | Slvr Greatlance| A | 30 | 17 | 50 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 2880 | None | Spear | S | 20 | 13 | 60 | 5 | 16 | 1-2 | 9000 | None | Wishblade | SS | 50 | 22 |100 | 5 | 15 | 1 |15500 | Luck+3 | | | | | | | | | | | Bronze Axe | E | 50 | 5 | 85 | -- | 7 | 1 | 250 | No criticals | Iron Axe | D | 50 | 8 | 80 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 400 | None | Venin Axe | D | 50 | 8 | 80 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 250 | Poison | Hand Axe | D | 25 | 9 | 70 | 0 | 12 | 1-2 | 625 | None | Hammer | D | 20 | 13 | 60 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 800 | Armored | Steel Axe | C | 40 | 11 | 75 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 640 | None | Brave Axe | C | 40 | 11 | 80 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 2640 | 2x Attack | Iron Poleax | C | 40 | 12 | 65 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 400 | None | Killer Axe | B | 30 | 10 | 75 | 30 | 12 | 1 | 2880 | None | Short Axe | B | 15 | 12 | 60 | 0 | 13 | 1-2 | 1500 | None | Steel Poleax | B | 35 | 15 | 60 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 700 | None | Silver Axe | A | 30 | 14 | 70 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 1440 | None | Silver Poleax | A | 30 | 18 | 60 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 1800 | None | Tomahawk | S | 15 | 15 | 65 | 5 | 17 | 1-2 | 6000 | None | Urvan | SS | 50 | 22 |110 | 5 | 17 | 1 |15000 | Res+3 | Tarvos | -- | 40 | 18 |100 | 5 | 12 | 1 | None | Nolan, Def+4 | | | | | | | | | | | Bronze Bow | E | 50 | 3 | 80 | -- | 4 | 2 | 400 | No criticals | Iron Bow | D | 50 | 6 | 85 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 750 | None | Venin Bow | D | 50 | 6 | 85 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 400 | Poison | Killer Bow | C | 25 | 8 | 80 | 30 | 9 | 2 | 2000 | None | Rolf's Bow | C | 45 | 8 | 85 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 2700 | None | Iron Longbow | C | 20 | 8 | 65 | 0 | 15 | 2-3 | 2000 | None | Steel Bow | C | 35 | 10 | 80 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 1050 | None | Brave Bow | B | 40 | 9 | 85 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 7200 | 2x Attack | Steel Longbow | B | 20 | 12 | 60 | 0 | 18 | 2-3 | 4000 | None | Silver Bow | A | 25 | 15 | 75 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 2250 | None | Silencer | A | 50 | 16 |100 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 8000 | None | Silver Longbow | S | 20 | 17 | 55 | 0 | 17 | 2-3 |12000 | None | Double Bow | SS | 50 | 22 |100 | 5 | 12 | 1-2 |16500 | Str+3 | Lughnasadh | -- | 40 | 16 |100 | 5 | 5 | 2 | None | Leonardo, Spd+5 | Bowgun | CB | 40 | 24 |100 | 0 | 12 | 1-2 | 2000 | Ignores Str | Crossbow | CB | 35 | 28 |100 | 0 | 14 | 1-2 | 3500 | Ignores Str | Taksh | CB | 30 | 30 |100 | 10 | 16 | 1-2 | 6000 | Ignores Str | Aqqar | CB | 25 | 34 |100 | 0 | 18 | 1-2 | 6250 | Ignores Str | Arbalest | CB | 20 | 38 |100 | 15 | 20 | 1-2 | 6000 | Ignores Str | | | | | | | | | | | Bronze Knife | E | 30 | 1 | 70 | -- | 1 | 1-2 | 480 | No criticals | Bronze Dagger | D | 45 | 2 | 85 | -- | 2 | 1 | 270 | No criticals | Iron Knife | D | 25 | 2 | 65 | 0 | 2 | 1-2 | 500 | None | Beast Killer | D | 20 | 9 | 65 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 1200 | Beast laguz | Steel Knife | C | 20 | 4 | 60 | 0 | 3 | 1-2 | 800 | None | Iron Dagger | C | 40 | 5 | 80 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 360 | None | Kard | B | 30 | 4 | 70 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 2400 | None | Steel Dagger | B | 35 | 8 | 85 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 420 | None | Silver Knife | A | 15 | 7 | 60 | 0 | 4 | 1-2 | 1800 | None | Stiletto | A | 25 | 8 | 80 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 3100 | None | Silver Dagger | A | 25 | 12 | 85 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 1800 | None | Peshkatz | S | 30 | 13 | 90 | 0 | 9 | 1-2 |12600 | None | Baselard | SS | 50 | 18 |100 | 15 | 10 | 1 |18600 | None | ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+ Name | LVL | DUR | MT | HT | CR | WT | RNG | COST | SPECIAL | ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+ ~- Xb. Magic ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Wind is strong against thunder, thunder is strong against fire, and fire is strong against wind. Not as preferable for me as light, anima, and dark, but it works in a different sort of way I guess. Wind is strong against birds, fire against beasts, and thunder against dragons. As for the staves, the Mt represents the EXP, as they obviously don't have a given strength. So yeah. ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+ Name | LVL | DUR | MT | HT | CR | WT | RNG | COST | SPECIAL | ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+ Fire | E | 40 | 5 | 90 | 0 | 3 | 1-2 | 800 | None | Elfire | D | 35 | 7 | 85 | 0 | 5 | 1-2 | 2100 | None | Meteor | C | 5 | 8 | 70 | 0 | 18 |3-10 | 750 | None | Arcfire | B | 25 | 9 | 80 | 5 | 7 | 1-2 | 2500 | None | Bolganone | S | 20 | 11 | 75 | 0 | 9 | 1-2 | 3000 | None | Rexflame | SS | 15 | 14 |100 | 5 | 13 | 1-2 | 7500 | Spd+3 | Fire Tail | SS | -- | 13 | 85 | -- | 1 | 1-2 | None | Spirits | Cymbeline | -- | 45 | 13 | 95 | 10 | 5 | 1-2 | None | Sanaki | | | | | | | | | | | Thunder | E | 40 | 3 | 80 | 5 | 4 | 1-2 | 880 | None | Elthunder | C | 35 | 5 | 75 | 10 | 6 | 1-2 | 1470 | None | Bolting | B | 5 | 6 | 60 | 5 | 19 |3-10 | 800 | None | Arcthunder | A | 25 | 7 | 70 | 15 | 9 | 1-2 | 2550 | None | Thoron | S | 20 | 9 | 65 | 5 | 11 | 1-2 | 3200 | None | Rexbolt | SS | 15 | 12 | 95 | 15 | 14 | 1-2 | 9000 | Skl+3 | Thunder Tail | SS | -- | 11 | 75 | -- | 1 | 1-2 | None | Spirits | | | | | | | | | | | Wind | E | 40 | 4 | 95 | 0 | 2 | 1-2 | 720 | None | Elwind | D | 35 | 6 | 90 | 0 | 4 | 1-2 | 2030 | None | Blizzard | C | 5 | 7 | 75 | 0 | 17 |3-10 | 700 | None | Arcwind | B | 25 | 8 | 85 | 10 | 6 | 1-2 | 2450 | None | Tornado | S | 20 | 10 | 80 | 0 | 7 | 1-2 | 2800 | None | Rexcalibur | SS | 15 | 13 |105 | 10 | 12 | 1-2 | 6750 | Luck+3 | Thunder Tail | SS | -- | 12 | 90 | -- | 1 | 1-2 | None | Spirits | | | | | | | | | | | Light | E | 40 | 3 |100 | 0 | 1 | 1-2 | 960 | None | Ellight | C | 35 | 5 | 95 | 0 | 3 | 1-2 | 2240 | None | Purge | B | 5 | 5 | 80 | 0 | 16 |3-10 | 1000 | None | Shine | A | 25 | 7 | 90 | 10 | 5 | 1-2 | 2600 | None | Nosferatu | S | 20 | 6 | 85 | 0 | 7 | 1-2 | 4000 | Drains HP | Valaura | S | 17 | 8 | 95 | 0 | 12 | 1-2 | 6800 | Poison | Rexaura | SS | 15 | 12 |110 | 5 | 11 | 1-2 |12000 | Def+3 | Thani | -- | 45 | 8 |100 | 0 | 1 | 1-2 | None | Micaiah; Cav. | Creiddylad | -- | -- | 11 |100 | 15 | 15 | 1-2 | None | Lehran | | | | | | | | | | | Worm | C | 30 | 8 | 75 | 0 | 9 | 1-2 | 2400 | None | Carreau | B | 25 | 10 | 70 | 5 | 11 | 1-2 | 3000 | None | Fenrir | A | 5 | 9 | 60 | 0 | 20 |3-10 | 1500 | None | Verrine | S | 20 | 12 | 65 | 0 | 13 | 1-2 | 5000 | None | Balberith | SS | 15 | 15 | 75 | 10 | 15 | 1-2 |13500 | Str+3 | | | | | | | | | | | Heal | E | 40 | 11 |100 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 800 | Magic+10 HP | Mend | D | 20 | 12 |100 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 1000 | Magic+20 HP | Torch | D | 10 | 15 |100 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 1000 | Lights up area | Unlock | D | 10 | 17 |100 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 1500 | Opens a door | Restore | C | 10 | 20 |100 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 2000 | Cures status | Ward | C | 15 | 17 |100 | 20 | 4 | 1 | 2250 | Raises Res by 7 | Physic | C | 15 | 22 |100 | 25 | 5 |1-M/2| 3750 | Magic+10 HP | Hammerne | C | 3 | 40 |100 | 25 | 7 | 1 | 1800 | Repairs weapon | Recover | B | 15 | 17 |100 | 20 | 6 | 1 | 2250 | All HP | Sleep | B | 3 | 35 |100 | 35 | 6 |1-M/2| 1500 | Sleeps enemy | Rescue | A | 3 | 40 |100 | 40 | 6 |1-M/2| 1800 | Ally -> to you | Silence | A | 3 | 30 |100 | 30 | 7 |1-M/2| 1200 | Silences enemy | Rewarp | A | 15 | 60 |100 | 30 | 7 |1-30 |15000 | Teleports self | Elsilence | S | 2 | 70 |100 | 30 | 7 |1-30 | 2400 | Silences enemy | Elsleep | S | 2 | 85 |100 | 35 | 8 |1-30 | 3000 | Sleeps enemy | Fortify | S | 5 | 60 |100 | 50 | 7 |1-M/2| 5000 | Restores HP | Matrona | SS | 3 | 10 |100 |100 | 3 |1-M/2| None | HP/biorhythm | Ashera Staff | SS | 3 |100 |100 |100 | 4 | 1 | None | Restores all | ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+ Name | LVL | DUR | MT | HT | CR | WT | RNG | COST | SPECIAL | ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+ ~- Xc. Skills ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- This is divided into three categories, of which are Class (not very many), Personal, and the 30 point Mastery. -------------+----------------------------------------------+------------+----+ Name | Effect | Activation | Ca | -------------+----------------------------------------------+------------+----+ Shove | Push a unit by 1 square if Con+2 > Weight | Command | 5 | Canto | User can user leftover movement after acting | Innate | 10 | Critical+5 | Crit+5 for Myrmidons, Halberdiers, Reavers | Innate | -- | Critical+10 | Crit+10 for Swordmasters, Snipers, Sentinels | Innate | -- | Critical+15 | Crit+15 for Marksmen | Innate | -- | Critical+20 | Crit+20 for Trueblades | Innate | -- | Critical+25 | Crit+25 for Assassins | Innate | -- | Steal | Steal an enemy's unequipped weapon or item | Command | -- | | | | | Aurora | Returns half damage back to enemy (Ashera) | Innate | -- | Formshift | Laguz royals only, stay transformed | Command | -- | Galdrar | Can use chants based on heron level | Command | -- | Insight | Accuracy+20, Janaff only | Innate | -- | Mantle | Negates damage from non-blessed weapons | Innate | -- | Sacrifice | Micaiah can sacrifice HP to recover ally's | Command | -- | Vigilance | Avoid+20, Dodge+20 | Innate | -- | Miracle | Halves HP when dealt a fatal strike | (Luck)% | 5 | Blood Tide | Red dragons increase allies' Str/Skl +5 | Innate | 10 | Cancel | Negates the enemy's following attack | (Speed)% | 10 | Counter | When damaged, deals half damage to enemy | (Skill)% | 10 | Daunt | Enemies within a 3 square, Acc/Crit -5 | Innate | 10 | Disarm | Unequips a beorc enemy | (Skill/2)% | 10 | Discipline | Increases rate of gaining weapon EXP | Innate | 10 | Flourish | Attacks with half power | Command | 10 | Gamble | Doubles critical but halves accuracy | Command | 10 | Mercy | Fatal damage leaves enemy with 1 HP (Elincia)| Innate | 10 | Night Tide | Black dragons increase allies' Def/Res +5 | Innate | 10 | Parity | Ignores user's and enemy's skills | Command | 10 | Provoke | More chance of being detected by the enemy | Innate | 10 | Savior | Skill and speed not reduced during a rescue | Innate | 10 | Shade | Less chance of being detected by the enemy | Innate | 10 | Vantage | Attacks first | (Speed)% | 10 | White Pool | White dragons increase allies' Mag/Spd +5 | Innate | 10 | Wildheart | Can transform at any time, but boosts halved | Command | 10 | Adept | Activates a 2 hit strike | (Speed)% | 15 | Beastfoe | Does bonus damage to beast laguz | Innate | 15 | Birdfoe | Does bonus damage to bird laguz | Innate | 15 | Blessing | Adjacent allies recover HP based on magic | Innate | 15 | Boon | Adjacent allies recover their condition | Innate | 15 | Celerity | Movement + 2 | Innate | 15 | Corrosion | Reduces enemy's weapon usage by your level | (Skill/2)% | 15 | Dragonfoe | Does bonus damage to dragon laguz | Innate | 15 | Imbue | Restores magic for HP each turn | Innate | 15 | Paragon | Doubles EXP | Innate | 15 | Pass | User can move through enemies | Innate | 15 | Renewal | Each turn user recovers 10% of max HP | Innate | 15 | Resolve | When <50% HP, Skl and Spd x 1.5 | Innate | 15 | Smite | Push a unit by 2 squares if Con+2 > Weight | Command | 15 | Wrath | Under 30% HP, Crit+50 | Innate | 15 | Blossom | Increases stat gains, halves gained EXP | Innate | 20 | Fortune | Negates enemy's criticals | Innate | 20 | Guard | User takes damage for an adjacent character | Support | 20 | Howl | Stuns an enemy after an indirect attack | (Strength)%| 20 | Maelstrom | Damages enemy after indirect hit, for birds | (Skill)% | 20 | Nihil | Negates enemy's battle skills | Innate | 20 | Nullify | Negates enemy's bonus towards user | Innate | 20 | Pavise | Negates all damage | (Skill)% | 20 | Quickclaw | Counters with strength for damage | (Speed)% | 20 | Shriek | Reduces enemy's luck to 0 after ind. attack | (Luck)% | 20 | Stillness | User isn't attacked in some cases | Innate | 25 | Glare | Enemy cannot move until end (Nailah) | Command | 30 | | | | | Colossus | (Reaver) Triples strength | (Skill)% | 25 | Deadeye | (Marksman) Triples damage, sleeps enemy | (Skill/2)% | 25 | Stun | (S.Knight, Dragonlord) Triples and stuns | (Skill)% | 25 | Aether | (Vanguard) Attacks twice, Sol then Luna | (Skill/2)% | 30 | Astra | (Trueblade) Attacks five times | (Skill/2%) | 30 | Bane | (Whisper) Reduces enemy's HP to 1 | (Skill/2%) | 30 | Corona | (Saint) Negates resistance, halves accuracy | (Skill%) | 30 | Eclipse | (Black Knight) 5x strength, negates defense | (Skill%) | 30 | Flare | (Archsage) Negates resistance, drains HP | (Skill%) | 30 | Impale | (Sentinel) Quadruples damage | (Skill%) | 30 | Ire | (Dragon) Triples damage | (Skill)% | 30 | Lethality | (Assassin) Instantly KOs enemy | (Skill/2)% | 30 | Luna | (Marshall) Triples strength, negates defense | (Skill%) | 30 | Rend | (Cat) 5x strength, stuns enemy | (Speed%) | 30 | Roar | (Tiger, Lion) Triples strength and stuns | (Strength)%| 30 | Savage | (Wolf) Triples strength, halves enemy skill | (Skill)% | 30 | Sol | (Knight, Valk.) Triples damage, drains HP | (Skill/2)% | 30 | Tear | (Hawk, Raven) 3x strength, halves speed | (Speed%) | 30 | -------------+----------------------------------------------+------------+----+ ~- Xd. Shops ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Basically an indication of what times items are available during the game, and stuff. All info is based on normal mode. ----------------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+--+--+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Item |4|5|6|7|8|9|F|3|F|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|F|P|1|2|3|4|5|F| ----------------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+--+--+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Bronze Sword |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y| |Y|Y| |Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| | | | | | |Y| Iron Sword |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Steel Sword | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Silver Sword | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Iron Blade | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Steel Blade | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Silver Blade | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Killing Edge | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Wind Edge | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Bronze Lance |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y| |Y|Y| |Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| | | | | | |Y| Iron Lance |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Steel Lance | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Silver Lance | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Iron Greatlance | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Stl Greatlance | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Slvr Greatlance | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Killer Lance | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Javelin | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Bronze Axe |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y| |Y|Y| |Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| | | | | | |Y| Iron Axe |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Steel Axe | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Silver Axe | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Iron Poleax | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Steel Poleax | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Silver Poleax | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Killer Axe | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Hand Axe | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Bronze Bow |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y| |Y|Y| |Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| | | | | | |Y| Iron Bow |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Steel Bow | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Silver Bow | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Iron Longbow | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| |Y | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Killer Bow | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Bowgun | | | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Crossbow | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| | | | |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Bronze Knife |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y| |Y|Y| |Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| | | | | | |Y| Iron Knife | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Steel Knife | | | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Silver Knife | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Bronze Dagger |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y| |Y|Y| |Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| | | | | | |Y| Iron Dagger | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Steel Dagger | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Silver Dagger | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Kard | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Stiletto | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| ----------------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+--+--+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Item |4|5|6|7|8|9|F|3|F|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|F|P|1|2|3|4|5|F| ----------------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+--+--+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Fire | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y|Y|Y|Y |Y | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Elfire | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y|Y|Y|Y |Y | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Arcfire | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Thunder |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y|Y|Y|Y |Y | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Elthunder |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y|Y|Y|Y |Y | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Arcthunder | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Wind | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y|Y|Y|Y |Y | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Elwind | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y|Y|Y|Y |Y | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Arcwind | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Light |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Ellight | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Shine | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| | | | | |Y |Y | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Worm | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y|Y| Carreau | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y|Y| Heal |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Mend | | | | |Y|Y|Y| |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Recover | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Physic | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| Restore | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Ward | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| Herb |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Vulnerary | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Concoction | | | | | | | |Y|Y| | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Antitoxin | | | | |Y| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Torch | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Door Key | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| | | Olivi Grass | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| Pure Water | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y| |Y |Y |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Panacea | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| Spectre Card | | | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| | | |Y |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Reaper Card | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y| Daemon Card | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| ----------------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+--+--+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Item |4|5|6|7|8|9|F|3|F|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|F|P|1|2|3|4|5|F| ----------------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+--+--+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ XI. FAQ ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Got a question? Well... please don't email me until you've been through this section and looked for it. Because, being the lazy jackass that I am, I may just not answer the email if it's here. So, yeah... [Q] Is *insert character from Path of Radiance here* in this game? [A] Is that character's name Largo? If so, no. Otherwise, yes, all of the PoR characters are battle characters. [Q] Rank all the characters in the entire game by class. [A] You are freaking evil. Well, this is just my opinion anyway, so... In general - Ike > everyone Paladins - Titania > Oscar > Geoffrey > Kieran > Makalov > Renning > Astrid > Fiona Generals - Gatrie > Brom > Tauroneo > Meg Warriors - Boyd > Nolan Swordmasters - Mia > Zihark > Edward > Stefan > Lucia Halberdiers - Nephenee > Aran > Danved Snipers - Shinon > Rolf > Leonardo Falcon Knights - Elincia > Tanith > Sigrun > Marcia Dragonmasters - Haar >>> Jill Rogues - Volke > Sothe >>> Heather Sages - Soren > Micaiah > Bastian > Sanaki > Calill > Tormod > Ilyana Bishops - Rhys > Oliver > Laura > Mist (does she count?) Beast Laguz - Caineghis > Giffca > Nailah > Skrimir > Ranulf > Kyza > Muarim > Mordecai > Lethe > Volug >>> a bucket of KFC >>> Lyre Bird Laguz - Tibarn > Naesala > Ulki > Janaff > Nealuchi > Vika Dragon Laguz - Kurthnaga > Nasir > Gareth > Ena Herons - Rafiel > Reyson > Leanne --- [Q] So I let someone die. Can I get them back? [A] NO. This is a typical Fire Emblem game. Death is death. --- [Q] Who is this game's "Jeigan"? [A] There's no Jeigan here. If I had to choose one as a whole it would be Tauroneo, though Sothe is the first overpowered one. That's definitely not consistent throughout though. But yeah, Tauroneo. --- [Q] What are the "forced promotions"? [A] Micaiah at the end of Part 1, Ike at the end of Part 3, Sothe at the end of 4-P, and Micaiah at the beginning of 4-E. --- [Q] Is there a "triangle attack" in this game? [A] Yes, and it works the same way as it did in Path of Radiance. Take the three brothers, Oscar, Boyd, and Rolf. All three of them must be equipped with bows, and obviously to do Oscar must be promoted to a Silver Knight. Form a triangle around the enemy (note: AROUND the enemy), have everyone two squares apart as befits bows, and then go. The same thing towards at short range with any three of Marcia, Sigrun, Tanith, and Elincia. --- [Q] Do you ever have to use the Dawn Brigade by themselves after Part 1? Reason being, they all suck and half of them are dead and... [A] YES. There's three chapters with just those weak characters, all over again, all in Part 3. That'll come back to haunt you. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ XII. Credits ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- You have just gone through yet another huge RPG guide, copyrighted and written by none other than a lifeless nerd. Or, in other words, me. Interpret that in any way you wish. So with that, hope you enjoyed this guide and this game, and expect to see my name on many more guides in the future. I'm awesome like that and stuff. With that, buhhh-bye. - Sailor Bacon: For taking over GameFAQs in the place of CJayC, which I'm sure must have been extremely difficult shoes to fill. He's doing a great job, so, my hat is tipped. - Stephen Ng: For being the FAQ editor for IGN, which is the other site that I write for. I am honored to write for IGN, since it is a great site. I was also very glad to do an exclusive for IGN. - SerenesForest.net: For being the ULTIMATE resource on everything Fire Emblem, both for Path of Radiance and everything else. Since I borrowed the list data from there, they deserve a spot here. - Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, U2, The Eagles, Queen, Van Halen, The Beatles, and many others: You probably know why I'm thanking you, but I don't believe this guide would be up as quickly if it weren't for all of you. - All the guys who first got me started writing from GameFAQs and all of my best friends like SinirothX, Psycho Penguin, Meowthnum1, CVXFREAK, Karpah, ZoopSoul, Crazyreyn, Gobicamel, asa2377 (OH EM GEE YOU TROLL), Warhawk, Cyril, supernova54321, Minesweeper, AlaskaFox, me frog, RHarrison, masterzero99, Tom Hayes, wayalla, djg40, MTincher, NickBush24, BurningFox, AquaBlast, and definitely more that I'm forgetting: you are some of the best friends that anyone can have, and I may have quit FAQing/left FCB forever without all of you. Thank you for everything and for motivating me to get my ass in gear.