"And I've heard the sound from my cousin's bed... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- FIRE EMBLEM: PATH OF RADIANCE An FAQ/Walkthrough For the Nintendo GameCube Copyright 2008 Richard Beast =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ...the hiss of the train at the railway head..." - Porcupine Tree =============================================================================== 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. Character Info Vb. Supports VI. Walkthrough (Part 1) VIa. Mercenaries VIb. The Battle Begins VIc. Rescue VId. Pirates Aground VIe. Roadside Battle VIf. Flight! VIg. A Brief Diversion VIh. Shades of Evil VIi. Despair and Hope VIj. Gallia VIk. Prisoner Release VIl. Blood Runs Red VIm. A Strange Land VIn. A Guiding Wind VIo. Training VIp. The Feral Frontier VIq. The Atonement VIr. Day Breaks part 1 VIs. Day Breaks part 2 VIt. Day Breaks part 3 VIu. Day Breaks part 4 VII. Walkthrough (Part 2) VIIa. Crimea Marches VIIb. Entrusted VIIc. Defending Talrega VIId. Without a King VIIe. Solo VIIf. The Great Bridge VIIg. Battle Reunion VIIh. Strange Lands VIIi. Clash! VIIj. Moment of Fate part 1 VIIk. Moment of Fate part 2 VIIl. Twisted Tower VIIm. Repatriation VIII. Extras VIIIa. Final Stats VIIIb. Repatriation - Hard Mode VIIIc. Trial Map 1 VIIId. Trial Map 2 VIIIe. Trial Map 3 IX. Items IXa. Weapons IXb. Magic IXc. Skills IXd. Shops X. FAQ XI. Credits =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ I. Introduction ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- It's been a very long time since I've written for a strategy RPG. And that should definitely surprise you, being that RPGs are like the only thing that I wrote for nowadays anyway, but hey, I've done FFTactics, started both Disgaeas... and that's about it. But I'm getting ahead of myself, am I not? The name is Richard Beast and I kick ass. Of course, if you believe I kick ass which I doubt that you do, then perhaps it amazes you that despite all that kickassery, this introduction is so bad it's ridiculous. I give up. On to the game. Path of Radiance is the ninth entry in the Fire Emblem series, and actually only the third one that's been released into the US, id est, that I've played. ;] It operates under that same Fire Emblem system that we've come to know and hate, that if a character dies in combat, s/he ain't comin' back. Yeah, die on a battlefield and see if one of your allies can just use a phoenix down on you and bring you back. See what happens (on second thought, don't). But that being said it's ridiculous fun and addiction and whatnot, and you should pick it up. Because I said so. And since this introduction is just getting worse, I'll end it now. - Richard 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 boyd", 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, Path of Radiance 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 7, 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 Vulneraries, Elixirs, Heal/Mend/Physic, etc... watch out for this. 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, but at the very least, you don't need it for magic users, with the lone case of Soren who has difficulty with heavy magic because of not having this. But yes, this stat speaks. Magic is the least important one in the game by far, for almost everyone except the mages (Soren, Rhys, Ilyana, Mist, Calill, Tormod, Bastian). If a character 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, in any way except the Flame/Sonic/Bolt Lance/Sword/Axe. Probably a good thing too, since most physical people have very weak magic. 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 Boyd 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. Example, Ike's amazing Aether ability has your Skill% as the chance of activation, so this had better be maxed out by the endgame. 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 Boyd or Gatrie) 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 (Volke, Zihark...), 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. I never noticed it at all, it plays very little role in your game, 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 Stefan with his almighty Vague Katti. 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, wyvern riders/lords... the list goes on. Basically they own swords, they just get themselves beat by axes bad. Best lance users: Nephenee, Oscar, Jill or Haar, and Gatrie. 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/berserker (only Boyd and Largo), some cavaliers, and wyvern 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, notably Boyd, Kieran, and Haar. 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 our lone fighter, Boyd. Not much, I know, but let's just have a look. Boyd is surprisingly good with them, Rolf kicks ass, Oscar/Geoffrey are great, and so is Astrid, and that's enough. Plus if you're fighting anything that has wings, these are the way to go. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ V. Characters ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- To even this all out better, I split this into one section for character profiles, and one for supports. Go to Vb. for supports. ~- Va. Character Info ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~--~-~-~-~-~-~- 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. Name: Ike Recruited: PROLOGUE Class: Ranger -> Lord Attribute: Earth HP ........... High Speed ........ High Strength ..... Very High Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Average Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average Ike, the main character of the story, is the son of Greil, who is obviously the commander of the Greil Mercenaries, so obviously that means Ike is the heir to the throne. Ike is brash and a rather rude human being, but hey, his etiquette certainly isn't the reason he's the leader here. As you can see... ...he kicks supreme amounts of ass. Seriously, when you first start using Ike, he's nothing special, as his HP is rather mediocre, and his strength isn't outstanding. However, give him a Seraph Robe early and he'll be surviving for much longer, and before you know it, he'll turn into one of your strongest fighters. Still, just wait until you hit Level 20, and finish Chapter 17. Ike will promote from a Ranger to a Lord after Chapter 17, and that is when he REALLY kicks ass. His critical rate is amazing, speed is way up there, and his strength is some of the best out there. If that weren't enough, give him an Occult scroll (before Chapter 27 preferably), and he gains his special skill, Aether, which is just amazing. Best skill, and one of the best characters in the game. Yes, you always have to have him and the game ends if he dies, but I am NOT complaining. My Rating: 5/5 Name: Titania Recruited: CHAPTER 1 Class: Paladin Attribute: Light HP ........... High Speed ........ High Strength ..... Average Defense ...... High Magic ........ Low Resistance ... High Skill ........ High Luck ......... High Deputy Commander of the Greil Mercenaries, Titania is Greil's most trusted member. Why Greil didn't go ahead and make Titania the leader of it all, considering how strong she is initially especially compared to Ike, I have no idea. Remembering Jeigan, Seth, et cetera? Titania is that type of character, and if you're unfamiliar with what I mean, she starts at the equivalent of Level 21 while everyone else is 1-3, as an already promoted unit, and she absolutely annihilates everything that dares look her in the eye. But like any of those other characters, do NOT use her in the early game. Yeah, I'm serious, Titania does little more than cheaply hog EXP from the whole group while she barely gets stronger and everyone else suffers. She serves best as a type of shield, i.e. unequip her and stand her in front of everyone else, since her defense and everything is quite solid. When everyone else catches up to her and can level up equally, it's up to you whether to use her or not, since she really is a very decent character, just not one you want to use early, and plus later, I'm really more of an Oscar/Geoffrey type of guy. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Boyd Recruited: CHAPTER 1 Class: Fighter -> Warrior Attribute: Fire HP ........... Very High Speed ........ High Strength ..... High Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Very Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average Boyd, as you can tell, is sort of Ike's rival, and their personalities are definitely similar -- Boyd is brash and cocky, not exactly the politest guy around. He definitely loves battles too, and if I were at all like him, I probably would too. Why is that, you ask? Because Boyd is just a goddamn beast. There's no other way to describe it -- packing axes and using them at a skill that can only be matched by Titania for all of the early game, he just kills anything. His strength really is great, and you'll always want to him on the frontlines, so trust me, he's going to level up fast. Especially when Boyd promotes, he'll have some of the highest HP around. His speed is great too, the only problem is his sub-par defense, which is really his only downfall. As long as you have someone in the back with Mend going, though, his HP will definitely make up for that, and his poor-ish Resistance. The man is a beast. You gotta use him, plus he's the only Warrior in the game unless you count Largo, who he dwarves. Just don't bother giving him the Occult scroll, he kicks ass enough without Colossus. My Rating: 5/5 Name: Oscar Recruited: CHAPTER 1 Class: Lance Knight -> Paladin Attribute: Earth HP ........... High Speed ........ High Strength ..... High Defense ...... High Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Average Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average Oscar is Greil's second most loyal member, second only to Titania. He used to be a Crimean knight, but left them to take care of his younger brother Rolf when his parents died. So basically, Greil did make a fantastic choice when he took in him and his two equally kickass brothers, Boyd and Rolf. There's six Paladins in the game, and this is the second of them, first being Titania. And obviously, Oscar is a Lance Knight who is absolutely nothing compared to Titania early on, but hey, use him anyway, you need lances instead of axes anyway. He's one of the best defensive and offensive characters early, definitely, even though as you progress, his strength starts to suffer compared to Boyd's. But hey, just keep going, because Oscar becomes one of the more versatile characters as you go on, especially once he gets promoted. His skill and speed are both very good, plus at least he has half decent resistance, unlike Boyd. Plus all in all, since I never use Titania later anyway, I'd consider him to be the best Paladin out there except for maybe Geoffrey, so having Sol on him from an Occult scroll wouldn't hurt. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Rhys Recruited: CHAPTER 2 Class: Priest -> Bishop Attribute: Fire HP ........... Low Speed ........ Low Strength ..... Very Low Defense ...... Very Low Magic ........ High Resistance ... Very High Skill ........ Average Luck ......... High Rhys is Titania's friend who is consequently part of the Greil Mercenaries because of that, although he's definitely the weakest guy out there. He's a wuss who's prone to seizures even at the thought of blood, and can barely figure out which end of a sword to poke in someone, but oh well. There's only two characters in the game who are innate healers, and Rhys is one of them. First of all, though, let me put this straight and honest: Rhys is a gigantic pain in the ass. He has the worst defense in the entire game, going at 0 for almost the entire game, so if anyone comes up to him, he's as good as gone. His terrible speed and HP don't help either, and while he doesn't need it, he obviously has no strength. However, Rhys is invaluable. You are going to need someone who has the ability to heal, especially early on, and for that Rhys is your man. As long as you keep doing that, he'll gain the EXP that he needs, slowly but surely, and then he'll promote into a Bishop, and is the ONLY, I repeat ONLY character in the game who can use Light magic. Why they ditched Light magic in this game so bad, I don't know, but you can put him to some offensive use at last. Just work on his crappy speed and defense, and you'll have a good character going, My Rating: 4/5 Name: Gatrie Recruited: CHAPTER 3 (CHAPTER 13) Class: Knight -> General Attribute: Light HP ........... Very High Speed ........ Very Low Strength ..... High Defense ...... Very High Magic ........ Very Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Low Gatrie is another member of the Greil Mercenaries, and a rather laidback one at that. He's sort of a coward, which is evident because of the enormous amount of armor he wears, which obviously slows him down as a consequence, and in life, there's few things that appeal to him. Pretty much women, and that's it. Yeah, you need to re-recruit him in Chapter 13, so talk to Astrid with Ike, and then Gatrie with Astrid. If you're not familiar with the knights in the Fire Emblem series, it's pretty easy to guess. Gatrie is obviously going to be slow as hell, usually being double hitted when attacking, but he's going to have enormous amounts of HP and defense, plus solid strength on top of that. That's pretty much what he is, and he'll join you in Chapter 3, where he's amazingly useful, and that's coming from a place where Titania and Shinon are around to take names. Gatrie leaves you though, and doesn't rejoin until Chapter 13, when he's anywhere from Level 12-14, depending on where you got him before. Now I gotta warn you, you HAVE to level him up at that point, or he WILL lose his value right then and there, and in every department not be able to catch up. If you do level him up to become a General, though, his stats should definitely be passable, even speed, and he'll be one of your best fighters. To put it bluntly, use Gatrie responsibly. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Shinon Recruited: CHAPTER 3 (CHAPTER 18) Class: Sniper Attribute: Thunder HP ........... Average Speed ........ High Strength ..... High Defense ...... High Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Average Skill ........ Very High Luck ......... Low One more member of the Greil Mercenaries, Shinon is a jackass and it shows. If he disagrees with what you're doing, he'll tell you, and if that means turning around to someone else, you bet. Doesn't help that he hates Ike's guts. At the same time, though, he happens to be a good teacher, and a very talented archer. I won't spoil how to get him back here, so refer to the Chapter 18 section. Shinon is a mixed bag. First of all, I've got to spoil something for you -- he'll be with you in Chapters 3-5, leave and come back in Chapter 7, and then leave for good until Chapter 18, when he'll return at about the same level as the rest of your characters. By then, you'll have Rolf going, and probably, Rolf will be way stronger than Shinon is, if you use him like I do, anyway. When I got Shinon back in any case, his strength and speed were far inferior to Rolf's, although his skill was still better. That's the thing with Shinon; his stats are all pretty good, but Rolf will be better if you plan to use him. So... yeah, either Rolf or Shinon deserve a place in your final party, but you can't use both, and since Rolf is part of the Triangle Attack and has more raw potential, I've really got to recommend him. If you choose to use Shinon, though, rest assured that he's a good, strong character. My Rating: 3.5/5 (loses a whole point for coming back at such a low level) Name: Soren Recruited: CHAPTER 4 Class: Mage -> Sage Attribute: Dark HP ........... Average Speed ........ Average Strength ..... Very Low Defense ...... Low Magic ........ Very High Resistance ... High Skill ........ High Luck ......... Low Yet another member of the Greil Mercenaries (don't worry, it's the last one), Soren is the intelligence behind the operations, and that's not a good thing because like Shinon, he's a jackass and tends to be in the minority. He's also a saucerful of secrets, one of the more interesting characters, AND he uses magic, which is cool. Some people like Soren, some people don't. I am personally a huge fan and go an average of one battle per game without using him. First of all, let's start with the bad. He's frail as all hell when you get him; his HP is low, his Wind spells aren't really that strong, and he gets his ass beat bad. When you get him Fire and Thunder and a few levels, he can stay behind a strong unit like Boyd or Oscar and own pretty much anyone. That's the way it will go for awhile. Here's another complaint I have though: his weapon affinities are pretty bad, and when you get let's say Calill, she'll have a huge edge over him, so make sure he's always going. He has natural orientation in wind, just for your record. And yes, his strength/speed/luck aren't terrific, which is most people's complaint, but as long as you don't go overboard, you shouldn't have a problem. He's not perfect, but in my opinion, he's the best magic user in the game, and just utterly badass. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Mia Recruited: CHAPTER 7 Class: Myrmidon -> Swordmaster Attribute: Fire HP ........... Average Speed ........ High Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Low Magic ........ Average Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... High Alright, I lied, Mia is sort of one of the Greil Mercenaries, as she was hired as a backing mercenary by Greil, and said budding swordswoman is found in the fort of Chapter 7. To recruit her, just have Ike head north and talk to her, and she'll join ya. Don't want to miss her. Mia is the Marisa of Path of Radiance, and if you're unfamiliar with my Sacred Stones viewpoints, that means she's not a bad character by any means, and has a great critical rate (classic myrmidon statistics), but compared to her male counterpart, in this game Zihark, kind of falls short. That's because her stats really are rather mediocre: HP is weak, strength is quite low, and she can't back the lack of HP with defense and resistance. Obviously, the skill, speed, and resistance are going to be high, but Mia will be hurting all game long, even after promotion, because of the strength. So what I'd recommend doing is definitely using her early on, and making her a custom made sword with a good damage and critical rate. Still, you can't do that all game long, even though her Vantage skill is sweet. So yeah, later on, if you only have room for one swordmaster, use Zihark; you probably won't have space for Mia. My Rating: 3.5/5 Name: Ilyana Recruited: CHAPTER 8 Class: Mage -> Sage Attribute: Light HP ........... Low Speed ........ Average Strength ..... Low Defense ...... Low Magic ........ High Resistance ... High Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average Ilyana is a sickly young girl who got captured by Daein after attempting to escape from Crimea. She's found in Chapter 8 in the raid on the fort, and since she's not exactly in good condition, she finds Ike, who agrees to help her out. In my opinion Ilyana is a bit on the mediocre side of things. Let's start with when she joins. She's at that point quite a bit inferior to Soren, even though she comes with a D in thunder and can use Elthunder. However, her base stats are rather bad, especially her speed. But let's just ignore that for a moment and keep going. She's got one thing going over Soren, and that's that she has strength. Why is that good? So she can lift heavy magic. However, Ilyana's speed never gets good, whereas Soren's is fantastic, so that's a huge low point, plus her HP and defense are weak even by mage standards. In the end there's really only going to be room for one mage in the party, and the one I choose is Soren, because the only thing he's got going against him is his non-existant strength, whereas Ilyana has a whole world of things going against her. Underleveledness (I just invented that word) is once again evil. My Rating: 3/5 Name: Rolf Recruited: CHAPTER 9 Class: Archer -> Sniper Attribute: Wind HP ........... Average Speed ........ High Strength ..... Average Defense ...... High Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... High Rolf is the youngest of the three brothers, and it kind of shows if you know what I mean. For the first part of the game, Ike, Boyd, and Oscar refuse to allow him to participate in combat, but with Mist he forces his way in there, because apparently he's been taking secret lessons with someone in archery. Too right he has. At first, Rolf sucks a lot of ass. His strength is terrible, his defense sucks sitting duck, and he's just low leveled. O ye of little faith, look what you can make him. Level him up a little, make him a weapon or two, and you'll see. While he starts out as a pain, Rolf will quickly turn into an absolutely outstanding character. You don't get a whole lot of choice when it comes to bows anyway. Rolf will turn out with solid HP, good speed, decent strength, high skill and luck, and even rather good defense. That's if you're willing to put forth the effort to train him up, which you'd have to be mad to decide not to. He's not even as much a pain as Nephenee (in my opinion) so... yeah. Plus I might add, he can do the triangle attack with Boyd and Oscar later, so you have NO excuse not to use him. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Mist Recruited: CHAPTER 9 Class: Cleric -> Valkyrie Attribute: Water HP ........... Low Speed ........ Average Strength ..... Low Defense ...... Very Low Magic ........ High Resistance ... High Skill ........ Low Luck ......... Very High Mist is Ike's younger sister. She spends the early part of the game just following the group around aimlessly with Rolf until they force their way into the group. She wears with her an accursed seeming pendant which is a keepsake of her mother, and that's really it. Yeah... Let me put this bluntly: Mist blows. I can't come up with any reason you might want to use her, since in the beginning of the game, you've got Rhys, who you already have some levels on, and who has far more potential than Mist anyway. Then you come to this point: Mist's stats are AWFUL. And I mean it. Her HP, strength, skill, and defense are all absolutely hideous. Her speed isn't even great. All she has going for her are resistance and luck. When Mist promotes, she turns into a Valkyrie and ride a horse. That's all well and good, except she can't use light magic! I mean, I'd actually use her in that case, since I'm desperate for people with light magic, but all she gets is a sword, and I don't see what the point is when Mist's strength is so pathetic. Alas, you must use her in Chapter 27, so you might want to make her a Valkyrie at that point so she can use Physic, but otherwise, stay FAR away from her. My Rating: 2/5 Name: Marcia Recruited: CHAPTER 9 Class: Pegasus Knight -> Falcon Knight Attribute: Fire HP ........... Average Speed ........ High Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Low Magic ........ Low Resistance ... High Skill ........ Average Luck ......... High Marcia is a former pegasus knight of Begnion, but she stopped that to help out her brother Makalov, who is undergoing an extreme gambling addiction. Marcia is very outgoing and spunky, plus she has something going on for Ike, which DOES lead to her showing up in Chapter 9 to chase him down, so whatever. Once again, initial underleveledness is fatal. Marcia joins at about level five when most of the rest of your party is going into their tens, making her quite hard to fit in there. Maybe because she joins at the wrong time (Chapter 9 instead of Chapter 3). And let me tell you this: she's extremely hard to raise. None of her growths are particularly great, which just makes the leveling up a ton harder. Plus Marcia's HP, strength, and defense are all quite lackluster. Early on in the game, it's not just archers who will give her a hard time: it's everything short of myrmidons. She never really overcomes that, even though her resistance is great, and she's got a good evasion going on. She's just overly fragile, and plus face it: when you get Tanith, she's a Level 10 Falcon Knight. There's no way Marcia will be that high at that point, and while if you level them both all the way, Marcia DOES outmatch Tanith, it's just... not worth it. My Rating: 3/5 Name: Lethe Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Class: Cat Attribute: Heaven HP ........... High Speed ........ High Strength ..... High Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Very Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... High Lethe is a Gallian warrior who was ordered by King Caineghis to give her aid to Ike. Not exactly the best idea, because Lethe has a huge grudge against beorc, meaning she's generally rude and unfriendly. She does eventually overcome said grudge, though. Alright, so Lethe is your first laguz unit, and is of the beast tribe. Let's just get started on the differences from beorc and laguz. Think of Lethe as an already promoted unit, since she has great stats, gains EXP extremely slowly, and obviously can't promote. Her stats when you get her are fantastic: she'll get two extremely powerful hits to anything, and will take no damage: nothing can damage her... and nothing can hit her anyway. That's the first five or so turns. Then after that, Lethe transforms into "sub-human" form and cannot attack for the next five or so turns, depending on how things play out. So, she's good for quick brawls, but of course that leads to her possibly being another Titania if you abuse her. Laguz are EXTREMELY hard to level up, which is why I don't use them a whole lot. And of course, when it's all said and done, everyone catches up to Lethe, and despite her high evasion, her terrible resistance does her in. She's good for what he is, but I'm more for Ranulf. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Mordecai Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Class: Tiger Attribute: Water HP ........... Very High Speed ........ Low Strength ..... High Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Very Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average Mordecai is an accomplice to Lethe who was ordered by King Caineghis to assist Ike. He's a far more passionate, gentle person than Lethe is, although just look at the two. Mordecai is a big tiger... subordinate to a kitten like Lethe. But yeah, he's not got a beorc grudge. In battle, Mordecai is quite a bit different from Lethe. First of all, it takes about four turns for him to transform, meaning he's not going to be able to attack in the early parts of the battle. That's okay, though, because his defense is pretty good early on, and you're probably not going to be abusing him quite as much. Then when he transforms, you've got strength up the wazoo. He's not going to be dodging as much as Lethe, but the damage is off the charts. All that doesn't last forever, though. While if you level Mordecai up (once again, leveling laguz up is hard), his HP is always going to be great, plus he's always going to have tons of strength, his speed is eventually going to go straight downhill, and his defense in the end turns out a bit average. One thing he has going for him, however, is Smite. Even when not transformed, early on, he's going to be able to support other characters, so shoving characters two spaces is good. But yeah, he's not going to stand up later. My Rating: 3.5/5 Name: Volke Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Class: Thief -> Assassin Attribute: Wind HP ........... Average Speed ........ High Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Very Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average One of my personal favorite characters in the game, Volke is a thief that Ike runs into when going through the castle to release prisoners, and upon choosing to hire him, he's a guy who does odd jobs for you, but for a price, and a person who disappears every two seconds. However, post Chapter 19, his real identity is revealed, and it's quite relevant. Volke has standard thief stats. He's always, always going to double hit the enemy, because of his outstanding speed. His strength is obviously mediocre, but that's understandable. His HP is surprisingly solid, plus he's going to be dodging a ton. And he's not underleveled, which is also good. However, you are pretty much required to use him early on, since he auto promotes in Chapter 19, and you'll want him to be Level 20 by then. When he promotes into an Assassin, Volke is a beast, plain and simple. Give him some Stilettos, and his strength is great, plus his critical rate is way up there. I actually wouldn't give him an Occult scroll though, because while Lethality's concept is great... the activation rate is Critical/2 %. That's terrible. But still, Volke is strong on the battlefield because he has great speed, skill, and his only visible downside is his awful resistance. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Kieran Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Class: Axe Knight -> Paladin Attribute: Wind HP ........... High Speed ........ Average Strength ..... High Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Average Skill ........ High Luck ......... Low An accomplice to Geoffrey, the foremost retainer of Elincia, Kieran is a knight of Crimea who got thrown in jail when Daein invaded. Kieran is one of those egomaniacs who just can't shut up, but hey, don't mess with him in battle, I tell you, because he's got a sharp axe. Just as Kieran and Oscar are rivals in character, they're rivals on the battle scene as well. Kieran, first and foremost, has far superior strength. He's an axe user compared to Oscar with lances, but he's got good skill on top of that too. He's not going to double hit nearly as much as Oscar, though, which is a big minus for me. But enough with the comparison. Kieran joins at a relatively good level, and he's quite a solid character in the beginning and end. When you really get Kieran going, however, you'll find that Oscar really does turn out superior. Kieran does NOT have the defense or the resistance that is required to support oneself in the later parts of the game. In Repatriation, for instance, you will definitely find him getting in tough situations. His strength and skill, however, are awesome, so even if in the long run he's probably inferior to Oscar, use the guy. You won't regret it. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Nephenee Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Class: Soldier -> Halberdier Attribute: Wind HP ........... Average Speed ........ High Strength ..... Average Defense ...... High Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Low Nephenee is a country girl who joined the militia to protect her family, but ended up getting captured by Daein and taken to prison until Ike and company rescue her there with Kieran, Brom, and Sephiran. Because she's from the country she was an old fashioned way of speaking that leads her to ridicule. I think of Nephenee as the Amelia of this game. She starts out weak as anything, having an E in lances and that's it. However, just keep using her anyway, it's not something you can openly say you'll regret. Load her with some bonus and some regular EXP, and she'll catch up in levels to the rest of the party, and become a true force on the battlefield. Her speed is always quite good, and it just gets better as she levels up. Although Nephenee's weak HP and resistance are always something that brings her down half a point for me, her defense eventually skyrockets, and her strength will become quite solid by the time she reaches Halberdier status. So yeah, you'll always hear how Nephenee is the best character in the game. I completely disagree with that notion but you have to admit, Nephenee really does kick ass if you can get past her initial difficulty of use. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Brom Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Class: Knight -> General Attribute: Water HP ........... High Speed ........ Low Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Very High Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Very Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Very Low Brom is a farmer from Crimea who got dragged into the militia, and he's not exactly a big fan of it. He IS just a farmer who, to put it bluntly, knows how to handle a knife and a fork. He's in jail at the castle, and he shivers at the thought of torture. I think Brom would have been a much better Soldier than a Knight. Of the three knights in the game, Gatrie runs in one extreme while Brom is in the other: his speed isn't too terrible, but his strength takes a huge dive because of that. Trust me, I don't use Knights for that terrible kind of balance. While Brom does join at a decent level and his defense rocks ass, strength is a key factor for Knights for me, and Brom lacks that. Even with the speed bonus, Brom will very rarely double attack, so what's the use anyway, even Gatrie double attacks every now and then. So yeah, I can't see a whole lot of reason to use Brom; Gatrie rejoins two chapters after Brom joins, so if you're craving Knight power, you won't be left standing for too long. I might weigh in the fact Brom has extremely poor luck and resistance. Tauroneo or Gatrie are superior, sorry. My Rating: 3/5 Name: Zihark Recruited: CHAPTER 11 Class: Myrmidon -> Swordmaster Attribute: Earth HP ........... Average Speed ........ High Strength ..... High Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average Zihark is a swordsman who is in a vigilante group that fights alongside Daein, who the party runs into at Port Toha. He's highly opposed to the discrimination against laguz, and if he's spoken to by Lethe or Mordecai in Chapter 11... guess what, he's joining you. An absolutely fantastic character, Zihark should become a staple in your party as soon as he joins. He's got the edge over Mia in almost every way: his HP is about the same, but his strength is quite superior. Zihark starts with a Killing Edge anyway, meaning he's going to have at least a 30% critical rate early on. His magic and resistance are obviously pretty low down there, but for a myrmidon he has relatively good defense. The only question will be whether you'll want to use Stefan or Zihark later on. Personally, I slightly prefer Zihark, because if you're willing to level Zihark all the way up to Swordmaster 10-20, his stats will probably end up a bit higher, particularly luck over Stefan's piss poor fortune. I certainly prefer Zihark over Mia and Lucia, and it's in your best interest to give him a try and keep him in your party until the end. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Sothe Recruited: CHAPTER 12 Class: Thief Attribute: Wind HP ........... Low Speed ........ High Strength ..... Low Defense ...... Low Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... High Sothe is a mysterious thief who sneaks onboard Nasir's ship when it sets sail, apparently to look for someone. Of course, Nasir manages to grab him when he's there, and upon questioning by Ike, his problems are understood and he's welcomed onboard. Doesn't mean you're gonna know much about this kid, though. I take back what I said about Mist being the worst character in the game. That title goes to Sothe, for one reason: he can NOT promote. Let me just put this into perspective: you've got Volke, who starts at Level 10, grows relatively well, and after Chapter 19 promotes into an Assassin, and dominates. Meanwhile, Sothe grows EXTREMELY slowly, and while his growths are decent enough, that's only because of his Blossom ability, which causes him to level up very slowly. If somehow you get him to Level 20 (i.e. waste thousands of bonus EXP on him), you'll find he's got thief caps, and he can NEVER be good enough to withstand the kind of things you'll be facing after even Chapter 17. I might add, he joins when you're in the middle of a number of hard battles, so... there's no way to make him good. His HP, strength, defense, and resistance all blow, and no matter what you do with him, he becomes unusable anyway. My suggestion: don't use him at all, ever. My Rating: 1/5 Name: Jill Recruited: CHAPTER 12 Class: Wyvern Rider -> Wyvern Lord Attribute: Thunder HP ........... Average Speed ........ Average Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Average Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average Jill is the daughter of the famous Daein general Shiharam. Because of that, she always wants to do stupid things to make her daddy proud. The most idiotic thing she does (which helps you out) is seeing Ike's army fighting laguz... so hey, Ike's army is the enemy, but laguz are bad, so let's get Ike in her range and have her talk to him and turn traitor. Makes a whole lot of sense. Regardless of what an idiot she is, Jill's actually quite a good character in battle. Let's put it into perspective: Marcia joins three chapters earlier, about three levels lower, and her stats are far worse. Meanwhile, I know Jill is a Wyvern Rider whereas Marcia is a Pegasus Knight, but the two are quite comparable, and Jill isn't ridiculously frail. Especially not against laguz, since she comes with a Laguzguard. My only real complaint about Jill is how she's constantly getting killing by the random number generator, sometimes not leveling a single stat up when she gains a level. That's why all her stats are really average, but hey, she doesn't have a single particularly bad stat, except magic which doesn't matter anyway. So just use her, and you'll find someone with great strength and speed. You only get one more Wyvern Lord anyway. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Astrid Recruited: CHAPTER 13 Class: Bow Knight -> Paladin Attribute: Wind HP ........... Average Speed ........ High Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Low Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average Astrid is a noble of Begnion who ends up fighting for her own reasons, but is commonly seen as a liability on the battlefield because she's not got a whole lot of experience. And of course, when something like that turns up, Gatrie gets involved. Astrid is recruited by talking to her in Chapter 13. So anyways, Astrid joins at Level 1 in Chapter 13, and obviously has terrible base stats at that point, so I know you're expecting me to tell you she sucks. Actually, she doesn't -- my opinion is that she's one of the most underrated characters in the game. She comes with the Paragon ability, meaning she'll level up twice as fast as anyone else. Give her a custom weapon, and eventually she'll start owning everyone she sees, and leveling up about twice per three kills. Astrid should have absolutely no problem promoting, except by then I'd delete Paragon so she doesn't get overleveled. And at that point she's a very good utility unit: her strength is quite solid, skill and speed are great, and her evasion is way up there. She'll never get the HP to really stand up, though, plus there aren't a whole lot of archers in the game. While it's up to you whether you'd rather use Rolf and Geoffrey, though, I'd say definitely give Astrid a chance. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Makalov Recruited: CHAPTER 14 Class: Sword Knight -> Paladin Attribute: Thunder HP ........... Average Speed ........ Average Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Average Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Low Makalov just so happens to be Marcia's brother. You can see just by looking at him (and his hideous character portrait) that there's a reason Marcia quit the pegasus knights. Makalov is a moron always gambling, and getting himself into trouble. Then again, you can always have Marcia talk to him in Chapter 14 to get him to join. Makalov is my least favorite of the cavaliers in the game by far. I don't know about you, but I've got Oscar, Kieran, Astrid, and later Geoffrey. There is no room in my ideal party for Makalov, what with the ridiculous amount of work he requires to become a great member of your party. Not to mention his character portrait makes Lowen's from FE7 look good. Level 10 without Paragon in Chapter 14 is just not good enough in my book. I might add to that, Makalov's base stats are horrible. His strength, skill, and speed are all so mediocre I can barely bring myself to level him up. Now don't get me wrong, Makalov has potential. If you really do use him a lot, everything except maybe his skill will go up, but it's just a sacrifice I'm not willing to make. I have four other paladins to use, I don't need another. And I discriminate against ugly people. Whoops, I wasn't supposed to say that... My Rating: 3/5 (not my cup of tea, but maybe yours) Name: Stefan Recruited: CHAPTER 15 Class: Swordmaster Attribute: Heaven HP ........... Average Speed ........ High Strength ..... High Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Average Skill ........ High Luck ......... Low Stefan, much like Soren, is half beorc and half laguz, and we all know how bad that is. Unlike Soren, however, Stefan chooses to isolate himself from society and remain a hermit in the desert. To have him join in Chapter 15, you need to move a laguz to the northeast, then two squares to the left and one square down. Yeah, that's seriously what you have to do. In my opinion, Stefan is just slightly inferior to Zihark. Obviously, he'll be joining in Chapter 15 if you find him, and he's a Level 8 Swordmaster. That's crazy, and there's no way you'll be using him at that point, since he swipes EXP from you worse than Titania. He does, however, have pretty good stats, except his luck, which I'll get to in a second, so in the early to mid 20s when the rest of your party has caught up to him, start using Stefan. Stefan comes equipped with the Vague Katti sword, which has only 25 uses but a wild critical rate, so he's not a man you want to mess with. I'd definitely use the Hammerne at least once on the Vague Katti, especially with Stefan's awesome default Astra raping it. But here's my issue: Stefan has very poor luck, so he's not going to be able to critical very much without the Katti. If you can, give him an Ashera Icon, then raise him a bit later, and he'll be good. Not perfect, but a great alternative to Zihark or especially Mia/Lucia. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Tormod Recruited: CHAPTER 15 Class: Mage -> Sage Attribute: Fire HP ........... Low Speed ........ High Strength ..... Low Defense ...... Low Magic ........ High Resistance ... High Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average Tormod is a young mage who lives in the desert under the care of the tiger Maurim. He's also the self proclaimed leader of the Laguz Emancipation Army in the desert. Why he cares so much about the laguz, I don't know, but when Maurim surrenders and joins, he does. Tormod comes with one flaw that I absolutely cannot look past: he is horribly underleveled, plus he's the last unpromoted character that will ever join you, coming in at Chapter 16. This is the deal breaker for me and Tormod: he comes at such a low level, that you have to load him up with tons of bonus EXP that I would just rather give it to Soren, if you want him to be of any use. It's just a question of whether or not you're willing to do that. He's not without his good points though. He can turn out to be a very decent sage, perhaps a rival to Soren if you do train him up, plus he comes with the Celerity skill, which, while it hogs 15 capacity, gives him two extra movement. Very helpful. Tormod also has a rather decent innate strength compared to Soren (well hell, anyone does...), so couple that with his very good speed and he'll be able to double attack, but for me it's just too much effort needed to get him caught up with the rest of your party. My Rating: 3.5/5 Name: Maurim Recruited: CHAPTER 15 Class: Tiger Attribute: Thunder HP ........... Very High Speed ........ Average Strength ..... High Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Very Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average Maurim is a tiger laguz living the Begnion desert to get away from the discrimination of society, much like Stefan. He's the other leader of the Laguz Emancipation Army there, but starts out as a boss of chapter 15. Once he's beaten, though, he realizes Ike isn't racist and joins, ya. If I haven't said it yet, I'll say it again: laguz are ridiculously hard to level up because of the fact they're already considered on their second cycle of levels, so if you're going to use them you're better off with the ones that are already at a high level. Being that you only have two tigers, Mordecai and Maurim, Maurim is definitely your answer to that. You saw him in Chapter 15, he's Level 9 with 45 HP. The only disadvantage to Maurim rather than Mordecai, to me, is the fact Maurim doesn't have Smite. That's not too major of a loss though, since his stats are extremely decent. His HP is quite high and will of course always increase upon levels, his strength and defense are both solid, and his speed isn't too bad either, so where can you go wrong. It just depends on whether you like laguz or not. If you do, only Ranulf can hope to top Maurim. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Devdan Recruited: CHAPTER 16 Class: Halberdier Attribute: Fire HP ........... High Speed ........ Low Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Average Resistance ... Average Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average Devdan is a weird dude under Duke Tanas whom I think is mentally retarded. By that, I'm referring to the fact he speaks in the first person and just generally looks like he has problems. To recruit him in Chapter 16, have one of the following characters talk to him: Soren, Rolf, Mist, Sothe, or Tormod. Why does that work? Because the guy doesn't want to fight kids. Surprise surprise. Devdan is a rather mediocre character all in all. Starting with the stats, you may notice that almost all of them are average. He isn't as bad as some people might claim, but he's quite inferior to Nephenee, except the fact that he is, of course, a little higher leveled. But being that their stats are probably about the same when he joins in Chapter 16, yet Nephenee is lower leveled, you run into a problem. While just from looking above you can tell that Devdan's stats are at least average, that's all they are... average. Nephenee beats him in almost everything except luck, which isn't the most important thing in the world. Devdan has decent magic power (Flame Lance yo), plus early on his strength isn't terrible, but in the endgame there are so many characters miles ahead of him that you just can't be bothered anymore. My Rating: 3/5 Name: Tanith Recruited: CHAPTER 18 Class: Falcon Knight Attribute: Earth HP ........... Average Speed ........ High Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Low Magic ........ Average Resistance ... Average Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average Tanith is a general of the pegasus knights of Begnion. Because of that, she follows the orders of the apostle Sanaki, and is ordered to help Ike in the battle against Daein. She has absolutely loyalty to Sanaki, but will join your group in Chapter 18. When you first get Tanith she'll steal EXP away from you even worse than Titania or Stefan. She's a Level 10 Falcon Knight, which obviously is already promoted. And her stats are by no means outstanding; her HP is only decent, plus her strength isn't the best, though she compensates for that by coming with a Sonic Sword, and coincidentally very strong magic power. Not only that, but she's fast as hell too, and her skill stat is quite high. That being said, if you really worked at training Marcia up, Marcia could possibly surpass her. Here's what Marcia can't do though: Tanith comes with the Reinforce skill, which sends in a Falcon Knight and two Pegasus Knights. She can do this twice per battle, which effectively leads to six allied units helping you out. This is quite helpful at times (especially in Chapter 19...), but I wouldn't throw her right into the battle as soon as you get her, because she simply can't benefit from the EXP given, and will just steal it from you. When you get past that, though, she's a fabulous character. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Reyson Recruited: CHAPTER 18 Class: Heron Attribute: Fire HP ........... Low Speed ........ High Strength ..... Very Low Defense ...... Low Magic ........ Average Resistance ... Very High Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Very High Reyson is one of the few remaining members of the heron tribe, due to the Serenes Massacre that befell the forest where he lives. Because of that he has a grudge against beorc that rivals Lethe's, and it doesn't help that Naesala sells him into the company of a fat little bastard named Duke Oliver Tanas. The most unique character in the game by far. Well, I'll admit, I wasn't a huge fan of Ninian and Tethys, the Dancers from previous Fire Emblems. If you're unfamiliar with them, basically their purpose was to go next to characters and give them an extra turn, but I was always all for using another strong character instead of them. Reyson is much, much better. When he's in his normal form, he does just that: he gives characters an extra turn. However, when Reyson transforms, his Chant ability gives EVERYONE AROUND HIM an extra turn! Is that not amazing, or what? With that, you can kick the asses off of six enemies, and heal two near dead units instead of one... in a single turn. If that wasn't enough, Reyson has another ability which gives adjacent characters 10 HP back every turn. Reyson does, however, have horrible stats. His HP is horrible and he has absolutely no defense, but oh well, keep him out of range of stuff. You have the game's best support character by a mile. My Rating: 5/5 (I'd give him a 6 if his HP/defense were better) Name: Janaff Recruited: CHAPTER 18 Class: Hawk Attribute: Thunder HP ........... High Speed ........ High Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Low Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average Janaff is the right hand man to King Tibarn Phoenicis. Of the two, Janaff is the happier, more cheerful one, as his character portrait in contrast to Ulki's may suggest. He's known as the king's eyes, meaning he can see far away, even through the fog of war. I rarely ever use either Janaff or Ulki in battle, but if you choose to use Janaff, know that his strength is mediocre but his speed is quite high. Also, as his title of the king's eyes suggests, he will absolutely never miss his target. So he's got great skill too, plus if you want to give him that Gamble scroll, that'd definitely be interesting. Unfortunately, Janaff's defense and resistance will really start to suffer in the later parts of the game, and he just doesn't get the extra evasion that Ulki does, so... I can't really recommend him. If you need a hawk, use Ulki. My Rating: 3.5/5 Name: Ulki Recruited: CHAPTER 18 Class: Hawk Attribute: Water HP ........... High Speed ........ Average Strength ..... High Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average Ulki is the left hand man to King Tibarn Phoenicis. It's hard to believe he's actually a loyal, good guy, cuz just look at that character portrait. He's a quiet bird laguz, but he's known as the king's ears, and can hear things from far away. Even though I almost never use Ulki in battle, he's actually not a bad character at all, and if you need a crow I'd definitely prefer him to Janaff. He has quite high HP, very good strength, and while his speed isn't quite as good as his brother, it's not that bad at all. Ulki, as the king's ears, also comes with an additional skill called Vigilance which really raises his evasion. When you weigh that in with his rather decent defense, you've got quite a solid character. And while he transforms in battle a little late, he has good movement so he can easily join in the fray. Overall... not bad at all. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Calill Recruited: CHAPTER 20 Class: Sage Attribute: Dark HP ........... Average Speed ........ Average Strength ..... Low Defense ...... Average Magic ........ High Resistance ... Average Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Low Calill is little more than a country girl, but at the same time is a world class mage. If you check your info at the beginning of Chapter 20, you'll find her, and she demands to be placed into the party because she's so awesome. Okay... that's really weird, but I'll take another sage. I... rather like Calill. She's by far the easiest of the other sages besides Soren to pick up, in my opinion, but that's just me. Just face it: she's got slightly better stats than Ilyana, comes at a much higher level than Tormod, and lol Bastian. The good thing is that she automatically has a B proficiency in all three magic types, plus comes with a Meteor. Of course she can then use all of the long range spells whenever you give them to her. Calill doesn't have the magic power that Soren does, but she DOES compensate for that with strength, so she can double attack with the heavy magic. Her speed isn't too bad, plus she can defend herself in battle with relative ease. So if you dislike Soren because of his strength or stuff, you have no better option than Calill in my opinion, though you may want to keep an eye on her speed just in case. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Tauroneo Recruited: CHAPTER 21 Class: General Attribute: Thunder HP ........... High Speed ........ Low Strength ..... High Defense ...... High Magic ........ Average Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Low Tauroneo is a Daein general who Ike meets in the Daein Keep, but he's opposed to what the army has been doing ever since Ashnard has taken over. Because of that, he enters the battle ready to die. If you do talk to him with Ike, he reveals that he was an old friend of Greil's, and joins Ike to make sure his swordsmanship never dies. Not a bad reason. Alright, Tauroneo comes way too high leveled for his own good, considering the stats that he has. My Gatrie at Level 3 had about the same or higher stats than Tauroneo at Level 14, and trust me, that's not a good thing. His stats can be a bit strange; his HP is pretty good overall, although Gatrie will definitely surpass him. Strength and defense are good, nothing superb, but they're there. His resistance is okay, nothing too good. He's got decent magic though, so if you want to use him for the Flame Lance or Sonic Sword, you do that. That's the thing: if you're planning on using Gatrie or Brom AT ALL, a general who doesn't have the stats to compensate for his levels isn't going to contribute anything, even if he has excellent proficiency in both swords and lances, and also one of the greatest skills in the game: Resolve. Though Tauroneo will rarely get below half HP, that plus Wrath if you add that to him will make him a lot better. So overall, he's not too bad. Not great, but not too bad. My Rating: 3.5/5 Name: Ranulf Recruited: CHAPTER 23 Class: Cat Attribute: Wind HP ........... High Speed ........ High Strength ..... High Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Very Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average Ranulf is the laguz general of the Gallian army. In short, the only ones stronger than him are Caineghis and Giffca, as far as beast laguz go. Despite being a general, that doesn't stop him from being a joker, and somewhat of a klutz. If there's one laguz that you use in Path of Radiance, let it be Ranulf. He's quite a bit better than Lethe in just about every aspect (levels being one thing, it's pretty hard to build up Lethe up to Ranulf's level) except one thing which may possibly turn you off: it takes a couple turns for him to transform whereas with Lethe, it's the first turn. That's both good and bad. If you're for instant aggressive action, Ranulf may not be your man. But that will in the long run make him last the whole battle. Ranulf has very high HP and is one of the fiercest, quickest laguz you'll ever see. Plus he can avoid just about everything except fire magic and Meteor, which will obviously kill him off quickly. However, he excels in just about everything except magic and resistance. He obviously has no need for the former, but the low resistance will give him some vulnerability. His defense isn't anything special, but it's definitely solid enough to keep him going, especially weighed in with his high HP. You won't get him until Chapter 23, but after that, I'd say he's worth using. Name: Haar Recruited: CHAPTER 23 Class: Wyvern Lord Attribute: Wind HP ........... High Speed ........ Average Strength ..... High Defense ...... High Magic ........ Average Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Low Haar is a wyvern lord from Daein. He gives a new meaning to laid back, in that he doesn't take his job seriously at all and falls asleep right in the middle of duty. That doesn't stop him from taking a personal grudge against Ashnard and respecting Shiharam though. And of course, he may just turn coat over to you if Jill talks to him... hint hint. Chapter 23. Haar's usefulness is just based on how Jill turned out for you, honestly. If you use Jill, you know that her random number generator will either make her amazing or terrible. If she turned out amazing, then her stats will probably be about equal to Haar in most aspects, except her speed will be MUCH higher. That, and her defense will probably be a little lower, but her speed will be tremendously superior. There's no room for both Jill and Haar in a party, so you need one or the other. In battle though, Haar is one of the strongest characters out there. His strength is quite high, his magic makes him the only axe user who can even fathom using the Bolt Axe, plus he has the skill to back it up. The only disadvantage for me is his decisively lackluster speed. That, and his resistance blows too. So, I'm sorry that I'm just comparing him to Jill, but that's what it boils down to. He's an extremely solid character, but Jill may very well end up better. Or maybe not. It's completely random. My Rating: 4/5 Name: Lucia Recruited: CHAPTER 24 Class: Swordmaster Attribute: Earth HP ........... Low Speed ........ High Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Low Magic ........ Average Resistance ... Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... High Lucia is one of the three most loyal retainers to Princess Elincia. She's the brother to Geoffrey, which isn't at all surprising, since she's a lot more serious than her male counterpart, Bastian. But seriously though, did we need a fourth swordmaster on top of characters that shine in different aspects like Mia, Zihark, and Stefan? Another halberdier or something would be nifty, but I digress. Lucia is probably actually the weakest of all the four swordmasters, as like all of them she has good speed, plus her luck is a lot better than Stefan's, but apart from that she's just... frail. Her strength is incredibly lacking compared to the others, and her HP is also quite bad. She just comes across as being at too high of a level, joining too late in the game and not having the stats to compensate for that. She's not completely useless; if you don't like Zihark or Stefan for some reason she can definitely replace them if you help her stats out a little bit and give her some skills and stuff, and she definitely has a lot more potential than Bastian, but personally I'd just rather use Zihark or Stefan. My Rating: 3.5/5 Name: Bastian Recruited: CHAPTER 24 Class: Sage Attribute: Wind HP ........... Low Speed ........ Low Strength ..... Low Defense ...... Low Magic ........ High Resistance ... High Skill ........ High Luck ......... Low Bastian is one of the three most loyal retainers to Princess Elincia. I'd hardly call Bastian someone loyal though, because he's so crazy it's... well, crazy. Every two seconds, he's off giving long winded, joyous speeches which will drive you up the walls instantly. It's not like in battle, Bastian is much better either. He's the fifth of the five sages in the game, and the worst of all of them. The main reason for that is that his speed is so utterly horrible that he can't keep up with anyone. If you're comparing him to Soren, who's probably about the same level as him when they join, there is absolutely nothing better about Bastian than Soren, except his strength is a bit higher. Which reminds me, Bastian also uses knives, which blow ass. Another thing which sucks about Bastian is his skill, Corrosion. It's the worst skill in the game, in that it lowers the enemy's weapon durability. Give me a freaking break. Seriously. So, yeah, his stats are too bad for me to consider using him, from speed to luck. He's not the worst character in the game by any means, but there's four superior sages. My Rating: 2.5/5 Name: Geoffrey Recruited: CHAPTER 25 Class: Paladin Attribute: Fire HP ........... High Speed ........ High Strength ..... High Defense ...... High Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Low Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Low Geoffrey is one of the three most loyal retainers to Princess Elincia. As a Crimean general and also one of those retainers, his personality is no surprise. He is incredibly stern and serious, and is absolutely obsessed with Elincia to the point of utter creepiness. But he kicks ass, so who cares. The sixth of the six paladins in Path of Radiance is easily one of the best. You'll first see Geoffrey in Chapter 24 fending off a bunch of enemies there, but he officially joins you in Chapter 25, where you'll notice how great he is. Unlike the other two, he is at a high level but actually has REALLY GOOD stats to come with that. If that wasn't enough, he comes with the amazing Paragon skill, which if you forgot gives you double EXP, so he'll be at Level 20 in no time at all. Geoffrey is awesome, and I really mean it. I really would throw him right into your party if it isn't absolutely, completely solidified. While in my opinion Oscar may be a little better than him (plus Geoffrey uses lance and bows which is just a total copy of Oscar...), Geoffrey kicks Makalov's and Titania's asses, is a little better than Kieran and Astrid, and his only rival is Oscar. His strength, HP, defense, and speed are all remarkable. Definitely recommended. My Rating: 4.5/5 Name: Largo Recruited: CHAPTER 25 Class: Berserker Attribute: Wind HP ........... Very High Speed ........ High Strength ..... High Defense ...... Low Magic ........ Very Low Resistance ... Very Low Skill ........ High Luck ......... Low Largo is an extremely... strange man who joins the group at Chapter 25 right off a whim, saying that he's a world class berserker. Remind you of anyone? Yeah, Calill, who he seems to have a strange connection with. Apart from that, Largo appears to be strong enough to take down two tigers. Too bad he's just a little bit dubious. Alright, so Largo is an even more extreme version of Boyd. He's a Berserker rather than a Fighter, but they're essentially the same type of character, except like I said, Largo just leans in the directions Boyd does... even more. Starting with his HP. Ignoring the uber laguz, Largo has pretty much the highest HP of anyone in the game. His strength and speed are quite high, plus he's got the skill to back up his use of axes. However, there's some big faults to Largo as well. Obviously he has no magic, but who in their right mind would give him the Bolt Axe. He has very low defense, not very good luck, and a base resistance of freaking 3. Magic will absolutely slaughter the guy, so if you have him within 10 squares of some of those sages, he's done for. He does have good speed though, which is the most important thing, but still, he can't be a "berserker" with defensive stats that weak. My Rating: 3/5 Name: Elincia Recruited: CHAPTER 26 Class: Princess Crimea Attribute: Heaven HP ........... Low Speed ........ High Strength ..... Low Defense ...... Low Magic ........ Average Resistance ... Average Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average Elincia needs no introduction. She's the princess of Crimea, but her identity was kept a secret. And of course, she was found by Gatrie and the others, and went around with Ike's group for a while until she begs Geoffrey to let her fight in battle... and hey, she's got a pegasus. As the last beorc in the game, Elincia joins in Chapter 26 at level one. Yeah, seriously, level one. Sure, it may be a promoted level one, but seriously. In battle, she's not too good. Her class is a Princess Crimea, but in reality, she's a Falcon Knight with staves and no lances. And I'm all for that idea, but as a healer Elincia pales in comparison to Rhys or whomever else, even though her magic is high for a physical attacker. Here's why Elincia sucks: her strength is abysmal. She comes with a sword called the Amiti which strikes twice, and that's good, but each hit does so little damage it's barely worth it. Elincia's HP and defense are bad even by pegasus/falcon knight standards too, so pretty much the only way to ensure she won't be a burden on the battlefield is to load her up with a ton of bonus EXP. And when it comes down to that, I lack the willingness. She'd be great if she joined at Level 10, but at Level 1... that brings her down. My Rating: 2/5 (loses two points for low levels, so there) Name: Ena Recruited: CHAPTER 28 (if you don't beat the Black Knight) Class: Dragon Attribute: Earth HP ........... High Speed ........ Low Strength ..... Average Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Average Resistance ... Average Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Low Ena is to Daein what Soren is to the Greil Mercenaries/Crimean army: she's a general and the tactician of the army, but there's always something suspicious about her. The thing about Ena is that she's only in Daein to be close to the one she loves. She also has a close connection with Nasir. I have to first tell you how to get Ena. The battle in Chapter 27 can either be lost or won (you lose it if you exceed six turns). If you manage to win it, you get Nasir instead of Ena, and I'll tell you right now that's a reward. But if you lose it, you get Ena instead, so I guess I'll come right out and say it: Ena sucks and is without a shadow of doubt inferior to Nasir. The reason for this is that Ena is a Level 10 dragon whereas Nasir is a Level 18 dragon. BIG DIFFERENCE, PEOPLE. The flaw with dragons as a whole is their terrible speed, and Ena just gets raped by her speed. She'll NEVER be able to double attack, which is a serious flaw, and her strength just isn't high enough to compensate for that. She has Renewal and Miracle, which aren't bad skills by any means, but she'll just fall apart in the final chapter if you're using her. Either way, I wouldn't waste bonus EXP or anything on Ena. Just pray that you win the battle and can get Nasir instead. My Rating: 2.5/5 Name: Nasir Recruited: CHAPTER 28 (if you do beat the Black Knight) Class: White Dragon Attribute: Light HP ........... High Speed ........ Average Strength ..... High Defense ...... High Magic ........ Average Resistance ... Very High Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average Nasir is an outcast from Goldoa, who acts as a ferryman between Crimea and Begnion. Ike's group meets him there, and he ends up as one of the more important characters in the story. The first interesting point about him being that he's actually a laguz (a white dragon to be exact) in disguise. That being said, he's rather strange and you'll learn more about him as the story goes on. Once again, you can either win or lose the second battle of Chapter 27. If you lose you get stuck with Ena, and if you win, your reward is the kickass white dragon Nasir. Nasir is superior to Ena in absolutely every way. He's Level 18 while Ena is Level 10, and because of that has overall higher stats (22 base speed compared to Ena's 15, guys) in almost every aspect. So Nasir automatically doesn't suffer too much from the dragon speed, so the only major flaw he has for me is very lackluster movement. That's just because he's a complete tank, though. He has ridiculous HP, very high strength, great defense, and pretty good skill on top of that. That, and his resistance is godlike. He's definitely worth using in the last two battles which you can use, and hey, he can damage Ashnard, something not many can do. My Rating: 4.5/5 (fun fact: Nasir is so strong he can shove guys on horses) Name: Tibarn Recruited: ENDGAME (pick one of Tibarn, Naesala, Giffca) Class: Hawk Attribute: Heaven HP ........... Very High Speed ........ High Strength ..... Very High Defense ...... High Magic ........ Low Resistance ... High Skill ........ Very High Luck ......... High Tibarn is the great King Phoenicis. He leads an extremely compassionate nation, unlike his other bird counterpart, Naesala of Kilvas. He has a grudge against beorc, though it doesn't control him and make him do irrational things, much unlike Reyson. His eyesight and hearing also come from his two vassals, Janaff and Ulki. You only get one of Tibarn, Naesala, and Giffca. Tibarn is a mixed bag in that he absolutely kicks ass, but he's fought alongside you at two other intervals, and you already know about him. If you do choose him, though, be prepared to have an utterly amazing character among your ranks. While Naesala and Giffca conform to the other two sides of the extreme spectrum, Tibarn is in the middle: he's very fast and very strong, moreso than Giffca or Naesala respectively, but he has got everything, so like the others, you can't go wrong with him. My Rating: 5.5/5 Name: Naesala Recruited: ENDGAME (pick one of Tibarn, Naesala, Giffca) Class: Raven Attribute: Dark HP ........... High Speed ........ Very High Strength ..... High Defense ...... Average Magic ........ Average Resistance ... Average Skill ........ Very High Luck ......... Average Naesala is the notorious King Kilvas. Unlike Tibarn, Naesala is an extremely shrewd character who has little to no honor, and will do anything to earn a little bit of gold. This leads to trouble for him though, such as his selling Reyson to Oliver and losing trust. He actually does turn out to be a useful person in the end, though, since he leads to Reyson finding Leanne. Whether you choose Naesala or not depends on what mode of play you're on. If you're in normal, you can't go wrong with Naesala. I mean, hey, he's not got the strength that Giffca or even Tibarn has, but he can hit from two squares away, and he's fast as hell (nothing can hit him, period). However, if you're on hard, he's pretty much useless because you can't get him until Ashnard's second form, which he's useless against, so depends. I don't need to tell you how awesome Naesala is, just not in hard mode. My Rating: 5/5 Name: Giffca Recruited: ENDGAME (pick one of Tibarn, Naesala, Giffca) Class: Lion Attribute: Dark HP ........... Very High Speed ........ High Strength ..... Very High Defense ...... High Magic ........ Low Resistance ... Average Skill ........ Very High Luck ......... Average Giffca is the shadow of King Caineghis of Gallia. Not much is known about him, and he plays very little part in anything, except on the battle scene, he's the only Lion. And damn is he strong, though it makes me curious why Caineghis couldn't come out and fight instead of his "shadow". Probably the most appealing of the three to choose, since Giffca is the only one you haven't seen in battle in the past. Giffca is an amazing character even if out of the three laguz generals he's the only one who can't fly. That's what he is, he certainly isn't the fastest character around (though he is pretty good and can double hit), but when he hits you, you'll feel it a few years down the round. Plus that HP... oh my god. If you're playing hard mode, I'd pick Giffca. He doesn't get enough credit, seriously. My Rating: 5.5/5 ~- Vb. Supports ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~--~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Many thanks to SerenesForest.net for this incredible list here. Basically, what you see before you are the character's attribute, their options for supports, and the number of times they must fight in a battle together for each support level. So basically, "8/11/26" means eight for the first conversation, eleven total (three more) for the second, and a whooping 26 for the third. The more conversations you have with a character, the more your stats will increase when they're by you. ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Character | Opt 1 | Opt 2 | Opt 3 | Opt 4 | Opt 5 | Opt 6 | Opt 7 | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Ike | Titania | Oscar | Soren | Lethe | Reyson | Ranulf | Elincia | (earth) | 8/11/26 | 5/8/11 |5/12/19 | 4/9/14 | 5/8/11 | 1/2/3 | 1/1/2 | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Titania | Ike | Boyd | Rhys | Mist | | | | (light) | 8/11/26 | 7/15/20| 5/8/11 | 3/6/9 | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Oscar | Ike | Kieran | Janaff | Tanith | | | | (earth) | 5/8/11 | 2/5/8 | 3/6/8 | 3/6/9 | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Boyd | Titania | Mist | Brom | Ulki | | | | (fire) | 7/15/20 |6/10/17 | 4/8/11 | 2/5/8 | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Rhys | Titania | Mia | Rolf | Kieran | Ulki | | | (fire) | 5/8/11 | 4/8/12 | 3/6/9 | 3/6/9 | 4/7/10 | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Shinon | Gatrie | Rolf | Janaff | | | | | (thunder) | 3/8/10 | 0/2/4 | 1/4/8 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Gatrie | Shinon | Ilyana | Marcia | Astrid | | | | (light) | 3/8/10 | 4/8/12 | 3/7/10 | 3/6/11 | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Soren | Ike | Stefan | | | | | | (dark) | 5/12/19 | 4/9/12 | | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Mia | Rhys | Ilyana | Largo | | | | | (fire) | 4/8/12 | 4/8/12 | 1/2/3 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Ilyana | Gatrie | Mia |Mordecai| Zihark | Lucia | | | (light) | 4/8/12 | 4/8/12 | 2/5/8 | 4/9/14 | 1/2/3 | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Marcia | Gatrie | Rolf | Kieran | Tanith | | | | (fire) | 3/7/10 | 2/5/8 | 3/7/11 | 1/5/9 | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Mist | Titania | Boyd | Rolf |Mordecai| Jill | | | (water) | 3/6/9 |6/10/17 | 1/3/7 | 3/6/9 | 1/3/5 | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Rolf | Rhys | Shinon | Marcia | Mist |Tauroneo| | | (wind) | 3/6/9 | 0/2/4 | 2/5/8 | 1/3/7 | 1/3/5 | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Lethe | Ike | Jill | Maurim | Ranulf | | | | (heaven) | 4/9/14 | 2/4/10 | 3/6/9 | 1/2/3 | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Mordecai | Ilyana | Mist | Stefan | Ulki | Ranulf | | | (water) | 2/5/8 | 3/6/9 | 2/4/11 | 3/5/7 | 1/2/3 | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Volke | Bastian | | | | | | | (wind) | 0/1/2 | | | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Kieran | Oscar | Rhys | Marcia | | | | | (wind) | 2/5/8 | 3/6/9 | 3/7/11 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Brom | Boyd |Nephenee| Zihark | | | | | (water) | 4/8/11 | 4/8/11 | 3/6/9 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Nephenee | Brom | Devdan | Calill | | | | | (wind) | 4/8/11 | 2/5/8 | 1/3/5 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Zihark | Ilyana | Brom | Maurim | | | | | (earth) | 4/9/14 | 3/6/9 | 3/6/9 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Sothe | Astrid | Tormod | | | | | | (wind) | 3/7/11 | 3/6/9 | | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Jill | Mist | Lethe | Haar | | | | | (thunder) | 1/3/5 | 2/4/10 | 1/2/4 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Astrid | Gatrie | Sothe |Makalov | | | | | (wind) | 3/6/11 | 3/7/11 | 3/6/10 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Makalov | Astrid | Haar |Bastian | | | | | (thunder) | 3/6/10 | 1/3/5 | 1/3/4 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Stefan | Soren |Mordecai| | | | | | (heaven | 4/9/12 | 2/4/11 | | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Tormod | Sothe | Devdan | Reyson | Calill | | | | (fire) | 3/6/9 | 1/4/7 | 1/3/5 | 2/4/6 | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Maurim | Lethe | Zihark | Largo | | | | | (thunder) | 3/6/9 | 3/6/9 | 1/2/3 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Devdan |Nephenee | Tormod | Largo | | | | | (fire) | 2/5/8 | 1/4/7 | 1/2/3 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Reyson | Ike | Tormod | Tanith | | | | | (fire) | 5/8/11 | 1/3/5 | 2/6/11 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Ulki | Boyd | Rhys |Mordecai| | | | | (water) | 2/5/8 | 4/7/10 | 3/5/7 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Janaff | Oscar | Shinon | Lucia | | | | | (thunder) | 3/6/8 | 1/4/8 | 1/2/3 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Tanith | Oscar | Marcia | Reyson | | | | | (earth) | 3/6/9 | 1/5/9 | 2/6/11 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Calill |Nephenee | Tormod |Geoffrey| | | | | (dark) | 1/3/5 | 2/4/6 | 1/2/3 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Tauroneo | Rolf | Largo | | | | | | (thunder) | 1/3/5 | 1/2/3 | | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Ranulf | Ike | Lethe |Mordecai| | | | | (wind) | 1/2/3 | 1/2/3 | 1/2/3 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Haar | Jill |Makalov | | | | | | (wind) | 1/2/4 | 1/3/5 | | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Lucia | Ilyana | Janaff |Bastian | | | | | (earth) | 1/2/3 | 1/2/3 | 0/2/3 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Bastian | Volke |Makalov | Lucia | | | | | (wind) | 0/1/2 | 1/3/4 | 0/2/3 | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Geoffrey | Calill |Elincia | | | | | | (fire) | 1/2/3 | 1/2/2 | | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Largo | Mia | Maurim | Devdan |Tauroneo| | | | (wind) | 1/2/3 | 1/2/3 | 1/2/3 | 1/2/3 | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ Elincia | Ike |Geoffrey| | | | | | (heaven) | 1/1/2 | 1/2/2 | | | | | | ----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ VI. Walkthrough (Part 1) ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The game you are about to start is a sweeping epic, let me tell ya. It all begins with the Prologue and then goes all the way to the Endgame excellently, so enjoy it as it goes. 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. -> Unless you really, really don't want to use a character ever again, you might as well reset if they die. Especially if they are: Boyd, Oscar, Rolf, Kieran, Zihark, Soren, Nephenee, Astrid, Reyson, Geoffrey. -> Forging weapons rocks. ENTER PATH OF RADIANCE! ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIa. Mercenaries ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 0 ~ My Party: Ike ~ Maximum Turns: N/A The game begins as a young man named Ike, who seems to want to continue on his life as a mercenary, is sparring with his father Greil, who coincidentally is the leader of a band of mercenaries, and naturally he can't land a hit on him. So then Ike's sister Mist starts singing a song, and then fade back into the battle, where a rather brutish guy with an axe named Boyd shows up. Might as well duel with someone closer to Ike's own skill, eh? =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 2 Fighter (Boyd) Lv. 10 Hero (Greil) Alright, if you can't beat this battle, then you truly are a lost cause. There will be random tutorials that pop up here and again, but most of them are total common sense and do not by any means need to be watched. So yeah, just focus on the battle for now, which is just your Level 1 Ranger, Ike, against a Level 2 Fighter, Boyd. Just move a little bit forward and note that Boyd doesn't even attack... all he does is just stand there. Sure, he'll do 8 damage when he counterattacks, but Ike will do 9 damage and as such can do him in with two hits, having taken 8 damage. See, I even calculated that for ya! When Boyd is done, Greil enters the battle... and he's much stronger. You can definitely beat him (I've never lost), but you'll have to make use of the Vulnerary that Mist gives you. So basically, move in Greil's range and let him hit you. Ike will counterattack for one of three hits. Now use a Vulnerary so that Ike can get some HP back, then he'll counterattack Greil a second time. And then you can just hit Greil normally for the third hit, and Ike should get somewheres around 70 EXP, which will put him at Level 2. A very good thing. So with that victory, Ike is made into a mercenary. Why you would want to become one I don't know, but anyways, the first chapter is nigh. =============================================================================== ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIb. The Battle Begins ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar ~ Maximum Turns: 4 [200 (-10)] Ike is placed into the care of the general Titania, as well as two brothers Boyd and Oscar, while Greil rides with two advanced knights by the names of Shinon and Gatrie, ride on a more dangerous mission, while Mist and Rolf, the younger siblings of Ike and Oscar/Boyd... are left. But anyway, looks like all you need to do is wipe out a town of bandits, so that's rather easy, am I not right? =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 5 Bandit (Zawana) N/A Lv. 2 Bandit x1 Lv. 1 Bandit x1 Lv. 1 Fighter x2 Lv. 1 Myrmidon x2 An easy battle, but I have some things to say. For one thing, do NOT watch the tutorial that starts it off. If you watch it, Ike will start out with one Iron Sword. If you don't, he'll start out with... four Iron Swords. Big difference. Also, you now have three new characters: Boyd, who is the only Fighter in the game who is a little inaccurate with his axe swinging but ends up kicking ass in the end; Oscar, Boyd's brother who rides on horseback and rocks with his lances... and Titania, the Jeigan/Seth of this game, who right now is godlike but ends up sucking pretty bad and just steals EXP, so try not to use her too much at all if you can avoid it. And she uses axes, by the way. A great role to start Titania off with here is to visit the house right by where you enter, and collect the Steel Sword from it, then approach Ike and trade with him, so that he can do even more damage, since he does start out rather weak (don't worry, he's a deity by the end). You can't enter the house on the lower left though, plus the upper right house gets burned and you have no way to avoid that, but you want Oscar or someone else to ride up to the upper left house before that one gets burned down, and get the Seraph Robe from there. Those are rare and hard to come by, raising your HP! Save it for Ike, I'd say. Move on up killing the bandits as you go; the fighters/bandits are equipped with axes, making Ike particularly good against them, but the myrmidons have swords, which means your man is Boyd. Speaking of Boyd, it's very easy for him to die here despite his semi-high HP, so keep an eye on him and don't let him go, he is quite valuable. Eventually, only the bandit boss named Zawana will be left. Finish what ya started? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zawana | Bandit | 5 | 29 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zawana is pathetic in every sense of the word, starting with the fact he doesn't move and is only equipped with an Iron Axe, so he can't exactly hit you off from a distance. There are two options for this fight: you can have Titania run up to him and kill him off in one hit because Titania will get two axe swings to one of Zawana, or, much preferably, you can do something like this. Have Boyd run up and land in a hit, but make sure that Zawana's Mt isn't greater than Boyd's HP. Then have Oscar or Titania rescue him so he isn't in the way, and then even if you have to end the turn which you likely will, Ike can just finish him off so that he gets the EXP instead of Titania just whoring it all. Whoo, I rock. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ And to just win this battle for good, have Ike run up to the panel where the boss was standing and seize that panel for a good old victory. Now that Ike's first real battle is fought, the first chapter, like so, is now over. But at this point there's not really epic twists and turns coming about, so Chapter 2 now begins. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIc. Rescue ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Titania ~ Maximum Turns: 5 [200 (-10)] With that over, a priest named Rhys who was apparently quite ill runs out to Titania and shows him a letter that he found, which states that the bandits from last chapter want some revenge and have taken Mist and Rolf. That presents a problem. However, orders have it that your group isn't allowed to leave, but hey, you leave your little sister and your best friend's brother out captured while someone rescues them. Yeah, so the party minus Titania begins Chapter 2. It's great, huh. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 7 Bandit (Ikanau) N/A Lv. 3 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 2 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 2 Bandit x2 Lv. 2 Fighter x2 Lv. 1 Bandit x1 This time you even get forced not to use Titania. I like that. Anyways, you have nine enemies to kill this time around instead of seven, but after the second turn Titania will come in to join. Plus you now have Rhys among you, who is a healer that starts at Level 4, but is weak and frail, dying in about two hits, so keep him in the back to heal Boyd or any other character who ends up hurting. To start with, though, just in the interest of moving through the battle quickly, have Oscar with his Iron Lance run up against the myrmidon on the left while everyone else goes to the right. Ike and Boyd should have no trouble cleaning up the bandits over there, and even if you run into some trouble, Rhys can always heal you up. One player and enemy phase over, Oscar should be done with the myrmidon and can just blend back in, then after the second turn Titania will be back... so don't give her all the glory yet. Just keep pressing your way up almost using the weapon triangle religiously to decide who to hit (no lances but yes Boyd will get his moment of glory later), and eventually you'll run into the boss, who is likely going to be your ninth target. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ikanau | Bandit | 7 | 31 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don't be caught off guard by this guy; he's much better than Zawana back in Caldea. First of all his strength is two points higher so while it's a given he won't attack twice, he can do double digits damage to you. To make things even worse, he can move! Still, you have an army pressing up against him, so only use Titania to kill Ikanau off if it's absolutely necessary, since she will be able to do it no matter what, being that Ikanau does have less DEF than Zawana had. Either way, he's not bad, so just wipe the ground with him for your EXP, and we conclude. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With that over, one bandit is left with Mist and Rolf ready to be massacred, but guess what... he just gets shot between the eyes. Enter Shinon, who's a ruthless jackass who happens to be good with a bow. But now guess what... despite rescuing the group, Ike and the others have some punishment to face back with Greil. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VId. Pirates Aground ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Gatrie, Shinon ~ Maximum Turns: 6 [200 (-10)] Back in the mercenary fort, Greil's punishment for everyone is ten days in quarters, but there's some more work with the bandits to be taken care of beforehand, so this time the roles are reversed for the worse. Greil leaves with Boyd, Oscar, and Rhys, and Ike is left with Titania, Gatrie, and Shinon. Figures, huh. Well, the battle begins now and you have two new characters to play with, so might as well play with 'em. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 9 Bandit (Havetti) N/A Lv. 6 Bandit x1 Lv. 5 Bandit x1 Lv. 4 Myrmidon x3 Lv. 4 Fighter x2 Lv. 4 Bandit x1 Lv. 3 Bandit x1 Lv. 2 Bandit x2 Lv. 2 Fighter x1 Lv. 2 Archer x1 Fourteen enemies this time around, but to make up for it (or not)... you now have Ike who is slightly stronger because of the levels you got for him in the last couple battles, Titania of course, Gatrie who is a level nine Knight and rather strong, and Shinon who is an especially overpowered level 1 Sniper, which is an upgraded form of Archer. So since he REALLY does not need more EXP, try not to give it to him, and focus on only Ike and Gatrie, since Titania is, well... Titania. In fact, start by having Titania visit the house on the right to meet Nasir for the first time, who is a very important storyline character who gives you an Elixir (wow, that's generous), and meanwhile the myrmidon on the left can be handled by Gatrie with the right fighter being good horseplay for Ike, maybe after having been weakened a bit by Shinon. I'd recommend giving the Elixir to Ike, by the way; if he dies it's all over (then again it probably is for anyone if you play like me...), plus Titania sure as hell doesn't need it. Either way, just keep moving up and on the ship above, a pegasus knight named Marcia shows up, and she's decent enough to kill 3-4 bandits off, no doubt. Either way, Ike should have no trouble fending off the fighters above with their Hand Axes that hit about 20% of the time, plus the archer there is weak as hell too. Keep moving up until you get to the ship, where you can have Ike talk to Marcia to have her retreat, and now all you have before you is just a few more bandits, and the boss. Everything is just mincemeat, so when you do actually get to the boss... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Havetti | Bandit | 9 | 33 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yes, I promise you that eventually the bosses will come to be more than just simple bandits who are a little higher leveled than the ones around them. This guy can be a little threatening because of his higher attack power, even though for me all he did was go for Shinon. But how can this possibly be hard; Titania can finish him in one hit if you want (which I don't) plus if Shinon doesn't go critical he can weaken him to the point where Ike can just wrap it up, even though he probably won't get two hits off. Oh well, easy battle and when you beat this guy, it's over no matter what. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Once the battle is completed, Gatrie and Shinon express their distaste for this kind of easy battle. You can pretty much guess what's going to happen to those two relatively soon. But after that's over and Titania has a few words with some old geezer, I'd wager we're ripe and ready to move onto chapter four. I said so, didn't I? ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIe. Roadside Battle ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Gatrie, Shinon, Rhys, Soren ~ Maximum Turns: 4 [300 (-10)] Back in the mercenary fort again, Mist tells Ike that their friend Soren is now here. In case you're wondering, Soren is one of the more dark, mysterious characters that you've come to expect in games like these, and he brings news that the nations of Crimea and Daein have gone to war. Greil gives Ike the rather important mission of checking on the capital, giving Rhys back to them but leaving Boyd and Oscar (damn!)... and on the way there, Daein forces ambush them. No choice but to fight through past the knight Maijin, right? =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 10 Knight (Maijin) N/A Lv. 8 Soldier x1 Lv. 7 Soldier x2 Lv. 7 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 6 Fighter x1 Lv. 5 Soldier x2 Lv. 4 Soldier x4 Lv. 4 Archer x1 Lv. 3 Archer x1 Lv. 2 Archer x1 Now that is what I call a battle, and this one is quite a bit more difficult than the last four. As Ike and Shinon say, your best bet is to have him and Gatrie in the frontlines while Soren and Rhys stay back, although Shinon has a special skill on him that makes enemies tend to target him before anyone else, good. Just note that he and Rhys are quite weak and can die quickly, so don't let them, comprendes? As you can see above, however, nine of the sixteen foes here are soldiers with lances, which means axes are effective (resist the urge to use Titania), but even Gatrie has no problem getting two hits to them. Do not resist having Ike slaughter everyone with the Regal Sword, which is this game's version of the series trademark Rapier. Its critical rate is quite nice. Just be very careful to defend yourself here, because you can be quite easily bested, and make sure that Rhys heals all of your wounds, because if you get ganged upon, you can end up with a quick finger toward the reset button. Be wary of the moving boss, and eventually with everything in your way crushed you will approach him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maijin | Knight | 10 | 32 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Meh, at least now we have an enemy that Titania can't kill within two swings of her axe. Do not move Soren or especially Rhys within Maijin's range, or they're fish food (Soren has 18 HP and Maijin will do 12 or 13...). Therefore Titania is great for some weakening, and then anyone you want can just end this, but be quite careful. Maijin is also equipped with a Javelin, so he can hit two panels away... don't rely on Soren in that regard. Speaking, however, of Soren, he starts at Level 1, so getting him an extra 70-80 EXP by killing Maijin is a nifty idea. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Okay, so... when the battle is over the group will go into the trees and find a girl who goes by the name of Elincia, collapsed there. Naturally they take her back to the mercenary fort, and here's where it all starts. Well, not really, but you get my point. Also, if you're in Hard mode, just for the record this is the first time you'll notice a sizable different in the battle's difficulty. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIf. Flight! ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren, Gatrie, Shinon ~ Maximum Turns: N/A Elincia introduces herself as the one and only Princess Crimea, as I'm sure you could predict, and reveals that both her father and mother have been killed. And just moments later, soldiers appear completely surrounding the fort to take her. With that, Greil takes a vote to see who's in favor of escorting Elincia away, and everyone complies except Soren and Shinon... who are just in the minority. So with that, time to slice your way through the forces that surround the fort. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 13 Knight (Dakova) Lv. 6 Soldier x6 Lv. 8 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 5 Soldier x2 Lv. 8 Soldier x1 Lv. 5 Archer x2 Lv. 7 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 7 Fighter x1 Lv. 7 Soldier x1 Lv. 6 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 6 Soldier x8 Lv. 5 Soldier x1 Lv. 5 Archer x4 Lv. 4 Archer x1 You can probably tell now why I classify this as a difficulty 3 battle. Look at those enemy troops. You've got 22 against 8, and it's not like you're using all eight of them anyway, am I right? Oh well, all you have to do is survive for six turns, defending the base. I'll bite though and say you pretty much need to use Titania and Shinon here if you want to get anything from the enemies here period though, so to start off with, I'd have only one or two characters head to the left. Titania is a good candidate so that she doesn't rob too much EXP, plus the Hammer there is nice. Just don't let that guy hit Gatrie and you're good. The southern exit is absolute chaos, and to avoid yourself getting killed, send Shinon as far down as you can to draw hits, while when weaker characters like Boyd get hit, Rhys is there in the back to defend him. For me Rhys had 23 HP and one arrow would do 11 damage, so you should be okay. Keep eyes on everyone's HP; I know that may be difficult being that this is the first time you're using everyone, but don't let someone weak slip away, and don't let up off the western side either, because at the beginning of turn 4, four more soldiers and two archers show up. At the beginning of turn 5, the exact same numbers show up yet again. What can I say. As daunting as those numbers sound (you have six turns to have two strong units and five medium-ish ones dispose of 32 enemies), it really is possible to completely clear this place of enemies. The soldiers at the bottom will be gone rather quickly if you send good characters after them, such as Oscar and Boyd, plus if you have Titania lunge down there at the boss you'll be good, Shinon can lure hits while Rhys heals what damage does incur, and myself, I had Ike move back and forth between west and south depending on what was going on, same applied with Soren. But eventually you will come face to face with the leader, Dakova. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dakova | Knight | 10 | 30 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This guy isn't too bad overall, and is probably in fact even weaker than Maijin, but he does move and is surrounded by soldiers on all sides pretty much 100% of the time, but there's a way to get rid of him very quickly. If you were like me and had Titania go west first and get the Hammer there, then you can put it to use in the same battle and have her hit Dakova with it for a grand total of 26 damage, and then anyone who needs EXP can just savor the finishing blow. Do do it, it's worth it, and plus you will get the Ashera Icon out of it, which increases luck. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The fight will not yet be over until either the six turns are completed or all the enemies are vanquished. Again, it will pay off so much if you can kill every last soldier here in the EXP department, even though you have to use Titania and Shinon to do it (believe it or not I leveled them both up to level 2 in this battle ;_;). Eventually though, they'll fall back, and after Petrine gets done talking... we're back. Another hard mode note: this battle is MUCH harder in said mode, because there's fog of war. Someone will drop a Torch, and you'd better use it to light the place up, cuz I for one don't see nothin'. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIg. A Brief Diversion ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren ~ Maximum Turns: 9 [300 (-20)] After a quick world map explanation of what's going on, the group is in the jungle. Sorry Gatrie. After Shinon explains the laguz (very prominent in this game, divided into the feline beasts, the birds/angel like creatures, and dragons), Greil splits the group apart as he leaves with Shinon and Gatrie, and Ike is left leading the rest of the force into Gallia. Right at the border though, Petrine's protege Emil has some troops there to stop ya. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 2 Halberdier (Emil) N/A Lv. 9 Knight x1 Lv. 9 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 9 Soldier x2 Lv. 9 Archer x1 Lv. 8 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 8 Soldier x4 Lv. 7 Axe Knight x1 Lv. 7 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 7 Soldier x1 Lv. 7 Archer x1 Lv. 7 Priest x1 Lv. 5 Mage x1 Okay, this fight is much easier than the last two. You start in the trees up north, and to win the battle, you have to have at least Ike escape by standing on the panel to the very south, where Emil guards. And there's a bridge on either side connecting north and south, so... you'll want to split your forces evenly. My recommendation is to have Boyd move east no matter what, since the Axe Knight there has a Poleax which is right up Boyd's alley, plus Titania is good on the left for emergencies. ;] So in short, it doesn't really matter exactly how you do it, but I'd have Boyd, Rhys, and Soren move east, and Ike, Oscar, and Titania move west, so that you can gradually make your way down after mowing through all the enemies here, without running into any great trouble. Just some things to watch out for: make sure Boyd is spearleading the group on the right and check the ranges of enemies. The myrmidons shouldn't be able to hit Soren or even Rhys twice, but watch out anyway. Rhys should always be healing anyways. And be careful when having Ike slash his way through the soldiers, as they wield lances. When it comes to it, though, you'll be versing Emil. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emil | Halberdier | 2 | 32 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 12 | 2 | 9 | 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you can tell, a Halberdier is an upgraded Soldier, much like Titania is an upgraded Axe Knight. And speaking of Titania, I myself had a perfect opportunity here to weaken the boss so that anyone I wanted to could just finish him off. Just have Titania attack him with an Iron Axe, and for me he only had 6 HP left over, which is perfect for just about anyone to clean up, but all the same, take caution. Emil carries a Short Spear, which is a projectile upgrade of the Javelin. Don't underestimate it, m'kay? Yes, that means not moving Ike two squares next to Emil unless it's a finishing blow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When the two groups have completely met up, now you can just have everyone individually escape. But hold! There is something called bonus EXP which comes into play after the very next chapter, which you will get more of (and it rocks a lot too!), if you have every individual character just escape one by one, and then have Ike do it. You won't regret it, bonus EXP is an awesome thing. Supposing you manage to get through that... ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIh. Shades of Evil ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren, Gatrie, Shinon, Mia* ~ Maximum Turns: 7 [300 (-20)] Over in the forest, the group decides to split up, with Mist, Rolf, and Elincia going right to the palace of Gallia, while Ike and the others go over to find Greil and make sure he's alright. Plus, Elincia gives Rhys a Mend staff, which isn't really necessary yet, but hey, it's a stronger version of the Heal staff. So with Ike's group, they come across an old abandoned fort, where a bunch of Daein troops show up. En garde, as they say. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 10 Knight x2 Lv. 1 Sage (Balmer) Lv. 9 Archer x1 Lv. 12 Knight x1 Lv. 8 Knight x1 Lv. 7 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 8 Soldier x1 Lv. 7 Thief x1 Lv. 7 Knight x1 Lv. 7 Priest x1 Lv. 7 Soldier x5 Lv. 6 Soldier x1 Lv. 6 Archer x1 Lv. 5 Mage x1 Lv. 6 Soldier x1 Lv. 5 Soldier x2 Lv. 5 Fighter x1 Lv. 4 Mage x1 Lv. 5 Soldier x1 So right off the bat, you run into another fork in which you must separate your party. I would suggest having Ike and a weak-ish character (I'd say Soren) go north, while everyone else heads west. Starting with north, a myrmidon by the name of Mia runs out from above, and if you talk to her with Ike, which anyone in their right mind would do, she'll join you. She's a little weak and because of that, a pain in the ass, but she can be quite helpful. Definitely worth at least recruiting. The reason I said bring a weak character like Soren along, is because one of the soldiers up there drops a Chest Key, and when you pick that up, you'll notice that there is, naturally, a chest right above. But oh well, keep progressing and at the end of turn 2, a Thief appears to the lower left who poses little challenge at all, but at the end of turn 3... Gatrie and Shinon come back to aid you while Greil runs at Petrine to satisfy his bloodlust, but you get stuck with the boss, the sage Balmer appearing, together with eight other reinforcements. Gah. As usual, I'd suggest not using Gatrie and Shinon too much, since they will disappear after this battle for a rather long time, plus coincidentally... the next battle is hard as hell. So have your party make its way north while Gatrie and Shinon just stand there in defensive stances, perhaps opening the chests there, which contain a Ward staff and a Miracle scroll, while the one I suggested having Soren get contains an Armorslayer. Give that to Ike or Mia as soon as possible, because those Knights need it against them. Eventually you'll be completely reunited, and only Balmer will remain. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Balmer | Sage | 1 | 27 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Balmer is easy as hell. Starting with the fact he only has 27 HP and 6 def compared to Emil's 9, which was also low. The one character you don't want to use against him is Soren because of his ridiculous res, but if you're like me, you would have everyone united at that point. Sure, Balmer's Elfire is rather strong, roasting you for a good early double digit damage, but as long as Rhys has gotten everyone back to full HP you should be okay. Meanwhile, with Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Mia, and whomever else pounding down on this guy, how can you go wrong. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With the battle over, the group goes to rejoin Greil, who is winning against Petrine, but of course hundreds of soldiers come in. But lo and behold, Greil calls in laguz reinforcements led by a man named Ranulf (a very feline name, methinks). Petrine is ordered to withdraw by a superior officer who goes by the very crafty name of the Black Knight. Ouch, intimidating. He even has a staring contest with Greil. But either way, you're out of here. Elincia is entrusted to Ranulf at the castle, while Greil goes out for a walk outside the castle with Ike, who is promptly told to go back. Of course he doesn't, and then a long, incredible FMV cues in, as Greil takes his axe up against the Black Knight in the forest. The two have an epic clash of sorts, complete with Greil even refusing to wield the one weapon that can hurt the Black Knight, and guess what? He gets impaled with a sword. The Black Knight leaves with only Greil's life, and the chapter and first part of the game end with Ike's flashbacks, and standing with Mist at Greil's grave. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIi. Despair and Hope ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 4 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren, Mia, Ilyana* ~ Maximum Turns: N/A The new plan has it that Ike will now lead the company in Greil's place, but because of that, Shinon leaves in anger, and Gatrie goes with him. So now you're left with only seven, eh... but anyway, as Titania states, you are now at the base, and believe me, it's about damn time. Before anything, you can have a support conversation with Ike and Oscar, and info conversations with the merchants, an unknown person which is actually Titania, Rolf, Boyd, and Rhys. Might as well do all of those. Also, bonus EXP finally comes into play. I personally started with 1450 of it, and you can distribute it among your party as you wish to increase their levels. Obviously I wouldn't recommend using all or even close to all of it, but giving everyone an extra level or two before the hard battle is definitely advisable. What's more, you can finally change everyone's equipment as much as you want, as well as forging stuff. To make up for Mia's relative lack of strength, I made her a custom Steel Sword which I renamed "Falchion" for FE consistency, so I made it quite powerful, yet blew out all my money. Don't worry, you get more very soon. You probably have the Seraph Robe, Speedwing, and Ashera Icon on you. I would definitely give the Seraph Robe to Ike since hey, a commander needs to have, you know, the ability to survive. Raising him from 25 to 32 HP is good. The Speedwing should go to either Boyd or Oscar, whomever needs it more. The Ashera Icon barely even matters right now, so just to whomever. Make sure you distribute weapons evenly (id est, Ike with the Regal Sword and Armorslayer is okay, but if you made a custom sword give it to Mia). When you are truly and absolutely prepared, set foot in the dreaded Chapter 8. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 18 Knight (Kamura) Lv. 11 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 10 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 10 Knight x2 Lv. 9 Archer x1 Lv. 10 Soldier x2 Lv. 8 Knight x4 Lv. 9 Soldier x4 Lv. 8 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 8 Soldier x1 Lv. 8 Archer x1 Lv. 7 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 8 Mage x1 Lv. 6 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 8 Soldier x3 Lv. 7 Knight x1 Lv. 7 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 7 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 7 Axe Knight x1 Lv. 7 Myrmidon x3 Lv. 7 Priest x3 Lv. 7 Fighter x1 Lv. 7 Archer x1 Lv. 7 Mage x1 Lv. 6 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 6 Axe Knight x1 Lv. 6 Mage (Ilyana) ... ... Look at those numbers. 29 soldiers, all of them at relatively decent levels, and let's not even get started with the reinforcements. You have to defend the base for eight turns, and if you can take out all the enemies here in that amount of time, my hat's off to you. But there are three paths here and you need to decide who gets to do what. Common sense dictates that Rhys belongs in the center, plus Titania (who you are virtually forced to use here) needs no support. I'd send her east, since for me she had the Hammer equipped. Otherwise, south with the Poleax. Definitely send Ike west, since you want the mage, Ilyana, to go towards him, and that's the best place. Not to mention west has the lightest amount of bad stuff. Either Mia or Soren can accompany him, doesn't matter, the other of the two can go with Oscar and Boyd to wherever you didn't send Titania, with the latter equipped with whichever of the Poleax/Hammer that Titania doesn't have. Got that all down? Whew. And with that, the enemies will start coming at you. But your Poleax wielder will cut the cavaliers down, and the Hammer wielder will smash the knights to shreds. It will take you a very long time to move your units completely out, since the paths are so congested, so Rhys should have an easy time moving in and healing anyone who needs it (which a lot of people will), as long as you stay out of Javelin and Iron Bow range. But over to the west side. Have Ike keep moving up and you'll find a mage there named Ilyana, who won't attack, but if you talk to her she'll join you, since she was really just forced into service with Daein anyway. Good, an extra character never hurt anyone. I mean, Ilyana isn't great, but she isn't bad either. Eventually, Titania should finish off the Mages around there and then go to the east and down to rejoin the others if necessary. Meanwhile, Ike, Soren, and Ilyana can head southwest to dispose of everything there. There is one real necessity that you must take care of, however, and that is the Priest towards the southwest that runs away but carries a Red Gem. If you kill that easy foe you'll get the Red Gem yourself, and it sells for a good amount of cash. So, keep on fighting... eventually the south or east will run into trouble. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kamura | Knight | 18 | 35 | 13 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kamura is optional, much like Dakova before him, but as you might guess, he's pretty damn hard. He will ALWAYS come after you if he can, so watch out for his range; it's rather good for a Knight. He comes with a Short Spear, so what does that mean? Only two characters are truly effective against him: Boyd, and Titania. If you want to commit suicide by having Mia fight him, be my guest. He's a ton to wear down, and be sure if you do engage him, but if you have the Hammer he'll be a snap. Keep checking his range because he's actually a smart one, and if you're good enough, you'll get two hits to one of his. That's the key. Good luck. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kamura gives you nothing upon his death. Oh well. If you got that far, then you should probably know the usual drill by now... keep Ilyana, Soren, and Rhys safe while killing anything you can, with Titania being used at a minimum. I really can't imagine wiping out every single last enemy here (41 enemies in 8 turns, are you for real?), but hey, believe it or not, there exist more skilled Fire Emblem players than me. =P After you get a tad bit of assistance, you'll be back at the base. By the way, if you think this battle is hard in Normal mode, in Hard mode, it's... easy as hell. I kid you not. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIj. Gallia ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren, Mia, Ilyana, Mist, Rolf, Marcia* ~ Maximum Turns: 8 [300 (-20)] Soren starts out trying to lecture Ike about how to be commander, but eh, he's still got a ways to go. You're back at base, and more likely than not you don't have much or any bonus EXP from that last battle. That's okay, just give a little more to your characters so that they can hit their next level, and let us go to Chapter 9, shall we? When you get there to Fort Tatana, you're immediately ambushed by a group of enemies. Guess what that means... =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 3 Halberdier (Kotaff) Lv. 18 Bandit (Nedata) Lv. 13 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 13 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 12 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 12 Soldier x1 Lv. 11 Knight x2 Lv. 11 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 11 Archer x1 Lv. 11 Soldier x1 Lv. 11 Fighter x1 Lv. 10 Bandit x1 Lv. 10 Archer x1 Lv. 9 Bandit x1 Lv. 10 Mage x1 Lv. 10 Soldier x1 Lv. 10 Bandit x1 Lv. 9 Mage x1 Lv. 8 Fighter x2 Lv. 6 Mage x3 Not as many enemies this time around as before, thankfully. Anyway, as soon as the battle starts, Mist and Rolf will force their way into the party. Just for your info, Rolf sucks right now but will later become one of the best characters in the party, wielding bows like nobody's business. Mist sucks now and will always suck, and this is one of two battles that you're forced to use her in, so screw her. Just keep her somewhere safe while you make two teams, since to the north is the sand with the bandits and whatnot, and to the south is the serious stuff. Anyways, I took Boyd, Ilyana, Mist, and Rolf to the north to fight the few enemies that are there. Whenever one of the two strong characters there weaken an enemy but don't finish it off, make absolutely sure Rolf gets the finishing hit. You want to level him up, give him bonus EXP, anything to make him strong. Meanwhile Boyd owns everything, so you're good to go. I'd have Ike direct your two laguz companions, Lethe and Mordecai, up there as well, while you have him, Oscar, Mia, Soren, and Rhys go south. Titania can just stay in the center since I don't use her anyway. Just keep moving along, killing whatever crosses your path, and then that Pegasus Knight from chapter 3, Marcia, will show up. She'll head straight for Ike, and if you have Ike talk to her, she'll join your group. Personally I rarely if ever use her, since you're getting a Wyvern Rider very soon who just completely blows Marcia out of the water, but recruit her anyway, aight? By that point, probably you'll be around the two Knights that are in front of the building. They sweat defense, but Soren's spells are what makes 'em sweat in fear. Feeling me? Otherwise, Ike with the Regal Sword/Armorslayer is great. One turn after Marcia shows up, a pirate named Nedata will show up in the water to the north. That's why I said direct the laguz north, so that they can help beat that dude's ass, because you'll want to visit the houses for treasure. Don't feel bad if they steal too much EXP, though, because that just gets converted to bonus EXP. One turn later, one more bandits, and one turn after that, two myrmidons and two soldiers from the fort. Make sure you have Ike talk to Marcia, and get the treasure from the two houses (a Restore staff and a Talisman), and eventually you'll reach the boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kotaff | Halberdier| 3 | 37 | 14 | 3 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kotaff is superior to Emil in every single way. He comes equipped with a Knight Killer, meaning people on horseback such as Oscar are out of the question. I sent Boyd up north away from this, plus I don't use Titania if I can help it, and as for Ike and Mia, they lose out for weapons. Who does that leave? Soren. Have him stand two spaces away and pelt Kotaff with Thunder. Three or four hits will do the trick, and Kotaff will switch to a Javelin, but Soren should be okay with Rhys healing him, as like any other seize objective, the boss won't move off the end panel. Plus if he's just using Javelins, Oscar can always handle it. Strategy'll win this one for ya. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Assuming you've routed the place of enemies, move Ike up to the end panel as usual and seize. And from there you will be introduced to King Gallia, otherwise known as King Caineghis and his servant Giffca, though seriously, just look at Caineghis... what a beast. He was good friends with Greil, though, so he's a good dude. Anyways, onto Chapter 10. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIk. Prisoner Release ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren, Mia, Rolf, Lethe, Volke ~ Maximum Turns: 12 [300 (-30)] Back at the base, give everyone their standard dosage of bonus experience, and also, since Ranulf gave you that ridiculous amount of money, you should spent it on a custom weapon. Personally I already had Mia with a custom sword, so... how's about Oscar with a custom lance? Aha, I am da man! When you're done, the objective is to get to Crimea again and take a boat to the Begnion Empire, and our first stop is to this castle to go pick up some Crimean retainers for allies. A thief named Volke shows up to try and do business with Greil, which is obviously a problem, so hire him and let's do our own business. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 3 General (Danomill) N/A Lv. 1 Halberdier x1 Lv. 12 Knight x2 Lv. 12 Soldier x2 Lv. 11 Myrmidon x5 Lv. 11 Soldier x4 Lv. 11 Mage x1 Lv. 10 Knight x3 Lv. 9 Archer x1 Not an incredibly varied cast of enemies this time around, eh? Anyways, this time around you're given a choice. First of all there's only six enemies when you come in, but if any of them see you, well... you've got fourteen reinforcements on your ass. The objective is to escape, and you can attempt to do that without being seen, and in the process win over a thousand bonus EXP. However, I for one would rather get a little less regular EXP and just fight it out. That's just my style, since the other way is a thirty turn nightmare. So... here's that strategy. As soon as you attack the watch soldier that's nearby, the reinforcements come in, four of them right near you come in, so keep a strong character or two, such as Boyd or Lethe, right around that general area. This is an extremely easy battle, as for one thing, no reinforcements are going to show up besides that original ridiculous batch of them. All you need to worry about is what's on screen, and as long as you keep Rhys in the back among them, you shouldn't have trouble keeping everyone alive. Start by opening the door right near where you enter, as you may have noticed Volke can do that for a meager price of 50G. There, if you wish you can talk to the monk Sephiran in there, who never joins your party. Which is a shame, his Mantle ability is extraordinary. Then as you progress, move Ike and Volke over to the east to open the door, and talk to the big knight Brom there. You can't speak with Kieran, so don't bother with that. Just move yourself up north so that you can open that cell and talk to the female soldier Nephenee there. Trust me, you'll like her when it comes to what it comes to. Have Volke head east when you're done there, and open the chest which contains a Statue Frag. That increases your constitution, which is tight. I'd give that to Soren, myself. Now you'll be fairly close to the escape point and stuff. The boss is completely optional to fight, as you can just take out that big halberdier (a mini-boss of sorts) without luring Danomill out. Just lure the myrmidons beside Danomill out, though, and you can fight the guy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Danomill | General | 3 | 42 | 17 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 14 | 8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Danomill has a ton more defense than Emil or Kotaff had, so you're only going to want the strongest of strong to face him. Being that he wields a lance, if you've got Boyd with some decent speed to match up to him, that's great, but the best bet is really Soren. Make sure you direct Brom and Nephenee away from Danomill, though, so he doesn't kill them and make you weep like me though. :[ But on a more serious note, Danomill can move, so keep Rhys and other weak characters away from him. Of course, he won't get two hits to anyone with all that armor, though, so Regal Sword/Armorslayer/axes/magic should lay into him. Your reward: EXP and a Master Seal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With the boss out of the way, recall that having characters escape each gives you 10 EXP. So make sure you have Volke and characters with Chest Keys move over to get the four chests, which contain a Javelin, Short Axe, Steel Lance, and Counter. When you're done, have everyone escape, and choose to hire Volke on a permanent basis. So you come out with four new characters: Volke, Kieran, Brom, and Nephenee. Three of those, I use in the endgame. Brom, in my opinion though, is a tad bit meh. Ah wells. Let the evil Chapter 11 begin. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIl. Blood Runs Red ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren, Mia, Rolf, Volke, Lethe, Kieran, Nephenee, Brom, Marcia, Zihark* ~ Maximum Turns: 7 [300 (-30)] So as you may notice, last battle you got three characters who don't have squat equipped. I took the opportunity to forge Kieran a custom made axe which I affectionately dubbed "Wolf Beil", plus Nephenee needs some stuff. She's the Amelia (Sacred Stones) of this game: a lance user who starts out crappy but ends up rocking. This was the last battle I used Brom in though, and that was just so I wouldn't be forcing myself to use Titania. Plus I rarely use Marcia, but hey, thirteen characters. I'm not complaining. When you get to the port where Nasir's ship is, you can't exactly get on. Gotta fight through the town. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 5 Paladin (Mackoya) Lv. 20 General (Black Knight) Lv. 14 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 12 Wyvern Rider x2 Lv. 13 Sword Knight x3 Lv. 8 Wyvern Rider (Jill) Lv. 13 Lance Knight x2 Lv. 13 Knight x2 Lv. 12 Lance Knight x2 Lv. 12 Priest x2 Lv. 12 Soldier x2 Lv. 11 Bow Knight x1 Lv. 10 Myrmidon (Zihark) Lv. 10 Soldier x2 Lv. 10 Archer x1 Lv. 9 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 9 Soldier x1 Lv. 7 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 3 Thief x1 Lv. 2 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 1 Myrmidon x2 Okay, now this battle is just a tad bit big. You can use thirteen characters in it, after all, but it's the easiest one yet to screw up if you play it the wrong way. For one thing, the objective is to arrive at Nasir's ship. However, anyone can Arrive, not just Ike. And I might add, the boss this time, Mackoya, actually moves, which is a gigantic pain in the ass since he has a ranged attack. The guardian of the arrive panel is a mere Knight, so you have to put up with that. But yes, it's the biggest battle yet, so let's have some fun with it, shall we? There's a lot of places to go, and you have to split your forces up. Some recommendations for ya: Rhys goes wherever the most people go. I'd send four or so people to the right, and one of them must ABSOLUTELY be Lethe or Mordecai, because if the myrmidon Zihark over there is in one of their ranges, he'll go talk to them and be recruited to the party. Sweet, that's fourteen characters now, and he kicks ass. His Killing Edge is devastation in its truest form. Also, to the upper left, send either Oscar or Kieran, because you want to stop the Thief before he gets to the houses. Speaking of the houses, send beorc into them, not laguz. The lower left one gives you a Dracoshield, the upper left gives an Elwind, and the upper right one (don't send Lethe or Mordecai in there) gives you a Killer Lance. All good stuff, so don't miss it. Send all three teams up to advance, but just a note. Stay the HELL away from the house to the north of where you start out (just south of the house that gives you a Killer Lance). When you're completely past that house, the Black Knight comes out of it. He's the equivalent of level 40, has 60 HP, a ranged attack with his sword Alondite, and as far as formulas go, you need about 270 attack damage to scratch him. Yeah, good luck with that. At the end of turn 4, a Wyvern Rider named Jill with come in, with two other Wyvern Riders at her side. Well, I know you're thinking you can recruit her here, but you can't. In fact, just stay the bloody hell away from her, because you absolutely can NOT kill her. Trust me, don't even risk it. Just don't bother with the Wyvern Riders, and keep advancing towards the boss and other such things. Eventually, the boss will come after you himself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mackoya | Paladin | 5 | 35 | 13 | 5 | 14 | 13 | 5 | 14 | 12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mackoya is one of the tougher bosses yet, as he actually moves, so you can't exactly plan an effective strategy against him without him being able to do something about it. Plus he has a scary long range, so you lose out. First of all, his Iron Bow is pretty bad, and the guy is fast and has a ton of defense, so if you were like me and forged custom weapons for everyone, those will be quite good for tearing into him. His Laguzslayer isn't too bad as long as you don't have Lethe in there, so my advice would be to surround him with strong units and bash into him, so that he doesn't run in and smash down weak units like Rhys or Rolf. Your reward: EXP and a Master Seal... again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alright, you should be pretty much ready to go now, so long as the Black Knight didn't come out and slaughter one of your characters to roadkill. His range of 6 is rather annoying. In any case, though, move your way up to the Knight at the top which doesn't move and is thus easy to kill off. So long as you didn't have any accidental casualties, you'll have someone arrive at Nasir's ship, and then you'll see the Black Knight and Ranulf duking it out. Guess who wins that one. After Sephiran interferes, though, you'll be onboard Nasir's ship. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIm. A Strange Land ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren, Mia, Rolf, Volke, Kieran, Zihark, Jill* ~ Maximum Turns: 9 [200 (-20)] Onboard the ship, hopefully you got a good bit of bonus EXP from the last battle. If you hit Info now and go to the three star conversation, Ike and Nasir will catch a stowaway kid named Sothe onboard, and said thief will join your party. He's the most worthless character in the game, though, so resist all temptation to use him. Not much to say, so... laguz ravens attack and must be stopped before they reach Elincia. And you only get ten characters for this battle, boo. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 6 Raven (Seeker) Lv. 4 Raven x1 Lv. 4 Raven x2 Lv. 3 Raven x2 Lv. 3 Raven x1 Lv. 1 Raven x1 Lv. 2 Raven x2 What a great bout of enemies there. Starting with the fact it's only six birds against you. However, these birds are all extremely strong, have great evasion, and incredible speed. Your best assets are Soren's Elwind, and Rolf's bows. Still, once again, they have both high speed AND strength. In fact, just to be safe, I'd check their range every turn to make sure Rhys isn't in it. That being said, though, that means that since this is a fast battle anyway, don't bring weak characters in here. In fact, I left Nephenee out of this one. The birds all give very high EXP as a consequence, though (40+ a bird). Use that to your advantage. At the end of about turn 2, that bitch wyvern rider Jill from the last battle will show up to the south and head for Ike's army. Yeah, she'd turn traitor to her own army if it means helping the enemy beat laguz. What an idiot. But oh well, more reinforcements start coming after about turn 3, thankfully. I want some enemies to beat, so I can get some more EXP, myself. Move Ike within Jill's range, and she'll join your party. She's quite a solid character, definitely worth keeping and training, and she's infinitely better than Marcia, in my opinion at least. Keep your eye on all the birds that show up here, as they drop such items as a Seraph Robe, an Arms Scroll, and a Secret Book (which I gave to Zihark, Nephenee, and Kieran respectively). So, you probably got the impression this is a fast and easy battle. And you would be right, though we do have a boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seeker | Raven | 6 | 36 | 14 | 4 | 14 | 15 | 11 | 9 | 8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you can see, the Seeker's stats aren't all that great, what with his Demi Band on. Of course, that means he's going to be transformed all battle long. He'll leave his spot over on the lower right about four turns into the battle and then come after you, so watch out for his range. When he does attack, hopefully he hits Jill, as she's got the Laguzguard on and will only take about five damage a hit because of that. Either way though, the Seeker is probably the easiest boss in the game. He's barely stronger than the other ravens, except for his high HP. Just hit him with whatever and he'll die a very quick, painful death. Your prize is a Blue Gem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ After that joke of a boss is done with, the battle is probably close to over. So with that, Nasir's ship docks at Goldoa, where Ike gets attacked by three big dragons. Ouch, that's not good. After a word with Goldoa's prince, you're done with this chapter. That was fast, eh? ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIn. A Guiding Wind ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren, Mia, Rolf, Volke, Kieran, Zihark, Jill, Nephenee, Astrid*, Gatrie* ~ Maximum Turns: N/A Do the usual with supports and info and whatnot, the two star one is particularly useful, and you are absolutely REQUIRED to listen to the one between the three brothers. So MAKE SURE YOU DO THAT. Afterwards, start the battle. Ike will be greeted by Begnion General Tanith, who is in the service of Apostle Sanaki... but guess what, Sanaki's in danger. Guess we have to go to a neighboring Begnion ship and help out. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 5 Sniper (Norris) Lv. 4 Raven x1 Lv. 3 Halberdier x1 Lv. 2 Raven x5 Lv. 3 Raven x1 Lv. 2 Halberdier x1 Lv. 2 Raven x1 Lv. 15 Archer x1 Lv. 14 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 13 Soldier x3 Lv. 13 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 12 Soldier x1 Lv. 12 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 12 Fighter x1 Lv. 11 Archer x1 Lv. 11 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 11 Mage x2 Lv. 10 Fighter x1 Lv. 10 Soldier x1 Lv. 10 Archer x1 Okay, so while you're setting your formation up for this battle, make sure you've got some guys around Ike. I'd have Kieran or Oscar run up to the ship immediately to start hacking away at some stuff. Volke needs to do the same thing, except immediately take a left to get the chest for a Killer Bow. In fact, if you have any spare Chest Keys lying around, give them to people. Now, for Ike. Have people who can push him (i.e. Boyd, Zihark, Nephenee) do so and talk to Astrid, the bow knight next to Gatrie. And guess, what, you have a new party member. Astrid is level 1 and right now weak as hell. However, she can turn into one of the most kickass units ever and very fast, due to her Paragon ability. But right now she dies in one hit and a scratch, so from where she is, have her talk to Gatrie and he'll join you too! You get an extra turn with Astrid and I'd have her run away as fast as she can though. Gatrie is still pretty good, so wreak some havoc into some enemies while you can. Your objective for this mission, now that I'm finally getting around to it, is to defend the green space for ten turns. Not too hard. Your biggest threats are: the two Halberdiers, but they just sit there, so Gatrie or a big guy like Boyd can take them down; the Ravens who come from the northeast -- they aren't quite as bad as they were last chapter, but they're a pain in the ass and should be treated as such (they give good experience btw); and Norris, who is to the upper right and probably the least of your worries, as he doesn't move. In fact, when you start hitting down the Halberdiers, he'll probably be right in your range. Take care of him, why don't you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Norris | Sniper | 5 | 35 | 13 | 4 | 18 | 14 | 4 | 13 | 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Norris comes with a Longbow and a Steel Bow. Still, he doesn't move and if you get right next to him, you can just him down and he's not going to do crap. A far greater worry than him if you're up there anyway, are the mages around him. They're actually pretty strong, so you're not going to want to mess with them. That being said, however, Norris has extremely high defense for a Sniper, and his evasion is pretty nasty- too. Therefore, the best way to take care of him is with none other than Soren. With some magic on him, Norris won't be able to survive everything. Or Rolf, I found Rolf to be rather good for finishing him off... but don't start a big archery match between Rolf and Norris. That's a fool's game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ After turn five, Naesala will move away from the north and tell the ravens to start stealing the treasure. That's fine by me, at least they won't be swooping down killing characters. The chests, going from the bottom left and going counterclockwise contain: a Killer Bow, an Elfire, a Longsword, a Speedwing, an Energy Drop, an Occult scroll, and a Laguz Axe. Not bad, try to get all of them, especially the Speedwing and Occult scroll. Naesala's reinforcements only really do go for the chests, making them easier targets. Just watch the defend spot and you'll be fine. Once the battle is done (I finished it on turn 7), Sigrun and a bunch of pegasus knights show up, but Tanith still can't find the apostle. So Ike and Soren decide to look around, and sure enough they find a girl hiding on the ship. And she's annoying as hell, won't even let Mist heal her. But sure enough, she's the apostle of Begnion, somehow. The group then goes to Begnion, and she basically chastises Ike and Elincia for hours on end. Obviously, Ike gets pretty pissed about that. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIo. Training ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Rhys, Soren, Rolf, Volke, Kieran, Zihark, Jill, Nephenee, Astrid, Gatrie, Marcia, Makalov* ~ Maximum Turns: 5 [300 (-30)] Alright, for Chapter 14, you're going to want Marcia in your party, because you'll want to recruit a character here. While I never use said character, you might as well have as many characters as you can. So in Begnion, Ike and Mist are pretty bored, so Ike decides to get some fencing practice through Sanaki's order to clear out some merchants. Back to your party. I like Astrid and use her at least until the mid 20s in chapters, so I'd use her here for EXP. So I would just use the lower leveled cavalier between Oscar and Kieran, as well as ditching Mia at this point in favor of Zihark, who is far superior. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 4 Berserker (Gashilama) Lv. 3 Tiger x2 Lv. 15 Fighter x1 Lv. 13 Fighter x2 Lv. 13 Mage x2 Lv. 13 Bandit x4 Lv. 12 Fighter x2 Lv. 12 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 11 Archer x1 Lv. 11 Bandit x1 Lv. 10 Sword Knight (Makalov) Lv. 10 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 10 Archer x1 Lv. 10 Bandit x1 Not as many enemies this time around; in fact, this is the easiest battle in a long time, and probably the easiest one for the rest of the whole game, before you get to the boss at least. And this really is a small battlefield, but all the same, split your party into two groups. One small group can head west, while the rest of your party heads north towards the boss. You want to have Marcia stay away from combat if you're like me and don't use her, so a good thing for her to do is head to the house towards the south and get some Spirit Dust there. Marcia needs to head north anyway, as the sword knight Makalov, who happens to be Marcia's brother, will join if she talks to him. You shouldn't have much trouble getting her there, since Makalov will come at you and Marcia has great movement. Just have her talk to him, and he's a member of your party. I don't use Makalov because I just don't have room for more cavaliers, but he's very usable. With all the enemies on the west side gotten rid of, you'll also want to have some characters go to the houses before one of the bandits gets there. Your prizes are a Secret Book and a Vantage skill scroll. I sincerely hope you have a Laguzslayer and that Laguz Axe ready, because two tigers will come from the north as reinforcements. In fact, the Lance Knight to the west drops a Laguz Lance and one of the north archers drops a Laguz Bow, and it's good timing with next chapter, believe me. Watch out for the tigers when you fight them, though. They have quite high evasion, so if you do have laguz weapons handy, use them. The boss doesn't move anyway and has no ranged attack, so... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gashilama | Berserker | 4 | 39 | 16 | 1 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 11 | 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Like I just said, the guy has no ranged attack and doesn't move. So as long as you don't move close to him, you're okay. Your greatest worry are his counterattacks. Gashilama is a Berserker equipped with a Killer Axe, so he has a critical rate of, on average, mid 40s. Do NOT have short ranged combat with him, unless it's a finishing blow. Gasilama is too strong for that, and his critical attacks WILL kill you. Just do what you did last battle with Norris; hit him with magic and long ranged attacks. Rolf and Astrid are great here for gaining a little EXP, but if you're short ranging him, only do it with Ike or Zihark, and if it's going to be death. Otherwise, the only death in play is yours. Dat's bad. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With Gashilama dead, the fight ends, and the cargo goes to Ike to take back to Tanith and Sigrun. They refuse to tell Ike what it is, however, but we all know that it's living creatures. An FMV then cues as Caineghis, Tibarn, and Naesala transform into their sub-human form and have a meeting, then just a bit later, Naesala goes to speak with Reyson of the heron clan of Serenes Forest, who has even more of a grudge against beorc than Lethe. Then Naesala is greeted by a fatass named Oliver, and they speak gossip about Reyson. Never good... ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIp. The Feral Frontier ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren, Mia, Rolf, Volke, Zihark, Jill, Nephenee, Gatrie, Lethe, Mordecai, Stefan* ~ Maximum Turns: 7 [300 (-30)] Ugh. Anyway, the current mission is to go into the desert to take out a bunch of bandits, so that's just the mission. I hate deserts anywhere, though. When deciding your party for this battle, make sure you don't take too many cavaliers, as their movement in this battle is terrible. Knights are awful too, though a strategy I have for this battle involves some shoving, which knights are good for. If you're ready, start the battle, and a bunch of laguz attack. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 9 Tiger (Maurim) N/A Lv. 5 Cat x1 Lv. 4 Cat x4 Lv. 4 Tiger x2 Lv. 3 Cat x1 Lv. 3 Tiger x1 Lv. 2 Cat x3 Lv. 2 Tiger x1 Lv. 2 Hawk x2 Lv. 2 Raven x2 Lv. 1 Cat x1 Lv. 1 Hawk x1 Dammit. That's the only thing I can say to adequately describe this battle. It is a hard one, so you've got to be on your toes. First of all, your enemies are twenty laguz. If you keep the laguz alive, you get 40 bonus EXP per each. That's awesome, and it's in your best interest to get as much as possible, since unless you're insane, you won't be able to save each and every one of them (if you do that and just beat Maurim to clear the mission, you'll get another 300 EXP on top of that). But yeah, let's do things realistically here. Starting with your party. I'd bring both Lethe and Mordecai into this battle, because you absolutely need Lethe to go to the east, because doing that will... recruit another party member, if that makes any sense. Mordecai has the Smite ability, which is vital to my strategy. Volke is an absolute requirement here. The desert sands are full of items, and any character can step onto the available and get said items, but Volke is good for it because he has great movement even in the sand, and also a higher chance of getting the items. Jill is also great, because her movement isn't impeded at ALL. Now, here is an incredible crappy drawing of this place: [][][][][][][][][][][]555555[][][][][][][][][][][][][][] [][][][][][][][][][][]555555[][][][][][][][][][][]**[][] [][][][][][][][][][][]555555[][][][][][][][][][][][]1111 [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]1111 [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] * = Stefan [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] 1 = White Gem [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] 2 = Statue Frag [][][][][][][]66666666[][][][][]333333[][][][][][][][][] 3 = Physic 99[][][][][][]66666666[][][][][]333333[][][][][][][][][] 4 = Coin 99[][][][][][]66666666[][][][][]333333[][][][][][][][][] 5 = Boots 99[]77777777[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]222222 6 = Shine [][]77777777[][][][][][]444444[][][][][][][][][][]222222 7 = Silver Blade [][][][][][][][][][][][]444444[][][][][][][][][][]222222 8 = Guard [][][][][][][][][][][][]444444[][][][][][][][][][]222222 9 = Coin [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]222222 [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] []88888888[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] As you can see, that isn't a whole lot of extremely useful items, except the star point. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: if you have a laguz (id est Lethe or Mordecai) go there, a Lv. 8 Swordmaster called Stefan will join you. And that's good, you want him in your party. But if a beorc goes there, he'll only give you his sword, the Vague Katti, which is the S-rank sword of the game. Why the game decided to make something so obscure and hard to find as that, I have no idea, but regardless, you want to send a laguz two squares to the left and one square below the upper right corner. Other good stuff here is the Physic staff, and the Boots which are to the north. This is the only opportunity in the entire game to get an item that increases your movement, so take advantage of it. Anyway, back to my strategy. What I did was equip Boyd with a Laguz Axe, and Ike with a Laguzslayer. Have people who can shove them (Gatrie, Zihark, Volke, Nephenee, Mordecai) shove them forward so that they can get to Maurim faster. Soren is also great, as he can pelt Maurim down with some magic. Again, don't worry too much about the treasure, just get the Physic and maybe the Statue Frag if you can manage that. This battle, especially the stages around Maurim and the two tigers, will be a lot easier if Boyd and Soren are promoted. First of all, their movement will be better, and they can have better strength and speed. Hopefully, you get Lethe to that space okay; she'll probably make it there having killed off a few laguz, but that's okay. Just as long as you get Stefan in your party. If you want to try and avoid killing the cats and tigers around Maurim, bring in a decoy like Jill with a Slim Lance, so that she doesn't take two hits and doesn't kill them. Eventually, Maurim will come up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maurim | Tiger | 9 | 45 | 20 | 4 | 15 | 17 | 11 | 14 | 7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ God, why'd they have to make such a hard effing boss after such a hard effing chapter. You've got to be on your toes to beat Maurim if you're one of those people attempting to beat this without killing off the laguz, cuz once again, Boyd and Soren are your heroes. Maurim's attacks are fast and furious, but once again, he doesn't move. So if you're willing to kill off all the surrounding laguz (which I'm not) you can surround him with Rolf, Astrid, and any other characters with long range attacks and hit him that way, getting tons of EXP that way. I'm not gonna do that though, so I'll just say: Laguzslayer, Laguz Axe, Laguz Bow, Laguz Lance. And fire magic. That's all the strategy you need. Short range attacks aren't too good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ And just to add insult to injury as far as Maurim's strength goes, he gets defeated in battle but doesn't even die! Now that is something. But anyway, I'd reset if you didn't save at least eight to ten laguz. You want that bonus EXP. Trust me, you do. Supposing you did, though, Maurim and his beorc friend Tormod will have a word with you, and then we'll see Naesala gaining Reyson's trust, and then turning him over to that rich, greedy fat dude Oliver. Well... he's our next target. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIq. The Atonement ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Rhys, Soren, Rolf, Volke, Kieran, Zihark, Jill, Nephenee, Astrid, Devdan* ~ Maximum Turns: 8 [400 (-30)] Ike figures out that Sanaki gave him those two missions to show how the nobles were doing laguz slave trading. And now, anyway, the real mastermind behind laguz slavery is Oliver. So it's over to a fort by the Serenes Forest to find him. Enjoy all that bonus EXP from last battle, and outfit yourself accordingly for this. You only get eleven characters for this battle, and what I tend to think of it as is a "fast" type battle, because you want to get to the end of it as fast as possible. As such, no Gatrie type characters. Alright, let's go. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 6 General (Kimaarsi) Lv. 14 Soldier x2 Lv. 4 Halberdier (Devdan) Lv. 13 Soldier x3 Lv. 3 Sniper x1 Lv. 13 Archer x1 Lv. 1 Halberdier x1 Lv. 9 Thief x1 Lv. 16 Knight x1 Lv. 16 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 16 Mage x3 Lv. 16 Priest x2 Lv. 15 Myrmidon x7 Lv. 15 Fighter x2 Lv. 15 Mage x2 Lv. 14 Knight x1 Lv. 14 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 12 Knight x2 Lv. 12 Archer x1 Volke is your guy in this battle. There are six chests in this battle to get, and you want them all. That, and the fact that you want Volke to get to Level 20 by the end of Chapter 19, if at all possible. So once again, shoving him so that he can get to chests and doors faster is ideal. Anyway, this battle is extremely easy in every way. You'll start with three myrmidons, who are really just fodder for your more underleveled characters to get experience. Just so long as you don't use characters like Soren who are already promoted to hog all the EXP away, you're all good. Make sure Volke gets to the upper part of the battle as fast as possible, which would include having characters break the doors down so that he can just run in there and grab the chests. The enemies in there are generally weak anyway. You'll soon come to two pathways through the center of the fort, where the boss is. If you were like me and had Ike at Level 19 and didn't want him to get to Level 20 yet and have nothing to do, just hang around at the back. There's a Sniper up near the boss, so make sure Jill takes the lower path down. Other weak characters can do the same. Nephenee and other lance users should have no problem taking down the myrmidons. The mages near the boss don't move unless you come in contact, but use caution anyway though, since they come with an Elfire and an Elthunder respectively. Eventually you'll reach the left part of the room, where there's a halberdier named Devdan. To stay out of his range you'll want to have a group of people doing some shoving (7 move compared to your average 6), but to recruit him, have Soren, Rolf, Mist, Tormod, or Sothe talk to him. The first two are the obvious preferences. I never used Devdan because Nephenee will absolutely rape him later in comparison, but hey, another character never hurt anyone. At about turn nine (that's turn six on hard mode, biotch), a thief will enter from the west and try to get those chests. You absolutely must stop him, which is why you want to go through this battle as fast as possible. Stop him, shoot him down, do whatever you must. The east room has a Silver Lance and an Ashera Icon, the central room has a Dracoshield and a Full Guard, and the west room has a Bolting tome and a Physic staff. DON'T miss those! As for the boss... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kimaarsi | General | 6 | 38 | 15 | 6 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alright, Kimaarsi is barely stronger than Danomill, the General from chapter 10, if you can actually believe that (in fact, HP and strength are lower). He has a strong weapon though, the Spear, which is yours after this battle. But since his strength is so mediocre, he can't do much to you. If you're still using Ike even though his level is steadfastly approaching or at 20, he's great with the Regal Sword, or anyone with an armorslayer for that matter. Boyd and Kieran are fantastic, hell, I used Nephenee and Astrid to finish him off. He can't do much of anything with strength and skill that low, plus he obviously doesn't move. Your reward is his Spear. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Make sure you've got all the treasure, and you can have Ike seize the throne. "Stay away from me, you filthy fat man!" - Reyson. Ike runs into the Mainal Cathedral demanding to know where Sanaki, and eventually finds her in the garden. There, he demands to know about what happened in Serenes Forest, and Nasir eventually reveals that there was a massacre there twenty years ago, and all the herons were wiped out. That's why Reyson is mad. Anyway, Tibarn hears what happened to Reyson himself, and he's pissed. As is Ike. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIr. Day Breaks part 1 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Oscar, Rhys, Rolf, Volke, Zihark, Jill, Nephenee, Gatrie, Astrid ~ Maximum Turns: 30 [700] You're going to have to be prepared for this one. Chapter 17: Day Breaks is four battles long, believe it or not. Ike told you it was going to be a long day. So, make sure that your weapons aren't completely run down. Also, when you start the first battle, you only get ten characters. Each battle, you get to bring in two reinforcements, but when you're just starting, you'll want to have your ten lowest leveled units that you plan to use. So, keep the promoted units to a minimum. Up there are the ones I used, just for reference. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 5 Halberdier x1 Lv. 18 Myrmidon x4 Lv. 4 Sniper x1 Lv. 17 Fighter x1 Lv. 18 Fighter x1 Lv. 16 Archer x1 Lv. 17 Archer x1 Lv. 15 Fighter x1 Lv. 16 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 14 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 16 Fighter x1 Lv. 16 Mage x1 Lv. 15 Knight x2 Lv. 15 Fighter x1 Lv. 15 Mage x1 Lv. 14 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 13 Myrmidon x1 As you can see, that's quite a piddly number of enemies, and there's not even a boss thrown in the mix! Now that really is a first. Anyways, this battle is as basic as it gets, it's really just a bunch of myrmidons and fighters against you, with an archer or mage here and there. As such, you can probably go easy on the axe users here. When you're getting your party set up, take into account Ike's level. If he's Level 19-20, keep him in the back so that he's not taking too much EXP away from you. Setting up, you'll probably want the lance users in the front while Zihark or Mia if you're using her go to the west to handle the fighters. After turn 3, three myrmidons show up from the south. If your Nephenee is good enough, she can go down there herself, but otherwise bring a character like Astrid for help. Note that one of them has a Killing Edge, and thus is quite dangerous. Other than that, it's pure basics except the extremely annoying venin weapons. What those are, are extremely weak weapons that cause poison. Rhys, with a Recover staff, is the way to go, though one of them drops an Antitoxin. So, once everything around you is routed out, move your characters upward, but beware of the Halberdier and the Sniper, as they both move, and they're both a lot more dangerous than their surroundings. Hint hint: DON'T MOVE JILL RIGHT INTO THE SNIPER'S RANGE, AND ZIHARK RIGHT AT THE HALBERDIER. COMMON SENSE PEOPLE. Something I myself lack sometimes. No boss, just a second battle. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIs. Day Breaks part 2 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Oscar, Rhys, Rolf, Volke, Zihark, Jill, Nephenee, Gatrie, Astrid, Boyd*, Soren* ~ Maximum Turns: 30 [700] Hopefully you enjoyed last battle in terms of getting some more EXP onto your characters. This battle is no worse. Anyways, Tibarn is seen with Ulki and Janaff, still looking for Reyson. Ike and Nasir have a word about the abilities of herons, and then the attack on some more of Oliver's men begins. Reyson is also seen in the back, saying something about unleashing forbidden magic on everyone. That sounds bad... =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 3 Paladin x1 Lv. 15 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 2 Paladin x1 Lv. 15 Soldier x1 Lv. 15 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 13 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 15 Axe Knight x1 Lv. 12 Soldier x1 Lv. 15 Bow Knight x1 Lv. 15 Priest x1 Lv. 15 Soldier x2 Lv. 14 Lance Knight x3 Lv. 13 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 13 Archer x1 Lv. 13 Soldier x1 Lv. 12 Bow Knight x1 Lv. 12 Soldier x1 Lv. 11 Priest x1 Lv. 10 Wyvern Rider x1 Whew. That's a hell of a lot of cavaliers, two of 'em even promoted. Still, they're lower leveled (or at least should be) than your party, and as long as you're using the appropriate weapon type against them, can't win. You'll want to split into two groups here, one to head west and one to head east. The objective here is to arrive at the blue space towards the east, so obviously your fast units such as Volke should go that way. The way there is rather swampy, though, which will impede your way. Just so you don't start taking a whole bunch of cavaliers and paladins there. This battle is nearly as straightforward as the last one, except you might want to watch out for the two paladins. The west one has a Short Spear and is a pansy, whereas the one to the east has a Silver Lance and is slightly stronger. Three turns in, your two reinforcements (I brought Boyd and Soren) will show up to help, so send them down either path, though they probably won't catch up. Just check the cavalier range as you go, though, since you never know when they'll be able to get to Rhys, or use bows against Jill, or whatever else. Enjoy the easiness while it lasts. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIt. Day Breaks part 3 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Oscar, Rhys, Rolf, Volke, Zihark, Jill, Nephenee, Gatrie, Astrid, Boyd, Soren, Kieran*, Mia* ~ Maximum Turns: 30 [700] Ike and Nasir keep wandering deeper into the forest, when Ike comes across another heron. Yep, this one's name is Leanne, and proof that another heron besides Reyson lives. Oliver shows up and obviously wants her, but Ike rescues Leanne and Oliver... runs away and sics 25 soldiers on you. The douche. Well, for this battle and the next, Ike's speed and skill will be halved, so let's hope you have him up to Level 20 at this point, aight? =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 3 Sage x1 Lv. 17 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 16 Fighter x2 Lv. 16 Fighter x1 Lv. 16 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 16 Archer x1 Lv. 15 Archer x2 Lv. 16 Soldier x2 Lv. 15 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 15 Fighter x1 Lv. 15 Soldier x2 Lv. 14 Lance Knight x2 Lv. 15 Mage x3 Lv. 14 Soldier x3 Lv. 14 Archer x2 Lv. 14 Mage x2 Lv. 14 Soldier x1 Lv. 13 Soldier x2 Lv. 14 Mage x3 Lv. 13 Mage x1 Lv. 14 Priest x1 Lv. 12 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 13 Archer x1 Lv. 11 Mage x2 Lv. 13 Mage x1 Lv. 13 Priest x1 Lv. 12 Mage x2 This is by far the hardest of the four battles. This fight has you surrounded by enemies from both sides, and you need to survive for ten turns. That's a simple enough idea, except there's 25 enemies to start with, and 19 more in reinforcements. Oh well, you get to level up. Do NOT, I repeat do NOT split your party into two groups. Period. Almost every single enemy from the south will come at you on their own, so there's absolutely no reason to go down there yourself. Plus, just look at the two sides. That's way too many enemies for five or six characters to handle on their own. Start with the north, and try to eliminate as many enemies as possible. There are mages all over the place with more coming in for reinforcements, so watch your range, especially for characters like Zihark and Volke with piss poor resistance. Soren and Rhys are the good characters in that department. Keep an eye on everyone, as the number of enemies is unrelenting. Plus, just a couple turns later, you'll have a dozen or so myrmidons, soldiers, and mages coming from the southeast, and it can be rather intimidating. Jill is awesome here, cuz she's not going to be slowed down by the swamp. Eventually most of the enemies to the north are gone, and when you weigh in all the assistance from the south, that's really most of them. Keep at least three units stationed to the southwest though, because you're going to get a lot of lance knights and soldiers coming from there as reinforcements. It's harder than it looks to survive for ten turns, but you can do it. Hopefully you get a few promotions from this, though, what with all the experience to be given out. Fortunately the sage to the south is barely stronger than the surrounding mages. Regardless of whether you finish everyone off (I did it in seven turns), you've gotta wait ten turns. Now the fourth and final battle begins. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIu. Day Breaks part 4 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Oscar, Rhys, Rolf, Volke, Zihark, Jill, Nephenee, Gatrie, Astrid, Boyd, Soren, Kieran, Mia, Stefan*, Maurim* ~ Maximum Turns: 30 [700] Yep, you get to use your original fourteen characters, plus an addition two reinforcements, for a grand total of sixteen characters in the showdown against Oliver. Not bad, I say, there's only one battle you get to use more in. Oliver finally decides to face you in battle this time, after Tibarn manages to persuade Reyson not to unleash the forbidden magic. Anyway, final battle time! =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 5 Halberdier x1 Lv. 5 Paladin x1 Lv. 4 Paladin x1 Lv. 4 Paladin x1 Lv. 4 Halberdier x1 Lv. 18 Bow Knight x1 Lv. 3 General x2 Lv. 17 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 2 Bishop (Oliver) Lv. 16 Bow Knight x1 Lv. 19 Soldier x1 Lv. 15 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 18 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 18 Fighter x1 Lv. 18 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 17 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 17 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 17 Pegasus Knight x2 Lv. 17 Mage x2 Lv. 16 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 16 Soldier x2 Lv. 15 Axe Knight x1 Lv. 15 Bow Knight x1 Lv. 15 Priest x1 Lv. 13 Knight x2 Lv. 13 Mage x1 Whoo, that's by far the most promoted units we've seen so far. Don't worry though, if you got through the last battle, you'll win this one without a problem. As for reinforcements, you're probably done calling in all the characters that you use (and if you're not, that's a problem), but you're definitely going to want to try Stefan out if you haven't yet, so bring him in if you haven't already. As for the battle, the biggest threat is a Lv. 13 Mage over to the left who uses Meteor. This isn't a Final Fantasy type threat, but it has a range of up to 10, and is pretty annoying after a while. My suggestion would be to shove Rolf over to the space three to the right of him, and Longbow him down. That'll take care of that problem instantly. Move your strong units in front, because you're about to face a bunch of strong cavaliers, as well as a General with some Knights. Never good. Make sure you do actually finish them off within three turns, however. After the second turn, your two reinforcements will show up. After three turns, though, four characters will show up as Other type: Tibarn, Janaff, Ulki and Reyson. The first two basically go around killing everything on screen, which isn't good for you EXP-wise. The other two pretty much do nothing, though, so don't worry about them. You can always rescue Janaff though, to get him out of the way. Bottom line though, get to Oliver as fast as you can, because if Tibarn kills him, you don't get his weapon. Have Stefan, Rolf, and your other reinforcement handle the Bow Knights at the top when they appear, and when you're ready to end this chapter for good, attack Oliver. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Oliver | Bishop | 2 | 32 | 6 | 9 | 14 | 12 | 25 | 10 | 20 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now that's not much of a boss to close off such a beast of a chapter. Look at those terrible stats, the only good ones are luck and resistance. Oliver's choice of weapon is the Nosferatu tome, which is normally an extremely good light magic spell that drains HP from its target back into the user. Oliver does use it, but since you'll almost always double hit him, a lot of its value is lost. The one type of character you don't want to fight him with is mages/sages, because Oliver's resistance is pretty good. However, Oliver's magic power is terrible and his defense isn't great, so if you just move up to him and slice him down, he'll succumb in no time. Just make sure you're the one who finishes him off, not Tibarn and his men. Nosferatu is yours. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With Oliver gone, Sanaki decides to talk to Reyson and Leanne personally. If you could actually believe it, Sanaki gets on her knees and pleads for their forgiveness. Unexpected, but yes, Reyson gives her his forgiveness. An FMV then cues in as Ike and Mist walk through Serenes Forest, and as the herons sing the song Mist was humming in the beginning, the forest goes all green. Nice, if only it were like that earlier. Then back in the Mainal Cathedral, Ike is put in charge of the Crimean army, along with some of the Begnion troop. But he needs a more appropriate title, so Elincia knights him. Rise, Lord Ike...! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ VII. Walkthrough (Part 2) ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Yes, officially, Ike is finally promoted, and he experiences some stat growth. He's back to Level 1 and able to grow again, but I'm going to tell you now: by the end of Chapter 27, you really want Ike to max his strength and skill out, which pretty much requires him to be at Level 20. So keep him going by killing bosses and all that good stuff. Now that you're done with the four battle beast known as Day Breaks, you probably have about 800 more bonus EXP on you, so that IS a good opportunity. At this point, only three characters were unpromoted: Rolf and Volke at Level 18, and Nephenee at Level 19. They'll get up though, I tell ya. Plus I like to have Mist at Level 10 and give her a Master Seal so she can become a Valkyrie, but that's not needed until the end of the game. Now that you've got some free time on your hands, go to the shop to restock on your undoubtedly worn down weaponry, and also buy a Dagger or two for Volke, they're better than Knives. When you're ready, let's have Ike march on Daein, which is our new objective. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIa. Crimea Marches ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Volke, Zihark, Jill, Astrid, Nephenee, Gatrie, Reyson ~ Maximum Turns: 10 [300 (-30)] Ashnard and the Black Knight are seen talking before this chapter starts, pretty much about Ike. Ike plans to march through Daein with the Crimean army, and then go back to Crimea, so... this battle is the first step. You know what does bother me though, is the same music plays in all of Chapters 18-25. Sure, it's not bad, but you'll be bored of it very soon. Oh well, Ike and Tanith have a word, then the battle starts, and Tanith joins. You also get a choice of whether or not you want to have Reyson, Ulki, and Janaff join. You would have to be smoking something highly illegal to say no. Just saying. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 8 Sage (Kayachey) Lv. 6 Raven x5 Lv. 2 Sniper (Shinon) Lv. 1 Paladin x1 Lv. 1 General x1 Lv. 17 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 1 Warrior x1 Lv. 17 Axe Knight x1 Lv. 1 Halberdier x1 Lv. 16 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 1 Bishop x2 Lv. 1 Sage x2 Lv. 19 Sword Knight x2 Lv. 19 Archer x1 Lv. 18 Soldier x1 Lv. 17 Soldier x2 Lv. 16 Knight x1 Lv. 16 Soldier x1 Lv. 15 Wyvern Rider x2 Lv. 14 Wyvern Rider x1 Let's start with the party you bring. Reyson is the best support unit you'll ever find, so bring him. Rolf is an ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT here. You can only re-recruit Shinon here if you bring Rolf, so make sure you do that. Also, if you don't have Rhys promoted now, please give him all the bonus EXP you have to do that, because when he's promoted he can use light magic. He's the only one in the game who can do that, so make sure he can, because then he can actually hold his own in battle. You need Volke too, and a word on Tanith: I don't use her yet, since she's way overleveled. Bring Astrid to take care of the wyvern riders, and you're totally prepped. You'll want Reyson and Volke to follow the same pace, since Volke has a few treasure chests across the map to open. Meanwhile, you'll want Astrid and someone else to stay at the bottom and handle the three wyvern riders and the lance knights that show up. Here's a hint, it's almost all lances. Keep that in mind. Anyway, this battle is perhaps the most straightforward in the game: it's a long path full of Daein troops all over the place. That makes it a great opportunity to level your characters who aren't promoted yet up. The only thing you really have to be annoyed about are the sages around this place, who have Blizzard and Bolting, long range spells on the level of Meteor. Take those guys out as fast as you can, cuz they're bound to piss you off. The important thing comes when you find Shinon. Yep, Shinon betrayed the Greil Mercenaries and turned over to Daein for rank, but you can re-recruit him. First of all, let him come to you. He has a Brave Bow equipped which is somewhat nasty, but he's not too strong or fast. The first thing to do is have Rolf talk to him. Obviously, Rolf is rather upset, but the pupil must face his master. Not. After Rolf is done, have Ike attack Shinon. He should have no trouble soloing Shinon down in a couple hits, so after that, Shinon disappears. No, he isn't dead. And at this point you're close to the boss, who DOES move and will come at you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kayachey | Sage | 8 | 32 | 6 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 10 | 16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Slightly better stats than that joke from last battle, definitely. Kayachey is equipped with a Tornado, which is the A-rank wind tome. He also obviously has very high resistance, so don't use Soren or Rhys against him. Personally my Ike was able to double attack him and finish him off right there, and I recommend doing that anyway, just because Ike needs the experience, so you won't have too much trouble, since Kayachey doesn't have a lot of speed anyhow. Just watch out for his range, since he can move, and your very slow, low resistance units may be cooked. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The fight doesn't end with Kayachey's death though. You may notice that Naesala sent in some ravens after you, much to Reyson's disgust. Speaking of Reyson, he'll be a heron at this point, so you can always just advance some characters who are at the back up, then have Reyson fly in between all four of them, and his Chant will give them an extra turn. It's a great tactic, but I prefer to keep him beside Volke for this battle, so that he can get the three treasure chests quickly. They contain a Recover staff, a Silence staff, and a Wrath. But back to the units at the top. The ravens are level 6, and they still give rather good EXP, so share it with your best units. It's pretty hard to get there before they transform, though. Keep your eye on their range, and the battle will end in your favor. Afterwards, Shinon will talk to Ike about things, but it looks like he's back in the group to stay. Soren and Nasir have a rather cryptic conversation, and then Naesala is seen talking to Petrine. Oh yeah, Petrine. We'll get to her soon. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIb. Entrusted ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Volke, Kieran, Zihark, Jill, Nephenee, Gatrie, Reyson, Janaff ~ Maximum Turns: 9 [300 (-30)] Some notes before we start this chapter. Silver weapons are now available at the armory, though I'm not sure how many of your characters have an A rank in their respective weapons yet though. Also, MAKE SURE YOU LISTEN TO THE INFO CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE THREE BROTHERS! Then you can use the triangle attack in battle, and that's pretty awesome. Now, on to the battle. It's a rather annoying battle, and to make it somewhat doable, you're going to have to bring Reyson, and either Janaff or Ulki. Go with Janaff because he starts transformed and let's get this show on the road. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 17 Raven (Naesala) N/A Lv. 11 Swordmaster (Homasa) Lv. 8 Raven x2 Lv. 7 Raven x4 Lv. 6 Raven x1 Lv. 3 Warrior x1 Lv. 1 Sniper x1 Lv. 1 Wyvern Lord x1 Lv. 20 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 19 Soldier x1 Lv. 18 Fighter x1 Lv. 18 Myrmidon x3 Lv. 17 Bow Knight x1 Lv. 17 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 16 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 16 Archer x1 Lv. 16 Wyvern Rider x1 Lv. 15 Archer x1 Lv. 15 Priest x1 Lv. 14 Archer x1 The most annoying battle since Chapter 15, but fortunately much like that battle, this one allows you to pick a large amount of bonus EXP when it's all said and done. First off, look at Naesala. Look at those crazy stats, you can't possibly hope to beat him. No, instead, you've got to lure him in, have Janaff or Ulki talk to him, then leave Reyson in his range, and then Naesala will go talk to him, and the rest of the crows will retreat. This sounds easy on paper, but in practice it's one of the most grueling tasks you'll ever do in a Fire Emblem. Don't worry, I have a strategy. This strategy involves a promoted Gatrie, a Jill with a Full Guard, Janaff, Reyson, and a paladin or two. That good? First of all, let me explain Naesala's range. Naesala has an ability that lets him attack from a long range. That obviously sucks, but he's going to do less damage that way. Since you don't want to wait forever for him to turn back into sub-human form, you'll want to within a few turns move Gatrie over just within his range. That way, Naesala will come after him, but Gatrie is pretty much the only character that Naesala can't kill. Obviously he's going to get two hits to anything though, so at least Gatrie is tough to bring down. Obviously Janaff and Reyson will have to be close by. That becomes difficult, though, because there are two ballistas over to the west. If you don't know what those do, basically archers use them to shoot across extremely long distances. The bird tribe is weak against them, so to handle them, have a character with a long ranged attack start with the one in the center. Just hit it and kill it, and then move away. It would help if it's a paladin so they can do that in the same turn. The one to the west is the harder one, but if you have a promoted Jill equipped with a Full Guard, it's quite doable. If she's not weak to arrows, she has nothing to fear except the Wyvern Lord that's over there and is slightly strong, but you can handle that. Naesala will come after you when you enter his range. He won't be able to kill off Gatrie yet though, so that's good. Move Janaff over to him and talk to him, and then next turn, Naesala will immediately talk to Reyson. No need to worry about you or the crows killing one another, Naesala will do it. And then he and his crows will retreat, so... YEAH! No more ravens to fight! Of course, Homasa's troops will go after them, but that's no worry. Anyway, the rest of the fight is quite doable if you managed to lure Naesala in and get him out. It's just another ballista over to the east to watch out for, some myrmidons to the north if you didn't get those yet, a few lance knights, a priest... and the boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Homasa | Swordmaster | 11 | 37 | 13 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 12 | 11 | 12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you can see, those stats are fairly good. None of them are outstanding, but all of them are right in the middle, I may note that his strength and magic are almost equal. Coincidentally, Homasa wields a Sonic Sword and a Silver Sword. By default though, he carries the Sonic Sword, which is a wind elemental attack. Then guess who really wins over him? That's right, sages like Soren. Homasa could only do about 2 damage to my Soren, while Soren's Elwind was 16 damage, but beware. If you're fighting him, Homasa has the Adept ability much like Zihark -- he'll get extra hits in here and there, and being he has a somewhat rare but still existing critical rate, you don't want to get cocky. So best play it safe, especially since the battle ends when he dies. Lance wielders and Ike can wear him down just the same. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The objective was to beat the boss... and beat the boss you did. Ike, Titania, Soren, and Nasir make their way into the Daein storage room, where Ike decides to borrow fifty thousand gold. Yay, that goes to us, plus Soren takes 20,000 more for himself. That's an awful lot of gold, but Ike takes so much for his business with Volke. He talks to Volke a minute later, but then Volke reveals everything about who he is. He was hired to kill Greil if need be when he goes berserk because of the Fire Emblem, Lehran's Medallion, and with that, he no longer needs to reveal his identity. So he promotes from Thief to Assassin! ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIc. Defending Talrega ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Volke, Kieran, Zihark, Nephenee, Astrid, Gatrie ~ Maximum Turns: 10 [400 (-30)] In a scene afterwards, Ike is talking to Soren when Mist busts in and says she lost the medallion. Ouch... we all know Daein was involved. Moments later, Petrine and the general Shiharam talk about flooding the land so that Ike's army can't advance. What scumbags. Back at base, enjoy the ridiculous amount of gold and bonus EXP you got from last battle, and VIEW YOUR INFO DURING THIS CHAPTER! The sage Calill will join you, so while she's no Soren in my book, she's always there if you want an alternative. Let's go defend Talrega. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 10 Wyvern Lord (Shiharam) Lv. 1 Sage x1 Lv. 3 Sage x1 Lv. 18 Knight x2 Lv. 2 Paladin x1 Lv. 18 Wyvern Rider x2 Lv. 2 Bishop x1 Lv. 17 Mage x1 Lv. 1 Sniper x1 Lv. 17 Wyvern Rider x2 Lv. 1 Halberdier x2 Lv. 15 Wyvern Rider x6 Lv. 1 Sage x2 Lv. 20 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 20 Fighter x2 Lv. 20 Soldier x1 Lv. 20 Priest x1 Lv. 19 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 19 Archer x1 Lv. 19 Soldier x1 Lv. 19 Wyvern Rider x1 Lv. 18 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 18 Knight x2 Lv. 18 Wyvern Rider x3 Lv. 17 Wyvern Rider x1 Lv. 16 Wyvern Rider x1 Lv. 15 Wyvern Rider x1 The hardest part of this entire battle is choosing what eleven characters you want to use. So, as usual, drop the highest level characters, but note that in this battle you'll be fighting double digits worth of wyvern riders, so archers and axemen are the way to go. Your objective is to make it up the hill and to the spot that Shiharam is flying over in fifteen turns, which isn't a terribly hard task, although you'll be getting a ton of wyvern rider reinforcements coming from the west as you move up. For that reason, I just had Ike stick to the west so he could slice them up. Make a small group (about four characters) head north at first so they can take down the soldiers there, plus go inside the house for a Smite scroll, which trust me you don't want to miss. There'll also be a mage and sage that come out of there as reinforcements later, and you can't forget the wyvern riders, so definitely leave a few of your characters there. Meanwhile, the rest of your team can just go to the southwest and head up. There's a paladin and some sword knights there, and a few knights. Nothing all too special. Also, there's a house there which contains a Rescue staff. AKA a filler object which exists just to level Rhys up more. As the turns keep going, wyvern riders will come from the west. I just left Ike there, and he was able to double attack them each time, finishing them off even though he uses swords. Gotta love Ike, but leave Rolf there with him just so the experience distribution is fair. Also, watch out for the sages with long ranged magic; if you have Calill here or Soren with decent weapon mastery and a Bolting or something, now's a great opportunity to use them. And yes, you will soon come to the top of the hill, where your opponent is Shiharam and Haar is gone. DO NOT BRING JILL UP HERE IF YOU BROUGHT HER IN THIS BATTLE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shiharam | Wyvern Lord | 10 | 45 | 20 | 4 | 17 | 14 | 1 | 21 | 13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ You can see a tidbit of Jill's ability in Shiharam. But let me warn you now: do NOT engage Shiharam with Jill if you're using her in this battle. Jill will betray your party then, and... that's not good. Best to just use your other characters. Anyway, Shiharam much like his daughter (hopefully) is equipped with a Full Guard, so wind and arrows aren't going to help like they usually do. Still, swords are great against him, and if you brought Ike up here, he'll slaughter Shiharam utterly. Otherwise, Zihark or anyone else should probably suffice. Boyd and Kieran are also good for this fight, just as long as you aren't using lancemen. And also, if you're really finding this fight difficult, you can just get attacked 15 times by Shiharam's Tomahawk and it will disappear, but you'd have to be an idiot to do that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ After Shiharam is dead, you can go arrive at the blue spot with whomever you want. Either way, the surrounding Daein landscape is flooded, and a lot of civilians are pissed. Ike, being the good samaritan he is, decides to share a lot of his funding with them, though. Anyways, flash out to Daein Keep. It's quite obvious that Ashnard isn't there, and two generals have been put in charge: Ena, and a knight Kasatai. The big battle for Daein Keep begins. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIId. Without a King ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Volke, Kieran, Zihark, Nephenee, Jill, Gatrie, Reyson, Tauroneo* ~ Maximum Turns: 18 [400 (-40)] The next battle is one of the biggest, most climatic battles in the entire game, just to let you know. And since in the battle after it, you're going to be earning a LOT of bonus EXP, feel free to use as much as you want here. Just for the record, my Ike was Level 8 at this point, everyone else was anywhere from 3-6. Prep everyone's equipment well, and then let's go to the Daein Keep. Most epic win is Ena telling Kasatai not to be afraid, and then transforming into a big red dragon. That cracks me up every time. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 14 General (Tauroneo) Lv. 6 Warrior x1 Lv. 10 Red Dragon (Ena) Lv. 5 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 9 General (Kasatai) Lv. 5 Sniper x1 Lv. 7 Warrior x1 Lv. 4 Halberdier x1 Lv. 6 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 2 Halberdier x1 Lv. 6 Bishop x2 Lv. 20 Fighter x1 Lv. 5 Sage x1 Lv. 19 Fighter x2 Lv. 4 General x1 Lv. 19 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 4 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 17 Fighter x1 Lv. 4 Halberdier x1 Lv. 3 General x1 Lv. 3 Warrior x1 Lv. 3 Sniper x1 Lv. 3 Sage x1 Lv. 3 Bishop x1 Lv. 20 Knight x3 Lv. 20 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 20 Soldier x1 Lv. 20 Mage x3 Lv. 19 Fighter x1 Lv. 19 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 19 Soldier x3 Lv. 19 Mage x1 Lv. 18 Knight x1 Lv. 18 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 18 Archer x1 Lv. 18 Mage x1 Lv. 16 Myrmidon x1 That's a rather daunting list of enemies. Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is one of the most epic battles out there, and it'll be a miracle if you finish it in less than fifteen turns. Bring your best characters to this one, thirteen should accomodate for everyone, just make sure you have Volke, since there's a ton of treasure here. I personally got my Volke over to the door on the northeast of where you come in in one turn: move him over, then have Reyson chant on him. Shove him until he's seven spaces away from the door, and open it. The two chests in there contain a Stiletto (very convenient for Volke) and a Parity scroll. There IS a Warrior in there, but he's easy picking. On the way up, there's a halberdier and a few soldiers around him, plus above that, some myrmidons. I just moved Gatrie up in front, and he was able to smash down everything that came his way. There's three doors on the northern part of the room with chests behind them, and the top to the northeast close to you has an Energy Drop in it. Good, we need all of those that we can get. At this point you'll want to split your group into two: one to go below and handle stuff on the narrow walkways, and one to head above and go through the first boss. Obviously the one for the boss will be the bigger one, plus Jill can move across the water no problem, so with lances and axes, she's not beatable. As for the boss... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kasatai | General | 9 | 36 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Okay, those stats are obviously a joke on Intelligent Systems's part. The thing that's not a joke, however, is that Kasatai has a Brave Lance. Meaning he's going to attack twice every turn, and if you're bringing someone slow as molasses into the fray... four times a turn. You don't need to worry about that, though, because for a general he's got very low HP and decisively mediocre defense. If you want to win through with Ike as I usually do, that will work. Armorslayers and especially Hammers are good as ever, as are Boyd and Kieran. Those two will make the word "own" an understatement here. It's an easy fight, but only one of two. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ You've got bigger fish to fry than that. Keep Reyson safe, moving Volke across the place to grab treasure. The northern door in the center has a Talisman, and at this point you'll probably be closing in over to the left, close to the door on the left, and with your group back together. Do NOT just rush ahead and let Volke just open the door on the left without any backup. In that door is a swordmaster with three accompanying myrmidons. Sure, Volke is powerful, but he may not have the defense to withstand all of that. Keep Jill or Oscar or someone like that behind so they can come in and finish them. Your rewards for that room after you beat the swordmaster and myrmidons are a Thoron tome and a Corrosion. Yeah I know, pretty crappy rewards, but they're something. Now, just so you can get through this as fast as possible and maximize your bonus EXP, I'd have someone rescue Volke and then with Reyson's help, get him to the southern door as fast as possible, because it will take quite a long time to get all the way down. While you're doing all that, two groups of warriors/fighters will have shown up, and will come at you, so I'd leave a couple characters behind to handle those. Once you're ready to hit that throne room, you'll want to hit it from both sides. Naturally some halberdiers and myrmidons will appear as you go down, so handle them accordingly while you keep a very watchful eye on your HP. You do NOT want to redo this battle this late, cuz it's been long. The general in front of the throne room, Tauroneo, will come out on whatever side Ike is, and he will join if Ike talks to him. Which is good, because he has two great weapons equipped, and you need some help with all the damn reinforcements. When Volke finally gets to the south, you've got a Brave Sword and a Master Seal, not bad. Anyway, when you get in the room, Ike is all surprised that Ashnard is actually in Crimea. Guess we've gotta settle with Ena. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ena | Red Dragon | 10 | 52 | 25 | 9 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 25 | 25 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now those stats are rather intimidating, I'm not going to lie. Especially the 25 defense, so you're going to need some serious manpower if you want to bring Ena down. It's made even worse by the fact she recovers 10 HP every turn, but yes, defeating her is quite doable. If you have Soren in the room, a good couple Elthunders is quite devastating. Ike should also be well in his ability to damage her, if you were like me and took Tauroneo's Silver Blade and gave it to Ike. Speaking of Tauroneo, he can provide backing support with his Spear if you want to sacrifice it. The best way, however, is with laguz weapons. Now those are great. Ena's fiery breath is strong, but she's not very fast, so as long as you can hit her you'll manage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now take a look around. Did you recruit Tauroneo? Did you have Volke get all eight chests? Did you defeat every single enemy here? If so, you're in the clear. And hopefully you didn't drag it out too long, because after Turn 20 or so a thief will appear. I beat the battle in sixteen turns though, so I'm all good. When you've checked everything over, have Ike seize the throne. Ena then escapes, courtesy of... Nasir's help. The guy is taken into custody cuz he won't talk, but tells you to go to Palmeni Temple. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIe. Solo ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Volke, Zihark, Nephenee, Gatrie, Calill ~ Maximum Turns: 12 [300 (-20)] Why this chapter is called Solo, I will never know. You'd think it was Ike clearing out everything by himself, which I would have no problem with, but I digress. Begnion troops lead by the general Zelgius come to declare their alliance to Crimea. Enjoy your bonus experience and outfit yourself if need be, and let's go to that Palmeni Temple that Nasir told Ike about. Upon your arrival, a bishop named Tomenami welcomes the group but is shaking. Yeah, it's a trap. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 12 Warrior (Schaeffer) Lv. 10 Tiger x1 Lv. 8 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 6 Cat x2 Lv. 6 Warrior x1 Lv. 4 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 5 Warrior x1 Lv. 2 Sniper x1 Lv. 5 Sniper x1 Lv. 19 Fighter x1 Lv. 4 Warrior x1 Lv. 12 Thief x1 Lv. 4 Halberdier x1 Lv. 4 Sage x1 Lv. 3 Warrior x1 Lv. 3 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 3 Sniper x1 Lv. 1 Bishop x3 Lv. 20 Fighter x1 Lv. 19 Fighter x1 Lv. 19 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 19 Soldier x2 Lv. 19 Mage x1 Lv. 18 Archer x1 Lv. 17 Archer x1 Lv. 17 Mage x1 Lv. 15 Mage x1 Lv. 11 Thief x1 Lv. 8 Priest x1 Lv. 6 Priest x1 Lv. 5 Priest x8 Lv. 3 Priest x2 Lv. 3 Priest x3 Wow, now that's a messed up list of enemies. Fifteen priests and three bishops will do that to you. This battle is extremely easy though, your only goal at hand is to make sure you don't kill many if any priests, as you'll get 20 bonus EXP for each one you keep alive, and the ultimate Ashera Staff if they all survive. First thing you'll want to do is make sure Volke is in your group, plus I like to have Calill in this party so that she can use Meteor and Bolting, as long distance attacks can be quite useful here. For instance, use one on the sage way up there who's equipped with a Bolting... and that Bolting is YOURS! Woot! With that treasure in our hands, break your party into two groups, one to traverse the western hallway and one to go down the eastern. The enemies in there are of relatively equal difficulty, although the left will get more reinforcements. There are priests blocking your way in both directions though, so to get around that problem, just have someone shove them or smite them. And of course, Volke is mandatory here to get the chests, since the chest keys that the enemies inside drop only have two uses. The chests in the western room contain a Sleep staff, a Nosferatu tome, and a Spirit Dust, while the eastern room will give you a Silver Bow, a Tomahawk, and a Bolganone tome. My suggestion would be to have Volke go to room and get the chests in there, with someone else getting the last chest if need be, while in the other room, a fast unit get the two chests at the far end while Volke just rushes in to get the first chest there, just to minimize time. When you're done in the two halls, which will include handling the reinforcements (laguz die on your laguz weapons), join back up in the center hall. Told you using Calill would be great. There are three bishops there who will pelt you with very inaccurate Light magic, so make sure you're NEVER one space away from them, and NEVER two spaces away with a ranged weapon. EVER. Usually the bishops are smart enough to only target characters who won't counterattack though. So just manage to shove them out of the way, finish off the archers, and then the boss will be in clear view. Do some more shoving so that you can get him in your range, preferably with some Meteors already in him, and let's beat the cheapskate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Schaeffer | Warrior | 12 | 51 | 21 | 4 | 16 | 18 | 8 | 19 | 9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Schaeffer is one of those guys you need to look out for, as he has a Killer Axe and a Killer Bow, so he has a range all around him and can in all instances hit with a very high percent chance of critical. When you get around the problem of actually GETTING to him in the first place, your two best characters are obviously going to be Ike and Zihark. My Ike was equipped with a Silver Blade and my Zihark had a Brave Sword, so if you're like me, you're not in any way short of assets. Another thing I did was have Calill blast him with a Meteor, and the priests hate him so won't heal him. Bahaha, sore loser. Swords will lay into him like nobody's business. Especially the Brave Sword from last battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With that fight done with, if you saved every last priest in the place, Tomenami gives you an Ashera Staff, which heals every character in the whole place back to full HP and status. Sweet... afterwards, Reyson and Mist finish exploring the place, which leads to Reyson finding writing on the walls about his older sister being with Ike's mother. That would then explain how Greil came to be in possession of Lehran's Medallion. Anyway, the group's next target is Crimea, across the Riven Bridge. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIf. The Great Bridge ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Zihark, Kieran, Nephenee, Jill, Gatrie, Astrid, Calill, Haar* ~ Maximum Turns: 12 [400 (-30)] As Ike and Elincia are talking, our good pal Ranulf shows up. Yeah, haven't seen that cat in a while. He tells them that Gallia is on their side in the war, and then of course, that he'll be joining them. That's quite a good thing, let me tell you. Anyway, use that massive amount of bonus EXP you got last battle on the characters of your choosing, and it's time to go back to Crimea. Petrine won't make that easy though. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 18 Paladin (Petrine) Lv. 11 Wyvern Lord (Haar) Lv. 11 Cat x1 Lv. 3 Paladin x1 Lv. 8 Tiger x2 Lv. 3 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 6 Paladin x2 Lv. 20 Sword Knight x2 Lv. 4 Warrior x1 Lv. 20 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 4 Sniper x1 Lv. 20 Wyvern Rider x5 Lv. 3 Warrior x3 Lv. 3 Sage x1 Lv. 1 Sniper x2 Lv. 20 Lance Knight x2 Lv. 20 Axe Knight x3 Lv. 20 Fighter x2 Lv. 20 Archer x1 Lv. 18 Sword Knight x1 Lv. 18 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 18 Archer x1 Lv. 18 Wyvern Rider x1 Lv. 18 Mage x1 Lv. 17 Wyvern Rider x1 Lv. 15 Mage x1 One of my favorite battles in the game, this battle truly is a war. First thing to know when deciding your party is that this battle has no less than five ballistas which will snipe you down from afar. So you have one Full Guard, which means only one flying character is advisable. Because of the ridiculous care you'll have to take of him, I wouldn't recommend taking Reyson anyway, and to recruit Haar in this battle, Jill is needed. 'Nuff said. On another note, starting with this battle, you can use Ranulf, and he's a lot better than Lethe at this point. Even though Jill likely has the Full Guard, keep her towards the back of this map, since Haar will arrive from the back as a reinforcement about four turns in, plus a bunch of myrmidons and sword knights show up there. The rest of the party can march up, but let me tell you: this place is littered with traps. All these traps do is paralyze you for a turn and just let you carry on your way next turn, but they're still holes in the ground that you have to make your way around. Here's my incredible poor interpretation of this place, which is far inferior to Gunner_TNB's Chapter 23 map here on GameFAQs. It only shows the bridge itself, plus Petrine too to show where I'm coming from. The 0s are the traps, -- are ballistas, and || are the walls. P xxxxxx0xxxxx|xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx0x|xxx|0xxxxxxxx0xxxxxx xxxxx--|xxx|x--|xxxxxxx|xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx|xxx|0xx|xxxxxxx|xxxxxxxx xx--xxx0xxxx0xx0x|xxx--|xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx|xxxx0xxxx|xxxxx|xxxxxxxx xxxxx--|x0xxxxxxx|0xxxx|xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|xxxxx0xxxxxxxx That was perhaps the crappiest ASCII diagram I've ever created, but bear with me. I hope you have a decent Calill on you, because you want your eyes to be out for a certain mage toward the lower part of this map around the middle who's equipped with a Blizzard. Try and Bolting/Meteor him quickly, so for one thing, he won't hit you if he's dead, and because he drops it when he dies, and that Blizzard goes over to you. Bahaha, how glorious. I'd give the Blizzard to Soren since he'll obviously have a C or better in wind, plus he's definitely a stronger mage anyway. You'll want a good sage to take down those ballistas. From the east, a swordmaster and two myrmidons will appear, which Jill's lance can waste no problem. Then a paladin and two sword knights appear, which aren't any better. As for the turn after that, it's Haar and three wyvern riders. Quickly have Jill talk to Haar, since he and his Brave Axe are opponents you don't want to face. Haar, on your side, is a Level 11 Wyvern Lord whom I rarely use because my Jill always turns out great or better, but he's definitely a decent character, and his Brave Axe will kill his men. I always like when a character shows up with his men as reinforcements, you recruit him... and his men just sit there and attack. Cracks me up every time. The turn after that, the retainers of Princess Elincia, Lucia and Bastian, send no less than five paladins out as reinforcements for you. They're all pretty weak, but they have bows, so they'll be good against those wyvern riders to the west. There's a ton of traps over to the west, so follow that map or my ridiculous diagram carefully if you want to save time. Also, there's three ballistas to the west; the ones on the north and south sides behave normally, but the one in the center shoots boulders, which do about 10 damage to who it hits, and 2 damage to the surroundings. Not bad, but feel free to keep Blizzarding the dangerous ballistas. Eventually, you'll arrive at the boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Petrine | Paladin | 18 | 41 | 20 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 10 | 22 | 18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ouch, now I know you've been waiting for this fight for a long time, but that is one high level. There is one character that Petrine absolutely cannot touch, and that is Soren. Yes, Soren. That's because Petrine's Flame Lance is magic, and I'm willing to bet your Soren's resistance is close to or at 26. That's the formula for how much damage Petrine's attacks do: 26 minus your resistance. You can just start by hitting her with a Blizzard from afar, but Soren just standing there hitting her with magic is really the best way to go, althouh Boyd/Kieran with axes are still quite good, as is Ike in general. So... Petrine is a bit disappointing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With that done, have Ike seize the blue spot, and then Lucia will come to greet Elincia. Ranulf and Ike will talk themselves, then Ranulf will want to see Nasir. But guess what, Ike goes to the supply tent where they're keeping him, and... he's gone. Hahahaha. That's hilarious. Anyways, let me take this opportunity to drop you a note: you want Mist to be promoted by Chapter 27. Yeah, I'm aware you probably don't use her. Neither do I. I just level her up to Level 10 and then use a Master Seal; it's not worth it to level her up to twenty. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIg. Battle Reunion ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Zihark, Kieran, Nephenee, Jill, Gatrie, Lucia*, Bastian* ~ Maximum Turns: 7 [400 (-40)] As the battle begins, Geoffrey and Bastian are pacing around the castle endlessly worrying about Elincia, when Delbray Castle gets attacked by a whole bunch of Daein troops. Meanwhile, Lucia and Bastian run off to tell Elincia to go away... but Ike and Elincia will have none of that. Time to fight through the whole bunch of Daein troops and save Geoffrey's men, wouldn't you say? It's a... battle reunion, or something like that. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 15 Paladin (Rikard) Lv. 20 General (Black Knight) Lv. 8 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 7 Berserker x1 Lv. 7 Paladin x1 Lv. 5 Berserker x1 Lv. 7 Sage x1 Lv. 4 Wyvern Lord x1 Lv. 6 Warrior x1 Lv. 2 Halberdier x1 Lv. 5 Warrior x1 Lv. 1 Bishop x1 Lv. 5 Sniper x1 Lv. 19 Wyvern Rider x3 Lv. 5 Wyvern Lord x1 Lv. 19 Soldier x1 Lv. 4 Sniper x1 Lv. 18 Bandit x2 Lv. 20 Bow Knight x1 Lv. 16 Bandit x1 Lv. 20 Fighter x2 Lv. 20 Archer x1 Lv. 20 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 20 Wyvern Rider x2 Lv. 19 Lance Knight x1 Lv. 19 Bow Knight x2 Lv. 18 Archer x1 Lv. 17 Sword Knight x3 Lv. 17 Lance Knight x2 Lv. 17 Archer x1 Lv. 17 Myrmidon x3 Lv. 16 Soldier x4 And the objective of this mission is to get to the northwest blue square behind Geoffrey in fifteen turns or less. Not too hard. I'd definitely go easy on the fliers and generally weak characters here though, since there's three ballistas you'll want to stab after a while, but then again, you'll want Jill (or Haar if you decided to use him) to cover the west though, as there's a strong wyvern lord there with a couple riders. As soon as you get going here with a few enemies dead, you're probably going to want to split your group into two parties, one to head straight west and one to head north. I'll say this now though: do NOT leave any characters right near the bottom. Please, for the love of God, don't. The northern group will go up, and you'll find a house with a Savior inside (makes Rescue better, I'd give it to a paladin or flier), and a berserker will come in from the northeast as a reinforcement. Also, a turn in, Lucia and Bastian will enter from the southeast and are very controllable. Though they can certainly hold their own in battle, they're quite inferior to Zihark and Soren/Calill respectively. Have them mesh in whichever group you choose, while the western group takes care of the damn ballista there and then gets ready to attack the west. Geoffrey's troops to the northwest will take down most of the soldiers that come flying at the castle, but make sure you take down a good deal of them yourself so they don't steal the EXP. Now here's where you want to be careful: check Rikard's (the boss) range. If you are in it, then the next turn the Black Knight will storm in from the south where you entered. And that is NEVER good, believe me... he's still quite undamageable. But as for the boss, he does move, but you'll want to have a small army go at him, while someone goes to the southernmost house to pick up the Nihil scroll. Meanwhile... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rikard | Paladin | 15 | 48 | 18 | 3 | 17 | 18 | 7 | 19 | 16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Aight, Rikard ain't too bad, though he will move once you start entering the western region where his troops are fighting Geoffrey's. Rikard has a ranged attack, but as long as you don't have weak characters around the northeast, he shouldn't be able to land any casualties on you. Though he does have two weapons, he almost always uses the Short Axe, so sword users are great on him. Hell, my Ike's attacks took over a third of his HP off right there with great accuracy, plus he double attacked. So long as you have strong units ready, Rikard is no match for you. Just finish him fast because he loves to use Elixirs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With that fight over, Elincia finally reunites with all her retainers at last, but Ike runs out to try and fight the Black Knight. So the battle begins... and he can't damage him. Only weapons blessed by the goddess can harm the Black Knight, so it seems. Meanwhile, in Hall Phoenicis, Tibarn leaves to go to Gallia, but then the Black Knight comes in, captures Leanne, and gives her over to Ashnard. So ends Chapter 24, and Geoffrey is now among your party. Let me tell you, he's by far the best of the three retainers. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIh. Strange Lands ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Zihark, Nephenee, Jill, Stefan, Reyson, Calill ~ Maximum Turns: 7 [300 (-30)] How creative, Chapter 12 is called A Strange Land, and Chapter 25 is called Strange Lands. Anyway, the Crimean army needs to continue towards their homeland by going through a mountain pass, so that's this chapter. Use the bonus EXP you got from last battle as you wish, and let's hit this battle up, shall we? In deciding your party, I'll tell you now that it isn't a great one for paladins or generals. Just saying, though I know you're eager to use your new character. Also, before entering the battle, VIEW THE THREE STAR INFO CONVERSATION. You'll recruit Largo, whom I never use, but whatever. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 14 Wyvern Lord (Gromell) Lv. 3 Wyvern Lord x2 Lv. 10 Warrior x1 Lv. 10 Cat x1 Lv. 9 Warrior x1 Lv. 9 Halberdier x1 Lv. 9 Cat x1 Lv. 8 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 7 Warrior x1 Lv. 7 Sniper x3 Lv. 7 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 7 Cat x1 Lv. 6 Warrior x2 Lv. 6 Sniper x1 Lv. 6 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 6 Halberdier x3 Lv. 6 Sage x1 Lv. 5 Bishop x1 Lv. 4 Bishop x1 Lv. 19 Fighter x1 This is a very, very frustrating and annoying battle. Starting with choosing a party for it. I can barely even give you recommendations here, except don't bring more than one paladin, and no generals period. Paladins/generals have their movement halved going up this mountain path, which is extremely annoying especially given the already lackluster movement of generals, so... dat's bad. Apart from that, there's a big ballista at the top here which loves nothing more than to snipe down your characters, so go easy on the fliers. Yes, I do indeed start using Tanith again after this battle, since you can finally stop worrying about ballistas. You're going to want to split your group into two parties, one to go left and one to go right. I'd say overall the left path has more enemies, so go heavier that way, but the number one thing: bring Rolf in the group that will move faster. Trust me on that one. Apart from that, I would sort of split the party up equally among the two paths. I said only bring one paladin, so perhaps one slow type unit in the other path. My two main guys were Zihark and Stefan, obviously on opposite paths. Having Jill fly up to take care of the damn ballistas is a pretty fine and dandy idea as well, just make sure that she's protected against arrows. Reyson is pretty good here as long as you're past the ballista range, as he doesn't have his movement restricted. Once again, you'll want Ike to get all the kills he can (he needs to be at at least level eighteen by Chapter 27), so whether he, or the slightly superior Rolf in this department, get the kill of the boss, that's up to you. Just make your way up the path, besides the ballistas, there's not really anything very challenging as you go. When you actually get into the boss's range though, he'll come flying at you. Make sure you DON'T step into the forefront of his range, though, because as a flier, he has double movement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gromell | Wyvern Lord | 14 | 47 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 11 | 13 | 20 | 12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alright, here's how you beat Gromell: check his range, and move in at the very, VERY end of his range. If you do that, he'll fly over at you and always attack (yes people he moves), but after his attack is done, he can't just fly away. And unlike Shiharam, Gromell isn't equipped with a Full Guard, so arrows will send him to his grave instantly. Especially if you have Rolf equipped with a Brave Bow, that's the ultimate way to finish off Gromell. Just make sure if you're doing it this way that you keep everyone safe though, since Gromell has such a nasty range. Thankfully though, he's slow as hell and attacks with magic (which is rather lacking), meaning Reyson for instance will take about 2 damage from him max. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Assuming you managed to get through that, good job. As long as you don't do anything stupid for the remainder of the battle, you should be okay. Take note, however, that there is a Bishop towards the upper left that wields the Purge tome, which is the long range light type of spell, so try and get to him as fast as you can, as he drops it with the durability it currently has. Being it IS out of five, that could be bad, potentially. But anyway, when that fight's over, basically Tibarn saves your ass, and now the big battle is to begin. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIi. Clash! ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Kieran, Zihark, Nephenee, Jill, Astrid, Gatrie, Stefan, Reyson, Tanith, Calill, Haar, Geoffrey, Elincia ~ Maximum Turns: 13 [500 (-40)] You read the above list of characters correctly in terms of how many I used. No lie, you can use nineteen characters in this battle. You shouldn't have to force yourself to use nineteen characters though; there are probably some characters you never want to use, and that's absolutely fine; it's perfectly fine to bring about fifteen or sixteen, so that the EXP can be split among them. When you get your party equipped (and chosen...), the battle against Bertram agains. And yes, Elincia does request to join the battle, and Ike and Geoffrey let her for some strange reason. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 19 Paladin (Bertram) Lv. 9 Wyvern Lord x1 Lv. 12 Paladin x1 Lv. 9 Sage x1 Lv. 11 General x1 Lv. 8 Sage x1 Lv. 11 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 7 Wyvern Lord x1 Lv. 11 Sniper x1 Lv. 7 Sage x1 Lv. 10 Paladin x1 Lv. 6 Paladin x2 Lv. 10 General x1 Lv. 10 Warrior x2 Lv. 10 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 10 Sniper x1 Lv. 10 Tiger x3 Lv. 9 Paladin x2 Lv. 9 Warrior x2 Lv. 9 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 9 Wyvern Lord x1 Lv. 8 Paladin x1 Lv. 8 Wyvern Lord x1 Lv. 8 Sage x1 Lv. 8 Bishop x1 Lv. 8 Cat x1 Lv. 7 Paladin x1 Lv. 7 General x2 Lv. 7 Halberdier x1 Lv. 7 Bishop x1 Lv. 6 Wyvern Lord x1 Lv. 4 Sniper x2 Yeah, just because you get nineteen characters doesn't mean that the enemy doesn't get a ton. Honestly, just because you can use nineteen doesn't necessarily mean that you should, since some may just get in the way. Fact of the matter is, this is one big battlefield, and you'll want to divide roles up. Personally I always send a flier or two with another character (preferably with high resistance) straight north to the northeast corner, because there's a couple Paladins there, as well as an annoying ass Sage. That, and you'll be seeing a couple reinforcements coming there, so it's worth diverting your overall attention to for just a little bit. As for the west, you'll see that it's divided. You'll be seeing Swordmasters and Generals, so characters like Oscar and Geoffrey with lances can head for the swordmasters, for both offensive and defensive purposes. Boyd is as good as ever as well here, mainly because of the Generals. Just make sure you're going for every single enemy here, as four of them will drop each specific laguz weapon, which you'll absolutely need for Chapter 28. As long as you choose the right type of character for the right type of enemy (example: laguz weapons, otherwise strong characters, or magic for the cat and tiger laguz), enemies will fall in no time. Like I said, your main force should be somewhat divided among the west. You can move them up gradually as the enemies down there are killed off though, as no reinforcements come from there. The only reinforcements you'll see here are from the castle (three sages, kill them as fast as possible), and from the northeast, which are Paladins and Wyvern Lords. If you left a few characters there, however, they won't bother you at all. Because the boss deserves your full attention, however, use your whole attention on the sages before going after him, which extends to include healing low resistance units that are around that general area. Eventually, though, you have to handle Bertram. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bertram | Paladin | 19 | 48 | 22 | 17 | 25 | 20 | 8 | 23 | 19 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Perhaps the most sinister boss in the game, Bertram sits on the throne when you're done with a Runesword in hand, so don't take him lightly: he's got 17 mag on top of that, so the HP drain he's got won't be pretty. And of course, with that being said, it's obvious you don't want to hit him with anything less than the best of the best. If he'll do more damage than you when you attack, just don't do it. Probably the best person for damaging him is Ike, of course, since Ike has very good strength, probably great weaponry, and that's not to mention Aether. So in short, you know who can hit hardest, plus once again a strong Rhys or Soren will own this, so use them and finish him fast so that you get the Runesword with a high durability. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ That's the second of the Four Riders taken down. Whenever you're done enjoying this beautiful battle while it lasts, have Ike seize the throne, and then you are just continuing to move closer to this game's finale. Now, however, is the time to use your bonus EXP. You'll want Ike to be Level 20 at the end of the next battle, but I'd safely say he can secure two levels without a problem. So, get him to Level 18. Everyone else should be fairly well equipped as well, then when you're ready, start Chapter 27. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIj. Moment of Fate part 1 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Zihark, Nephenee, Gatrie, Tanith, Geoffrey ~ Maximum Turns: 19 [400 (-30)] When you are truly ready to set foot in Chapter 27, do so. But just, please for the love of god make sure Ike knows Aether. He does, right? Plus his skill is pretty high, at least around 25? Okay, I'm just looking out for you guys. Enter the battle, and Ike begins his march on the castle where he knows the Black Knight lies in waiting for him. The castle is under the care and guarding of General Hafedd, who we have to take care of before getting to the Black Knight. This is truly the moment of fate. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 17 Halberdier (Hafedd) N/A Lv. 12 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 12 Tiger x2 Lv. 11 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 11 Cat x3 Lv. 11 Tiger x3 Lv. 10 General x3 Lv. 10 Sniper x1 Lv. 9 General x3 Lv. 9 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 9 Cat x1 Lv. 8 Halberdier x1 Lv. 8 Sage x1 Lv. 7 Warrior x1 Lv. 7 Sniper x2 Lv. 7 Halberdier x1 Lv. 7 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 7 Sage x2 Lv. 6 Bishop x1 Lv. 5 Sage x1 Lv. 3 General x1 Lv. 3 Warrior x2 Lv. 20 Knight x1 Lv. 18 Knight x1 Lv. 14 Thief x1 Lv. 12 Thief x1 Lv. 11 Thief x1 Alright, you're only allowed eleven characters for this battle, so try to make it count. Take in note you get three Door Keys during this battle (two uses each) and there's seven chests in here, but personally I think you can easily pass another Spear or especially another Silver Lance by. Just my opinion though, feel free to ignore me. Anyway, the path splits in three right where you start off. Eventually, though, all three paths will meet up again at the top near the boss, so your initial task will be to form parties of three. The number one thing to take into account is Ike's level. If he's Level 18 or especially lower, send him solo down the middle path. He should have absolutely no trouble routing out every single enemy there on his own. If you equip Ike with the Runesword from the last battle, he'll keep himself completely healthy while slaughtering everything with no effort at all, so that's my recommendation. Otherwise, send about five characters each down the left and right paths. That is about all the strategy I can give you at this point, because now at the third to last battle, only you know what has worked for you in the past and hence what will work for you now. Personally I sent all three brothers down the left path and had them make a slaughterhouse of the scene, because they're all so incredibly strong. If you're strong enough to handle this battle very aggressively, then do that, because only the long distance sages and the laguz will present a problem. Ah yes, the sages with Bolting and all that stuff. There's one of them right off the get-go, standing in the center. Always a bad place for them; have Ike or whomever you're using go up there as fast as he can and take that guy out. When your two parties reach the end of their paths they'll immediately find a sage or two waiting for them there as well, and at least one of them will always have a long distance spell. If you can kill them, you won't have any other trouble except perhaps the laguz. If you have a laguz weapon or two handy from the previous battle spoils, then use them. Those are the only two even remotely threatening aspects of this battle. And as I mentioned earlier, the paths eventually lead to doors. After you open one of them, you'll immediately reveal the whole rest of the area, which more often than not as enemies right there waiting for you. The room on the right is particularly dangerous as there's both a sage there and two tigers. Before you open that door, I'd really load some characters up there to charge, because two tigers isn't an easy matchup. Soren with Elfire, Nephenee with the Flame Lance, Geoffrey with a Laguz Lance, that's the kind of stuff that's excellent in there. Eventually you'll kill everything off and then everyone will meet up, but before you go, try and get as many of the chests as you can. The left room has a Bolganone tome, a Resolve scroll, and a Laguz Axe. The middle room has a Physic staff (get with Ike, trust me) and a Silver Lance, and the right room has a Fortify staff (good stuff) and a Spear. With all that in your possession, your party will be completely reunited. All the more fitting to fight Hafedd. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hafedd | Halberdier | 17 | 46 | 20 | 9 | 26 | 20 | 19 | 22 | 18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ah, Hafedd... somewhat of a filler boss, much? Well, the character you send against Hafedd depends on Ike's level. If he isn't Level 20 yet, attack with weak attacks and draw it out so he gets as much as possible, so that when you finish Hafedd you'll be at Level 20. Hafedd has both a short range and a long range attack with his Brave Lance and Spear respectively, but of course if he has the Brave Lance equipped feel free to have Soren pelt him with magic, since Soren's speed should be just a little bit better than Hafedd's. Like the rest of the battle, you know how to finish off a boss at this point, so whatever works for you will work, as Hafedd isn't a terribly challenging boss to begin with. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Make sure you're ready to move on before you seize the throne. Is Ike at Level 20 or really damn close to it? You may want to have Rhys if you want a level or two on him use that Fortify staff, as he gets a hell of a lot of EXP from using it. Just a thought. But when you're ready, have Ike seize the throne, and then he'll step into the room ahead where the Black Knight awaits. Soren tries to stop him saying that's nonsense, but nah, as they say. It's Ike's battle and he has to fight it. Unfortunately. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIk. Moment of Fate part 2 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 5 ~ My Party: Ike, Mist ~ Maximum Turns: 19 [400 (-30)] That's right. This is the single hardest thing in Path of Radiance. It all begins as Ike steps into the fated room, as the Black Knight stands in front of Ena, about to finish her off. But no, Ike interposes right before Ena gives her last words, and finally the epic showdown between Ike and the Black Knight begins. Of course, Mist comes in since it's her fight as well, and you'll be glad she did. Alright... time for the fated match. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 20 General (Black Knight) Lv. 3 Bishop x1 Lv. 2 Halberdier x1 Lv. 1 Bishop x1 I said it up there once, I will say it again. The match against the Black Knight is the one hardest thing to do in all of Path of Radiance, because of how utterly frustrating it is. This is one of the most aggravating gaming experiences you will ever see, because it isn't based on skill: it is based on sheer dumbass luck. Once you've maxed Ike's stats out, as in having 26 strength and 27 skill, as well as a high HP count, there is nothing else that you can do. You simply need to have Aether on Ike and pray that the 27% chance it has of activating will occur once or to be safe, twice. If that happens, you will win the battle. If not, you will not. Simple as that. Let me start with preparations. You are allowed to use both Ike and Mist in this battle. It would be highly preferable if Mist is promoted to a Valkyrie. That way, she can equip a Physic staff and heal Ike from a distance, as the Black Knight will not move. As for Ike, he absolutely needs to have 26 strength and 27 skill (the first being slightly more important). No way around that. Being Level 20, and hence having the most HP possible is a necessity. For weapons, he is given the Ragnell blade when the fight begins, so that's good. Everything else, give Mist the Physic staff from the last battle if she doesn't have one yet. Otherwise, all he needs is an Elixir if the going gets tough, or if Mist isn't promoted. Okay, now you're ready to fight the Black Knight. You have five turns to finish the battle, otherwise Nasir will come in and interrupt. Ike at maxed out strength will do 9 damage a slice. The Black Knight will do far more, but that is why you have Mist in the back casting Physic. Unless, of course, you're hit with Luna, which for the Black Knight occasionally activates and does far, far more damage. That is your number one fear; if he activates it several times, you're just dead. See where I'm getting the luck argument from now? But yes, you will do 9 damage every attack, and since there's two attacks a turn due to the attack and counterattack, that's 18 damage. Because of the Black Knight's god damn freaking Renewal ability though, he heals 6 HP each turn, though, so you'll do 12 damage each turn. You have five turns and you do 12 damage each turn though, you say, so what's the problem? The fact of the matter is, you'll be lucky if Ike can just keep attacking, as a few Lunas will get him on his knees. You may very well need him to use an Elixir to bring himself back, and then you'll be doing 3 damage that turn. And you just need one of those moments to ruin everything. If that weren't bad enough, a few turns in, two bishops with Physic and a Halberdier enter. Yes, the Black Knight gets damn healers just like you. What I did, however, was just run Mist in front of them, and then they ran down to the bottom and even though the Black Knight was low on HP, they didn't heal him. Quite weird. As for the Halberdier, he's weak as hell and doesn't need to be worried about, so just let him sit on his ass. Now, of course, the biggest luck you can get is Aether activating. Not only will this do utterly massive damage to the Black Knight, but it will heal Ike's HP back, buying you tons and tons of time. Of course, 27% chance of a skill activating isn't terrific, so that's why you need such luck. Another method I heard of of dealing with the bishops is giving Mist a Sleep staff and putting them to sleep, but I didn't bother since that requires Mist to have a B in staves. So... that's all I can say. Good luck, and if you have Aether activate once or especially twice, then you've won. And just for future reference, if the five turns elapse, Nasir will come in and end the battle, and then after this battle, Ena will join your party. Not too good, but it isn't a game over. If the Black Knight and his god awful Luna kill you, it IS game over and you have to go through ALL of Chapter 27 all over again. And if you win, your reward is being able to use Nasir for the next two battles. I know, great. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Black Knight | General | 20 | 60 | 30 | 17 | 30 | 27 | 11 | 30 | 22 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So if you need a short strategy, just have Ike go at the Black Knight with the Ragnell sword in hand, and have an Elixir handy when you need it. You need all the luck you can get, since the Black Knight's Luna skill can get to you, which is why you want Mist in the back casting Physic on you. Even more importantly though, is that you have Ike with 26 strength and 27 skill. That way, he'll do 9 damage every turn, and he has a 27% chance of having Aether activate. If you can get that skill to activate two times, then you will have a guaranteed win here. If you see your HP dwindling all the way down, to the point that a Luna could kill you, definitely use your Elixir and pray to god that Aether activates. That is all I have to tell you. This is not a fight based on ability, it's pure luck. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The battle ends in one of two ways: either Nasir comes in to help Ena and then the whole place crumbles down while the Black Knight is still inside, which would supposedly kill him, or the Black Knight fades away after Ike delivers the last blow, and Nasir comes in anyway to get Ena out. If the Black Knight didn't die though... Nasir dies instead. Either Ena or Nasir will explain what the relationship between them is: Nasir is Ena's grandfather. And the dragon there will join you. Nasir is your reward if you won that battle, as he's Level 18 whereas Ena is Level 10. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIl. Twisted Tower ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 2 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Zihark, Nephenee, Jill, Gatrie, Geoffrey, Nasir ~ Maximum Turns: 10 [400 (-30)] Welcome to Gritnea Tower, where laguz are literally abused to worse than death, and coincidentally where Leanne ended up, so for Reyson's sake as much as anyone else, we have to go rescue her to stop Ashnard's plan. Back in the base, buy Elixirs for your whole party, as well as fit your best laguz weapons to your characters. You'll get twelve characters here, one of them allowed to be your dragon from last battle. Also, Tibarn tags along here, so it's time to take Leanne back. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 18 Sage (Heddwyn) Lv. 15 Hawk x1 Lv. 15 Red Dragon x1 Lv. 13 Cat x1 Lv. 13 Cat x1 Lv. 10 Cat x1 Lv. 13 Red Dragon x1 Lv. 10 Tiger x4 Lv. 12 Cat x1 Lv. 12 Raven x1 Lv. 12 Red Dragon x1 Lv. 11 Paladin x1 Lv. 11 Halberdier x2 Lv. 11 Bishop x1 Lv. 10 Paladin x1 Lv. 10 Tiger x1 Lv. 10 Hawk x1 Lv. 10 Raven x1 Lv. 9 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 9 Halberdier x1 Lv. 9 Bishop x1 Lv. 9 Cat x3 Lv. 9 Raven x1 Lv. 8 Cat x1 Lv. 7 Warrior x1 Lv. 7 Tiger x1 Lv. 7 Hawk x3 Look at the enemy list there. You're fighting a whole ton of laguz, at least a LOT more laguz than there are beorc. Of course, the laguz mentality is to just go at you with fangs unsheathed and just rip the crap out of you, which in most circles would actually work. At this point though, your characters should be quite strong and able to withstand at least a little bit of punishment from these animals. Or in some instances, finish them off before they get to do anything. You do have weapons with high critical rates, right? As well as laguz weapons, since you DID get one of each variety in Chapter 26, right? If you did, that's really all you need. You really shouldn't play this battle out nearly as aggressively as I said to play Chapter 27, since the laguz will come straight to you, and then you can pick and choose which characters you want to use to finish them off. A great character here to use is Nasir, who in two turns will transform into a White Dragon, and is utterly divine. His speed and strength are outstanding, plus he's impossible to kill and not very easy to hit, either. If you didn't win the Black Knight battle though, don't bother using Ena, she sucks ass. Just bring in another flier or another paladin or swordmaster or something, just any character that can kick ass. Keep your eye on Tibarn. I'd recommend actually having a paladin rescue him, and here's why: he's overpowered as hell and nothing except possibly the three Red Dragons can survive one second of standing in his midst, period, end of story. You don't want him stealing away the EXP that those dragons give, so just get him out of the way. The dragons, that being said, are quite powerful though and I would watch their range, which fortunately is very small. They're very spaced out though, so when you get a good opportunity, hit them with some long ranged attacks, and then when they're weakened, a few short ranged ones should be able to finish them off. A sage with Ellightning or Bolting will decimate them. You may want to move your cursor ten spaces down from the boss Heddwyn and try to keep your characters off of the diagonal that that forms, though, because he uses Bolting. Unless you're using Nasir or someone else with insanely high resistance, they can do whatever they want. The laguz and paladins WILL all come at you except for the couple reinforcements that show up next to Heddwyn, so just wait for a good opening and opportunity, then you can arrange your forces and charge at Heddwyn. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Heddwyn | Sage | 18 | 40 | 10 | 18 | 17 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 24 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Argh, a boss with Bolting. Not a good sign. Your mission is to get to Heddwyn as fast as you possibly can and hit him with all you've got. Which won't be much, he's only got 40 HP and 12 defense, and isn't even standing on a throne. Characters with good movement who can withstand a lot of punishment should go up at him and try to double attack him to death, and it should take two characters tops. Don't fear, he's much worse than the Cats and Tigers next to him. Beware of him when he's alive though: you want to look at his ten square long diagonal and keep low speed low resistance characters like Gatrie away from there, because Heddwyn's Bolting really can hurt you bad. But he dies in two hits anyway, so what does it matter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With the boss gone, everything else shouldn't be a problem. The two bishops are extremely weak, even the one with Purge, and while their sleep status is annoying they won't be a big threat. If you handle the dragons carefully and wisely they'll be gone in no time, and then you can have Ike seize the throne. Also, if you have one or two characters accidentally end up dead in this fight, don't fret, there's only one battle left. Turns out, Naesala managed to rescue Leanne, so that was nice of him. The group goes into the actual tower though for some rather ugly sights. Let's totally not go there. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIm. Repatriation ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Zihark, Nephenee, Jill, Stefan, Tanith, Reyson, Geoffrey, Nasir, Naesala* ~ Maximum Turns: N/A Well... it's the endgame, the final battle. So I guess it goes without saying that you should use every last bit of bonus EXP you have left over, and all those weapons you were storing up, give them to whomever needs them the most. You can buy Physic staves and Elixirs now at the shop, so do that too. Make sure your characters all have Silver, Brave, and/or Killer weapons (Laguz are great too), and then start. You'll have the opportunity to let Ike address the army, which is just a fine idea, and then you're at Crimea Castle. The goal is repatriation, and your enemy is Mad King Ashnard. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 20 King Daein (Ashnard) N/A Lv. 20 General (Bryce) Lv. 17 Tiger x2 Lv. 17 Red Dragon x3 Lv. 16 Cat x2 Lv. 15 General x2 Lv. 15 Halberdier x4 Lv. 15 Swordmaster x4 Lv. 15 Bishop x2 Lv. 14 Paladin x21 Lv. 14 Halberdier x1 Lv. 13 Warrior x2 Lv. 13 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 13 Sage x3 Yes, you read that setlist right. There's fifty enemies in this battle, and no less than 21 of them are Level 14 Paladins. Let me say one thing first: the strategy for this is based on the NORMAL mode of difficulty. If you're playing this game in hard, I did a separate section for that in my Extras, which is just a bit ahead, so if you're that crazy, do it. Repatriation in Normal mode is a rather challenging battle. I mean, with all those enemies there you would expect as much, right? You must use Ike and your dragon in this battle; everyone else is up to you. The path splits into three right off the getgo, so send Ike and Nasir up the front, where you'll immediately meet Bryce and two generals. To the left and right, divide it equally. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bryce | General | 20 | 50 | 23 | 12 | 21 | 18 | 17 | 25 | 16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The first and by far the easiest of the two bosses in this battle is the last of the Four Riders: Bryce. Quite an honorable man, it's a shame he's fighting for all the wrong reasons. But anyway, I recommended Ike and Nasir down the middle path to Bryce, so if you do that, good, he can't hurt anyone except them. Bryce comes equipped with the ultimate lance, the Wishblade. Make sure Ike has the Ragnell equipped. Bryce will come at you right away, but as Ike is spearleading the operation, that'll just get him out of the way faster. If you beat the Black Knight, you can beat Bryce, especially if you get Aether to activate. Farewell, knight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now it's time I add one of the most important elements into this battle: one turn in, Nasir will tell you that the odds are bad, and you should call one of the laguz generals. You have a choice of Tibarn, Naesala, or Giffca. Personally I chose Naesala in this playthrough, but basically all three are gods. Giffca is the strongest, Naesala is the fastest, and Tibarn is somewhere in between. Also, Giffca can't fly, just letting you know. As long as you're not in hard mode though, it doesn't matter, all three are amazing. The laguz you chose will show up for the third turn, and then I'd have them join one of the two parties. Ike and Nasir don't need any help. Ashnard's army is all rather aggressive. They will all charge forward, especially the paladins on either side as well as the laguz. You of course do want to solidify a force to march forward though, so do that. Also, make use of the edges of the thicket that runs across this courtyard. It'll add on to your avoid, which is always helpful. Take note that Rhys with his Fortify is extremely good for your purposes, since you'll be in relatively short range with the rest of your party. That's really all that I can say. Make use of Physic and other long range spells, and then gather everyone towards the top. The insane number of Paladins guarding Ashnard will come after you. Lay them to waste, and then have Ike, Nasir, your godly laguz, Reyson, and Rhys move up to where Ashnard is, just not two spaces away. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ashnard | King Daein | 20 | 60 | 35 | 16 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 35 | 25 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is it. The final boss of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. This battle suffers from some of the luck aspect that plagued the Black Knight battle, but it's not as bad this time around. Like that battle, you want to have Ike standing under Ashnard slashing away. Ashnard will counterattack, and I warn you that he can rack up some good damage on you, but that's why I recommended having Rhys nearby, so he can use Physic and Fortify to heal all of your attackers back to full HP, after Ashnard is done hacking away at them. Ike, Nasir, and your laguz general are the only three who can damage Ashnard, I warn you. If you have those three surrounding him all slashing away, and all with their HP being monitored, Ashnard will die VERY fast, especially if Ike activates Aether. Or if you have Reyson nearby, but just be warned that Ashnard's sword, the Gurgurant, has a range of two. Good luck! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you managed to win that battle, congratulations. Enjoy the (extremely long) ending, which all begins the second after the finishing blow is delivered to Ashnard. Now you have some tasks to do. This walkthrough, and especially this battle was written assuming you're playing in Normal mode. If you want a true challenge, play Hard mode, especially when you get to Repatriation, which I cover in my Extras section right ahead. Then of course there's the trial maps. Possibilities are there, so enjoy them. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ VIII. Extras ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- I'm only going to cover a few things in this section here (oh noes that's bad right), and those are the three trial maps that you can unlock without a GBA player (hint hint), the final battle in Hard mode which is very, well, hard, and just for reference, my final stats. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIa. Final Stats ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ I thought I'd tag this onto the extras section just to show you guys what stats I go into the trial map battles with, and just to give you guys a basis of comparison. Obviously it's for normal mode because no one survives the final battle of Hard mode except Ike and whomever else. I realize some levels are a bit low, but that's because I have OCD and insist on using everyone at least a little which hurts the entire party development as a whole. =P Ike - Lv. 20 Boyd - Lv. 16 Oscar - Lv. 17 HP: 57 Sp: 28 HP: 59 Sp: 20 HP: 50 Sp: 25 Str: 26 Lck: 20 Str: 27 Lck: 21 Str: 20 Lck: 16 Mag: 11 Def: 24 Mag: 1 Def: 15 Mag: 6 Def: 20 Skl: 27 Res: 22 Skl: 26 Res: 8 Skl: 23 Res: 14 Soren - Lv. 14 Rhys - Lv. 18 Rolf - Lv. 12 HP: 40 Sp: 20 HP: 35 Sp: 21 HP: 36 Sp: 25 Str: 2 Lck: 17 Str: 4 Lck: 24 Str: 19 Lck: 16 Mag: 29 Def: 11 Mag: 29 Def: 8 Mag: 9 Def: 15 Skl: 28 Res: 26 Skl: 22 Res: 30 Skl: 28 Res: 12 Zihark - Lv. 15 Nephenee - Lv. 13 Jill - Lv. 16 HP: 50 Sp: 29 HP: 43 Sp: 25 HP: 49 Sp: 27 Str: 24 Lck: 17 Str: 22 Lck: 14 Str: 26 Lck: 17 Mag: 8 Def: 19 Mag: 7 Def: 15 Mag: 8 Def: 18 Skl: 26 Res: 5 Skl: 27 Res: 14 Skl: 21 Res: 10 Geoffrey - Lv. 19 Nasir - Lv. 19 Naesala - Lv. 18 HP: 50 Sp: 23 HP: 58 Sp: 24 HP: 58 Sp: 35 Str: 23 Lck: 14 Str: 20 Lck: 17 Str: 32 Lck: 19 Mag: 12 Def: 25 Mag: 12 Def: 24 Mag: 18 Def: 25 Skl: 21 Res: 9 Skl: 23 Res: 28 Skl: 31 Res: 20 That's the only twelve characters I really use in the trial maps. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIb. Repatriation - Hard Mode ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 5 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Rolf, Zihark, Nephenee, Jill, Stefan, Tanith, Reyson, Geoffrey, Nasir, Giffca* ~ Maximum Turns: N/A Yeah, I know I said earlier that the hardest thing in Path of Radiance was the battle with the Black Knight, but let me tell you: this is very, VERY hard. It's the culmination of everything you've been working for all game long, and who knows, you may not even have your best characters available, they may have died in previous battles. Repatriation gets in the extras because it is so different in normal and hard modes, it's just crazy. You'll see as we go. Starting with the setlist. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 20 King Daein (Ashnard) N/A Lv. 20 General (Bryce) Lv. 17 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 17 Wyvern Lord x1 Lv. 17 Red Dragon x2 Lv. 16 Paladin x2 Lv. 16 General x3 Lv. 16 Halberdier x1 Lv. 16 Tiger x1 Lv. 15 Paladin x1 Lv. 15 General x2 Lv. 15 Halberdier x1 Lv. 15 Swordmaster x2 Lv. 15 Warrior x1 Lv. 15 Sniper x1 Lv. 15 Bishop x1 Lv. 15 Red Dragon x1 Lv. 15 Cat x3 Lv. 15 Tiger x2 Lv. 14 Paladin x5 Lv. 14 General x1 Lv. 14 Wyvern Lord x1 Lv. 13 Paladin x2 Lv. 13 Halberdier x1 Lv. 13 Sage x1 Lv. 13 Cat x1 The first difference is the setlist. You may notice this time there are forty enemies instead of fifty. But this is mostly because there aren't twenty-one Level 14 Paladins this time, and there's nothing around Ashnard which serves no purpose, so that's hardly an advantage. Another difference is the actual layout which is completely different. Now the right is a lot worse than the left (which at this point is just paladins really), so go a lot heavier when splitting your party up to the right than to the left. Bryce, instead of standing at the entrance, is now at the back next to Ashnard. Speaking of Ashnard, that's the biggest difference of all. He'll fly down at you to attack when he can, and will taunt you after eight or so turns. If that wasn't bad enough, you don't get a laguz general until AFTER beating Ashnard. That's right, Ashnard has TWO FORMS. The second of which is nearly impossible to beat. Did I scare you yet? Good. Because I was scared to. But I assure you, this battle can be won. You could say there's two different ways of approaching this battle. One is for people who want to play it aggressively, and is only recommended for people who were fortunate enough throughout hard mode to have all of their best characters still alive, and pretty much at 20/20 stats. If that's you, then by all means divide your team by having Ike and Ena/Nasir go up the center and fight what they can there, while the rest of your team is divided. But if you aren't, and were like me and had several characters die in the course of the game, then here's a suggestion: STAY WHERE YOU ARE. Don't do ANYTHING. Just STAY THERE and let the enemies come at you, which they will. In your territory they will be weak and you can kill them there. Eventually they'll stop coming, of course, but then you're good to go. The reason this strategy works is because after eight or nine turns, Ashnard will get bored and fly down at you to attack. So if that's the case, there's no need to go up and fight him anyway. Just gather your characters around the thickets and defend yourself. Then when Ashnard is ready to strike, hopefully you'll be at relatively high HP so that he doesn't kill you. Like I said, you really do NOT need to go up against the enemies at the far back. Once of them being our good friend Bryce. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bryce | General | 20 | 54 | 28 | 13 | 26 | 18 | 17 | 27 | 18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bryce has seen a small upgrade from normal mode. Particularly his skill which is substantially higher, plus his defense is a couple points better, but it shouldn't make too much of a difference. Handle him with the same strategy: you want Ike with the Ragnell and that's about it, because he's a huge threat to your other characters (since you don't have a laguz general yet...). If you get Aether to activate, that takes care of his large defense. Apart from that, Ike will win in a straight out duel with Bryce. Hell, you don't even really need to fight him, Ashnard will come at you on his own, but he's there if you need him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ But yes, Bryce is completely optional. Eventually Ashnard will taunt you. At this point everyone around you who's going to come attack you should be done with, and you should just be standing in a circle around the thicket, everyone getting that extra avoid and waiting for Ashnard to come. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ashnard | King Daein | 20 | 60 | 35 | 16 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 35 | 26 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Oh dear god, it's Ashnard once again. Anyway, your strategy changes here again because Ashnard will actually move towards you this time around. Now, since it's the final boss and the final chapter, I may sound cruel by saying this, but your character's lives besides Ike, your dragon, Rhys, and Reyson don't matter. That's right, there is absolutely no way to save them besides praying that Ike activates Aether about three times in a row, so, sorry guys. As I said before, arrange your party around the thicket so that you can take as much as possible off of Ashnard's hit percentage. Try and make it so he can't get in there and attack you at the same time, though even if he does Ike's Ragnell should be able to hit him. Then it's the same strategy: hit him with whatever you can while using Rhys for Fortify and Reyson for Chant until the man falls. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This time, though, when Ashnard falls he isn't dead. Instead he picks up the medallion and bathes in its dark light until he turns into a godlike being. Now FINALLY your dragon gets scared and decides to call in one of the laguz generals. Do NOT call Naesala, he can't damage Ashnard. I'd call Giffca, but Tibarn is okay too. Either way, you have a freaking hard battle ahead of you. Some useless paladins at the top, but you probably aren't up there anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ashnard | King Daein | 20 | 80 | 40 | 25 | 30 | 28 | 10 | 35 | 30 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you want to try something just about impossible? Try to win this battle. Sure it's doable, but it's hard as hell and I won't sugarcoat it and say it isn't. By the time you get done here I guarantee you that you won't have hardly anyone left alive except Ike and Giffca, but I guess there's nothing you can do about that. Like I said before, you absolutely MUST keep everyone in the thicket, to raise the chance a notch or two that Ashnard will miss. It doesn't happen very often... but it does happen. Your mode of operation will consist of smashing away at Ashnard with Ike and Giffca turn after turn, hoping that Aether activates. If you have Nasir and he can add into that, please do so. And for the damage you take, hope that Ashnard doesn't attack Rhys, because you want Rhys close by using Fortify. If your Ike doesn't have the strength to do this... I'm sorry, but this is the end of the road. It's a battle that ends up being more about luck than anything else, but you CAN win this. I did it, I know that you can as well. May luck be with you; it IS personally satisfying if you can win this. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you seriously won that battle, you have won over my applause, as well as the third trial map. Worthy rewards, would you not agree? And hey, congrats, you just finished Path of Radiance on hard mode. Now get a Japanese copy and play Maniac mode. =P ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIc. Trial Map 1 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 1 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Rhys, Rolf, Nephenee, Zihark, Jill, Nasir ~ Maximum Turns: N/A You can unlock the first trial map by completing the game in any difficulty mode. Even Easy will unlock this so... yeah, you're going to be able to do this one, and the difficulty of it should be fairly representative of that. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 16 General x1 Lv. 13 General x2 Lv. 12 General x5 Lv. 13 Halberdier x6 Lv. 12 Warrior x4 Lv. 13 Sniper x5 Lv. 12 Halberdier x8 Lv. 13 Sage x2 Lv. 12 Swordmaster x3 Lv. 12 Sniper x8 Lv. 12 Sage x2 What a generic list of enemies. Just one boss who's barely stronger than the rest (well, Level 16 compared to everyone else at Level 12, but still). The bad thing is, this is another one of those battles set up on a mountain. Which means paladins and generals = not good. The first bit about this battle that's annoying is the fact there are still those damn annoying rocks being hurled down the mountain. Try and stay out of range of those, and if you brought a flier (with a Full Guard of course, too many snipers here), the first thing you should do is kill one of the guys up there. That, and distance yourself from the rocks. The ones on the left are nothing to worry about, trust me. Just the ones on the right. As you move to the left, if you still have Fortify for Rhys, that'll help you out a ton, since you will of course be pelted by Blizzards and Meteors. Just stay away from the last couple columns, as you will be hit by falling rocks. I used Jill almost all battle to fly up and take down the potential rock hurlers, though. Speaking of which, keep a character or two at the bottom, as reinforcements will be constantly coming from both the "exit" (the upper left) and the entrance (the bottom right) as a few turns progress. Mostly weak halberdiers and snipers, but still, that's key. As long as you have a small force to take down the reinforcements, nothing else can threaten you. Especially not that joke of a boss at the top who can't hit a target. A rare instance of reinforcements being far worse than anything else. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIId. Trial Map 2 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 3 ~ My Party: Ike, Boyd, Soren, Rhys Rolf, Zihark, Jill, Tanith, Geoffrey, Nasir, Naesala ~ Maximum Turns: N/A And to unlock this trial map, you need to have beaten the game in either Normal or Hard difficulty mode. Easy enough to do, but a much harder battle. Obviously load this battle with your best file, no matter what difficulty it is. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 20 Wyvern Lord x5 Lv. 17 Wyvern Lord x20 Lv. 18 Wyvern Lord x5 Lv. 16 Raven x12 Lv. 17 Wyvern Lord x2 Lv. 15 Raven x14 Lv. 16 Raven x10 This battle is SUBSTANTIALLY harder than the first trial map. It's a totally different battle for one thing: instead of progressing upward and fighting a bunch of enemies, you're staying on an island while 22 initial fliers and 46 reinforcement fliers. NOT EASY. You're allowed eleven characters for this, though, but choosing characters is still a bit important. You want characters that can survive a lot of abuse, which means high levels, and also some fliers. Having Tibarn or Naesala would be great here (Tibarn is probably slightly better though if you chose him), and having two regular fliers is highly advisable. There's a number of ways to fight this battle. The first way, and probably the easiest and cheapest way is to bring only Ike and possibly your laguz general. There you can sit on your base panel while Ike is equipped with the Ragnell. You can then proceed to do absolutely nothing except have Ike counterattack, while he obviously won't die, and the laguz general can support, and if necessary, you have Elixirs. That, however, is long and boring, so who wants to do that. My suggestion would to bring both Jill and Tanith, preferably equipped with long ranged weapons. Tanith with the Sonic Sword and a rather high level (high defense is important) is particularly recommended. At that point, you can then divide the bottom enemies among Jill, Tanith, and Tibarn/Naesala (if you have Giffca, just have him sit on the island). As for the defense of the base panel, the best character at first would probably be Nasir cuz he can't attack anyway, but later Rhys would be great, so that he can use Fortify, and if push comes to shove which it will, Physics. As for the Ravens to the north, they aren't as big a threat as the Wyvern Lords, so when they come, your land forces can deal with them. Preferably if they're equipped with laguz weapons. Meanwhile, for everything that comes onto the island, beat the living piss out of them with stuff like the Ragnell and Nasir's Breath. If you thought the number of reinforcements in the last battle was annoying as hell, you ain't see nothing yet. In this battle, you'll see dozens upon dozens of reinforcements, literally, so if you get the starting enemies done with, my recommendation would be to send the fliers back, have them recuperate, and then solidify your defenses as before. No less than fourteen ravens will appear at Turn 8, though, so since they come so late you can obviously ignore them and call it a done battle. How you want to handle this battle really depends on how good your army is. The Ike/laguz general strategy will almost always work, but if you want to enjoy this battle offensively, you'll need a strong force, since nothing here is below Level 15 promoted. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIIIe. Trial Map 3 ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ~ Difficulty: 4 ~ My Party: Ike, Zihark, Geoffrey, Naesala ~ Maximum Turns: N/A To unlock this final and very hard trial map battle, you need to have beaten the game in, well, Hard mode. Another incredibly difficult task, but of course you can always load the battle with your Normal file. =============================================================================== Enemies: Reinforcements: --------- ---------------- Lv. 20 Warrior x4 Lv. 20 Paladin x8 Lv. 20 Halberdier x2 Lv. 20 General x4 Lv. 20 Swordmaster x6 Lv. 20 Warrior x14 Lv. 20 Sniper x1 Lv. 20 Halberdier x14 Lv. 20 Bishop x4 Lv. 20 Swordmaster x14 Lv. 20 Sniper x14 Lv. 20 Sage x4 I didn't make a whole list of typos on the reinforcements section. You really do face seventeen initial enemies as well as 72 enemies as reinforcements here, but after twelve turns of painstaking agony, you really can eliminate the remaining enemies. Do not bring any character into this battle that is not a complete and utter god. I mean it, the space here is ridiculously small and with that many enemies coming in to make your life miserable, weak characters will just die. Especially don't bring any mages in here, they'll just die in about two hits to enemies that are at Level 20 promoted. Don't even bring Rhys here, it's not worth it. You only get six characters here, but in fact I wouldn't even recommend that many. The strategy here isn't even survive for twelve turns, it's ROUT ALL THE ENEMIES. Speed isn't an issue here (although in fact bringing in only Ike and your laguz general could actually make things faster if stuff just gets counterattacked and dies). Bringing the best weapons available is a necessity. If you're using a swordmaster like I did, make sure he's got a Killing Edge, a Brave Sword, and a Runesword. A paladin will definitely benefit from a Spear and a Silver Lance, and as for Ike, the Ragnell will suffice. For your laguz general, Giffca is probably the best one. I already told you not to bring a healer. If your HP ever does fall under, just have them use an Elixir on themselves; you should be able to do that weighing in the complete inaccuracy that some of the enemies here can exhibit. The number of reinforcements coming in will constantly increase, but just for the record, Warriors will always enter from the south, Halberdiers from the east, Swordmasters from the west, and Snipers from the north. Eventually Paladins, Generals, and Sages will be put on top of that. At first, of course, take care of everything except the Bishops, who will pretty much just sit there and do nothing. Then you can proceed to have only the characters who are gods kill everything in this gauntlet of insanity. If you only have Ike and Giffca, you'll probably be okay. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ IX. Items ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This consists of weapons, magic, items, AND skills, even though the title of it is "items". Yeah. Sue me. Oh yeah, and a 0 for the level means it has none... everything else, that means zero. Just for the record. ~- IXa. 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 | ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+----------------+ Iron Sword | E | 46 | 5 | 90 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 460 | None | Slim Sword | E | 35 | 3 | 00 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 560 | None | Steel Sword | D | 35 | 8 | 75 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 700 | None | Armorslayer | D | 18 | 8 | 80 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 1260 | Knights | Iron Blade | D | 35 | 9 | 70 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 980 | None | Longsword | D | 18 | 8 | 75 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 1260 | Horses | Venin Edge | D | 40 | 3 | 70 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 1300 | +Poison | Killing Edge | C | 20 | 9 | 75 | 30 | 9 | 1 | 1300 | None | Steel Blade | C | 35 | 11 | 75 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 1400 | None | Laguzslayer | C | 15 | 9 | 75 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 900 | Laguz | Sonic Sword | B | 25 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 9 | 1-2 | 2750 | Wind | Brave Sword | B | 30 | 9 | 75 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 5400 | x2 Attack | Silver Sword | A | 25 | 13 | 80 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 1875 | None | Silver Blade | A | 15 | 15 | 60 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 1800 | None | Runesword | A | 15 | 15 | 65 | 10 | 19 | 1-2 | 7200 | Nosferatu | Vague Katti | S | 25 | 12 | 80 | 35 | 8 | 1 | None | Stefan C15 | Knife | 0 | 30 | 2 | 00 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 320 | None | Dagger | 0 | 30 | 4 | 90 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 600 | None | Stiletto | 0 | 20 | 8 | 95 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1500 | None | Regal Sword | 0 | 40 | 7 | 95 | 10 | 6 | 1 | None | Ike C4 | Amiti | 0 | --- | 9 | 75 | 0 | 12 | 1 | None | Elincia C26, x2| Gurgurant | 0 | --- | 20 | 80 | 0 | 25 | 1-2 | None | Ashnard C29 | Ragnell | 0 | --- | 18 | 80 | 5 | 20 | 1-2 | None | Ike C27 | | | | | | | | | | | Iron Lance | E | 45 | 7 | 80 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 360 | None | Slim Lance | E | 35 | 4 | 85 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 525 | None | Javelin | E | 25 | 6 | 60 | 0 | 11 | 1-2 | 500 | None | Steel Lance | D | 35 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 560 | None | Knight Killer | D | 18 | 7 | 70 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 1170 | Horses | Heavy Spear | C | 18 | 8 | 80 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 1260 | Knights | Killer Lance | C | 18 | 10 | 70 | 30 | 10 | 1 | 1200 | None | Laguz Lance | C | 15 | 12 | 75 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 1620 | None | Short Spear | C | 15 | 9 | 70 | 0 | 12 | 1-2 | 1950 | None | Brave Lance | B | 30 | 11 | 70 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 5700 | x2 Attack | Spear | B | 15 | 12 | 70 | 5 | 15 | 1-2 | 5700 | None | Flame Lance | B | 25 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 12 | 1-2 | 7500 | +Fire | Silver Lance | A | 25 | 15 | 75 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 1500 | None | Wishblade | S | 20 | 16 | 80 | 5 | 15 | 1-2 | None | Bryce C29 | | | | | | | | | | | Iron Axe | E | 45 | 8 | 75 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 270 | None | Hand Axe | E | 25 | 7 | 55 | 0 | 13 | 1-2 | 375 | None | Steel Axe | D | 35 | 11 | 65 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 420 | None | Venin Axe | D | 40 | 5 | 60 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 360 | +Poison | Poleax | D | 18 | 10 | 60 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 810 | Horses | Hammer | D | 20 | 10 | 55 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 800 | Knights | Short Axe | C | 15 | 10 | 65 | 0 | 13 | 1-2 | 1500 | None | Killer Axe | C | 20 | 12 | 65 | 30 | 12 | 1 | 1000 | None | Laguz Axe | C | 15 | 13 | 65 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 5250 | Laguz | Bolt Axe | B | 25 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 12 | 1-2 | 3750 | Thunder | Brave Axe | B | 30 | 10 | 65 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 5050 | x2 Attack | Tomahawk | B | 15 | 13 | 65 | 0 | 17 | 1-2 | 5550 | None | Silver Axe | A | 25 | 16 | 70 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 1250 | None | Urvan | S | --- | 18 | 70 | 5 | 18 | 1 | None | Trial Maps | | | | | | | | | | | Iron Bow | E | 45 | 6 | 85 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 540 | None | Steel Bow | D | 35 | 9 | 70 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 840 | None | Venin Bow | D | 40 | 5 | 65 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 600 | +Poison | Longbow | D | 20 | 5 | 65 | 0 | 10 | 2-3 | 2000 | None | Killer Bow | C | 15 | 9 | 75 | 30 | 7 | 2 | 1050 | None | Laguz Bow | C | 15 | 10 | 75 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 1950 | Laguz | Brave Bow | B | 30 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 5850 | x2 Attack | Silver Bow | A | 25 | 13 | 75 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 2000 | None | Double Bow | S | 20 | 7 | 65 | 0 | 10 | 4 | None | Chapter 27 | Rolf's Bow | 0 | 45 | 5 | 00 | 5 | 2 | 2 | None | Rolf | ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+----------------+ ~- IXb. 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. ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+----------------+ Name | LVL | DUR | MT | HT | CR | WT | RNG | COST | SPECIAL | ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+----------------+ Wind | E | 40 | 2 | 00 | 0 | 1 | 1-2 | 520 | None | Elwind | D | 30 | 4 | 90 | 0 | 2 | 1-2 | 1650 | None | Blizzard | C | 5 | 8 | 75 | 0 | 10 |3-10 | 700 | Mage C23 | Tornado | A | 20 | 12 | 90 | 0 | 5 | 1-2 | 1800 | None | | | | | | | | | | | Fire | E | 40 | 3 | 95 | 0 | 3 | 1-2 | 560 | None | Elfire | D | 30 | 5 | 85 | 0 | 5 | 1-2 | 1800 | None | Meteor | C | 5 | 9 | 70 | 0 | 11 |3-10 | 750 | None | Bolganone | A | 20 | 11 | 85 | 0 | 9 | 1-2 | 2000 | None | | | | | | | | | | | Thunder | E | 40 | 4 | 85 | 5 | 3 | 1-2 | 600 | None | Elthunder | D | 30 | 7 | 75 | 10 | 6 | 1-2 | 1950 | None | Bolting | C | 5 | 13 | 65 | 5 | 13 |3-10 | 800 | None | Thoron | A | 20 | 10 | 85 | 5 | 7 | 1-2 | 2200 | None | Rexbolt | S | 20 | 15 | 75 | 10 | 14 | 1-2 | None | Heddwyn C28 | | | | | | | | | | | Light | D | 40 | 2 | 80 | 0 | 4 | 1-2 | 800 | None | Shine | C | 30 | 4 | 75 | 0 | 6 | 1-2 | 2100 | None | Purge | B | 5 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 8 |3-10 | 1000 | Bishop C25 | Nosferatu | A | 20 | 7 | 70 | 0 | 12 | 1-2 | 3000 | Oliver C17 | Rexaura | S | 20 | 12 | 85 | 5 | 10 | 1-2 | None | Bishop C29 | ---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+----------------+ ~- IXc. Skills ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Alright, I'll handle this a tad bit different than the last few sections, as this requires much more profound annotation on my part. ======= MIRACLE ~ 5 Capacity ======= Starts on: Mist, Ena Miracle reduces a fatal attack to 1/2 damage. So if you're going to get killed, then as long as said attack won't do twice your HP, you'll be okay. Not bad for Mist, that's for sure, although I use Nasir, not Ena. Speaking of Nasir/Ena, you get another one of these in Chapter 7, and I just give it to Ike, so that he has a greater chance of survival while fighting the Black Knight. That way you can use Nasir instead of Ena in the first place, right? ;] ====== PARITY ~ 5 Capacity ====== Starts on: Lucia Parity removes any bonuses any unit would receive from supports, terrain, and whatnot during battle, for both characters engaged in battle, making them fight on skill alone. I'm not a fan since you get it after Chapter 15 anyway, which is the biggest negative terrain place around. Otherwise, supports usually help you, so... that's a moot point. You get another one in Chapter 21, so yeah, give it to whomever. ======= PROVOKE ~ 5 Capacity ======= Starts on: Shinon Provoke is a fairly decent skill, which obviously, when equipped on a character, will cause the enemy to attack said character first above anyone else. It turns out to be quite helpful, especially when in the late game you just throw it on Boyd when he needs some levels anyway, and he just slaughters everything, plus the high defense helps. So yeah, you'll get one of these in Chapter 20, and I really do advise giving it to someone who has a lot of HP and Def. ======== SERENITY ~ 5 Capacity ======== Starts on: Rhys, Devdan Serenity decreases the effects of Biorhythm, which in this case basically affects Hit and Avoid. So it halves it in that it's either good or bad. Personally, I couldn't care less about Biorhythm; I ignore it altogether, never notice it, and not once has it helped me. That being said, I don't think it's hurt me either. Plus you can't even get another of these scrolls in the game, so for Rhys, keep it if you want. If you've got something better, go for that. ===== SHADE ~ 5 Capacity ===== Starts on: Ilyana, Volke Shade is the exact opposite of Provoke; instead of enemies going for said character, they'll choose not to. Makes sense, right? Unfortunately, though, you can only get one in Chapter 18 in Hard mode, and besides that it's just for Ilyana and Volke. If you choose to use them (which I do for Volke), it helps out a bit I'd say, but not nearly to the extent Provoke does. Still, an extra one in Hard mode on a weak character couldn't hurt. ======= TEMPEST ~ 5 Capacity ======= Starts on: Boyd, Makalov Tempest increases the effects of Biorhythm, which in this case basically affects Hit and Avoid. So it doubles it in that it's either good or bad. Personally, I couldn't care less about Biorhythm; I ignore it altogether, never notice it, and not once has it helped me. That being said, I don't think it's hurt me either. Plus you can't even get another of these scrolls in the game, so for Boyd, keep it if you want. If you've got something better, go for that. ===== ADEPT ~ 10 Capacity ===== Starts on: Soren, Zihark One of the better skills out there, Adept basically gives you two, or if you're lucky even three attacks instead of one. This is why I like Soren -- he gets this amazing ability, plus who can go wrong with Zihark. You'll get the only other one in Chapter 17, and I'd say give it to someone who is somewhat weak, and/or someone with a good critical rate. I personally gave it to Jill, but choose well. ========= CORROSION ~ 10 Capacity ========= Starts on: Bastian The single worst skill in the entire game, when Corrosion activates, the enemy your attacking has the durability of their current weapon dropped by 5. Yeah, seriously, name me one instance in which this is of any use. There's no boss in this game that actually has weapon durability which is so overwhelming that you can't just finish it off before his weapon breaks, so it's just another brick in the useless wall that is Bastian. ======= COUNTER ~ 10 Capacity ======= Starts on: Titania When Counter activates (which is a Skill%/2 activation rate, in others quite terrible), it returns half of the damage to the enemy doing the attacking. What kind of crappy ability is that? The activation is terrible, for it to be of any use you need to take a lot of damage (which Titania never does), and when it comes to that, who cares? You get another one of these in Chapter 10, so just discard it and move on. ====== GAMBLE ~ 10 Capacity ====== Starts on: Kieran When you have Gamble equipped, Gamble becomes a new skill in your menu, in that you can attack and your hit is halved, but your critical rate is doubled. So... sounds good in theory, even though Kieran is a character that just has it because of his character rather than his use for it. You'll get an extra one of these in Chapter 16, so if I were you I'd give it to Rolf or someone with a high hit and a decent critical rate on average. I suppose you CAN put this to good use, since it is just that, a gamble. ===== GUARD ~ 10 Capacity ===== Starts on: Haar Guard is a fairly nice skill which, when you attack, occasionally stops the enemy from counterattacking. It comes on Haar which is rather fun to use since he comes with a Brave Axe, and just attacking four times in a row with no resistance is entertaining. You can get one of these in Chapter 15 if you're lucky enough to find one, so if I were you, I'd give it to anyone, preferably a halberdier or swordmaster. It's a good technique, you know. ======= RESOLVE ~ 10 Capacity ======= Starts on: Tauroneo Resolve is one of the single best skills in the game, in that when one character's HP drops below half of the max, your strength, skill, and speed get a 50% increase. That's insane. Slow characters become fast, strong ones become gods, and people who can't hit... suddenly get some accuracy. While Tauroneo wasn't a fantastic character to start it with being that he rarely gets below 50% HP, you'll get one of these scrolls in Chapter 27, so give it to someone good with 10 capacity left over. You won't regret it. ====== SAVIOR ~ 10 Capacity ====== Starts on: Tibarn Savior is basically an add-on to Rescue, in that if this is on you and you use Rescue, you no longer have the Skill and Speed penalties. The only one who has it is Tibarn (who uses Tibarn for rescuing anyway), plus you get one in Chapter 24. Obviously you either have a use for it or not, but either way it's only 10 capacity, so I'd give it to one of the paladins, who obviously have both great movement and high weight. ===== SMITE ~ 10 Capacity ===== Starts on: Mordecai Smite, when equipped, is an extra ability along with Shove, that shoves two panels away instead of one. So, in short, it's a pretty good ability and if you're using Mordecai, he'll invariably be able to smite you. You can snag a Smite scroll in Chapter 20, and when you get it, it's a definite good ten capacity spent. I would personally give it to Gatrie or one of the other generals because of their high weight, as the weight conditions for Shove still apply. ======= VANTAGE ~ 10 Capacity ======= Starts on: Mia, Naesala Vantage is one of my favorite skills in the game. Basically, when a character is attacked, they'll counterattack first before the enemy does. How can you beat that, seriously. You'll get another one in Chapter 14, so the question is, who else deserves this. I can't say, but go with someone who has Adept (counterattacking twice before someone attacks is gold), and/or someone who has a high critical rate. Mia is great for that too. ===== WRATH ~ 10 Capacity ===== Starts on: Nephenee Wrath is a very good asset to Nephenee and any other character that comes with it, because it increases their Critical Hit % by a whooping 50%. It comes automatically when you reach half HP or less, making it particularly good for Nephenee because she takes a lot of damage. You get another one of these in Chapter 18, and when you do, I'd probably give it to one of the swordmasters, or anyone else who's rather fragile. ======= BLOSSOM ~ 15 Capacity ======= Starts on: Sothe Blossom is the exact opposite of Paragon. It gives you half as much EXP for everything (which means you need twice as much bonus EXP...) but instead it gives you higher stat growths upon level up. You only have one in the game and it's equipped on Sothe. That makes it automatically useless, because SOTHE IS THE WORST CHARACTER KNOW TO MANKIND. There's no need to even talk about this, don't use Sothe. ======== CELERITY ~ 15 Capacity ======== Starts on: Tormod Celerity like a lot of the other 15 capacity skills is one that only a single character comes with and you get no more of. Celerity gives Tormod an extra two movement, so it's like having Boots equipped, except it costs capacity instead. That being said, it has its uses. If you plan to use Tormod instead of Soren or anyone else as your primary sage, it'll give him an upper hand over them, but personally I'll take Soren over Tormod even with this advantage. ===== NIHIL ~ 15 Capacity ===== Starts on: Calill Nihil, when it activates (which is whenever the enemy has a skill), nullifies the enemy's skills. Pretty self explanatory, right? The character who gets it is Calill, who I guess is a fairly good choice for that, and you get one more, in Chapter 24 in the southwest house. When you get it, just give it to anyone who has the space available. It's one of those skills that's good, but it's no lifesaver and not something to lose sleep over. ======= PARAGON ~ 15 Capacity ======= Starts on: Astrid, Geoffrey Now I love Paragon, let me make that perfectly straight. Paragon doubles your EXP gain, no seriously, you'll get twice as much EXP if you have Paragon equipped and that means 2 instead of 1 EXP whenever you dodge an attack, and half as much bonus EXP required. This is why I use Astrid and Geoffrey so much, while if this didn't exist... I wouldn't use them quite as much. You never get an extra scroll for this, but for both Astrid and Geoffrey I'd keep this until they reach Level 20, even if they become overleveled. It's that good. ========= REINFORCE ~ 15 Capacity ========= Starts on: Tanith Reinforce is one of the skills that absolutely defines Tanith: it gives her the ability to, twice in a battle, call three additional support units (two Pegasus Knights and one Falcon Knight to be exact). You could definitely make the argument that they just steal EXP from you, but you can't deny how useful that can be if you need an extra bit of support. You don't get any extras though, so just leave this on Tanith and rock with it. ======= RENEWAL ~ 15 Capacity ======= Starts on: Elincia, Ena Renewal is one of those skills that you wish you had all game long, then if you do get it realize it's not that great. Basically every turn it heals you for 10% of your HP, which you'll notice a lot of bosses do (the Black freaking Knight for instance), but in practical battle use it just ain't that useful. Plus, to get one, you need to DENY Reyson's offer in Chapter 18. That's right, you get a choice between a Renewal scroll, or Reyson, Ulki, Janaff, and a much easier Chapter 19. Let me spell it out: choose the laguz and not this crappy scroll. ====== AETHER ~ 20 Capacity ====== Occult: Ike Aether is without any doubt at all the best skill in the game. Nothing is even close: Aether is Sol and Luna at the same time. Basically, this skill will reduce the defender's defense to nothing, and drain all the damage done back into Ike. The chance of it activating is Skill as a percent, which is relatively good. So tell me, is there any skill closer to perfect than this? You need an Occult scroll to get it obviously, but do it as soon as Ike promotes into a Lord in Chapter 17. Or at the very least, before Chapter 27. ===== ASTRA ~ 20 Capacity ===== Occult: Mia, Zihark, Stefan, Lucia Astra at first glance has an incredible concept. Instead of hitting once, it hits five times, each for half damage, and each of those hits has a chance of critical. And being that swordmasters, who naturally have incredible luck, use these... you're in for a treat. The only one catch is the very weak activation rate, which is Skill%/2. Not good at all. But I must say, attacking ten times is pretty appealing unless you're using the Vague Katti. Like anyone will survive ten hits anyway. ==== BOON ~ 20 Capacity ==== Starts on: Ena, Nasir So... Boon. It's like Reyson's Blessing ability, in that anyone standing next to your dragon, be it Ena or Nasir, has their status restored. I barely ever noticed status effects in Path of Radiance, especially in the last two battles, which is the only instance you can use Ena or Nasir, but then again, this skill is free, so... like they say, nothing cheaper than something free. ======== BLESSING ~ 20 Capacity ======== Starts on: Reyson Blessing is one of the reasons Reyson is one of the most amazing characters in the game. Basically, any unit standing next to Reyson at the beginning of a turn will heal 10 HP when he's in his normal form and 15 HP when he's in his winged form. It's one of the best abilities in the game, and makes him a possible (just possible) alternative to Rhys. Plus it's free, no need for an Occult scroll. ====== CANCEL ~ 20 Capacity ====== Occult: Janaff, Ulki, Tibarn Cancel is the hawks' alternative to Guard. If you forgot what that does, it negates an enemy attack, so while that's good, note who gets it. I very rarely ever use Janaff or Ulki, but if you choose to use them, they're relatively powerful. Plus Tibarn just kills anything in a two mile radius, so no need for this for him. Basically, don't use an Occult scroll for this. ===== CANTO ~ 20 Capacity ===== Starts on: Reyson One of the best skills in the entire game, plus you don't even need an Occult scroll for it. Canto is that incredible skill that allows Reyson to Chant -- when he's in his normal form, he can use Chant to give a turn back to one adjacent ally, but when he's in his winged form... he can let anyone around him, meaning up to four characters... get their turns back. Is that awesome or what? Yes, it's awesome. ======== COLOSSUS ~ 20 Capacity ======== Occult: Boyd, Largo Colossus is the Warrior/Berserker special skill, and basically if your weight is greater than the enemy's, your attacks will do increased damage. At least it's clever enough to give Boyd and Largo, who have pretty much more weight than anyone except the mounted units, but unless you have an Occult scroll lying around with no one to give it to, I wouldn't give it to them. That being said, at least Colossus has a Skill% activation chance. ======= DEADEYE ~ 20 Capacity ======= Occult: Rolf, Shinon Deadeye is, I guess, a moderately decent ability. As the Sniper special skill, it increases your hit% chance, and the activation chance of that is Skill%. There's also a Skill%/2 chance that it'll put the enemy to sleep. Honestly in my opinion Rolf and Shinon have decent enough accuracy as not to warrant the hit increase, plus the sleep bonus almost never happens, but hey, it's better than half the other useless skills out there. ===== FLARE ~ 20 Capacity ===== Occult: Soren, Rhys, Ilyana, Tormod, Calill, Bastian Flare is the Sage/Bishop special skill. The first good thing I have to say about it is that it has a Skill% activation rate, meaning it's a decent addition to your character. Basically when it activates, it reduces the enemy's resistance by half, which will add a fair sum of damage onto your attack damage. If you use any of your magic characters at ALL, I'd recommend throwing this onto them to make them stronger. Just not Rhys, I'd give it to Soren or Calill. ========= LETHALITY ~ 20 Capacity ========= Occult: Volke Lethality is an ability that, when activated, instantly kills the enemy being attacked. Sounds great, right? Well, I know, but you missed the part about "when activated". Lethality has a Critical/2% chance of activating. That's absolutely terrible. It makes Skill/2% look good. With something that low, even with Stilettos, you'll rarely have more than a 6% chance of this coming up, while take Aether. Oh, 20-27% chance. If you've got an Occult scroll with no one else to give it to though, feel free to give this to Volke. ==== LUNA ~ 20 Capacity ==== Occult: Gatrie, Brom, Nephenee, Devdan, Tauroneo Luna is a skill for Generals and Halberdiers that, when activated, will reduce their defense to nothing and just damage them. In other words, it works best against other Generals. =) You will detest this skill when you enter Chapter 27, though, ignoring how Ike can both it and Sol at the same time. But anyway, I would highly recommend giving this to Nephenee or Gatrie, since it's one of the best skills in the game, and it has a great activation chance: it's just your Skill as a percent. ==== ROAR ~ 20 Capacity ==== Occult: Lethe, Mordecai, Muarim, Ranulf, Giffca One of the worse skills in the entire game, Roar is like Stun, except it becomes a command. Giffca starts with it if you want to try it there, but you need to give an Occult scroll to the others. Roar becomes a command, in which you can prevent an enemy from moving for a turn. Doesn't even work on everything, plus I'd rather not be a wuss and just stop a character from moving. I'd just kill the bastard first. Do NOT waste an Occult scroll on this crap. === SOL ~ 20 Capacity === Occult: Titania, Oscar, Mist, Kieran, Astrid, Makalov, Geoffrey One of the best skills in the game by far, Sol is an ability that Paladins and Valkyries can learn, and when it activates (and it even has a good chance, with Skill as a percent), it restores the HP as damage is dealt. It's a very, very good skill, and I'd give it to whichever paladin you use the most. I definitely wouldn't give it to Mist, since I never use her outside of Chapter 27 anyway. Oh yeah, Chapter 27... Ike can use this and Luna at the same time, and it's sweet. ==== STUN ~ 20 Capacity ==== Occult: Marcia, Jill, Tanith, Haar, Elincia If you already saw my rant for Roar, you know what this does. Stun is a little better, though, in that you attack, and then it'll stun them. And since the people who can learn it all fly, you can just hit and run and they can't do anything... but the activation chance is Skill/2%. That blows. I wouldn't waste an Occult scroll, although it's always a cool skill to have, I guess. The activation chance ruins it for me. ====== VORTEX ~ 20 Capacity ====== Starts on: Naesala Vortex is the Raven special ability, meaning only Naesala can use it. So if you choose Naesala in Repatriation, you're in for a treat. Vortex makes Naesala the only laguz with a ranged attack. It's not really a normal attack, instead it's a wind spell, but it does extremely good damage, it's free so you don't have to waste an Occult scroll, plus it annoyed you in the past. Annoy your enemies! ~- IXd. Shops ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Yes I know, there's only one shop, but say you want to know what's available in it in normal and hard mode alike. That's all well and good since it changes so much. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Easy/Normal --------------+-+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+ Item |8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|F| --------------+-+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+ Slim Sword |Y| | |Y | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | | | | | | | Iron Sword |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| Silver Sword | | | | | | | | | | | |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| Steel Blade | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y | |Y |Y | | | |Y |Y |Y |Y| Silver Blade | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | | |Y | |Y| Longsword | | | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | Armorslayer | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | | | | | Slim Lance | | | |Y | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | | | | | | | Iron Lance |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| Silver Lance | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |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| Knight Killer | | | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | Iron Axe |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| Silver Axe | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |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| Iron Bow | | |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| Silver Bow | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| Poleax | | | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | Hammer | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | | | | | Longbow | | | | |Y | | | | | | | | | |Y | | | |Y | | | | Knife | | | | | |Y | | |Y | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dagger | | | | | | | | | | |Y | | |Y | | | | | | | | | Stiletto | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | | | | |Y | |Y| --------------+-+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+ Item |8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|F| --------------+-+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+ Fire |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| Thunder |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| Wind |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| Light | | | | | | |Y | |Y | |Y |Y | |Y | |Y |Y | |Y | |Y |Y| Shine | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y | |Y | |Y | |Y | |Y | |Y |Y |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| Mend | |Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| Recover | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y| Physic | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| Restore | |Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| Ward | | | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | | | | | | | | | Vulnerary |Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| Elixir | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y |Y| Antitoxin | |Y| | | | |Y | | |Y | | | | |Y |Y |Y | | |Y | | | Pure Water |Y|Y|Y | | |Y |Y | |Y |Y |Y | |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| --------------+-+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hard --------------+-+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+ Item |8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|F| --------------+-+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+ Slim Sword |Y| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | | | | Iron Sword |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| Silver Sword | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | |Y | | | |Y| Iron Blade | | |Y | | | | | |Y | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Steel Blade | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | | | |Y | | | | | Silver Blade | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | | Slim Lance | | |Y | | | |Y | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Iron Lance |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| Silver Lance | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | |Y | | | |Y| Javelin | |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 | | Steel Axe |Y| |Y | |Y | |Y | |Y | |Y | |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| Silver Axe | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | | |Y | |Y| Hand Axe |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 | | Steel Bow | | |Y | |Y | |Y | |Y | |Y | |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y | |Y |Y| Silver Bow | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | | |Y | |Y| Knife | | | |Y | |Y | | | |Y | | |Y | | |Y | | |Y | | | | Dagger | | | | | | | |Y | | |Y | | |Y | | |Y | | | | | | Stiletto | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | |Y| --------------+-+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+ Item |8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|F| --------------+-+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+ Fire |Y| | |Y | |Y | |Y | |Y |Y | | | |Y | | |Y | | | | | Elfire | | | | | | | |Y | | | | | | |Y | | | |Y |Y |Y |Y| Thunder | | |Y | |Y | |Y | | |Y | | | |Y | | |Y | |Y | |Y | | Elthunder | | | | | | | | |Y | | | | |Y | | |Y | | | |Y |Y| Wind | |Y| | |Y | | |Y | |Y | |Y |Y | | | | |Y | | |Y | | Elwind | | | | | | | |Y | | | | |Y | | |Y | | | |Y | |Y| Light | | | | | |Y | | |Y |Y | | | | |Y | | | |Y | |Y | | Shine | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y | |Y | | |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| Mend | | | | |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| Recover | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| Physic | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| Restore | | | | | | | | | |Y | | | |Y |Y |Y | | |Y |Y |Y |Y| Torch (Staff) | | | | | | |Y | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Vulnerary |Y|Y|Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y |Y| Elixir | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Y| Antitoxin | |Y| | | | |Y | | |Y | | | | | |Y |Y | | |Y | | | Torch | | | | | | |Y | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Pure Water | | | | | | | | |Y |Y |Y | | |Y |Y | | | |Y |Y |Y |Y| --------------+-+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-+ In conclusion, Hard mode is really, really harder than Normal. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ X. FAQ ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Because Path of Radiance deserves it. [Q] When did this game come out, how good is it, and how does it compare to the other US Fire Emblem games? [A] Path of Radiance came out in Japan on April 20, 2005, and was released in the US on October 17, 2005. My opinion is that it's absolutely great, and it's my favorite of the three in the US, although Fire Emblem 7 is quite close. Both FE7 and this (FE9) are over Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones by a rather large margin, but Sacred Stones is still great. --- [Q] Is there any way I can promote all my characters and get them all to Level 20? There's a way, isn't there?! [A] No, there's not. Now get off my damn lawn. --- [Q] Liar. There's cheap ways of gaining EXP. What are they? [A] *yawn* If you give your characters one EXP at the base, and just repeat the process 100 times, usually you'll use less bonus EXP then you would have had you given them all 100 at once. Plus with bosses, you can use long range attacks sometimes just endlessly. That's it. Don't do those, they're called cheating. --- [Q] Who should I give my Occult scrolls to? [A] That is totally up to opinion. The only one you absolutely MUST give one to is Ike, otherwise you're not going to get through the second part of Chapter 27 very successfully. I wouldn't give one to Volke, contrary to popular belief, because sadly, Lethality activates less than once in a blue moon. My personal favorite options are for Paladins and Generals, because Sol and Luna are the best abilities in the game (besides Aether obviously, which is both put together). Flare, for Sages and Bishops, is also a decent ability, and if you're not using Stefan, Astra for Zihark is pretty good. --- [Q] What are the differences between Normal mode and Hard mode? [A] In Hard mode, enemies tend to have slightly better stats, also there's a LOT more of them. Apart from that battle maps with their layouts tend to be the same, except for the final battle, which is MUCH different. Speaking of the final battle, there's an extra battle which is incredibly hard. That, and shops are MUCH nicer to you in Normal mode. Trust me. --- [Q] Rank all the characters in the game by class, from best to worst, in your personal opinion. [A] That's not a question, and you're overly demanding. But because I love you guys so much, I will anyway. Lords - Ike > everyone in the game Paladins - Oscar > Geoffrey > Kieran > Astrid > Titania > Makalov Generals - Gatrie > Tauroneo > Brom Sages - Soren > Calill > Tormod > Ilyana > Bastian Swordmasters - Zihark > Stefan > Mia > Lucia Fighters - Boyd > Largo Healers - Reyson > Rhys > Mist Snipers - Rolf > Shinon Halberdiers - Nephenee >>> Devdan Falcoknights - Tanith > Marcia Wyvern Lords - Jill = Haar (depends on how good Jill turns out) Beasts - Giffca >>> Ranulf > Maurim > Lethe > Mordecai Birds - Tibarn > Naesala >>> Ulki > Janaff Dragons - Nasir >>> Ena Thieves - Volke >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (six hours later) >>>>>>>> Sothe --- [Q] What's the triangle attack(s)? [A] There are two triangle attacks: the three brothers (Boyd, Oscar, and Rolf), and the three falcon knights (Marcia, Tanith, Elincia). To do the brothers one, all three MUST be promoted and equipped with a bow. Yes, that means when you promoted Oscar, you need to have chosen bows for him. Then, view the skit at the beginning of Chapter 20. Each brother must be standing two spaces from an enemy. Then one attacks with his bow, and so it goes. As for the falcon knights, same thing applies. All three must be promoted, then see the Sacred Pegasus Knights skit in Chapter 28. All three have to be adjacent to the enemy. As for some ASCII demonstration: Brothers Knights -------- ------- O O OXO O X O Of course they don't have to be exactly set up like that, but you get the idea. The O's are your characters and the X is the enemy, and it has to form a triangle around the enemy. --- [Q] When should my characters be promoted? [A] That's tough to say and really depends on what mode you're playing. On average, though, I like to have guys like Boyd, Soren, and one of Oscar or Kieran promoted by Chapter 15. Then when you get through Chapter 17, Ike will promote, and you'll want Rhys promoted at that point too, along with three or four others. Then bar minimum, the rest of your party should be promoted by Chapter 21 if you plan to use them. Obviously excluding Mist, however. This does all apply to characters you're going to use on a regular basis, as I for one don't use Mia, Ilyana, Marcia, or Makalov much. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ XI. 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.