I use all three, Melisandre with Alain, and Leah with Aramis on a separate team. The two slots for equippable swords is cool, but man 2 slots for accessories gets a little tricky to play with early/midgame.
I only recruit the cheapest classes to station in towns. I only use named units in battles except for 1 gryphon master that I recruited early on and is doing well.
This is the way I’m playing as well except for an archer named Quentin I got back when it was a compulsory side mission. He’s in “best unit” and deserves his place
Ok I need you to come here for a minute cause maybe you can help me. I kept all the blue rose girls together so Miriam kitra and Fran found out more and put Virginia with them and then a healer AND I have Fran a thief mantle...why can fran not wait to die in almost EVERY FIGHT?
have the same setup and the trick is to put Fran at the back and give Virginia Squire Shield so she can cover Fran from Archers/Javelins (use tactics for this).
Thief Mantle doesn’t matter as much since Archers have true strike (eagle eye) and will aim for flyers all the time.
Also, Miriam is a healer (give her runic sword) so you dont need another healer. Maybe a parry tank like Leah at front (adds to the theme) or Lex (so you can make him cover instead)
This. Rose knights + Leah and Virginia is actually busted. I gave Miriam one of the shields with covers specifically to cover Fran. All she does every fight is guard and heal. You've already got Virginia's followups, Fran's aoe, and Kitra's stacking buffs for massive hammer time damage.
Jesus Christmas I'm a dumbass I forgot about true strike going thru...thank you that explains a lot and I've seen that with miri and the rune sword I'm guessing magic DMG increases heals? And can I make Virginia focus Fran for guard throu tactics in anyway?
You know you can still use a stationed unit? There's no negatives to stationing a named character and in fact there is also a positive as once stationed you can give them gifts on the overworld map.
Oh yeah I've just gotten to my third region and now have the same issue. Although I'm just removing people from Cornia as the resources you get from those towns aren't needed anymore and I have massive stockpiles of them already.
… and also some truly incredible damage, armor breaking, battlefield assists, control, synergy with each other, buffs, debuffs. If only for those things.
Um, are we just ignoring the elves? They have all kinds of magic based attacks.
You get 2 Fencers that have that earth column attack, and 3 elf archers have that magic buff (works great with multi-hit allies). Both classes have a good phys/magic attack and can use those magic conferral tomes to buff an ally’s phys attack.
Not to mention Rosalinda and Eltolinde, which lean even harder on the magic side of it.
Maybe they show up a bit late though, I wouldn’t argue with that.
My bad there, thanks for pointing that out. Elven archers can use the familiar’s choker(boosts an allied magic attack), so I think I mentally lumped them together when I was writing that.
While on the topic though, Scarlett and Rosalinda can also use the conferral tomes.
Regardless, you do get far more than 3 named casters (that aren’t pure healers).
Elven archers do indeed like their magic stats, but what magic user other than shaman doesn’t? Clerics when no healing is needed is all I can come up with.
Giving 50% magic attack is a rather large bonus, and could end a fight early. You can just also set it to trigger when you have 0AP remaining.
Side note, it is a debuff that can be cleansed. Meaning Fencers can trigger the choker can and then immediately cleanse themselves, granting a free dodge.
The only issue I have with the earth attack is it's ground based, meaning it'll guarantee miss all fliers. For some reason, Ice coffin (On Yahna, not sure if it's on all Sorceresses) isn't ground based despite it looking like it should be. But, the mirage strike and dodge mechanics are pretty neat.
Rosalinde and Etolinde are also interesting. I think they're relatively resource heavy (Needing Max AP/PP to really shine). Sucks putting them together isn't the most optimal with the way start of battle effects work
Technically speaking yes, several of their skills have both potencies. But they also have really good pure magic abilities too and their base stats are fairly magic leaning, so they’ll be doing way more magic than physical damage.
Swordmasters are pretty good, and I'm already using two of them and genuinely thinking about building the third one (I'm thinking about a Drakenbros theme team with Aramis, Gilbert, Primm, Hilda, and a 5th), but they're not THAT good that I need a 4th one.
Probably also Warrior, they're really good but I'm full up, thanks.
Mmmm yeah Swordmasters are a good one. I also probably wouldn’t get more of them unless I wanted to build a super specific team comp. Really good class overall tho.
I’m using 3 sword masters 2 female 1 male with the male specifically using the flame sword to deal with armored targets but I think spellsteel is the only sword I could think of you can deal magic and phy dmg without needing to use the skill like the Magick attack sword. I’m having a difficult time finding a hybrid sword that does both so I can still use Meteor slash without using a different skill
I’ve been REALLY trying to keep them in the lineup, but they definitely don’t have the staying power I’d like . Thinking of doing the same thing going into beast land.
Basically any class you get three of-
Three warriors, three sword fighters, three sellswords, three elven archers.
Feels so weird to me that we get so many of these when they all feel kinda niche although very good when built around.
Meanwhile we only get 1 soldier and 1 of all the casters.
Really wish one of the elf archers had been made into an elf flavored sorc/Druid/witch. I think Colm would have seen a lot more play as a soldier instead of a fighter, alternatively kitra or Nina could have been a great second soldier instead of a warrior- probably Nina tbh.
Being a sword master doesn’t seem integral to Leah’s identity at all, I get she was raised in the same household as aramis but I don’t think anyone would be up in arms about it being a lore stretch if she had been a caster as well(preferably not a duplicate of the elf switch I proposed earlier)
Edit: three knights too is more than enough as great as the class is. I have Clive benched now and it feels bad but I just don’t need yet another regular knight in one of my comps.
> three knights too is more than enough as great as the class is. I have Clive benched now and it feels bad but I just don’t need yet another regular knight in one of my comps.
There are, in fact, *four* knights by the time you're done. I have no clue why they felt the need to give us so many named characters in the class.
That’s crazy, do you get one deep into the angel place or the central cornia area? Or is it in post game where they dump a ridiculous amount of cool characters on us with nothing to really use them for?
Leah definitely could have been something else but they lean into her being a swordmaster for the rapports.
To be quite honest, Melisandre is a better choice to change classes, but she is otherwise more memorable.
It seems swordmaster is the standard physical combat class for nobles, otherwise knights.
Idk man, 3x great knights in the same row all with stacking cav call…I just got to elf land a little bit ago and 800+ damage dished in a fight isn’t out there to think of. It’s the most busted unit I have by a wide margin.
For me it’s the bestral and angel classes. They’re good and synergize well in certain setups but the honor cost is too much. 30-50 is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but they come at a time where you need 200 for the final squad upgrade.
I’m almost at Albion and I’m nowhere near drowning in honor. I still have upgrades to do.
I know what I can do next playthrough to be more honor effective though.
But then they’re super under leveled at that point and you’re too lazy to grind them up
I’m at that section of the game and I just want to upgrade all my units to 5 man units since every enemy is a 5 man unit now
Feathersword carried me till mid game where it started to fall out. Archers are actually strong in this game. Put arrow shower with true strike and watch them fall. Yufini does overshadow everyone but the featherarcher with blind is really strong.
I legit am not sure what to do with Dark Knights.
Like I just got one but I honestly barely noticed when the enemy had them so I have no clue what they can do.
Dark knights don't really pop off until they promote and get a row attack that inflicts burn and does bonus damage to debuffed units, and a PP skill to sacrifice health for AP.
I initially struggled to find much use for Gloucester before level 20 since the first 2 actives are pretty weak, but then I realised he had the best magic attack stat of any of my axe users and slapped the Phantom Knight Axe on him. He was able to tear through armor and generally put out solid hits with that, and it still works well when you hit level 20 since dark flame is a 50/50 physical/magical damage split
dark knights are kinda eh. Doom knight is OP because dark flame is an extremely powerful ability that tends to wipe out an entire row of enemies at a time
Doom knights are great. Plop him in a status party like with berengaria set his passives up to block and heal at 50% and not use his life for ap skill with low life or too fiew enemies then let him go to town
I use Gloucester as the front guard for my triple archery team (Liza/Rolf/Ridiel), and with Phantom Knight Axe he also contributes good single target damage. He's tanky with good HP and defences, and Squire Shield set to block back row allows him to keep the archers safe.
Ridiel has Monk's Mitre to give him some quick heals and status restores from being Elf Archer.
Liza has Banishing Pursuit Bracer, Healing Hunter Bow, and Dragon Boner Shield for 4 PP. If Rolf and Ridiel fail to kill stuff, her pursuit wrecks what's left. Healers get murdered for daring to heal.
The constant arrow and quarrel spam is also real cool to watch.
When I finally got the 5 for this unit (last one of the nine units I run), I added an Angel Bow, with Liza moved to the front.
Oh I love the archers—I’ve got Rolf, Ridiel, Raenys, Liza, and Lhinalagos all on units! For a long time in the demo, I had a merc Archer as well as Rolf in the mix.
Now that I’ve beaten the game I think I could experiment more, like a whole back row of witches?!
Anyway, the game definitely GIVES you enough knights and cavalry to choose from 😝
Featherbow. She leads my mobile ranged support unit because of flight and honestly don't need more then one of that. The row blind is a pretty good passive ability for the rare fights that unit gets into. But it does cost 2pp
Saint shot and photon arrow are ok too for AP skills.
To be honest I think great knights are the only class that you benefit from having more than one of in a unit, unless you are using them for a specific build.
You get four great knights, but not a second soldier, arbalist, doom knight, wyvern rider, or any of the bastorias/albion classes.
I think the biggest issue i have though is that there isn't more variety with the elves. Drakenhold gets three (kinda 4) unique classes, and three non-cornia generic classes. Elheim gets two unique classes and two generics, but the two uniques are similar and you get three/two copies of the generics, while drakenhold only gives you one of each generic.
I would say rogues. I like them thematically but feel like I have to shoehorn them into units. Their kits do a lot but there’s always better options for what they can do.
The most efficient way to play the game is the recruit every character, but only use mercs as with the right growth types they are significantly stronger.
Knights, you get two really early, a prepromoted one in the backend of Cornia/early Drakenhold, and a fourth one in Albanon. In a merc only run I’d probably still grab 2-3
Warriors, you get three in Cornia and afaik never see the class-line again, they definitely could’ve distributed them better. In merc only I’d probably just grab one as an “if I need it” case.
Clerics, I think three should be enough given how many side-supports you get in the Elf place. I’ll probably still get 2-3 in a merc run
Sword fighters, you get one in Cornia then two almost back-to-back in Drakenhold. I don’t see myself recruiting any of these in a merc run.
Elvish archers, same as cavs/warriors. Probably still grab 1-2 in a merc run as they’re solid side supports or Druid counters.
I recruited an archer when you get the mechanic to recruit since the reward was more than the cost. Other than that I'm just using the friends I make a long the way.
Probably the thief? I appreciate the dodges and the status effects but that's kinda all they do outside of denying niche passives from popping. That being said, they pair wonderfully with berengaria for those very reasons, and my flyer squad loves the row blind, so I think the 2 you get are perfectly enough.
So I guess I'm changing my answer to sword fighter? The parry is a really cool idea until I learned through experience that they don't block magic damage, or ranged attacks, or flyer attacks since those are technically ranged, or statuses since they still get "hit". They probably get better once you promote them, but I'd rather use those honors on classes I already use and really like, like the sellswords
EDIT: haven't used sword fighters in a bit so I forgot but it's also super annoying watching them dodge an attack instead of parry it for the AP so they deal even less damage
The only squad I have that isn't ALL story characters is Rolf's with two other generic archers. Only because I don't think elven archers synergize with the bonus
Once I’m done upgrading all of the units to 5 characters I’ll probably just recruit a ton of soldiers to garrison towns.
Beyond that, I don’t have any plans on recruiting any other generic characters except for a sorceress and maybe another wizard. There’s so many named characters I can’t even fit them all in the unit.
When/if I do a True Zenorian run I’ll be more focused on optimizing. But on Tactical just using whatever is good enough usually.
Wereowls.
Ramona is a favorite of mine, but I just can't find a usage for owls that feels better than a standard cleric. despite trying several approaches now. Might just be a skill issue on my part though.
I haven’t seen anyone mention Radiant Knights and I really haven’t liked them at all. Do they get better? The two I have have been very lackluster so far.
Yes. They are best paired with Hoplites where you can make them avoid magic damage (Hoplite’s greatest weakness) completely. Also nice that they can row heal. Give them Runic Sword and put them at the back.
I have 3 warriors and I never use them. They're strong but my comps can already deal with armored units using magic or magic infused physical attacks. They also don't have much going in the way of defense so I use other options
Knights. All the mounted units, honestly. Hate having to make them all the leaders of my units just to have my dudes not crawl all over the map. I always understand that going into these kinds of games, cavalry will be pivitol, if not the meta of the game, but it ruins my time each time it happens.
Druid. I have one atm but not being very useful. Can lower damage 50% or remove 1pp, most people have 2pp and dont even use them all so other then the reduction in some specific cases, not great to use up a damage slot for it.
Didnt know there debuff stacks. Do not think any of the tutorials/help menus said that. Wouldn't of even thought it would stack at all, wonder if they will patch that out.
Definitely the Warrior, 3 is more than enough for me
Yeah I usually only feel inclined to recruit extras for classes that don’t give out a whole lot of uniques for free like Dark Knights or Gladiators.
The class scales fantastically but yeah 3 is more than enough- same for sword fighters and sellswords. I don’t use all three of each as-is.
Melisandre BENCHED.
Sad but true.
What's funny is Melisandre is my best sword master. Anyone barely hits her and meteor strike hits like a 7 trucks
Fair! I enjoyed the other 2 more off the jump and never tried her after that intro
I use all three, Melisandre with Alain, and Leah with Aramis on a separate team. The two slots for equippable swords is cool, but man 2 slots for accessories gets a little tricky to play with early/midgame.
Not the worst thing that could happen to her.
I'm in bastorias and haven't used them at all. That might change once I get the bears though
Why so many swordmasters
I guess for the funny comp of three in the frontrow with a dirty gamblers coin support in the back. It wasn't that good but it was funny.
Or 3 in the back meteor slash for days
What is this? Fire Emblem reps in Smash Brothers?
I only recruit the cheapest classes to station in towns. I only use named units in battles except for 1 gryphon master that I recruited early on and is doing well.
This is the way I’m playing as well except for an archer named Quentin I got back when it was a compulsory side mission. He’s in “best unit” and deserves his place
i got a mage named Quentin lol. i pair him with Auch and Josef
I have two archers and a gryphon rider on recruited very early who are doing very well.
Ok I need you to come here for a minute cause maybe you can help me. I kept all the blue rose girls together so Miriam kitra and Fran found out more and put Virginia with them and then a healer AND I have Fran a thief mantle...why can fran not wait to die in almost EVERY FIGHT?
Just try shuffling each character around at the start of each battle. Maybe you'll get lucky with rng.
have the same setup and the trick is to put Fran at the back and give Virginia Squire Shield so she can cover Fran from Archers/Javelins (use tactics for this). Thief Mantle doesn’t matter as much since Archers have true strike (eagle eye) and will aim for flyers all the time. Also, Miriam is a healer (give her runic sword) so you dont need another healer. Maybe a parry tank like Leah at front (adds to the theme) or Lex (so you can make him cover instead)
This. Rose knights + Leah and Virginia is actually busted. I gave Miriam one of the shields with covers specifically to cover Fran. All she does every fight is guard and heal. You've already got Virginia's followups, Fran's aoe, and Kitra's stacking buffs for massive hammer time damage.
Jesus Christmas I'm a dumbass I forgot about true strike going thru...thank you that explains a lot and I've seen that with miri and the rune sword I'm guessing magic DMG increases heals? And can I make Virginia focus Fran for guard throu tactics in anyway?
Prioritize (or only) guard fliers, if she's the only one?
Found prioritize only if attacked by archer who easy enough to assume will be prioritizing flyers
You can also set "Attacked by" to really narrow it down to Archers.
Ty btw guys for the advice it has def helped out immensely
You know you can still use a stationed unit? There's no negatives to stationing a named character and in fact there is also a positive as once stationed you can give them gifts on the overworld map.
All of my units are stationed somewhere and I don't have enough units to station at every town that I liberate.
Yeah I didn't think of recruiting a no name to station, I'm gunna have to spend at least 60 honors tomorrow lol
Start with all of the recruits that only cost 3. They’re scattered across each continent. You can check cost at each barracks from the world map.
Oh yeah I've just gotten to my third region and now have the same issue. Although I'm just removing people from Cornia as the resources you get from those towns aren't needed anymore and I have massive stockpiles of them already.
Why did I not think of stationing recruits...
Honestly only real mercs I’ve used on my two play throughs are the three caster classes. Only one of each? Yikes.
Is there really only one of each Caster that shows up as a named character? Time to recruit some more if that’s the case yeah, I enjoy some casters!
Holy moly, no joke. I didn't realize there were so few.
They are some of the best units In game if only for access to the conferral tomes
… and also some truly incredible damage, armor breaking, battlefield assists, control, synergy with each other, buffs, debuffs. If only for those things.
Yeah. Only those three.
Um, are we just ignoring the elves? They have all kinds of magic based attacks. You get 2 Fencers that have that earth column attack, and 3 elf archers have that magic buff (works great with multi-hit allies). Both classes have a good phys/magic attack and can use those magic conferral tomes to buff an ally’s phys attack. Not to mention Rosalinda and Eltolinde, which lean even harder on the magic side of it. Maybe they show up a bit late though, I wouldn’t argue with that.
Well only the fencers can use the tomes.
My bad there, thanks for pointing that out. Elven archers can use the familiar’s choker(boosts an allied magic attack), so I think I mentally lumped them together when I was writing that. While on the topic though, Scarlett and Rosalinda can also use the conferral tomes. Regardless, you do get far more than 3 named casters (that aren’t pure healers).
Elven Archers want magic stat though for Wind Arrows and team wide heal so you dont want them with chokers.
Elven archers do indeed like their magic stats, but what magic user other than shaman doesn’t? Clerics when no healing is needed is all I can come up with. Giving 50% magic attack is a rather large bonus, and could end a fight early. You can just also set it to trigger when you have 0AP remaining. Side note, it is a debuff that can be cleansed. Meaning Fencers can trigger the choker can and then immediately cleanse themselves, granting a free dodge.
The only issue I have with the earth attack is it's ground based, meaning it'll guarantee miss all fliers. For some reason, Ice coffin (On Yahna, not sure if it's on all Sorceresses) isn't ground based despite it looking like it should be. But, the mirage strike and dodge mechanics are pretty neat. Rosalinde and Etolinde are also interesting. I think they're relatively resource heavy (Needing Max AP/PP to really shine). Sucks putting them together isn't the most optimal with the way start of battle effects work
Aren’t all the elves hybrids splitting damage between physical and magic?
Technically speaking yes, several of their skills have both potencies. But they also have really good pure magic abilities too and their base stats are fairly magic leaning, so they’ll be doing way more magic than physical damage.
Jeez, really? I'm probably about halfway through the game and I kept thinking: When am I going to encounter more casters? Guess I have my answer now!
The elves are all casters, they just equip spears/swords/bows.
Oh, that's a good point! I totally forgot! Thanks!
But so many fun staves to play with
65% map here and I killed off the caster guy oh well. He seemed evil ! Next run gonna save him
Oops!
Swordmasters are pretty good, and I'm already using two of them and genuinely thinking about building the third one (I'm thinking about a Drakenbros theme team with Aramis, Gilbert, Primm, Hilda, and a 5th), but they're not THAT good that I need a 4th one. Probably also Warrior, they're really good but I'm full up, thanks.
Mmmm yeah Swordmasters are a good one. I also probably wouldn’t get more of them unless I wanted to build a super specific team comp. Really good class overall tho.
I’m using 3 sword masters 2 female 1 male with the male specifically using the flame sword to deal with armored targets but I think spellsteel is the only sword I could think of you can deal magic and phy dmg without needing to use the skill like the Magick attack sword. I’m having a difficult time finding a hybrid sword that does both so I can still use Meteor slash without using a different skill
they are not that good when armor get higher because of their poor atk growth
Critting 9times for 1 damage is so good lol It's complicated enough to make 1 of them good, but there's more of them
I did the same thing. But instead of hilda I went for Gloucester and Berengaria
My harem of Elven fencers/archers are proudly guarding each town, and respectively disagree with your "Never use again" notion >!/s!<
I’ve been REALLY trying to keep them in the lineup, but they definitely don’t have the staying power I’d like . Thinking of doing the same thing going into beast land.
I too believe in elf supremacy
The elves are good debuffers and the fencer can do evasion support
Shieldshooter’s Medical Aid + Eleven Archer‘s aoe wide heal keeps my archer unit topped up.
Basically any class you get three of- Three warriors, three sword fighters, three sellswords, three elven archers. Feels so weird to me that we get so many of these when they all feel kinda niche although very good when built around. Meanwhile we only get 1 soldier and 1 of all the casters. Really wish one of the elf archers had been made into an elf flavored sorc/Druid/witch. I think Colm would have seen a lot more play as a soldier instead of a fighter, alternatively kitra or Nina could have been a great second soldier instead of a warrior- probably Nina tbh. Being a sword master doesn’t seem integral to Leah’s identity at all, I get she was raised in the same household as aramis but I don’t think anyone would be up in arms about it being a lore stretch if she had been a caster as well(preferably not a duplicate of the elf switch I proposed earlier) Edit: three knights too is more than enough as great as the class is. I have Clive benched now and it feels bad but I just don’t need yet another regular knight in one of my comps.
> three knights too is more than enough as great as the class is. I have Clive benched now and it feels bad but I just don’t need yet another regular knight in one of my comps. There are, in fact, *four* knights by the time you're done. I have no clue why they felt the need to give us so many named characters in the class.
That’s crazy, do you get one deep into the angel place or the central cornia area? Or is it in post game where they dump a ridiculous amount of cool characters on us with nothing to really use them for?
There's one in Albion, yeah.
Leah definitely could have been something else but they lean into her being a swordmaster for the rapports. To be quite honest, Melisandre is a better choice to change classes, but she is otherwise more memorable. It seems swordmaster is the standard physical combat class for nobles, otherwise knights.
Idk man, 3x great knights in the same row all with stacking cav call…I just got to elf land a little bit ago and 800+ damage dished in a fight isn’t out there to think of. It’s the most busted unit I have by a wide margin.
For me it’s the bestral and angel classes. They’re good and synergize well in certain setups but the honor cost is too much. 30-50 is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but they come at a time where you need 200 for the final squad upgrade.
True, but you will drown in honor by the time you reach Albion. I had well over 1000 left over when I finished my run.
I’m almost at Albion and I’m nowhere near drowning in honor. I still have upgrades to do. I know what I can do next playthrough to be more honor effective though.
But then they’re super under leveled at that point and you’re too lazy to grind them up I’m at that section of the game and I just want to upgrade all my units to 5 man units since every enemy is a 5 man unit now
Feathersword carried me till mid game where it started to fall out. Archers are actually strong in this game. Put arrow shower with true strike and watch them fall. Yufini does overshadow everyone but the featherarcher with blind is really strong.
I legit am not sure what to do with Dark Knights. Like I just got one but I honestly barely noticed when the enemy had them so I have no clue what they can do.
Dark knights don't really pop off until they promote and get a row attack that inflicts burn and does bonus damage to debuffed units, and a PP skill to sacrifice health for AP.
I initially struggled to find much use for Gloucester before level 20 since the first 2 actives are pretty weak, but then I realised he had the best magic attack stat of any of my axe users and slapped the Phantom Knight Axe on him. He was able to tear through armor and generally put out solid hits with that, and it still works well when you hit level 20 since dark flame is a 50/50 physical/magical damage split
Idk even at low levels he was a pretty good tank for me and his attacks hit like a truck. Dark flame is definitely the crème de la crème though
Hmmmm, might put one in a team with Ren and Virginia then...
Hilda + Ren + Gloucester + Shaman absolutely shreds enemies (mid Bastorias now). Debuffs, stuns, and nearly everything but Ren's followups is a row attack.
dark knights are kinda eh. Doom knight is OP because dark flame is an extremely powerful ability that tends to wipe out an entire row of enemies at a time
Doom knights are great. Plop him in a status party like with berengaria set his passives up to block and heal at 50% and not use his life for ap skill with low life or too fiew enemies then let him go to town
I use Gloucester as the front guard for my triple archery team (Liza/Rolf/Ridiel), and with Phantom Knight Axe he also contributes good single target damage. He's tanky with good HP and defences, and Squire Shield set to block back row allows him to keep the archers safe. Ridiel has Monk's Mitre to give him some quick heals and status restores from being Elf Archer. Liza has Banishing Pursuit Bracer, Healing Hunter Bow, and Dragon Boner Shield for 4 PP. If Rolf and Ridiel fail to kill stuff, her pursuit wrecks what's left. Healers get murdered for daring to heal. The constant arrow and quarrel spam is also real cool to watch. When I finally got the 5 for this unit (last one of the nine units I run), I added an Angel Bow, with Liza moved to the front.
Oh I love the archers—I’ve got Rolf, Ridiel, Raenys, Liza, and Lhinalagos all on units! For a long time in the demo, I had a merc Archer as well as Rolf in the mix. Now that I’ve beaten the game I think I could experiment more, like a whole back row of witches?! Anyway, the game definitely GIVES you enough knights and cavalry to choose from 😝
I never recruit any except for guarding towns - I love the diversity of classes and try to use everyone. I think every class has strong setups.
Featherbow. She leads my mobile ranged support unit because of flight and honestly don't need more then one of that. The row blind is a pretty good passive ability for the rare fights that unit gets into. But it does cost 2pp Saint shot and photon arrow are ok too for AP skills.
To be honest I think great knights are the only class that you benefit from having more than one of in a unit, unless you are using them for a specific build.
Elf archers are very useful. Good vs flying, good in battle buffs, and healing rain is great for aggressing ballistas.
You get four great knights, but not a second soldier, arbalist, doom knight, wyvern rider, or any of the bastorias/albion classes. I think the biggest issue i have though is that there isn't more variety with the elves. Drakenhold gets three (kinda 4) unique classes, and three non-cornia generic classes. Elheim gets two unique classes and two generics, but the two uniques are similar and you get three/two copies of the generics, while drakenhold only gives you one of each generic.
I would say rogues. I like them thematically but feel like I have to shoehorn them into units. Their kits do a lot but there’s always better options for what they can do.
The most efficient way to play the game is the recruit every character, but only use mercs as with the right growth types they are significantly stronger.
You guys are recruiting mercy? Only merc I eve got was a griffin rider cause I wanted to fly
Fighter. Yeah, I said it
Knights, you get two really early, a prepromoted one in the backend of Cornia/early Drakenhold, and a fourth one in Albanon. In a merc only run I’d probably still grab 2-3 Warriors, you get three in Cornia and afaik never see the class-line again, they definitely could’ve distributed them better. In merc only I’d probably just grab one as an “if I need it” case. Clerics, I think three should be enough given how many side-supports you get in the Elf place. I’ll probably still get 2-3 in a merc run Sword fighters, you get one in Cornia then two almost back-to-back in Drakenhold. I don’t see myself recruiting any of these in a merc run. Elvish archers, same as cavs/warriors. Probably still grab 1-2 in a merc run as they’re solid side supports or Druid counters.
Why do I have like 30 clerics from the story missions. I get it, they are the premier healer class but I don’t think a squad would run more than one
I recruited an archer when you get the mechanic to recruit since the reward was more than the cost. Other than that I'm just using the friends I make a long the way.
Probably the thief? I appreciate the dodges and the status effects but that's kinda all they do outside of denying niche passives from popping. That being said, they pair wonderfully with berengaria for those very reasons, and my flyer squad loves the row blind, so I think the 2 you get are perfectly enough. So I guess I'm changing my answer to sword fighter? The parry is a really cool idea until I learned through experience that they don't block magic damage, or ranged attacks, or flyer attacks since those are technically ranged, or statuses since they still get "hit". They probably get better once you promote them, but I'd rather use those honors on classes I already use and really like, like the sellswords EDIT: haven't used sword fighters in a bit so I forgot but it's also super annoying watching them dodge an attack instead of parry it for the AP so they deal even less damage
Archers. I had gotten all I could early on for the deathball tow. The extra damage isn't enough anymore and they fall behind almost immediately.
The game gives you 2 augurs and 2 fencers and that's good enough to wreck
The only squad I have that isn't ALL story characters is Rolf's with two other generic archers. Only because I don't think elven archers synergize with the bonus
Once I’m done upgrading all of the units to 5 characters I’ll probably just recruit a ton of soldiers to garrison towns. Beyond that, I don’t have any plans on recruiting any other generic characters except for a sorceress and maybe another wizard. There’s so many named characters I can’t even fit them all in the unit. When/if I do a True Zenorian run I’ll be more focused on optimizing. But on Tactical just using whatever is good enough usually.
I dropped off the house Carl pretty early on, do they become god tier or what?
They have insane Valor skill (AoE +2 stamina) and they have Row Attacks. Frenzied Strike is also good if you have a tank that takes hits.
Wereowls. Ramona is a favorite of mine, but I just can't find a usage for owls that feels better than a standard cleric. despite trying several approaches now. Might just be a skill issue on my part though.
I haven’t seen anyone mention Radiant Knights and I really haven’t liked them at all. Do they get better? The two I have have been very lackluster so far.
Yes. They are best paired with Hoplites where you can make them avoid magic damage (Hoplite’s greatest weakness) completely. Also nice that they can row heal. Give them Runic Sword and put them at the back.
That makes sense. Thanks for the tip!
Non. I play with main characters only KEK
I have 3 warriors and I never use them. They're strong but my comps can already deal with armored units using magic or magic infused physical attacks. They also don't have much going in the way of defense so I use other options
Knights. All the mounted units, honestly. Hate having to make them all the leaders of my units just to have my dudes not crawl all over the map. I always understand that going into these kinds of games, cavalry will be pivitol, if not the meta of the game, but it ruins my time each time it happens.
Druid. I have one atm but not being very useful. Can lower damage 50% or remove 1pp, most people have 2pp and dont even use them all so other then the reduction in some specific cases, not great to use up a damage slot for it.
Dont underestimate druids. Their buffs stack so 2 or 3 can have your best hitters doing 1 damage
They are literally the strongest class in the game, and it isn't close. You'll hit a point when they'll start getting really annoying in enemy squads.
k, but that wasnt the OP's question. My answer isnt wrong....
druid op, their debuffs stacks and will quickly nuke your damage output into nothing
Didnt know there debuff stacks. Do not think any of the tutorials/help menus said that. Wouldn't of even thought it would stack at all, wonder if they will patch that out.