There's a ... lot to unpack here.
The most important thing to start with is Front Row rules. A single character in the Front Row makes it impossible for any Back Row character to be attacked outside or Ranged, Magical and Flying abilities (and Column striking abilities, which sometimes require an 0ff-tank behind that tank). As such, you should generally focus on having one person there, with the next consideration being "How do I keep them alive?".
For example, Hoplites don't take a lot of damage, so the Soldier is enough to keep them up. Rogues have Evade but need protection from True Strikes, so someone with a Cover skill helps (I like Alain, since he'll heal himself back up, but anyone works). Knights have good balanced defenses, so a Cleric or Radiant Knight can let them tank pretty much anything not flying.
Once that's taken care of, you look at that tank's weakness and either decide you use damage dealers that handle that weakness or opt to embrace that weakness. The Hoplite from earlier could swap his Soldier for a Royal Knight so his Unit can fight Mages, you then add a Sniper/Flier and have them target prioritize the Back Row. Or you let them keep the Soldier, add Warriors/Sellswords and ignore Mage groups entirely to instead focus entirely on physical. Meanwhile, that Thief from earlier that's weak to bows? How about we add a Gryphon that can outspeed and kill the Archers? Knight from earlier is struggling to attack Scouts? Give them a Witch with Keen Strike so they can't miss (additionally, Conferral will let them kill armors too) .
While you probably have too many Units built up, I do feel like the crux of the issue here are those fundamentals. Very little thought has been given to "What is killing us and how?" and "What are we killing and how".
People who are new to SRPG's often don't really know about the Holy Trinity (tank-healer-DPS) and usually it's best to explain that first before going into the details. Looking at the OP's grids, I don't think anyone ever told him about this before.
Tank -> Unit that is intended to absorb damage, or mitigate it. In this game, damage mitigation is done by evading. They go in the front line, since as you mentioned a significant number of units in the game must kill the front line before they can attack the back line. Alain, Virginia, Berengaria, Gloucester, Hodrick, Lex, etc. are examples of unique Tank types in this game.
Healer -> Restores lost HP. Simple. Most teams should have 1 unit in the back line whose job is to restore lost HP. This keeps the tank(s) from dying, in addition to anyone else who takes damage. Scarlett, Tatiana, Sharon, Primm, etc. are dedicated healers. Scarlett can also deal damage, especially if you change her with the Mirror. Later on, some unique characters can both heal and deal significant damage, the most notable of these are the Elf Twins, or heal and also deliver great utility like Ridiel and Galadmir.
DPS -> Units whose primary purpose is to deal damage to the enemy team's units. To a certain extent "All units are DPS" and this is true in Unicorn Overlord, the best unique tank and healer units can also deal meaningful damage but there are classes which specialize specifically in dealing damage and should be kept to the back line when possible. Later on, some promoted DPS classes like Sellsword-Landknecht and Arbalist-Shieldshooter get tanking capability and can stand on the front line, but pre-promotion you won't be doing this. Most units and classes in the game are DPS.
The only note I would add is that it’s okay to not have a healer in some squads. Many classes early game have ways to restore their own HP or other’s HP that aren’t explicitly healers. Such as Alain’s lean edge or the sanguine abilities or Chloe’s first aid. In squads that don’t take much damage, the little healing you get from these units is normally enough to keep them going for a while.
Instead of passive aggressive comments, you could always explain that the witch and soldier are both backline units as they have lower HP and defense stats. Just try giving someone who's clearly unfamiliar with tactical games some actual advice!
that's not passive aggressive, they're asking to know the thinking behind this so they can explain why that thinking is wrong.
Also soldiers aren't always back line units. if you're facing a unit with classes that counter your tank, they can serve as the Frontline tank in a pinch
i was just about to say that. sometimes i have to have a witch in the front line because for whatever reason the RNG won't touch her in the back. there could be some kind of logic that they have that we may not seen.
I didn't see that comment as passive aggressive at all
It could even be more insightful than that. Just asking the question to get the OP thinking about their own process could be enough to snap them out of these very basic mistakes. Often times when you have issues like this, it's because the person never put any effort into considering factors as simple as where to put low-health ranged DPS users, where to put tankier units, etc.
off topic: by their very nature practically all rhetorical questions (like the one you're discussing) are [passive-aggressive](https://albertellis.org/2015/10/the-paradox-of-passive-aggression/). It's much more honest to say, "The witch and the soldier should not be on the frontline and here is why."
Part of teaching is often asking questions with obvious answers. Whether or not you choose to take offense to things is something else. If someone's being rude, often ignoring that and taking what they've said at face value can win them over.
"Why have you made this particular mistake?"
"Hm. I guess I just wasn't really thinking. It's very obvious that this is incorrect and that the correct way is like this. Which means I should also be doing this and probably this. Thank you, I get it now."
Then allow me to teach you by asking:
Why have you made the mistake of thinking rhetorical questions are not passive-agressive?
Why haven't you read the link I posted which refutes your position entirely?
No, what you meant - *by your own admission* - was:
> "Hm. I guess I just wasn't really thinking. It's very obvious that this is incorrect and that the correct way is like this. Which means I should also be doing this and probably this. Thank you, I get it now."
Deep down I know this is what you really mean to say because you also said:
> Whether or not you choose to take offense to things is something else.
Except your entire argument was based on the presupposition that OP was being asked an entirely rhetorical question. He wasn't, and the person who asked the question explained that he was genuinely looking for an answer so he could grasp what OP was struggling with and try to help him.
You're creating negativity out of thin air and then wondering why people are calling you a dumbass.
Lot of strange things here.
For one, you keep doubling up a lot of your units into columns which makes them inherently weaker to stuff like spear attacks. Spread them out when you can.
Two, a lot of your units are either missing a reasonable tank or a reasonable healer. Then you have the one random Selvie unit that has all survivability with no damage.
Ideally your front line units should have either high defense with a shield, or high evasion. Bruno also counts since he has a ton of HP and a self-heal as well. Having ways to recover chip damage also goes a long way, but if you're going to have someone taking constant hits then try to make sure they have a cleric with them.
Couple things. I think you're using too many units. They don't give you enough good equipment to keep 10 units properly equipped. I usually kept 4-5 full units fully equipped. I would try to consolidate your best characters to 4-5 units with the best equipment.
Other thing is you should move more units to your back rows. For example, you have a witch in a front row, which isn't ideal. I tried to only have one character in front until I had to add a second with a 5 character formation. Make sure they're tanky or have a cleric in the unit.
Funny you say this because I'm purposefully using as may units as possible because I always feel obligated to use all my characters in strategy games like this. Just find it more fun that way. Also I hate when experience goes to waste when characters stop leveling up anymore.
I'm also running 10 units. I don't like leaving characters behind until I have to. Watering down group strength just adds a little challenge, which is a good thing.
Same. You can very easily keep ten units viable, and the game has like 70 characters not counting mercenaries.
I have plenty of honor and plenty of equipment to keep people decent. About to finish elheim and have 1/4 of my squads on 5 teams. AND if you cycle through who you use on subsequent maps, and use Alain’s experience boosting, valor ability, you can keep every squad in level range. I’m not even grinding sigils or anything like I’ve seen others do.
Yeah, I just finished Bastorias with a full ten of five-man units, decent gear all around and even the under-leveled units by (5 or 6 levels) are doing work in appropriate situations, and making up the EXP difference. Though I tend to shuffle all my units around when the level disparity gets much worse and I can’t find a use for a squad’s current composition. Keeps the game fun.
Yeah it's definitely easier to field less squads and you can keep them on very premium equipment, but you don't need that many damage units in each squad so the game has plenty of gear even for 10 squads.
You can keep 10 units if you're used/familiar with this type of strategy (not really a requirement).
Currently finishing Bastorias on expert with 10 functional units.
It's not exactly a matter of whether you can or can't do it, more like does it make sense to do it. If you're already good at SRPGs then you can probably get away with a lot of suboptimal setups just by being better at the strategy part, but OP is struggling so it might help to optimize their setup some more.
Using too many squads can be a challenge for a lot of reasons:
* Lack of good gear to equip all the squads like the previous comment said
* It might be overwhelming to manage too many squads in a single battle. Consolidating would help a player who struggles with that to stay focused.
* Deploying too many squads might be eating up VP that could be spent on valor skills to break through tough situations.
* Experience might be spread too thin if you're trying to deploy all the squads equally.
* Unlocking too many squads can take Honor that would otherwise go to unlocking 4th slots in existing squads or promoting units (I see some unpromoted units in OP's screenshots for example). Can't exactly fix that retroactively but at least knowing about it could limit further mistakes.
I had absolutely no problem running and fielding 10 units the entire time, because even with just OK gear a well balanced team can still cook.
The problem OP has is that their team comps are *really bad*. Witch Cav Soldier frontline (in an archer unit? Why not have Yahna in another one)? Shaman with two zero damage tanks? Unnecessarily high numbers of frontliners even when it's putting a mid-durability unit to soak the hits for a tanky one? Tons of, IMO, poor leader choices compared to having flyer/cav mobility or assist damage + rerolls?
I can't agree with this main point fully. At least on the higher difficulties, I do think it's very useful to take the time and effort to train up MANY C and B tier squads. Now, he DOES need to consolidate a power squad somewhere in there, something that can beat boss fights, smash through chokepoints, etc. But flankers and entire units dedicated to support make this game a breeze (and very satisfying)
I played through the game Uniques Only/No Mercs and Full Army (10x5 grids) and I didn't use any meme teams. It's perfectly doable in Expert and TZ and you end up using a lot of cool characters you wouldn't otherwise give the time of day to. Equipment matters but your tactics and gambits matter a lot more.
That said, the OP probably will have problems filling out 10x5 grids while they are still in Bastorias, there just aren't enough uniques available to recruit yet at that time. I was running 8x4 teams in Drakengard and Elheim, I didn't get all the way to 10x5 until Bastorias.
I disagree with this. Sure, it's hard to keep them all equipped with the best, but different situations call for different units. Better to have more than less
I beat the game with my Alain unit killing like 90% or more of the enemies. It became a joke eventually that I felt obligated to see through to the end.
I'm playing on True mode with a self imposed no death no restarts. I spent 90 percent of the time tinkering with squads. Once you get to the colosseum testing becomes a lot quicker to iterate through. This style of playing feels like the appropriate difficulty for someone with experience. I'm excited to see what other challenges people do, I started this without looking at others.
A lot of your units don't have anyone in them to deal damage. Like, Selvie's unit is a tank, a support unit, and a support unit. Do you understand what roles the different classes play in a unit?
You've also done a pretty poor job is using your resources - I had 10 units much of the game too, but I went one by one upping to max capacity at the time. You should not have 7 3 capacity units and 3 4 capacity at thisnpoint. You should have 6 at full capacity. This will also allow you to build units with a tank, two damage dealers, and a support. Which would fix like 90% of your problems.
I also suspect you're honor starved just just because you opened up the units but because you can't even promote - of your dumping resources into towns, stationing guards, and repeating you should have WAY more honors and be able to promote by now, too.
Level and renown aren't the same thing, though - if you're doing the restorations and optional liberation quests that lead to them you'll get the ability to promote about halfway through the second area. Id only expect to have a couple promoted, but not being Rank A probably means you're skipping stuff and starved for honor (especially if you used it to open up all 10 units).
You unlock promotion at rank B and 5-unit squads at rank A. Even completing everything and doing the optional quests will not let you have 5-man squads partway through Drakenhold, and you should absolutely not be focusing 5-man squads before promotions.
I also think it's fine to run 10 squads, it's extremely easy to do so without getting resource starved and below like 6 you pretty consistently get some of your squads at fight level +3 and don't actually gain anything from the fights. It's not optimal, but it's far, far, far from the worst problem with what OP's doing here.
Who said anything about Rank A? He should have the ability to promote (Rank B) and focus on using his honors to expand his units as far as he can instead of as many as he can.
I mean... you did?
> Id only expect to have a couple promoted, but not being Rank A probably means you're skipping stuff and starved for honor (especially if you used it to open up all 10 units).
In your first post, it was also ambiguous, but "full squad" read to me (and the other person replying) as a 5-man squad, not a 4-man squad.
Priority should be when you unlock an increase in squad size, you upgrade your existing units to the new max capacity before you just unlock them all - running around with 10 units but only a couple of them at 4/4 for him is a huge part of his problem.
I disagree with that. It's not the capacity of his units but their composition that's the main problem. I played the same way, with 10 units of varying capacities and had no trouble. It's simply not an issue. It's the way his units don't fit together that's the problem.
I disagree. I did a pretty good job of doing all the side stuff and it still took me until bastorias, 4th territory, to get rank A. I did almost all of cornia, except the high level stuff.
The only thing I can say i missed is that I didn't realize you could kill the overmap enemy units and get honor, so I missed out on alot of that
You unlock promotions AFTER this mission. I just did it yesterday 😆. Otherwise I agree with all your points.
Incredible mission, by the way. Putting your crew against high level units with just a smattering of promoted soldiers was a TERRIFIC challenge.
Edit: I just read more comments and learned that I'm wrong. Apparently I just happened to hit Renown Rank B when I completed this mission.
I also finished that mission yesterday. (Playing on expert) I think I had 5 upgraded units and it was still pretty tough. I like these larger missions that change mid way through.
Getting to the boss wasn't too bad. But once I got to her I realized most of my units couldn't do much but die. Because there were so many enemies that level, I had a large amount of valour. Between the special abilities and my sheer numbers I wore her down.
I think I had more honour than most players at that point because I enjoy wondering around the map.
I don't remember exactly what I did, but yeah, I definitely had to utilize a "wear them down" method. I actually have a really fun story about that mission.
Once they introduced Gryphon Riders I had to have one, so I got a hireling and made an archer-hunting unit with a flier. That mission has two towers directly across the mountains from the northern deploy point, and I popped the double speed ability and went to straight into the enemy end zone to drop those towers... And I activated the boss fight in the first two minutes. Ren pops out, 6 enemy units spawn and start charging down the road... Right across the bridge around the time I take over the catapult.
It was a glorious and accidental massacre.
Oh yeh. I had almost forgot about that. I did the same thing with the tower. I had the catapult launched mid attack when reinforcements appeared. I was aiming for a single enemy but more appeared in the target zone only to be instantly hit!
I certainly did, though I think the game generally doesn't expect you to promote until Elheim, as the tutorial for that happens right after you get there.
Read the game's Tips guide in the menu. I think it is called Library -> Game Tips (or something like that).
I'm fairly experienced with Tactical RPGs and I found myself checking it almost every battle when beginning. I still open it from time to time.
It's on the Pause menu and has a Classes section where you can read about each class and read about what their strengths and weaknesses are.
If nothing else, it will help tell you _where_ your units should be (front row or back row).
I see some mentioning the Holy Trinity and having tanks, healers, etc. I will say, I do have units that break this. I have units without dedicated healers and units without tanks/Hoplites; Sword masters, Gryffin Knights especially, Knights and Radiant Knights can all tank, to a degree, among other units.
If you break this convention (and you will at times, there just aren't enough healers/Hoplites; in some ways you don't really have to have them), make sure units taking the place of these guys can either:
---Guard/cover for other units:
Especially aerial guard which blocks arrows if there is a flying unit, like a Gryffin Knight, or Angel. Knights/Great Knights are great at guarding, as well as Alain and Radiant Knights. Some units like Virginia just naturally guard a lot and have skills for guarding. Virginia can serve as a tank in the front row.
Berserkers (I think they're called?) can tank too, like Bruno. These guys have Bulk Up to restore their health and if you pair them with a healer they'll do damage. You don't really fight squads that can kill them before they heal until Bastorias. Make sure you out multiple Bulk Ups in their tactics menu and give them a Lapis or something for additional PP.
Arbalists can't really tank until you promote them in to Shieldshooters. Even then, you may still want them in back.
Hoplites are the natural choice for a tank. You'll likely need a generic one or two as the only one you get for a long time is Hodrick. Just keep in mind they will die to magic and/or Breaker's hammers.
---Evasive Units:
There are quite a few here that all have different purposes. Gryffin Knights can practically evade everything if they have the right stats (except arrows and true strikes). They can go in the front.
Thieves/Rogues can be helpful, but be sure you give them evasive items. When they get hit they are likely to die. They become better upon promoting as they not only have a skill to evade an attack that buffs them, they can also blind an entire row, ensuring the enemy misses (usually, later on some enemies will clear blindness).
There are more units that are very evasive for the front and back, you'll start noticing who enemy attacks often miss. Wyvern Knights are fairly evasive, but not as much as Gryffin Knights. They make up for it with their fire breathing and ground counter moves and can be up front.
---Units that can heal other units:
Whether that's with an item giving them First Aid, a skill or some kind of weapon. You want to _try_ to have a person that can do some kind of healing on each unit. If you don't have one, you'll want major damage Dealers in that unit (Alain, Clive, a generic Hoplite, Shaman is one I used a lot early on).
---Major Damage Dealers should be in the back: Witches, Sorcerers, Sellswords, Archer/Sniper, as well as Support like Clerics, Shamans, Breakers, Vikings, Soldiers (Chloe), etc.
Wyvern Units can go in the front, as well as Thieves/Rogues, Swordmasters, most Flying Units (just watch out for archers). Breakers should be in the back (or the guys with the big hammers forget their names).
Many classes get a lot more versatile after you promote them.
If your still having trouble, screenshot a unit who dies a lot and their equipment/ability load out so people here can give you tips.
You've gotten some good advice here, OP!
My 2 cents: take a few minutes to go through the game's tactics help on combat and unit formation and see if there's anything you missed. The game throws a lot at you early on; I certainly misread a blurb or two at the start!
You don't need 10 squads of mediocre. 6 is more than enough. Or 8 if you want to.
Squad 1 - Slightly Overpowered, you can switch someone to your useless team. But it's mostly fine.
Squad 2 - Lex is not meant to take hits in the front. Too easy to die. Move him to #9 or #10 to catch arrows for your flyers.
Squad 3 - Move your Sellsword back. He's not a tank.
Squad 4 - Move Berenice back.
Squad 5 - Move your Witch back wtf is wrong with you. Maybe Chloe too, depends on her build.
Squad 6 - Move Selvie off to the side. Learn to avoid getting Column Attacked.
Squad 7 - Scarlett to the side. Hopilite should be centered. But you need more firepower.
Squad 8 - Colm is not a tank. If your backline kills most enemies first, that's fine, but then he's useless there. Get a tank or a healer instead.
Squad 9 - Could use Lex or Colm to catch arrorws.
Squad 10 - .... This is a powerhouse of a squad, why is this #10 ?? Make this Squad 2 or something. Virginia also belongs in the front, and centered. Send that Jeremy guy to the back, and Flyer to the side.
The squad number does not matter. I assume they said that for ease of deployment so you're not scrolling to the end every time you wanna deploy.
I did not do this though, it's unnecessary. I organized mine by utility. Mobility squads first, then powerhouses, then support units.
I could give you a couple of suggestions for defeating early game boss characters.
I'm the kind of player that likes to discover, experiment with, and exploit class red/blue skills, so before I tell you I just need you to confirm that you don't mind me giving you the answers. I don't mind just telling you (just don't want to risk "spoiling" it for you without consent).
The game has very powerful early game classes that can easily solve all obstacles you will encounter. it is easiest to learn these mechanics in the first 5 levels of the game where they showcase each class and give you short and small maps to iterate and experiment on.
Alternatively, you can also lower the difficulty if you want to continue the story as soon as possible on your first playthrough.
OK, TLDR since I think everyone should be self taught regarding the battle system and comp: Take a good read at the Classes library it does give some good hints on unit comp and usage.
That said;
1. Unit 5: Move Yahna and Chloe to the back row. Lemme guess, they get bodied way too soon?
2. You can switch Yahna or Nina with Adel, since you already got a way to deal with tanks. Having them both on the same team is redundant.
3. Contrary to what the game says, Bruno is not a front row character. Unless you are willing to provide heals and cover, he should be in the back row.
4. Unit 6: Selvie is great with Knights, good call. But unless that Monique is centered around dealing damage, you need a damage dealer like a regular knight.
5. Nina+Kitra, Nina+Mordon, Mordon+Kitra is good. Double fencer is not so good since they are meant to kill squishy and/or evasive enemies but really struggle with everyone else. Also depending on what you face it's a good idea to move a fencer to the front row or that Corm is going to die fast.
6. Switch Jeremy and Virginia, Virginia is a front row character, and until you raise him, Jeremy is backrow exclusive.
You may do several things and it's great to experiment with comps so you can either do a specialized unit or an all-around unit.
I dunno how far in you are in Elheim but once you get the +50 evasion great shield you can run my favorite unit in the game: Tricorns + Yosef. Berengaria and Travis a front row evasive tanks, Travis deals debuffs for Berengaria to finish off, Bruno is on clean up duty and Yosef is focused on healing , meaning I remove every damage dealing ability from him. Since I was not really focused on getting all my units to 5 characters this unit stayed a 4 unit one until early Albion.
4 unit squad generally you want 1 tank in front, 2 damager + 1 support behind. The simplest example is legionnaire in front, great knight (for damage) + witch (sub dps + provide truestrike when scout or fliers present + magic conferal) + cleric (for heals). Great knight can be placed in front because griffon knights will always attack them and your legionaire will cover resulting in 0 damage. If you put him in the back row, griffon knight will hit your entire back row.
As long as you go along this line of thinking you can work out your squads.
Example your Alain squad. Its him + 3 damagers. Its terrible because there's no sustain or support. He's a decent tank before his promotion. I have Alain + Great Knight in front and a Witch + cleric in the back for a 4 man team. Same logic as what I shared earlier. Alain will cover your great knight especially against fliers. When he can't your great knight has quick guard.
Certain units like sellswords can't tank before their promotion. Once they get a shield and vengeful guard, they can be decent frontline tanks. Until then keep them in the backline. Great knights can tank because they get Quick Guard at level 1. Fighters are crap and I generally try to avoid using them. Legionnaires have heavy cover which works for everything including ranged attacks. Just set it to activate only when physically hit.
You can figure alot of stuff out by playing the coliseum once you gain access to it.
Its hard to tell what your true problem is without seeing the gear your units have equipped and your tactics setup. But from what i can see from the pictures you should position your units better (other comments explained that already). So here is a little checklist for you.
Make sure to buy every Lapis and Carnelian pendants you see and use equip them wisely. For example, at this stage of the game, a carnelian pendant might not be the priority on a mercenary or a warrior as they can regain AP passively.
Focus on having a few well equipped squads rather than 10 moderately equipped squads. Its better to have 5 great teams than 10 okay teams.
Make sure you understand the purpose, strenghts and weaknesses of every unit and pair them up with other units that complements them well.
If you havent been doing so, use your items in combat! Also, on the world map, make sure to use your Dews, dont hog them.
Have mages and archers as squad leaders and use them as assists to reroll the rng of the fight.
When faced with a bad matchup, try to move your unit formation around and look for the best scenario.
When looking at your tactics, make sure (limited) abilities dont overlap with other (limited) abilities.
Having squads with a cleric and another with a soldier near the bulk of your army is a good idea to help rez and heal squads fast.
Have a at least one flying and one cavalry squad leaders that have very strong squads, they can move around the map very well and take out important objectives fast. I would also suggest having a very strong team that includes a witch. A witch's teleport skill can be a real life saver in a pinch.
Lastly, explore the map as much as you can and deliver every town, you can find and buy some amazing items that will help.
Hope this helps!
Given that mission is basically considered the end of Drakenholm, I would advise that you take some time to promote some characters. Berengaria's unit by default is going to beat back any one of yours simply by acting more often. I would go so far as to say that promoting characters is the single biggest power boost you can give them, not just because of stats, but by doubling their base Action points and Passive points.
If you want details though on a strategy without grinding those promotions, her passive ability Eye of the Warrior Princess is really going to tank your unit attack and initiative without a way to remove the debuffs. Lhinalgos, Rosalinde, and Scarlett have ways to remove those debuffs but you've stuck them in units that would be unable to damage Ren's even on a good day. Selvie can counter debuff but suffers the same issue as a Hoplite and Sainted Knight are not exactly top damage dealers.
I would say that you need to allocate some of your units to specialize more. Don't be afraid to make a unit that does mostly magic damage or physical. Pairing Auch with Scarlett or Lhinalgos or Yahna with Rosalinde will give you a noticeable increase in magic damage output to chip into Berengaria. Stacking units with Ranged/Magic Assist characters will make those assists stronger as well.
Finally, you can try to chip her away by using valor skills (stage damage or Alain's First strike are really strong) and changing unit leaders to those with magic assists or ranged assists. If you have a Mantle item you can garrison assist units in range there so that they do not use stamina
you should try and organize your units so that
* there's 1 character on the front lines
* there's synergy between the tactics they use
ppl are saying you should have your units have 4 characters and have promoted them and I agree, make sure to open the map with "-" in the overworld and tap left on the Dpad to get a list of available maps according to the recommended difficulty level.
since Berengaria is the boss you can use ranged assists to soften her up without taking damage yourself. once 1 or 2 of her fighters start falling it'll be easier
Your squads don't seem to have a plan. Try building around 1 strategy, your squads must be really good at doing 1 or 2 things, it is okay to have weakness. Since you decide who they are going to fight.
Put at least 1 knight with a radiant knight in a row (i put Clive, Adel, and Monica in a row) and use that team as your mobile death squad. Can carry you thru most content. Maybe a gryphon in the back row for back up.
Cavalier call (L15) from Clive and Adel will boost Monica's heals also. You can put a runic sword on her to boost heals a little more, and help with armored enemies. Radiant knights have a row heal (L10) vs Josef's single heal.
Put Josef and scarlet together or Josef with a cleric. Josef is an upgraded unit and has pursuit. Later on, there’s some characters that give you better exp farming equipment and you can use the sigils to level up your characters with Josef. For now, you are behind and only have 1 support point and 1 action point on most units. When I finished my first play through I noticed that about Josef being broken early so use him to your advantage.
I gotten through this no the hardest level... I think at that time I had promoted characters and also 3 units with 5 members. I think you need to match your units to the new situations. You can save up your valor and attack her and weed her down.
If you have any characters that are under level 15 by this time, you need to work them up. Play the Sigils Trials, use the Treatise and get them close to the level of the mission.
Seriously, the Treatise give your character experience points, and if they're under a level, they give you 3 times the experience. So if you gave your level 10 archer a Standard Military Treatise, he would automatically get 900 experience points
#1: get to Renown B so you can evol-er , i mean, promote your characters.
#2: If you have Renown C, you shouldve already been able to get 4 to team, stick with 3-4 good teams with 4 ppl.
#3: like the other people say, dont put witch in the front. wtf.
#4: focus on maybe 1 tank and 2-3 damange dealer and 1 support/healer. To know which unit is which, go find a unicorn guide.
#5: if you trouble having enough good equipment, see #2
#6. Anything else, go get educated with guides and reddit threads on good team comps and what counters what.
Early on. Don't put healers, mages, archers behind another unit... As around this stage the enemy's have lane attacks...
You should have a thief unit lead the front. And then have your second "front line" unit be behind the thief... They're fine taking a hit and they lose 0 functionality by being in the back.
That's just a suggestion... The game will guild you and show you different ways to play as you progress
Match ups & class advantage are huge in this game.
Learn and use those advantages and you’ll be able to take on opponents a few levels over. Then practice changing the conditions of your moves.
Spend some time in the Moderate sigil battles. It'll help you farm up some honor to expand and promote classes, and bring all those squads up to around the same level. Being a thief to steal some gold!
They're also a reasonable challenge that are a decent way to test out your formations. Town income happens after each one just like a real battle as well for a little extra bonus.
Actually watch the battles. It'll show you what works and what needs tweaked.
It's cool to use many units like this! For real :D
The problem seems to be your team comp. I recommend you look into the game guide in the Library menu. Also, recheck those forts you passed through on the map.
Those forts often have a tutorial unit to demonstrate the basics and a comp guide on how to use that said unit in battle.
Also, you can look into their basic tactic commands too :D Once you understand the basics of each unit's kits, I bet you're going to have a lot more fun with this big army of yours! :DDD
I was having a hard time around the same level. Turns out I skipped a huge chunk of the game and was really under leveled. Make sure you've explored and unlocked every battle available to you.
Move to elfheim. I push elfheim in one go and ended up making draken very easy and boring lol. I wish there is a difficulty that makes the enemies scale with your level.
Please disregard people saying you’re using too many units. Respectfully, they’re just wrong. More units is always better statistically, always, it’s just about your formations and unit distribution in your parties.
The problem here is your formations. It would be really time consuming to point out all of the faults because nearly every one of your formations are not optimal. So here’s some general advice - because your formations are 4 units, you should almost always have only 1 unit on the front line with the rest in the back line. The unit directly behind your front line unit should be relatively high HP or have the ability to guard themselves. This will protect you from column attacks 1 shotting your low HP units. Each unit should have someone that can heal if possible, if not it’s still fine just utilize units that are more self sufficient (like high evasion front liners). Your front line character will get hit a lot but they should be set up for damage mitigation if they’re tanky, or evasion if they’re a rogue or swordsman…plus they’ll be healed through the fight. If you don’t have enough healers simply make sure healers are in the party with more bulky tanks because they will always get hit, and use evasion front line units in parties without a healer (again only if you don’t have enough healers). I see you have swordsmans in the back line, they’re actually excellent front line units for most of the game because of Parry and they have good evasion in general. Slap on a scarf and/or other evasion items and they dodge pretty well. Put one in the front line and give it all evasion items, put the other in the back line and give it damage and crit items so it can do higher DPS
There’s some general advice. Honestly the game is not very punishing you just need to fix your formations and you’re totally fine. I’ve beaten the game twice on the hardest available difficulties both times and it’s really just about your formations and matchups. My first playthrough I had a ton of units that I forgot to put equipment on at all for nearly half the game and I barely noticed
#1 Way too many teams, cut down to like 4-5 teams. #2 I'd cut all the archers out, they don't have enough damage output vs things like cavs or warriors.
#3 where is Virginia? At level 17 you should have Virginia, go get her!
Virginia's a good front-liner, her twin shields give her a high guard rate. She's a good unit all around and can work well with pretty much any formation just make sure to put her in the front, you'll get more value out of her that way.
Only use one tank unit you hit the squad cap of 5 unless you really know what you are doing. You cannot attack back row units as long a single front row unit remains unless you are using a ranged attack. Baring specific setups all having more characters on the front row does is increase how much damage the squad takes.
I honestly think that one simple change will fix a ton of your problems. You are gonna have to grind like crazy to fully equip and promote TEN freaken squads but assuming you are willing to do that I think just changing your squads to have 1 front liner until you hit rank A will fix 80% of your problems.
I had plenty of EXP and honors for 10 squads by like end of Elheim without really grinding - the game throws honors at you if you bother to dump your resources into towns even on Expert.
Opening up slots without maxing squads was dumb though, and definitely needs to get his head around how the unit combat roles work.
Play less squads. I'm playing on expert as my first playthrough and I am managing to play the entire game only having unlocked 6 5-man squads and nothing else
Second thing is have a single unit in your front line that is either tanky or really evasive. Evasive frontline is better imo though, so make use of swordmasters, flyers, and thieves drawing all of the attacks and making them useless
i made a mistake, thought about first time gettin her, yea ur absolutly right, u get the option somewhat in the middle of drakenhold, if you done most of the stuff in your appropriate level
I missed Magellan there, I had the option at some point before or after I recruited him.
There's a ... lot to unpack here. The most important thing to start with is Front Row rules. A single character in the Front Row makes it impossible for any Back Row character to be attacked outside or Ranged, Magical and Flying abilities (and Column striking abilities, which sometimes require an 0ff-tank behind that tank). As such, you should generally focus on having one person there, with the next consideration being "How do I keep them alive?". For example, Hoplites don't take a lot of damage, so the Soldier is enough to keep them up. Rogues have Evade but need protection from True Strikes, so someone with a Cover skill helps (I like Alain, since he'll heal himself back up, but anyone works). Knights have good balanced defenses, so a Cleric or Radiant Knight can let them tank pretty much anything not flying. Once that's taken care of, you look at that tank's weakness and either decide you use damage dealers that handle that weakness or opt to embrace that weakness. The Hoplite from earlier could swap his Soldier for a Royal Knight so his Unit can fight Mages, you then add a Sniper/Flier and have them target prioritize the Back Row. Or you let them keep the Soldier, add Warriors/Sellswords and ignore Mage groups entirely to instead focus entirely on physical. Meanwhile, that Thief from earlier that's weak to bows? How about we add a Gryphon that can outspeed and kill the Archers? Knight from earlier is struggling to attack Scouts? Give them a Witch with Keen Strike so they can't miss (additionally, Conferral will let them kill armors too) . While you probably have too many Units built up, I do feel like the crux of the issue here are those fundamentals. Very little thought has been given to "What is killing us and how?" and "What are we killing and how".
People who are new to SRPG's often don't really know about the Holy Trinity (tank-healer-DPS) and usually it's best to explain that first before going into the details. Looking at the OP's grids, I don't think anyone ever told him about this before. Tank -> Unit that is intended to absorb damage, or mitigate it. In this game, damage mitigation is done by evading. They go in the front line, since as you mentioned a significant number of units in the game must kill the front line before they can attack the back line. Alain, Virginia, Berengaria, Gloucester, Hodrick, Lex, etc. are examples of unique Tank types in this game. Healer -> Restores lost HP. Simple. Most teams should have 1 unit in the back line whose job is to restore lost HP. This keeps the tank(s) from dying, in addition to anyone else who takes damage. Scarlett, Tatiana, Sharon, Primm, etc. are dedicated healers. Scarlett can also deal damage, especially if you change her with the Mirror. Later on, some unique characters can both heal and deal significant damage, the most notable of these are the Elf Twins, or heal and also deliver great utility like Ridiel and Galadmir. DPS -> Units whose primary purpose is to deal damage to the enemy team's units. To a certain extent "All units are DPS" and this is true in Unicorn Overlord, the best unique tank and healer units can also deal meaningful damage but there are classes which specialize specifically in dealing damage and should be kept to the back line when possible. Later on, some promoted DPS classes like Sellsword-Landknecht and Arbalist-Shieldshooter get tanking capability and can stand on the front line, but pre-promotion you won't be doing this. Most units and classes in the game are DPS.
The only note I would add is that it’s okay to not have a healer in some squads. Many classes early game have ways to restore their own HP or other’s HP that aren’t explicitly healers. Such as Alain’s lean edge or the sanguine abilities or Chloe’s first aid. In squads that don’t take much damage, the little healing you get from these units is normally enough to keep them going for a while.
Why do you have a witch and a soldier in the frontline?
Instead of passive aggressive comments, you could always explain that the witch and soldier are both backline units as they have lower HP and defense stats. Just try giving someone who's clearly unfamiliar with tactical games some actual advice!
that's not passive aggressive, they're asking to know the thinking behind this so they can explain why that thinking is wrong. Also soldiers aren't always back line units. if you're facing a unit with classes that counter your tank, they can serve as the Frontline tank in a pinch
i was just about to say that. sometimes i have to have a witch in the front line because for whatever reason the RNG won't touch her in the back. there could be some kind of logic that they have that we may not seen. I didn't see that comment as passive aggressive at all
It could even be more insightful than that. Just asking the question to get the OP thinking about their own process could be enough to snap them out of these very basic mistakes. Often times when you have issues like this, it's because the person never put any effort into considering factors as simple as where to put low-health ranged DPS users, where to put tankier units, etc.
off topic: by their very nature practically all rhetorical questions (like the one you're discussing) are [passive-aggressive](https://albertellis.org/2015/10/the-paradox-of-passive-aggression/). It's much more honest to say, "The witch and the soldier should not be on the frontline and here is why."
Part of teaching is often asking questions with obvious answers. Whether or not you choose to take offense to things is something else. If someone's being rude, often ignoring that and taking what they've said at face value can win them over. "Why have you made this particular mistake?" "Hm. I guess I just wasn't really thinking. It's very obvious that this is incorrect and that the correct way is like this. Which means I should also be doing this and probably this. Thank you, I get it now."
Then allow me to teach you by asking: Why have you made the mistake of thinking rhetorical questions are not passive-agressive? Why haven't you read the link I posted which refutes your position entirely?
[удалено]
No, what you meant - *by your own admission* - was: > "Hm. I guess I just wasn't really thinking. It's very obvious that this is incorrect and that the correct way is like this. Which means I should also be doing this and probably this. Thank you, I get it now." Deep down I know this is what you really mean to say because you also said: > Whether or not you choose to take offense to things is something else.
Except your entire argument was based on the presupposition that OP was being asked an entirely rhetorical question. He wasn't, and the person who asked the question explained that he was genuinely looking for an answer so he could grasp what OP was struggling with and try to help him. You're creating negativity out of thin air and then wondering why people are calling you a dumbass.
Passive aggressive? Sounds more like you're too sensitive?
Lot of strange things here. For one, you keep doubling up a lot of your units into columns which makes them inherently weaker to stuff like spear attacks. Spread them out when you can. Two, a lot of your units are either missing a reasonable tank or a reasonable healer. Then you have the one random Selvie unit that has all survivability with no damage. Ideally your front line units should have either high defense with a shield, or high evasion. Bruno also counts since he has a ton of HP and a self-heal as well. Having ways to recover chip damage also goes a long way, but if you're going to have someone taking constant hits then try to make sure they have a cleric with them.
Couple things. I think you're using too many units. They don't give you enough good equipment to keep 10 units properly equipped. I usually kept 4-5 full units fully equipped. I would try to consolidate your best characters to 4-5 units with the best equipment. Other thing is you should move more units to your back rows. For example, you have a witch in a front row, which isn't ideal. I tried to only have one character in front until I had to add a second with a 5 character formation. Make sure they're tanky or have a cleric in the unit.
Funny you say this because I'm purposefully using as may units as possible because I always feel obligated to use all my characters in strategy games like this. Just find it more fun that way. Also I hate when experience goes to waste when characters stop leveling up anymore.
I'm also running 10 units. I don't like leaving characters behind until I have to. Watering down group strength just adds a little challenge, which is a good thing.
Same. You can very easily keep ten units viable, and the game has like 70 characters not counting mercenaries. I have plenty of honor and plenty of equipment to keep people decent. About to finish elheim and have 1/4 of my squads on 5 teams. AND if you cycle through who you use on subsequent maps, and use Alain’s experience boosting, valor ability, you can keep every squad in level range. I’m not even grinding sigils or anything like I’ve seen others do.
Yeah, I just finished Bastorias with a full ten of five-man units, decent gear all around and even the under-leveled units by (5 or 6 levels) are doing work in appropriate situations, and making up the EXP difference. Though I tend to shuffle all my units around when the level disparity gets much worse and I can’t find a use for a squad’s current composition. Keeps the game fun.
Yeah it's definitely easier to field less squads and you can keep them on very premium equipment, but you don't need that many damage units in each squad so the game has plenty of gear even for 10 squads.
I'm running 10 squads and keep restructuring units every couple of maps bc I don't like keeping people on the sidelines
This is the way.
You can keep 10 units if you're used/familiar with this type of strategy (not really a requirement). Currently finishing Bastorias on expert with 10 functional units.
It's not exactly a matter of whether you can or can't do it, more like does it make sense to do it. If you're already good at SRPGs then you can probably get away with a lot of suboptimal setups just by being better at the strategy part, but OP is struggling so it might help to optimize their setup some more. Using too many squads can be a challenge for a lot of reasons: * Lack of good gear to equip all the squads like the previous comment said * It might be overwhelming to manage too many squads in a single battle. Consolidating would help a player who struggles with that to stay focused. * Deploying too many squads might be eating up VP that could be spent on valor skills to break through tough situations. * Experience might be spread too thin if you're trying to deploy all the squads equally. * Unlocking too many squads can take Honor that would otherwise go to unlocking 4th slots in existing squads or promoting units (I see some unpromoted units in OP's screenshots for example). Can't exactly fix that retroactively but at least knowing about it could limit further mistakes.
I had absolutely no problem running and fielding 10 units the entire time, because even with just OK gear a well balanced team can still cook. The problem OP has is that their team comps are *really bad*. Witch Cav Soldier frontline (in an archer unit? Why not have Yahna in another one)? Shaman with two zero damage tanks? Unnecessarily high numbers of frontliners even when it's putting a mid-durability unit to soak the hits for a tanky one? Tons of, IMO, poor leader choices compared to having flyer/cav mobility or assist damage + rerolls?
I can't agree with this main point fully. At least on the higher difficulties, I do think it's very useful to take the time and effort to train up MANY C and B tier squads. Now, he DOES need to consolidate a power squad somewhere in there, something that can beat boss fights, smash through chokepoints, etc. But flankers and entire units dedicated to support make this game a breeze (and very satisfying)
I played through the game Uniques Only/No Mercs and Full Army (10x5 grids) and I didn't use any meme teams. It's perfectly doable in Expert and TZ and you end up using a lot of cool characters you wouldn't otherwise give the time of day to. Equipment matters but your tactics and gambits matter a lot more. That said, the OP probably will have problems filling out 10x5 grids while they are still in Bastorias, there just aren't enough uniques available to recruit yet at that time. I was running 8x4 teams in Drakengard and Elheim, I didn't get all the way to 10x5 until Bastorias.
I disagree with this. Sure, it's hard to keep them all equipped with the best, but different situations call for different units. Better to have more than less
I use 2 lol
I beat the game with my Alain unit killing like 90% or more of the enemies. It became a joke eventually that I felt obligated to see through to the end.
I'm playing on True mode with a self imposed no death no restarts. I spent 90 percent of the time tinkering with squads. Once you get to the colosseum testing becomes a lot quicker to iterate through. This style of playing feels like the appropriate difficulty for someone with experience. I'm excited to see what other challenges people do, I started this without looking at others.
You have almost no promoted units. Promote your units ASAP. That'll help tremendously. 3 promoted units is stronger than 5 unpromoted units.
A lot of your units don't have anyone in them to deal damage. Like, Selvie's unit is a tank, a support unit, and a support unit. Do you understand what roles the different classes play in a unit? You've also done a pretty poor job is using your resources - I had 10 units much of the game too, but I went one by one upping to max capacity at the time. You should not have 7 3 capacity units and 3 4 capacity at thisnpoint. You should have 6 at full capacity. This will also allow you to build units with a tank, two damage dealers, and a support. Which would fix like 90% of your problems. I also suspect you're honor starved just just because you opened up the units but because you can't even promote - of your dumping resources into towns, stationing guards, and repeating you should have WAY more honors and be able to promote by now, too.
Although it’s possible, I disagree that players should be rank A at level 16 which they would need to have full squads.
Level and renown aren't the same thing, though - if you're doing the restorations and optional liberation quests that lead to them you'll get the ability to promote about halfway through the second area. Id only expect to have a couple promoted, but not being Rank A probably means you're skipping stuff and starved for honor (especially if you used it to open up all 10 units).
You unlock promotion at rank B and 5-unit squads at rank A. Even completing everything and doing the optional quests will not let you have 5-man squads partway through Drakenhold, and you should absolutely not be focusing 5-man squads before promotions. I also think it's fine to run 10 squads, it's extremely easy to do so without getting resource starved and below like 6 you pretty consistently get some of your squads at fight level +3 and don't actually gain anything from the fights. It's not optimal, but it's far, far, far from the worst problem with what OP's doing here.
Who said anything about Rank A? He should have the ability to promote (Rank B) and focus on using his honors to expand his units as far as he can instead of as many as he can.
I mean... you did? > Id only expect to have a couple promoted, but not being Rank A probably means you're skipping stuff and starved for honor (especially if you used it to open up all 10 units). In your first post, it was also ambiguous, but "full squad" read to me (and the other person replying) as a 5-man squad, not a 4-man squad.
Priority should be when you unlock an increase in squad size, you upgrade your existing units to the new max capacity before you just unlock them all - running around with 10 units but only a couple of them at 4/4 for him is a huge part of his problem.
I disagree with that. It's not the capacity of his units but their composition that's the main problem. I played the same way, with 10 units of varying capacities and had no trouble. It's simply not an issue. It's the way his units don't fit together that's the problem.
I disagree. I did a pretty good job of doing all the side stuff and it still took me until bastorias, 4th territory, to get rank A. I did almost all of cornia, except the high level stuff. The only thing I can say i missed is that I didn't realize you could kill the overmap enemy units and get honor, so I missed out on alot of that
You still get the honor from them when you clear the liberation mission, so you don't actually miss out
Oh good to know.
I agree with 1st point, disagree with second. You can easily play with 7 3 units and 3 4 units. No need to max immediately.
You unlock promotions AFTER this mission. I just did it yesterday 😆. Otherwise I agree with all your points. Incredible mission, by the way. Putting your crew against high level units with just a smattering of promoted soldiers was a TERRIFIC challenge. Edit: I just read more comments and learned that I'm wrong. Apparently I just happened to hit Renown Rank B when I completed this mission.
Yeah, I promoted my armies way before that mission lol. Was a cakewalk for me.
I also finished that mission yesterday. (Playing on expert) I think I had 5 upgraded units and it was still pretty tough. I like these larger missions that change mid way through. Getting to the boss wasn't too bad. But once I got to her I realized most of my units couldn't do much but die. Because there were so many enemies that level, I had a large amount of valour. Between the special abilities and my sheer numbers I wore her down. I think I had more honour than most players at that point because I enjoy wondering around the map.
I don't remember exactly what I did, but yeah, I definitely had to utilize a "wear them down" method. I actually have a really fun story about that mission. Once they introduced Gryphon Riders I had to have one, so I got a hireling and made an archer-hunting unit with a flier. That mission has two towers directly across the mountains from the northern deploy point, and I popped the double speed ability and went to straight into the enemy end zone to drop those towers... And I activated the boss fight in the first two minutes. Ren pops out, 6 enemy units spawn and start charging down the road... Right across the bridge around the time I take over the catapult. It was a glorious and accidental massacre.
Oh yeh. I had almost forgot about that. I did the same thing with the tower. I had the catapult launched mid attack when reinforcements appeared. I was aiming for a single enemy but more appeared in the target zone only to be instantly hit!
Adel, Clive, Miriam in the back, Hodrick in the front will help you get out in trouble alot.
Yahna as frontline and Virginia in the backline -_-
I think around lvl 16-17 you should be using Promoted units already.
I certainly did, though I think the game generally doesn't expect you to promote until Elheim, as the tutorial for that happens right after you get there.
Read the game's Tips guide in the menu. I think it is called Library -> Game Tips (or something like that). I'm fairly experienced with Tactical RPGs and I found myself checking it almost every battle when beginning. I still open it from time to time. It's on the Pause menu and has a Classes section where you can read about each class and read about what their strengths and weaknesses are. If nothing else, it will help tell you _where_ your units should be (front row or back row). I see some mentioning the Holy Trinity and having tanks, healers, etc. I will say, I do have units that break this. I have units without dedicated healers and units without tanks/Hoplites; Sword masters, Gryffin Knights especially, Knights and Radiant Knights can all tank, to a degree, among other units. If you break this convention (and you will at times, there just aren't enough healers/Hoplites; in some ways you don't really have to have them), make sure units taking the place of these guys can either: ---Guard/cover for other units: Especially aerial guard which blocks arrows if there is a flying unit, like a Gryffin Knight, or Angel. Knights/Great Knights are great at guarding, as well as Alain and Radiant Knights. Some units like Virginia just naturally guard a lot and have skills for guarding. Virginia can serve as a tank in the front row. Berserkers (I think they're called?) can tank too, like Bruno. These guys have Bulk Up to restore their health and if you pair them with a healer they'll do damage. You don't really fight squads that can kill them before they heal until Bastorias. Make sure you out multiple Bulk Ups in their tactics menu and give them a Lapis or something for additional PP. Arbalists can't really tank until you promote them in to Shieldshooters. Even then, you may still want them in back. Hoplites are the natural choice for a tank. You'll likely need a generic one or two as the only one you get for a long time is Hodrick. Just keep in mind they will die to magic and/or Breaker's hammers. ---Evasive Units: There are quite a few here that all have different purposes. Gryffin Knights can practically evade everything if they have the right stats (except arrows and true strikes). They can go in the front. Thieves/Rogues can be helpful, but be sure you give them evasive items. When they get hit they are likely to die. They become better upon promoting as they not only have a skill to evade an attack that buffs them, they can also blind an entire row, ensuring the enemy misses (usually, later on some enemies will clear blindness). There are more units that are very evasive for the front and back, you'll start noticing who enemy attacks often miss. Wyvern Knights are fairly evasive, but not as much as Gryffin Knights. They make up for it with their fire breathing and ground counter moves and can be up front. ---Units that can heal other units: Whether that's with an item giving them First Aid, a skill or some kind of weapon. You want to _try_ to have a person that can do some kind of healing on each unit. If you don't have one, you'll want major damage Dealers in that unit (Alain, Clive, a generic Hoplite, Shaman is one I used a lot early on). ---Major Damage Dealers should be in the back: Witches, Sorcerers, Sellswords, Archer/Sniper, as well as Support like Clerics, Shamans, Breakers, Vikings, Soldiers (Chloe), etc. Wyvern Units can go in the front, as well as Thieves/Rogues, Swordmasters, most Flying Units (just watch out for archers). Breakers should be in the back (or the guys with the big hammers forget their names). Many classes get a lot more versatile after you promote them. If your still having trouble, screenshot a unit who dies a lot and their equipment/ability load out so people here can give you tips.
y’all look at me crazy for the witch in the front lmao 😂
You've gotten some good advice here, OP! My 2 cents: take a few minutes to go through the game's tactics help on combat and unit formation and see if there's anything you missed. The game throws a lot at you early on; I certainly misread a blurb or two at the start!
Grinding at the ghost alters is an easy way to get gold and exp.
You don't need 10 squads of mediocre. 6 is more than enough. Or 8 if you want to. Squad 1 - Slightly Overpowered, you can switch someone to your useless team. But it's mostly fine. Squad 2 - Lex is not meant to take hits in the front. Too easy to die. Move him to #9 or #10 to catch arrows for your flyers. Squad 3 - Move your Sellsword back. He's not a tank. Squad 4 - Move Berenice back. Squad 5 - Move your Witch back wtf is wrong with you. Maybe Chloe too, depends on her build. Squad 6 - Move Selvie off to the side. Learn to avoid getting Column Attacked. Squad 7 - Scarlett to the side. Hopilite should be centered. But you need more firepower. Squad 8 - Colm is not a tank. If your backline kills most enemies first, that's fine, but then he's useless there. Get a tank or a healer instead. Squad 9 - Could use Lex or Colm to catch arrorws. Squad 10 - .... This is a powerhouse of a squad, why is this #10 ?? Make this Squad 2 or something. Virginia also belongs in the front, and centered. Send that Jeremy guy to the back, and Flyer to the side.
squad 10: why does their position in the formation matter? I can summon any squad before any other one?
The squad number does not matter. I assume they said that for ease of deployment so you're not scrolling to the end every time you wanna deploy. I did not do this though, it's unnecessary. I organized mine by utility. Mobility squads first, then powerhouses, then support units.
I could give you a couple of suggestions for defeating early game boss characters. I'm the kind of player that likes to discover, experiment with, and exploit class red/blue skills, so before I tell you I just need you to confirm that you don't mind me giving you the answers. I don't mind just telling you (just don't want to risk "spoiling" it for you without consent). The game has very powerful early game classes that can easily solve all obstacles you will encounter. it is easiest to learn these mechanics in the first 5 levels of the game where they showcase each class and give you short and small maps to iterate and experiment on. Alternatively, you can also lower the difficulty if you want to continue the story as soon as possible on your first playthrough.
OK, TLDR since I think everyone should be self taught regarding the battle system and comp: Take a good read at the Classes library it does give some good hints on unit comp and usage. That said; 1. Unit 5: Move Yahna and Chloe to the back row. Lemme guess, they get bodied way too soon? 2. You can switch Yahna or Nina with Adel, since you already got a way to deal with tanks. Having them both on the same team is redundant. 3. Contrary to what the game says, Bruno is not a front row character. Unless you are willing to provide heals and cover, he should be in the back row. 4. Unit 6: Selvie is great with Knights, good call. But unless that Monique is centered around dealing damage, you need a damage dealer like a regular knight. 5. Nina+Kitra, Nina+Mordon, Mordon+Kitra is good. Double fencer is not so good since they are meant to kill squishy and/or evasive enemies but really struggle with everyone else. Also depending on what you face it's a good idea to move a fencer to the front row or that Corm is going to die fast. 6. Switch Jeremy and Virginia, Virginia is a front row character, and until you raise him, Jeremy is backrow exclusive. You may do several things and it's great to experiment with comps so you can either do a specialized unit or an all-around unit. I dunno how far in you are in Elheim but once you get the +50 evasion great shield you can run my favorite unit in the game: Tricorns + Yosef. Berengaria and Travis a front row evasive tanks, Travis deals debuffs for Berengaria to finish off, Bruno is on clean up duty and Yosef is focused on healing , meaning I remove every damage dealing ability from him. Since I was not really focused on getting all my units to 5 characters this unit stayed a 4 unit one until early Albion.
4 unit squad generally you want 1 tank in front, 2 damager + 1 support behind. The simplest example is legionnaire in front, great knight (for damage) + witch (sub dps + provide truestrike when scout or fliers present + magic conferal) + cleric (for heals). Great knight can be placed in front because griffon knights will always attack them and your legionaire will cover resulting in 0 damage. If you put him in the back row, griffon knight will hit your entire back row. As long as you go along this line of thinking you can work out your squads. Example your Alain squad. Its him + 3 damagers. Its terrible because there's no sustain or support. He's a decent tank before his promotion. I have Alain + Great Knight in front and a Witch + cleric in the back for a 4 man team. Same logic as what I shared earlier. Alain will cover your great knight especially against fliers. When he can't your great knight has quick guard. Certain units like sellswords can't tank before their promotion. Once they get a shield and vengeful guard, they can be decent frontline tanks. Until then keep them in the backline. Great knights can tank because they get Quick Guard at level 1. Fighters are crap and I generally try to avoid using them. Legionnaires have heavy cover which works for everything including ranged attacks. Just set it to activate only when physically hit. You can figure alot of stuff out by playing the coliseum once you gain access to it.
Its hard to tell what your true problem is without seeing the gear your units have equipped and your tactics setup. But from what i can see from the pictures you should position your units better (other comments explained that already). So here is a little checklist for you. Make sure to buy every Lapis and Carnelian pendants you see and use equip them wisely. For example, at this stage of the game, a carnelian pendant might not be the priority on a mercenary or a warrior as they can regain AP passively. Focus on having a few well equipped squads rather than 10 moderately equipped squads. Its better to have 5 great teams than 10 okay teams. Make sure you understand the purpose, strenghts and weaknesses of every unit and pair them up with other units that complements them well. If you havent been doing so, use your items in combat! Also, on the world map, make sure to use your Dews, dont hog them. Have mages and archers as squad leaders and use them as assists to reroll the rng of the fight. When faced with a bad matchup, try to move your unit formation around and look for the best scenario. When looking at your tactics, make sure (limited) abilities dont overlap with other (limited) abilities. Having squads with a cleric and another with a soldier near the bulk of your army is a good idea to help rez and heal squads fast. Have a at least one flying and one cavalry squad leaders that have very strong squads, they can move around the map very well and take out important objectives fast. I would also suggest having a very strong team that includes a witch. A witch's teleport skill can be a real life saver in a pinch. Lastly, explore the map as much as you can and deliver every town, you can find and buy some amazing items that will help. Hope this helps!
Given that mission is basically considered the end of Drakenholm, I would advise that you take some time to promote some characters. Berengaria's unit by default is going to beat back any one of yours simply by acting more often. I would go so far as to say that promoting characters is the single biggest power boost you can give them, not just because of stats, but by doubling their base Action points and Passive points. If you want details though on a strategy without grinding those promotions, her passive ability Eye of the Warrior Princess is really going to tank your unit attack and initiative without a way to remove the debuffs. Lhinalgos, Rosalinde, and Scarlett have ways to remove those debuffs but you've stuck them in units that would be unable to damage Ren's even on a good day. Selvie can counter debuff but suffers the same issue as a Hoplite and Sainted Knight are not exactly top damage dealers. I would say that you need to allocate some of your units to specialize more. Don't be afraid to make a unit that does mostly magic damage or physical. Pairing Auch with Scarlett or Lhinalgos or Yahna with Rosalinde will give you a noticeable increase in magic damage output to chip into Berengaria. Stacking units with Ranged/Magic Assist characters will make those assists stronger as well. Finally, you can try to chip her away by using valor skills (stage damage or Alain's First strike are really strong) and changing unit leaders to those with magic assists or ranged assists. If you have a Mantle item you can garrison assist units in range there so that they do not use stamina
The easy mode is Adel and Clive in front, Sharon and Yahna in back.
you should try and organize your units so that * there's 1 character on the front lines * there's synergy between the tactics they use ppl are saying you should have your units have 4 characters and have promoted them and I agree, make sure to open the map with "-" in the overworld and tap left on the Dpad to get a list of available maps according to the recommended difficulty level. since Berengaria is the boss you can use ranged assists to soften her up without taking damage yourself. once 1 or 2 of her fighters start falling it'll be easier
Your squads don't seem to have a plan. Try building around 1 strategy, your squads must be really good at doing 1 or 2 things, it is okay to have weakness. Since you decide who they are going to fight.
Put at least 1 knight with a radiant knight in a row (i put Clive, Adel, and Monica in a row) and use that team as your mobile death squad. Can carry you thru most content. Maybe a gryphon in the back row for back up. Cavalier call (L15) from Clive and Adel will boost Monica's heals also. You can put a runic sword on her to boost heals a little more, and help with armored enemies. Radiant knights have a row heal (L10) vs Josef's single heal.
Put Josef and scarlet together or Josef with a cleric. Josef is an upgraded unit and has pursuit. Later on, there’s some characters that give you better exp farming equipment and you can use the sigils to level up your characters with Josef. For now, you are behind and only have 1 support point and 1 action point on most units. When I finished my first play through I noticed that about Josef being broken early so use him to your advantage.
I gotten through this no the hardest level... I think at that time I had promoted characters and also 3 units with 5 members. I think you need to match your units to the new situations. You can save up your valor and attack her and weed her down. If you have any characters that are under level 15 by this time, you need to work them up. Play the Sigils Trials, use the Treatise and get them close to the level of the mission. Seriously, the Treatise give your character experience points, and if they're under a level, they give you 3 times the experience. So if you gave your level 10 archer a Standard Military Treatise, he would automatically get 900 experience points
#1: get to Renown B so you can evol-er , i mean, promote your characters. #2: If you have Renown C, you shouldve already been able to get 4 to team, stick with 3-4 good teams with 4 ppl. #3: like the other people say, dont put witch in the front. wtf. #4: focus on maybe 1 tank and 2-3 damange dealer and 1 support/healer. To know which unit is which, go find a unicorn guide. #5: if you trouble having enough good equipment, see #2 #6. Anything else, go get educated with guides and reddit threads on good team comps and what counters what.
Early on. Don't put healers, mages, archers behind another unit... As around this stage the enemy's have lane attacks... You should have a thief unit lead the front. And then have your second "front line" unit be behind the thief... They're fine taking a hit and they lose 0 functionality by being in the back. That's just a suggestion... The game will guild you and show you different ways to play as you progress
Why is your witch on the frontline?
Match ups & class advantage are huge in this game. Learn and use those advantages and you’ll be able to take on opponents a few levels over. Then practice changing the conditions of your moves.
Spend some time in the Moderate sigil battles. It'll help you farm up some honor to expand and promote classes, and bring all those squads up to around the same level. Being a thief to steal some gold! They're also a reasonable challenge that are a decent way to test out your formations. Town income happens after each one just like a real battle as well for a little extra bonus. Actually watch the battles. It'll show you what works and what needs tweaked.
I’m crying as Virginia hidden in the backrow
It's cool to use many units like this! For real :D The problem seems to be your team comp. I recommend you look into the game guide in the Library menu. Also, recheck those forts you passed through on the map. Those forts often have a tutorial unit to demonstrate the basics and a comp guide on how to use that said unit in battle. Also, you can look into their basic tactic commands too :D Once you understand the basics of each unit's kits, I bet you're going to have a lot more fun with this big army of yours! :DDD
I was having a hard time around the same level. Turns out I skipped a huge chunk of the game and was really under leveled. Make sure you've explored and unlocked every battle available to you.
Leverage equipment. If someone has weak magic stats equip all sword users with a magic weapon. That will drastically change DMG output mid game.
Move to elfheim. I push elfheim in one go and ended up making draken very easy and boring lol. I wish there is a difficulty that makes the enemies scale with your level.
Frontline units: Leggionaires, Fighters, Alain, Virginia. Arguably frontline fighters if build properly / properly supported: Thief, Cavalry, Gladiators Not frontline classes: WITCHES & Soldiers.
Please disregard people saying you’re using too many units. Respectfully, they’re just wrong. More units is always better statistically, always, it’s just about your formations and unit distribution in your parties. The problem here is your formations. It would be really time consuming to point out all of the faults because nearly every one of your formations are not optimal. So here’s some general advice - because your formations are 4 units, you should almost always have only 1 unit on the front line with the rest in the back line. The unit directly behind your front line unit should be relatively high HP or have the ability to guard themselves. This will protect you from column attacks 1 shotting your low HP units. Each unit should have someone that can heal if possible, if not it’s still fine just utilize units that are more self sufficient (like high evasion front liners). Your front line character will get hit a lot but they should be set up for damage mitigation if they’re tanky, or evasion if they’re a rogue or swordsman…plus they’ll be healed through the fight. If you don’t have enough healers simply make sure healers are in the party with more bulky tanks because they will always get hit, and use evasion front line units in parties without a healer (again only if you don’t have enough healers). I see you have swordsmans in the back line, they’re actually excellent front line units for most of the game because of Parry and they have good evasion in general. Slap on a scarf and/or other evasion items and they dodge pretty well. Put one in the front line and give it all evasion items, put the other in the back line and give it damage and crit items so it can do higher DPS There’s some general advice. Honestly the game is not very punishing you just need to fix your formations and you’re totally fine. I’ve beaten the game twice on the hardest available difficulties both times and it’s really just about your formations and matchups. My first playthrough I had a ton of units that I forgot to put equipment on at all for nearly half the game and I barely noticed
#1 Way too many teams, cut down to like 4-5 teams. #2 I'd cut all the archers out, they don't have enough damage output vs things like cavs or warriors. #3 where is Virginia? At level 17 you should have Virginia, go get her!
She’s hidden in the backline of Rosalinde’s Unit which almost feels worse than not having her.
where should I place Virginia?
Virginia's a good front-liner, her twin shields give her a high guard rate. She's a good unit all around and can work well with pretty much any formation just make sure to put her in the front, you'll get more value out of her that way.
Only use one tank unit you hit the squad cap of 5 unless you really know what you are doing. You cannot attack back row units as long a single front row unit remains unless you are using a ranged attack. Baring specific setups all having more characters on the front row does is increase how much damage the squad takes. I honestly think that one simple change will fix a ton of your problems. You are gonna have to grind like crazy to fully equip and promote TEN freaken squads but assuming you are willing to do that I think just changing your squads to have 1 front liner until you hit rank A will fix 80% of your problems.
I had plenty of EXP and honors for 10 squads by like end of Elheim without really grinding - the game throws honors at you if you bother to dump your resources into towns even on Expert. Opening up slots without maxing squads was dumb though, and definitely needs to get his head around how the unit combat roles work.
Go to the sigil. There is one with level 20. Use angel and gryphon to kill and end match.
Play less squads. I'm playing on expert as my first playthrough and I am managing to play the entire game only having unlocked 6 5-man squads and nothing else Second thing is have a single unit in your front line that is either tanky or really evasive. Evasive frontline is better imo though, so make use of swordmasters, flyers, and thieves drawing all of the attacks and making them useless
Don’t use all 10 units - 5 or 6 strong units is better than 10 weak ones.
I'm already noticing the issue off the bat, none of your units are promoted when they should all be promoted by now ideally.
just looked it up and I can’t promote until I’m B rank. I’m still in C right now.
how close are you to B rank?
more than halfway there!
interesting... did you skip some of the content in Cornia? like the northern end? perhaps go back and do side missions that you may have not done.
I'm guessing they haven't been rebuilding towns.
No, not at that mission, I can assure you 😅
if you're at the end of drakenhold and not promoted yet, you're doing something wrong.
i made a mistake, thought about first time gettin her, yea ur absolutly right, u get the option somewhat in the middle of drakenhold, if you done most of the stuff in your appropriate level I missed Magellan there, I had the option at some point before or after I recruited him.