"And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight...
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FIRE EMBLEM: THE SACRED STONES
An FAQ/Walkthrough
For the Nintendo GameBoy Advance
Copyright 2008 Richard Beast
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...you gotta strike when the moment is right, without thinking." - Pink Floyd
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Table of Contents:
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-!NOTE!-
This guide, as you will soon see, is pretty big. Seeing as how this takes
effect, you will most likely be lost in trying to find out what you want to
read. There is one way to get to it, instantly. Press Ctrl + F, and then look
for whatever you want. Let's say you want to go to the Basics section. Type in
"IV. Basics", and then you'll go to the basics section, instantly! Pretty neat,
eh?
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~ -------------------------- * TABLE OF CONTENTS * -------------------------- ~
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I. Introduction
II. Legal Disclaimer
III. Contact Rules
IV. Basics
V. Characters
Va. Characters
Vb. Supports
VI. Walkthrough (Part 1)
VIa. The Fall of Renais
VIb. Escape!
VIc. The Protected
VId. The Bandits of Borgo
VIe. Ancient Horrors
VIf. The Empire's Reach
VIg. Unbroken Heart
VIh. Victims of War
VIi. Waterside Renvall
VIj. It's A Trap!
VII. Walkthrough (Eirika's Path)
VIIa. Distant Blade
VIIb. Revolt at Carcino
VIIc. Creeping Darkness
VIId. Village of Silence
VIIe. Hamill Canyon
VIIf. Queen of White Dunes
VIIg. Scorched Sand
VIII. Walkthrough (Ephraim's Path)
VIIIa. Fort Rigwald
VIIIb. Turning Traitor
VIIIc. Phantom Ship
VIIId. Landing at Taizel
VIIIe. Fluorspar's Oath
VIIIf. Father and Son
VIIIg. Scorched Sand
IX. Walkthrough (Part 4)
IXa. Ruled by Madness
IXb. River of Regrets
IXc. Two Faces of Evil
IXd. Last Hope
IXe. Darkling Woods
IXf. Sacred Stone
X. Creature Campaign
Xa. Tower of Valni
Xb. Lagdou Ruins
Xc. Secret Characters
XI. Items
XIa. Weapons
XIb. Magic
XII. Credits
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~-~ ~-~ ~-~ I. Introduction ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
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Let me tell you a story. It all began when I started writing for Path of
Radiance on the GameCube a little bit into last year. Then I took a large break
and started this guide somewhere in between, simply insisting that just writing
for that game wouldn't be enough. I mean, hey, Sacred Stones is one of the most
underrated games on the GBA, even if in my opinion it's highly inferior to Fire
Emblem 7. Oh, hey, you may not even know who I am. The name's Richard Beast,
and I go by the alias of Gbness. This is my 42nd FAQ, I think. I don't know,
I've been doing this for about five years and have long since lost count. ;]
So, at the time of writing this it's very late at night plus that's all you need
to know anyway, so I think I'll leave it at that. Enjoy this little gem of a
game, and this guide. If you can do that, I'll be happy enough.
- Richard "Gbness" Beast
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~-~ ~-~ ~-~ II. Legal Disclaimer ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
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You are NOT permitted to put this FAQ on your site without my permission first.
All you have to do is email me or IM me saying you want this FAQ on your site,
then you can tell me your site and the chance is high that I'll let you. But if
you put this FAQ on your site without my permission I swear you will regret it.
If I let you, not ONE word should be changed from this FAQ! NOT ONE! Got it?
Good. Also, make sure that no money is involved. If you want this FAQ to be sold
on eBay, then just forget about it, man. And don't sell this guide either, or
pay people to use it, or you'll be in such big trouble you don't want to think.
Another little note is that I will not have this guide hosted on many other web
sites besides GameNotOver, GameFAQs, IGN, and Neoseeker. You need full-on
permission if it's not one of the four above sites. I am sick of people ripping
me off (I have been ripped off three times in the past), so if I don't like your
site, I won't let my guide be posted on it. I am sorry, but this is how it has
to be. If you ask politely and I like your site, you will definitely have the
luck of getting it up there. Thank you very much.
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~-~ ~-~ ~-~ III. Contact Rules ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
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First of all, feel free to check out the stuff I've written on GameFAQs. Those
include a guide for Baten Kaitos, a few other sorted RPGs, and tons of random
PSX games. Honor to the PSX, yanno? Hopefully, that'll be added with awesome
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Disgaea 3 guides. As you might be able to
guess, I'm a large RPG fan and writer.
Alright, enough shameless advertisement about me. You can e-mail me if there is
a question you wish to ask that hasn't been answered in the guide, but I REALLY
don't want to bother answering questions that have already been done, answered,
and done again in the guide, if it isn't too much trouble. Feel free to tell me
if there's something I've forgotten, however.
My e-mail address is richard_power1000 [at] yahoo [dot] com. Except, replace the
[at] and spaces with a "@" symbol and the [dot] and spaces with a period; I have
to write like that so I don't get a dozen spam bots e-mailing me and getting me
viruses. Just be polite in the e-mail, don't talk like "omg wtf rich ur gides r
t3h su><0rz & how du i beat bone", and don't ask something that's already been
answered in the guide, and I'll respond.
And don't bother sending things like:
"You friggin' idiot. Your guides suck, you suck, and everything about you
sucks. DIE DIE DIE!"
"BURN IN THE FLAMES OF HELL, YOU STUPID RETARD!!!"
"What the hell did you think you were doing writing all that garbage, you piece
of crap?
"I hope you fall down the stairs and break every bone in your body!"
"u su><0rz, eVrYtInG BoUt u sUx, dIe ass!!!!!!1"
I will laugh at such e-mails and delete them. So... if you're not just playing
a friendly joke on me or something, don't bother with that crap cos I've been
through with it too much.
Okay, that's enough for that. My AIM name is rbeast288; sorry, I don't have MSN
or YIM. The list is closed, but I'll add you if you ask politely via e-mail. I
like chatting with people, but try not to overdo it on AIM if I add you to my
list. Since I am busy a majority of the time and all.
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~-~ ~-~ ~-~ IV. Basics ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
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Odds are if you've played any other Fire Emblem game before, The Sacred Stones
should be at least close to second nature. Odds are if not... it still shouldn't
be too bad. But just in case, or for any other case of reference, here I am.
Because I'm da man.
BATTLES
=------=
Fire Emblem is a strategy RPG... but odds are you already knew that. That
means you're basically going from one battle to another, while developing
your army, 10-14 characters per battle, in strategic, turn-based combat. It's
turn based in the sense that all your characters do their thing, and then the
enemy does their stuff. Simple enough?
Each character will carry a weapon or two with them, and then when they attack,
the formula goes like this: (Your strength + weapon attack power - enemy's
defense = damage). Pretty simple formula, right? Then, if your character's
speed is high enough, they'll attack the opponent twice. Of course, when you
attack an enemy or an enemy attacks you, the character who's getting attacked
will counterattack, as long as the attacker is in his/her range. This makes
things just a bit more interesting. However, if a character is reduced to 0 HP,
they will NEVER come back. EVER. That's what makes this game so different from
other strategy RPGs: how extremely realistic that gets.
In battle you'll also weigh in the hit percentage, of which some weapons have
a lot more of than others, and the chance of a critical hit. When you critical
hit an enemy, the attack does three times more damage than normal. That can
easily turn the tide of a battle, even though the chance of it happening is
usually around 1-3%, unless you're using special weapons. After almost every
battle you'll be on this game's world map, where you can go around to vendors
and armories restocking on items, magic, and weapons, so... that's about it.
Enjoy it!
STATS
=----=
HP is the driving force behind everything, and is utterly defining. Even if
in the long run, defense and resistance will probably do more for you. But
basically, you get hit and damage is done to you, right? So the number is
subtracted from your maximum HP, and when your HP reaches 0, you're dead. No
really, you're DEAD, and you're not coming back. Fire Emblem will let you
resurrect characters who hit 0 HP the moment that starts happening in real
life, so... yeah, you figure it out. Regardless, you want to keep an eye on this
stat, and to do that, don't let weak characters go out in the very frontlines.
Use Vulneraries, Elixirs, Heal/Mend/Physic, etc... watch out for this.
Strength/Magic is my next favorite stat, just because it's strength. Or magic,
do I need to say more? Now, the reason these are grouped together is because
no character has both. You either attack with swords/lances/axes/bows, or magic,
never both, so no need for both stats. And obviously, it decides how much damage
you're going to do through the formula of your S/M, adding your weapon's Might,
subtracting the enemy's defense/resistance (depends on whether it's strength or
magic). So in the end, my basic recommendation is to get as many Energy Rings
as possible and jerking everyone's S/M up as high as it can go. S&M is awesome
(oh god, let's not go there...).
Skill isn't in my opinion nearly as necessary as strength and speed, but it can
be an extremely deciding factor in one character versus another. Basically, the
higher your skill is, the more chance your attacks have of hitting. If you're
going to load one type of character full of Skill more than another, definitely
give it to axe users like Ross or Dozla... they need every last bit of this
that they can get. That's about it though, just hit percentage.
Speed is life and death in Fire Emblem. Well, sort of. Basically, you can
either double attack, trade hits, or be double attacked in battles here, and
speed is the deciding factor in that. Basically attack speed is your speed,
minus penalties if your weapon's weight is higher than your strength, and if
it's 5 or more above the enemy you're attacking, you'll double attack. Speed
weighs into your avoid (double speed then add luck and stuff in there), so in
short, speed is one of the most important things out there, and you want
everyone to keep it high. It can make or break a character.
Luck isn't as important as most of the other stats, but it exists enough to
warrant a section here. It weighs into hit, avoid, and critical hit rate, and...
that's about it. Basically for hit, it's your skill doubled, your weapon's hit
rate, and your luck on top of that. Critical hit rate is essentially the same
thing except it's the enemy's luck subtracted from it, and avoid works pretty
much the same as hit. So, it affects a lot more stuff than any other stat, but
with a far smaller impact. So don't focus on it, focus on strength and speed.
Defense is one of the most basic stats and doesn't require any long winded
explanation. Basically, the higher your defense, the less damage you will take
from physical attacks only. The exact formula is Damage = Attacker's strength
+ weapon strength - defense. If you have lots of defense (like Gilliam or Kyle)
and there's no sages around, you can go right in the open and wreak all the
havoc you want with no worries.
Resistance is just as basic as defense in that the higher it is, the less
damage you will take from magic attacks only. The exact formula is Damage =
Attacker's magic + tome strength - resistance. I find defense much more
important, but resistance can break some characters and it will make you
absolutely love characters that can go right in and slice mages apart. Tana,
being a prime example.
WEAPONS
=------=
Swords are the most cliched weapon in the RPG universe, and for good reason.
They're most commonly used by Eirika, myrmidons/swordmasters, cavaliers,
mercenaries, generals, rangers, thieves/rogues... many. That's it, but in any
case, swords aren't the most powerful weapons around, but if you're using them
against axes, you're going to own those guys. That being said, I prefer lances
myself since they keep a general balance between power and accuracy, but take
the Sieglinde and Audhulma for example. Amazing stuff.
Lances are somewhat between the two extremes of swords and axes: they aren't as
strong as axes, but they've got an edge over swords there, plus they hit better
than axes, just not better than swords. And pretty much everyone uses them:
Ephraim, cavaliers, knights/generals, pegasus/falcon knights, wyvern riders,
knights, and lords, and the list goes on. Basically they own swords, and losing
to axes won't stop them from being my faorite weapons. Best lance users:
Ephraim, Tana, Cormag, Amelia, Kyle.
Axes are raw power in the making. They may not hit too hot, but hey, they will
own you. Especially if you're using a lance. They're most commonly uses by
fighters/warriors/berserkers, great knights, and generals. That honestly is
just about it. Trust me though, you'll get a lot of bloodshed out of them. The
guy who's arguably the best character in the whole game, Ross uses axes, and
while these may not be the best choice if you desperately need to hit a target,
a maxed strength/supported Berserker Ross with the Garm will kill anything.
Bows are neutral among the weapon triangle. The power in them is quite a bit
lacking compared to the other three, but you can use them from a range, which
is pretty crucial. They're only used by archers/snipers, rangers, and warriors.
That is it. Obviously you're not going to get a ton of use out of them, but
Neimi is definitely one of the better characters in the game, Innes isn't bad,
and if you want to make Gerik a Ranger, bows are definitely an asset. Bows are
definitely worth having around.
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~-~ ~-~ ~-~ V. Characters ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
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To even this all out better, I split this into one section for character
profiles, and one for supports. Go to Vb. for supports.
~- Va. Character Info ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~--~-~-~-~-~-~-
This is a comprehensive list complete with recommendations and all that for
each and every single solitary character in the game. Is that awesome or what.
Name: Eirika
Recruited: PROLOGUE, CHAPTER 15 Ep
Class: Lord -> Great Lord
Attribute: Light
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Average Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ High Luck ......... High
Speed ........ High
Eirika is the princess of Renais. Since she's currently in Renais Castle when
Grado invades, she ends up having to leave King Fado and escape with Seth, and
the game, at least for the first eight chapters, follows her story. She's a
very compassionate person, but when she gets her mind made up about something,
it's hard to change it.
You'll be reminded of Lyn from FE7 immediately with Eirika. She has quite low
HP and strength early on, but high skill and luck, and a very high critical
rate, plus she double hits pretty much anything. But on top of that, Eirika's
defense and resistance are extremely average. Eventually, anyway, you get a
choice between following her or Ephraim from Chapters 9-15, and I personally
prefer Ephraim's path, but you can definitely follow Eirika.
Eventually Eirika's Rapier will break, but she's still got high critical rates.
And then after Chapter 16, she'll promote, and be on horseback, which is a
definite high point. And when you've got the Sieglinde, Eirika will destroy
everything. Just make sure you get some supports so that Eirika's defense can
go up. I like L'Arachel as a support myself. So... in conclusion, I like
Ephraim more, but Eirika is good.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Ephraim
Recruited: Chapter 5x, CHAPTER 8 Ep, CHAPTER 15 Ei
Class: Lord -> Great Lord
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... High Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... Very High Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High Luck ......... High
Speed ........ High
Ephraim is the prince of Renais. While Renais gets invaded, he's busy fighting
his way through Renvall. Ephraim is a master strategist, and when he comes up
with a plan, you'd better believe that it works. He is a tad bit reckless,
though, but he's just as compassionate as Eirika.
In combat, Ephraim really is a monster. While Eirika is the lord of swords,
Ephraim is the great lord of lances. He starts with the Reginleif lance, which
kills any knight or cavalier that it comes within a ten foot radius of. As for
stats, Ephraim has insanely high strength, skill, AND speed. His HP is quite
good, his defense is solid... the only downside to him is his resistance. It's
pretty low and worse than Eirika's, but hey, what do I care.
Ephraim really is the best character in the game once he's promoted. With the
armageddon blast of a spear known as the Siegmund, he'll do about 40 damage
to everything, double hitting light itself, and have so much evasion that no
one can touch him. In fact, if you ask me he's so good he needs no supports,
but if you wish, L'Arachel and Forde are great choices. Any way you slice it,
Ephraim is just about the best character in the game.
My Rating: 5/5
Name: Seth
Recruited: PROLOGUE
Class: Paladin
Attribute: Anima
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... High Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High Luck ......... High
Speed ........ High
Seth is the general of Renais. Because of that and other things, he's King
Fado's most trusted knight, and the only one who knows the truth about Eirika's
and Ephraim's bracelets. He's also the one entrusted with Eirika when they
escape from Renais, meaning he's always with her.
Seth is the Jeigan/Marcus of Sacred Stones, and if you're unfamiliar with what
I mean by that, I mean that Seth is a prepromote that is the equivalent of
Level 21 while everyone else is Level 1-4. And while it is extremely tempting
to have Seth charge at enemies and pummel them into oblivion, which he is very
capable of doing, it's not a good idea. By doing that, you're killing off the
whole rest of your party's chances of getting EXP.
It's not that he has bad stats though, because on the contrary he actually has
good growths and good bases. In fact, he's fairly strong if you use him when
the rest of your party catches up to him, but a big problem is he doesn't have
a lot of HP and defense and will end up going down relatively fast. So yeah, he
isn't bad, but you have a choice: one divine unit or ten great units. I go with
the ten great units.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Franz
Recruited: CHAPTER 1
Class: Cavalier -> Great Knight
Attribute: Light
HP ........... High Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... High Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ High
Franz is a knight of Renais, and one of the most loyal soldiers of Seth's. While
during the fall of Renais he runs off to Frelia to tell them that they're
coming, he returns in the next chapter. He idolizes Seth and wants to be just
like him.
You'll have Franz in your party right off the bat, and he's one of the better
cavaliers. He joins in the middle of chapter 1 with Gilliam, and while he's
underleveled compared to Gilliam, he's got swords and lances at his disposal,
and will level up quite quickly. What you'll come out with is a character who
has good strength and speed, but the skill is a little lacking compared to
Forde's, and Franz's defense isn't the best either.
You will definitely want to promote Franz. When given a choice a Great Knight
and a Paladin, I'd go with the Great Knight, and I wish those guys were in all
Fire Emblems. It'll definitely complement Franz's high strength. Plus if you
have him support his brother Forde, you can add to his attack and hit even
more. So overall, I prefer Kyle slightly, but Franz is a great addition to any
party.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Gilliam
Recruited: CHAPTER 1
Class: Knight -> General
Attribute: Thunder
HP ........... High Defense ...... High
Strength ..... High Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Low
Speed ........ Very Low
Gilliam is a knight of Frelia. He rides into the battle with Franz, when Franz
goes to Frelia to tell of Renais's situation. Then when the group goes to speak
with King Hayden, Gilliam is one of the vassals entrusted to Eirika.
Every Fire Emblem needs a knight, and while Gilliam has got nothing on Oswin
from FE7, Gilliam's a good dude. First of all, he comes at Level 4, but his
movement are quite bad. That's to be expected, though, with that much armor on.
Not to mention terrible speed; pretty much everyone will double hit him in the
end. However, Gilliam has got good accuracy early on, and his strength is rather
good.
The selling point, however, is that Gilliam has very high HP and insanely good
defense, so nothing can hit him. If you get a chance to promote him, though, go
for a General. You have plenty of room for Great Knights with Franz and Kyle,
but with Gilliam, turn him into a General, and he'll get 3 more speed, 1 more
movement... and he doesn't need more defense anyway. Make Neimi and/or Franz
support him, and he'll be unstoppable. On the other hand, though... you get two
opportunities for Generals in this game, and I prefer the other one.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Moulder
Recruited: CHAPTER 2
Class: Priest -> Bishop
Attribute: Anima
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... Average Resistance ... High
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Low
Speed ........ Average
Moulder is a priest of Frelia. That really is all I have to say about him,
except he's a rather serious character who is pretty much forced into the party
by King Hayden, before Chapter 2.
You get two choice of healers early in the game (not including L'Arachel),
Moulder and Natasha. I'd definitely choose Moulder, as his stats are quite a
bit higher. First of all, for a mage, his HP is quite good, and though his
defense is nothing special but once again not bad for a mage, his high evasion
will definitely complement that. And if you use him every turn by healing
characters, which I assure you that you can, he'll level up quite quickly and
eventually be a candidate for promotion.
When choosing between a Bishop and a Sage, I would most definitely go with a
Bishop, just because you get so many more opportunities to make Sages. Plus
if you're going to the Lagdou Ruins, you'll need all the Bishops you can get
for their Slayer ability, and Moulder fits that job perfectly. Being able to
use light magic on top of healing helps, and while he's not the strongest mage
around, he's one of the easiest to keep alive.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Vanessa
Recruited: CHAPTER 2
Class: Pegasus Knight -> Falcoknight
Attribute: Anima
HP ........... Low Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Low Resistance ... High
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ High
Vanessa is a pegasus knight of Frelia. That really is all I have to say about
her, except she's a rather serious character who is pretty much forced into the
party by King Hayden, before Chapter 2.
Vanessa is a classic pegasus knight, and if you're not familiar with them,
they've always got low HP, low strength, low defense, good skill, great speed,
and relatively good resistance. Always. Vanessa, in my opinion though, gets
rather overshadowed though by a far better pegasus knight, Tana, who joins in
Chapter 9, so in short, I'm not too much of a fan. Too much of a pegasus knight
for me, cuz as you guessed I've never been too fond of them.
If you do choose to use Vanessa, though, it's not a huge loss though. She
actually does become a decent character if you take the time to level her up.
If you promote her though, make her a Falcoknight. Don't get me wrong, the
Wyvern Knights are much better, but one of her or Vanessa needs to be a
Falcoknight if you want to use her triangle attack with Syrene. And if you're
looking for supports, Forde is a great choice because they go on the same
pace. Plus Syrene is a good choice too, but again, I'm a Tana guy.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Name: Ross
Recruited: CHAPTER 2
Class: Journeyman -> Pirate -> Berserker
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... High Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... Very High Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ Average
Ross is a young, budding warrior from the town of Ide, who runs out with his
father when the town gets attacked. He then runs into Eirika's group there and
joins when his father does. His primary interest in life is to be a warrior,
especially one who can rival his father.
And too right Ross does become a warrior who rivals his father. Ross is quite
arguably the best character in the game, and I know you're going to look at his
base stats and ask me what in the hell I am smoking. But it's true: Ross is a
unit who is not yet Level 1 when the game starts. He gains EXP quite fast, so
get him a little, and then you get a choice of what first tier unit to turn
him into: a Pirate or a Fighter. Definitely turn him into a Pirate, you don't
get a Pirate in this game, he can walk on water, and promotion becomes easier.
You'll immediately find Ross has better stats than any unit of his level around
him. The only stats he somewhat suffers in are skill and speed, and you can
build skill up by supporting Ewan, and avoid through Amelia, or Gerik. Then
when he's at level 20 you can promote him again. It's really up to you whether
you want to turn him into a Berserker or Warrior, he'll kick so much ass either
way it's not too important, though I made him a Berserker just for his amazing
critical rate. He's a pain in the beginning, I won't deny, but...
My Rating: 5/5 (he's awesome, best axeman in the game by far)
Name: Garcia
Recruited: CHAPTER 2
Class: Fighter -> Warrior
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... High Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... High Resistance ... Very Low
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ Low
Garcia is a retired fighter among Renais. He used to be a troop commander, but
during the war, his wife fell ill and died. At that point, Garcia gave up his
status and decided to devote himself to his son Ross. However, he's recruited in
Chapter 2 and decides to come with you, to watch over Ross there.
Naturally, Garcia joins at the same time as Ross so they're going to be compared
to each other since they're the same type of character. I won't deny it, Garcia
starts out much better with rather good strength, plus his HP will hold out to
the end. However his speed ends up really bad, his resistance is putrid, and
all his other stuff is just really kind of average. But all that brings me to
the biggest point: the comparison with Ross.
Ross, because he has better growth rates and will get far more levels than
Garcia, will end up with far, far better stats. His HP and strength will be
far better, and although Ross's speed isn't too good, it'll still be better than
Garcia's. Garcia is far from unusable though; if you want to make him into a
Warrior, he's still not bad, plus he's a fire affinity and can give some good
supports, but he's just a weaker version of Ross.
My Rating: 3/5
Name: Neimi
Recruited: CHAPTER 3
Class: Archer -> Ranger
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... Low Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... Average Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ High
Neimi is a former villager in a town called Lark, but the town was burned down
by Bazba's Bandits, and she and her friend Colm were the only two survivors.
Because of that, she just drifts around with Colm, running into Eirika's group
when they're looking for Colm and joining them.
While in my opinion Neimi hasn't got nothing on Rebecca from Fire Emblem 7,
she's an incredibly decent character to use, and since there's a grand total of
two archers in the game (one already a promoted sniper), I would by all means
recommend going ahead and using her for the entire portion of the game. Face it,
there's no reason not to. While she does have rather low HP and strength, those
can be both be corrected because her growths are good, and obviously her skill
and speed are superb.
Neimi is a fire affinity, meaning she'll not only give amazing supports, but
be an amazing support to anyone. Amelia and Artur are both perfectly good
choices, or Garcia if you plan on using him. When promoting Neimi, I'd
definitely say make her a Ranger rather than a Sniper, as turning into a
Ranger will help out her weak stats more, give her much better movement, and
seriously, who cares about a Sniper's Sure Shot anyway. Not a perfect character
at all, but a good one that doesn't receive enough credit.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Colm
Recruited: CHAPTER 3
Class: Thief -> Assassin
Attribute: Light
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Low Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ Low Luck ......... High
Speed ........ High
Colm is a former villager in a town called Lark, but the town was burned down
by Bazba's Bandits, and he and his friend Neimi were the only two survivors.
Because of that, Colm follows a very dark path into thievery, which brings a
lot of worry into Neimi. He runs into Eirika when he tries to steal her
bracelet.
Colm is a rather mixed bag, and is a love or hate. He's... decent enough,
though, even if in my opinion he's an ass pain to raise up, and you get Rennac
as a rogue later, who even though his stats will end up weaker than Colm's, is
at least already a Rogue. Colm's HP starts out below average, though it'll
grow quickly. All his other stats are rather straightforward for a thief, and
his luck stat definitely helps out.
I honestly have no preference of making Colm an Assassin or a Rogue, since the
former will give him the Silencer ability, which definitely helps considering
Colm's lowish strength, but the latter has the innate Lockpick ability, so, I
dunno. Depends on if you plan to use Rennac or not. Both are good, then you
just need supports, in which Kyle is great for defense and Neimi is great for
the offense, or Rennac if you want a mix thereof. Not a bad character overall.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Artur
Recruited: CHAPTER 4
Class: Monk -> Bishop
Attribute: Ice
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Average Resistance ... High
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Low
Speed ........ Average
Artur is a monk from Renais, who just happens to be an extremely religious man
living in a village that gets overrun by monsters from Grado. He claims to be a
vanquisher of evil though, and since he uses light magic, he's good for that.
Another rather good magic user, Artur is a monk who excels in light magic. He
does it with relative skill, and while his magic power isn't as high as Lute's,
Artur uses light magic, which is a completely different dimension. His HP is
solid for a mage, plus he's got all the necessary skill and speed. My biggest
issues are his defense which is really inferior to Moulder's, and his luck,
which is some of the worst in the game.
When you get the opportunity to promote Artur, you can make him a Sage or a
Bishop. That's really a hard choice, and although the Sage stat caps are a bit
better, I tend to prefer turning Artur into a Bishop, mainly because I love the
Slayer ability, and in the final battle and the Tower of Valni/Lagdou Ruins you
can never have too many bishops. You can't go wrong either way though. For
supports, Lute and Joshua will balance out his attack and defense, so go for
them, and you'll have a killer mage on your hands.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Lute
Recruited: CHAPTER 4
Class: Mage -> Sage
Attribute: Anima
HP ........... Low Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... High Resistance ... High
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ High
Lute is an annoying young girl from Renais, living in a village off of it that
gets overrun by monsters. She lives with Artur, and claims to be an absolute
prodigy when it comes to magic.
Alright, I'm going to come clean and honest here and say that Lute is pretty
much the best magic user in the game. Her HP is pretty terrible, but she has
just about the highest magic stat in the game, rather decent skill, and high
speed. That's just about all you need for a mage, right? If you're just looking
for some basic anima, Lute is your girl.
Definitely make her a Sage rather than a Mage Knight; the Sage has MUCH better
stat caps (strength, speed, and skill, enough said), and the Sage is just a
better overall class. At that point, make sure Lute's speed is up to snuff,
since it's doubtless that she'll have great strength. It's all a case of whether
you want more offense or defense for here. Ross is your offensive guy with a
fire affinity, Kyle for defense. Hard to go wrong however you slice it.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Natasha
Recruited: CHAPTER 5
Class: Cleric -> Bishop
Attribute: Ice
HP ........... Low Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Average Resistance ... High
Skill ........ Low Luck ......... High
Speed ........ High
Natasha is a cleric from Grado's imperial temple. She left it one day, however,
when her mentor was executed without warning by Vigarde, and then she ran
across the border only to be caught. She runs into the party and Joshua in
Serafew, in Chapter 5.
I'm not a fan of Natasha, although I won't deny she can be promoted into a
bishop, and you can never have too many of those. It's just, there's far too
many magic users out there, and many of them far outshine Natasha. Moulder for
example, beats her in just about every stat except speed and resistance, with
far superior HP and defense. L'Arachel is also extremely comparable, and overall
I'd just rather use her because of her greater versatility.
If you decide to use Natasha, I'd use a Guiding Ring early just so that she
can start holding her own on the battlefield. I'd definitely choose a Bishop
over a Valkyrie; the bishop has not only Slayer (which is amazing), but better
caps in everything except defense. Then again, I'd just rather use Moulder,
Artur, or L'Arachel over Natasha, honestly. That, and Natasha doesn't have
great support options, except Joshua I guess.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Name: Joshua
Recruited: CHAPTER 5
Class: Myrmidon -> Swordmaster
Attribute: Wind
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... High Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ Very High Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ Very High
Joshua is the son of Ismaire, the queen of Jehanna. That doesn't make Joshua
much of a prince though. On the contrary, he's a ridiculous gambler, taking any
opportunity to gamble even if he's just recently lost several times. And if
Natasha speaks to him in Chapter 5, he'll join you based on another lost bet.
Some people aren't a big fan of Joshua, but I personally think he's one of the
best characters in the entire game. He's a classic myrmidon, in that he has
extremely high skill and speed, but his HP and defense are rather lacking. If
you want to spend an Angelic Robe on him, which I almost always do, the only
thing that can remotely wear him down is magic. For a myrmidon (at least
compared to the game's other myrmidon, Marisa), Joshua has extremely high
strength, especially in the late game.
What with Joshua's high luck, he'll be doing a lot of critical hits, plus when
you promote him, which I would suggest turning him into a Swordmaster, if you
have a Killing Edge on him, he'll have a critical rate of mid 60s. Throw a
support like Gerik onto him, and that critical rate will just skyrocket even
more. And sure, while Gerik may end up being better in the long run, if you
use Joshua the right way you won't regret it.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Kyle
Recruited: CHAPTER 5x, Chapter 8
Class: Cavalier -> Great Knight
Attribute: Ice
HP ........... High Defense ...... High
Strength ..... High Resistance ... Very Low
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ Average
Kyle is a knight of Renais in the service of Ephraim. He takes his job as a
cavalier very seriously, and is extremely proud to serve under Ephraim. Plus
he's not bad in combat, though I wonder how he got involved with the two
brothers.
One of the three main cavaliers in Sacred Stones, Kyle is probably my favorite
of the three. He's a bit stronger and sturdier than the other two, in that his
strength, HP, and defense are all rock solid, and he won't have any problems
doing lots of damage. That being said, his resistance is some of the worst in
the game, and his speed is far inferior to Franz's and especially Forde's. AND
his skill isn't too great either, though I don't care about that too much.
If you can get Kyle's speed on par with at least the other cavaliers, he'll
easily turn into one of the best units in the game. In giving him a choice
between a Great Knight and a Paladin, the Great Knight is by far the preferable
option. Seriously, it just adds to his strengths, plus the Great Knight has a
better strength cap. And with that, all he needs is a support or two. I'd go
with Forde and Ephraim myself. Not without his faults, but overall one of the
better characters in the game.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Forde
Recruited: CHAPTER 5x, Chapter 8
Class: Cavalier -> Paladin
Attribute: Wind
HP ........... High Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... Average Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ High
Much like Kyle, Forde is a knight of Renais in the service of Ephraim. He's
extremely laidback about his job as a cavalier, and will sometimes in the
middle of battle even start painting, which is his other hobby. He's also the
brother of Franz.
Forde excels in the exact places that Kyle doesn't. While both of their HPs
are quite good and don't need any worrying on your part, Forde definitely lacks
the physical strength that Kyle does, and unless you play around with the RNG,
Forde may end up as one of the physically weakest characters in your whole
party. His defense isn't great either, but Forde has two things that Kyle
sorely lacks: skill and speed. His speed is quite a bit higher, and he'll be
getting a lot of double attacks that Kyle won't.
In giving the choice to promote Forde, I'd definitely turn him into a Paladin.
The Great Knight has the higher strength cap, but there's no way Forde will
max out his strength. Go with something that'll add to his current abilities,
while you personally keep an eye out for his low strength. If he turns out good
for you, he'll definitely be one of the game's best characters. For supports,
go with fire and light people. Ephraim and Eirika are both great.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Tana
Recruited: CHAPTER 9
Class: Pegasus Knight -> Wyvern Knight
Attribute: Wind
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Average Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... High
Speed ........ Very High
Tana is the princess of Frelia. She's an incredibly rebellious spirit, in that
she's been friends with Eirika all her life, and although Innes and King
Hayden tell her not to leave the castle, she does to go help her friend on the
battlefield, be it Eirika or Ephraim (the latter in which she gets clumsy and
ends up in jail). Besides, she's a pegasus knight.
Speaking of being a pegasus knight, you will hear me mention again and again
during the course of this guide that Tana is one of the best characters in the
game. She outclasses Vanessa in just about every way: her defense may not be
high, but her resistance is absolutely outstanding for a physical attacker type
character. Her HP isn't too shabby though I always give her an Angelic Robe
anyway, her strength turns out to be quite good, and she's one of the fastest
characters in the entire game.
Since Tana joins in Chapter 9, she'll be racking up experience incredibly fast,
and soon you'll need to promote her. Obviously you'll want to make her a Wyvern
Knight, which is one of the best classes in the game, and once you do that her
speed will just keep growing even more. All of her stats are extremely good,
and once she has the Vidofnir, plus supports with Ephraim, Eirika, or Cormag,
she'll be absolutely unstoppable.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Amelia
Recruited: CHAPTER 9
Class: Recruit -> Knight -> General
Attribute: Thunder
HP ........... High Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... High Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ High Luck ......... High
Speed ........ High
Amelia is a girl from Grado who joins the military, basically to protect her
family. Obviously, she's a new recruit, and there's mutual dislike betwen her
and the Grado army, really. So in other words, Eirika or Ephraim can have a
word with her, and she'll join you. And you'll be glad for that.
Much like Ross, Amelia is one of those underpromoted characters that are
unusuable until you take them to the Tower of Valni, then they get promoted and
kick so much ass it's not even funny. Yes, as a Recruit Amelia has a movement of
four and barely does any damage at all, but yes, she'll get a choice of to turn
into a Knight or Cavalier as soon as she hits Level 10. Definitely change her
into a Knight, since you have a lot less room for Generals than Paladins.
Once she gets going, Amelia is going to have extremely high strength, skill,
and luck. Since she'll be a Knight, her movement will always blow, but her
speed actually isn't that bad. And while her defense never does get amazing,
she has absolutely excellent avoid, so you can't go wrong either way. Then when
she's a General, she'll have the Great Shield ability, and not a weak stat
anywhere. And that's WITHOUT supporting Ross and Ewan, who will make her even
stronger. ;] Truly one of the best characters in the game.
My Rating: 5/5
Name: Cormag
Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Ep, CHAPTER 13 Ei
Class: Wyvern Rider -> Wyvern Lord
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... High Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... High Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ High
Cormag is the brother of Glen, one of the six generals of Grado. Much like his
brother, he questions whether what Grado is doing is right, and takes a dislike
to General Valter. However, when Glen dies that doesn't stop him from holding
a grudge against Eirika. That, or Duessel can convince him in Chapter 10.
In my opinion, Cormag is a god. All of his stats are amazing, with the exception
of his resistance, which is rather poor compared to Tana's. Cormag has excellent
HP, his strength is extremely high, his speed isn't quite as high as Tana's,
but Cormag DOES have higher HP and strength as compensation. His defense is as
good as a flier's defense will ever get, and couple that with his extremely good
skill, and if you're playing Ephraim's route, then you'll have one of the best
characters in the game on your hands.
Choosing to promote Cormag to either a Wyvern Knight or a Wyvern Lord is a hard
choice. The Wyvern Knight is a better overall class really since it comes with
the Pierce ability which nullifies enemies' defenses, but in almost all stats,
the Wyvern Lord wins out. I'd probably choose the Wyvern Lord, but you can't go
wrong either way. Cormag is just one of those characters that's so good he
doesn't really need supports, but he can support Artur and Tana, which I'd
recommend, plus he's a fire affinity, which is always awesome. Great guy.
My Rating: 5/5
Name: Duessel
Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Ep, CHAPTER 15 Ei
Class: Great Knight
Attribute: Anima
HP ........... High Defense ...... High
Strength ..... High Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ Low Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ Low
The great knight Duessel the Obsidian is one of the six generals of Grado. Of
six generals of Grado, three of them (Glen, Selena, Duessel) question whether
what Grado is doing is right, and Duessel takes the most active stance. That
leads to Vigarde ordering his execution, but Ephraim manages to rescue him in
Chapter 10.
Duessel isn't a horrible character... but he isn't good either. To start off
with, he's a promoted Great Knight, so he's going to be compared to the man
he most resembles, and that is Kyle. Then again, if you turn Kyle into a Level
8 Great Knight gradually, his stats won't even be in Duessel's league. You've
got very good HP, plus Duessel is extremely good with all three weapons, and
he can hit very hard. Not to mention he has good base defense, albeit poor
growth.
What seals the deal for me and Duessel though, is his bad skill and speed. I
guess they aren't BAD, but I expect more from a character that's this high
leveled. Especially his speed, that's going to hinder him terribly if you
really intend on using him. He's extremely usable, but I'd only use him if
something terrible happened to Kyle and Forde. If you choose to give him
supports, Cormag and Ephraim are both fire elemental which I love, plus you
can't go wrong with Amelia either. I refuse to use Knoll, so...
My Rating: 3/5
Name: Marisa
Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Ei, Chapter 12 Ep
Class: Myrmidon -> Swordmaster
Attribute: Ice
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Low Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High Luck ......... High
Speed ........ High
Marisa is a member of Gerik's Mercenaries, who just so happens to be a fighter
from Jehanna. Although she's loyal to Gerik, she does a few stupid things just
to get some budgets. Ewan or Gerik are always able to sway her over.
Okay I'm really going to be in the minority on this one, but I don't like Marisa
much. She has the stuff you'll want in a myrmidon (skill, speed, and luck),
but what she completely lacks is strength, defense, and resistance. Sure, her
strength is salvageable in the end, but to me she's highly inferior to Joshua,
just because Joshua's strength is much greater. I might add, Marisa comes at
the same level as Joshua did, only 5-7 chapters later. If you know me, you
know that I hate underleveled characters very late on whose name isn't "Nino".
I may have got you off thinking Marisa's a bad character. She's not; her high
luck will definitely help you out with Killing Edges and Shamshirs, plus her
speed is quite high, I just prefer Joshua for the strength advantage. In
choosing an Assassin or a Swordmaster for Marisa, both are good, but I'd go
with the Swordmaster just for the higher caps, though Silencer is great for
Marisa. If you choose to use her though, which is perfectly fine, definitely
load her up with Tana or Tethys for offensive supports. Possibly Gerik too.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Name: Gerik
Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Ei, CHAPTER 13 Ep
Class: Mercenary -> Hero
Attribute: Thunder
HP ........... Very High Defense ...... High
Strength ..... High Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ High
Gerik is the frontman of a group called, well, Gerik's Mercenaries. He and
his friend Tethys show up to help either Eirika or Ephraim, and even though
they call themselves mercenaries, they fight out of loyalty rather than money.
Great mercenaries, aren't they?
You damn right Gerik is a great mercenary. Without any doubt one of the best
characters in the game, Gerik is an absolute beast. His HP is some of the
highest in the game with a ridiculously good growth rate, as a mercenary he
uses swords with an unrivaled power, his skill and speed are both excellent,
his luck isn't bad, and hell, his defense is pretty high too. I mean, his
resistance blows ass, but I can forgive that.
When you promote Gerik, definitely promote him into a Hero, to capitalize on
his HP and strength. You either get to use bows or axes in addition to swords,
and I'd definitely choose axes. Plus the Hero has a lot better promotional
gains. If you're choosing supports, you have a lot of good choices. Joshua as
a wind affinity isn't bad, and then you have either Ross or Tethys if you want
a fire affinity in there. Bottom line, Gerik will own you.
My Rating: 5/5
Name: Tethys
Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Ei, CHAPTER 13 Ep
Class: Dancer
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... Low Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Very Low Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ Very Low Luck ......... High
Speed ........ Average
Tethys is another member of Gerik's Mercenaries, and it's clear that she has a
close connection to Gerik. She's a dancer who everyone loves because she gives
them energy, and that's about it.
Probably the first thing you'll notice is those stats. Tethys, a character who
is already seemingly promoted, has almost no strength or skill, her defense is
very weak, resistance isn't much better, and her HP isn't great either. Then
why use her, you may ask? Because she's a Dancer, and her special ability is
Dance -- by doing this she'll give a character an extra turn. I'm not a big fan
of dancers outside of Reyson from Path of Radiance because my motto has always
been to bring another excellent character, but if you can keep Tethys on the
same pace as someone else (like she'll do with Gerik all the time), you'll have
an incredibly helpful character on your hands. Plus she's a fire affinity; she
doesn't need supports herself, but other characters do. Ewan, Gerik, etc...
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Innes
Recruited: CHAPTER 10 Ei, CHAPTER 15 Ep
Class: Sniper
Attribute: Ice
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... Average Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... High
Speed ........ Average
Innes is the brash, arrogant prince of Frelia. And when I say brash I mean it,
he's an incredibly reckless guy who can't be satisfied with being the second
best at anything. He needs to be the best man, the best general, the best
fighter, and of course that makes him do dangerous things, as well as look at
Ephraim as his rival.
In battle, Innes is very... average. Yeah, just about all of his stats can best
be described as that. Just quite decent, but nothing better, except his base
luck whihc is pretty good. As a Sniper, Innes's strength is fairly good, and
since he comes with a Silver Bow, if you took Ephraim's path the first instance
you get to use him, Chapter 15, he'll be killing stuff left and right. His skill
is a little low for a sniper, but it's not bad. Same with speed.
Innes can also keep himself alive on the battlefield, so what's the problem?
It's just that he's really average. He's naturally going to be compared to the
game's only other archer, Neimi, and Neimi will end up beating him everywhere
except resistance, and possibly HP as well, not to mention she'll end up a lot
faster with much better movement if she becomes a Ranger. Innes DOES have good
very good supports though, of just about every kind you want, so if you plan on
using him and someone needs an ice affinity, I guess he's okay in that regard.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Name: L'Arachel
Recruited: CHAPTER 11
Class: Troubador -> Mage Knight
Attribute: Light
HP ........... Low Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Average Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... High
Speed ........ High
L'Arachel is the princess of Rausten. She comes across as being extremely full
of herself, as she hides her identity but wanders all around Magvel with her
bodyguards Dozla and Rennac claiming to be an ambassador of justice and a
vanquisher of justice. She's actually very compassionate though, and her path
and Eirika's cross quite frequently.
To me, L'Arachel is a huge pain in the ass to raise. You'll get her in Chapter
11, already halfway through the game, and she comes at Level 3, as a healer.
Yeah... it's horribly difficult to get her EXP, and the fact she comes at a
low level doesn't help at all. If you do raise her though, which is made
possible by using unique staves, you'll find you have a very helpful character
on your hands. Bad HP and defense, but good speed, and some of the best luck in
the game. Nice magic too.
I would use a Guiding Ring or Master Seal on L'Arachel earlier, which I
normally discourage against, but L'Arachel needs to be able to fight. You can
make her either a Valkyrie or a Mage Knight, which are essentially the same
class except Valkyries use light and Mage Knights use anima. I'd choose anima
since I'd rather light magic just stay with my bishops. She'll turn into a good
character with some rather decent supports in Eirika, Ephraim, or Joshua,
depending on what you want.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Dozla
Recruited: CHAPTER 11
Class: Berserker
Attribute: Thunder
HP ........... High Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... High Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Low
Speed ........ Low
Dozla is the incredibly sworn, loyal bodyguard of L'Arachel. He's a man from
Rausten who's very big and hearty, and actually stays with her through thick
and thin. He also has a strange laugh, and a rather awkward way of talking,
but he's a "veteran berserker", so...
So, Dozla kind of sucks. Actually, let me rephrase that, Dozla really does
suck. All of his stats are incredibly poor, except he has a lot of HP. That is
just about the only thing keeping him going: his strength isn't as good as
Ross's or even Garcia's, his skill is terrible, which really hurts him since
he's an axe user, and he has almost no speed to speak of. That, and his defense
is bad, so he can't even be an effective front line fighter.
Dozla's luck is just another thing that drops him over the edge and turns him
into the crappy character that he is: he needs all the hit and avoid that he can
get because of this, so if you just want the hit, definitely have him support
Ewan or L'Arachel so that he can get that. I advise using Garcia as a fire
affinity even more, or better yet, just use a good character like Ross to start
with. Dozla is terrible.
My Rating: 2.5/5
Name: Ewan
Recruited: CHAPTER 12
Class: Pupil -> Shaman -> Druid
Attribute: Light
HP ........... Low Defense ...... Very Low
Strength ..... High Resistance ... High
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... High
Speed ........ High
Ewan is the younger brother of the dancer Tethys of the Gerik Mercenaries, and
is constantly getting himself in trouble, leading to worry for everyone. He's a
student of magic, in which his teacher is Saleh. He's a crazy little guy, but
if I lived in Caer Pelyn, I would be too.
Ewan is the third and last of the "trainee" type of classes (Ross and Amelia
being the other two), and while he's in my opinion the weakest of them, that
doesn't say much, since the other two are gods anyhow. Ewan starts out puny as
hell; he has almost no HP, and absolutely zero defense, but his magic stat will
grow quickly, and eventually you have to choose between a Mage or a Shaman. I'd
definitely pick a Shaman, since the only other shaman is Knoll (who I dislike),
and Ewan has good enough speed to handle the dark tomes rather effectively.
As a shaman, Ewan's magic stat will skyrocket, his speed will stay high, it's
just his incredibly shoddy defense that you need to keep an eye on. He should
be avoiding attacks very well though, with his high speed and luck. Eventually,
when you make him into a Druid (which I prefer to Summoners though both are
good), he'll easily be one of the best mages in the game, as far as damage goes,
and there's no one better to give the Gleipnir tome to.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Saleh
Recruited: CHAPTER 12 Ei, CHAPTER 15 Ep
Class: Sage
Attribute: Wind
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Average Resistance ... High
Skill ........ High Luck ......... Average
Speed ........ Average
Saleh is a sage who lives in the mountains of Caer Pelyn. He teaches people
such as Ewan magic, as well as watching over the manakete Myrrh, and he's
renowned for knowing his way around the place, as far as Carcino is concerned.
Now you see why I said Lute was one of the best magic users in the game. The
other primary sage in the game, Saleh is highly inferior. While he does come
with decent HP for a sage at least, Saleh's magic stat isn't great, and just
about any promoted mage at that point will have better. His speed is also
extremely average, he has low defense, not great luck, and he's left with is
high skill, which as we've already established isn't the most important thing.
Saleh will need some definite help in the defensive department if you plan to
use him in battle. Not like his offense is great either, but Eirika and Ewan
are good characters in their own right who will give both attack and defense
boosts, and Gerik is great if you need the all around defensive boost. He's
just too weak for me to use in my main team though, sorry.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Name: Rennac
Recruited: CHAPTER 14
Class: Rogue
Attribute: Dark
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Low Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Low
Speed ........ High
Rennac is one of the two guardians of L'Arachel. Between him and Dozla, though,
he's definitely the less loyal one though. Rennac uses any opportunity to get
away from L'Arachel and do his plundering, and his ultimate goal is to get away
from her altogether. Of course, in Chapter 14 L'Arachel can always force him
back...
The number one reason you'd recruit Rennac isn't for the character himself,
but for the Member Card he comes with. With that item you can get into the
secret shops, which is a necessity, especially if you plan on going into the
Lagdou Ruins. However, he is a rogue who exists just to be a replacement for
Colm if you didn't use him. And it's also my rather controversial opinion that
Colm is a pain in the ass to build up, so since I use thieves very rarely
anyway, Rennac may be your answer to that.
There's no question that Colm's stats will end up better than Rennac's.
Rennac's HP is barely average, his strength and defense are both low, his
resistance is horrible, and his speed isn't as high as you might think for a
rogue. That being said, he's a rogue, so he can pick locks without a Lockpick,
not to mention he can steal, so just use him if you didn't use Colm. If you
did, Colm is probably a lot better.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Name: Knoll
Recruited: CHAPTER 15
Class: Shaman -> Summoner
Attribute: Dark
HP ........... Low Defense ...... Low
Strength ..... Average Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ Average Luck ......... Very Low
Speed ........ Low
Knoll is a scientist and prisoner held within the Grado Keep. He was involved
in Lyon's experiment with the Dark Stone for Emperor Vigarde's life, and was
of course Lyon's chief scientist, but when Lyon went nuts, he ended up throwing
Knoll in jail, though Ephraim gets him out later.
In my personal opinion, Knoll is one of the worst characters in the game. And
that's a true shame, since Knoll is the only natural Shaman in the game, so
your only other option is to train Ewan up into a Shaman instead of a Mage,
which I have no problem with, but still, once again, Knoll is bad. His HP and
defense are obviously pathetic, his speed is bad, his magic hasn't got anything
on Lute's and Ewan will easily surpass him. That, and he has no luck to speak
of.
Another bad point, is that Knoll's skill is hideously bad, and that'll hurt a
lot since dark magic tends to have a terrible hit percentage. And once again,
you can build Ewan up into a Shaman, and each and every single one of his
stats will be far better than Knoll's. If you do choose to use Knoll though, I
guess you could make him into a Summoner since his Phantoms are okay, but I'd
only use him as a healer since his defense and luck are so bad. But why do that
when there are far better characters out there? I don't get it.
My Rating: 2/5
Name: Myrrh
Recruited: CHAPTER 16
Class: Manakete
Attribute: Wind
HP ........... High Defense ...... High
Strength ..... Insane Resistance ... High
Skill ........ High Luck ......... High
Speed ........ High
Myrrh is neither human nor demon, but rather a separate subspecies known as a
manakete, which can transform into dragons. She lives in Darkling Woods, but
because of her power, was sought after by Grado. She then wandered around with
Saleh but got lost and then found Ephraim. And from that moment onward, she
pretty much followed Ephraim around everywhere.
Scroll down a bit, and you'll see I give Myrrh a six. That's right, a SIX. "But
look at those terrible stats," you say. Myrrh is equipped with a Dragonstone,
which increases every stat by 10-15, so hah. This Dragonstone is her weapon, and
it has a total of fifty uses. It is the single most powerful thing you will ever
see in battle: it's the only thing I've ever seen which can do 70+ damage. It's
strong against undead monsters too, which is what you'll be fighting a lot in
the later battles.
Of course, there's a downside: the Dragonstone has a limited durability. Fifty
uses is plenty if all you want to do is finish the game, but in the Lagdou Ruins
and stuff, you'll have to use Myrrh sparingly. Another great thing: her leveling
up is CRAZY, she'll practically level up every time she attacks something. Her
growths are insane, she gets two more HP half the time she levels up. She's
impossible to kill, and the definition of lethality, so for that reason, she
needs no supports. But when the Dragonstone breaks... she has no more value.
There's not another one, and you can't repair it. So use it wisely.
My Rating: 6/5
Name: Syrene
Recruited: CHAPTER 17
Class: Falcoknight
Attribute: Thunder
HP ........... Average Defense ...... Average
Strength ..... Low Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ High Luck ......... High
Speed ........ High
Syrene is a falcon knight of Frelia, who also happens to be Vanessa's older
sister, although she's a captain and everyone, even her sister, addresses her
as "Ma'am". She's recruited in Chapter 17 if you talk to her with Vanessa,
Innes, or Tana. Or if she just lives.
In battle, Syrene is... a decent character. That's really all I can say about
her though, is that she's a decent character, since Tana is quite a lot
better. The first complaint I have is that she's a falcoknight when I highly,
highly prefer wyvern knights, but I can ignore that for a moment. She comes
with a Silver Lance, which is good, because like any other pegasus knight her
strength is quite low. Her HP and defense are also rather mediocre naturally.
That being said, Syrene's skill and speed are both good, plus her luck is
pretty high too. Her strength is a very killing point for me though, since as
the third pegasus knight she's naturally going to be compared to Tana, and
Tana has such higher strength. In the end she's kind of mediocre, but she CAN
be salvaged by having her support Tana and Vanessa, and if you make Vanessa a
Falcoknight, you can use the triangle attack.
My Rating: 3.5/5
~- Vb. Supports ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~--~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Many thanks to SerenesForest.net for this incredible list here. Basically, what
you see before you are the character's attribute, their options for supports,
and the number of support points characters have with one another, and how many
they gain per turn. You need 60 points for a C support, 120 points for a B
support, and 200 points for an A support, and the number on there is the amount
of points gained per turn when the two characters stand next to each other.
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Character | Opt 1 | Opt 2 | Opt 3 | Opt 4 | Opt 5 | Opt 6 | Opt 7 |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Eirika | Ephraim | Seth | Saleh |Larachel| Tana | Innes | Forde |
(light) | 30 +4 | 25 +3 | 5 +2 | 10 +2 | 20 +2 | 10 +2 | 20 +2 |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Seth | Franz | Eirika | Garcia |Natasha | Cormag | | |
(anima) | 15 +2 | 25 +3 | 10 +2 | 5 +2 | 0 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Gilliam | Garcia | Franz | Syrene |Moulder | Neimi | | |
(thunder) | 0 +2 | 10 +2 | 20 +3 | 10 +2 | 0 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Franz | Seth |Gilliam | Forde | Amelia |Natasha | | |
(light) | 15 +2 | 10 +2 | 25 +3 | 5 +3 | 10 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Moulder | Vanessa | Colm |Gilliam | Syrene | | | |
(anima) | 15 +2 | 0 +2 | 10 +2 | 10 +2 | | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Vanessa | Moulder | Syrene | Lute | Forde | Innes | | |
(anima) | 15 +2 | 20 +3 | 10 +2 | 5 +2 | 10 +3 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Ross | Garcia | Lute | Amelia | Ewan | Gerik | | |
(fire) | 35 +4 | 5 +2 | 5 +2 | 5 +3 | 0 +3 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Garcia | Ross | Dozla | Seth | Neimi |Gilliam | | |
(fire) | 35 +4 | 10 +2 | 10 +2 | 10 +2 | 0 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Neimi | Colm | Garcia | Amelia | Artur |Gilliam | | |
(fire) | 80 +3 | 10 +2 | 15 +3 | 5 +3 | 0 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Colm | Neimi | Marisa | Rennac |Moulder | Kyle | | |
(light) | 80 +3 | 0 +2 | 5 +2 | 0 +2 | 5 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Artur | Lute | Tethys | Cormag | Neimi | Joshua | | |
(ice) | 15 +3 | 10 +2 | 5 +2 | 5 +3 | 5 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Lute | Artur | Ross | Knoll | Kyle |Vanessa | | |
(anima) | 15 +3 | 5 +2 | 5 +2 | 5 +3 | 10 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Natasha | Joshua | Knoll | Cormag | Seth | Franz | | |
(ice) | 20 +3 | 10 +2 | 5 +2 | 5 +2 | 10 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Joshua | Natasha | Innes | Artur |Larachel| Marisa | Gerik | |
(wind) | 20 +3 | 0 +2 | 5 +2 | 5 +2 | 10 +3 | 15 +3 | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Ephraim | Eirika | Kyle | Forde | Myrrh |Larachel|Duessel | Tana |
(fire) | 30 +4 | 20 +3 | 20 +3 | 10 +4 | 5 +3 | 30 +3 | 25 +3 |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Kyle | Forde |Ephraim | Syrene | Colm | Lute | | |
(ice) | 30 +3 | 20 +3 | 5 +3 | 5 +2 | 5 +3 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Forde | Kyle |Vanessa |Ephraim | Franz | Eirika | | |
(wind) | 30 +3 | 5 +2 | 20 +3 | 25 +3 | 20 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Tana | Ephraim | Syrene | Cormag | Innes | Eirika | Marisa | |
(wind) | 25 +3 | 20 +3 | 0 +2 | 25 +3 | 20 +2 | 10 +2 | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Amelia | Neimi |Duessel | Ewan | Ross | Franz | | |
(thunder) | 15 +3 | 10 +3 | 5 +3 | 5 +2 | 5 +3 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Innes | Gerik |Vanessa | Tana | Joshua |Larachel| Eirika | |
(ice) | 15 +3 | 10 +3 | 25 +3 | 0 +2 | 5 +2 | 10 +2 | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Gerik | Innes | Tethys | Marisa | Saleh | Joshua | Ross | |
(thunder) | 15 +3 | 30 +4 | 20 +3 | 25 +3 | 15 +3 | 0 +3 | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Cormag | Duessel | Tana |Natasha | Artur | Seth | | |
(fire) | 10 +2 | 0 +2 | 5 +2 | 5 +2 | 0 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Tethys | Ewan | Gerik | Marisa | Rennac | Artur | | |
(fire) | 25 +3 | 30 +4 | 10 +2 | 5 +1 | 10 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Marisa | Tana | Tethys | Gerik | Joshua | Colm | | |
(ice) | 10 +2 | 10 +2 | 20 +3 | 10 +3 | 0 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Saleh | Myrrh | Ewan | Gerik | Eirika | | | |
(wind) | 30 +3 | 15 +3 | 25 +3 | 5 +2 | | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Ewan | Tethys | Saleh | Dozla | Amelia | Ross | | |
(light) | 25 +3 | 15 +3 | 0 +3 | 5 +3 | 5 +3 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
L'Arachel | Dozla | Rennac | Joshua | Eirika |Ephraim | Innes | |
(light) | 25 +3 | 10 +2 | 5 +2 | 10 +2 | 5 +3 | 5 +2 | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Dozla |L'Arachel| Myrrh | Rennac | Ewan | Garcia | | |
(thunder) | 25 +3 | 0 +2 | 10 +2 | 0 +3 | 10 +2 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Rennac | Tethys |Larachel| Dozla | Colm | | | |
(dark) | 5 +1 | 10 +2 | 10 +2 | 5 +2 | | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Duessel | Cormag | Amelia | Knoll |Ephraim | | | |
(anima) | 10 +2 | 10 +3 | 0 +2 | 30 +3 | | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Knoll | Natasha |Duessel | Lute | | | | |
(dark) | 10 +2 | 0 +2 | 5 +2 | | | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Myrrh | Saleh | Dozla |Ephraim | | | | |
(anima) | 30 +3 | 0 +2 | 10 +4 | | | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
Syrene | Kyle |Vanessa |Moulder |Gilliam | Tana | | |
(thunder) | 5 +3 | 20 +3 | 10 +2 | 20 +3 | 20 +3 | | |
----------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+
When two characters support one another and stand near each other, the following
boosts are given to their stats depending on the element of the supporter.
Element | Level | Attack | Defense | Hit | Avoid | Crit | CrAvd |
---------+-------+--------+---------+-----+-------+------+-------+
Fire | C | +0.5 | 0 |+2.5 | +2.5 | +2.5 | 0 |
| B | +1.0 | 0 |+5.0 | +5.0 | +5.0 | 0 |
| A | +1.5 | 0 |+7.5 | +7.5 | +7.5 | 0 |
---------+-------+--------+---------+-----+-------+------+-------+
Ice | C | 0 | +0.5 |+2.5 | +2.5 | 0 | +2.5 |
| B | 0 | +1.0 |+5.0 | +5.0 | 0 | +5.0 |
| A | 0 | +1.5 |+7.5 | +7.5 | 0 | +7.5 |
---------+-------+--------+---------+-----+-------+------+-------+
Wind | C | +0.5 | 0 |+2.5 | 0 | +2.5 | +2.5 |
| B | +1.0 | 0 |+5.0 | 0 | +5.0 | +5.0 |
| A | +1.5 | 0 |+7.5 | 0 | +7.5 | +7.5 |
---------+-------+--------+---------+-----+-------+------+-------+
Thunder | C | 0 | +0.5 | 0 | +2.5 | +2.5 | +2.5 |
| B | 0 | +1.0 | 0 | +5.0 | +5.0 | +5.0 |
| A | 0 | +1.5 | 0 | +7.5 | +7.5 | +7.5 |
---------+-------+--------+---------+-----+-------+------+-------+
Dark | C | 0 | 0 |+2.5 | +2.5 | +2.5 | +2.5 |
| B | 0 | 0 |+5.0 | +5.0 | +5.0 | +5.0 |
| A | 0 | 0 |+7.5 | +7.5 | +7.5 | +7.5 |
---------+-------+--------+---------+-----+-------+------+-------+
Light | C | +0.5 | +0.5 |+2.5 | 0 | +2.5 | 0 |
| B | +1.0 | +1.0 |+5.0 | 0 | +5.0 | 0 |
| A | +1.5 | +1.5 |+7.5 | 0 | +7.5 | 0 |
---------+-------+--------+---------+-----+-------+------+-------+
Anima | C | +0.5 | +0.5 | 0 | +2.5 | 0 | +2.5 |
| B | +1.0 | +1.0 | 0 | +5.0 | 0 | +5.0 |
| A | +1.5 | +1.5 | 0 | +7.5 | 0 | +7.5 |
---------+-------+--------+---------+-----+-------+------+-------+
In general, the offensive supporters are of fire, wind, and light, whereas
ice and thunder are the defensive ones. Dark and anima are more of a balance
of the two. Fire is my favorite though, since crit evade isn't extremely
important to me, and I'd rather have avoid to take no damage at all, than
defense to reduce the damage. That's just me though. Not including secret
characters, there are six of fire, five of ice, four of wind, five of thunder,
five of light, six of anima, and two of dark. Have fun.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
~-~ ~-~ ~-~ VI. Walkthrough (Part 1) ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Alright, I guess I've droned on long enough at this point and should move on to
the walkthrough finally at this point, so let me just drop you a few notes
before we start.
-> There are some spoilers here. Proceed with caution.
-> If you've ever read any of my guides before, you know how they are rife with
lame jokes. This is no exception.
-> The guide assumes you're playing on Normal difficulty. Whether you're a Fire
Emblem guru or not, that's an excellent place to start, so I advise you do
the same thing.
-> Unless you really, really don't want to use a character ever again, you
might as well reset if they die. Especially if they are: Franz, Ross, Joshua,
Neimi, Kyle, Tana, Amelia, Cormag, Gerik, L'Arachel, Ewan, Myrrh.
-> Use Ross, make him a Pirate. Use Amelia, make her a Knight. Also you might
want to use Ewan, and make a Shaman. Do not overuse Seth.
Enter The Sacred Stones.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIa. The Fall of Renais
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 0
~ My Party: Eirika, Seth
The game begins with a history of the continent of Magvel, and then shows that
the enemy country in this game, Grado, is attacking the country of Renais.
Being that the current main character, Eirika, is the princess of Renais, you
can bet they're the good country. But anyways, Renais's King Fado orders Eirika
to leave with General Seth. Outside the castle, Seth is attacked by Grado's evil
General Valter, who really is one of the bigger bastards in this game. Seth gets
wounded, but the two manage to run away into the mountains only to get attacked
by bandits. Sacred Stones begins.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 4 Fighter (O'Neill) N/A
Lv. 2 Fighter x1
Lv. 1 Fighter x1
Doesn't look like a very threatening group of enemies, does it? Let's just take
a minute to explain who you're working with, though. Eirika is equipped with a
Rapier, which I'd say you can run out all its uses by about Chapter 8 or so. It
is a good weapon, plus the critical rate on it is great. Then you've got Seth,
who is an already promoted unit whom I would not use at all if you can avoid it.
He's just overpowered; if you want to remove his equipment and use him as a
decoy, though, he works quite well that way.
But back to the battle. The first two Fighters there can't land a hit on Eirika.
Eirika uses swords while they use axes, so you've obviously got a lead on the
weapon triangle. Just hit them down with the Rapier; they barely pose any threat
at all. After you've gotten rid of them, however, Seth will note that only their
leader, O'Neill, is left, and sure enough the guy will come charging at you a
turn later. Your first boss already!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
O'Neill | Fighter | 4 | 23 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright, now this guy is a weakling. When you finish off the other two
Fighters, though, he'll come charging at you, and I'll call to your attention
that he can hit you quite a bit more easily than the other two could. That's
due to his higher level, of course. Basically, I'd just have Eirika stand in
front of Seth, so that Seth can't snag all the EXP away from Eirika. O'Neill
will hit you, and Eirika will counterattack. Of course, you probably took a
hit, so I'd just stay there and use a Vulnerary. Then O'Neill will attack
again, and Eirika will counterattack. Either way it works, three hits will
finish him off, plus you'll probably get a critical in there. Easiest battle
in the game, I tell you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hopefully Eirika will level up to Level 2 and get some stats up after that. You
have to have her catch up with Seth's already promoted stuff, you know? Anyway,
the battle will be over after that, and Eirika and Seth will discuss Grado's
invasion of Renais. Their goal is to escape to the clutches of the neighboring
country Frelia, and that's precisely what the next battle is.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIb. Escape!
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 1
~ My Party: Eirika, Seth, Franz, Gilliam
Right from the get go, you can see Frelia isn't in the best of shape. Princess
Tana of Frelia runs away at the right moment, because Commander Breguet of the
Grado army there walks up to the fort and slices down the mercenary defending
it. That's not good. Eirika and Seth show up to witness this, and have a choice
of whether or not they want to help out. Obviously, they do.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 4 Knight (Breguet) Lv. 2 Soldier x1
Lv. 3 Soldier x1 Lv. 1 Fighter x2
Lv. 2 Fighter x3
Lv. 2 Soldier x2
Right when the battle starts, you'll notice a few houses around. When you enter
houses, you'll either get some juicy info, or an item. Going into the houses is
a fairly decent way for Seth to spend his time so that he's not interfering
with the transfer of EXP, while Eirika slashes down the enemies. After turn 1,
the cavalier Franz whom you saw run away at the beginning of the Prologue
appears with a knight Gilliam. If you're not familiar with the two units, Franz
is an unpromoted version of Seth (who will eventually be better), and Gilliam is
a slow, but strong, sturdy soldier.
If you're not familiar with the weapon triangle, swords beat axes, axes beat
lances, and lances beat swords. Franz comes with both a sword and a lance, so
he's the most diverse. He and Eirika are best at fending off the fighters, while
you can't win out the soldiers that way, and Gilliam is probably the best option
against them. At the end of turn 4, anyway, three reinforcements show up to the
southeast. That's not good, but to get some EXP, I'd send Franz down there as
he's the most diverse. Meanwhile, you can have your other characters have a
showdown with the boss.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Breguet | Knight | 4 | 20 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Breguet's stats are barely better than O'Neill's. Might I point out that he
barely has any speed at all? That's to be expected though, with all that
heavy armor, but every one of Gilliam's stats are better. However, Breguet is
sitting on a fort, meaning he gets an extra 3 defense, 30 avoid, and heals 2
HP after every turn. So what I would do is have Seth go over to him with the
Steel Sword, which has a 58% chance of doing 9 damage twice. Then use Gilliam
to rescue Seth, so that Seth doesn't hog up all the EXP. Eirika's Rapier is
extremely effective against heavy armor. Breguet has no ranged attacks and
can't move, so he's a sitting duck to you slicing him up and winning a bunch
of EXP.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With Breguet gone, hopefully Franz can finish off the three reinforcements to
the southeast. If not, there's always Seth and Gilliam to help out. To complete
the battle, though, you've got to have Eirika walk up to the throne where
Breguet was standing, and seize it. Once you've done that, the party goes to
Castle Frelia, and King Hayden there brings news that King Fado is dead. That
is NOT good. Eirika, knowing that, requests to go to Renvall after Ephraim, and
Hayden lends you Gilliam, a priest named Moulder, and a pegasus knight Vanessa.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIc. The Protected
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 1
~ My Party: Eirika, Seth, Franz, Gilliam, Moulder, Vanessa, Ross*, Garcia*
You will notice that you're on a world map, which is a first for a Fire Emblem
game, hah. You don't have any shops available to you now though, so all you can
really do is manage items. And since I don't use Seth, I'd have him give the
Steel Sword over to Eirika, so that she doesn't waste the Rapier too fast. So
when you're ready to fight, just go south. There, a bunch of bandits tear down
a village, and two fighters named Ross and Garcia run out. Ross happens to be
wounded. And the battle begins.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 4 Brigand (Bone) Lv. 3 Brigand x1
Lv. 3 Brigand x3 Lv. 2 Brigand x1
Lv. 2 Brigand x1
Lv. 1 Archer x1
The first thing you'll want to do, as the scene right before immediately pointed
out to you, is have Vanessa fly over to the kid there, whose name is Ross.
Rescue him and then fly back to the area above to drop him off. There, have
Moulder heal him, and the guy will join you if you have Eirika talk to him. So
do that. Ross starts out scrawny, weak, and doesn't contribute a whole lot to
the mix of things. Just wait -- Ross turns into arguably the best character in
the entire game.
After you've done that, have Vanessa pick up the fighter Garcia over there, and
bring him over to have Moulder heal him if need be, and have Ross speak with
him. Then he'll join you -- he's a Level 4 Fighter, and while he starts out
quite a bit better than Ross, he doesn't have nearly as much star potential.
With that done, you'll want to visit the two villages above. The people there
will give you a Red Gem and an Elixir. The first sells for a hefty amount of
money, and the second is self explanatory awesomeness.
Ross starts out at Level 1, and you want to level him up as much as possible.
since in the end he will be a beast on the battlefield. You'll find a vendor
right below the two villages as well, so I'd recommend giving Ross an Iron Axe
to start on his way. Two reinforcement bandits will come in from the west, and
they're on the mountains. Don't try to hit enemies who are on the mountains,
as they'll get a bonus 40 avoid... that's never good. When they come down,
though, let them taste sword and Ross's axe. And the boss will probably come
after you himself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bone | Brigand | 4 | 23 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Be wary of this guy. He's just the same if not even weaker than O'Neill was
in the first chapter, but the difference with this guy is that he moves.
He'll come after you, but his attacks aren't very strong, even if you're
using lances. And since he doesn't have good evasion or anything, you might
just want to have Franz or someone weaken him, and Ross go over to him and
hit him down with his Hatchet. Because once again, Ross isn't good now but
will end amazing. Bone doesn't have any ranged attacks, so just as long as
Moulder or Vanessa aren't in his range, you have nothing to worry about.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When all the enemies are routed out, Ross and Garcia will talk to you after the
battle and decide to come with you. Then Eirika will have a flashback of when
Ephraim was teaching her swordplay, but as that's happening, a thief will
pilfer the bracelet she's wearing. So... we're going to move into Chapter 3,
with that.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VId. The Bandits of Borgo
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~ Difficulty: 1
~ My Party: Eirika, Seth, Franz, Gilliam, Moulder, Vanessa, Ross, Garcia,
Neimi, Colm*
Before going into this battle, I'd definitely stop at Ide and pick up some
equipment. You definitely want all the lance users to have Javelins so that
they've got long range capabilities. Gilliam, I'm looking at you. Plus getting
Ross a Steel Axe isn't a bad idea. When you're ready, head on into the Borgo
Ridge, and a girl named Neimi who's a friend of the thief (Colm), will join
right before the battle starts.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 6 Brigand (Bazba) N/A
Lv. 4 Archer x1
Lv. 4 Brigand x1
Lv. 3 Thief x1
Lv. 3 Brigand x5
Lv. 2 Mercenary x1
We're getting to have a few more enemies on screen at one time. But hey, I
don't have a complaint with that, since I get more EXP that way. When you're
setting this up, have Neimi move to the north. Just make her do that, while
Seth uses the Silver Lance to break the wall down. There you'll have a brigand
whom you can immediately tear into, who drops a Door Key. Coincidentally,
right below that guy is a brigand who drops a Chest Key, and there's a chest
below him that contains a Javelin. Connect the dots.
Send Neimi and maybe someone else to the north, and Colm will show up after
turn 1. Have Neimi talk to him to recruit him; I never was a big Colm fan
myself, but whatever, he's there. Not to mention there's three chests up
there, which contain an Iron Lance, a Hand Axe, and an Iron Sword. Nothing too
flashy, but it's free weapons. Have Colm open the door right below him, and
then the party can meet up around the same time, and then move north to fight
Bazba.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bazba | Brigand | 6 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bazba is by far the hardest of the bosses you've fought so far. For starters,
each and every one of his stats is an improvement over Bone's, plus he's on
a throne, meaning he's going to have higher defense and avoid. There's no
way you're going to hit him with lances. Just try it with Vanessa, it just
doesn't work. Your best assets are sword users, like Eirika or Franz. Just
sit tight and hit him, but don't bring people too close to him, as he has a
Hand Axe handy (get it?) and thus, has a long ranged attack. Though like any
other boss on a throne, he will never, ever move.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow, that chapter was even easier than the last one. Make sure you're having
Moulder move all over the place and heal characters after they've taken damage,
because you DO want to promote him eventually. After the battle, Neimi and
Colm join you, and Colm gives the bracelet back to Eirika after some rough work
by Seth. Meanwhile, in the Grado Keep, the current three generals, Duessel,
Glen, and Selena have an audience with Emperor Vigarde, who apparently wants to
conquer all the nations, and adds three generals into the mix: that bastard
Valter we saw earlier, a creepy looking man named Riev, and a scumbag by the
name of Caellach. See a trend here? Grado's going to hell.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIe. Ancient Horrors
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~ Difficulty: 1
~ My Party: Eirika, Franz, Gilliam, Moulder, Vanessa, Ross, Garcia, Neimi,
Artur, Lute*
Move on to the Za'ha Woods, and you'll see a bunch of monsters everywhere
there. Here's your first encounter with monsters, so have fun, you're almost
near Serafew and the border with Grado. Meanwhile, though, you've got two
mages named Artur and Lute in the village nearby, and obviously those monsters
are posing a bit of a problem. Shall we take initiative?
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 1 Entombed x1 Lv. 2 Revenant x4
Lv. 3 Revenant x2 Lv. 2 Bonewalker x1
Lv. 3 Bonewalker x2 Lv. 1 Bonewalker x2
Lv. 2 Revenant x3
Lv. 2 Bonewalker x1
Lv. 2 Mogall x1
Lv. 1 Revenant x3
Lv. 1 Mogall x2
Yes, you'd better get used to the battles against undead monsters, since there
are definitely a lot of them. The first thing you should do is visit the village
just to the right of where you come in, and the guy there will give you an Iron
Axe. Anyway, the eyeballs to the right will come after you really fast, but just
have Artur there. They attack with dark magic, and Artur's light magic beats
that, so HA! This battle is pretty straightforward though. Just start off by
having your characters swipe kill off the zombies around you.
After turn 1, three bonewalkers appear to the east, and after turn 2, on the
cliffs above three weird people will see you, but then just disappear to find
a gentler way down except the cliffs. And of course, four revenants appear to
the northeast with that. But anyway, I'd have Vanessa head down south, just
because there are some sword users down there and she's good with that, plus
when you enter the village there, the mage that Artur was with, Lute, will
join you. I see no reason not to!
While Lute isn't quite as useful right now as Artur, make sure she gets a kill
here and there. The same applies to all your other low level characters, such
as Neimi or Ross: they need the EXP, plus Moulder needs to heal someone EVERY
turn. Trust me, you'll thank me later, and this battle is a good opportunity to
get some experience. Enemies will die in absolutely no time, but the boss does
come after you. Oh yeah, the boss...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Entombed | Entombed | 1 | 35 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I didn't make those stats up. That's really what you're facing here. That
being said, however, it's a bit more damaging than the other undead monsters,
so don't get too cocky. This Entombed DOES move, but let me just point out:
it's the first promoted enemy in the game. Sure, it may be just one of those
monsters that no one cares about, but that explains why it's level one. Of
course, that means it will drop a tremendous amount of EXP, so make sure
someone finishes it who needs it. Don't just let one character whore this
whole battle away, especially if it's Seth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd say don't have your Ross be any lower than level six at this point, level
seven or eight would be even better. Afterwards, Lute and Artur join the group,
which Eirika decides to keep pushing forward even though undead monsters walk
the earth again. The people you saw earlier then talk to Eirika, the leader of
whom is an overly cheerful person named L'Arachel. Guess it's onward to Serafew
now.
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VIf. The Empire's Reach
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~ Difficulty: 2
~ My Party: Eirika, Franz, Gilliam, Vanessa, Ross, Neimi, Artur, Lute,
Natasha, Joshua*
Not much to do between Chapters 4 and 5, so just head down south to Serafew at
last. First thing we see is a suspicious red haired myrmidon who's addicted to
gambling running into a cleric named Natasha. After an awkward run in, Natasha
runs away and requests help from Eirika's group, since that red haired man is
in fact a guy named Joshua who is a fighter in Grado's army.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 8 Knight (Saar) Lv. 6 Brigand x2
Lv. 6 Soldier x2 Lv. 5 Brigand x2
Lv. 6 Mercenary x1 Lv. 4 Brigand x2
Lv. 5 Myrmidon (Joshua)
Lv. 5 Soldier x4
Lv. 5 Archer x2
Lv. 5 Fighter x4
Lv. 4 Archer x1
Lv. 4 Fighter x1
Alright, first things first. You need Natasha in this battle, and for a good
reason. But start by having Vanessa fly over to the east house, to talk to the
dancer Tethys for a Dragonshield. Woot woot. This is the first battle which
may pose a slight bit of a challenge, most likely because it actually requires
a bit of strategy. First of all, that Joshua guy you met in the scene... you
absolutely need to get him in your party, which you can do in this battle, but
it's a bit tricky. What you need to do to recruit him is talk to him with
Natasha. Obviously, Joshua comes with a Killing Edge and is no slouch in the
battle department.
My ideal set up would be sending Franz to the far west to go down that alley and
rout the enemies out there. Meanwhile, send Eirika and a weak character here
and there down the path just to the right of that one (the left one which leads
to the main area). And as for the center, you'll want Gilliam there to draw in
some of the enemies surrounding Joshua. Natasha can be right behind him, while
Vanessa and a few other characters handle the brigand reinforcements that come
from the east.
When Joshua is just left standing, move Gilliam into his range. Gilliam and
Joshua are of such natures that it's pretty much impossible for one to kill the
other, so you're good. Just have Natasha talk to Joshua when he comes in, and...
guess what, he's in. And he kicks ass too. Meanwhile, the house to the east
contains an Armorslayer (appropriate for this battle), the northwest house has
a Torch, and the west house has a Secret Book, so get them all. Why? Because I
said so.
Some more brigands will come in from the east, but they shouldn't be too much of
an issue. If you need some more levels, enter the arena which is right below the
boss. You'll get to bet money (and your life) on the battle you fight, which is
almost completely dependent on the weapon triangle, but hey, it's some cheap,
quick EXP. There'll be more dumbass bandits from the northeast, but when you're
done with all that (soft resets make the arena go round), how's about we fight
that boss.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saar | Knight | 8 | 30 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yawn. Sure, Saar may be quite a bit stronger than the last couple bosses,
but that doesn't mean he poses a challenge. He's got a Javelin on him,
meaning that his attacks are ranged, but that hardly matters. There's two
ways to slaughter him right off the bat, and both work equally well: have
Joshua or whomever you gave the Armorslayer to just hit him. You'll get a
double attack anyway, so it's all good. Or, since his resistance sucks and
he's not got a throne to sit on, have Artur and Lute hit him one time each,
and he'll bite the dust. Truly an easy boss for such a chapter.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With that done, Natasha tells her story to Eirika and the crew, and a citizen
of Serafew gives Eirika a Guiding Ring, which is basically an item that
promotes magic users. Trust me, you need all of those that you can get in this
game, cuz there are so many mages. Now... thought we were advancing with Eirika?
AW HELL NAW! Let's see what Ephraim is up to!
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VIg. Unbroken Heart
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~ Difficulty: 2
~ My Party: Ephraim, Kyle, Forde, Orson
That's right, the game chooses to take a chapter off to see what Ephraim is
doing in Renvall. Ephraim is with two cavaliers named Kyle and Forde and a
paladin by the name of Orson, and they don't exactly want to go to a village to
stock up on stuff, because that'll involve innocents. So what's the solution?
Oh, capture a whole castle with only a couple people. Great idea.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 8 Mercenary (Zonta) N/A
Lv. 6 Soldier x1
Lv. 5 Knight x1
Lv. 5 Archer x1
Lv. 5 Soldier x8
Lv. 5 Mage x1
Lv. 4 Cavalier x3
Lv. 4 Knight x1
Lv. 4 Fighter x5
Lv. 4 Archer x2
Lv. 4 Mercenary x1
Lv. 4 Mage x1
Lv. 4 Monk x1
Lv. 4 Shaman x1
Lv. 3 Knight x1
Lv. 3 Archer x1
Lv. 3 Shaman x1
...Yeah. I'm not making those numbers up. You're fighting 31 enemies with only
four characters. If that weren't bad enough, you only get Orson in this battle
and this battle only. SO REMOVE ALL OF ORSON'S EQUIPMENT AND DO NOT USE HIM IN
THIS BATTLE AT ALL. Leave everything to Ephraim, Kyle, and Forde. But still,
notice how I only gave this battle a 2/5 difficulty? That's right, you'd be
surprised, Lv. 3-5 enemies aren't that bad with a couple extremely strong
cavaliers like Kyle and Forde.
Oh but don't get me wrong, you're going to take some damage as you go, what
with the mages, monks, and shaman. Because of that, feel free to use the
Vulneraries and Elixirs that your characters come with. Your first objective,
though, should be to kill the knight right above. Ephraim's Reginleif is godly
powerful and can kill the knight in one hit easily, and he drops a Door Key.
The two enemies inside the room each drop a Chest Key, and the two chests have
an Elixir and a Killer Lance. How awesome.
While I'm telling you not to have Orson attack anything, have him come along
with the trio. He's great for moving forward to draw hits (pretty much nothing
can damage him), and if you get into a dangerous situation, he can always
rescue any of the other three. Eventually you'll enter the narrow eastern hall
which has the monk hitting you from a distance and a shaman from below. That's
probably the hardest part of the battle, and you'll want Orson ahead to draw
hits, while whomever has the Javelin makes good use of it. When you get through
there, you'll get up to the boss.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zonta | Mercenary | 8 | 25 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 6
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zonta can damage you, but that's pretty much it. Does that make any sense?
Well, he'll always have a damage number of about 10-13, which is pretty bad,
but the thing is, his Steel Blade doesn't have much accuracy, especially if
you're fighting him with lance users, which pretty much all your characters
are. That Killer Lance you got earlier will wipe the floor with him. So will
the Reginleif. Hell, just use lances instead of swords, and you can't lose
against this guy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now just have Ephraim capture the throne. See, it's true, three people really
can win against thirty-one. My levels: Ephraim 7, Kyle 9, Forde 9. However,
just moments after Ephraim conquers the castle, a ton of Grado reinforcements
show up from outside. Yep, Valter's here with a bunch of druids and wyvern
knights. So... we're left to wonder how Ephraim can possibly break through all
that, while we go back to Eirika. Stock up in Serafew and head south to the
Adlas Plains, but buy a Torch first. Trust me.
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VIh. Victims of War
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~ Difficulty: 3
~ My Party: Eirika, Franz, Gilliam, Vanessa, Ross, Neimi, Artur, Lute, Joshua,
Moulder
Right as the battle starts, Riev is seen in the plains talking to a vassal of
his known as Novala. Obviously Novala is just as evil as Riev, and wants
little more than to become a general. After demanding and even receiving
Eirika's bracelet, he takes a hostage and throws her in a pit of spiders. Guess
it's a battle.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 10 Shaman (Novala) N/A
Lv. 7 Cavalier x1
Lv. 7 Soldier x4
Lv. 6 Cavalier x2
Lv. 6 Knight x2
Lv. 6 Fighter x2
Lv. 6 Archer x1
Lv. 6 Mercenary x2
Lv. 6 Soldier x1
Lv. 6 Mage x1
Lv. 6 Shaman x1
Lv. 6 Priest x1
Lv. 6 Troubadour x1
Lv. 5 Fighter x1
Lv. 1 Bael x2
Alright, this really is the hardest battle as of yet, easily surpassing Chapter
5. You can't just recklessly rampage through this one and expect to suffer no
casualties, which was quite possible in the last few battles: this one will
actually require a bit of planning. Starting with the fact it's one of four
battles in the game with fog of war. In fog of war, you can't see very far
ahead of you, unless you have a thief present. So if you want to bring Colm, do
that. I personally didn't. Your other best bet is to have a Priest equipped
with a Torch staff use it on the area ahead.
Right from the getgo, split up into two pairs. Straight ahead are a bunch of
soldiers and knights, nothing too flashy. To the north are a smaller force
which constant of about three cavaliers, an archer, and a troubadour. That
really isn't a big threat, except one of the cavaliers is equipped with an
Iron Blade, which is a weapon to fear. So I'd say about three or four characters
up there is sufficient. Moulder (or Natasha if you want to use her, I'm a
Moulder man myself) should go down the middle shooting off the Torch. Got to
see, man... you have to be able to see.
There's a village to the south which you can go to for an Antitoxin. Speaking
of which, one of your goals in this battle should be to get it over with
somewhat quickly, since at about turn 6, a couple Bael enemies will come into
view. They may be level 1, but they are demonic opponents, and you don't want
to face them. Or have them claw down the civilians, either one. So keep
pressing forward while keeping an eye on your HP, as the Iron Blades around
here aren't nice. Use Vulneraries if you get below 10 HP, and eventually you
will start to surround the boss.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Novala | Shaman | 10 | 28 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 9
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Novala doesn't move, but he still isn't too nice. Fortunately though, his
speed suffers to some extent, so if you can double attack him, you've pretty
much won right there. There is absolutely NO way you can fight him with
magic, especially not anima. His resistance is too high for that. However,
his defense is pretty bad, so if you can hit him, you'll pretty much kill
him that way. His Flux spell isn't all that bad anyhow, so start from three
spaces away and then surround him. His critical rate is about 1% thankfully,
meaning you're not going to die. Short-range physical attacks all the way.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The battle ends with Novala's death, and the citizens thank you by giving you
an Orion's Bolt. Neimi is the only character in the game who can use that, so
make sure you're using her. Seth then reveals to Eirika the truth about her
and Ephraim's bracelets: they are the keys to unveiling the Sacred Stone of
Renais, as the one in the temple there is a fake. So with that knowledge in
mind, and also the fact that Ephraim has apparently been taken prisoner within
Renvall, it's time to go to Renvall with Eirika.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIi. Waterside Renvall
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 1
~ My Party: Eirika, Franz, Gilliam, Vanessa, Ross, Neimi, Artur, Lute, Joshua,
Moulder
If you need to do some preparation in terms of the armory and stuff, do that
now. There's two battles back to back coming up, so be ready for that. There
really isn't too much to say at this point, so just enter Renvall, and we're
ready for the final chapters of this part of the game: the attack on an almost
inpenetrable castle. After everyone says their final words, it's time for the
battle to begin.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 12 Cavalier (Murray) N/A
Lv. 8 Mercenary x1
Lv. 8 Soldier x1
Lv. 7 Fighter x5
Lv. 7 Archer x3
Lv. 7 Mercenary x1
Lv. 7 Soldier x3
Lv. 7 Mage x3
Lv. 5 Archer x1
For an easy to defend castle which is quite hard to assault, this battle sure
ain't difficult. In fact, this battle is so straightforward it's almost hard to
give advice. All you've got is a path going to the right, which then turns
around to the left, and then has a gate where the boss, Murray, awaits. All
the enemies are Lv. 7-8, meaning they're not going to pose big problems. You
should really have Ross promoted to a Pirate at this point, so that he can
really dominate. I mean, look at those Lv. 1 stats... those are impressive.
Go down the path, killing whatever you find. As long as you follow the weapon
triangle, nothing can touch you. Soon enough, though, you'll come into range of
a ballista. If you're using Vanessa, make absolutely sure she doesn't enter
that, because that's 15-16 damage right there. Otherwise, expect about 5-6 to a
single character, nothing bad. Use the characters who need EXP, and eventually
only the boss will be left. Since he doesn't move, you can heal up if you need
to, otherwise...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Murray | Cavalier | 12 | 32 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 6
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, this isn't too bad, to put it lightly. Murray has two weapons: a Steel
Sword and a Javelin, so the long range method isn't going to work. However,
you might notice that his strength is quite pathetic and he's not going to
be laying you in too bad. I might add, walk up to him with Eirika, Rapier in
hand, and you'll do about 15 damage each hit. He can't withstand all that.
Once again, enemies sitting on thrones will NEVER move, so like most other
bosses, he's a sitting duck to physical attacks. But don't worry, bosses will
soon become hard.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now that battle was a joke if I've ever seen one. In fact, there's little else
to do now. Have Moulder gain as much EXP as possible by healing everyone, and
then Eirika can just seize the throne. Then, once you get inside the castle,
Orson appears to greet Eirika and Seth. However... look at the title of the next
chapter.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIj. It's a Trap!
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 3
~ My Party: Eirika, Gilliam, Vanessa, Ross, Neimi, Lute, Joshua, Vanessa,
Colm, Ephraim*, Kyle*, Forde*
I suppose you can guess what happens soon, judging by the title of this chapter.
Oh, that's right, Eirika and Seth enter to talk with Orson, who knows about the
tie between the bracelet and the Sacred Stone. Seth begins to suspect Orson
(yeah, he has a blade concealed), and then Orson reveals that he betrayed
Renais. And with that, he rides away and Valter's aide Tirado appears. He's
the master of Renvall, and while Ephraim is actually gone... looks like we
have to fight him now.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 1 General (Tirado) Lv. 10 Thief x1
Lv. 8 Knight x5 Lv. 8 Cavalier x3
Lv. 8 Mercenary x1 Lv. 7 Mage x2
Lv. 8 Archer x2
Lv. 8 Soldier x4
Lv. 8 Shaman x1
Lv. 7 Knight x2
Lv. 7 Mercenary x1
Lv. 7 Archer x1
Lv. 7 Soldier x1
Lv. 6 Knight x2
Lv. 6 Archer x2
Lv. 6 Myrmidon x1
Lv. 6 Soldier x1
Lv. 6 Mage x1
Lv. 6 Shaman x1
Let's start with your choice of party. You only get nine characters, and since
Kyle and Forde will be coming in as reinforcements, Franz is rather superfluous.
And two mages is also too much, so ditch the one that's higher leveled in favor
of Colm, since there are chests here. And with that, let's capture Renvall with
Eirika, shall we? This battle isn't quite as rough as Chapter 6, but it's a
good deal more challenging than last one, or the battle here with Ephraim in
Chapter 5x.
The first thing you'll notice is the absolute necessity to get all the treasure
chests that litter this place. To do so, you need Colm. Plus there's two paths
here, meaning you should split into a force to the west, and a slightly smaller
force to the north. The absolute perfect party to bring north is Ross, Lute,
Colm, Vanessa, and Eirika. That way, Ross and Eirika can handle the five Knights
there (Lute is backup), while Colm can get the chest for an Angelic Robe which
you do not want to miss, and Vanessa can move ahead.
Resist the urge to have Ross just solo the knights on his own, but do use him,
he'll get two hits to them easily, and slaughter them with his axes. Eirika's
Rapier is great too. Vanessa, however, should move towards the southern stairs
there, because a Thief will come out as a reinforcement, and Vanessa is a good
character to handle him. Meanwhile, with the other group. Ephraim, Kyle, and
Forde will show up as reinforcements to the southwest after one turn, and thank
god for that. They're just as strong as they were last time you went through
here.
Have your characters (I used Joshua, Gilliam, and Neimi) join those three in
the meantime. Three cavaliers will come in where Ephraim's group arrived,
though, so keep your eyes peeled. Ephraim's group should have no trouble at
all advancing up, killing everything in their path, so that's good. It was
going to be hard, but then God appeared to Ephraim and said, "let there be the
Reginleif". Okay, that was terrible, but whatever. The two groups will join up,
and Colm can swipe the chests to the west for a Silver Sword and an Elysian
Whip. Don't miss those. That's an order. When Eirika's and Ephraim's groups
are reunited, it's time to handle that boss.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tirado | General | 1 | 40 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 8
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whoa there... that's a promoted character right there. Told you enemies
would start getting hard. You can barely damage Tirado; he's sitting on a
throne, so he has even MORE defense than what you see. There's only two ways
to beat him without losing your mind: Eirika's Rapier, and Ephraim's
Reginleif, the second option being much, much better. Ephraim will have about
a 67% chance of doing 22 damage twice, which is quite good. Much better than
everyone else who does 2 damage to him. If Ephraim misses, have one of the
cavaliers or Vanessa rescue him and move him away. Then someone else can
take Ephraim and then drop him, so that Moulder can heal him right up, and
he'll be ready to try it again. So... good luck. Hardest boss yet by a mile.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Assuming you made it through that, have Moulder heal everyone up before you
have Eirika seize the throne. Now, you've finished the first part of the game.
Eirika and Ephraim go back to Serafew and then have a flashback about their
friend Lyon (the son of Emperor Vigarde of Grado), then once back in Frelia,
meet up with the princess Tana and prince Innes. After a council with King
Hayden, Ephraim shows to them a girl named Myrrh who has indigo hair, and is
apparently a part of a dragon tribe. Interesting.
News comes one minute later than Caellach and Selena have ambushed all the
soldiers guarding the tower of Frelia that holds its Sacred Stone, and now
there are two tasks: warn the other nations of Grado's actions, and lead an
assault on Grado Keep. Innes goes to Jehanna, Eirika to Rausten, and Ephraim
to Grado. YOU NOW HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT CHOICE: you can either go with Eirika,
or Ephraim. Eirika's is much easier, in my opinion, but Ephraim's is quite a
bit more fun. Either one you take, all your characters will come with you,
including Kyle and Forde. I cover both, so if you take Ephraim, look up "VIII.
Walkthrough (Ephraim's Path)". If you take Eirika... read on.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
~-~ ~-~ ~-~ VII. Walkthrough (Eirika's Path) ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
So, you have chosen Eirika's path. Her's is quite a bit easier, I'll tell you
that. There's only a couple really hard battles if you go this way, plus you
get the great mercenary Gerik earlier, but come on. Would you rather be warning
a nation of danger, or invading a nation? I like Ephraim more than Eirika in
the first place, ya know. But oh well, this path is a lot easier. And you have
chosen it.
The first you'll notice is that the Tower of Valni shows up on the world map.
That is where Caellach and Selena destroyed the Sacred Stone, and it's also a
great way to get yourself some free experience for underleveled characters.
Then again, it's the reason people say this game is too easy, so... just
warning ya. =) There's also dark creatures who appear on the world map besides
that, so use those too if you need to. When you're ready and got Eirika's party
all outfitted, head east to Port Kiris.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIIa. Distant Blade
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 2
~ My Party: Eirika, Franz, Gilliam, Moulder, Neimi, Ross, Artur, Joshua, Kyle,
Forde, Tana, Amelia*
When you head to Port Kiris, Eirika is on her way to Carcino, an ally of Frelia,
to get a boat over to Rausten. Meanwhile, in Grado Keep, Vigarde orders Glen to
find Eirika, Valter to find Ephraim, Caellach to go to Jehanna, Riev to go to
Rausten, Duessel to go to Frelia, and Selena to stay in Grado. Meanwhile, the
princess of Frelia, the pegasus knight Tana, forces her way into the party.
After Eirika meets L'Arachel (the crazy chick from the woods) again, they ride
off, and a bunch of bandits attack. Alright, fine, bring it.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 5 Warrior (Binks) Lv. 9 Mercenary x1
Lv. 2 Sniper x1 Lv. 9 Fighter x2
Lv. 9 Fighter x2 Lv. 9 Pirate x1
Lv. 9 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 9 Soldier x3
Lv. 9 Mercenary x8 Lv. 8 Archer x2
Lv. 9 Pirate x2 Lv. 8 Mercenary x1
Lv. 8 Archer x3 Lv. 8 Soldier x1
Lv. 8 Soldier x4 Lv. 8 Mage x3
Lv. 8 Shaman x1 Lv. 1 Recruit (Amelia)
Not a tough battle by any means, so long as you do it rationally. Let me start
with how to set this up: you absolutely need Ross as a Pirate for this fight.
Position him to the far southeast, so he can immediately start walking through
the water (who does he think he is, Jesus Christ?), and kill off the pirates
there. Also, you're required to use Tana here, so I'd give her that Angelic
Robe you got from Chapter 8 a bit back. She turns out to be one of the best
characters in the game by a mile, but right now... meh, she's pretty weak. But
she shows potential, I'll give her that. For that reason, I'm done with Vanessa
at this point.
You can't go wrong having three cavaliers either, so that's all good. Right
ahead of you are a bunch of mercenaries and whatnot, so just rush at them and
take 'em out. You really do need to rush here, because there are two houses
here, one to the west and one to the east, which the pirates will destroy if
they get to. One of them is right below the water, and Ross should have no
trouble defending it, but the one to the west is another story. I'd have Tana
move upward along the water. But of course, watch out for the sniper there, as
he'll shoot her down and you'll be quite unhappy. I know you will be. Trust me.
Along with that, bring some characters who preferably have swords to go get
the pirate. The house to the west has a Dragonshield, and one to the east has a
Rapier (YES, Eirika will be good!). I might add, one of the pirates in the water
has an Ocean Seal, which is all fitting, because Ross will need that eventually
since he's a pirate. Watch out for the reinforcements that come in, one of
which is quite notable. Three soldiers and a girl named Amelia will come in
from the south a few turns in. You can tell that Amelia is rather unsteady with
her position, so guess what that means.
You can indeed recruit the recruit (how ironic) Amelia, if you have Eirika talk
to her. And trust me you want to, as she's like Ross in that she starts out
terrible but ends fantastic, but it's not easy, since she has a movement range
of 4 and gets killed by anything. She won't come at you unless she can, though,
so take care of everything in your path, and then move Eirika six spaces away.
Then she can move five spaces down and talk to her, then she'll join, woot woot.
Make sure you've got all the treasure, then your party can go reunite with Ross,
and take that bad boy boss down.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Binks | Warrior | 5 | 42 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 8
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another promoted unit, it's not gonna stop with Tirado. It's the way to come
moving on, so... yeah. Binks is very easy even though he has a ranged
attack. He comes equipped with an axe, so guess what that means? Swords all
the way. Your two star characters will be Eirika and Joshua, but even with
the weapon triangle as is, Binks will still do about 20 damage a hit. His
hit rate is terrible, but if the damage connects, you're in trouble. So to
get around that, have Tana or a cavalier rescue that character and then move
away, have someone else take the character, drop him/her, and use Moulder to
heal. Easy as that. Then repeat the process, using Eirika and Joshua to just
slay the guy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now that the battle's over, Seth grabs one of the mercenaries there, who tells
him that he was hired by Pablo, the ruler of Carcino. Turns out Carcino decided
to betray Frelia, but just moments later, a pegasus knight messenger shows up
to inform Eirika that Innes is in danger, because he went to pass through there.
Oh dear. Well, Rennac (L'Arachel's thief companion) gives you an Angelic Robe,
so take that, stock up at the armory and vendor here which are both relatively
good, and let's go to our next destination.
Just a note, though: since you have Tana and Amelia now, both are extremely
underleveled. I would HIGHLY recommend going to the Tower of Valni now and
leveling them up, so that they can actually survive in the battlefield. The
Tower of Valni has an Entombed at the back that will give 100 EXP to anyone
who kills it no matter what, which is great, so as long as you're careful,
Amelia will get the experience, and after two trips there, she should be able
to promote into a Knight. Now you can head on to save Innes.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIIb. Revolt at Carcino
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 2
~ My Party: Eirika, Franz, Gilliam, Moulder, Ross, Neimi, Artur, Lute, Joshua,
Kyle, Forde, Tana, Innes*, Gerik*, Tethys*, Marisa*
Over in the valley of Carcino, Innes is with a mercenary named Gerik and a
dancer Tethys. Meanwhile in Grado Keep, Vigarde gives Glen the order to
execute Eirika. Glen leaves the throne room to get some consolation from his
brother Cormag, and some usual insults from Valter. But anyway, Innes is in
almost an almost comically bad state, and Gerik refuses to leave him even
though he's a mercenary who fights for money instead of duty. A minute later
though, Eirika shows up to help. Too right she should.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 7 Sage (Pablo) Lv. 1 Falcoknight x1
Lv. 11 Myrmidon x2 Lv. 1 Ranger x1
Lv. 11 Priest x1 Lv. 10 Cavalier x3
Lv. 10 Fighter x3 Lv. 10 Pegasus Knight x4
Lv. 10 Archer x2 Lv. 10 Brigand x8
Lv. 10 Mercenary x5
Lv. 10 Myrmidon x5
Lv. 10 Soldier x7
Lv. 10 Brigand x3
Lv. 9 Archer x2
Lv. 9 Mage x2
Lv. 5 Myrmidon (Marisa)
Now this is a battlefield if there ever was one. The first good thing is that
you get to bring twelve characters into this battle, and no less than four
new characters will be joining you this battle. So that's good. Make sure you
have some swordsmen for this battle, because you'll be fighting a good number
of brigands. Anyway, just so you know what's happening: you come in from the
northwest. To the northeast is Pablo, with two ballistas. Fortunately they
aren't a threat though as long as you don't step into the general area that
he's in. To the southwest are Innes, Gerik, and Tethys, who will be fighting
through the enemies. To the southeast are the majority of the enemies.
Currently the three in the southwest and neutral characters, but Innes will
become an ally if Tana goes to talk to him. So do that, as you're going to
want control over him. In about three turns, move down around the fort and
talk to him, then have Innes talk to Gerik and Tethys, so that they'll help
you out. Tethys is a Dancer, who will give an adjacent unit to her an extra
turn, which is somewhat helpful, but Gerik is the one who's a true beast. He
wields a Steel Blade, and kicks tremendous amounts of ass. He will single
handedly claw his way through all the soldiers that come at him, without
breaking a sweat.
One of the characters there is Marisa. If you didn't catch it from the convo
she has with a soldier, she's a former Gerik Mercenary. That's a hint: she'll
rejoin if Gerik talks to her. Therefore, keep Gerik seven spaces away from her
so that he's out of her range, and she'll move up closer. Gerik can talk to
her, and you've got a new myrmidon, which is nice. Personally I prefer Joshua,
but Marisa is pretty good too. Keep on chugging through the enemies, and keep
Innes in the ballista there. I don't fancy wasting his Silver Bow on common
enemies this early anyway, plus he has a ton more use there anyway.
Back to your group fighting above. Send three or so units down below, while
the rest heads up to the gate where Pablo is. And why do you send units down
there, you ask? Because not only are there three brigands there, but a Ranger
will come in as a reinforcement with a bunch of cavaliers. Damn. They're
nothing you can't handle though, except Tana, Innes, Gerik, Tethys, and Marisa
have to deal with a falcoknight and four pegasus knights. That's even easier
than the cavaliers and ranger though. Proceed up through the inaccuracy known
as the ballistas above, finish off the remaining brigands with long ranged
attacks and swords, and then Pablo will be on ya.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pablo | Sage | 7 | 36 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 17
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ugh... who cares if Pablo doesn't move, when he's just going to have a
ranged attack anyway. Pablo's Divine is light magic, and it has a very
slight critical chance. It usually isn't more than about 3% though, so you
shouldn't worry about that. Just don't attack him if it's 9% or thereabouts.
The best strategy would probably be to use Lute, to just move up two spaces
away and use Elfire. Anima beats light, so you'll have a slight advantage
there, except Pablo is obviously quite stronger, and you'll need to use the
rescue, take, drop, heal technique. Other good fighters here are faster type
characters such as Eirika. Just beware of criticals, you don't want to have
someone die this late in the battle. Your reward: a Guiding Ring.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now that that's off your back, seize the gate of the building, and Eirika and
Innes will speak with Klimt, a member of the Carcino council. Apparently, the
council is split up, but Pablo has been assassinating people who opposed
joining Grado. Gerik and Tethys will join the party along with Innes, but we
still need to continue. Tethys's brother, a boy named Ewan, says he knows
a way to Jehanna through the mountains in a town named Caer Pelyn, though.
Might as well do that. Make sure you have a Torch or two, and that Amelia is
at least a Level 1 Knight.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIIc. Creeping Darkness
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 2
~ My Party: Eirika, Franz, Moulder, Ross, Neimi, Colm, Artur, Forde, Tana,
Gerik, Amelia, L'Arachel*, Dozla*
Beware, this is a fog of war map, and you should definitely have Colm along
because there are some chests here to grab, plus you'll want to, ya know, see
stuff. Also, definitely have a regular torch for at least one character a
Torch staff for Moulder or Natasha if you use her. When Eirika and Innes
approach the fort with Ewan, Innes starts hearing the monsters. Meanwhile,
L'Arachel and Dozla have decided to sleep in there. Fun. What's even funner
is nailing down eleven characters to use here. And since I don't abuse Innes...
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 8 Wight x1 N/A
Lv. 4 Entombed x1
Lv. 2 Deathgoyle x1
Lv. 10 Bonewalker x20
Lv. 10 Revenant x5
Lv. 10 Gargoyle x4
Lv. 10 Mauthe Doog x1
Lv. 9 Bonewalker x2
Lv. 9 Mogall x3
Lv. 8 Bonewalker x2
Lv. 2 Bonewalker x1
This is one of those usual annoying fog of war maps, but oh well, it's the
second of three. The list of enemies up there is a bit inaccurate, since it's
impossible to tell with the reinforcements and everything, but the enemies
are monsters anyway. They don't get proper work on my part. ;] So your first
task at hand would be to split up into two groups: one small group of about
four people to head south, while everyone else heads east. I personally took
Colm south, since his eyes can see through the fog, and Moulder east so he can
heal and use Torches when he needs to. So... feel free to copy, erm... borrow
my strategy. =)
Let's start with the eastern way. There's not too much there, except a monster
here and there, not to mention when you approach the eastern wall, you'll be
attacked by gargoyles. One of the monsters there will drop a Chest Key, and lo
and behold, there's a chest right there to open for a Secret Book. You can never
have too many of those. Back to the southern group. I would have a strong
character like Gerik stand in front, because a bunch of bonewalkers will come
running at you. Plus there's a bonewalker archer standing on top of the fort,
so have someone with Javelins or bows hit it down. Especially when you head
south, you're going to want someone strong in front, because the (mobile) boss
is down there!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wight | Wight | 8 | 36 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 1 | 9 | 9
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess this is the boss, since it has the shield type thing around it. I
honestly can barely say anything about this thing, since I just charged ahead
with my Gerik and he finished the thing off in two hits, but it's a bit
stronger than its surroundings. Be careful around it when you get to the
southwest corner, and don't just throw your weak units around it. Have a
strong character go first, and the boss will just move right at you and get
itself dead. That's all the strategy I have.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After that pathetically easy fight, you get about 100 EXP anyway. My Gerik was
Level 15 already, meaning... I'm a badass. The southern group's trials and
tribulations are about done now, but have Colm and someone else head north
inside. There's two more chests you'll want him to snag, which contain a
Restore staff and a Short Spear, plus some more undead monsters. With your
two groups reunited, talk to L'Arachel with Eirika, and then Dozla with
L'Arachel, and the two are in your party now, finally. Just brace yourself
though, because there are a whole lot more monsters that will come from the
south, including a Deathgoyle. Ugh.
When the battle is over, L'Arachel tells the group about herself, and she and
Dozla are in your party full time. Everyone continues up the mountain to find
Ewan and Saleh there, but right outside, Glen attacks. Yeah, he's one of the
Imperial Three of Grado, but Eirika and Innes manage to convince him that what
Vigarde is doing is wrong. Eirika goes away, but then... Valter shows up. After
one last conversation between Glen and Valter, the two enter a battle, and
guess who wins. Right, Valter slaughters Glen to death and laughs evilly. Cold
bastard.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIId. Village of Silence
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 1
~ My Party: Eirika, Franz, Moulder, Ross, Neimi, Lute, Joshua, Kyle, Tana,
Gerik, Amelia, Saleh, Ewan*
This battle falls right after the last one, unfortunately. The party climbs up
the mountain to get over to Jehanna, with Saleh leading the way, but nope,
they get attacked by monsters. Saleh is now a party member, even if he's yet
another cheap character much like Seth and Innes. Prep your party up for this
battle; at least you get twelve characters for this one, though it's more
monsters which fail to interest me. You'll start in the southwest corner, with
just a few enemies around you. Except about six more show up the next turn as
reinforcements, just to spite you.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 9 Maelduin x1 Lv. 10 Gargoyle x4
Lv. 4 Entombed x1 Lv. 9 Gargoyle x5
Lv. 10 Revenant x3 Lv. 9 Mauthe Doog x3
Lv. 10 Bael x4
Lv. 10 Gargoyle x1
Lv. 10 Mauthe Doog x1
Lv. 9 Gargoyle x5
Lv. 9 Mogall x4
Lv. 9 Bael x4
Lv. 9 Mauthe Doog x1
Lv. 9 Tarvos x2
Lv. 8 Mauthe Doog x3
Lv. 7 Bonewalker x2
I grow weary of these monster battles. This one is the easiest battle in a
while, and for a while. Not even weighing in how utterly boring it is, but I
digress. You'll start in the southwest corner, with just a few enemies around
you. Except about six more show up the next turn as reinforcements, just to
spite you. I'd have Tana fly up to the north immediately to take out the
mogalls and such. It's not nearly as risky as it sounds, if you were like me
and gave her an Angelic Robe as soon as possible. With a Javelin, her crazy
speed will own the mogalls and maybe even the mauthe doogs, so let her get
some experience there while your other characters handle the gargoyles.
This battle really is a good opportunity for your lower leveled characters to
gain some EXP, especially if one of them calls herself "Neimi". Neimi is an
absolute godsend when it comes to killing the gargoyles, since they're weak
against arrows. So make yourself comfortable while you're fighting in the
corner around those mountains, because you'll be there awhile. Magic users are
fantastic for handling the baels, since they can only move one square at a
time. They're strong as anything, though, so make sure you kill them before
they get to the ground.
As for Tana, you'll notice there are two houses to the west. The lower one
will put Ewan into your party, and the upper one will give you a Restore staff.
You might want to think twice before getting Ewan out there, because he's the
weakest character in the game right now, and if those monsters get to him...
he's dead. You'll need to rescue him if you do that, so best just wait until
your entire group gets up there. With everyone to safety, send a couple units
to the northeast to take out the monsters there, and four more gargoyles will
appear from the northwest. God damn. Make sure characters who can survive are
up front so unexpected casualties don't occur, and then let's deal with that
"boss".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maelduin | Maelduin | 9 | 40 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 11
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HA HA HA HA HA! Oh my god... hah hah hah... I can't stop laughing. Honestly,
I haven't seen a joke this funny in who knows how long. =D Let me just spell
it out for you: the Maelduin is equipped with a Halberd, so cavaliers aren't
good. But with that joke of a speed stat, you think Eirika, Gerik, and Joshua
AREN'T going to be able to walk over to this thing, hit it a couple times,
and it's not going to be dead before you know it? Come on, you weren't
thinking that, were you? Good.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm sorry, I still can't stop laughing. Was that the boss? Man, that's so
hilarious. In any case, though, there's no gate to seize or anything, just
kill the last monster, and Saleh will take you to see an old woman who will
explain a bit about the Great Dragon, who is apparently acting through Myrrh.
Now the quest to Jehanna continues, and at least you're back on the world map
now. Use the Tower of Valni if you want to continue building up Amelia and
Ewan, and then you can go to Hamill Canyon, which the next chapter is
affectionately named after.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIIe. Hamill Canyon
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 3
~ My Party: Eirika, Franz, Moulder, Ross, Neimi, Artur, Lute, Joshua, Forde,
Tana, Gerik, Amelia, Cormag*
In Grado Keep, Valter lies to Cormag, telling him that he witnessed the final
blow as Eirika struck down Glen. Cormag obviously starts yelling about this,
and as soon as Valter tells him that Eirika is in the mountains of Carcino,
Cormag rides off without a word. Nice. As for Eirika, she gets a messenger
from Frelia who tells her that Ephraim is marching on the imperial capital,
and then "the breeze" tells L'Arachel that Grado's army is here with Carcino
assisting in the back. Yep... Caellach lets a man named Aias take this one.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 10 Great Knight (Aias) Lv. 9 Sage (Pablo)
Lv. 3 Ranger x1 Lv. 2 Warrior x1
Lv. 2 Ranger x2 Lv. 12 Cavalier x10
Lv. 13 Priest x1 Lv. 12 Fighter x4
Lv. 12 Cavalier x4 Lv. 12 Mercenary x5
Lv. 12 Knight x4 Lv. 12 Brigand x4
Lv. 12 Soldier x3 Lv. 11 Cavalier x3
Lv. 11 Archer x4 Lv. 11 Mercenary x1
Lv. 10 Priest x1 Lv. 11 Wyvern Rider (Cormag)
Lv. 11 Mage x2
Lv. 10 Wyvern Rider x2
Now this is a good fun battle! And I say that for one thing because it's
finally against human enemies again, and also because it's actually a decent
challenging one. There are two strategies here: you can either charge ahead
and try to overcome all the cavaliers that will be shooting at you, or you
can stay where you are, let whatever come to you, and just idly wait for the
battle to end without trying to challenge Aias. I go for the first option
myself, even though it'll lead to quite a bloodbath. But that's just my style,
you know.
Your first task at hand will be to have someone eliminate the ballistas when
you start out, so that Tana can play an active role in this battle. In fact,
Tana can probably hit them down herself, but play it safe and then have Neimi
take either one. She handles herself very well in those, and your first target
should definitely be the two annoying priests near Aias. You definitely,
definitely want those priests taken out, because their sleep spells will
absolutely ruin this battle for you. Leave a small force including Eirika
where you start, however, because a ton of mercenaries will come from the
forts where you start.
Why leave Eirika there, you ask? Because after the fourth turn, Cormag will
show up with a couple wyvern riders, and he'll be headed straight for Eirika
obviously. When he gets close enough, move Eirika next to him and talk, then
he'll realize that Valter was Glen's murderer and join your party. Of course
his two wyvern rider companions don't though, so finish them off however you
choose. They're extremely weak to the ballistas Neimi is using, so think
inside that box. Cormag is a bit underleveled at this point, but he's still a
force to be reckoned with.
By now, the number of enemy forces to the east around Aias should definitely
be reduced. You should probably read my strategy for him now so that you know
what characters to bring against him, because you'll want some more characters
to move west and join Eirika. At the end of turn eight, Pablo will show up
again with a bunch of reinforcements, and Pablo casts Purge on everyone, which
is something you don't want to live with. Cormag is great for hitting his
forces down, but you'll need some numbers on you. Meanwhile, the units you
left to the east can handle the cavaliers and stuff coming from the north and
south, and ultimately, most likely on turn 11, Aias.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aias | Great Knight | 10 | 46 | 18 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 19 | 12
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Battle tactician extraordinare Aias is no pushover. He's equipped with all
three weapon types, one of them being a Short Spear which he can use to hit
from long distances. With all that high defense, there is not a way in hell
that you can kill him unless you're using weapons that do bonus damage, and
since Aias is a Great Knight, he has both heavy armor and a horse. If you've
got these weapons, you're good: Halberd, Zanbato, Armorslayer, Horseslayer,
Rapier. Powerhouses like Gerik and Joshua, even if they're on the bottom of
the weapon triangle, will also be good. With that high defense and the
comparatively normal resistance, though, it'll be tempting to use magic, so
if you can get by with it without dying, do that.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Aias's death, the troops from Rausten will then show up, and it'll become
revealed that L'Arachel is actually the princess of Rausten. Yeah, we figured
that out. You'll receive 5000 Gold, but will also be let known that Jehanna
Hall is under attack by Grado's forces led by Caellach. Chapter 14 is soon to
begin and it's quite a doozy, so use this opportunity to go to the Tower of
Valni to level up your underleveled characters. I know you have some; hell,
you just got Cormag for one thing!
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIIf. Queen of White Dunes
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 3
~ My Party: Eirika, Franz, Ross, Neimi, Artur, Joshua, Forde, Tana, Gerik,
Amelia, L'Arachel, Cormag, Rennac*
I mean it, you're about to fight two battles in a row. This next one is quite
a doozy, and the one after that is what some people consider to be the most
difficult battle in the game. Give people optimum equipment, such as Silver
Swords and Lances if available, also use those old items sitting in your
inventory such as Dragonshields and Energy Rings and the like. Then when you go
to Jehanna Hall, Eirika has a flashback, and then we'll see who the boss is: a
traitor to Jehanna who is obsessed with the queen. Bring L'Arachel here for
one thing, and we're probably good to go.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 11 Swordmaster (Carlyle) Lv. 13 Cavalier x6
Lv. 3 Sniper x1 Lv. 13 Knight x3
Lv. 1 Rogue (Rennac) Lv. 13 Shaman x4
Lv. 14 Knight x1 Lv. 12 Cavalier x3
Lv. 14 Myrmidon x1 Lv. 12 Archer x4
Lv. 13 Knight x9
Lv. 13 Mercenary x4
Lv. 13 Mage x2
Lv. 13 Monk x2
Lv. 13 Shaman x3
Lv. 12 Knight x2
Lv. 12 Fighter x7
Lv. 12 Archer x5
Lv. 12 Soldier x2
Lv. 12 Shaman x5
Lv. 12 Priest x1
Damn... it's the biggest battle of Eirika's path. Quite a bit more substantial
than the battle of Hamill Canyon, and with a harder boss at that. At first all
you see is Ismaire on the throne, but just you wait. Your first order of
business is to split your forces between going through the middle door and
through the main palace, and through the right door, where you'll soon see
L'Arachel's old buddy Rennac is. Definitely bring L'Arachel into this battle,
as well as either Colm or someone with a Door Key. Personally I took Forde (as
a cavalier he has great movement) and L'Arachel into the two upper right spaces,
went right to the door and opened it, and then they charged right in with Tana
and a couple other characters. There's two treasure chests in there (containing
a Spear and a Hammerne staff) and Rennac will stop at both to pick up their
contents, so that'll slow him down tremendously.
After one turn, Lyon and Caellach will show up for Ismaire, bring a couple
reinforcements in, and your official boss is Carlyle. Now is when the battle
really begins. Right around this point I had Gerik break away from the left
group and head down to the bottom of the map and to the left, where you'll see
a door there. Obviously you can't see inside these doors until you've opened
them, but I'll tell you now that inside that room is one knight, two mages, and
three shamans. Personally, my Gerik was easily able to hand them with a short
ranged weapon, because a mage two squares away can do nothing, but they'll all
just move one square next to him and get smashed. That's how it worked for me,
I'd recommend the same for you. =)
Apart from that, you should probably have a character or two stay around the
southeast where the battle starts, because you'll have a whole lot of cavaliers
coming in as reinforcements. Make sure they're strong and have Vulneraries or
Elixirs is worse comes to worst. Meanwhile, to minimize time constraints, you
should try to move Rennac over from where L'Arachel can recruit him, all the
way down to the southwest where I told you to bring a guy like Gerik. In the
two chests there you'll find an Energy Ring and a Dragonspear, and in the chest
further up in another room, you'll find 10,000 G. Highly recommended that you
try to pick those up, though you'll have plenty of time. The battle doesn't end
until you seize the throne, you see.
Meanwhile, for that group you see for Rennac, have someone with high resistance
like Tana take down the shamans, then you can start moving. Here is where
strategy cues in though: KEEP YOUR CHARACTERS AWAY FROM THE PRIEST. The Priest
just a little to the west in the northern passage casts Berserk, which is the
worst status effect you'll ever see. To ensure you don't get hit by it, I used
Tana, and pulled her far away enough so that next turn she could fly up two
squares away and take that bastard out with a long ranged weapon. That I did,
and then you're right next to the door that leads up to the throne which
Carlyle sits on.
Now, finally back to the main force that I sent down the middle road. You'll
see a ton of archers coming out from the passage in the middle, so keep Neimi
and perhaps someone with a long ranged weapon right above that hall, shooting
stuff. Take note that there's a Sniper that can hit you from above, so be
careful if you're using a flier like Cormag through there. When you take down
the Archers and Knights though, you're about done with all that that general
area has to offer. Make sure you get the Guiding Ring in the chest nearby, then
you have the hefty task of moving your entire army all the way over to the door
I mentioned earlier that leads to the throne room. The rest of the army gets
disposed of fast, but then the boss is left.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carlyle | Swordmaster | 11 | 41 | 12 | 17 | 18 | 8 | 9 | 10
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carlyle is one of the hardest bosses in the entire game, bar none. In fact I
can easily imagine just getting completely and utterly stuck on this and just
having to start over if you have a weak party. To do it, though, you need one
very strong character. Carlyle is equipped with a Wind Sword, which is both
a sword and anima elemental, meaning he can very easily kick your ass no
matter what you're equipped with. Not to mention he's a Swordmaster and has
a very nasty critical rate that you need to watch out for. So with that being
said you have one of two options: an extremely powerful character that ISN'T
a flier (because the wind attack is bonus damage on fliers, dammit), or a
sage, since you more than likely don't have a druid.
If you're going one on one against Carlyle with a strong character, you're
probably in good shape. I used Gerik who I had just promoted to a Hero, and
his strength was quite high. I managed to do 21 damage with a 52% chance of
accuracy, which isn't bad. Carlyle was only responding with 11 damage which
while it had an 11% chance of critical, wasn't hitting all the time either.
So if you solo it like that, you shouldn't be in bad shape. Or if you have
Lute in this battle which I didn't, you'll want her promoted, and giving this
all she's got. She probably can't double attack Carlyle, but she can still do
a substantial amount of damage. That's about the only two ways to win this
battle, so good luck.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Assuming you managed to defeat Carlyle, DON'T SEIZE THE THRONE! I repeat: don't
end the battle yet! Bring Rennac all the way back over to the throne room. See
the upside down "L" to the left of the throne? Have Rennac move to the very end
of that area, and you'll find the game's first secret shop. It has some very
good stuff in it, notably all four types of Killer weapons, and a lot of
promotion items. I strongly suggest spending a little on that, especially since
you got that 10,000 G from earlier. When you're done with that and also
supports and stuff if you want, have Eirika seize the throne.
After the battle, Caellach and Lyon close in on Queen Ismaire, who refuses to
give up the Sacred Stone of Jehanna... but of course she just dies and the
stone gets smashed anyway. Lyon talks to Eirika and appears to be sane, but a
moment later, Ismaire in her dying breath talks to her son, who just so happens
to be Joshua. She then grants him the Sacred Twins of Jehanna: the Audhulma
sword, and the Excalibur anima tome. That's all well and good, except the palace
ends up on fire just a second later. Caellach and Valter are both launching an
attack, so let's show those bastards who's da man.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIIg. Scorched Sand
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 4
~ My Party: Eirika, Franz, Moulder, Ross, Neimi, Lute, Joshua, Kyle, Tana,
Gerik, Amelia, Cormag, Ephraim*, Duessel*, Knoll*
What you are about to fight is arguably the hardest battle in the game, plus to
make things worse it comes straight after the Queen of White Dunes battle, with
no opportunity to restock on items in between. So I hope every last Vulnerary
and Elixir in your inventory will be put to good use, you'll need it at this
point. Use your best characters and make sure they have weapons with good
durability. Again, you'll need that. Fliers are good here actually. When ready,
start the damn battle.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 13 Wyvern Knight (Valter) Lv. 4 Paladin x1
Lv. 12 Hero (Caellach) Lv. 14 Cavalier x8
Lv. 6 Berserker x1 Lv. 14 Mage x1
Lv. 5 Berserker x1 Lv. 13 Fighter x2
Lv. 4 Paladin x1 Lv. 13 Mercenary x1
Lv. 4 Ranger x2 Lv. 13 Pegasus Knight x10
Lv. 14 Cavalier x2 Lv. 13 Mage x2
Lv. 14 Mercenary x3 Lv. 13 Shaman x6
Lv. 13 Fighter x1
Lv. 13 Myrmidon x5
Lv. 13 Mercenary x3
Lv. 13 Wyvern Rider x11
Lv. 13 Brigand x1
Lv. 13 Mage x2
Lv. 13 Shaman x2
Lv. 12 Fighter x1
Lv. 12 Mercenary x1
Lv. 11 Fighter x3
Lv. 11 Mercenary x2
Lv. 3 Troubadour x2
Your task here is to rout out the enemies. All 46 of them, including the 31
reinforcements. This task is long and daunting. To begin with, you start at
the northern side of a desert, near the ruins of Jehanna Hall. You stand near
Caellach's army of myrmidons and mercenaries, as well as where about a dozen
pegasus knights will show up as reinforcements. To the south, across a desert
that slows the movement of everyone in your army except fliers, lies Valter's
massive army of cavaliers and wyvern riders, and you need to completely wipe
out both. This is extremely difficult for a number of reasons, lest of all the
ridiculous number of reinforcements. But regardless, your first task is to
kill off Caellach's entire army.
I would locate a character or two at first to killing the enemies to the right
of you when you enter, notably the Berserker there who drops a Dragon Axe (you
would do remember this later, hint hint), and also it'd be good to have Neimi
there to snipe down the pegasus knights that appear as reinforcements. As this
goes on, I equipped Cormag with a Dragonspear and had him keep near that general
area, but far enough to lure some of the wyvern riders in. They'll die in about
one hit, so no worries. Meanwhile, a couple characters can stay in the sand
just slightly south of Jehanna Hall, and everyone else (a flier, Joshua, and
Gerik being key characters) can go towards the myrmidons, mages, and Caellach
to the west. Lay everything around him to waste, and then handle the big man
himself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caellach | Hero | 12 | 47 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 13
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright, if you handled everything you've been through so far, Caellach won't
be too difficult. As a Hero, he uses axes and only axes. My party wasn't
completely promoted, but the one man you absolutely need for this, Gerik,
was. That, and Joshua works incredibly well against his old battle comrade,
and you'll even get a quick conversation between them if Joshua attacks him.
That being said, swords aren't your only option. Caellach's speed and
resistance aren't anything amazing, so you can always double hit with magic.
He tends to alternate between the Tomahawk and Silver Axe depending on the
situation , so obviously when he has the latter you can play around a bit
more. If you have Joshua as a Swordmaster though, this battle will be over
in two seconds. His cheap tactic is to have the Hoplon Guard which protects
against critical hits though, so don't rely on them. Just make this epic and
have Joshua slice him down. Or Gerik.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One boss down, one more to go. I forgot to mention, after the second turn,
Ephraim, the Great Knight Duessel, and the Shaman Knoll will show up as
reinforcements. Knoll blows ass and should first go into the village to get a
Master Seal, but Ephraim and Duessel are monsters who with their weapons can
almost defeat Valter's entire army themselves. Meanwhile, make sure you leave
a character or two towards the top to handle the slew of pegasus knights that
will appear, and while all this is going on, have your characters slowly make
their way down the desert. I know, hard for anything that isn't a flier, but
bear with me.
Eventually your party will be reunited at last at the bottom. However, there
is something VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE HERE: buried in the sands of this place are
a grand total of nine items. I will link you to a map done by another GameFAQs
writer here, as he does a much better job with pictures than I could ever do
with words. Here are the items though, varying from most to least important:
Silver Card, Metis' Tome, Swiftsole, Eclipse, Wyrmslayer, Body Ring, Warp,
Killer Bow, Silence.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/gbadvance/file/921183/37025
While you're doing that a whole bunch of reinforcements show up from the west.
Most of them aren't hard, it's mainly weak mages and a paladin and stuff. Make
sure you've got Cormag or someone on side dealing with the last few wyvern
riders around Cormag, then you can make the final strike. Just make sure that
you're actually done getting all the treasure, since odds are Valter's your
last target. Since he doesn't move, 'twould make sense.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Valter | Wyvern Knight | 13 | 45 | 19 | 17 | 17 | 3 | 13 | 12
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First of all, bringing Innes and Neimi all around Valter since he's a flier
won't work because he's equipped with a Fili Shield, which protects him from
arrows. The first thing you may notice is that Valter's luck is quite low,
so he'll be taking a lot of critical hits. There's a lot of ways to beat
Valter, but I found the simplest way is to just surround him and beat the
daylights out of him, if I'm being honest. He's equipped with a Spear so
obviously he has long ranged capabilities, but he's not the best at getting
critical hits. My advice would be to weaken him a little, then have Ross go
up to him and use that trusty Dragon Axe, but regular axe attacks will also
smash Valter to oblivion. The Wyrmslayer and Dragonspear work wonders, plus
Cormag is awesome here too, and Cormag vs. Valter is climatic as hell. In
short, just use high leveled characters to beat him down. Simple as that.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At last, the reunion of Eirika and Ephraim is here. It's a moment of extreme
urgency though, but Ephraim gives you the Sacred Twins of Grado, which are the
Garm axe and the Gleipnir dark tone. Ephraim then goes on to explain a story
about the Dark Stone, and how when he met Lyon, he wasn't even acting human.
Now that the siblings are united, the goal is to get the Sacred Stone from
Renais. It's finally back to Renais Castle. Make sure you stock up and promote
your characters and stuff before going. Anyway, next thing right up there is
Ephraim's path. Cut to section IXa. for the next battle, even though I followed
Ephraim personally.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
~-~ ~-~ ~-~ VIII. Walkthrough (Ephraim's Path) ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
So, you have chosen Ephraim's path. His is MUCH harder than Eirika's, just to
warn you before you get started. Once you get going, almost every battle here
is quite challenging, but hey, you get the great wyvern rider Cormag faster, so
I'm not complaining. Plus, think about it, invading a nation is a lot more
fun than going to warn other nations of danger. Plus I like Ephraim more than
Eirika anyway. So, you have chosen it. Read on.
The first you'll notice is that the Tower of Valni shows up on the world map.
That is where Caellach and Selena destroyed the Sacred Stone, and it's also a
great way to get yourself some free experience for underleveled characters.
Then again, it's the reason people say this game is too easy, so... just
warning ya. =) There's also dark creatures who appear on the world map besides
that, so use those too if you need to. When you're ready and got Ephraim's party
all outfitted, head south to Fort Rigwald.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIIIa. Fort Rigwald
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 2
~ My Party: Ephraim, Franz, Gilliam, Moulder, Neimi, Ross, Artur, Joshua,
Kyle, Forde, Colm, Tana*, Amelia*
When you head to Fort Rigwald, it seems Innes has helped to secure a passage
across the borders, so good. Meanwhile, in Grado Keep, Vigarde orders Glen to
find Eirika, Valter to find Ephraim, Caellach to go to Jehanna, Riev to go to
Rausten, Duessel to go to Frelia, and Selena to stay in Grado. Duessel gets
infuriated at this order, though, but Vigarde won't seem to have any of it.
Guess what happens next... well, in any case, the attack on Fort Rigwald begins
with the enemy capturing Tana, and a soldier named Amelia getting angry. Good
ways to start, eh?
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 5 Warrior (Gheb) Lv. 9 Cavalier x6
Lv. 11 Priest x1
Lv. 10 Knight x1
Lv. 10 Mercenary x1
Lv. 10 Myrmidon x1
Lv. 9 Cavalier x4
Lv. 9 Knight x5
Lv. 9 Fighter x2
Lv. 9 Mercenary x3
Lv. 9 Archer x5
Lv. 9 Mage x4
Lv. 9 Priest x1
Lv. 9 Soldier x5
Lv. 9 Shaman x2
Lv. 8 Archer x1
Lv. 1 Recruit (Amelia)
Now that is one nasty list of enemies. It's twelve versus thirty-eight... are
you ready for it? First of all, when selecting your party, you're about to get
a pegasus knight who in my opinion surpasses Vanessa, so she's rather
unnecessary here. Also, there's a couple treasure chests to snag, so might as
well bring Colm along. Apart from that, anyone's good, gotta love the cavaliers
too. As for the battle, it's not a pushover, but it's not quite as hard as it
looks. Just so long as you don't get too cocky.
Have your army proceed right into the fort walls, and a bunch of cavaliers will
come charging at you. I don't need to tell you that they aren't too much of a
challenge. The most annoying thing is a Priest over to the east (which you can
not scratch) who keeps casting Sleep on members of your party. That pisses me
off. Apart from that, you can just keep moving down without too many problems,
since the Priest only gets three uses of Sleep. Eventually, you'll come to a
big double door, which you can open with either a Door Key, or Colm can unlock
it, which I recommend. Either way, here's where you need to watch out.
Take a look closely at Amelia's range. You can recruit her if Ephraim talks to
her, but she'll move on her own free will and attack, and she's so weak that
if anyone as much as touches her, she'll be dead. You DON'T want that to happen,
because I assure you that she's one of the best characters in the game, much
like Ross at first. So move Ephraim to the frontlines where the knights can
come down and attack. Ephraim's Reginleif will make short work of them, plus
if you have a Heavy Spear and/or an Armorslayer handy, that's good too. Just
watch out for the magic and arrows you will be pelted with from both sides. If
you brought a mage, that's great, so is Neimi and Ross with a Hand Axe/Hatchet.
Amelia will move down closer to Ephraim. Talk to her with him, and you now have
a party member who will grow to be about three times better than Gilliam, and
rivals Ross. You won't want to use her in this battle, though, since she's
quite weak. Tower of Valni is pure win, I tell ya. But I digress. Now you have
to worry about the magic and arrows which come from both sides, which is
another reason why Vanessa was inappropriate for this place. One of them has a
Longbow, which doesn't help.
As you move up into the northern passage, you'll probably want one of your
characters to go to the far west to grab the chest there (which is a Restore
staff) while Colm gets the other two (an Ocean Seal and 2500 Gold), just to
minimize time spent. Six cavaliers in total come in as reinforcements here,
so just be ready for those. Then as you go down the eastern hall, have your
mage handle the shaman near the boss, someone shoot down the priest cuz the
guy has a Physic staff, and by then you'll be right around the boss. The
extraordinarily ugly boss, I might add.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gheb | Warrior | 5 | 45 | 18 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 13 | 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another promoted unit! Well, anyway, Gheb falls under that trap Tirado and
such did of not being able to move, plus he doesn't even have a ranged
weapon. Because of that, this battle isn't hard, just longish. He isn't an
infantry unit, meaning Ephraim can't just rush right in with the Reginleif.
Your star units here are Joshua, and your mage(s). I only brought one, but
that's okay, just put him/her two spaces away from Gheb, and the magic will
probably come out twice a turn, since Gheb's speed is rather poor. As for
Joshua, his attacks will probably do 5-6 damage a turn, which isn't bad. Just
have someone approach Joshua and rescue him, then someone else can drop him,
just so he avoids Gheb's Killer Axe. After a few turns, Gheb'll be a goner.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the fight is over, Ephraim and Seth drag a soldier in to interrogate
him about the state of matters. Apparently Vigarde was asked to start the war
by none other than Lyon. So... that's bad news. Fort Rigwald has been
recaptured at this point, so after Ephraim has a word with Myrrh, it's back
to Grado Keep. Vigarde orders Selena to go to Bethroen and strike Duessel
down. Uh oh... that be bad. Coincidentally, Bethroen is our next destination,
so let's go rescue Duessel, shall we?
Just a note, though: since you have Tana and Amelia now, both are extremely
underleveled. I would HIGHLY recommend going to the Tower of Valni now and
leveling them up, so that they can actually survive in the battlefield. The
Tower of Valni has an Entombed at the back that will give 100 EXP to anyone
who kills it no matter what, which is great, so as long as you're careful,
Amelia will get the experience, and after two trips there, she should be able
to promote into a Knight. Now you can head on to save Duessel.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIIIb. Turning Traitor
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 2
~ My Party: Ephraim, Franz, Gilliam, Moulder, Neimi, Ross, Lute, Joshua, Kyle,
Forde, Tana, Duessel*, Cormag*
Upon your arrival, Ephraim and Seth talk about the tremors that occur around
this area, and then Duessel is seen with Selena. Duessel wants to speak with
Ephraim before fighting, but yeah, that just reaffirms Selena's belief that
Duessel is a Renais sympathizer, so she turns her army against him. Ephraim
comes in and sees Duessel being hunted down, though, so it's to his rescue we
go! Glen's brother Cormag is in Selena's army too, but he doesn't look too
happy though. I wonder...
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 8 Ranger (Beran) Lv. 10 Cavalier x5
Lv. 11 Cavalier x2 Lv. 10 Mercenary x12
Lv. 10 Fighter x3 Lv. 9 Troubadour x1
Lv. 10 Myrmidon x1
Lv. 10 Mercenary x3
Lv. 10 Soldier x2
Lv. 10 Shaman x1
Lv. 10 Fleet x2
Lv. 9 Archer x2
Lv. 9 Wyvern Rider (Cormag)
Lv. 9 Pirate x3
Lv. 8 Wyvern Rider x2
Lv. 7 Mercenary x1
Alright, just to clear things up, Selena is the boss during the first turn,
but as soon as the first turn is over, Valter shows up and tells her that
Vigarde deems her unworthy, and replaces her with the commander Beran. Shall
we move on? This can be one of the more frustrating battles of the game, and
you need to move quickly if you don't want to pull your hair out recruiting
Cormag, who you can get and trust me you want to, since he's extremely good.
There are two ballista type ships in the ocean which will pelt you with arrows
if you're close, and you don't want them around, believe me. And even though
Tana is weak against the arrows, I'd have her move across the top to target
them, since she avoids them well, and a couple Steel Lance hits from her will
take them down.
Your lancemen need to be ready to go here, since there are no less than
sixteen mercenaries in this battle if you count the reinforcements. Not nice.
All the same, though, you want Ephraim to head south as fast as he possibly
can. Believe me, you do. The cavaliers and other characters can handle
everything around the two houses and the village. The village, speaking of
which, will give you a Torch. Hint, hint. So move down quickly, and arm
yourself well against what comes. A lot of it will come right at Duessel's
army, which is good because they're quite capable of wiping the lot out.
Cormag will speak a few turns in, which is a signal that he's approaching.
Watch his range and do NOT let either you or he enter each other's, because
he has a Killer Lance, and he's also rather delicate, as he is a wyvern rider
after all. Meanwhile, Duessel will join your party if you have Ephraim talk
to him. Do that, because right now, he rocks but later sucks, and more
importantly, Cormag will come after you. Duessel can talk to him, and he'll
join your party. And he's great, I tell you, plus it's a good opportunity to
waste that last fleet at the bottom.
A bit later, five cavaliers and a troubadour will appear from the north, so
send a few units up there to handle them (preferably not Ephraim, Ross, or
Lute), while you continue to finish off the mercenaries and other enemies
around Beran. Also, if you visit the village, the girl there will give you a
Hero Crest, which you don't want to miss. You can also visit the vendor and
armory there, which aren't bad. But anyway, keep your lance people around the
forts the mercenaries come from, but dear lord do NOT enter three spaces or
even worse two spaces next to the boss or he can hit you with his Longbow or
Killer Bow. Speaking of the boss, when everything else is slaughtered...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beran | Ranger | 7 | 43 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 12
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You do not actually need to fight and win against Beran, plus let me tell
you this: he's hard as hell. He has a Lancereaver, a Killer Bow, and a
Longbow, meaning he can cover all three ranges. And the fact he has a
Lancereaver makes it extremely inconvenient, since most of your characters
are using lances. Oh well, Duessel has a Silver Axe, and if you want to use
him to at least weaken him, that's perfectly fine. Whatever you do, DO NOT
leave characters two spaces from Beran, as he's quite fast and has a very
high critical rate with that Killer Bow of his. So... Duessel and Ross are
the way to go. Use long ranged attacks with caution. Or better yet, ignore
him, since he's one tough cookie.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Grado army falls back and retreats, hoping to escape from Valter's wrath.
Ephraim and Duessel chat a bit about what's happening with Vigarde, who has
apparently become the twisted person he is after Lyon and his mages finished
experimenting on something called the Dark Stone which is supposedly stronger
than the Sacred Stones. L'Arachel shows up to warn Ephraim that there's a
phantom ship out on the seas, but that's our destination, so... psht. Ignore
her, I say!
Actually, she has a point. The next two chapters are back to back, and you
need to be absolutely ready for them, as they can both be rather aggravating.
The first is also a fog of war chapter, so have a Torch or two ready. Plus get
your equipment renovated at the armory, since doubtless it's running out.
Another thing, at this point I'd use the Tower of Valni to make sure Amelia is
at least a Level 1 Knight now, because she really does have her uses. Leveling
Cormag and Tana up wouldn't hurt either. When you're truly ready, let's go to
that phantom ship.
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VIIIc. Phantom Ship
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~ Difficulty: 3
~ My Party: Ephraim, Franz, Moulder, Neimi, Ross, Artur, Joshua, Kyle, Amelia,
Tana, Cormag
Back in Grado Keep, Selena returns and Lyon orders her to go find a dragonstone
in the marsh. Guess who among you has a dragonstone. Oh that's right, Myrrh,
who's talking to Ephraim as the chapter starts. However, the phantom ship pulls
up close to your party, and Riev sics a whole bunch of demons at you. Let him
try... let's fight.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 8 Deathgoyle x1
Lv. 3 Wight x1
Lv. 3 Entombed x1
Lv. 10 Bonewalker x6
Lv. 10 Revenant x1
Lv. 9 Bonewalker x8
Lv. 9 Revenant x5
Lv. 9 Gargoyle x9
Lv. 9 Mogall x9
Lv. 8 Gargoyle x1
This battle is the most frustrating, incoherent experience you will have in
this entire game, bar none. And that enemy list is just plain wrong, but I
can't possibly get all the levels for all the enemies here, since a lot of
them are in the fog, and just come at me and die in one hit. And a lot don't,
which is the problem. Suffice it to say that a lot of those enemies up there
are reinforcements. So yeah, I've lost count of how many times I've screamed
out unimaginable vulgarities and profanities over this battle. It's really,
really annoying. Be ready for it.
Let me start out by saying this. Move Tana to the north, and Cormag to the
south, or vice versa, doesn't matter. Just make sure that the character who
goes north has a Javelin, because you'll want someone to fight off the number
of Mogalls that are up there. The other character will fight a bunch of
Gargoyles. That's not too hard, plus it gets them away from the copious amount
of bonewalker archers on the ship. We'll start out with the two ships far
away from each other, but oh, just wait. Have Moulder use a Torch staff every
turn unless someone needs healing, and you'll find the ship, with almost every
square in it littered with undead beasts. **** this.
Three turns in, the ship will be pulled up to you. Here's the key: do NOT, I
repeat do NOT charge in and just try to kill off everything there. There's too
damn many monsters on there, plus there's approximately one billion gargoyles
that will come onto the ship as reinforcements. Well, I'm exaggerating very
slightly, but you get the idea. That's one of the reasons why you want to have
Tana and Cormag fighting on either side of the ship, while then moving to the
west. During turn 5, another ship will pull up with... more enemies! Nah, just
kidding, it's L'Arachel and Dozla, who will help out a little. At the same
turn, though, the boss will appear to the far west with two reinforcing
gargoyles. That's why you want Tana and/or Cormag there.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deathgoyle | Deathgoyle | 8 | 37 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 13 | 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bah. Not nearly as aggravating as the chapter, but enough to be annoying.
The Deathgoyle is equipped with a Short Spear so he's got a ranged attack.
If you're extremely lucky, you can pull Cormag over and just use a Killer
Lance on him and finish it in one hit, but luck is a rare thing in this
fight. Besides, usually the Deathgoyle will just come onboard the ship and
pick off weak units, so make sure the weak, slow people are away. But that
being said, if it does come onboard, note it's weak against Neimi's arrows,
and Artur's/Lute's magic isn't bad either. Just hope that Cormag and Tana
can handle it on their own.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nice, you just beat the boss, only one of about forty enemies here (three of
them promoted). Speaking of the promoted enemies, WATCH THEIR RANGE. They're
far, far stronger than their surroundings, and they let it show. Use Elixirs
like crazy, and if you suffer damage, especially if you're towards the bottom,
heal it up. That's where the gargoyles are, and in fact, only leave your
strongest characters like Ephraim down there, or you risk a higher chance of
getting crushed... and following in my anger. Now that that horrible, horrible
battle is over, L'Arachel and Dozla join and the ship lands at Taizel.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIIId. Landing at Taizel
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~ Difficulty: 3
~ My Party: Ephraim, Moulder, Neimi, Ross, Artur, Lute, Joshua, Kyle, Forde,
Amelia, Tana, Cormag, Ewan*, Marisa*
Yeah, I told you it was two battles back to back. The group arrives at Taizel,
where a man named Saleh is with a kid named Ewan who's apparently looking for
a Marisa. As for Ephraim, he's in the ship arguing with Seth, when Grado
decides to ambush. Ugh. You're in for another challenging battle, although it's
not nearly as much of a pain as that last one was. Choose twelve characters,
and let's get this over with.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 9 Cyclops x1 N/A
Lv. 5 Entombed x1
Lv. 11 Cavalier x5
Lv. 11 Fighter x4
Lv. 11 Archer x1
Lv. 11 Mercenary x3
Lv. 11 Pirate x2
Lv. 11 Mage x5
Lv. 11 Shaman x8
Lv. 10 Archer x3
Lv. 10 Shaman x2
Lv. 10 Bonewalker x4
Lv. 10 Mauthe Doog x2
Lv. 10 Gargoyle x3
Lv. 9 Bonewalker x1
Lv. 9 Bael x2
Lv. 5 Myrmidon (Marisa)
I'm going to note something now: start reserving the Reginleif. On that note...
another battle which is a case of, don't do anything stupid, don't take
uncalculated, irrational risks, and you'll be okay. That being said, this isn't
an easy battle, so be on your toes. Also, once again, Caellach will be leading
the battle fronts, but one turn into the battle, Riev will appear to tell him
he isn't doing his job, and replace him with a bunch of monsters which fully
cooperate with Grado's army. One of those being the Cyclops at the back, which
is the boss. How disappointing, I really do tire of fighting monsters, don't
you?
Split your party up; I like to take four characters to the west, while
everyone else goes to the east to wipe out everyone on the boat and then
continue north to meet up with the other group. Make sure that in the west
group, however, you bring Neimi and a flier. Three gargoyles pop up there when
Riev summons his allies, so Neimi needs to be there to shoot one of them down
while Tana/Cormag can just lance the other one down. You should be probably
be more concerned with the eastern team, which you want to keep well healed
and protected as they take down the enemies from the boat.
Take turns out if you need to to use Vulneraries and stuff, because as your
eastern group heads north, you'll have a ton of mages on you. At that point,
use everything in your arsenal against them, but just make sure that you keep
the strong people up front, because there's a mercenary there with a Killing
Edge, and an archer with a Killer Bow. Dear god, why must you give the enemy
such weaponry. The western group has nothing more to worry about except a
couple cavaliers, so don't worry about them. Still, send your flier way up
north. If you enter the house there, the pupil Ewan will join you.
Ewan is the third of the three underpromoted characters (Ross and Amelia being
the other two obviously). While he's not nearly as good as those two, I would
definitely train him up and then make him a shaman, cuz he can be potentially
quite good. So in any case, reunite your two groups, and here comes the most
annoying part of this battle: recruiting Marisa. You need to have Ewan talk to
her to do it, but since Ewan has terrible range, you need to lure her in. The
first step is to kill the three guys in front of her. For the first two, you
can do that by simply staying out of her range and moving into theirs. Not too
hard.
The other one is the problem. What I just did was move my Cormag to the
southwest corner of the wall, so I was in the fighter's range but not Marisa's.
The stupid ass will come at you and attack, but so will the Bonewalker with a
bow to the northwest. That's no worries, though, since he probably won't even
connect a hit. Now have a moderately strong character like Kyle or Gilliam or
whomever you brought get into Marisa's range, with Ewan right behind. Marisa
will double attack, but as long as she doesn't double critical, you'll be okay.
Luck plays too major of a role, I tell you, but after that, have Ewan talk to
her and Marisa's with you. THAT WAS TOO MUCH WORK. On that happy note, you've
got an Entombed to take down, and the boss.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyclops | Cyclops | 9 | 58 | 15 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 15 | 10
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nice HP count you got there. Besides that, though, I barely know why I
still provide strategies for these monster bosses. It uses a Hand Axe, but
that being said, if you don't surround it and kill it in one turn (which is
quite easy despite its high HP and defense), don't leave the sword people in
his range, because he has a Swordslayer and isn't afraid to use it. Lances
are pretty good against the cyclops anyway though, especially of the killer
variety. In fact, that's all I did was just hit it three times with killer
weapons. Two criticals, and the thing is gone.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The battle ends with the cyclops's death, so enjoy that EXP and two new allies.
Afterwards, though, Ephraim's group rests within the city, but Myrrh leaves
everyone of her own accord. That's quite strange, but Seth figures out as much.
Ephraim insists on heading east to go look for her though, despite Seth's
advice not to, so the Za'albul Marsh is our next step. But that's yet ANOTHER
challenging battle, so use the Tower of Valni to gain a few levels if you need
to. When you're ready, advance.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIIIe. Fluorspar's Oath
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~ Difficulty: 2
~ My Party: Ephraim, Franz, Moulder, Neimi, Ross, Lute, Joshua, Kyle, Amelia,
Tana, Cormag, Gerik, Tethys
I said it once, I'll say it again. This battle rivals Chapter 11 in how utterly
frustrating it can be, so if your characters are weak as hell, get to the Tower
of Valni now and level them up, before coming to this marsh and entering the
brawl known as Ephraim's Chapter 13. When you do enter the marsh, Myrrh flies
over to a village to talk to Selena, and the two then talk about the darkness
and how it's changing people utterly. Selena was once saved by Vigarde because
of how compassionate he was, and she still naively holds on to that. She
releases Myrrh, and the largest battle yet starts.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 11 Mage Knight (Selena) Lv. 12 Pegasus Knight x10
Lv. 5 Great Knight x1 Lv. 11 Pirate x2
Lv. 2 Sniper x1 Lv. 11 Brigand x2
Lv. 13 Fighter x1
Lv. 13 Mercenary x1
Lv. 13 Mage x2
Lv. 13 Shaman x1
Lv. 12 Cavalier x18
Lv. 12 Knight x1
Lv. 12 Fighter x3
Lv. 12 Mage x1
Lv. 12 Shaman x2
Lv. 12 Troubadour x1
Lv. 11 Cavalier x2
Lv. 11 Knight x1
Lv. 11 Fighter x2
Lv. 11 Archer x3
Lv. 11 Soldier x2
What a gigantic pain in the ass. In this fight, you have to deal with a whole
lot of cavaliers, half a billion pegasus knights (it's actually ten but seems
like a lot more), and extreme long range magic at the same time, and you'll
need fortune to ride with you. The battle starts off with Gerik and Tethys
appearing to the east, which helps out, as they'll be facing a good deal of
enemies down there. The obvious strategy is to have Gerik attack and obviously
kill whomever he's attacking, then have Tethys go behind him and dance to give
him an extra turn, then Gerik can just smash the next guy into oblivion. I
wouldn't go too far down that path though, as the enemies are a bit too strong
for just two people, one who can't defend herself. So just get a little down,
and then turn back and join Ephraim's group.
If you go down to the southeast village, you'll get a Talisman, and if you
enter the southwest village you'll get a Barrier staff, but you probably won't
get to the Talisman before the bandits come down and ravage it. That's okay
though, it's not a big loss. Concentrate more on the upper battle: you can't
get too close. Selena is equipped with a Bolting tome, which has a maximum
range of TEN. That's right. Your first goal will be to deplete her usage of
that so you can roam free. If you click on Selena though, the range shown is
a bit deceiving because she doesn't move; to accurately calculate it, either
count ten squares, or scroll ten squares to the left of her, and then make sure
you're outside the diagonal that creates. You'll want someone with a high
resistance to stand right inside her range, and trust me, she WILL strike you
if she can.
Bolting doesn't have the best range in the world, so there's at least some
chance she'll miss. But at the same time, your most active characters will be
Tana and Cormag. The surrounding cavaliers need to be wiped out, though look
around -- one cavalier is equipped with a Dragonspear, which is absolutely
lethal to Cormag. If you keep him in the back though, he should be able to
dodge the worst of things, take no damage from most, and Selena's Bolting will
reach him. It'll hit, most likely, but it won't kill him, and that's what's
important. The rest of your party can just sit tight to the west killing what
is brave or foolish enough to come their way, and then a bunch of pegasus
knights show up from the south.
It'll take a couple turns for them to get in your range, but when they do,
show them no mercy. Around that time, Selena will probably be out of Bolting
spells, so the first step will be to send Tana and Ross down south to kill
the pirates that come in from the water. You need to watch out for the archer
around there, though. Don't want to screw up this late into the battle. Move
the rest of your forces down when the waves of pegasus knights are done and
Selena isn't going to blast you, and in due time you'll be right next to where
Selena and the shamans are. Cormag can circle around killing odd enemies such
as the troubadour next to her and the mage there, while everyone else handles
the shamans. Fortunately, they don't move, so they aren't too much of a threat.
If you were lucky enough to make it this far, your opponent is...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Selena | Mage Knight | 11 | 38 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 10 | 11 | 17
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously, by the time you're facing Selena, her Bolting tome has run out,
and all she can hit you with is Elfire. Well, the first of the Imperial
Generals to fight isn't too terrible, since she doesn't move (or that
Bolting really would be a nightmare...). Ephraim's Reginleif will probably
take almost all her HP off with one blow, weighing in that rather low HP
and defense. However, don't take her too lightly, as that Elfire isn't nice
to you. Lute can probably stand up to her though, plus despite the low hit
chance you might get, it's worth having a strong unit go up to her and try to
take her out in a quick blow. Or alternatively, you're more than welcome
to have Cormag try to Killer Lance her to death two turns into the battle,
but I suggest being sane instead.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hate that battle. I hate you for making me fight it again. I never want to
fight it ever again, either. Well, Myrrh gets her dragonstone back, and Selena
is dead. Now we're just moments away from Grado Keep, which is one of the
hardest maps in the game by far. Forget this one and the last two: Grado Keep
is hard. So restock your equipment at Bethroen and Taizel, please for the love
of god. Give everyone optimum equipment too, i.e. Ross should have a Silver
Axe (and you want him to be awesome for next battle believe me), Cormag should
have a Silver Lance. You get the point.
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VIIIf. Father and Son
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 4
~ My Party: Ephraim, Neimi, Ross, Lute, Joshua, Kyle, Forde, Amelia, Tana,
Cormag, Gerik, L'Arachel, Rennac*
There are a lot of weak characters in your party. I know that much about you.
C'mon, you know you do. Take those characters to the Tower of Valni NOW. Also,
you definitely have a few items like Dragonshields and Energy Rings lying
around, so use those on your weak characters too. I'm warning you, this is no
light battle. Assuming you're really ready, head to Grado Keep, and there Lyon
will leave to let Vigarde take care of you.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 13 General (Vigarde) Lv. 1 Rogue (Rennac)
Lv. 6 Bishop x2 Lv. 13 Knight x2
Lv. 5 Sniper x1 Lv. 13 Fighter x2
Lv. 5 Druid x2 Lv. 13 Mercenary x2
Lv. 14 Shaman x2 Lv. 13 Soldier x2
Lv. 13 Knight x13 Lv. 13 Mage x6
Lv. 13 Fighter x1 Lv. 13 Shaman x10
Lv. 13 Archer x3
Lv. 13 Mercenary x1
Lv. 13 Mage x1
Lv. 13 Shaman x2
Lv. 12 Fighter x5
Lv. 12 Archer x1
Lv. 12 Mercenary x1
Lv. 12 Myrmidon x4
Lv. 12 Soldier x2
You'll need to split your party into two groups for this battle. Make the two
groups about equal, but note that you need L'Arachel in this battle to recruit
Rennac here, and just to give him some time, I always take L'Arachel into the
west squad. But oh well, choose wisely and even them out: Kyle and Forde for
instance on two different groups, Tana and Cormag on two different, etc. This
really is one of the hardest battles in the game, so make sure you're ready.
Starting with L'Arachel: make sure she has a Restore staff and the ability to
use it. If not, hit the Tower of Valni. Are we good?
Both paths are rather challenging, and you'll be facing a ton of myrmidons,
fighters, mercenaries, and soldiers, with reinforcements coming from every
direction. Use your fliers to go ahead and take the first couple enemies out,
and then after the first turn, Rennac will show up to the northeast. Before
you get to him, he'll open the chest in the corner which contains a Spear, but
so what, you can recruit him and then get his stuff. Focus now on all the
enemies that come at you, and hit them with their weapon triangle weaknesses.
Heal whenever necessary, and use Elixirs. It's a long battle, and you don't
want to get beaten.
Don't send your fliers too far out though, because the walkway between has a
bunch of archers and a sniper on it, and you're still weak as anything against
arrows. Let all the reinforcements finish coming out of the western and eastern
passages, then you can open the doors. You'll be gaining a lot of items from
the enemies you defeat here, but make sure you don't throw away the Door Keys
(obviously) and the Hammer, since that could be very useful against the boss if
it comes down to it. When you start to open the doors, the battle becomes like
a chess game: your biggest enemy right off the bat are the two bishops. They
cast Sleep on you, which is why I told you to have L'Arachel bring a Restore
staff. You won't have to put up with that.
Now, here is why I think this battle so difficult: the two druids next to
Vigarde who will be pelting you with Berserk. I EFFING HATE BERSERK. It's the
worst thing in the game... by far. Both druids have a range of six, so if
you're playing it safe, keep within there. If you must head up, use characters
with high resistance, who have little chance of getting hit by that crap. An
even better idea: leave a flier in the corner, while a mage like Lute moves up
a bit. The druid will then move to the corner to hit you, and if Berserk
doesn't connect with you, you're okay. Then your flier can just move up and
hit the druid with a projectile weapon, and you won't have to worry about that
anymore. And what a welcome relief that will be.
If Berserk does hit you, however... your character will recklessly attack
friend and foe. And you'll counterattack still. That's the other reason why
Restore is so useful here... Berserk is the devil incarnate. But if you don't
have it or are too far away... pray your character dodges all the Elfires and
Fluxes they'll be taking from all the mage and shaman reinforcements from
either side. Best thing for you to do would be run away from that lunatic
until the Berserk status wears off. It takes about five turns to do so, and
dear god... I hate Berserk. Worst spell in the game.
Which reminds me, six reinforcing mages will appear from the northwest, and
six reinforcing shamans will appear from the northeast when you step through
that door. The mages are much more dangerous than the shamans, but if you have
a sage, they should be able to handle either one. My Lute had a decent enough
resistance and avoid to take out every last mage, and if you can take those
out, the shamans should fall in no time. Make sure L'Arachel talks to Rennac
whenever you get a good opportunity, then you can get the rest of the treasure.
The northwest chest contains an Angelic Robe, and the room to the south has a
Guiding Ring, 10,000 Gold, and a Hammerne Staff, plus when you enter, four more
shamans, two of which have Nosferatu. I hate this game, hope you have some
backup when going in there. But when you've killed off all the mages/shamans,
you're probably in the clear. Open the door, kill those druids and two last
shamans, and now only the emperor is left. Give him a piece of your mind.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vigarde | General | 13 | 52 | 21 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 20 | 12
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emperor Vigarde is a tough man to beat. I mean, just look at those stats.
Now that's serious. But, ya know, contrary to whatever I originally believed
*ahem* Vigarde is quite possible to defeat. First of all, remember in Chapter
12 I told you to save up that Reginleif? Here's why. My Ephraim was double
hitting Vigarde for 22 damage with a 67% chance each, while Vigarde would do
26 damage with about a 55% chance to hit and 1% of chance of critical. That
is pretty good if you ask me. In short, the Reginleif is the way to win this
battle, but if you don't have it... I sincerely hope you've been building
Ross up, especially as far as skill is concerned. If Ross has a Silver Axe or
that Hammer, he'll mess Vigarde up pretty good.
There's an alternative way to win this battle though, if all else fails. I
call this cheap and selling my soul to the devil, but it works. Vigarde's
only weapon is the Spear, which is long range and hits hard, but it only has
15 durability. If Vigarde lands fifteen successful hits on you, he has no
more Spear. He can't do ANYTHING except sit there after that. Of course, I
don't know if that's worth the risk, as after he hits you you'll have to
heal, plus you risk critical hits all the time, but Vigarde can do nothing
to stop you without a weapon. Still, once again, that is cheap and not my
style. Just hit him extremely hard, and he'll fade.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With that beast out for the count, there's still a couple things left to do.
FIRST: since this is a seize the throne chapter and you have lots of characters
still around, use this as an opportunity for supports. SECOND, AND MUCH MORE
IMPORTANTLY: there is a secret shop to the southwest here. Move Rennac to the
northwest, then down the stairs there and to the southeast corner of the little
niche there. Since he has a Member Card, he'll be able to enter the secret
shop, and it has some expensive but good stuff. I'd buy all the Killer weapons
available, plus a Physic staff myself.
Once you're done there, seize the throne at last, and Vigarde's corpse will
disintegrate. With his death, Ephraim wanders down the castle, eventually coming
to a cell where he meets a prisoner named Knoll, who was a scientist imprisoned.
He tells the whole story: basically Vigarde once died, and Lyon's soul was
crushed, so he used the almighty Dark Stone to bring him back to life, and after
that both Lyon and Vigarde were changed forever. Hence why the original generals
were replaced by Caellach, Valter, and Riev. Anyway, Knoll joins your party. Now
it's time to go find and help Eirika.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
VIIIg. Scorched Sand
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 3
~ My Party: Ephraim, Franz, Moulder, Ross, Neimi, Lute, Joshua, Forde, Tana,
Gerik, Amelia, Cormag, Eirika, Innes, Saleh
The battle you're about to fight isn't as hard in Ephraim's scenario as Eirika's
for a number of reasons. First you have Eirika, Innes, and Saleh available in
battle the second you begin, you start in what's probably a better location,
but most importantly, I tend to be at a much higher level at this point than
in Eirika's scenario. That, and you have a chance to restock on stuff in
between. That being said, it's still a rather challenging battle, so don't enter
unprepared. You're fighting two Grado generals at the same time, after all.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 13 Wyvern Knight (Valter) Lv. 4 Paladin x1
Lv. 12 Hero (Caellach) Lv. 14 Cavalier x6
Lv. 6 Berserker x1 Lv. 14 Mage x1
Lv. 5 Berserker x1 Lv. 13 Fighter x2
Lv. 4 Paladin x1 Lv. 13 Mercenary x1
Lv. 4 Ranger x2 Lv. 13 Pegasus Knight x10
Lv. 14 Cavalier x2 Lv. 13 Mage x8
Lv. 14 Archer x2
Lv. 14 Mercenary x1
Lv. 14 Shaman x1
Lv. 13 Fighter x2
Lv. 13 Myrmidon x2
Lv. 13 Mercenary x1
Lv. 13 Wyvern Rider x11
Lv. 13 Shaman x6
Lv. 12 Fighter x3
Lv. 11 Fighter x3
Lv. 11 Mercenary x2
Lv. 3 Troubadour x2
Your task here is to rout out the enemies. All 45 of them, plus there's 29
reinforcements. A daughty task, I tell you. Start by having someone go into the
village right above you when you start to get a Master Seal. You don't want to
miss stuff like that. Anyway, your first task is definitely to wipe out the
absolutely massive army that you see to the right of you, led by Valter. It
includes eleven Wyvern Riders, but a lot of them are idiots and fly upwards to
Eirika's group. If you're unfamiliar with Innes, let me tell you: he's a Sniper
who can hit the Wyvern Riders for about 43 damage each hit. Don't be afraid to
do that.
In fact, the first couple turns of this battle are probably the hard parts,
because Valter's army will be charging at you and you need to respond
accordingly, without getting your ass kicked. Once you can get some progress
done, however, the rest will flow. No matter what, though, KEEP YOUR ARMY IN
ONE PLACE. I know Eirika and company are up to the north, but don't send a
whole bunch of characters up there to support her. For one thing, the sand slows
characters down tremendously, especially mounted units. That, and you need all
the men you can get to take care of Valter's army. As for Eirika, Saleh, and
Innes, they'll have their hands full taking care of the enemies there, not to
mention the ten pegasus knights that show up as reinforcements, but trust me,
they can easily do it.
For Ephraim's army at the bottom, make sure Moulder or L'Arachel is around
there healing characters up. I personally preferred Moulder because he was good
enough with staves to use the Physic staff I picked up last battle, but it's
your choice. Note that there's a shaman near Valter which uses an Eclipse
spell (it's like Selena's Bolting spell, just not used as well), so make that
one of your targets. Like I said before, Tana and Cormag are great for moving
all around and taking odd enemies out here and there, so without any trouble at
all you'll end up to the east right next to Valter.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Valter | Wyvern Knight | 13 | 45 | 19 | 17 | 17 | 3 | 13 | 12
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First of all, bringing Innes and Neimi all around Valter since he's a flier
won't work because he's equipped with a Fili Shield, which protects him from
arrows. The first thing you may notice is that Valter's luck is quite low,
so he'll be taking a lot of critical hits. There's a lot of ways to beat
Valter, but I found the simplest way is to just surround him and beat the
daylights out of him, if I'm being honest. He's equipped with a Spear so
obviously he has long ranged capabilities, but he's not the best at getting
critical hits. If you want to have Ross go all the way back up and get the
Dragon Axe from Eirika, go ahead and do that, but regular axe attacks will
smash Valter to oblivion. Ephraim and other high leveled characters are great,
plus Cormag is awesome here too, plus Cormag vs. Valter is climatic as hell.
In short, just use high leveled characters to beat him down. Simple as that.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOW it's time to bring parts of your army over to where Caellach is and help
Eirika's group beat the daylights out of him just like Valter. However, there
is something VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE HERE: buried in the sands of this place are
a grand total of nine items. I will link you to a map done by another GameFAQs
writer here, as he does a much better job with pictures than I could ever do
with words. Here are the items though, varying from most to least important:
Silver Card, Metis' Tome, Swiftsole, Eclipse, Wyrmslayer, Body Ring, Warp,
Killer Bow, Silence.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/gbadvance/file/921183/37025
While you're doing that a whole bunch of reinforcements show up from the west.
And then when you eventually get up and surround Caellach, which isn't too hard
to do, just make sure you don't kill him yet. He won't move, so get the stuff
around him. The Warp staff, one of the least important things in the battle, is
the only thing near him, so who cares about that. For the guy himself...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caellach | Hero | 12 | 47 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 13
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright, if you handled everything you've been through so far, Caellach won't
be any problem at all. As a Hero, he uses axes and only axes. Of course, my
party was naturally almost all promoted, except Joshua and Gerik and all the
other characters who use swords. =P That being said, swords aren't your only
option. Caellach's speed and resistance aren't anything amazing, so you can
always double hit with magic. He tends to alternate between the Tomahawk and
Silver Axe depending on the situation, so obviously when he has the latter
you can play around a bit more. If you have Joshua as a Swordmaster though,
this battle will be over in two seconds. His cheap tactic is to have the
Hoplon Guard which protects against critical hits though, so don't rely on
them. Just make this epic and have Joshua slice him down. Or Gerik.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At last, the reunion of Eirika and Ephraim is here. It's a moment of extreme
urgency though, but Eirika gives you the Sacred Twins of Jehanna, which are the
Audhulma sword and the Excalibur anima tone. Ephraim then goes on to explain
Knoll's story about the Dark Stone, and how inhumane Lyon was when he met him.
Now that the siblings are united, the goal is to get the Sacred Stone from
Renais. It's finally back to Renais Castle. Make sure you stock up and promote
your characters and stuff before going.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
~-~ ~-~ ~-~ IX. Walkthrough (Part 4) ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This is a hard moment for me. Fifteen chapters have come and passed, but for you
I have no idea whether you've been taking Eirika's path or Ephraim's. As far as
I can tell at this point there is little to no difference except Ephraim's
secret shop offers a Physic whereas Eirika's didn't, the lord you picked will
be the primary lord who seizes the throne, except Ephraim's path gives your
characters a lot higher levels than Eirika's. So since I prefer Ephraim's by a
lot, I'll follow that one but also give advice to all of you out there with
lower levels, just to make you all happy.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
IXa. Ruled by Madness
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~ Difficulty: 3
~ My Party: Ephraim, Eirika, Franz, Moulder, Ross, Neimi, Lute, Forde, Tana,
Gerik, Amelia, Myrrh
Towards the end of the game, Eirika and Ephraim finally return to Renais
Castle. The castle has gone to absolute chaos though, since now Orson has taken
over it. If you don't remember Orson, he was the paladin who betrayed Seth and
the others towards the end of the first part of the game, and he's gone insane
because his wife has died. So, I hope you're ready to go now, with both the old
and new characters well equipped. Also, the incredibly godlike Myrrh will join
your party at this point.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 13 Paladin (Orson) Lv. 5 Sage x2
Lv. 10 Druid x3 Lv. 4 Great Knight x1
Lv. 8 Warrior x1 Lv. 3 Ranger x3
Lv. 5 Druid x3 Lv. 3 Valkyrie x1
Lv. 15 Mercenary x4 Lv. 18 Thief x2
Lv. 14 Fighter x2 Lv. 15 Cavalier x6
Lv. 14 Myrmidon x2
Lv. 14 Soldier x2
Lv. 14 Mage x2
Lv. 14 Monk x4
Lv. 14 Shaman x3
Lv. 12 Knight x5
Lv. 12 Fighter x2
Lv. 12 Priest x2
Okay I lied, actually there's a small difference in this battle depending on
whose path you chose. If you chose Ephraim, you will start in the bottom left
corner, and if you chose Eirika, you will start in the bottom right corner.
Not a big difference, right? The first thing you'll want to do, though, is
divide your group into a smaller force heading north, and the main brunt of
everything heading east into the castle. I'd like to call something to your
attention now though: to the west is another damn Priest who casts Berserk,
so I just sent Gerik up there, who coincidentally had very good Luck and never
got afflicted by it. But it's still something to watch out for. You'll need to
set aside some characters for the batch of reinforcements that show up there
anyway, which include about three rangers and a shitload of cavaliers.
Progress your forces normally, including a character or two through the western
passage. Handle the Priest that casts Berserk accordingly, but also note that
a Thief will come in through the stairwell. If you were like me and didn't
bring a thief of your own, but have at least one Chest Key, you're in luck, you
can get all four chests here anyway. The thief will go straight for the chest
a bit down the passage which contains a Tomahawk. If you kill the thief right
after he gets it, that Tomahawk goes to you without having to open diddly squat.
That, and a Shaman around that passage drops a Chest Key. That leaves three
chests to the east, containing 5000 G, a Knight Crest, and a Talisman. A thief
will pop up there lately. Two chest keys + two automatic thieves = four prizes
for you.
Okay, back to the battle. Leave two or three characters at the entrance to rout
out what will enter, while everyone else progresses up. AVOID the druids near
Orson like hell unless you're using Tana who has amazing resistance and great
movement, though. Two sages appear as reinforcements to the east, one who has
Purge which is even stronger than the druids' Eclipses. There's barely any
physical characters up there though, so I'd load up on the fliers, as well as
your magic users around that general area, just to keep the whole army safe.
There's not as many reinforcements here as in either Chapter 14 though, so
weighing in the shorter sized castle, you'll be done soon except for Orson and
the chests to the right. Just make sure the Thief doesn't grab the chest which
is furthest down though, since you won't get the 5000 G from him. Handle that
accordingly, and then it's finally time to take care of Orson.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Orson | Paladin | 13 | 48 | 18 | 15 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 11
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Orson sits atop the Renais throne wielding the Runesword and a Silver Lance,
the former of which casts Nosferatu on whatever it strikes, be it one or two
panels away. If you're unfamiliar with Nosferatu, it basically drains HP
from you. That being said, Orson isn't hard. Why? Because he has no critical
rate whatsoever, your army is doubtlessly much stronger than him and able to
pummel him into submission, and he isn't the most damaging of enemies. The
Runesword is very weak and can be almost nullified by having Moulder or
whomever cast Barrier on the attacker, and his hit rate is pretty bad too.
If you're willing to use up Myrrh's Dragonstone to damage Orson, you'll do
massive damage that way. If the Reginleif is still intact, this is a great
last dance for it. Also, magic users can do lots of damage to him and he can
barely do anything to respond. Easy boss to start this part of the game off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yet another good opportunity for your characters to support one another, even
though there's no secret shop here. When you're ready, seize the throne, and
now Renais is back in the hands of Eirika and Ephraim. They, with Seth, go to
the back, and their bracelets resonate, giving the Lunar Brace and Solar Brace.
You now have the opportunity of promoting Eirika and Ephraim to Great Lords, so
that they can ride horses, and just completely and utterly dominate anything
that crosses paths with them. Also, you're given the Sieglinde and Siegmund
Sacred Twins respectively. Now you have two godlike characters.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
IXb. River of Regrets
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 2
~ My Party: Ephraim, Eirika, Franz, Ross, Neimi, Artur, Joshua, Forde, Tana,
Gerik, Amelia, Cormag, Syrene*
Meanwhile in the Narube River, Lyon has arrived, and he's certainly not acting
in any way human. You'll see a falcoknight by the name of Syrene, as well as a
few innocent people standing by, and then battle preparations begin. Now is
where I need to say this: everyone should be promoted at this point, and if
they aren't, bring them into this battle so they can get their levels up high
enough so that you can use their respective items and get them promoted. I'm
looking at you, Artur, Joshua, Amelia.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 14 Necromancer (Lyon) Lv. 3 Warrior x2
Lv. 5 Swordmaster x1 Lv. 3 Druid x3
Lv. 4 Paladin x2 Lv. 17 Wyvern Lord x4
Lv. 4 Hero x4 Lv. 16 Cavalier x2
Lv. 4 Sage x1
Lv. 4 Valkyrie x2
Lv. 3 Berserker x1
Lv. 3 Wyvern Lord x1
Lv. 3 Druid x3
Lv. 17 Mage x2
Lv. 16 Wyvern Rider x5
Lv. 15 Fighter x2
Chapter 17, River of Regrets, is incredibly straightforward and ultimately
boils down to a test of strength. In fact, you can end it very quickly if you
want by having Ephraim and Tana rush ahead at Lyon, since when you beat him,
this battle's over. But like a lot of the other battles you've been fighting,
you'll want to divide the group into two squads, one to head left and head
right. Apart from that, you might want to have a character or two in the water
(fliers and Ross as a Berserker are ideal) handle the four Heroes to the right,
though take note that two use swords and two use axes. What you're going to face
as you go, apart from that, are a bunch of wyvern riders to the west, but some
mages and druids and stuff in the central path. Not too bad, right?
Yeah, I have to say, this chapter is amazingly simple considering how important
it is. Make sure your forces are pretty much evenly divided among the two paths,
but make sure in the path to the right you send Tana and Ephraim. Tana's role
is to talk with Syrene, the Falcoknight defending the townspeople, and then
she'll join you as the game's last main playable characters. You CAN recruit
her with Innes, Vanessa, and I think a couple others too, but Tana's my favorite
of them. It's convenient to have both Tana and Syrene up there anyway, as three
druids surround Lyon, and more just come out as reinforcements. Though their
magic and HP and weak, and they don't have Eclipse, so what's the difference.
That's really all I can possibly say about this battle, except to make sure the
enemies at the top that come in don't get too far, and don't be reckless and
unintentionally get yourself killed. Get your army around Lyon when it's done.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyon | Necromancer | 14 | 44 | 22 | 13 | 11 | 4 | 17 | 19
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, our opponent here is the game's villain. How climatic that you're just
fighting on a river, huh? As a boss he's definitely... manageable. His main
weapon is the Fenrir tome, dark magic that strikes for tremendous damage but
as his HP dwindles down he'll switch to the Nosferatu to get a few odd HP
back here and there. I wouldn't bother using magic users again him, his
resistance is too high for that. Instead, it's time to test out Ephraim and
what he's become as a Great Lord. If he has the Siegmund equipped he'll smash
the snot out of Lyon, but even if not, his attacks should be strong enough at
this point to both connect and hurt Lyon quite a bit. You just want to leave
it to your best characters, I mean he is the game's villain after all.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The battle ends right after that, and Lyon is the first of two people to come
out of a battle with his life. He narrowly escapes with his life as the Demon
King, and right after, Innes gives you the Sacred Twins from Frelia: the Serpent
Bow Nidhogg, and the Winged Lance Vidofnir. Both incredible weapons that should
be used as soon as you have characters with S ranks in bows and lances
respectively. Now the group must proceed, seeing what the Sacred Stone of
Renais can do for them. Also, if you saved all the innocents in Chapter 17,
you'll get a Rescue staff.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
IXc. Two Faces of Evil
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 1
~ My Party: Ephraim, Eirika, Franz, Ross, Neimi, Artur, Lute, Joshua, Tana,
Gerik, Amelia, Cormag
As the group arrives in Neleras Peak, L'Arachel breaks it to Ephraim that Lyon
can't be saved in the condition he's in. But Ephraim won't have any of that,
though he's ready to bring peace to Lyon with his own hands. So anyway, in
preparing characters for this battle, bring the underleveled ones anyway, since
you can get a constant 50 EXP a number of times here, even if they're already
promoted. So, make yourself ready and do it.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 15 Gorgon x1 N/A
Lv. 6 Gorgon x1
Lv. 5 Gorgon x1
Lv. 17 Gargoyle x2
Lv. 16 Gargoyle x1
Lv. 16 Mogall x4
Egg x18
Let me explain something first of all. Eggs are scattered all throughout this
place, each with about 5 HP but they increase, and when they get to 20 or 25,
they'll turn into a Gorgon. Being that Gorgons are the strongest enemies around
this place, that's something you don't want to have happen. Not only that, but
when you get to an egg and destroy it, you'll always, always get a constant 50
EXP, no matter what your level is. If you're promoted though and the thing
hatches, you're definitely not going to get more than about 40 EXP for killing
it, so you might as well destroy the things when they're eggs. It's harder than
it sounds though, because the footing in this battle is ridiculously bad and
full of mountains that are hard to see and navigate your way around.
You'll want to bring a number of characters with good movement here. Tana and
Cormag, my main fliers, are pretty much the two best characters in the game for
this, though I'm not sure how much EXP they need. Cavaliers are great, as are
swordmasters and whatnot. Don't bother with Myrrh, you want more than 50 EXP at
a time for her. Also, be careful not to stand on the red volcanic areas, because
every turn spent there does 10 damage. Try and pass through them quickly by
standing right before them and then the next turn, making your way completely
through them. Another thing to watch out for are the Gorgons; kill them as fast
as possible, as they use Stone, which effectively immobilizes you for several
turns. Apart from that though, this battle is incredibly easy and just a
breather between Chapters 17 and 19. When you get to the boss...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gorgon | Gorgon | 15 | 44 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 10 | 19
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Gorgon is no stronger than any other Gorgon you've been fighting here,
hatched or no. Basically it's just got Stone, which is annoying, but it'll
also use Demon Surge which is legitimately slightly stronger than the other
Gorgons' attacks, but nothing special. Plus the thing with this Gorgon is,
it moves, and it'll come onto the volcanic layer of land and just get burnt
badly, taking 10 damage just like you if you lure it down there. Apart from
that, its defense is ridiculously bad, so it's not going to take too much to
just kill the damn thing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And I suppose that marks the end or close to the end of the joke of a battle
this was. Your main lord goes up to the top of the mountain to find Lyon there,
but let me suffice it to say, it doesn't end well. Anyway, the target is
Darkling Woods, where Lyon will be performing a ceremony, but L'Arachel says
that if everyone can get to Rausten and grab its Sacred Stone, there's still
hope alive in the air. If only. Well, might as well take her up on that offer
and head there next.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
IXd. Last Hope
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~ Difficulty: 4
~ My Party: Ephraim, Eirika, Franz, Moulder, Ross, Neimi, Artur, Lute, Joshua,
Forde, Tana, Gerik, Amelia, L'Arachel, Cormag, Rennac, Myrrh
What you are about to do is another arguable candidate for the hardest battle
in the game. I'm serious, it's another castle that's under the pitch black
night, with a difficult boss, half a billion reinforcements, and virtually all
promoted enemies. Before going in, make sure your equipment is up to date,
all your characters are ready (yes, up to seventeen of them), and that you
bring Rennac in here, with a Member Card and a Silver Card. That's all I'm
gonna say. Basically the group starts to camp out at Rausten, but the remaining
Grado general, Riev, decides to launch an attack.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 16 Bishop (Riev)
Lv. 6 Paladin x6
Lv. 6 Great Knight x6
Lv. 6 General x4
Lv. 6 Warrior x2
Lv. 6 Druid x1
Lv. 5 Warrior x13
Lv. 5 Ranger x6
Lv. 5 Hero x10
Lv. 5 Sniper x5
Lv. 5 Mage Knight x6
Lv. 5 Druid x2
Lv. 4 General x2
Lv. 4 Swordmaster x17
Lv. 18 Knight x2
Lv. 18 Myrmidon x2
Lv. 18 Mercenary x3
Lv. 18 Thief x3
Lv. 17 Fighter x2
Lv. 17 Archer x2
Your party will be automatically divided at first: you'll have thirteen
characters around the Pontifex Mansel, and four at the top, since there's a
whole different set of enemies coming from the northeast. Also, a lot of the
enemy list I have up there is reinforcements, though still. Would it have
KILLED Intelligent Systems to bring in a few less swordmasters? Let me start
by explaining some stuff though. You will be assisted by Mansel who does nothing
and you need to defend him, a General who also does nothing, and a bunch of
Knights who don't help much, except for thieves who come in later as some
reinforcements. That's about all they can help you for, you need to do all the
work yourself.
You can use no less than seventeen characters here, so make sure they're
positioned well. In particular, you want to bring Rennac here, and in thirteen
turns he needs to get to both the left and right sides of this castle and get
all the treasure. If you're curious, the left has a Runesword, a Fenrir tome,
and a Speedwing. The right has a Fortify staff, 5000G, and a Bolting tome. Also
to the right, at the end of the inverted 'L', there's a secret shop. You can
definitely go there with your Member Card and Silver Card if you want, but
personally I find there to be nothing interesting to me as all my characters
were promoted, and I had all the Barrier staves and Physic staves that I wanted.
But whatever floats your boat.
To the upper left, make sure you have three characters who are ready to take
down a shitload of Heroes. They can progress gradually as they go, but I also
had Amelia with Javelins, as well as Moulder with Shine, standing in the hall
right above the throne room, using their respective skills on the Snipers and
stuff from the northeast. Just a thought, not absolutely necessary. Aside from
that, you'll want to have a few characters making sure that every part of the
place is lit. I'll say it now: the only stuff that's to the east (not the
northeast or south) are druids, plus a couple thieves that come in later. On
the very last turns, however, four generals and four warriors will appear out
of there, so don't keep your focus there now. Just have your flier and Rennac
go there first, then make their way over to the left. YOUR FOCUS NEEDS TO BE ON
THE SOUTH.
I am absolutely serious when I say that the south where Riev is, is the place
where you'll see the most enemies, about fifty of which are reinforcements.
Riev doesn't move, it just comes down to promoted units coming from below him.
And you can end this battle whenever you want by just killing Riev, something
that Myrrh is quite capable of doing by herself, but why do that when you could
take a big risk but get a ton of EXP out of it? All the reinforcements at the
bottom are promoted, meaning lots of experience. I'd put your whole entire
army over in that general area, equip Myrrh with a Fili Shield so that the
Rangers don't get to her, and then she's invincible. Only have her attack if
she'll kill the enemy though. Meanwhile, the south is divided into two sections:
the bottom left and the bottom right. The bottom left is the dangerous one. All
you need is Tana or another strong lance user for the right, as it's just a
Great Knight here and there, with a bunch of swordmasters. They never once hit
my Tana, plus she just killed them in one hit. Being that there's one square of
passage to get in there, it's very convenient.
Meanwhile, the southwest should be defended well with everything you have.
Since the Mage Knights, Rangers, and Paladins all ride horses, weapons like the
Zanbato and Halberd are very effective. The character no one can do any damage
to, however, is Myrrh, as long as she has the Fili Shield equipped. As the
fight went on I just had her stand two spaces away from Myrrh while Ephraim
grabbed the bottom left corner, and they basically just slaughtered everything,
while whatever crept through to the upper right was slain by the rest of my
army. Make sure you're defended quite well after that, because at turn 9 all
of those reinforcements will stop coming, and instead you get generals and
warriors to the east. Nothing to worry about, that's just the calm after the
storm. Make sure Rennac and a flier are done (you can have a bishop use Rescue
on them if you need additional support), and then I guess you can tackle Riev.
LOW LEVEL STRATEGY: if you got screwed over in other battles, or went down
Eirika's path and thus don't have high enough levels to be as aggressive as my
strategy dictates, all hope is not lost. Just make sure you have enough stuff
pounding down on the northeast first of all, while if she's not built up yet,
Myrrh gets kills so that she can get to Level 6-9, or anything good enough so
that she can hold her own against Riev's ridiculously large army. Make sure she
has the Fili Shield, too, then with the help of your strongest characters
(Ephraim being a good example), stand back from the bottom and defend Mansel.
Make sure someone rescues Mansel, while Myrrh breaks through the defenses and
kills Riev as soon as possible. Everyone standing here, make sure they use the
Sacred Twins.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riev | Bishop | 16 | 49 | 14 | 21 | 19 | 9 | 16 | 18
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riev is goddamn annoying. He doesn't move, he just sits in one of the worst
squares imaginable, and when you get two squares away from him, he'll hit
you with Aura, a light based spell which does a lot of damage, plus he's got
a critical percentage in there. All I can really say is to FIRST get rid of
all the enemies around him, then when he's left standing, he should be easy
to pick off. To make stuff easier, have Myrrh stand two squares away so that
enemies are lured to her, but I guarantee she won't take any damage from
Riev's Aura, just don't stand one square away because she may critical him.
Riev is rather frail because of his defense, but if you want to have a magic
war with him using a sage, that'll certainly wither him down gradually. I
personally prefer to use a tank like Ephraim or Gerik, and if his critical
rate is low enough, just to smash him to death. I wouldn't even waste Myrrh's
Dragonstone on him, honestly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After that battle's over, Riev... escapes?! That's right, another enemy you got
to kill but he didn't die. Maybe because you didn't have to kill him anyway,
that might explain it. In any case, he'll drop the Aura, and then L'Arachel and
Mansel have a chat with you, but in short, you'll get the two Sacred Twins of
Rausten: the Ivaldi light tome, and the Latona staff. Not the most special
things you could have gotten, I know, in fact I prefer the Fortify staff that
Rennac hopefully got. You get 10,000 G for your troubles though.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
IXe. Darkling Woods
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 2
~ My Party: Ephraim, Eirika, Franz, Moulder, Ross, Neimi, Artur, Lute, Joshua,
Forde, Tana, Gerik, Amelia, Tethys, L'Arachel, Ewan, Cormag, Myrrh
I have to warn you before you step into the Black Temple. There is no break
between Chapter 20 and the Final Chapter, so when you get started, there's no
turning back. I would advise you stock up on stuff in Rausten, as it's just
about the best stuff you can get until the postgame. It has Killer weapons,
which are good enough for your purposes, plus there's Elixirs available, so
make yourself at home there. Something else to note: the Lagdou Ruins just
showed up, and that's basically a ten floor dungeon equivalent to the Tower of
Valni. Except it's much, much, MUCH harder and should be left to the postgame.
But enter if you dare to.
When you do enter the Black Temple, the game's last location, you'll see Lyon
and a dragon character near the temple. It sees that Lyon has regained his
consciousness, and he talks to the dragon whose name is Morva, and eventually
they fight. Turns out Morva is Myrrh's father, and that battle didn't end too
well. Not to mention that jackass Riev is back here, so this really is the close
to everything except Lyon. You get to use eighteen characters here, so take your
best and let's do it.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 18 Manakete (Morva) Lv. 5 Cyclops x6
Lv. 17 Bishop (Riev) Lv. 3 Deathgoyle x21
Lv. 7 Gorgon x2 Lv. 15 Mogall x12
Lv. 6 Cyclops x1
Lv. 6 Gorgon x1
Lv. 5 Arch Mogall x1
Lv. 4 Cyclops x2
Lv. 4 Maelduin x10
Lv. 3 Wight x22
Lv. 15 Gargoyle x4
Lv. 14 Mogall x2
I'll say one quick thing before we start the penultimate chapter of Sacred
Stones: bishops are your friend. Not only is their Lightning or Shine going to
be easily strong enough to double attack any of the monster enemies in this
chapter to nothingness, but Bishops have the Slayer ability which kills stuff
in one hit, so you honestly have no excuse not to use both Moulder and Artur,
since you can use eighteen freaking characters here anyway. Apart from that,
18 was a large enough number to throw in whomever I wanted into that mix,
easily. Trust me you're going to need that number, though. As you progress to
the northwest, you will see all of the undead beasts you ever wanted to see in
your lifetime, coupled with about four trillion reinforcements on top of
that.
Head up the path right in front of you, killing whatever comes your way, until
the path splits into two. The northern path obviously is the one that leads
over the mountains and stuff, to where Riev and Morva are. The southern path,
however, leads to thickets and forests that can't be crossed. However, a bunch
of gargoyles and eyeballs will pop up there, so sending a character or two, one
being a flier, down there wouldn't be an altogether terrible idea. Thankfully,
since the terrain to the north wasn't as big a pain in the ass as it was in
Chapter 18, the gorgons aren't that bad, plus getting one out of eighteen
characters petrified obviously isn't a big deal. As you keep going, send another
flier to the northwest mountains, as approximately two billion gargoyles will
appear there. Meanwhile the rest of your army can go south, and guess what,
Riev will actually attack you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riev | Bishop | 17 | 49 | 14 | 21 | 19 | 9 | 16 | 18
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riev is still rather annoying, but you may notice that despite being one
level higher, his stats are exactly the same. Guess he just got RNG screwed
earlier, eh? The only difference in him now is that he can actually move,
and as soon as he comes into your range he'll move over and shoot you up with
Aura. You would think Aura was some kind of drug by the way I worded that,
but no, it's something that just like before does lots of damage and has a
critical rate that makes me nervous (8-12%...). If you can survive him hitting
you a time or two, notice that he's just as frail as he was in Chapter 19,
and if you want to use Myrrh against him, you're more than welcome, she can
kill him in about one hit, as can anyone with Sacred Twins.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Odds are you killed Riev before you even got started on Morva. However, if you
love to do things in a weird order and thus killed Morva before Riev, Riev will
move over to the temple and sit there not moving, just to make sure you don't
seize the gate. So at this point, you're probably still moving south. Make sure
someone goes to the west and takes care of the annoying Arch Mogall there, and
at that point, some characters can probably go even further down to help the
flier or whatever take out the gargoyles and wights that are probably left at
the bottom. Eventually though, you have to deal with Morva.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / STR / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morva | Manakete | 18 | 62 | 26 | 20 | 13 | 7 | 24 | 18
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Surely you were expecting a boss equivalent to Myrrh sometime. And sure
enough, her father Morva comes across as a boss that requires every last
thing you've got. His attack, the Wretched Air, is furious, does ridiculous
sums of damage, has a rather nasty rate of a critical hit, and on top of that
has a long range. So like many other bosses, you have a number of ways to
fight him. What really worked for me was having Neimi equipped with a Longbow
standing right above the gate, pelting Morva with arrows. Since Morva is
naturally weak against arrows you should be able to do a little damage, and
gradually he'll get to a point when Myrrh can just go up to him, and without
any chance of failing, just hit Morva and kill him in one hit. Take note that
Myrrh and Morva are both weak against each other as they're monsters, which
is your advantage, really. Also, since Morva is a monster, Sacred Twins will
rip the life out of him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now that all of the main enemies are taken care of, there's probably about
nine million reinforcements left, so make sure you handle them if you want the
EXP. Just make sure you're not using the Sacred Twins for fluff like this
though, especially if you plan on going through the Tower of Valni and the
Lagdou Ruins in the post game. Now is an excellent opportunity to have your
characters support one another, since you get a hell of a lot of combinations in
eighteen characters. When you're done though, seize the Black Temple gate.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
IXf. Sacred Stone
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
~ Difficulty: 2
~ My Party: Ephraim, Eirika, Ross, Neimi, Artur, Lute, Joshua, Forde, Gerik,
Amelia, Cormag, Myrrh
What more of a climactic title could they have picked for the final battle
than Sacred Stone? Seriously, it's pretty epic, isn't it. Anyway, there's no
resting time in between Darkling Woods and the Black Temple, as soon as you
seize the gate you'll see a flashback of Lyon and Vigarde, and then the final
battle is on.
===============================================================================
Enemies: Reinforcements:
--------- ----------------
Lv. 18 Necromancer (Lyon) Lv. 6 Deathgoyle x4
Lv. 10 Draco Zombie x2 Lv. 6 Wight x2
Lv. 8 Gorgon x3 Lv. 6 Arch Mogall x5
Lv. 8 Maelduin x1 Lv. 5 Wight x2
Lv. 8 Gwyllgi x1 Lv. 4 Wight x2
Lv. 7 Gorgon x5
Lv. 7 Elder Bael x1
Lv. 6 Wight x3
Lv. 5 Wight x16
Lv. 5 Elder Bael x2
Lv. 5 Gwyllgi x1
Let's start the final battle by recommending a party, aight? First of all, you
need to use both Ephraim and Eirika but I can't fathom why you wouldn't want to
use them. You'll want characters who are good with swords, lances, and axes,
plus having Neimi in there would be good too. I only brought one flier though,
since that battle isn't highly demanding of them. Myrrh is a complete and an
absolute necessity, and as for magic, you definitely want at least one bishop.
I brought a sage instead of a second bishop just because Lute had Bolting, but
whatever floats your boat. And you may also question whether you want to use
Rennac, as there are two doors and two chests here. The left chest contains a
Master Seal, and the right one has an Angelic Robe. A monster to the left drops
a Chest Key, plus two monsters drop Door Keys, so personally I had no desire
whatsoever to get the Master Seal, but you can make arrangements for the Angelic
Robe. Once again, your choice.
This battle is another one against monsters. Makes me wish I was still playing
Fire Emblem 7 where it's all humans, since I like fighting humans more, but okay
I'm just rambling. Your first task is to evenly divide your characters along the
two paths here, and since they're just about equal, take a mix of everything.
To the west I sent Ephraim, Cormag, Neimi, Lute, Gerik, and Amelia, and to the
east I sent Eirika, Myrrh, Joshua, Ross, Forde, and Artur. I think that setup
in perfection, but whatever, maybe I'm deluded. Make sure everyone's equipped
with Iron and Steel weapons, because what comes at you will be weak as hell.
That being said, three of the enemies here, Lyon being one of them, are godlike
beings so make sure you have a Sacred Twin or two on you anyway.
With that, have your two parties head onward, and the Wights in the way will,
being the morons they are, just charge right at you. Just slaughter them with
whomever happens to be leading your group. You'll end up with a Door Key and a
Chest Key, so use those as you wish. The two teams, eventually, will each end
up having to fight a Draco Zombie. These monsters are the strongest in the
entire game, and they're easily on the level of Myrrh or Morva. My suggestion
would be to have Ephraim lead one group while Myrrh (or Eirika if she's strong
enough, which for me her strength and defense say otherwise) leads another,
and make sure they have the Siegmund and Dragonstone equipped respectively.
Then get them within the Draco Zombie range or just have them charge if you
want, and hopefully before too much damage gets done to you, you can critical
them to death. If not, well, good luck, they're strong as hell.
If you can get past that, good, you have another thing to worry about though:
Lyon is surrounded by six Gorgons. Two of them (the ones at the bottom to be
exact) aren't a threat, but the four at the top use Shadowshot, a rather
dangerous spell that hits at a long range. I can give no better advice than to
have some characters with high resistance head down the left and right paths,
take out what's there, and then close in on them from the sides. If you have a
sage or bishop with Bolting or Purge, those will help immensely. Thankfully,
Lyon won't move, plus the Gorgons usually miss, but it's still something to
watch out for, and you still need to keep an eye on your HP. Another thing to
note is that when you get on the stairs, a bunch of weak skeletons come from
the north, so you want to use weaker weapons to take them out, if you even
choose to at all. Your main target is Lyon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyon | Necromancer | 18 | 73 | 29 | 19 | 15 | 9 | 26 | 29
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How Lyon's stats rose that dramatically in a course of four levels, I have
no idea. That, and he's equipped with an incredibly powerful dark tome
called the Naglfar, and though thankfully Lyon's speed is rather bad and he
isn't going to double attack anything, one hit of his Naglfar is absolutely
and utterly devastating. And since Lyon has no less than 73 HP, I can't
recommend using anything but Sacred Twins, and the Dragonstone of course.
Myrrh has incredible resistance so her attacks are awesome. Tana with the
Vidofnir is amazing, Ephraim with the Siegmund is always a classic, and even
though Ross has pretty bad resistance usually, him attacking with the Garm
is a bloodbath. If you must draw the fight out more than one turn, make
sure Moulder or whomever your bishop is uses Physic, Mend, Fortify, or
whatever, because you're going to need. Lyon will eventually fall though.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You didn't think that it was going to before at that point, did you? Nah, you
may have beaten the Demon King while it was possessing Lyon's body, but you
still need to kill the actual thing. Lyon pretty much just burns out at that
point, and you'll be in a whole different stage, with the Demon King Fomortiis
in front of you. This is the true final boss.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss / Class / LV / HP / MAG / SKL / SPD / LCK / DEF / RES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fomortiis | Demon King | 20 | 120 | 33 | 30 | 18 | 20 | 35 | 40
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is it, the final boss of Sacred Stones. Your enemy is the acclaimed
Demon King Fomortiis. It has three attacks: Demon Light, Ravager, and
Nightmare. Demon Light is its main attack, and it's a freaking dangerous
attack, and while Fomortiis is barely faster than Lyon and will thus almost
never double attack, one hit of that will do about 35 damage on average...
not good. I have never seen Ravager, but if I had to guess I'd say it's a
stronger version of Demon Light. Nightmare is what happens if you gather a
huge number of characters right outside him: he'll put everything anywhere
near him to sleep. Of course it has a small chance of failure, but with
magic and luck that high, I wouldn't count on it. So basically, your first
duty at hand is to stay out of his range. The first thing he'll do is summon
a lot of monsters.
The monsters that Fomortiis actually does summon are completely random, so
I can't tell you whether you want to fight them, or just charge ahead and
do battle. Once again, I will tell you that Fomortiis moves, and if you get
in his range that could spell disaster for your party. I will give one quick
recommendation: if you have a Shaman, Druid, or Summoner that can use
Eclipse, definitely take a chance and use it, because that will do 60 damage
to Fomortiis right off the bat as it reduces HP by half. If not though, then
I guess you have to settle for the Sacred Twins. If you move everyone up
initially, just not in the Demon King's range, then you should be set up
well enough to hit him. The Siegmund, Vidofnir, Ivaldi, Dragonstone... all of
those are fair game. Personally, I would just try to finish this battle on
the second turn if at all possible, but if you can't do that, make sure that
you have fliers or long ranged characters rescue your attackers, since they
won't survive between Fomortiis and all the monster reinforcements. So, play
this one by ear. You know which characters of yours kick ass. If you have an
amazing Ross though, I will say go for that. Whatever the case, you can win.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supposing you managed to kill the Demon King Fomortiis, congratulations, you
have just beaten Sacred Stones. Enjoy the ending that follows as well as the
rather long but quite decent epilogue, and now you're left with a choice. You
can go to the extras and click on Map on the file you just used to complete
the game and enter the Creature Campaign... or you can be done with the game
forever and never touch it again. You make the call.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
~-~ ~-~ ~-~ X. Creature Campaign ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Alright so if you're wondering what the Creature Campaign is, it's basically
everything that happens after the main story. You have two things to do: the
Tower of Valni and the Lagdou Ruins. To get into it, go to the Map option in
the extras section of the title screen, then click on your epilogue. You'll be
back on the world map, exactly as you left off after killing the Demon King.
My first suggestion would be to go to the secret shop in Rausten. That's all
I'm gonna say. The Tower of Valni is a pushover and I'd recommend having lots
of iron and steel weapons so that you don't use up all your good stuff, but the
Lagdou Ruins are hard as hell. Treat that as you will.
~- Xa. Tower of Valni ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
So you're planning on entering the Tower of Valni. It's first available after
Chapter 8, though the whole thing isn't completely unlocked until somewhere
around Chapter 16, if I'm not mistaken. Regardless, I wouldn't enter it until
the Creature Campaign, just so you can get the secret characters. The actual
Tower of Valni is not hard in the slightest.
================
TOWER OF VALNI 1
================
This battle really is a joke, and it serves as something you can do after
Chapter 8 in the main story to level up some characters that need the extra
help. Being fair, it actually is quite helpful for that, and I use it a lot to
get Amelia and Ewan up to the rest of the party's level. You start in the south
side of a small room with two crevices on either side, and where six of the
easy ass skeletons will immediately await you. Of course I can't give too
specific of a strategy because the actual enemies are randomized, but I assure
you there is no setup here that can make this battle difficult. The key point
is that the boss here is Entombed, which is a special enemy that gives tons and
tons of EXP. Just breeze through this battle with your iron weapons.
================
TOWER OF VALNI 2
================
You're in for a battle that is no harder than the last one. In fact, it's much
more of a waste of time since the boss here doesn't give special amounts of
EXP. Your layout here is one large room where you start off on, and there's a
few easy enemies lying about. To speed this battle up, I would leave about two
characters right at the entrance, while you send the rest of your characters up
the hall on the eastern side of the room. Reason being, when you step into that
hall, four reinforcements will show up from the west. Since you need to rout
all the enemies to clear the battle, that'll definitely speed stuff up a bit.
After that, you'll reach the northern part of the room, and there's nothing
challenging at that point.
================
TOWER OF VALNI 3
================
This time around you'll start from the eastern side of the room, while
everything else is to your west, plus there's a staircase up the middle,
containing a treasure chest and a few other measly enemies. Remember to keep
your iron and steel weapons equipped, because you don't want to waste brave and
silver weapons, let alone Sacred Twins, on all this crap. Keep everyone together
as you beat everything up, then when you get to the staircase, send a couple
characters up there. I wouldn't even bother bringing Colm or Rennac here, since
the treasure chest doesn't contain anything special anyway. The boss is as easy
as any of the others. Lay it to waste and move on. After this floor you can use
Caellach in battle, which is a nice surprise, since he's better than half of the
other secret characters, plus you get an extra Hoplon Guard out of it.
================
TOWER OF VALNI 4
================
The layout of this battle is a little strange, because you have two floors going
on, three of the characters starting at the top while five are at the bottom.
Well, it doesn't matter much, since everything is essentially lined up, though
I would put one strong-ish character with the upper group so that they can enter
the top room where the boss is. The only challenging thing here is the boss, in
that it's one of the wolf enemies which has fairly high avoid. That's only
annoying though. Just split the bottom group up well so that they can clear out
everything that's on their upcoming paths. Not much else to say.
================
TOWER OF VALNI 5
================
This battle is long and annoying. Not hard at all, just more of a pain in the
ass. The thing is, you start in the middle of a huge room with tons of stuff in
walls around you, but there's over forty enemies to kill, plus a couple dozen
reinforcements. There's also two bosses, one at the bottom left and one at the
upper right, and they also both drop chest keys. Honestly I would just save them
up and ignore the two chests in here, since the items in them are very mediocre
and commonplace. But in any case, split your party into two groups, one for the
top and one for the bottom, and make sure you load up on the areas where the
reinforcements come in, and don't waste any time. Rout all the enemies as
quickly as possible to save yourself time, and just move on.
================
TOWER OF VALNI 6
================
Finally, a slightly interesting looking place. The sixth ascent of the Tower of
Valni is a complete maze, and it's full of walls that have 50 HP and need to be
broken down by force. I personally find it easier to just wait and have the
monsters here who are equally bloodthirsty, just smash the walls themselves,
but to each his own. Once again, you only have eight characters at your disposal
but that doesn't matter. I would split them into two groups, one for the north
and one for the west, since while those paths will meet up in the end, they have
about the same number of enemies on them. To the north are a bunch of treasure
chests, but I never bother opening them. Nothing special in them except maybe a
few thousand gold at best. Complicated layout, but a very simple and easy battle
like all the others. Your reward after this is Orson, who really sucks. At least
it's a free Runesword.
================
TOWER OF VALNI 7
================
Alright, you thought last battle's layout was interesting? Get a load of the
seventh ascent of the Tower of Valni. Basically, this floor is a whole set of
platforms. You need to clear out all the enemies on the platform you're on
before a path appears to give you a way to the next platform. I mean, this just
makes things even simpler and easier than they were before, but that's what we
like, right? This floor is even easier than the last few. The same procedure as
always applies: equip your iron weapons, move from one platform to another, but
when you get to the second or so, leave a character or two behind, because for
the next couple turns, two gargoyles will appear. Not hard, just something out
there. Meanwhile, you'll end up fighting a deathgoyle as your boss, which is
ridiculously easy. After this you'll get Riev, who is a surprisingly good
character. Plus he comes with an Aura, a Purge, AND a Blue Gem. I like this guy!
================
TOWER OF VALNI 8
================
This is the first potentially dangerous thing you'll run into in the Creature
Campaign. And on the very top of the Tower of Valni, no less. The reason being
that on the very top of the level is a Gorgon using Shadowshot at anyone that
dares get within its extremely long range, but I say that in honor getting Riev
last battle, who comes with Purge, bring any bishop into this battle and just
use Purge on that thing. It'll easily die in one hit, and after that, the rest
of this battle shouldn't be too hard. That being said, this battle has a lot
harder enemies than you've seen in previous battles. An example being that this
place is full of cyclopses. As for your boss, it's basically a glorified cyclops
which has a ton of HP, and you'll want to have some strong swords pounding down
on it, but it drops an Angelic Robe. A fairly decent reward to close up a fairly
easy set of eight battles. That, and next time you enter a battle you'll get
Ismaire in battle, who is a swordmaster inferior to Joshua and probably Marisa
too, but she comes with a Wind Sword, which is neat.
~- Xb. Lagdou Ruins ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
So you're thinking of entering the Lagdou Ruins? First thing I need to do out of
sheer decency is to discourage you from it. The place is hard as hell, and yeah
sure, the first few battles are quite easy. The last few battles are incredibly
hard, and the final battle of it is one of the most difficult experiences you
will ever endure. Make sure everyone has both iron and silver weapons so that
you're ready for any kind of experience, and check out the secret shop(s) in
their entirety. If you really think you're ready, enter the Lagdou Ruins.
==============
LAGDOU RUINS 1
==============
The first floor of the Lagdou Ruins isn't bad at all, but it's at a much higher
level than the Tower of Valni. Rather than having a bunch of unpromoted units
that don't give any experience at all, almost everything in the first floor of
the Lagdou Ruins is promoted, although they're for the most part equipped with
pretty crappy weapons, so they're not incredibly dangerous. Plus they give a
lot of EXP, so keep that in mind when making your party here. I certainly
wouldn't bring in a whole lot of weak characters and expect them to get through
this place, but if you keep everyone together, almost everything here will just
charge at you and just let you soak up experience. Not bad yet, but you're
about to see much worse.
==============
LAGDOU RUINS 2
==============
You start on the west side of a massive room, waiting for a ton of enemies to
come at you. Honestly, almost everything here will just come straight at you
so I'd just suggest staying where you are for a few turns and letting the
initial onslaught come straight at you. The reason being, if you go further
right at the beginning, soon you'll have to split your group among the paths
that'll come up, and it's hard to tell half to go one way and another half to
go another way. I'll say this though: towards the southeast of this place are
a whole bunch of cyclopses, and they're by far the strongest enemies here, both
in strength and in terms of HP. I'd say this is definitely the first time in
which you'll want to have strong weapons ready, because otherwise you're in for
a long and rather risky fight.
==============
LAGDOU RUINS 3
==============
I'd say the third floor of the Lagdou Ruins is roughly about the same
difficulty as the last two battles, even though at first glance it looks quite
a bit easier. All it is at first is a couple enemies to the east of where you
enter, plus a few in front of you. This place is completely lined up with
Gorgons, and while thankfully none of them have that god awful Shadowshot
attack, they all have Stone. Getting petrified is one of the most annoying
things you'll ever see, and I'd definitely bring a bishop with Restore here,
while keeping the bishop as safe as you can. Actually, speaking of bishops, I'd
have said bishop equipped with Purge as well, so that you can at least kill a
couple of them right off the bat. When you get to the northern part, make sure
you bring a large number of units to bear down on the two doors on either side,
since a lot of the monsters that come out are strong, and have nasty weapons.
Good luck, it's quite a battle.
==============
LAGDOU RUINS 4
==============
After the last three rather challenging battles, the fourth battle of the Lagdou
Ruins is a nice breath of fresh air. Well actually, not so much of fresh air,
this is a maze that puts Tower of Valni 6 to shame. This one isn't so much of a
straight path though; think of Lagdou Ruins 4 has one absolutely massive room
with a whole bunch of walls. Nearly every one of these walls has cracks in them
so you can break through. Except getting through this room in its entirety will
take an extremely long time, since once again, the goal is to rout all of the
enemies out, so you'll need to break nearly all of them. Since you only get one
attack without Brave weapons, and they have 50 HP, I'd have several breaking one
down at a time, and then move on. Fortunately, the enemies here aren't nearly as
strong as they were last battle. Also note some thieves come in, but just ignore
them. The treasure here is crap anyway.
==============
LAGDOU RUINS 5
==============
The fifth floor of the Lagdou Ruins is pretty damn hard. The first thing I'll
say is that you want to load up on weapons like the Halberd, Zanbato, and the
Horseslayer, because this place is littered with Maelduins, which count as
mounted units. Speaking of which, this place is almost all Elder Baels,
Maelduins, and Cyclopses, the three units which have the most HP out of all.
But that's not even the main problem: don't take anything for granted here.
Check the weapons everyone has equipped, because any second you may leave a
strong flier somewhere, then a Maelduin with a Killer Bow will strike him down
in one hit. I speak from experience. That, and don't stand three or less
squares in front of the traps in the wall here, or you'll get poisoned. See how
frustrating this battle is yet? Either way, split your group into two, one for
the north and one for the east, and they'll meet up in the end. Hard battle, but
winnable. Your rewards for winning are Cormag's brother Glen, and King Hayden,
who you can now use. Hey, they come with a Blue Gem and a White Gem.
==============
LAGDOU RUINS 6
==============
A slightly less overwhelming battle, Lagdou Ruins 6 is a piece of cake compared
to the last one. Your party will split into three this time around: one group
in the center, and two to the bottom on either side of a wall that can't be
broken. The stuff you'll face on either side are about equal, though I'll say
this: don't bring fliers down the eastern path, plus if you want to use Purge
again, there's an eye monster down the western path that uses Shadowshot, so
that pretty much calls for long distance obliteration. The center however is
pretty much just Elder Baels, so I'd bring characters like Ross who can hit like
a truck without trying, just to dispose of that big mess quickly. That's all
that can be said; there's not as many nasty tricks here as in the last battle,
so just don't do anything reckless, and eventually the three parties will unite
at the end. Keep an eye on the northern reinforcements, that's all.
==============
LAGDOU RUINS 7
==============
These places in the Lagdou Ruins just get to looking weirder and weirder, don't
they. The seventh floor of the Lagdou Ruins is an area based on water, and
your characters are all completely spread out throughout it. All the same, this
is quite an easy battle, and not nearly as bad as you might expect. Once again
there's no big obstacles and tricks that'll come out here like there was in
the fifth floor, this one is just smooth sailing, and even though your party is
all spread out, that's fine; they'll be strong enough on their own to handle
the enemies that come into their way. Probably the hardest part of this place
is the southeast area near the boss, just because that place has a lot more
monsters than any other, so I'd make sure you have a number of characters down
there before breaking down the wall. Also, try to leave a character or two
standing by each of the stairs here. Reinforcements just love to show up. For
your troubles, your reward for this battle is Valter, who kind of sucks. Oh,
and the boss drops a Black Gem. Don't see too many of those in this game.
==============
LAGDOU RUINS 8
==============
Basically Lagdou Ruins 7, except a hundred times more complicated, harder, and
more frustrating. This is the point in which you pick the best characters you
have at your disposal, regardless of whether they need EXP or not. Hell, your
best characters might very well all be at Level 20 promoted already... that's
perfectly fine. Basically what's up with this level, is that it's a series of
islands, while the whole rest of the level is water. Bridges will spontaneously
appear and disappear connecting the islands, but for the most part, you'll be
waiting for the bridges to appear to move on, and obviously most of the enemies
here are eyeballs and deathgoyles which can fly. Counter with the same: you'll
want Tana, Cormag, and possibly Glen if you want to go that far, not to mention
if you made Ross a Berserker, DEFINITELY bring him here, since he can wade
water. Keep your group together, don't split them up too much, make sure that
you can always heal. And concentrate on the eyeballs, their magic is evil. Use
fliers to ensure your safety. From there, I wish you the best of luck.
==============
LAGDOU RUINS 9
==============
You're in for one bloodbath with Lagdou Ruins 9, let me tell you. Even the
background suggests that; how did it go from those water areas to being a
volcano? Oh well, I digress. Actually, this battle is much simpler and more
straightforward than the last two, but it's very rough. If any battle called for
using Purge and Bolting, it's this one; there's about six eyeball monsters here
that will hit you with their damn Shadowshots, and those are at their worst
ever here. You don't want to die now, one floor away from the end. This level,
however, is absolutely littered with traps, and if you look closely at the
ground you'll see that some patches are orange, and those will burn you for 10
damage. Then again, enemies will take tons of damage from that, so I'm not
complaining. You should be in good shape if you can take care of the eyeballs
early. It's time to bust out some Sacred Twins, kick ass, and take names. Plus
there's not even that many reinforcements, so just avoid the traps and go on to
the final floor.
===============
LAGDOU RUINS 10
===============
Okay, here's the ultimate challenge in Sacred Stones. Your enemy is no more,
no less than ten Draco Zombies. If you don't remember, those are the godlike
beings who can do 30+ damage a hit, are fast and furious, relatively accurate,
and if you put ten of them together, you're in for a damn hard battle. This is
definitely winnable, however. Bring all your characters with their Sacred Twins,
and make sure everyone is Level 20. The only real essential is a bishop or two.
I found that actually, Aura does more damage than Ivaldi, but that's beside the
point. Looking at the setup, you'll notice the boss is at the northern end, and
thankfully, he doesn't move. The dragons all have incredibly good range and will
take use of that whenever possible, except for the boss. That means four dragons
to the north, five dragons to the south. Meaning the north is naturally safer.
In setting up your formation here, make sure your toughest characters, such as
Ross and Artur (or whomever your bishop is) are at the top. And with that,
immediately head forward and try to take the four dragon zombies out before the
turn ends, just to minimize casualties. Another amazing character to use is
Neimi, though if she's a Ranger, obviously put her to the back so that she can
get in there and wreak havoc with the Nidhogg. Another thing that's HIGHLY
recommended is to have another bishop with Purge. That does incredible damage
to the dragons with no risk at all, so definitely consider that. You SHOULD be
strong enough to be able to double attack each dragon to death, just ignore the
boss at the top, and don't get within two squares of him, or he'll hurt you
really badly.
Supposing you can do that, you're already almost guaranteed a victory in this
battle. The next objective at hand is the boss. You can easily just heal your
party (a Fortify staff or the Latona is quickest), and then have as many
characters as needed just pound down on the boss. Shouldn't be too difficult.
At this point, five dragons should remain, but this is the easiest part. You
need someone who can survive a hit of the Draco Zombie, preferably someone who
has a long ranged Sacred Twin (Nidhogg, Excalibur, Gleipnir, Ivaldi), to get in
the very end of the Draco Zombie's range, and lure it in. Then it will approach,
except it'll be extremely far from the rest of its buddies, so they can't come
in for support. With that, round the dragon up and slaughter it. From there,
repeat this process four times, healing yourself up as necessary. Just make
absolutely sure that Eirika or Ephraim don't die, because if your lord dies,
the game is over, period, and you have to start all the way back from the first
floor. Good luck. Your reward is, when you load the next battle, King Fado. He's
incredibly average, but oh well, now you have the bragging rights. Plus if you
beat the Lagdou Ruins THREE times, you can use Lyon. To hell if I'm gonna do
that, though. =P
~- Xc. Secret Characters ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
I thought the secret characters in the game you get from the Tower of Valni and
the Lagdou Ruins deserved a special section for me to rant about them, so here
you go.
Caellach
---------
Caellach, one of the three evil generals of Grado, is... a rather decent
character, I suppose. He's unlocked by clearing three floors of the Tower of
Valni, and he of course comes with the equipment that he did in Scorched Sand.
He's great with axes, has fairly decent stats all round except his speed is
fairly lacking, but the main selling point is that he comes with a second
Hoplon Guard. So yeah, he's not bad by any means, but Gerik is far, far better.
Just better all around stats, really.
Orson
------
If you don't remember Orson, he was the guy who betrayed Renais out of his
obsession with his wife. He's unlocked by clearing six floors of the Tower of
Valni, but he sucks ass. No, seriously, he comes with a Runesword and a Silver
Lance which are rather nice, plus a Red Gem which of course means more money,
but his level is far too high for his mediocre stats, all of which are just
that, mediocre. Save his equipment, that's it.
Riev
-----
Riev, one of the three evil generals of Grado, is in my opinion by far the
best of all the secret characters. He comes from beating the seventh floor of
the Tower of Valni, and your hard work actually pays off. He's equipped with
an Aura and Purge tomes, two things in which it really helps to get an extra of
each. That, and a Blue Gem, but either way, if a bishop of yours is dead, Riev
will definitely make up for that, since while his magic is far weaker than
Natasha's or Artur's, his defense and HP are fantastic. Plus if you're just
using him in Valni/Lagdou, he has Slayer anyway, so the magic isn't important.
He's the only one I'd consider using on a consistent basis.
Ismaire
--------
You don't even know Ismaire if you're on Ephraim's route, so basically, she's
the queen of Jehanna -- the queen of white dunes. Like her son Joshua, she's
a swordmaster, except her son is far, far stronger than she is (you would hope,
right?). Ismaire's HP and defense are absolutely terrible, her strength isn't
anything special, but she does have skill and speed. But what does that matter
when her most important stats are bad? She just doesn't work; take her great
Wind Sword and sell the Master Seal, then forget about her.
Selena
-------
Selena, the Fluorspar, one of the only decent generals in the Grado army, is
unlocked by clearing the Tower of Valni three times. Yeah, seriously, what the
hell is up with that. It'd be one thing if she was any good, but she's not. Her
magic stat is very weak, her speed is average I suppose, everything else is
mediocre at best, and she'll just get killed in no time. She comes with a
Bolting which I suppose fits her well, but seriously, forget that Selena even
exists.
Hayden
-------
Hayden is the king of Frelia, and he's unlocked by clearing the fifth floor of
the Lagdou Ruins. In battle, he's a Ranger, and he's absolutely nothing special
at all. His HP is mediocre, his strength is good, skill is low, and his defense
and resistance just aren't good enough for him to stand up to what's down in
there, sorry. Plus his speed sucks too. He's not bad I guess, plus he comes with
a White Gem, but Neimi beats him in about every single category.
Glen
-----
Glen, the Sunstone, one of the decent generals in Grado's army, is unlocked
alongside Hayden when you clear out the fifth floor of the Lagdou Ruins. And
alongside Riev, he's one of the only secret characters even remotely worth
using. His strength is very solid, his defense is great, it's just his speed is
quite weak, and he has almost no resistance to speak of, which is a seriously
bad point in the Lagdou Ruins, but if you hate Cormag for some reason, I suppose
he's not a terrible substitute.
Valter
-------
Valter, the Moonstone, possibly the most evil general in Grado's whole army,
is unlocked when you clear out the seventh floor of the Lagdou Ruins. And he
blows ass. One of the worst secret characters in the game (and that's saying
something...), his HP is average, his strength and skill are nothing special,
same with speed, his luck is the worst in the entire game, and his defense is
weak. While he comes with a Spear, which you can never have enough of, plus a
Fili Shield which is great for your good fliers, the character is awful.
Fado
-----
Fado was the king of Renais, at least until Grado invaded, and of course the
father of Ephraim and Eirika. Turns out his children highly surpassed him
though (wow what a surprise...) because as a General, his HP isn't great,
neither is his strength, and while his defense is nice, all of his other stats
blow unless you use Energy Rings and whatnot on him, but when it comes down to
that, just use Amelia, and take Fado's Master Seal to sell it for cheap. He's
unlocked by clearing the Lagdou Ruins altogether.
Lyon
-----
Lyon needs no introduction. He's the game's primary villain, completely driven
mad by the Dark Stone. It takes a LOT of work to unlock him (clear the Lagdou
Ruins three freaking times...), but when you do, he's... alright. He comes with
the Naglfar tome, which is by far the best dark tome in the game aside from its
weight, not to mention the only way to obtain it, but his stats are a little on
the weak side, especially his horrible speed. Then again, the Necromancer is a
tremendous class, so give him Body Rings and Speedwings, and he will absolutely
dominate anything with the Naglfar. Plus he can summon phantoms, which is good
too I guess, but come on. Beating the Lagdou Ruins three times? Seriously.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
~-~ ~-~ ~-~ XI. Items ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
And by items, I extend that definition to include weapons, magic, and those
regular items that you use in your every day Sacred Stones life. Okay, that
made no sense, but whatever. You get my drift, right?
~- XIa. Weapons ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Pretty self-explanatory. I don't need to tell you that swords beat axes, lances
beat swords, and axes beat lances, right? Also, a star means it doesn't have a
weapon level. Just clarifying.
---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+
Name | LVL | DUR | MT | HT | CR | WT | RNG | COST | SPECIAL |
---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+
Iron Sword | E | 46 | 5 | 90 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 460 | None |
Slim Sword | E | 30 | 3 | 00 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 480 | None |
Steel Sword | D | 30 | 8 | 75 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 600 | None |
Armorslayer | D | 18 | 8 | 80 | 0 | 11 | 1 | None | Knights |
Iron Blade | D | 35 | 9 | 70 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 980 | None |
Zanbato | D | 18 | 6 | 85 | 0 | 11 | 1 | None | Horses |
Poison Sword | D | 40 | 3 | 70 | 0 | 6 | 1 | None | +Poison |
Shamshir | D | 20 | 8 | 75 | 35 | 5 | 1 | None | None |
Killing Edge | C | 20 | 9 | 75 | 30 | 7 | 1 | 1300 | None |
Lancereaver | C | 15 | 9 | 75 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 1800 | Lances |
Steel Blade | C | 25 | 11 | 65 | 0 | 14 | 1 | None | None |
Wyrmslayer | C | 30 | 8 | 75 | 0 | 5 | 1 | None | Wyverns |
Light Brand | B | 25 | 9 | 70 | 0 | 9 | 1-2 | None | Light |
Wind Sword | B | 40 | 9 | 70 | 0 | 9 | 1-2 | None | Anima |
Brave Sword | B | 30 | 9 | 75 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 7500 | x2 Attack |
Silver Sword | A | 25 | 13 | 80 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 1500 | None |
Silver Blade | A | 15 | 14 | 60 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 1800 | None |
Runesword | A | 15 | 11 | 65 | 0 | 11 | 1-2 | None | Nosferatu |
Audhulma | S | 30 | 18 | 85 | 0 | 9 | 1 | None | Res + 5 |
Rapier | * | 40 | 7 | 95 | 10 | 5 | 1 | None | Infantry |
Sieglinde | * | 30 | 16 | 90 | 0 | 9 | 1 | None | Str + 5 |
| | | | | | | | | |
Iron Lance | E | 45 | 7 | 80 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 360 | None |
Slim Lance | E | 30 | 4 | 85 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 420 | None |
Javelin | E | 20 | 6 | 65 | 0 | 11 | 1-2 | 400 | None |
Toxin Lance | E | 40 | 4 | 65 | 0 | 8 | 1 | None | +Poison |
Steel Lance | D | 30 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 480 | None |
Horseslayer | D | 16 | 7 | 70 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 1040 | Horses |
Short Spear | C | 18 | 9 | 60 | 0 | 12 | 1-2 | 900 | None |
Killer Lance | C | 20 | 10 | 70 | 30 | 9 | 1 | 1200 | None |
Axereaver | C | 15 | 10 | 70 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 1950 | Axes |
Dragonspear | C | 30 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 4500 | Wyverns |
Heavy Spear | C | 16 | 9 | 70 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 1200 | Knights |
Brave Lance | B | 30 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 7500 | x2 Attack |
Spear | B | 15 | 12 | 70 | 5 | 10 | 1-2 | 9000 | None |
Silver Lance | A | 20 | 14 | 75 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 1200 | None |
Vidofnir | S | 30 | 15 | 85 | 0 | 11 | 1 | None | Def + 5, monsts.|
Reginleif | * | 45 | 10 | 80 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 7200 | Infantry |
Siegmund | * | 30 | 17 | 80 | 0 | 11 | 1 | None | Str + 5, monsts.|
| | | | | | | | | |
Iron Axe | E | 45 | 8 | 75 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 270 | None |
Steel Axe | E | 30 | 11 | 65 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 360 | None |
Devil Axe | E | 20 | 18 | 55 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 880 | Can damage self |
Hand Axe | E | 20 | 7 | 60 | 0 | 12 | 1-2 | 300 | None |
Hatchet | E | 50 | 4 | 85 | 0 | 5 | 1-2 | None | None |
Poison Axe | D | 40 | 4 | 60 | 0 | 10 | 1 | None | +Poison |
Halberd | D | 18 | 10 | 60 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 810 | Horses |
Hammer | D | 20 | 10 | 55 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 800 | Knights |
Killer Axe | C | 20 | 11 | 65 | 30 | 11 | 1 | 1000 | None |
Swordreaver | C | 15 | 11 | 65 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 2100 | Swords |
Swordslayer | C | 20 | 11 | 80 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 2000 | Swords |
Dragon Axe | C | 30 | 12 | 60 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 4500 | Wyverns |
Brave Axe | B | 30 | 10 | 65 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 7500 | x2 Attack |
Battle Axe | B | 20 | 13 | 60 | 5 | 15 | 1 | 1000 | None |
Silver Axe | A | 20 | 15 | 70 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 1000 | None |
Tomahawk | A | 15 | 13 | 65 | 0 | 14 | 1-2 | 3000 | None |
Garm | S | 30 | 20 | 75 | 0 | 13 | 1 | None | Spd + 5, monsts.|
| | | | | | | | | |
Iron Bow | E | 45 | 6 | 85 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 540 | None |
Steel Bow | D | 30 | 9 | 70 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 720 | None |
Poison Bow | D | 40 | 4 | 65 | 0 | 5 | 2 | None | +Poison |
Short Bow | D | 22 | 5 | 85 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 1760 | None |
Longbow | D | 20 | 5 | 65 | 0 | 10 | 2-3 | 2000 | None |
Killer Bow | C | 20 | 9 | 75 | 30 | 7 | 2 | None | None |
Brave Bow | B | 30 | 12 | 70 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 7500 | x2 Attack |
Silver Bow | A | 20 | 13 | 75 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 1600 | None |
Nidhogg | S | 30 | 18 | 80 | 0 | 7 | 2 | None | Lck + 5, monsts.|
---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+
~- XIb. Magic ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Light is strong against dark, dark is strong against anima, anima is strong
against light. And of course since there's not that much magic, this section
just has all of them. Oh by the way, for "Mt" in the staves, since there's
obviously no might for them, that's the EXP value. Just for the record.
---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+
Name | LVL | DUR | MT | HT | CR | WT | RNG | COST | SPECIAL |
---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+
Fire | E | 40 | 5 | 90 | 0 | 4 | 1-2 | 560 | None |
Thunder | D | 35 | 8 | 80 | 5 | 6 | 1-2 | 700 | None |
Elfire | C | 30 | 10 | 85 | 0 | 10 | 1-2 | 1200 | None |
Bolting | B | 5 | 12 | 60 | 0 | 20 |3-10 | 2500 | None |
Fimbulvetr | A | 20 | 13 | 80 | 0 | 12 | 1-2 | 6000 | None |
Excalibur | S | 30 | 18 | 90 | 10 | 13 | 1-2 | None | Spd + 5, monsts.|
| | | | | | | | | |
Lightning | E | 35 | 4 | 95 | 5 | 6 | 1-2 | 630 | None |
Shine | D | 30 | 6 | 90 | 8 | 8 | 1-2 | 900 | None |
Divine | C | 25 | 8 | 85 | 10 | 12 | 1-2 | 2500 | None |
Purge | B | 5 | 10 | 75 | 5 | 20 |3-10 | 3000 | None |
Aura | A | 20 | 12 | 85 | 15 | 15 | 1-2 | 8000 | None |
Ivaldi | S | 30 | 17 | 90 | 5 | 10 | 1-2 | None | Def + 5, monsts.|
| | | | | | | | | |
Flux | D | 45 | 7 | 80 | 0 | 8 | 1-2 | 900 | None |
Luna | C | 30 | 0 | 50 | 10 | 12 | 1-2 | 4200 | Ignores Res |
Nosferatu | C | 20 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 14 | 1-2 | 3200 | Drains HP |
Eclipse | B | 5 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 12 |3-10 | 4000 | Halves HP |
Fenrir | A | 20 | 15 | 70 | 0 | 18 | 1-2 | 9000 | None |
Gleipnir | S | 30 | 23 | 80 | 0 | 20 | 1-2 | None | Skl + 5, monsts.|
Naglfar | S | -- | 25 | 95 | 0 | 18 | 1-2 | None | None |
| | | | | | | | | |
Heal | E | 30 | 11 | 00 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 600 | A little HP |
Mend | D | 20 | 12 | 00 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1000 | A lot of HP |
Torch | D | 10 | 15 | 00 | 0 | 5 | M/2 | 1000 | Lights up area |
Unlock | D | 10 | 17 | 00 | 0 | 7 | 1-2 | 1500 | Opens a door |
Recover | C | 15 | 17 | 00 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 2250 | All HP |
Restore | C | 10 | 20 | 00 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2000 | Cures status |
Hammerne | C | 3 | 40 | 00 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1800 | Repairs weapon |
Barrier | C | 15 | 17 | 00 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2250 | Raises Res by 7 |
Physic | B | 15 | 22 | 00 | 0 | 5 | M/2 | 3750 | A little HP |
Silence | B | 3 | 30 | 70 | 0 | 7 | M/2 | 1200 | Stops magic |
Sleep | B | 3 | 35 | 65 | 0 | 8 | M/2 | 1500 | Sleeps enemy |
Berserk | B | 3 | 40 | 60 | 0 | 8 | M/2 | 1800 | Berserks enemy |
Rescue | B | 3 | 40 | 00 | 0 | 6 | M/2 | 1800 | Ally -> to you |
Fortify | A | 8 | 60 | 00 | 0 | 7 | M/2 | 8000 | Restores HP |
Warp | A | 5 | 85 | 00 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 7500 | Moves ally away |
Latona | S | 3 | 10 | 00 | 0 | 5 | All | None | Restores all |
---------------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+------+-----------------+
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
~-~ ~-~ ~-~ XII. Credits ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
You have just gone through yet another huge RPG guide, copyrighted and written
by none other than a lifeless nerd. Or, in other words, me. Interpret that in
any way you wish. So with that, hope you enjoyed this guide and this game, and
expect to see my name on many more guides in the future. I'm awesome like that
and stuff. With that, buhhh-bye.
- Sailor Bacon: For taking over GameFAQs in the place of CJayC, which I'm sure
must have been extremely difficult shoes to fill. He's doing a great job, so,
my hat is tipped.
- Stephen Ng: For being the FAQ editor for IGN, which is the other site that I
write for. I am honored to write for IGN, since it is a great site. I was also
very glad to do an exclusive for IGN.
- Serenes Forest: For being the ultimate resource for anything you wanted to,
or didn't want to know about Fire Emblem. What an amazing site, they helped
out a ton. www.serenesforest.net.
- Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, The Eagles, Queen, Van Halen, The
Beatles, and many others: You probably know why I'm thanking you, but I don't
believe this guide would be up as quickly if it weren't for all of you.
- All the guys who first got me started writing from GameFAQs and all of my
best friends like SinirothX, Psycho Penguin, Meowthnum1, CVXFREAK, Karpah,
ZoopSoul, Crazyreyn, Gobicamel, asa2377 (OH EM GEE YOU TROLL), Warhawk, Cyril,
supernova54321, Minesweeper, AlaskaFox, me frog, RHarrison, masterzero99, Tom
Hayes, wayalla, djg40, MTincher, NickBush24, BurningFox, AquaBlast, and
definitely more that I'm forgetting: you are some of the best friends that
anyone can have, and I may have quit FAQing/left FCB forever without all of
you. Thank you for everything and for motivating me to get my ass in gear.
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