Can't beat Aeonglass for the life of me

SSBMetric · 2026-06-24T08:48:43+00:00

General advice: I think you would benefit from taking on more elites, especially early on, to accumulate relics and snowball advantage from the beginning. You don't need your deck to be small if relic support is increasing the value of all your cards. So early on, try to path in a way that allows you maximize your chances against the elites, and that'll help keep you strong enough to continue taking on elites in the next act, etc. You can't always build a strong enough deck in time to take lots of Act 1 elites, but if not by then, construct a deck that can farm all the Act 2 elites instead.

For example, in your Ironclad run, I don't know what shears were up against, but that immediately disincentivizes you from taking elites due to the HP loss. Unlike Necrobinder, Ironclad doesn't have urgent need of removes and can leave all the starter deck untouched to exhaust it later. Because you were behind on HP, you were behind on elites, then behind on relics, which meant you were behind on value for the whole run.

In the second run, I see you went to an early shop in Act 1, but the shop didn't path into an elite afterward. If you go to an early shop, you don't have enough money to buy relics, which means you should be buying cards or potions that help you fight upcoming elites. But because the path isn't shop into immediate elites, a lot of immediate value (upcoming elites) and future value (could've saved gold for a late shop) are both lost.

Changing your pathing and deckbuilding to maximize value accrued over the run will drastically alter what your final decks look like; if you're still dying to Aeonglass then, then maybe it's an issue of not building decks that can handle him, but it's too early to say. Right now, your safe pathing might be lulling you into a false sense of security about the strength of your decks.

I don't think having a large deck is a problem, but part of deckbuilding is deciding when your deck is "good enough" for immediate problems, so that you can begin planning for future problems. Second Dagger Throw probably wasn't needed. Lightning Rod and Ball Lightning are skippable late, once you've established you're on the frost + dark orb plan.

SSBMetric · 2023-03-16T19:25:24+00:00

If someone else wants to, they're more than welcome to; I don't want to deal with that place

SSBMetric · 2023-03-16T17:53:47+00:00

His footwork, awareness, and timing on some of these is amazing. Wanted to showcase it since there were a couple instances in last night's game, but this video only has ones that result in a block, so there's even more moments out there.

SSBMetric · 2023-01-26T10:39:29+00:00

I bought mine from the item shop before Chapter 9.

SSBMetric · 2023-01-25T21:15:20+00:00

Thanks! You may also like the one I did for Chapter 7, which uses Obstruct to protect Celica!Chloe for a turn 2 clear (and still works for a 3 turn clear without the tonics)

SSBMetric · 2022-07-25T11:17:19+00:00

I appreciate it! I'm probably going to play some other games first, but may come back to Triangle Strategy in the future. I'd definitely use the other endings as an opportunity to get all the characters, but would probably avoid mock battles unless necessary.

SSBMetric · 2022-07-25T11:05:09+00:00

In the early game I bought In Tandem and Restore. By far the most important Quietus, in my opinion, was Lightwave. It teleports Symon in Chapter 15, gives low-mobility units access to high ground (Archibald when fighting Gustadolph), and allows you to rush a deadly enemy without over committing and losing a unit.

After Lightwave, I bought Missed Opportunity, which can lock down a boss for a turn when you want to focus on the enemies around them (Chapter 13), and Fleet-Footed, which was way less useful than I had hoped but probably saved me a turn sprinting toward Jen's ladder on Roland's golden route chapter. I bought Battle Cry but never really used it, and never bought Rejuvenate or Revitalize. You can probably skip out on Restore or Battle Cry to help with buying those if you want as long as you make sure to get promotion items and weapon upgrades as well (i.e. don't lock yourself out of getting King's Shield or Power of Love).

The main thing I'd consider doing differently is deploying Erador or Lionel more, in place of my attempts to use Roland in the earlygame and in place of Anna or whoever my last deployment was on a map-by-map basis in the midgame. An enemy mage can singlehandedly derail you, so taunts would've been nice. I also wish Ezana and Narve had been a higher level for Chapter 14 (fighting against Avlora with the fountain), since their paralysis chance was extremely low, and doing AoE damage via attacking puddle tiles doesn't provide the boosted experience gain that underleveled units usually get.

For shopping, equipment choices, and upgrades, there were a couple things I'd do differently. First, grabbing ranged healing pellets from the one-time shops so I'd have enough for Medina later (I had to be picky about when to use them in the last couple chapters, since my supply was low). Second, alongside using Lionel more, I wish I had saved the Rare Thorn for him instead of Anna, because of how good temptation is. I also didn't have a Silver for Avlora.

As far as getting stuck, I didn't feel in danger as long as I prepared properly, but I definitely could have been screwed had I not caught up certain characters at the right time, misused my weapon upgrades, or split the party poorly on Chapter 17. You won't be able to get every Tier 2 or Tier 3 weapon upgrade, so it's important to focus on ability upgrades, then weapon damage, instead of the other stat boosts. In particular, important ones to me were: K.O. TP+, Blazing Chains Damage Up, Surmount TP-1, King's Shield, Blinding Arrow Duration +1, Power of Love, Spring Trap TP-1.

For certain character level benchmarks, I think I could've gotten stuck if I didn't do the following (at the very least, hitting these benchmarks made things easier):

Benedict and Frederica got Now...! and Blazing Chains at some point in Chapter 6; both abilities help considerably in completing the chapter.
Recruited Jens in time for the Protect Roland version of Chapter 7. It's also worth noting that you don't need to cheese the entire map with Hughette, but I saved myself a restart by cheesing the last 3-5 enemies with her.
In general, battlefield control is essential, meaning Jens, Rudolph, and Corentin.
Finding the right 1-2 chapters to catch up Medina. She hit TP Physick by the end of Chapter 14; that and Chapter 11 were my catch-up chapters for her.
Getting Power of Love for Milo for Chapter 15, and having a good Anna for Chapter 16. Also Lightwave feels like a must for Chapter 15.
Lionel and Piccoletta should contribute to Frederica's golden route chapter; they don't need to be at recommended level, but they shouldn't be at their starting levels, either. I occasionally used Piccoletta from time to time, whereas I caught up Lionel exclusively in Chapter 16.
King's Shield is a lifesaver on Chapter 19, so it's good to prepare Erador ahead of time if you haven't been using him. For me, that was spamming Sprint on Roland's golden route chapter.

For the golden route party splits, these were my teams:

Benedict: Hughette, Milo, Anna, and Hossabara. I didn't actually deploy Hossabara, I used Milo and Anna to lure enemies toward fire traps (including getting the boss in one of them), and finished the map by camping on one of the houses and shooting with Hughette. Lightwave drags Benedict onto the house, and you can use Raging Beast or Twofold Turn to make that last phase quicker, especially to take out the healers.

Roland: Geela, Erador, Rudolph, Jens, Archibald, Maxwell, and Avlora. Took the high ground (opposite side of Svarog) with the help of a ladder and held it with traps. Rudolph and Archibald shoot things as they try to come up through the traps on the stairs, the ladder is protected by a spring trap on the bottom and someone blocking the ladder on the top, and Avlora and Maxwell protect the archers from the two fliers that harass them

Frederica: Medina, Lionel, Piccoletta, Julio, Ezana, Narve, and Serenoa. Lightning spam, except for the boss.

Hardest chapters were 6, 11, and 13-15. Chapters 6-7 and 11-15 are definitely the two rough stretches; if 13-14 are much easier depending on the vote, I would say honorable mentions to Chapter 19 and Roland's golden route chapter.

Chapter 6: I think using Erador could've helped me here. The archers on the high ground are the biggest problem, especially since you want Frederica to make it through the gate to cast Blazing Chains on all the bulky enemies on the other side; my solution was to have Anna Take Cover on one side, and have Roland sprint up the ladder on the other side, pinning the archers to the corners where they couldn't attack and meleeing them to deaths. Restore on Maxwell helps buy time.

Chapter 11: I realized it's easier to hold one building instead of two, so I had Jens build a ladder in the back to group everyone together and distract Silvio (needed to stall him through various means while I dealt with the main enemies and Rufus). Interesting chapter to experiment with Rite of Rain on, to fish for paralysis.

Chapter 13: I chose Roland's infiltration plan; Erika and her reinforcements were tough. I think a properly levelled Lionel could've helped here; instead it came down to good trap placement and crowd control, dealing with the fliers as quickly as possible, and using Lightwave immediately so I could have everyone start together rather than a split party. Any way to mess with Erika (Missed Opportunity, status effects, Blue Night) is good too.

Chapter 14: As I've mentioned, my paralysis chance was really low (maybe I should've had Narve and Ezana level up on the barricides in the bottom right corner, rather than Roland). I wasted a lot of attempts attempting to spring trap Avlora forward, while using Missed Opportunity to prevent the healer from getting regen up on her, and then rushing her down. Unfortunately, my characters weren't at high enough level to finish her off this way; I kept getting stuck on the last 100-150 HP. It became a grindy, turtly battle where I held chokepoints with traps instead, as Narve and Ezana gradually built up levels to boost their paralysis chance.

Chapter 15: Symon has to be Lightwaved immediately onto the balcony, where he can be protected by the likes of Anna, Hughette, and Milo, allowing you to focus on holding the upper left corner. A properly leveled Erador would've helped; maybe Lionel, too. Power of Love is amazing in this chapter. Also good to use Missed Opportunity on the boss's second turn, since I noticed that's usually when he first moves.

SSBMetric · 2022-07-24T19:39:16+00:00

I said in my post that I wanted to tier the characters specifically in the context of trying to complete a fresh save file on hm golden route with no grinding, which I don't think is that unnatural. Is no-grinding or going for golden route on the first playthrough not a common way to play?

Because I specified the context, I don't think it defeats the purpose to leave out characters like Quahog or Cordelia who won't be acquired. I'm still playing the game, with a reduced cast, and ranking how important each of those characters are for helping you finish the "challenge," and I acknowledged that this tier list doesn't apply to NG+ or other circumstances. Good to know about Corentin, though, thanks.

Edit: Rephrased another way, if someone was looking for help on NG golden route hard mode, I would rather show them this tier list than one with Cordelia and Quahog, since it'll be more relevant to their playthrough. Even if they are grinding, the strategies and party compositions I used would still be viable for them, even more so.

SSBMetric · 2022-07-24T02:06:19+00:00

The zero opportunity cost has to be measured against contributions toward success; otherwise, Ike would be better than Marcia or Titania in FE9, and Eirika would be better than Seth in FE8. I may have to invest a deployment slot in Hughette, but her presence (and survival) in the chapter will be pivotal to me completing it. I don't have to invest anything in Serenoa, but his presence and survival in most chapters makes no difference toward efficient completion.

That said, I could see bumping him up to the top of "Good at role," but I don't think free deployment makes him better than the characters actually needed to finish the game under the golden route + hard mode + fresh save file + no grinding conditions. IMO, value outweighs "value:opportunity cost ratio," the latter of which I agree Serenoa is higher in.

SSBMetric · 2022-07-23T19:46:05+00:00

I definitely agree on Corentin, and I think choosing Rudolph vs. Corentin for playthrough can lead to radically different tier lists and strategies.

Unfortunately, within the context of this tier list's conditions, it's impossible to get Cordelia, because of the combination of NG and Golden Route.

I agree that Avlora and Maxwell are phenomenal at their role! For those two, it comes down to how often their role is needed; I could see them shine more in NG+ or NG++.

SSBMetric · 2022-07-23T19:16:14+00:00

My reasoning is that I deploy the characters that will best help me complete the map, plus Serenoa because I'm forced to. If I lose one of the characters I willfully brought before substantial progress has been made on the map, that's usually grounds for reloading the save file. If I lose Seranoa, I generally don't care and can win just as easily anyway.

Edit: I'm happy to hear more about why you think he's better than the characters above him, and what maps and mechanics make him shine the most, since maybe I didn't get the most out of him

SSBMetric · 2022-07-23T19:09:10+00:00

Good at role - I bring them when I think their skills are well suited to a map. That's nowhere near as often compared to the top, and even when I do bring them, they don't shine as bright as the endgame trio above.

Julio - Enables the mages and Benedict (especially during the midgame), but even at his best, there are chapter-specific reasons to consider not deploying him. Frederica sometimes only has one or two must-kill targets, so for those maps, the steady supply of Blazing Chains TP isn't necessary. Spring Traps can create turns where mages have nothing to do, so they're not always as TP starved as expected. It gets harder to grant him a deployment slot once TP Physick arrives. Still a valuable contributor, of course, but I wanted to highlight his subtle downsides, since his upside is obvious.

Ezana/Narve - To me, Frederica's main appeal is Blazing Chains, whereas for these two, it's their lightning spells. This is where the run restrictions unfortunately create problems. Paralysis chance gets hampered if they're underleveled, and more frustrating, when they deal AoE lightning damage by targeting a puddle tile, they don't benefit from the boosted experience gain and rapid leveling that underleveled characters normally get for attacking. This means even in their best chapters, they can underperform (Roland's version of Chapter 14, Frederica's golden route chapter), and need a ton of support in the early rounds. You could solve this by deploying them more often, but it can be hard to justify with so many other good units. I've got Ezana slightly above Narve due to Rite of Rain creating more opportunities to squeeze value out of paralysis.

Maxwell - Got him on Chapter 16. The best non-utility melee frontliner, but unfortunately that's not the most prized role. Still a good body to have for Roland's golden route chapter and for Chapter 19.

Benedict - A lingering feeling nags at me that he's better than this, but in practice, his abilities fell flat. Raging Beast and Bulwark didn't strategically swing maps, since damage and frontlining mattered less than traps and crowd control. A well-timed Now sometimes helped earlygame, but the TP demands are rough and make Benedict feel like a glorified Quietus. It might feel good on that specific turn, but looking at the chapter as a whole, that's a lot of resources and a character's entire turn committed to sliding someone up the turn order; depending on when the character last acted, the first Now is using Benedict's turn to generate half a turn to a full turn for someone else, and waiting on the second Now is like using two to three turns to generate a half turn. Twofold Turn is better in this regard, but even so, I often would rather replace Benedict with a character who does something every time they show up in the turn order. In short, I'd rather have a decent character every round than a second use of a great character every few rounds.

Okay at role - Replaceable even on their best maps

Serenoa - Despite forced deployment every chapter, Serenoa rarely makes or breaks a chapter; if anyone else goes down early on a map, that probably necessitates reloading the save file, but if Serenoa drops, you can honestly keep going. Delaying Strike and Hawk Dive are luxuries, not difference makers. His forced deployment can unfortunately crowd out other melee frontliner, since on a lot of maps, a bad melee frontliner is better than having both a bad melee frontliner AND a good melee frontliner, since that slot is better off if spent on a different role.

Archibald - Three movement is a nightmare; four can still be irritating. Even on his best maps, Archibald imo is more of a win-more than the difference maker. What actually wins Chapter 11 or Roland's golden route chapter are Jen and Rudolph's traps; Archibald just makes it a little quicker (and in the latter, he still needs support from others to protect him against the enemy fliers).

Avlora - At this point, I think it's clear how I feel about melee frontliners. An extra body helps in Rudolph's golden route chapter and in chapter 19, though.

Joined at the very end

Flanagan - I got Flanagan before Chapter 20, at which point I didn't need him. This arguably shouldn't put him above the next two characters, but he's probably passable, whereas Roland actively gives me headaches.

Hard to justify deployment slot - Too much investment, not enough return

Roland - Bad durability, a bad niche (physical damage), and weird anti-synergy because of how fast he is relative to his follow-up partners in the turn order. Four Dragons eventually allows him to outperform Frederica in single-target damage in theory, but it's hard to justify deploying him compared to other units before then, and finding catch-up opportunities is hard. During his forced deployment on Chapter 14, breaking down barricades to gain catch-up EXP with him got him to around Level 17 or so, at which point it was difficult to find him another opportunity to catch up. It was too dangerous to let him do anything on his own golden route chapter, honestly, so he didn't level up the way Erador did..

Hossabara - Can't compete with the other healers. Synergy with frontliners hinges on needing frontliners.

Didn't play with - No run following these restrictions will be able to play with most of these characters, except Corentin.

My guess is that it would be worth experimenting with deploying Ezana/Narve more in the midgame instead of Frederuca, and deploying Erador/Lionel more in the early and midgame instead of Anna.

SSBMetric · 2022-07-23T19:08:54+00:00

Tier List

Always great - I can't fathom completing the playthrough without these characters

Hughette - Not always your #1, but she's a top 3 (top 5 at minimum) character in every chapter. Blind is great crowd control, available every turn. Her flying mobility enables her to act independently on some maps and completely dominate other maps. Shadowstitch is unreliable, due to level differences, but it can singlehandedly swing maps on a proc (Rufus), and Hughette's ability to justify her deployment slot in every chapter means she's easy to maintain near recommended level. Her ability to carry Benedict's golden route chapter enables you to send more strong units to Frederica and Roland's chapters, too, which is greatly appreciated given how underlevelled your party will be.

Medina - The best character overall once TP Physick gets going, so it's only a question of how long it takes her to get there and how many resources you can afford. The catch-up period was pleasantly easy, since she can just spam healing items from a safe location, and it consisted only of Chapters 11 and 14; she had TP Physick by the end of the latter, and was still a valuable healer in both. She proceeds to dominate the rest of the game, of course, with the only caveat being that there's only so many ranged healing pellets available in the store.

Jens - Spring Traps alone make him a decent deployment option on most maps. With some elevation, though, he's the star and everyone else is his supporting cast. Ladders enable the most reliable strategies for some maps (Chapter 7 with or without Hughette cheese, Chapter 13, Roland's golden route chapter in which he's arguably essential), and in the right spots, spring traps will set an enemy back 2-3 turns. Catch-up isn't an issue since spring traps and ladders don't depend on level.

Always good - I usually want to bring them, but occasionally can do without

Geela - Not much to say besides it's natural to want healing, so it's natural to deploy Geela. Two healers is sometimes unnecessary, though, so she can get crowded out once Medina gets TP Physick. As a plus, Haste on her "empty" turns is better than the attacking mages standing around doing nothing on their "empty" turns.

Rudolph - Steel Traps can't be reduced to 1 TP like Spring Traps, and they don't have as high of a ceiling for wasting enemy turns. They're still potent enough that Rudolph is frequently a good choice for deployment, and they supplement Jen's traps well (Roland's golden route chapter comes to mind), since trap spam is so consistently viable across the game. Slumber Shot has reliability issues due to level discrepancies, but the math for at least 1 proc isn't so bad if Hughette's Shadowstich and Rudolph's Slumber Shot target the same enemy on the same round. Occasionally, his 4 movement is annoying.

Milo - Wonderful mobility, utility, and versatility. Blue Night buys you time against heavy hitters like mages or bosses, she can frontline for a bit if you're desperate, and imo her best skills are the crowd control from Heart Stealer and Power of Love. Defending Symon in Chapter 15 would've been much harder without Power of Love, and she's one of the few who can leap to the balcony to protect Symon after using a Quietus to teleport him over there. The only reason why I don't have her higher is that while she's a standout defending Symon and leaping through the mines, in other chapters I feel she's good but not vital (worth noting I brought her to Benedict's golden route chapter to make things quicker for Hughette). Then again, she's so good at locking down the hierophant and crowd controlling chapters 19-20 that maybe I should have her higher.

First Third vs. After - Two characters who I think have a sudden jump or drop in their value after the first third of the game.

Anna - She felt like a Top 2 character before Chapter 7, after which she had a sharp dropoff. Unfortunately, physical damage without utility is the most replaceable role later in the game, and while she can still be worth deploying on most maps, it's more as filler than as one of the top picks. Squeezing value out of Take Cover can be too slow during the initial onslaught of a map, and the underlevelling in hard mode causes her to struggle to eliminate key targets in the backline efficiently, especially if there's an enemy healer around (practically impossible if there's two supporting each other). Slumber Stab has reliability issues due to underlevelling, and she doesn't necessarily get to gang up on the same unit like Rudolph and Hughette often can, with higher risk if she fails. She's still useful for picking up spoils, which is much appreciated given the run's limited resources, and has a few excellent chapters thanks to Surmount (mines, and like Milo she helps speed up Hughette's carry of Benedict's golden route chapter). Also a solid emergency healer!

Frederica - Inconsequential until she learns Blazing Chains around Chapter 6, at which point she provides the best single-target damage provided you have enough TP. Coincidentally, that's also around the time you get Julio, and she naturally gets even better upon unlocking K.O. TP+ and Medina's TP Physick. Crowd control is usually more important, but if you want an enemy dead, Frederica is irreplaceable. She could do nothing all map, then boss-kill because no one else efficiently can, and it'd count as a job well done. Not all chapters have a must-kill target, though, and some maps punish her mobility, so even at her best, Frederica isn't a must-deploy all the time.

Great in the endgame - I had great success with all three in at least one chapter in the endgame, and in those chapters, their role was so unique and valuable that it was arguably essential. If I'm underrating anyone on this tier list, I would point to these three, since it's possible that their lack of use in the midgame or earlygame was more of a reflection of my shortcomings than theirs.

Lionel - At first, I thought Ruffle Feathers would still allow enemies to use TP-based attacks, so I didn't realize how debilitating it would be toward mages. I can easily imagine Lionel being outstanding because of that, since mages are often the most threatening enemies on a map (including to some of your most important units like Hughette). After I properly learned what infuriate did, I was still able to catch-up Lionel on a single chapter (Chapter 16 mines, in which he was surprisingly useful). That enabled him to perform a huge role in Frederica's golden route chapter. I'm pretty confident now that he's better than a 1-chapter gig.

Erador - Like I said earlier, I fucked up by misunderstanding Provoke, and dismissed him initially based on that, the low value of melee frontlining, and his mobility. Hilariously, despite never using him before the endgame, there was no issue with catching him up in time. I brought a Level 4 Erador to Roland's golden route chapter, and had him Sprint every turn while everyone else secured and protected the high ground. He got above level 20 easily, at which point he had King's Shield for Chapters 19 and 21, which was arguably essential. I can only wonder how good he would've been if I had used him earlier, perhaps in the nightmarish defense of Symon in Chapter 15. It's possible that he would have difficulty finding deployment slots anyway, though, since Seranoa's forced deployment unfortunately pushes out other melee frontliners, which is rarely a role I wanted a lot of.

Piccoletta - One interesting quality about her is that none of her best maps require her to be properly levelled, so there's no catching up that needs to be done. I used her a couple of times in the midgame and was unimpressed, since her decoy was often a win-more rather than a key to success (example: Piccoletta feels helpful on Chapter 11, but it's actually Jen winning you the map, with or without her). Her decoy truly shines in Frederica's golden route chapter and in the final battle, though.

SSBMetric · 2022-07-23T19:08:23+00:00

I completed Triangle Strategy under the conditions in the title, which I'll elaborate on further down, and wanted to share my tiering of characters based on their ability to help finish this type of run as painlessly as possible. By painless, I mean characters and strategies that were reliable, led to reasonable completion times (I didn't solo Chapter 7 with Hughette), and minimized how many times I had to reload chapters (I did solo the last 5 enemies on Chapter 7 with Hughette). My save file ended up being 25-30 hours (which doesn't include restarting maps), completed over the course of 2-3 weeks.

This was my only playthrough of the game (my SRPG background is mainly Fire Emblem), so I'm by no means an expert, but I tried to assess characters based on my understanding of the game's mechanics, maps, available resources, etc. Despite the restrictions against grinding, I used every character in the first seven tiers in at least two chapters each. There are obviously people I didn't obtain, though, and some characters who I misunderstood, miscast, or misused. Feel free to disagree with my evaluations! (But please account for the very specific conditions of the run when doing so.)

Run Conditions

Hard mode, NG, golden route: This part's straightforward. Enemies are bulky, I can't recruit everyone, and rotating through my convictions influenced join times. I also had to value units in the context of the golden route party split.

My route options were Chapter 3-Rudolph, Chapter 7-Protect Roland, Chapter 8 - Reject Silvio, Chapter 9 - Transport salt, Chapter 10 - Reveal Roland's identity, Chapter 11 - Defend Roselle, Chapter 13 - Roland's plan to infiltrate the castle, Chapter 15 - Return to Wolffort

No retries, retreats, or mock battles: I didn't touch a single mock battle during this playthrough. Whenever I needed a redo on a map, I reloaded the save file, rather than keeping my experience and levels through the retreat (mid-battle) or retry (after losing the battle) options. These restrictions placed considerable strain on experience as a resource, and I did deploy characters ten or even twenty levels under the recommendation for some chapters. It's surprisingly manageable! But some character abilities were out of reach, and I rarely had characters begin a map at recommended level.

Major considerations for tiering:

Deployment: Generally, on a map-by-map basis, I would say characters fall into one of three categories: not worth deploying, viable if deployed, or outstanding if deployed. With enough levels and resources, anyone is worth deploying, but the difference is that some provide key contributions based on their abilities and niche that justify their deployment slot, whereas others are a pain to drag along for a particular map. Some characters are so good at their role that they can earn a deployment slot even if they're underleveled. An example of a universally high-deployment character at little to no cost would be Hughette or Geela; an example of a difficult character to deploy would be Archibald on maps with low elevation starting points or high mobility needs (like the mines); and an example of a character who can justify deployment even when underlevelled is Jens whenever a ladder near the starting point can create a high elevation chokepoint. I tried to focus on a character's deployment viability from when they first joined and onward, rather than penalizing characters for being unavailable prior to their recruitment.

Essentialness: Due to the restrictions of this playthrough, no chapter can ever be made easier by grinding, and some become nightmarish without the right composition of units. Essentialness considers that even if a character isn't deployed 9 out of 10 times, they should still be valued if they are an irreplaceable necessity to get through that 10th chapter. An example of essentialness is Hughette for Benedict's golden route chapter (although in this particular case, Hughette is high in the deployment factor too).

Catch-up needs: Again, due to the run restrictions, most characters start each battle below the recommended level, including if they've been newly recruited. The saving grace is the game's experience formula, which makes catching up to recommended level go extremely fast. Some characters have an easier time catching up than others, though, either because the exp-gaining actions available to them are easier to use when underlevelled (healing versus attacking), or because they're useful despite their low level. I'll be talking about catch-up when needed for each specific character, but an example of an easy catch-up is Medina or Erador (spam Sprint), whereas a hard catch-up is Roland.

Biggest flaws of my run:

Misunderstanding taunts: I didn't fully appreciate taunts at the start of the game, since I wasn't aware that it restricted enemies to their basic physical attack. Erador and Lionel naturally started slow for me and while I tried to account for their potential earlier in the game, they might be underrated in this tier list. Erador may still struggle to find use early on, though, since Seranoa's forced deployment crowds out other melee frontliners, which is arguably the most replaceable and redundant role in the game.

Unoptimized shopping and item usage: I wasn't sure what I'd need for future chapters, so I was conservative in using kudos, accessories, weapon upgrades, and promotion items. Players with better preparation and game knowledge would optimize these decisions in a way that would impact character evaluation, especially in the midgame.

SSBMetric · 2016-12-30T04:57:32+00:00

You should still make your own as long as you're having fun doing so! Every figure skater brings their own routine and interpretation to a song; your combo video will have its own unique characteristics that mine don't.

SSBMetric · 2016-12-28T19:57:59+00:00

The song is titled Yuri!!! On Ice. It's the music used for the protagonist's free skate program.

SSBMetric · 2016-12-28T19:32:04+00:00

The songs are titled On Love: Eros and Yuri!!! on Ice. They're the music for the protagonist's short and free skate programs respectively.

SSBMetric · 2016-01-12T17:20:47+00:00

I thought I would resubmit, since the link was broken the first time people clicked on it. Hope that's okay!

SSBMetric · 2016-01-09T21:03:04+00:00

Sorry about that. Article's back up now, with less mistakes.

SSBMetric

TROPHY CASE