Fire Emblem Path of Radiance Walkthrough
Introduction
This is not one of those walkthroughs that tell you ever secret and walks you
through the game, helping you find absolutely everything. This is a walkthrough
that will simply help you get through the game, finding most secrets and not
losing any lives. This walkthrough will help make Fire Emblem easier. But if
you're looking for something that tells you everything, find another
walkthrough. This is to give you hints, tell you some good tricks, and gives you
some strategies. I hope that you find it to be of use.
About Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem is a strategy game, a puzzle, which has excellent music, great
graphics, and a very complicated but fascinating plot. It is NOT an action game,
so you do not get to fight for your characters yourself. You choose who fights
who, judging by different variables and information, and you are the brains of
first a little mercenary group, and later a huge army.
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance is the newest Fire Emblem game at the moment that
I'm writing this, and so there have been quite a lot of Fire Emblem games before
this one, but this, in my opinion, is by far the best one of all. The Base
feature, I think, is a major improvement and is one of the more important things
that make me prefer Fire Emblem Path of Radiance.
So if you enjoyed previous Fire Emblem games, you will enjoy this latest one. I
played some of the old ones first, so I would know. Of course, be prepared for
some changes. The magic system, for example, has changed.
The Walkthrough
Prologue - Mercenaries
Welcome to Fire Emblem Path of Radiance! You play as Ike, and for most of this
prologue chapter, you get to watch him talk and try and fight with his
super-powerful father, Greil. Enjoy the movie and the dialogue, but pay close
attention. Some of it will help you understand future mysteries and parts of the
plot, and also some will help you in the game.
And so you're instructed to fight against Boyd, who's a bit of a rival of Ike's.
The chinsy music begins (don't worry, the music is superb later on, there's even
an enhanced version of the song in this chapter right now). If it's your first
time, agree to view tutorials and listen to what Anna the tutorial girl has to
tell you.
The first battles (with Boyd, and then Greil) are fairly self-explanatory, as
there aren't very many different things you can do and very few ways you can
lose.  Basically just run at Boyd, and because you won't reach him yet, you have
to wait a turn. On the next turn, move in and choose Attack. A box will pop up,
with one half red and the other half blue. Ike is blue, because he is an Ally,
while Boyd is red because at the moment he is the enemy. This combat box pops up
before almost every battle. It gives you important information, and you'll need
to know some things to make any use out of it.
For one thing, HP shows how much health each unit has. Mt shows exactly how much
damage you'll do if you hit the enemy with a normal attack (NOT a critical hit).
So you know if you are going to kill your enemy, or else you know how much
damage you'll do if you don't manage to kill him/her. But then, this is only if
you hit the enemy! How do you know if you'll hit them? No worries, just look at
"Hit". That shows the percentage (chance out of 100) of hitting your enemy. At
the moment it's at 100%, so you don't have to worry about missing. And then
there's Crit, to show the percentage of getting a critical hit.
A critical hit is a cooler-looking attack that does more damage and makes a
louder noise when you hit the enemy. At the moment you have no chance of getting
a critical hit (neither does Boyd) so forget about that in this battle. And
finally you'll notice that it shows both units' equipped weapon. You'll see a
green arrow beside Ike's trainer, and a red one beside Boyd's axe. This is
indicating that Ike's sword is good against Boyd's axe. That fills in a third of
the Weapon Triangle, but more about that later.
Now you know that you'll hit and you know that you won't get a critical hit, so
you know for sure how much damage you'll do. It looks good, so attack!
Now Boyd will just talk on his turn, allowing you to finish him off.  How do I
know that you'll kill him now? Well, the MT says 9, and Boyd's health is 9.
You'll knock him out in one hit!
You've finished Boyd and now Mist gives you a Vulnerary. Greil challenges you.
Now honestly, Ike is no match for Greil, judging by Greil's past (you'll find
out what I mean later), but whatever, it's a game, so anything can happen,
right?
Heal with a Vulnerary on your first turn (which heals 10 damage and you can use
it three times). Then Greil will go for you. "Here I come, Ike!" On your next
turn, attack him, forget about healing. And then on his turn, he'll come close
to beating you but you'll scrape a win.
On Hard mode, there aren't very many differences except you might get hurt a bit
more, in which case just try to stay out of your enemy's range when you are
trying to heal with Vulneraries.
Watch the happy ending dialogue and then let's move on to the next chapter.
Chapter 1 - The Battle Begins
When you first see the Mercenary Fort, you'll see some characters standing about
who join you later. A little spoiler (an Easter egg, if you will) the game gives
you.
Anyway, it's your first job. Congrats. Now in this battle in Caldea, you should
be monitoring all of your enemies' movement range. move the cursor to an enemy
to show his range, and then press A to keep it visible as you move the cursor to
other places.
If you have a vulnerable unit or a unit low on health, you know where to put
them to keep them away from danger. You can also do this with multiple enemy
units, and then it shows the farthest any of them can go. And you can shorten
enemy's range by blocking their range and certain points, like making walls.
(Enemies cannot go through your units when they are trying to walk somewhere,
just like you cannot go through their units. However, you can move through your
own units and your enemy can move through each other. Don't forget that!)
Another important thing to check out is the Status of your enemies. Move the
cursor to an enemy and then press Y. That will take you to a three-paged
information (use Left & Right to flip the pages, and Up & Down to switch
units/people) section, telling you what the unit is carrying (weapons, items,
and such), their Personal Information (strength, speed, luck, defence, and so
on), their Class (Paladin, Fighter, Myrmidon, Bandit, etc), Level, Health,
Weapon Level (shows what type of weapons they can use and how good/bad those
weapons have to be for the unit to use them). And also their skills (special
abilities that can be assigned at the Base, but that's for later on) and
Biorhythm, which shows if a unit is at a high and is up for a challenge, or is
at a low and needs a break before he/she can perform impressive stunts again.
For help or more information about things, just move the cursor to them and then
press Y. If you, for example, want to know what a certain item does, select that
item and press Y.
And remember to visit houses by walking up to the doors and selecting Visit.
There are two houses that you can visit in this chapter.
Now for some strategies. This chapter should be easy enough, but just in case,
here's some ideas. I usually have Ike visit the first house, and then go
fighting, because that house gives you a Steel Sword, and that's a good thing to
give him. Get rid of one of his Iron Swords so you can keep the Steel one. Keep
in mind that the Steel one is heavier and therefore slower, so he may not be
able to use the Steel Sword twice against some enemies. Remember that using a
weaker sword twice is probably better than using a stronger sword once (or at
least, in a situation like this where the stronger sword is not MUCH stronger).
So for now you might want to just keep the Steel Sword and use the Iron Swords
anyway.
Use Titania if you need help, she's definitely the best unit you have at the
moment. Oscar and Boyd are good, solid fighters but all the same, don't overuse
them. Give everyone an equal share of fighting (unless you're in trouble, then
your stronger units come in handy).
Remember that bosses who are defending something (like a Seize point or an
Arrive point, etc), they can only attack you from where they are sitting. So if
they have a 1-range weapon (Iron/Steel/Silver Sword/Lance/Axe etc etc etc) then
don't go one square next to them if you don't want to get hurt. If they have a
2-range weapon (Hand Axe, Javelin, etc) then always stay 2 spaces or more away
from them.
So my tips: aim Ike at the house and then let him finish off some guys. And then
I suggest aiming Oscar at that sword Myrmidon on the left, as Oscar should take
him out in like 2 hits. Boyd can probably take care of the axe guy in the bottom
left corner, as long as he heals after. As for the boss, I recommend Titania, or
if not, you'll probably need to use Oscar, Boyd, AND Ike to kill him (especially
on Hard mode).
And you CANNOT save the house in the top right corner, which is a pity.
On Hard mode, this battle is not much different. Just be a bit more careful and
you should be fine.
Chapter 2 - Rescue
Blast! Mist and Rolf have been stolen! Reckless Ike feels the need to hurry off
without Titania, and the others are silly enough to follow him. There are a few
ways to go about this battle.
You can just move out, and play it like any old Rout/Seize chapter, but that may
be too difficult (I decided not to do that on Hard mode, for one thing).
If this is too hard then I recommend a defensive method while you wait for
Titania. You'd stick in the starting point, making sure that your characters are
forming a wall so that your enemies cannot get at Rhys, and so that Rhys can
heal your characters at any time. Something like this:
|--------|--------|-------|
|Osc    |  Ike   |         |
|--------|--------|-------|
|Rhys | Boyd |         |
|--------|--------|-------|
| Wall | Wall | Wall  |
|--------|-------|--------|
So that the enemies can only reach Oscar, Ike, and Boyd, and when they do, Rhys
is all set to heal them. You can of course morph this protection around, just
make sure that there is no path that your enemies can take to reach Rhys.
And then soon enough, Titania will show up. Ike and company should be able to
finish the enemies who had just attacked off, with Titania's help. Then you
should be well out of any enemy's range, and nothing will happen on the Enemy
Phase. So you can move in with all your guys and take out the remaining enemies.
Make sure you're monitoring the movement range of your enemies. Beware, though;
the boss can move, since this is a victory based on Rout, and the boss does not
have to stick around to defend something.
Chapter 3 - Pirates Aground
In my opinion, even on Hard, this battle is a piece of cake. But just in case,
I've given some ideas here that may help you out.
Shinon is awesome, his arrogance is not unjustified. If you like, you can follow
Titania's advice of letting Shinon and Gatrie move out first and take out a lot
of the enemies. If that works best for you, good. But that didn't work well for
me, considering you need to get Ike and Titania up to the pirate ship quickly,
so Titania can kill all the pirates that are threatening Marcia, a future ally,
and so that Ike can talk to her, get her to leave, and later on she'll come
back.
The way I did it was I once again had Ike visit the house first. He won't make
it in his first turn so you can get him to move towards that axe enemy and have
him attack him. That way you're halfway to the house and plus your turn is not
totally useless. At the house, make note of that crazy blue-haired guy, because
you'll see him later on.....
Anyways, the plot aside. Back to the battle! I normally have Gatrie finish off
the axe guy on the bottom left corner of the screen. Even though Gatrie's lance
is not so great against it, Gatrie's good enough that it doesn't really matter.
And although Shinon is good enough to dodge most direct attacks (1-range, where
archers/snipers can't attack back), don't get overconfident with him. Use
caution, especially if you're on hard! Don't be too reckless. (And you may want
to pay attention to each unit's Biorhythm, if you're having trouble deciding on
whether or not a unit should take a risk.)
Chapter 4 - Roadside Battle
If you're playing on Hard mode, you'll notice there are a lot more guys than on
Normal or Easy. I suggest you try another defensive method. I'll explain more in
a minute....
So this battle shouldn't be all that hard. I find this battle much easier if I
simply pay attention to the Weapon Triangle. For example, I'd go out of my way
to send Gatrie to a sword-wielder, because (of course) lances are good against
swords. I find if I just always send one who has a weapon advantage, this battle
is quite easy.
But if you're on Hard, or this battle is just too hard on Easy or Normal, then
you should try a defensive method. You should have enough units to form a wall
that protects Soren and Rhys from direct (1-range) attackers. Bows and
long-range axes/lances may be thrown at them, but hopefully they should be able
to dodge those or else try to kill those long-rangers before they attack Soren &
Rhys.
And I suggest that you use the Seraph Robe that you found earlier (it increases
a unit's health maximum) on Soren, because he tends to die a lot due to lacking
health. He is probably your most fragile unit, because Rhys seems to dodge a bit
more than Soren (if you don't think so, you should compare their Speed, because
I didn't get a chance to, this is just an observation).
Soren normally only does like 7 damage with his crappy Wind attack. Funny how he
starts out with Wind magic, the weakest of all the magic types, and also he
starts out with the worst Wind spell, when he is already good enough to be using
Elwind, the next level up. But for now, train Soren by letting him finish off
enemies from afar; Wind rarely misses, so you don't need to worry too much about
that. (I had Soren finish off the javelin-throwing boss, by the way, which was
useful for his experience.)
Chapter 5 - Flight
And here is the first chapter that actually MAKES you use a defensive method! If
you've been getting tired of me telling you to use defensive methods when you're
stuck, you won't be too happy about this battle, I bet.
This battle is REALLY annoying on Hard, because apparently there is fog and you
can't see very far away from each unit. So enemies will just sneak up on you and
make it quite difficult. Fortunately, I don't think there are any more troops
than on Normal or Easy, and if that's true and you've played this chapter on
Normal or Easy before, then you might remember where some of the troops are and
that would make this battle considerably easier. And you can also pick up a
Torch from a unit that attacks the lower entrance, and it will make a big
visible area around the unit that uses it.
So the way I went about this battle was I sent Titania and Gatrie down to the
lower entrance, and had them make a wall there. I made Ike, Boyd, and Oscar
attack enemies who tried to enter through the left entrance. I sent Shinon
wherever he was needed, most often at the left entrance with Ike and the others,
but occasionally to Titania and Gatrie. Rhys and Soren were used wherever
needed, protected by the walls of Titania and Gatrie, and Ike, Boyd, and Oscar.
And once you've finished off most of the enemies at the lower entrance, you
should make a run for the boss at the bottom of the screen with Titania. She can
kill all the guys around him and kill him too, collecting a good item.
I hope that helps out a bit. On to the next chapter, where you are escaping into
the "sub-human country"!
Chapter 6 - A Brief Diversion
Now here's when it starts to get more difficult. By the way, I mentioned that
there's a remix of the very first song (in the battle with Boyd & Greil)
combined with a remix of the song that you've been hearing for the last few
chapters. Well, this "remix" is the music for this chapter, and it will be for
the next few chapters as well. It signifies that you no longer have a base, I
suppose.
Anyway, down to business. A VERY IMPORTANT detail of this battle is the fact
that the enemies will not move until the end of the turn that you come out the
thicket. So you can take as long as you want in the thicket. Move towards the
bridge, and get everyone in a position where they can easily spring out and
attack. And remember, don't move out of the thicket in the middle of your turn,
when you have already used some units. Launch your surprise attack at the
beginning of a new turn, when every unit is ready to move. As Soren might say,
the outcome of this battle hinges on how you do your surprise attack.
Note the people on the top right corner of the screen; I suggest you keep
everyone out of their range, and if one of them starts running after you, wait
until he gets so close that he's out of his friends' range, then kill him, and
then you have nobody from that area running after you.
Make walls on the bridge, I suggest, to protect your weaker units (Soren, Rhys,
possibly Ike, if he's injured). When you've eliminated all of the enemies on the
bridge, I suggest running out with Titania, so some of the enemies run out and
get themselves killed, and then you have a bunch of enemies that the other units
can kill for some good experience, without being in a lot of danger.
Beat the boss as soon as possible, then there's nothing to stop you from taking
out the other guards (that were beside the boss) with Boyd or Ike or someone
like that. The enemies on the right of the screen should come running towards
you when you get near the boss, and try to get the Poleax from one of the
riders, and any other items that the enemies will drop. As soon as you've got
all the items, get out of there with Ike.
On Hard mode, this battle doesn't change much except that you should just use
more caution and watch out when you get to the boss- the mages may be more
dangerous than you expect.
Chapter 7 - Shades of Evil
Aha, there are treasure chests in this chapter! Be sure to open them all and get
all the items, there are some valuable stuff there (a Ward staff, which raises a
unit's resistance to magical attacks for a while, an Armorslayer, good against
the Knight class, and a Miracle skill, which in certain situations saves a unit
from a lethal blow). If the Thief steals the item before you can get it, just go
after the thief, kill him, and then he'll drop it and you'll get it.
So this chapter may be a bit annoying. Here are my suggestions. At the
beginning, position Ike near the top so that when Mia comes into the fight, she
can easily walk towards him, talk to him, and she'll join you in that one turn.
Honestly, I think Mia's pretty lame, even when she changes class, so I never
used her very carefully. I put other units as a priority, so if Ike is near
dying I would have Mia go out and act as bait, so Ike doesn't die and maybe she
does.
So Mia is your little distraction girl, if you don't really care about her. Her
Slim Sword is really lame, but it's okay for finishing off enemies or not
hurting them much, if that's what you want. Keep in mind that you have a
distraction if you need it, and you'll want to keep Mia with the main group so
she can jump in if someone's having trouble.
As you're stuck in a corner, you'll want to make a wall on the left side, with
possibly Titania, Boyd, and Oscar. (You might need to have Soren, too, to be
attacking from behind the wall.) The other fighters can form a wall at the upper
side, where Mia came in. When some of the enemies around you have dispersed, you
can start moving out, picking up the Chest Key from that Javelin-carrying
soldier and getting the Armorslayer from the Chest (This weapon is best for Mia,
methinks).
And after a few turns, Greil, Gatrie, and Shinon emerge at the same time as a
magic-using boss and a bunch of reinforcements. As you have to Rout the enemy,
you'll need to take out the reinforcements eventually, but you don't have to
yet. Make your way towards Shinon & Gatrie by going to the left from the room
where you found the Armorslayer, and walking past the center of the room,
towards them.
That's what worked for me. And I was keeping in mind that Ike's Regal Sword and
Mia's Armorslayer are good against all the knights wandering around in this
fort, but also I didn't want to overuse them. Oh, and more thing. If you were
thinking of running out to the Thief before he can do anything, Titania is
obviously the best man (I mean, woman) for the job.
Chapter 8 - Despair and Hope
Before this battle, you get to use the Base for the first time. Remember to go
into the Info section and look at every conversation, and in the Support section
choose units who you want to talk and build relationships. Whoever you make talk
to whoever influences what Support conversations you are allowed to use in the
future, and Support relationships can affect the ending of the game. Making
people fight beside each other or having two units in the same three squares
frequently will allow more support conversations between those two characters.
That's very important, keep it in mind! And you can only choose so many Support
conversations in one Base session, so choose what you think is most important.
And Manage is for assigning Skills and Bonus Experience. You should have picked
up at least one skill by now (Miracle, probably) and I suggest you teach that to
Soren, as he is your most vulnerable FIGHTER (Rhys doesn't fight, yet). You
should have a bunch of Bonus Experience, as it is awarded to you for various
things you do in the game (and plus your Bonus Exp has been building up for the
last 7 chapters). You'll want to award a bunch to Boyd, especially if you're
going to follow my strategy below. And remember to organize everyone's items!
Buy new items at the armory if your old ones were breaking. Buy some new magic
for Soren, if there's any in the Armory. Buy some more Vulneraries or Staves at
the Shop. And remember that if you forget to do something, you can always go
back. At the Preparations screen, choose "Go Back" to return to base. Then End
your base session to go to Preparations again. Anyway, on to the battle....
Finally, the new fight music, called Greil Mercenaries. Enjoy!
Despair is right, hope is... unlikely, especially in this battle. In my opinion,
this first battle of Ike leading is one of the hardest chapters in the game,
especially on Hard. Mainly because later on, you have many more troops, even
though the chapters get harder.
Unlike the last defensive battle, you've now got three places where enemies will
come pouring in. Left, right, and down. Titania is really the only person who
can manage the Right entrance by themselves. The walkthrough I read once told me
that (if you picked up the Poleax) Boyd is a good choice for defending the south
entrance, because his Poleax is good against all the mounted units down there.
And for the left entrance, I normally put Ike, Mia (if she's still alive), and
Soren.
Definitely put Ike there, at least, because Ilyana the thunder-specializing mage
will come waltzing down to him and she won't attack him, and he'll get to
recruit her if he talks to her. Then with her you can finish the remaining
enemies at the left side off, and then a few of those people defending there can
go and help the others.
And Boyd IS a fairly good choice for the lower entrance, BUT by himself he's no
match for all those horsemen (especially on HARD!!!!) so what I did was I had
Oscar with him, ready to fill in for him if he gets injured, and also once in a
while I would have Titania run out, kill one of the horsemen and then run right
back to her original position, so she blocks the right entrance still. If you,
when first moving her to her guarding position, put her so she's as close to the
defending point as she can be while still blocking the Right entrance, then she
should be able to manage this back-and-forth strategy.
Rhys mainly had to stay with Boyd, but occasionally he would heal Ike or Mia or
someone like that. I very much suggest giving Boyd the 3 Elixirs you might have
found earlier, just in case Rhys can't heal him and he has a bigger wound than a
Vulnerary could heal (remember, they heal only 10 damage).
On Hard, it's lucky that you can SEE, unlike the last battle. But it's still
going to be very difficult. If you gave Soren the Miracle skill you found in the
last battle, good idea. And if you gave him the Seraph Robe you found a long
time ago, VERY good idea. With these two things, you won't have to worry about
him so much and it could be the important detail that makes this battle possible
or impossible. It's really hard NOT to lose anyone in this battle (on Hard mode,
that is), so if you have to lose someone... (cough)MIA(cough). That's what I
did.
If you're up for a challenge, and some of the troops around the bottom of the
screen have dispersed and also some of the ones at the left Entrance, you should
try to send Titania after the boss, located around the bottom of the screen
(he's a Knight, I believe). And you could have Mia and Ilyana cover for her, and
maybe Oscar, or whoever you can use. It's good experience, and you may receive
an item, depending on whether or not you or someone else on your Memory Card has
beaten this game before.
Chapter 9 - Gallia
Little Mist and Rolf join, and the invincible Lethe & Mordecai are your partner
units in this battle, and if you talked to Marcia earlier in the game, she'll
show up around the middle of the Chapter and chase after Ike. Let her talk to
Ike and she'll join the team.
If Lethe and Mordecai were as strong as they seemed at the end of the last
chapter, this battle would be over in a second. But, the game wants to make
it... "fun" for you, so they give you a challenge.
If you plan on rescuing the houses at the very top and left of the screen, you
need to have Titania or someone like that do it. Most of the beach is surrounded
by cliffs, and there are only two ways to get on to the sand. In the
Preperations, you need to position this Special Mission unit as high up on the
screen (north) as you can, so they can slip through the upper path to the sand
and go kill that Pirate that moves towards the houses, wanting to destroy them.
After the Pirate is killed you can ride towards the houses, killing the enemies
in the way and using Vulneraries if necessary. At some point, two (or three, if
you're on Hard mode) more Pirates will come onto the screen with... weird
"fooling around" music. If you haven't yet visited both houses, pick up the pace
so you can get to the houses before they do, and if necessary, take them out. If
Titania is your Special Mission Unit, give her a good axe (Steel Axe is best)
and a Hand Axe. If you want to give her more, go ahead, but she'll need to have
those or else it's unlikely that she'll make it.
The boss, despite the fact that he has a Knight Killer, is no match for Titania,
if she's around. So don't worry about that. But don't let Lethe or Mordecai kill
him, because then you won't get the valuable Arms Scroll that he drops. This
useful item lets you improve someone's weapon-using ability (Weapon Level).
Otherwise, this battle should be fairly simple. Don't rush the main force, you
have plenty of time. RUSH YOUR SPECIAL MISSION UNIT, if you sent one off, but
don't hurry the main force. If Lethe & Mordecai are getting too far ahead, then
use Ike's Direct tool to guide them back towards the main force. If you stick
together (except for the special mission unit) you should be fine, even on Hard
mode.
As for the boss, he sort of gives away free experience. See, he's got a direct
(1-range) weapon which is good against Oscar (and nobody else, really) so you
can hail him with indirect (2-range) weapons AS LONG AS you get your indirect
attackers out of the way after. If you don't get them out of the way, the boss
will equip his 2-range weapon and attack them. To get them out of the way, have
a unit Rescue them, or Shove them. You just got Rolf, and he's the only archer
your going to have for a while, so you'll want to use him a lot (the next archer
you get is Astrid, the lame mounted archer. And later on, you get Shinon again
if you play a chapter right).
Chapter 10 - Prisoner Release
HIRE VOLKE! He's the best thief; he changes class, he's way better than the
other thief you get. Hire him!
If you plan on trying to sneak around the Watchmen, bring your quickest units to
this troop-gathering chapter, and bring at least one of your new laguz. I can't
really help you with this any more than that, as I've tried before and never
have I been successful. So if you want to try and do better than me, be aware
that if you kill a watch guard or you are in a watch guard's range at the end of
your turn, then they will call out, and reinforcements will come in. GOOD LUCK!
The prisoners are important to save, all the same. To save them, unlock their
door and have Ike talk to them, all except for Kieran, the red axe knight. He
needs his door opened and then Oscar to talk to him. Apparently they were rivals
a while ago. Anyways, here's what I normally do. I send out Ike and Volke to
free the prisoners, and give them an escort, most often Lethe. Everyone else I
keep back at the starting point, so they can form a while (Titania, Oscar, and
Boyd up front, Rolf and Soren being indirect attackers, that's what I did).
It's a good idea to use Volke and whoever gets Chest Keys to open all doors and
chests. And kill the boss and his pals- he carries a Master Seal, which may come
in handy (changes the class of one who is level 10 or higher, and it's best to
use it on someone level 15 or higher, because then they'll be better in the long
run). And then try to let everyone escape before Ike, make him escape last. I've
heard this is good for Bonus Experience.
I'll also mention that the end of this game is good for trying to set up Support
conversations. Have units who are not being used sit beside other units so they
can build trust for a new Support conversation.
Chapter 11 - Blood Runs Red
Here's one of my favourite chapters of the game. You're in a little Crimean
town- Port Toha, and if you bring Lethe or Mordecai directly north you'll run
into a silver-haired Myrmidon named Zihark (or Zihawk, in some versions, I
think) and he is... awesome. If you played the old games, he's like Joshua from
the Sacred Stones and Rutger from Fire Emblem (Roy's game).
So that takes a part in my strategy. Send Lethe or Mordecai up the north pathway
(preferably Lethe, because she begins the chapter as a Laguz) with a paladin,
most likely Kieran, because your Oscar will probably be busy. Have Lethe,
Kieran, and the newly recruited Zihark take care of the enemes up there, visit
the house up there, and hurry out, because the Black Knight will eventually come
out of that house you see (with a closed door and a path leading up to it).
Try to visit all the houses. If a Thief steals something from one of your units,
you can steal it back with Volke. If a Thief destroys a house, too bad for you.
You should have been quicker. Re-assess your strategy if you want to get to that
house.
You want to move sort of quickly on this battle, because like I say the Black
Knight comes out, and plus a few Wyvern knights (as well as Jill, who joins you
later). You don't want to be caught in their range (if you're on Hard mode, then
the Black Knight will chase after you, even if you're not in his range, so
beware of that as well).
The Mackoya boss holds a Master Seal. He's a tough enemy, but you can manage,
with Titania and some pals. Remember that ANYBODY can clear this map (because
it's an Arrive victory) but you get Bonus Exp (I think) if Ike clears it.
Chapter 12 - A Strange Land
Now, before this chapter I'm going to give you a warning. In about 5 chapters
(at the end of Chapter 17) you're going to need Ike to be at Level 20, because
he changes class at a set time in the game. This shouldn't be too much of a
problem, as Ike is good to use, but just making sure you know about this!
The first battle against laguz! This is a fairly difficult battle, because
you'll need some vulnerable players to be able to win, but you need to defend
them. So basically you are defending your ship until the crow boss comes,
because the reinforcements won't come until he's dead. After a few turns Jill
will show up. Give her room so she can ride right up to Ike and talk to him.
Jill is good against the crows because she has a laguz guard, which halves
attacks done by enemy laguz. Very useful in this battle, wouldn't you say?
Now like Soren says, you'll need to bring in Rolf the archer (or Boyd if he's a
Warrior class already, because he can use bows then) and your choice of Soren,
Ilyana, or both. Give your mage(s) wind spells, because that's good against
flying.
So, like I say, this is a defensive battle. There are two methods I've used in
the past. One is where you block off the whole ship by putting units on the
edge. First activate all of the crows' movement range monitor thing, and then
start building up a row of ALL units (priests and clerics included!) on
whichever side the crows can reach at the time. As you build up your row you'll
notice that the crows' range will get shorter, and eventually it will only be
able to attack one or maybe two units. This is because of the edge of the ship.
If your unit is ON the ship, and the enemy unit is right beside him but OFF the
ship, then the game assumes that that unit is 2 spaces away, when it looks like
1. So if a crow came up to Soren, and the crow is off the ship and Soren is
right next to him but on the ship, then the crow cannot attack him, and on the
next turn, Soren can nail him with indirect (2-range) wind magic. Savvy?
The only way the crows can attack you is if they can get onto the ship. So
basically just block them so that when they get on the ship the only units they
can attack are people like Titania who are not very vulnerable. Then once
they're on the ship just finish them off easily.
The second method does not work as well, but is simpler to understand. At the
top of the ship, form a shape like this:
O
OOO
O
And have one of the vulnerable units be the middle unit. Then, look down lower
on the ship where there are two staircases on either side, then a ledge
connecting them. Position your units like this (brackets are 1-space staircases,
and lines are ledges):
OO
( OO )
-----
As you may have guessed, the two units that are hiding behind two other units,
ledges, and the two staircases are vulnerable units. They are completely
covered, and no direct (1-range) attackers can reach them. And then you should
have two extra units left, and you can do whatever you want with them. I
normally had them help the shape that's higher up, because the units below
should be strong and they'll have a healer with them too, probably.
Soon enough, the boss will start moving toward your ship. Take him out with
Titania and whoever else, and then finish off the remaining crows, and you're
done. Note that there are TONS of items to pick up from the crows in this
battle, which should all be used carefully later, at the base.
Chapter 13 - A Guiding Wind
The return of Gatrie! He's guarding Astrid, the "lame mounted archer" I
mentioned earlier. She... is pretty bad. ROLF is better than her! Anyway,
recruit her by talking to her with Ike, because then you can have her talk to
Gatrie and get him back. You probably won't reach Astrid on the first turn (with
Ike, that is) so send Titania out to protect her from that Myrmidon that's close
to attacking her.
So this is the craziest battle ever. There are "Other" units getting in the way,
killing a few enemy Daeins but basically just killing themselves, being more
trouble than they're worth. Bring Volke to this chapter, and get him started on
the chests right away, because soon crows will come and ONLY try to steal the
chests (unless you're on Hard, then they'll come some time before that and only
go for you, not the chests). If a crow steals something from a chest, try to
kill him before he leaves. He'll drop whatever he stole. Once all the chests are
empty (whether the crows got them are not) all of the crows will leave.
Try to kill all of the enemies, even though it's a defensive battle. You'll get
all of the items, and you'll get good experience. You have enough time, so trust
me; it's worth it. If the crows become an issue, you might need to send Jill or
Marcia out to do some damage, if you brought one of them.
And to give you some strategy ideas, do you remember the Info conversation with
Daniel, about the war game he plays? This was at the last Base session. Well,
did you notice that he made Ike picture pretty much the exact battle that this
chapter is based on? There are two ships and one of them needs to defend, and
there are three planks connecting the two ships. So if you need some ideas, take
them from that conversation! (Mounted units up front, archers and mages lining
up behind them, and the mounted units not attacking on their turn, just healing.
That was basically the ideas of that conversation, just in case you missed it.)
Chapter 14 - Training
Now for the first part of the apostle's wild goose chase. Honestly, I agree with
Ike, she's an annoying, naïve little kid. But there's not much I can do about
it, the game has been made.
So, if you're on Hard, here's another foggy level. Your vision is quite limited.
If you have some Torches left over, bring 'em to this chapter.
You might want to take some weapons or spells that are good against Beast Laguz,
as the boss may call out two tiger laguz who can be difficult.
The boss has a Killer Axe, like a Killing Edge and a Killer Lance, and he gives
it to you after you kill him but it's also quite a deadly weapon, so use someone
strong against him like Titania. I don't think the boss can move on this level,
nor the Fire mage beside him.
Makalov, Marcia's wayward brother, is in this chapter. Before the battle begins
you'll hear him talking about how he's in debt and he's going to have to go
crawling back to Marcia. Have Marcia fly over to him and talk to him, he'll join
your team. Try to have Marcia visit the houses as well, as Pirates are going
towards them, and fast.
Otherwise, this chapter is pretty straightforward. You'll want to split up. Have
the main force walk up straight to the boss, taking out enemies along the way.
Have another force containing at least one mounted unit (Lance/Axe/Sword/Bow
Knight or Paladin) and Marcia march right up to Makalov. Kill everyone around,
recruit Makalov if you want, and visit the houses quickly. Then cross the bridge
to meet the main force, and together you can finish the boss.
Note: This chapter is a great opportunity for Experience for Rolf. He is fast,
the enemies are slow. He should do quite well against most of the enemies.
Chapter 15 - The Feral Frontier
Now this battle is against laguz, and laguz only. It's in a desert, so listen to
what Sigrun tells you about who is fast in deserts and who is slow. Don't bring
Knights or Generals (Gatrie or Brom are examples) because they move like only
one square per turn. A waste of a unit in this battle.
In this battle, I have my mounted units and Boyd just charge forward every turn,
moving slowly but surely towards the boss. While they're doing that, I send
Lethe off to recruit Stefan (an AWESOME swordmaster with an S-rank in swords who
you can recruit by moving to a specific square which is two spaces to the left
and one space down from the top right corner of the screen).
MAKE SURE you have the best Fire and Wind spells your mage can use. There are no
dragons in this chapter, just hawks, ravens, tigers, and cats. So Fire and Wind
are good against them. Soren starts out with a D in Wind magic, so bring an
Elwind if you have one. And if he's improved with his Fire magic skill (from E
to D now) then he can use Elfire, if you have one.
Especially beware the flying laguz in this chapter! Once transformed, they have
quite a big range. And they are strong, of course.
The boss is another good experience opportunity. I had everyone fight him with
indirect (2-range) weapons, and finally I finished him off with a little arrow
from Rolf. Take your time with this boss. Plenty of time to get lots of
experience! (If he hasn't given his Vulnerary away, then he will probably heal
himself a lot, all the better!)
By this time, the three brothers (Rolf, Boyd, and Oscar) should all be fairly
close to a class change, depending on whether or not you've been as determined
to give them lots of experience as I have been. They should be around level
14-20, or maybe one or two of them has class-changed. Once they can all use
bows, and you have watched 2 conversations about it in the Info section of the
base, they will be able to do their nifty triangle attack.
Chapter 16 - Atonement
Bring a thief along, of course. There's plenty of items to be collected in this
chapter. This chapter is very straightforward. You want to quickly take out the
enemies, charging towards the first closed item room. Have your thief unlock the
door and send some fighters in the room to take care of the guards in there. Now
don't go to the boss yet- stay out of the Throne Room guards' range, and sneak
through that little hallway below the Throne Room with just a few quick units
who can go and kill the Thief who entered the chapter from the left entrance and
also have the thief go into those rooms and get all of the items.
Devdan is the Halberdier, and he's great to have because he "hears the sounds of
battle". Darnit, I wish all of your troops could do that! Get him if you want by
talking to him with a youngster (I've only ever used Soren, but I think you can
use others like Mist and Rolf, etc). I didn't use Devdan much, but you might
need some more recruits if you lost some so get him if you want him.
When you've killed all of the other enemies in the place, and collected all of
the items, move into the Throne Room and take out the enemies there. Note that
the two mages and the boss will not move, and will simply try to attack from
where they are standing. So, these guys are good for building experience! I had
Rolf finish all three of them off, after they all were weakened by others such
as Soren (I used a Ward staff or Pure Water on him so his defense against magic
went up for a bit and he barely got hurt at all by the other mages).
Seize the throne and voila! You are done this chapter.
Chapter 17 - Day Breaks
Before this battle, send low-durability (near-breaking) weapons to the convoy
and replace them with brand new ones from the shop or high-durability spares
from your convoy. Make sure everyone has the right equipment to last about four
chapters, because that's about how long this chapter is! (I'm not joking, it's
separated into four parts).
PART 1
When choosing the units for this first part, take in your very best, your most
trusted units. You can send in more later, don't worry. Choose who you NEED to
survive (Titania and Lethe are must-haves, I think).
This part of the chapter is fairly easy, as there aren't too many enemies. Just
don't get too cocky, it's not THAT easy! After a few turns, three Myrmidons come
in as reinforcements, and this wouldn't be a problem if only they DIDN'T come in
right where you started off in this part of the chapter. So have some strong
units keep at the rear, so the reinforcements don't come up behind you and take
out your vulnerable characters.
This is ROUT, so try to finish this battle quickly, because reinforcements come
and that means you have more enemies to kill before the part is over. Look out
for the MUD (marsh, whatever you want to call it) because it really slows you
down. Try to avoid it if possible.
PART 2
You get 2 reinforcements. Bring in your next best units, and give them some
goodies to bring to their friends if their friends need new weapons or items or
something. This part is harder and does need a good strategy, unlike the last
part. This one wants you to ARRIVE, so Ike doesn't have to be the one to finish
this. You can take advantage of this!
Here's how I play this battle. I send a few mounted units, a healer, and maybe a
mage and a laguz right towards the Arrive square straight away (through the very
marshy shortcut), and everyone else moves a bit up so they block the other
route. A horde of mounted units will come at those people and so you'll want to
have some weapons that deal bonus damage against mounted units (Longsword,
Poleax, Knight Killer...)
Get out of that battle as soon as you like. Just try to get whatever weapons the
enemies say they're going to drop (you can find this out by moving the cursor to
an enemy and pressing Y, and any item or weapon that is in RED text, the enemy
will drop when you kill it).
And the reinforcements! Of course. They're good help for the main force which is
blocking off the "long route" (where the mounted units come).
PART 3
Now for the defensive battle. Form walls/circles/whatever you wants around the
healers (or other vulnerable characters, and fight from there. If that's not
working, then move all of your units down to that little corner shaped out of
trees, right below the starting point. A strategy? Well, Gatrie really came in
handy for me. If you got him back and Astrid survived, then you can give Gatrie
the Knight Ward that she was carrying, and his defence goes up and he's
practically invincible. Pretty much the only thing that can hurt him is magic.
When the enemies have died down a bit, you can send a mounted unit out to kill
the rest of the troops, in case they're carrying some valuable weapon or item or
something.
PART 4
And finally you're fighting Duke Oliver Tanas himself. I should once again warn
you that at the end of this chapter part, Ike needs to be Level 20 or very close
to it! Trust me, you need this for a special battle later on.
There's a few things to think about in this battle. First of all, there's a Mage
who is using Meteor (long-rage fire magic) so you'll DEFINITELY want to keep
Beast Laguz out of his range and also any vulnerable units. You might even want
to keep Titania or someone in the range, to drain the mage's shots. He only has
five, after all.
And then there's the fact that there's some strong mounted units who come in as
reinforcements at the place where you started off. They come after like 5 turns
or something. You should be far enough away from them, but if you want to be
safe then make a strong unit bring up the rear, so your vulnerable units don't
get caught from behind.
And THEN there's the three hawks and Reyson the heron who come in when you're
getting near the boss. That is mostly a good thing, but you have to make sure
that they don't kill people that drop items, because then THEY get the items and
you won't. Baaad! So make sure YOU kill the boss, so you can get his super
Nosferatu light magic spell. Once Rhys changes class he can use light magic.
Good luck with this battle! And don't forget: marshes/mud = slow!!!!
Chapter 18 - Crimea Marches
Crimea marches indeed! You've now got Reyson, the two hawks, and Tanith. They'll
all come in handy on this one. And be sure to bring your thief! (The new, crazy
song for these new chapters is called Crimea Marches.)
Ike changes class. Let's hope that you got my warnings and got him to level 20
before he changed class. Now you might have got a few of the Occult skills by
now. An Occult skill can be a few different skills- depending on who you're
trying to teach it to. DEFINITELY use one Occult on Ike once he's changed class,
because then he gets the intense Aether skill. It gives him extra attacks and
heals himself, with cool animation. And he'll need it for beating the Black
Knight later on. The other Occults are good for teaching Sol to a Paladin (heals
the paladin in certain situations) or Deadeye to a Sniper (raises hit percentage
and also sometimes puts enemy to sleep).
Annoyingly enough, you have to Rout in this battle. So you should send Tanith to
the right so she can take out the wyvern riders with her awesome Sonic Sword. (A
flying unit that's good against other flying units? Wow!)
Have your thief get started on those many chests right away. And if you want
something that the enemies have, get the thief to steal it, of course. He can
steal Vulneraries, other items, and any unequipped weapons.
And then there's the matter of Shinon. If your Rolf has changed class then you
won't need Shinon at all, but if you still want him then here's how you do it.
Have Rolf get in his range and Shinon will come up and talk to him OR just have
Rolf run up to him and Talk to him. After that, have Ike run in and kill Shinon.