Bruh 3H Takes Bingo

[@ReichardTheThird]

Warp is the single most important spell in the game because it allows you to warp Jeralt "I'm a green unit" Eisner to jail in "Salvation at the Chapel" so he can't commit suicide

[@starkeeper_youtube]

This is the most valid point in this comment section

[@OrigamiAhsoka]

Fr 💀💀💀

[@Pink.andahalf]

Training more units than you can deploy is stupid. I always train more units than I can deploy. Both statements are true.

[@rhettmitchell]

Lol same

[@alpha_tier]

It's not actually. It's smart to stay flexible due to map variations and enemy placement.

[@jackdias9263]

I always like having a B team lol

[@Oddigan]

@@alpha_tier It's viable, but having extra flexibility is rarely more efficient than having a small mix of good classes (fliers, cavalry, Fe9 Rolf) receive the bulk of the exp while the other deployment slots are filled with high base stat units who need no training and units with utility roles. That goes for pretty much any fire emblem I've played.

[@astracrits4633]

@@Oddigan >fliers yup >cavalry yup >fe9 Rolf wait a minute--

[@dijonmustard4258]

another thing about swords having higher hit rates than axes is that Sword Prowess Lv. 5 gives +10 Hit while Axe Prowess Lv. 5 gives +20 Hit, so the gap isn't even as wide as it appears

[@TheOmegaDragon]

Axes are pretty good for tearing up armored units too.

[@MrCactuar13]

Fun fact: Thuunderbrand and Brave Axe+ have the same stats. Brave Axe+ ends up with more accuracy because Axe Prowess gives more hit. That's also not getting into the fact that Wyvern Lords offer Axefaire while sword users get... well Assassin I guess.

[@ultimaterecoil1136]

@@MrCactuar13 assassin is actually pretty useful for frail units because stealth is pretty good for them. Though the main advantage of swords is if you want a LOT of crit having a easily repairable weapon with 50 is pretty nice. Let’s you skip having a good crit gambit and have a utility gambit like retribution or impregnable wall if you want. So having 1 sword build using cursed ashira sword is honestly optimal id say ( ideally someone with wind sweep) best non relic sword easily and best crit weapon as well except arguably killer gauntlets on a war master. The problem is that is the only advantage swords have is their crit options. Though levin sword can be nice for a few units ( ingrid unless she is a magic class she should use a levin sword for high defense units due to her equal magic growth to her strength growth is a good example) physical 1/2 range is generally better and axes have both magic and physical 1/2 range.

[@LFPman]

@@ultimaterecoil1136 I wish Assassin’s mastery skill would be Stealth instead of Lethality. Most offensive skills have now become combat arts like Astra. Therefore giving Assassin more light than Swordmaster. With stealth can protect your mages especially in a NG+ run

[@gameboyn64]

Counter point to the first statement. Sword prowess 5 gives 20 avoid and axe prowess 5 gives 10 avoid effectively neutralizing both skills making the point moot. Also typically, maddening enemies have very high prowess levels so it's rare that prowess gives you an advantage.

[@supasid6591]

Assassin class isn’t perfect but it’s one of the easiest classes to unlock, has high movement and swordfaire

[@TheOmegaDragon]

it's also not slowed down by forest terrain and can pick locks without keys

[@FabledStone]

I just love Assassins in nearly every game and FE3H isnt an exception, give me those juicy crit animations every turn

[@marcoasturias8520]

The extra speed is neat too

[@GreyWandererXD]

I think the stealth mechanic is great! Put a tanky unit like Dimitri, Byleth (Avoid Tank), or Dedue and the Assassin can get rid of pesky mages. With little to zero risk of this backfiring except the last three maps of the Azure Moon campaign. Other campaigns, I do not know personally. But overall, Assassin is a good class and on certain maps amazing. Although, Trickster is better for Stealth Mage.

[@perr0263]

+5 spd and +20% spd growth

[@RubyChiang]

HBD is funny to me cause nowadays, everytime I play Three Houses, I prepare my units and train them for that particular map. And when it comes time for HBD, I get excited cause all my investments and effort are going to pay off as I watch the enemies get destroyed.

[@phoenixgemini42]

The idea behind Dodge tank von Aegir is to keep enemies on half the map busy while you take care of an objective on the other side. This still isn't the best use, but it is useful for some paralogs that have enemies trying to rush to certain points, or maps with ambush reinforcements that you are aware of. I don't think this is the optimal strat, but I feel it should be mention.

[@insertcommaname1388]

“There is no wrong way to play fire emblem” You have awoken the horde

[@legionofAlexander]

I literally felt 10000 voices rise up.

[@AllBeganwithBBS]

I still like Ashe as a unit for the simple reason that he doesn't miss. Yeah, he sucks, gets strength screwed and has no good CA, but at least he's gonna perform as expected.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

He only gets strength screwed if you forget he has a boon in axes

[@bumibomber]

@@AkameGaKillfan777 If you're on maddening death blow and extra str grwoths aren't enough

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

@@bumibomber Not for me, but maybe for you.

[@bumibomber]

@@AkameGaKillfan777 Theres no reason to use an accurate sniper when your path gives you hit +20, and characters like shamir, leonie, and bernie do everything ashe does but better

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

@@bumibomber Leonie is wasted as a Sniper. I've made her a Dancer and War Cleric Avoid FORTRESS: Prowess lvl 5, Avo+20, Alert Stance, Defiant Avoid, and sometimes Defiant Speed(I use it, and I'm not ashamed of it.) I usually give her the Aegis Shield, Fetters of Dromi or a Devil Weapon for Defiant Range. That's without Speed or Evasion Rings equipped, or Battalions. Bernadetta isn't as fast, but she does have Battalion Wrath, an ability I often feel like I'm the only person on the planet who uses it that isn't an Expert level player, or acknowledges it's good on units besides Dimitri. Using Shamir as a Sniper 90% of the time gets boring.

[@ResurgentRaven]

Can I just say that the "Training more units than max deployment" is relatable not just in 3H but in pretty much every FE?

[@joshuagabrielcatindig7607]

This needs a discussion. Or did it have one already?

[@superspeph]

There was supposed to be a Gilbert W.A.I.F.U.???? We were robbed!

[@14bj337]

I would abandon my wife and daughter and lead a solemn life of penitence, if it meant getting a Gilbert WAIFU.

[@kirbymastah]

On Von Aegir - "You have someone with really good enemy phase durability but no enemy phase offense" So basically impregnable wall

[@colinpaul2146]

I need Bismix's commentary on the warp topic. Plus how is warp overrated I seriously don't know how people could think that.

[@fabioangelini99]

About lances: tempest lance is one of the best combat arts in the early game, the hardest part of the game, so i wouldn't say they are only good for units with good lance combat arts

[@Slimjim8345]

I kept Gilbert in the armor classes for my blue lions maddening run. He was actually really useful like that. I remember in the enbarr outdoor chapter most of my units were barely hanging on, and then some bird reinforcements spawned that were approaching my team that was already struggling with the enemies that were already attacking them and if some birds showed up I was going to lose some people. I sent Gilbert off to intercept the birds before they could get in range of my other units, and he saved the rest of my team like that. He was taking 0 damage and the birds were only attacking him. There were other times too where his high def was really useful even in maddening. (This maybe more of a armor knights good case though because i had similar instances with other armor knight is other routes.)

[@TheOmegaDragon]

I enjoyed Ingrid dodge tank for taking aggro from enemy units. The sheer amount of enemy units are overwhelming that it's almost necessary to get a little bit of crowd control. Blessing helps get her defiant avoid working and alongside alert stance makes her untouchable. Flying units with arrows are nice for the mirror match which I did with Bernadetta and she slaughtered a lot of pegasus knights and wyvern lords.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

I used Gilbert on my Maddening BL run, and I cannot tell you how many times I've heard: "Child's play! You're soft! Not enough!"

[@Werelight]

I want to see a 3H play through where mekkah just plays his favorite route on hard and shows us a bunch of builds he likes.

[@RubyChiang]

I never really thought Ashe was a bad unit, i just find him disappointing. More like, I always find myself disappointed in Ashe and his damage output. It's very sad.

[@mysticwater9056]

i legit could not think of a better use for him in chaper 13 then to be a heal bot with healing staff and physic

[@starkeeper_youtube]

Ok but consider he is BL best boi and I love him

[@mihaimercenarul7467]

@@starkeeper_youtube he is boring af

[@starkeeper_youtube]

@@mihaimercenarul7467 hear me out, you're wrong >:/

[@Real_Sp00ks]

YOOOOO Nice Library of Ruina music! I didn't know you played/knew about Ruina

[@klomii1]

Ruina soundtrack in the background is incredibly based

[@Mahagon465]

Quite interesting takes you're covering. I don't an opinion on any of these because I never played on higher difficultues and didn't think about Meta and builds too much i'm glad for these videos. They will be a great help for my first Maddening run on the Silver Snow route(not played yet).

[@omnipotentturkey0632]

I don’t think I’m doing maddening anytime soon because it looks pretty intimidating

[@homecomin]

@@omnipotentturkey0632 It's honestly not that hard. Like nowhere close to Lunatic in previous games

[@gameboyn64]

@@omnipotentturkey0632 If you are too intimidated by maddening, just do a ng+ run. You get immediate bonuses to class mastery so you can get hp+5 in like one chapter and the beginner class mastery skill almost as fast. Weapon ranks and exp are both boosted making certification easier. Battalions carry over so you can enjoy the stat bonuses on all your units for free and they are available starting from the mock battle. You can also buy ranks so that units like byleth can actually certify easily. The professor level also drastically increases the rate your class gains ranks

[@thelemon2732]

I would argue Ashe's personal skill being bad does affect him largely due to the competition. The other main archers, Ignatz and Bernadetta, have some of the BEST personals in the games, so it's hard to not make that comparison. The gap between other similar characters personal skills is no where near as big as Ashe and the archers which is why it gets brought up so often.

[@14bj337]

IMO comparing Ashe to Ignatz and Bernadetta isn't super-instructive, since they start in different houses. On Azure Moon, Ashe is available instantly, while Ignatz and Bernadetta are high-effort recruits. Ashe can have Str +2 and Death Blow by the time you've picked up either of these units, plus he's had the chance to start growing Authority. Thus he gets a clear "head start" on his home route, relative to Iggy or Bernie. On the flip side, out-of-house Ashe is among the worst units in the game, particularly on SS and VW, where he's absent for a couple chapters. The better comparison, I think, would be between his AM competitors. Even if we limit our consideration to Bow specialists. In this line of thinking, Felix outdamages him... pretty much from day one. Cyril may join weaker, but he has a short trip to Point-Blank Volley, one of the best combat arts in the game. And Shamir joins as a Sniper, giving her instant Bowfaire and a potentially earlier access to Hunter's Volley.

[@thelemon2732]

@@14bj337 I definitely do agree availablity is an issue (ironically enough for 3h), but Ashe's long term usage is just so incredibly bad that I never feel compelled to use him. That and Bernadetta and Ignatz are just infintely more fun to use.

[@Videokirby]

All three of the "Designated Archers" get significantly worse (in comparison to other units) on Maddening due to their stats, but Ashe gets hit the worst due to that personal. Ignatz and Bernie get some great personals to balance out their sub-par (relatively) stats, while Ashe get's... Deadeye I guess?

[@matthewcoyle4131]

I always thought dodge tank Ferdi was meant to just stay a dancer so he could survive while staying up by other stronger units who are doing the fighting.

[@IntrusiveThot420]

Dodgetank von Aegir is actually amazing in one extremely specific way: if you're playing content blind / ironman. Which is something that's hard to remember when you've done ten trillion runs and have all the spawns memorized like me. Drop him in some woods and he can soak aggro, or he can save your squishies from ambush spawns if you always lead with him.

[@matthewcoyle4131]

@@IntrusiveThot420 that makes sense. Although the odd ambush squad from behind is still a pain.

[@Sines314]

I'd need to hear Rengor on Dark Knight Annette. If you use her as a Rally Bot, then movement is all that matters, so Wyvern Annette wins. Sure, you can't use Dance of the Goddess, but if she's using it, then she can't rally the person whose acting two or three times! And her Axes are not memes. Bolt Axe, Lightning Axe and Crusher is a pretty solid kit. Bolt Axe+ has 1-3 range which is pretty darn good on an 8-move flying/canto character. Lightning Axe can be used with Killer Axes or Silver Axes for lots of damage on an easily repaired weapon, and the Crusher just... crushes. Not to mention, there is no real competition for who uses Crusher (Edelgard might want to use it, but you can't have her and Crusher in the same playthrough) so it's effectively her personal weapon. Dark Knight does open up her spell kit, but honestly, Annettes spells suck. Recover is always good to have handy, but the only attack spell she has worth using is Excalibur. Bolt Axe beats out the rest of her spell list handily, only being limited in being difficult to repair in Act 1. But Lightning Axe on a Pegasus or Wyvern for Act 1 is enough. The big issue I have with Dark Knight is how thinly spread her skills are. You still want Axes for damage, Authority for Rallies, Reason for qualifications and Excalibur, Faith for Recover, and the Riding requirements are higher than the Flying requirements. Oh, and qualifying for Armor Knight for the bases becomes a bit trickier too. With the DLC, Valkyrie makes the journey to Dark Knight much easier, but it's still pretty clunky. Part of the benefit of Wyvern Lord is how simple the class path is, and it helps negate WL Annette splashing into Reason, Faith, Heavy Armor and diving into Authority. Adding Reason, and swapping out the low requirement Flying for the higher requirement Riding, all just to get Excalibur and Recover, while giving up better movement and Axe damage... I just find it a questionable trade.

[@arha13]

He’s probably taking her noble->monk->cavalier->paladin->dark knight. She’s the best candidate for high authority battalions like dance of the goddess in bl, so she’ll get movement and better battalion access this way. Also, her spells are better than you give her credit for. Early game, high accuracy wind spells and a little extra healing is nice. Once you’re in cavalier, riding should level up enough that you don’t really need to focus on it and there’s no real reason to train magic past her basic spells so you can heavy grind authority on her very early on. Basically flier

[@MrGosamaru]

I did Hunting By Daybreak on a fresh maddening playthrough (Golden Deer), and I don't think I've ever had a more satisfying Fire Emblem experience. I didn't use any weird LTC-esque tricks either, I basically routed the map. Caveat: I knew what the map was going to be like, so I was prepared going into the map before it. (Leonie and Hilda as flying units was critical for me.) And I don't mind reversing time over and over to get things right (I actually enjoy it), which I know is a gameplay mechanic some people don't like.

[@casualjacob776]

I'm surprised for the axes section something wasn't mentioned about using axes in combat gets you closer to brigand certification for Death Blow. Love these kinds of videos kind of explaining certain meta-game ideas

[@pittfail5896]

While I agree with your rating of warp, I disagree with your exact reasoning. Warp is obviously very good objectively, giving a singular unit extra range or across a tricky area is great. In three house however, I feel like it shines because of how efficient it can be. Magic units (healers really) have trouble on turn one making use of their turn. Warp gives healers an opportunity to be more proactive, rather than just waiting to heal or tossing a physic to a flier who took retaliation. Of course, an argument could be made that a support unit should have a support battalion, like stride, to make use of turn one. I would disagree and say that such battalions would be better off on combat units who aren’t powerhouses, or aren’t particularly useful. Each unit can only take one action, ignoring dances. So having numerous units to boost, warp, buff, etc is more valuable than a singular monster supporter for all needs. And finally, that ties into my last point. Focusing on maddening especially, 3H is a very “all hands on deck” mode. You want all your units doing as much as they can at every moment. Especially in maps with side objectives like paralogues (thinking retribution, Felix, Manuela Hanneman) where there is a massive time crunch, you’re gonna want stride and warp used conjunctively. All this being said, it comes down to the fact that since 3H has other methods of giving range other than just warp (unlike the rest of the series) warp does have other things going for it than just it’s sheer movement bonus. And really, I think they gave warps to units that need extra utility. Without it, Lysithea would be solely for damage, Manuela for heals, and linhardt would just be worse. Warp is also huge with Manuela, who is just not gonna be as good as the rest of your squad stat-wise. Sorry for the wall everyone, these videos excite me 🤣

[@JonSmith-hk1bq]

Noting that Linhardt and Hapi are the only good potential healers that have warp (and Hapi would be a bit of a waste in the role). Manuela and Lysithea, lacking both Physic and Recover, are some of the poorest healers in the game.

[@nonoko7257]

wait it took me 10 minutes to realize the background music comes from library of Ruina, holy cow i love you

[@MrPuffer69]

Hol up, that's Library of Ruina playing in the background. BASED AF MEKKAH.

[@APocketMonster]

You say Wyvern/DK Annette, I'll raise you Peg Knight + Paladin Annette! Hear me out, why choose between her Flying Rallies and ground-based battalions when you could get both and choose based on the situation? D+ Flying doesn't take long to get for anyone, both need lance rank too. The 6 move peg knight has doesn't always hurt her, especially if you have another unit that can use BL Dancers. It does come at the cost of her spell list, so DK definitely is still nice (and you might be able to get that by the time she's lv30? Haven't really tried that much for my builds) So in a sense I guess Wyvern could be worse than DK, but I definitely still like the terrain-ignoring rallybot.

[@OnlineVideoSurfer]

D+ flying? Even easier than that for Pegasus! You only need D if you want the 100%.

[@Van1_Ty]

I often use Ingrid’s Battalion on Dark Fliers because it doesn’t actually reduce Magic. It also doesn’t buff magic but it’s better thank like 95% of the other Flying battalions for Dark Fliers.

[@lemonbread8019]

Nuvelle Fliers Co. was specifically made for dark fliers. It's the only magic flying battalion.

[@LadyViolet1]

Since Mekkah asked which ones we agree or disagree with I hard disagree with the "vengeance is a bad gimmick" one, it's an incredibly consistent way to get high damage throughout the entire game; it's made my crimson flower maddening ironman run much more palatable (albeit stress inducing since I'm doing an ironman, but it's more that I'm afraid of losing such a great tool than it being bad).

[@pgheartemoji5320]

My hottest take of all was that HBD on maddening mode was one of my favorite maps. This was during my silver snow run (first try at maddening, but fifth run overall) and I was only using Petra and Lin from the black eagles, so that map was really just me and Petra vs the world. I 100% only didn't give up because of ur Byleth solo video showing me it was possible lol (we lost Caspar though, rip. Your death was a calculated sacrifice.). Dark Flier Annette has been really fun for me tbh! I used her as one in the aforementioned SS run, then again in a BL run I just finished. This time I trained her in axes too and had her using bolt+ and Crusher as backups if she ran low on spells, and she was great. Definitely saw some 84 might attacks, which still feels like cheating I got addicted to dodge tanking on my SS run so I abused alert stance+ so hard on the AM one I just finished. I even trained Felix in flying just to get him that skill to see how it would go and I ended up running a few different maps including gronder field using him (assassin), Ingrid (falcon knight), Annette (df), and Byleth (fk) all as dodge tanks with no other units actually fighting and it was a damn delight. 10/10, screw meta, would recommend. (Also, with some strength boosting consumables and high crit rates, Ingrid could kill almost everyone on enemy phase, so no problem with low attack like you mentioned w ferdie. Hell, she killed the Death Knight on enemy phase.)

[@pgheartemoji5320]

(Worth noting that my endgame team when I finished Silver Snow was super unbalanced and I suffered for it during the final battle. Three dark fliers, a wyvern lord, a falcon knight, a gremory, a dancer, an assassin, a war master, and a bishop. Still fun though, even if I have war flashbacks when listening to A Funeral of Flowers.)

[@absoul112]

Maybe it's just me, but dodgetank Ferdie works fine enough if it's just his personal skill, weapon (lance) prowess and weapon (sword) breaker.

[@lonelymascot]

i did the same with HBD, first run on hard in golden deer, liked the map, was nice seeing everyone come back, played second playthrough on blue lions maddening no ng+, my god iv never had to rely on so much RNG in my life, somehow got through it after a few tries without losing anyone, i even spent a majority of my early game preparing byleth and dimitri for hbd and the map was still kicking my ass

[@biandanxious3438]

I’ve played well over 1,000 hours of three houses and I I’m gonna say what I personally think on this. Dodgetank con aegir is honestly really valid. He rocks with alert stance+ on wyvern. Ashe is in general a bad unit but still has many good uses. There are no unusable units in three houses. Warp is definitely overrated. It is EXTREMELY good but way too many players put warps value over whole characters! Gilbert is really bad. But he is still usable. Axes are actually really good because of the smash combat art. They help finish off enemies. Enlightened one Byleth is actually pretty decent because they can heal and give free dmg with windsweep. But EH. Dark knight is actually pretty decent on units like Dorothea and Hubert and maybe even Hapi. Mercedes vs Lin? Choose Mercedes if your team needs more healing and better magic dmg and choose Lin if you need warp. I have 0 experience using foul play. That’s because I don’t use trickster. 3H meta might seem like wyvern spam but certain classes like gremory and sniper can actually be way more useful. Training more units then max deployment just seems like a waste of time to me personally. Great lord Dimitri is near unplayable. At least, compared to his other amazing options. Bow knight is only better then sniper if you are Leonie or Cyril. Not using Seteth is a crime unless you’re using Sylvain. And Jeritza doesn’t feel good to play imo. Swords aren’t really good unless you are Byleth or Yuri since they have windsweep. Swords don’t hit that hard and how light they are doesn’t help because you are getting doubled by everything anyways. Felix obviously needs a battalion late game. Vengeance is straight up broken. Using a cavalier Bernie is amazing with vengeance because then she consistently take a hit and be ready to use vengeance. Dancer is really useful but sometimes I do use sword avo 20+ over the class. Just when I have really strong units and my Yuri needs more avo. Feel free to disagree with my opinions but please don’t be toxic.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

Even if you get doubled, you can still be a dodge tank with Swords because of their light weight, and biggest Avoid boost with Prowess abilities, along with brawling and white magic. The Wo Dao+ and Rapier+ are 2 of the best weapons in the game imo. Thunderbrand is also only 1 of 2 relics that has a Brave Effect, but still has good stats for Enemy Phase, and its combat art is incredible. And of course the dancer class. Gilbert, long story short, was actually quite fun to use when I was on Maddening. I lost count of how many times he said: "Child's play! You're soft! Not enough! So many openings! I see right through you!"

[@IcedCoffeeGaming]

I agree that axes are fine, you can throw an accuracy ring or get hit+20 on a wyvern to mitigate accuracy issues. Also agree warp is overrated, unless you are speed running, you generally are sending a unit into an unfavorable position surrounding them by enemy units. Flyer spam + basic positioning IMO removes the upside of warp, as flyers just fly over terrain and farm enemy units.

[@biandanxious3438]

@@IcedCoffeeGaming A lot of people struggle to understand that sadly.

[@biandanxious3438]

@@AkameGaKillfan777 Swords are good but most units prefer axes or magic or bows. I personally didn’t prefer swords but I do recognize where they shine.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

@@biandanxious3438 Pretty sure most characters aren't great with magic. Bows are good, but unless you're an Archer class, you're going to get outranged by them even if you have bows yourself.

[@IcedCoffeeGaming]

Warp is neat, I think stride and warp are so/so. There is very little upside to be extremely aggressive at max ranges outside of speed clearing (LTC) or gimmicking maps for fun. In most situations, the unit you warp will be surrounded by enemies, and if you are using it as you mentioned, to solve a positional issue of other units being overextended and warping in more damage, you have just messed up tactically and warp is acting as a get out of jail free card rather than an optimal strategy. Also in a lot if situations flyers can fly right over walls, there are very few maps where this isn't the case, maybe 1-3? Flyer + stride allows you to send an entire squad of damage 12ish squares away to eliminate a group of enemies and depending on how much move they have left, can canto into a safe formation for tanking or abuse enemy terrain limitations to canto onto out of bounds regions. I just uploaded a vid where I have a level 37 mercedes in maddening in chapter 10 just from playing the game normally, no NG+, no online XP gains, no DLC auxillary, just from spamming fortify on missions/base paralogues/battles, so this overhype about Lindhart and warp doesn't really make sense to me, I can get a gremory by chapter 9 on average no NG+/DLC abuse/reknown from chest but lindhart is so much better because he can bounce a dude twice a map? In most situations outside of cheesing a map warp is not extremely powerful. In Chess, gambits and piece sacs are cool, flashy, and sexy, but I tend to lose more games when rushing into aggression instead of playing with tactics and position in mind.

[@blankblank6214]

War monk Ferdinand is far more doge than giving him sword avoid with gauntlet prowess and avoid giving 40 avoid with both at once and stacking with the avoid ring and a high avoid battalion like the dancer one

[@tzheihoh]

Brawler/War Master Ferdinand with mastered War Monk has all the dodging abilites of alert stance ferdinand, as well as the offense of swift strikes (Fierce Iron Fist) or the high enemy phase output (Crit+20 from warmaster). I think overall a swift strikes build on a Wyvern or Paladin Ferdinand is slightly better for at least Crimson Flower, mostly because mastering War Monk is a totally achievable investment, it is still an investment. But saying dodgetank Ferdinand is bad in general is outright wrong by Mekkah. IIRC Mekkah does not have the DLC, so he probably does not have access to Brawl Avoid, so that is probably the biggest reason for this error.

[@blankblank6214]

@@tzheihoh I did this with an Annette once to on hard blue lions in the final map the only thing that hit were Gambits in the low 60s anything else in that opening room had anywhere from 5-0 hit it was fun for sure

[@twobirdsonescone]

with cindered shadows annette can very easily slide into dark flier which lets maintain her rallybot powers while also letting her use magic. dark flier class growths and bonus patch up her speed and her axe boon makes it very easy to qualify for wyvern for the base strength to compensate for the weight of her spells

[@ultimaterecoil1136]

That’s a lot of work to just not be doubled. The only mage that’s actually doubling most enemies is the occasional magic ingrid ( which honesty is arguably stronger then normal ingrid when dlc and dark flier are being considered). Then again the only ones doubling at all in general are ingrid petra of the base cast in maddening consistently. Below 60 speed growth speed becomes a defensive stat

[@PallaEmblem]

The only one I don't really understand is DK > Wyvern Annette (Maybe the implication is they're the same idk). Like maybe there is some trick I haven't seen (I haven't looked at 3H Meta in a while) but I don't understand why a support Annette would go past Paladin (Honestly wouldn't even take her past Cav). Seems like a waste of EXP. Wyvern Annette should be a solid combat bot(Since Wrath) with the boon of having rallies so you can sometimes save a deploy slot on your rally bot so DK is competing with that. For combat DK she does have higher accuracy which I guess is the appeal? Idk the movement would be a problem on some maps and it comes so late since it's a master class that it doesn't seem like it matters and going Wyvern into DK seems kinda smelly for WEXP. If move isn't an issue I'd think Warlock is cheaper.

[@OnlineVideoSurfer]

Yeah. I assume going dark knight over wyvern in a non-DLC game (I assume this does not include Valkyrie) is to preserve the battalions, but it's a high opportunity cost to make that happen when she can just run any horse class and stay out of combat if you want to keep that support. And I'm not even just thinking about optimal play. Even casually it feels tricky to get her the necessary experience for dark knight over other alternatives. She's not exactly built to fight in a lance class. I feel like you need to almost deny her offensive abilities for half the game and force victories in order to raise her up on this path. I may be missing something too though. It has been a while since I've played Three Houses.

[@noukan42]

I think it probably a 0% growth thing, where restore is way more relevant.

[@wouterW24]

With three houses it impresses me how much maddening is the official meta. Many stuff finds it’s niche there, true, but a lot of people seem to still play hard but just don’t talk about it much. Ashe is one of the few units that more or less work with the more regular scaling of hard, even if bland, but is the biggest loser of maddening. Mostly because Awakening stuck around Hard mode as the yardstick more often.

[@samkeiser9776]

Fe3H maddening is kind of stupid, but it’s like consistent and, playable. Lunatic or lunatic+ in awakening are downright unplayable or trivialized by robin.

[@smward87]

It's the internet meta. People only care about min maxing in the hardest difficulties because....um...playing games for fun was deemed bad...or something. I don't know. Point is, yes people only talk about Maddening because it exists and that's why.

[@samkeiser9776]

@@smward87 I mean, for most the people who talk about viability and maddening, it’s not that they have a problem with games being played for fun, but that talking about maddening is what’s fun for them. Especially when for these kind of optimization focused players, hard difficulty isn’t really a challenge.

[@afgcinc7206]

I've taken a lot of heat for this opinion, but it's not that I think Warp is overrated, but it is overvalued, especially when it seems to be the 'be all end all' for a strat or unit's value in the game. I agree with your points, it's awesome, it's useful, it opens up LTC shenanigans, but it's not mandatory. Some others I have argued with on this would be more like "if you need to warp to save a situation rather than just using it to clear a map you are playing bad" and I always figured the RNG of maddening is going to put you in a pinch no matter how great you play. Which is why I don't see too many 100% perfect no divine pulse runs on maddening :D Footnotes: Love Ashe as a character but damn he just doesn't get that one ability to be better in maddening like Bernadetta or even Bignatz (Hit+20 to start), Gilbert is very useful, and my Dark Knight Annette was awesome in my BL run, and not as just a Rallybot either (It's OVER, thieves!!!) :D

[@joho4430]

I find it funny how many Mekkah videos are just him scrolling through the library of ruina OST or getting sent videos by rengor. In terms of music at least

[@Rengor1997]

I mean are you complaining

[@tipherethscrub982]

That BEAUTIFUL Library of Ruina OST

[@tipherethscrub982]

@Merciless Freak no

[@slanax97]

Wrath on Dodgetank von Aegir is great wym especially the part where the point of using Ferdinand for it becomes moot

[@zakwood3094]

did an assasain ferdinand on maddening. pretty much a dodgetank critter, and his timeskip outfit suits it perfectly. he gets sword art subdue, and has a gd dex growth for crits plus 20% for assassains sooo it was very effective

[@barackobama7563]

you neglect to consider ashe as a dancer, easily the most efficient choice of dancer for azure moon

[@radupon]

Hopefully part 2 will come out soon

[@Patrickveech25]

Love this type of content Mekkah!!! GREAT video man

[@michaelwright1846]

I made Annette a dark knight once and she was good. Her high magic growth with reason magic faire meant she did good damage.

[@dddmemaybe]

Really glad to hear what you say about Axes and Warp because I thought Warp was overrated _but_ I completely forgot that I did use both Lysethia and Manuela on my first run of the game and kind of forgot I was spamming that shit like 3-4x a map. I also used a ton of Axes, mostly great knight Hilda who did a lot of damage on enemy phase. It's just that after looking at the wiki I just see the weight and I'm like _eww wtf_. Totally forgetting that axe classes give strength/speed or strength/weight- to overcome the difference.

[@dylannelson9012]

The first Fire Emblem game I committed to and Finished was Three houses, so I was a big noobie at the time. Since then, I've been trying to improve my Fire Emblem skills/knowledge and listening to this video is pretty interesting to me because it helps me understand why some things are good/bad and helps me get a few general principles that I can apply to other games. I like this type of video

[@velvetbutterfly]

I played through almost the entire franchise so if you are looking for which game to try next I'd be happy to help find one you enjoy

[@ChronosAnJill]

I don't know too much about the Meta of this game despite it being one of my top 3 games of all time, but while playing Maddening NG+ and getting two advance classes with every character, Ashe with lethally was killing just about any enemy he attacked because that skilled activated like 8 times out of 10. He is not part of my main build anymore but that still surprised me.

[@ploppman7524]

HBD is good on lower difficulties because you get to see your students' part 2 designs and the map is full of enemies that drop things, loads of weapons, concentrates and such. Gilbert is easy to hate on because if you enjoy armor knights you've probably already made Dedue into one. And if you did his paralogue you get Dedue back a few chapters into part 2. I don't think most people's first thought when getting a new unit is "Hmm, what class should I turn you into?" You usually assume whatever class someone is when they join is their most suitable path. At least with someone joining in a proper class at such high level.

[@gameboyn64]

The difference between axes and sword is 20 hit, 3-4 mt, 2wt. Wrath strike and smash lower the difference to 10 hit and 1-2 mt. Prowess skills are kind of irrelevant because they typically cancel out mathematical. Basically swords better early, axes better later.

[@ultimaterecoil1136]

Also swords crit more because cursed ashira sword goes brrr and windsweep is a pretty good art on the units that have it

[@alexstewart9592]

A very important thing about Warp some people don't think about is that it is a very low-cost thing to use compaired to other mobility options. It doesn't take up a battalion, combat art or skill slot, and is permanently there for free every chapter you deploy a unit with it in once you earn it. And training up to it isn't even a big cost - two of the units that get it start leaning more towards the healer side of magic anyway and will reach it before the end of the game from their use of healing magic after they rush the lower ranks to get the improved healing spells to just keep you alive on higher difficulties, and the third, while leaning offensive, gets a Monster Slayer effect offensive spell at a higher Faith rank than they get Warp, AND their personal skill gives them extra weapon skill growth so skill ranks are fairly cheap on them anyway. Sure it i can get outshone at times, but working it into your builds is a lot easier than anything else - and it is further helped by how the Crimson Flower route basically gives you two of them for free, since you start with one and can recruit another post-timeskip mid-battle and with no big prerequisites.

[@Char-93]

Imagine not using swift strikes Ferdinand 🧐

[@swagb9149]

Hey Libary of Runia Music

[@rhysofsneezingdragon1758]

My take for three houses is that the timeskip absolutely sucks. It feels awkwardly done, byleth's reason for being out for 5 years isn't well explained, and it's hard to believe that every single side of the war was a stalemate for 5 years.

[@OriginalRaisins]

It isn't a stalemate though? The Adrestian empire conquers half of the Kingdom of Fearghus and nearly executes its king. Furthermore it's a medieval war so of course progress is going to be slow.

[@slushisimcambi2521]

@@OriginalRaisins okay but on that note; the fact it takes so long for the Empire makes the gains it does… only for Byleth to show up and reverse all of the conquest in a few months is kind of insane.

[@rhysofsneezingdragon1758]

While I can kinda believe byleth is good enough to turn the tide, It's kinda bull to me that edelgard didn't have some plan if byleth reappeared

[@OriginalRaisins]

@@slushisimcambi2521 Byleth reappeared and with a highly organized and qualified group of officers and knights (don't forget Byleth is in command of all the battalions as well) they manage to pull off enough strategic victories over the course of 8-9 months to end the war? Seems pretty realistic actually.

[@OriginalRaisins]

@@rhysofsneezingdragon1758 She did, and she deployed it on the final map in Azure Moon.

[@Ubersupersloth]

My nuclear hot take on 3H is that Silver Snow is better than Verdant Wind. For one, the cutscene where you kill Edelgard makes way more sense when Edelgard’s like “I wanted to walk with you”. For another, the story is just more impactful overall. You find out Edelgard is the flame emperor basically as an afterthought in Golden Deer. Then you spend 3/4 of the post-timeskip maps fighting Edelgard. It just doesn’t really work, narrative-wise. Lastly, and this is the spiciest take, Claude’s kind of a Mary Sue and is not interesting as a character. The only thing you could call Claude’s “flaw” is that “they’re slow to trust people” which is kind of a valid viewpoint.

[@noahpelletier6616]

I personally used Dodgetank Von Aegir in my Crimson Flower Maddening playthrough, because he got super strength screwed, at level 40 he only had 16 strength. Otherwise I would've just gone with Swift Strikes

[@michaelgum97]

Funnily enough, the only unit that I was most comfortable with using axes in the early game was Petra, she really needed the extra power from axes, her hit rate was good enough to hit reliably, and she was still able to double enemies. It was on normal and not maddening.

[@zavinzagg]

my only disagree would be on dodge tank ferdinand I think its strength is to leave him as a dancer that you can put into "harms way" without having to worry, he also has a horse boon that could get him +1 move later on which is always useful on a dancer

[@moltz4866]

I had a Dodgetank von Aegir for maddening once which, while not optimal, focused on Lances instead and baited enemy units before Swift Striking them to death and running away with canto. EDIT: On a related note, my Ashe in my last Azure Moon Maddening file somehow ended up godly stat wise, so I'll have to agree that he's good this time (it did come at the price of jinxing Dimitri's growths tho. I had to use every stat booster I had just to fix him).

[@ThatNameDouh]

My Maddening Dimitri gets doubled to about everything except things like a slowed down Paladin, one-rounded if they're heavier hitters. I gave him I believe multiple stat boosters, but if he doesn't crit with battalion vantage + wrath he essentially dies and only reason he has a good phase for me. Aside from like a few stat boosts mainly the speed to steal stuff, my Ashe is such a bro killing things, I think he's fine as a unit.

[@maagic2031]

Swords: Have windsweep Literally every other weapon: does not have windsweep I think it's pretty obvious what the best weapon type is.

[@elevate07]

Swift Strikes, Hunters Volley, and Point Blank Volley: Who dares to approach the triumvirate?!?

[@gallalameblook9911]

Lance : have Vengeance Literally every other weapon : does not have Vengeance I think it's pretty obvious what the best weapon type is

[@gallalameblook9911]

​@@armourslayer8942 I mean, Byleth can use Windsweep very well (I think it's supposed to be their signature, but everyone forgets it because Sublime Heaven) and Jeritza can basically just train 1 month in sword to unlock it. Dimitri already has too many things to learn, between Authority for those juicy B-Wrath/B-Vantage strats, Fly because of course you want him on a wyvern, and Axe which he has a bane in for the aforemention Wyvern class. Working on Sword can work for him, but that's not his best option. For Yuri it's pretty much useless, with his ridiculous Speed he already dodge every ennemy attack ....What was my point again ?

[@rockyhankin8679]

@@armourslayer8942 I usually get it on Byleth around chapter 10 or so. There’s 4 people who can faculty train in swords (Catherine, Manuela, Rhea, and Seteth) so once you have enough activity points lying around it goes surprisingly quickly. I like it on Byleth because it’s one of the few safe ways to chip enemy Dimitris, Edelgards, and Jeritzas in part 2. It just makes the killing them a lot easier/safer. But it’s also a job you only need one person for, so I wouldn’t bother with Dimitri and I’d skip it on Byleth if I have Jeritza or Yuri. I’d file it under something that’s nice to have but not mandatory.

[@14bj337]

Axes: Have Wild Abandon. Literally every other weapon: does not have Wild Abandon. I think it's pretty obvious what the best weapon type is.

[@OrigamiAhsoka]

Honestly I’ve never tried using Gilbert since I’ve almost always had Dedue but what I think is hilarious about him is as a commander on black eagles is the way he still has that same base speed of 2. Even my slowest magic units could easily double him and just kill him on one round of combat

[@Grima1805]

Dodgetank warmaster Felix is fun

[@Starwars-Fanboy]

First Edit: I unironically like mortal savant for combat Marianne. Getting swordfaire and black magic tomefaire in one package is nice. Marianne wants the swordfaire for soulblade one shots and getting tomefaire too is nice to have when you arnt spamming soulblade. Ofc it's not optimal but it worked out in my personal playthroughs.

[@bigcountrymxog]

I did HBD on a maddening BL PMU. It took me 30 turns

[@roysourboy8016]

on my blue lions only run ashe is good. this is because i made him a dancer and boosted his movement, since he was completely outshined by other students doing anything else.

[@dustinyuan9161]

“Axes are bad overall.” *Laughs in War Master’s Strike* While not the best example, the huge accuracy boost and moderate power boost lets you one-shot speedier frail units on maddening with a slow, strong unit like Dedue and Gilbert. Sword breaker/quick riposte on an enemy swordsmaster? Cute, did you know old men can fly?

[@selfsustainedautocannibalVampi]

Screw sword avoid on Ferdie give him special dance and Quick repost. You're already doing a lot of investing with a dodge tank build, might as well train brawl.

[@DoggyP00]

Ashe turned out to be my best unit in my maddening run because my hard run taught me that alert stance was op, so I tried to make everyone a dodge tank except ashe who I just didn't pay any attention to. Also my annette and main healer died in chapter 13 after almost getting soft locked.

[@BlackIsNotAColour]

i think that training more units than you can deploy can be a useful or good idea on classic mode because if a unit dies and you can’t turn back time you can have another unit trained the same way to replace them

[@Mekkkah]

I think that's backwards because training more units than you can deploy increases the risk of units dying in the first place. If you want more units trained than you have room to deploy, just use the adjutant system to do so instead of cycling through units when deploying.

[@Azamingg]

Okay, so before I watch this, here is my take on the chart: Dodgetank von Aegir: I always get the loser von Aegir because I have no Idea of healthy Ferdinand builds. Mortal Savant and Bow Knight are not it for me. Ashe good: Don't know, I never recruit him into the other houses and I never did a blue Lions playthrough. I ask him for assistance for the first two Death Knight chapters so I am not pressured by the timer and instead can calm down a little. HBD good: I only did the Claude one at the time I write this, and that was actually horrible, because I always play three houses on maddening, even my first playthrough, and I hated every minute, the only dudebrahs that didn't die in one hit were Byleth, Claude and Raphael, also Marianne IF miracle proked. Piece of filth Pallardo burned himself into my memory as the least threatening Boss in all of Fire Emblem in Comparison to the chapter they are in. Wyvern > DK Annette: I have no idea what this means, I guess Wyvernette better than Dark Knight Anni. I recruited her into Crimson Flower, and she was a Gremory, so, don't know. Warp is overrated: How can something that can change the difficulty of a chapter from maddening to walk in a park (Great Bridge of Judith Hunting was done by turn 2 thanks to Lin) be overrated in any way, this was one of the few tools I had going through maddening flower, aside from Jeritza and Wyvern Hubert. Gilbert: Don't know, but as an opponent he sucks like a vacuum cleaner. Axes bad: For me only until someone gets Axe Prowess lv 1. Rout every part 2 map: Whoever has this opinion should have no fun doing the Claude chapter on maddening flower. Enlightened Byleth: I master it asap and go on to play the class my wheel chose for me, but I like that Skill too much to not use it. Dark Knight bad: I love Dark Knight Lorenz and Dark Knight Jeritza Merci > Lin: What I said to warp applies to this. I don't know if Merci is better, but I sure as hell know that she wasn't the reason Maddening flower was fun for me, but Lin was. Foul Play: Have no idea what that means. Wyvern Meta: Like the last one, I don't know, the meta of fire Emblem is not my cup of tea, but I heard they were super good in 3H Training more than max: I do it in case I let someone die and don't want to reset Not using those 2 gambit abilities: I do No battalion upgrade: Of course I did, it makes the game more fun. Wo Dao+: I didn't even know it was there, so I don't know Great Lord Dimitri: Never played Blue Lions, so can't say. Bow Knight > Sniper: Isn't that Hunters Volley, like, Super good. But I like Bow Knight as well, I usually turn Leonie into one and have one sniper in addition to that. Seteth and Jeritza not used: Why those two specifically? Seteth: nope, except for his paralogue; Jeritza: I would be dumb not to use him, he is a solid unit and he can take out long range tomes no problem Sword good on maddening: Never thought about that, but I would say so because Levin swords are more accessible, and because you have The Sword of the Creator and Thunderbrand (Except Maddening Flower) Felix no battalion: Yes he should. Yes, his skill is juicy in the early game, but later on there are battalions that do the same thing and more. Vengeance bad gimmick: Don't think so, I Like my Vengeance Berni. Mortal Savant useful: Can't tell, all my Mortal Savants turned out shit (Manuela and Ferdinand) Sword Avoid > Dance: Don't think so.

[@Lord_Niru]

Dodge tank Von Aegir does have lower offense that is true however I would say you don't have to sacrifice the player phase potential. When I use him I keep his land and axe ranks over using swords and sword avoid since both lances and axes have the 1-2 range variants and swiftstrike combat art. He works perfectly fine dodge tanking with his perf skill, avoid +10, alert stance+, and the corresponding prowess skill. Yes this is multiple maddening playthroughs, and also swords would make you worst against Falcon knights with sword breaker that seems really bad for your dodge tank.

[@thomastrautman5855]

Yeah I don't think getting Swift Strikes or Alert Stance+ are mutually exclusive- sometimes you will want to attack things on PP and sometimes he can be used to lure out enemies. I agree the Sword Avoid +20 from Dancer is better on a Dancer though.

[@14bj337]

Conversely, I got a lot of mileage out of straight Dancer Ferdinand. Personal skill + Sword prowess + Sword Avoid +20 work swimmingly together, even without Avoid +10 or Alert Stance from flying classes. Dancer in the Player Phase streets, Dodger in the Enemy Phase sheets.

[@D461Sage]

I JUST got through HBD(Azure Moon) on Maddening. Yeah i once loved that map.....

[@TekkenGirl4Lyfe]

I don't give a flying fuck how bad people think Ashe is, I'm determined to use him bc he's a precious cinnamon roll and I love him to pieces. :P (And he's been surprisingly good for me too.) Then again, I'm a filthy casual mode player so my opinion probably doesn't count. Also TIL you can upgrade battalions...

[@papersonic9941]

Forgot "Bernadetta is a bad unit". Also, I thought Bows were considered to be the best weapon type?

[@Zakuzelo]

Hooooh boy, here we go, now THIS is gonna be a hell of a thi- Oh. It's all gameplay takes. Nevermind.

[@Videokirby]

Warp cannot be overrated so long as Felix's Paralogue exists on Maddening. Warp+Stride+Flying is the only way you're getting the Aegis Shield without overleveling, other types of cheesing, or being a literal tactical god.

[@LFPman]

I personally believe Fates’ Malig Knight should’ve migrated to Three Houses either as a ‘Special’ DLC class or a normal Master Class. Maybe as a slightly slower and physically a tad bit weaker in the strength of trading off magic and a slight higher res growth but still accommodates to the average Wyvern. Paired with the Nuvelle Fliers and this would be the perfect class for Annette My perception of axes being bad would be by the wide range of Fortress Knights. With armour knights using lances as their primary weapon in past games, i’m sure they contained higher accuracy then in comparison to axes. But with axes and a bigger speed comparison to their enemy, armour knights always have a very shakey hit rate and only their high defence and good strength to counter mages on their phase

[@samkeiser9776]

yeah but Wyvern riders go brrrr.

[@Ziizoe]

I play casual maddening mode specifically because I don't want my untrained units to just die in HBD lol

[@lucarr1041]

"No one is stupid enough to play maddening not on NG+, right?" ... ... ... Fortunately that was my Crimson Flower run, so I missed out on HBD. I still ticked it down to Hard eventually though.

[@peterlindstrom4233]

Dark magic. it’s dark magic. Guess what the best weapon is.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Wyverns are the best weapon.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

Viskam

[@Besh091]

I'm actually super interested in the Enlightened One Byleth square and what that discussion is all about, since I'm not really up to date on 3h meta. Is it about the utility of the class itself, or about whether it's Byleth's best overall option?

[@zer0vision891]

I assume it's people thinking it's Byleth's best option, when it isn't even close. Byleth doesn't have that special of a spell list (no Warp, Rescue, Silence, Seraphim, Dark Spikes, Bolting, Meteor, Excalibur), doesn't get Fistfaire from Enlightened One (plus Terrain Resistance is only useful on CF Ch 18 and VW Ch 22), low stat modifiers, and doesn't have any major boons that other classes do. Compared to Enlightened One, Grappler has Fistfaire + Fierce Iron Fist, equal move and ignores Forest; Sniper has Hunter's Volley and high-range; Assassin has Stealth, equal move, and ignores Forest; Wyvern Rider/Lord and Pegasus/Falcon Knight obviously have flight, Avo+10 and much more useful Lancefaire/Axefaire, easy Alert Stance; War Master has Crit+20, Quick Riposte, War Master's Strike, AND Fist+Axefaire. The only thing I think Enlightened One has that's good is Sacred Power for Atk stacking to meet kill thresholds, and it does synergize with Professor's Guidance. Honestly, even Swordmaster is better than Enightened One because it has Sword Crit+10, +4 Spd compared to +1 Spd, and a (honestly shitty) combat art in Astra. Though if you're on Hard, of course Enlightened One is fine. On Maddening though, it's really only worth going Enlightened One if you're starving for healers and to grab Sacred Power.

[@jedimasterpickle3]

@@zer0vision891 Enlightened One has +1 move compared to Swordmaster as well. I won't argue that it's Byleth best choice, but it's an easy choice, and Byleth doesn't need much investment to be good. Sword Crit +10 I personally have not found to make a big difference. I'm in the middle of a Maddening VW file. Byleth ended up just staying on Enlightened One despite my plans and certification in Swordmaster. When I had spare activity points I got her a Pegasus Knight cert for Ch. 13, and generally focused on authority rank a bit. I usually have her with a Rapier+ and she crits more often than Catherine using a Killing Edge or Wo Dao. Even in an ok class Byleth is still one of my strongest units.

[@cross7679]

I hope you end up making that Gilbert WAIFU, he really needs it

[@spacedoyster7686]

With Dodge tanking in general, it's honestly not worth the effort. I think one of the best dodge tanks I got working was Byleth; with White Magic Avoid and Caduceus, they can usually dodge enough and counter, but they wouldn't have dealt a good amount of damage back if I hadn't fed them a bunch of magic boosters. Having healing off of Nosferatu when they did take a hit was also handy, but it was too much effort to get into. The build needs Hit+20 to make up for Nos's poor hit rate and the lack of support boosts on Enemy Phase. Weight -3 might be another good idea to offset how heavy Nos is, too, but that's asking a bit much... And that's before considering Alert Stance. The final nail in the coffin of this variety of Dodge Tank is that Bishop is the best option, leaving Byleth in a 4 Move class, 5 if you go Gremmory. Holy Knight probably isn't a good idea, since it doesn't double magic uses. I tried it on Dorothea on my last playthrough, but I didn't finish the run and it's been a while. She probably wouldn't be able to pull it off, considering how squishy she is. When it comes to Ferdie, everyone knows that Swordmaster is the best option! More opportunities to proc his crest means the enemies can't attack! Just ignore that it's only more useful than Swift Strikes when fighting a monster.

[@zer0vision891]

Dodge tanking is one of the only ways to have a reliable enemy phase; the others being Wrath/Vantage, Impregnable Wall, and that Miracle gambit. It's just that like most other ways of getting a reliable enemy phase is that it doesn't usually start working well until at least halfway through once you hit Wyvern and Alert Stance.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

I'd also have to ignore that Astra is complete shit and not worth using.

[@xuanathan]

Dodgetank von Aegir is definitely not something I'd build Ferdie around, but I have found he's a really easy way to block off White Dragon reinforcements on turn 1 in SS endgame. Thats really the 1 use I found for him, hell I didn't even have him dodgetank the rest of the map, just turn 1.

[@xuanathan]

Just for the record Sword Avo is absolutely not necessary, I just used Spear of Assal and Ochain Shield, with lance prowess which gives 20 avo. He was facing 0% hit rates turn 1 without sword avo and a 15 avo battalion, and he was also able to bait hoarfrost from Rhea which meant Shamir and Byleth were able to fight her and only take damage on player phase

[@14bj337]

Regarding the matter of Gilbert, while I personally liked using him on Maddening, I ranked him fairly low when grading all the units in 3H - a 3 out of 10 (for comparison, in-house Ashe got a 4). A big part of that is availability - while you could say "he's free, he takes no investment", he also provides you with no succor during the challenging earlygame maps. His absence in those times also means he missed out on strong mastery skills, such as Death Blow or Reposition. He can go back to earn them, but that takes some grinding. Even salvaging his speed via certification, doubling remains a pipe dream. His Authority rank at jointime is also lacking, and while he suffers no banes, manifold E-ranks constrain his class options (RIP my dreams of Swordmaster Gilbert). Now, to his credit, he's among the best defensive tanks available in the game, given a better battalion and shield as a Fortress or Great Knight. His personal ability just bolsters this further. Paladin and Wyvern Rider are both well within his reach, and the Glowing Ember combat art turns his Defense into an offensive boon. And as you mentioned, Smite is one of the better repositional arts. If all else fails, he can adjutant for Annette, offering her a boost not only to Hit, but to damage as well. As harsh as my ranking was (and I was hardly the hardest on dear old Gustave among the Serenes Forest discussers), I certainly don't intend it as a "don't use this unit" warning. I think Gilbert can be a very solid team addition, whether as a fierce physical tank, a hard-hitting mobile unit, or even just an an Annetjutant. But in rating units on their contribution to a playthrough as a whole, Gilbert provides less than nearly any other unit on Azure Moon. One more thing - loved the video, Mekkah! If anything, I find myself enjoying these chill discussion/review/tierlist/monologue videos moreso than even proper gameplay videos. Looking forward to parts 2 and (probably) 3!

[@gameboyn64]

The worst part of blue lions hunting by daybreak is that they take away dimitri's wings if he was a draco knight effectively trapping him in the corner with pass thieves

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

And you're forced into a new Battalion, which means you can't use abilites for it and stuck with -5 avoid

[@lonelymascot]

yeah i was not ready for forced class swap, i was so damn sad to see demitri had changed into an infantry, definitely the hardest part about that map, atleast claud is a wyvern

[@crystalqueen9711]

I like the idea of Ferdinand as a dodge tank because you can sacrifice him to be the Dancer, and making a mistake won't immediately get him killed, but knowing he has Swift Strikes makes that decision a lot harder

[@zer0vision891]

For my NG CF Maddening, I made Ferdinand strong enough where he can avoid stack with Alert Stance or kill just about anything with Swift Strikes. Death Blow is one hell of a drug.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Why not put Dancer on a unit that actually does a good job as a dancer though? Sylvain as a Dancer makes everything come together. He's unbelievably tanky, so can dance on the front lines and absorb attacks, and turns the level advantage dancers get into pure survivability, he has good white magic, he can rely on Swift Strikes if you REALLY need him to kill something, but has low enough offenses otherwise that dancing with him is usually genuinely the best use of his action. It also means you can specialize his early tutoring for classes that benefit the early game, another place Sylvain shines, since Sylvain doesn't really need anything else in the role besides Lances and Faith. Throw Renewal and a regenerating accessory or weapon on him, and the man regenerates like a troll, too, meaning he doesn't even take an action to keep him dancing, and universal availability means Sylvain twerks forever. I really don't get seeing Dancer as a delivery system for a pittance of evasion with a terrible weapon, or sacrificing the best class in the game to make a shaky gimmick less of a terrible idea.

[@zer0vision891]

@@aprinnyonbreak1290 I always found Marianne to be beyond excellent, really anyone with a riding boon. Anyone can be dodgy enough with the sword avoid and sword prowess, which is alternative to Sylvain’s bulk. Having the riding boon though makes the dancer have so much more usefulness. Sylvain, Marianne, Ferdinand, Hapi, Lorenz, are all great for actual dancers because of it.

[@Bulkynemesis4534]

I did almost rout every map in part 2 in my GD maddening run is because like you said exp gain and also i was scared asf and just slowly went through the map taking out everybody especially the enbarr city map where i had to put Manuela and seteth to get their batallions

[@ariepaul8647]

Bernie wants laces for vengeance

[@ferintown6628]

I like HBD because it’s so hard that I see it as a puzzle I’m supposed to get my ass beat here, me outsmarting it feels great

[@ferintown6628]

Oh yeah I like all versions of it Though I’ll probably hate it on maddening Bl because Ashe and Gilbert are in the same place

[@thatdarnseel7052]

That gilbert section reminded me of an idea. do a waifu on miriel. as I would say shes actually a good unit with how good mages are and her second seal options of dark mage and Troubadour being good.

[@posthistoricdino422]

i only knew lysithea gets warp because of this video's thumbnail

[@jmicjm]

RE: Annette, do people really think axe faire makes that much of a difference? Just play valkyrie Annette. I do the same with Marianne/Dorothea to keep the mobility, keep the magic and still be able to one hit enemies with magical combat arts.

[@barnertalik1806]

Why Dodgetank von Aegir when the hit boost helps make Archer von Aegir ridiculously reliable?

[@RubyChiang]

I have a an opinion on that Wo Dao+ and particularly why I believe it's better than the Killing Edge and Killing Edge+ but since you haven't got to it yet, I'll wait and see what you have to say about that Wo Dao+.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

It literally has higher stats than a Killing Edge+

[@d3-ll754]

I fail to see any reasonable justification for Dark Knight > Wyvern for Annette, or even that the two are in any way comparable. If you want 1-2 range Magic, you have the Bolt Axe (and the Bolt Axe+ is even 1-3 range; sure you don't have a perfect way of getting Arcane Crystals, but if you're willing to rig stuff like Promotions and Greenhouse goodies, I see no reason as to why rigging a couple of Arcane Crystal spawns is too much). If you want better mobility, Wyvern is far superior, simply due to not only flight but also is accessed much earlier since Wyvern Rider's a Lvl 20 Class, compared to Dark Knight which is Lvl 30. If you want to make use of her Rallies, she can do that in literally any Class in the game, and once again, Wyvern's better mobility wins out here. If you want to make use of the A-Rank Battalions like Dance of the Goddess and others, just Declass her down to Cavalier. When your one role is to use a strong Battalion effect to support your team, the -1 Movement over Dark Knight barely makes a difference outside of EXTREMELY niche situations. There's also the matter of pouring so much EXP into Annette to get her to Lvl 30 and using all that effort as a simple support bot that's probably not going to be seeing much combat. I just fail to see the logic in this, period. Aside from this, I don't disagree that most of these takes are awful, except for MAYBE the Foul Play take because 1-5 range Swap comes heavily in clutch every so often. And while it's not something you can't already replicate with Warp, Rescue, or whatever else, I don't think it's a good reason to say it's bad. At worst, it's situational.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

You can't buy Arcane Crystals until you're halfway done with Part 2

[@rockyhankin8679]

One thing that seriously bums me out about using Gilbert is his authority rank. D+ is super garbage for that point in the game. Other units are likely to outshine him as physical tanks simply because they can use Duscur Heavy Soldiers (which grants +8 str and +10 def) and he can’t. If you want the quick and dirty vantage + wrath (hero + b.wrath) like you’d do on seteth/alois, he’ll have worse reliability since he can’t use Leicester mercs or goneril valks. When missing means death, you really want that extra hit.