Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Forced Characters Only Guide Version 1.00 Copyright 2012 Kenneth B. Fletcher (aka Charpig) Contact: fletchek@umich.edu All trademarks and copyright contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. This guide may not be posted on other web sites or publicly displayed without express written permission of the author. It may only be used for personal, private use. It may not be used in any way to make a profit, and the content of the guide may not be altered in any way. Any violation of these conditions will be considered copyright infringement. I take no responsibility for anything that may happen as a result of using my guide. Introduction Also known as Fire Emblem 10, Radiant Dawn was probably the first game for the Wii that didn't require the player to swing the Wiimote around. Just to let people know, I got a Wii solely so I could play this game. If a Fire Emblem game had never came out for the Wii, I probably would have never gotten a Wii. There are many different ways one can play Fire Emblem, and that gives it such good replay value. I like to try to beat the game using as few units as possible, so that brings me to this guide. I have done this challenge a few times before, but I wrote this guide as a way to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Radiant Dawn being released in North America. Here are the rules: -Only forced characters may be used for each map. If a character is forced, it may be used to any extent. It may even be allowed to recruit units. Recruited units may also be used for the remainder of that map. However, a unit cannot be deployed on a map for the purposes of recruiting another if it is not forced. -Map 3-3 may be played normally. This is because it is impossible to beat that map with just Ike in the alloted turns. -Yellow (partner) units may be used to any extent, since they are forced. -Lehran is forbidden, as recruiting him requires the deployment of an unforced unit. However, Pelleas is allowed to be recruited. -For the final Endgame, no one may be brought into the tower, except Ike, Micaiah, Sothe, Sanaki, Ena, Kurthnaga, and the heron of your choice. -Sothe, Sanaki, Ena, Kurthnaga, the heron, Gareth, and Nasir may be deployed for the tower battles in addition to Ike and Micaiah. But no other units are allowed. -Skills may be freely transferred between units. -Any base conversation may be viewed, even if it results in recruiting a unit. -Forged weapons are forbidden. -Transfer bonuses from Path of Radiance are forbidden. -Any unit may be allowed to die (as long as it would not result in a Game Over of course). However, I wrote this guide assuming that all units possible according to the rules were recruited, and that no units under the player's direct control died. -Difficulty may be freely chosen, but this guide will be geared towards Normal mode. As such, battle saves are allowed, and to be bluntly honest, you will likely need them. Tips: -Don't waste BEXP on Micaiah, Sothe, or Ike. These three will be used so much that they will get to Level 20 easily. Save BEXP for other units. -Sell the weapons of the unused units if you need more gold. Although gold should not be a problem, as you won't need as many weapons, due to using fewer units. -Always keep a second save file, so you don't battle save in an unwinnable situation. -Skills that regenerate health (Imbue, Renewal) are very valuable, since most of the time you will not have access to a staff user. It is also good to have Herbs and Vulneraries. -Although chance based skills such as Adept and Cancel are certainly allowed and powerful, it is not good strategy to rely on them continually. This is Fire Emblem, after all, and you never know when the RNG will turn on you. I am of course assuming that the reader has beaten this game at least once and is familiar with Fire Emblem in general. Although I try to make my strategies as non chance based as possible, there will be times in which the player must manipulate a unit into dodging a few attacks in order to survive. Most of these times, the enemy hit chance will be quite low, so this shouldn't be a problem. Also, some abusing tricks will be used in this guide, but they shouldn't take up very much time. Only a handful of units are actually being trained in this playthrough. Walkthrough This guide is written for Normal difficulty. It may be possible on Hard, but a lot more luck would be required. I assume that your units will have competent stats, so this might require some reseting for units with poor growth rates. For chapters that would not play any differently under these rules, I will only touch on them very briefly. Part 1 Prologue up to Chapter 3 There shouldn't be anything different for the first four maps, as all units would be forced anyway. However, you may want to let Micaiah get extra levels. Sothe can gain a good amount of EXP by stealing items (10 EXP per steal) so let him steal as much as possible. Also, do not be afraid to abuse Sothe for Chapters 2 and 3, as the other units will never be used again. Chapter 4 Units Forced: Micaiah and Sothe Buy the Beast Killer if you want. I didn't use it for this map, but it might come in handy later. I gave Discipline to Micaiah and Cancel to Sothe. Micaiah and Sothe have a built in A support and a bond bonus, very nice. The obvious strategy is to move Sothe to the healing pot just south of the deployment point. Then, move Micaiah left of Sothe. This way, no enemies can attack Micaiah, Sothe will weaken the enemies with counters, and Micaiah can easily finish them off. I would allow Sothe to get the finishing kills on the bosses. Since he will be the main fighter, he needs as many levels as he can get. As for treasures, I recommend the Seraph Robe, Beastfoe, and the 3000 gold. Everything else can be left behind. Chapter 5 Units Forced: Micaiah, Sothe, and Volug Volug is added to the party here, he is very useful. By this point, Micaiah should be strong enough to take at least one or two hits from a Myrmidon or Soldier, but definitely make sure she dodges Axefighters. I encourage heavy use of Volug. Not only is he a good dog, it is also very useful to get his Strike level up to S. I let Sothe and Micaiah take out the enemies near the start, and Volug goes up and then to the right to take out enemies. Volug should give priority to taking down Fire Mages, as they hurt the most. The green team shouldn't have any trouble surviving. I let Volug take down the boss, but you can let Sothe do it if you want. Chapter 6 Units Forced: Micaiah, Sothe, Volug, and Tauroneo I gave Renewal to Volug, and also made sure Tauroneo had a Hand Axe. You may leave Resolve on Tauroneo if desired, but I suggest removing it before Part 1 ends. Volug and Tauroneo did most of the fighting here. I sent them to the left of the map, while Micaiah and Sothe stayed behind to take down the Armor Knight reinforcements. For the second half of the map, a little bit of luck is needed, as Micaiah needs to dodge an Axefighter. By this point, my Micaiah had 10 Def, so the Ballista actually wasn't much of a threat to her. As Volug has somewhat low defense, you might want to make him dodge a few hits as well. However, I whipped this map on the first attempt. I sent Tauroneo west by himself. He easily took down the Cavaliers, and owned Laverton. In the meantime, I sent the other units east to help Fiona's team. If Laverton activates Cancel on Tauroneo, it will make the battle take longer, so be aware of that. Chapter 7 Units Forced: Micaiah, Sothe, and Volug Tormod, Muarim, and Vika join a few turns in Before battle, I gave Paragon to Volug, Imbue to Sothe, and Renewal to Micaiah. I immediately send the group east so Sothe can recruit Tormod and pals. I wait out the reinforcements, then finish the map. During the map, I got Volug's strike level to S, then abused Vika against the boss to also get her strike level to S. I highly recommend doing this, it makes the next chapter much easier. Muarim doesn't need his strike level raised, he is strong enough already. I let Tormod get quite a few kills, including the boss. He gained a level as a result. As for healing, make sure that plenty of Vulneraries are on hand. Micaiah can heal with Sacrifice, but it takes a long time to regenerate her HP with Renewal, and you may not want to wait that long. Finally, I made Tormod and Muarim be adjacent to each other for several turns, in order to get a C Support. Chapter 8 Units Forced: Micaiah, Sothe, Volug, Tormod, Muarim, Vika, Nailah, and Rafiel Buy the Olivi Grass from the shop and give it to Muarim. Iron Knives and Steel Daggers are now available at the armory, get them for Sothe. As for skills, the only change I made was giving Celerity to Micaiah, and Renewal to Muarim, since he will get poisoned. It is a bit tricky, but it is possible to save all six prisoners. Muarim uses the Olivi Grass first turn so he can shift much faster. Vika must then trade the grass from Muarim, use it herself, and move just into the Dracoknight's range. She must do this so that the Dracoknight will fly in a straight line left to attack. Vika won't kill the Dracoknight, but this will put him within range of Tormod, who easily fries him. Then, Vika should be ready to shift in time to kill a bandit who will be attacking the prisoners on the right. If she has S Strike, she can easily one round the bandit. Volug and Nailah should have no problems taking care of their side. Volug happened to be in worst biorhythm, but he still did fine. Sothe and Micaiah move up and to the right, taking out everyone along the way. I actually let Vika kill the boss, as Sothe was effectively maxed out in terms of stats. Getting poisoned is annoying, but it shouldn't kill you. I am planning on using Rafiel in the final chapter, so I trained him to level 40 here by leaving one of the priests alive, and just had him Vigor and Bliss repeatedly. It most certainly is not necessary to do this, I just did it because I wanted to. Chapter 9 Units Forced: Micaiah, Black Knight Not much to say about this chapter, but don't forget the Pass skill from the Info conversation. Obviously, since my Micaiah was maxed out, it was much easier for her to survive. Endgame Units Forced: Micaiah, Sothe, Volug Before going into battle, I gave the Brave Sword, Celerity, and Imbue scrolls to Ilyana to make use of them in Part 3. The other skills are not needed to transfer over, as Ike can get them from his other teammates (such as Adept from Soren or Vantage from Mia). Also, if you gave any skills to Tormod, Vika, or Muarim, make sure to remove them. For this map, Sothe had Pass, Micaiah had Adept, and Volug had Renewal. It is possible to catch the thieves with just the forced units, but it takes a little bit of luck. Send Sothe and Micaiah up the ledges, while Volug heads right to deal with some enemies. Make sure that Sothe has steel weapons and a Vulnerary. One thief will usually head towards the chest with the Reaper Card, while the other thief heads towards the top of the map. Sothe was able to stop him as he opened the second chest. The only treasure I lost was the Unlock staff, but I don't care about that. As Sothe chases down the thief, Micaiah waited on the middle ledge to deal with enemy reinforcements. As she is on a higher elevation, she should easily dodge their ranged attacks and return fire. Volug is used to guard Micaiah from the Axefighter reinforcements that appear on the middle level. After this, have Micaiah wait out the Meteor tome from the Fire Mage, as she will have the best Res out of anyone. Sothe should open the middle door, this triggers plenty of Armor Knights. Sothe tanked them with Micaiah as support, while I sent Volug up the right side. The Thunder Mages guarding Jarod will not move, but the other enemies will. I had Sothe kill Jarod and get the remaining treasures. Part 2 Prologue up to Chapter 2 Nothing should be different here. For the prologue, Haar was recruited, and I let Marcia get the boss kill. Elincia gets much more EXP by healing than by fighting, so let her do that. In Chapter 1, I tend to let Brom get most of the kills. Brom is more reliable because he can take quite a few hits and not worry about dying. Or, you could try to get Neph into Wrath HP and manipulate a crit against the boss. Note that Heather is not forced to be recruited, but if she is recruited, she will be forced in Chapter 2. It is possible to beat the chapter before she even appears, but I did not take that route. If you want use of Lucia's Silver Sword for Part 3, have her trade it to someone else before ending Chapter 2. Chapter 3 Units Forced: Geoffrey, Kieran This chapter will just be Geoffrey, Kieran, and the yellow units. At the shop, buy the Horseslayer for Geoffrey and the Hammer for Kieran, and give them both Vulneraries. Make sure the other units have weapons, as they will be forced next chapter. I suggest letting the yellow units roam. They can handle themselves pretty well, and make things much easier for Geoffrey and Kieran. By the time they all die off, the map should mostly be cleared. Don't forget that Geoffrey and Kieran have a Bond bonus, which is nice when you need to avoid criticals from a Sniper. By the end of this map, Kieran gained one level, Geoffrey gained two. Endgame Units Forced: Elincia, Marcia (at beginning of Turn 1) Geoffrey, Kieran, Makalov, Astrid, and Danved come in on Turn 8 If there are any items you want to make use of in Part 3, give them to Neph, Brom, Lethe, Mordecai, Heather, and Haar. The map will be started with just Elincia, but Marcia joins in on the first turn. On Turn 8, Geoffrey's team arrives from the northeast. There is little chance of beating Ludveck or getting the Nullify scroll, so just focus on defense. Try to have the allied Generals block the side entrances, while the Halbs guard the ledge so the enemies can't climb up. Elincia should focus on healing the yellow units with Mend and Physic. Take advantage of the Canto ability of the flying units to attack enemies, then retreat to safety. This map isn't as intimidating as it looks, but sometimes it can be frustrating as the yellow units do not always act as you want them to. If they are positioned as you want them to and you absolutely do not want them to move, tell them to Halt. The other worry on this map is the crossbow enemies, as they can kill either Marcia or Elincia in one shot. Fortunately, the melee enemies tend to come first, and they block the passage such that the archers will not get a shot. If you need Marcia or Elincia to roadblock, unequip their weapons, and just use Vulneraries when needed. If Elincia is holding a staff, she regenerates more HP, and that can come in handy. While some enemies come from the left early on, as the turns go by, the enemies will overwhelmingly come from the right. Geoffrey's team will also have to do some fighting, but they should be able to handle it, as long as they do not recklessly charge ahead. Part 3 Prologue and Chapter 1 These two chapters will be played normally. It's not necessary to feed Ike extra kills, as he will get plenty of them coming up. Chapter 2 is when units from earlier parts arrive, so if you want to give their items and skills to Ike, that is your chance. I gave Cancel and Celerity to Ike. I also gave Ike the Brave Sword, because he is very brave fighting for his friends. I would also make sure to give Ike a Wind Edge, for some distance fighting. Chapter 2 Units Forced: Ike All right, this is an Ike solo! This is hardly a fair fight, as there are only about 40 Begnion troops. If there were double the number, then it might be fair. In any case, none of these people are getting any sympathy from Ike. I suggest just going straight to Istvan and killing him. Ike does get pig piled by quite a few enemies, and the sages can deal nasty damage. So, be prepared to manipulate a dodge or two. Chapter 3 Units Forced: Ike So far, this is the only chapter that is impossible to beat with just forced units. I was able to do it with just Ike and Haar, but Haar got super lucky dodging enemies, since he was only at base level. Therefore, I suggest you just play this chapter normally. If you want to know what strategy I used, I gave Haar Celerity and Miracle, and Ike had Cancel and Adept. I sent Haar up the left side of the map, then to the upper right. This is where Haar will get absolutely swarmed by enemies. Haar barely escaped, and burned the supplies in the middle of the map. Ike took care of the two supplies near the start point. I didn't get any of the treasures. Chapter 4 Units Forced: Ike and Ranulf I gave Ranulf Imbue and Pass, Ike had Cancel and Celerity. I let Ranulf do a lot of fighting, in order to increase his strike level. Ike went up the right side, Ranulf went left. Once they reached the middle, Ike and Ranulf went left, working together. After defeating Callum, I had Ranulf fight the two Generals with Short Spears untransformed. The Generals don't move, and Ranulf can easily raise his strike level to S and even gain a few levels. Chapter 5 Units Forced: Ike Ah, a very easy map. All Ike has to do is stand on the seize point and unequip his weapon. He didn't even take one point of damage. Chapter 6 Units Forced: Micaiah and Sothe Micaiah had Discipline and Beastfoe, Sothe had Savior and Resolve. This was in case Sothe needed to rescue Micaiah. However, Sothe did not need to rescue Micaiah in my playthrough. The yellow units can handle themselves quite well, so let them roam. (Unfortunately, by the end of the map they all died.) The enemies seem to prefer yellow units, even if Micaiah is within range. Have Sothe blockade the gap between the dead trees on the right side, with Micaiah supporting him. When the Black Knight arrives, let him take the left side. If you are really having trouble with this, just have Sothe rescue Micaiah, and position him so that only two laguz can attack him at one time (preferably, they will be cats, not tigers). If Sothe gets into Resolve HP, he should much more easily dodge attacks. And, unequip his weapon so he will not counter. When the BK shows up, he will mop the floor with everything. Chapter 7 Units Forced: Ike and Ranulf Ike and Ranulf barely have to do jack on this map, although Ranulf can get a little more EXP. Ike can recruit Ulki and Janaff when they show up. Chapter 8 Units Forced: Ike and Ranulf You might consider giving the Daunt ability to Ike or Ranulf, to make it harder for enemies to hit them. By this point Ike and Ranulf should have a Support established, utilize it. I also had Ranulf at Level 30, so his capacity increased to 70. I gave him Daunt, Imbue, Cancel, and Adept. I did not use a Satori Sign on Ranulf, as the Rend ability takes up capacity, and it's not useful when Ranulf can already one round enemies. During this chapter, I got Ranulf to max out all of his stats. I even got his strike level up to SS! Chapter 9 Units Forced: Geoffrey Before starting this map, I suggest using the Master Crown to promote Geoffrey, regardless of what level he is. Remove Paragon from Geoffrey, as he leaves for a while and it is helpful to have access to it. I gave Geoffrey Adept, loaded him down with weapons, and set off. Hopefully, Sol will activate when you need it to and keep Geoffrey healthy. Remember that you only have to defeat the boss to end this chapter. Chapter 10 Units Forced: Ike and Ranulf Man oh man, this is the toughest chapter yet! With Ranulf, I replaced Cancel and Imbue with Pass and Celerity, and gave Imbue to Ike. Make sure Ranulf has all the Laguz Stones on him, and some Olivi Grass too. I find that the best strategy is to send both Ike and Ranulf to the top right of the map. Keep them together as much as possible. This will activate their Support, making it much easier to dodge attacks. No doubt one of the frustrating parts of this chapter is keeping Ranulf shifted, especially since the ranged enemies all focus their attacks on him. Also, the NPCs are stupid, especially Geoffrey. Sometimes they will refuse to attack a sniper they could easily take out, and said sniper will then get a shot at Elincia, killing her. That's enough of my ranting, though. You should target the bow enemies first so they do not shoot Elincia. The other enemies should be easy enough for the Crimeans to handle. Chapter 11 Units Forced: Ike, Ranulf, Sigrun, Tanith, and Leanne (arrives during battle) Ah, finally, Ike gets Ragnell! The only skill you should have on Ike is Celerity. You don't want him having stuff like Adept for when you have to fight him. You now have 2 Imbue Scrolls, so give the second to Sigrun. I gave Tanith Paragon, only because I didn't have anything else to give her. But, I barely used Tanith at all, as she is not forced for any other chapters. I used a Master Crown on Sigrun straight away, and then the chapter began in earnest. With a Horseslayer, Sigrun can easily take out Paladins. She is also good to send against sages because of her high Res. But, the snipers can drop her in a single shot, so let Ike and Ranulf take care of them. There are still the pit traps, but you should know how to avoid them. When Leanne shows up, take advantage of her galdr, but be sure not to put her in harm's way. Chapter 12 Units Forced: Micaiah, Sothe, and Tauroneo This chapter isn't as difficult as you might think, but you will need to take advantage of the yellow guys once again. In preparations, I gave Micaiah Discipline, Adept, and Physic. Sothe had Savior and Resolve, and Tauroneo had Cancel and Paragon. Make sure Sothe has steel and silver weapons, and so should Tauroneo. Just let the yellow units roam. Move Tauroneo over to the right side of the map, while the NPCs take the left side. Tauroneo should help Sothe and the yellow units defend against enemy attacks from the right. I suggest letting the Big T get as many kills as possible. You will want to improve his stats before promoting him into a Marshall. When I ended the chapter, Tauroneo was Level 17. Alternatively, you could try to use BEXP on the Big T, then promote him before the chapter. It's your choice. Chapter 13 Units Forced: Micaiah, Sothe, and Tauroneo I used BEXP to get Tauroneo to Level 20, then promoted him with a Master Crown. He had Adept and Cancel, while Sothe had Beastfoe. The strategy for this chapter is to get Tauroneo to Ike, then manipulate Luna into activating. Ike is a coward and doesn't want to face you, so Tauroneo must hack through quite a few laguz. Fortunately, he should be able to handle himself quite well as a Marshall. While the Big T is taking care of business, the other people are playing defense as best as possible. The reason I gave Tauroneo Adept was so he could get more chances to activate Luna on Ike. Taur was in neutral biorhythm, by the way. If he is in bad biorhythm, it might take you quite a few tries. Now, you could try to play defense for 12 turns, but with the finicky NPCs, it will be quite arduous. Endgame Units Forced: Ike, Ranulf, and Sigrun Before starting this chapter, make sure that Ike is not filled to more than 10 capacity. Otherwise, he will lose a Nihil skill when he promotes. There isn't much to say about this chapter, it is simply very long. I guess the developers were trying to see how many units they could cram onto a single map? Part 4 For the army assignments, just use the default setups. Prologue Units Forced: Micaiah, Sothe, Sigrun, Sanaki, Skrimir, and Naesala Paragon skills were given to Sanaki and Skrimir. I suggest having Sanaki use exclusively fire magic, in order to get her fire level to SS. I also suggest taking advantage of Skrimir's Resolve skill. To trigger it, let Skrimir get attacked by an enemy while untransformed. Skrimir should get his HP reduced below half, which will trigger Resolve. Then, have Skrimir shift, and he will kill stuff up and down the map. I kept Skrimir in Resolve HP the entire map, and no enemy could even touch him. Although Skrimir's transformation gauge lowers much more slowly than Ranulf's, you will still want plenty of Olivi Grass on Skrimir. Sigrun had a Horseslayer to utterly destroy Paladins. The things to watch out for are the Bow Paladins (for Sigrun and Naesala) and the Purge Bishops that warp in. Also, when your units get near the boss, the boss and his cohort will start actively moving after you, so be prepared for that. Don't go crazy just because you have Skrimir and Naesala on your side. Sanaki, Micaiah, and Sothe could easily be taken down if you leave them unguarded. Chapter 1 Units Forced: Ike All right, another pure Ike solo. Ike had Vantage and Renewal, although he does not need Renewal if Aether activates. Do not worry about Ena getting defeated, she will still join later. Bear in mind that there are Bishops hiding on the sides and middle of the map. They will likely be the last enemies that Ike defeats. This map should be a curbstomp for you. Chapter 2 Units Forced: Elincia and Tibarn (and possibly Pelleas) Elincia was given the Paragon skill. Make sure to remove her Mercy skill before the battle. You can also replace Tibarn's Savior skill with something more useful. Elincia seems a bit weak at first, but she will get going quickly. Don't forget to give her a healing staff in case Tibarn needs healing. I left her near the start of the map to deal with reinforcements, while Tibarn blazed ahead. Be careful of enemies with Crossbows. To take them out, you can manipulate Tibarn into activating Tear or Pavise, or let Elincia handle them with Amiti. I left one General alive, so Tibarn could train on it unshifted. The Bishops repeatedly healed the General with Physic. Tibarn and Elincia being maxed out will make their next chapter much easier. Note that I did not spare Pelleas, so he did not appear here. But, if you got him, use him if you want to. Chapter 3 Units Forced: Micaiah, Sothe, Sigrun, Sanaki, and Skrimir Stefan may be recruited by Micaiah Note that Naesala is not forced for this chapter, even though he was forced for the last one. Oh well, we don't need that traitorous raven anyway. When Skrimir is shifted, he has no movement restrictions in the desert. The only unit that will be slowed down is Sothe, but even he will have better movement than the foot enemies. Skrimir had Celerity and Pass. Again, I recommend taking advantage of Skrimir's Resolve. Micaiah should have a Physic staff and a Restore staff in case anyone gets put to sleep or silenced. Of the treasures, Sothe got the Dragonfoe scroll, Baselard, Laguz Gem, and White Gem. Micaiah was able to recruit Stefan, though he didn't do jack on this map. The BK will show up once again and make mincemeat of the enemies (at least, the ones he is able to reach). While Skrimir will have zero trouble with the physical enemies, the mages can put a hurting on him. Fortunately, they are easy targets for Sigrun. If you get the Laguz Gem, I suggest using it on Skrimir, to keep him shifted for the whole map. After quite a few turns, wyvern riders show up at the start point, so hopefully the weaker units will have moved away by then. I found this map to be quite easy because of the mobility advantage. Chapter 4 Units Forced: Ike, Tormod, Muarim, and Vika Before starting the battle, return to base and apply BEXP to Tormod, Muarim, and Vika. I got Tormod to third tier, and both Muarim and Vika to Level 30 to increase their capacity. That way, they will be able to handle themselves against the enemies. If you don't care about them surviving, then you can save the BEXP, but you'll have a ton of it just sitting around. So, might as well make Tormod less of a wimp. Since you will not have the use of Heather, bring Chest Keys. You will want to get the Fortify staff. Ike would have no problem soloing this map, if not for the guy with the Sleep staff! There are a few options for getting around him. One, you can make the Bishop use his staff charges on Tormod, Muarim, and Vika. You can simply let the three of them get killed off while asleep, then finish the map with Ike. Two, you can battle save abuse and make the Bishop miss all three times against Ike. Three, you can get Tormod's Staff level to C through staff abuse so he can use Restore. I prefer the third option, especially since I had Discipline on Tormod. Oliver will not be recruited. If you are worried about his Corona, put Nihil on Ike. Chapter 5 Units Forced: Elincia and Tibarn Volke may be recruited for 3000 gold You can give Elincia some knives in order to trade to Volke when he gets recruited. It doesn't really matter, as Volke won't see much action anyway. Elincia had Imbue, Tibarn had Nihil and Pavise. The strategy is simple, just go straight after Izuka. The only problem is that Izuka is a coward and will often warp away, so be prepared to chase him down. Endgame Units Forced: Ike, Micaiah, Sothe, Sanaki, Ena, Kurthnaga, and a Heron (I picked Rafiel) Before leaving base, arrange the skills of your units. I suggest giving Paragons to Micaiah, Ena, and Kurthnaga, as Micaiah promotes as soon as you leave base. Also, you can buy Arms Scrolls and max out everyone's weapon levels. I suggest saving one scroll for Micaiah, so she can reach SS in Light straight away after promoting. As for skill sets, this is what I had for everyone (not counting default skills): Ike: Nihil, Miracle Micaiah: Paragon, Discipline Sothe: Vantage, Resolve Sanaki: Nihil, Miracle Kurth: Paragon, Nullify, Imbue, Parity Ena: Renewal, Paragon, Parity Rafiel: Celerity, Resolve, Pavise (I also used the Boots on Rafiel) For weapons, make sure that you have a Hammer for Ike, and enough weapons to get Micaiah, Sothe, and Sanaki through the first two parts. It is okay to use the SS weapons, as long as you don't break them. Micaiah should have access to Physic, Restore, and Fortify. I also suggest Laguz Gems for Ena and Kurth. Store the unused skill scrolls in the convoy, so there will be access to them later. Note that for the tower battles themselves, only Ike and Micaiah are forced to participate. However, the rules of this challenge permit using the other units as well, since it would be nearly impossible otherwise. 1st Section Ena and Kurth go left, while the others go right and take out the Generals. Hetzel will try to silence Micaiah. Hetzel also has a Sleep staff, and there is another Bishop with a Sleep staff at the top of the map. If Micaiah gets silenced, she can equip a Restore staff to have it removed next turn. If you got Rafiel to Level 40, he can use Recovery to remove any status effects. Also, if Ena stands adjacent to an ally, her Boon skill removes statuses at the beginning of the turn. I used Rafiel to wear out Bolting, and Ena to wear out Blizzard. I suggest keeping Ena and Kurth adjacent to each other, in order to build up a support. Also, I attempted to build a support between Ike and Rafiel, to improve Ike's accuracy, very useful when it comes time to fight Ashera. This map becomes very easy once you deal with the initial General rush, and the long range tomes and staves. There are simply a lot of reinforcements that warp in from the top and bottom of the map. You can get the Matrona staff if you want, but I had no use for it. Lekain will usually warp to the bottom left of the screen, and that is your best chance to take him out. 2nd Section I recommend just Hammering the Black Knight and ending the chapter quick and easy. There is no point to getting Wishblade (as we have no lance users) and there are tons of reinforcements on this map that will eventually overwhelm your small force. I suppose you could beat them, but why go to the trouble? After the fight, equip Rexaura on Micaiah, Baselard on Sothe, and Rexflame on Sanaki. Ike will always be forced to bless Ragnell. He can still use Urvan or Vague Katti during battle, but as they are not blessed, they will do no damage to the bosses. Note: If you want Sothe to have 1-2 range, he can bless Peshkatz instead. It is a bit weaker than Baselard, so keep that in mind when deciding. 3rd Section For this battle, both Kurth and Ena had Adept. Everyone still had their Nihil and Parity skills. At first, this map seems overwhelming because of all the powerful Dragons around. But, since this is Fire Emblem, we will win using strategy. I sent everyone to the right, to take out the Red Dragons. If Ike is on a Cover tile, he is the best option for taking out Red Dragons. I sent Ena and Kurth after the White Dragons, as they are easy kills, and would be very damaging to Ike. Micaiah, Sothe, and Sanaki remain on the right side to deal with Red Dragon reinforcements. Ike and Rafiel go left to deal with White Dragon reinforcements. In the meantime, Kurth and Ena blow through the map with their invincibility. I don't know why the Goldoans just stand there and let Kurth and Ena rain death upon them, but I'm not complaining. The Dragons also do not seem to attack Rafiel. However, the boss's AoE attack will hurt him, so keep him clear of that. Against the boss, I had Kurth and Ena attack him until their strike levels were at SS. Then, I finished him off. Dheginsea regenerates 30 HP per turn, and aside from Kurth and Ena, only Ike can survive more than one hit from him. So, it will likely take you more than one turn to take him down. If you leave Gareth and Nasir alive, they join afterwards. Nasir has a Nihil scroll and Laguz Gem on him, so I definitely recommend at least getting him. After this fight, Kurth gets Formshift, so you will need to remove one of his skills. 4th Section I recommend giving Nihils to Ike, Kurth, Ena, and Nasir. They will be your four main attackers. You want to take advantage of Blood Tide, so Parity is not recommended. Micaiah and Sanaki should have the Parity scrolls, since they will not be using Blood Tide. For this map, I left out Sothe and Gareth. All of the spirits will gang up on Sothe because Baselard is a one range weapon, and the only thing Gareth can possibly do on this map is die. (Sothe could be more useful with Peshkatz, but he is still not that effective.) Neither the spirits nor Sephiran will attack Micaiah, but she can attack them. Unfortunately, she won't do much damage. Sanaki cannot attack Sephiran, but she can attack the spirits. Remember that the four spirits surrounding Sephiran have hidden Guard skills, so you need to take them out if you want to get anywhere. Micaiah and Kurth can double spirits if they are standing next to Nasir. Kurth can also double Sephiran if standing next to Nasir (of course I am assuming maxed stats). After getting rid of the four spirits, Kurth took down Sephiran in one round. Final Section Now, it is time to challenge the Goddess! Can eight puny mortals possibly hope to defeat her? Before the fight, use BEXP to max out everyone's levels, and use stat boosters on Nasir to make him a bit more useful. You can do the same for Gareth, but he still won't survive any longer. However, I did include Sothe in the lineup, because he can at least take out some spirits. Ashera alternates between using physical and magical attacks, then she uses a wide area silence attack on turn 5. However, I beat her before she used it. So, you will want to position your units on tiles that best protect against Ashera's next attack. Even so, they will still take heavy damage because they will be so close to her. For this reason, it is helpful if Micaiah has Fortify. Once again, the main attackers will be Ike, Kurth, Ena, and Nasir. Kurth and Ena cannot double auras even with the use of White Pool, but Ike can. Sanaki can also help out a little. Either use her to attack spirits or finish off an aura. Try to position Ike and Kurth so that Rafiel can Vigor them both on the same turn. You should be able to take out two auras per turn. Once that is done, all that remains is Ashera herself. I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but Ike must strike the killing blow against Ashera, and it must be from one range. There is always the possibility that Ike could miss, especially if he is in bad biorhythm. So, use Ena's Blood Tide to improve his skill, and have Rafiel use Bliss to put Ike in best biorhythm. This is why I had a support between Ike and Rafiel, as that gives Ike the best accuracy bonus. If you were somehow able to keep Gareth alive, that's an additional +10 to hit. The troubadours of Tellius can sing tales about how Ike saved the world almost all by himself. Final Comments I have confirmed that it is in fact impossible to beat the final bosses with just Ike and Micaiah. They just don't do enough damage to overcome the boss's regeneration. Some maps were actually easier by just using the forced characters, but other maps were Hell on Earth. That being said, I have found Fire Emblem to be easiest when you just focus on training the best units. I realize that not everyone wants to focus on the RPG aspect of Fire Emblem, so just play the game however you want to and come up with your own challenges. I didn't let any units under my direct control die during this challenge, although I did not recruit certain units, such as Pelleas. If you want to add more to this challenge, you could try not recruiting certain people or put some skill restrictions on. But for the time being, this guide is complete. Contact Information If you have any questions about this guide, or any suggestions on how to improve it, then you may email me at this address: fletchek@umich.edu If you are a fellow GameFAQs user, you may also send me a private message. Be aware, however, that I don't check that nearly as often as I check my email. I request that you put "Fire Emblem Guide" or something similar in the subject line, or else I will likely ignore it. Also, do not criticize my playstyle or ask me what my turn count was. If you want to write your own guide for your own challenge, feel free. Credits Nintendo, for finally deciding to release Fire Emblem games in North America. Ike, for being such a badass. He inspires me to fight for my friends. Serenes Forest, for precise information on skill activation rates and other game mechanics. This information often helped me when planning my strategies. I thank anyone who has taken the time to read this guide.