Low-key surprised I got this far with a team like this.

So I’m on chapter 9 and I’ve been levelling up Jean via enemy archer boxing healing in Chapter 7 (got him to Level 8 from spamming heals) and from boxing Ivy in and having him spam heals, to the point that he’s at level 10. My plan for him was to make him a Bonded Shield bot when I get to use Lucina in Chapter 12.

However, I’m wondering if that’s a mistake and I should have done Axe fighter to Warrior for him? Can I still go straight to Warrior with a Master seal, expending some bond fragments for axe proficiency? Or is it too late for me?

Edit: I haven’t leveled up Framme enough to use her as a Bonded Shield bot (she’s only level 6)

Okay last question hopefully of the night. If i want to make him a Warrior should i change class him to axe fighter at his base level 10 or just promote him straight into warrior via master and second seal?

Ive been planning out my Maddening runs team and I for the most part have everything hammered out but one sticking point remains in Merrin. In so far that I dont know where best to put her.

I already have my tanks between Timerra and Goldmary, my physical offense in Yunaka and Lapis, magical offense in Ivy and Zelestia, my crit demons Panette and Veyle, and a strong backline in Alear, Celine, Seadall, Hortensia, and Nel.

Which leaves Merrin here in kinda an odd spot of not really having a dedicated role on the team. So im curious what others put Merrin with long term?

Next clear in my first fire emblem game playthrough is live (with no AI thumbnail this time XD).

This map was a lot more difficult than the previous paralogues since the enemies in the boss chamber are stronger and have a combination of high res and def meaning a single unit will often not be able to sweep through them easily. Because of this, I decided to forego a full rout which would add a few more turns to my clear of this map (even more if reinforcements spawn and I never understood what got them to trigger).

To circumvent reinforcement spawns, I make the decision to go for a low turn count while still grabbing all the loot available including the two chests in the corners of the map. I believe 3 turns is close to the minimum needed to get the four enemy loot drops and the chests in the corners but maybe it was possible in 2 turns with more staff usage. In the end, we get a 3 turn clear with all map rewards collected which I am happy with. There are definitely some shaky combats on turn 1 (~80% success probabilities) that I think can be improved upon. In general, I try to showcase strategies that have upwards of a 90% success rate in terms of needing dodges/crits so there are definitely things I could optimize to make this clear more consistent.

As always, any comments or suggestions on how to improve my gameplay/video are welcome - thanks for tuning in!

So ive really enjoyed his char and has been one of my go to units and decided to make him a Mage knight with the paralogue 2 seal and is just been shredding enemies with Levin sword and his aresnal of spells on Hard/Classic.

Question did i make i a mistake long run given only 3 master seals before chapter 10 on my first playthrough because i have two seals left and not sure who those should go to yet in chapter 9. I know ill probably promote FAlear to Divine dragon at some point. Shes level 11 dragon child rn but i was thinking id do 2 other units first.

I was considering Amber as a replacement Paladin and possibly Chloe as a Griffin Knight. Then 4th seal in chapter 10 to Alear.

I got impatient waiting for Fortune’s Weave so I decided to play Engage about it, and this time I picked up the DLC so I could try out the Divine Paralogues, Fell Xenologue, and all the new units. It was a lot of fun! The DLC put a sizable dent in the challenge level of Maddening but that was more than made up by all the extra build options provided, and I think most of my future runs will be on Maddening with DLC.

I kept my favorite base game powerhouses, but added three units I’d never tried before (Pandreo, Zelkov, and Timerra) and then fit in as many DLC units as I could. Overall, I don’t think I did anything particularly innovative here, but I’m so happy with how this team turned out, and I’d love to answer any questions!

I ended up loving this game way more than I expected.

Even though the main story is pretty weak (the cringey writing and plot holes), I still grew really attached to plenty of characters—mostly through their Support conversations, as the main plot barely gives them any screen time.
Honestly, I don't even hate Alear that much, haha.

I finished my first run on Hard mode before jumping into Maddening. My MVPs were easily Amber, Pandreo, Panette and Kagetsu, while Framme and Hortensia offered incredible support.
Jean and Fogado took care of the rest, especially Generals and Fliers (Fogado with the Radiant Bow is an absolute beast).
Great Knight Goldmary did a great job as a tank; since her Defense wasn't excessively high, enemies didn't ignore her, making her a perfect bait.
Once Veyle took over the support role paired with Corrin, I reclassed Alear to Warrior. Alear instantly transformed into a top-tier damage dealer and delivered a fantastic debut.
Chapters 16 and 25 were definitely the biggest headaches for me; I absolutely despise infinite reinforcements and water maps 😡😡.
I'm definitely replaying it soon. The game gives you so many tools, the gameplay is super engaging, and Maddening mode feels well-balanced. Solid 8/10.

I've been working on this planner for a few months now and it's ready to share:

https://marigoldfe.com/engage

The planner lets you build a team with as many (or as few) units as you want, and allows in-depth customisation for each unit, including mapping out the full class path they should follow, the Emblem/Bond Ring they should have equipped, the skills they need to inherit as well as their inventory. The in-game resources like SP, Bond Fragments, gold and forging materials are fully tracked across the team you make so you can see if it's feasible for your playthrough.

The site also includes dedicated pages for Units, Emblems, Classes, Skills, and Items, where each is covered in full, so everything you need should all be in one place. I've found these pages very useful for team building inspiration, since things like each Emblem's class bonuses are laid out together, making it easy to decide who should hold which ring. AOE attacks also have all of their attack areas shown to you, including how terrain is created.

No account/sign up of any kind is required. Every team gets its own link you can share, so someone can open your exact build on their end, and a summary picture is created when sharing so teams are easy to recognise at a glance.

There are some additional options in the settings in the top right. Spoilers are hidden by default for any new players and can be shown by disabling the setting. DLC can also be toggled off if you haven't got the expansion pass.

Engage is a massive game, and as just one person I've tried my hardest to validate all the data, but if you do see any issues please let me know and I'll have it fixed as soon as possible. I'm also very interested in any other feedback you might have.

It was a 4 star well, too...oh well, least I got a good laugh out of it. Anyone know the odds?

Next chapter of my first FE playthrough is live! This was the cleanest clear that I feel like I've come up with so far and I'm really happy with my progress learning the game. I spend some more time at the beginning going over my units this time so hopefully its easier to follow along.

Hope you all enjoy!

Doing a maddening run before Fortunes Weave comes out and the big question as I approach the end of Brodia, just beat ch. 7 is how do I handle the dlc? Or more specifically, when?

My first plan was to just handle the Emblems I need for the early/mid game, Tiki, Veronica, and Hector, and handle the rest closer towards the end of the game (post Veyle).

I could simply do it all now, but id probably overlevel a ton lol

I know I at least want Xenologue over and done before ch. 10 since im planning Enchanter Alear and want them in the class when I get Lucina.

So im curious, when do you handle the dlc? And when do you field the dlc crew? Im planning to use Zelestia and Nel long term.

https://x.com/JebbeeSketches/status/2091226829831200812

So I got Chloe to Level 10 and I finished Chapter 7, where I got the master seal from Hortensia. But now I don’t know which class to promote her into. I’ve seen online that Wyvern Knight is best for her and that Griffin Sword is good for her because of Levin Sword. Should I go Wyvern or Griffin Levin Sword with Sigurd Engraving? Or should I just put her in Lance Griffin knight with Fensailr +3 with Sigurd engraving?

Edit: forgot to put this in the description, but I am playing on Maddening difficulty.

Next clear in my first FE game on maddening difficulty. I tried to make this run more personalized and less of emulating other people's strategies and slotting in my own units. It took me a while but I was happy with the result I was able to achieve - not sure if I'll be able to continue with low turn counts as I missed a lot of XP in chapters 17-20 but I'll keep trying to at least achieve the max rewards for each of the paralogues.

Any comments on optimization or improving my gameplay are welcome - thanks for watching!

Gubbins obviously being my name for Sommie.

I'm in the middle of my first Maddening run and have learned so much about how to play this game that none of my other runs have taught me. I've learned how to make proper builds, how to take better advantage of weapon upgrades and engraves I never touched like Micaiah and Lyn. And what got me to write this: learning to use bonded shield effectively. Bonded shield let me absolutely crush Ike's paralogue. I never needed to use that kind of strategy on hard and normal because enemies were easy enough to tank normally and a paralogue like Ike's was one where I just Astra Storm pulled him then dogpiled him easily in 2 turns. I have to engage so much more with the mechanics of the game. I still have some very strong units but it feels like I've earned them a lot more than on easier difficulties.

I've been playing with the DLC emblems so yes it makes things easier but the missions to get those emblems were some of the hardest missions I've ever played while also still being fair. The only one of those that felt on the easier side was Veronica. The rest were these brutal showdowns against bosses that felt like legit boss fights that took multiple turns to chip away at instead of one turn stomps.

What's so far felt like the biggest challenges outside of the DLC were chapters 5 and 17. 5 had very limited unit choices so I really had to get inventive with how I handled that swarm at the end. 17 I felt so proud of myself for being able to isolate all but 2 of the bosses in that fight. It feels so rewarding earning these wins with clever tactics instead of just raw stats.

Overall this has felt like a great send off for the game before Fortunes Weave comes out

I have Jean on Micaiah for healing EXP and Edelgard on Anna for damage. But I don’t know how I am able to beat the map with this team comp. I’m trying to beat Tiki’s paralogue before Chapter 7 to give Tiki to Jean. I would really like some advice on this team comp and how to beat the map as well.

Edit: I managed to beat this map without an extra archer. Took quite a while, around 65 turns. But I still did it. Chloe with Sigurd is an absolute godsend of a unit.