Part 39: Invasion 2

I've started to reach the point where buildings can be fully upgraded. I think it's a couple more chapters until the level 3 shops...



Kaze/Silas and Leo/Felicia B, Elise/Leo C. Just two more chapters and I won't have to deploy Kaze any more... Sorry Kaze.



Corrin has learned the most important skill Nohr Noble has to offer, now begins her reclass tour. She gets Paladin from Silas. You might think it's weird to reclass a magical unit into a non-magic class, but she can still use the Levin Sword and her magic is still very high. Paladins also get a single point of magic at base for some reason? I'll be keeping her as one until she gets Defender, then she'll go Swordmaster.



Oh no, I only have 2 more Heart Seals left? That's exactly as many as I need, but I didn't realise I'd already used 2. As soon as I get the level 3 shop I'll have infinite buyable seals at least.



Huh, I think I wrongly claimed that reclassing to Hero would lower Silas's bulk but he's actually gained HP and hasn't lost defense. He's going Hero for Sol, Peri's going Dark Knight for Heartseeker. I really don't want her to spend more than a single map in this class.



Okay! Time for this nightmare of an invasion. Invasion 1 was free EXP, this one... isn't. But it is at least short.



On the left we have some Great Knights and Mechanists, on the right there's some fliers. They're not so bad, I've got loads of units who can deal with those.



At the bottom... Oh boy. There's a lot here. First of all, the boss. He's a Merchant with Spendthrift, a skill that expends one Gold Bar to increase damage dealt and reduce damage taken by 10 each when attacking. He and the two Maids either side of him won't aggro until attacked or you reach turn 5...



Which is good because he's paired with a Maid who's packing Entrap. It is safe to say that almost any unit that gets Entrapped by her is going to get obliterated by all these enemies at the bottom.



This includes two Merchants (each with two gold bars!) paired up, and two sets of Maids with Enfeeble and Freeze. One pair aggros immediately, the other pair aggros with the boss. Any unit that gets frozen & entrapped is going to have to deal with at least one member of the Merchant pair... Oh and the Maids have Silver Daggers and Seal Speed to ravage your stats even if they don't Enfeeble you.



And also two Villagers with Swordcatchers. In case them and the Hunter's Knife (effective against beasts) didn't tip you off, the devs really didn't want you cheesing this map with Xander on Lunatic.



...that's still the best solution though. Send Xander to the bottom, have him hold out as long as possible. Normally you'd want to give him as good a pair-up partner as possible... Peri's really not an idea one for him as a Dark Knight, but I still wanted to reclass her regardless and he needs to reach S rank with her this chapter if I want her to be a Wyvern in time for kitsune land. So I need to both S support them and get Peri a level. It might be tricky...

I'm not going to stress over this map. It's not particularly complicated, just send Xander downwards and then figure out what configuration of buffs and healing items makes him not die, but it might be more difficult than I can handle right now. If I can't do it I won't keep trying.



At least Niles was kind enough to cook a meal that makes him just fast enough to double the initial Merchant pair without needing a tonic. Thank you, Niles!



The rest of the map is easy so I'll use it to build supports and feed EXP to my units. Nina and Ophelia need it most!



No matter how many times I reset, the left and right parts of the map will always go the same way. So I'll just show my first attempt and that'll be the same as every other one.



Haha, nice. I have no idea what buildings unit can and cannot fly over but this guy clearly can't fly over this one.



Well I'm glad this part was easy. Now to slam my head against the bottom half of the map over and over until it breaks!



Xander's just strong enough to make this kill exactly. Taking out one half of this combo immediately de-esculates things a little. Xander can't kill any of the Maids in one shot and attempting to fight them will only get him debuffed...



...debuffed more, anyway. Whoever you send down here will not be moving for a while. You could send a whole load of units in to try and clean up as much as possible, but you do still need to protect your throne from the other enemies too...



These Villagers don't hurt so bad, even after the Enfeeble debuff. This game could have easily gone all out in its anti-Xander cheese strategy by filling the bottom with magic users but it did not and I am grateful.



The Spendthrift guys hurt a little more, and Xander's no longer fast enough to double them back... They are best taken out on player phase where they can't activate their skill.



The Villagers without Swordcatchers can't touch Xander and will run away to smash my stat boosting buildings and attempt to seize the throne instead. They're a little annoying.



Levels always being the same means I only have to screenshot them once. If I die then they'll still be the same!



The Enfeeble Maids won't use their staff on the same unit twice in a row, but they also don't want to attack Xander. So they'll start to run off to cause havoc along with the Villagers. Taking her out with the rest of my army before she comes back to harass Xander might be an idea...



Oh no please don't attack my infinitely respawning useless dragon fish thing instead of my units I actually care about



Oops, I forgot to give him any healing items. And the Merchant ran out of Gold Bars so now he's running away as well! At least he won't be able to threaten my other units without them.



There goes my +3 defense building...



...and here come the reinforcements. Yeah I think this is a failed attempt.



At least I know I have this level waiting for me! I'd be so annoyed to lose this.



Reinforcements will come from the left and right but not for another turn, which means the rest of my army has time to protect the throne from these guys. These units aren't great EXP but they're something at least.



And then the boss and his cronies move and kill Xander. It's fine! I almost won this time. All I need is a little more prep.



First of all I'll spend 2 DVP on a building that damages every enemy on the map at the start of their turn. Don't worry, I'll get my investment back on it when I win. Every enemy taking damage each turn will mean they won't activate Xander's Chivalry skill by not being at full HP, but the damage they take will add up and allow Xander to one shot most of them in return.



I'll also give him a Vulnerary and a HP, Str, and Def tonic each. If this doesn't work I'll consider buying him a better healing item.



Nothing gets the serotonin flowing more than a large quantity of numbers suddenly appearing with a meaty SPLAT sound.



Oh hey, Nina got a level this time around! A very nice level too. I can't wait until she herself gets Spendthrift.



Oops. That wasn't even Xander's fault this time! Turns out I can't just send Elise unpaired into a group of Villagers and have her survive.



Attempt 3 and I've reached the part where the boss and his cronies aggro. The lack of Chivalry counteracts Xander's tonic boost, but being able to kill this Maid in retaliation means he won't get his speed sealed.



That's the boss gone! Unfortunately I'm not sure Xander can take another hit...



Oh! Well that's okay then. He even crit in retaliation, getting a kill he wouldn't have normally.



Here's the reinforcements. Lunge Wyverns from the left, Heartseeker Dark Knights from the right. They're not so bad if the rest of your army is free to deal with them...



The Great Knights who come from the bottom will rush straight to the throne, only stopping if they can kill a unit along the way. They and all the other reinforcements will all converge in the same spot, making it easy for the rest of my army to wait in place to take them out.



Her escort may have died but the Entrap Maid is still here. Without her cronies she can't pull units to their certain death, but she can pull them away from the throne.



The other Maids are also alive, but Peri will fix that. I really hope she can get enough EXP to level up, but I'm doubtful.



The other guys I can handle no problem. Corrin on a throne with the Levin Sword could probably take out anyone who approached her...



Oh no, they've kidnapped my husband!!! This doesn't matter at all, I'm nearly done.



jakob level jakob level



I don't think Peri's going to level up even if she kills every enemy left. So I'm stuck with her as a Dark Knight for at least a little of the Kitsune chapter. That's... not great.



I decided to let Nina get the final kill, something I do regret slightly. Every point of EXP Peri got would have been less time she had to spend as a mounted unit in the next chapter, but ah well.



3 attempts! That's not bad, not bad at all. I think I underestimated just how much Xander could destroy this map on his own. It is really, really hard to do it without him.



I even got some meat from the lottery to make my victory all the more sweeter! And then I exchanged it for human flesh at the arena.



Now he and Peri are married. You know, this support would be extremely sweet if Peri were not... well, Peri. Maybe if they took away the whole "unrepentant murderer" thing from her personality she'd actually be a fun character? Xander states in his supports that the reason he's got such weird retainers is that he's had retainers die on him before, so he values martial prowess over professionalism. This support paints Peri as genuinely good at her job but unable to be taken seriously by others because she's so childish and poorly spoken... Without the whole "murderer" elephant in the room it's a great support that makes you feel sorry for Peri and makes you appreciate Xander more. Anyway the important part is that now Peri can be a Wyvern Lord and Xander's free to support with Laslow. Oh and I also unlocked the world's worst paralogue that I suppose I'll have to suffer through at some point.

No unit stats because I forgot to take screenshots! I'll save your browser the trouble of having to load like 15 images at once.


Next time: Super Smash Bros Melee