Part 15: Update XIV - Copious Grinding Action
Update XIV - Copious Grinding Action
Alright, no chance to buy anything new or anything, let's get right into the map.
Quite the drastic change to this map. And like I announced last update, grinding will be happening here. I have plans, because I'm not fucking dealing with a trainee Ewan longer than I absolutely have to.
The wyverns make the early moves a bit annoying. Not a lot of room where we don't get attacked - though the shamans, for instance, don't move, so it's not 100% accurate.
So we set up like this. Let's let the enemies show their hand first.
The biggest situation ends up being this chokepoint. Forde's not exactly the guy to deal with this.
And of course, Caellach bails.
With the monster reinforcements moving in, we get to see this promoted centaur guy move slooooooooowly to his spot. That's probably not intended, but very helpful - this guy is somebody you should pay attention to, because while he does not move, he can fuck your shit up.
Look at this guy. He beefy. Approach carefully.
Also, of course, we get some gargoyles dumped into our backfield.
And while Duessel and Ross can weaken them a fair bit, they're still going to get some shots in.
Lute and Franz get to deal with the mercs up top after Amelia and Artur deal with the wyvern.
Cormag levels after attacking another merc. He's probably getting promoted soon, he'll definitely help out big time.
On enemy phase, Natasha gets in a bit of trouble and could've died if the shamans moved. Thankfully, I know they don't because I left Natasha in their range before.
And she levels on the counter kill too.
Amelia got trapped by one gargoyle, but he was weak, so he got killed on player phase for a level.
Combined efforts clean up the group up top.
Lute dodges death after the first of those two fighters hits on like a 35. Thankfully, the wyvern can't kill, because he did hit.
Tana levels baiting one of the cavs in the south to prep for recruiting Ewan.
We also get some knight reinforcements.
Cormag then recruits Ewan.
Ewan - Pupil:
STATS:
LV: 1
HP: 15
MAG: 4 (+1)
SKL: 3 (+1)
SPD: 6 (+1)
LCK: 7 (+2)
DEF: 2 (+2)
RES: 5 (+2)
MOV: 4
CON: 5
GROWTHS:
HP: 55% (+5%)
MAG: 45%
SKL: 45% (+5%)
SPD: 50% (+5%)
LCK: 50%
DEF: 25% (+10%)
RES: 35% (-5%)
Those are some spicy growths. I forgot that Ewan had such overall great growths, and that boost in defense growth is very welcome. And I suppose the boost in his bases is very necessary, since everything out there is stronger than in vanilla. Once we get him trained up, he's going to be a force to be reckoned with.
So we set up in a sort of defensive formation to let Ewan get some chip EXP. He gets like 45 EXP from a simple chip right now, so that's pretty good.
Up top, we start getting ready to move in and take on this sub boss.
Ewan gets some training from the cavs, and the knights now moving in will probably also provide some decent fodder.
And back up top, some units aren't exactly prime material for dealing with this centaur.
Some are a bit better. In fact, Lute crits twice and takes him down to 11 HP.
Franz gets one hit in, but now faces chance of death if we don't kill...
Thankfully, Artur is up to the task.
L'Arachel heals Franz up next turn and gets this level.
So, basically, what I'm planning is to take those two knights and two shamans to grind some units up, namely Amelia, Ewan and L'Arachel. These guys don't move, so we can plink at them for a while and get some levels.
But first I'll let Ewan plink at these knights down here. He can get some good EXP from here and Ephraim and Gilliam can easily hold the line.
Huh, that's a bit annoying. Guess I'll send some axe guys back to deal with that.
Ewan gets a full 100 EXP from a kill. It's nice. The level isn't.
And Amelia gets to work training. I can do this for a while. L'Arachel gets a heal staff so she can heal without wasting the mend staff when not necessary.
Uh. I didn't expect you to move. This... complicated matters. Dodge the knight please?
Nope. God damnit.
At least I get some intel on reinforcements. I'll just leave some guys on the ship next time to deal with this right off the bat because I don't want these guys getting to my main group and getting in range of attacking my healers and mages.
Resets: 4
Next time around, I have to set up a barrier with Natasha because Gilliam is slow. This leads to her murdering multiple knights. Not exactly what I had planned, but whatever, Ewan gets EXP out the ass, he can probably grind up to 10 on a single shaman or something. I'm not worried about him.
This time around, we're prepared for the fliers.
Garcia gets a level in dealing with the fliers.
And Ross levels as well. He's absolutely capping strength, skill and speed before promoting, and good lord, that luck.
All the while, I've been whittling down the centaur again, setting up an Amelia kill. So of course I'm going to go for that.
She gets it.
And the Ewan training begins anew.
This time around, Franz gets to deal with the annoying fighter standing between me and grinding.
More reinforcements. There will be two waves of three cavs. So grinding will have to wait until that's dealt with, because those guys could fuck Amelia up something fierce.
Ewan starts grinding on the archer. Not great level ups in total, but he's got enough left.
Gilliam will level cap soon. Not sure when I'll have a crest around for him.
Another level for Ewan. This update will probably be like 50% level ups.
And here we go. This is Amelia training and L'Arachel training in one, with Ewan training on the side. Strap in.
And there we go. That's the grinding group cleared out and a bunch of levels acquired. Not necessarily fun, not necessarily how it was intended to be done, but hey, this hack doesn't hold back, so I might as well use some things I have available to me.
Now we get to set up to lure in Marisa.
Once again, an unequipped Gilliam is more than up to the task.
And there we go, Marisa acquired.
Marisa - Myrmidon:
STATS:
LV: 13 (+8)
HP: 27 (+4)
STR: 10 (+3)
SKL: 15 (+3)
SPD: 16 (+3)
LCK: 14 (+5)
DEF: 6 (+2)
RES: 6 (+3)
MOV: 5
CON: 8 (+3)
GROWTHS:
HP: 55% (-15%)
STR: 30%
SKL: 60% (+5%)
SPD: 60%
LCK: 55% (+5%)
DEF: 20% (+5%)
RES: 35% (+10%)
That's a lot more usable than what you'd usually get with Marisa in vanilla. Since I haven't exactly been using Joshua, I suppose if I am going to use a myrmidon, it'll be Marisa. Not sure if either has a long-term future before the postgame, though - I just don't seem to like pure sword users.
Artur gets the energy ring Ewan came with, since his magic has been a bit lacking. And now, it's time to try and deal with the boss.
In setting up, L'Arachel gets another level. She's proably going to promote ASAP.
The monsters behind the boss do not move, so we get to maneuver around them to pick them off from the side so we don't risk an attack from the boss, because he can fuck shit up.
Amelia picks up another level sniping the skeleton.
As does Vanessa. Now, let's see how our prime monster killer, Natasha, fares against this cyclops.
This is very yabai. Very yabai indeed. That innate crit that some high tier monsters have showing its face again. So we need somebody bulky. Either I could drag Duessel over here (I forgot to move him and he's still on the boat with Garcia and Ross), or I guess Dozla could do it. Let's see.
Well... he survives a crit, and the boss can't heal. Guess that's all we need!
First round, miss from the boss, hit from Dozla.
Second round, hit from the boss, hit from Dozla.
Third round, miss from the boss, crit from Dozla. What even are hit chances?
And a very berserker level to cap things off.
Next time, we get to deal with Selena and a level that has a few tricks up its sleeve. See you then!