HM Ranked Run Help.

[Datsura]

A while ago after I got bored of FE4, I decided to play FE6 for the first time. I played HM directly and I found it to be way too easy (Chapter 7 and 21 are extremely overrated), even without arena abusing, so I feel like s-ranking. I can't find any source which will give me more information about the Augury, so can someone confirm these for me? I am a bit clueless.

Experience: I'm assuming killing as many enemies as possible? Or is there more to it? Like spreading experience evenly to all units?

Length: Beating a chapter as fast as possible? I would really appreciate it if someone could give me a list of turns needed for each chapter or something, or for the whole game.

Funds: Not too sure about this one, but it is having a good amount of cash and not much spent or something? I got a splendid job on this one.. even though I got Miledy to go to a Secret Shop and buy a bunch of candy, and I could barely fit stuff in my bank.

Battle Skill: I have no idea. Is this taking advantage of the weapon triangle? I need someone to help me on this one. I got a splendid job on this one too..

Power: Once again, I have no bloody idea about this one. Can someone clarify this?

Casualties: Obvious, no one dead.

Alright then. I would also appreciate it if someone tried to help and improve my team. Oh yeah, I'm probably using the Sacae route.

---

Roy - B Alan, B Lance
Alan - A Lance, B Roy
Lance - A Alan, B Roy

Dieck - B Rutger, B Clarine
Rutger - A Clarine, B Dieck
Clarine - A Rutger, B Dieck

Miledy - A Zeiss, B Lugh
Zeiss - A Miledy, B Shin (heard it's very tough but I could give it a shot)
Lugh - B Miledy (I don't like the idea of one B support but I don't train thieves like Chad)

Not sure at all after this. In my previous playthrough, I used Shin, Sue, Percival, Fa, Gonzales and all thieves. I'm sure I'll end up using Shin, but people believe that Sue is pretty bad, although she maxed strength, skill and speed and 25 luck. Percival is pretty good, but he gets no supports. I'll probably use him for the Wyvern Riders and all with his handy axe. Not sure about Fa at all, I hate the fact that her dragon stone has only 50 uses, I might not even use her at all (she would have gotten OHKOed by Idoun). Gonzales was great and all (capped skill!) but he lacks supports and he's not the best user of Armads. I give Armads to Dieck because of his 30 skill. I also hear that Ray is pretty good too, and that A support with Lugh sounds great.

That's it I guess. Thanks for your time. I may edit occasionally.

[Balcerzak]

Experience: I'm assuming killing as many enemies as possible? Or is there more to it? Like spreading experience evenly to all units?

Length: Beating a chapter as fast as possible? I would really appreciate it if someone could give me a list of turns needed for each chapter or something, or for the whole game.

Funds: Not too sure about this one, but it is having a good amount of cash and not much spent or something? I got a splendid job on this one.. even though I got Miledy to go to a Secret Shop and buy a bunch of candy, and I could barely fit stuff in my bank.

Battle Skill: I have no idea. Is this taking advantage of the weapon triangle? I need someone to help me on this one. I got a splendid job on this one too..

Power: Once again, I have no bloody idea about this one. Can someone clarify this?

Casualties: Obvious, no one dead.

I'm no expert, but from what I've heard
Experience is similar to FE7's ranking.  Earn a total experience above some par threshold.
Length is similar to FE7's tactics rating (but much more lenient).  Complete chapters in some (unknown) number of turns.
Funds is similar to FE7's funds rating, have a total net worth exceeding some value.  Basically this means you can buy whatever you want, (and use a silver card to do so for bonus), just don't sell anything, promote people you aren't using, or wantonly use and break expensive weapons.
Battle Skill is similar to FE7's Combat rating.  This is related to one-rounding or two-rounding enemies, instead of taking forever to kill them.  I'm not sure, though.
Power is recruiting everyone you come across.
Casualties is not letting folks die.

Let me be clear, I could very easily be mistaken here, so some confirmation would be great.

Alright then. I would also appreciate it if someone tried to help and improve my team. Oh yeah, I'm probably using the Sacae route.

---

Roy - B Alan, B Lance
Alan - A Lance, B Roy
Lance - A Alan, B Roy

Dieck - B Rutger, B Clarine
Rutger - A Clarine, B Dieck
Clarine - A Rutger, B Dieck

Miledy - A Zeiss, B Lugh
Zeiss - A Miledy, B Shin (heard it's very tough but I could give it a shot)
Lugh - B Miledy (I don't like the idea of one B support but I don't train thieves like Chad)

Some of those supports seem a little ambitious, but I guess it depends on style.  I've never done a ranked run in six yet, so have leisurely used any unit I enjoy, and don't know when, where, or how hard various ratings will squeeze your choices.  Also, on my ranked runs on seven, I could never seem to squeeze in many more than a handful of supports, again, maybe it's my style.

Not sure at all after this. In my previous playthrough, I used Shin, Sue, Percival, Fa, Gonzales and all thieves. I'm sure I'll end up using Shin, but people believe that Sue is pretty bad, although she maxed strength, skill and speed and 25 luck. Percival is pretty good, but he gets no supports. I'll probably use him for the Wyvern Riders and all with his handy axe. Not sure about Fa at all, I hate the fact that her dragon stone has only 50 uses, I might not even use her at all (she would have gotten OHKOed by Idoun). Gonzales was great and all (capped skill!) but he lacks supports and he's not the best user of Armads. I give Armads to Dieck because of his 30 skill. I also hear that Ray is pretty good too, and that A support with Lugh sounds great.

That's it I guess. Thanks for your time. I may edit occasionally.

I never had a problem with my Sue either, personally.  Fa is, from what I hear, excellent for buffing your XP rating, as she gains levels like nothing doing, and is also a good boss-slayer.  I've never run out of stone uses, personally.  I'm neurotic about funds, so you might want to consider a prepromote or two, though on the other hand it may not be needed.

[VincentASM is too important to have a messed up name]

A couple of sites list Power being the total level of characters (with promoted character levels counting as Level +20).

[Lord Kratos]

I strongly advise to go to Illia instead of Sacae. The nomads are virtually impossible to one round without a critical (hurting combat a lot).

As for funds, whore the silver card to get fancy stuff and increase the rank. Maybe a couple prepromos (I suggest Percival and Echidna)

Also, you may want to use Chad this time. There are several valuable objects you can get from using him.

Experience: using stuff like Fa helps . Don't overuse prepromos early on. I suggest to use Lalum (has an experience pool of her own and gives another unit another turn, meaning she helps tactics as well. Plus, an excelent support option for Percival and Echidna). For chapters where you can bring more units than your planned team, an extra healer helps.

[Mekkah]

I'd say give up for Miledy getting supports, it's more trouble than it's worth. I don't even find them crucial at all. It's all about playing chapters as efficiently as possible. If you want to get Lugh a support, try out Ray or Ellen.

Stay away from using Nomads at all. Default route is Ilia which is much better for combat and tactics, but if you want to be safe let Thany throw a Javelin in her joining chapter or something.

It seems in your previous playthrough the RNG was extremely nice to you, don't let it get to your head. The growths in this game are pretty low compared to FE7, FE8 and especially FE4.

You'll find the combat rank pretty mean to you as it is actually harder than in FE7 (not sure if you tried that), both because the rating is more strict and because enemies are stronger. This in turn makes EXP harder as you'll have less breathing room to level up low level units, but thankfully there's no Hard Mode EXP cut, and Fa, Roy and perhaps Zeis will help a ton.

Speaking of Zeis...I wouldn't recommend him in a ranked run unless you think EXP will be harder than tactics and stuff. Supporting Miledy is fun and all, but I think it's more trouble than it's worth. Miledy can do all flier utility on her own for the chapters Zeis even exists.

Clarine/Dieck probably won't finish for a very long time, so I wouldn't sweat that one and focus on the other parts of the triangle.

Funds is flexible in theory, but Voltaire (who did actually try this game ranked) says it might give you headaches sometimes, considering you get a lot of money to spend before Silver Card comes, which means you'll have to wonder whether you need this bought weapon :now: or whether you want to buy it for half money later. Still, it's easier than in FE7 afaik.

Use staves, especially special utility ones. Not only does it help EXP rank without adding more  combat rounds, and not only does it make healers level up even faster than they did after promotion, but it can also be a major timesaver. I think Warp can help you complete Ch20x Ilia very quickly if you don't mind missing a bit of EXP. In 21 it should be a godsent to get Roy to Murdock quickly. I recommend letting a strong fighter rescue Roy, then perhaps dance with Lalum to that unit, then Warp near the throne. Let the strong fighter drop Roy out of fighting range as much as possible, and start taking on the boss while everyone else takes outside EXP.

[Datsura]

First of all, I would like to thank everyone. I was also wondering, how many characters should I use?

I'm no expert, but from what I've heard
Experience is similar to FE7's ranking.  Earn a total experience above some par threshold.
Length is similar to FE7's tactics rating (but much more lenient).  Complete chapters in some (unknown) number of turns.
Funds is similar to FE7's funds rating, have a total net worth exceeding some value.  Basically this means you can buy whatever you want, (and use a silver card to do so for bonus), just don't sell anything, promote people you aren't using, or wantonly use and break expensive weapons.
Battle Skill is similar to FE7's Combat rating.  This is related to one-rounding or two-rounding enemies, instead of taking forever to kill them.  I'm not sure, though.
Power is recruiting everyone you come across.
Casualties is not letting folks die.

Thank you for that, but it seems Power is something else.

Some of those supports seem a little ambitious, but I guess it depends on style.  I've never done a ranked run in six yet, so have leisurely used any unit I enjoy, and don't know when, where, or how hard various ratings will squeeze your choices.  Also, on my ranked runs on seven, I could never seem to squeeze in many more than a handful of supports, again, maybe it's my style.

Indeed. Lugh x Miledy and Zeiss x Shin are pretty tough, so I'll ignore that. Maybe only Zeiss x Miledy.

A couple of sites list Power being the total level of characters (with promoted character levels counting as Level +20).

That might be a huge pain.. I wish I knew the total level needed..

I strongly advise to go to Illia instead of Sacae. The nomads are virtually impossible to one round without a critical (hurting combat a lot).

I had no problems in Sacae in my last playthrough but this one is supposed to be ranked.. is really getting through Sacae ranked that hard? The idea of not using Shin until Ilia or never is a bit disturbing.. Is it a good idea to use him in Ilia?

As for funds, whore the silver card to get fancy stuff and increase the rank. Maybe a couple prepromos (I suggest Percival and Echidna)

Yeah, I always abused the Silver Card. And I'm using Percival for sure, not sure about Echidna..

Also, you may want to use Chad this time. There are several valuable objects you can get from using him.

You mean use Chad as in training him? Why? I had no problems with him getting killed and this time with B Lugh it should be even better.

Experience: using stuff like Fa helps . Don't overuse prepromos early on. I suggest to use Lalum (has an experience pool of her own and gives another unit another turn, meaning she helps tactics as well. Plus, an excelent support option for Percival and Echidna). For chapters where you can bring more units than your planned team, an extra healer helps.

I suppose I will use Fa too. Yeah, Lalum can help in tactics aswell, so I can consider using her in fillers.

I'd say give up for Miledy getting supports, it's more trouble than it's worth. I don't even find them crucial at all. It's all about playing chapters as efficiently as possible. If you want to get Lugh a support, try out Ray or Ellen.

I usually teamed Miledy and Zeiss together.. but I am probably ditching Miledy x Lugh and Shin x Zeiss. I may use Ray, so maybe Ray with Lugh.

Stay away from using Nomads at all. Default route is Ilia which is much better for combat and tactics, but if you want to be safe let Thany throw a Javelin in her joining chapter or something.

Not having the Myurgre is a bit weird.. And without the Nomads, I am quite unsure which characters to use.

It seems in your previous playthrough the RNG was extremely nice to you, don't let it get to your head. The growths in this game are pretty low compared to FE7, FE8 and especially FE4.

Most of my characters capped like 3 stats or so.

You'll find the combat rank pretty mean to you as it is actually harder than in FE7 (not sure if you tried that), both because the rating is more strict and because enemies are stronger. This in turn makes EXP harder as you'll have less breathing room to level up low level units, but thankfully there's no Hard Mode EXP cut, and Fa, Roy and perhaps Zeis will help a ton.

I can't use Fa too much though.. or maybe I could try and use that glitch..

Speaking of Zeis...I wouldn't recommend him in a ranked run unless you think EXP will be harder than tactics and stuff. Supporting Miledy is fun and all, but I think it's more trouble than it's worth. Miledy can do all flier utility on her own for the chapters Zeis even exists.

That sounds fishy too.. I need to think about that.. Zeiss is pretty useful.. And that will decrease the number of my units.

Use staves, especially special utility ones. Not only does it help EXP rank without adding more  combat rounds, and not only does it make healers level up even faster than they did after promotion, but it can also be a major timesaver. I think Warp can help you complete Ch20x Ilia very quickly if you don't mind missing a bit of EXP. In 21 it should be a godsent to get Roy to Murdock quickly. I recommend letting a strong fighter rescue Roy, then perhaps dance with Lalum to that unit, then Warp near the throne. Let the strong fighter drop Roy out of fighting range as much as possible, and start taking on the boss while everyone else takes outside EXP.

Just one thing. Should I use any other healer? I mainly use only Clarine.

Note: Rushing through and trying to kill everyone in Chapter 1 is tough! How many turns should I need? Note, this is Hard Mode. It took me 10 turns and I will restart if 10 turns is too slow.

[Mekkah]

I usually teamed Miledy and Zeiss together.. but I am probably ditching Miledy x Lugh and Shin x Zeiss. I may use Ray, so maybe Ray with Lugh.

All I can say is IF you are using Zeis you would be a fool not to support with Miledy, but I don't like Zeis much for a ranked run.

Not having the Myurgre is a bit weird.. And without the Nomads, I am quite unsure which characters to use.

Miulgre is powerful, but I kinda hate bow users in general and Sacae will hurt your rank way too much. If you want Miulgre and S-rank, I guess...I can...recommend......Dorothy (ugh I said it).

Or Klein/Igrene, although they are statistically inferior, they are low maintenance.

Most of my characters capped like 3 stats or so.

Jesus fuck, did you use the Ch21 Secret Shop or something? They average way below that. Oh well, more luck = more power to you!

I can't use Fa too much though.. or maybe I could try and use that glitch..

If Fa gets exhausted that means her work is done. You don't even really need to use her in the final chapter as long as you keep her moving.

That sounds fishy too.. I need to think about that.. Zeiss is pretty useful.. And that will decrease the number of my units.

I don't think a decreased number is a disadvantage per se. It increases the amount of fillers you can bring to a map to help EXP rank, as well misc utility like thieves and dancers. Plus, it means more EXP for everyone of your team who is fielded. Not to mention you can always substitute Zeis.

Just one thing. Should I use any other healer? I mainly use only Clarine.

Multiple healers will come handy, though at the maps where you need that the most, you can use Yodel/Niime/Cecilia already. Nonetheless, using one of the Bishops (Saul/Ellen) is not a bad idea, they're just...not very good at taking hits. Still, healing = always good.

Note: Rushing through and trying to kill everyone in Chapter 1 is tough! How many turns should I need? Note, this is Hard Mode. It took me 10 turns and I will restart if 10 turns is too slow.

Move at enough speed, but not so much that you get killed. Use Marcus to weaken, and others to kill. To be honest, being slow early on is almost more than a plus than a minus, as you build up the Roy/Alan/Lance triangle earlier (you need it in Ch7). I believe the tactics rating is less strict than in FE7, though I haven't seen anyone hack this game to check yet.

Good luck!

[Datsura]

Thanks for the help. I've decided to pick units as I play, and I'll try and keep this thread updated. Your walkthrough is pretty great, too.

I just finished Chapter 2 in 13 turns. So, Chapter 1 in 10 turns and Chapter 2 in 13, is that any good? Doesn't anyone have a number of turns for like the whole game to get an A rank? Or even turns needed for each chapter (HM)?

Anyway, Competitor is never going to come out, is it?

[Mekkah]

I don't think anyone has the numbers for the ranking, but if you look at Vincent or some other smart FE hacking guy really nicely he might help you out.

I guess I'll have a go at playing this ranked for a bit to see how I'd do in those turns.

It's no use asking anyone about Competitor, but I'm sure it will come out.

[Datsura]

Overall, Chapter 3 was quite disappointing.. 16 turns. It was rather annoying because I had to kill everyone and try to complete it as fast as I can.

Edit: Just beat Chapter 3 all over again, and I beat it in 16 turns once more. Sounds like this is as far as I can go..

I just beat Chapter 4 in 16 turns as well, I could have done it in about 13 turns but I decided to kill the bandits and cavaliers for some exp. I just started Chapter 5 with ONLY C Support Lance and Alan which is really disappointing. I hoped to get at least B but this is a ranked run I suppose.

[Mekkah]

Remember the goal of every chapter except the last one is just to seize. You don't have to kill everyone - in fact, if your EXP rank is doing fine but you want to keep combat and tactics up, you'll want to seize early.

That said, I'm trying for Normal Mode now. Not indie enough for HM just yet.

[St. Pius X]

Shin can get some lategame action in Ilia. What I did was give Thany 5 levels in 8x, and then Shin got a few and then went out for a long interim. 
He got this far at end game though:

[Datsura]

I was planning on using Shin in Ilia.

Anyways, I beat Chapter 5, 6 and 7. 7 was MUCH harder in a ranked run for me because I had to rush even more than you're supposed to in a non-ranked run which is literally suicide. I finished it in 20 turns (including all the villages) which isn't too bad for me (I remember Voltaire finishing it in 45..). The reinforcements were a huge pain in the ass.

And, should I bother with Gonzales or not? I prefer giving Armads to Dieck, and all my 3 Paladins (Alan, Lance, Percival) will also train in the art of the axe.

One last question: Lalam or Elphin route?

[Balcerzak]

I was planning on using Shin in Ilia.

Anyways, I beat Chapter 5, 6 and 7. 7 was MUCH harder in a ranked run for me because I had to rush even more than you're supposed to in a non-ranked run which is literally suicide. I finished it in 20 turns (including all the villages) which isn't too bad for me (I remember Voltaire finishing it in 45..). The reinforcements were a huge pain in the ass.

And, should I bother with Gonzales or not? I prefer giving Armads to Dieck, and all my 3 Paladins (Alan, Lance, Percival) will also train in the art of the axe.

One last question: Lalam or Elphin route?

I would go Lalam.  It's my opinion that she's the better dancer, and that Echidna is the better prepromote.  Also, if you do decide to use Gonzales, you'll badly want that incarnation of him.

[Mekkah]

I'm at Ch6 and I can't figure out which order I want to do things with Roy and Chad, or if I should even bother with half of these chests.

Armads to Dieck requires him training from E to S in axes after he promoted. That'll be a pretty huge pain. I would recommend using Percival for Armads instead. Not really fond of Gonzales in a ranked run anyway, considering how often he'll hurt your combat rank by missing. I guess Pegasi and Wyverns give him +10 Hit, but still, he's a little too shaky.

[Datsura]

In Ch6, I sent Roy and Chad both to the left side of the map and at that side I only opened the door with Sue. I didn't bother getting the Unlock Staff at the top left side because usually I never send Clarine or etc. to open chests. Then I sent Chad to the right side of the map and looted the 5 chests there, which contained valuables. Ch6 took me about 14 turns I believe.

I've trained Dieck from E to S before, I hope I can do that again. Although it if doesn't work I'll make sure to have Percival S in Axes by then.

I am not getting Gonzales, but I am going through the Lalam Route.

[Mekkah]

The southern chests on the left have 7000G though, which is worth 14000G with Silver Card. I don't want to miss that.

[Datsura]

Though I am not very experienced in ranking and could be easily mistaken, it can take too much time for that in a ranked run, it did for me. Besides, isn't 7000G easy to make?

[Mekkah]

7000G in cash is a lot of money in my opinion, worth a lot more than the few extra turns it takes. Not to mention it allows your other units to build a little more supports in the meantime.

[Balcerzak]

7000G in cash is a lot of money in my opinion, worth a lot more than the few extra turns it takes. Not to mention it allows your other units to build a little more supports in the meantime.

I concur.  Most of the time your assets will come in the form of gems, which lose half their value if you convert them to usable form for purchasing weapons.

But then again, I don't remember how much vanilla cash exists in 6, to really be a good judge.