FE10 Overview (Easy)

FIRE EMBLEM 10 (EASY) SPEEDRUN COMMENTARY

This is a somewhat detailed overview that you can read for more information about the run that isn't obvious in the video.


ANY% EASY CATEGORY WITH TRANSFERS

This category requires beating the game starting from the prologue to the final chapter, on easy difficulty. Timing begins upon selecting a prologue file and ends upon saving after killing Ashera. Real-time is typically used, though in-game time perfectly matches real-time if there are no resets/restarts. As I don't save a single time in this run (there's no real reason to save in a serious attempt), the in-game time matches perfectly with real-time.

Fire emblem speedruns typically use normal difficulty. However, easy and normal have several changes in Radiant Dawn outside of just enemy stat differences, including different chapter objectives, different enemy placements, and different enemy behavior (i.e. some enemies move that don't move in normal and vice versa). As the two difficulties are so significantly different, they're tracked as separate categories.

This run also uses a transfers file from Path of Radiance. The transfers file is a "theoretical max possible stats" (i.e. if it's possible to cap a character's stat without cheating, it is capped in the transfer file). This boosts several character stats in this run, allowing for a few minor faster strats and, more importantly, more reliability in the run. For example, without transfers, Jill would need to gain +2 str and +3 speed in chapter 1-6-1 and 1-6-2, which is very unreliable; with transfers, she only needs +1 speed by then. More details on how transfers work can be read here: http://serenesforest.net/radiant-dawn/miscellaneous/data-transfer/

LEVEL-UPS AND BEXP

When a character levels up in a chapter, they are guaranteed to gain at least one stat no matter what. It is impossible for a character to gain no stats unless they have already capped every stat.

When a character levels up through bonus experience, they will always gain exactly three stat-ups. . This allows for reliable capping of stats, as the character is guaranteed a set number of stat-ups per level.

With BEXP levels, the game rolls a stat-up for the unit's highest growth - then the next highest growth - and so on, until three stats are gained. In the case of ties with growth rates, the game rolls the later stats first and goes backwards. This has not been necessarily data-mined but has been the theory statistically supported.

So for example, Jill's BEXP levels roll levels for her stats in this order until exactly three are gained:
Speed (65%)
Luck (60%)
HP (50%)
Res (45%)
Skill (45%)
Strength (45%)
Defense (35%)
Magic (15%)


TRICKS / GLITCHES

Fast Enemy Phase - By holding B and a direction while ending turn, the camera enters a state of moving more quickly overall. This causes the camera to move much more quickly between enemy units (though this also works for partner and other phase). I set the game to not end turn automatically after using all of my units, so I can abuse this every turn. This saves a few minutes over the course of the entire run.


IMPORTANT CHARACTERS

Micaiah - The main lord of the Dawn Brigade, and a mage lord at that. Being a mage, she's extremely fragile and also very slow. While she has excellent magic, luck, and resistance growths, there isn't much point in using her in a speedrun as she can't double attack nor deal much damage (due to using the weakest magic type) and by the time you can use bonus experience, other characters are much better. Her main combat use is dealing chip damage in 1-P and 3-6 to help Edward & Sothe kill enemies; otherwise she's merely used to seize when needed.

Sothe - The "Jagen" of the Dawn Brigade, and the first 2nd tier unit that joins. Interestingly, he's a thief class instead of a paladin, which limits him due to not being mounted and also using the worst weapon type in the game. His thief class helps with finding a few hidden items and opening chests. His base stats are incredibly high (especially with transfers), and he carries the majority of part 1 despite his terrible strength cap and weapon type. He falls off after chapter 3-6 as his class limitations hurt him so much at this point.

Jill - The earlygame flier. Her base stats aren't particularly great, though transfers and stat boosters buff those up significantly. I dump most of my part 1 resources into her, which turns her into one of the MVPs of the run thanks to having solid growths all around, using the best weapon type, being in the best class in the game, and being the only flier for the Dawn Brigade. She effectively turns into another Haar by part 3.

Haar - He is Haar. That is all.

Ike - The main character of the game. He has pretty bad growths, but his base stats are some of the best in the game, even without transfers. Even though he is unmounted and swordlocked (1-2 range swords are not very good in this game), he still manages to be very useful thanks to his ridiculous base stats. Once he gets the Ragnell in 3-11 (much earlier in the game than in PoR), he becomes another MVP. In the long run, he needs to hit 32 strength and 34 speed minimum for endgame and the Black Knight & Ashera fights.

Titania - The "Jagen" of the Greil Mercenaries. While she doesn't start a tier higher than the rest of her team, she has very high base stats, starts at a high level, and is an axe-using paladin. She also has very good offensive growths. She dominates early part 3 until Haar rejoins, but still contributes significantly with helping ferry units around or cleaning up units that Haar doesn't reach.

Tanith - A falcoknight that joins in 3-11. While she's weaker than Jill & Haar thanks to being a falcoknight instead of a wyvernlord, she has very respectable base stats and growths, flies, and can use 1-2 range weapons. She contributes for combat quite a bit in lategame and is the MVP of the Hawk team in part 4.

Nailah, Naesala, Tibarn, Caineghis, Giffca - All high-level Laguz Royals that are available here and there. They all have very high movement (Tibarn having 10), are unhindered in desert, and basically slaughter anything they can attack. To note, the laguz royals aren't as useful as the beorc units because they cannot attack at 2-range, so their uses are much more limited in rout chapters.

Rafiel, Leanne, Reyson:
All herons that are available at various points in the game. They are effectively the "dancers" of the game, meaning they are able to refresh other units to let them move again. This is incredibly important for shaving off turncounts. You never have more than one heron at a time, and for endgame, you can only pick one (Rafiel is picked). The differences between the Herons are as follows:

Rafiel - Can always vigor 4 units at any time. However, he has the least mobility and cannot fly nor canto.
Leanne - Can always vigor 2 units at any time. Can fly and canto.
Reyson - Can only vigor 1 unit if untransformed, 4 if transformed. Has the most mobility, and can fly and canto. He is also the highest level heron, so he has immediate access to Bliss, which is used on Ike in chapter 3-8 to manipulate his biorhythm to have reliable hitrates for the Black Knight & Ashera fights.



SIDE CHARACTERS

Part 1

Edward - A low-level myrmidon with a respectable base speed and good offensive growths. He's the only character who can reliably double attack units in part 1 before Sothe joins. He needs to gain +2 str in the first two chapters to reliably clear them, or otherwise rely on Wrath.

Ilyana - A tier 1 mage with a respectable speed stat with transfers. She's used to clean up units in 1-4 and 1-5 thanks to her high attack and relatively high speed thanks to her transfers. She's killed off in 3-E to contribute to the required kill count.

Volug - A mobile wolf laguz with very good offensive stats with halfshift in part 1. He contributes to a few kills, helping ferry units, and doing a shove in 3-13, all of which are because of his excellent mobility.

Zihark - A prepromoted swordmaster who effectively replaces Edward. He has solid offensive stats, and with beastfoe, adept, and a killing edge & brave sword, contributes to several kills throughout the run.

Tauroneo - A prepromoted general with really high base stats. He helps clear some units in 1-6-1 and 3-12, but isn't used much because of his limited availability and mobility. He's used much more in a non-transfers run.

Tormod - A prepromoted fire sage with high base stats. He helps kill enemies at 2-range in 1-7 and 1-8, but he isn't used much more because of his trash availability.

Part 2

Elincia - The queen of Crimea, and effectively a flying pegasus knight who can use staves. She's useful in the chapters she's available in, thanks to flight and high mobility. Her Amiti weapon is an excellent weapon that lets her quadruple attack units thanks to her high base speed. She also uses the Rescue Staff in 4-5.

Marcia - Another falcoknight, whose base stats and growths match the typical archetype of pegasus knights (high speed and luck, low strength). Her main highlight is effectively solo-ing chapter 3-9 quickly thanks to flight. She's killed off in 3-E to contribute to the required kill count because she can fly into warriors that can kill her quickly.

Geoffrey - A high level lance paladin. He effectively solos 2-3 thanks to his very high base stats, mobility, and ability to use the brave lance. He would also be the MVP of chapter 3-9 if a runner opts to use him instead of Marcia, which is admittedly more reliable but also slower.

Part 3

Rhys - A bishop that you start with in 3-P. He's never used until chapter 4-4, where he is crucial for the quick clear thanks to being one of two units in the game that can use the rescue staff at base (the other being Elincia).

Janaff - A hawk that joins in 3-7. He has ridiculously high offensive stats and can fly, despite not being a laguz royal. He contributes to a few kills here and there when he's available, and also helps being a rescue bot. His main highlight is taking out a few units in the nearby room in 4-4, then sending the rescue staff to convoy for Elincia to use on a different team.

Ulki - A hawk that joins with Janaff. His offensive stats aren't as high as Janaff, so he isn't as useful, but his main highlight is 4-2 where thanks to his unique Vigilance Skill, just about everything has 0 hit on him besides the crossbow user (which he can tank), so he can reliably kill several units there.

Sigrun - A falcoknight that joins with Tanith. She has average base stats and terrible growths, and is basically completely outclassed by Tanith. Her use is limited to being a rescue bot.

Part 4

Skrimir - A red lion that's basically a weaker Caineghis/Giffca. While he's mobile can do a lot of damage, his speed isn't very high, and his growths are not very good, so he needs to gain +1 speed minimum to kill what he can (he misses this much more frequently than he should...) He's a jerk, an idiot, and kills more runs than anything else because he's a freaking idiot and should not exist.

Gareth & Ena - Red dragons in endgame. They're used only for Blood Tide, which gives adjacent units +5 strength and skill. This is extremely important for the last chapter, as combined, a unit gains +10 strength and +10 skill.

Nasir - A white dragon in endgame. He is only used for White Pool, which gives adjacent units +5 speed and magic. This is needed for the last chapter for Haar, as it lets Haar quadruple attack the aura with the brave lance. Jill also needs the boost to quadruple attack Ashera with the Brave Axe.


RELEVANT SKILLS

Wrath - Edward has innate Wrath. This skill adds 50% to the character's crit rate if they're below about 30% of their health. This is important for fast kills in the first two chapters with Edward. Nephenee also has this skill, though it isn't that important in this run.

Beastfoe - Collected by Sothe in 1-4 and given to Zihark for part 3. This makes whatever weapon that character uses effective on beast laguz; this is relevant for Zihark in 3-6, where he uses a killing edge (8 might normally, 24 with beastfoe) to take out several laguz near the starting point.

Paragon - The boss of 1-6-2 drops this. This is given to Jill to boost the levels she gets in 3-6.

Savior - Lolfiona starts with this skill, which removes skill and speed penalties upon rescuing someone. This is removed from lolfiona on 1-E, passed to Ilyana so she can transfer it to Haar, allowing him to carry Ike without any penalties. In part 4, Savior is taken off of Haar and given to Nailah so she can carry Rafiel in 4-4 without losing speed.

Celerity - Tormod starts with this skill, which gives +2 move. This is removed from Tormod on 1-E, passed to Ilyana so she can transfer it to Haar in part 3, giving him 11 move.

Pass - This skill lets my units move through enemy units. Collected from a base conversion in 1-9. This is given to Nailah for 1-E. This is then removed in part 4 and convoyed, so Tanith can take it to kill Izuka in 4-5 in one turn. I also have another pass scroll that I remove from Heather, and is given to Titania for the entire run.

Blossom - Collected by Titania in 3-3. This skill reduces the experience a unit gains, but gives them higher growths (the technical detail is, if a unit misses a stat point from a level-up, the game rerolls that stat again, so a unit has two chances to gain a stat). This is assigned to Tanith to reduce the levels she gains in part 4, as unnecessary level-ups cost time.

Parity - Removed from Lucia in 4-E-1. This skill ignores terrain bonuses and other skills from both characters, which is extremely important through endgame, as several units are on cover tiles that give +10 defense.

Blood Tide & White Pool - See Ena, Gareth, and Nasir.