New Player Guide Part 1 and 2

Update on 22 May 2017: With the release of the Fiel Powerlevel system, please be informed that it is now super easy to level. Any team of 4 units can reach 99 in about 3 hours. This means no more resetting on the hire screen. Please keep that in mind. A lot of the below info can be useful but know that meta safety now requires multiple deathmarch units (e.g. Lancer with catapault) for guaranteed safety from niche detachments like medic bottle burst. Most of the dual no escape 4 challengers (requires 3+ deathmarch or 2 deathmarch lancers to dodge) are in Fiel so you should be safe there.

While originally intended as a Fiel exclusive guide, with the dissolution of Fiel Discord to reduce excessive rivalry, the guide is open for all users. The aim is to introduce enough information to help a new player get to L99 quickly with some understanding of the game’s mechanics. It is not comprehensive. Details on bounties and quests for example are basic.

The super high level summary goes like this

1) Get a good starter team
2_ level fast
3) At L51 we'll boost you with gear
4) At L99 we'll work on your postgame team (postgame guide takes over here)
5) You reach full power and can clear 10s long term average under all circumstances and fear no enemy team
6) You begin creating detachments everyone fears
7) You can do anything you want as a top player at this point!

Part 0: Following for assistance

In this game, following another unit can let you hire their leader. While most units are 99, there is an odd bug in this game that the first few people you follow tend to make it to your hire list. For an easier L99 life, please do follow the following loyal fiels as soon as possible.

Me: Comment = Fiel the Cute (case sensitive)
Misfits: Comment = Loves Bacon (case sensitive)

This is found in base > info > search > comment

Part 1: Starting the game
The first step is to pick your first team. Comprising of 4 members. Gold is scarce and we want to make those first 4 members count. Focus will be on efficiency and cost.

Reset the hire screen by going to any travel quest and returning to base immediately. Shouldn't take more than 10-20s.

a)	Hire a character with troop xp up. This will be your leader and will save your levelling time by increasing xp.
b)	Hire a character with field skill experience. This will drastically improve your levelling experience.
c)	Any other 2 characters on the priority list below. If you really find someone cool looking you can pick anyone you want. The list is intended to help people who don’t really have a preference by prioritising power and utility.

Priority List
This is intended to be a loose overview. There are some close ties which were separated for readability, please consult the google doc for more precise move order.
i.	Paladin – Objectively the most fastest and powerful unit in the game
ii.	Blacksmith – Speedy, trap disabler, high assist dmg
iii.	Valkyrie – Speedy, single target dps specialists with piercing for enemies in a line
iv.	Fighter – Speedy has the only aoe guard in the game
v.	Noble – Speedy and powerful
vi.	Lancer – Average speed, fairly powerful
vii.	Dark Knight – Average speed, capable of dual physical/magical dmg
viii.	Rogue – Can cover vast distances, average speed, bonus dmg on certain units
ix.	Medic – Range unit with healing and support abilites
x.	Arcanist – Brings break zone which drastically increases dps
xi.	Witch/Shaman – Ranged spellcasters
xii.	Gunner – Excellent range, good assists
xiii.	Archer/Hunter – Excellent range, good assists
xiv.	Challenger – Unique unit not recommended for beginners
xv.	Dragon Mage – Extremely slow but powerful unit not recommended for beginners

Powergamer tip: It can be worth it to reset the hire screen for 10min or so to ensure that you get troop xp and field xp on 2 of the 4 suggested units below for additional power. This is the metagame party and a headstart can really help you. Again its only for players who appreciate the bonus power.

MetaParty:
1) Paladin x2
2) Arcanist
3) Archer (its a female)

Powergamer tip 2: Overspin is one of the most coveted abilities.  Overspin occurs in the following 3 paladin patterns. Do note that level can be slightly inaccurate and only listed as a guide. The game occasionally does L3 instead of L2 for blow rise for example. The important part is the order. E.g. Blow rise first then move strike.

Pattern 1: L2 blow rise > L4 move strike
Pattern 2: L2 move strike > L4 blow rise
Pattern 3: L2 resist guard > L4 blow rise > L7 speed zone.

Rehire a new paladin at L7 at the latest if you're reloading for Overspin. This was contributed by Athrek, a Fiel researcher.

Part 2:  Guide To Basics

The following is intended to introduce as much of the terminology of the game as possible. It is not comprehensive.

a)	Stats

All units place points into stats upon creation and levelling. The benefits are as follows
•	Str – Increases physical (melee/range) damage
•	Mag – Increases spell damage (medic is not a spellcaster)
•	Spi – Reduce magical damage
•	Sta – Reduce physical damage
•	Con – Increases hp
•	Agl – Increases move range
•	Vit – Increases action gauge
•	Tec – Increase xp gain and how much can be blocked
•	SP – Used for equipping personal skills

Generally speaking you should consider investing in your dps stat (str) your mobility (agl), your action (vit) and your SP (skills). Tec can be used but can leave you weak and we do not recommend that for new players. We encourage 70+ in str/agl/vit (or mag) and 25 in sp. We can use pyros to boost that to 99 in str/agl/vit. SP can't be boosted so best to max it just in case.

b)	Aptitude

The higher the Aptitutde (F to S), the less points you need to reach 99 because you get bonus points more frequently. It is not recommended to class up your unit until you have multiple L99s to power level the class up units.
However do horde scrolls and tomes as these rare items allow class up.

c)	Formation and Traps

You will notice in menu you can access invading and defending formations. Invading formation is when you attack an enemy unit or fort. This is what you will be doing 99% of the time. Generally for most situations you’ll want to move your units further to the right to engage faster. You may also place traps, barrels and flags as long as you have adequate SP. That is a more advanced topic and you shouldn’t need to worry too much about that until late game.
Defending formation is used when you are defending an allied fort or in specific campaign/quest situations. You will have more SP in defence than attack

d)	Turn Order

Certain units just go first. There’s no two ways about it. If it’s the same unit, the one with higher agl will go first. There is a special skill called deathmarch that allows units to break this rule but that’s an advanced topic. The list of turn order is as follows

This is intended to be a loose overview. There are some close ties which were separated for readability, please consult the google doc for more precise move order.
i.	Paladin – Objectively the most fastest and powerful unit in the game
ii.	Blacksmith – Speedy, trap disabler, high assist dmg
iii.	Valkyrie – Speedy, single target dps specialists with piercing for enemies in a line
iv.	Fighter – Speedy has the only aoe guard in the game
v.	Noble – Speedy and powerful
vi.	Lancer – Average speed, fairly powerful
vii.	Dark Knight – Average speed, capable of dual physical/magical dmg
viii.	Rogue – Can cover vast distances, average speed, bonus dmg on certain units
ix.	Medic – Range unit with healing and support abilites
x.	Arcanist – Brings break zone which drastically increases dps
xi.	Witch/Shaman – Ranged spellcasters
xii.	Gunner – Excellent range, good assists
xiii.	Archer/Hunter – Excellent range, good assists
xiv.	Challenger – Unique unit not recommended for beginners
xv.	Dragon Mage – Extremely slow but powerful unit not recommended for beginners

You may notice the order is identical to the recommended initial party. That is because whoeever goes first has an advantage and for most new players a speedy party is easier to use. As you get more familiar with mechanics you can make any party you want.

e)	Equipment and Pyroxene

Equipment from the base shop caps at L15. Your capital city has randomised gear up to L51. It is also possible to craft gear from travel blueprints up to L51. The highest gear is L51.
Pyroxene are ‘gems’ that give very powerful bonuses. You slot them into weapons. The higher the weapon level often the more slots exist. Blacksmiths can also increase the slot but don’t try this too early because its really expensive.
The only thing you need to know is that the higher the lvl of the gear the better (usually) and visit the capital city often to try and buy L51 gear when its available.

f)	How to play

Under Quests:

There’s the campaign. Guild then the 4 nations. Its fun to do but it can be hard if you’re unfamiliar with the mechanics. Some of the campaign missions are long at 1 hour or so and failing at the end is extremely frustrating. We suggest you do the later missions 5+ only much later with a level advantage

There’s also the single quests which can be refreshed with square button for different rewards. It’s a late game tactic to refresh for rare items. Don’t do it now though, your gold is important at the start.

Travel can be particularly enjoyable since you can’t fail, there’s loads of treasure and a nearby medic to heal you. We suggest you run travel till level 10.

Under War:
This is where you do your multiplayer operations and send detachments. Ignore detachments for now it’s a late game thing really. From L10+ we suggest you focus on war operations for the best experience and gold per hour.

g)	Mercenary Rank

This increases over time and allows a variety of benefits, the most important being placing of more items in formation mode. There are many rumours how to speed this up but for safety and sanity, we recommend simply playing normally to L99 and eventually it’ll unlock S rank.