How To Beat 3H Chapter 13 on Maddening (ALL ROUTES) 

Your icon and name are the perfect reactions to this map.

this map was extremely easy on normal. then on maddening, I completely forgot that I cant choose my team and I didn't realise it would be all GD so I couldn't move Lorenz or Ignatz because they die to single enemies but if I moved Hilda, Leonie or Claude too quickly, the enemies would ignore them and beeline to Lorenz. I had to reset twice since I needed byleth to crit the first enemy from the bushes to survive the round and then had to carefully make sure not to awaken any enemy that id have to chase down with Hilda.

Jonathan Odude that’s why I hate it is cus your basically forced to used ur starting units which are usually ohko if not constantly used so when I did this chapter I had to reset about 6 times and eventually I just let my under levelled units serve as bait and let them die cus it was too annoying to save them

Makes sense for bandits to be the bigger threat if you consider the final boss of Verdant Wind is literally a bandit lol

In golden deer it wasn't that bad. But is pretty much gambit + more gambit. Now I wonder if I should ever try Blue Lion route lmao

And even then, you'd need something like a Longbow to counter the archers, and close counter

It doesn't help that dimitri gets -10 Avoid If he gets hit his avoid drops from like 60 +30 from a bush to 40+30 from a bush Which means the enemied would pobably have 50% hit which is way to luck based

I forced him to be a wyvren boy was he really powerful and untouchable!

Isn't that his plan A?

Umm... Yes you are? At the beginning of every month.

@@ChoiceSnarf well yes but in part II

Don't you get like 5 or 10 k each month?

the church pays byleth every month.

Not post timeskip though

Back to the board boys

I mean... U right.

thewingedbacon I think I have a strategy to beat it on crimson flower! Get to chapter 14

Just use rhea, duh

I mean, you're not wrong

Claude ain't playing around lmao

True, I played CF first and thought the reunion was rather underwhelming, after that I played AM and it was so hype

I like the chapter on hard but playing it blind on AM was a mess... Annette and Mercedes spawning on their own next to a ton of speedy enemies who 1RKO or 2RKO them is a real pain to deal with

The only reason it's even bad on maddening is because maddening in fe usually is more about inflating enemy stats and less about strategy or unit placement. In normal and hard mode, it's easily the most memorable and coolest map in the entire game for me, especially on my first run where it was just Byleth and Dimitri and I legitimately had no idea if the other students would actually show up.

Agreed, honestly. Epic story-wise and the music never gets old for me

It is great if you have your original class as main units but if you didnt use a few of them at all it became a bit harder. still dimitri just smacked everyone so it didnt matter that anette and ingrid had to run for their lives.

I don’t get why the had to get rid of Dedue, I liked it for story purposes but he is one of my favorite units it sucks because he falls off after time skip

My god I know it’s physically impossible

@@lucaspiano76 have you tried war master dedue? That class makes him a fucking unit (using brawling), death blow plus double punching, quick riposte carrying his awful speed and he can still tank hits. One-two punch is also op because it prevents him from getting doubled from the interaction.

@@zsDUGGZ Nom he literally doesn't spawn on this map.

Mine never fell of cause my units were round lvl 30 before time skip

I went from normal to maddening and this was one of the worst maps I've been on. I had to dismount Claude and make them stay on a forested tile just so he could avoid better. All that headache because of f***** Pallardo, an NPC we never saw before an we'll never see again.

@@shirakaya7982 Actually you see him again in anna's DLC.

@@shiniselune399 lol, I've only set aside enough money for the main game :')

@@shirakaya7982 A shame you don't get to enjoy the "ambush reinforcement every 2 turns" map :p

@@shiniselune399 isn't that an overall maddening thing? XD

_Straight _*_CHEEKS_*

I’m doing maddening NG golden deer and I can’t beat chapter 3, let alone chapter 13

@@XGame80 Oof. Keep trying, bud. Maddening is touch but I'll be rooting for ya.

Gold LKirb you can do it! Even i managed to get past that. Just got to this chapter and IM CRYING

So it´s the new battle before dawn. Let´s thank we can actually see what is going on here.

Still missed

nice accent and improv strats

Thanks, I literally forgot about impregnable wall on leonie. Once i reached this chapter i was like "...oh. I actually was meant to do something with leonie, right..."

@@gamblingprince9744 well, necessity is the mother of invention. And because of that, improv is always a joy to watch

I don't think its a bad map layout wise but, the fact that any units you bench aren't buffed enough to even stand a chance is definitely bad design. Though I have always used my house units so I haven't experienced this myself. I feel that people exaggerate the other problems this map has because of previous bad experiences.

@@cliffjumper7630 It's kinda how FE12 Lunatic and RD punish you if you haven't trained up both for the final boss, but extended to a whole classroom of characters. Also the game guilt trips you for killing your students outside of the class, but also punishes you for using them at the same time because then you might not train up tbe charactets in your class

If you're not in a position to do a fast clear, stack every defensive tool on Seteth that you can. A good shield especially should not be forgotten, and can go a long way to neutering many of the thieves. Who cares if they double/quadruple if they're doing basically nothing.

Also, Dimitri and Claude have unique attributes that help out big time. Dimitri's personal skill lets him have plus avoid 20, and if you give him both the march and evasion rings so he can get to a forest and swap to the evasion ring, he can have a very high chance to dodge the enemies, especially against the sword users. Plus, his battalion's gambit range is large. And as for Claude, his gambit range is superior and can be aimed like other arrow battalions, plus Claude can fly and potentially use encloser to stop enemies in their tracks. So basically, AM and VW give you tools to make the level more manageable.

Do you have the DLC? If so, you can clear this map normally, using your students the way you want to raise them. I mention the DLC because you can use the 10k renown reward from Cindered Shadows to buy more bonuses from the saint statues. And auxiliary battles for double gold (the ones with a yellow star) are a good source of exp. If your Golden Deer students are around level 24 before the timeskip, you will do fine if you have given them good batallions and cool abilities (Darting Blow to your non-pegasus females, Death Blow to all physical units, mastery of the Sniper class for Ignatz and the Grappler for Raphael, Fiendish Blow to your magic users). Just make sure that they are equipped with good weapons and accesories, and that you have a good assortment of those in your convoy so that Byleth can use them. If you don't have the DLC, reaching the level threshold may be more difficult, but not impossible.

How's your Leonie? If she's a wyvern, you're probably fine. I'm serious, if she's a decent wyvern and not just using axes, you are probably all right. Golden Deer is the easiest form of this map, and you can seriously hit end turn for her to show up and help.

don't bother. So long as lorenz and ignatz are trained and aren't completely paper you're probably ok. The only truly difficult part of this map is the very beginning because of how easy it is to get the units in the top-left killed.

@@Bajax my ignatz is a sniper, and lorenz is a mage. Both are paper.

I'm doing a solo run with Hilda so Claude and byleth are around level 5...

haha no something much worse happened in byleth only run

@@Mekkkah will we get to see it in video?

I completed a Maddening Byleth only run and that chapter was fucking hard

$5 says he couldn’t catch up to the death knight or something in chapter 17.

@@Jacquaid That doesn't result in a game over.

It’s a fun and powerful class for sure, but flying mobility is incredibly valuable in a map that’s teeming with enemies that you *cannot* take on all at once

Yeah, this is like the one map where that class sucks.

The first few chapters are some of the most difficult in Maddening. How is it weak.

@@PhotonSieve *random ch1 low-percentage crits intensifies*

@@PhotonSieve they're just boring cause there's a lack of customization and options available at that point. Everyone just turtles behind Byleth and the house lord, spams bows, and spams Tempest Lance. Even if you change routes, you play those chapters the same way. Also Miklan Ch 5 brings part 1 down so much by itself. Most tedious chapter in the game by far

the map is fine, it's the maddening difficulty what needs patching

This map is loads of fun lol

Haha, I think what annoys me about it is that even when trained, a lot of these students get KO'd by one or two enemies anyway, so it's not going to save you if you don't use some kind of cheese strat. So it's a huge waste of time/resources.

@@Mekkkah Gee, it's almost as if bullshit enemy stat inflation is bullshit. In all seriousness, I get the difficulty is "Maddening", but maps like this makes me wonder who's more crazy: the people who (sarcasm quotes) "balanced" it, or the players who end up trudging through it.

@@SSBBPOKEFAN The problem is that hard mode is just way too easy. Maddening New Game is pretty awful but it feels pretty good in NG+, aside from a few maps like this one.

this was easy because all my students were 26-29. So it does help a lot

If he did CF, then he really did devise the best strat for this map

You can actually have a good time on Maddening NG, BUT you need the DLC. If you are someone who has already bought the DLC, there are many tools that help you have an enjoyable Maddening NG experience. You can buy more statue bonuses early on, so you can have an early boost in exp gains. Auxiliary maps for double gold allow your units to keep up with the "recommended level" of the missions (not the level of the enemies, but the level that is "recommended" in the bottom right corner of the mission select screen). Even without the extra exp from the DLC, if you are fast enough to increase your Prof. level, you have some time to give cool abilities (from mastering intermediate classes) to your units before the timeskip. Increasing your party's skill tree and giving them appropriate batallions (the best ones come from paralogues) makes the game easier. Under these conditions, there are just a few maps in the entire run that are actually frustrating. Chapter 13 is not one of them. The Falcon Knight and Demonic Beast reinforcements from Verdant Wind chapter 19 are the only rage-inducing things I can remember post-timeskip. In contrast, the last three chapter missions are very fun to rout.

@@swhawk I usually just do Maddening on NG+, myself. Ch 13 is actually one of my favorites. It's SUPER hectic and it throws a bunch of enemies at you, sure, but it probably should considering you're rushing into a stronghold full of thieves with barely a plan. And with two people. The first few turns SHOULD be really punishing, and when your classmates return to help clear out enemies in different sections of the Map, it goes by quite a bit smoother and it feels cathartic, not to mention you probably realize just how much you grew to depend on these Units who are now a far cry from the inexperienced students they started off as. Or hell, I might just be reading too into it again. I 'unno. But the devs have said in interviews that they primarily expected you to play Maddening on NG+ so of course it's ridiculous without it. XD

@@d3-ll754 Oh, I see. Yeah, I also play Maddening on NG+. I just happened to recently finish a Maddening NG run on Verdant Wind, and had a much better time than I expected. I didn't know about the devs stating that Maddening was intended for NG+, but it makes sense, lol.

I mean once you get the hang of what to do it isn't so terrible a first playthrough will make things so much smoother on a 2nd one I realized a lot of things that I wasn't utilizing in my 2nd run that made it feel so much better

@@swhawk either you trained up all your starting units, knew about the linked enemy aggro ahead of time, or let units die. Those are the only ways you didn't have difficulty in chapter 13. maybe I'll try routing every late game chapter, because I just one turned each after blood of eagle and lion with the magical nuke we all know and love. Chapters 2,6, and 13 are the only ones that gave me difficulty though I guess giving my dropped units good battalions might be nice if they were able to use them. I mostly used the DLC for the units and classes, because Valkyrie and Dark Flier are great classes and Hapi, Constance, and Balthus are great units especially for my "bait in enemies with one of the few actual tanks in the game and then nuke them" strategy

I actually him and Ashe sit on their positions until the group reach them. Gilbert can't hit shit and Ashe as a Sniper for me can't 1 round enemies. Maybe Ashe can stand a chance if he's an Assassin. BTW In my playthrough, Annette can 1-round assassins and the brawlers so it's just a matter of Dimitri and Byleth dodging, and Mercy healing until Annette wipe out the first batch of enemies. Pain in the A but luckily, still fun for me.

@@lagrelex Yeah thats more or less what happened to me too. Plus spamming bows for Byleth and Dimitri

Ashe could one round with hunters volley for me

Lorenz Reyes when I did my first blue lions play through all of that was tru but I forgot to give Annette thyrsus and Mercedes the caduceus staff so that was bad but Ashe as a wyvern didnt need to get in combat

@@lagrelex I did the exact same, though at some point the enemy started moving when I haven't reached them yet. I really did panic then, but luckily nothing happened + I benched poor Ashe so he'd get one shot immediately.. It really was difficult haha

To be fair, battle preps would not have made sense in the context of what was actually happening. Your lord and Byleth just charge headfirst into an enemy stronghold, not knowing that help’s on the way. When the rest of your house arrives, it’s a desperate scramble to rally them together last minute. No one really had time to prepare for this encounter.

But there are other maps in 3H that you get prep even if it doesn’t make sense in the story

@@MinniMaster Explain how a few thieves who have apparently been pillaging defensless villagers are way stronger than Edelgards elite soilders before the timeskip?

ghator1001 Like?

Vanja Galović You have to keep in mind that these thieves have been plundering Garreg Mach Monastery, which was very well-stocked before the timeskip, for 5 years now. They’ve got equipment for days. It’s also not just “a few thieves.” It’s an entire horde of them.

He used it before, but only once

I hate intros on principle, because I just want to go straight to the content without having to skip a repetitive long-winded animation (Mekkah's Shadows of Valentia LP). This intro, however, is short and sweet, so I like it.

So I'm in basically the exact same situation, where I only have Claude, Byleth and a Hilda I was training to be in a magic class. What was the strategy you ended up with?

@@Yunovus1123 I planned out every move in Microsoft paint and painstakingly relied on gambits to lock down groups of enemies until I could pick them off. Made a map of what group aggro'd so I didn't accidentally pull too much.

Leonie is so underrated. I don't know why nobody talks about her when she's legit one of the best units in the game (Hell, GD as a whole is underrated, barring Claude & Lysithea, and maybe Hilda. Only units I can say are not great are Lorenz, and Chaz proved he can definitely work as Mr. Chip, and Raphael, only because Balthus is just superior to him)

@@zachataxxii7126 Every unit with a brave combat art is great in my opinion.

@@zachataxxii7126 Finally a man of culture who sees Leonie for the great unit she is. I mean, she is no Felix but at least she is one of the few units capable of doubling on Maddening...and even if she can't, you always have Point-blank Volley. Also agreed GD is underrated (especially Marianne & Leonie)...tho Ignatz is only rly good as a sniper...or for chip.

@@samvanderstaak7296 Ignatz is am absolute god of crits, both times I uses him as a sniper and war master he was having crit rates above 50 (and above 70 for war master) before even using killer weapons. Ignatz in general is a pretty damn great powerhouse because of his potential damage output

@@samvanderstaak7296 ignatz is a pretty good assassin tho

My level 8 Ashe had no chance, and Gilbert survived through pure luck. Ashe is trash anyways, and Gilbert's paralogue makes NO sense whatsover. Annette and him have a contentious relationship, and then his paralogue rolls around and theyre all feel-good cheerful with each other, it makes no sense for either of their personalities and its just all around horrible with their characters

How many times did you have to reset lol? Was it on NG or NG+

@@SolunaPiano i had to reset twice on NG+ so cant imagine how hard it would be on NG

Tbh, it is fairly manageable on NG. My first (blind) maddening run was on Silver Snow, and all I essentially needed was my Wyvern Petra and an average Byleth. Seteth comes with a nice +4 defense booster skill, which helps to survive the early threats. Once Petra arrived, it is mostly a matter of quickly joining with the northern units, the rest is just a matter of patience.

@@SolunaPiano i had to reset like five times bc of brawlers criting me with 11 chance and archers sniping me with 42 hit

@@lotusbladee That's rough

You’re weird, like, to worrying lvl

I also love this map, its basically a stress test of your builds,its perfect for people that like tanking in enemy phase over dodging and doubling to complete an objective. Turn count be dammed this isnt golf I love maps like this.

The problem is the lack of the battle prep menu. Add in the massive difficulty skip.

On Hard or lower I honestly don’t find this map that bad. Any grievances I have on this map erupt on Maddening where things become extremely unfair and frustrating.

I also like this map. I played it on Maddening Blue Lions in a blind playthrough and it was really difficult. My main problem was that I had removed swordbreaker from Dmitri because there was so few sword users in the previous map. With the units I had which were Dmitri and Byleth with pretty standard builds that would follow from the story with no attempt to pick optimal skill paths (Dmitri lance/horse/sword/Authority, Byleth Sword/Faith/Authority as Enlightened One) I eventually managed to win by going to a forest and dodging/tanking with a number of retries. Now that I know what will happen and I am more adept at the game I will have units with better builds and it should be doable with less pain. I am doing it with Golden deer soon and my Byleth went flyer route and should have A lances by then and will have good physical stats. Claude is looking pretty squishy so far so he may be tricky to keep alive. That first time I was close to having to go back and replay 4 chapters because of how I had done my saves which was going to be annoying but the satisfaction on winning was enormous. I hope I don't have to use strats like this because I always want to defeat all of the enemies on a map. And get all of the chests.

Join the empire. We have free Death Knight

Ageed

Big brain plays 🧠

Yeah but then suffering is the entire route sooooooo

I do like how these bandits are probably the single most threatening military force in Fodlan. Nobody knows where they came from, or who trained them, but they don't care.

HOW

hahaha yes, get byleth and dimitri 30 AS training weapon+ and thats it, even on maddening with sword classes it is possibly to reach a lvl 23 with those requirements

Yeah that was my game plan. Went in with a level 35 byleth and 37 claude and the enemies barely hit me haha

Same. I love the challenge especially since my Byleth and Dimitri is not that strong enough to 1-round enemies. All I have is Annette who can 1-shot most enemies, so it's a matter of surviving until all the 1st group of enemies are killed. Then comes my OP wyvern Sylvain and it's basically over.

Yeah, not to be salty but I have the impression that many people take the game trying to offer a bit of challenge as a personal offense. Like, some maps are hard on purpose guys, if all you had to do to win was mash buttons at random the game would be boring as fuck

The problem comes when you recruit other units and end up having to do this map with half of your trained units, and a bunch of level 6’s n shit

I replayed until Dimitri and Byleth finally dodged enough to survive the initial enemies. It took forever.

eh on GD it wasnt too bad, the start was the hardest bit.

CF is pretty hard near the end though, yeah it has the least chapters but they up the diffuxlty to balance it out unlike GD maddening which has one of the most chapters there are much easier

Still probably the second best hardest difficulty mode from Awakening onward though. I do wonder what that lost Three Houses difficulty was going to be like...

_If hard to you means stat inflation and limited use of your EXP, I guess that's true._

@@sugoiboyxl8345 That's basically every Fire Emblem hard mode. Seriously. That's not an argument unless you're dismissing basically everything but Conquest (and even that is highly limiting your experience).

What DID happen to the Conquest team?

If only you could have her on this map.

When the random group of bandits requires more preparation to defeat than an empire.

We can't gather, our collective brain volume can be contained by no room.

If you’ve yet to finish this run I’d recommend making your Caspar as wyvern he does really well as one

You'll love the last mission on Azure Moon with medium almost unavoidable damage each turn that can crit any of your units with low enough luck to kill them on the spot. Everything outranges you on that map.

@@Trostspender good GOD screw that map

From the top of my head it's another Stride gambit, there are multiple. Blue Lions vid is linked in the description with all the details.

Yeah, they're good strats for the players that don't need the help. Not that it isn't a nice video mind you. For most players, your best bet is probably good shields (particularly for Seteth and Dimitri, Byleth as well if they're tanky enough) and maybe one backup wyvern if you trained it (Petra, Leonie, and Ashe/Annette are the easiest choices). Seteth especially can just tank hits like nothing else, and of course Claude can make a mockery out of them with his Gambit and good positioning. Blue Lions is probably the hardest without preparation, unless you fucked Seteth up. Though I understand why people say Silver Snow is the hardest.

You can't really Iron man 3 houses.

Damn dude that's rough. Yeah they really made this map a little too difficult for no reason.

I was in the same position too. I gave up on Ashe and Annette because they're not good units. I had no idea this map was coming. I let my Ashe die. Byleth had to do absolutely everything for the first few turns until I was able to break through. I couldn't even kill the grappler with mercie and Annette

@@asgasdg09a8sd Ashe is legit not a good unit even by 3H standards but a Rally bot like Annette will always be useful no matter the difficutly imo