Tips to beat Fire Emblem Awakening's Hard Mode

[EpicR]

Hello!

I am new to the 3DSpedia community and to the fire emblem series.
I recently bought Awakening and fell in love with it. I am what people call a "filthy casual" but i thought the game was awesome. When i tried hard mode though, it was like insta death for me. Any tips on beating it? Without DLC? Still trying to get a grasp of the game

Thank you!

 

[Marc]

One word. Frederick! Early in the game he pulls you through the tough times. A majority of the characters you get early in the game suck until you get a good rank weapon proficiency (S, A or B) with them.

Pairing up helps as well. Don't rush into enemies like some crazy person screaming "For Narnia" if you're playing with permanent death enabled. If you lose a lot of characters during a stage, later in the game you're going to encounter more problems so turn off your game. Let the enemy come to your army then slaughter them. Looking at weaknesses help a lot too.

Don't let Frederick do ALL of the work as well. You need to level up your other characters because Frederick is only one character, so let your other characters land the finishing blow if they can't take out an enemy alone.

 

[PersonSP]

One word. Frederick! Early in the game he pulls you through the tough times. A majority of the characters you get early in the game suck until you get a good rank weapon proficiency (S, A or B) with them.

Pairing up helps as well. Don't rush into enemies like some crazy person screaming "For Narnia" if you're playing with permanent death enabled. If you lose a lot of characters during a stage, later in the game you're going to encounter more problems so turn off your game. Let the enemy come to your army then slaughter them. Looking at weaknesses help a lot too.

Don't let Frederick do ALL of the work as well. You need to level up your other characters because Frederick is only one character, so let your other characters land the finishing blow if they can't take out an enemy alone.

That seems like the right way to do this whatever difficulty you use. Frederick is a human tank.

 

[Llamanama]

I just started hard mode and Frederick helps a LOT. Also once your avatar gets lv'ed up a bit, his/her magic gets pretty strong. My starting Thunder magic is able to kill most enemies with two or at least three hits. One character that you should get is Donnel as he can be extremely strong once you reclass him to mercenary (you just have to be careful leveling him up cause he's very weak at first). Other than that, play the defensive and let the enemy come to you as Marc said, use the X button to find out the enemies range of influence, and optimize the weapons you use to the enemies you fight (i.e. if there are a lot enemies on horses use a Beast Killer lance, bows on flying units, etc). Pair up units if you need help to kill an enemy or to withstand an attack.

Long story short, be very, VERY cautious in every action you make. Once you reclass your units, things should get a bit easier (though you shouldn't reclass as soon as it becomes available, you might miss out on skills and/or extra stat points). I hope this helps, and good luck to your hard mode playthrough!

 

[Iridium Winter]

Play conservatively. Don't go for a kill when it puts your unit in range of something that it's weak to. Live to fight another day. Think each move over carefully and only take moves that you are sure will put you in a good position.

 

[EpicR]

Wow! Thanks guys!

When I went through my first playthrough, Fredrick was a tank at first but he was kinda meh at the end for me. But considering that i was stumped at the beginning of hard, this should be a good start.

Also, are there any ways to grind? the options seem very limited :/

 

[Llamanama]

You can wait for risen to appear on the map, fight spotpass characters, or buy reeking boxes which are now 4800 gold i believe so I don't know if you wanna use them. You could also buy DLC but that will cost ya some real monies...

 

[2071]

Yup My friend said that Frederick was really helpful to him and I once tried him and it was really quite strong of him and just when you think your'e going to lose , you don't Always try to play strategically and don't be too reckless and always try to think what your opponent's moves are going to be .

 

[PersonSP]

Wow! Thanks guys!

When I went through my first playthrough, Fredrick was a tank at first but he was kinda meh at the end for me. But considering that i was stumped at the beginning of hard, this should be a good start.

Also, are there any ways to grind? the options seem very limited :/

There are a lot of teams in the spotpass bonusbox and you can pick one that suits you, a great way to grind, build relationships and you also get renown which gets you loads of items. In later stages, use the reeking boxes. Because the Risen you call usually carry bullions you get your money back, so it's definitely worth it.

 

[Zochi]

There are a lot of teams in the spotpass bonusbox and you can pick one that suits you, a great way to grind, build relationships and you also get renown which gets you loads of items. In later stages, use the reeking boxes. Because the Risen you call usually carry bullions you get your money back, so it's definitely worth it.

But You can also buy the DLC for EXP, money or strong weapons. You can also take a strong and lucky unit with Leif's Blade and kill monsters, so can earn bullion S.

 

[3391]

I beat hard mode without using frederick much >.>

Lunatic is harder, will you try?

 

[Iridium Winter]

I beat hard mode without using frederick much >.>

Lunatic is harder, will you try?

Pfft... Try Lunatic+

 

[Moon Rain]

One word. Frederick! Early in the game he pulls you through the tough times. A majority of the characters you get early in the game suck until you get a good rank weapon proficiency (S, A or B) with them.

Pairing up helps as well. Don't rush into enemies like some crazy person screaming "For Narnia" if you're playing with permanent death enabled. If you lose a lot of characters during a stage, later in the game you're going to encounter more problems so turn off your game. Let the enemy come to your army then slaughter them. Looking at weaknesses help a lot too.

Don't let Frederick do ALL of the work as well. You need to level up your other characters because Frederick is only one character, so let your other characters land the finishing blow if they can't take out an enemy alone.

The first few chapters (especially in Lunatic) are basically Frederick Emblem At the start of almost every Fire Emblem-game you get a Paladin who wields a Silver Lance, a red-haired cavalier and a green-haired cavalier :3
We have to finish the Lunatic race someday :3

 

[Icemario]

You don't even need Frederick to survive Hard mode; I didn't use him at all on my first run.

It's just the Lunatic difficulties.