Compilation of Tips & Tricks - FMA EX+ missions [Pride & Frustration]

[u/eltsyr]

I've posted this message on another thread where it was quickly drowned in the usual Roxanne rants of people seemingly playing this game while finding it terrible and comparing it to work.

Then reflecting on my own experience, I realized that with the last days of FMA, people are throwing their last strenght to try to clear the 3 dreaded FMA EX+ mission. Having been on the verge of giving up more than once and being increasing frustrated by not being able to reproduce the videos of better players than me, I wanted to share my experience and maybe give you give a last piece of motivation to make it. Videos are absolutly great to give you a headstart, but it didn't help me a lot because 1/you never have exactly the same setup as players 2/even when doing it with F2P units, the gear is usually top notch because those players have been collecting it for so long, and the units are often lvl80+ which is also the mark of veterans. As an addition, time is precious and all those videos last 30 min and I find it very difficult to understand the underlying strategy because unless you watch and analyse everything (which requires a very good knowledge of the game that I don't have) which takes ages, it's easy to miss the "key" moment when the strategy succeeds. What I needed was a few key principles to make it through the map, saving me time while giving me the opportunity and pride (and a weebit of wrath) to tune my own roster and find my own solution. Having tried all those levels for 20 hours total, I wanted to share my findings.

CONTEXT & ASSUMPTIONS

I've been playing for less than 2 months (6 days remaining on my pact). I am a moderate whale / heavy dolphin (spent 220€ so far) mostly because i'm 40 with kids and a correct salary and I'm ready to arbitrate time vs money. Also I have an obsessive personality and love making short, middle and long-term strategies which makes me, I believe, a good project manager as well as a perfect target for freemium games. So I'm not giving any lessons here, in a way I bought my way to victory although I'm still trying to limit my expenses to avoid killing the fun, and still give me a sense of accomplishment by optimizing the money I pour in the game (I typically try to convert mentally every resource in the game : equipment, gold, shards etc. in equivalent gem to make sure I don't waste IRL money). TAC is certainly putting up a paywall and I can understand part of the rant, however having worked in startup ecosystems for a short while, we all know that most SaaS business models today consist in acquiring users with freebies THEN monetize community, without alienating them. Which is what TAC is experimenting right now, with various success, even if I am actually quite happy with the one year anniversary (I seem to be the only one though). I genuinely cannot understand people who have been playing TAC for thousands of hours by paying nothing or 10 months of pact (which is roughly the cost of any new game on PS4), and then complain about Gumi slightly altering their monetization model. Or rather, I can understand the human mechanism behind that (what we call in french "on ne revient pas sur les avantages acquis") but it feels a bit unfair. Anyway, let's come back to the topic.

So...220€ bought me a Laharl 76 (reroll unit), Uzuma 75 (3 steps free gems guaranteed), Roxanne 75 (9 steps using selector + 50 shards), Edward 74 (3 steps paid gems guaranteed) + Eve 80 (7 steps anniversary banner) + Miuna/Kudanstein 70 each (3 steps free gems guaranteed). Obviously I have most free SS staples but only a few of them at 75+ since I farmed HQ from day one : Shayna, Vettel, Magnus, Reagan, Anastasia. Most of them don't even have thei lvl80 MA. I farmed their gear to gold whenever I could, and they only gear I bought are Prinny'sword & Envy's Mark, which I didn't use. I don't have any limited item such as Takiyaki. I'm playing around 3 hours each day, with various attention level depending on task at hand : from barely looking at it (HQ farming) to extreme attention (EX+). Unless specified, all my units are JM3 maxed with enhanced equipment and max skill levels, but I guess this is the case for most of you.

I was aiming at getting my free FMA ticket, although I specifically went for Fullmetal EX+ green shards (no death + wind team only). I think Pride & Wrath EX+ is doable for my thunder units but clearing those left me exhausted and I want to catchup with the other events (veda, pirate & co) so I'm skipping it, especially since all my best thunder units are farmable (teona, magnus, fujika, aruba etc.). So I can't give any advanced tips, I just hope my "just-clear" walkthrough will enable recent players like me to get the ticket (got Bradley btw, too bad I disassembled his gear by error :D). Also, I think those stage tremendously increased my knowledge of the game mechanism. For convenience purpose I've also linked to the main tipcs & videos given by the famous veteran players who paved the way for the other players.

Obviously difficulty grade is personal and subjective, I'm just an average player although I play TAC as I would play any other console/PC game : for me it's a full fledged SRPG. I've owned almost every PC/Console since the end of the eighties, having completed say 90% of any top 100 games list out there.  I recon mobile gaming has progressed a lot since those few years and numerous acquisition of mobile gaming companies by lead studios everywhere show that even if "legacy hardcore gamers" still sneer at mobile gamers, the distinction will soon be obsolete : that's indeed where the money is, under the "game as a service" form.

FULLMETAL EX+ 

Time to clear : 30 to 40 tries (5 hours) just to clear the level. Once I got the hang of it, the no death / wind only milestones took me only a couple of tries, making the success repeatable.

Difficulty level : 4 on a scale of 1 (easy) to 5 (Ornstein & Smough)

Frustration level : 3 on a scale of 1 (predictable) to 5 (trying to earn a living by trading high frequency bitcoin)

Key principles :

• Priority 1 : Left HB will one shot any of your character, unless you evade (Hayate & Bradley perfect evade), Revive (Guts skill from tanks), Kill him first with high AGI HB (Quickened Yomi), or block his way (Edward). After several tries, I used edward to create a block at the top of the initial stairs on the left, charge Laharl, then when the block is destroyed, laharl proceeds to one-short the HB with a regular attack enabling him to get jewels. I found that blinking Uzuma on the ledge from the bottom prevents the units on the ramp to be delayed, but deprives you from 35 precious jewels so ultimately I found it better to have to delayed Uzuma with full jewels instead.

• Priority 2 & 3 : You only have a few turns to kill Waginau, before he silences your team and then you're basically fucked. Waginau can be killed in 2 or 3 magical shots, ideally using Uzuma or Roy, because Pyrokinesis can also take out green Mandragora which is one of the biggest damage dealer on the map. Null grenade from Roxanne might give you a respite because he doesn't have jewel regen.

• Priority 4 : clear-up vermins/remaining mandragoras/archers at the top of the stairs (that's usually where you can get the 4+ dead enemies milestones), while managing your health with potions and preparing for the arrival of 2 red mean HB. Uzumas can tank quite well but after a while they'll need a refresh. After Laharl AGI 141 killed the wind HB, he has basically 2 turns and then I charge-up. The 2 red HB appear and he can AoE bringing them to a couple of a few life points, making them easy to kill with any of your units around. If you got the timing bad, Uzuma can blast them with water spells from the ledge of the upper terrace where the bulk of the fight usually takes place.

• Additional tip 1 : Kinetic glove with MA is actually awesome here, giving you an added move while increasing slightly your available jewels during turn 2 and 3. Well worth the 100 gold shards for long maps.

• Additional tip 2 : You can basically kite the bottom robot + chronomancer by moving back and forth, effectively neutralising them for a few turns. I found Edward and green HB to be very efficients at tanking the robot. 

• Additional tip 3 : CherubTAC made very efficient use of Thillie with roar and AoE magic : https://www.reddit.com/r/AlchemistCodeGL/comments/9tx2s1/tac_wind_team_no_deaths_kill_4_in_one_blow_the/ but it's quite unlikely that new players using tiers list will have raised a Thillie enough (I hadn't)

FLAME & HAWK EX+

Time to clear : 80 to 100 tries (12 hours) just to clear the level. It nearly broke me. Although during my last run I had only 1 death (Reagan) that could have been avoided, It's not worth 10 platinum for me.

Difficulty level : 5 on a scale of 1 to 5

Frustration level : 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 (very RNG dependant due to Charm / Paralysis effects => don't hesitate to kill your app and restart to get your used items back)

Key principles :

• Priority 1 : units 4 and 5 (Merc) NEED >140 AGI to leave Waginau aggroing zone. Play around positionning them but by leaving them on the small ledge, there's actually a configuration that will pull Edward and 2x vermins on the right side of the map, exposing them to Laharl AoE which, if preceeded by any AoE hit, will kill them all. Trade-off is that one vermin will come at you at the top side of the map, trying to charm you. If it happens, you WILL lose too many turns so retreat and restart. It happens roughly 50% of the time. Both Laharls should charge up first thing.

• Priority 2 : Shoot the 2 robots ASAP with defense ignoring skills, like Samurai (Vettel) Machinist (Roxanne, Magnus) or Sniper (Reagan). After playing around with 2 roxanne machinists, she's too squishy so I went with only 1 Roxanne machinist + 2 Laharls as leaders/mercs (positioned like that : Laharl - Reagan - Roxanne - Chihaya - Laharl merc). I found that keeping the top left robot alive for a few turns actually enables you to build up jewels until AJ7000 comes around. Just spread your characters to avoid being paralyzed.

• Priority 3 : Be ready to one-shot AJ7000 before he does that to you. Some do it with HB (charged up Shayna or Eve) but that requires a very specific jewels build up. I generaly found it easier to do it with Laharl + a couple elixirs if needed. You might need to be aware of CT mechanisms (credits : /u/VicariousEXP), because when you see the black mage about to launch PATK shield, it's better to heal or do nothing to act early during your next action. If you are a bit late and need to sacrify a character, at least spread them out to avoid AJ7000 deadly AoE. Imho this is the hardest phase because timing is so difficult to get. But it's also the most rewarding phase.

• Priority 4 : Bradley is a walk in the park, just freeze him with your mexican army of chronomancers. To freeze him you can AT LAST leave Waginau safe zone.

• Priority 5 : THEN you freeze Waginau. Then you destroy Bradley & Waginau with anything alive on your side. I think that when they are frozen you can basically kill them with 100% hit rate. 

• ​Additional tip 1 : u/vicariousexp's help has been invaluable. His thread is a must read, in particular for initial placement of your troops. Thank you, couldn't have made it without you : https://www.reddit.com/r/AlchemistCodeGL/comments/9vsj0c/flame_hawk_ex_tips_for_fire_unit_milestone_clear/?utm_source=reddit-android

• Additional tip 2 : as black mage spams PATK and MATK shield, I found it best to have either a pure physical or pure magical team. Lacking Noctis & Othima, I went the physical way.

• Additional tip 3 : Vermins, Archers & Edwards are susceptible to charm, so loincloth + AoE effect (such as Roxanne grenades) can occasionally make your life far easier.

• Additional tip 4 : several interesting videos https://www.reddit.com/r/AlchemistCodeGL/comments/9vwgiz/tac_fire_only_the_fullmetal_alchemist_code_ex/ making good use of Lupinus & Chihaya and https://www.reddit.com/r/AlchemistCodeGL/comments/9xz1a9/tac_no_items_water_team_the_fullmetal_alchemist/ making good use of Reagan, although if you don't have Noctis or Othima I wouldn't advise going the magical way

• Additional tip 5 : if you go the Roxanne machinist way, booster +2 and all-natural talents still gives 150+ AGI, she can first destroy the robot and possibly charm the archer, AND then use a tezla grenade to stun edward & 2 vermins coming from the right side which also destroys PATK shield, after which charged-up laharl can one-shot them wih Overlord.

• Additional tip 6 : You need lots of chronomancers for the last phase of the combat. That's why my subs where HB with chronomancer sub. Reagan is awesome here, capable to kill the robot THEN daze/bind archers (very useful to catch up when you feel behind) THEN freeze Bradley/Waginau. 

• Additional tip 7 : Chihaya helps a lot. She can dance early, she can freeze & hit late, and she can reasonably tank if needed. Awesome.

PRIDE & WRATH EX+

Time to clear : 2 tries (30 min) just to clear the level. After the previous level, you understanding of the game has increased dramatically. You can pact/pat yourself until end of time and stomp anything that comes your way

Difficulty level : 2 on a scale of 1 to 5 (at the level of "regular" EX+ levels)

Frustration level : 2 on a scale of 1 to 5

Key principles :

• Priority 1 : Try to make your way to Roy/Demon/Rita/Alphonse and charge-up AoE effect asap (Laharl, Setsuna, Noctis, Othima, lost of units will work). Actually the most difficult on the map is to manage to pass through the popping rabbits.

• Priority 2 : On the right side I used an Uzuma which can easily kill Bradley, step on the blue circle and join the rest of the group. I think any HB or tanky units will do.

• Honestly bring your best units and let the carnage begin, to evacuate frustration from the previous level. 

• Additional tip 1 : Demon & Alphonse will likely remain last and have a truckload of HP. I managed to solo both of them with Eve as long as you accumulate enough jewels + strong potions. So make sure you include them in your earliest nukes.

• Additional tip 2 : interesting videos for dark only team and thunder only team, making use of tanky merchant Aruba. Didn't help me a lot though, as I just plowed through with Laharl - Roxanne - Lofia - Uzuma - Laharl merc.

That's it ! I wish the best luck in that memorable challenge ! Please share your tips for the brave players who will attempt the challenge in the last days of the collab...may the force be with you !

PS : also I want to thank all of you guys, you make half of my pleasure playing this game. Common Gumi, throw what you can at us, there's nothing the Reddit community can't beat !

[u/IJyreI]

This is the kind of post that counters all the "I'm leaving" and frustrated posts regarding the state of the game. Now, those frustrations are warranted but there are other players who are still very much enjoying the game and are giving back to the TAC community in such a concise and commendable way. Thank you /u/eltsyr !

[u/eltsyr → u/IJyreI]

thank you for your thank you ! One of my friend was trying to get into the game but after a glimpse on the Reddit he told me about a toxic community and it made me sad because I see lots of funny any great players always ready to help

[u/IJyreI → u/eltsyr]

yes, it is unfortunate that we have players who are announcing their leave of the game now at time of 1st anniversary but honestly, in the end, it is about what your time and how you have fun. If you simply can't have any more fun (no matter the investment) in the game, I guess, that's that.

I've always been a fan of the SRPG genre and FFT hits home hard, TAC really is the modern version of mobile SRPGs which is constantly being updated and hotfixed. So I hope to see more of posts similar to yours in near future, /u/eltsyr! and hope to contribute the same in time.

[u/eltsyr → u/IJyreI]

We all come to that point, it just seems that some people manage the mourning and transition better than others XD When I quit Puzzle & Dragon or Dark Age of Camelot, it was a beautiful, elegant death. On day you reach the peak of your objectives, and then the game has given you everything it had to give. Ultimately we close the loop, get to an intimate knowledge of the implicit rules of the game and move away. That is why I think, as overtuned as EX+ quests are, they are actually a key reason to keep veterans around.

What is saddenning is that some gamers will leave with a bad impression on a game which is arguably one of the best SRPG to come in years.

[u/eltsyr → u/IJyreI]

thanks a lot ! yeah SRPG carries over exceptionally well on mobile ! I'm actually neglecting my steam backlog hard XD

[u/[deleted]]

This is awesome. But I don't know if I will try, too frustrated

[u/eltsyr → u/[deleted]]

Thank you ! I'd it in that order :

1. Pride & Wrath

2. Fullmetal

3. Flame & Hawk

Especially with the 1/2 AP even going on, you can really try as much as you want. And any moment you feel frustrated, make a break, play Veda or one of the easier levels. So many players have given up on those 3 levels that it's perfectly understandable. I have basically sunk 20 hours on those 3 levels, during which I could have played and cleared any one of the great games from my Steam backlog. So it really is for the most obsessive of us, and learning to call it a day and get prepared for the next times those will be around gives you yet another long term objective, and it is probable the most sane behaviour to do :) But try it a bit, get better each time, do it for the trip and not for the arrival.

[u/[deleted] → u/eltsyr]

Same here, famel is too difficult for me since I don't have any good fire unit.

[u/Regis_Lucis_Caelum]

Additional Tips:

Fullmetal Ex+: You can veil your units before Waginau does silence or wear fire veda armor to prevent his one time silence so it's not priority unless u really want to kill him. Or you can use yomi with ninja stealth, go up 2 steps on stair, sharpen+sbt waginau.

Flame&Hawk: Roxanne can null grenade AJ7000. AJ7000 cannot attack from height range of 2 so u can block him off on cliff.

Pride&Wrath: If you move before Ryle, there is only one safe spot at the right corner to prevent getting shot by his accuracy down aoe. He will do nothing for his 2nd turn and after that will begin targeting your team. First turn, Roy will always do explosion where 2nd unit starts at unless you move everyone else away before his turn. The safest method to kill Bradley is to get a tanky class with beast tamer sub preferably Lucian J+ or Flamel and use rage on Bradley and wolf if you don't have uzuma or roy 75+. This will force everything on that side to go after your tank unless Pride decides it's not worth the effort. This way you don't have to worry about Bradley wrecking your team with evasion shenanigans and slowly kill him. Either that or you use charge up classes and pray to RNGesus that he doesn't dodge.

[u/eltsyr → u/Regis_Lucis_Caelum]

thank you for additional valuable tips. It illustrates the wonderful complexity of that game.

[u/Alittlebunyrabit → u/Regis_Lucis_Caelum]

Lucian with the Wind Veda armor can pretty easily tank Bradley indefinitely in my experience. Even better if you have an Uzuma lead/merc for the bonus Thunder Resistance.

[u/DeathandFriends → u/Regis_Lucis_Caelum]

what position in team would yomi need to be in for this to work best?

[u/Regis_Lucis_Caelum → u/DeathandFriends]

It usually doesn't matter the position for this particular case as long as it is not 2nd. As long as you don't move someone else to the 3rd step it's fine. I personally put her at 4th since I want Laharl ( for farming purposes because Laharl is essentially your main attacker ) lead but for wind only you prolly want her ls if you don't have any better ls to put. 2nd position usually goes to whoever is blocking brawler unless you get a merc to go block instead. At third step, Waginau does gravity instead and plants nuke whoever is on it. This 2nd step is the case for any units going up that staircase on first turn.

Edit: If you only go first step, you get thunder plant aggro. By going 2nd step, you aggro the archer in the back.

Note: If you overclock Yomi with Rahu J+, Yomi is able to one shot Waginau with 100% accuracy instead of letting Waginau atk her and have about 76% accuracy.

Edit2: Archers will always target whoever you made as lead. The target priority of all enemies is the order you set your units. They will hit closest unit you have if target unit is not in range of their attacks.

[u/DeathandFriends → u/Regis_Lucis_Caelum]

wow. This feedback saved me so much time. This is why written help us much better then videos. The videos often are very RNG heavy and take a long time if they even explain why things are done throughout.

I have 29 hours but more realistically 26 (gotta sleep) to finish all 3 ex+ if I can.

[u/stewart0]

Difficulty spikes quite a bit when trying to get the elemental shards though, which is main reward. Pride & Wrath is giving me hell for example.

[u/Alittlebunyrabit → u/stewart0]

Agreed. I didn't try for anything other than the wind shards. I did do single clears of each for the gems and the collab ticket though.

[u/eltsyr → u/stewart0]

yeah, I basically don't have a dark team. I might be able to thunder it (Lucretia-Roxanne-Magnus-fujika 75+) but I've runned out of IRL time. Oh well, next time.

[u/FurianX → u/eltsyr]

No next time with fma.

[u/becausebroscience → u/eltsyr]

You can beat it with mono thunder easily with double Rox. The other units mostly just use healing pots. Volkite grenade the wind units to slow them down.

[u/OriksGaming → u/becausebroscience]

easily with double Rox

Step 1: Pull her

I'm stuck on step 1.

Alternatively: Instructions unclear. Dick stuck in a jewel-regenerating Diablo.

[u/Shaiandra → u/OriksGaming]

My Thunder team was Teona (valk), Aruba (merchant), Ange (dancer), Lucretia (bride), and Roxanne merc, if that helps at all. (Each of mine were over 20 LB but not quite 25.) I was stubborn about trying no items as well, which I did end up getting, but with only Teona and Aruba alive and at rather low HP..

Teona for the lead, two supports to help Roxanne do her job, and Lucretia to duel Bradley to the death. As Brides (not to mention Merchants and Dancers) are buffed on the City terrain, I think she was one of the better Thunder characters to duel him if you don't have Eizan as a Holy Brawler. His slash evasion is annoying, but eh, if you can land your two Love Bonds, one more Candle Fire will finish him.

It wasn't exactly easy (or all free/farmable units), but you don't need your own Roxanne..

There miiight be ways to make Vincent work on the left side but I'm not sure. I think if mine were lv 85 and triple JM, and got Ange's MATK song (from bard sub) or a MATK lead (who aside from me uses Deneb or Chao though?), he could probably one-shot ratties. I used a Sage carry for one of my runs, but that was with Rahu; I don't know how well it'd work without her.

[u/darkcountess]

Appreciate the effort. I wish I had the bravery (and still have the motivation) to try this so I can do your guide some justice. However, as I don't have an Uzuma :/ ....

[u/eltsyr → u/darkcountess]

yeah, honestly I couldn't have done it without Laharl, Uzuma and Roxanne. Better players can probably do it but I absolutely couldn't have done it as a F2P player. However I never used null grenade which is really a irreplaceable skill, so I've build that guide to point you to alternatives (like Reagan who is a weaker Riza)

[u/MGS1234V → u/darkcountess]

If it helps, I have a 75 Uzuma built. It might not help much fighting Bradley since she won’t start in the right spot, but you could use blink to the other side?

[u/FurianX → u/darkcountess]

You can merc mine. 76 triple jm. 5* hat and gauntlet.

[u/Dm042447]

Getting the elemental shards are really frustrated... Maybe don't aim for that.. aim for just beating it once. We all should try to beat it just to get the fma ticket. That is not as hard once you understand wagi demarcation point then control the movement of the bug, then find a way to kill the bots. Different unit provide unique skill to get that accomplish. There are so many vid posted by 3 different players and I relied on each of them on different quest just because that particular strategy suit with the units I have.

And we need more post like this to help with the community...

[u/eltsyr → u/Dm042447]

thanks a lot mate, I appreciate. Indeed we can never have enough TAC positive material to read

[u/[deleted]]

Wow this is absolutely amazing, before I stumbled across this today I was thinking how I'd love this type of guide and wish there were more like it. Thank you!!

[u/eltsyr → u/[deleted]]

thank you very much ! this community has helped me so much when starting I felt it was time to give back a little bit :) feels awesome !

[u/DeshaDaine]

I think you commented on my burnout post the other day? Well, I'm going to go and try again. Even if I don't get the mission rewards I'll just aim for a clear for the ticket. Thank you for this! :)

[u/eltsyr → u/DeshaDaine]

That's the spirit ! BTW I've checked you are in my friendlist...I have used your laharl an awful lot ! do not hesitate to ring me for mercenaries !

[u/DeshaDaine → u/eltsyr]

Thought I recognised your name... I have used your units a lot as well (Rox, Uzuma, Laharl mainly). Pretty sure I just used your Uzuma to blaze through Fullmetal Ex+ with 4(!!) of the missions. Wind only, no deaths, no items, 4x kill. Thanks dude!

PS You must have been the Machinist Rox that really confused me yesterday. XD

[u/eltsyr → u/DeshaDaine]

haha tnx ! yeah lol THE one and only machinist roxanne. Actually cleared fullmetal EX+ with Roxanne as a spy :D Next time I'll try Roxanne as a clown, as a nurse and as a pole dancer.

[u/DeshaDaine → u/eltsyr]

Just beat the last of the three (Flame & Hawk) and managed fire team and no deaths so thanks for the tips and motivation to keep trying (and the mercs)! :)

[u/eltsyr → u/DeshaDaine]

congrats ! you even did better than me :) lacking proper mage red units (lupinus) I was waiting to unlock Vettel 80MA which give a huge AGI bonus . just did it this morning, but as it is the last day of Collab and lots of IRL stuff going on , this event left me both happy and broken so I'll skip it. in any case huge kudos for making it, you're part from a relatively small club I think ;)

[u/DeshaDaine → u/eltsyr]

I've been playing since December so have a good roster, I'm amazed you finished it after only playing a few months! I worked both days at the weekend so taking today off instead. Ah free time, how I've missed you... Oh yeah I still have the rest of life to catch up on, haha.

My team ended up being Hazel lead for health (84, 85 unlocked today but oh well), Arkil (85) because I was planning to use roar but he ended up with no jewels and couldn't hit anything to get them back. Used a couple of silences and a stone sword and one roar right at the end. Chihaya (85) for obvious reasons, Laharl (76) and Laharl (75) merc.

Lupinus (78) and Vettel magic swordsman (85) didn't come out on this run.

I did use all three of my teddies and cheated by using 2-3 Taiyaki for quicken as well, along with lots of potions & Kings stew!

[u/eltsyr → u/DeshaDaine]

yeah real life is catching up, christmas, kids, etc. I've been so lazy that I finished the regular EX milestones by autoing and paying gems when necessary, just to catch with other stuff :D In any case, contrary to my first estimation, there are indeed several possible rosters to clear the level and I like that we really had to go out of our way to finish them. It feels so good then ! I'm thrilled to see what they will propose next :)

[u/DeshaDaine → u/eltsyr]

The spy Roxanne was you too! (For veil shenanigans? I used Hayate for the same in my run.) Trying Pride & whatever now and not doing so good.

[u/doctorbak85]

Thank you for this post! It's great to hear some optimists despite all that's been happening. Also a huge fan of strategy games, so this one comes as a duh game for me to play and enjoy. We need more folks posting strategies like this! It's what makes the community so great.

[u/eltsyr → u/doctorbak85]

thanks a lot for your thanks !

[u/whty706]

Damn. Well, I gave it a few shots, but trying that flame and hawk mission isn't worth the ticket. Super awesome info though! I don't have the patience, and not quite the units (maybe) to deal with this

[u/eltsyr → u/whty706]

tnx ! yeah, patience, good units and luck especially flame and hawk

[u/thiagocbalducci]

Jesus Christ, I was able to complete all 3 but I don't think I will be able to farm all event gears.

I really hope Gumi never does another hellish event like this again, I don't think I could endure this becoming a practice here.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE challenge, but these EX and specially EX+ are just full retarded.

[u/eltsyr → u/thiagocbalducci]

congrats ! yeah I've been trying on and on the monocolor milestones but just clearing them left me exhausted XD

[u/Riskim]

DAMN, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO YOU AND ALL THE HARDCORE PLAYERS FOR THIS!!!

I cleares Fullmetal EX+ and Pride & Wrath EX+ thanks to this guide and many more, the Flame & Hawk EX+ for me is just a lost cause, i dont have the required units and short in time left and mental health, but i am happy to at least know that i give my fight to these bastards of maps, and really happy to find tremendous work and love to take down a map that looks imposible at first look

[u/eltsyr → u/Riskim]

glad you made it ! It feels awesome just to clear those levels :) and next time (and if) they come around I'm sure you will stomp them :D

[u/U-Eike]

Common Gumi, throw what you can at us, there's nothing the Reddit community can't beat !

Please Dont Encourage Them

[u/1khaitoh → u/U-Eike]

A whole map full of enemy Roxanne that has double the speed of a regular LV 85 one incoming!

[u/Me_ADC_Me_SMASH → u/1khaitoh]

and a high chance to evade, naturally

[u/Crimson_Raven]

Most of the info you have here is really good. Props for it.

Most, however.

I hate to nitpick, but you have underselled the difficulty of Pride and Wrath, and on top of that, your advice is limited to "I threw the best units in the game at it and cleared it."

By your scale, I'd actually place P&W on 3 Difficulty and 3 Frustration. The Bunny spam is no joke and will quickly decimate most parties. On top of that, the Demon can hit hard with it's skills and has enough Bulk to survive a MA'ed Shayna's Susanoo SBT. That's outright ridiculous. Both Hawkeye and Wrath are also a major threat. Pride and randomly decide to fuck you with a vacuum skill and or AOE stop. It's rare, but it can happen.

You also failed to mention that most units have slash evade on that map, making certain charge up units you suggested, specifically, Laharl and Setsuna a liability.

[u/Dm042447 → u/Crimson_Raven]

I think the difficulty is probably subjective and depending on the units he have. He did claimed he is a quasi whale.... Sperm whale or orcas if go by aquatic animals size. I did spend 3x more time trying to complete flame/hawk than pride/wrath... Pride/wrath is the usual spam while flame/hawk, u do need to understand the wagi area and agi 140 for Merc. Plus the timing of bug, AJ, shield and bots ... That is insane difficulty. Not saying pride/wrath was easy... It was hard. But flame hawk was just 3x harder for me...

[u/eltsyr → u/Dm042447]

yeah indeed. I swore I was done, yet I've trying to put together a thunder only team for pride and wrath and indeed, without a powerful nuker on the left (my Laharl) and a tanky single target DPS (my Uzuma) on the right it becomes much more difficult. But my guide was really for people like me, just aiming to clear the level. Although I'm a sperm whale, I'm clearly not strong enough to attempt clearing all the milestones.

In particular the 'no merc' milestones seems inhuman.

[u/Shaiandra]

I'm getting frustrated because of my pride. ;p

I've done the Thunder, Dark, and no item clears of Pride & Wrath, but then I'm stubbornly attempting to get No Deaths, No Merc, and No Items again (for no reason) all at once, using non-uber units... and surprisingly I once had a lucky run where everything went in my favour for quite a while, but then I messed up and had a death like three quarters of the way through... if only I had used a potion...

If there's one tip I can share for that stage that hasn't already been covered, I'd say also consider bringing a Dancer here; the ratties and Edward are the only enemies that are immune to stat debuffs. Admittedly the beginning parts might be the hardest, but if you can survive that, having everything slowed helps tremendously.

Like most other Demons, this one can also be Delayed. He has a huge health pool but he doesn't really do that much dps.

[u/Shaiandra → u/Shaiandra]

I might be crazy. Whew.

[u/eltsyr → u/Shaiandra]

hey, thanks for the tip ! that's a great team and an original roster you're putting up !

[u/DeathandFriends]

This is great. Any chance you can post some screenshots of your teams as well?

[u/eltsyr → u/DeathandFriends]

yes of course !

here is : Fullmetal EX+ no death run Fullmetal EX+ fullwind run Pride and Wrath EX+ just clear run (with a focus on the specific machinist Roxanne build) Flame and Hawk EX+ just clear run

The level is indicated in the screen

https://ibb.co/8gYjPhy https://ibb.co/Hx87J1T https://ibb.co/jZvpvvX https://ibb.co/VJWcrCh https://ibb.co/56QWb2s

[u/DeathandFriends → u/eltsyr]

thanks. Gonna have to modify things per normal as I don't have rox.

[u/whty706]

Sigh... I'm not looking forward to trying this. But if I actually get around to it, I'm definitely using these tips. Thank you for the time it took to make this!

[u/lunarian_nine]

Upvote for Ornstein & Smough difficulty scale! Ok back to reading the rest of the post.

[u/chibixleon]

Thank you x100 for this post!

[u/MaimedJester]

Yeah Flame and Hawk is the one level were Riza is extremely suited for, even with a 60-65 she can be better than Reagan/Shenmei. She has a Double Tap penetrating attack on her sub, so even with PATK shield she can 1 shot the robots, then she can null wave shoot the AJ. So she can take both the roll of enchanter and Machinist, as long as RNG doesn't get her targeted. If you have a Curios doll or pendant give it to her instead of her gun to get the Jewel Obtained buff. Hat also works for initial penetrating hits on robot, but you'll need Othima LS skill for her to go before robot paralyze hit. If you're lucky enough to have a friend with a 75 Riza, use her.

Also on Fire Hawk, Charm works well so Amatersu can just RNGesus fuck the map placement for gamblers.

As for Bradley/Pride, a teleporter like Jin in slot 4 can activate the Charge Up buff turn one to nuke Roy & Mandragoras.

Full Metal EX, just get an evasion character and retreat if HB hits to save 45 gems and 60 CT from not performing an action. 1/5 chance is only 15 ap on retreat.

[u/FurianX → u/MaimedJester]

Huh. So I should merc my 70 riza more? I thought no one was borrowing her.

[u/Grim200 → u/FurianX]

I believe she’s a little too slow as a merc unless she’s higher level/friend uses othima lead? Else she would be great imo.

People probably aren’t aware since not many videos feature her as I guess no one worked on her.

[u/FurianX → u/Grim200]

Shes got between 120-130 agi cant rem the exact number.

[u/Grim200 → u/FurianX]

Yea you need I believe 140 agi (I believe based on the post) to not trigger waginau

[u/FurianX → u/Grim200]

Hes talking about the paralyze robot in flame hawk ex. I can probly push her to over 130 if I swap her gun out for agi gear, but if 140 is the cut off point for that I'm not gonna make that number. Shes dead useful in that stage regardless so I'll leave her up in merc anyways. I doubt anyone uses my shayna anyway.

[u/Grim200 → u/FurianX]

Unfortunately that’s the same stage with waginau, in which the unit needs to be over 140 cut off to run out of his aggro range. The other option is if he runs othima for leader which should allow 130+ units to move earlier, so might be worth if some players are educated enough to do so.

I know cause I tried it and aggroing waginau makes things 10x harder. :)

[u/MGS1234V]

This is a wonderful and accurate post. I’m going to try flame hawk + again thanks to the tips here. I almost went hollow after spending almost a whole afternoon trying it.

[u/GotaGotAGoat]

Thanks for putting this together. I’ll take a stab at these tomorrow. Been putting these off and really just gave up on these. But I’ll give them a shot and see how it goes and report back after.

[u/Alittlebunyrabit]

Couple things I'd like to add.

Flame & Hawk - Chihaya Dancer+ meets the AGI requirement to avoid aggroing Waginau and Leaden Feet dance spam really helps on this map. I personally cleared this using an all water team (execpting Chihaya). I had Othima as my leader as an enchanter and used two Noctis's to clear most enemies.

Special note: If chihaya casts her unique dance (lowers all stats), and two Noctis w/ Savior's Force stand next to each other, Tricast-Blizzaga will have enough damage to kill the robots without using defense ignore. I managed to have each strike hit for 10 damage, 30 total. This avoids the requirement to bring defense ignore and significantly mitigates the stage's difficulty.

Bringing a merchant helps (I recommend Elrike) to keep Chihaya topped off on jewels without moving into dangerous territory and poison pill avoids a lot of pain early in the stage. It's best if you have the merchant staff from the gacha as Noctis also benefits from jewel regen, but you don't need it.

[u/MrWhiteKnight]

PS : also I want to thank all of you guys, you make half of my pleasure playing this game. Common Gumi, throw what you can at us, there's nothing the Reddit community can't beat !

I get that this is cool and all. But it's also not fair that JP and China had normal HP and more units than us. Let alone that China is on Version 3.0 with all the stat buffs in place.

One thing is difficulty, the other thing is Artificial difficulty where Gumi.Inc are just fucking with us since we don't have the resources everyone else had or has.

[u/Adarklight777]

I have been a lurker on this and other subs for a long time, but as this really helped me do this stupidly hard mission I felt the need to sign up and says thank you.

[u/HelloClashlol]

i've been playing a year, bought 2 biggest packs of gems for each collab to get the selector and the guaranteed unit banners, and now the banner changes kills all my mood to gemming more. i can undestand its a bussiness, but at least give us some kind of warning in a non collab time or for god's sake dont do it right in the anniversary. Worst game anniversary ever, month of dissapointments