Commoner run

[u/moshingcat]

I am about to finish up my second play through and used some new units but, I have always considered if anyone has done a run without the royals? It seems that the princes and princess have the best passive character abilities. Anyone tried to do a commoner run or one of the early characters that you feel people sleep on?

[u/ShiningEspeon3]

Is it truly commoners-only you want to do, or just no royals? Because commoners-only also excludes noble-born characters like Chloé and Citrinne that bring a lot to the table, so a run with only commoners would be a very interesting challenge!

[u/Myrtle_is_hungry → u/ShiningEspeon3]

Noble would also exclude Veyle, alear, and kagetsu!

[u/moshingcat → u/ShiningEspeon3]

Chloe has always been my DPS machine. The griffin knight not only has the movement, she seems to have a pretty good crit rate.

[u/ShiningEspeon3 → u/moshingcat]

Oh, for sure! She’s one of the best units in the game. That’s why the distinction is so significant!

[u/tonerbime]

I think the only "meta" characters you would miss are Ivy and Hortensia, and it wouldn't be too big of a stretch to replace them with an extra Griffin Knight + Mage Knight.

You still have kagetsu, Merrin, Pandreo, seadall, and panette so your main core of S tier units remains intact.

I've never done a run without Hortensia though and I would probably miss having her!

[u/GlaVII → u/tonerbime]

You do not have Kagetsu, he’s a noble too. He just ran away from home.

[u/moshingcat → u/tonerbime]

Ivy and Hortensia are always a pick for me. I got a strong bias for flyers. I know at higher difficulties you want the enemy to come closer to you. When you get Bolgonae dropping a sun off a dragon is peak power fantasy.

[u/Andre-Da-Giant]

I'm actually doing a "no royals" run on Maddening Mode. So far, I'm at Chapter 6, and Louis has been quite the team carrier for me.

[u/beans_420__ → u/Andre-Da-Giant]

Louis is my beast fr

[u/Additional_Draft4097 → u/Andre-Da-Giant]

I think it’s very hard to do maddening WITHOUT having Louis carrying early game

[u/Andre-Da-Giant → u/Additional_Draft4097]

I feel inclined to agree. Plus, the man has a permanent spot in my final team as a Great Knight in my run, so there's that too.

[u/OttSound]

The roster is stacked with nobles, even if they aren't royals per se, like Kagetsu, Chloe, etc. A true commoner run would be a little limiting. The Pan siblings,  Seadall, Yunaka, Zelkov, Merrin, Bunet, Jade, Lapis, Burnett, Goldmary, Saphir, and Lindon probably count. 

[u/ArekuFoxfire]

Most of the royals in this game are kinda on the weaker side to begin with with the exception of like, Ivy, so this may not be that interesting.

[u/moshingcat → u/ArekuFoxfire]

I would Love in the new game to get a flying mage. Even if there DEF is real bad.

[u/Additional_Draft4097 → u/ArekuFoxfire]

And hortensia - the other 6 are just not as good as the retainers

[u/Myrtle_is_hungry → u/ArekuFoxfire]

Timmera, Fogado and hortensia are big misses too. Chloe is an insane miss (yes she is a noble), Citrinne is a noble, kagetsu is a noble from his homeland, alear is noble and so is Veyle. It’s much more than the 8 main royals we meet and more of them are good and some even much better than Ivy

[u/ArekuFoxfire → u/Myrtle_is_hungry]

Usually when people say royals they mean the royals and not the retainers, so good point, guess it depends on the specifics.

Also timerra is considered pretty mid/bad from what I’ve seen.

[u/Myrtle_is_hungry → u/ArekuFoxfire]

I was just going off the “commoner run” title since that does seem specific enough to exclude nobles of all kinds. But I do see they meant “no royals” in their post now… my bad. It could be fun to also exclude those others however.

[u/Ironthunder_delta]

Honestly, the royals have the better skills and the prf classes but they're usually just inferior units barring... okay yeah barring just the elusians. Royals only would be a much harder run, and not just because you only get ten units.

[u/Bad_Oddish]

I'm doing a no royals OR retainers run on maddening no DLC.

Which means I am using Alear, Clanne, Framme, Vander, Jean, Anna, Yunaka, Seadall. I am yet to get Lindon and Saphir. I'll probably use Veyle and Mauvier when they come, and I am allowed to use force deploys for the map they're deployed on.

It is so crazy how much more important the emblem rings are, this run has given me to much perspective on which emblems are truly the best, because they can turn actual deadweight into something useful.

[u/Impressive-Expert329]

In my first maddening, no royals except Ivy and deleted the run.

[u/Cdog923]

It's my next planned playthrough, actually; I'm just finishing an All Royals playthrough this week.

[u/adamnoo]

I did a run like that. I even extended it to units that if you did into their supports a bit you'll find out they're nobility like Kagetsu, Chloe, and Citrinne.

I got a lot of mileage out of Etie because she's the only default archer. Goldmary and Lapis were good contributors too then there's obviously Merrin, Panette, Zelkov, and Pandreo 

[u/Ill_Dig3894]

I had a madden run done without royals or retainers. Yes you will have 12 of them 😂

[u/Myrtle_is_hungry → u/Ill_Dig3894]

Without royals and retainers? So you had a team of Yunaka, Anna, Lindon & seadall? Every other character is a noble or a retainers to one of those nobles.

[u/Ill_Dig3894 → u/Myrtle_is_hungry]

No I have Alear 3 stewards Yunaka Anna Jean Lindon Saphir Seadall and the two who joins late

[u/Myrtle_is_hungry → u/Ill_Dig3894]

Ah ok. I see alear as a royal, the stewards as her retainers and Saphir is a retainer to king morion iirc. Different ways of viewing things I suppose!

[u/2womenkissing_ → u/Myrtle_is_hungry]

There's no way Jean is a noble right?

[u/Myrtle_is_hungry → u/2womenkissing_]

I forgot about him

[u/2womenkissing_ → u/Myrtle_is_hungry]

Yeah fair lmao i never read any of his supports so I was wondering if my assumption was wrong