Final Chapter team

Who do you use in your final chapter team normally? Mine varies slightly, but the most common is:

Ike (essential) w. Ragnell
Micaiah (essential) w. Rexaura
Sothe (essential) w. Baselard (or Peshkatz if I also bring Volke along)
Sanaki (essential) w. Rexflame
Ena (essential, but not used)
Kurthnaga (essential, but not used)
Jill w. Urvan
Nolan w. Silver Axe/Steel Poleaxe (Silver Poleaxes are too innacurate for my liking)
Edward w. Vague Katti or Alondite
Shinon w. Double Bow
Soren w. Rexcalibur
Caineghis
Giffca
Tibarn
Marcia w. Wishblade
Reyson (far better than the other two, who usually get killed in one hit by Ashera's all-hitting attacks)

You have to take the two dragons with you, but I always bench them for each chapter since they suck.

Later characters:

Lehran (second playthough and onwards only) w. Creiddylad

Avoiding the other two dragons here, too, since the elemental spirits always kill all four total dragons before they get the chance to transform.

Other units I somtimes use:

Pelleas w. Balberith (despite appearing severely underlevelled, chapter 4-5 offers a ridiculously high opportunity for gaining experience)
Volke w. Baselard
Titania/Kieran w. Silver Axe or Steel Poleaxe
Haar w. Urvan
Gatrie w. Silver Lance/Steel Greatlance
Mia w. Vague Katti or Alondite
Nephenee w. Silver Greatlance (has enough Skill to hit a great hit rate with it)
Naesala
Nailah

I always sell the Rexbolt, since the only unit who can get to an SS in Thunder magic is Ilyana, and she sucks (and the fact that Thunder magic has been completely screwed over in this game doesn't help, sadly). I don't always sell the Balberith if I don't use Pelleas, because Lehran can use it (although I still use the Creddylad as Lehran's primary attacking tome).

That's mine, so what's yours?

Ike is definately essential and Ena maybe im not sure

As I said above, I ditch the dragons. Ena can't kill anything in two hits (even Bishops!) when she rarely double attacks. She's probably the worst of the lot, actually.

Off the top of my head:

Tibarn
Naesala
Caineghis
Nailah
Ike
Haar (Urvan)
Jill (Silver Poleaxe)
Boyd (Silver Poleaxe)
Kurth because none of the dragons will attack him
Gatrie (Wishblade)
Shinon (Double Bow)
Soren (Rexcal.)

Taken but not used:
Micaiah
Sothe
Sanaki
Ena
Reyson

You actually take the time to train Kurthnaga up? I'm impressed. Why not use Micaiah, Sothe, Sanaki and Reyson, though?

Micaiah is too slow and fragile for my liking, Sothe isn't strong enough and has a rubbish occult skill. Can't be bothered to train Sanaki or Reyson as they tend to die easily in early chapters on hard mode.

I usually use Micaiah to take out low Resistance units, such as Generals. Giving her Bonus Experience after she has capped Magic, Luck and Resistance tends to buff up her Speed (not a bad idea, since she only promotes beforehand). She's also a great Staff wielder, whether or not you decide to use her offensively. Not a bad idea, since you have to take her along and there's not really any room for you to bring another healer.

Sothe's Bane is a hit or misss, really. Great if it activates on his first attack, really annoying if it activates on his second. Killing enemies that have just 1 HP left feels really annoying and like a waste of time.

Since you have to take Sanaki along, you might as well give her the Rexflame. She turns out better than Calill and Tormod anyway (except for her mediocre Speed).

Keep Reyson out of harm's way like you would normally. Although Ashera's physical AOE attack will still kill him in one hit on harder difficulties. I use him in all chapters beforehand.

Good to see you back here though. People rarely post here, sadly.

Thanks. I suppose I could use Micaiah as a healer to help Soren out.

Don't you think it's stupid that the only way to get back to the title screen when a non essential unit dies is to kill the party leader or go to the wii home screen and load the game again? I prefered the old suspend feature to the new battle save.

No problem. Might as well since you're forced to use her in every battle in Part 4: Endgame.

I just press the Reset button on the Wii. Takes me back to the title screen. From what the instruction manual says, Suspend replaces the Battle Save feature in Hard mode. So if you prefer it, it's still there. I haven't played through Hard mode yet (can't wait, though. I loved Difficult mode in Path of Radiance. Pity neither of the outside-Japan releases of Path of Radiance or Radiant Dawn got the Japanese-exclusive Maniac mode that I've read about in the guides section for both games here. It sounds awesome) so I can't confirm it.

From what I remember, my party consisted of:

Ike
Micaiah
Sothe
Kurthnaga
Ena
Reyson
Naesala
Caineghis
Volke
Sanaki
Haar
Tauroneo
Shinon
Zihark
Lucia
Nailah
Renning

Renning got killed in the final battle while protecting Micaiah, which I was quite annoyed about, and I couldn't really justify restarting the final chapter after fifteen turns just to keep one unit alive.

I wouldn't recommend Renning (outclassed by Titania, Oscar and Kieran), Tauroneo (outclassed by Gatrie, and sometimes Brom), Lucia and Zihark (both outclassed by Edward and Mia, and Lucia's outclassed by Stefan too).

Jill also turns out better than Haar, but Haar's still a great unit. Nothing wrong with using him, or even both.

Anyway, on my current playthrough my final chapter team is:

Ike w. Ragnell
Micaiah w. Rexaura and Fortify
Sothe w. Baselard
Sanaki w. Rexflame
Tibarn
Caineghis
Naesala
Nailah
Reyson
Jill w. Urvan
Haar w. Silver Axe
Marcia w. Wishblade
Shinon w. Double Bow
Soren w. Rexcalibur
Nolan w. Tarvos
Edward w. Vague Katti
Pelleas w. Balberith

Also Ena and Kurthnaga, but I know not to use those two. I also used Lehran later on, gave him the Rexaura and used Micaiah as my primary healer with the Fortify staff, and Pelleas used Physic staves for anyone who got unlucky.

Kurth was one of my best!! i took:

All required characters
Nalilah
Tibarn
Nephenee
Shinon
Volke

i forget who else

I Would take:

Ike - Ragnell
Sothe - Baslard
Micaiah - Mandona-(SS Staff)
Sanaki - Cymbeline
Ena - Dragon Laguz
Kurthnaga - Dragon Laguz
Nephenee - Wishblade
Mia - Alondite
Boyd - Urvan
Leonardo - Double Bow
Tormod - Rexflame
Ilyana - Rexbolt
Soren - Rexcalibur
Rhys - Rexaura
Pelleas - Balberth
Cianeghis - Lion Laguz
Reyson - Heron Laguz

What do you think?

The Mardona staff really isn't that great. Fortify is what you really want, but you can only find it in a chest in 4-4.

Leonardo will almost definately end up worse than Rolf, and can't even compare to Shinon.

You go through the trouble to train up Tormod? I tried it once, and he turned out pretty good, but there are better characters.

Ilyana is terrible and Thunder magic sucks this time around, so why bother using her?

Rhys is kinda pointless. I usually give the Rexaura to Micaiah, since staves can't get blessed anyway and she'll probably end up with better Speed than Rhys anyway. Elincia and Mist are also better healers than Rhys due to the Canto skill.

You didn't use Jill and/or Haar? With the exception of Ike, they're probably two of the best Beorc units in the game.

I don;t see the point of using the dragons either.

I use Ike, Micaiah, and Jill. Then I use all of the awesome people from part 3.

^Presumably Boyd, Shinon, Gatrie, Nephenee and Soren correct? Oscar and Titnia suck in Part 4. Nolan's a great character from Part 1, so it would be no bad thing to train him up in addition to Micaiah and Jill.