Hi again! This is an updated to the post https://www.reddit.com/r/FEEngage/comments/1urynp3/maddening_run_optimisation/ where I have taken comments from helpful members and made some further changes.

Full disclosure this is very much theorycraft as I am only into chapter 18 - this was a fun exercise for me as I enjoy doing these type of optimisations for strategy games ahead of playing, and had a lot of fun going back and forth with ChatGPT and Gemini - both are full of holes and hallucinations that you have to constantly go back and call them out - but nevertheless was an useful tool.

So final team below, and some explanation on each member (AI produced first draft but edited by yours truly). Let me know if you think there is anything that can be further improved!

https://preview.redd.it/regvmkh14zch1.png?width=2442&format=png&auto=webp&s=967a766f4fcc7c9617547082f056b4139a5715e5

												Stat Boosters
Character	Final Class	Emblem	Stat Boosts	Sync Skills	Inherited Skill 1	Inherited Skill 2	Item 1	Item 2	Item 3	Item 4	Item 5	HP
Alear	Divine Dragon (Sword/Art)	Byleth	Mag, Sped, Lck	Divine Pulse, Mentorship, Lost &Found	Canter	Quality Time	Shielding Art	Wille Glanz +1	Silver Sword +1	Pure Water	Elixir	-
Kagetsu	Wyvern Knight (Sword/Axe)	Eirika	Mag, Dex, Lck	Lunar Brace, Gentility	Canter	Speed +5	Killing Edge +4 (Fates)	Tomahawk +1	Noatun +1	Pure Water	Elixir	-
Amber	Warrior (Axe/Bow)	Roy	HP, Str, Res	Hold out, Advance	Canter	Speed +5	Killer Axe +4 (Blazing)	Killer Bow +3	Longbow +1	Pure Water	Elixir	-
Panette	Warrior (Axe/Bow)	Ike	HP, Str, Def	Demolish, Resolve, Reposition, Wrath	Hold Out	Vantage+	Killer Axe +4 (Sacred)	Tomahawk +1 (Genealogy)	Longbow +1	Pure Water	Elixir	1
Goldmary	Hero (Sword/Lance)	Marth	Str, Dex, Spd	Perceptive, Break Defenses, Unyielding	Canter	Dual Assist+	Silver Sword +3 (Awakening)	Spear +1	Fensalir +1	Pure Water	Elixir	1
Merrin	Wolf Knight (Sword/Knife)	Lucina	Dex, Spd, Lck	Dual Assist, Dual Support	Canter	Lunar Brace	Steel Dagger +4 (Dawn)	Killing Edge +3 (Fire)	Pure Water	Elixir	Elixir	-
Chloé	Griffin Knight (Sword/Staff)	Alfonse S	HP +2, Str +2, Def +1	Spur Attack	Canter	Speed +5	Levin Sword +3 (Holy)	Fólkvangr +1	Freeze	Psychic	Elixir	-
Ivy	Lindwurm (Tome/Staff)	Lyn	Dex, Spd, Res	Alacrity, Speedtaker	Canter	Speed +5	Bolganone +3 (Echoes)	Thoron (Binding)	Excalibur	Freeze	Elixir	1
Pandreo	Mage Knight (Tome/Sword)	Celica	Str, Mag, Res	Holy Stance, Resonance, Favourite Food	Canter	Speed +5	Bolganone +3 (Beginnings)	Thoron (Radiance)	Excalibur	Levin Sword +3	Elixir	-
Citrinne	Sage (Tome/Staff)	Olwen S	Mag +1, Spd +2, Lck +1	Dire Thunder	Canter	Magic +5	Thunder +4 (Academy)	Warp	Rescue	Psychic	Elixir	-
Hortensia	Sleipnir Rider (Tome/Staff)	Micaiah	Mag, Res, Lck	Healing Light, Silence Ward,	Canter	Quality Time	Warp	Rescue	Fortify	Psychic	Elixir	-
Seadall	Dancer (Art)	Sigurd	Dex, Def, Bld	Canter, Momentum, Headlong Rush	Hold Out	Quality Time	Shielding Art	Pure Water	Elixir	Elixir	Elixir	-
Veyle	Fell Child (Tome/Knife)	Corrin	HP, Mag, Res	Quality Time, Draconic Hex, Pair Up	Canter	Speed +5	Obscurité +3	Thoron	Excalibur	Misericorde +3	Elixir	-
Mauvier	Great Knight (Lance/Axe)	Leif	HP, Def, Bld	Arms Shield, Vantage	Canter	Hold Out	Flame Lance +3	Spear +1	Tomahawk +1	Silver Lance +1	Elixir	-

Alear

• Class: Divine Dragon (Sword/Art)
• Emblem: Byleth
• Role: Turn-economy support and stat buffing.
• Emblem Usage: Leverages the Dragon type to grant a +3 all-stats buff via Instruct. Uses Goddess Dance to refresh up to four adjacent allies simultaneously (added but Canter being on almost everyone) and setting up triple dance with Seadall.
• Skill Combination: Canter allows precise re-positioning after performing a dance or attack. Quality Time provides passive structural healing to adjacent units at the end of the turn.
• Weapon Options: Wields Shielding Art to maximize defensive baseline stats during frontline positioning. Wille Glanz +1 and Silver Sword +1 serve as standard physical damage options.

Kagetsu

• Class: Wyvern Knight (Sword/Axe)
• Emblem: Eirika
• Role: High-mobility physical damage dealer.
• Emblem Usage: Increase damage and safety with Lunar Brace and Gentility when engaged. Some utility with Twin Strike.
• Skill Combination: Canter ensures safety by allowing movement over restrictive terrain post-combat. Speed +5 secures doubling thresholds against late-game generic enemies.
• Weapon Options: Equips a Fates-engraved Killing Edge +4 for reliable critical hits. Uses Tomahawk +1 for 2-range attacks and Noatun +1 as fixed damage weapon option.

Amber

• Class: Warrior (Axe/Bow)
• Emblem: Roy
• Role: High-base physical attack character.
• Emblem Usage: Gains structural stat boosts and additional combat levels via Rise Above, maximizing his naturally high raw Strength scaling. Some utility with Blazing Lion.
• Skill Combination: Canter provides post-combat movement flexibility. Speed +5 prevents faster physical enemies from easily doubling him. Personal skill also adds to Hit.
• Weapon Options: Runs a Blazing-engraved Killer Axe +4 for range 1 and Killer Bow +3 for range 2 for high physical burst damage. Wields Longbow +1 to attack safely from 3 spaces out and for chain support.

Panette

• Class: Warrior (Axe/Bow)
• Emblem: Ike
• Role: Enemy-phase Vantage/Wrath critical tank.
• Emblem Usage: Integrates Ike’s Wrath skill to gain up to +30 Critical as her HP decreases, converting damage taken directly into offensive critical rate and stacking with personal skill. Also can use Great Aether to block chokepoints against melee opponents.
• Skill Combination: Vantage+ ensures she strikes first when HP drops below 75%. Hold Out provides a hard safety net, ensuring she survives fatal hits with 1 HP to sustain the loop.
• Weapon Options: Employs a Sacred-engraved Killer Axe +4 to secure a permanent 100% critical hit rate. Retains Tomahawk +1 (Genealogy) and Longbow +1 for ranged flexibility and for chain support.

Goldmary

• Class: Hero (Sword/Lance)
• Emblem: Marth
• Role: Chain attack backup, support asset, emergency second dodge tank (with personal skill).
• Emblem Usage: Uses Marth's Divine Speed to execute extra hits during active combat phases, compensating for moderate baseline Strength growth. Marth also provides avoidance through Perceptive for player phase attacks and Lodestar Rush for 100% hit damage.
• Skill Combination: Canter permits optimal placement relative to the frontline. Dual Assist+ allows her to join 2x chain attacks from anywhere within her full movement radius.
• Weapon Options: Wields an Awakening-engraved Silver Sword +3 for direct combat. Utilizes Spear +1 and Fensalir +1 to provide ranged support and weapon-triangle options.

Merrin

• Class: Wolf Knight (Sword/Knife)
• Emblem: Lucina
• Role: Defensive shield provider, chain support debuffer and dodge tank.
• Emblem Usage: Deploys Bonded Shield to guarantee 100% damage negation for adjacent cavalry units (Pandreo and Mauvier). All For One can provide good damage.
• Skill Combination: Canter optimizes protective positioning layout. Lunar Brace injects necessary true damage, ensuring her daggers punch through high physical Defense ratings.
• Weapon Options: Wields a Dawn-engraved Steel Dagger +4 to apply poison stacks and dodge tank. Uses a Fire-engraved Killing Edge +3 for more damage through crits.

Chloé

• Class: Griffin Knight (Sword/Staff)
• Emblem: Alfonse S-Ring
• Role: High-speed magical flyer and utility healer.
• Emblem Usage: Equipped with the Alfonse S-Ring to the Spur Attack aura.
• Skill Combination: Canter enables quick insertion and extraction over terrain. Speed +5 ensures she maintains doubling thresholds even when wielding heavier weapons.
• Weapon Options: Relies on a Holy-engraved Levin Sword +3 to target the lower Resistance values of physical units. Fólkvangr +1 for weak defense foes. Limited to C-rank staff slots, utilizing Freeze and Psychic for long-range support.

Ivy

• Class: Lindwurm (Tome/Staff)
• Emblem: Lyn
• Role: High-tier flying magical carry.
• Emblem Usage: Uses Speedtaker and Alacrity to permanently fix her naturally low base Speed stat, allowing her to double and defeat enemies before they can counter-attack. Call Doubles has some usage for additional chain damage (but takes 2 rounds to execute) or targets to absorb enemy hits. Some utility with Astra Storm.
• Skill Combination: Canter provides immediate repositioning out of archer ranges. Speed +5 gives her the necessary initial speed floor required to kickstart the Speedtaker snowball loop.
• Weapon Options: Wields an Echoes-engraved Bolganone +3 for reliable high magic damage. Carries Thoron (Binding) for 3-range coverage and Excalibur to for enemy flyers.

Pandreo

• Class: Mage Knight (Tome/Sword)
• Emblem: Celica
• Role: High-speed offensive frontline mage.
• Emblem Usage: Inherits Resonance to add flat magical damage at the cost of minor HP, which scales aggressively across his high volume of double-attacks.
• Skill Combination: Canter preserves movement economy. Speed +5 combines with the Mage Knight Chaos Style skill (+3 Speed when initiating on physical foes) to guarantee follow-up attacks against fast enemy types. Warp Ragnarok for long distance attacks in combination with team warp through Hortensia.
• Weapon Options: Uses a Beginnings-engraved Bolganone +3 for reliable high magic damage. Carries Thoron (Radiance) for 3-range coverage and Excalibur to for enemy flyers. Levin Sword +3 for breaking enemies.

Citrinne

• Class: Sage (Tome/Staff)
• Emblem: Olwen S-Ring
• Role: Long-range magical artillery.
• Emblem Usage: Dictated entirely by the Olwen S-Ring's Dire Thunder skill, which locks her basic Thunder tome into a guaranteed double-strike on player phase while ignoring speed limitations.
• Skill Combination: Canter lets her strike from maximum range and step back safely behind tank lines. Magic +5 scales up the flat damage of her double-strike sequence.
• Weapon Options: Academy-engraved Thunder +4 to maximize the Dire Thunder damage. Utilizes Warp, Rescue, and Psychic slots when out of offensive combat range.

Hortensia

• Class: Sleipnir Rider (Tome/Staff)
• Emblem: Micaiah
• Role: Dedicated multi-target staff support.
• Emblem Usage: Micaiah expands her staff range and provides area-of-effect targeting, allowing her to cast group heals or distant warps. Her class skill adds a random probability to preserve staff charges. Emergency heal and exp from
• Skill Combination: Canter allows her to fly in, execute massive staff actions, and immediately drop back into safe coverage. Quality Time patches up minor chip damage on surrounding units.
• Weapon Options: Purely utility focused. Carries Warp, Rescue, Fortify, and Psychic to control map positioning and health bars.

Seadall

• Class: Dancer (Art)
• Emblem: Sigurd
• Role: Main turn-refresh utility.
• Emblem Usage: Sigurd provides flat, massive movement scaling and Momentum, enabling Seadall to cross massive distances to refresh your highest-value attacker. Limited use for Override.
• Skill Combination: Hold Out serves as a survival check against deliberate body blocking. Quality Time lets him heal adjacent allies passively every time he uses a dance action.
• Weapon Options: Wields Shielding Art strictly for the defensive stat modifiers, minimizing the risk of getting one-shot on enemy phase.

Veyle

• Class: Fell Child (Tome/Knife)
• Emblem: Corrin
• Role: Terrain control and stat debuffer.
• Emblem Usage: Leverages the Dragon type modifier to choose any desired Dragon Vein terrain element (Ice, Fog, Fire) on demand to disrupt enemy advance patterns. Some utility from Torrential Roar.
• Skill Combination: Canter ensures she can adjust terrain and slip back to safety. Speed +5 improves her follow-up thresholds when utilizing her personal items.
• Weapon Options: Uses Thoron from 3 spaces away to safely apply Corrin's Draconic Hex (−4 to all enemy stats). Wields Obscurité +3, Excalibur, and Misericorde +3 for direct combat.

Mauvier

• Class: Great Knight (Lance/Axe)
• Emblem: Leif
• Role: Mixed-damage physical frontline wall.
• Emblem Usage: Best use for Leif's Adaptable mechanic; because Mauvier has high base stats in both Strength and Magic, he hits hard regardless of whether Leif auto-equips a physical axe or the magical Light Brand on enemy phase. Quadruple Hit for combined damage and breaking.
• Skill Combination: Canter allows him to accurately plug chokepoints. Hold Out works with Leif's innate Vantage to ensure he strikes first and kills the attacker when low on health, avoiding fatal damage.
• Weapon Options: Uses Flame Lance +3 to against high-defense armor units. Carries Spear +1, Tomahawk +1, and Silver Lance +1 to provide the Adaptable AI with a complete set of physical options for all ranges.