All right gamers, here we go, FE8 PMU Ephraim route Ironman time. I don’t have access to an emulator rn so I’ll be doing this on my actual physical copy of the game, which means I’ll have to take screenshots with my phone so I apologize for poor screenshot quality in advance

For this run I will have to bring the highest voted units available to me for any given chapter. The poll is in my pinned so feel free to vote if you haven’t yet, the team isn’t set in stone and with enough votes can be changed mid-run so don’t feel like it’s too late.

Since it’s an iron man, I am not allowed to reset if a unit dies, but it is a soft iron man so if my lord dies I will continue the run. I don’t intend to abuse this by deliberately getting my lord killed if a unit dies though since that defeats the spirit of an Ironman.

As for grinding, I don’t intend to do it with a few exceptions, namely the trainees, Marisa, and anyone coming off the bench. Anyway, with that all said, I shall start the run.

Here we are on the first map, we’re on normal mode since that’s what you guys voted for, this is a pretty braindead chapter, even Eirika can like solo it

Finished it, that was an incredibly easy map, Eirika crit and killed the two scrubs and Seth took out the boss

Chapter 1 time, I plan to give Eirika the most experience on this map

Seth could kill this fighter but then he’d be stealing exp from Eirika so I’m gonna make him be a good Jagen and chill right here

Franz and Gilliam have showed up, they’re pretty low on the poll, especially Gilliam, so I’ll avoid giving them too much EXP

Yoooooooooooo Eirika one rounds this guy, that’s great that means the other axebro can suicide into her on enemy phase

Omg she got strength on her level-up after killing him, am I gonna get a good Eirika?

I will let Seth kill this soldier bc I don’t want Eirika to solo the map, gotta conserve that Rapier and all that

Look they make a diamond

Franz ended up enemy phasing 2 enemies including the axebro I wanted Eirika to kill, he’s stealing her exp, he’s a Jagen now

Eirika got attacked by a Soldier and while she killed it, she needs healing now

Having Eirika move closer to the boss and chug a vulnerary, she can get that axebro on enemy phase

Seth can take out these guys

Moving Gilliam and Franz away so they don’t steal Eirika’s EXP

Eirika got hit on enemy phase so I’m having her move in front of the boss and chug a vulnerary, she can take him out on enemy phase

God why does her base HP have to be so low

WHY MUST YOU DO ME LIKE THIS EIRIKA

She’s literally on her last vulnerary use, god she better kill the boss this time

Redemption arc

She got a really good level up with strength in it from doing this too so idk guys, I’m thinking Eirika S tier?

Chapter 1: complete

Chapter 2 time, first things first, gotta have Vanessa rescue Ross

I then have the Boulder take and drop him

Eirika gets the red gem

Everyone else just moves out

Next turn I have Vanessa rescue Garcia

Franz then takes and drops him

Eirika then talks to Ross who talks to his dad, so now I have both of them recruited on turn 2

The Boulder gets the other village

Seth is ready to take on the axe bros down there

I have Vanessa start heading to the village, with Seth moving to protect her

Okay turn 3 is done

Vanessa got the pure water village

I have Eirika go to the armory to sell the red gem and get herself an iron sword

Delete this Archer for me Seth

Let’s get some Ross chip in, help him level up

Sure he’s not being used long term but still

Franz can finish him off

Turn over

I tried to set up a Ross kill with Eirika, but he whiffed it and Vanessa had to take the kill instead

Get rid of this guy for me Seth

Look at this defensive play right here, I’m so good at this game

I let Seth have the bosskill bc of the units who could reach the boss to end the map immediately he’s the one that’s gonna be on the team the longest

Went to the armory and bought an iron sword and slim lance for Seth so he can hopefully be a good Jagen and weaken things for bad units to get kills, a javelin for Franz, and an iron lance for Vanessa

Chapter 3 time, Neimi’s here now and we’ll have to use her long-term

Thankfully Ranger passed Sniper in the poll so it’s looking like I won’t have to use Sniper Neimi

Let’s have Ross chip this guy to death

Seth can break this wall and kill the guy in there for a chest key that will get him a javelin

Let’s recruit this asshole

What a good combat unit

Seth should easily be able to enemy phase the guy in there

Colm gets the first chest for an iron lance

Seth got the javelin chest

Ross finishes the guy here, and Seth chips the wall

Chest 2 get

Seth broke the wall so him and Ross can reach the action faster

Last chest get, it has another iron sword

Yo let’s get Neimi some enemy phase action

Ross and Seth combo to take down this wall

Eirika can take down this Archer for us, nice

Vanessa and Franz combo’d to take down that axebro

Look at this, Garcia doubling

After Franz weakens with a javelin, Vanessa kills the thief and even gets a strength level out of it

Look at this beauty

Oh my god my Eirika has gotten three strength gains in the three levels she’s gained so far, Eirika good?

Only the boss is left, time to boss abuse

Okay so here’s what we’re gonna do, Ross is gonna chip the boss for EXP, Seth is gonna rescue and then Vanessa will take and drop, that way the boss won’t switch to a hand axe and attack Ross on enemy phase

Rinse and repeat until Ross reaches level 10

Ross gets the boss kill to cap off his grinding

Chapter complete

Bought Ross an Iron and Hand axe since he’s about to promote, but now that I think about it it wasn’t really necessary since Garcia’s about to get benched so Ross could use his, plus one of the chests last chapter had another Hand Axe

Oh well

Ross promotion time

He’s now a Pirate, just like you guys voted for

This is our first chapter with a bench, and going by the poll, Gilliam and Garcia are the first to end up on it

First things first, Vanessa’s gonna get the village to the south for Lute, but I’ll have her take out this guy on the way

Colm sets up a kill for Neimi

Gotta get those Neimi levels up since we’re using her

I have Artur get the Iron Axe village since he’s the only one that can reach it this turn

Dammit, she’s just shy of one-rounding

Seth is forced to take this kill instead

Lute has been acquired, we’ll want to train her up since she’s one of the highest voted units

Lute can chip this guy from the forest

Vanessa will carry her to safety next turn

Sweet, an enemy Eirika one-rounds with the Iron Sword

Artur can chip this guy

We’ll let Seth finish him off

So I kinda sent Franz too far forward and unwittingly got him in range of one more eyeball than expected

But hey, we have our first death of the iron man, so that’s exciting

L’Arachel must have just witnessed Franz’s tragic death

I have Vanessa start ferrying Lute to the main army

I had Eirika weaken this zombie so that Neimi could kill

Ross kills this eyeball to avenge Franz’s death

Oooh look at this, Artur’s one-rounding

Seth can take out this one

Dropping Lute on the mountain so she’s safe-ish

I move Eirika over towards the reinforcements from behind and have her get healed by Moulder

Another kill for Neimi

Look at this, Ross just does not give a shit about these rivers bc he’s a pirate

Let’s have Seth delete this guy

Time for a Lute kill

Yesss she’s got speed on her level, since we’re on normal instead of hard that means she’s just hit an important doubling threshold

Yesss another kill for Neimi

After some weakening with Artur, Eirika gets this kill

Vanessa can body these two dudes down here

Only two guys left, and I want Lute or Neimi to get the boss kill so I’m gonna work on getting them over there

Lute’s gonna stand on this forest and lure out the boss

I checked and she can survive a hit from him

Based Lute finishes the map for me

Here’s the team for chapter 5

It’s not actually a big deal that Franz died last chapter as he would’ve been getting benched this chapter anyway

Tethys my beloved...

Marisa will appreciate this once we get her

Seth can go here

He has a slim lance equipped so even if Joshua attacks him he shouldn’t get killed

Natasha needs to go here so she can get Joshua next turn

Sending Colm and Eirika east to deal with the axebro reinforcements that show up

Lute’s gonna lure out this axebro and then Moulder will heal her next turn

Seth will take out this guy

Colm can chip this guy

And Vanessa kills

Recruited Joshua, let’s have him kill this soldier so Natasha isn’t in danger

Okay so Joshua missed his second attack which means he’s actually in a lot of danger, and I already moved Seth this turn so no one can rescue him

Praying the Soldier goes for Natasha instead, I think she can take a hit

OH SHIT THERE’S AN ARCHER HERE TOO

If Joshua survives this turn it will be a miracle

I’m good at this game guys I promise

In the meantime let’s get another Lute kill

Neimi can go up here and get some Archer on Archer violence going

JOSHUA NO

I WAS SUPPOSED TO USE YOU THIS RUN

And I wanted to give your Killing Edge to Marisa...

I should’ve had him nab the nearby village and let Natasha just take a hit from the soldier

Neimi can’t even 1v1 this dude, how embarrassing

Lute can kill him instead

Avenge Joshua for me Neimi

Delete him for me Seth

Eirika got the Amorslayer

Let’s see how Neimi fares against this Archer

Come at me bro

Neimi good guys, look at this

Let’s see how Eirika does in the arena

She did pretty well

How much gold should I aim to earn do you think?

Lute nabs a statbooster for Marisa

Okay I think this is good

Let’s have Neimi chip this guy to death

Colm failing to one-round, what else is new

Kill for Vanessa?

She whiffed it

Get rid of this guy for me Seth

Man Eirika’s making bank for me in the arena

Okay she ended up against a Wyvern Rider for her third fight, needless to say I noped the fuck out of there

Neimi finishes this guy off

Torch get

Had Lute chip and then get rescuedropped by Seth and Colm for safety

Lute kill time

Eirika in the arena’s not working out so hot, I keep getting bad matchups, but I’m determined to win at least 7500 gold

You know what, let’s try Neimi in the arena, she doesn’t have weapon triangle and she could use another level

Neimi did great actually

NOOOOOOOOO I WAS SO CLOSE TO BEING DONE WITH THE CHAPTER AND EIRIKA HAD JUST GOTTEN A REALLY GOOD LEVEL

WHY DID YOU HAVE TO MISS EIRIKA THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN EASY WIN

I do get Joshua back I suppose but I don’t think it’s worth

Okay I’m ready to give this chapter another go, gonna do everything the same up until Joshua is recruited, and then make better decisions from there

Okay so this time I had Joshua visit the armorslayer village

Yoooo, Eirika can rescue Natasha and still be fast enough to double the soldier up there

Artur actually survives both of these enemies, so he can do some work here

Omg Joshua still got attacked by both the soldier and the archer, but bc he was on a village, which increases avoid, he fucking dodgetanked

Let’s have Neimi chip this archer to death

Neimi kill

Joshua’s a gambling man, let’s have him win us money at the arena

He should do better than Eirika at least considering he outclasses her statistically

Let’s put Natasha here, it’ll let her heal Joshua after matches and build support with him

Let’s chip this guy to death again

EIRIKA GOT HER REALLY GOOD LEVEL AGAIN, MAYBE GETTING TO REDO THIS CHAPTER AND SAVE JOSHUA THIS TIME WAS WORTH AFTER ALL

Look how good this Eirika is

Neimi killed the Merc again and Vanessa got the torch, only the boss is left, gonna get Neimi over to the arena to get her to level 5 first tho

Okay Neimi’s at level
5 now, time to kill the boss

Lute gets the bosskill to finish off the map

I thought she’d get a level out of it, but alas, she did not

Here we are with Ephraim and co. In chapter 5x

No one tell Forde I got his brother killed

Kyle and Forde are gonna hang back here and get the chests while Ephraim and the wife guy head over to the boss

Forde takes out this guy

Kyle starts working on taking out this bulky dude

Be nice if Ephraim could kill this dude but at least he can chip

Gonna have Forde take out this axebro and then Kyle get the mage, and then I’ll have them get the chests

Bro can’t even oneshot a mage, wtf

Why are you so bad

Opted to have him use trade to make sure Forde has his javelin in his top slot, and then canto out of the mage’s range instead

Forde got the killer lance, gonna try and get that over to Ephraim eventually

Get fucked

I want to have Forde hang back here to do something so I had Kyle take his Killer Lance before opening the elixir chest and cantoing away

Forde is gonna pop a vulnerary right here and then enemy phase the shaman with his javelin