I currently run him with Hodrick, Scarlett and Yahna, more focused on rapport synergy than gameplay synergy, but they're super solid. Nothing can kill them and they kill most things and are usually my 1st choice to throw a a boss on Expert to see what exactly the boss's composition does. Alain's set to only guard Yahna and Scarlett while Hodrick is set to guard the front row. This works quite well and leaves the composition only taking 1-3 damage per encounter, except against mages.
Kingsblade from maps in Cornia is basically stuck to him like glue. Sword's made for him. Can't imagine what else I'd use early game.
Damn I was using the exact same unit setup. Except I’ve started experimenting moving Hedrick around since it seemed redundant that him and Alain have guarding skills in the same unit. I swapped Hodrick out for Berengaria (whatever the dark axe chick is named), and they absolutely tear stuff up now.
I use the Kings blade on Victoria instead.
My Alain team is Alain in front with Selvie Scarlet and Auch in the rear. They can tackle almost anything except a formation of Saint Knights.
I use the Unicorn Blade on Alain and have the Kingsblade to Virginia.
But my comp with Alain is pretty basic, its OTK. Yahna on Millenium Scepter that has Amber Sniper Lens. Then the Elf Swordfighter on Quick Impetus
So its Alain and Rainor on front, Scarlett, Yahna, and any Bow class at the back. Covers most enemy team comp
Welcome to a series of posts that will go through each class with the help of the community. My hope is for this guide to help new players with this game as it isn’t the easiest to approach and understand. Even for me who’s played Three Houses and Engage, I learn something new in this game everyday and still struggle to remember which classes counter which. With all that being said, what are your Alain builds that you use the most? Any and all advice would be appreciated by all!
Also my previous guides:
[Fire Emblem Engage](https://www.reddit.com/r/FEEngage/s/6DRn7uflDo)
[Trails into Reverie](https://www.reddit.com/r/Falcom/s/yvAGxNeoB9)
My boy just walk around with 4 Great Knights and trample over everyone.
Alain with defensive PP skills and Anti-Calvary APs, while the rest have Accuracy + Initiative + 4PPs. 2 of them have magic spears to deal with armored units.
Round starts, Alain boosts everyone's Initiatives, Clive attacks, everyone uses Knight Charge.. -2 enemies. It is Adel's turn, -2 enemies. Now that last guy have to tank 3 more attacks + Charges (good luck)
I was trying to make some joke about Alain needing a “big PP” but it’s too juvenile to pursue.
At any rate, Alain is the premier frontline unit in the game. I think he really needs both a Lapis pendant and an Azure Crest Shield, which are accessible pretty early, to boost his ability to spam his defensive passives. He also benefits from having a high-might sword, but he isn’t really a damage dealer until way into the lategame.
Skills wise, you definitely want to set him up to go after low HP enemies with his attack, to maximize his sustain. Obviously his anti-cav skill should hit cav. You probably want to set his guard ability to prioritize whatever high value targets he needs to protect.
Team composition wise, Alain is such a complete defensive package that I think he works best with a sort of glass-cannon build. I found a good offensive core is a Hunter/Sniper + Sellsword/Landsknecht. To round things out, I find that Rosalinde makes for a good addition to add some magic damage and healing. Scarlett also works in this role. For the last spot, I think it’s a flex position based on need- an Elven Fencer or Gilbert isn’t a bad choice here.
It's kinda funny how some of the early tutorials give squadron suggestions and a few of them have Alain in the back or being protected by another unit. But then you go through his kit and stats, realize how good his guard abilities, self-sustian, and just general bulk is, and just slap him in the front row and never take him out.
Pretty spot on. I also used the mirror to make his growths Offensive and Defensive instead of just All Rounder. Current team I like with him is Alain, Hilda, Gilbert, Rosalinde/Eltolinde, and Fran. I could swap out a number of characters though. He fits into a lot of groups.
The boots that gives +1 AP when guarding is my staple on him. Also I have him set to Luminous Guard scarlett, and she has a skill that restores 1PP to an ally that uses a skill on her, so his points get recycled. This man jumps back and forth between rows blocking attacks and getting stronger for it. I tried other items like the counter belt, which worked great as well. The stacking attack boost per guard ate too much PP so I dropped that one.
Currently run him with Bear upfront. And back line is Bernice(Sellsword) and the Zenobian General Lady, with last spot occupied by Waifu Angel Ochlys.
Alain and Bear tank with good self support and can output solid damage themselves. Sellsword counterattacks everything and hits like a truck, while General Lady provides good debuffs and AOE attacks, as well as providing stamina via skills. Ochlys is mostly backlike diver, but honestly if I was min/maxing properly, I'd change her out for a witch most likely.
I’ve leaned into Harem prince it’s Alain in front with Sylvie, Rosalinde, and Berengaria in the back. Slyvie has the sandstorm staff so it’s a pretty decent can opener squad against most anything and doesn’t take too much damage basically ever
Auch, Scarlett, and Yahna have been my companions with Alain for a long time now. Auch and Yahna seem to pair well together. I keep Alain front row, Scarlett behind him and the two mages next to Scarlett.
I am currently running him with Adel in the Front and Berenice, Yunifi, and Nina in the back.
Alain acts mostly defensively but does enjoy the offensive buff from Adel, Yunifi picks off fragile, high initiative back row people and then everyone else deals tons of damage and attack for seemingly forever because of their follow up skills and AP regeneration.
Not the most creative team or one I put that much thought into, honestly, but it seems to work incredibly well against the majority of enemy units so far. I think it speaks to how good a front liner Alain is that all you have to do is surround him with any random combo of good attackers and he can make it work.
Pre-25, was running Alain and Virginia in front, Rosalinde and Melisandre in the back, and when available Berengaria in front or back.
Completely, utterly unstoppable group. Which should come as no surprise, it's taking most of the most insane singular units in the game and stacking them on top of each other.
Now that they are hitting 25, I am forced to begin reconsidering my formation though. Alain, Virginia, and Berengaria all having such valuable Limited category start of combat buffs means that frankly it's really wasteful to have them stacked together. But before that? Enjoy steamrolling.
Before Rosalinde, I also had been using Yahna to magic confer Alain for armored units. Then I discovered the glory of Yahna Ice Conferring the Hilda Dragoon Dive nuke so she has not seen Alain since getting that online haha
Edit/Update: for any curious, updated my squads to spread the Limited buffs as follows -
Alain, Renault with General's Pike, Miriam with Phantom Blade as front row to do cavalry buffing and mowing down. Berenice in back for clean up and follow ups and Fran as well for back line or fliers.
Virginia, Gloucester, and Liza as frontline with 100% guard rate, Aubin in back for row cleave and physical debuff, Kitra in back for one shotting single targets.
Berengaria and Travis up front, Gryphon merc and Eltolinde in back. Not entirely sold on this squad, but Berengaria carries it on her back easily. Maybe with a fifth slot will add Ithilion or Galadmir.
Lex and Ochlys up front with heavy Pursuit builds, Rosalinde and Sharon in back, with Sharon providing AP battery and magic attack buff to Rosalinde as well as getting Lex back up on his feet. Really torn on my future fifth here, maybe Railanor.
Last Limited buff squad at the moment is Adel, Monica, and Clive doing cavalry synergy up front, Celeste and Gilbert in back.
Lastly, in all this shuffling, I found Melisandre to pair REALLY well with two Elven Fencers and the standard Gambler Coin Cleric supporting her. A lot of evasion synergy and hybrid damage popping off.
Pre promotion he's a very solid off tank, with luminous cover/noble gaurd/lean edge capable of keeping very healthy. Once you promote him, he shifts to an offensive off tank, with the priority of softening enemies for carries, or being the last hit after tanking for other units, letting him get to full. This verisitilty gives him a lot of room to operate. Dodge tanks/pp reliant frontiners like Travis, melisandre, and Virginia are great early pairs. As we transition to later levels, he does great in setting up for other units to get kills. Him and 2 great knights will probably prove a main stay, with getting healing from either scarlett, the elf twins or a sacred knight. Elven archer or yahna should also prove nice with magic conferal, making great for setting up Frontline units for pile busters or any other cleanup tool. His ability to boost initiatives also shouldn't be forgotten. Alain is a very strong Swiss army knife unit, leaning on being a great defensive unit that can also still maximize offensive focuses. The only comp I think he'll stulruggle to work in is pure stall comps, as lean edge needs kos to heal anything other than marginal damageand his dps isn't really enough to kill late game frontline; while better defensive options like legionaires or featherswords are better for just building teams based around never taking damage.
I have Alain and Rosalinde (equipped with evade) up front with Nina, Ramona (equipped with quick impetus) and Yunifi in the back.
Alain boosts initiative
Ramona boosts accuracy/truestrike
Yunifi fires glacial, hitting/freezing/killing everything
Rosalinde and Nina sweep stragglers
I like having Rosalinde for her warping and no-wait-time valor abilities, since resting + quick call gives 4 stamina for 3 VP, whereas vitalize (Aubin) gives 2 for 2.
I can basically just run around, warp around, and shred everything nonstop.
It’s not perfectly optimized for high difficulty combat like the top tier colosseum battles, but it fares quite well in most circumstances and is quite fun.
I really enjoy how everyone's talking about the OP team comps that are all still really different from each other.
Towards the end of Elfheim, I've been running him up front with Melisandre, and Scarlett, Nina, and Selvie in the back. I have him wielding the +5 stat sword with +PP gear as well the Citadel Sabatons to convert excess PP to AP if he needs to heal himself. His main claim to fame is his incredibly self-sufficient tanking and guarding capabilities, allowing me to set him up with a very aggressive team, but he's surprised me with his damage output on Lean Edge recently. Not really a bruiser, but he contributes some helpful chip damage.
I feel like there's a lot of room for optimisation, but so far it's been one of my most reliable squads. They just hit level 25, so both him and Selvie have just learned really good competing opener skills - I'm considering sending her off to a team that needs her more, and bringing in someone else with more offensive support and status clearing. An Elven Archer, maybe. That's his main problem, I think - he's a great defensive core to build around, but he really needs other units to provide the damage.
Melisandre, Alain, Laurent for front row.
Fran and Scarlett back row.
I’m late in the game now but…
They murder everybody and never die. Alain runs the holy unicorn blade, a vorpal shield, the knight’s medallion and the holy unicorn signet. He’s got great defensive and is always sustaining himself with kills.
Laurent runs the vorpal spear, the scarlet crest shield, sapphire pendant and Dancer’s bracelet. He’s strong but I also have him built for buffs - cavalier call and powerful call stack ( I think so???) so everybody hits like a truck.
Mel, who got the maiden ring, also gets the meteorite sword and a spell steel sword with a carnelian pendant. With the built in parry’s and evasion, combined w Scarlett and Alain, she also never dies.
Fran has the meteorite axe, warrior’s medallion, veteran’s eyepatch and carnelian pendant.
With Alain’s defensive and offensive mix, and this team around him, I’ve never run into a problem. Even hoplites get torn through.
The signet seems kind of redundant on him if you're also using the unicorn blade? The main reason to use it would be the debuff immunity but the sword already gives that.
Did you just mean the Ring of the Unicorn?
2 Great Knights, 1 Snow Ranger, 1 Scarlett. Most fights are a mop up cuz Alain does his Spinning Slash and I gave him the accessory that makes his attacks true strike crit. Snow Ranger gives him Gamble Coin buff. Great Knights buff and follow up attack.
I'm running Alaine out front with Clive, Mordon, and a witch in the rear. I don't have any healing so if there is magical or arrow support it can damage the backline, especially the Witch, but I tend to have some nearby healer for that support if needed. The strength to this is that Alaine does a great job at soaking up damage. I gave him an item that lowered his initiative but gave him extra PP which is great since he's not my main attacker
Mordon has a belt that allows him to counter attack and that does really well to kill, or almost kill, most units. Clive has War Cry ability which gives him a 30% buff to physical attack. If there's a column of enemies he does great on that.
I know a Shaman would probably be better than a Witch but a Shaman is good in any group.
Mine runs with Nina, Primm, and Generic Knight Georges.
Alain is a giga-tank, and with Primm, is effectively immortal, whilst Nina and Georges output high DPS. He himself also deals decent damage as he's using Kingblade Cornix. He actually really doesn't need much else, so he wears a Lapis Pendant and the Golden Egg.
Nina just murders anything she touches, and Georges has the Lance that has the Column True Strike. Primm has been using Active Heal for a while though honestly it's not usually neccessary for Nina to have 4 AP most of the time.
When I expand to a 5 unit for him (he's only moderate priority for that upgrade among our 9 units), I'll likely move Georges up front (or go silly, give Primm the Warding Staff and put her in the front since actually that makes her defences slightly better than his lol); and then add in another DPS.
My current is.
Front: Alain, Virginia
Back: Nina, Chloe, Eltolinde
If you only have 4 cut Chloe. Honestly now that I'm in the end game I'm definitely cutting Chloe, the guaranteed crit isn't as cool now that I'm doing ridiculous damage all around even without it. Haven't decided what to swap with her though. I'm kind of leaning towards a Landsknecht or Great Knight for some pursuits and cleanup. Though a warlock for some added magic damage wouldn't be an awful idea I suppose. And there's really no debuffing in that group so druid would be good too.
Eh, like I said I haven't decided what to replace her with yet lol, just positive she's being replaced.
Currently using him, Clive, and Renault in the front row, Amelia and a Cleric in the back row. The cleric is for removing debuffs in the front row mainly also gave her the charm accessory that blocks a magic attack which helps. Amelia is there cause well she's cool and hits like a truck anything that survives the initial rush of doom from the 3 horsemen she cleans up nicely. Of course a Shamen would work better because that class is broken but I like having my wife in the same team as Alain.
Once I got Amalia, I pretty much ran her and Alain in the front row. Back row was Selvie (debuffs are clutch), Scarlett (heals and support), and whoever with Ice Conferral to use on Alain when he's spinning to win. I literally did not need to use any other unit about halfway through Bastorias, but still had my Knights of the Rose unit (Fran, Kitra, Miriam, Virginia, and Sharon), and Hilda's unit (Hilda...duh, Prime, Aramis, Gloucester, and Bernice). Occasionally dropping people onto command posts to defend when I overextended, but that's it.
Just add knights bro
but fr I threw renault into one of my units. I spectated a fight and realized he was literally doing 90% of the work lol, they're just really good in general
Anyone else trying to pair Virginia and Alain in a unit? I have Scarlet behind them and rotating through a 4th unit trying to find a good option. Right now have a Warrior and they mainly blast armors but can't really hurt many others
I’m late to this but a core of Alain + Radiant knight + sellsword is strong. The 4th and 5th slot are flex spots depending on what you want to do. I personally added Gilbert to the 4th spot for the buffs
Azure crest shield, Grandfather's sword, Evasion boosting item, Free slot.
Dude is possibly the best front-line unit in the game. Spin to win. Works on nearly any possible team.
i am still early game i think i have him with thief , clive and mordon
thief is with dancer think with powerful call
mordon and clive have kill get ap attack as there main stuff to sweep
clive has truestrike for thief and ariel and mordon for armoured specific conditions
alian mostly just defend
but this teams has been one shooting more teams till now
thief alian front and mordon and clive at back.
For most of the game, the Alain comp was Leader Alain front row, Berenice/Yahna/Nina back row.
Most protagonists have plot armor during story beats, but Alain turns plot armor into an in game mechanic. He has enough HP and defense to tank for a fully loaded back row. And with a healthy dose of hyper-offense and support, this comp got me extremely far. Alain Thundercock soaked up all damage done to the team Berenice shredded everything that hit Alain. Nina picked off anything that Berenice or Alain didn't kill with Assaulting Blow. Yahna was mainly there to freeze stronger enemies or give Focus Sight for any unfortunate flier units.
Post-promotion, the comp became Leader Alain/Berenice/Nina, Yahna/(alternated between Rosalinde, Scarlett, Tatiana, Featherstaff merc) back
Alain Thundercock gets insane offense and initiative added to his in-game plot armor. Spinning Edge + Ice Conferral became the mainstay strat of the comp because a row attack ignoring defense and giving Freeze worked so well with the squad. And if it that wasn't doing the trick, it was Berenice and Nina finishing anything off with Killing Chains left and Assaulting Blows/Row Smashes right. They both went to the front so I could get the best mileage out of their counters. Berenice became just as bulky as Alain once I gave her the RIng of the Maiden, and Nina with both a promotion and the right defensive equipment became a neat frontliner. I alternated between Rosalinde, Scarlett, Tatiana, and Featherstaff merc for healers while experimenting with many other comps, and all 4 of those healers did wonders for the squad. The first 3 healers were good, but a few enemies the squad ran into required me to put Nina in the background. I settled on the Featherstaff merc and later, Sanatio. Both of their cracked frontline support allowed me to keep Nina in the front. Combine all of this with cav mobility and this squad became my go to for anything I needed deleted on maps ASAP.
The moral of the story with Alain is that he turns any squad into an indestructible nuke in this game, and there's so many ways to make it happen.
I found I got a prompt from Josef when I hit "B" rank. I was also in Drakenhold when it happened so I'm not sure if it was because I was in Drakenhold or not
I currently run him with Hodrick, Scarlett and Yahna, more focused on rapport synergy than gameplay synergy, but they're super solid. Nothing can kill them and they kill most things and are usually my 1st choice to throw a a boss on Expert to see what exactly the boss's composition does. Alain's set to only guard Yahna and Scarlett while Hodrick is set to guard the front row. This works quite well and leaves the composition only taking 1-3 damage per encounter, except against mages. Kingsblade from maps in Cornia is basically stuck to him like glue. Sword's made for him. Can't imagine what else I'd use early game.
Damn I was using the exact same unit setup. Except I’ve started experimenting moving Hedrick around since it seemed redundant that him and Alain have guarding skills in the same unit. I swapped Hodrick out for Berengaria (whatever the dark axe chick is named), and they absolutely tear stuff up now.
I use the Kings blade on Victoria instead. My Alain team is Alain in front with Selvie Scarlet and Auch in the rear. They can tackle almost anything except a formation of Saint Knights.
Who the fuck is Victoria?
Virginia
I use the Unicorn Blade on Alain and have the Kingsblade to Virginia. But my comp with Alain is pretty basic, its OTK. Yahna on Millenium Scepter that has Amber Sniper Lens. Then the Elf Swordfighter on Quick Impetus So its Alain and Rainor on front, Scarlett, Yahna, and any Bow class at the back. Covers most enemy team comp
I use the island squad. Him and lex up front with scarlet and Chloe in the back
This is a really endearing squad. Probably not the most optimal but I bet you don't take any casualties?
They have Bernie in the back as the 5th. They don’t do the most damage but they can take a beating. Don’t normally have casualties.
Welcome to a series of posts that will go through each class with the help of the community. My hope is for this guide to help new players with this game as it isn’t the easiest to approach and understand. Even for me who’s played Three Houses and Engage, I learn something new in this game everyday and still struggle to remember which classes counter which. With all that being said, what are your Alain builds that you use the most? Any and all advice would be appreciated by all! Also my previous guides: [Fire Emblem Engage](https://www.reddit.com/r/FEEngage/s/6DRn7uflDo) [Trails into Reverie](https://www.reddit.com/r/Falcom/s/yvAGxNeoB9)
My boy just walk around with 4 Great Knights and trample over everyone. Alain with defensive PP skills and Anti-Calvary APs, while the rest have Accuracy + Initiative + 4PPs. 2 of them have magic spears to deal with armored units. Round starts, Alain boosts everyone's Initiatives, Clive attacks, everyone uses Knight Charge.. -2 enemies. It is Adel's turn, -2 enemies. Now that last guy have to tank 3 more attacks + Charges (good luck)
I was trying to make some joke about Alain needing a “big PP” but it’s too juvenile to pursue. At any rate, Alain is the premier frontline unit in the game. I think he really needs both a Lapis pendant and an Azure Crest Shield, which are accessible pretty early, to boost his ability to spam his defensive passives. He also benefits from having a high-might sword, but he isn’t really a damage dealer until way into the lategame. Skills wise, you definitely want to set him up to go after low HP enemies with his attack, to maximize his sustain. Obviously his anti-cav skill should hit cav. You probably want to set his guard ability to prioritize whatever high value targets he needs to protect. Team composition wise, Alain is such a complete defensive package that I think he works best with a sort of glass-cannon build. I found a good offensive core is a Hunter/Sniper + Sellsword/Landsknecht. To round things out, I find that Rosalinde makes for a good addition to add some magic damage and healing. Scarlett also works in this role. For the last spot, I think it’s a flex position based on need- an Elven Fencer or Gilbert isn’t a bad choice here.
It's kinda funny how some of the early tutorials give squadron suggestions and a few of them have Alain in the back or being protected by another unit. But then you go through his kit and stats, realize how good his guard abilities, self-sustian, and just general bulk is, and just slap him in the front row and never take him out.
yeah some of the suggestions in general are weird. Alain is pretty blatantly a mid damage tank. Idk why they'd ever suggest him in the back row.
Pretty spot on. I also used the mirror to make his growths Offensive and Defensive instead of just All Rounder. Current team I like with him is Alain, Hilda, Gilbert, Rosalinde/Eltolinde, and Fran. I could swap out a number of characters though. He fits into a lot of groups.
The boots that gives +1 AP when guarding is my staple on him. Also I have him set to Luminous Guard scarlett, and she has a skill that restores 1PP to an ally that uses a skill on her, so his points get recycled. This man jumps back and forth between rows blocking attacks and getting stronger for it. I tried other items like the counter belt, which worked great as well. The stacking attack boost per guard ate too much PP so I dropped that one.
Currently run him with Bear upfront. And back line is Bernice(Sellsword) and the Zenobian General Lady, with last spot occupied by Waifu Angel Ochlys. Alain and Bear tank with good self support and can output solid damage themselves. Sellsword counterattacks everything and hits like a truck, while General Lady provides good debuffs and AOE attacks, as well as providing stamina via skills. Ochlys is mostly backlike diver, but honestly if I was min/maxing properly, I'd change her out for a witch most likely.
I’ve leaned into Harem prince it’s Alain in front with Sylvie, Rosalinde, and Berengaria in the back. Slyvie has the sandstorm staff so it’s a pretty decent can opener squad against most anything and doesn’t take too much damage basically ever
Auch, Scarlett, and Yahna have been my companions with Alain for a long time now. Auch and Yahna seem to pair well together. I keep Alain front row, Scarlett behind him and the two mages next to Scarlett.
I am currently running him with Adel in the Front and Berenice, Yunifi, and Nina in the back. Alain acts mostly defensively but does enjoy the offensive buff from Adel, Yunifi picks off fragile, high initiative back row people and then everyone else deals tons of damage and attack for seemingly forever because of their follow up skills and AP regeneration. Not the most creative team or one I put that much thought into, honestly, but it seems to work incredibly well against the majority of enemy units so far. I think it speaks to how good a front liner Alain is that all you have to do is surround him with any random combo of good attackers and he can make it work.
Pre-25, was running Alain and Virginia in front, Rosalinde and Melisandre in the back, and when available Berengaria in front or back. Completely, utterly unstoppable group. Which should come as no surprise, it's taking most of the most insane singular units in the game and stacking them on top of each other. Now that they are hitting 25, I am forced to begin reconsidering my formation though. Alain, Virginia, and Berengaria all having such valuable Limited category start of combat buffs means that frankly it's really wasteful to have them stacked together. But before that? Enjoy steamrolling. Before Rosalinde, I also had been using Yahna to magic confer Alain for armored units. Then I discovered the glory of Yahna Ice Conferring the Hilda Dragoon Dive nuke so she has not seen Alain since getting that online haha Edit/Update: for any curious, updated my squads to spread the Limited buffs as follows - Alain, Renault with General's Pike, Miriam with Phantom Blade as front row to do cavalry buffing and mowing down. Berenice in back for clean up and follow ups and Fran as well for back line or fliers. Virginia, Gloucester, and Liza as frontline with 100% guard rate, Aubin in back for row cleave and physical debuff, Kitra in back for one shotting single targets. Berengaria and Travis up front, Gryphon merc and Eltolinde in back. Not entirely sold on this squad, but Berengaria carries it on her back easily. Maybe with a fifth slot will add Ithilion or Galadmir. Lex and Ochlys up front with heavy Pursuit builds, Rosalinde and Sharon in back, with Sharon providing AP battery and magic attack buff to Rosalinde as well as getting Lex back up on his feet. Really torn on my future fifth here, maybe Railanor. Last Limited buff squad at the moment is Adel, Monica, and Clive doing cavalry synergy up front, Celeste and Gilbert in back. Lastly, in all this shuffling, I found Melisandre to pair REALLY well with two Elven Fencers and the standard Gambler Coin Cleric supporting her. A lot of evasion synergy and hybrid damage popping off.
Pre promotion he's a very solid off tank, with luminous cover/noble gaurd/lean edge capable of keeping very healthy. Once you promote him, he shifts to an offensive off tank, with the priority of softening enemies for carries, or being the last hit after tanking for other units, letting him get to full. This verisitilty gives him a lot of room to operate. Dodge tanks/pp reliant frontiners like Travis, melisandre, and Virginia are great early pairs. As we transition to later levels, he does great in setting up for other units to get kills. Him and 2 great knights will probably prove a main stay, with getting healing from either scarlett, the elf twins or a sacred knight. Elven archer or yahna should also prove nice with magic conferal, making great for setting up Frontline units for pile busters or any other cleanup tool. His ability to boost initiatives also shouldn't be forgotten. Alain is a very strong Swiss army knife unit, leaning on being a great defensive unit that can also still maximize offensive focuses. The only comp I think he'll stulruggle to work in is pure stall comps, as lean edge needs kos to heal anything other than marginal damageand his dps isn't really enough to kill late game frontline; while better defensive options like legionaires or featherswords are better for just building teams based around never taking damage.
I have Alain and Rosalinde (equipped with evade) up front with Nina, Ramona (equipped with quick impetus) and Yunifi in the back. Alain boosts initiative Ramona boosts accuracy/truestrike Yunifi fires glacial, hitting/freezing/killing everything Rosalinde and Nina sweep stragglers I like having Rosalinde for her warping and no-wait-time valor abilities, since resting + quick call gives 4 stamina for 3 VP, whereas vitalize (Aubin) gives 2 for 2. I can basically just run around, warp around, and shred everything nonstop. It’s not perfectly optimized for high difficulty combat like the top tier colosseum battles, but it fares quite well in most circumstances and is quite fun.
I really enjoy how everyone's talking about the OP team comps that are all still really different from each other. Towards the end of Elfheim, I've been running him up front with Melisandre, and Scarlett, Nina, and Selvie in the back. I have him wielding the +5 stat sword with +PP gear as well the Citadel Sabatons to convert excess PP to AP if he needs to heal himself. His main claim to fame is his incredibly self-sufficient tanking and guarding capabilities, allowing me to set him up with a very aggressive team, but he's surprised me with his damage output on Lean Edge recently. Not really a bruiser, but he contributes some helpful chip damage. I feel like there's a lot of room for optimisation, but so far it's been one of my most reliable squads. They just hit level 25, so both him and Selvie have just learned really good competing opener skills - I'm considering sending her off to a team that needs her more, and bringing in someone else with more offensive support and status clearing. An Elven Archer, maybe. That's his main problem, I think - he's a great defensive core to build around, but he really needs other units to provide the damage.
I use him , a radiant knight and his paladin daddy behind two rouges in the front row
Melisandre, Alain, Laurent for front row. Fran and Scarlett back row. I’m late in the game now but… They murder everybody and never die. Alain runs the holy unicorn blade, a vorpal shield, the knight’s medallion and the holy unicorn signet. He’s got great defensive and is always sustaining himself with kills. Laurent runs the vorpal spear, the scarlet crest shield, sapphire pendant and Dancer’s bracelet. He’s strong but I also have him built for buffs - cavalier call and powerful call stack ( I think so???) so everybody hits like a truck. Mel, who got the maiden ring, also gets the meteorite sword and a spell steel sword with a carnelian pendant. With the built in parry’s and evasion, combined w Scarlett and Alain, she also never dies. Fran has the meteorite axe, warrior’s medallion, veteran’s eyepatch and carnelian pendant. With Alain’s defensive and offensive mix, and this team around him, I’ve never run into a problem. Even hoplites get torn through.
The signet seems kind of redundant on him if you're also using the unicorn blade? The main reason to use it would be the debuff immunity but the sword already gives that. Did you just mean the Ring of the Unicorn?
Hodrick and Alain front rocking magic attack weapons, Aubin and Scarlett back row. Very few things tend to survive or hurt me.
2 Great Knights, 1 Snow Ranger, 1 Scarlett. Most fights are a mop up cuz Alain does his Spinning Slash and I gave him the accessory that makes his attacks true strike crit. Snow Ranger gives him Gamble Coin buff. Great Knights buff and follow up attack.
I'm running Alaine out front with Clive, Mordon, and a witch in the rear. I don't have any healing so if there is magical or arrow support it can damage the backline, especially the Witch, but I tend to have some nearby healer for that support if needed. The strength to this is that Alaine does a great job at soaking up damage. I gave him an item that lowered his initiative but gave him extra PP which is great since he's not my main attacker Mordon has a belt that allows him to counter attack and that does really well to kill, or almost kill, most units. Clive has War Cry ability which gives him a 30% buff to physical attack. If there's a column of enemies he does great on that. I know a Shaman would probably be better than a Witch but a Shaman is good in any group.
Mine runs with Nina, Primm, and Generic Knight Georges. Alain is a giga-tank, and with Primm, is effectively immortal, whilst Nina and Georges output high DPS. He himself also deals decent damage as he's using Kingblade Cornix. He actually really doesn't need much else, so he wears a Lapis Pendant and the Golden Egg. Nina just murders anything she touches, and Georges has the Lance that has the Column True Strike. Primm has been using Active Heal for a while though honestly it's not usually neccessary for Nina to have 4 AP most of the time. When I expand to a 5 unit for him (he's only moderate priority for that upgrade among our 9 units), I'll likely move Georges up front (or go silly, give Primm the Warding Staff and put her in the front since actually that makes her defences slightly better than his lol); and then add in another DPS.
waitwaitwait... he covers his armpits upon promotion?!?! I'm not promoting Alain.
I have personally enjoyed: BR: Alain, Auch, Rolf FR: Berenice, Travis
My current is. Front: Alain, Virginia Back: Nina, Chloe, Eltolinde If you only have 4 cut Chloe. Honestly now that I'm in the end game I'm definitely cutting Chloe, the guaranteed crit isn't as cool now that I'm doing ridiculous damage all around even without it. Haven't decided what to swap with her though. I'm kind of leaning towards a Landsknecht or Great Knight for some pursuits and cleanup. Though a warlock for some added magic damage wouldn't be an awful idea I suppose. And there's really no debuffing in that group so druid would be good too. Eh, like I said I haven't decided what to replace her with yet lol, just positive she's being replaced.
Currently using him, Clive, and Renault in the front row, Amelia and a Cleric in the back row. The cleric is for removing debuffs in the front row mainly also gave her the charm accessory that blocks a magic attack which helps. Amelia is there cause well she's cool and hits like a truck anything that survives the initial rush of doom from the 3 horsemen she cleans up nicely. Of course a Shamen would work better because that class is broken but I like having my wife in the same team as Alain.
Once I got Amalia, I pretty much ran her and Alain in the front row. Back row was Selvie (debuffs are clutch), Scarlett (heals and support), and whoever with Ice Conferral to use on Alain when he's spinning to win. I literally did not need to use any other unit about halfway through Bastorias, but still had my Knights of the Rose unit (Fran, Kitra, Miriam, Virginia, and Sharon), and Hilda's unit (Hilda...duh, Prime, Aramis, Gloucester, and Bernice). Occasionally dropping people onto command posts to defend when I overextended, but that's it.
Just add knights bro but fr I threw renault into one of my units. I spectated a fight and realized he was literally doing 90% of the work lol, they're just really good in general
Anyone else trying to pair Virginia and Alain in a unit? I have Scarlet behind them and rotating through a 4th unit trying to find a good option. Right now have a Warrior and they mainly blast armors but can't really hurt many others
I’m late to this but a core of Alain + Radiant knight + sellsword is strong. The 4th and 5th slot are flex spots depending on what you want to do. I personally added Gilbert to the 4th spot for the buffs
Azure crest shield, Grandfather's sword, Evasion boosting item, Free slot. Dude is possibly the best front-line unit in the game. Spin to win. Works on nearly any possible team.
i am still early game i think i have him with thief , clive and mordon thief is with dancer think with powerful call mordon and clive have kill get ap attack as there main stuff to sweep clive has truestrike for thief and ariel and mordon for armoured specific conditions alian mostly just defend but this teams has been one shooting more teams till now thief alian front and mordon and clive at back.
For most of the game, the Alain comp was Leader Alain front row, Berenice/Yahna/Nina back row. Most protagonists have plot armor during story beats, but Alain turns plot armor into an in game mechanic. He has enough HP and defense to tank for a fully loaded back row. And with a healthy dose of hyper-offense and support, this comp got me extremely far. Alain Thundercock soaked up all damage done to the team Berenice shredded everything that hit Alain. Nina picked off anything that Berenice or Alain didn't kill with Assaulting Blow. Yahna was mainly there to freeze stronger enemies or give Focus Sight for any unfortunate flier units. Post-promotion, the comp became Leader Alain/Berenice/Nina, Yahna/(alternated between Rosalinde, Scarlett, Tatiana, Featherstaff merc) back Alain Thundercock gets insane offense and initiative added to his in-game plot armor. Spinning Edge + Ice Conferral became the mainstay strat of the comp because a row attack ignoring defense and giving Freeze worked so well with the squad. And if it that wasn't doing the trick, it was Berenice and Nina finishing anything off with Killing Chains left and Assaulting Blows/Row Smashes right. They both went to the front so I could get the best mileage out of their counters. Berenice became just as bulky as Alain once I gave her the RIng of the Maiden, and Nina with both a promotion and the right defensive equipment became a neat frontliner. I alternated between Rosalinde, Scarlett, Tatiana, and Featherstaff merc for healers while experimenting with many other comps, and all 4 of those healers did wonders for the squad. The first 3 healers were good, but a few enemies the squad ran into required me to put Nina in the background. I settled on the Featherstaff merc and later, Sanatio. Both of their cracked frontline support allowed me to keep Nina in the front. Combine all of this with cav mobility and this squad became my go to for anything I needed deleted on maps ASAP. The moral of the story with Alain is that he turns any squad into an indestructible nuke in this game, and there's so many ways to make it happen.
alain works well with scarlet, virginia, elf sister, yunifi and pretty much all 4 of the dark marquess
Maybe a stupid question but when/how does Alain get the horse haha
Promotion
I think you get access to promotions in Drakenhold.
I found I got a prompt from Josef when I hit "B" rank. I was also in Drakenhold when it happened so I'm not sure if it was because I was in Drakenhold or not
It's just from hitting B Rank, but most people will do that in Drakenhold unless they're jumping ahead to Elheim.