Them Loptians been workin' their magic on the forest. There are spots that don't look no different from the rest, but you set one foot on 'em and BAM! You get teleported someplace else in the forest, quick as you can blink.
Dark Forest (Japanese:暗黒の森Dark Forest) is the sixteenth chapter ofFire Emblem: Thracia 776. This is the first of two chapters on the "B" route; in order to play this chapter, Leif must have headed headed south towards Millefeuille Forest inthe previous chapter.
Leif's army has an altercation withLinecock's Loptian bishops from a secret temple in Millefeuille Forest. In the forest, he encounters a wanderingSara, who joins his army for enigmatic reasons. He may also encounterShannam, whomHomer can convince to join Leif's army by pitying his choice of siding with Loptian bishops. Once Leif defeats Linecock, he finds PrincessMiranda of Ulster in the Loptian monastery, and she joins his army after briefly arguing with him over who is responsible for her becoming the Empire's hostage. She urges Leif to reclaim Ulster for her, and explains that CountConomor of Ulster used to be her guardian.
This map featureswarp tiles. When a unit waits on a warp tile, they are teleported to a different tile. If the unit uses an action other than wait that ends their turn—such asattacking or using anitem—on the warp tile or another unit is present on the destination tile, that unit is not teleported.
The locations and destinations of warp tiles in this map are:
column 12, row 6 → column 9, row 13 (point 1 → point A)
column 8, row 8 → column 1, row 12 (point 2 → point B)
column 11, row 3 → column 2, row 18 (point 3 → point C)
Stats with two figures separated by a ~ are presented as a range, representing stats that vary due to random growths. The figures to the left and right of the ~ are the stat's minimum and maximum possible values respectively.
Action: ★★★★★ • Does not act. • Teleports to the west (column 2, row 11) on turn 3; to the south (column 12, row 16) on turn 4; and to the southeast (column 17, row 15) on turn 5 if she is alive, uncaptured, and unrecruited each turn.
This section details unofficial strategies that may help with completion of the chapter. This may not work for everybody.
Before you even begin your battle preparations for this map, it is important to note that the map preview here islying. Or more specifically, itleaves out key details that can get your units killed.
The main force of the enemy in this map are high-quality infantry units armed with a wide variety of weapons that are all quite rare and powerful, in addition to the usualRewarpDark Mages. What the map preview doesn't show you is that almost everyone aside from the Loptyrians and the bottom-right squad will be getting either askill or multiple Action starsonce the map begins. These surprise skills and Action stars can easily catch your units off-guard and get them killed.
First of all, bringTina. You'll want to be using theThief staff a lot on this map. Ideally, her Magic should be at least 6; otherwise, she won't be able to target the boss of the map. As for the rest of your deployment, pick fliers and strong foot units; this map can be a great time for your mounted units to take a break, as they won't be doing much when 90% of the map is forest. If you have any uses ofRepair left, bring it andSafy; there's a lot of good stuff to steal and it's well worth repairing the Thief staff to do so.
The first order of business is to have another staff user castM Up on Tina, so she can target the boss,Linecock; this requires her personal magic be 6 or better. Linecock carries the firstBerserk in the game, and if you give him time to use it, the consequences can be devastating. As he is on a Gate, you can't shut him down with status staves of your own, so the solution is to simply take his most dangerous weapon away from him. If you can't target him because Tina's Magic is too low, she is dead/captured, or fatigued without an S-drink, then you'll be forced to wait out the Berserk. While Linecock does start close enough that a 9-mov flier can melee him on turn 1 if starting in deployment slots 1, 3, or 5, rushing in is not a good idea as he is very bulky.Deen, with hisDragon Lance, only has 61 hit with his base stats, before authority, and only does 8 damage per hit; despite a 11% base crit rate (33% on follow-ups), Linecock is so durable that 2 hits and a crit aren't enough to bring him down, by which point Deen's substantial miss chance rears its ugly head. If you cannot steal the Berserk staff on turn 1, it's better to wait out the Berserk uses and just cure them withRestore.
Enemy Berserk casters target based on HP; they will target the healthiest (as in having the highestcurrent HP), armed unit who has lower magic than themselves and isn't already statused. As physical units tend to have the best HP stats, as well as the worst Magic stats, they are the prime targets. Notably, this targeting algorithm is absolute, so you will know exactly who is being targeted by Berserk as long as you understand the targeting rules. Because enemy Berserk targeting prioritizes current HP, you can easily neutralize Linecock by just having your unit with the highest Max HP (and 11 or less Magic) not enter combat, thus ensuring that they will be the target of Linekock's Berserk, which you then counteract by having a Restore caster stand right next to them.Dagdar will almost certainly be this unit if deployed, due to this massive HP base that is unlikely to be surpassed by other units. Thus, on the flip side, if you don't bring Dagdar, there's a very good possibility that Deen will be the healthiest unit, especially if he hasn't been injured yet; as Deen is a flier and likely to be using his flier mobility to move over terrain to attack enemies, he is most prone to being out of position when Berserked, with no-one near enough to cure him.
As for the rest of the map, it is necessary to beware of the hidden Warp traps that can send your units every which way. They will only go off if you issue the "Wait" command directly on them though, so doing things like drinking aVulnerary, attacking an enemy in range, or being dropped onto the Warp trap by arescuer will not set them off. Fortunately, all the Warp traps do on this map is set you back; none of them teleport you into outright danger, as in the areas reachable by the enemies. They will mostly just be an annoyance that makes you waste turns when attempting to reach the escape point.
The most important task on this map, other than surviving it, is to haveLeif recruitSara, arguably one of the best Staff users, and mandatory if the player wants to accessChapter 24x. Sara will appear on the western ledge on turn 3, then in the south-center on turn 4, and finally behind theBerserker squad on turn 5. You really do not want Sara behind the Berserker squad, as it is the single most dangerous group of enemies on the map. Instead, recruit her at either of her first two locations. If you want to recruit Sara on turn 3, simply have a flier carry and drop Leif onto the western ledge, and have him wait for her there. If you want to recruit Sara on turn 4, just have Leif head due west of his starting position and wait in the right half of the clearing.
As for progressing through the map itself, it is highly recommend to head up the western side of the map, rather than attempting to head east. The Berserker squad is extremely dangerous and should not be approached without a solid plan, due to their high stats andWrath. That being said, one of the Berserkers has the secondVouge in the game, which is an excellent target for Tina and her Thief staff; using Repair on the Thief staff to grab Vouge #2 is more efficient than using a charge of Repair on Vouge #1.
Etymology and other languages
Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language
Name
Definition, etymology, and notes
English (unofficial)
• The Dark Forest • Dark Forest
• Used in FireLizard's translation. • Used in the Lil' Mansterfan translation patch.
Map of the chapter
