So I've been thinking about it and I'm just going to be creating this guide now rather than later. This will be a sort of helper tool for anyone playing through Fates in Lunatic Mode, more specifically Conquest atm as it's the only one I've beaten on Lunatic so far. These guides will be done assuming the player does not have DLC (Aside from Before Awakening of course) and is not grinding off of invasions in the Hoshido/Revalations route. A quick note is the Avatar. In a Lunatic run, your best bet for boons are Speed, Strength/Magic or Defense/Resistance as luck, skill and HP won't be needed a whole lot as the avatar has decent growths in them anyway.
Before we do anything else, I must let you guys know that there will be spoilers here. I'll likely be posting 1-2 chapter "guides" every 1-2 days. For now though, this opening post will be here to guide you through chapters 1-5 and some tips in general. I'll start with the tips.
1. Pair Up+Separate=+1 Movement
If you need to get somewhere with a unit or two of them really really quickly, this is the way to go about doing it. This is very basic and even someone who just picked up the game could do it easily. What you do is you pair up one unit with another unit, preferably one with high movement or one that is close to the destination. Move as far as you need to with that unit, switch to the one with lower movement and then separate. This puts one character ahead an extra space by turns end which works really well if you need to get to a unit in danger quickly.
Separate is also a very useful tool when it comes to dealing damage quick and creating chokepoints. If you're in an area that can only be accessed from one side with a small opening of two spaces, it may be a good idea to create a chokepoint by separating. Of course though, this is going to bring me into another point.
2. Pair Ups, Dual Strikes and Chokepoints
Let's get one thing settled here first. Make sure you know which character is marrying who and why. In Lunatic mode, you cannot just S-support some units because you want to. You need to S-support some for better skills, stats and classes on all units involved. Pair ups are better for more than just building up supports though. After five attacks in any combat whatsoever involving two paired up units you will get a free dual guard which guarantees you'll take no damage in one attack of combat. This is your best friend when fighting bosses, hoards of enemies or just tough enemies in general. While pair up is great, the only real drawback to it is that if you're paired up, your partner won't be dealing extra damage meaning if all units on a map are paired up, you effectively get half the attacks you would be getting without pair ups. This is where separation and dual strikes come in. Keeping some units solo and separating at points in a map is a good thing. It means you get more attacks in a turn which may be what you need to kill that one last enemy that has the potential of killing someone. While separated, you're more vulnerable, but if standing next to an ally, both units will strike the enemy. This works really well for thinning hoards of enemies. One thing you need to remember is that enemies will use these tactics against you too, so it's in your best interest to always be on the lookout. Finally Chokepoints. Make sure you abuse these things whenever you can. Keeping large groups of enemies away from your main group is one of the best things you can do in Lunatic mode as it lowers your risk of death by a lot. The best units to put at a chokepoint are paired up, high supported units with either high defense, high resistance or both. Having a weapon with 1-2 range can also help as well. Onto tip 3.
3. Skills and My Castle
Now I know what you're thinking. "What if I don't want to use my castle to get cheap skills at a low price." Don't worry, the game is still possible without it, just slightly harder. This doesn't mean you can't use the My Castle feature at all though. Being able to rack up battle points and visit points allows you to get weapons, stat booster and more which could easily turn a battle to your favor. My Castle also features a wide variety of places that can help you out on and off the field. There's a place to build supports, you can grind supports in castle battles, you can win prizes at the lottery shop, you can take prisoners, get meals, buy seals and buy weapons and staffs and stat boosters. You can also forge weapons and build stat raising statues so it's in your best interest to think about your castle every now and again too. Some skills I'm going to recommend real quickly for anyway going through lunatic are: Rally Strength/Speed/Defense/Resistance/Magic, Shuriken/Bow/Sword/Tome/Axe/Lance-Breaker, Quixotic, Lifetaker, Rend Heaven, Sol, Luna, Astra, Beastbane, Renewal, Even/Odd skills, Sword/Axe/Lance/Bow/Shuriken/Tome-Faire, and seal skills. These can all help a player immensely on any run through the game and it's important to study up on what classes get what skills, something I'll be going further into as we get into characters that change into said classes.
That's all of the main tips for now. More may be added in the future, but for now, here's a guide for chapters 1-5... mostly 2-5.
Expect more either later today or tomorrow.