Fire Emblem: Three Houses' Maddening Mode is one of the most arduous difficulty options within a recent Fire Emblem game. With reduced experience gains, devastating enemies that possess troublesome abilities like pass, and unpredictable "ambush spawns," Maddening Mode requires much more planning and foresight than the game's other difficulties.
While Maddening Mode may seem unfair or even impossible to players at first glance, there are many ways that players can make their Maddening experience much more manageable. So today, we're going to discuss ten strategies and ways that a player can optimize their gameplay and successfully make their way through Maddening Mode!
10 Garden
For new players, the Garden at Garreg Mach is often one of the most overlooked facilities available. Each weak, players can plant and harvest seeds, yielding various crops depending on what seeds were planted.
In Maddening Mode, the Garden can be used to obtain items that can permanently boost a unit's stats. Notably, if a player invests in purple flower seeds and plants the maximum amount of seeds possible, they have a high chance of obtaining a Rocky Burdock. This item can be consumed to increase the strength of a unit by one. If purple flower seeds are repeatedly planted each week, a player can potentially gain one of these stat boosters every week, allowing a player to greatly increase the strength of their units over time. This is paramount, as this additional strength can allow one's units to fell foes that they couldn't best otherwise.
9 Catherine Is Your Hero
Catherine is a potent swordmaster who wields the potent Thunderbrand and is available in each route, save for Crimson Flower. While Catherine can normally not be recruited until Byleth reaches level fifteen, this level recruitment can be greatly reduced by increasing one's support rank with her. If a player prioritizes giving Catherine gifts and dining with her, Catherine can be recruited quite early into one's playthrough.
As Catherine has set base stats, she has the potential to join a player's army significantly over-leveled, allowing her to function much like a character within the "Jagen" archetype, helping to set up kills for a player's weaker units.
8 Prioritize Range
As anyone whose played the early levels of Maddening Mode can attest, the enemies of this difficulty are incredibly deadly. Even some of the weakest enemies a player can encounter can kill a player's units within one or two rounds of combat. One surefire way to avoid the deaths of units through counterattacks is by equipping any and all units with ranged weaponry. Whether it be in the form of offensive magic, bows, or javelins, attacking enemies from afar is more important than ever when playing Maddening Mode.
7 Combat Arts Are Your Friend
Combat arts were introduced in Three Houses, allowing players to spend additional weapon uses to deal additional damage and cause extra effects when attacking. In Maddening Mode, as enemy units are more resilient than ever, Combat Arts are often the perfect way of pushing additional damage through. Even though the excessive use of Combat Arts may burn through weapon durability at a quicker rate, it is well worth the cost.
6 Get The Most Out Of Gambits
Similarly to combat arts, Gambits are a mechanic introduced in Three Houses that are capable of providing effects such as dealing damage to groups of enemies. Gambits are integral when progressing through Maddening Mode, as each unit they target is stunned and cannot move for a turn.
This allows groups of enemies to be temporarily stalled and more easily dealt with. Additionally, the Stride Gambit can be used to provide groups of allies with additional movement, making navigating around the map much easier.
5 Stock Up With Tournaments
As mentioned, the use of Combat Arts are an extraordinary means of dealing extra damage to enemy units at the expense of weapon durability. As one's weapons will likely be breaking more frequently, the need for new and fixed weaponry will be more pressing that usual. Luckily, Garreg Mach contains an arena for tournaments. Be entering tournaments, a player can earn significant amounts of additional money. While this can take up a player's finite time at the monastery, it can be a consistent way of making sure one has enough funds to equip their army.
4 Commit To Your Units
While many other Fire Emblem games provide a player with new units throughout the game, allowing player's to recruit new units even in many of the latest chapters, this is not the case with Three Houses, especially within Maddening Mode. While players can recruit students from other houses throughout the Academy phase, experience and teaching time are precious resources that should not be squandered. It is in a player's best interest to have a solid idea of which units they plan to use in their Maddening playthroughs so they can make sure that they're experience is going towards the units that they'll be using for the long haul.
3 Cut Your Weak Links
As sad as it is to say, Maddening Mode is incredibly difficult and its a good idea to bench weaker units that don't have what it takes to contend with what Maddening Mode dishes out. Units such as Ashe and Ignatz that have low Strength and Defense growths simply can't contend with the high power and durability of Maddening Mode enemies, so players should employ the most blatantly potent units at their disposal.
2 Maximize Your Monastery Time
Getting the most out of the Monastery is integral when working to complete Maddening Mode. The more actions at a player's disposal each week in the monastery, the more money they can make, and the more they can eat with their students to keep them motivated. This means that players should do everything in their power to raise their Professor Level as quickly as possible, through fishing and other activities.
1 Utilize The Optimal Classes And Skills
While Three Houses is a game that allows for a great deal of character customization, there are some classes and skills that blatantly outshine others. While players may have personal favorite classes, we implore players trying to make their way through Maddening to utilize the best possible classes for their students such as Wyvern Lord, War Master, and Gremory, and gearing them up with incredible skills such as Death Blow, Fiendish Blow, and Quick Riposte.