You should throw a bone to Cai and give him all the kiddos to complete the daycare route

I think one big factor you forgot to consider is Cai's animal tending. Units that you want to end up making into mounted classes have a good reason to join Cai for the extra abilities gained by increasing support with a steed or an ornius.

I got choice paralysis with the amount of units in the game. Thanks for the video

if they have support convo, they belong

Okay, going to be bookmarking this one for sure.
That said, as someone who loves the support conversations and chemistry between characters, I would love to see another video where you talk about which unit thematically works the best for a route and where you can get the most out of the support system, especially if one unit chemically works really with another, regardless of the game's limits and restrictions this time around

I myself had already done a ton of research for it, in case any is curious, as there are 16 mercenaries unafiliated or not members of the sublord teams; and 16 members of the sublord teams, i decided to recruit 4 and 4 of each to each team. I decided to keep the sublord teams together for the supports. I ended up with the following list:

Cai: Tialla, Peter, Ultand
Guzran, Majide, Peppe, Nuzzuo
Fianna, Ludia, Simon, Ursula

Dietrich: Fabio, Esmeralda, Mikaela
Yang Jie, Io, Nydine, Noctula
Gaitz, Dante, Goliath, Jester

Theodora: Bonaventure, Tobias, Lysander, Lilian
Sofia, Benditz, Zarcone, Alexandra
Diego, Loretta, Ninae, Seteth

Leda: Buccar, Sirocco, Mu, Olympia
Catania, Jasmine, Inyoni, Kiroc
Dadao, Halvin, Nezha, Sha Lan

Some of the decisions were made because of constraints, like Gaitz only being recruitable on Dietrich's route, or Sha Lan being unavaliable for two routes. The mercs i mostly weighted both story and support level; for example, Majide goes to Cai's team because he only needs support level 2; or Peppe goes to Cai's team because he has ties with Ultand. Also the recruits you are forced to recruit (Guzran, Yang Jie, Sofia and Catania) remain in those routes to avoid overlaps.

Be mindful that doing this will probably mean losing some supports, as there is still much clouded about the availability of some of them with the few content there is about the endgame. So weight if you want to lose watching a handful of support conversations, or to use every character and have them have a place in the story. I chose the second because the support convo quantities of this game is subpar anyway, so I find it the best way of giving screentime to them all.

Goliath might have supports with Cai and Ultand, but he requires 3 giant meats to be recruited. Something Cai can't get outside of getting lucky to find rare meat crates, and then getting lucky for them to gain giant meat.

Guzran is an absolute beast for Cai. He's pretty much my best character in that route.

For Goliath, I think you need to take into consideration that in Cai's path, it is almost impossible to find Giants meat. Golitah might be better on other routes.

I couldn't help myself when it came to who I wanted on the team. I put all the most villain looking people on Dietrichs team, All the kids and moms on Cai's team. All the dancers/poets (with the exception of Mu who is automatic) on Leda, and when I get to Theodora  I will likely do the rough and tough looking warriors

Honestly I think I stopped caring. I will just recruit anyone who I like the look off in whatever route I want. Trying to min max it is just getting to be a headache to what is supposed to be an enjoyable time.

The meals and what not also make it possible to get supports with non recruits, so I will do that.

I think we should absolutely consider gameplay reasons for recruitment. Having access to better mounts in Cai's route and battalions for infantry units in Theodora's make it very clear that units who belong on a mount should probably be recruited by Cai and not Theodora, and units with a good authority stat should also go to Theodora.

Bro hates kai 😭😭😭

I’m pairing the Heroic Games clans so each route gets two intact clans instead of recruiting everyone in one route. Cai’s clan paired with Orchel’s clan, Dietrich’s clan paired with Bertrand’s clan, Theodora’s clan paired with Talimun’s clan, and Leda’s clan paired with Anatolia’s clan.

I literally made an entire list for myself this morning, im so happy for this video 🎉

Ninae, Seteth, and Nydine are really important for Cai’s route.

Beyond just ease, Cai is the only arc in the game where you can get rare mounts. And Ninae as a dark Pegasus + Seteth as a Dragoon + Nydine as Ostrife lady make up a great spread…

It is best to avoid characters with mounts already (like Alexandria) until other routes where mounted units are harder to come by. Honestly for Cai most of your units if not all should be mounted. It’s the best opportunity to grow and get them to that level.

Did the exact same thing using the exact same tier list a couple days ago haha. I know firsthand how much research goes into these resources so thanks for making it something everyone has access to! (I have also been documenting all support levels in a massive google sheet since the game released but there’s probably a much better way to see the options by now)

I wanted Goliath for Cai's route so bad but he requires 3 Giant's Meat and the section of the map where you can fight giants is locked for Cai, and I couldn't get any of the Luxury Meat Boxes to generate Giant's Meat so I had to give up on that nd recruit Jasmine for Cai instead and was so annoyed haha. So Goliath for Dietrich's army it is!

I had to figure this out on my own for my route, but this helps me make comparisons with the other routes. Thanks for the video!

Genuinely was just looking for a vid like this ❤