—Opening Narration
Last Hope is Chapter 19 of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. You must protect Mansel for 13 turns or defeat Riev, whichever comes first. This is a Fog of War chapter. You will receive 10000 gold at the end of the chapter, along with the Sacred Twins Ivaldi and Latona. This is the last chapter in which you will fight soldiers from Grado.
Enemy Reinforcements[]
- Turn 2: 2 Swordmasters and 1 Great Knight from the south west (right stairs)
- Turn 3: Warrior and Sniper from the north east, Mage Knight, Warrior, Ranger and Paladin from the south west (left stairs), and 2 Swordmasters and Great Knight from the south west (right stairs)
- Turn 4: 2 Heroes from the north east, Mage Knight, Warrior, Ranger and Paladin from the south west (left stairs), and 2 Swordmasters and Great Knight from the south west (right stairs)
- Turn 5: Warrior and Sniper from the north east, Mage Knight, Warrior, Ranger and Paladin from the south west (left stairs), and 2 Swordmasters and Great Knight from the south west (right stairs)
- Turn 6: 2 Heroes from the north east, Mage Knight, Warrior, Ranger and Paladin from the south west (left stairs), and 2 Swordmasters and Great Knight from the south west (right stairs), Thief from the west (outside the treasure room), and Thief from the east (south of the treasure room)
- Turn 7: Warrior and Sniper from the north east, Mage Knight, Warrior, Ranger and Paladin from the south west (left stairs), and 2 Swordmasters and Great Knight from the south west (right stairs), and Thief from the east (south of the treasure room)
- Turn 8: 2 Heroes from the north east, Mage Knight, Warrior, Ranger and Paladin from the south west (left stairs), and 2 Swordmasters and Great Knight from the south west (right stairs)
- Turn 9: Mage Knight, Warrior, Ranger and Paladin from the south west (left stairs). and 2 Generals from the east (south of the treasure room)
- Turn 10: 2 Warriors from the east (south of the treasure room)
- Turn 11: 2 Generals from the east (south of the treasure room)
- Turn 12: 2 Warriors from the east (south of the treasure room)
Items
- Speedwing (western chest room, center)
- Fenrir (western chest room, right)
- Runesword (western chest room, left)
- Bolting (eastern chest room, bottom)
- 5000 G (eastern chest room, center)
- Fortify (eastern chest room, top)
- Brave Sword (dropped by enemy Hero at the bottom of the map)
- Brave Lance (dropped by enemy General at the bottom of the map)
- Brave Bow (dropped by enemy Sniper at the top of the map)
- Goddess Icon (steal from the archer at the top of the map)
- Aura (defeat Riev before the 13 turns are up)
- Light Brand (complete the chapter with 4 of the 8 ally Knights and the ally General alive)
Secret Shop[]
The items are as follows:
- Physic
- Barrier
- Hero Crest
- Knight Crest
- Orion's Bolt
- Elysian Whip
- Guiding Ring
- Ocean Seal
- Shamshir*
- Spear*
- Battle Axe*
- Angelic Robe*
- Energy Ring*
- Secret Book*
- Speedwing*
- Goddess Icon*
- Dragonshield*
*Japanese version only
During Creature Campaign: Shamshir, Spear, Battle Axe, Brave Axe, Brave Bow, Fimbulvetr, Aura, Physic, Angelic Robe, Energy Ring, Secret Book, Speedwing, Goddess Icon, Dragonshield, Hero Crest, Knight Crest, Orion's Bolt, Elysian Whip, Guiding Ring, Ocean Seal
New Locations[]
After completing the chapter, you will be given access to:
- Lagdou Ruins
- Black Temple
- Melkaen Coast (three different types of bosses can be fought (shown below), and is the most difficult skirmish of all, and gives you a sea route to the Port nearby)
- Gorgon
- Maelduin
- Cyclops
Strategy[]
Subjective: The following part of this article is based upon the editor's personal experiences and opinions, and therefore may not be applicable for all readers.
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There are two ways to complete this map: hold off the enemy reinforcements for 13 turns, or defeat Riev. Due to the large number of enemy reinforcements in this map, for players who aren't confident in their units' ability to hold off that many enemies, it would be useful to either rush Riev or ignore the extra items. Most of your units should be promoted at this point; if they aren't, there are promotion items that can be bought from the Secret Shop. However, bringing unpromoted units, especially if they aren't at a point where they're ready to promote, will make the chapter significantly more difficult.
Getting all the items will be difficult without having at least one Thief/Assassin/Rogue or many Chest Keys (and a Door Key). With only one Thief or Rogue, getting them over to the chests will be time-consuming, so if you want to get the chapter done as quickly as possible while getting all the chests, using Warp and Rescue on them is recommended. The more pragmatic option is to field both Rennac and Colm (or someone who can use Lockpicks, like a Joshua or a Marisa promoted into the Assassin class), or have at least three Chest Keys in your convoy so units who aren't seeing as much action can make themselves useful by looting.
More concerning, however, is making sure the ally Knights don't kill themselves on the enemies if you want the Light Brand at the end of the chapter. Because all of their AI are set to engage the enemy if there are any in range, they will charge at the enemy despite being thoroughly outmatched (if they weren't already killed on Enemy Phase) unless you either counter-kill the enemy on enemy phase, or rescue/Warp them out of harms' way. The two ally Knights in the center corridor, close to the pillar tiles, are almost guaranteed to die on the first enemy phase unless you rescue them. (However, they do provide a distraction for the mercenaries and Druids on that first enemy phase, should you desire that.) The other two Knights in that same corridor, towards the top, will also certainly charge after the enemy Knights and Myrmidons and will likely die or come close to it.
On the right side of the map, the enemy Fighters and the enemy Druid don't move until someone enters their range, so it is recommended to send someone that can lure them away from the ally Knights' path. The ones guarding the Chest Room are relatively safe unless one of the Hand Axe-wielding Fighters gets near them, or until the Warrior and General reinforcements arrive. When they do, it is recommended having at least two units who can't one-round enemies block the entrance of that corridor so that the Knights won't charge past your units to engage them. (If you don't want to deal with the Warriors or Generals at all, you can have those two units sit on the tiles that they would spawn on.)
Despite having two staircases on the map that look like enemy reinforcement spots, they actually do nothing in the chapter. The entire platform above Mansel doesn't need to be guarded at all, unless you want to park an archer there to snipe enemies from afar. Because of this, there is really no need to keep any units by Mansel's side unless you're low-manning/using less units than the slots you're given or do not have confidence in your units' ability to hold off enemies. If you're going with full deployment, 17 slots should be more than enough to plug up all the corridors.
The two most important choke points are the top corridor and the narrow corridor above the two staircases. The top corridor, in terms of reinforcements, has Warriors, Heroes, and Snipers. (There are also Knights, Myrmidons, and Archers at the beginning, but they're more to slow your units down than actual threats, provided that your units are all promoted by then.) They can all do a decent chunk of damage on your units should they land a hit, so be sure to have at least one healer in the group or many healing items.
The lower area has Swordmaster, Great Knight, Paladin, Ranger, and Mage Knight reinforcements, and have the largest quantity of enemy reinforcements. It is highly encouraged to put units with good Speed, Defense, and Resistance on the vanguard, as they will be receiving the brunt of the reinforcements, and having a weakness in any of those areas will make it difficult to hold that line. Having at least one healer on this side is extremely useful, preferably with Physic (which can also be bought from this chapter's Secret Shop; in the English version of the game, Physic can also be bought in the Chapter 14 Secret Shops, but in the Japanese version, this is the first time you can buy Physic staves).
Because Riev is on this lower portion of the map, if you wish to defeat him, it is best to push through towards him after thinning out the reinforcements some. In the English version of the game, he won't move; on the Japanese version, he will though. Riev is only equipped with an Aura tome, an A Rank light tome which has a decent critical chance. If planning to defeat him, ensure that he falls in one turn, or you run the risk of losing units. A high strength and speed unit (with high critical) should ensure that Riev is taken down in one battle. If you are afraid of the chance of him landing a critical hit and killing your attacker, have them equip a Hoplon Guard so that the critical bonus provided by Aura is negated.