Fire Emblem Awakening Lunatic units

The following units are the units, pairings, and skillsets easiest to integrate into a successful Lunatic Mode that doesn't use any form of grinding to level up outside the normal course of the game. It is wise to select Chrom, the Avatar, 1 unit that require battle to level, 1 healer, and Olivia, you should then base your support units accordingly giving you a total of 8-10 (You should only have 8 units if 2 of your selected units are intended to be paired together) any more and you run the risk of spreading your exp too thin making the game much harder than it needs be when in fact one good pair of units can beat the entire game themselves. If you don't take Chrom and the Avatar you are severely handicapping yourself as Chrom gets several advantages especially late in the game that makes him desirable and the Avatar is simply soundly in the top 5 of best characters only potentially lagging behind Morgan, Morgan's sibling, and Possibly Lucina (can be Morgan's sister). I'm ignoring exploits of the game such as Nosferatu/Sorcerer abuse, but the Avatar is capable of that as well.

Not listed, but it should be noted if you are insistent on marrying a character not on this list to your Avatar you want to make sure they get exp so as to not drag your avatar down farther than they already do simply by being hard to use. The best choices off the list are the ones that join early, Stahl and Miriel particularily.

Units
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Avatar - Prologue (Solid Growth rates, flexible starting stats allowing for modification of key stats, and 1.5x exp when paired.)
Chrom - Prologue (Solid Growth rates, required use, unbreakable sword with Iron equivalent Might with bonuses against Wyverns, ability to use and starts with a Rapier for Cavalry and Armor, and a good starting skill for chip EXP when paired with another unit.)
Lissa - Prologue (Only healer, gains exp through assisting allies thus leaving all enemy exp on the field.)
Frederick - Prologue (Relatively high stats at the beginning, but sucks exp if used too much. Being promoted he provides more stats when used as a supporting unit making him useable as a secondary unit through the game with minimal attention.)

Sully - Chapter 1 *Only if intending to marry Chrom* (Decent growth rates, starting stats, and obtained early enough to work into use without too many problems.)

Sumia - Chapter 3 *Only if intending to marry Chrom* (Decent starting speed, one step access to Galeforce, but low attacking stat growth rates)
Kellam - Chapter 3 (High starting Defense, garuanteed HP Growth per level with high Defense Growths, and is able to grant high Defense boosts when used as a partner)

Maribelle - Chapter 5 *Should not be used with Lissa, it's not cost effective so pick one at this point, Lissa will be higher, but Maribelle has mobility and better magic growths* (Mobile healer, gains exp through assisting allies thus leaving all enemy exp on the field.)

Panne - Chapter 6 *Good growths, level 30 cap base, reasonable starting level, but limited Beast Stone uses due to availability, and low(er) starting stats.)
Gaius - Chapter 6 *Solid starting stats, high growth rates in Spd and Skl with better growth rates in Str than the comparable Lon'Qu, and only unit capable of unlocking chests without a Second seal until Anna.)

Nowi - Chapter 8 (Low level, level 30 cap base, good growths, but limited Dragon Stone uses due to availability, and poor starting starts albeit mitigated some by the buffs of the Dragon Stone.)

Libra - Chapter 9 (Healer that can fight without a Master Seal, can gain exp through use of staves, has moderate survivability, and has little competition for strong axes.)
Tharja - Chapter 9 (With Hex and Anathema you can use her as a support unit right away to moderate effect, solid stat growths but sub-par starting rates and room to grow.)

Anna - Paralogue 4 (Good evasion excuses poor attacking stats and can replace Gaius if you opted not to actively use him as your chest opener otherwise she's weaker with few support options and poor growths in useable stats so she quickly becomes harder and harder to use, using staves for exp can excuse some of these flaws.)

Olivia - Chapter 11 (Allows double turns of your stronger units while not taking any enemy exp to gain levels, the high evade helps keep her alive, and she grants Speed when paired as a support unit.)

Tiki - Paralogue 17 (Fair growths in useful stats, and viable starting stats, and if Nowi was used she will likely be Second Sealed by now so Tiki will be your only Manakete so there isn't competition for Dragon Stones.)

Basilio - Chapter 23 (Useable as Flavia's support unit, as a lead he's too slow and his HP doesn't give him enough survivability with his low Defense stats and the propensity to get double attacked.)
Flavia - Chapter 23 (Passable Speed and Growth, can be used as the lead unit with Basilio and can gain support ranks with him. All around a useable unit with a little caution if you don't have better alternative units.)

Morgan and Lucina should both be easily useable regardless of what you do. Outside that depending on who you choose to use Owain, Brady, Cynthia, Nah, and Kjelle can all be easily integrated. Inigo is absent as he can be difficult to obtain early enough to integrate. without problems.

Honorable mention to Lon'Qu simply because he's constantly mentioned as a good unit, but in actuality he lacks the Str needed to be a good sustainable unit in the long run and has no other function, his Killing Edge gives him a false sense of useability and you'll find Gaius does everything Lon'Qu can, but just a little bit better with extra functionality. Cherche is another on honorable mention, she comes about mid-game and can realistically fight, but she's a little outclassed and with growth akin to Kellam, but lagging behind thanks to a lot of wasted potential in Lck growth she's just not a desirable character to use, that said like Lon'Qu she comes with a weapon that gives her a false sense of useability, the hammer which on the level she joins can net her several kills if you want to use her since she is a popular Male Avatar marriage option. Lastly Virion who joins with Sully in Chapter 1 gets honorable mention because while he is one of the worst characters in the game overall he starts as an Archer a physical means of indirect attack with no competition for the use of bows until you get your first Second Seal in Chapter 8 (excluding random luck to purchase one or outside means such as legacy characters or renown rewards), this property makes him 'good' in the sense that he's unique, his poor growth rates and class options however makes him pretty terrible in the long run still if you want to use him you won't suffer that much especially if you just use him as a support unit since he's accurate, has no weakness in the weapon triangle, and gets increased damage against flying units.

Pairings
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Female Avatar x Chrom (You get these two from the start and both should be used regardless, focusing on both will result in a strong Lucina right away and a strong Morgan which then can use the sibling support to become a less effective version of the couple capable of single-handily beating the game with ease.)

Chrom x Sumia (If you have a Male Avatar this is the go to couple for in-game, Sumia provides solid support, early access to Galeforce, and the ability to use Dual Guard+ so Chrom can have an extra skill as a lead unit)

Male Avatar x Lissa (This couple makes sense since early on Lissa provides a boost to magic when pairing and a paired Lissa as a Cleric can't attack allowing for more chip EXP early on, there is also a lull in most maps where she can safely un-pair and heal everybody for EXP without hurting combat. Owain makes a great Grandmaster, Lissa's relatively high str growths for a magic class make Owain's Str and Mag growths fairly balanced making him ideal for a mixed attacker, while being a grandmaster grants him Ignis and better caps compared to his only other viable (Non-DLC) mixed attack class the Dark Knight.)

Lissa x Frederick (Frederick loses his usefulness without reclassing to an un-promoted class when able, but as a Great Knight he provides larger bonuses when paired and is useful for a fair while without using any EXP investment.)

Maribelle x Gaius (If you opt to pass on Lissa for the more mobile healer Maribelle then you'll want to slowly phase Frederick out too or relegate him to the exclusive role of Support until you find somebody to fit that role better, Gaius like Lon'Qu starts with the speed necessary to form the foundations of a fair unit however unlike Lon'Qu, Gaius has another use other than simply being a fair unit and not choosing Gaius leaves you with the worse Anna who is already promoted into one of the worst classes in the game the Trickster Class. Gaius pairs with Maribelle well since the combination yields high movement and Gaius benefits from Demoiselle's Avoid being high speed class, but it also supplement's his relatively low Dodge (critical avoid) if need be. Furthermore since Maribelle may be needed as a healer gaining support ranks with Chrom gives Gaius some lee-way in-terms of partners from the natural choices in a good Lunatic Army, while you want to be paired with an S rank and A rank from fighting besides somebody is nice should Gaius be left partnerless or if Chrom's partner is the Avatar you might find it advantageous to split them occasionally since Chrom and the Avatar will be two of your strongest units, the avatar can leech any partner, but Chrom doesn't have that luxury.)

Panne x Gaius (Panne and Gaius give each other Spd regardless who is in front so that helps their natural evasion, but they have extra synergy in that Gaius is using Swords and a lot of the Cavalry in the game uses Lances, Panne's Beastbane takes care of the Lance-wielding cavalry. Yarne gets a myriad of benefits (in terms of in-game) with Gaius as a father most notably high Str growths to go with the naturally high Spd and Skl growth rates. Outside of this couple Yarne is likely not to be useful due to the difficulty of getting support ranks with somebody worth using early on.)

Nowi x Libra (Nowi has the potential to be strong if used and Libra starts off as a War Monk meaning Nowi is getting extra Resistance right away which can help her level. Another selling point of this couple is that Libra starts off fairly decent if you don't want to invest EXP in him and focus on Nowi you're not costing yourself too much and you can always split or switch to field an extra healer that has Healtouch to make up for if he falls behind stats-wise.

Class Progressions/Skills
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To save time I'm just doing progressions for the noteworthy characters and honorable mentions, these progressions don't represent their 'best' skill sets just what you want to beat the game with.

Male Avatar
Tactician > Myrmidon > Swordmaster > Dark Knight > Grandmaster
Ending Skills: Ignis/Vantage/Lifetaker/Swordfaire/Avoid +10

Female Avatar
Tactician > Myrmidon > Swordmaster > Dark Flier > Dark Knight > Grandmaster
Ending Skills: Ignis/Vantage/Lifetaker/Avoid +10/Galeforce

Chrom
Lead: Lord > Cavalier > Paladin > Bow Knight > Great Lord
Ending Skills: Dual Strike+/Aegis/Rightful King/Aether/Bowbreaker
Support: Lord > Cavalier > Great Knight > Great Lord
Ending Skills: Dual Strike+/Dual Guard+/Rightful King/Aether/Charm

Lissa
Cleric > War Cleric > Dark Flier > Valkyrie
Ending Skills: Renewal/Galeforce/Dual Support+/Healtouch/Rally Movement

Frederick
Great Knight > Cavalier > Paladin > General > Griffon Rider
Ending Skills: Dual Guard+/Luna/Aegis/Pavise/Deliverer

Sully
Cavalier > Myrmidon > Swordmaster > Great Knight > Paladin
Ending Skills: Vantage/Dual Guard+/Luna/Swordfaire/Avoid +10

Sumia
Falcon Knight > Dark Flier > Great Knight > Dark Flier
Ending Skills: Relief/Galeforce/Luna/Dual Guard+/Rally Movement

Kellam
Knight > Great Knight > War Cleric > General
Ending Skills: Luna/Dual Guard+/Renewal/Pavise/Def +2

Maribelle
Troubador > Falcon Knight > Dark Flier > Valkyrie
Ending Skills: Demoiselle/Relief/Galeforce/Dual Support+/Speed +2

Panne
Taguel > Taguel (You can take Lock Touch from the Thief class and then go to a Trickster for Lucky 7 or Assassin for Lethality if you're not using Gaius and want to phase Anna out)
Ending Skills: Beastbane/Even Rhythm

Gaius
Thief > Myrmidon > Sword Master > Hero
Ending Skills: Locktouch/Vantage/Sol/Swordfaire/Avoid +10

Nowi
Manakete > Manakete (The skill options aren't that great with Nowi it's far easier to just take the single Second Seal for stats for a quick high stat unit and use her as is.)
Ending Skills: Odd Rythm/Wyrmbane

Libra
War Cleric > Dark Mage > Sorcerer
Ending Skills: Renewal/Hex/Anathema/Vengeance/Tomebreaker


Anna
Trickster > Sage
Ending Skills: Tomefaire/Lucky7/Acrobat/Locktouch/Movement +1

Olivia
Dancer > Dancer (Taking Oliva out of her Dancer class loses the biggest reason to use her at all so while it's not great for her it's better to leave her in a Dancer class an only Second Seal her if you have an extra one laying around to help increase her evasion.)
Ending Skills: Special Dance/Luck +4

Tiki
Manakete > Manakete (same as Nowi)
Ending Skills: Odd Rhythm/Wyrmbane

Basilio
Warrior (Not worth Second Sealing use as is or don't use at all)
Ending Skills: Counter/Zeal/Hp +5/Rally Strength

Flavia
Hero (same as Basilio)
Ending Skills: Sol/Axebreaker/Patience/Armsthrift

Virion
Archer > Sniper > Bow Knight > Sniper (Not worth taking out of the bow line since that's his only reason to use him, the Bow Knight step is optional if you can a Second Seal you don't know what to do with and were going to use it on Virion anyway he doesn't lose much going to the Bow Knight just the ability to use 2-3 Range bows which aren't that plentiful, but if it worries you you can Second Seal him as a Sniper to a Sniper and skip Bowbreaker.)
Ending Skills: Prescience/Skill +2/Bowfaire/Hit Rate +20/Bowbreaker

Lon'Qu
Myrmidon > Wyvern Rider > Griffon Rider > Swordmaster(You can go Thief and Trickster instead of Wyvern Rider to Griffon Rider, but then you miss out on the Str growths and Panne makes a better substitute chest opener than Lon'Qu when if you were going to do that you'd be better off using Gaius)
Ending Skills: Vantage/Strength +2/Swordfaire/Astra/Lancebreaker

Cherche
Wyvern Rider > Wyvern Lord > War Cleric
Ending Skills: Sword Breaker/Renewal/Quick Burn/Strength +2/Tantivy