The Banner Saga

Missable!
Glitched!

• Do not switch difficulty.
• Do not recruit Onef. Stay outside Frostvellr (feel free to ambush the supply wagon for extra renown). Refer to Beat the Odds? on keeping Egil alive.
• Do not kill humans or Varl with Alette for Innocent?. For safeties sake don't even harm Humans/Varl so don't have her present in battles involving them as enemies. Don't use her in the training tent, nor use her skill "Thread the Needle" as that can hit your own units.
• If a battle looks to be going badly, then load before the battle ends. Letting it end may glitch the trophy (doesn't matter if you load game, it registers to your profile in game) in which case download a file off your PS+ storage (back up regularly if you want to be careful). If a message regarding syncing comes up make sure you keep the data on your system storage (the cloud downloaded file). The issue could well be fixed on the PS4 version, but there isn't enough info out there and why take the risk?
• During war battles do not select "Retreat". It brings up the after battle screen with defeat music and from some posts online it seems it may well count as a defeat thereby blocking Challenge?.
• Best party in my opinion for you to use is: Rook, Alette, Egil, Iver, Oddleif, and Krumr so focus on getting them to rank 5. In regards to turn order, some people prefer archers at the front, others the big Varl. I'd recommend you go with the Varl (Krumr and Iver) going first.
• Remember that this game does not operate under the usual roles of taking the enemy apart piece by piece. Due to how the turns work letting heavily weakened enemies live longer is beneficial to you as they'll get turns their healthy allies would have if you'd killed them. There are however exceptions to this such as the big enemy units with significant armor break.
• In regards to stats, Egil is an exception in that you should put 6 of his points in Armor the other 2 either in health or will (I went with will myself).
  For the rest make sure to max armor break first. Ignore will as you have that +2 from green morale. Exertion I maxed for Alette, Oddleif, and Iver but not Rook and Kumr (they had 2) as I felt they had too low will and I wanted the point elsewhere.
• The AI seems to be much smarter in the PS4 version in regards to Egil, who with 16 armor + Godscale + Stonewall, is the ultimate tank. Even with the extra aggro from Godscale, enemies will a lot of the time simply ignore Egil (it seems the AI may focus on him if enemy units completely surround him but didn't test this). Stonewalling while nobody attacks may seem a waste, but play smart and it ain't as he can safely block the movement of the big enemies significantly delaying them getting to your other units. Near the end of the battle when things are mostly done, you can have him start attacking and enemies now without the stonewall will likely start chipping away at him which will be to your benefit.
• High Spirits? is very much possible on hard and will benefit you greatly as you'll be doing battles with +2 will which functions in essence like a level up. Chapter 1 & 3 are no trouble in maintaining morale, don't bother buying supplies like on normal. Chapter 2 is tight, but possible so if you have PS+ I'd keep a file on chapter 2. Try to finish the chapters with green morale.
  
  Chapter 4 is where it gets tricky so make sure you have a file backed up in the cloud just in case. I had green morale when I left Frostvellr, so I don't know if that was because I ended Chapter 2 & 3 with green morale or because I did two optional battles at the start of the chapter that may have boosted my morale. In any case, you'll have a bunch of people and 3 days food which is no where near enough however you can game the system to make all this much easier.
  
  Leaving the town I immediately did this but you may want to wait until you're at 1 day. Stop and make camp. Now keep pressing rest until you're at 0 people, yes, starve everyone you have to death. You'll notice that as long as people starve in your camp, that your morale does not lower. As such by doing this, you'll make keeping your morale high much easier and less costly as the "mouths to feed" so to speak will be significantly lower (you'll have no choice but to pick up some guys in future but starving them is unnecessary).
  
  Now at green morale with 0 people you have to make it to Wyrmtoe without going under normal, so don't waste days nor take any choices that lower morale. I got there just barely at normal morale, so it's very much possible. At Wyrmtoe, buy all the supplies, leave, rest several times to get back to green morale, and continue with the game buying supplies here and there (one city has a 1:6 rate so it makes a good place to stock up as you don't have to buy supplies in every city).
  
  Right before you reach Boersgard (got there with 35 days supplies myself), rest several times outside to make sure you're solidly in green morale.
• Your characters are healed of their injuries even if you don't have supplies. Not important if you're going for High Spirits but worth noting.
• Do not avoid battles as you want as much renown as possible. Do war battles by selecting "Hold them off" and then do the second wave for slightly more renown then one charge, and a chance at an item. War battles after Chapter 3 seem significantly more difficult, so you may want to avoid the second wave of those ones.
• During Chapter 1 & 3, try to get Gunnulf to rank 5, and give him the Five Ring Necklace you can get at the Denglr Godstone. The reason for this is Gunnulf joins you in Chapter 6 and he takes any item you had him equipped with in Chapter 3. This will give you access to a powerful item for use in Chapter 6 & 7. Fasolt can also transfer an item from Chapter 3 but keep in mind he's a temp character (you lose him after the second battle at the bridge) so you may well not want to use him though I suppose it's not a big deal if you do.
  Finally, I'd recommend you get Mogr to rank 5 in chapter 1 & 3 also. He will only rejoin you for the final battle but he's definitely recommended for it as he's a highly armored armor breaker.
• On the bridge, if you're using Krumr (you should), you should do the battles at the bridge. Either get permission or blow it up without permission (better to get permission). This will require 2 battles as you can safely skip the first by selecting "We can treat the wounded". Do not skip the second with "Help remove the bodies" as it will kill Egil.
• Remember that Eyvind comes with all his stat points available and when Iver returns at the bridge, you'll have to reput in his points (his stat caps will have changed slightly).
• During chapter 7, I did two battles on the first two days (though I believe you just need to do one). If you don't, then the enemy will bust in, kill Krumr, and you'll get thrown into a battle so don't let that happen.
• During part 1 of the final battle, you only need to reduce Bellower's armor down to the strength of whoever you gave the Silver Arrow to for them to be able to land it. Try to not let anyone go down in part 1 as while they will be revived in part 2, they will be wounded.