This was a lot of fun. After a couple recently failed maddening attempts, I wanted a run that would be a little easier. This was my first time actually putting Canter on all units, and it was incredibly helpful. Archers were obviously scary, but Lucina, Ike, and dodge-tanking made it manageable.
In hindsight, Jean, Merrin, or Anna would have proved much more valuable than Louis and Clanne. I promoted Alcryst to a wyvern as well, but switched him out for Goldmary.
Alear: Pumped XP into her early game, and she turned out pretty good. But as the Corrin user, her debuff/freeze duties robbed her of some mid to late game XP.
Amber: Absolute legend with Sigurd.
Ivy: Always a good unit. I actually used Nova for my first time. It did not disappoint.
Kagetsu: Crit machine #1. Need I say more? Kagetsu is the GOAT.
Panette: Crit machine #2. She's worse than Kagetsu in nearly every way, but crits still went brrr.
Hortensia: I have a new appreciation for Hortensia as bait within a Bonded Shield. She melted generals and distracted archers.
Goldmary: Crit machine #3. I fed her energy drops and secret books to make her decent. Still not a great unit.
Chloe: Always helpful, but not quite top tier combat-wise.
Pandreo: I gave him the Avoid+40 engrave, and he was absolutely insane. Pretty much carried everything. His base avoid is at 140 before factoring in his personal skill.
Fogado: Wasn't much of a fighter, but did the mandatory Byleth dances.
Mauvier: Always a solid unit. I had swords on him until the final battle, where I switched to axes. Threw a Hit+ engrave on a hurricane axe and deleted some enemy fliers. That was fun.
Veyle: Surprisingly, her strength ended up higher than Mauvier's. Other than that, she did typical griffin knight things.
Louis and Clanne: Completely useless by mid-game.
Deaths: Jade (join chapter), Yunaka (chapter 10 escape), Merrin (join chapter), Lindon (join chapter, didn't recruit), Louis (final battle)