Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Hard 5 tips

The word "merciless" next to the 5 stars when choosing a Hard difficulty on Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon...dude, it isn't called merciless for no reason. That difficulty is a video game player's nightmare. Not kidding. Despite my large amount of gaming experience, it proved to be too tough for me to handle. Therefore, you're probably gonna think these tips are slightly untrustworthy. Well, I have at least played through all other difficulties in the game, so you can trust me.
Rule #1...play through all the other hard difficulties first. Just jumping into the dreaded Hard 5, you obviously don't know what you're getting yourself into!
Rule #2...while playing through all other difficulties, figure out which characters are good and which ones are not good. Believe me, people like Ogma and Abel can and will make it easier. That's probably why I failed in the first place...
Rule #3...are you capable of doing online shopping? If so, then on weekends, go to the online shop and get a brave weapon. These weapons are very good, and will be useful. You can count on it.
Rule #4...While in most all the other difficulties you can save your strongest weapons for later, this one, you can't. Enemies with forged weapons come much sooner than in Hard 4 or 3. In fact, they first appear in Ch. 10! Kinda soon, huh? Therefore, equipment is vital. This goes back to online shopping. The online shop has silver weapons, along with killer weapons, mends, and other things. Get what you can. You'll need it.
Rule #5...Use those arenas! I know in the Ch. 4 and maybe 8 arena this it tough, since your guys are weak and the arena's guys are strong, but try your best. Always try to get at least 3 level ups. Heck, go further. Keep training till you feel ready to move on. This was another thing I failed to do. Don't make the same mistakes I did.
Finally...know your strength and weaknesses. For instance, I found out Cain reclassed into a Mymirod isn't so bad. He had higher strength than other characters of this class. However, I had to be pretty careful, 'cause his defense was pretty low too. In fact, by Ch. 10 I'm pretty sure his defence was still around 4-6. He at least had enough defence to live at least 1 attack (sad huh?), so I used him as a lure. It worked too, so long as only 1 enemy would attack him. Know your units stats, and use them to your advantage.
Playing Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon on Hard 5 is almost like playing chess against a computer. Those who have tried to do that know what I mean. If it becomes so tough that you just need to restart and try again, making sure you get what units and equipment you need, than you might as well do it. Heck, you may even play a different difficulty and get a little more game experience in if you must. I trust this difficulty on Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon will challenge you to play and think in a much more different way.