This is always a problem for me and games that mix strategy and RPG: finding the sweet spot where grinding doesn't strip away the challenge.

Seeing as the reward for an advanced victory on the first mission is a mere wood bow, I'm assuming the game means for you to return to that mission for the advanced star right away. Alas, I stuck it out, maxed out my berzerker squad, and got the extreme star with the legendary bow reward. Now my archer is so overpowered everything below extreme missions is a cakewalk, and I'm busy building a legendary arsenal of weapons no one in my team can use.

I'm gonna have to erase and start a new game. Can someone give me an idea of an optimum route for clearing the game? It seems kind of silly just to finish one lap on normal, then come back from the final mission to get that wood bow from mission 1 Advanced.

Where are you at now?

Back at the beginning.

1. Just play as normal, when you hit a point where its too difficult, go back and do earlier missions on higher difficulty.
You can actually grind missions over and over on the same difficulty if you want.

2. Be aware that each of the 6 allies added to your party increases the cost of an additional ally as if you hired one. So hiring max amount earlier on decreases total spent to max out allies.

3. Advancing in missions lets you have better missions to grind. So don't stick on an older one.

4. Deploying an ally gives them double XP for that mission.

5. Don't bother buying armor, especially not early on (before new game +)

6. Only buy a few weapons for critical allies until you manage to max out all allies. The earlier you get an ally, the more XP it accumulates over time as you then grind for weapons. Which makes them more powerful.

I actually just ended up doing a normal run with only the story characters, grinding to always keep equipment up to date. That kept things nice and balanced.

The problem with that is that getting more characters in each class acts a multiplier of the total XP earned. That is, they get full XP regardless of how many units you have.

So you are missing out on XP by not having them. Even if you do not USE them, having them owned allows them to gain XP over time

I think I'm going to stick it out with just the story characters, rearranging their skills as needed for the mission. It really feels more strategy-y this way. Instead of plopping down as many troops as necessary to cover each and every path, being stuck with the story characters really forces you to think outside the box.

For example, if there aren't any armored enemies to denude, I can respec the knight for knockback and stun, using the ice mage for penetration shard attacks that mission. Some maps the bezerker is on bleeder duty, some maps it's the archer.

Not to mention certain story missions become way more interesting when you're limited to main characters only.

You're quite brave! Just be warned that "hero mode" is *quite* challenging, especially in New Game+ mode :)

Feel free to do what suits you best, as for what's most popular, over on Steam this is the general consensus:

"The Wave": beat 3-5 levels on "normal", then go back and start clearing out advanced/extreme until you hit a wall, then beat 3-5 more levels on "normal."

First playthrough:
-Normal game and NG+, set EXP to default 100%, set absence penalty to 0%, recruit 3-5 generics in normal mode, have full party by NG+

Second playthrough:
-Hero Mode, Normal game and NG+, set EXP to 300%, absence penalty to 0% and hit level cap as soon as possible - in this sense, Hero Mode is all about the puzzly nature of the end-game content, more about figuring out perfectly tuned builds and battle strategies than climbing the RPG ladder. Obviously, no recruits.

But that's just what some people like to do. I say, find the way that feels best for yourself :) That's what all these options are for.

Best of luck!

That was my point, exactly, Spoily McSpoilerpants!

3 things when playing Hero mode:

1. You'll quickly be rolling in Psi, so spells come into play way more often, and recharge times require you to use a greater variety of spells than just lightning and frenzy.

2. It can be cost-effective to recall a unit and replace them in a different spot as the level progresses, especially during boss fights.

3. Extra junk can be used to rearrange unit skills per battle to compensate for not being able to place the perfect unit combination every single time.

I'm about level 24-25 and chipping away at endless 1. There are two unconnected paths to Azra in this level, and lots of armored snakes. Since I have only one knight, I've had to divert points in my archer away from the obvious critical and poison, and put them into armor pierce, so she can cover the other path. Since I have only one healer, I've changed my bezerker around to maximize his dodge and regeneration so he can survive unassisted. And so on. I've managed to reach wave 45 so far, just got to find the best spell combination to inch me through those final 5 .

there is no spoiler stating that one of endings limits you to only 2 unit types. I said nothing about what happens in the plot.

Anyways, if you want to have no safety net in your hero mode attempt, go right ahead. Just consider it a fair warning.
Also, armor pierce actually is a pretty obvious choice for rangers.