When should we do Gaiden and Legends chapters so they don't become too easy?

[washed up animal]

I'm trying to get an idea of what order to do the Gaiden/Legends chapters alongside the main story so that they don't become too boring due to out-leveling them

[washed up animal]

Or doing them in an order that makes the story chapters too easy

[MrPibbs]

If it makes you feel any better, the chapters will scale in difficulty with you depending on the amount of story progress you've made, so it shouldn't be a cakewalk or instant death no matter when you attempt them. So you won't out level them. My first playthrough I did all 8 of the legends chapters right before chapter 30 (final chapter), and they were all full of fully promoted enemy squads and offered a good challenge, for the most part.

That being said I'm sorry I can't give you more exact numbers lol I haven't played the legends chapters at different levels enough to truly gauge when the best time to play them would be. I WILL say most chapters shouldn't be done the absolute first moment they're available, as not only are some much harder than the equivalent story chapters they're unlocked on, some even spoil main story elements.

[abaoabao2010]

The enemies' level scales with you, but nothing else does, while you also scale up in more than just levels, so leaving them right before chapter 30 makes them ridiculously easy.

Here's my take:

DLC missions that unlock by story: 1~3 chapters after you unlock them.
DLC missions that unlock by previous DLC missions: wait another 5 chapters.

This is, of course, subject to opinions.

[washed up animal]

I see, thanks a lot

[MrPibbs]

Originally posted by abaoabao2010:

The enemies' level scales with you, but nothing else does

Well that's not true, enemy numbers (in squads, not sure about total squads) and classes upgrade as well at the very least. You're fighting squads of Arbalests and Assassins in the very first Legends chapter if you wait long enough.

[abaoabao2010]

Originally posted by MrPibbs:

Originally posted by abaoabao2010:

The enemies' level scales with you, but nothing else does

Well that's not true, enemy numbers (in squads, not sure about total squads) and classes upgrade as well at the very least. You're fighting squads of Arbalests and Assassins in the very first Legends chapter if you wait long enough.

You are technically correct in that they aren't referred to as "levels" officially, but notice that the only thing they gain are things one get from repeatedly fighting until a certain bar fills up, which then resets to zero while providing some extra stats.

Things that does scales for enemies in DLC missions:
What you get from EXP bar filling up.
What you get from CP bar filling up.
What you get from LDR bar filling up.

Things that scales for you:
What you get from EXP bar filling up.
What you get from CP bar filling up (including proof of merits)
What you get from LDR bar filling up.
Nephelim spells
More story characters, which tend to be OP
Squad makeup
Faction tech
Artifact
Passive skills
Squad count
Stat items

Enemies also have some other scaling from mission to mission, primarily enemy squad count and terrain, which doesn't quite level the playing field but at least makes it slightly less of a curbstomp once the player's army starts rolling.

They don't have when you leave a DLC mission for later.

Edit: for that matter, the non-DLC side missions and arena both have this problem too. You probably won't be able to beat a plat arena early on even if you somehow got a token for it, but it turns into a cakewalk by chapter 20 or so.

[OG.UA SAPUTRA]

As soon as they are unlocked imo, just like the dude above said you got exponentially stronger while the enemy is linear. at chapter 25 your 50k power Beatrix should be able to solo the map

[Jab]

If you're trying to min/max.

Shadowchaser very early on, sometime around mission 8. It's very easy and gives you two of the best items in the game.
Barek Tor: Somewhat early, maybe around 11. It gives spencers spectacles which are very good and it's pretty easy.

All the rest I usually save for after chapter 20 and only when I need a store reset. They can be pretty hard, but more importantly they have loads of enemy squads so you want to make sure you have an army powerful enough to get a lot of surrenders out of them while still getting all objectives.

Queen of dragons is always hard to place, 3 really good items but it's a tough mission.