ShadowMario3

Here are the paralogues I have gone through in my Blue Lions' playthrough (pre-timeskip): War for the Weak (Dedue) - No unique items from what I recall. Oil + Water (Manuela and Hanneman) - Experience Gem (from archer near Manuela, doubles level exp), Rapier off another enemy Tales of the Red Canyon (Sothis) - Knowledge Gem (from chest, doubles class and weapon skill exp) Falling Short of Heaven (Ashe and Catherine) - Secret Book (from Vice Bishop enemy), Shoes of the Wind (permanent move increase by 1) and Critical Ring (protect Rhea for both) Death Toll (Ignatz and Raphael) - No unique items from what I recall, gives you some weapons and an Extra Large Bullion if you keep all Villagers safe An Ocean View (Seteth and Flayn) - Spear of Assal and Caduceus Staff (increase magic attack range +1) Dividing the World (Hilda and Cyril) - Hexlock Shield and Large Bullion for protecting all soldiers. Freikugel (axe Hero Relic) on completion Rumored Nuptials (Ingrid and Dorothea) - Luin, Sword and Shield of Seiros (Shamir and Alois) - No unique items from what I recall. Sylvain paralogue - Extra Large Bullion, Longbow, Talisman for defeating all thieves. Don't know about Lance of Ruin since I already got that from Rhea. Felix paralogue - Aegis Shield if you protect all villagers Lorenz paralogue - Thyrsus (staff Hero Relic - magic attack range +2, may halve damage)

For Byleth, I made sure to seek out the professors/soldiers who taught them (Jeralt, Gilbert, Alois, etc.) during Exploration until I had enough to take the certification for the class (that don't offer it in their Seminars). If I didn't pass the test, I would soft reset and try again the next day. Don't need flying to recruit anyone if you're in Blue Lions, so I didn't have to worry about that, but I will probably go to Manuela and Seteth for that. After that, on Normal difficulty, you can just grind on maps. If you want to keep your items, make sure to just Retreat. You won't keep any items you obtained, but you will keep any exp earned, and your weapon and item usage will go back to how they were before you started the map. I do not believe Retreat is available in Hard mode though.

I managed to recruit all students (except Hilda, and Hubert is non-recruitable AFAIK) in the Blue Lions path without supports. The amount of level/weapon grinding I did was more than enough for them. Didn't really keep track of the exact stats needed for them though.

I finally managed to recruit Hilda in the Blue Lions path in Chapter 8. Had an A weapon rank with Axe, 23 charm stat of 23 (M!Byleth at level 34), and a B support rank with her. With that, she appeared in my class in the middle of the week and asked to join my house, which seems to be a method that people have been recommending for most recruitments overall. I did some more testing on another file in the Blue Lions route, all in Chapter 9 (the month is December). M!Byleth is at level 37 with a Charm stat of 27. For most students, 25 seems to be a good enough amount for that stat, but not for Hilda. Even raising the Axe skill level to A, A+, S, or S+ was not enough. However, at S+, once I obtained a C support rank with her, I was finally able to recruit her (within the same month). So, it seems that even a C support is enough to lower the stat requirement overall (assuming it's 30 for Hilda since she's a retainer). Here's a video of said tests as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVYCfyMWsUg

You can also get the Knowledge Gem from a chest in the Sothis Paralogue (Tales of the Red Canyon), which is available starting in Chapter 8. It doubles both weapon exp and class exp as long as it is equipped. It's only available until 1/25 though.

If you are planning on level or weapon exp grinding, the Sothis paralogue (Tales of the Red Canyon) has a chest that contains a Knowledge Gem (extra weapon exp when equipped) and the Manuela & Hanneman paralogue (Oil & Water) has an archer with an Experience Gem (extra level exp when equipped). Just like Rings/Shields, you can't equip both at the same time. Should note that you only have until 1/25 to complete Tales of the Red Canyon. which is before most of the other paralogues. Also heard that Lorenz' paralogue apparently has an item that gives +2 range to magic. This, stacked on top of Black Magic Range +1 (Reason at S) seems pretty useful.

Haven't tested this out yet, but according to this post at GameFAQs: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/204445-fire-emblem-three-houses/77891111/925209003 It looks like a combination of a B support and the proper Str and Axe level is needed to recruit her.

As @0 Def Cleric mentioned already mentioned already, the Knowledge Gem is in the Sothis Paralogue in a chest. Experience Gem is held by an Archer in the Manuela and Hanneman Paralogue, which is I believe is available after you can start to recruit them.

In the Blue Lions path, after that Chapter, I believe I said no to Rhea (for her wanting to keep the lance), then Sylvain said he will keep it safe, and it was in his inventory. You might get it after you complete his paralogue if you didn't get it at that point.

Which route and chapter are you on? I'm with Blue Lions, and managed to recruit Ignatz very early on (he joined as a level 5 unit). Not sure on the specifics, but I think as you progress through the story, your stats need to be higher to recruit others, so it seems you might need 25 Dex. I needed that amount to recruit Dorothea (for Charm) around chapter 7 or 8. Unable to recruit Hilda, even though I have a C rank in Axe and 26 Charm at Chapter 9. Anyone know if you need to do go through more of the story to recruit her?

Depends on your level, and whether or not you have the appropriate DLC. If you are 80+ and have access to at least 240 might weapons, you should go to the Level 104 Pincer Escape (Knorda Market) and you can clear the entire map within a short amount of time with a Tiki with Payday in constant Awakening mode (since you get a gold boost in that mode). You can usually finish the map with 100k gold, then selling all eight of your weapons should net you another 100k gold. If you want to use someone else, their weapon should have two of these three: Dracoslayer/Mountslayer/Wingslayer. I have a video of the path used here: If you are at a lower level, best to stick to Gold Rush.

Here's how I have been grinding all my units to level 130 (currently have six units left): Been using the level recommended above, Level 104 Pincer Escape in Knorda Market history map. Make sure every unit has Paragon. Before you go in (or any similar, lower level if you can't easily clear that map), activate Elite Blessing, which boosts your EXP gain, and make sure to either go solo or with two people (if you want to pair them up so both gain EXP). Please note that I have S rank weapons unlocked for every unit, so I have 720 (reduced to 576) might Hero Sword, Lance, Axe, Bow, and Tome that is shared between units for this level. They have Dracoslayer. Wingslayer, Armor Break, and Critical Focus equipped to easily take care of a majority of enemies. Times posted below might be longer if you don't have this setup. If you do not have S rank unlocked, try to use Opus weapons. I go to the base to the right, which is where Camilla will appear, kill her, and she will drop a full Awakening jar (if you have a sword user, or mage/archer with Quick Wit, crit the Great Knight instead). Activate Awakening, kill 50 grunts so you get another EXP boost, then start killing every captain (Camilla too if you didn't already). As you run low on Awakening, kill more grunts to refill it a bit (75, 100, and 125 I think). I go on to kill Minerva, and the Wyvern Riders that spawn. Then, go to the upper area to kill the lone General, then go on to kill Tiki, and go for the Guardian Knights that eventually spawn. They should be coming out of the initial base you attacked at this point, so line them up and crit them. By the time you kill them, the allied base is usually taken down, usually within 4 to 5 minutes. 6 or more if you are really unlucky with the message queue (Sages need to spawn and attack the base with lightning to start dealing major damage). At this point, whether you restart or quit the battle, any EXP and levels you earned will be kept, and if all units on your team died (you can do this if the Allied Base is taking too long to fall), they will be alive if you quit and are on Classic Mode. However, if you restart, the EXP blessing will still be in effect, which will save you many, many, silver materials. Gold and weapons are not carried over, and I do not know if support gains are carried over. Once both units are at your desired level, quickly complete the level (kill Minerva and Caeda, good chance for 5* 6-slot Hero weapons now), or quit the next time you get a Game Over. With this method, I gain 1 to 1.2 levels (for units that are level 105 or above) every five minutes (in game time), which makes it 0.5 to 0.6 per unit (once again, if both are level 105 or above) if they are paired up. If you have a unit that can solo this map, but a unit that is very underleveled, you can have said unit support the main unit and still gain many levels. If you want to to level a single unit from 110 to 130, should take around 1.5 hours. That being said, if you are at a much lower level, try to go in to a slightly lower level (higher than the unit you want to train) with EXP blessing, and keep on using Game Over to reuse the blessing with no issue. Make sure that it is a level where you can one shot the enemies with your 720 weapons. Seeing that experience needed has plateaued off starting at 105, and that there are higher level missions available, it is much faster to grind levels than to grind money at this point. Hoping that with the Awakening DLC, the exp needed to reach the next level cap will still remain the same so level grinding will be easier with higher level maps. Here's a video of my route:

Managed to fully complete the game (all crests on all characters, all History Mode maps S ranked, all Badges) after putting 240 hours into it: https://streamable.com/r5aau

Indeed. Just finished a Fort Siege mission full of Archers.

It's live now.