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When fighting Gwendal, his battle quote seems to confirm that nobody in House Rowe (outside of Gwendal) treated him particularly well. If you were already referring to that, then apologies - if not, then I'd be interested to know what other evidence there is about his time in House Rowe.

Byleth is better in physical classes than in magical ones (I learnt this the hard way). But even if you really want magic Byleth, Bishop is almost completely useless for Byleth (the class gives no offensive boosts, Recover is good but on its own it's not enough to justify being in a healing class, Renewal from mastery isn't really necessary because you have healers). And if you're gonna end up in Enlightened One anyway, you may as well just get Death Blow (since Enlightened One is best with swords, so you want skills that buff physical attack, and there are no proficiency requirements needed to use the class so you can train Axe for a bit).

Exactly this. Abyss had a huge amount of potential, both as a world in its own right and in its relationship to topside Garreg Mach. The devs made a small effort with that (introducing NPCs grumbling about the Abyss in the updates prior to the DLC was a nice touch) but once Abyss came out, it became clear just how token that effort was. The worst thing about all that wasted potential is how noticeable it is. Like the OP says, Yuri in particular is wasted, with much of his world existing outside of what 3H covers, but barely a glimpse of that shown. Although I did have this complaint about the BE characters (and Constance/Mercedes/Jeritza) too, since the Empire is so much bigger than what we are shown of it. I would have happily given up costumes and stat-boosters for the DLC to have all gone into a better Abyss experience.

Isn't there only one Cursed Ashiya Sword available per run? It's important, because that only gives 2 Astra uses per battle, and especially in the late game with HP inflation, Astra from weaker swords like Wo Dao aren't necessarily going to kill even if they crit 5 times (and stronger swords obviously have significantly lower crit than CAS). I also just realised that your graphs of crit activation only hold when the hit rate is at 100 (because, correct me if I'm wrong, the crit chance doesn't actually function independently of hit). Given that Cursed Ashiya Sword has base 70 Hit, and Astra brings -10, anyone with 45-50 Avo or more is probably an issue (lots of enemies have less Avo, so this isn't a fatal concern though). That endgame Catherine (from @LoneRecon400's post) had 21 base crit (only 17 Luck, and her bases and growths are fairly average for the roster), which means between 75-90 crit with CAS+ (excluding against monsters). Her displayed hit rates for CAS+ Astra aren't likely to be above 78 (90 True Hit) against anyone except axe infantry. Assuming 90 true hit and 85 crit, that's 94.5% chance of 3 crits, and 26% chance of 5 crits. But CAS+ is the only sword that is likely to achieve crit above 80, so there are only two Astra attacks per map with odds that could be that good. Effective damage Rapier, Sword of Zoltan+ and Mercurius can beat out CAS+ Mt and have more uses, but all have lower crit, the former is only sometimes available and the latter two are harder to maintain. Wo Dao+ is far more available, which'd easily get 60 Crit, and could get to 80 Crit, but -5 Mt per Astra attack is likely to be a dealbreaker for KOs, particularly against physical units in the lategame (even 5 crits aren't guaranteed to kill endgame enemy, and there's only a 24% chance of that with 100 TH and 75 crit). EDIT: Having had more of a look into enemy stats, things aren't nearly as bad with Wo Dao+ as I had originally thought, so the so-called 'solutions' below might not be necessary at all. I'd still want Death Blow and a higher-strength character than Ignatz, but I'd be fairly confident if I had those. The best solution is probably adding in S+ Swordfaire/Defiant Strength. That should save Wo Dao+, and it'll probably let CAS+ get kills it couldn't before. Defiant Strength is very achievable, but it's fairly finicky, and you're gonna have to protect your sword user every turn (a problem, but not a fatal one). As for Swordfaire, I'll just say that some of us are unfortunate enough not to get S+ regularly/ever on anyone, so for players like that it's very difficult to rely upon. If you are getting it though, then it's probably around Ch. 20-1, in time for the late chapters and the stat escalation. Another potential solution to the lack of late-game killing power is to try and find a better unit for this build - Felix is an obvious candidate, and will have better Dex/Luck than Catherine, but I doubt it would be enough to make a real difference. The only people I can think of who might really make a difference would be Ingrid and Sylvain, whose Crests have 40% percent activation rate to raise CA Mt by 5 (which means you can probably rely on them triggering twice per Astra). Ingrid in particular will need Strength help to be of real use, but it's not impossible to achieve. Another is to throw Lethality into the mix. Catherine was also running Prowess, Crit+10, Death Blow, Axebreaker, and Wt -3. Wt -3 is a good skill, but if she got a single Rocky Burdock, Catherine's AS/Avo would only go down by 1 if she were to unequip Wt -3. In other words, Lethality could replace it without much loss. Which means that Lethality could be fit into an Astra crit build. I'm expecting on average my units to get roughly 25 Dex, and my best Dex units to be at most 35-6 Dex (from growths/class boosts). Anyway, assuming I'm not trying to farm Dex boosters, I won't be able to raise any Swordmaster's Dex beyond 40. And with Astra, that's roughly a 34% chance of killing non-boss enemies. Catherine had 25 Dex (her bases and growths are again basically the average for 3H characters, so that works out), so her chance of triggering Lethality with Astra would have been just under 23%. Adding in your odds of Lethality can bring your total KO chance up to double what it was with just the probability of KOing the enemy with 4-5 crits, although it still doesn't make this build anywhere near certain. Just some thoughts from me (I'm still definitely gonna try some version of this build anyway).

The game gives you enough crit resources to allow pretty much everyone to get to very high Crit rates. Ashe's Dex will at most mean that he uses one less resource than another Vantage/Wrath build would (like a Crit ring, or a battalion with a slightly lower Crit boost), and his boons will help him get to Warrior, sure. But neither of those are significant enough, unique enough or strong enough to claim that Ashe is the 'best' user of this build. For example, Alois arrives in the Warrior class automatically, at a time when Ashe might not have reached Warrior yet, and quite close proficiency-wise to the certification for War Master (which gives a straight +20 Crit boost to all attacks, which Ashe won't catch up to by relying on Dex growths). With fairly little relative effort he'll get higher Crit than Ashe, is probably more usable in battle/as a Warrior, and Vantage isn't that hard for him to pick up either. Alois isn't even that great a unit - my point is just that you have to do a lot more to show Ashe really is the best at something.

In fairness, on Normal/Hard Felix works out fine without any battalion at all, especially running Gauntlets. But yes, raising his Authority is still the more 'optimal' move. Even though Axes are a Strength on Annette, she's not gonna be doing impressive axe damage until B Axes and Bolt Axe, or getting up close from C+ onwards with the Lightning Axe CA. Unless you actually plan on making Axes her primary weapon, the energy spent raising it up to B+ is better used on speeding up Reason/Faith/Authority instead

People have already knocked Aegis so I won't bother doing it too. I just wanted to add that if this is a Normal/Hard NG, and you're planning to use every unit throughout, then you won't achieve Master class mastery for almost all of them, and in general getting everyone to masteries throughout their progression is gonna be tough without grinding. I know everyone in the comments keeps harping on about context, but without context like that the comments become less useful and misdirected.

I remember Lance Jab being solidly powerful, but not ridiculously so. Shamir had solid Spd (was around 38 Spd at CF Ch.18 with a couple of Speedwings) and the damage boost was sometimes the difference between chip and kill (though not normally OHKOs, and a Brave Bow was certainly more useful overall). I actually don't know if any of the Blow skills (bar Death/Fiendish) can actually increase CA Mt, and would be interested in finding out. My suspicion is no in this case (Darting Blow boosts AS, not the literal Spd stat, and Lance Jab scales off Spd, not AS) but I don't know for sure, I didn't check those numbers. And I also don't know if Armored/Warding Blow help Armored Strike/Soulblade either.

I've found Shamir to be a very good Falcon Knight (who isn't though). She is also surprisingly decent as an Assassin. Don't get me wrong, Sniper is definitely up there for her, but there's at least some competition for her endgame classes.

I didn't know 1-2 Punch could trigger 4 hits? Though of course, other brave weapons can double for x4 as well. Nitpicking aside, this is a really impressive post, thanks for putting the time in. I love using crit builds as well, and it's noteworthy playing with them because they always feel dangerous, even when they shouldn't be, and for me too they seem to perform better than displayed crit would suggest (I know that's just subjective though). Astra + Lethality seems like a great idea that no one seems to have tried, and if anything like the best possible usage of Astra. At first, seeing 30% damage per Astra hit made me feel it was too nerfed for me to want to use it for crit builds (you'd need Astra attacks to crit three times minimum in order to exceed the damage output of a normal crit, which isn't unreasonable if you build for it, but can be annoying to rely on). But now, especially knowing how many resources there are to boost Crit, it's much more attractive. Looks like I'm finally gonna try Felix as a Swordmaster.

Are we talking progressions in general and masteries? Because I've found mastering Armored Knight, Priest, Cavalier, Paladin, Swordmaster, and any master class except the fliers and War Master, to be a waste of energy. Like, by all means spend time in those classes if you want/need, (obviously a lot of those classes are very good) but going out of your way to master them is pointless because the benefits from mastery specifically aren't worth the effort. As for progressions, there's obviously excess in what you've written, and that can be whittled down by working out exactly what you might want from each character in their final (endgame) form. Will they do most of their work on Player Phase, or Enemy Phase? What kind of role are they supposed to perform, and in what context (i.e. does anyone else want their deployment slot, who else in your army is doing similar or complementary things)? Answering all these questions will immediately allow you to cut some of the fluff. After that, it's working out the minimum progression to reach that final form as fast as possible (because you want every unit to be at their peak for as long as possible). If you plan builds from the end working back, it'll be obvious which classes/weapons/masteries are more important than others. Especially since you only have 5 skill slots, at least one of which will be filled by non-mastery skills. If you're looking for so-called optimal builds, it's worth saying 1) they don't exist for every character and 2) there will be wild differences depending on external factors even for those builds. For example, Lorenz is a powerful unit in Normal, fairly decent in Hard, but has very little killing power in Maddening, even though he technically does have an 'optimal' build that remains the same for all difficulty modes. Which is why in general, the more context you can provide the easier it is for people to make recommendations. I rate Pavise, but Ferdinand and Sylvain as Great Knights (and a GK Hilda build which wasn't too serious) are the only units I've gotten genuinely good results for it. Your Pavise user should be seeing at least 2-3 times the physical combat of every unit in your army in order for Pavise to show its worth - it's only useful in certain builds, and Sylvain and Ferdinand both have other builds which can be better than GK for them.

In fairness, Claude is decently confident that he can protect Leicester at this point in VW, with the Church, Byleth and the Deer behind him. In CF, there aren't as many options open to him, especially once he realises Byleth has re-entered the fray against him. So after the Great Bridge of Myrddin had fallen (leaving the Alliance wide open to attack and Judith being dead), there was probably no need to make a last stand at Derdriu. That being said, I liked Claude inviting the Almyran navy to help fight off Edelgard in CF, and it was one of those world building things I really wish 3H would have utilised more. There would have surely been all kinds of political consequences if Claude had actually managed to defend Derdriu, and while Edelgard's paralogue does touch on it, Almyra remains a frustratingly loose thread/source of material in most endings of the game. 3H is really dense with mythological/historical references (like with Almyra), which was one of the things that kept me excited about the game, but a decent amount of those references now feel disconnected and disparate, like they were shoved in simply to make the game feel bigger, even though there was no chance they would get fleshed out. I guess that's another change in my opinion on 3H.

Yeah it definitely would have made things more interesting, and pickpocketing isn't the kind of thing you forget how to do, right? Although, his Speed isn't good enough to steal from most potential targets on Maddening anyway (that can be fixed, but it means extra investment for what was already a very small niche).

Did this with my most recent run and the Pagan Altar. You can also sell anything that is kept in the Storehouse for renown (except gifts/lost items) and leftover metal/fish/meat also goes for a decent amount of renown. I made around 20K renown just off this at the end of the game, which is a decent sum (had a fair amount of fish and umbral steel lying around though).

Can't you still go the A rank supports route? I know they won't randomly join your house once you get B support, but A rank should still remove their recruitment conditions, right? EDIT: NG+ only I suppose, everyone's A rank is locked to post-timeskip

I really really wanted Ashe to be a good unit, and he is, I suppose, serviceable, in the way that every playable unit is, and doing a run with one (or even many) supposedly bad units is perfectly achievable. But frankly, he's not very good even on Hard, and IMO he's in the bottom tier of units on Maddening. Basically, most of your arguments for him are class paths where the progressions/end classes are naturally decent, so literally any physical attacker male will do them well too, and probably better than Ashe. Unfortunately, high Dex growths doesn't help hugely in most combat scenarios, and Ashe still needs hit help in pretty much any progression. As covered by others, his growths just aren't very good for a physical combat unit, and his bases aren't good either. Locktouch is possibly one of the most disappointing personals in the game - not because it's bad per se, but because Chest Keys are available right out of the gate for a reasonable price, even in the early game (where money is tightest). Flying Locktouch can be quite nice if you're a completionist like me, but there are only a couple of scenarios where you'd rather have Ashe over another flier with a Chest Key. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is AM Reunion at Dawn, where flier Ashe can be v helpful, even just to avoid dying, but especially if you forgot to bring Chest Keys/take them from your convoy. Anyway, he's worse at physical combat than most people you'd think of using, and there are no other niches that he does well/best, or that he alone occupies. Unfortunately, and I do think it's unfortunate, but there's not much else to him.

Seconded. Of the endgames, VW is certainly the easiest. A simple method for clearing the map is made extremely obvious by the game itself (and also reiterated in the main ability of the Elites), and there is very little else to complicate things. In contrast, the other endgames are better set up to entrap the unwary player, with greater reinforcements and bosses with more threatening abilities (Edelgard's two actions/high range, SS Rhea's monster-making, even CF Rhea's monster-buffing can be threatening if you're slow on Maddening). The other endgames also normally end up forcing multiple-turn boss fights, exposing you to the enemy phase of the boss + nearby enemies (who all get aggro'd when you fight the boss). Nemesis' low range and one lifebar make him much less dangerous by comparison, even if you couldn't lower his stats (but you can), and anyway 107 HP is certainly deletable in one round of combat. Of course, endgames aren't necessarily representative of the difficulty of the whole route, although in this case VW happens to be the easiest overall.

Yeah this only really becomes an issue nearer the end, where Marianne is reliant on Lance of Run for a lot of kills. It doesn't have to be a critical concern, but later maps can definitely last longer than 5 turns. IIRC, I did clear the palace and Shambhala fairly quickly, but I was also a bit overleveled near the end of VW, and I didn't attempt to route either of those maps (I remember it being not that difficult to not trigger the AI for many enemies). But Ch. 19/22 took a bit of time (reinforcements are a pain in Enbarr town, and I didn't realise you don't have to kill all the Elites so Ch. 22 was another route). Of course, warpskip can deal with VW Ch. 19/20 in 1 turn, but I'd imagine Ch. 21 needs 2 turns, and so at least 2 units to survive a pretty strong enemy phase (opening layout also doesn't help). Ch. 22 is probably possible, but only with specific builds, and isn't generally doable by warpskip. So at least those last couple of chapters, I'd expect to take >5 turns normally. Mmm the fact the DLC stat boosters are just handed to you is exactly the problem with them, I felt. At least with quests there is a semblance of working for what you get. But yeah, I hadn't really thought of 'proper' quests as grinding before - if a quest has generic rewards or text, like with Anna or nameless NPCs, then fair enough, but some quests, like this one, feel like they're a small step up in significance. Totally get why you'd reject doing it though. I have done that quest, and I remember absolutely nothing about it apart from that Constance (I believe) gives that quest to you in the Monastery - something about picking up new soldiers, or capturing deserters, or something? Which means it probably wasn't very interesting gameplay. The DLC does have a couple of interesting quests, though I don't think this was one of them.

Like, it's definitely a mistake I could make, but I rechecked my original calculations in my reply, which came out to the same numbers and definitely counted the right levels. But yeah not worth nitpicking, I'm sure it's something silly I skipped over. Marianne is basically limited to Nuvelle Fliers as a FK, which would make things a lot more even. But yeah, pre-endgame, Paladin Marianne probably does edge Constance, at least because Marianne is killing tougher enemies reliably (like high-avo sword users). With Brawl Avo+20, she'll get 59 Avo (Brawl Prowess 5, Lv38 and 19 Spd). Resulting in 39 displayed hit for the monsters, and roughly 31 true hit - not the best, but not awful either. Yeah it's a fair point that Constance isn't significantly better in practice before endgame, especially given Marianne has effective weaponry available. And yeah I had assumed Balthus, Mercedes, Byleth are coming with you in VW (just because Balthus > Raph, always Byleth, and we've been discussing Mercedes all this time), but that may not be a fair assumption to make. I tend to use Rescue as makeshift movement for someone else (advance my Rescuer, and then use Rescue to bring forwards a unit who hasn't moved yet). Obviously it's helpful for extracting units in a pinch too, but my point is just that I don't think Rescue has to keep Constance out of the action. And, y'know, no single one of Rescue/Ward/Bolting x1/Heal/Pneuma Gale/Mystic Blow is gonna clinch Constance, but as a package deal it's not at all bad. It isn't +2 movement, flying and canto, but it will mean Constance can always do something useful, even passively. Marianne is at most getting 5 Lance of Ruin kills per map, and after that her added value is mainly gonna be in effective-damage kills, which Lysithea can also compete for. So her flying will only be of limited use after Turn 5, precisely because OHKOing is life. Being selective about what Marianne kills can of course prolong her utility, but it's a concern because FK/Paladin limits that utility to OHKOs/basic chip. Mmm I hadn't looked into Shambhala's numbers, and I had assumed no second faire. But even without it, Marianne's not doing awfully. Constance still gets more kills, and there are enough non-dodgy enemies for Constance to be solidly useful, though hit help will be appreciated. Yeah Essar is pushing it I think. But given that our debate assumes the DLC, I don't think it's outrageous to assume one-off DLC quests like what gets you Nuvelle Attendants - especially given that this one quest gives you three amazing battalions. It's comparable to a merchant quest in the main game IMO - not actually essential, but very reasonable to get and brings a lot to a run. I wouldn't assume Anna quests and the like, but this seems OK. B rank Authority is too high to expect for Ch. 8 though, that is true. Archer Constance running around with gauntlets on Maddening feels like a recipe for disaster, but that kinda makes me want to use it more hehe. But yeah, I think you'd have to be quite a meticulous player to make use of Mystic Blow Constance before Lv20 - like planning out chapter strategies well in advance. Not undoable, but it would be effort.

After a couple of NG+ runs you'll start to run out of barracks space, but no battalion will be forcefully taken from you. And yeah the lightning is the standard graphic for all range-ignoring counters. If you attempt to use a siege tome/ranged attack on the Death Knight or Rhea, their counters will take the form of a thunderbolt even if it's a physical attack. The same goes for playable Jeritza when he runs the Counterattack skill.

In Ingrid's specific case, since enemy Peg Knight growths are better, then should you wait as long as possible to recruit her (especially if you were gonna raise her as a Peg Knight anyway)? She'd lose out on Riding and Authority ranks over time, but the stat increase would be significant (compared to average Lv20 PK Ingrid, +2 Def/Res and +1.5HP/Str)? I tend to recruit everyone I can ASAP, because I hate not having lots of time to (micro)manage their builds. It also means you have more room to pivot if your build isn't their default intermediate class, or they get stat-screwed once they join you.

Fair enough - I've learnt that I'm quite forgiving as far as hit rates go amongst FE players. Hehe I read what you said on a different thread about it, so I'm not gonna dismiss S+ out of hand or make you argue for it again. I'm actually closer to your style of play than I am to the people you were arguing with - I attempt to rout most maps, but as quickly as I can, I heavily favour Player Phase, and only ever use warpskip strategies when I'm tired/low on battery (which isn't very often). I have gotten S+ with grinding before, but I can't figure out why I'm not getting enough battle experience to reach S+ in normal play. Ah well. Thanks in general for writing a really comprehensive reply (and the appreciation) - SF has a lot of people who argue in good faith, and those are the best kind of arguments. Yep Paladin is a better choice for her - I just didn't want to assume she was raising Lances, Swords, Flying and Riding, but it is perfectly possible. If she doesn't go through PK then raising flying is a bit of a pain I think, and if she does it before Lv20 it might impact her numbers slightly. Yeah I didn't want to assume adjutant Annette, but I figure that OHKO Mercedes is still one of the best uses for her, so it's worth consideration. On Maddening, 10 levels is more than enough time to master Mage the normal way - that's an advantage Mercedes has over Hanneman. Seeing as it barely took me a chapter (with paralogues/quests and KG) for Hanneman to master Archer, I wasn't very fussed about assuming Hit+20 for Mercedes. It'd be tougher for Constance because of her tutoring/goals, but Marianne could master another intermediate class in this time period too IMO (like Peg Knight) - I didn't include anything like that because it just wasn't important to her build. I just worked backwards from assuming Lv40 at Ch.22 - forgot about expected levels for chapters. My numbers should work for Lv 28 though. I mean, moving these guys up to Lv 30, which we can do, will change things drastically, and now Marianne can get everyone bar the bosses. Assuming my earlier setup, Constance can get the same OHKOs as Marianne (except Ferdinand), and Mercedes can now get everybody except Acheron and the monster without Annette. Here's why I'll continue to assume my original setup, despite accuracy concerns. My number should be Lv 32 averages (am I missing something?). From here on in my original post I just scaled the numbers according to their stat increase, so my original figures shouldn't be wrong either, including Mercedes Monsters are my mistake. I think I must have confused 50% damage halving from barriers as something to do with the monster's stats, rather than an independent effect. Yeah I didn't take into account breaker skills in general - important for Marianne, (because lots of Axe units have poor Res), but not a concern for the other two. As for the swordsmen, they're an issue for Mercedes and Constance, true. Mercedes may have to go to 2 spaces, and Constance will want linked attack help. Worth noting that Marianne is soon gonna struggle even with Swordbreaker, because she's gonna start requiring Lance of Ruin for most things. Yeah I couldn't be arsed to write out individual numbers of enemies, and that did obscure the comparison. The fact that now the characters are all 2 levels higher than I first predicted means that nothing has changed in terms of gettable thresholds even if I were to downgrade Mercedes/Constance's builds. Of course, taking accuracy into account does change things, although linked attack potential also remains. Ah Petra, you're a nightmare for everybody. IIRC this map has few stairs and impassable walls, so running Paladin Marianne sounds reasonable. Constance will be able to quad these monsters, so no problemo. Lysithea battalion can be in effect by this point, so I'm not that worried about Mercedes. Movement is a big deal, no doubt. But Marianne has the worst attack of the three, and the only thing she is capable of is OHKOing. Actually, she could do OK chip with Levin Sword+/Blutgang, so that isn't fair. Mercedes has the advantage of no/fewer counters, so even if HV doesn't kill, it's better chip, and there's also good old Curved Shot. Constance can have her spell list/Pneuma Gale. Since she doesn't care about getting the mythical S+ Depending on your mindset, she can pivot to training Reason/Faith after A+ Fists. Pneuma Gale will be better chip than Levin Sword+ and Blutgang (it has no chance of doubling, but tbh there aren't many enemies Marianne can double who wouldn't fall to Frozen Lance anyway), Rescue is great IMO, and even one use of Bolting is good for linked attacks/a Hail Mary shot. Don't forget little old Heal, too. Movement is a huge bonus, and I didn't mean to undersell it. But Marianne is beginning to tail off attack-wise as Mercedes/Constance continue to do well, so there's less and less she can do with her movement the closer you get to the end of the game, whereas Mercedes and Constance's advantages grow in utility during this stretch of the game. I think the accuracy/damage choice gets easier for Mercedes as time goes - her attack also (afaict) remains solidly above Constance and Marianne even if the choice goes accuracy. But yeah, Marianne is getting OHKOs basically from day 1, has early flying capability, and is still competitive for a while even once these builds get going. So I think overall I have to concede that FL Marianne is better. As a parting shot, Marianne tails off harshly in the last few chapters where Constance and Mercedes still do well. So, to your original phrase "Even at their peak, I genuinely don't think they trump FL!Marianne", I don't think that's completely true. Yeah exactly, that's what I meant to say Lol meant that comment to extend to Constance, wasn't trying to be disingenuous. I meant just about the same set-up as the beginning of the post. Prowess will be lower, but in theory Nuvelle Fliers/Timotheos/Nuvelle Attendants are all available by this point. Though yes Fiendish Blow is very optimistic. Yeah I was, Paladin will do better. B rank to A will take a couple of chapters I imagine. So not super relevant I guess, but it makes War Monk Constance competitive before Aura Knuckles, which is the big takeaway Yep gauntlets being locked from mages (and brawler from women) is a hell of an issue. I mean, Constance won't need 10 levels to master Mage, so maybe she could scramble for Thief/Merc? But she'll lose growths/stat boosts and she'll need to train swords, but now she can train gauntlets... idk.

Hmm that's interesting. I mean, Hapi can technically use Exhaustive Strike even in magical classes, and with Bolt Axe it deals more magical damage than her spells. Having to use up an entire weapon every time to get the best effect is annoying, but there's no opportunity cost for Hapi running an extra CA (whereas Edelgard/Sylvain/Balthus/Felix actively don't want the skill or the boon in physical builds). But I think it's still less useful than those guys, because she needs B axes to get Bolt Axe, and unless you have the limited-availability Crusher, that means Exhaustive Strike will deal physical damage (except against mages, that will probably be less than her spells). For example, as a Lv10 Mage with a Steel Axe (average 10 Str) she gets about 40 Atk, which is probably enough to kill an early game mage (but probably nothing else). The Black Magic Gang (dorkiest gang name ever but I love it) will at least be able to make decent use of their skills from the moment they unlock their spell list, and Sylvain's probably stands on top of the others still. None of them can get especially high crit rates with magic, but it's better than nothing, and statistically speaking it means they'll crit (and get kills) during the time it takes Hapi to get B axes to start dealing threatening damage with Bolt Axe Exhaustive Strike. The earliest she could use Bolt Axe+ is Ch.10 - expecting Level 18 Mage, that's 21 Mag and 47 atk, which is still only enough to kill armours and monsters. So yeah, Hapi I think will still remain at bottom, but my estimation of her budding talent has risen slightly.

Yeah I always thought Ch.17 CF was tougher than the endgame too. I haven't played through AM yet, but had heard a lot of people complain about the siege tome users, so I figured it would be harder than CF though? Either way, agreed that SS is the hardest, and VW the easiest.

I just did the calculations for Falcon Knight Marianne's Frozen Lance OHKOs for VW endgame in a different thread, and discovered that even with Nuvelle Fliers, her average stats at Lv40 (which are 32 Mag, 28 Dex) meant she was OHKOing very little by endgame. Even if Lorenz will get a +1 atk boost from running a different battalion and a +2 boost from Ferdinand Adjutant, Dark Knight Lorenz at Lv40 is on average expecting base 28 Mag, 26 Dex. Which means even with Lance of Ruin, he is almost completely shut out of getting any KOs. If he spends 10 levels in DK then switches back to Paladin, then he'll get an early assassin and the first bars of Flying Birds, but that's it. Basically that means you want RNG-blessing and a ton of stat-boosters/over-leveling if you want to run an effective Frozen Lance Lorenz for endgame. Not impossible though (and he should still get some OHKOs before that point).