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Mercedes is an interesting one, because she's the best healer available, but is also a strong black mage. She haa 50/40 mag/speed growth which is tied with Marianne for best among the Black Magic users and she learns Bolganone as a good mid-level spell at C and Ragnarok at A for big damage. As such, you could easily use Marianne as a Primary Magic Damage, Secondary Healer rather than vis-versa. In either circumstance, Her Mag growth is high enough that the bonus healing from Bishop is more luxury than useful. She doesn't have any spells that really need double usage from Gremory like Warp or Meteor. Fortify is nice, but Physics are usually enough. Holy Knight is a waste as you lose all the benefits of Bishop for Tomefaire, but don't have Abraxus or Aura to take advantage of it. So I'm going Dark Knight, but Gremory would be a viable second choice if you don't have another physic user around. Dealing with the Lance Weakness is rough, but you don't have to get to C to pass the test.

Seiros Brawlers, which are E-rank give +4 might and +10 avoid at level 5. Kingdom Archers (D-rank) give +4 might, 10 hit, and 3 protection Kingdom Knights (C-rank) give +5 might, 10 hit, 4 prot, and 1 res. The purpose of Felix's ability is to allow him to maintain power when he loses the Batallion. It's very powerful early on, but as the game progresses, the benefits of even weak batallions out-weighs. Also, you can choose not to replenish his Batallion if it is in red HP to still gain the +5 might.

It would be okay, but largely a side grade from Warrior for the Females. Warrior has bonus crit and 1 more strength, but 1 less speed, 2 defense, and 1 move. Unmounted Wyvern Rider only has 1 dex and 1 defense more than Warrior, but at the cost of 1 Strength and 2 HP. Warmaster clearly beats unmounted Wyvern Lord for the males: 1 more hp, 3 more strength, same speed and move for just 2 less defense and 1 dex.

I'm in the process of a no-crest, no-master class, no mount run. A few notes: (1) Lack of mounts hurts physical damage female characters the most because they don't have access to Warmaster. Swordmaster/Assassin/Warrior are decent, but undeniably inferior to Warmaster. Snipers are restricted to Bow Range +1. (2) Slap a Knowledge Gem on one of your strong males with sword proficiency (Felix or Ferdinand preferred. I'm doing this with Caspar right now on no-crest run) and watch the combination of Vantage (Merc), Wrath (Warrior), and Defiant Strength (Hero) destroy everything that tries to attack them. Once you have Wrath, swap the Knowledge Gem for a Crit Ring. You don't have to master Merc if you want to stay in Hero, but you can trade 2 hp and 1 luck for 10% crit, 2 Speed, and 2 Dex by going Swordmaster. (3) Warlock has higher damage output than Gremory (+3 mag and Tomefaire vs. +5 mag) for every mage except Lysinthea. (4) Since you don't need riding/flying, you can get a bunch of units to C-rank Heavy Armor for -3 weight through weekly group activity that you otherwise wouldn't consider. That extra 3 speed is very nice for everyone, and will often allow you to pass the Fortress Knight (17 base defense) exam for anyone who you might hand an Axe to but could use a little defense love (Felix for example). (5) You have to play slower than you'd normally like. The lack of Canto, +2 bow range, and lower movement puts more of your units in harms way.

Dorothea is the only strong mage without a crest other than Hubert, who isn't available post-skip. She is too valuable as my primary magic damage to dance. As a result, I needed a second Physic. Ignantz, Ashe, and Leonie were the only options. Ignantz is generally inferior to Leonie as an Archer. He and Ashe have similar growths, but Ashe doesn't have sword proficiency and misses two additional chapters post time-skip (to re-recruit Ashe, I chopped him down to 5 hp with Shamir and then hit him with Byleth. I then moved Byleth back to the starting point to sit out). Other odd class choices (hero/warrior) were dictated largely by my decision to go no mounts and no Master classes. It's allowed me to experiment with some classes (e.g. Caspar Hero with Wrath and a Killing Edge is really good as a front liner. I'm tempted to try it on Raphael/Dedue in another run since it means their speed is less a liability). The lack of mounts for Canto, choice not to use Close Counter, reduced number of units, and general flimsiness of a lot of these units forces me to play slower and more cautious than I normally would.

Jojo? Lysinthea makes sense as Gremory for not only those reasons, but also because she doesn't require Dark Tomefaire to 1HKO most enemies on Hard and gets zero benefit from being stuck in Warlock which is Black Magic only. Dorothea, the Mage least likely to reach Dark Knight on the other hand can get the double uses of Meteor and Black Tomefaire from Warlock. The only real reason to use Holy Knight over Dark Knight is Silence and Terrain Immunity. You're taking her to C reason and C faith no matter what for Thoron and Physic. The question then becomes whether you want Aura, Silence, and Terrain Immunity or Cutting Gale and Fimbulvetr. The two A spells are a wash, but Fimbulvetr is probably a little better. Cutting Gale is mediocre, but Silence and Terrain Immunity are useful for a number of maps. For those touting Blutgang, do you really want Maryanne in Melee range? Give it to Byleth instead. And if you are willing to, then she needs Swordfaire, so you might as well go Mortal Savant.

Linhardt: He's okay as a Warlock, but his biggest appeal is Warp. Bishop works better for that. He also makes a decent dancer since he's a Physic/Warp user. Annette: Magic Wyvern Lord is her best spot to be, but fortress Knight/Great Knight memes are fun too as she appreciates the weight reductions for Bolt Axe and Crusher. Marianne: Aura is strong enough for Holy Knight, but you'll want Thoron and Fimbulvetr is good. She's arguably the best dancer in the game though with Physic, Silence, and easier +1 Mov access from Riding.

Felix: Fighter/Brigand/Sniper/Bow Knight or Fighter/Brigand/Wyvern Rider/Wyvern Lord. He doesn't really *need* Death Blow, but might as well since it's easy to grab. He also works well as an Assassin or War Master. Dimitri: Soldier/Mercenary/High Lord or Paladin/Great Lord or Paladin. I prefer Great Lord to Paladin because Charm is a great ability, but either is strong. Dimitri's strength is so high that Vantage is valuable even without Wrath since he can OHKO a lot of things.

After Chapter 6, I used Byleth as an adjutant on two auxillary maps. Got him to Level 12, which was good enough to snag Shamir and Manuela. Rest of Part 1 was easy, probably because I was over leveled by using a reduced team. I just cleared first level of time skip, which was was so hard I gave up on the "no Divine Pulse" rule. I started to wonder if this level was even possible without a leveled up Byleth. Enlightened one only has 12 base defense and 14 speed. All the rogues could double him with silver swords for 13 x2 damage while he was in a forest. Turn 1 flew Seteth (the only flying I've used all run, and immediately dismounted him after that) to the bottom left corner to hide and put Byleth in the tree SW of starting position. Because he gets doubled anyway, I pulled a steel shield out of the convoy for Byleth. Dorothea, Caspar, and Petra arrive on T2. Goal was to get them to Byleth ASAP and plug the hallway. I did manage to get all the chests though. Linhardt, Ferdie and Bernie arrived in the NW corner and didn't move. I lost Linhardt to an Archer but oh well. Current Squad: Caspar: 31 Hero - Wrath, Batallion Wrath, Death Blow, Weight -3, Sword Prowess 3. He certified as a Fortress Knight for defense bump. Dorothea: 31 Warlock - Magic +2, Reason 5, fiendish Blow, Bowbreaker, Weight - 3. Petra: 31 Warrior - Vantage, Wrath (just learned in last chapter), Death Blow, Axe Prowess 4, Lance breaker. Might swap her to swordmaster or assassin soon. Raphael: 29 Warrior - Axe Prowess 4, Batallion Wrath, Death Blow, Weight -3, Lancebreaker. He certified as Fortress Knight for the defense bump. Leonie: 28 sniper - hit+20 Bow Prowess, Authority 4, Batallion Desperation Ignantz: 29 dancer. Vantage, Sword Avoid, Special Dance, Sword Prowess, Axe Breaker. (Need to certify him as Bishop for Magic boost) Shamir: 27 Sniper - Bow prowess 5, authority 2, and Batallion Dsperation (has Hunter's Volley). Ashe (need to re-recruit): 27 Warrior, Deathblow, Axe Prowess 4, Authority 3, Batallion Desperation, Weight -3 Manuela: 23 Bishop - Miracle, Faith 4, Sword Prowess 3, axebreaker, authority 1 I now have Alois and Cyril (just let them adjutant on last level pre-time skip. Not sure how much I plan to do with them.

1. Go Brigand for both so they get Deadly Blow and take advantage of Helm Splitter's +7 mt for OHKOs in player phase. Going Brawler does nothing for Raphael's speed. No matter what, he's going to get boosted to 17 base when he goes Grappler or Warrior at 20. His early game is a struggle though 2. Focus them to C Armor out the gate so they get -3 weight (effectively +3 speed for both). This will help a lot

Update: I decided to do the no crest, no relic run and added some additional conditions: No mounts, flying, master classes, or Close Counter. Hard/Classic, no Divine Pulse. Characters can only use class proficient weapons. I just cleared Flayn's chapter. So far the only hard chapters have been Chapter 1 and 2. I was able to recruit Leonie and Ashe at C-support in Chapter 4. I got Ignantz at C-support in Chapter 5 and Raphael at B-support the first week of Chapter 6 (earned the last week of Chapter 5 but he still didn't recruit). Shamir's B support is locked pre-time skip, and Level 3 with C-support wasn't good enough to get her. I'm going to start funneling gifts to Manuela now. Chapters I soloed The prologue as Byleth(M since I didn't care if I had Sylvain) and reached level 3, but got 0 strength growth. Used Wrath Strike a lot to reduce how many hits I took. Caspar burned through his vulnerary early and then got killed by Claude. Hubert and Dorothea took care of Dedue/Dimitri but ran out of spells. Once Hubert and Dorothea ran out of spells, they were chipping with bows. Dorothea's personal was massively important before she finally died to Hilda. At the end, I had Hilda chasing Petra around while Petra healed in forests. She was the only one left alive. Petra and Caspar finished at level 3, Hubert and Dorothea at level 2. I don't think this is doable as any other house since you'd have fewer units and no healing at all. Chapter 2 took me 24 turns, because I had to be very cautious. I wasn't able to get heal on Dorothea yet, so I was still reliant on her personal and she only had 5 uses of Thunder. A 9 def Caspar and 7 def Petra were my only tanks. Byleth opened the chest for the bullion, but otherwise wasn't near by as I didn't want to activate his exp no us on the others. Chapter 3 was smooth as I had heal on Dorothea (though not as a Monk so limited uses). I had Leonie as my "helper" student, but didn't end up using her at all. Petra and Caspar were fighters already and handled most of the map. Catherine took care of a lot of enemies, and I got Dorothea to level 5. I ignored DK in chapter 4 since I'm going church route and won't have Hubert. Nearly ran out of turns because I couldn't split group for both chests. Chapter 5 was easy. Dorothea had Physic and Thoron by this point. Chapter 6 was a breeze. Once again ignored DK. My team currently looks like this: 15 Petra: Fighter with C swords, C axes, D+ Bow, and C authority. -> Going to go Merc after Deathblow for Vantage then Warrior for rest of game. 15 Dorothea: Mage with C Faith, C+ Reason, D Authority, D Armor, will stay Warlock for double Meteor and Black Tome. 15 Caspar: Fighter with C Axes, D+ Swords, C Armor, D Fists, D Authority-> going to get him Wrath then switch to Hero for the rest of the game. 15 Leonie: Archer with C Lance (can't use under rules), D Authority, C+ Bows. -> Will be a sniper 15 Raphael: Fighter with C fists, C axes, D armor. Will be a Grappler. Might go Fortress Knight if I have to keep playingturtle 14 Ashe: Fighter with C axes, D+ Fists, C Bow, D+ Authority. -> Probably will end up a warrior or Sniper, not sure yet though. 14 Ignantz: Merc with C Swords, C Bows, D Faith. -> Will be dancer with second Physic or possibly.

I'm comfortable with most of that one, but I don't know how Claude isn't S-tier for you. His Act 1 is A-tier with great speed, solid strength, bow proficiency, Diamond Axe before C-rank, and flying Prof for going Wyvern at 20. In Act 2, he has the best class in the game with Flying and Bowfaire, a 2-3 range bow, a unique flying Battalion, Pass, and a combat art that grants one guaranteed dodge. He is the only Lord who can Fly/Mount AND have Charm, and since Hilda is typically a WL too, easy access to not only her "Certain Ally +mt support" but also her +3 str to adjacent males personal. What more could you possibly need? Only other quibbles are Sylvain and Ashe. Sylvain significantly lower than Ferdie is odd. They are nearly identical except that Sylvain has early join for Bylass and +2str/def when adjacent to females. He also gets better supports: Felix/Ingrid vs. Lorenz. Ashe has easier Wyvern access, but he doesn't do much with it. Leonie has fast, strong, easy Bow Knight and +2str/def next to males.

Dorothea and Hubert can still use Cadaceus though, which at least with Thoron/Death gives them a 4 range option. It's not *as* good, but it still gives options.

Not enough. Because Wyvern Rider gives +3 Str and +3 Speed as well (Lord gives +4/4). Warmaster only gives +5/2. Even if Wyvern had 6 move, that's a better unit that also ignores terrain. Compare that to Awakening where Wyvern Lord's had just a one point higher speed cap as Great Knights but 2 less strength, or in Fates where they had 2 more speed than GK but 2 less strength

You're not going to be doubling anything as a Warrior or Paladin in those situations either. However, the Attack Speed PREVENTS doubles too. Also, just some fun with stat calculator: Level 30 Monk/Mage/Warrior/Great Knight Annette wielding Crusher with A-Rank Armor (admittedly, good luck getting A-rank with weakness in Armor, but still) 24 Str, 26 Mag, 13 Speed: 49 Magic Damage, 11 attack speed. Level 30 Monk/Mage/Warlock/Dark Knight wielding Excalibur 16 Str, 31 Mag, 16 speed: 47 Magic Damage, 11 attack speed. With crusher she does 49 damage, but has only 8 attack speed.

Double stacking the weight skills is useful in the early 20s when (a) you're using Steel weapons (Steel Axe is 12 weight, Lance is 11), and (b) a little lower on Strength. At level 20 Fighter/Brigand Sylvain without accounting for Armor Class Skill has: Fortress Knight: 20 str, 11 speed for 36 damage at 8 Attack Speed (11 - (12 - 5 - 4)). Paladin: 22 Strength, 16 speed for 36 damage at 9 Attack Speed. (16 - (11 - 4)) Warrior: 23 Strength, 19 speed for 39 damage at 11 Attack speed. (19 - (12 - 4)) At Level 25: FK: 23 Strength, 13 speed for 39 damage, 10 attack speed (13 - (12 - 5 - 4)) Paladin: 25 Strength, 18 speed for 39 damage, 12 attack speed (18 - (11 - 5)) Warrior: 26 strength, 22 speed for 43 damage, 15 attack speed (22 - (12 - 5)) But if I also use the -3 Weight Ability in addition to Fortress Knight's class skill, I can completely negate Steel Axe's weight as a Fortress Knight. The new attack speeds would be 11 and 12 respectively. If I use the -5 weight ability instead, I can completely negate the weights of Brave Axe, Tomahawk, and Axe of Zoltan. Now, I don't suggest going FK at level 20, unless you're trying to get Pavise. I actually would suggest going Warrior for the better strength and speed growths as shown by the level 30 stats above. Plus, you can pick up Wrath along the way.

I just posted this in another thread: Level 30 expected stats for Sylvian going Fighter/Brigand using Silver Axe (Silver Lance for Paladin): Fortress Knight/Great Knight: 26 Str, 17 Speed, - 5 Weight from Strength, -5 Weight from Armor Skills = Attack Speed of 17. Paladin/Paladin: 29 Str, 20 Speed, -5 Weight from Strength = Attack Speed of 16 (if you diverge to C-armor, it'll be 19). Warrior/Great Knight: 28 Str, 18 Speed, -5 Weight from Strength, - 5 weight from Armor Skill = Attack Speed of 18. Warrior/Warmaster: 31 Strength, 26 Speed, - 6 weight from Strength = Attack Speed of 22 Wyvern Rider/Lord: 30 Strength, 28 Speed, - 6 weight from Strength = 24 Attack Speed. Conclusion: I still prefer Pally/Pally, because you can pump Authority and still have time for C-Armor rating. But eve in that situation, the comparison is: 1 move, 1 strength, 2 dex, 1 attack Speed, 2 res versus 3 HP and 6 defense. For Sylvain (and Ferdi who is pretty close to identical) Pally/Pally over Warrior/Great Knight is at least debatable.

Strongly disagree with this because the Weight abilities stack. Compare Sylvain that goes Fighter/Brigand at level 30 using a Silver Axe (10 weight; Paladin will use Silver Lance for Lancefaire, so 9 weight) Fortress Knight/Great Knight: 26 Str, 17 Speed, - 5 Weight from Strength, -5 Weight from Armor Skills = Attack Speed of 17. Paladin/Paladin: 29 Str, 20 Speed, -5 Weight from Strength = Attack Speed of 16 (if you diverge to C-armor, it'll be 19). Warrior/Great Knight: 28 Str, 18 Speed, -5 Weight from Strength, - 5 weight from Armor Skill = Attack Speed of 18. Warrior/Warmaster: 31 Strength, 26 Speed, - 6 weight from Strength = Attack Speed of 22 Wyvern Rider/Lord: 30 Strength, 28 Speed, - 6 weight from Strength = 24 Attack Speed. The Great Knight isn't fast by any means, but it negates the speed drop compared to Paladin, unless you diverge into Armor. The issue is movement.

Fun with Annette: Make her a Great Knight and just use Bolt/Axe Crusher. Grab Fiendish Blow from Mage (which she can pass pretty easily), then turn her into a battle mage. She is likely to have over 17 base magic before level 20 anyway, so going Mage/Warlock only increases her base magic by +2 compared to going Mage/Warrior. Dark Knight only has +2 magic over Great Knight, but you don't get Axefaire.

B+ in Axes, B+ in Riding, and A armor, which is an insane combination to get. No other class has two non-weapon skill requirements. Great Knight also has 1 less Strength and 2 less dex than Paladin, so you're not getting as much damage from Swift Strikes anyway. I do agree though that it's an underrated class, as the Weight Reduction from getting A-armor negates a lot of the speed drop. People ignore this on Fortress Knight too, and the weight reduction abilities stack. Fortress Knight can carry a Steel Axe with 0 speed penalty. It has no movement, but it's not crippling its speed. I normally try to grab C in Armor for both of them for the speed boost anyway, even as Paladins, before pumping Authority. My normal route for both is to start Lance/Heavy Armor. I use axes exclusively in the early game and try to reach D+ so they can get Brigand certification. Once Heavy Armor is a C swap to Authority/Riding as needed. Get Swift Strikes and then go Riding/Authority for rest of game.

In terms of usefulness, I rank the spells accordingly: S-Tier: Extremely valuable to have one in team: Physic - universally valuable, especially since mages have low movement. I prefer to have 2 if possible Dark Spikes - Instant kill to Death Knight, and also just a strong spell generally Warp - obviously necessary for LTC runs, but also super useful generally. Rescue - very useful, especially on some of the paralogues, but the low range is disappointing. A-Tier: Niche Spells that Separate the Best Spellbooks from the Average ones: Luna/Excalibur - Best mage counter for Peg Knights. Luna can't double, but it still rips things apart and is better versus other mages. Excalibur's triple strength makes up for the fact that it's still hitting a high res target Meteor - Somewhat disappointing that it's restricted to Dorothea/Hanneman, but an incredibly useful spell since mages tend to fall behind the group and the splash damage is very nice. Hades/Agnea's Arrow/Ragnarok/Fimbulvetr - All four are low use count and heavy. They are all about equal when you factor in Black Tomefaire access at level 20 from Warlock and various crit/accuracy levels. Seraphim - Extremely useful for maps with a lot of monsters, but otherwise is mediocre since only Holy Knight has White Tomefaire. Fortify - Mostly unnecessary, but nice to have Restore - Rumor is the harder modes will have more Venin weapons, and it's useful for clearing out Gambit/Monster attack problems. But its still meh. Silence - I really only use this against enemies with Bolting/Meteor/Bohr. This doesn't make or break my decision to use Marianne, but it's still useful. B-Tier: These are your bread-and-butter, spells that will be used more often than anything else. They have moderate weight, good strength, and decent use counts Thoron/Death - 1 extra range compared to the other spells in this section means that the mage can counter Archers without having Thyrsus/Cadaceus. Saggitae - Twice as many uses as Bolganone/Cutting for only 1 might less than Bolg and 1 weight more than Cutting. That has a minor impact at Warlock (which has 2X uses), but a big one at Dark Knight Cutting Gale - Bonus crit is always nice, but the lighter weight is the real reason I put this ahead of Bolganone Bolganone - Solid, but lacks the special aspects of the previous 3 Banshee - Restriction to Hubert so it only impacts the shortest of the four routes in the game. It's too heavy compared to Bolganone for just +1 mt. C-Tier: Spells That Don't Impact my Decisions At All Bolting. Same benefit as meteor, but restriction to Manuela and Hilda make it a non-factor. Plus it doesn't have the splash damage of Meteor. Abraxus/Aura. Yes, they are strong, but only Byleth really gets much use out of it (since s/he has budding talent in Faith but not Reason), and even then only after becoming an Enlightened One since you're probably going physical classes before that. Lysithea (Abraxus) has Hades and Dark Spikes, Marianne (Aura) has Fimbulvetr, Annette (Abraxus) has Excalibur, and if you're using Dimitri (Aura) as a mage I can't help you. Black Tomefaire is far easier to get than White Tomefaire (restricted to Holy Knight). Fire/Wind/Blizzard/Miasma - They are all about the same in the end. Wind is the lightest/weakest, Miasma the strongest/heaviest. Miasma is arguably better early game, but the other three get Black Tomefaire for mid-game. By end-game, you're not using them much unless you need the double or the other spells are overkill. Mire/Swarm - Restricted to one user each, and don't really have much impact. Mire is better with the 3-range, but it's weak. Recover - Heal or Physic are sufficient in the majority of circumstances. In terms of spell books (for those I'd actually considering using magic on) overall, I'd rate them as: Dorothea - Physic, Meteor, Agnea, Thoron, and Saggitae - Overall, just a complete spellbook as she has a little of everything except for Pegasus counter. Lysithea - Dark Spikes, Warp, Luna, Hades, and Seraphim - Amazing offensive spellbook, not much utility. Marianne: Physic, Fimbulvetr, Silence, Thoron, and Cutting Gale - Similar to Dorothea's, but no siege spell. Still very versatile and effective. Hanneman - Meteor, Ragnarok, Thoron, and Saggitae - Dorothea without Physic. Linhardt: Physic, Warp, Excalibur, Cutting Gale, Bolganone - More utility focused, but Excalibur and Cutting Gale some offense. Sylvain: Physic (S1), Ragnarok (A3), Seraphim (A4), Saggitae (B2), Bolganone (B4) - Versatile and effective spells, but getting them might be a problem Hubert - Dark Spikes, Death, Banshee - Another offensive spellbook with no utility. Lorenz: Agnea, Ragnarok, and Saggitae - Another purely offensive spell book, but a very good one. Mercedes - Physic, Restore, Fortify, Ragnarok, and Bolganone. - Less utility than Linhardt, but lacks Excalibur for dealing with Pegasus Manuela - Warp, Silence, Bolting and Bolganone. Utility, but no Physic doens't make much sense. Bolting is a bad Meteor, and Bolganone is mediocre. Annette - Excalibur, Saggitae, Cutting Gale - Weakest of the purely offensive spell books, but Excalibur at least gives her something for Peg. Knights. Byleth - Ragnarok, Bolganone, and Aura - decent, meh, and meh.

Okay, that makes sense. I haven't done the Alois supports. The other part I knew from GD playthrough as well as using both of those characters.

Also, Felix has a major, but his dad has a minor. The exceptions being: Catherine (Charon) The three green-hairs Jeralt (who for some reason has a Major Seiros crest, which is also never addressed) and