Best Classes of your Students (and Faculty) Encore: Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude

[NegativeExponents-]

If you really want use Felix's magic Dark Knight can provide you that along with near identical stat boosts and a mount. The magic weapons (aside from the gauntlets) can be used in any other class too and they all have the same range and similar might to Thoron which means you still get magic options on par with the strongest spell on his list while getting more uses from them, ability to perform combat arts, and not having to train up his reason all they way up to B+ for two mediocre spells.

So to the 31 people that picked Mortal Savant for Felix, why? I just want an explanation before the poll is over as to why it's so popular. Even something trivial like "I like the design of the class and that's why I picked it" would be cool.

[Jakkun]

9 minutes ago, NegativeExponents- said:

So to the 31 people that picked Mortal Savant for Felix, why? I just want an explanation before the poll is over as to why it's so popular. Even something trivial like "I like the design of the class and that's why I picked it" would be cool.

It's probably because Swordmaster is his "canon" class and Mortal Savant looks like the most "direct" upgrade to that. Also his budding talent makes more players think that's where he should be heading.

I picked War Master though. I don't think MS is really worth it, for how awkward it is trying to raise Reason alongside Swords simultaneously. As you said, if you want magic that badly on Felix, just use a forged Levin. It's like Thoron, but it can benefit from Swordfaire and the Crest.

Edited August 25, 2019 by Jakkun

[ApocaLips]

1 hour ago, Jakkun said:

It's probably because Swordmaster is his "canon" class and Mortal Savant looks like the most "direct" upgrade to that. Also his budding talent makes more players think that's where he should be heading.

I picked War Master though. I don't think MS is really worth it, for how awkward it is trying to raise Reason alongside Swords simultaneously. As you said, if you want magic that badly on Felix, just use a forged Levin. It's like Thoron, but it can benefit from Swordfaire and the Crest.

Agreed. The warmaster route (with a brief detour for death blow) makes him consistently great throughout the game.

Early game with gauntlets, he will have no problem killing things thanks to the benefit of his personal skill and crest being multiplied by repeated attacks. At a time where plenty of good units have a hard time one-rounding things, Felix deletes most any enemy no questions asked. 

Mid game, he hits his peak, where he picks up death blow and his relic, which adds an insane amount of tankiness. The extra HP from the warmaster line is very welcome here. He becomes a go-to unit to safely pull mobs, all while being a trump card to ensure you can one-round bosses and monsters where your other units might not have the damage to do so. 

Late game he stumbles a little due to his personal becoming essentially irrelevant and his negative authority, but he picks up the heal move from gauntlets as well as fistfaire and crit+20. He thus remains much more tanky than your fliers and other frontline units, while still keeping a valuable niche in being able to deal much more damage than most units. I found him key to bursting down high-hp monsters and monster bosses, among others, during player phase. 

That route makes him amazing during a period where several good units struggle while still being well above average and contributing for valuable niches endgame. Highly recommend. 

I ran him as swordmaster/mortal savant, and it just didn’t emphasize his strengths as well. It wasn’t worth trading these listed benefits for four shots of a range 1-3 spell, especially when you can get to C swords just as easily for Levin Sword (or Bolt Axe, since you’re invested in that weapon anyway for brigand/war master requirements, although hand axe and short axe are fine as a ranged option). 

Edited August 25, 2019 by ApocaLips

[Jakkun]

25 minutes ago, ApocaLips said:

Agreed. The warmaster route (with a brief detour for death blow) makes him consistently great throughout the game.

Early game he will have no problem killing things thanks to the benefit of his personal skill and crest being multiplied by repeated attacks. At a time where plenty of good units have a hard time one-rounding things, Felix deletes most any enemy no questions asked. 

Mid game, he hits his peak, where he picks up death blow and his relic, which adds an insane amount of tankiness. He becomes a go-to unit to safely pull mobs, all while being a trump card to ensure you can one-round bosses and monsters where your other units might not have the damage to do so. 

Late game he stumbles a little due to his personal becoming essentially irrelevant and his negative authority, but he picks up the heal move from gauntlets as well as fistfaire and crit+20. He thus remains much more tanky than your fliers and other frontline units, while still keeping a valuable niche in being able to deal much more damage than most units. I found him key to bursting down high-hp monsters and monster bosses, among others, during player phase. 

That route makes him amazing during a period where several good units struggle while still being well above average and contributing for valuable niches endgame. Highly recommend. 

Definitely agree with everything you said. Gauntlets on him are no joke and trivialize the early game enemies so hard. Another cool thing about War Master is that Quick Riposte pretty much negates any weight/AS issues he may have while enemy phasing with a Short Axe or what have you. That, combined with Healing Focus and the Aegis Shield just makes him an absolute monster on both phases.

He really is an amazing combat unit in the truest sense.

Edited August 25, 2019 by Jakkun

[Anathaco]

12 hours ago, NegativeExponents- said:

So to the 31 people that picked Mortal Savant for Felix, why? I just want an explanation before the poll is over as to why it's so popular. Even something trivial like "I like the design of the class and that's why I picked it" would be cool.

Pretty much the whole "swordmaster is canon class" thing. It's also the only master class with Swordfaire, iirc, (unless Falcon Knight does too, but Felix can't get that anyway). That and his budding talent, plus I just wanted everyone in master classes, and that was the one that seems to play to his strengths the most. 

Also I was kind of dumb and didn't even check the class's modifiers. Had I known how badly it would have screwed his speed, I would have just left him in Assassin, complete class progression be damned. 

And I like the design of the class and that's why I picked it.

 

[freewaffles]

18 hours ago, ApocaLips said:

Agreed. The warmaster route (with a brief detour for death blow) makes him consistently great throughout the game.

 

Warmaster is absolutely the best choice for him on BE/GD playthroughs where his fist skill will be boosted up and gauntlets cancel the speed loss of his Shield.  If you go straight for him with Feasts/Gifts, he should be recruitable for either the Miklan or Flayn chapter with the 4 potential sword trainers and Byleth's speed.  A strong argument can be made for Assassin with Bow/Levin for range if you're slower to get him and don't have time for Axes.

For BL, Bow Knight is a great option as you can go Merc into Assassin/Sniper for 10-29 while grabbing Vantage and Dex growths and slow building Mount/Lance.  He has Heavy Draw at C+ for the rare occasions he can't double before Brave Bow.  Cyril or Leonie are arguably better thanks to Point Blank Volley, but he's better than Shamir and far better than Ashe.

[ApocaLips]

The poll results for Dorothea seem on track. She has crappy growths but an excellent spell list filled with low use but high utility spells - thoron, physic, Agnea’s arrow, meteor. You thus want to pick a class that maximizes her utility/spell list over her mediocre combat potential.

Dancer is a great option to have the spells handy if the situation arises but to also let her have great utility when her low move or crappy stats force her into an awkward position. Gremory is also a good option (my preferred choice) because it gives you another shot of meteor, more shots of thoron/arrow, and lets you use physic a bit more liberally, playing up the utility of her spell list. 

Dark knight is an option if you don’t have another magic nuke on your team, but there are plenty of units that do that better, and Dorothea does utility better than she does combat. 

[Volcano]

I have no idea why anyone would go Mortal savant with Felix or any character for that matter. Mortal savant itself does not make a lick of sense in this game. It only has a +1 base modifier for speed and a minus growth 10% in speed, and you are supposed to progress into this class from one of the other sword classes who all have higher base speed modifiers and speed growths? You lose 20/30% speed growth if you go into this class from an advanced swordie. The only persons I think are worth going mortal savant are the pure mages who can abuse levin swords, sadly Manuela has a weakness in reason or this class might be the best option for her since her high growth in speed could counter the minus growth in speed and black/dark mages are better of going into a dark knight or gremory anyway. Mortal savant is a waste of space in this game, seriously it needs to be buffed. Its supposed be a better  swordmaster by giving them magic, but the minus growth in speed and only +1 base speed ruins this class. It should have at least +3 base speed and a +10% growth in speed. This way black/dark magic users and swordies would like to go into this class. Quite a shame since the class looks cool as hell. Why they gave this class only +1 base speed and on top  -10 growth in speed is a complete mystery for me since most of the other master classes are broken.

If you get Felix early, Wyvern Lord is always an option because the class itself is just broken. War master is also good and as sword character it would either be a swordmaster or assassin. Assassin can even upgrade into a bow knight.

[Jakkun]

I actually didnt realize that MS had a negative speed growth until you guys brought it up. Who the hell thought that made a lick of sense? It's supposed to be "swordmaster but better", yeah lol wouldn't it be hilarious if we made it neuter your speed for no real reason? The more I hear about it, the more I realize that it's the worst master class in the game by a fair margin.

They took a lot from Echoes in this game, wish they took Dread Fighter from it as well instead of making this mess.

[Shadow Mir]

13 minutes ago, Jakkun said:

I actually didnt realize that MS had a negative speed growth until you guys brought it up. Who the hell thought that made a lick of sense? It's supposed to be "swordmaster but better", yeah lol wouldn't it be hilarious if we made it neuter your speed for no real reason? The more I hear about it, the more I realize that it's the worst master class in the game by a fair margin.

They took a lot from Echoes in this game, wish they took Dread Fighter from it as well instead of making this mess.

I would dare say War Master is almost as bad. Requiring high proficiency in the two worst weapon types in the game just to have access to it? Fuhgeddaboudit.

[ApocaLips]

40 minutes ago, Jakkun said:

I actually didnt realize that MS had a negative speed growth until you guys brought it up. Who the hell thought that made a lick of sense? It's supposed to be "swordmaster but better", yeah lol wouldn't it be hilarious if we made it neuter your speed for no real reason? The more I hear about it, the more I realize that it's the worst master class in the game by a fair margin.

They took a lot from Echoes in this game, wish they took Dread Fighter from it as well instead of making this mess.

I think they did basically take the concept from Echoes, but in Echoes dread fighters were OP. They probably wanted to adjust them downward, but they obviously went too far and gutted a chunk of the class’s identity in the process. 

25 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

I would dare say War Master is almost as bad. Requiring high proficiency in the two worst weapon types in the game just to have access to it? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Wow, that’s a serious hot take. War Master’s +5 str vs Mortal Savant’s +1 str/+2 mag, 1 extra speed, way better growths all around (with a whopping 20% gap in speed being a highlight), better HP (very relevant to Felix), +20 crit ... might want to give that one a little more thought. 

Also, disagree that axes and gauntlets are “the two worst weapon types in the game.” Not even sure where that’s coming from to be honest, so it’s difficult to respond. 

If you have an A in one weapon rank and a C or C+ in the other (don’t remember offhand), you have about a 50% shot to qualify. Odds are good you’ll pass in the 3-4 tries you get over the course of a month. Almost every male physical unit runs through Brigand anyway, so the requirements are not hard to meet. 

[timon]

50 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

I would dare say War Master is almost as bad. Requiring high proficiency in the two IN MY (quite controversial) OPINION worst weapon types in the game just to have access to it? Fuhgeddaboudit.

FTFY

[freewaffles]

2 hours ago, Volcano said:

I have no idea why anyone would go Mortal savant with Felix or any character for that matter. Mortal savant itself does not make a lick of sense in this game. It only has a +1 base modifier for speed and a minus growth 10% in speed, and you are supposed to progress into this class from one of the other sword classes who all have higher base speed modifiers and speed growths? You lose 20/30% speed growth if you go into this class from an advanced swordie. The only persons I think are worth going mortal savant are the pure mages who can abuse levin swords, sadly Manuela has a weakness in reason or this class might be the best option for her since her high growth in speed could counter the minus growth in speed and black/dark mages are better of going into a dark knight or gremory anyway. Mortal savant is a waste of space in this game, seriously it needs to be buffed. Its supposed be a better  swordmaster by giving them magic, but the minus growth in speed and only +1 base speed ruins this class. It should have at least +3 base speed and a +10% growth in speed. This way black/dark magic users and swordies would like to go into this class. Quite a shame since the class looks cool as hell. Why they gave this class only +1 base speed and on top  -10 growth in speed is a complete mystery for me since most of the other master classes are broken.

If you get Felix early, Wyvern Lord is always an option because the class itself is just broken. War master is also good and as sword character it would either be a swordmaster or assassin. Assassin can even upgrade into a bow knight.

Mortal Savant is definitely a meme class.  The only characters with split decent magic growths with at least a 40/35 str/mag growth are Byleth (45/35), Lorenz (40/40), and Edelgard (55/45).  Byleth has Enlightened One which is better across the board other than not having Black Tomefaire.  Lorenz has (a) a great spell list when you consider his strength for handling the weight (b) bonuses to all three Dark Knight requirements, and (c) would rather use a Lance for Frozen Lance.  Edelgard, who has a terrible exclusive class would rather be a Wyvern Lord anyway since she (a) Uses axes not swords for her Relic, (b) needs Speed growths, (c) has Dark Magic not Black Magic for her best spells, and (d) has the shortest route in the game so less time to train her.  On top of that, Levin Swords and Bolt Axes exist for Byleth/Edelgard if they really need to use magic.

Of the pure mages, Marianne is probably the only character who might make use of it.  She has a magic sword with good might and low weight (sadly not ranged) as her relic, benefits from Black Tomefaire (unlike Lysithea), and learns Soulblade (any of the other mages).  However, she has a 35/15 HP/Def growth, so I'd much rather her just throw Physics around from the back as a Gremory than put her anywhere near the front lines.

Rather than Mortal Savant, they should have made Hero a 6 move class with Swordfaire/Axefaire class and + 3 HP, 3 Str, 1 Dex, 3 Spd, 3 Def, 1 res as the tanky option for the Swordmaster/Warrior lines.  Could give it Sol (which is missing from this game for some reason) to pair with Vantage from Merc to make it live forever.

 

Edited August 26, 2019 by freewaffles

[Jakkun]

13 minutes ago, ApocaLips said:

I think they did basically take the concept from Echoes, but in Echoes dread fighters were OP. They probably wanted to adjust them downward, but they obviously went too far and gutted a chunk of the class’s identity in the process. 

Yeah that makes sense. Though with how mount-dominated this game is, having Dread Fighters in all their 7 move glory would've leveled the playing field quite a bit. Talk about a wasted opportunity on their part.

17 minutes ago, ApocaLips said:

Wow, that’s a serious hot take. War Master’s +5 str vs Mortal Savant’s +1 str/+2 mag, 1 extra speed, way better growths all around (with a whopping 20% gap in speed being a highlight), better HP (very relevant to Felix), +20 crit ... might want to give that one a little more thought. 

Also, disagree that axes and gauntlets are “the two worst weapon types in the game.” Not even sure where that’s coming from to be honest, so it’s difficult to respond. 

If you have an A in one weapon rank and a C or C+ in the other (don’t remember offhand), you have about a 50% shot to qualify. Odds are good you’ll pass in the 3-4 tries you get over the course of a month. Almost every male physical unit runs through Brigand anyway, so the requirements are not hard to meet. 

That person is the same guy who insists that Raphael is the worst character in the game despite being told many times that he's nowhere as bad as the likes of Gilbert. They'll die on the hill they made for themselves.

[Burklight]

2 minutes ago, Jakkun said:

Yeah that makes sense. Though with how mount-dominated this game is, having Dread Fighters in all their 7 move glory would've leveled the playing field quite a bit. Talk about a wasted opportunity on their part.

IIRC, the reason DF was so broken in echos was the fact that they took half damage from magic in a game where no one had a resistance growth. It makes sense to nerf that in TH because people have resistance now...but why nerf the rest of it? I didn't understand why they nerfed it either.

[Shadow Mir]

36 minutes ago, ApocaLips said:

Wow, that’s a serious hot take. War Master’s +5 str vs Mortal Savant’s +1 str/+2 mag, 1 extra speed, way better growths all around (with a whopping 20% gap in speed being a highlight), better HP (very relevant to Felix), +20 crit ... might want to give that one a little more thought. 

 Also, disagree that axes and gauntlets are “the two worst weapon types in the game.” Not even sure where that’s coming from to be honest, so it’s difficult to respond. 

If you have an A in one weapon rank and a C or C+ in the other (don’t remember offhand), you have about a 50% shot to qualify. Odds are good you’ll pass in the 3-4 tries you get over the course of a month. Almost every male physical unit runs through Brigand anyway, so the requirements are not hard to meet. 

Gauntlets have very little use on enemy phase, possibly even none. They're only good for player phase, but unfortunately, other weapons tend to be good for both player and enemy phase. It doesn't help that they are range locked, nor does it that they're not usable by mounted units. Axes are too heavy and inaccurate for me to want to rely on.

32 minutes ago, timon said:

FTFY

Okay then, wise guy. Do YOU believe that gauntlets, with their lack of use on enemy phase, their being unusable by mounted units, and their range lock aren't one of the worst weapon types in the game?

15 minutes ago, Jakkun said:

That person is the same guy who insists that Raphael is the worst character in the game despite being told many times that he's nowhere as bad as the likes of Gilbert. They'll die on the hill they made for themselves.

Because Raphael requires investment that I could've given to better units to do Gilbert's job. Also, I honestly found him a liability in my run, and felt like my team was doing much better after benching him because I didn't have to constantly babysit a unit who'd constantly get doubled and isn't defensive enough to make up for it.

Edited August 26, 2019 by Shadow Mir

[Burklight]

I don't see how gauntlets are significantly worse than other melee weapon types. The two main uses for them are...

A) Slow units who cant double without them, thus not doubling on enemy phase is moot because they weren't going to anyway (Dedue, Raphael)

or

B) Very fast units with high damage who probably kill on enemy phase anyway, but use gauntlets for the cost effective brave effect (Felix, Byleth)

The main argument I'd have against them is that maybe your faster units don't have enough str to kill on enemy phase without a stronger weapon, but without the str you probably aren't going to double with an axe or lance....so sometimes swords are better for this use case.

Edited August 26, 2019 by Burklight

[timon]

13 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Okay then, wise guy. Do YOU believe that gauntlets, with their lack of use on enemy phase, their being unusable by mounted units, and their range lock aren't one of the worst weapon types in the game?

Gauntlets are okay, they're not the best, but they have their good niche.

I was more talking about axes, which are probably second to bows as best weapon in this game, considering the AS formula which factors in strength and the fact that enemies just never dodge.

[Silly]

Gauntlets kind of don't have a niche past the early game.

The low weight is their big draw in the early game. Before you get access to forging, the low weight often allows you to get access to ORKOs that you might miss out on otherwise. However, after you get access to forging, you can use Training+ on your units, which lets you get access to relatively low weight weaponry in basically every weapon type.

Their "good" player phase is not really needed on the current difficulty, because past the early game pretty much every weapon type can meet the requirements necessary to ORKO on player phase. Except other weapons also have better enemy phases, since they don't have next to no might.

---------------------------------------------------------

Axes are good though.

[ApocaLips]

30 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Gauntlets have very little use on enemy phase, possibly even none. They're only good for player phase, but unfortunately, other weapons tend to be good for both player and enemy phase. It doesn't help that they are range locked, nor does it that they're not usable by mounted units. Axes are too heavy and inaccurate for me to want to rely on.

The assertion that gauntlets have “possibly even no” utility on enemy phase is such hyperbole that it could not have been made in good faith. Anyone who’s ever used a decent gauntlet user knows this is not the case. 

Gauntlets have a variety of benefits and drawbacks. If you’re going to only list the negatives (which every weapon type has) and ignore the obvious benefits (e.g., much lower weight allowing you to equip heavy equipment, high player phase damage potential in a player-phase-oriented game, especially early on when other units struggle to kill), the conversation is not going to be productive. 

On axes, axe prowess gives more hit than any other, so that consideration largely falls off, and I haven’t had issues with weight you’re describing. 

[Elspeth]

I'm surprised both at the amount of people who like Dorothea on Dancer, and at the lack of people who like her on Mortal Savant.

Dorothea on Dancer is a waste, through and through. You want your Dancer to be dancing, and that means they lose a lot of offensive capability. Dorothea is a really good mage, and making her dance every turn instead of cast spells is a huge waste. I don't see why you would make her a Dancer instead of somebody like Linhardt or Marianne, who have access to both Physic and another utility spell (Warp/Silence), and who aren't offensively slanted characters anyway.

Dorothea on Mortal Savant, though, is pretty great. Dorothea gains way less than characters like Lysithea by going Gremory. She gets 2x Meteor, but she completely lacks a solid Faith spell kit to make use of (as opposed to Lysithea's Seraphim and Abraxas), and 2x Meteor, IMO, isn't impactful enough to lose out on inherent Tomefaire. Dorothea works on Mortal Savant really well despite her abysmal Strength growth, meanwhile, because you can slap her with a Levin Sword. Dorothea armed with a Levin Sword+, Swordfaire, and Black Tomefaire is going to annihilate.  Mortal Savant also gives higher Movement than Gremory. As an added bonus, Dorothea learns Hexblade, and so can even convert good physical swords into high magic damage on Mortal Savant.

You basically lose out on +3 Magic, an extra cast of Meteor, and some Speed growth by going Savant rather than Gremory. That seems like a worthwhile tradeoff to me in exchange for Swordfaire plus a Levin Sword, Black Tomefaire, and better movement.

[ApocaLips]

26 minutes ago, Silly said:

Gauntlets kind of don't have a niche past the early game.

The low weight is their big draw in the early game. Before you get access to forging, the low weight often allows you to get access to ORKOs that you might miss out on otherwise. However, after you get access to forging, you can use Training+ on your units, which lets you get access to relatively low weight weaponry in basically every weapon type.

Their "good" player phase is not really needed on the current difficulty, because past the early game pretty much every weapon type can meet the requirements necessary to ORKO on player phase. Except other weapons also have better enemy phases, since they don't have next to no might.

---------------------------------------------------------

Axes are good though.

If you seriously think the existence of training weapons defeats the niche gauntlets hold, I don’t think we’re even playing the same game. 

I’m not very interested in continuing this game of ‘name a few drawbacks, ignore benefits, claim X is bad.’ There are plenty of enemies that have high enough hp/defenses that gauntlets are very welcome - they deal with those quickly and free up actions for your team. I’d certainly prefer one of those to the 10th axe-using flier. 

[Burklight]

3 minutes ago, ApocaLips said:

If you seriously think the existence of training weapons defeats the niche gauntlets hold, I don’t think we’re even playing the same game. 

I’m not very interested in continuing this game of ‘name a few drawbacks, ignore benefits, claim X is bad.’ There are plenty of enemies that have high enough hp/defenses that gauntlets are very welcome - they deal with those quickly and free up actions for your team. I’d certainly prefer one of those to the 10th axe-using flier. 

Gauntlets can't be used by the only class I acknowledge as being meta viable in game of trolling this internet forum. 

They're totally viable in the actual game, tho. Pretty solid there.

[Jakkun]

19 minutes ago, Elspeth said:

I'm surprised both at the amount of people who like Dorothea on Dancer, and at the lack of people who like her on Mortal Savant.

Dorothea on Dancer is a waste, through and through. You want your Dancer to be dancing, and that means they lose a lot of offensive capability. Dorothea is a really good mage, and making her dance every turn instead of cast spells is a huge waste. I don't see why you would make her a Dancer instead of somebody like Linhardt or Marianne, who have access to both Physic and another utility spell (Warp/Silence), and who aren't offensively slanted characters anyway.

Dorothea on Mortal Savant, though, is pretty great. Dorothea gains way less than characters like Lysithea by going Gremory. She gets 2x Meteor, but she completely lacks a solid Faith spell kit to make use of (as opposed to Lysithea's Seraphim and Abraxas), and 2x Meteor, IMO, isn't impactful enough to lose out on inherent Tomefaire. Dorothea works on Mortal Savant really well despite her abysmal Strength growth, meanwhile, because you can slap her with a Levin Sword. Dorothea armed with a Levin Sword+, Swordfaire, and Black Tomefaire is going to annihilate.  Mortal Savant also gives higher Movement than Gremory. As an added bonus, Dorothea learns Hexblade, and so can even convert good physical swords into high magic damage on Mortal Savant.

You basically lose out on +3 Magic, an extra cast of Meteor, and some Speed growth by going Savant rather than Gremory. That seems like a worthwhile tradeoff to me in exchange for Swordfaire plus a Levin Sword, Black Tomefaire, and better movement.

I will admit, that does sound more fun than just dropping her in Gremory and calling it a day. Helps that she's good in both sword/reason while being bad in riding, so DK is off the table for her. Marianne makes a better dancer anyways because Riding = Move +1 eventually.

So would like Monk > Mage > Warlock > Savant be your preferred progression tree for her while just raising swords in class until she gets Hexblade/Levin?

[Elspeth]

1 minute ago, Jakkun said:

I will admit, that does sound more fun than just dropping her in Gremory and calling it a day. Helps that she's good in both sword/reason while being bad in riding, so DK is off the table for her. Marianne makes a better dancer anyways because Riding = Move +1 eventually.

So would like Monk > Mage > Warlock > Savant be your preferred progression tree for her while just raising swords in class until she gets Hexblade/Levin?

Yup, that's how I did it. She gets both Hexblade and high enough rank for Levin Sword very early on due to fast Sword learning; I had her at like C+ in Sword before the first Levin Sword even rolled around.

If you REALLY wanted to meme around, you could drop her in Swordmaster instead of Warlock for that hot +20% Speed growth, but that's pretty strictly a meme.