“Unconventional” Builds you’ve had fun with

[Fuzzlekins]

What are some builds that diverge from a character’s canon class line and specialities that you’ve had a fun time with?

I recruited Ingrid in my Church run, so during my Blue Lions run I decided to make her an armor unit and because of her good speed and res, she’s basically unkillable. I’m gonna make her a Great Knight but I gave her the March Ring so she’s still managing to keep up with everyone else decently enough at the moment. 

During the Church route I basically made everyone a Flyer, and while pretty much everyone did decently, Wyvern Lord Ferdinand was the ultimate dodge tank with late game enemies having a 0% hit rate against him if he waits at full health. (Everyone knows flyers are busted in this game by now but it’s still very satisfying to see.)

[De Geso]

I haven't done it but based on her spell list I think Gremory Bernadetta has serious potential to be a good unit in CF.

[Karimlan]

Does making Felix a gauntlet-wielding Assassin count? (props to @eclipse for the idea)

Hired him in my Hard GD run, and if he doesn't deal additional damage with his Crest, crits process frequently on him like nobody's business. Eventually carried over Lethality to his endgame class (War Master), and damage-dealing is going to absurd levels oftentimes. 

Edited September 19, 2019 by Karimlan

[Midnight Torch]

I did Gauntlet Bernadetta in my Blue Lions run. I had to use the Knowledge Gem to keep her skill level up and put all my Energy Drops on her, but she did end up rather powerful. It helps that she also had high speed that run. The result was a paranoid introvert one-shoting beasts like nobody's business.

[BergelomeuSantos]

I made my Ferdinand a Healer.

That's pretty much it. 

[Tombstone88]

Prior to Maddening's release, I was doing a sort of "meme" run, where I made a bunch of units atypical builds on Hard/Classic for GD.

-I took Hilda down the mage route; once she unlocked Fiendish Blow, her damage was solid; 4 Bolting casts at Warlock is really good.

-I took Marianne down the Swordmaster route; she struggled a bit as a Merc, but upon hitting Swordmaster, she started ORKO'ing everything without Soulblade/Levin Sword.  With Soulblade/Levin Sword, she was the highest damage dealer on my team.

-I recruited Ingrid and made her a mage; pretty much the same deal as Hilda, but she had support with Physic instead of Bolting.

-I also made Leonie a mage; she gets some decent spells, but her damage output is pretty bad (this is in comparison to Hilda, by the way).  Warlock bases and Fiendish Blow makes any mage with a decent spell list valid, though (at least on Hard).

-I recruited Caspar and took him down the Cavalier route for fun; it was... mixed.  He had really good Strength and Defense, but his Speed was still at the minimum as a level 25 Paladin.

-I took Ignatz down the Brawler line; it worked out pretty well.

-I made Lysithea my Dancer because why not?

-I also recruited Annette and tried her as a physical axe fighter; she was terrible up until I unlocked Death Blow and Warrior for improved bases.  I'm even more convinced now that Annette really only works as a wyvern due to Lightning Axe and having a flying rally bot.

[timon]

I've done a few (by the time you get to the 4th route you really have to to keep it interesting).

Here are some of my favourites:
- Holy Knight Catherine, her Faith is useless, but who cares, I love it. She's a zealot, she's made to be a Holy Knight and embrace the crazed crusader way (especially if you're in Silver Snow). She wasn't bad as a Paladin though, not at all.

- Cavalier Raphael, made him into a Great Knight which is subpar but still not out of "norm". What I'm focusing on here is the cavalier part, early game he was very powerful, that tankiness and power on such mobility is amazing, and I didn't even feel bad about the -10% speed (he ain't getting it either way).

- Dancer Hilda, not "unconventional" as I think a lot of people pick her for the competition, but still, dancer with giant axe is a funny, and I wanted to try Bolting. Sadly a terrible unit even with Fiendish Blow from mage (aside from the dancing of course). And to stay in Axe Mages topic, does Bolt Axe WL Annette count? If yes, I did it, she was better than I thought. I think Edelgard could pull that one off a lot more efficiently though (using Bolt Axe as a side weapon and not as main focus).

- I also actually extensively used Gilbert in my BL playthrough, at first it was more because I really like the character, then he got into Great Knight in like 1 chapter time and he became very useful. Very good unit, I probably got blessed since by looking at numbers he shouldn't be, but he was crucial in that run (and he gets to Mov+1 fast too). Added him here because I think most people bench him, and the few who use him go Wyvern (which is fair, but I wanted to try something else).

- Finally, Gremory Bylass, actually a very good unit. Her Mag isn't really bad, especially if you go through the mage path. Spell list is not amazing, but with double uses Bolganone and Ragnarok are spammable. I also had Dark Knight Bylad, but that was through the cavalier route so Reason was more of a side thing (absolutely love Paladin Byleth though). War Master was also fun, mostly for the roman-ish look of the outfit, managed to pass the certification without ever touching the stupid Gauntlets too (C+ through faculty was enough).

[CyberNinja]

1 hour ago, Fuzzlekins said:

What are some builds that diverge from a character’s canon class line and specialities that you’ve had a fun time with?

I recruited Ingrid in my Church run, so during my Blue Lions run I decided to make her an armor unit and because of her good speed and res, she’s basically unkillable. I’m gonna make her a Great Knight but I gave her the March Ring so she’s still managing to keep up with everyone else decently enough at the moment. 

During the Church route I basically made everyone a Flyer, and while pretty much everyone did decently, Wyvern Lord Ferdinand was the ultimate dodge tank with late game enemies having a 0% hit rate against him if he waits at full health. (Everyone knows flyers are busted in this game by now but it’s still very satisfying to see.)

I made Bernadetta a warrior, the critiest, most accurate warrior in the history of warriors and still one of the higher strength units I had. Ironically I could have kept her far speedier if I went the thief assassin route before going warrior since she actually started in the class at class base stat and didn't get blessed until after. The HP blessing made for some nice vengeance hits.

[Boomhauer007]

Gonna quote myself from an old post

"I just finished a mostly backwards / meme / no mounts run on church, not too bad but a noticeable tick above hard. Also banned all non attacking gambits and lord battalions. Lack of movement was by far the most noticeable thing, forces you to deal with a lot more. My team was:

Byleth (Bishop), Seteth (Hero/Boomer), Flayn (Fortress Knight), Raphael (Assassin), Caspar (Warlock), Bernadetta (Dancer), Leonie (Gremory), Marianne (Warrior), Lorenz (Noble), Felix (Sniper)

Even with that lineup I never really struggled on any map, it wasn't even hard brute forcing the final map (kill all the beasts they said, lol them). Felix was my safety unit but Marianne ended up pretty good, Seteth was ridiculous, and Flayn with a bolt axe+ was unstoppable with her like 35/30 defenses. Even Lorenz was useful through the end.

The the funniest part was losing Lorenz after the time skip, having him as an enemy paladin, recruiting him back to my team and seeing him back as Noble with all his enemy stats poofed away."

Edited September 19, 2019 by Boomhauer007

[CelestialContrail]

On my first playthrough (Blue Lions) Ingrid was very strength-screwed and magic-blessed early on - I think her magic was 2 points higher than her strength by level 10 despite starting out 2 points lower. So I revised my initial plans for her and made her a Holy Knight, which actually worked out quite well in the end.  Her combat was kind of eh in the middle levels, but she could at least help out with healing via Physic if nothing else, and once she got Seraphim she was quite useful against all the Demonic Beasts that get thrown at you.  Keeping up her Lance rank meant that I could certify her as a Paladin to patch up her strength, and by the end of that play through she was a good mixed attacker with 30+ strength and magic.

[Alastor15243]

I've never actually done this, but the next time I get a remotely reasonable opportunity, I really, REALLY wanna make Odin a basara. He seems to thoroughly perfect for the class that I'm amazed it isn't his default one, let alone that he can't use it at all without marrying Orochi or Corrin. IS missed a huge opportunity, putting him in Nohr. He should've gotten separated from the others and wound up as an eccentric bearded hermit in the Hoshidan mountains, training a bunch of apprentices, who buy into his nonsense to widely varying degrees.

 

EDIT: Sorry, forget everything I said. I forgot what forum I was in, I have two tabs, one on Three Houses and one on General Fire Emblem.

Edited September 19, 2019 by Alastor15243

[Corrobin]

Is Archer->Sniper Felix that odd?

(I switched to Mortal Savant when that unlocked, as I had still been building up his Swords and unlocked his Reason bonus, but he still used bows a lot)

[LilyRose]

On my last playthrough (the 6th one, so I desperately needed to change some things up) I did Church route and fell in love with horses. Overall this was not the best idea as I feel like I wasted some of my normal stars. 

Ferdinand & Caspar - Great Knights: OMG! I think that an actual tank could roll over these two and they would be just fine. 

Byleth (until Enlightened One change), Sylvain, Felix, Dorothea & my trio of tiny killers Lysithea, Annette & Flayn - Dark Knights: I will never do this again! Dorothea and Flayn hate horses, gremory Lysithea with Thyrsus is much deadlier, Felix was terrible and I ended up benching him (first time ever and I'd used him in 4 of my other runs). My boy Sylvain was awesome but not up to his normal standard. 

Bernadetta & Petra - Bow Knights: Perfection as usual!

Mercedes - Holy Knight: This was a good fit and something that I will probably do again. My only issue with Mercedes is that Marianne is so much better at everything so she never gets picked. I chose to only level up one healer this time and she was good, not Marianne good, but still good. 

Marianne - Paladin: It took a while to get her str to a respectable level but once she was in the double digits it all started to come together. Only Byleth was a deadlier with a sword. 

Raphael - Dancer: I did it as a joke but he was surprisingly good. I knew I was going to do it so I recruited him very early and started training his sword up. He ended up being the third best swordsman in that run behind only Byleth and Marianne.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Currently doing Crimson Flower, New Game +, Hard Classic. In month 10, pre-skip. Here are some of my weirder builds:

Mage Bernadetta, on her way to Warlock, then Dark Knight. It's no secret that Bernie has a surprisingly good spell list, with offerings like Thoron, Rescue, and Physic. Originally I was considering Gremory, but I like how DK makes use of her natural boons in Riding and Lances. Just grabbed her Thyrsus + Gloucester Crest Stone, so look out world!

Cavalier Hubert, into Paladin, with Bow Knight as the goal. Hubert gets Frozen Lance (through a hidden talent IIRC), so he can still do good damage, and his boon in Bows made BK seem his most viable physical option. Mainly, however, I wanted to maximize Hubie's move, so he can zip around Rallying everyone (he gets Mag, Res, and... Speed, I think?).

Myrmidon Lysithea, going for Thief, then Assassin. Like Hubert, this is a case of capitalizing on a budding talent for a magical combat art - in this case, Soulblade. She cuts cleanly through low-res enemies, and as an Assassin, she'll have awesome movement, with thief utility. I'm optimistic about Magic Bow on her, as well (she may have to fight Hubie for it).

Armor Petra, striving for Fortress, then Great Knight. Petra's gifted in Axes, and Armor and Horses are no challenge for her, either (I do like, though, to keep her with a bow and Gauntlets on-hand). Her speed is still great, and this lets her shore up one of her poorest stats, in her Defense. Movement is a drag, but I'm optimistic about Great Knight fixing that... eventually. 

There you go! What do you think? Feel free to use any of these, if they so inspire you. 

[Spectrum]

I'm trying to do the church route and my Lysithea is RNG-screwed. She didn't gain magic for 7-9 levels so I'm going for a swordmaster then Mortal Savant and will update on how that works. 

Not sure if this counts unconventional, but I made Caspar and Ferdinand Heroes and they were fine. Caspar still struggles with speed but Ferdinand is actually good.

[pekingduck]

45 minutes ago, Spectrum said:

I'm trying to do the church route and my Lysithea is RNG-screwed. She didn't gain magic for 7-9 levels so I'm going for a swordmaster then Mortal Savant and will update on how that works. 

Not sure if this counts unconventional, but I made Caspar and Ferdinand Heroes and they were fine. Caspar still struggles with speed but Ferdinand is actually good.

RNG screwiness makes the game so interesting. Thank the gods for probability. After Lysithea destroyed for me on Crimson Flower with some surprising HP and Def bulk, I was expecting similar greatness for her in my Verdant Rain playthrough. Instead, she ended up only gaining some in magic and became a paper tiger. Relatively low res, atrocious speed. Lorenz of all people ended up out-magicking her, and with better physical bulk and res became my default magic user. Marianne even had better magic stats. Without speed, I gave up on Mortal Savant as well, and just had her mainly do behind-the-lines warping.

Not too unconventional, but my Ignatz's stats eventually made him impossible to ignore in my Verdant Rain playthrough. His combo of high Str, Def, and Dex made him a really good Paladin for me who could accurately ORKO. Him and Leonie became my front-line folks. Of course, the increased tolerance of Hard compared to Maddening also enabled me to experiment a little more in the first place.

It's just really humorous to me also that the RNG fluctuation in stats can have a big influence on paired endings.

[Fire Brand]

Assassin Mercedes Is one of my favorites, she's really fast and deals good damage with the magic sword and bow.

Warlock Ferdinand Ok so I only did this because he looks like Arvis post timeskip, but it was lots of fun. He has a great spell list, too. Also did Warlock Edelgard, but idk how conventional that is.

Sniper Lysithea Again, magic bow. So I thought, why not. 

Mortal Savant Ingrid was one of my MVPs in Church and BL, since she had good magic and strength, and could heal as well. Her spell list is decent too.

[iavasechui]

Grimory Hilda was a thing of beauty in my last golden deer run XD 

[De Geso]

15 hours ago, BergelomeuSantos said:

I made my Ferdinand a Healer.

That's pretty much it. 

Oh, yeah, I made Ferdinand a Holy Knight, which I guess is kind of unconventional. Ward came in handy quite a few times.

[Chaotix]

The only big one I've done is Falcon Knight Marianne, which turned out pretty well. She has all the strengths she needs to get there, despite the game pushing her down the Bishop path typically.

Her Strength is the biggest problem, so for much of the early game she has to rely on Frozen Lance or Soul Blade for damage. However, Peg/Falcon Knight really patches up her bad speed, and she actually can do solid damage with just a Training Lance because she's always using magic combat arts. Dipping into Paladin is also easy for her and you can get Aegis from it.

By part 2 the build really comes together because her Strength gets to acceptable levels, she gets her Relic weapon, and her Crest gives her extra damage with weapon attacks like Felix's.

Big downside: nobody else in Golden Deer gets Physic, so you probably want to recruit Linhardt or Mercedes to be your main healer.

[Shoblongoo]

Been watching Mangs' blue lions playthrough for meme builds, and Swordmaster Dedue looks hilarious + surprisingly decent  

[Book Bro]

Gremory Hilda because look at her. Those pink pigtails? Come on. She gets Thoron early on and eventually Bolting. She's surprisingly good even though you really have to push her skill levels since she's naturally bad at magic.

Falcon Knight Marianne with Levin Sword is great. Eventually she got caught up in strength so she's good with her relic too.

55 minutes ago, Chaotix said:

Big downside: nobody else in Golden Deer gets Physic, so you probably want to recruit Linhardt or Mercedes to be your main healer.

Ignatz gets Physic. 

[Chaotix]

1 hour ago, Book Bro said:

Ignatz gets Physic. 

Right, like I said, nobody in Golden Deer gets Physic

/sarcasm

[iavasechui]

Leonie also gets physic

[daisy jane]

3 hours ago, Chaotix said:

The only big one I've done is Falcon Knight Marianne, which turned out pretty well. She has all the strengths she needs to get there, despite the game pushing her down the Bishop path typically.

Her Strength is the biggest problem, so for much of the early game she has to rely on Frozen Lance or Soul Blade for damage. However, Peg/Falcon Knight really patches up her bad speed, and she actually can do solid damage with just a Training Lance because she's always using magic combat arts. Dipping into Paladin is also easy for her and you can get Aegis from it.

By part 2 the build really comes together because her Strength gets to acceptable levels, she gets her Relic weapon, and her Crest gives her extra damage with weapon attacks like Felix's.

Big downside: nobody else in Golden Deer gets Physic, so you probably want to recruit Linhardt or Mercedes to be your main healer.

 

oohhhh. i am half tempted to train marianne to C in horse to get that..(i'm making Marianne into a Falcon Knight and she's started to really start to hit harder. i never thought about ageis though).