Fire Emblem Three Houses Final Class Tier List(In Order)

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

Thread title. I made this a while back after a few playthoughs of the game for fun. My opinions haven't really changed much. Anyways, here's my list. Tell me your thoughts.

A few things to note:

-This is only my opinion, so you can disagree.

-With that said, I’m basically my reasoning off of various things, which not only include overall battlefield performance, but also class bonuses, availability, weapon skill requirements, how your units perform in the classes, and growths, mastery abilities, CAs, and class abilities.

-This is assuming you’re playing Hard Mode seriously. Like a legit, no NG+ Playthrough.

 

 

Tl;dr Version:

Spoiler

S+

Wyvern Rider

 

S

Dancer

Wyvern Lord

War Master/Gremory

 

A

Falcon Knight

Paladin

Sniper

Grappler

 

B

Bow Knight

Assassin

Bishop

Warlock

Swordmaster/Warrior

 

C

Hero

Dark Knight

Holy Knight

Fortress Knight

 

D

Great Knight

Dark Bishop

Mortal Savant

 

Version with explanations:

Spoiler

S+ Tier(Better known as the Wyvern Tier.)

1. Wyvern Rider

I’m not the only one who shares this opinion. I honestly think that out of all the classes, this class was unanimously considered the best to the point that it’s an accepted fact.  

 

So what exactly makes this class so good? The obvious thing to list would be that it’s a flying unit with great bulk and power, but that won’t do this class justice. There is a lot more to this class that makes it pretty the go to for any student with a proficiency in Axes and/or Flying. 

 

 

The very first thing to note is how fast you have access to this class. Unlike master classes, you can promote to these without having to unlock them, so you get someone to Wyvern pretty quickly if they have at least one of the proficiencies as strength as well as get them to level 20 pretty fast. Byleth or your house Lord, except Dimitri to an extent, can get there faster than any other unit, and considering how good these units are in general, that’s not something to take lightly. 

 

 

Besides that, the other really huge thing about Wyvern Rider is its stats. What’s the most busted thing in a FE game that you think about when it comes to class stats? For me, it’s having a unit with stupid bulk along with great speed and strength. Wyverns, for some reason, have those very stats. In fact, along with base class additions when applicable, a unit promoting to Wyvern gains 3 speed, 2 strength, and 2 defense. To add on to this, Pegasus knights get 3 speed on promo at well. Let that sink in. Wyverns, a class that has made a name for being the slower, beefier flyer, gain as much speed as Pegasus knights, along with their own boons of strength and defense.

 

 

If that wasn’t enough to prove how insane this class is, there actually more. Wyverns get Axefaire for a class ability, which is honestly ridiculous, Canto, which in this game, functions like PoR Canto except you can’t move after using items, can basically move anywhere(I think the only real exception is Shamhala’s Walls), and finally, negate its weakness via dismount, which is huge. 

 

 

Overall, the class is pretty much a top priority for almost any unit because not only does some unit get better with this class, the best units also get super broken. It’s only ‘weaknesses’ is less move than a Paladin by 1 and it’s mastery being situational at best, but everything else about this so good that these don’t register.

 

 

S Tier(Classes that are pretty much go to’s, but not Wyvern Tier.)

2. Dancer

Very bold to put a dancer before Wyvern Lord, huh? But I have my reasons.

 

First of all, You can get a dancer much faster than a Wyvern Lord, which is a huge boon. This class only has one requirement: the student that you want to be a dancer must have more than 13 charm(Dunno if this true, but it gets bumped up to 18 if Dorothea is a participate), and that’s it. Sure you only get one shot and it’s when the midgame is about to start, but you don’t need to train up any weapon ranks and if you don’t wanna do perfect tea parties for most of your time, there are a lot of units who gain charm fast, and even then when you choose a student, you can basically give said student 5 charm FOR FREE.

 

 

Now on to the class itself. Dancers have always been automatically a must have due to how strong refreshing is in FE. If they don’t have a certain side ability, like combat or boosting stats in exchange of normal dancing, dancers are still considered great utility units just for refreshing alone. In 3H, Dancers are possibly the best they have been in a while. The class has more movement than previous dancers at 6, which is amazing for getting to certain units like Paladins faster, especially when combined with the March Ring as well as stride. Also keep in mind that only a FEW ADVANCED CLASSES not on a mount have the privilege to have more than 5 move, so yeah, big deal.

 

 

The dancer class also has other nifty things about it that make it worthwhile. For one, it can use magic at full use, meaning that dancers can heal. In fact, some healers like Marianne make for great dancers due to access to a proficiency in swords, so she’ll have great avoid when combined with Sword Avoid +20 if you want it, as well as access to Physic if she can’t dance at the moment. Special dance is neat as well as it not only buffs some stats like speed and dexterity, but also that said target is also refreshed, ready to do more damage.

 

 

One more small thing that really doesn’t make a difference in the long run but should be mentioned honorably is that 3H is the only game so far has made the 

 

Dancer an actual competent combat unit. The class has a surprisingly good CA called Sword Dance, which adds the units charm to its attack, which can lead to some good damage, and only requires 2 weapon uses, as well as increases avoid by 20%. A lot of units can make good use of that if you don’t want to refresh, so this adds to the Dancer’s array of options as a class.

 

3. Wyvern Lord

 

It’s Wyvern Rider, but stronger and also has access to Avoid +10. What prevents it from being S+ Tier is that it has the problem of being a Master class. To those unaware, Master classes are sort of an odd case. Most of them require strange weapon proficiencies that don’t flow properly to whatever you had planned for you unit. Wyvern Lord isn’t as strict as the others,(Spoiler: a lot of classes that are in the lower Tiers are master classes) but it’s one of those cases where the benefits don’t really warrant going through buying a Master Seal since normal Wyvern Rider does just as good earlier in the game.

 

4. Gremory/War Master

 

The only two Master classes that actually progress well in terms of what weapon proficiencies your unit trains in. It was hard deciding which is best consider that both are strong in their own unique ways, so grouping them together was the next best thing.

 

War Masters live up to their class name by being brutally strong foot units with access to Fistfaire, Axefaire, and Crit +20. If possible, Mastering the class is a huge boon as it unlocks a CA and an ability, both are absurd in how strong they are. The CA, War Master’s Strike, is the axe version of Atrocity, The weapon CA of Dimitri’s prf that deals super effective damage to ALL UNITS, making any player War Master when, well mastered, a potential ORKO monster. Quick Riposte is a skill that allows the unit to always follow up on Enemy phase when in range and the unit is above 50% HP, which means that the unit will always have the edge in battle. Having such power in both phases in insane, and warrants training up gauntlet and axe rank for the right units, as well as buying a Master Seal. War Masters are also super strong and surprisingly fast and bulky. The major drawback is that while mastering the War Master rewards the unit greatly, it will most likely be late game before the unit can acquire these tools, but can still do a lot with the class either way.

 

 

One the other side of the spectrum, Gremory, while not being a bulky, hard hitting monster, is possibly the most versatile magic unit in the game. While the class doesn’t have any access to any -Faire skills, it makes up for it and more by having x2 skills in every magic type, including dark. This allows for more uses of various strong spells like Meteor, which gets even nuttier when combined with combined with the +ranged hold items Thyrsus and Cassius, allowing for safer spell usage. The more magic uses also frees magic units of the dumb task of having to rely on a close range weapon when they ineditibly run out of spells. The main thing that prevents it from being better than War Master is the lack of a great Master ability, as well as worse move.

 

 

In hindsight, War Master may be better than Gremory, but for now they are being paired together.

 

A Tier(Classes that are great, but aren’t amazing. Are fairly safe alts for the S tier classes.)

5. Falcon Knight

This class got dicked on, but it’s still good. It’s still have very good strengths like the obvious high speed, Canto, and dismount, and it has Lancefaire as well as Avoid +10 as a class ability.  The thing with this class that not only does it suffers being a Master class that is gender locked,(WHY) but the alternative, Wyvern Rider and even Wyvern Lord, are just better. A great class still, but no real point to it. 

 

6. Paladin

 

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Yeah, the class is still great, but man is it, in my opinion, very agitating to actually use.

 

Paladins were pretty the go to class line in almost every FE game due to the fact they have movement and great middling stats. Flyers, while still good, were a gamble to use, but Paladins were basically the safest picks when it came to all around combat. There really wasn’t any reason to have at least one in you main party.

 

 

Well, the good news is they’re still okay. It’s an Advanced class, which is always nice. The class has Lancefaire, as well as the other special skills that mounts in general have. It’s still generally bulky in all areas of defense, and pretty strong to boot. There are a bunch of units who make great Paladins like Sylvain and Ingrid due to their prf’s CAs. The main flaws for Paladins are two things: One, Every other flyer is stronger and faster than a Paladin and can traverse more areas, and Two, the mastery ability for Paladins, Aegis, which will most likely be acquired, isn’t really worth the ability slot since it still focuses on dex% to activate. 

 

 

Okay, now to explain why I don’t like using Paladins. Well, it’s simple: THEIR SPEED GETS REDUCED UPON PROMOTION! A class that is usually the balanced rider class has bad speed. WHY?! To add salt in the wound, there is a speed growth penalty in both riders… by 10%. Ten. Goddamn. Percent. Like, I understand trying to balance out classes, but considering that WYVERNS are fast, why can’t Paladins be fast too?! >_<

 

 

7. Sniper

 

While the top two of this tier were basically hollow, but relevant shells of their former selves, the Sniper is now what, in my opinion, perfectly fine and usable. 

 

I’m not gonna be around the bush here. Snipers sucked in a bunch of FE games outside of Gaiden/Echoes where they were just dumb. A frail, slow class who specializes in accuracy but couldn’t attack up close. Fun. However, having them attack at both ranges with crap like the Killer Bow and Hunter’s Volley and their now the second best class in the game. Because what’s weapon variety?

 

 

3H actually went with the Echoes style of Sniper with the statline from other games as well as made close range something that the player must earn via C skill in bows, and Snipers are a blast to use now. Bowrange +1 is amazing for safe attacking, and actually make Snipers to go to users for bows. Bows in general are amazing in 3H thanks to Curved Shot, and stays relevant when used by their intended class. Hunter’s Volley is also back with a vengeance as a mastery ability,  but now any bow can be used with it, which is actually stronger, but is balanced out with the class not having any actual bulk or absurd movement.

 

 

The main problem with this class is that, besides Hunter Volley, only a few CAs are worthwhile like Encloser and Point-Blank Volley, which means that only a few units can actually shine in the class. The class itself doesn’t really fix any unit weaknesses other than dexterity either. What sells this class over Bow Knight is the fact that the unit gets a powerful CA that makes it worth staying in the class, as well as it being waaaaaaaay easier to actually promote to.

 

 

8. Grappler

 

The same as War Master, but weaker, doesn’t have Axefaire,  and doesn’t have an absurd amount of stuff that it can acquire after mastering. Mastering it is worth it, however, as the unit learns the CA Fierce Iron Fist, which can be a lethal player phase tool. War Master is just a better Grappler, but if a player loves watching characters punch things(if they keep animations on, that is) and don’t want to bother with Master Seals, than Grappler is still a solid option.

 

B Tier(These classes are underwhelming, but not terrible. Outclasses by everything above it)

9. Bow Knight

Bow Knights have by far, the most jumbled up requirements to get a class that I’ve ever seen in this game. Other than Bowrange +2 and the most superior movement even dismounted, this class really has nothing special about it. It’s stats are meh, not really standing out at all, and the mastery skill is virtually useless. This wouldn’t be a big deal, had it not been for the cryptic requirements to get to this underwhelming class. In order to get high odds of passing the exam for this class, you an A rank in Riding and Bows as well as a C rank in lances. This is a common problem for Master classes, as most of them are mounted, but requires a hefty investment in Riding. This wouldn’t be a problem if the riding rank was significantly lower, but that requirement greatly hurts this class, as well as others.

 

10. Assassin

While swords are better in this game than in other games, they still suffer from the same problems of being weak as well as lacking an early ranged option that actually uses strength. With that being said, swords still can be useful, with CAs such as Wrath Strike early on, Finesse Blade, and Windsweep, so having a dedicated sword user isn’t out of the question.

 

With that being said, swords now have an entirely new problem: There isn’t an amazing enough class with Swordfaire to take advantage of these CAs. Excluding Byleth’s personal class, there are 4 total classes that have Swordfaire, but none of them are good enough to warrant using them in the long run and a player is better off having a Paladin or any of the classes above, besides Sniper and War Master, use them. The main reason for this is lack of move and bulk from all of the classes.

 

 

If a player wants to actually take advantage of Swordfaire, then Assassin is the best option. It’s the fastest class out of the 3 Advanced sword classes and has a low requirement, only needing to train in bows up to C rank along with a B rank in Swords. It also has the most move out of all the Advanced sword classes and Locktouch, which is useful for a good amount of time.

 

 

11. Bishop

 

4 Move mages… why do you exist? In terms of which class is better, it’s hard to actually say. For now, Bishop is the superior choice since while Warlock has more power, Bishop has comparable power as well as the Mastery ability Renewal and better healing  utility with white magic uses x2. They both suffer from the same problems: Super frail, low movement, and if a unit is female, Gremory is the better option.

 

12. Warlock

 

Other than being more offensive than the Bishop, there is only one other reason to use this class, as it’s the only sensible option for male magic users as a final advanced class. Bowbreaker is nice, but not really a great Mastery.

 

13. Swordmaster/Warrior

 

Having to put these classes down here makes me sad. Swordmasters and Warriors, while not being wretched and are actually pretty strong thanks to the Crit +10 ability that each have as a class ability, are just seriously outclassed by better alternatives. Not even the growth rates that they provide are enough to make them shine. A requirements for their preferred weapons is a somewhat large investment considering other classes require B+C ranks. Finally, the masteries… Astra, who hurt you? Lower hit rate? 30% damage?? 9 durability use requirement??? Wrath, what even is the point when the Battalion version is better?

 

 

C Tier(Mediocre classes held back for various things. Not really worth seriously investing in.)

 

14. Hero

The slow deterioration of my favorite class is seriously heart breaking. While Paladins and Falcon Knights did get weaker, there were still okay as the games went on. Heroes… Why? Just. What happened?

 

First of all, why is it male exclusive? Of all the classes, why this class? Is this trying to go all FE1/3/11/12 with these dumb gender locks? Secondly, what reason is there to use this class? Sure it’s requirements are the easiest out of the Advance Sword classes, but not only does it not any bulk, which is like one of the main things that made Hero different from a typical sword class, but its growth rates aren’t really that good either. Swordmaster honestly has the best growths out of all the Advance Sword classes. Vantage would be nice, if not for the introduction to Battalion versions of skills like it, so having a version that involves more risk is redundant. The major positive of this class is that is an Advanced class so if you want, you can get to it pretty fast.

 

 

15. Dark Knight

 

Dank Knight… why won’t IS make you good? You were decent in Fates with units like Leo and early promoted Nyx. Having to focus on getting Riding to A after investing in other skills is not worth it, at all. The class is a bulky mage and is actually better than the white variant since Holy Knight doesn’t have any class abilities that increases it overall utility, so going with a more offensive mounted mage is better in the long run. Since both mage knights don’t have any x2 magic abilities, instead they have -Faire skills, as well as poor strength bases,  so only specific characters with great strength and magic will be able to make use of this class via magic based CAs, which is what the Advance classes have over this and the fact that their quicker to get to.

 

16. Holy Knight

 

This class… such a cool design. Why did IS drop the ball with you? With the previously mentioned problems with it’s even worse utility than the Advanced variant, this class also suffers from the same issues as Dark Knight, as well as being frailer. White Tomefaire is arguably the worst -Faire skills since there are so few offensive white spells in this game. So unless a player is really fond of the design, its best to stick to Bishops.

 

17. Fortress Knight

 

Ah, the Knight, perhaps the worst class in FE history. It’s funny, this class seemed like it had a lot going for it; using a different weapon, the inclusion of gambits like stride, the march ring, etc. As it turns out, this class actually got dicked on. Hard. In the worst way possible: by barely being changed at all. 3H isn’t the worst of the walking bricks, but this game actually did them dirty. 4 move, very low speed and resistance, and the fact that the maps in 3Hs can get really big at times. The only thing that this class has is that its tanky, but even then, a good chunk of units above it in this list can take hits better in both areas, as well as actually be able to kill in response. If memes are a priority, this is a good class. Otherwise, like in every other FE game, Paladins are better.

 

 

D Tier(Oof. Just Oof.)

 

 

18. Great Knight

Remember when I stated that Bow Knights had the most cryptic requirements for an underwhelming class? I take that back. This class has even WORSE requirements for an even WORSE payoff. This class... is an insult to all of the actual Great Knights of past. Sorry Dussel, Fredrick, and Gunter.

 

Abysmal speed and underwhelming defense, terrible movement for a mount, more negatives to dismounting, and those requirements… You need to train two movement types?! And one of them lose relevance after learning Weight -3?! Nope. Not even the fact that it has Lancefaire and Axefaire help this class in the slightest since guess what? Wyvern Lord has Axefaire and Falcon Knight has Lancefaire and are leagues better. This class… needs to be improved or removed.

 

 

19. Dark Bishop

 

Okay… This class in hindsight is actually not that bad, until you realize how pointless it truly is.

 

Here’s the deal. In order to get a unit this class, Death Knight must be beaten two times to drop this item called the Dark Seal, or a thief must steal the item twice. Now, with that said, the class that requires this to take the exam should be something super amazing… right? WRONG.

 

 

The Dark Bishop is literally just a slightly stronger version of Warlock with Fiendish Blow as a class skill, which isn’t even hard to get anyways. There is absolutely no benefit to using this class. You don’t get any Dark spells besides Misisma, which is a class ability, the class doesn’t have unique stats like in defense or maybe even dexterity, and you have to go through the effort of dealing with the Death Knight twice in order to get this. What’s the point, exactly? Why make this? Why go through the effort of acquiring this class when it’s basically the same as Warlock? Sure you get Lifetaker as a mastery, but why would a mage with stats like Dark Bishop be in the frontlines? This class… really has no point in this game.

 

 

20. Mortal Savant

 

Welp, this is it. The worst class in the game, in my opinion. This class… is an enigma on how unbelievably bad it is. Like the reasons to why it’s bad don’t make sense. This class in general… just doesn’t make sense.

 

First things first, this is the only Master class that has Swordfaire, which should be a good thing, as well as the fact that this class has the rare 6 move. It’s a magic class that can use gauntlets, which should be great for basically any character. It has a surprisingly good magic base as well as a good strength base to boot. So, with all that in mind, why is this class so bad that it is considered to be worst to me?

 

 

Here’s the big thing: It’s a Sword class… that loses speed. A Sword class… losing speed… Not just one point of speed, but if your unit was a swordmaster, going into Mortal Savant will make that unit lose 3 SPEED. THREE. That’s basically giving up the AS advantage to the enemy and in the game where Assassins and Swordmasters will double some of even the fastest units, losing that much speed is a big deal. Sure it can possibly be negated with magic, but out of all of the best sword users in this game, the only ones who have spells decent enough to justify that is… no one, really. Felix and Petra, the two possible sword units, only have two spells in total, no real magic, and no real reason to use magic over something like axes or bows. Other ‘Hybrid’ units usually have a low magic growth at around 35%, so the bonus of 10% from Mortal Savant doesn’t amount to much.

 

 

Just like with Great Knight and Bow Knight, the weapon requirements to have a high passing score are odd. Not Great Knight levels of why, but why would a person spend so much time on building a unit’s Sword rank just to focus on a weapon type that said unit will possibly have a weakness in?

 

 

It’s been mentioned a lot how being less effective versions of a particular class hurts it in the long rule. Mortal Savant is the embodiment of this. Literally every single alternative is leagues better. Gremory, Warlock, and Bishop are better magic users that can be hybrids as well via CAs and they don’t lose speed. War Masters and Grapplers are the superior gauntlet users and they don’t lose speed. Snipers have a better long range game and they don’t use speed. Dancers are built the exact same way as Mortal Savants but they have utility as well as decent combat and they don’t lose speed. Heck, Paladins, the mage knights, Bow Knights, and even Fortress Knights and Great Knights have either better movement, magic use, or better bulk even though they DO LOSE SPEED. Even something as pointless as Dark Bishop has more worth because its mastery comes at a possible better time than Mortal Savant. Mortal Savant’s mastery ability is Warding Blow, which is bad because literally every other class that has blows skills is Intermediate, and like with any Mastery in Master classes, it will be a long time before you actually get ti. In short, this class is for the biggest of memers only. It is recommended to avoid this class like the Plague.

 

 

Revision 1 with reasons:

Spoiler

S+

Wyvern Lord/Wyvern Rider

It was kinda dumb to just separate these two in different tiers because they're both good in the same ways. Wyvern Lord is better, but Rider comes in at earlier time and does more, so that balances out the two in terms of overall uses. You don't really need their masteries either.

S

Dancer

Falcon Knight

War Master/Gremory

Decided to put Falco a bit higher and War Master/Gremory one spot lower. Falco's only real weakness is that Wyverns exist, while War Master and Gremory have more in spite of still being great classes.

A

Grappler

Paladin

Assassin

Sniper/Bow Knight

After hearing some more input in terms of which class is better, I've decided to ultimately lump Sniper and Bow Knight together. It ultimately depends on the builds of the unit when it comes to this class. I still personally think that Sniper is better overall, but I fell I was being to stubborn rather than being subjective. FIF as well as not taking terrain penalties makes Grappler better over Paladin. Assassins higher move and not being able to take terrain penalties makes it the better choice over Sniper/Bow Knight.

B

Bishop/Dark Knight

Warlock

Swordmaster/Warrior

Lumping Bishop/Dark Knight together because they're both the strongest options for a none female magic user that has the boons of Gremory to a small extent.

C

Hero

Holy Knight

Fortress Knight

 

D

Great Knight

Dark Bishop

Mortal Savant

 

Edited October 29, 2019 by SageHarpuiaJDJ

[AxelVDP]

assassins and grapplers have a hidden bonus in that they do not get mov penalties by forests/thickets, this alongside the 6 mov makes them the most mobile infantry classes

also, I don't really agree with the list but whatever (bow knights so low lol)

Edited October 28, 2019 by AxelVDP

[De Geso]

Assassin and Bow Knight are far too low.

Also, Wyvern Lord is better than rider. C lances is a non-issue to reach (like C anything else) and the cost of a master seal isn't that important.

[Kiran_]

This whole list hinges on the fact that it implies reaching Master Classes is ... difficult? I've never struggled to get my characters into Master Classes between level 30-33, which is when you can take the class exam anyways. 

You don't need 100% pass rate. Master Seals are super easy/cheap to get, and you can just soft reset once a week if you don't pass if you want to keep them in inventory. But otherwise, just throw the lessons in the "goals" thing (like Riding or stuff) and by level 30 it's usually around B-B+ and if you focus on it in tutoring on top, it's easy to get too. 

Also Wyvern Lord is far better than Rider. Reaching C is literally like 3 weeks of tutoring/goals. If that. Or just give them an equipped lance for a few battles. 

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

3 hours ago, AxelVDP said:

assassins and grapplers have a hidden bonus in that they do not get mov penalties by forests/thickets, this alongside the 6 mov makes them the most mobile infantry classes

also, I don't really agree with the list but whatever (bow knights so low lol)

While I don't blame you and I appreciate the heads up on the movement bonus since I actually didn't know about that, I do mention that the tier Bow Knights were placed was for unit that are not bad but are overshadowed by others. Like, Bowrange+2 and 8 move is nice, but Paladins have 8 move as well, and Master Seals are not only limited until you get the secret shop, the requirements to get to Bow Knight are just not worth training a horse unit in bows or a bow unit in riding. Snipers can also come at an earlier time than Bow Knights since the Level requirement is lower. I don't think I need to explain Hunter's Volley. Again, Bow Knight is not a bad class, but not great and overrated in my opinion.

 

35 minutes ago, De Geso said:

Assassin and Bow Knight are far too low.

Also, Wyvern Lord is better than rider. C lances is a non-issue to reach (like C anything else) and the cost of a master seal isn't that important.

Again, would have to disagree with Bow Knight. I already posted my reasoning for Bow Knight. Assassins I feel I need to reconsider, though. Even though they are the best sword class I kinda underrated them.

 

30 minutes ago, Kiran_ said:

This whole list hinges on the fact that it implies reaching Master Classes is ... difficult? I've never struggled to get my characters into Master Classes between level 30-33, which is when you can take the class exam anyways. 

You don't need 100% pass rate. Master Seals are super easy/cheap to get, and you can just soft reset once a week if you don't pass if you want to keep them in inventory. But otherwise, just throw the lessons in the "goals" thing (like Riding or stuff) and by level 30 it's usually around B-B+ and if you focus on it in tutoring on top, it's easy to get too. 

Also Wyvern Lord is far better than Rider. Reaching C is literally like 3 weeks of tutoring/goals. If that. Or just give them an equipped lance for a few battles. 

You don't need %100 pass rate, but a high chance is usually preferable. Didn't think about the soft reset thing, though.

Something I feel I should mention about why I'm Advance<Master. It's fairly simple: Advance classes come in at an earlier time. You get Advance Seals way before you get Master seals which puts them at an edge for me. Sure the Wyvern Lord is stronger is Rider, but Rider comes in super early when compared to Lord. Also, I don't really recall saying that Lord's requirements were bad; I said that Wyvern Lord is Limited to being a Master Class and Rider already does what Lord could do at an earlier time.

Also, while not 'difficult', the main reason why I mentioned the requirements so much in my reasoning is because they take up time. Even if you prepare for them beforehand, it'll still take a good while to reach the requirements to get a good score, especially when taking in consideration weaknesses and what the unit can learn through leveling up certain ranks.

 

EDIT: After reading these, if I had to rearrange something, for A tier It'll be something like:

Falcon Knight < Paladin < Grappler/Assassin < Sniper

I'm pretty content with everything else, though.

Edited October 28, 2019 by SageHarpuiaJDJ

[Tables]

Skimmed through everything, and... it's based on final class, but yet Rider being accessed earlier is considered a plus for making it superior as a final class? I don't understand the logic at all here. Wyvern Lord is very easy to get the weapon ranks for, even if you aren't really going out of your way for it you're going to get to A axes and A flying pretty easily if you're using Wyvern Rider, while C lances is a pretty easy requirement. In fact, you can get a very good success rate with just D+ lances (80% + Luk/2), requiring just 180 EXP invested into Lances. That's less than 3 chapters leaving it as a study goal and no other tutoring or using it in battle, assuming you start at a flat E rank lances, a pretty low investment considering you instantly get a free +1 move among other bonuses.

 

It's similar with a few other master classes. You seem to really be over valuing the investment required to reach them compared to the benefits they give. Like, there's no way Sniper should ever be above Bow Knight. Hunter's Volley is a nice consolation prize for not investing into the requirements for Bow Knight but that's all it is. Especially as this list is based on Hard mode, where many enemies can be easily doubled and for faster ones, a Brave Bow alone is often a ORKO, making Hunter's Volley even more niche - and you can often shoot at 4 range without too many hit rate issues. But even outside of that Bow Knight has too many advantages - +3 move is huge, Canto is huge, slightly better stats is nice, and to top it off it's got a pretty strong mastery skill as well that perfectly synergises with Bow Knight's strengths.

 

Other particular things that stand out to me:

* Dark Knight and Gremory are at least comparable. DK is probably better in general actually, double uses is nice for support magic but offensively, DK's faire skills plus higher move and Canto are very valuable.

* Paladin seems too high. Normally a great class but it's pretty mediocre in 3H. -1 Speed base is pretty bad when most Master and many advanced classes give speed bonuses, especially combined with the growth penalty and lack of other good stats asides from move. I guess it's the best lance focused class for males at least, though for females it's massively outclassed by Falcon Knight.

* Grappler looks a little low. It should probably be a tier above Sniper at least. 6 move and no terrain penalties is nice, and it's got probably the best class combat art in the game. For high strength fist users, such as potentially any of Dedue, Raphael, Alois or Gilbert, having a 3 hit, low cost attack basically means you can just delete any enemy of choice on player phase. On the other hand if this list is based on an easier difficulty like Hard, then actually maybe it's correctly placed. FIF is immensely valuable on Maddening, but on Hard you can kinda just kill stuff with a normal gauntlet attack anyway I suppose.

[Shadow Mir]

41 minutes ago, Tables said:

* Dark Knight and Gremory are at least comparable. DK is probably better in general actually, double uses is nice for support magic but offensively, DK's faire skills plus higher move and Canto are very valuable.

I dunno - Gremory has a 5 point bonus for magic just for being in the class, which cancels out Dark Knight's access to -faires. As a result, I think Dark Knight requires much more investment for a meager payoff (considering that you need to invest in Riding and Lances to get into it in addition to Reason, as opposed to only needing Faith and Reason for Gremory; most female mages (ergo, all of them except Marianne and Annette) have a weakness in one of Riding or Lances, which doesn't help matters).

Edited October 28, 2019 by Shadow Mir

[Tables]

17 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

I dunno - Gremory has a 5 point bonus for magic just for being in the class, which cancels out Dark Knight's access to -faires. As a result, I think Dark Knight requires much more investment for a meager payoff (considering that you need to invest in Riding and Lances to get into it in addition to Reason, as opposed to only needing Faith and Reason for Gremory; most female mages (ergo, all of them except Marianne and Annette) have a weakness in one of Riding or Lances, which doesn't help matters).

Yeah, Gremory has +3 magic over Dark Knight which does negate some of the damage lead, but that's not Dark Knight's only advantage. +2 move and Canto are very big advantages as well - it makes it much easier for them to be aggressive, position where they can attack an enemy and still move out of danger. As well as to just generally keep up with your army, having +2 move helps a lot there too. The Riding investment I'll agree is a bit of a pain, although they often end up getting +1 move out of it eventually at A+ riding, which is a very nice skill to pick up, and the lance rank investment, well, see what I mentioned above regarding the same thing for Wyvern Lords. It's really not a big deal, even for a weakness honestly. Also, the "most female mages" bit - it's three out of five that do. And two of those, as mentioned, are lance weaknesses, which honestly barely matters when you only need to reach about D+ rank. Dorothea though, yeah not going Dark Knight with her.

Also bear in mind, Gremory is female exclusive, which hurts it a bit. Someone like Hubert? No other good option to go for really anyway. Same for for Lorenz, for Linhardt unless you want to leave him as a Bishop for pure support, and for magic based Ignatz builds as well. And none of these four have any weaknesses in the relevant skills.

Edited October 28, 2019 by Tables

[PPPPPPP270]

I don't understand the low placement of bow knights which is the king of player phase combat with its insane movement and range.

Also I don't think war master is that good. Gauntlets on them murder anything but if we are say it's hard mode. Any class should reliably one round anything that isn't a monster with basic iron or silver weapons. You would rather get the extra mobility from a mounted class than massive overkill damage. I also don't consider mastery abilities on master classes as a factor. As it's extremely unlikely you could even get them when the game ends if you play fast which in hard mode it's pretty easy to rush down the part 2 levels. 

edit: If you want to know my top 5 classes including lower tier classes on maddening mode.

5: War master, yes I said that war masters aren't that good but compared to the next 4 classes, the war master just gets outperformed because of its lack of mobility. It's damage in unparalleled but that kind of damage isn't really required except on maddening mode monsters and even then there's other ways to go about them like brave weapons. 

4: Brigand, Death blow is just extremely good to have especially on maddening. Most students especially especially the Black Eagles can easily get brigand (even Bernie) without slowing their progress on authority or end game classes. It has good stat modifiers but in a lower difficulty death blow isn't as necessary and you would rather probably want cavalier or pegasus knight for the movement. 

3: Dancer, the buffs dancer got in this game really helped this class greatly. 6 movement compared to 5 of the older games made them much more easier to play with. Give them some magic which you likely won't use most turns or just got really lazy in your movement. Also special dance is pretty fantastic for a mastery skill.

2: Bow knight, I already said how insane 8 movement 4 range is but it can't be understated. The increased mobility with range makes bow knights just snipe enemies you normally couldn't at such a distance they can avoid getting counter attacked and be ready next turn. 

1: Wyvern lord and falcon knight, These two classes are practically the same class but one uses lances the other uses axes. The differences between a lance and axe is insignificant. While their player phase isn't as insane as a bow knight they make up for it with superior enemy phase as they can just alert stance their way to dodge most enemies. Give them retribution and that unit can probably solo groups of enemies unscathed. 

Edited October 28, 2019 by PPPPPPP270
Just wanted to say my top 5 classes

[Kiran_]

4 hours ago, SageHarpuiaJDJ said:

Something I feel I should mention about why I'm Advance<Master. It's fairly simple: Advance classes come in at an earlier time. You get Advance Seals way before you get Master seals which puts them at an edge for me. Sure the Wyvern Lord is stronger is Rider, but Rider comes in super early when compared to Lord. Also, I don't really recall saying that Lord's requirements were bad; I said that Wyvern Lord is Limited to being a Master Class and Rider already does what Lord could do at an earlier time.

But shouldn't the list be based on final growths/etc, and not when they come in. By this logic, Noble/Commoner are the BEST classes, because they come in FIRST, and have dual access to both magic and physical weapons, which is great. You don't have to get any seals to get them. Sure Intermediate and Advance classes are stronger, but it comes in super early by comparison. 

[Shadow Mir]

15 minutes ago, PPPPPPP270 said:

Brigand, Death blow is just extremely good to have especially on maddening. Most students especially especially the Black Eagles can easily get brigand (even Bernie)

I don't see why you mention Bernie, who is weak in axes, as easily getting to Brigand...

[PPPPPPP270]

Just now, Shadow Mir said:

I don't see why you mention Bernie, who is weak in axes, as easily getting to Brigand...

I said that because the requirements to getting D+ axes is relatively easy even with a weakness. She can still primarily use bows axes if she needs to tank a melee hit with trade swapping.  

[Shadow Mir]

14 minutes ago, PPPPPPP270 said:

I said that because the requirements to getting D+ axes is relatively easy even with a weakness. She can still primarily use bows axes if she needs to tank a melee hit with trade swapping.  

Sorry, but I fail to see it unless you recruited her as a Fighter, since tutoring in a weakness only gives you 2 points, meaning you're only getting 8 points minimum assuming max motivation. That's pretty bad. And if I'm on Maddening, actively investing in a weakness isn't really something I'd be okay with...

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

2 hours ago, Tables said:

Skimmed through everything, and... it's based on final class, but yet Rider being accessed earlier is considered a plus for making it superior as a final class? I don't understand the logic at all here. Wyvern Lord is very easy to get the weapon ranks for, even if you aren't really going out of your way for it you're going to get to A axes and A flying pretty easily if you're using Wyvern Rider, while C lances is a pretty easy requirement. In fact, you can get a very good success rate with just D+ lances (80% + Luk/2), requiring just 180 EXP invested into Lances. That's less than 3 chapters leaving it as a study goal and no other tutoring or using it in battle, assuming you start at a flat E rank lances, a pretty low investment considering you instantly get a free +1 move among other bonuses.

Again, I never said the requirements were bad. It does seem like the title of the tier list seems to be throwing everyone off, which is my bad. I picked 'Final' because I didn't want to simply group them as Advance/Master, don't know why exactly though. Maaaaybe I'm overrating Rider a bit, and I don't deny that Lord is strong, like at all, but considering Rider comes earlier puts it up for me. I mean, Lord is still S tier on my list.

It's similar with a few other master classes. You seem to really be over valuing the investment required to reach them compared to the benefits they give. Like, there's no way Sniper should ever be above Bow Knight. Hunter's Volley is a nice consolation prize for not investing into the requirements for Bow Knight but that's all it is. Especially as this list is based on Hard mode, where many enemies can be easily doubled and for faster ones, a Brave Bow alone is often a ORKO, making Hunter's Volley even more niche - and you can often shoot at 4 range without too many hit rate issues. But even outside of that Bow Knight has too many advantages - +3 move is huge, Canto is huge, slightly better stats is nice, and to top it off it's got a pretty strong mastery skill as well that perfectly synergises with Bow Knight's strengths.

Hunter's Volley more niche? Sorry, but I strongly disagree. It basically makes any bow a Brave Bow, and if you're not lucky with drops from Wolves, you won't be getting the materials to make/repair brave weapons anytime soon. Also disagree with the stats as well since when mounted the 3 Spd that Bow Knights gain gets dropped to 1, which is comparable to sniper. I'm aware that Dismount is a thing, but you lose out on said movement and Canto after attacking if you decide to go that route. Finally, to put lightly, Defiant abilities are not good when you're trying to avoid as much risk as possible. Again, I've considered the movement and Bowrange+2, And I'm aware of all of that, but it still isn't enough to justify me putting it above sniper. Maybe a spot below sniper, but I feel that sniper is still the better alternative.

Other particular things that stand out to me:

* Dark Knight and Gremory are at least comparable. DK is probably better in general actually, double uses is nice for support magic but offensively, DK's faire skills plus higher move and Canto are very valuable.

See, I would agree with that, if not for the the fact that Gremory offers more in terms overall utility as well as having the stats to compensate for a lack of a -Faire ability, and it's not like it's combat is wretched either.

* Paladin seems too high. Normally a great class but it's pretty mediocre in 3H. -1 Speed base is pretty bad when most Master and many advanced classes give speed bonuses, especially combined with the growth penalty and lack of other good stats asides from move. I guess it's the best lance focused class for males at least, though for females it's massively outclassed by Falcon Knight.

I would've put Paladin lower if not for that.

* Grappler looks a little low. It should probably be a tier above Sniper at least. 6 move and no terrain penalties is nice, and it's got probably the best class combat art in the game. For high strength fist users, such as potentially any of Dedue, Raphael, Alois or Gilbert, having a 3 hit, low cost attack basically means you can just delete any enemy of choice on player phase. On the other hand if this list is based on an easier difficulty like Hard, then actually maybe it's correctly placed. FIF is immensely valuable on Maddening, but on Hard you can kinda just kill stuff with a normal gauntlet attack anyway I suppose.

Yeah that I rally behind, if I ever rearrange the tier list Grappler would definitely be up there more. Sniper is safer, which is why I put it above Grappler, but I'm not entirely sure after reading some of the comments here.

 

Comments in Bold and Brass.

1 hour ago, PPPPPPP270 said:

I don't understand the low placement of bow knights which is the king of player phase combat with its insane movement and range.

Also I don't think war master is that good. Gauntlets on them murder anything but if we are say it's hard mode. Any class should reliably one round anything that isn't a monster with basic iron or silver weapons. You would rather get the extra mobility from a mounted class than massive overkill damage. I also don't consider mastery abilities on master classes as a factor. As it's extremely unlikely you could even get them when the game ends if you play fast which in hard mode it's pretty easy to rush down the part 2 levels. 

edit: If you want to know my top 5 classes including lower tier classes on maddening mode.

5: War master, yes I said that war masters aren't that good but compared to the next 4 classes, the war master just gets outperformed because of its lack of mobility. It's damage in unparalleled but that kind of damage isn't really required except on maddening mode monsters and even then there's other ways to go about them like brave weapons. 

4: Brigand, Death blow is just extremely good to have especially on maddening. Most students especially especially the Black Eagles can easily get brigand (even Bernie) without slowing their progress on authority or end game classes. It has good stat modifiers but in a lower difficulty death blow isn't as necessary and you would rather probably want cavalier or pegasus knight for the movement. 

3: Dancer, the buffs dancer got in this game really helped this class greatly. 6 movement compared to 5 of the older games made them much more easier to play with. Give them some magic which you likely won't use most turns or just got really lazy in your movement. Also special dance is pretty fantastic for a mastery skill.

2: Bow knight, I already said how insane 8 movement 4 range is but it can't be understated. The increased mobility with range makes bow knights just snipe enemies you normally couldn't at such a distance they can avoid getting counter attacked and be ready next turn. 

1: Wyvern lord and falcon knight, These two classes are practically the same class but one uses lances the other uses axes. The differences between a lance and axe is insignificant. While their player phase isn't as insane as a bow knight they make up for it with superior enemy phase as they can just alert stance their way to dodge most enemies. Give them retribution and that unit can probably solo groups of enemies unscathed. 

I think I'm just gonna have to agree to disagree when it comes to Bow Knights. The class isn't bad, at all, but I just don't see the hype it gets when you can go Paladin/Falco/any Wyvern variant and have better mileage with movement/canto, Snipers still stay relevant in the long run and have a better mastery, and Bow Knights require the highest rank for riding to promote to one as a whole, so why should I focus on Riding that much to an okay but underwhelming class when I can focus on something like Authority? Yes, Characters Like Bernadetta and Leonie can get into the class easily, but if I were to take that into account, then every endgame class would be considered amazing.

 

1 hour ago, Kiran_ said:

But shouldn't the list be based on final growths/etc, and not when they come in. By this logic, Noble/Commoner are the BEST classes, because they come in FIRST, and have dual access to both magic and physical weapons, which is great. You don't have to get any seals to get them. Sure Intermediate and Advance classes are stronger, but it comes in super early by comparison. 

That would beat my argument, and I should've added that when I mentioned what I was basing all of this out of since I do it a lot in the list, but that example really wouldn't worked out in the long run, as I did say, though it is an oversight now after actually reading, that this is the FINAL class tier list, not a general class tier list.

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

I actually decided to revise the tier list in the OP. Have a look!

[Silly]

Here is a much more reasonable tier list for endgame classes, under the assumption of relatively efficient play. This is technically ranked based on maddening mode, but the hard mode list would look identical.

S+ : Wyvern Lord
S : Falcon Knight, Bow Knight, Wyvern Rider
A : Gremory, Dark Knight, Bishop, Paladin, War Master
B : Holy Knight, Sniper
C : Assassin, Grappler, Mortal Savant, Great Knight, Warlock
D : Swordmaster, Warrior, Hero, Fortress Knight

Classes near the top of the list have massive strengths that far outweigh their weaknesses, and will be consistently useful on every run. Classes near the bottom are either bad, outclassed, or have no significantly noteworthy strengths. Realistically, no unit that is a "core" member of your team should be forced to end on anything lower than an A tier class unless you're intentionally doing something different.

Edited October 29, 2019 by Silly

[Dark Holy Elf]

Warlock is too low. Double Magic Uses and Black Tomefaire is a nasty combination. The low move does suck, but they shouldn't be two tiers below Gremory, which trades 3 power for 1 move and double white uses... probably a winning trade, but not a colossal one. Mostly Warlock is really good for Level 20-29 though... which you obviously give some credit for since you have Wyvern Rider above Falcon Knight.

War Master is too high, if you get Quick Riposte at all it's with very little game left, and otherwise it's an infantry class which specialises in melee weapons, meh.

Bow Knight is still too low, canto + super threat range is a great combination. Unlike Paladin they don't even have a speed penalty, so go crazy. They're definitely better than the infantry classes you have in the same tier.

I'd move Mortal Savant up a tier. They're the only class with a melee -faire and access to magic use (besides Enligtened One), so some units definitely have use for that. Pretty sure more characters have a use for it than Holy Knight, which has 1 more move and canto but is harder to get into and doesn't get any useful -faires.

Otherwise the list looks pretty good.

[Ari Chan]

I don't understand how promoting your units into Bow Knights (or any mounted master class) is difficult considering that you can savescum the exams, also 4+ range attack with canto is hilariously broken, Hunter's Volley is a very good combat art but Brave Bow and Inexhaustible also guarantee at least a double so it's not like BK (or Claude's personal class) are worse than Sniper combat wise. Imo BK >>>> Pally and Sniper.

You ranked War Master way too high, it's still an infantry foot unit with no ultilities and mostly 1 range combat, Quick Riposte and WM's Strike takes way too much time to master and is only good on bad units (units that are unable to double or ORKO enemies before getting these skills). Not no mention all WM's candidate in the game are either garbage (Caspar, Raphael, Alois) or are better off promoting to other classes (Felix = BK, Sylvain = WL, Ferdinand = WL).

Edited October 29, 2019 by Ari Chan

[Fire Flower]

Gremory is way too high. Dark Knight, Mortal Savant, Warlock and Bishop are too low. Holy Knight is fine where it is.

Each of these specialize in something better than Gremory does. Double uses isn't needed outside of certain spells such as Warp or Meteor, and even then, Warlock/Bishop provide that just fine. Gremory has the best magic bonus, sure, but no faire means it'll still deal less damage than the aforementioned classes, and no you are sacrificing +10 healing for maybe 1 more range on Physic/Fortify/Warp. Gremory is also gimped at 5 move, which is not as bad as Warlock/Bishop 4 move, but still pretty bad.

Dark Knight has Canto, Black+Dark Tomefaire (and is the only class that buffs dark magic), 7 move while mounted, +2 magic. This should be your default endgame class for mages provided they aren't weak to riding. It's Lysithea's ideal class if you don't care about double Warp in Gremory. Just run around with Thyrsus and Canto and you're practically untouchable.

Mortal Savant has Sword+Black Tomefaire, 6 move (not bad for an infantry class honestly), +2 magic. If your unit has sword proficiencies and magic combat arts, then this is a quite flexible class for them. Marianne does particularly well in it due to her crest adding extra might to weapons which stacks with Swordfaire, making her very strong with Blutgang and Levin Sword+, while still being able to cast spells when needed.

Warlock having both Black Tomefaire and uses x2 is strong, not to mention it has I think +4 magic. Its only real weakness is 4 move. Dorothea does well in this class, partially due to her weakness in riding (investing in Dark Knight will be a pain), her having double Meteor casts is very powerful. It can even double as a support/gambit buff for your units, due to its 10 range. Units with Bolting can utilize this fact as well.

Bishop is arguably the best healing unit due to +10 healing and x2 white magic uses, with +3 magic I think. 4 move is also a weakness, but as you're usually casting long-range spells like Physic, it doesn't matter too much, and this +10 bonus is pretty significant overall. You also still get to cast Warp twice. Definitely Linhardt's best class, discounting the fact that Gremory isn't even an option for him.

I just don't think Gremory as a magic unit specializes in anything all that great compared to the other magic classes (asides Holy Knight). It's like a class that can do anything in magic, but doesn't excel at any particular niche. Not to mention gender lock. At least it's easy to get into.

Edited October 29, 2019 by Fire Flower

[Shadow Mir]

8 hours ago, Tables said:

Yeah, Gremory has +3 magic over Dark Knight which does negate some of the damage lead, but that's not Dark Knight's only advantage. +2 move and Canto are very big advantages as well - it makes it much easier for them to be aggressive, position where they can attack an enemy and still move out of danger. As well as to just generally keep up with your army, having +2 move helps a lot there too. The Riding investment I'll agree is a bit of a pain, although they often end up getting +1 move out of it eventually at A+ riding, which is a very nice skill to pick up, and the lance rank investment, well, see what I mentioned above regarding the same thing for Wyvern Lords. It's really not a big deal, even for a weakness honestly. Also, the "most female mages" bit - it's three out of five that do. And two of those, as mentioned, are lance weaknesses, which honestly barely matters when you only need to reach about D+ rank. Dorothea though, yeah not going Dark Knight with her.

Also bear in mind, Gremory is female exclusive, which hurts it a bit. Someone like Hubert? No other good option to go for really anyway. Same for for Lorenz, for Linhardt unless you want to leave him as a Bishop for pure support, and for magic based Ignatz builds as well. And none of these four have any weaknesses in the relevant skills.

You've got a point, I must admit. Still, I see the payoff as a bit lacking for the extra investment needed to achieve Dark Knight, particularly for units weak in Lances, which makes the otherwise tame C requirement annoying to achieve. I don't see why you brought up Wyvern Lord, because the sitch ain't the same. Only three characters in the game have a weakness in Lances - and two of them (Mercedes and Lysithea) happen to be magically inclined. Compare that to zero units that would consider Wyvern Lord having a weakness in lances.

Edited October 29, 2019 by Shadow Mir

[eclipse]

Regarding the Gremory/Warlock thing, I think it depends on the character.  Someone like Dorothea is fine as a Warlock, since her draw isn't her white spell list.  Someone like Lysithea appreciates Gremory, since it doubles her Warp uses.

[msterforks]

4 hours ago, Silly said:

Realistically, no unit that is a "core" member of your team should be forced to end on anything lower than an A tier class unless you're intentionally doing something different.

So what happens with a unit like Catherine? I see her turned into an Assassin due to its relatively easy requirements. On the other hand, reclassing to FK is a pretty big investment and no swordfaire for the Thunderbrand.

[Silly]

5 hours ago, msterforks said:

So what happens with a unit like Catherine? I see her turned into an Assassin due to its relatively easy requirements. On the other hand, reclassing to FK is a pretty big investment and no swordfaire for the Thunderbrand.

Reclassing to Pegasus Knight is relatively easy and can be done in like 1-2 months. Intermediate class requirements are just not very high. This is something that probably is a good thing to do anyways, because it gets you a 6 move unit with flying mobility, canto, and great base stats at a time when most of your units are still pretty weak.

By the time you hit level 30, you've had months of tutoring and have been sitting in Pegasus Knight for nearly 20 levels worth of combat building weapon exp, so the Falcon Knight reclass shouldn't be an issue at all.

Also, saying "Catherine isn't in a class with Swordfaire for Thunderbrand, which is a problem" is the same as saying something like "Claude isn't in a class with Swordfaire for Thunderbrand, which is a problem", and you can see how silly that second statement is. Thunderbrand isn't an exclusive weapon. Anybody with a crest can use it with zero penalties, including a unit like Claude/Ingrid/Byleth/etc. So why don't any of these units reclass into a sword class in order to deal more damage with Thunderbrand? Because the benefits of the better class are much more important than having Swordfaire. (The only difference with Catherine is that she gets access to a combat art, but that combat art is pretty garbage because just attacking regularly with Thunderbrand is almost always more damage.)

[msterforks]

4 hours ago, Silly said:

Reclassing to Pegasus Knight is relatively easy and can be done in like 1-2 months. Intermediate class requirements are just not very high. This is something that probably is a good thing to do anyways, because it gets you a 6 move unit with flying mobility, canto, and great base stats at a time when most of your units are still pretty weak.

By the time you hit level 30, you've had months of tutoring and have been sitting in Pegasus Knight for nearly 20 levels worth of combat building weapon exp, so the Falcon Knight reclass shouldn't be an issue at all.

Also, saying "Catherine isn't in a class with Swordfaire for Thunderbrand, which is a problem" is the same as saying something like "Claude isn't in a class with Swordfaire for Thunderbrand, which is a problem", and you can see how silly that second statement is. Thunderbrand isn't an exclusive weapon. Anybody with a crest can use it with zero penalties, including a unit like Claude/Ingrid/Byleth/etc. So why don't any of these units reclass into a sword class in order to deal more damage with Thunderbrand? Because the benefits of the better class are much more important than having Swordfaire. (The only difference with Catherine is that she gets access to a combat art, but that combat art is pretty garbage because just attacking regularly with Thunderbrand is almost always more damage.)

How reliable is the Thunderbrand without Sword Prowess/Axebreaker? I don't imagine many units having a good sword rank considering the A tier and higher classes are lance and axe heavy. Catherine naturally comes with A in swords (I think this is static? I recruited her during ch6) and would still enjoy a temp reclass into Archer for Hit +20.

[Silly]

12 minutes ago, msterforks said:

 How reliable is the Thunderbrand without Sword Prowess/Axebreaker? I don't imagine many units having a good sword rank considering the A tier and higher classes are lance and axe heavy. Catherine naturally comes with A in swords (I think this is static? I recruited her during ch6) and would still enjoy a temp reclass into Archer for Hit +20.

Catherine's base Sword Prowess (B+) is only +8 hit. Getting any unit to E+ Swords grants +5 hit (and is incredibly trivial to do). I doubt the 3 extra hit going all the way from E+ to B+ rank is going to make or break things.

Basically, Thunderbrand is not an exclusive weapon. Catherine just so happens to join with it, but many other units can use it to equal effectiveness. If Thunderbrand wasn't stopping those other units from going something like Wyvern, then it is certainly not stopping Catherine from going into an actual good class like Falcon Knight.