Should I promote my Dancer Dorothea to Gremory?

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My plan from the beginning was to keep Dorothea in Dancer and not make her a Gremory at all. But she's just reached Lv.30 and already has A's in both Reason and Faith, so I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to promote her to Gremory. She went straight to Dancer from Mage, skipping Warlock entirely, and has stayed a Dancer ever since. That said, I still find her casting spells and using her Levin Sword more than actually dancing. She's my best heavy armor killer with her +1 range Thoron from Caduceus Staff, and that added range on Meteor means she can wreck things from farther away than even Lysithea. Dancing's more just something for her to do if she's not close enough to do anything else. Too far away to attack? May as well give Petra another turn! But in exchange for her dancing option, Gremory gives her twice as many uses on all her spells, including Meteor. I know I can switch between the two as needed, but typically I like to keep everyone in one final class that suits them in every situation and leave it at that. Which would be my better option?

[Dark Holy Elf]

I generally find the Dance option extremely useful so would usually recommend someone be in that. Dorothea can still kill an armour knight just fine as a dancer, as well as hold Meteor to assist all her allies with linked attacks, and 5 physics should be more than enough for someone who can, at worst, dance for someone else who has physic. As Gremory she'll gain spell charges and a little magic but she'll also lose 1 move. It's up to you though, if you really find you're not using Dance much it's worth considering.

Either way if Dorothea' defence is low (below 13 in this case), it's certainly worth certifying her as a Gremory just to raise her stat to that level, even if you don't end up using her as one.

[JubileePhoenix]

Making any unit being able to move twice a turn is super useful. (plus the hip swings). 

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35 minutes ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

Dorothea can still kill an armour knight just fine as a dancer, as well as hold Meteor to assist all her allies with linked attacks

I actually use Meteor as an attack spell though. And typically early on so I don't build any accidental support with anyone not named Petra.

55 minutes ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

As Gremory she'll gain spell charges and a little magic but she'll also lose 1 move. It's up to you though, if you really find you're not using Dance much it's worth considering.

Ah, I didn't know this. The extra spell charges sound tempting, but I don't know if they're worth it at the cost of her movement. I might also reconsider making Lysithea a Gremory if that's the case. Lys already has enough movement issues as a Mage.

1 hour ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

Either way if Dorothea' defence is low (below 13 in this case), it's certainly worth certifying her as a Gremory just to raise her stat to that level, even if you don't end up using her as one.

She's still one of the squishier members of my party, haven't checked her exact defense though. Will certifying hurt her movement like you mentioned above though? Or is that only if I switch her to Gremory?

Either way, I'll probably stick with Dancer for now. Thanks for the advice!

[Punished Dayni]

1 hour ago, RainbowMoon said:

Ah, I didn't know this. The extra spell charges sound tempting, but I don't know if they're worth it at the cost of her movement. I might also reconsider making Lysithea a Gremory if that's the case. Lys already has enough movement issues as a Mage.

Personally, I wasn't as perturbed by 5 move for these mages, especially for Lysithea because Thrysus combined with her moveset getting more uses because of Gremory tended to offset that well enough. I find the cavalry classes for mages don't tend to be exceptional in terms of combat and terrain doesn't help them, but they do get 6 move when dismounted and aren't as poor at combat as I might be making it sound. Their lack of extra uses isn't great, but they do get tomefaires. So not the best for repeated spamming of ranged tomes, but the tomefaire does give it more oomph, something that Hanneman also does well considering he can't get Gremory.

1 hour ago, RainbowMoon said:

She's still one of the squishier members of my party, haven't checked her exact defense though. Will certifying hurt her movement like you mentioned above though? Or is that only if I switch her to Gremory?

She'll keep the move of the class she's in, so if you switch to Gremory she'll get 5 move while Dancer has 6.

[Owns]

3 hours ago, RainbowMoon said:

I actually use Meteor as an attack spell though. And typically early on so I don't build any accidental support with anyone not named Petra.

If this is to ensure they get paired at the end, then just in case you didn't know you can tell who has the highest support with someone else by how they're ranked in the Roster "Notes" card. The order they are listed in under "Close Allies" is order of highest support. If someone isn't even listed or not in 2nd place you know you can safely support them (at least for the time being), without ruining your matchmaking process.

Just to clarify about certifying: classes have base stats (I've linked the page for base stats). Any time you get certified in a class, if the character's current stats are less than the base stats, you'll get a stat boost to match the class base stat (as minimum stats for that class). This is regardless of whether you end up using the class or not. One that is commonly used is Armored Knight / Fortress Knight since they have high base Def that can sometimes be an easy stat boost to achieve.

[Vitezen]

You are comparing being able to dance to being able to use all your magic twice. Examine how you use her in battle and consider which would be more useful. I'd guess that you'll have more turns where Dorothea has nothing to kill/heal compared to those where a spell you need has run out.

[vanguard333]

5 hours ago, RainbowMoon said:

I actually use Meteor as an attack spell though. And typically early on so I don't build any accidental support with anyone not named Petra.

Or you could just leave all of Dorothea's supports with people other than Petra at B until the final chapter, then watch the a-supports the last time you're in the monastery. That's the trick I came up with on my first playthrough to get the paired endings that I wanted. 

[Barren]

I honestly think it depends on who you recruit. Like for example if you want to Constance as your warlock since she has bolting ,she could replace Dorothea as the damage dealer for your team while Dorothea can be a dancer primarily and be a secondary healer/attacker with physic and thoron.

If you like having Dorothea as a gremory/warlock instead you could always recruit Marianne. I find her to be another good pick for a dancer. Some will argue that since Marianne has a boon in riding they like to give her movement +1 and a march ring so she can be a dancer with 8 move. Therefore this makes her one of the best picks. Marianne has physic and thoron as well and a better magic stat growth than Dorothea

Edited June 28, 2020 by Barren

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Will certifying in Gremory increase any of Dorothea's stats, to Gremory bases? If so, it's not a bad idea to certify, just for the boosts.

Still, lots of units have the option to heal or attack with magic - but only one is able to Dance. Make Dorothea a Gremory, and you'll totally lose out on the ability to Dance for anyone (excepting the "Dance of the Goddess" gambit). Then again, as strong as Dancing is, some players don't care to use it that much. If that's you, then I won't tell you not to go Gremory.

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On 6/27/2020 at 2:52 PM, Dayni said:

Personally, I wasn't as perturbed by 5 move for these mages, especially for Lysithea because Thrysus combined with her moveset getting more uses because of Gremory tended to offset that well enough. I find the cavalry classes for mages don't tend to be exceptional in terms of combat and terrain doesn't help them, but they do get 6 move when dismounted and aren't as poor at combat as I might be making it sound. Their lack of extra uses isn't great, but they do get tomefaires. So not the best for repeated spamming of ranged tomes, but the tomefaire does give it more oomph, something that Hanneman also does well considering he can't get Gremory.

She'll keep the move of the class she's in, so if you switch to Gremory she'll get 5 move while Dancer has 6.

Ah, then Gremory's movement shouldn't hurt Lys too badly. She's taking forever to get places though compared to everyone else. I'm considering going for Valkyrie on my NG+ playthrough just to give Lys better movement. As for Dorothea, I'm thinking I'll give Gremory a try and see if I like it better than Dancer before making a decision. She's got the Caduceus Staff, so the movement shouldn't be an issue.

On 6/27/2020 at 5:04 PM, Owns said:

If this is to ensure they get paired at the end, then just in case you didn't know you can tell who has the highest support with someone else by how they're ranked in the Roster "Notes" card. The order they are listed in under "Close Allies" is order of highest support. If someone isn't even listed or not in 2nd place you know you can safely support them (at least for the time being), without ruining your matchmaking process.

 

22 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

Or you could just leave all of Dorothea's supports with people other than Petra at B until the final chapter, then watch the a-supports the last time you're in the monastery. That's the trick I came up with on my first playthrough to get the paired endings that I wanted. 

Thanks for the info about paired endings! I'm pretty sure Dorothea and Petra only have A-support with each other right now (aside from Byleth and Edelgard, who are getting married), so I'm not too concerned. I try to keep everyone else at B with them so there's no risk. I still prefer to use Meteor though since it's the farthest reaching spell between both my reason magic users. The idea of having two charges of it sounds really useful.

10 hours ago, Barren said:

I honestly think it depends on who you recruit. Like for example if you want to Constance as your warlock since she has bolting ,she could replace Dorothea as the damage dealer for your team while Dorothea can be a dancer primarily and be a secondary healer/attacker with physic and thoron.

If you like having Dorothea as a gremory/warlock instead you could always recruit Marianne. I find her to be another good pick for a dancer. Some will argue that since Marianne has a boon in riding they like to give her movement +1 and a march ring so she can be a dancer with 8 move. Therefore this makes her one of the best picks. Marianne has physic and thoron as well and a better magic stat growth than Dorothea

I'm already well into part 2 so recruiting's no longer an option. I have Marianne as my healer though. She doesn't fight unless she's in a situation where she absolutely has to, which is very rare. Her single focus is healing people so none of my damage dealers have to waste a turn to heal. Dorothea has Heal and Physic too, but she's an attacker first and a healer/dancer second. That's why I'm considering Gremory for her.