Help with F!Byleth build? (Azure Moon)

[Resident Dingus]

Note: I've never used a site like this before, apologies if I (somehow) mess up.

Hello, I'm looking for help with what build / class path I should go with for Female Byleth on the AM route. This will be my first time trying to seriously play / finish the game, and I'm at a loss for what I should do with her. I've planned out nearly everyone else's builds, but I can't think of anything concrete for Byleth.

Originally I planned to go Merc / Archer > Assassin, but I'm not so sure anymore. She's pretty good with bows, and ideally I'd like to keep that in her build, but I'm open to all suggestions.

Thank you in advance.😊

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

If you want her to be physical oriented get Darting/Death Blow as well as Hit+20 (Pegasus Knight/Brigand/Archer) and you are set for any class. Slap any Weapon Prowess you want on top of it as well as Alert Stance or Weight -X and your are good to go.

[ciphertul]

What difficulty are you playing on? There is no wrong build on Normal, but your options get less as the difficulty raises.

[Resident Dingus]

28 minutes ago, ciphertul said:

What difficulty are you playing on? There is no wrong build on Normal, but your options get less as the difficulty raises.

Normal + Casual.

[ciphertul]

What Imuabicus said is pretty much a catch-all for physical female characters, but if you want to stick to using bows you could have her be a Hunter’s Volley sniper. Death blow from brigand would help a lot.

[------]

Falcon Knight's her best class, so something like Soldier > Brigand > Pegasus Knight > Wyvern Rider > Falcon Knight should serve quite well. Lance Prowess, Death Blow, Darting Blow, Battalion Vantage and Swordbreaker/Alert Stance is a really good setup for her. One disadvantage to this build though, especially on a first run, is that it requires a lot of faculty training for the flying ranks. If you're feeling ambitious, though, this is Byleth's strongest setup in my experience.

For something a bit less time/resource intensive, Myrmidon > Brigand > Pegasus Knight > Assassin/Enlightened One is a good alternative. The bar for Pegasus Knight is generously low (D Flying), so not very much faculty training is needed. You can follow the same setup as for Falcon Knight, just switch Lance Prowess for Sword Prowess and Swordbreaker for Axebreaker. Enlightened One does have magic access, but Byleth's spell lists are very barebones, so I wouldn't invest all that much into faith or reason.

Of course, that's not to say she can't be good in some of the other classes as well. I've certainly had my fun with Sniper and War Cleric Byleth from time to time! She's actually quite strong in those two classes if you're looking for something a bit different.

Edited June 22, 2021 by RainbowMoon

[SnowFire]

If you're playing on Normal, I wouldn't sweat things too much.  Your original plan of Merc->Assassin sounds fine to me.  Byleth also eventually unlocks a unique class and she'll use that well too, although Assassin still has its merits (terrain-ignoring movement most notably).  There's other classes you can play with if you want but you can safely build for whatever you think is cool flavor - Normal enemies are really Not That Bad and pretty much any leveled unit can mow 'em down without too much trouble, as long as you're not doing something completely crazy.

[LoneStar]

Assassin is pretty cool. I was thinking get Swordmaster as well. You can probably get Sword Crit+10 pretty early, then with Alert Stance from D+ Flying, Retribution from one of those early Blue Lion battalions, and Wo Dao+/Killing Edge+you can cheese the game Dimitri-style.

I saw someone mention getting Death Blow and Darting Blow, but I've gotten through Hard quite comfortably without going for that stuff. Hit+20 from mastering Archer guarantees you're hits though.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, LoneStar said:

Assassin is pretty cool. I was thinking get Swordmaster as well. You can probably get Sword Crit+10 pretty early, then with Alert Stance from D+ Flying, Retribution from one of those early Blue Lion battalions, and Wo Dao+/Killing Edge+you can cheese the game Dimitri-style.

This build is a lot harder than you're making it out to be. Sword Crit +10 requires S-rank in Swords - to get that, the Professor will need to do a lot of Faculty Training. Alert Stance, similarly, only emerges at B+ Flight (and it's stronger form isn't until A+), so you'll not only have to persistently use Teach in a flying class, you'll also need to get her, you guessed it, Faculty Training. To tell the truth, this build sounds way more practicable on Ingrid (who has a boon in swords and flight alike, and who gains skill ranks through tutoring and teaching) than on the Professor herself. Not saying it's impossible, but it'll take a lot of work.

Anyway, I like the Professor as an Assassin, but I'm basic as all get-out. Enlightened One does offer a cool mastery skill, so it's worth using for a time.

[lenticular]

Everyone else has covered most of what I would have said, but I will just add that there's nothing stopping you from keeping using bows no matter what class you go into. If you want to be a Falcon Knight who uses a bow, then that's a completely viable build. If you want to be a Swordmaster who usually uses a sword but also keeps a bow around for occasional use when she really needs the range, that's also completely viable. You lose out a little in raw power level this way compared to always using classes with their "right" weapons, but the gain in flexibility can easily be worth it. Obviously, if you want to go all-in on bow use then you'll be best off with Sniper or Bow Knight, but don't worry that any class choice will completely lock you out of using bows.

[LoneStar]

6 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

This build is a lot harder than you're making it out to be. Sword Crit +10 requires S-rank in Swords - to get that, the Professor will need to do a lot of Faculty Training. Alert Stance, similarly, only emerges at B+ Flight (and it's stronger form isn't until A+), so you'll not only have to persistently use Teach in a flying class, you'll also need to get her, you guessed it, Faculty Training. To tell the truth, this build sounds way more practicable on Ingrid (who has a boon in swords and flight alike, and who gains skill ranks through tutoring and teaching) than on the Professor herself. Not saying it's impossible, but it'll take a lot of work.

Anyway, I like the Professor as an Assassin, but I'm basic as all get-out. Enlightened One does offer a cool mastery skill, so it's worth using for a time.

I didn't feel getting Sword Crit would be too hard if you focused on Sword a lot, but I didn't look into Alert Stance being learned at B, so that will take a lot of investment. I guess D+ was in my mind because you need C rank Armor for Weight -3 from Armor, so I thought there was a 1 to 1 comparison.

[------]

5 hours ago, lenticular said:

Everyone else has covered most of what I would have said, but I will just add that there's nothing stopping you from keeping using bows no matter what class you go into. If you want to be a Falcon Knight who uses a bow, then that's a completely viable build.

I second this. Bow Falcon Knight kicks some serious ass, especially with Close Counter to take advantage of that +10 avo bonus. I've got Leonie in this build for my current Blue Lions run, and I'd almost say I enjoy it more than Bow Knight.

10 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

This build is a lot harder than you're making it out to be. Sword Crit +10 requires S-rank in Swords - to get that, the Professor will need to do a lot of Faculty Training. Alert Stance, similarly, only emerges at B+ Flight (and it's stronger form isn't until A+), so you'll not only have to persistently use Teach in a flying class, you'll also need to get her, you guessed it, Faculty Training. To tell the truth, this build sounds way more practicable on Ingrid (who has a boon in swords and flight alike, and who gains skill ranks through tutoring and teaching) than on the Professor herself. Not saying it's impossible, but it'll take a lot of work.

I'd also like to point out that Swordmaster's a very unrewarding class option, even among the other lackluster sword classes. Probably the worst advanced-tier class if I'm not lying. That 5 mov hurts, especially when you've got another Swordfaire class that's available at the exact same time (and arguably easier to get into) that's got 6 unrestricted mov and better stats overall.

Edited June 23, 2021 by RainbowMoon

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 minute ago, RainbowMoon said:

I'd also like to point out that Swordmaster's a very poor class choice, even among the other lackluster sword classes. Probably the worst advanced-tier class if I'm not lying. That 5 mov hurts, especially when you've got another Swordfaire class that's available at the exact same time (and arguably easier to get into) that's got 6 unrestricted mov and better stats overall.

While I agree that Assassin is generally better than Swordmaster (owing to higher mobility and speed), it's worth granting Swordmaster at least one niche - namely, it makes sense if you're going for a "Sword Crit" build. Swordmaster is doing slightly more than Assassin per standard hit, and it gets a class-based Sword Crit +10 - admittedly, you need to be more clever about moving them around (i.e. repositional support). War Master has a higher crit boost, but it requires specializing in totally different areas.

[Barren]

Like everyone has said, just about anything would work. Byleth is so versatile that they can make any class work. If you’re doing normal/casual, it’s best just to have fun with whatever it is your planning. Plus you can level up as much as you need until you’re comfortable enough to tackle the chapter mission or paralogue battles that will come later on.

 

Also @Resident Dingus if I may, if you’re doing Azure Moon, get Dimitri and Felix’s support up to rank B before part 1 ends. You’ll get something nice.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Barren
More info

[Dark Holy Elf]

On 6/23/2021 at 4:33 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

While I agree that Assassin is generally better than Swordmaster (owing to higher mobility and speed), it's worth granting Swordmaster at least one niche - namely, it makes sense if you're going for a "Sword Crit" build. Swordmaster is doing slightly more than Assassin per standard hit, and it gets a class-based Sword Crit +10 - admittedly, you need to be more clever about moving them around (i.e. repositional support). War Master has a higher crit boost, but it requires specializing in totally different areas.

I recently completed a swords only run and, while I can see feeling differently, even on my most crit-focused character I still ended up going with assassin over swordmaster after considering both. Obviously Sword Crit +10 is a big boon for swordmaster in such circumstance, but you give up a lot to get it. The 1 point of move (which can sometimes become 2-3 because 3H loves its terrain-heavy maps) felt very important for allowing my crit-based swordsman (Felix in this case) to reach enemies and contribute.

The other thing I like a lot about assassin, which is also really relevant for this build, is stealth. A sword crit build is highly likely to be squishy because the battalions which best boost crit (Fraldarius, Goneril, and Leicester Mercs feel like the best three) give no avoid boost, and of course a Critical Ring eats a slot for an Evasion Ring or even shield. But with stealth, I was able to take heat off Felix by putting other units in range so he could still be very effective against the enemies he did fight without being exposed to situations which would kill him.

I do think swordmaster is viable for this build but in general I think assassin ranges from lateral at worst (as in this case) to significantly better, if you want a Swordfaire class.

(Although I should probably mention that my most effective physical units in the sword run were on wyverns, which probably says something about FE3H's class balance.)

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

I do think swordmaster is viable for this build but in general I think assassin ranges from lateral at worst (as in this case) to significantly better, if you want a Swordfaire class.

So to reiterate, I would say that I agree Assassin is better than Swordmaster in the great majority of cases (say, 9 times out of 10). The cases I was thinking of were more "hardcore critical" builds, with a decent amount of support. Such as a Battalion Wrath/Vantage Dimitri build. In this case, he only needs as much movement as is necessary to get to a spot where enough enemies can hit him. And Stealth can actually be a disadvantage, if it causes enemies to prioritize targeting your other units over him. In this case, the Crit boost from Swordmaster (not quite 10, since SM has a lower Dex modifier than Assassin) can be welcome. As can the extra 2 Strength (which manifests as 6 damage on a crit). Anyway, Dimitri is the most obvious user, but I could see other units with Battalion Wrath (such as Petra, Seteth, and Claude) thriving here as well. If you want to build an "enemy-phase-critical-fiend", then Swordmaster is better than Assassin. At just about everything else, though, it's the worse of the two classes.

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On 6/23/2021 at 8:40 AM, Barren said:

Also @Resident Dingus if I may, if you’re doing Azure Moon, get Dimitri and Felix’s support up to rank B before part 1 ends. You’ll get something nice.

If you mean the

Spoiler

Sword of Zoltan,

I wouldn't exactly recommend going out of your way to get it, unless you plan on unlocking Dimitri and Felix's B-support anyway. By the time any of your units reach the sword rank to use it, you'll likely already have better weapons at your disposal, like Silver Sword+ and Wo Dao+, which are both easier to double with and don't need Wootz Steel to forge/repair.

Edited June 24, 2021 by RainbowMoon

[Barren]

14 hours ago, RainbowMoon said:

If you mean the

  Reveal hidden contents

Sword of Zoltan,

I wouldn't exactly recommend going out of your way to get it, unless you plan on unlocking Dimitri and Felix's B-support anyway. By the time any of your units reach the sword rank to use it, you'll likely already have better weapons at your disposal, like Silver Sword+ and Wo Dao+, which are both easier to double with and don't need Wootz Steel to forge/repair.

I figured this person would unlock it naturally anyways. Plus it’s a free weapon even if you could get something better like you pointed out, at least it’s easy enough to get. Silver Sword+ and Wo Dao+ are easier to maintain that you are correct on. I just thought it was something worth mentioning. Plus you could get it way earlier if you know what you’re doing.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Barren
More info

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, Barren said:

I figured this person would unlock it naturally anyways. Plus it’s a free weapon even if you could get something better like you pointed out, at least it’s easy enough to get. Silver Sword+ and Wo Dao+ are easier to maintain that you are correct on. I just thought it was something worth mentioning. Plus you could get it way earlier if you know what you’re doing.

Yep - it's pretty much a given that you'll reach the B-support by the timeskip among all in-house pairs. Unless you're not regularly deploying some of them, or there's a time gate I don't know of.

That said, while the Sword of Zoltan is nice to receive, I have found it hard to get to A in any weapon type before the skip. So it may not be usable until well after you get it.

[Barren]

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Yep - it's pretty much a given that you'll reach the B-support by the timeskip among all in-house pairs. Unless you're not regularly deploying some of them, or there's a time gate I don't know of.

That said, while the Sword of Zoltan is nice to receive, I have found it hard to get to A in any weapon type before the skip. So it may not be usable until well after you get it.

I believe that there is a time limit to when you can get Felix’s and Dimitri’s support up before post time skip. Could be wrong. I know that there are a number of supports that has this restriction.