Best eventual class for Azura?

[Shadou]

What is Azura's ideal class if we don't care about keeping her a songstress? Any class she can legitimately reach is fair game, Great Lord is off limits. She has 30 levels of growth ahead of her, so I'd like to get her into a better class for her sooner than later. This is for a Revelation file, and no pairing have been set yet so all husbands are still up for grabs.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Shadou

[Shadow Mir]

Given her lack of durability, I'd consider Priestess (A+ Sakura or marry Azama) or Kinshi Knight (has innately). There might be more viable options, but I can't think of any atm.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Shadou]

That lack of durability is why I'm looking outside her innate classes. She has a ridiculously low personal HP and defense growth, with a high personal strength, skill, and Speed growth. She's the quintessential glass cannon. Given a class with a bit more HP and Defense growth, she could be an extremely powerful foot unit. But the spear master, the first class I thought of for her, is unavailable to her. So I'm looking for an alternative.

[Raguna]

The problem lies in the fact that Azura is pretty much wholly meant to be a Songstress and basically nothing else. You could take a dip to Kinshi Knight but that's more for the gain of Amaterasu since she's built to support rather than fight head on. I truly recommend you just keep her as a Songtress, she has amazing utility and other characters can handle the fighting I assure you. Just give Azura a seraph robe if need be. Because really, you're only real option to cover both her HP and defensive issues would be marrying Benny to get the knight class so she gets a boost of 25% to her HP and 20% for Defense. Mind you, I love Benny, but I don't think many people use knights too often since their slow and have one less movement even though they're pretty awesome regardless.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Raguna

[Rezzy]

She can do well as any class, really. Her growth rates are pretty darn good, even the HP isn't that bad when she's in a class that gives her some HP growth. Her Songstress growths just amplify her Skill, Speed, and Luck, which are already decent, while doing nothing for her native defensive growths.

That being said, I think she's best suited to finish as a Songstress, since having a dancer who's not a sitting duck is a great asset. If you want to change her class to beef up her defenses or pick up some skills, that would be the only reason that I'd do it.

[Nihilon]

Azura has fantastic STR, SKL and SPD growths, okay MAG and RES and almost nothing else. Her HP and DEF are so utterly irredeemable that unless you make her a General as Raguna described, they are always going to be way too low... and keep in mind that General fails to take advantage of her fantastic SPD. Feed her one or two Seraph Robes and/or Dracoshields and call it a day, I'd say. Given her high STR, SKL and SPD, she performs extremely well in almost any bow-using class - personally, I married her to Takumi and made her a Sniper. And guess what? If it weren't for the Fujin Yumi, she'd be better at it than him. Anyway, here are some of your possibilities...

1) Make her a bow user. You'll take perfect advantage of her incredible STR, SKL and SPD growths while keeping her safe in spite of her HP and DEF. The available bow classes for her are Kinshi Knight (has innately), Sniper (marry Takumi), Priestess (A+ Sakura or marry Azama), Adventurer (marry Niles) or Bow Knight (marry Laslow or Niles). Sniper is, in my opinion, the best choice. Great STR, SKL and SPD growths supplement her already fantastic base growths in these stats, in addition to 10% HP and DEF growths at least kind of trying to fix her paper defenses. Kinshi Knight has awful growths, so it's better as a class to end in - though Amaterasu is highly desirable on any Azura build you might go for, given how well it synergizes with her personal skill. Priestess is... okay. You get B-rank bows and fairly well-rounded growths (except DEF), as well as access to staves, but Azura's base MAG growth isn't that great and the class does nothing to fix her DEF. Adventurer is like a worse version of Sniper. 5 STR and SKL growth does nothing to take advantage of Azura's great growths in these stats, and once again the class has 0 HP and DEF growth, but you do have access to staves, so... Lastly, there's the Bow Knight. It's kind of like a Sniper with more even growths (and again 0 DEF), but at least in my opinion, even growths isn't what Azura wants. Shurikenbreaker is nice to have, though.

2) Make her a class with high HP and DEF growths to even her out a little. Great Knight (marry Xander, Silas or Benny), General (marry Benny) and Dark Knight (marry Leo or Odin) are all possible choices for this. All of these classes have great HP, DEF and STR growths, but their SKL and SPD are usually "meh" at best, so keep that in mind. Also remember that because of Azura's terrible base growths in HP and DEF (25 and 15, respectively), she may end up RNG-screwed in these stats anyway, making all that time spent on grinding them pointless.

3) Keep her a Songstress. Maybe dip into Kinshi Knight for a few levels to get Amaterasu. If you have the Witch DLC, give her Warp and watch the brokenness ensue. You will be able to give anyone anywhere on the map an extra turn whenever you please.

[Chaotix]

Well, OP said we are disregarding the option of leaving Azura as a Songstress, so I think we should assume they are well aware of it being Azura's best class. Maybe they just want to try something new.

Nihilon's post is great so I'm going to endorse that for the most part.

With that being said:

-There is one legitimate way to get Azura the Spear Fighter class set, and that is by marrying her to male Kamui and choosing that as his secondary.

-You can also do the same thing to get her the Wyvern Rider class set.

Both Spear Master and Wyvern Lord have good defense and HP bonuses without sacrificing any speed. Plus you get Lancefaire/Rend Heaven from Spear Fighter set, or Strength+2 and Trample (+5 dmg vs non-mounted) from the Wyvern set. For a character like Azura who has pretty-good-but-not-amazing Str, that's super good. Personally I think this makes them a better fit for her than General or Great Knight.

But then, if you don't want to play male Kamui or don't want those classes, or just don't want to marry her, there's no other way to do it. Just wanted to throw that option out there.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Chaotix

[Time the Crestfallen]

Realistically, there's no reason to change her class outside of picking up an aura skill or two. But if you don't really care, then she does well as a Kinshi Knight, Falcon Knight, Swordmaster or Master Ninja in my experience.

[Chaotix]

Actually I double-checked and I take that back about her Strength not being amazing, her base growth is on par with Xander and Camilla's among others. It's just her starting class and bases which hold her back. Spear Master and Wyvern Lord are still great for her of course, probably her best options for a melee fighter build.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Chaotix

[Raguna]

Actually I double-checked and I take that back about her Strength not being amazing, her base growth is on par with Xander and Camilla's among others. It's just her starting class and bases which hold her back. Spear Master and Wyvern Lord are still great for her of course, probably her best options for a melee fighter build.

The problems comes in the fact that she can't realistically do either class because there is no male character that Azura can marry with either Spear Master or Wyvern Lord since Shiro and Percy are both second gen. You'd have to marry your Kamui to her with the approapriate second class and that feels like you're just trying too hard just to fix something Azura could easily remedy with stat boosters. That's why I can only really recommend Benny since he gives the class that helps HP and def the most like OP wants which she can get easily even though Xander and Leo could be good options and like Nihilon said, she can do good as a bow user like a Sniper but they don't remedy those two issues.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Raguna

[Shadou]

Considering my MC is a +spd/-mag Samurai F!Corrin, marrying her to Azura to fix anything isn't an option, as far in as I am now. I beat the revenge of Mr. Fuga's wild ride once, I'm not wild about doing it again.

I think I need to amend what I said here. I'll probably switch back to Songstress later, after she's had some time in some other classes with not awful growths to round her out. I'm trying to decide what classes to develop her through, before ending her as a songstress again with better stats than she would have developed on her own in that class. Last time I raised her up from 1-40 on songstress class alone, she capped her speed and skill on her own long before she reached the mid-30's, so I figure there's room for her to lose some growth in those areas if she were to gain some in defense and HP.

[Raguna]

Considering my MC is a +spd/-mag Samurai F!Corrin, marrying her to Azura to fix anything isn't an option, as far in as I am now. I beat the revenge of Mr. Fuga's wild ride once, I'm not wild about doing it again.

I think I need to amend what I said here. I'll probably switch back to Songstress later, after she's had some time in some other classes with not awful growths to round her out. I'm trying to decide what classes to develop her through, before ending her as a songstress again with better stats than she would have developed on her own in that class. Last time I raised her up from 1-40 on songstress class alone, she capped her speed and skill on her own long before she reached the mid-30's, so I figure there's room for her to lose some growth in those areas if she were to gain some in defense and HP.

Then yeah, Benny is your best option since it will raise HP 50% and Def to 35% and if you're an aptitude user then you get a nice 60% and 45%. Dark Knight and Great Knight are good as well, but I think General gets the job done better. I would dip into Kinshi for Amaterasu as well, but you can easily buy that skill online.

As a bonus, Ignatius is one kid that Azura doesn't really screw up in any way since he's got a decently high HP and Defense to make up for it and it boosts his speed.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Raguna

[Michelaar]

I would maka her a priestess, since they can do amazing damage and I don't think Azura even has that low magic right?

[Shadou]

I'm not an aptitude user. If it can't be done without using a hacking utility, I'm not going to soil my file with it.

I guess then I need to wait for Benny to show up before I use Azura much more. Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

[Alastor15243]

The thing is there's almost no reason whatsoever to not make her a songstress. It would take a miracle to have her be tanky enough to survive even a single hit late in a playthrough, and her singing utility basically trumps anything else she could conceivably do for your army.

[Varidan]

I'll just throw out as a side note that she could probably make a good staff user with her high skill if that appeals to you. Sucks missing with those valuable debuffing rods when Elise can barely pull herself out of the single digits.

[Hli Tshiab]

Azura's not bulky and will probably not survive any physical hits, but she can take a 1 to maybe 3 magical hits or more.

I'd recommend putting her in the Falcon Knight or Adventurer classes to utilize her magic for support because she'll have 35 or 40 magic. You'll also have the magical option of Bolt Naginata and Shining Bow.

Both class also have pretty good Res growth, putting Azura at 55%, so she'll be able to take on any Magical threats just fine.

Things to think about...

1. Getting the adventure class means waiting for Niles, and that's like half-way into the route. So you're not using her for a good portion of the game or you'll have to start with E bows if you haven't spent enough time in Kinshi Knight.

2. You're really limited to Hoshidan classes if you want to use Azura early in another class, else you'll have to grind with her or feed her later to make her decent like you would have to with all Nohr-only units not Xander, Leo, Cam, Keaton.

3. If you're training a lot of units to use through the main game, you'll probably get bored doing so so find something good to watch if you're doing that.

[Chromagna]

The thing is there's almost no reason whatsoever to not make her a songstress. It would take a miracle to have her be tanky enough to survive even a single hit late in a playthrough, and her singing utility basically trumps anything else she could conceivably do for your army.

You wouldn't even need miracle. If one unit moves up, Azura warps and sings to them, that unit moves up further and attacks. If that unit manages to kill and it has galeforce, warp in other units and just keep attacking. Because of her supportive class and because of warp, you just get the other units to kill things for you.

[Alastor15243]

You wouldn't even need miracle. If one unit moves up, Azura warps and sings to them, that unit moves up further and attacks. If that unit manages to kill and it has galeforce, warp in other units and just keep attacking. Because of her supportive class and because of warp, you just get the other units to kill things for you.

I wasn't talking about the skill, I was talking about getting really lucky level ups to make a combat Azura capable of surviving a strong physical attack.

[paladin21]

The problem lies in the fact that Azura is pretty much wholly meant to be a Songstress and basically nothing else. You could take a dip to Kinshi Knight but that's more for the gain of Amaterasu since she's built to support rather than fight head on. I truly recommend you just keep her as a Songtress, she has amazing utility and other characters can handle the fighting I assure you. Just give Azura a seraph robe if need be. Because really, you're only real option to cover both her HP and defensive issues would be marrying Benny to get the knight class so she gets a boost of 25% to her HP and 20% for Defense. Mind you, I love Benny, but I don't think many people use knights too often since their slow and have one less movement even though they're pretty awesome regardless.

Realistically, there's no reason to change her class outside of picking up an aura skill or two. But if you don't really care, then she does well as a Kinshi Knight, Falcon Knight, Swordmaster or Master Ninja in my experience.

I agree with these two comments. Azura is stronly meant to be a support character (two aura skills from her signature class and a buffing skill, plus an aura personal skill). If something should be added to her to increase her usefulness are Amaterasu, Inspiration and/or Warp (if available). If using her in a different class, I'd say Kinshi Knight if you're going to use her offensively (high mobility while staying in a second row), Falcoknight to use more supportively (healing allies instead of attacking, since high level staves will cover for her not being a pure magical) or Priestess to go either way (less mobility though). Anyway, her most broken class/skill combination in the game is Warp-Songstress, since it's basicly granting any character a second move by warping.

[Dunnobro]

Songstress is pretty ideal overall, but Adventurer > Kinshi Knight is probably her best final class if you just want to find her best non-songstress class.

Soar + Lucky 7 is essentially a flyer-breaker (+50 avo vs fliers). With bows beating lances (another big avoid boost) this makes her pretty much untouchable by peg knights for early turns (when flyers are the scariest) so she's great bait and can also heal. Movement +1 is also nice for if she goes back to songstress.

Overall though, anything Azura could do through reclassing... Shigure can do better with similar amounts of effort. He has more options off seals of any type, and better survivability.

Kinshi Knight > Puppeteer is also a good path, especially if you plan on getting the kids a little late. 3 extra units to poke stuff with from afar, maybe stack amaterasu is no joke.

On a personal note though, I'd say her usefulness as a dancer takes a huge skydive after chapter 18/Post-child chapters. The bulk of her usefulness banks on being used as a pseudo-rescue unit to save healers from choke-point stuff.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Dunnobro

[Chromagna]

I wasn't talking about the skill, I was talking about getting really lucky level ups to make a combat Azura capable of surviving a strong physical attack.

Haha, right. My bad. You could just use eternal seals though

[Sil3nt 4sh]

I like the Songtress class for Azura as it is unique to her and it is pretty badass class in its ability alone. the same reason why kept Olivia in her dancer class no matter what in Awakening. Though, in Revelation, I was planning to make her into a Paladin so she could play a passive support who could defend against various of magical and physical attack, lower enemy's attack stat and heals my units with her presence aka her personal skill and Amaterasu.

Edited June 30, 2016 by Sil3nt 4sh

[paladin21]

I like the Songtress class for Azura as it is unique to her and it is pretty badass class in its ability alone. the same reason why kept Olivia in her dancer class no matter what in Awakening. Though, in Revelation, I was planning to make her into a Paladin so she could play a passive support who could defend against various of magical and physical attack, lower enemy's attack stat and heals my units with her presence aka her personal skill and Amaterasu.

Get Inspiration for her from other castles, logbook or through the Strateegist class (A+ Elise/marry Jakob), and you'll get her as a better support-bot. I'd load her with Inspiration, Amaterasu, Inspiring Song, Warp (if available, you get a free Witch Mark/Sighting Lenses, who you use it on is up to you), and one or two of the following skills Foreign Princess, Voice of Peace and Demoiselle, based on the situation (fighting Foreign Army, high number of physical enemies or high number of male allies).

[BeMine96]

Hmm, I ended up letting my Azura be a Great Lord which she excelled at. I let her get the skills from Songstress(just in case) then class-changed her into a Great Lord. She gets incredible STR, SKL and SPD. She ended up really strong.