Dandy Druid

Looks like it's our yearly dancer banner featuring only dancers! The first one's aesthetics were Fall Festival-themed, the second was Japanese Summer Festival-themed, and this one looks ballroom-themed. Looks like Berkut and Rinea, and tbh, I'm all for more Valentia characters. Weird we're getting another Berkut (if it's him) so soon, but I welcome Rinea wholeheartedly. I'm curious about the other 2 units in this banner and I'm thinking they didn't stick to one game. Those kind of banners are the best, imo. That could actually be interesting. A 2 for 1 special. Although I'm not expecting much in the way of characterization in Heroes, it makes me wonder how they write their dialogue. I thought Gerik's popular choice was Tethys? And Tethys is a dancer so she would be fitting for this type of banner, IF it's the kind of banner I'm thinking of. Although I'm not against that pairing.

Oh that's definitely true too. If a short person and a tall person start on the same diet and exercise routine, the short person will tend to perform better in the beginning. But they will eventually get passed up by the taller person because a taller person is able to support higher weight while maintaining their fitness. This is just a general statement of course and doesn't apply to everyone.

Luckily I made my Marianne a swordmaster that run so she had plenty of AVO. This allowed her to get up to the defensive structure in the north where the beasts are too big to get her.

IIRC she was a noble from the Empire that attended Garreg Mach one year prior to the events of the story. During that year, close to graduation, she was kidnapped (presumably by the Death Knight or TWSINTD) was killed (presumably). Her blood may have been used for experiments if she had a crest (we don't know if she does). This is when Kronya started perfecting her Monica disguise. This implies that the antagonists of this game have been planning for its events a long time before they were even set in motion. Poor Monica was just a victim of their plans. The real Monica was said that she wasn't as cheery before the kidnapping, so we know her personality may have been on the more serious or shy side. I feel like one NPC gave some more specific info about her family but I can't remember it clearly.

My theory on the Agarthans is that they were once humans but started developing advanced technology. Rhea didn't like this because with their knowledge, they defied the teachings of the Church. Seiros defeats them, and the survivors flee underground to Shambala. Fodlan was purposely kept in a medieval state in order to keep the Church and Rhea in power.

Height doesn't always correlate to strength. A lot of professional weightlifters tend to be on the short side. The reasons why Edel, Hilda, and Annie may be good at swinging around an axe are: Their body proportions allow them to lift heavier weights with much more ease. Shorter people tend to have better mechanical leverage because their limbs are shorter. If a short person and a tall person begin the same diet and exercise routine, the short person will lift more in the initial stages... usually. Their crests may also give them some strength. (Hilda and Annie both have an Axe-wielding crest, so maybe their bloodline has blessed them to use axes with ease. But it may be harder for them to use other weapon comparatively). They are anime girls.

Linhardt: He's someone who wants to be a Gremory, but sadly, he is not female. So we either keep him as a Bishop, a Holy Knight, or a dancer. Bishop gives him 2x Warp uses. I know a lot of people vouch for Warp, but I find it an incredibly niche spell only really nice for LTC. It is not a necessary thing to have, although it does make things like getting chests a little bit easier. Holy Knight is pretty great for getting Linhardt around, but his physic range allows him to heal from afar so he really doesn't need a horse. I'm surprised not too many people are saying Dancer. Dancer will make him a more versatile utility unit; he can dance while he's not healing. If men can be Gremories, he'd make a fine Gremory. Annette: Annette is a tricky one, as she has many good options. Gremory, Dark Knight, Wyvern Lord, and Dancer are all great options for her. Gremory to utilize all of her magic, Dark Knight to give her a horse, Wyvern Lord takes advantage of her axe boon with a bolt axe, and Dancer helps with her utility and rallying. I'm leaning mostly towards Dark Knight though-- she's a great mage held back by a meh spell list. Because of that, I don't think it's as necessary for her to become Gremory as opposed to someone like Dorothea, Linhardt, Mercedes, or a magical Hilda who would like an extra siege spell or extra healing/warp. I'm leaning towards Dark Knight to increase her mobility. Marianne: Marianne can be many things, but it is preferable to keep her as your main healer. Holy Knight, Gremory, and Dancer are probably the best classes for her. She can easily obtain Holy Knight and Dancer, Gremory will take a little while due to her not having a boon in Reason, but her spell list is decent enough and she has a good magic growth. Her relic weapon is a sword though, so she is a great candidate for dancer as well. If Ignatz is not your dancer, then have Marianne as your dancer.

I disagree. Hubert's character revolves around Edelgard. If there's no Edelgard, then there's no Hubert in her shadows. If Edelgard wasn't around, what would he do on his own without a lap for his dog self to follow?

Mounts are still pretty dominant for the most part, at least in the late game. Cavs and horseriders do have problems with SPD however, which I guess is their main issue. Not being able to double reliably does put a damper on things. They're more like hit-and-run units now as opposed to the murderers they were in past games. Fliers though. Wow. They're stupid good in this game, especially wyvern lords. There's no reason for anyone with a proficiency in axes to not end up as a wyvern lord at some point or another. The only reason I can see NOT making them a WL is if you want some class diversity, but it comes at the cost of not having another WL. But WL and to an extent, Falcon Knights feel extremely overpowered this time around. I was definitely surprised by the sheer lack of enemy archers and enemies with some sort of anti-flier quality to them. Even so, I remember accidentally putting my Peg Leonie in an archer's range once and even with the bonus damage, it didn't severely injure her as it would in past games. I hate dealing with archers in this game (but love using them on my team) but I think there needed to be more of them. I also have these sentiments. The fact that everyone has to constantly praise Byleth except for a select few characters (a reason why Seteth is one of the best and Leonie didn't praise you because she really wants to be you... ugh). The fact that everyone has to jerk off Byleth's ego when they're not even that remarkable really bothers me. Byleth is literally Kris 2.0. Everything else has been fine though. One of the most fun I've had with a FE ever. It has one of my favorite casts ever.

There is no one I genuinely disliked before I started, because I wanted to give everyone a chance. That being said, there is no one I truly dislike now, because I haven't gone through every single support to make a fully realized opinion. So when I say dislike here, I mean I don't like them as much as I do other characters. Like means most interested in this context. I see a lot of people disliking certain characters which kind of makes me sigh because to me it seems clear that not every character is designed to be likable. Some may be very interesting, but I don't think they're designed to be fan favorites. They're designed to further the plot, explain Fodlan culture, etc., and these things should not be only the happy parts. Dislike to Like Ferdinand: I thought he would be boring, since I perceived his personality quirk to be too similar to Caspar of the same house and found Caspar more interesting. But then I got to some of his supports and I found him oddly charming and pitiful. Most people seem to hate him in their C support with him and seeing him trying his best to just get accepted made me warm up to him. Dedue: I thought he would be the overly devoted type, and for the most part, that is true. However, he does have interests outside of Dimitri that make him feel like a complete character. I also enjoy a couple of his supports, mainly because they allow for some worldbuilding (Discrimination against Duscur, Duscur religion). Lorenz: I knew he wasn't going to be a womanizer and I was half right. Yes, I never believed he was going to be a womanizer because Sylvain also had that character quirk and I knew they wouldn't have two characters with the same quirk. I pegged him as a hopeless romantic, but that wasn't the case either. Instead, he's someone who's under great pressure from his father to do well. He's someone who feels the overwhelming need of living up to expectations set by his father and himself. The "skirt-chasing" he does is merely a part of this, as he feels he needs to find a suitable spouse to live up to his goal of being an ideal noble. Although I don't agree with how he views things, his mentality is merely an extreme byproduct of Fodlan society; people (especially nobles) strive for idealic versions of themselves and their bloodline through whatever means necessary. Even if it involves some questionable decision-making. Lorenz is character that's not really designed to be liked, which is what makes him an interesting character. Ignatz: His post timeskip design is charming. Although I don't like a lot of his early supports, I do like how he ends up. He starts out as a meek boy, but as he gets older he gains more confidence and willpower in himself. He gains the courage to tell his beloved family that what he wants isn't what they want. It seems like a lot of people toted Bernadetta as the "relatable" character despite her rather extreme quirk that really aren't that relatable, but I think Ignatz is truly one of the characters that is the easiest, if not the easiest to relate to. Imagine a moment in your life where you had to tell someone something you know they didn't want to hear, or been in a strange environment where you feel like the little fish in a big pond. Alois: Didn't find him too interesting at first. But he's genuinely one of the funniest characters. Maybe my sense of humor is garbage, but I enjoy his supports. He's not too much in battle, as usually there's a character that can do what he can already, but his personality really shines. His support conversations with Petra is among my favorites. Like? to Dislike Hubert: At first I thought it may be interesting to have someone that looks plain evil on your side and explore that kind of character. Sadly, Hubert slowly became what I feared- someone who is too devoted and their personality revolves around that one person. Although Dedue can get that way with Dimitri, the main thing separating him from Hubert is that Dedue actually has some other interests. Meanwhile Hubert seems to be only interested in Edelgard unless he has an A support with someone else and some really forced dialogue is said. Yes, he has some funny/sweet moments, but they weren't enough to captivate me. Ingrid: I don't really dislike Ingrid, but I think she may be my least favorite Blue Lion. That's really saying something, since I like all the other Blue Lions. My main issue with Ingrid is her voice actress. I know this can be changed, but I found the majority of the English VAs to be rather enjoyable. I felt Ingrid's voice actress didn't really breathe life into the character and often sounded flat at times. Another thing I didn't like about Ingrid was her weird backstory. We all know she was engaged to Glenn in a political marriage and she really loved him. But to me, it seems so weird she had such strong feelings when she was 13?! I don't know.... it just seems a bit too young to me. Then you have the whole Daphnel/Galatea family background which was also weird. Then there's the whole thing with the famine to explain her foodie quirk. I feel like they just gave her TOO much backstory and it often felt unfocused for me. Leonie: I just don't like how confrontational she gets with us over the dumbest shit. And then saying we don't appreciate Jeralt as our father and she wishes he was her father was absolutely bonkers. She does have some nice supports here and there, but a lot of them she ends up talking about Jeralt in some way or another. Maybe I need to read more of her supports.

I had mine dabble in magic as well and honestly, that little Heal she does was nice sometimes.

Well, there's already more Three Houses characters in FEH than Thracia right (?) (Not counting the repeats), so that's a good sign. And they also had another banner, which is something Echoes never got, so I think that's a positive sign? (Echoes had 2 banners at launch, but then...nothing else?) I like the Three Houses characters; it's one of the best casts in the series (although I'm not sure if it's my favorite yet. Tellius and Sacred Stones are hard to beat IMO) so I wouldn't mind seeing them more. If Warriors 2 gets made, I wouldn't mind there being 8 reps for Three Houses (both Byleths, the House leaders, the retainers, and Hilda, who's sorta a retainer but she's really not.) Although if they do get promoted and used a lot, ask me again next year to see how I feel. I thought Dedue was an obvious choice too, but then Petra and Mercedes show up in a banner he should have been in tbh. But Dedue better be in a Warriors game if they're adding the retainers. Hubert, Dimitri, and Hilda would all be non-sword wielders and as far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing. I just hope they use the post time skip looks more though (I doubt that will happen.) Tbh, I like their older designs a lot more in most cases. Their armor and the personal details are really interesting. It says a lot about the people of Fodlan's style.

For Hubert, it's either Dark Bishop or Dark Knight. I heard Dark Bishop has a nice spell list, but nearly all of his spells are dark spells already? I think Dark Knight would suit him best. He has budding talent in lances (albeit, not that great of one) but getting up his lance rank is pretty easy. Riding is a problem, but it's problem for most characters anyways. For Dedue, it's hard to say. Theoretically, I'd say Great Knight, but his weakness in riding makes it an absolute pain since riding is the most annoying thing to level up. You can get it by save scumming with those small percent chances though. Dedue is a hard character, because he does lose some viability unfortunately. I'd say War Master may be the most practical/easiest choice, given his talents in axes and gauntlets. For Hilda, I'd say Wyvern Lord. Sure, Great Knight is great option with her strength in axes and budding talent in heavy armor, but I think she's better utilized as a Wyvern Lord. It fits well with her strength in lances and I just simply like the idea of Hilda on a wyvern. She goes from student Serra to Jill Fizzart. Other than those 2, keeping her at Warrior is a good option. Next playthrough of GD I plan on making her a Bow Knight just to see how it will do.

I made my Hilda a dancer, which I didn't regret because she looked cute in the costume. However, I did miss out on her battlefield potential. She could still kill enemies no problem, which was a problem. I realized she would've been better off as a combatant rather than a supporter. I know Hilda wants to be the dancer of your army, but she should really be the Great Knight/Wyvern Lord/Falcon Knight/ Bow Knight/etc.

Just sounds like a lot of bad luck on your end. Between Lysithea's bad level ups and him consistently having criticals. I was able to defeat him by having Raphael tank 1 blow from him after attacking him with gauntlets, then having Lorenz do a powerful spell on him with Thrysus. Depending on how you trained them, Raphael and Hilda can tank a hit if necessary.

Man this is one of the most helpful guides ever to this game.

Not to mention it will take advantage of his artistic side. Fits his character... a little. Sad that Hilda is arguably the worst one (either her or Raphael), especially since one of her interests/hobbies/likes includes both dancing and singing. She's lucky you can use any weapon type with any class. Axe dancer it is. Maybe some reason magic as well. Since there's no easy master class for the Warrior line, "Dancer" will be her master class of sorts I guess.

Since we've established that there's most likely a dance competition, should we start designating who gets to be the dancer? Dancers are proficient in swords, authority, and can also use magic. Based on this information, we can try to single out characters who would be good at this role~ Black Eagles (to be honest, the majority of the people in this house are good candidates. The only ones that may not be are Bernadetta and Caspar) Dorothea: the most obvious choice, given her background. She's proficient in both swords and reason, and has a budding talent in Faith. Her personal skill, Songstress, may be a bit hard to utilize since dancers tend to have people move away from them, but it could nice in certain formations. A great choice for dancer. Edelgard: A surprising choice, but Edelgard is proficient with swords and authority IIRC, which lines up with this class' proficiency skills. She also has a budding talent in reason as well. While Dorothea will be a much more support-based dancer, Edelgard will be more of a combat-based dancer. Her personal skill doesn't benefit her allies, but it helps her level up, which is nice for a dancer but it's not a necessity. Since she will be a more combat-oriented dancer, this will help her out. Ferdinand: Another surprisingly choice, but looking at what he's good at, swords will help him out in this class. I was torn between either putting him or Hubert here, but his personal skill gives him Avoid +10, and I personally prefer more defensive abilities for my dancers. Linhardt: part of the magic trio that isn't too good at anything else but magic, so he doesn't have a lot of class options. Dancer is great for him so he isn't stuck being a Mortal Savant/Dark Knight/Holy Knight all the time. He's neutral on swords so this isn't a bad class for him. His personal skill isn't too useful, as I usually try to dance every turn. Hubert may be a better choice, but I feel like Hubert's assets allow him to be more versatile than Linhardt, so I think Linhardt is a good candidate because he doesn't have many classes that he'll work well in naturally. Blue Lions Annette: Ann is good at reason and authority, making her a good candidate for your dancer position. She's neutral on swords, which is ok for training her. She also has a Rally skill, so when she's not dancing, she's rallying. She'll make a great support unit. Plus, her personal likes include singing and dancing so that's a plus. Mercedes: part of the magic trio that isn't too good at anything else but magic, so she doesn't have a lot of class options. It'll be a lot easier to train her to become a dancer than a Holy Knight/Dark Knight/Mortal Savant. She'll still be able to take advantage of Live to Serve as well. She won't be able to use a sword too well, but the prospect of a bow dancer is an interesting idea. Ingrid: Ingrid will be the combat dancer of the group. She's good with swords and she's neutral on magic, so it's not a bad choice for her. I'm not sure how her personal skill meshes with this class, since I'm not sure how many times a dancer will need to lead a battalion despite having an authority proficiency. One criticism is that this class seems a little out of character for her (I don't know why I have a hard time imagining her dancing) and I get more Mathilda vibes from her rather than Clair vibes. I may make Sylvain a dancer instead since it fits his character more and he has a budding talent in reason and his strength is probably good enough to handle swords well. Felix: It's out of character from him too but he'll be so good. He's great with swords and has a budding talent in reason. I'm not sure how well his personal skill will mesh with this class, as I don't know how much authority impacts this class. Golden Deer (Like BE, a lot of the Deer students will be decent as this class. Although I wouldn't make Raphael one, despite how tempting it sounds.) Lysithea: part of the magic trio that isn't too good at anything else but magic, so she doesn't have a lot of class options. However, unlike the other two, she has a budding talent in swords, giving her good assets that synergizes with this class. Training with the sword will take some work, but it may be worth it in the long run. Prodigy may not help the dancer class too much, since we'll be spending enough time in this class to where class changing isn't the utmost importance. Marianne: She is proficient in Faith and swords, making her a good dancer candidate. I'd imagine she'll be very similar to Plum from Tear Ring Saga because you'll have her dancing and healing. I find this class to be out of character for her though, and will make Hilda a dancer instead because Hilda looks the part more and something about a really religious girl doing that kind of dance seems out of place. Her personal skill doesn't help too much since you dance to get allies away, but in the right formations it can work really well. Ignatz: Pro in swords and authority and has a budding talent in reason. From that alone he's a great candidate. I just hope the skill he learns from reason gives him some more magic because his base is the lowest out of the 4 Golden Deer to be mentioned. He's into art, and dancing is a pretty artistic skill so it kinda fits? I know he's more into painting than performing, but it's not too far from his original interests. His personal skill is meh unless you have him in battle a lot. Lorenz: Proficient in reason, but is also a good physical unit. I feel like this class also fits his personality because I'd feel like he'd want to dance to impress the ladies. For his personal ability, I'm not sure how effective it will be because I do not know how much dancers will rely on battalions. Or you can just make the people who like dancing and singing into your dancer. So Dorothea, Annette, and Hilda. And it doesn't even matter too much because dancers don't see combat too much. But if there's a test for them, characters decent in sword and magic have an advantage.

IIRC someone on Reddit said Dancers go in "Unique/Special" Classes alongside Noble/Commoner. I guess it makes sense but my big question is when is this class unlocked? Maybe a sidequest or paralogue of some sort? It's nice that we sort of get to choose who becomes our dancer though, even if it's seemingly female-only. That's an interesting idea, although it hasn't been done before IIRC. For Hilda, Wyvern Lord would be a good fit since it fits her specialties- Lances and Axes. Personally, I think I'll go with dancer for her on my first playthrough and then get creative for following playthroughs. But as of now, if you want to play to their strengths: Hubert: Dark Knight or Mortal Savant. Dark Knight would be better since he has a hidden talent in lances. Dedue: Great Knight would be optimal, since he has strengths in Armor, Axes, and Lances. Hilda: Wyvern Lord would probably be the best. If you plan on making Claude a Wyvern Lord and you want class diversity, she will do well as a Falcon Knight. I really like the idea of Mortal Savant, but it seems so out of place given the European-inspired setting. Swordmaster pushes it, but that one is easier to excuse than Mortal Savant. I'm not sure why they couldn't just make it a Mage Fighter or design the armor a bit differently. I'll still use the class though.

I really like Flayn and Seteth, but it seems like they only support each other? I hope they have more characters to support with!

I love Dimitri's voice, whoever it is. Sounds like the perfect mix of nerdy and endearing. I think it's fitting. Can't wait for Golden Deer's video. Probably next week.

Darn, but that makes sense. It would be too convenient otherwise. So we'll have to plan out what we need. In my first Black Eagles run (2nd run overall), I was planning on making Bernie an armor knight (lol) but she may just be a cavalier instead since Ferdinand is learning how to ride with an axe in hand to live my Kieran fantasy.

Can we assign more than one group task at a time? I'm not sure if that's been confirmed or not. I hope we can.

I knew they were around the same age, but I thought they were a bit older than their students. My mistake I guess. Well, I guess I like Hilda, Felix, and Dorothea. Not sure who to go for in my other playthroughs, since I like mixing it up each time.

I'm not tooooo interested in romancing the students. I'm more interested in romancing the other teachers, like Shamir and Yeritza. They seem cool, and the majority of people I've dated have been older than me anyways. (Shamir and Yeritza are older than Byleth I believe.)