Barren

I think it depends on when you recruit them is what makes them viable to your team. For example, you can recruit Marianne between chapters 3 - 5 with her reason proficiency at rank D. That can be a good thing because from there you could get her reason to rank D+ pretty easily for her to go into the mage class and learn fiendish blow. Same with Ignatz except his axe would be at D rank and you can raise it to D+ rank faster so he can go into brigand and get death blow. As far recruiting Ingrid mid to late game. There are up and downsides to it as Regnor explained. You can tutor her in authority up to rank D by the end of chapter 6 and then she can equip a flying battalion. Plus her sword rank would already be at C rank (or at least very close) anyways so she can always get her axe rank up as high as possible if need be. Especially if you want her to go into wyvern rider then falcon knight/wyvern lord. Not to mention that her being a pegasus knight already by chapter 6 means you don't have to waste a intermediate seal on her. But yea, this also means that you have less time to train her and her stats might not be up to snuff. You could in theory though save the stat boosting items and use them for what she is lacking in

I like Mercedes myself as a healer but compared to Linhardt and Marianne she has a really rough start on her faith rank being at D. Meaning that you won't be able to gain physic until around chapter 3. Which really makes chapter 2 more difficult for some people. (I did preview Maddening BL for myself to get a taste). I'm not sure why the devs weren't consistent with their healers. If Lin and Mari can have D+ rank starting out why not Mercie? But anyways, yea it's really tough because you want to make sure everyone is close together and mercedes can only heal up to a total of 5 times. Having fortify by the end of the game sounds nice but it really depends on how often do you see your units get hurt because they would be well suited to dodge/tank hits at that point. I don't think Mercie is a terrible healer by any means but she does have the worse start out of the 3.

I've once recruited Balthus during chapter 3. And during that time, his bow proficiency was at rank D (which he is bad at). So getting him to rank D+ was very doable and him getting Hit +20 is worth it if you want him on the front lines as a Hero (ironically), Grappler or War Master

I agree with both of your points. These options you mentioned for Bernie allows her go Bow Knight or Paladin which is easier for her to get into. Falcon Knight, which is better than paladin but no guard adjutant and flying battalions are limited so I would be careful when picking your fliers. Pass is really useful for her since it's not only a good filler, but it still allows her to gain advantages that no one else (besides Anna but she pales in comparison) can get. As for Jeritza, him gaining Death Blow really easy helps him a lot. Darting Blow is also great for obvious reasons. Battalion Desperation oddly enough is an ability worth considering if you're thinking about him using a Brave Lance for example. Wyvern Lord also is a good option for him. Plus it gets him to use Alert Stance. Though I understand that having him join at the second half of the game might devalue your opinion on him a little and that you have less than enough time for him to get there. Especially since CF is the shortest of all the routes and he's only available in that route

It could be because of certain points in the game. Like there are cut off points for some bonds i.e Catherine x Lorenz or Byleth x Leonie

Do the Ashen Wolves count as non lords? They are DLC and Yuri (along with Seteth) knows Model Leader which is something that the 3 lords and Byleth can learn as well

I've also experimented with Darting Blow + Battalion Desperation with Ingrid as a Falcon Knight. If you're fast enough she can hit an enemy with an immediately follow up attack. That tends to work really well with Death Blow and maybe Brave Lance pending on the speed stat. Jeritza can also do that same combo as well

Breaker skills are situational but can be useful for specific counters i.e lancebreaker for pegasus knights and falcon knights.

I think Ward or Pure Water can stack with her waiting and gaining res +4. I haven't tried it out as of yet but I am currently in my Black Eagles run so if I ever get the chance, I will see how it goes. I'm not normal mode currently since I'm just experimenting around with class ideas at the moment.

I wanted to correct myself on something, I thought that Edelgard's personal ability post timeskip would stack with rally resistance. It doesn't. Because like Dedue's ability, it's a self rally when you wait so my bad on that. Still, the possibility of having Resistance +2 and her +4 Res when waiting still has her taking magic hits decently. Though you can access a similar combo with Dedue much earlier on Blue Lions

That's something that has also crossed my mind as well. It's like to wanted to balance out the classes and spell kits to the point where everything and everyone is unique and different. And while I do think they did just that, doesn't necessarily equate to being good. Faith should have gotten more of a offensive presence like you said which is also why Holy Knights are regarded as one of the worst classes to go for. Yes Marianne is technically the best candidate for it since she learns Aura and can pull off the offensive white mage. But that means sacrificing the pure healing role that a bishop provides for white tomefaire and canto. Plus bishops are far more preferred than holy knights because of obvious reasons. It's why nearly every team wants at least one bishop (maybe two in case you need a secondary physic user with maybe warp, silence, etc). As far as Byleth goes, I feel that the devs didn't really do a good enough job making Byleth a jack of all trades character because it's obvious that the EO class is geared to be a sword class. Even when you don't purposely level up Byleth and let the EO unlock itself, it's starting magic stat is 8. It's low compared to the 17 strength stat it gets. I'm sure that nosferatu tanking is achievable on hard mode since the enemies are not that much tougher and 12 uses seems okay but could do better. But as many have pointed out when I first asked about the white magic dodge tanking, it's generally not recommended because nosferatu runs out quicker than iron sword/gauntlets dodge tanking with their sword/brawl avoid respectively.

Maybe the devs thought that it could serve some particular small niche roles, if for example you're using an avoid tile or some bushes as a way to lure the enemy, then have them miss and have someone else take advantage of it by attacking the enemy you've successfully lured in. But that seems more like a pitfall than anything else. At least sword avoid and brawl avoid are decent filler abilities for front liners to use for both phases

Yea I wasn't exactly impressed with Byleth's faith spell list as well. I mean Recover is fine at rank C, but having no spells between that and Rank B+ up until Rank A to get Aura feels like you're putting in too much effort just for a complete list. I agree with pretty much everyone that Byleth really needed Seraphim. Hell, give him Abraxas instead of Aura so you have a nuke of a white magic spell. Or Entrap if it's like a combat based white magic spell from one of the previous games.

Not to mention that even as Emperor her only way to use her magic stat is either the Lightning Axe combat art which she gets at rank A or if she uses a forged Bolt Axe. Even by then her only way of hitting with either move is if she masters the Archer class for Hit +20. Though she has a bane in bow and arrow s that will take longer (though thankfully not impossible) for her to get there. As far as her resistance growth, the only niche set up I can think of maximizing her magic resistance is mastering the lord class to get resistance +2, have someone with rally resistance and then have her wait to get a res +4 adding it all up for her to get a whooping Resistance +10 when waiting. This in theory makes her a big magic sponge if you're having her draw in warlocks and such.

Whichever team you try to go for, try to make sure you limit the fliers you make on your team to be around 3 to 4 maximum because there are not too many flying battalions to choose from. A couple of rank B and A battalions should suffice. Maybe a rank C but that's about it. Also The Nueville Flying Co. is the only flying magic battalion out there so having at least one Dark Flier can be good

Makes you wonder what the developers were thinking when designing these classes. I would have loved to have been in that conversation and see where they are coming from. Maybe similar to swordmaster, they felt that the class can be a good choice because of a innate sword/axe crit +10 so you could use them as crit-stackers. But Warmaster is a straight upgrade from Warrior or even Grappler like you said because they have a critical hit +20 class ability. But it's a male only class so I'm guessing that wanted to give girls with a axe boon an option to be a warrior (Hilda's canon class). But everyone knows she's way better as a Falcon Knight or Wyvern Lord anyways.

Definitely the highlight for me are the characters and the soundtrack. The characters for me were enjoyable in their own way, not everyone is my favorite per say but I liked the vast majority of the cast. Their performances were great and noteworthy. The soundtrack is great! I love their music especially by the second half of the game! The story for all routes while not all perfect are enjoyable enough for me to warrant another playthrough with new game+.

That's true yea. Plus their strength modifier isn't as high as Wyvern Lord. It really does seem like Assassins are the way to go by process of elimination

Not counting Mortal Savant the only other master class that gives you any additional experience using a sword is Falcon Knight. And having sword avoid + defiant avoid for example can make a lucky girl a damn good dodge tank. Especially with C.A.S with its high crit rate

I mean anyone can make a decent to good dancer no matter who it is. And sometimes you can even forsake the dancer class and just get sword avoid +20, i.e Ferdinand, Dimitri, Felix, Petra, Ingrid, etc. I remember using Marianne as a dancer in my GD play through and she was really good. She can easily reach movement +1 with her riding boon and can still be a secondary healer if need be. There is still also linked attack support like from Dorothea since she carries meteor (though that and her having thoron and physic is enough reason why people decide against dancer).

Unless this person is thinking of using fiendish blow + Bolt axe/Lightning Axe CA Edelgard. In which case I can concur. Both every one have already said that emperor can't use magic. So if you're going to train Edelgard in reason @Emmy and still keep her as emperor then that would be the way to go. Otherwise, and I am going to sound like a broken record but Valkyrie, Dark Flier or Dark Knight are the better magical class options for Edelgard. She would also have accuracy issues so I think getting uncanny blow from valkyrie may be the best way to go As far as the rest of the roster for you: Lysithea as a Gremory is very good so I would go with that Petra as a Falcon Knight may seem feasible is you want a dodge tank, but honestly given her axe boon, she would be better off as a wyvern lord. She really needs more strength rather than more speed since 60% is already high enough for her. If you're concerned with her hit rate, there is accuracy ring Dorothea as a dancer is fine as well. Just be sure to also train her in faith magic so she can learn physic. The more physic users you have the better Mercedes as a bishop is fine. She replaces Flayn as your go to fortify user Yuri as a trickster is what he's tailor made to be. But even Foul Play as useful as it is, won't have him contribute enough to out damage enemies. If you're playing on normal mode that it won't make a difference since you can increase his damage output with death blow and or fiendish blow pending on if you want him to be physical or magic. Though I would honestly make him an assassin since his ridiculously high speed will come into play. Constance as a Dark Flier is fine. I would advise mastering warlock to get bowbreaker so that way you have an extra layer of protection. Hapi could stay as Valkyrie or go to Dark Knight for 1 extra move and dark tomefaire Anna I wouldn't even bother with. I mean sure you can level up for part 1 in preparation for part 2 when you do her side quest battle. But beyond that, you're much better off using Jeritza Hubert works best as a dark knight at this point so you can go with that Bernadetta is fine as a bow knight. Encloser is really good Leonie is also fine as a bow knight too

And that's true. Having magic and flight does do her wonders. I'll give you that. I personally like to take advantage of a weapon faire if I can under the right circumstances. But I won't deny that Dark Flier Hapi is an interesting option. Being able to fly around and use Warp, Physic, Rescue, etc is pretty vital since it will allow you to move again while ignoring terrain.

The thing about Hapi being a Dark Flier is that she won't benefit from the class. It offers black tomefaire. She only has Dark Magic. You could try making her a Dark Knight or Gremory instead since Dark Knight 7 move and dark tomefaire whereas gremory offers double uses of all magic. Assuming you're playing this on maddening mode you can also squeeze in a second intermediate class for a number of characters. Byleth for example could go from Pegaus Knight to Wyvern Rider if you want to keep the flight access you get starting from level 10. Sure you have to train in Axes up to a minimum of C+ while working on your flying rank but it's worth it since Wyvern Rider offers a nice strength growth bonus. As far as other recommendations, the lord class is nice for leveling up your battalions really quickly but there is a method you can do that doesn't need the lord class entirely. Just focus on Authority primarily. You can also focus on getting bows up to rank D+ if you want him to qualify for the archer class. Hit +20 always helps. Then from there just keep jacking up authority until it reaches rank A. You will not regret it. Then if you want to keep him as a Great Lord or Paladin afterwards that's perfectly fine. Both take advantage of Lancefaire. I personally like using Dedue as a Grappler before heading into warmaster. Though if you're going to do warrior for him, it wouldn't be a bad idea if you get him vantage from the mercenary class so he can take full advantage of vantage + wrath as a warmaster since he'll already have a +20 crit off the bat. But I like personally like grappler more since it offers tomebreaker and even if you master warmaster, you can always go back to grappler to keep fierce iron fist. Sylvain looks pretty good as well. Though same as dedue if you want to take advantage of wrath I would advise getting vantage. Otherwise, I think that Wyvern RIder would be better for Sylvain. Just be sure to also get him Hit +20 as his dex growth isn't the greatest. Felix, same as Sylvain except I think the rest of his path looks really good. On the side if you want Felix to get an additional combat art, you could in theory either get reposition or healing focus pending on what other role you want to give him. But yea, Sniper or Bow Knight looks really good on him. Yuri as a Dancer is fine. He can use his Fetters of Dromti to dance then move again Your path way for Bernie looks good as well Lysithea looks fine as a Valkyrie Marianne and Mercedes looks fine as well. Though I would advise giving them both fiendish blow in case you want them to use their black magic. That's pretty much it from me

If you're talking about dodge tanking with gauntlets then Male Byleth as far as I'm aware is the best candidate because you could in theory build him up to have brawl prowess level 5, brawl avoid +20, tomebreaker, alert stance+ and probably quick riposte. Byleth has no bane in anything so this should feasibly work. Though if you want him to be a grappler for F.I.F or warmaster for the crit +20 is all up to preference really. Plus even if you're running just gauntlets, CA wise Healing Focus can be nice if you need to run away and heal. Quick Riposte ignores weight difference I assume so you can even give Byleth a shield for added protection like Hex Shield or Ochain Shield for negating crits

Unfortunately Holy Knights are not cut out for what they are supposed to do. If you're looking for a hybrid mage then I would go for gremory. If you want Marianne to be a pure healer then bishop is the way to go. Bernadetta as a Bow Knight definitely can work. With so much mobility and having Hit +20 to make sure Encloser hits or at least have a higher chance of hitting enemies and then freezing them into place is ideal to help you approach more safely. Bernie can also do a vengeance build if you want to capitalize on her personal ability. Yes you would have to have her be at least under half of her max health for the damage to matter but she can still be a great boss killer in that regard. Then there is the vantage + battalion wrath setup too