which of the main character classes is best.

[Mysteryshadow5`]

Just wondering about everyone's opinion on which classes work well in this game and which ones fall short. To clarify this is between the nobles, great lord, lodestar, vanguard, and Grandmaster. I really don't want to put my opinion here because I have not used grand master and vanguard

[Whitewolf8]

I'd say Lodestar with Speedtaker is fantastic.

Great Lord with Awakening is also a pretty awesome skill, especially with Vantage and such.

[Ebony]

As far as the Nobles go it depends on what you want to do.

As much as I adore the darker aesthetic of Nohr Noble, the design on a FCorrin looks... not great. Tolerable, but I'm also not big on tomes (Grandmaster is an exception. Adore that class.) Hoshidan Noble has some pretty vulgar strength to it though. One of the highest caps/growths I think?

[Liliesgrace]

Non DLC class wise I have always preferred Hoshidan Noble since the strength is so high as previously mentioned and since I always go with a Magic boon my magic is always high enough dragonstones kill pretty much everything. Every time I have gone the Nohr Noble route I've ended up lacking both in speed and skill, making it much much harder to kill things.

For my male avatars I almost always end up with Grandmaster because I can use magic, the Yato, and have Ignis to kill all the things. Never used Great Lord, Vanguard, or Lodestar on my avatar so I can't give any input there.

Edited June 15, 2016 by Liliesgrace

[Mysteryshadow5`]

As far as the Nobles go it depends on what you want to do.

As much as I adore the darker aesthetic of Nohr Noble, the design on a FCorrin looks... not great. Tolerable, but I'm also not big on tomes (Grandmaster is an exception. Adore that class.) Hoshidan Noble has some pretty vulgar strength to it though. One of the highest caps/growths I think?

No not the highest, respectable or even great yes

Offenses are Str 10 mag 15 for Norman, they are reversed for hoshido. All the other lord's have similar growths, but only grandmaster has both Str and mag.

For a true vision of power general and berserker are 20, and the tank has the highest at a disgusting 25%.

[Liliesgrace]

As much as I adore the darker aesthetic of Nohr Noble, the design on a FCorrin looks... not great.

This is the only reason I dislike playing Conquest as a female. Love every other aspect of that route as a female except that I cannot stand the class design.

[Ebony]

No not the highest, respectable or even great yes

Offenses are Str 10 mag 15 for Norman, they are reversed for hoshido. All the other lord's have similar growths, but only grandmaster has both Str and mag.

For a true vision of power general and berserker are 20, and the tank has the highest at a disgusting 25%.

I don't remember - all I remember is someone stating it has one of the higher strengths in the game.

For my male avatars I almost always end up with Grandmaster because I can use magic, the Yato, and have Ignis to kill all the things. Never used Great Lord, Vanguard, or Lodestar on my avatar so I can't give any input there.

Lodestar is good on characters who have well rounded stats or need the speed badly. Personally I always give it to Laslow on Rev/Conquest and Hisame in Birthright.

[TanatatKnight]

Well the "best" is quite subjective, since there is so many style and ways you can play different classes. Of course, we also have design opinions and etc. So I will choose my best on two criteria. Design and Growth.

[spoiler=Design]

My Design choice goes to Hoshido Noble, practically my favorite class design in Fire Emblem. It was a little confusing that the class donned some white armor and cape that looked closer to a european white knight, instead of something more asian like a samurai's kote or armor based on that fact (I noticed that the male corrin has the samurai coat while the female had the loin cloth, but they could have seriously give it more eastern aesthetics). Regardless of their choice, I really loved the blue aesthetic that surrounds the white armor. I was always a fan of the "white knight" type anyway and this was a dream come true.

I'm also leaning more on the male side with this one as I kinda dislike the female's loin cloth and the window near the chest. It will always confuse me why they didn't just make them proper armor. Eh, fanservice I guess but it felt weird.

[spoiler=Growth]

Great Lord takes the cake for this one. An amazingly balanced growth across the board. With 10% or above in everything except for magic (which it doesn't need). This also going with having two weapons of sword and lance to balance each other out. It's classpool are some of the more useful skills in the game. Aether aside, dual strike is an amazing supporting skill for more damage. Charm is meh, but it is pretty good if you are surrounded by allies. Awakening is insane, after getting half heath as some people as quoted before "It is Wrath on steroids". Overall, an amazing class that will pick FMU off the ground really quickly.

As for a magic class, you are stuck with Nohr Noble or Grandmaster. Either one have positive and negatives. Grandmaster for a stronger magical build while being able to deal some physical damage is needed. Nohr Noble for a much more balanced and faster build. It really depends on your style here. I personally give it to Nohr Noble, as it's low skill is compensated by everything else it does right.

Hoshido Noble is a close second if it doesn't have 0 Res. I mean, the 10% on mag was good for healing but not as useful in the long run, especially when class desperately need Res to help with the mages and sorcerers encounters on Birthright.

Judging by Design

1. Hoshido Noble (Male)
2. Great Lord
3. Lodestar
4. Nohr Noble (Male)
5. Grandmaster
6. Vanguard
7. Hoshido Noble (Female)
8. Nohr Noble (Female)

Judging by Growth

1. Great Lord
2. Hoshido Noble
3. Nohr Noble
4. Grandmaster
5. Lodestar
6. Vanguard

[Liliesgrace]

Lodestar is good on characters who have well rounded stats or need the speed badly. Personally I always give it to Laslow on Rev/Conquest and Hisame in Birthright.

I always give it to Laslow as well. Selena gets Great Lord and Odin gets Grandmaster. I haven't used any on Birthright yet.

[Roflolxp54]

Hoshido Noble is, IMO, better than Nohr Noble if you want to main Dragonstones (especially if you're Kana) because of its higher DEF and LCK stats. If you want use Dragonstones offensively as a Nohr Noble, just use tomes or better yet, be a Sorcerer/Witch, or even a Dark Falcon.

In terms of stats, I'm honestly a fan of the Lodestar class -- very high SKL, SPD, and LCK stats on top of being able to achieve S-rank in swords/katanas.

Vanguard isn't particularly outstanding with its lower SKL and RES stats and all of its class skills can be learned via skill manuals (assuming that you own Vanguard Dawn DLC map and Heir of Fates DLC). It can take some punishment though and can hit pretty hard physically (though Berserker and Ballistician can hit even harder). It's basically the Hero class that is slower but hits harder.

Grandmaster is rather similar to the Basara class, only that it's more magical and skillful, more fragile (especially to physical attacks), and less lucky compared to the Basara. And it uses swords over lances.

I don't use the Great Lord class much but it's very similar to the Lodestar in terms of stats, slightly better in some areas, slightly worse in some areas. It does get a very nice skill in the form of Awakening and Great Lord is not sword-locked.

[Chromagna]

Hoshido Noble is, IMO, better than Nohr Noble if you want to main Dragonstones (especially if you're Kana) because of its higher DEF and LCK stats. If you want use Dragonstones offensively as a Nohr Noble, just use tomes or better yet, be a Sorcerer/Witch, or even a Dark Falcon.

In terms of stats, I'm honestly a fan of the Lodestar class -- very high SKL, SPD, and LCK stats on top of being able to achieve S-rank in swords/katanas.

Vanguard isn't particularly outstanding with its lower SKL and RES stats and all of its class skills can be learned via skill manuals (assuming that you own Vanguard Dawn DLC map and Heir of Fates DLC). It can take some punishment though and can hit pretty hard physically (though Berserker and Ballistician can hit even harder). It's basically the Hero class that is slower but hits harder.

Grandmaster is rather similar to the Basara class, only that it's more magical and skillful, more fragile (especially to physical attacks), and less lucky compared to the Basara. And it uses swords over lances.

I don't use the Great Lord class much but it's very similar to the Lodestar in terms of stats, slightly better in some areas, slightly worse in some areas. It does get a very nice skill in the form of Awakening and Great Lord is not sword-locked.

^ This is my take on the issue.

A problem with Lodestar is that Swordmasters cap higher in speed and of take in PvP as an example, speed is everything. Hoshido Noble is better for story and Nohr Noble for PvP. Great Lords have amazing skills and also decent caps but same with Lodestar really. Grandmaster is usually on used for skills but it can be fun to use, just watch out for your bulk. Ballistician is way too defensive and fragile for main story play with reinforcements and extreme aggro units where you just get thrown a bunch of enemies but can be fun for other characters for holding key vantages if you block them off with tanky units. Vanguard was summed up in this. I would give vanguard to any slow characters you planned on making Hero. Witch is a perfect class. With access to warp and an S in tomes, well, its deadly and awesome. Someone posted about using Lodestar for Laslow buuut if you can only get one fell brand (I don't have DLC available in my region yet) give it to Laslow due to him being an insane rally bot if you go for optimised builds and finish him off in Falcon Knight. Dark Falcon is pretty much a cooler Basara in my eyes. Galeforce is still a god like skill for both PvP and out. Just make sure you don't have pair-up fodder. Dread Fighters are slower Master Ninjas and stronger Master of Arms but there is no point using them in PvP unless you can't get Master Ninja or just keep Dread Fighter for story stuff. I am mainly PvP oriented though so just take note of that.

[Nihilon]

Depends a lot on how you define "best".

Personally, I love the Great Lord because Aether and Awakening are absolutely magnificent skills. Awakening in particular makes me drool, especially combined with skills like Vantage. As long as you're not killed in one shot, you'll become pretty much death incarnate. I always give Great Lord to my MU for that reason. It also has great growth rates in everything but MAG and RES, as well as nicely balanced stat caps. Its only shortcoming is a lack of innate AVO/CRIT/etc. bonuses which is why I always reclass to Swordmaster afterwards.

Lodestar is something I always give to Xander, because he loves the high LCK cap with his excellent growths in the stat, and the class does wonders to fix his SPD issues with Speedtaker, though the low STR cap is a little sad. Besides Speedtaker and maybe Dancing Blade, the other skills are sadly a little underwhelming. Overall, I'd say the class is a great alternative to Swordmaster.

Grandmaster is... something I haven't used yet, so I can't comment. Ignis looks pretty good, but judging from stat caps and growths, if you want a physical/magical hybrid, you're better off just playing a Nohr Noble.

Vanguard I also have not played yet, same as the Grandmaster. It looks like a pretty good class for those dudes who really want to go physical. With a 36 STR cap and up to +13 extra from the class's skills, you're going to hit like a nuclear weapon.It seems like a good fit for characters like Hinata or Benny, really (just make sure to have Wary Fighter!) I'm kind of sad that it's male exclusive, because Charlotte and Effie would probably love this class.

As for the Hoshido and Nohr Noble, I'm not that big a fan of either. The skills, especially Dragon Fang, Draconic Hex and Hoshidan Unity are amazing, but I always end up reclassing as soon as I have them. However, both classes just feel a bit too balanced for me - my MU always ends up as a Swordmaster once I have all the skills from the class line. Dragonstones also feel kind of useless most of the time. I can remember exactly one time I actually made use of them - Birthright Chapter 12 (I think? The one in the opera house), where I used it to tank the chokepoint (had I done it with the Yato, I would've died fast). I never use Staves with the Hoshido Noble, either - the MU is just so strong, every turn you're not attacking is pretty much a waste. For weapon variety, I highly prefer the Nohr Noble - I usually have other characters to tank, so if I want magic damage, I'd rather have a tome than a dragonstone.