Unique character ideas for a playthrough. Thoughts?

[Gabeatron9002]

So I'm planning a recruitless playthrough of three houses (except maybe the dlc characters) and I have some ideas for unique character classes that use either what they will gain from a skill, or using their budding talent (My ideas all focus around the second one). I have some ideas for some characters but not all of them. I plan to do all 3 (Either Crimson Flower or Silver Snow, not both) routes and want ideas for everyone. My ideas are:
Byleth (male) - Either War Master or possibly Bishop
Edelgard - Warlock, Valkyrie, or War Cleric
Ferdinand - Great Knight
Bernadetta - Wyvern Lord or Falcon Knight
Petra - Falcon Knight
Felix - Warlock or (not likely but who knows) Mortal Savant
Sylvain - Dark Knight or Warlock
Annette - Warrior or War Cleric
Claude - Swordmaster
Ignatz - Warlock
Lysithea - Swordmaster or Mortal Savant
Hilda - Fortress Knight
Leonie - Sniper

These are my ideas for unusual classes for characters (at least for me). Not every character is here as I didn't have an idea for them but if you guys say that one of my ideas isn't great because [insert argument here] or you have an idea for a character not listed, please let me know.

[Anathaco]

Dedue or Cyril can go down a lance class like Paladin or Great Knight to capitalise on their access to Vengeance.

Hapi could go into Hero, thanks to her budding talent in Axes, pick up Battalion Wrath from her Authority learnset and spam the Vantage Wrath combo with a Bolt Axe  Crap it's male only. Uhhhh you can go into mercenary and just learn vantage the hard way, then end in Wyvern Lord or something. Actually she has an authority weakness, but she does only need to reach C. God this is an awful idea why am I still writing this?

Constance can go War Cleric

Balthus can go Mortal Savant, maybe? (I'm sorry Balthus I still love you)

Yuri... goddamn Yuri is hard, considering he's weak in so many areas. I would say Bow Knight but he's weak in the other 2 areas he needs for that, so I guess Sniper.

As a side note, I know you already have Sniper down for Leonie, but might I suggest Falcon Knight, for Lance Jab memes (I assume memes because I don't know how good it actually is). Though if you're doing Maddening then maybe not.

[haarhaarhaar]

5 hours ago, Gabeatron9002 said:

Byleth (male) - Either War Master or possibly Bishop

Can thoroughly recommend War Master, especially if you get Brawl Avo +20 and Death Blow (basically becomes a dodge tank who also has a great Player Phase).

I've never tried to build Byleth to utilise white magic before - maybe you'd need Byleth to get Hit +20 to fix Nosferatu first? But even then his dodge tanking is only gonna be meh I think, he won't have enough offensive power to do well on Player Phase, and 10 uses of Recover isn't good enough for Byleth to be a primary supporter. Bishop sounds like a bit of a waste.

5 hours ago, Gabeatron9002 said:

Ferdinand - Great Knight

This is fine for him, and he'll be good but not great. He is a perfectly serviceable tank, Swift Strikes is as always a great CA, and his personal is always appreciated. And if you're planning on giving him both his sacred weapons, then that works out just fine for maintaining his personal. However, Ferdinand would still prefer Paladin with armour training (to Wt -3 at least) in overall performance I think (though that might be more standard, IDK). Ferdinand is very flexible tbh - he can do just about every physical build well, ranging from dodge tank dancer/assassin to vantage + wrath to Swift Strikes wyvern lord.

5 hours ago, Gabeatron9002 said:

Felix - Warlock or (not likely but who knows) Mortal Savant

Both of these really suck for him, especially because it's such wasted potential on Felix. Mortal Sav is at least usable because he can fall back on Swordfaire, but Felix's magic is very underwhelming. Any sword/bow/brawling class works great on Felix - I'm thinking of running him as a gauntlets dodge tank on my current playthrough (similar build to fists Byleth, but Felix gets Nimble Combo which means he doesn't have to have Fierce Iron Fist).

5 hours ago, Gabeatron9002 said:

Claude - Swordmaster

I really wanted to make Sword of Begalta useful for Claude, but it's just a waste of time. The only interesting sword CA available to him is Subdue from Lord, and it isn't much better than a normal unit doing chip damage anyway. 

5 hours ago, Gabeatron9002 said:

Lysithea - Swordmaster or Mortal Savant

Mortal Savant Lysithea is not at all bad. I can't speak for sword-exclusive classes for her though (I only put her in MS because she had mastered Gremory and this was before the DLC). 

5 hours ago, Anathaco said:

As a side note, I know you already have Sniper down for Leonie, but might I suggest Falcon Knight, for Lance Jab memes (I assume memes because I don't know how good it actually is). Though if you're doing Maddening then maybe not.

I did not realise Lance Jab was a meme at all - it's worked great on Leonie and Shamir whenever I've run either as a Falcon Knight. Can wholeheartedly recommend FK for Leonie.

5 hours ago, Anathaco said:

Yuri... goddamn Yuri is hard, considering he's weak in so many areas. I would say Bow Knight but he's weak in the other 2 areas he needs for that, so I guess Sniper.

Assassin worked out great for me with Yuri, and I'm thinking Dancer is gonna work out even better for him. But Sniper definitely sounds like a good choice.

 

In terms of characters you haven't mentioned, I'd be quite interested to see Hubert do Sniper/Bow Knight with a Magic Bow. Same for Falcon Knight Flayn spamming Frozen Lance.

[vikingsfan92]

2 hours ago, haarhaarhaar said:

Mortal Savant Lysithea is not at all bad. I can't speak for sword-exclusive classes for her though (I only put her in MS because she had mastered Gremory and this was before the DLC). 

I am currently doing a maddening new game plus run with Sword Lysethia and she still puts in a lot of work with her magic damage sword combat art. She did enough damage to one shot human form of Mikilan with it for me in intermediate classes for me. She also still does a fair amount of damage to mister death knight but may need others to damage him  first.

[Dandy Druid]

For Edelgard, have her pass the proficiency test for magic first (since it has higher bases than other magic classes), then immediately have her test for Valkyrie. Valkyrie is too good for Edelgard; it gives her dark magic a boost in uses, gives her range +1, and uncanny blow which can help her land hits for her more advanced spells. Plus she's mounted so more MOV to cause trouble.

For Bernadetta, I like Falcon Knight more. It's much easier to get Bernadetta to A lances than A Axes. The only issue is raising the sword rank, but it's only to C, so it can be done.

For Felix, magical builds are kind of funky and don't take advantage of his major crest. His spell list is also leaves you wanting more. It's not like Hilda''s case where she just has Bolting for no reason, making her worthy enough of a magical build. If you don't want to go the sword route, might I suggest aiming for Bow Knight or War Master? But if you really want him to be magical, Mortal Savant is better. 

For Sylvain, Dark Knight is the way to go. His magic is meh for the most part, so having the ability to ride a mount will make him more useful imo. 

For Annette, War Cleric would be might choice. She's a magical character, so having a class that combines her magical preference with her Holy Relic is a good class to go to.

For Lysithea, Mortal Savant over Swordmaster. She'll learn Trueblade going the sword path, so she'll be able to deal magical damage. However, being just a Swordmaster will make player phase heavy while having a weak enemy phase. Mortal Savant would make her ready to defend herself more easily.

[Gabeatron9002]

after a bit of research and reading through what you guys said, I have a team set up for either CF or SS.
Byleth (male) - War Master
Edelgard - Valkyrie
Hubert - Paladin
Ferdinand - Great Knight or Fortress Knight
Bernadetta - Falcon Knight
Caspar - War Monk
Petra - Wyvern Lord
Dorothea - Mortal Savant
Linhardt - Warlock
Yuri - Sniper
Balthus - Mortal Savant
Hapi - Wyvern Lord (most likely giving Bolt Axe)
Constance - War Cleric
Flayn - Falcon Knight

If you guys have different ideas or new ideas or something then you can send them. I am trying to set up a team for either Blue Lions or Golden Deer next (also this will all be on maddening because I want it to be a challenge)

Edited July 22, 2020 by Gabeatron9002

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 7/22/2020 at 5:51 PM, Gabeatron9002 said:

after a bit of research and reading through what you guys said, I have a team set up for either CF or SS.
Byleth (male) - War Master
Edelgard - Valkyrie
Hubert - Paladin
Ferdinand - Great Knight or Fortress Knight
Bernadetta - Falcon Knight
Caspar - War Monk
Petra - Wyvern Lord
Dorothea - Mortal Savant
Linhardt - Warlock
Yuri - Sniper
Balthus - Mortal Savant
Hapi - Wyvern Lord (most likely giving Bolt Axe)
Constance - War Cleric
Flayn - Falcon Knight

If you guys have different ideas or new ideas or something then you can send them. I am trying to set up a team for either Blue Lions or Golden Deer next (also this will all be on maddening because I want it to be a challenge)

These all look do-able, but do note that you'll lose Edelgard and Hubert on SS, and Flayn on CF. So I would suggest not investing in anyone you're going to lose.

Of these, I've used a few before:

Falcon Knight Flayn is... okay. I raised her in Swords as a Pegasus Knight, to get Levin Swords - her combat sucks without a magical option. She can get Frozen Kance at A-Lances, at least.

Warlock is a pretty normal class for Linhardt. Technically he'd prefer Bishop (higher Physic healing, second Warp) or Dark Knight (mobility), but he can make Warlock work.

I'm going for Mortal Savant Dorothea on SS! She's still a Trickster, so her spellcount is limited, but there's a ton she can one-shot with Soulblade.

Wyvern Lord is basically the ideal class for Petra, you'll have no trouble there, haha.

I made Ferdinand a Great Knight my first time with him (VW)! Although, I tended to revert him to Paladin, since he had more mobility in that class. Great Knight is kind of an unhappy compromise, IMO.

Paladin Hubert did amazing on my CF playthrough. Frozen Lance is so strong, and being in a Lancefaire class lets him maximize damage with the Arrow-of-Indra.

Byleth ended up in War Master my last file (BL), and mastered Brigand and Warrior on the way. He's better at Gauntlets than the Axe part, but Byleth can work in any physical class.

Good luck!

[Barren]

I did Ferdinand as a Swordmaster with Sword Avoid +20. That was done to take advantage of his confidence ability. He has sky rocket high avoid with this build. Give him a battalion that grants him more avoid and perhaps even axe breaker makes him a hard counter against fortress knights and wyvern lords. 

I never tried Dark Knight Linhardt but perhaps on another run it might be worth a try.

[Gabeatron9002]

On 8/4/2020 at 5:48 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

These all look do-able, but do note that you'll lose Edelgard and Hubert on SS, and Flayn on CF. So I would suggest not investing in anyone you're going to lose.

Still unsure which path I'll do (currently on chapter 7) but thinking about doing CF as Flayn sucks right now (changed my mind and am making her a dark flier if I invest in her) and doesn't even have D reason
Other changes I've made are Hapi is also going War Cleric (didn't know she gets Physic which really helps for her healing and helps make use of her crest)
and Caspar is going Wyvern Lord

On 8/4/2020 at 5:48 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I'm going for Mortal Savant Dorothea on SS! She's still a Trickster, so her spellcount is limited, but there's a ton she can one-shot with Soulblade.

I'm thinking of changing her to being dancer so she can still use magic and swords but be able to do both earlier without either not using magic or not abusing swords as a magic class.
Overall, the beginning is hell, I'll say that outright. My 3 axe users can't hit a lot, Byleth is an MVP but still can't take a lot to be killed, Edelgard can't do anything (she didn't get any spells until chapter 3 in which she could do about 5 damage, she's better after getting magic +2 and a stat booster), and the 4 DLC characters are decent but not great. After I'd say chapter 5 though, it's a lot easier and holy MOLY Bernadetta's a champ. Defence +2 helps her tank and I gave her the strength boosters for more damage in which at anything less than full HP she can easily out-damage Byleth (who was about 5 levels higher than her) and could tank quite a bit, although had to hold her back a lot so she didn't die

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

8 hours ago, Gabeatron9002 said:

I'm thinking of changing her to being dancer so she can still use magic and swords but be able to do both earlier without either not using magic or not abusing swords as a magic class.

If it's just a matter of having Swords and Spells, why not go Trickster? If you make her a Dancer, she'll have few chances to attack with Hexblade or heal with Physic. Since, as a Dancer, her optimal play will almost always be to Dance for an ally.

8 hours ago, Gabeatron9002 said:

My 3 axe users can't hit a lot

If they don't have high-hit Axes equipped, like the Mace or Training Axe, I'd suggest spreasing those around.

8 hours ago, Gabeatron9002 said:

After I'd say chapter 5 though, it's a lot easier and holy MOLY Bernadetta's a champ. Defence +2 helps her tank and I gave her the strength boosters for more damage in which at anything less than full HP

Yeah, I'm currently using Bernadetta in a Vengeance Paladin build, and it's wild how much she can one-shot. She's been my go-to answer to killing the Death Knight (Vengeance with Horseslayer).

[Gordin]

Gremory Bernadetta for rescue