Missing Class Combinations revisited

[Jotari]

So last year I made this thread

Which looked at the weapon and movement combinations that haven't been tried yet in the series, taking the six standard Fire Emblem weapon types that are in (pretty much) every game (classes with three or more weapon types aren't considered and magic is counted as one weapon). And now we have a new release with new classes, so the list has to be updated. This time I've included knives as a seventh weapon, since they've been in a respectable four games now (sorry Brawling, you'll need to wait a few years). You're welcome @AnonymousSpeed

Without further ado, here is the full list of class combinations with at least one example. The blue marks denote a change from the old list.

Spoiler

Infantry	Sword	Axe	Heroes
Infantry	Sword	Lance	Engage Heroes
Infantry	Sword	Bow	3DS Assassins
Infantry	Sword	Magic	Genealogy Male Mage Fighters
Infantry	Sword	Staff	Tricksters
Infantry	Sword	Knife	Master Ninja
Infantry	Axe	Lance	No
Infantry	Axe	Bow	Warriors
Infantry	Axe	Magic	Oni Savages
Infantry	Axe	Staff	War Monks
Infantry	Axe	Knife	No
Infantry	Lance	Bow	Merchants
Infantry	Lance	Magic	Basaras
Infantry	Lance	Staff	Great Masters
Infantry	Lance	Knife	No
Infantry	Bow	Magic	No (though Hannemen kind of specializes in this)
Infantry	Bow	Staff	Adventurers
Infantry	Bow	Knife	No
Infantry	Magic	Staff	Sages
Infantry	Magic	Knife	POR Sages
Infantry	Staff	Knife	Maid/Butler
Armoured	Sword	Axe	Radiant Dawn's Axe General
Armoured	Sword	Lance	Path of Radiance Generals
Armoured	Sword	Bow	No
Armoured	Sword	Magic	No
Armoured	Sword	Staff	No
Armoured	Sword	Knife	No
Armoured	Axe	Lance	Generals
Armoured	Axe	Bow	No
Armoured	Axe	Magic	No
Armoured	Axe	Staff	No
Armoured	Axe	Knife	No
Armoured	Lance	Bow	Archanea Generals
Armoured	Lance	Magic	No
Armoured	Lance	Staff	No
Armoured	Lance	Knife	No
Armoured	Bow	Magic	No
Armoured	Bow	Staff	No
Armoured	Bow	Knife	No
Armoured	Magic	Staff	No
Armoured	Magic	Knife	No
Armoured	Staff	Knife	No
Cavalry	Sword	Axe	Gold Knights
Cavalry	Sword	Lance	Paladins
Cavalry	Sword	Bow	Bow Knights
Cavalry	Sword	Magic	Mage Knights
Cavalry	Sword	Staff	Tellius Valkyries
Cavalry	Sword	Knife	Wolf Knight
Cavalry	Axe	Lance	Engage Great Knights (previously only by choice in POR)
Cavalry	Axe	Bow	Engage Bow Knights (previously only by choice in POR)
Cavalry	Axe	Magic	Engage Mage Knights
Cavalry	Axe	Staff	No
Cavalry	Axe	Knife	Wolf Knight
Cavalry	Lance	Bow	Silver Knight
Cavalry	Lance	Magic	Dark Knight
Cavalry	Lance	Staff	Royal Knight
Cavalry	Lance	Knife	Wolf Knight
Cavalry	Bow	Magic	No
Cavalry	Bow	Staff	No
Cavalry	Bow	Knife	Mechanists
Cavalry	Magic	Staff	Gameboy Valkyries
Cavalry	Magic	Knife	No
Cavalry	Staff	Knife	No
Flying	Sword	Axe	Engage Wyvern Knight (previously only Ashnard)
Flying	Sword	Lance	Falcon Knights
Flying	Sword	Bow	No, but Claude kind of specializes in this
Flying	Sword	Magic	Three Houses Dark Fliers
Flying	Sword	Staff	Engage Griffon Knights (previously only Elincia)
Flying	Sword	Knife	No
Flying	Axe	Lance	Dragon Lords
Flying	Axe	Bow	No
Flying	Axe	Magic	Malig Knights
Flying	Axe	Staff	No
Flying	Axe	Knife	No
Flying	Lance	Bow	Kinshi Knights
Flying	Lance	Magic	Dark Falcon
Flying	Lance	Staff	Awakening Falcon Knights
Flying	Lance	Knife	No
Flying	Bow	Magic	No
Flying	Bow	Staff	No
Flying	Bow	Knife	No
Flying	Magic	Staff	Lindwurm
Flying	Magic	Knife	No
Flying	Staff	Knife	No

 

And here is a list of just the class combinations that have not yet been featured.

Spoiler

Infantry	Axe	Lance	No
Infantry	Axe	Knife	No
Infantry	Lance	Knife	No
Infantry	Bow	Magic	No (though Hannemen kind of specializes in this)
Infantry	Bow	Knife	No
Armoured	Sword	Bow	No
Armoured	Sword	Magic	No
Armoured	Sword	Staff	No
Armoured	Sword	Knife	No
Armoured	Axe	Bow	No
Armoured	Axe	Magic	No
Armoured	Axe	Staff	No
Armoured	Axe	Knife	No
Armoured	Lance	Magic	No
Armoured	Lance	Staff	No
Armoured	Lance	Knife	No
Armoured	Bow	Magic	No
Armoured	Bow	Staff	No
Armoured	Bow	Knife	No
Armoured	Magic	Staff	No
Armoured	Magic	Knife	No
Armoured	Staff	Knife	No
Cavalry	Axe	Staff	No
Cavalry	Bow	Magic	No
Cavalry	Bow	Staff	No
Cavalry	Magic	Knife	No
Cavalry	Staff	Knife	No
Flying	Sword	Bow	No, but Claude kind of specializes in this
Flying	Sword	Knife	No
Flying	Axe	Bow	No
Flying	Axe	Staff	No
Flying	Axe	Knife	No
Flying	Lance	Knife	No
Flying	Bow	Magic	No
Flying	Bow	Staff	No
Flying	Bow	Knife	No
Flying	Magic	Knife	No
Flying	Staff	Knife	No

So, what has Engage brought to the table in terms of new classes? There are three main things and two minor things.

The first is a return of Path of Radiance's ability to choose a weapon on promotion. At least, in essence. They're viewed separately on the class list, but it's basically that. This gives us weapon combinations that had previously only been available under that system or combinations that were previously character exclusive, like Engage's Lance Sword Heroes, which previously only Chrom and Lucina could do.

The second major addition to the class list would be Griffon Knights, which appeared in Awakening, but now have the odd association with Staves. Previously only Falcon Knights had flying stave access (though Sword Stave was Elincia exclusive given Jugdral Falcon Knights had three weapons). This gives us our first Flying Axe Stave unit.

The third major class addition is Wolf Knights, being cavalry knife units. Given you can pair them with axe, lances or swords, and coupled with Mechanist being bow dagger in Fates, the Cavalry Knife combo is weirdly well represented in the series now, despite daggers not really being something people would traditionally use from Horse Back (and yes, I'm classing Mechanists as Cavalry).

The two new minor additions are the Royal Knight, a Lance Staff Cavalry class, now bow and axes are the only weapons not paired with cavalry staff. The other is the Lindwurm, which finally gives us a flying magic staff, though it is a personal class.

Armoured Classes had a particularly poor showing in Engage, with all of them being mono weapon users. Some day we'll get that playable Mage Armour *shakes fist at sky*

Lastly is the overall status of knives in the series. They've had a weird run of it, first being introduced in Path of Radiance where they were inexplicably paired with magic. Radiant Dawn made them thief exclusives where they were basically just worse swords. Fates established knives as something with an actual niche and gave us sword-knifes, staff-knives and, also somewhat strangely (but not ineffective), bow-knifes. And now Engage has rounded out cavalry knifes. We've still yet to see an armoured knife or flying knife user, which seems silly at first to think of, but would actually be very effective in a mechanical sense. A tank that can simultaneously debuff and take hits would have fantastic utility. And a flier that can ignore terrain and knife snipe on coming enemies they can't kill would also work very well. Maybe some day we'll see it, if they have decided knives are to remain around in their Fates incarnation.

Anyway, that's it for my most recent data collection. I've made a poll of your most wanted unused weapon types, so votes on what you'd most like to see there. And if you've noticed any mistakes or errors, be sure to tell me.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Jotari

[Armchair General]

I thought the insane amount of customization in 3H fixed that problem? There's nothing stopping you from turning your axe-wielding armor knight into an cheap archer just by giving them an bow.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Armchair General said:

I thought the insane amount of customization in 3H fixed that problem? There's nothing stopping you from turning your axe-wielding armor knight into an cheap archer just by giving them an bow.

I wouldn't say fixed the problem, as I also wouldn't describe it so much as a problem. Fire Emblem doesn't really need a bow staff cavalry so to speak. But these are the possible class combinations niches that the series has yet to try. Three Houses hasn't really done that by just opening up everything to everyone (which was first done with Master Knights and Barons, sans that game's black magic). And even within Three Houses system classes fall into relatively classic roles. like there's no infantry class with proficiency with both lances and axes. Closest would be Hilda as a character who has those proficencies and no inclination to a mount or armour. And as much as a solution as you might call it, Fire Emblem hasn't treated it as such, going back to traditional classes in Engage, albeit with a limited way to use weapons from outside your class via the Engage rings. Think of it as potential future classes for future games that get more experimental. I doubt we'll ever see the full 80 or so possible combination of the seven weapon types, but from among the ones that aren't used, there are definitely a lot that are more likely than others.