Healing is absolutely essential in any Fire Emblem title. Alright, we’ve seen the LTC videos too, so perhaps we should add an ‘almost always’ in there somewhere… Look, healing is essential for all but the most hardcore of Fire Emblem players, so it’s almost always prudent to take one or two of these spell casting supporters with you on each battle. Hell, even the aforementioned hardcore players will often do so, thanks to the utility of spells such as Warp and Rescue that these casters often possess. Given that there are countless recruitment opportunities in Three Houses, thanks to alternate houses and DLC choices, it would be wise to ensure that you’re bringing the best of the best, right? Join us then, as we rank our top 5 best healers in the entirety of Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
Healer #5: Marianne
First up in our list is the canon Golden Deer healer, Marianne, and with her comes a certain amount of mixed feelings. She’s clearly designed for spell casting, that much is obvious thanks to her statistics and growths, but what type of casting does she truly specialise in? As a healer she has access to Physic, which is a fantastic ranged healing spell, but outside of the Silence spell she has little else in terms of Faith utility. We turn to the offensive list then to see if she can retain some power, and whilst she does have both Thoron and Fibulvetr which are both powerful spells, there’s nothing spectacular here, nothing that really takes her to the next level.
Things don’t get much better when you dig even deeper. Her persona skill is a rather simple self heal each round, though only when near cavalry or flying units, both of which are unlikely to be positioned near your spell casters… Overall her kit is a strange one, suited more to a hybrid of healer and attacker, yet truly powerful at neither. She’s a good healer almost entirely due to Physic, a Faith spell known by precious few units in Three Houses, so whilst she manages to take the bottom spot in our list, it’s mainly because others lacked this powerful ranged healing spell.
Healing Highlights
- Good healing thanks to the Physic spell.
- Limited Faith utility, though the Silence spell is occasionally useful.
- Some good Reason spells, Thoron in particular.
- Lacking a ‘speciality’ feel that comes with other options in this list.
- Quite a good candidate for the DLC spell casting classes.
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Healer #4: Mercedes
To the uninitiated Mercedes is likely to seem like the perfect healer, and for the more casual player she certainly is. She has access to some of the most powerful health restoration skills, and thanks to her magically tiled statistics her throughput of healing will be almost unmatched. The benefits to healing keep piling on too, with her personal skill – Live to Serve – healing her for the same amount whenever she heals an ally, and her Minor Crest of Lamine sometimes saving casts of recovery magic. Surely all of this makes her a fantastic healer, right?
Well, things start to fall down a little when the battles begin to grow in the mid and late portions of 3H. Whilst she can put out huge amounts of healing, it turns out that good Fire Emblem play only necessitates healing some of the time, but requires utility all of the time, and this is where Mercedes falls short. As it turns out, a great deal of other characters can put out more than enough healing whilst also providing further benefits, like spells such as Warp and Rescue, or damaging abilities with special effects and ranges. In the end, Mercedes is a fantastic healer, but she’s just a healer, and Three Houses is filled with characters able to do so much more.
Healing Highlights
- Huge health restoration ability, thanks to spells like Physic and Fortify.
- Good stats and growths, suited to firing off powerful healing spells.
- Lacks utility spells like Warp and Rescue.
- Limited damage scope compared to other options.
- Probably the closest thing to a ‘dedicated’ healer in Three Houses.
Healer #3: Dorothea
Some players may be quite surprised to see Dorothea in a list such as this, after all the game is happy to point you in the ‘offensive’ spell caster direction with her. To do such a thing is a powerful option for sure, and whilst there are more powerful options available, she’ll certainly perform well. For us however, it’s best to consider Dorothea a hybrid unit, positioned between both healing and damaging options equally. In such a role she will truly shine, occupying a critical spot in almost any team build. In both regards – damage and healing – she’s unlikely to top the charts, but performing so admirably at both is worthy of praise.
In terms of her actual healing spells Dorothea has precious few, learning only the basic Heal and Physic restoration abilities, but it’s worth delving deeper to see her true worth. Her personal ability – Songstress – makes adjacent allies restore 10% of their health at the start of every turn, meaning that up to four units can be healed at once time. As you might imagine, this persists no matter her class, making interesting builds available as the game progresses. Rounding out her skill set has to be her damaging Reason spells, of which the Siege Tome Meteor is the highlight, allowing her to put out big damage from great distances. All of this makes her an ideal Gremory, a class which innately doubles spell charges, allowing her to both heal and damage to great effect.
Healing Highlights
- Limited healing spells, but Physic is often more than enough.
- Great personal skill that heals adjacent allies every round.
- Reason spells give her excellent utility, especially the Meteor spell.
- Makes for an ideal healing & damage hybrid, especially as a Gremory.
Healer #2: Linhardt
Where Mercedes is the pinnacle of absolute healing throughput, and Dorothea a fantastic hybrid between damage and healing, Linhardt has to be considered the king of healing and utility combined. This unassuming, constantly tired chap belies an incredible amount of Faith power, unmatched by any other in Three Houses. In fact, we’d go so far as to consider him a bit of a ‘spoiler’ to subsequent play thoughts of the game, since no other healer feels quite as complete. The only real detriment we’ve found with him is his personal skill, in which he’ll restore health if he chooses to ‘wait’, something we tend to avoid if possible, rather making use of our units to attack or buff on turns in which their healing is not required.
Almost all of his power comes from the Faith spell list, in which he learns not only Physic, but also Restore and Warp. The former is a much more powerful version of the Heal spell which requires you to be next to your target, and the latter is an incredible utility spell that allows you to reposition a unit over great distances. These spells alone make him a fantastic healer, perhaps missing only the Fortify spell to completely round it out, yet he also comes with some powerful Reason spells, such as Excalibur, ensuring he’ll do high damage when his heals are not required. The lack of a male version of Gremory can sting the male characters a bit in the late game, but its a testament to the power of Linhardt that he manages to make it this high without such a great Master class.
Healing Highlights
- Fantastic healing output with Physic and Restore.
- Excellent utility thanks to the Warp spell.
- Good selection of Reason spells, including Excalibur.
- Boons in both Reason and Faith means that these will level quickly.
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Healer #1: Hapi
We’ve established by now that healers and more than just health restoration in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. They’re about so much more than this, from movement utility to long range damage, and the absolute pinnacle of balance between all of these comes in the form of one character: Hapi. Striking the happy performance medium between all three, she is capable of contributing hugely to your team, acting as a spell caster for all occasions, often out-shining those more dedicated to each single option. This is achieved by Hapi having access to excellent spells in both Faith and Reason, and by having an absolutely fantastic personal skill & crest combination.
We’ll start with her Faith spells, which feature the essential Physic spell at ‘C’ grade, and the fantastic Warp spell at ‘A’, between which she even learns the Seraphim spell at ‘B’, a spell that does increased damage to monsters. Combined with these, and specifically the latter spell, is her persona skill, which increases the damage she does to Monster units. Thanks to this you’ll often find that Hapi does the most damage possible to certain types of these Monster units, which is impressive for such an adaptable, hybrid unit.
Things don’t stop there however, because it’s Hapi’s Reason spell list that really set her apart from the crowd. She comes with a selection of ‘Dark’ type magic spells, of which some come with additional effects – Swarm for example, will reduce your opponents Speed stat by 5 for one turn, potentially either allowing or avoiding double attacks. These spells are capped off by the Death spell, which is a 3 range magic spell with increased critical chance, and the Hades spell, which has the highest Might stat for any single spell in the game. All of this, combined with Hapi’s healing and utility might, makes her by far the best healing and utility type unit in the game.
Healing Highlights
- Fantastic selection of Faith spells, including Physic and Warp.
- Dark Magic in her Reason selection is very powerful, including the 3 range Death spell.
- Excellent personal skill increases damage to monsters, whcih is highly useful.
- Her Boons can push her into the DLC classes to get useful skills before settling into Gremory for double spell cast amounts.
- All round the best healing & supporting unit in Three Houses, given the lack of a real need for dedicated healers.
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Categories: Fire Emblem: Three Houses