In many ways the Class system that inhabits Fire Emblem makes the game what it is. It’s one of the forefathers of the tactical RPG of course, and without it we’d be missing a great deal of innovation in the genre, but when you boil it down to it’s base elements it’s almost defined by it’s different unit types. We’re not complaining, after all what would a game like Chess be without it’s different types of pieces, but it does make the game as a whole rather difficult to balance. To that end you’ll often find that certain Fire Emblem classes outperform others, and Three Houses is no different in this regard, so which classes stand out from the crowd and why?
5. Sniper
Yes, we’re completely aware that the Bow Knight exists and yet we have chosen to recommend the foot locked and seemingly inferior version, the Sniper. So why have we done this? Well we should preface this by saying that the different class levels – Advanced, Master etc. – are somewhat meaningless in Three Houses. Oh sure they might look a little more flashy and they certainly have a higher requirement for unlocking, but in some ways they’re just plain worse than their predecessors.
Case in point, the Sniper versus Bow Knight. The latter does have the fantastic Canto passive and it does learn Bow Range +2, but it comes with literally zero useful growth rates, negative 5% in Speed in fact, and it learns zero useful abilities. By comparison the Sniper class learns the slightly lesser Bow Range +1, but also the fantastic Hunter’s Volley once the class is mastered, and it comes with a very respectable 20% Speed growth. In fact, the Bow Knight growths are so bad that we’re going to list them as a comparison – see what you think:
- Bow Knight: -5% Speed, 5% Charm, 10% HP.
- Sniper: 10% HP, 5% Strength, 20% Speed, 10% Luck and 5% Charm.
Class Highlights
- As shown, much better growths than Bow Knight.
- Fantastic skill learnt in the form of Hunter’s Volley.
- Foot Locked but has the range to make up for it.
- Could be argued that Bow Knight is a better ‘retirement home’, for when you’re done growing and have learnt everything you need.
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4. Valkyrie
Interestingly enough our next class recommendation is another that lives outside of the Master tier, though this time it comes courtesy of the Cindered Shadows DLC. The Valkyrie is one of two main magical classes that become available through the expansion, though we’d argue that in fact every new class here has some form of magical inclusion. It was a bit of a toss up between this and the Dark Flier class if we’re honest, but our enjoyment of the skills learnt by the Valkyrie really pushed it over the edge. Well that plus our slight dislike of the Dark Flier class thanks to the stupidly broken version from Awakening…
To the class itself then, and it really is all about those skills. Not only does it come with the fantastic Canto skill, which allows you to move after having taken an action, but it also learns the Black & Dark Magic Range +1. These two range increasing skills are absolutely fantastic, especially for defensively inept magic units that could really do with being as far away from enemies as possible. On top of this it also learns Uncanny Blow, which passively increases the unit’s hit chance by 30% – this doesn’t sound like a fantastic bonus, but as you climb the difficulty levels it scales fantastically well.
Class Highlights
- Increases the range of both Dark and Black magic by +1.
- When mastered it learns Uncanny Blow, which increases hit chance by +30.
- Canto is fantastic as per usual.
- Superior purely magic mounted class to the Dark Knight.
3. War Master
We’ve been pretty harsh on Master classes so far, so it may come as a surprise that we’re recommending one as our third best in the entire game: The War Master. In fact, we’re pretty sure this is more of a personal choice than something steeped in statistical or skill based superiority, but it’s our list and we’re the ones doing the typing, so there. It’s also yet another foot locked unit that we’re choosing to recommend; we have nothing against the super powerful flying units, not at all, rather we like to run a varied group of units that have their own strengths and weaknesses.
In terms of the class, we should first note that it’s power is emphasised by it’s choice of weaponry; brawling fist weapons are fantastic in Three Houses and a class that takes advantage of them is likely to do well. Naturally it’s damage is enhanced by the first class ability, Fistfaire, which paired with Axefaire means that your unit will be doing extra damage regardless of the chosen weapon. Things really start to heat up when it unlocks Crit +20, but the real main event here is Quick Repose, which essentially allows the unit to perform like it out-speeds your opponent, which works super well with units less endowed in such statistics. Eventual mastery of the class will unlock the War Master’s Strike ability, which is a combat art that has a massive +30 hit on board – super useful for those higher difficulty levels. All of this combines to make the War Master a fantastic all round unit, though we could have done without the gender wall…
Class Highlights
- Capable of putting out fantastic damage with both Fistfaire and Axefaire skills.
- Quick Repose is an excellent skill for slower units.
- Crit +20 isn’t exactly game breaking, but it’s a nice bonus.
- Actually has very good growths for a Master class, including 15% Strength and 10% Speed.
2. Wyvern Lord
Well come on now, it was always going to be here wasn’t it? Yes the Wyvern Lord is in our list, and yes we’re aware that throughout the entirety of the Fire Emblem series classes like this have always been overpowered, but the map design of Three Houses and the sheer statistical power of the class makes experiencing it nigh on essential. Having been playing Fire Emblem for… Decades we do feel like flying units are a little too good, so using one in excess feels a little like cheating, but there can be no denying just how good they are here in 3H.
It’s not even really the skills that make the class. Axefaire is nice of course, and having 10 additional avoid is always a nice benefit, but it’s sheer power tends to come from a combination of it’s massive move distance, the ability to Canto away after acting and it’s statistical bonus. The latter is quite astonishing really, offering +4 Strength, +4 Speed and +3 Defence simply for choosing to promote. Combined with it’s growths, the highlights of which are 15% Strength and 10% Speed, it amounts to an map smashing monster. The class has a massive move distance, is capable of dealing a huge amount of damage and does it all whilst repositioning with Canto – it’s an incredible class, of that their is no doubt, just try not to artificially lower the difficulty level by turning every unit into one…
Class Highlights
- Fantastic statistic bonus upon promotion, including +4 Strength and Speed.
- Massive movement range combined with Canto.
- Good growth rates for a Master class.
- Offers little in the way of skills… But it’ll probably mash everything with auto attacks.
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1. Gremory
Last but by no means least is the ultimate in spell casting classes, the Gremory, and again we’re inspired to highlight a series trend. Unlike our second placed class however this is for the opposite reason: Magic classes are rarely considered the absolute best of the best, especially foot locked versions. Sure we can think of a few very powerful mainstays of the series, but a foot locked version? Unheard of. Yet we sit here having deliberated and considered at great length the content of this particular list, our thoughts and feelings tilting back and forth as we pore over growth rates, skills and bonuses, only to find ourselves firmly and absolutely settled on it’s peak. The Gremory class in Three Houses is, for us at least, far and away the best class available.
Ultimately it’s power comes from the passive ability to double spell charges for all magic types. Yes you read that right, every spell can be doubled. Still not impressed? How about those rare Siege tomes like Bolting and Meteor? Doubled. Physic, Warp and Rescue? Doubled. Hades and Death? You get the point. It’s a tremendously powerful perk to a class that already feels powerful, thanks in no small parts to the stat bonuses you get during promotion: +5 Magic and +4 Resistance is not to be sniffed at. There are low points of course; the growths aren’t the best, there are no skills to be learnt and it’s not like to keep up with your high movement units, but none of this really matters; use your levelling time well, learn the skills and spells that you can and promote into the boss of the magical world.
Class Highlights
- Doubles uses of all types of magic.
- Yes that includes Siege tomes, Warp, Fortify etc..
- Excellent stat bonuses of +5 Magic and +4 Resistance.
- Foot locked… But your magic stat will be so high that spells that scale will span huge distances.
- Feels like the Sage or Druid of old.
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Categories: Fire Emblem: Three Houses