Fire Emblem: Three Houses Classes Complete Guide

The Fire Emblem: Three Houses class options can be daunting, and choosing which path to go down with the limited number of units a player gets access to is crucial in navigating the later game effectively. There may be a much larger focus on character-building and social simulation in Three Houses, but battle is still the way to progress the game’s main story and win some sweet loot during auxiliary missions, so class choice remains important.

Luckily, Fire Emblem: Three Houses has added all of its new content without it coming at the expense of what has previously made the franchise great. There’s just as much choice as fans know and love from previous entries, and the unit compositions are pretty well balanced, too – players shouldn’t have too much trouble customizing a team that suits their playstyle. With that said, however, choosing classes and leveling the skills that are required to get to them is a bit more complicated this time around.

In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, classes are gained by taking an exam that lets students achieve their new position. There are prerequisite skill levels for classes that guarantee a pass, but players can also risk it when they’re not quite ready. Skills are leveled on both the battlefield, which can be used to grind out stats, and the classroom thanks to new mechanics like adjunct professor seminars, individual lectures, and weekly tasks. All of that, on top of the menus that have already made Fire Emblem a little intimidating for those new to the series, leads to some tricky decision-making that can be derailed by characters asking to switch their chosen focus in the middle of a player’s planning stages. For that reason, we’ve compiled a guide that breaks down each class in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and how to choose the ones that are right for the team composition you want.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Skill Suggestions

Skill choice is possibly the most important element of building the ideal Fire Emblem: Three Houses squad. This is doubly crucial during the opening months of the campaign, because the player will be guiding the futures of the characters who will be a part of their team for the longest period of time. That means those characters have the most chance to benefit from tutoring sessions, goal-setting, and generally aiming for a specific class from the outset of their growth. Later characters are inherited at different levels, and the higher their level the closer they’ll be to being locked into a specific path.

Because of this, skill planning is simply a necessity for players who want a good team. This goes beyond just choosing which class to promote a character to in their immediate future – players need to look into the later classes and plot a course for their characters as soon as possible, because it often isn’t easy to make up lost ground for some of the Master classes. For players who want a Mortal Savant, for instance, focusing on the sword skill early will allow them to take both Thief and Assassin classes on their progression up. Once they hit Assassin, focus should shift to the reason skill as soon as possible. Planning out these skills to match what a character’s desired direction is will be of the utmost important to anyone looking to get an edge in Fire Emblem: Three Houses combat.

To help players plan, though, here’s a total breakdown of every class in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, with some relevant details for those unfamiliar.

A Complete List of Fire Emblem: Three Houses Skills

There are 11 skills in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and here they are:

• Sword
• Lance
• Axe
• Bow
• Brawl
• Faith (White Magic)
• Reason (Black and Dark Magic)
• Authority (Battalion abilities/ability to equip more powerful battalions)
• Heavy Armor
• Riding
• Flying

Each skill is at its lowest at E rank and can go all the way up to S+, though it wouldn’t make sense to plan for much more than one skill per character to reach that rank – and even that isn’t likely to be possible for some of the classes that require a more diverse skill set.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Classes

Noble/Commoner

• Certification Requirements: Starting class
• Class Mastery Bonus: HP+5

Beginner Classes (Level 5 and Beginner Seal Required)

Myrmidon

• Certification Requirements: Sword Rank D
• Class Mastery Bonus: Spd +2, Swap (Unit Swaps position with an adjacent ally)
• Skill Experience Bonus: Sword +1

Soldier

• Certification Requirements: Lance Rank D
• Class Mastery Bonus: Def +2, Reposition (Unit moves an adjacent ally to an opposite adjacent space)
• Skill Experience Bonus: Lance +1

Fighter

• Certification Requirements: Axe, Bow, or Brawl Rank D
• Class Mastery Bonus: Str +2, Shove (Unit pushes an adjacent ally forward one space)
• Skill Experience Bonus: Axe +1, Bow +1, Brawl +1

Monk

• Certification Requirements: Reason or Faith Rank D
• Class Mastery Bonus: Mag +2, Draw Back (Unit moves one space away from an adjacent ally and pulls the ally along)
• Skill Experience Bonus: Reason +1, Faith +1

Intermediate Classes (Level 10 and Intermediate Seal Required)

Lord

• Certification Requirements: Sword Rank D+, Authority Rank C (Only available to Edelgard, Dmitri, and Claude)
• Charm: Adjacent allies deal 3 extra damage during combat.
• Class Mastery Bonus: Res +2, Subdue (An attack that leaves the enemy with 1 HP)
• Skill Experience Bonus: Sword +2, Lance +1, Authority +2

Mercenary

• Certification Requirements: Sword Rank C
• Class Mastery Bonus: Learn Vantage (When foe initiates combat, unit still attacks first if HP is <50%)
• Skill Experience Bonus: Sword +2, Axe +1

Thief

• Certification Requirements: Sword Rank C
• Steal: Allows unit to steal a non-weapon item from a foe with a lower Spd stat.
• Locktouch: Allows unit to open doors and chests without keys.
• Class Mastery Bonus: Steal
• Skill Experience Bonus: Sword +2, Bow +1

Armored Knight

• Certification Requirements: Axe Rank C, Heavy Armor Rank D
• Class Mastery Bonus: Armored Blow (If unit initiates combat, grants Def +6 during combat)
• Skill Experience Bonus: Lance +1, Axe +2, Heavy Armor +2

Cavalier

• Certification Requirements: Lance Rank C, Riding Rank D
• Canto: Allows unit to move again after completing certain actions if there is movement remaining.
• Class Master Bonus: Desperation (If unit initiates combat with HP <50%, units follow-up attack (if possible) occurs before foe’s counterattack.
• Skill Experience Bonus: Sword +1, Lance +2, Riding +2

Brigand

• Certification Requirements: Axe Rank C
• Class Mastery Ability: Death Blow (If unit initiates combat, grants Str +6 during combat)
• Skill Experience Bonus: Axe +2, Brawl +1

Archer

• Certification Requirements: Bow Rank C
• Bow Range +1
• Class Mastery Bonus: Hit +20
• Skill Experience Bonus: Sword +1, Bow +2

Brawler

• Certification Requirements: Brawl C (Male Only)
• Unarmed Combat: Allows unit to fight without a weapon.
• Class Mastery Bonus: Unarmed Combat
• Skill Experience Bonus: Axe +1, Brawl +2

Mage

• Certification Requirements: Reason Rank C
• Fire: Allows unit to cast Fire. If Fire is already available, then unit can cast it twice as often.
• Class Mastery Bonus: Fiendish Blow (If unit initiates combat, grants Mag +6 during combat)
• Skill Experience Bonus: Reason +2, Faith +1

Dark Mage

• Certification Requirements: Reason Rank C (Male only, also requires Dark Seal)
• Miasma Delta: Allows unit to cast Miasma Delta. If Miasma Delta is already available, then unit can cast it twice as often.
• Heartseeker: Adjacent foes suffer Avo -20 during combat.
• Class Mastery Bonus: Poison Strike (If unit initiates combat and lands a hit, targeted foe loses up to 20% of max HP after combat)
• Skill Experience Bonus: Reason +2, Faith +1

Priest

• Certification Requirements: Faith Rank C
• Heal: Allows unit to cast Heal. If Heal is already available, then unit can cast it twice as often.
• White Magic Heal +5 : Heal 5 extra HP when using white magic.
• Class Mastery Bonus: Miracle (Chance to survive lethal damage with 1 HP, if HP is > 1. Trigger % based on Lck stat.
• Skill Experience Bonus: Reason +1, Faith +2

Pegasus Knight

• Certification Requirements: Lance Rank C, Flying Rank D (Female only)
• Canto: Allows unit to move again after completing certain actions if there is movement remaining.
• Avo +10
• Class Mastery Bonus: Darting Blow (If unit initiates combat, grants Attack Speed +6 during combat)
• Class Mastery Bonus: Triangle Attack (Can be activated only when 3 allied fliers, including this unit, are adjacent to an enemy)
• Skill Experience Bonus: Sword +1, Lance +2, Flying +2

About The Author

Cody Gravelle
(1588 Articles Published)

Cody is Screen Rant’s Game Reviews Editor. He joined the team in 2018 and has been reporting on games pretty well every day since – except on weekends, where he’s typically playing them instead. Despite being in a field ostensibly about critiquing and enjoying quality games, his most played game of 2019 was Fate/Grand Order – something unlikely to change in 2020 and beyond.

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