Fire Emblem: Three Houses Guide - All The Good Mid-To-Late Game Tips And Advice
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Fire Emblem: Three Houses has been out for a few weeks now, and chances are you're probably pretty far into it. Perhaps you're still on your first playthrough, perhaps you're starting a New Game Plus, or perhaps you've somehow managed becoming best friends with all three house leaders. No matter what, if you're a bit further into the game and looking for some more in-depth tips, we've got you covered!
Below you can find nine essential tips that'll help you further refine your skills as you tackle the mid-to-late game campaign and subsequent playthroughs. There are some minor spoilers ahead, so if you aren't at least a few months in yet, then we recommend checking back later.
Table of Contents
- Who To Recruit & Bond With
- Who To Make The Exclusive Dancer Class
- You Can't Max Supports Until After The Timeskip
- Prepping For New Game Plus
- Monster Shield Strategies
- How To Attack Twice
- How To Use The Right Weapon For The Right Circumstance
- How To Protect Your Weaker Students
- Speaking With The Online Liaison
If you're more keen on spoiler-free tips, then you should check out our Fire Emblem: Three Houses crucial tips guide covering the early runnings of the campaign. However, if tips aren't your game and you're more inclined to figure out those pesky lost items, we've got an in-depth guide listing out each one and who they belong to.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is one of the best games in the series yet. GameSpot editor Kallie Plagge gave it a 9/10 in her review and said: "When all was said and done, all I could think about was starting another playthrough…whether you're managing inventories or battlefields, it's the kind of game that's hard to put down, even when it's over."
All this talk of Fire Emblem has us pretty jazzed, but we've also got plenty from the game's creators themselves. Check out our Fire Emblem: Three Houses interview with the directors, where they talk about the dramatic changes they made to the combat system, the series' increasing popularity in the Western world, and the refreshing new character designs.
Who To Recruit & Bond With
Depending on which house you picked, there are certain people you might want to recruit (or not pay attention to). If you're in the Black Eagles and will follow Edelgard to the ends of the earth, don't bother with Flayn, Seteth, Catherine, or Cyril. Any house can benefit from Felix, who is just really, really strong.
On the other hand, Dorothea's Meteor and Marianne's Silence ability are both very useful, too, and Ashe's permanent lockpick ability comes in handy if you don't have any thieves or assassins on your team. Finally, Ingrid is one of the few students built to be a Pegasus Knight, and she's also a delight to have around. Pro tip: If you reach B support with someone outside your class, recruiting them is a breeze.
The Exclusive Dancer Class
During the 12th month, you'll have the opportunity to enter one of your students in the White Heron Cup, where they can unlock the exclusive Dancer class. Dancers can be clutch support units--they can dance for an adjacent unit to give them a second turn--and are good with sword, authority, and magic.
Strong options to consider for the Dancer Class are Dorothea, Lysithea, and Marianne for their skill strengths, or Flayn if you're not in the Black Eagles since she's all support already. Keep in mind that your dancer needs at least 13 charm to win, and you can tutor them in dancing ahead of time using an activity point to increase their charm by 5.
You Can't Max Supports Until After The Timeskip
Raising support levels with your students, as well as other students and faculty, is one of the most important aspects of Three Houses. Not only do characters become more effective on the battlefield, but you also learn more about their backstory and personality. But don't try too hard to max out support levels right away; you won't be able to reach A-support with anyone--or between anyone else--until after the timeskip happens.
Prepping For New Game Plus
In New Game Plus, you can spend Renown to unlock things like skill levels, support levels, and professor level. You can also unlock class abilities with Renown, and this is something you should pay attention to before you start a New Game Plus.
When a unit reaches class mastery with a particular class--by battling a bunch--you'll get a unique ability to equip. If you have that same unit in your party in a New Game Plus save, you can skip the time you'd spend leveling up that class and get the ability right away. Some of the class abilities are pretty useful, so taking the time to make sure your favorite units are reaching class mastery in their best classes will be super helpful in later playthroughs.
Monster Shield Strats
Try your best to break all four yellow squares under a monster before killing it! This will stun it for a full turn, and you'll get a piece of rare ore that's important in forging powerful weapons from rusted ones. For example, breaking a big bird's shields will get you Mythril, a material needed to forge rare named weapons you might find on the battlefield. Combat arts like an axe user's Monster Breaker or a lance user's Monster Piercer can break a portion of the shield in one hit, and gambits are an excellent way to damage multiple squares at once.
How To Attack Twice
You might be wondering what exactly it takes for a unit to attack twice. It all has to do with the speed stat. If a unit's speed is 4 or more points greater than your opponent's, you'll automatically attack twice in one go. And depending on the weapon, you might even be able to attack four times in one combat encounter.
The Right Weapon For The Right Circumstance
There are quite a few weapons to choose from in Fire Emblem, and some are designed to deal with specific units. The armorslayer is a sword designed to dispatch armored units, the horseslayer lance is good against (you guessed it) cavalry units, the mace works wonders on armored units, and the mini bow can be used at close range. Almost every weapon type also has Brave and Killer variations. The brave weapons allow the user to attack twice (or maybe more if their speed is high enough) and the killer weapons have an increased critical hit rate. We find that these specialized weapons are a good backup weapon to complement your standard sword or axe.
How To Protect Your Weaker Students
For some reason, enemies love to prioritize your lower-defense units, such as archers and mages. The obvious solution, and often the best one, is to lead with your tankier units and keep your weaker, ranged units behind you. However, high mobility units like pegasus knights can still cut through your units and flank your more vulnerable students.
In these situations, you should continuously check the enemies' range with ZR, but we also recommend equipping your weaker units with auto-healing items such as the prayer ring or goddess ring and try increasing their defense and resistance stats with permanent stat-boost items like the Fruit of Life. If one of your students is underleveled and you're afraid to bring them into battle directly, you can also attach them to other units as adjutants. This means they can earn XP while staying safe.
Speak With The Online Liaison
It's pretty easy to overlook as the game never really tells you about it, but there’s a character called Online Liaison that connects you with "travelers" online. Through these online travelers, you can buy items for a discounted price, do Recon training which is essentially a hide-and-seek game that nets you resources as a reward, and hire them as adjutants in battle with the potential of them teaching you an ability or combat art that they might have. You can also send one of your units out into the 'net to reap the rewards like gold and items. Those units can still be used in battle, even when they’re sent off to travel. The Online Liaison is hanging out near the Officers Academy. Note that you need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to use online features.