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One of the biggest challenges in Fire Emblem: Three Houses is recruiting characters from other houses. Given just how many faces form the line-up of recruitable units, with 33 in total, you'll have your work cut out for you if you want to build an almighty army. Some characters won't be recruitable for obvious reasons. For example, you won't be able to recruit the house leaders, Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard, and certain characters who are loyal to certain leaders can't join your ranks either.
Still, there are enough characters who can join your team, and you'll have plenty to keep you occupied as you set out to convince them to join your army. If you’re struggling to recruit characters to your team and wish to know who the best units are, or want more information on the time skip recruitment process, then make sure you follow our Fire Emblem: Three Houses recruitment guide to discover the tips and tricks you need to be the king or queen of the classroom.
How to recruit units in Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Recruiting characters in Fire Emblem: Three Houses may seem rather complicated at first, but with a little time and effort you can obtain nearly every unit in one playthrough. While you could spend hours grinding the various stat requirements needed to recruit each individual character, it’s way easier to simply bolster your support ranking by inviting them out on missions, returning lost items, giving gifts, and sharing a nice cup of tea with them. Just simply grow your support level with each unit until you acquire a B rank and they’ll be as good as yours. However, buying dozens of gifts and delivering them to all those you wish to recruit not only makes you look like a crazed Santa Claus, it can also quickly put a huge dent in your professor’s paycheck.
This can be a particularly problematic when you’re trying to kit your squad out with the very best weapons, consumables and equipment, so if you wish to save your precious pennies, we suggest bombarding characters with bouquets of Fodlan’s finest flowers. Not only is this method incredibly cheap, but it can also be accessed very early into the game. To capitalise on this method, simply head on down to the Greenhouse and plant as many flower seeds as you can, then come back the next day to reap your rewards. Once you have your freshly picked flowers, you’ll need to hand them out to all those you want to recruit. Be sure to throw in a few presents, lost items and a spot of tea every now and then to speed up the process even further.
Best units to recruit in Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Lysithea
Lysithea is arguably the best mage in the entire game, boasting insane amounts of raw damage thanks to her high magic, speed, and dexterity stats. As a result, she easily outclasses both Dorothea and Annette, making her a must pick for those that wish to bombard their foes with dark magic. Meanwhile, Lysithea’s Mastermind skill enables her to gain double skill experience from combat, allowing the Ordelian heir to unlock class masteries with both speed and ease.
While the masterful mage may be able to wreak havoc on the battlefield, she does possess the worst HP, defence, and resistance growths in the game, so make sure you take this into account before sending her into the fray. Consider equipping the Heroes’ Relic, Thyrsus as it extends Lysithea’s magic range by two, giving you the added distance needed to melt enemies with no resistance. Once you level her into a Gremory, there’s very little your enemies can do to counter her magical plays.
Mercedes
Having a decent healer is incredibly important in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and you’ll want to ensure you have one deployed if you wish to avoid the pain of losing one of your favourite characters. Fortunately, Mercedes is always on hand to give her allies the lifesaving heals they need to carry on fighting. Poaching Mercedes from the Blue Lions should be a top priority for anyone looking for a good support. Her Live to Serve skill allows Mercedes to heal herself for the same amount when healing an allied unit, keeping herself constantly topped up throughout the fight.
Most supports are often forced to waste a turn retreating into the backline or drinking a healing tonic when low, but Mercedes can stick with her team and consistently deliver game-changing heals that can often turn the tide of a fight. Lastly, her crest of Lamine occasionally conserves uses of recovery magic, giving her the chance to dish out more heals when things take a turn for the worse.
Bernadetta
Black Eagles’ painfully shy archer, Bernadetta is fantastic unit who can single-handedly wipe whole sections of the map if given the chance. Her ability to bombard enemy units with arrows becomes even more potent when players spec into her Riding budding talent. Once you have enough levels in Riding, you’ll be able to make use of the Bow Knight’s excellent mobility and range.
To make matters even better, Bernadetta’s Persecution Complex skill enables her to deal +5 damage when her HP is not full, giving her the edge she needs to sway the outcome of particularly tricky fights. When you combine this with Indech’s crest ability which occasionally allows weapon attacks to strike twice, you have a master marksman that can take out foes with ease. Consider equipping Bernadetta with the Brave Bow if you want to watch her damage numbers skyrocket.
Felix
Unlike most of Garreg Mach Monastery’s inhabitants, Felix likes to keep all conversations to a minimum. Fraldarius’ heir may not be one for talking but that doesn’t matter when you see his prowess on the battlefield. Felix has spent years honing his sword skills and his high strength, dex, and speed make him an exceptional Swordmaster or Mortal Savant. Watching Felix attack twice and slice his way through droves of enemies with deadly crits makes for some incredibly satisfying victories, especially when you’re trying to defeat Three Houses’ end-game units.
The Fraldarius crest also allows Felix to sometimes raise his might when using a weapon, giving his attacks added lethality. Meanwhile, his Lone Wolf skill also increases his attack by five when a battalion is not deployed or when battalion health is zero. If you’re after a more traditional sword-wielding unit who boasts impressive stats, then you can’t go wrong with Felix.
Petra
Petra is another unit who shares a fondness towards sharp pointy objects. If you like crits and want more of them, then Petra is a welcome addition to any class looking to boost its damage output. Petra’s affinity towards dex, strength and speed makes her an absolute beast on the battlefield, especially when paired with crit boosting weapons and items. The heir of Brigid is great at mopping up the battlefield thanks to her Hunter’s Boon skill, which increases her critical rate by +20 when a foe has less than 50% HP.
As a result, she makes an exceptional Thief and Assassin, while her budding talent in flying allows her to explore the Falcon or Wyvern mounted avenues. Just like Felix, Petra’s high speed often allows her to attack her opponents twice, so expect plenty of clean kills when Petra is around.
How to recruit units after the time skip in Fire Emblem: Three Houses
After passing 3/31 on the calendar, Fire Emblem: Three Houses goes through a time skip phase that takes you five years into Fodlan’s future. Depending on your chosen path some students will leave you, while others will join your side in pursuit of victory. As you might imagine, recruiting certain units can become rather tricky and many will not even give you the option. In order to recruit a student post time skip, you’ll need to defeat them in combat.
Once defeated, you’ll have the option to spare them, giving you the perfect opportunity to add them to your team. So far, the only characters confirmed to be recruitable post time skip are Lysithea on Black Eagles, Lorenz on Blue Lions and Ashe on Golden Deer.
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