Fire Emblem

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Yeah, I'd say Raphael isn't worth the investment personally.

As for Leonie, guys, she only really talks about Jeralt too much in her Monastery lines and Byleth supports. Otherwise, not so much. I don't love her, but I will push back against exaggerations.

As for Felix, he may be an asshole, but he's an asshole who's 85-90% right, just at very immature. It's why I like his supports with Seteth, because Seteth helps him accept that other people have different opinions, and Annette, because he is quite nice and ends up like a blushing schoolboy, which is hilarious.

[Deathhappens]

Oh yeah, that. There's a reason you can't unlock it after a specific point. To her credit, she does apologize in the next one.

I mean, out in the monastery she's actually grief-striken so it legitimately makes no sense they set the support at that point in time. I absolutely love her character in every other Support, its only whenever the "Jeralt fangirl" writer takes over that she becomes insufferable.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Unpopular take here, but I think it's actually fitting that her support is as tone-deaf as it is at that moment. She's grieving, so she's not completely rational, and she's lashing out at the person who she already suspected didn't love their dad enough. It's not great, but I think it's fittingly flawed.

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Also, if you unlock it beforehand, well, that's some sweet, sweet angst right there.

[Deathhappens]

But it doesn't play out like she's grieving at all. She starts out apologizing for lashing out at you earlier, then explains her circumstances and... lashes out at you again (ambiguously I guess? Depends on how you interpret "you may be his child but I'm gonna be his number #1 disciple!"). Then you go out at the monastery and she's in a completely sorry state, nothing like the argument in the Support at all. I fully believe it's a mistake that makes it unlock at that particular point, when it would've made sense at any point beforehand.

[pinetree]

Yeah, her support has absolutely nothing to do with Jeralt's death.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Right, I realized that as I typed the second paragraph. Still, I do like the dramatic irony/unfortunate of her saying that insensitive thing not too long before Jeralt dies. It's some spicy angst, and well, we have moments like that IRL, so...

[Bloble]

Raphael is a decent unit. His HP makes him a great mixed tank, and his speed doesn't matter since everyone will get doubled and not double naturally anyway unless they're Petra. I'd put him above Caspar, Ashe, and Dorothea in usability, and somewhere below Ignatz.

He's also one of the best characters in Three Houses as a person. I can always tell whether someone's legit by their opinions on him and other characters who aren't hot and don't have easily-digestible character arcs served up on a plate.

But people will have one character say a mean thing to their MC and lose their shit, very funny to me.

It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Nah, Ashe is above Raphael in usability, mostly because his insane Dex stat and Locktouch. I also like Ashe quite a bit. Caspar I agree.

Also, while Raph is a good guy, he's not my favorite 3H character, probably mostly because I routinely bench him and thus don't have much emotional investment in him.

[Bloble]

Nah, Ashe is above Raphael in usability, mostly because his insane Dex stat and Locktouch. I also like Ashe quite a bit. Caspar I agree.

Also, while Raph is a good guy, he's not my favorite 3H character, probably mostly because I routinely bench him and thus don't have much emotional investment in him.

Dex isn't that important a stat and Locktouch is more of a nothing ability than Raphael's self-heal. It's entirely negated by just buying keys or going Thief.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

I really do not like going Thief on units for the most part, because it hamstrings that unit's strength stat for the rest of the playthrough. Also, choosing who to equip keys onto is annoying because most of the time, I give units at least 3 weapons and 2 healing items. Also, Dex is quite important once you get to the promoted classes, especially for an archer like Ashe because hit is improved over long range, and more crit is always a good thing.

[Deathhappens]

Byleth, Felix and a handful of other naturally high STR units can easily go Thief and benefit from better SPD and DEX growths. The problem is that 3H is Axe Emblem and nearly all good physical mastery abilities are under an Axe class (see: Death Blow, Wrath, Quick Riposte, Seal Defense...) with the few exceptions being either gender-locked (Darting Blow), only good in a particular niche (Hit+20, Vantage) or both (Defiant Str).

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

It's be better to simply wait and make them Assassin's while choosing Mercenary for your Intermediate Class.

Also, I'd say 3H is Axe and Lance Emblem, though tbf, Curved Shot is the best Combat Art.

[Aozaki-desu]

Raphael is a decent unit. His HP makes him a great mixed tank, and his speed doesn't matter since everyone will get doubled and not double naturally anyway unless they're Petra. I'd put him above Caspar, Ashe, and Dorothea in usability, and somewhere below Ignatz.

Raph is a shit tank because he is actually the only unit in the game who gets doubled by everything, and he can't tank mages. The latter is what makes him the actual shit tank, and the former is just icing on the shitcake. His only real use is being STR rallybot in the earlygame along with Ignatz. Which is kinda funny.
And above all its silly to even consider Raph as a tank when Lorenz is in the same house.

Nah, Ashe is above Raphael in usability, mostly because his insane Dex stat and Locktouch.

Ashe is a garbage unit, literal bench-immediately-and-never-use-again tier.

Also, choosing who to equip keys onto is annoying because most of the time, I give units at least 3 weapons and 2 healing items.

Good thing you dont need to put keys on your units since you can just pull them out of convoy whenever. Also, you could just count chests on the map and give a key or 2 to a designated chest collector. But its okay if that is too big brain for you.

Byleth, Felix and a handful of other naturally high STR units can easily go Thief and benefit from better SPD and DEX growths. The problem is that 3H is Axe Emblem and nearly all good physical mastery abilities are under an Axe class (see: Death Blow, Wrath, Quick Riposte, Seal Defense...) with the few exceptions being either gender-locked (Darting Blow), only good in a particular niche (Hit+20, Vantage) or both (Defiant Str).

Axes are not even the second best weapon type in 3H.
Its bows > lances > axes > swords (Gauntlets are a meme).
But tbh going Thief is a waste because thats class exp points that could've been invested into Archer or any other class, or just time spent in a worse class than you would otherwise prefer (like making some units early cavaliers).

[pinetree]

How is Curved Shot the best Combat Art? The extra range is okay but every other weapon gets a better damaging Art.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

It's precisely because of the easy access and extra range, not to mention the extra hit, especially in early Maddening.

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Raph is a shit tank because he is actually the only unit in the game who gets doubled by everything, and he can't tank mages. The latter is what makes him the actual shit tank, and the former is just icing on the shitcake. His only real use is being STR rallybot in the earlygame along with Ignatz. Which is kinda funny.
And above all its silly to even consider Raph as a tank when Lorenz is in the same house.


Ashe is a garbage unit, literal bench-immediately-and-never-use-again tier.


Good thing you dont need to put keys on your units since you can just pull them out of convoy whenever. Also, you could just count chests on the map and give a key or 2 to a designated chest collector. But its okay if that is too big brain for you.


Axes are not even the second best weapon type in 3H.
Its bows > lances > axes > swords (Gauntlets are a meme).
But tbh going Thief is a waste because thats class exp points that could've been invested into Archer or any other class, or just time spent in a worse class than you would otherwise prefer (like making some units early cavaliers).

Actually fuck off, you stupid asshole.

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Also, Gauntlets are actually pretty good in the right hands, and they help a bit for tanking since their light weight prevents some crucial doubles and their relatively high crit rate does allow for securing kills on frailer enemies.

[Deathhappens]

Raph is a shit tank because he is actually the only unit in the game who gets doubled by everything, and he can't tank mages. The latter is what makes him the actual shit tank, and the former is just icing on the shitcake. His only real use is being STR rallybot in the earlygame along with Ignatz. Which is kinda funny.
And above all its silly to even consider Raph as a tank when Lorenz is in the same house.


Ashe is a garbage unit, literal bench-immediately-and-never-use-again tier.


Good thing you dont need to put keys on your units since you can just pull them out of convoy whenever. Also, you could just count chests on the map and give a key or 2 to a designated chest collector. But its okay if that is too big brain for you.


Axes are not even the second best weapon type in 3H.
Its bows > lances > axes > swords (Gauntlets are a meme).
But tbh going Thief is a waste because thats class exp points that could've been invested into Archer or any other class, or just time spent in a worse class than you would otherwise prefer (like making some units early cavaliers).

Bows aren't actually that strong in 3H (well, beyond the inherent brokenness of being able to hit people from way further than they can hit you combined with Close Counter eliminating their biggest weakness while being something anyone can get at no investment). They're just better for Maddening because every other enemy is a dodge god that other weapons struggle to hit while getting doubled for their troubles. Lances similarly suck but make up for it by being in classes that pump DEX up the gills, which is entirely wasted outside of Maddening because almost nobody is that hard to hit.

ED: Also the fact that all cavalry and half the fliers NEED Lance to certify into doesn't hurt. tl;dr sword got fucking robbed

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also wtf did they do to Astra jesus christ

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Trust me, Lance is a very good secondary for any character to have, especially in Maddening, where fast sword goes are a menace. It doesn't hurt that many of the Lance users are passable to great.

As for bows, they are the best for exactly the reasons you mentioned.

For Astra, well, they gutted it and the Swordmaster class. On the bright side, Swordmaster gives some pretty good growths, so it's not a complete waste to spend time there. I do that for my Byleth every time, and he becomes a dodgetank and bruiser par excellence.

[Bloble]

3H Astra is why combat arts were a mistake. Just make it a Dex% proc like Lethality or something you cowards, reliability is overrated to hell and back

Seriously though I really dislike the combat art spam that 3H turns into. Makes the game too much like an RPG for my tastes. Even in SoV you could see the problems emerging once killer bow became the best weapon in the game on the back of sniper's volley. Your units should primarily be attacking using a weapon of choice, not picking which special move to use like it's pokemon.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

I actually like the Combat Art system, at least with regards to how it vibes with the rest of 3H's combat. It adds a layer of intentionality that skill procing in the 3DS games didn't really. That, and it kind of forces you to be careful about weapon durability and not just spam Silver weapons.

[Spinach]

Actually fuck off, you stupid asshole.

You don't get to lash out at someone for calling video game characters useless. You've been warned for getting into fights, warned and temped for starting fights, and this one actually gets you a strike. That's a one week vacation, during which I hope you'll take some time to think about when it's actually appropriate to insult people (it's generally not appropriate, especially when you do it too often).