(AfroGamers.com) One of the best strategy games in recent memory and one of the best games of the generation, Fire Emblem: Three Houses has great replay value. This replay value comes from playing through the game multiple times which each of the three houses and twice with one of them to get the four endings to the game. Today, I am going to help you decide which house to choose from.
What really sets each house apart is the combination of starting characters for each house. These characters are usually broken down by the leader, their second in command, and their supporting members. The leader is usually the strongest, no matter what. The second in command isn’t technically the second strongest, but in most cases, they should be. There are things other than raw strength that can make the characters strong like their movement ability, which late in the games, matter much more than anything.
The Blue Lions
The first house that we are looking at is the house led by Demitri. Other than Bayleth, they have the best swordsman in the game in Felix, which is something to take into consideration. Overall, I think that the Blue Lions have the best combination of melee units (spear, axe, sword, fists), but the worst archer, back mage, and an ok healer. Late in the game, all of the characters are pretty strong but after playing with the other houses, Ashe is very lackluster as an archer, and Annette is the weakest black mage between the four starting black mages in the game.
Demitri as the head of the house is great, especially late in the game. He is a spear user and he packs a punch, with most battles that he engages in ending in one round. He is also pretty tanky. A late game strategy when you are in a pinch is placing Demitri somewhere where everyone will attack him and just letting him mow every enemy down. His second in command is Dedue. Early in the game, he is very weak and easily the worse second in command. What he lacks in attack power, he makes up for in defense because he is a brick wall. Most attacks do no damage to him even late in the game. His biggest flaw for most of game is his lack of movement which can be fixed by giving him movement boosting items to help him out. I would say that this house should probably be played second.
The Black Eagles
This house is led by Edelgard. They are a house mostly made up of crest users and have an extra magic user with them which is a gift and a curse because of their lack of defense and late in the game, they can easily be one shotted by most enemies, especially if they cannot take them out in one hit. They have the worse combination of melee fighters in the game. Petra is great as a sword user. Ferdinand gets the job done as a spear user, but Caspar is not only an annoying character but falls behind everyone else in battle. Although you can pick what you want anyone to be or weapon to use, Caspar just seems like he does not have place with the other characters strength wise. As far as their magic users go, they are great across the board. Their archer is the second-best archer in the game behind the leader of the Golden Deer house. Their second in command is a dark mage, and I will get to him in a second, but Dorothea is great. I would rather have her than Annette because it seems like her critical hits are more frequent and her dodge is a little better. She also has more attack range for some reason. They also have a solid great healer.
Edelgard as head of the house is great also. She packs more punch that Demitri although her defense isn’t as good. She can take some damage, just don’t leave her by herself for too long or your game will be over. Her second in command, Hubert is the second strongest black magic user in the game. He is excellent from the start of the game all the way through. Of course, you have the same issues like with all magic users like the lack of movement and lack of defense but if you can hide these issues, then Hubert is great. Overall, I would say that this house should be played last because of the two branches that they have to go down.
The Golden Deer
This house is led by Claude. This house is probably the most even house of all of them. They have solid melee characters, the best archer in the game and another archer that becomes a monster in the late game. They have hands down the most powerful mage and character in the game with Lysithea. She can one shot the Death Knight early in the game if you train her right. Their healer is alright. As far as their melee characters go, they lack a sword unit but makes up for it with a brawling unit that absolutely wrecks late in the game. They have two spear units. One is good (Leonie) and one is meh (Lorenz).
Claude, the house leader is a monster from the start. He has naturally high critical hit rate and can dodge most attacks. He can probably take a hit or two also but he is rather weak defensively. His second in command, Hilda, is a monster in her own right and probably the best second. She is almost as good as Edelgard with the axe, although it seems like late game, she trades in some of her defense for mobility if you choose to do the mounted route with her. Unlike most flying units, it don’t seem like she has any defense or dodging ability but she has a scary critical hit rate. I think that new players should play this house first.
Wrapping up, you can start the game with whatever house you like and get a good, even experience. It really comes down to preference and team composition. Also, remember that you can recruit people from other houses to join your if you choose to.
Staff Writer; Tardell Swift
This brother is new to writing yet has many different interests such as gaming, hip hop, wrestling, and manga.
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