Fire Emblem: Three Houses Guide - Best Skills To Focus On

Fire Emblem: Three Houses certainly gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of how you can develop your protagonist's abilities, as well as those of your students. While you're free to pursue any combat skill with any character you wish, the game definitely nudges you in a few different directions when it comes to certain characters and certain classes.

When it comes to picking a goal, it's important to keep a few things in mind:

• Your gender: Three Houses unfortunately still has gender-specific classes, so it's important to look ahead and see what options you have available in the long-term before you start to pursue a class discipline. I was in the process of making my female protagonist the best hand-to-hand fighter possible until I learned that the later brawler classes, the Brawler, Grappler, and Warmaster, were exclusive to males. You can find a list of the gender-specific classes here.

• Innate learning advantages: Every character has specific skills they're particularly good at learning, indicated by a blue arrow next to it on their character sheet. This means they'll get more skill points when training in this ability.

• Innate learning disadvantages: Some characters have skills that they are poor at learning, meaning they'll earn fewer points when training in this ability. It's usually not a fantastic idea to keep pushing a character in a direction they hate unless they have a…

• Hidden potential: Some characters have hidden potentials next to certain skills indicated by three stars next to it on the character sheet. This is usually in a skill that doesn't seem like a natural part of their initial class designation and means that with enough consistent learning in that skill, that character will be able to unlock a unique or advanced ability. Sometimes, this hidden potential will also come with an innate learning disadvantage, but if you work at it hard enough, then you can flip it into an advantage instead.

• The Story: Without spoiling anything, the plot of Three Houses will eventually push your protagonist and house leaders quite hard towards a particular skillset, typically the ones they start with. That's a sword for the protagonist, axe for Edelgard, lance for Dimitri, and bow for Claude. So, if you really want to excel in one type of weapon for these characters, stick with what they have.

For more in-game know-how, check our complete collection of essential advice and tips for Fire Emblem: Three Houses. It's a huge game, and after our multiple playthroughs, we have plenty of guidance we're dying to give you.

For a behind-the-scenes look at the game, read our interview with the directors of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, where they talk about the series' increasing popularity in the West, the dramatic changes they made to the combat system, and the refreshing new character designs.

In our Fire Emblem: Three Houses review, Kallie Plagge concluded: "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."