So I'm playing the Nero event or to be more precise the Hassan battle, and I really wish we got to see the other personas more often.
Don't get me wrong, I like Asako, but I would love to see Gozour, Macour, or Zayd outside of events or even use one of them as a spiritron since we do have character models as well as the portraits for those three that could be repurpose as one.
To kick off this project we’re starting with a class that I believe is a little underwhelming: the sword and bow specialist Advanced Class.
To qualify as Assassin, the game recommends that you have a B rank in swords and a C rank in bows, but you can get away with less, making this a fairly easy class to qualify in, even if the unit in question lacks a strength in swords and/or bows. if you’re playing with any semblance of optimization, every unit in your army should have an iron bow or something comparable to fall back on for chip damage and linked attacks. This makes the C rank recommendation for bows almost negligible, meaning the only thing you need to focus on would be swords.
Analysis
Upon passing the Assassin exam, the qualifying unit is guaranteed a minimum of 17 strength, 14 speed and 12 dexterity. When you choose to put the unit in question in the Assassin class, they are granted a class bonus of 5 speed, 3 dexterity and 1 luck. This is the highest class speed boost in the game, tying the Falcon Knight’s mounted speed, without the demerit for dismounting. The dexterity bonus is respectable as well.
The Assassin has a base 6 move that, being a thief-type infantry unit, can ignore many terrain obstacles to movement. This is honestly the best that a non-mounted unit can get, making it competitive with cavalry, but inferior to fliers. If you lack the will or ability to train a unit to be a mounted class, this is a very easy to acquire certification that can keep a unit relevant to your more mobile units.
The faults of the Assassin become a little more apparent when you look at its Class and Mastery Skills and compare it to alterative Advanced Classes with similar weapon types.
The Assassin comes with Swordfaire, Locktouch and Stealth. Swordfaire is unfortunate because swords are probably the worst weapon type in Three Houses unless your name is Byleth and/or you’re using Thunderbrand. The biggest thing that swords have going for them is 1-3 range on a Levin Sword+ for magic-focused units with decent sword proficiency. Assassin doesn’t hurt your magic, but it’s far what I would call a natural choice for a mage.
Locktouch is pretty useless due to the abundance of gold in Three Houses and the ability to buy keys. You can get some use out it it with your decent mobility, but it’s honestly better on the Trickster class due to foul play.
Stealth is probably the selling point of Assassin. It will let the Assassin not be targeted by enemy units so long as they are not the sole target in the enemy’s threat range. This is good for providing linked attacks to more imposing combat units without putting yourself in danger. Unfortunately Trickster also does this, reducing the effect of the main selling point.
The class’s mastery skills are the Assassination sword combat art, which is bad, and the Lethality skill which gives you a percentage to instant kill an enemy based on a quarter of your dexterity per hit. It’s inconsistent, but could be fun when combined with a brave weapon or the Swordmaster’s Astra combat art.
The offensive power of the Assassin is lower than the Swordmaster or Hero and is considerably lower than the Sniper. As the best way to use an Assassin is with bows, in my opinion, the Sniper is almost always a better pick.
The Assassin has a 20% growth bonus to both Speed and Dexterity. This is actually pretty high and can help shore up deficiencies in those stats, especially in normal or hard. On maddening, this class’s only real appeal as far as I’m concerned is Stealth.
Good Assassins
In my opinion, Claude probably gets the most out of the class due to his strength in swords and bows and his dexterity being the highest in the game. This makes Claude the best choice for the brave/Astra Lethality trick. Claude also automatically qualifies as a flier in part 2, meaning that you don’t need to worry about training his flying to keep him relevant. You can instruct him in riding instead in order to get him Dexterity +4 and Movement +1. Claude also gets the Sacred Weapon the Sword of Belgatia and the Hero’s Relic Failnaught, a sword and bow respectably. Claude also gets Pass in part 2.
Ignatz makes a good assassin, especially with a longbow. For optimal use, you’d want him to follow Raphael around for their special linked attack bonus. Stealth will keep Ignatz alive and linked attacks will help shore up Ignatz’s potentially middling damage. The same logic applies to Ignatz’s closest equivalents in the other houses, albeit to an arguably lesser extent. Bernadetta brings Stealth and Persecution Complex to the table, where Ashe has the redundant Locktouch and should be classed into Assassin only to survive Blue Lion’s Hunting at Daybreak.
Hilda (and to a lesser extent Seteth) make good Assassins due to their special linked attacks with Balthus and Claude (or Flayn) as well as their adjacent opposite-gender skills Advocate and Guardian. Hilda can shore up her dexterity, should she wind up a little statscrewed by classing Assassin. I’d say both are probably better in more aggressive classes though, but additionally deploying Hilda and Sylvain or Seteth and Leonie could add to the novelty.
Byleth can make a good Assassin due to Professor’s Guidance, and their strength in swords offsetting the challenge that Byleth can pose to train, especially your first playthrough.
The non-Claude sword and bow kids: Yuri, Felix and Petra tend to be pretty strong units in other classes and hence I don’t really recommend that you class them Assassin, despite it being really easy. Do it if for whatever reason it’s your only option at level 20, as despite being a middling choice in the tier, it’s better than all of the lower-level options and is endgame ready.
Conclusion
Overall, Assassin is definitely a class and is definitely an option for Golden Deer, less so for the other houses. #fearthedeer If you have a plan going it, it’ll probably do what you want it to, if not, it may underwhelm.
I’m doing a bunch of these when I have time. Here’s a link to the master post.
