Fire Emblem: Three Houses allows more freedom than any other game in the series when it comes to customizing their units. Players have a wide range of classes, equipment, and battalions to utilize. As Three Houses totes a notably arduous difficulty in the form of Maddening Mode, players must use every tool at their disposal if they hope to complete the game.
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One of the most easily overlooked elements of character customization that players can use in order to overcome Maddening Mode are the various skills that units can learn. As many of these skills are far more useful than others, today we're going to examine the ten most vital skills that players can utilize in Maddening Mode!
10 Movement +1
When it comes to stats in Fire Emblem, few are as integral to a unit's longevity as their movement. Units with high movement are able to flexibly maneuver around a map quickly, always being where they're needed. While Movement +1 can't be obtained until late into a playthrough, as it is gained once a unit achieves an A+ rank in riding, it can be used to further improve mounted units such as Paladins, Dark Knights, and Holy Knights.
9 HP +5
Though not the most flashy skill in Three Houses, HP +5 can be obtained very early into a playthrough, as it is obtained by simply mastering the commoner and noble classes. As enemies in Maddening Mode are capable of dishing out absurd amounts of damage and taking out a player's characters in only one or two rounds of combat, this skill can help provide a bit of a safety net, especially in the earlier stages of a playthrough.
8 Batallion Wrath
In prior Fire Emblem games, the Wrath skill improves a unit's critical rate if their HP happens to be low. While this ability is useful, it can be rather risky, as it requires a unit to be left with low health in order to get any value out of it. With the introduction of Battalions in Three Houses, skills such as Batallion Wrath were introduced.
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Functioning similarly to normal Wrath, this variation raises its user's critical rate when their battalion's HP is low, rather than the unit's, making it a much safer alternative.
7 Batallion Vantage
Similar to Batallion Wrath, Batallion Vantage is a variation of a pre-existing Fire Emblem skill. Vantage is a skill that allows a unit to attack their foe first, even if the foe initiated combat, as long as Vantage's user has less than half their total HP. Batallion Vantage takes away this risk, by activating as long as the Batallion is low on HP instead. When paired with Batallion Wrath, a unit with low Batallion HP is incredibly dangerous, always attacking first and with a high critical rate. This can let a unit mow down even the most deadly of Maddening Mode foes.
6 Alert Stance
The Wyvern Rider and Wyvern lord classes are often regarded as some of the strongest classes in all of Three Houses. Not only are players rewarded with excellent classes by training units to meet their requirements, but they will also be rewarded with the stellar Alert Stance skill when their flying reaches B rank.
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A unit with Alert Stance is provided with a sold buff to their avoid when they use the wait action, allowing them to more reliably dodge the deadly attacks that Maddening Mode is known for.
5 Close Counter
For much of Fire Emblem's history, bows were regarded as the worst weapon type that a unit could use, as their restriction to only being usable from long range meant that they could not counterattack most enemies during the enemy phase. This meant that those units would be losing out on tons of experience that other units could be gaining. Luckily, units that wield bows are able to learn the Close Counter skill by raising their Bow Rank to C. As this patches up the biggest weakness of bows, any and all bow wielders in one's army should be equipped with this skill when playing Maddening Mode.
4 Rallies
While not available to each unit in the game, some characters are capable of learning Rally skills that can raise the stats of another character for a turn. Annette can notably learn numerous rallies by raising her rank in Authority. These rallies can be incredibly useful as they can allow a character to deal additional damage, to the notably resilient enemies found within Maddening Mode.
3 Fiendish Blow
When it comes to skills perfect for the magic-users in one's army, few are as useful as Fiendish Blow. Obtainable by mastering the Mage class, this ability provides its user with an additional +6 magic if they are initiating combat. This +6 can make a world of difference, especially if that unit is doubling their target, as this ability would then essentially supply an entire 12 extra damage! This allows a player to take the initiative on their turn and deal devastating magical attacks to key targets.
2 Darting Blow
Similar to Fiendish Blow, Darting Blow activates if its user initiates combat, their speed is increased by 5. This allows an attacking unit to more reliably double foes that they wouldn't be able to normally, netting twice as much dealt damage. Unfortunately, this skill is unlocked to a character that had mastered the Pegasus Knight class, meaning only female units are capable of learning it. Despite this, it is still among the most useful skills a unit can learn, especially within Maddening Mode.
1 Death Blow
Available to all units that had mastered the Brigand Class, Death Blow provides a unit that initiated combat with +6 attack. This ability totes much of the same utility as Fiendish blow and is useful for the same reasons. However, while there are a very limited number of classes that utilize magical offense, Death Blow is applicable for units of every physically offensive class in the game!