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What is class changing in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes? It's nothing compared with managing your facility growth, or mastering each unit's combat style, or even clearing every regional map per chapter. But it's nevertheless integral, and neglecting to keep up with class changing can prevent players from bringing their beloved characters anywhere close to their full potential.

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In this guide, we'll go over where, how, and when you can change your team's classes, as well as why every character has a "preferred" path and yet most can branch outward to your heart's content. Is always advantageous to stick to the tried-and-true? Not necessarily.

Updated July 15, 2022: We've updated this guide to include a helpful video that tells you everything you need to know about class changes in Three Hopes.

How to Decide Which Classes to Choose for Your Units

Fire Emblem Three Hopes Roster Claude

Every character begins with a set class and "prefers" a particular advancement through the ranks. You can tell that the game recommends a given path because there will be a double blue symbol beside the class. It's pretty much impossible to miss.

But how important is it, really? It's a complicated question, because not only does it vary from character to character, but there will no doubt be some measure of spirited debate between players as to which units should stick to the recommended course and which ones ought to meander instead.

Having a difficult time deciding whether to make a specific unit of yours abandon their default path and become something else? Ask yourself whether you have ample coverage in a certain area already. "Do I really need another mounted unit?" "Don't I have enough archers?" Or maybe you're at a mounted unit deficit, or you have just the one archer whatsoever. We wouldn't recommend tripling down and more on any battle type if you can avoid it.

Magic-inclined characters will frequently start out as a Monk. Looking at the roster for the Golden Deer house, for example, Marianne and Lysithea share this in common. But afterward, for their Intermediate Class, Three Hopes' user interface suggests making Marianne a Priest but Lysithea a Mage.

This is because, all things considered, Marianne's built better for Priest and Lysithea's the same for Mage. Their unique abilities better complement such a layout, with Marianne's Animal Friend helping to heal over time (so long as the proper conditions are met) and Lysithea's Cursed Expulsion and Virtuoso both heavily favoring damage-dealing.

But wait. There's something else going on here. Marianne also has Snowslip, an attack that can trigger at high hit counts, smacking many foes simultaneously with ice magic. As a Priest (and its follow-up classes), her offensive magic capabilities aren't going to be as nice as a Mage's. You're losing some of the oomph that Snowslip can muster.

Well, then. Should you consider turning Marianne into a Mage? Maybe. Linhardt can be recruited relatively early on in the Golden Wildfire campaign, and Linhardt is a fantastic healer. You'll seldom have just cause to bring two healers to battle with you. But training Linhardt is going to take time and resources.

Ultimately, it's all very "RPG." There are reasons to consider this sort of conundrum in every house's campaign, and they're by no means limited to magic-based classes. It's about team composition and what works best for you. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is designed, intentionally, to make you think about this.

How to Change Classes

Fire Emblem Three Hopes Shez Gains C+ Power

All the deep thinking in the world on how to raise your army in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes won't amount to much if you don't actually know how to change classes.

At the Training Grounds, you'll be able to progress Beginner Classes (like Monk) to Intermediate Classes (like Priest and Mage) from the moment you unlock the War Camp. You'll need Intermediate Seals, but you can purchase them from the item merchant, and you'll gain a bunch through battles as well. You shouldn't feel too restrained in that regard.

The problem is, Shez and many other starter units are actually in their Intermediate Classes by default. So, you're going to want Advanced Seals ASAP. They'll still need to master their classes, so it's not like you'll immediately be twiddling your thumbs, but it will take a bit before Advanced Seals even show up at the shop (in limited numbers per month!), and you have to acquire the proper materials to upgrade the Training Grounds before Advanced Class Exams can be taken, thus unlocking the Advanced Classes for your units.

Twiddling your thumbs a ton while awaiting the chance to turn your Intermediate Classes into Advanced ones? Don't worry. It's normal. If you're scouring every map per chapter, it will be a while before you get to that point. On the other hand, you will acquire the necessary materials for the Training Grounds upgrade more rapidly once they become available at around Chapter 7 or so.

The same conundrum will hold true for Advanced Classes to become Master Classes later in the game. Don't expect to have the proper materials on hand to upgrade the Training Facility again until a few chapters in Part Two of each campaign. Furthermore, Master Seals themselves will be extremely short in supply until about that time.

Past that, the only stipulation for upgrading a character's class is that they have ranked up all three stars for the class category beforehand. That doesn't mean boosting them all the way from "E" to "A", for a mercy; but rather, using them in battle enough times, and learning enough abilities, that the character is ready to move on to the next tier.

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