Essential Tips for Teaching, the Monastery, Battle, and More
If you're having troubles adjusting to life at Garreg Mach Monastery, or just looking to get the advantage over the rival houses, check out these tips to help you in your academics, exploring the monastery, battling, and more!
Classes and Personal Abilities
Every character has their own unique ability, and some of them work even better when paired with the right classes. For instance, Dedue's ability to raise his defense is made all the better when gaining defense bonuses from being an Armored Knight, and Ashe's Lockpick ability allows him to pursue other classes without anyone on the team having to be a Thief. Take a good look at all of your units abilities, and see where you can make teams work best together to play off each other's strengths.
Invest in Budding Talents
Many students you teach - including Byleth - have Budding Talents that are unlock potentials of skills that can vastly alter what classes they can excel at. These talents are represented by three start slots that fill in as you give 1-on-1 training, or when Byleth gets faculty training at the Monastery.
By unlocking a Budding Talent, not only does the skill get a positive xp bonus, but you'll also unlock a special ability that no other unit gets for learning that skill. Because of this, it's worth investing in at least unlocking the budding talent to nab a free ability, and then looking at your goals to see if a class change will benefit the unit - and the whole team.
Stick With Your Strengths
The character Byleth starts with skill proficiencies in Sword, Authority, Brawl, and Faith (if the budding talent is unlocked). There's a reason for this, as Byleth will eventually unlock a unique class to certify as over the course of the story, and it just happens to excel in swords and faith
Because of this, it's worth playing to your main character's strengths so that you don't needlessly reclass, unless you really want to impress a student and recruit them, or fill a gap that your team is missing. Since they are already great with swords and faith, Byleth can also excel as a Holy Knight when you reach Master level certifications, as you'll only need to refocus a bit for riding and lance skills.
Lords Should Stick to Their Strengths, Too
As you can imagine, the three house leaders are much the same as Byleth. By Part Two of the story, each of the leaders will automatically reclass into a more powerful lord unit, and each is unique to that character, and plays off their base strengths. Because of this, you should always have Edelgard focus on Axe and Heavy Armor, Dimitri on Lance and Authority, and Claude in Bows and Flying, and dabble a bit in their secondary skills or budding talents.
Like Byleth, they all have Budding Talents, but some of them may require them to change away from their upgraded Lord classes, so be ready to sacrifice that new look if you really want to experiment.
Rare Classes
Not all Classes you can certify are equal - some are gender-locked, unique to certain characters, or very rare to obtain.
Over the course of the story in Part One, you'll be able to nominate one student to unlock the Dancer class certification - so make sure that student is the right fit for the job (and preferably already knows magic) to excel in that role.
There are also two Classes - the Dark Mage and Dark Bishop, that can only be unlocked by obtaining a Dark Seal. This item is only dropped from a rare an unique enemy you'll run into four times in the story, giving you a chance to obtain up to four. If you don't have two characters who need to benefit from using Dark Magic, you should only try getting two Dark Seals - just be careful against the foe who holds them.
Don't Spread Your Goals
It's fun to experiment with different skills and goals, while learning new abilities and arts along the way. However, the more you spread out training, the harder it will be for a unit to certify new classes, and the less powerful they'll be as a result.
Once you get the feel for how each of your units works, take a good look at the List of Classes to see which each one requires to certify, and make a list of which characters you want to be which classes, and focus their goals in those areas whenever possible.
That said, having multiple classes available isn't always a bad thing, so once your unit finally certifies a class, see if there's another class they're close to obtaining already, and shift your goals slightly before setting your sights on the next tier.
Find Out What You Need Each Month
You'll get a few Free Days each month to do as you please, and while there's no wrong answer, you can really excel by figuring out the areas you're lacking in and making sure you take advantage of the options.
If Byleth's own skills are lacking, be sure to spend a day getting in Faculty Training to boost up your skills, or look for a Seminar that hits all the skills you're looking to build that can benefit your team too.
If your team is looking good in their skills but feeling weak or fragile, take the time to engage in some Auxiliary Battles to boost up your experience and levels - which means more stats - ahead of the next main mission. Battles are also the best way to earn a lot more gold, if you find yourself low on funds or in need of new weapons.
If your team is constantly struggling to get skill levels or looking unmotivated, consider resting for a day, or explore the monastery and stock up on gifts and return lost items, or other activities to raise up the motivations of your crew.
Increase Your Professor Level to Increase What You Can Do
Early on, you'll find that your time spent exploring the Monastery doesn't leave you with a lot of time to engage in important activities. By raising your Professor Level, you'll not only gain more activity points, but also get more money each month, assign Adjutants to support your main units in battle, and unlock new perks around the Monastery.
You may notice that at least once a month, a student will ask you a question that will automatically give you some experience for your Professor Level. However, there are many more ways you can increase your level if you know where to look:
- Certain books are scattered about in the Monastery that will grant experience when found - they look like any other item (look for a blue sparkle), and can help a lot by granting anywhere from 100 to 500 experience. Look for them on tables, in the greenhouse or by the pond, in the Library, or even in student's rooms.
- Make sure to plant seeds every time you explore. Even if you don't come back each week, you'll still be able to get experience that appears to be based off the rarity of the seeds used.
- Meals with students and faculty can increase your experience, and cooking a little bit less so.
- Choir practice will always grant Professor XP, and this includes special holidays as well - so be sure to partake in any activities if they come up during the week.
- Tournaments hosted in the Training Grounds can sometimes let you earn a lot of experience - if your chosen student wins. If you know what the tournament chosen weapon is, you'll have the month to train up the best student for the job to ensure you win - and make sure he has the best abilities to survive a gauntlet of fights.
Recruit Who You Need, Not Who You Want
Yes, it can be tempting to try and entice as many students into your house as possible, but you need to realize that in order to recruit everyone, you'd need at least a C or B in each skill, not to mention a crazy amount of stats across the board to persuade everyone.
By trying to impress a large selection of other students, Byleth may become weaker for it - especially if you end up trying to train up Heavy Armor, Riding, and Flying at the same time. Stick to one or two auxiliary skills that can impress multiple students that you need who specialize in something you're lacking, and then focus on Byleth's main skills like Swords and Authority to pick up characters like Felix, Dorothea, or Ignatz as well.
(Of course, feel free to make an exception if you're looking to steal away a character for romantic reasons - but be smart about it and see if other characters are looking for similar skills!)
Sylvain the Skirt-Chaser
Of all the students at the monastery, there is one Character who has a unique twist where recruitment is concerned.
Ordinarily, you'll find that Sylvain won't be interested in joining your house unless you can impress him with a good Reason Skill of about C or higher. However, when playing as a female character, you'll find that he lives up to his reputation - and will immediately inquire about joining your team regardless of your skill level.
Considering his personal ability makes him great when fighting alongside females, and his Crest gives him access to the perks of nobility, he's not a bad choice to have on your team.
Mission Assistance Has Its Uses
Even if you don't have the required skills to impress students to join you, you'll still gain the ability to have a unit join you for a month's worth of activities.
While a Character has been recruited for Mission Assistance, they cannot gain experience (but you should find them appropriately leveled for the month at hand), and you can also learn more about them by checking the updated Roster.
They can be used as anything - a free human shield, a tool for whittling down opponents to let your own students get the killing blow - and you can even enter them into Tournaments at the Monastery to win in your name!
Gifts Are a Great Motivator
If you find your students unwilling to engage in 1-on-1 teaching due to a lack of motivation, but also don't want to waste a whole free day just resting, consider using your time exploring the Monastery to deliver gifts.
There are many gifts you can find over the course of the game, and taking on quests to help certain Merchants set up shop can ensure a steady supply of gifts to buy each month. If a student accepts a gift, it'll usually give them +25 motivation (unless they hate it), but if a character really likes a gift, they'll gain +50 motivation! Pay attention to a student's likes and dislikes, and check out our Gifts Guide to know exactly what your students want to motivate them best.
Once you start finding Lost Items, you can also hold off on giving them until you need to properly motivate someone, as it will completely fill their motivation when given - and you can view our Lost Items Chart to see where to find each item, and who it belongs to.
Explore at Least Once a Month
Unless you really can't stand the thought of making small talk with characters between missions, you should absolutely explore the Monastery at least once every month. The amount of things that change from month-to-month are too great to ignore, while most things don't change until the next moon arises.
Taking part in Tournaments, checking the garden for harvesting flowers and stat boosts, fishing up rare fish that can sell for gold, and taking on simple quests to get extra supplies are very important. You'll also find plenty of new items each month like Lost Items to raise support levels of your team, and even books to raise your Professor Level to increase points and funding.
Treat Hero's Relics Like Glass
Weapons like Byleth's Sword of the Creator and Catherine's Thunderbrand are incredible - but only while they have enough durability to wield. Because they can do incredible damage, especially when combined with Combat Arts, you may end up using them too frequently to the point that they break when you truly need them.
Since Hero's Relics cost rare materials to upgrade, its best to use it only in emergencies against regular foes or bosses that threaten to kill you if you don't act quick. Otherwise, try saving them for battles against giant beasts, as most Hero's Relics do increased damage to them anyway, and can save you a lot of pain.
Teamwork Makes the Monster Killing Dream Work
When you start encountering monster enemies, you may find them a tough nut to crack - they'll be shieled over the four tiles that encompass their body, which can regenerate over time.
The key to defeating them lies in stunning them with Gambits and breaking tiles of their shield, so that they cannot counter-attack for a time. This will also stop them from dealing huge area-of-effect blasts on all sides, so always have units with Gambits at the ready.
If you're looking for an easy way to repair your relics, be sure to have a good team focus fire on each part of a monster's shield, using powerful weapons or Gambits to break each square. If you can break all four (without killing it first), you'll gain special stones needed to help repair your weapons.
Since you'll likely need to break all four tiles in a single turn (unless you can stun it enough), make sure your team is ready to engage on all sides, usually with a mix of close up and ranged attacks, or line up Gambits to take down harder to reach shield tiles. Breaking shields will also completely stun a monster for a whole turn, giving you a lot of breathing room to finish off the beasts.
Have Backup Weapons in the Convoy
It's easy to forget that Byleth alone has the ability to access the Convoy at any point in a mission - as does anyone who is next to him. If you ever feel yourself going all in on Combat Arts and breaking your weapons frequently, consider having spares at the ready in your convoy, and keep Byleth near whichever unit seems to be low on durability - just in case the worst should happen, they'll be able to quickly trade and keep on fighting.
A Battalion for Every Occasion
Battalions are more than just eye candy - they provide buffs to each character that equips them, and can even get random stats leveling up like any unit. More than that, there are many Battalions that provide specific gambits that can turn the tide when used correctly.
Having trouble corralling a giant monster and getting him to look away from the rest of your crew? Consider a Battalion with Lure to swap the enemy behind your character, or put him in reach of the rest of your team.
If you're in a mission where speed is essential, give someone a Battalion with Stride to increase your movement in a turn to get everyone to their destination that much faster. Make sure to ascertain the battlefield before starting to make sure everyone has the battalion they need.
Survey the Battlefield
As you begin to grow the skills of your team and unlock more Combat Arts and Abilities than you know what to do with, it will become more important than ever to figure out what your opposition consists of, and how best to counter them.
If your enemy is fielding lots of armored units, make sure everyone has a Combat Art like Helm Splitter, or a Mace in hand. If they have lots of fliers, give everyone a bow. If they have lots of archers, reclass your fliers or make them dismount. Every unit has a foil, even if the weapon triangle isn't present, you can still invest in Breaker Abilities to turn the tides, and find the most effective things to equip in your favor.
Try to Prioritize One Secondary Skill
The more advanced the class, the more likely it may require one skill like Riding, Flying, or Heavy Armor. Because these are the hardest to level up (you have to be classed as a unit who makes use of the skill to get experience in battle), you don't want to spread yourself too thin by trying to master all three.
Most units are best swapping between being a regular unit that can reclass into cavalry or a flier when needed - but usually not both, unless they happen to gain bonus experience for both. Otherwise, you run the risk of them failing to certify for any of their classes if they can't get enough experience in either.
Might or Magic
Any class you become will let you use almost any melee weapon (Mounted units cannot use Brawling Weapons), but not every class lets you cast spells. If you're training up someone to become a master of the physical and magical - be careful. Leveling up as a melee class will mean you won't be able to make any use of your magical talents until you finally certify into a casting class, and in the meantime, your level ups can be affected by poor magical growth.
On the flipside, trying to raise your strength as a Priest is probably asking for trouble - so consider swapping between magical and physical classes every so often if you're going to one day class that unit into something like a Mortal Savant or Dark/Holy Knight. Otherwise just remember that whatever your unit was prioritizing while leveling up, they'll likely suffer trading off against a unit with better stats in the other department.
Always Be Thieving
It's worth your while to have at least one student in your class certify as a Thief, even if they reclass immediately. You never know when you'll go into a mission with lots of chests and doors, and if you forget to stock up on keys, the Thief may be your only hope.
It's also important to check all your enemies inventories before starting a battle - you'll find in later battles that many enemies carry Seals that do not drop upon death - they can only be stolen from a Thief with higher speed than the target!
Don't Always Reclass Right Away
It's tempting the second a unit reaches level 15, 20, or 30 - to immediately certify and reclass into a cooler looking unit. Since you don't go back to level 1, there's no harm to your stats either, though your stat growth may be altered.
However, remember that each Class has its own pool of Class Experience, which raises slightly each time you go into a fight. By getting the max amount of experience and getting a "Class Mastery" You'll unlock a special Ability that will stay with you even after reclassing. Some units, like the Thief, allow you to keep Steal even when you become something else, but others will grant impressive bonuses - like being able to reposition units out of danger, get increased stats when attacking, and so much more. The more Abilities you unlock the more you have to play around with equipping and trading off before each battle.
Be sure to check out our list of Class Mastery Unlocks to figure out which classes you'll want your units to master, and which ones they can avoid and get ready to advance to the next tier.
Paralogue Requirements
Aside from Auxiliary Battles, you may start to see a few Paralogue battles crop up over the course of the school year - and the missions you see can depend heavily on who's in your roster.
For example, the Rumored Nuptials Paralogue will only become available during the year if either Dorothea or Ingrid is part of your team, and other Paralogues may involve the faculty of the monastery, or the Knights of Seiros. Be sure to check back each month in the Monastery to see if anyone who works at the Monastery can be recruited into your team, and then check if any new Paralogues appear during the following Free Day.
Getting to Know Rhea
Depending on the house you choose, some Supports and relationships may not be available to you, but Lady Rhea is of a different sort altogether.
As she will not join your group during your time teaching the Monastery, you have limited means in which to gain a support rating with her to unlock conversations.
Instead, if you wish to get to know her more, you should invest in getting Faculty Training from her to gain some bonds, and also give her some occasional gifts (as you might expect, she really likes a Goddess Statuette).