Fire Emblem: Three Houses – Which House Should You Choose?

The Black Eagles house consists of students of the Adrestian Empire, and their house leader is Edelgard von Hresvelg. They boast the highest amount of magically-inclined units in the game, and Hubert is one of the only default mage characters that knows dark magic at the start. However, along with the least amount of Crests of any house, they suffer from a lack of dedicated physically defensive and mounted units. With the right training, Ferdinand can swap between a cavalry unit with being an armored knight, and Petra can easily learn to become a wyvern rider.

Of their personal abilities, Dorothea‘s Songstress ability should be noted as it can heal up to 4 adjacent units per turn, along with Lindhart’s Catnap that allows him to heal on his own by waiting.

Consider recruiting tougher units from other houses like Sylvain, Raphael, Leonie, or Ingrid to make up for the Black Eagles shortcomings.

The Blue Lions house consists of students from the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and their house leader is Prince Dimitri Blaiddyd. As this nation values chivalry and honor, they have some of the best mounted units and physically tough characters of all the houses. However, they only have room for two magic users within their ranks, and a single natural bow user. Because of this they may struggle to deal with ranged threats, and the abundance of mounted units can leave you vulnerable to bows or horseslayers. With enough training, you can unlock the budding talents of Felix and Sylvain to increase their magic prowess.

Of their personal abilities, Dedue‘s Staunch Shield makes him the perfect defensive unit by gaining +4 Defense if waiting, and Ashe‘s Lockpick allows you to skip out on certifying anyone to become a Thief or buying keys.

Consider recruiting magically inclined units from other houses like Dorothea, Lysithea, or Linhardt to fill in the gaps.

The Golden Deer house consists of students from the Leicster Alliance, and their house leader is Claude von Reigan. As the house with the most commoners among them, they excel with bows and have some of the best long range characters of all the groups. Lysithea is something of an anomaly as she possesses not one but two different Crests. They are a more well-rounded cast of characters that are most evenly spread in their abilities to cover a wide range of roles, but don’t excel as a group in one category. Both Hilda and Raphael can adapt as Armored Knights, and Lorenz and Ignatz can excel as magic users if needed.

Of their personal abilities, both Hilda‘s Advocate and Leonie‘s Rivalry work exceptionally well when attacking alongside male units, as they’ll deal 3 extra damage and grant Leonie 2 extra damage while taking 2 less.

Depending on how you adapt your students, any focused students from other houses will make great recruits.

Lord Comparisons – Hero’s Relics and Bonuses[edit]

Each of the Lords of the different houses each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and while they may start off fairly similar, they can easily grow into quite different characters.

Edelgard is unique among the other Lords for a very specific reason – She will quickly reveal that she has the power of two Crests – the Minor Crest of Seiros and the Crest of Flames – allowing her to both raise damage using Combat Arts, and also restore health when attacking and even stop counterattacks at times. As her default class goals go, she will become an Armored Lord by Act 2 that boasts a tough defense as well as a strong offense, though she can also be trained in the use of magic as well – which may require her to be reclassed as needed. By Act 2, her Personal Ability will change to Imperial Lineage+, which grants her +4 Res if she waits, allowing her to withstand magic attacks in her armored form.

Dimitri‘s Minor Crest of Blaiddyd allows him to sometimes double his attack and weapon uses during Combat Arts, which can make him an extremely damaging force if protected well. He will become a High Lord by Act 2, l, and can further his high strength and dexterity, but his lower defense and resistance means he’ll need protection. His Personal Ability will also grow to Royal Lineage+, granting him an extra +20 Avoid when at full HP. He can also make use of his budding talent to become a fast-moving Paladin to move at a quicker pace with the rest of the cavalry in the Blue Lions.

Claude‘s Minor Crest of Riegan can help heal him in battle when using combat arts, making him a great unit for hit and run attacks when combined with his bow proficiency. In Act 2, he will become a Wyvern Master to further his range and sniping skills, and will most likely gain more Dexterity and Speed as a result, but he might be the physically weakest of the Lords on his own. His personal ability will expand to Leicester Lineage+, and allow him to move through enemy units to attack behind enemy lines, further cementing his role to snipe risky targets and flee. Unlike the other Lords, his budding talent for Axes won’t directly clash with his default class upgrades.

Each of the Lords will also eventually obtain one of the sacred Hero’s Relics, much like Byleth‘s Sword of the Creator, and each are versatile in their own right. Though they all possess only 20 durability and are more expensive than other items to repair, they are peerless in battle, especially with their exclusive Combat Arts:

Romance Comparisons and Exclusives[edit]

Of the Three Houses, Byleth is able to pursue an S-Rank romance support relationship with any character, but some characters can only be romanced in their own house as they cannot be recruited, and others may be easier if your character does not have to meet certain criteria to recruit from another house.

Characters in Bold are exclusive to the Black Eagles House and cannot be recruited. Characters in red support a bisexual female romance, and characters in blue support a bixsexual male romance.