The Fire Emblem: Three Houses character recruit system is a godsend for players who don't want to sink the time into three separate playthroughs but meet students from other houses they want to get to know better. While the game starts players off by letting them choose a Fire Emblem house and dividing them into a pre-determined group of students, customizing a playthrough by focusing on specific stats and swaying characters into joining a different cause is possible.
Basically, Fire Emblem: Three Houses lets players navigate the game the way they want to - within reason. It's pretty much impossible to recruit most students until a New Game+ playthrough, so first-timers will want to pick and choose their potential recruits carefully. Some recruits can drastically alter the way an entire house proceeds into Fire Emblem: Three Houses battle, whereas others will add very little to the composition beyond just a new face and support scenes to watch.
Heading into any aspect of Fire Emblem: Three Houses with a plan is always advised, but it's more important when it comes to the limited number of recruitable characters during an initial campaign. Although Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the future of the franchise, it's also a game that's just as punishing to the ill-prepared as its predecessors. Here's a quick run-down of the best characters in each house and why recruiting them might suit your needs.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Best Golden Deer Recruits
Lysithea
Lysithea is one of the most powerful characters in the game, full stop. She's a child prodigy-turned battle mage that can incinerate foes while offering some nice tactical bonuses should players choose to focus on her reason stat as well. What makes Lysithea one of the best recruits in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, though, is her passive ability Mastermind. Mastermind lets Lysithea double her skill experience earned in battle, which can make grinding points for new, better classes much quicker for her.
Lysithea makes an excellent Gremory, a Master class that grants double the Black Magic, Dark Magic, and White Magic uses to its unit. As a quick learner that is adept at one of the best Master classes in the game, Lysithea is a great recruit choice. Lysithea likes a high Mag stat and a decent amount of Faith skill, and getting to Support Rank C with her will lower the requirements she has for those two traits.
Leonie
Leonie is well-suited to being a cavalry member of an army, meaning she'll be fighting on the frontlines, often side-by-side with other units. That's good, because her ability, Rivalry, makes that very desirable. Rivalry lets Leonie deal 2 extra damage and take 2 less damage during combat as long as she's adjacent to a male ally.
Eventually, Leonie can take on the Paladin role and help the player really command the battlefield better. Leonie likes a high Str stat and good Lance skill and, like all other characters, will be more receptive to recruiting if the player achieves a Supoort Rank C with her.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Best Black Eagles Recruits
Petra
Petra is probably the best recruitable sniper character in the game. Petra's ability is Hunter's Boon, which gives her a whopping +20 to crit when her opponent's health is below or equal to 50% of its total. Given that it can be easy to deal chunks of damage early with close-range characters while forming some protection around ranged units, Petra's ability syncs up well with virtually any unit composition.
Petra is perfect as a Sniper, which will make her one of the primary damage-dealers of a squad. Petra likes a high Dex stat and good Riding skill.
Dorothea
Dorothea's ability can be tricky because she primarily excels at being a ranged damage dealer or healer, but needs to be close to a damaged unit to really get the most out of it. Songstress allows Dorothea's adjacent allies to recover up to 10% of their maximum HP at the start of each turn, and can be vital in swinging a fight around, especially one that lends itself well to taking a turn off to reposition units out of harm for healing.
Dorothea is actually one of the easier recruits in the game. The player will naturally begin building up their Charm stat thanks to tea parties and other interactions, and she values a high Authority skill, which is likewise something that the professor character will kind of develop on their own. She's still well worth making certain to recruit, though.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Best Blue Lions Recruits
Mercedes
Mercedes is well-suited to the role of Holy Knight when players get that far in the game, and it's worth sinking the time into her. Of all the Fire Emblem: Three Houses recruits, Mercedes has the highest ceiling for her ability, Live to Serve. Live to Serve lets her heal an ally with white magic and recoup the same amount of HP herself, making her great at partnering with another advance force and rotating between damage-dealing and healing.
Mercedes values a high Mag skill from the professor and good skill with a Bow. Anyone looking to have a jack-of-all-trades forward unit in the late game composition of Fire Emblem: Three Houses will be happy to have Mercedes on their roster.
Sylvain
Sylvain is another character who naturally lends himself well to cavalry classes, but it's when he's paired with Leonie that he really shines. Sylvain's ability is Philanderer, and it lets him deal two extra damage and take two less damage during combat as long as he's adjacent to a female ally. Naturally, that means him and Leonie sticking together means they both permanently receive their bonuses, making them a formidable and highly mobile two-unit task force.
Sylvain values a high Charm stat in the professor as well as high Reason skill. Players looking for an edge in battle will want to pay close attention to the formidable combination of Leonie and Sylvain as horse-riding classes.