The 6 best Units to Recruit in Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Published: November 30, 2025 | Updated: November 30, 2025
These are the best units in Three Houses, and the ones you'll want to prioritize recruiting - in my opinion, of course - no matter which house you choose.
Lysithea
Lysithea is part of the backbone of any team. She is the definition of a glass canon, dealing massive damage, but requiring careful positioning to avoid being taken out quickly. Apart from just having the highest magic growth in the game (tied with Constance) and high speed as well, she has access to Dark Spikes for effectiveness against cavalry, and Luna, which allows her to take out magic resistant foes with ease (many other mages struggle with this). All of this together means that Lysithea can take out many human enemies in one turn, even on higher difficulties.
Recruitment: Faith C+ and Magic 35+
Recommended path: Monk → Mage → Bishop → Valkyrie → Gremory
Yes, you're reading that right. I recommend getting the class mastery for Bishop (Miracle) AND Valkyrie (Uncanny Blow) before moving on to Gremory. With the boost to hit from Uncanny Blow, you now have a Lysithea that never misses, which will save you a lot of frustration. Once I have both, I will typically reclass between Gremory and Valkyrie depending on the situation, because the Canto ability for Valkyrie allows to her get in for the kill and then get out of range, not to mention adding even more range to her attacks! Miracle is more situational and not absolutely necessary, but it has really saved me a few times, particularly if you're playing in Classic mode. Note that in order to get her certified for Valkyrie, I recommend starting to train Riding right off the bat. With her double combat experience from reason and faith, she hardly needs extra training in those, so this has never slowed me down. Also note that Warlock provides ZERO benefits to Lysithea since it only affects Black Magic spells (and she doesn't learn any of those).
Pro Tip
Recruit Lorenz to unlock his paralogue and obtain Thyrsus, a powerful staff that grants +2 magic range. This lets Lysithea safely nuke enemies from even further away, making her glass cannon playstyle much safer.
Felix
Felix combines high strength and speed, the two most important stats for a physical damage dealer. His personal skill, which increases damage when no battalion is active, feels pretty useless to me, because you can often get much more behefit out of battalions than this damage boost - although it definitely has utility in the early game, and will proc once the battalion runs out of endurance. However, he makes up for this by having one of the uniquely useful crests with a very reasonable proc rate that also boosts damage for weapon attacks.
Recruitment: Swords C+ and Speed 15+. Since Byleth excells in swords, this is usually possible naturally pretty early on.
Recommended path: Fighter→ Brigand → War Monk → War Master
Felix' natural speed combined with the gauntlet avoid master skill from War Monk means he can play the role of a dodge tank without needing the evasion ring, which frees up that spot (and a ring!) for something else (the crit ring for example).
Mercedes
Mercedes spell lists, personal skill, high magic growth, and even her crest, all combine to make her the best healer in the game. It feels like a no brainer for me. Physic for range healing, Fortify for party-wide sustain, and Restore for status healing. Her personal ability, Live to Serve, heals her when she heals others.
Recruitment: Magic 20+ (no skill requirement), this is very easy to hit.
Recommended path: Monk → Priest → Bishop → Gremory
Keep it simple here. Mercedes is a healer and you don't need to try to do anything fancy. I will usually get her certified for Gremory, but often end up leaving her in Bishop for most battles.
Ferdinand von Aegir
People are divided on Ferdinand von Aegir,
but he's one of the best units to put in the line of fire.
Even though his recuitment requirments are enough to cause you ire,
Ferdinand von Aegir, will take your team higher.
Recruitment: Heavy Armor C and Dexterity 10+
If you are NOT playing the Black Eagles route, Ferdinand is kind of a hassle to recruit - but it's not difficult if you are planning ahead. You must get your Heavy Armor to D+ rank before the recruitment deadline in Chapter 12, and attain support rank C with him. This is relatively easy to do - you'll simply need to pay some visits to Alois and/or Gilbert after faculty training is unlocked. Yes, this uses up some of your limited timed slots, but I believe Ferdinand is well worth it. Note that Ferdinand's support level can't be increased to above rank C until after the recruitment deadline, so you can't recruit him via support level.
Recommended path: Fighter→ Brigand → War Monk → War Master
Ferdinand is arguably the best dodge tank in the game, imho. Start right off the bat training Axe and Brawling. Once he gets the Brawl Avoid mastery ability, he will be practically unhittable. You'll want to give him the avoid ring as well. He should really only ever get hit by bows or beasts, and ideally with all of the boosts to HP from the above classes, he should still be able to take a hit. Just make sure to keep his HP topped off at max otherwise he loses his dodge bonus.
Yuri
Yuri is the fastest unit in the game, giving him a lot of versatility.
Recruitment: If you've finished the DLC story, you can ask him to join starting from Chapter 2, no other skill/stat requirements.
Recommended path: Myrmidon → Thief → Trickster
Yuri's canon class of Trickster is actually a solid choice for him. He definitely starts to lag behind in the damage deparatment, so if you want to fight against his disadvantage in axes, you can go Fighter → Brigand → Trickster to grant him extra strength growth, and give him the all-important Death Blow (+6 damage when initiating combat) mastery ability from Brigand.
Ashe
Ashe brings something unique to the table: since lockpicking is otherwise only available to Thieves, Assassins, and Tricksters, Ashe is the only unit who can be a flying or riding lockpick. This is a useful enough addition to keep Ashe around, because getting your hands on some specific otherwise-hard-to-reach gear can help round out your other units. Although his combat potential is limited due to his low strenth, he can still hold his own as an archer. With very respectable speed and dexterity, he can reliably hit enemies even at increased ranges. He can use the universal Curved Shot combat art early on, which has a range of up to 3, and then later is one of only 3 units to gain access to Deadeye, which goes up to 5 range. These longer range attacks come with a drop in hit, so use whatever tools you have (gear and battalions) to raise his hit. With these tools, Ashe can stay out of harm's way and help chip away at enemies, when he's not chasing after treasure or opening doors for you. And it should be said, even if you don't end up using him, recruiting him (or Catherine) for their joint paraloque is still going to be a must for the rewards that it provides.
Recruitment: Lance C and Charm 15+ - I suggest recruiting Ashe by getting his support up to at least B rank as early as possible, which will allow for him to join you randomly.
Recommended path: Fighter → Archer → Brigand → Wyvern Rider → Wyvern Lord
Ashe has a boost to both Archer and Axe skills, so getting him the +20 Hit mastery ability from Archer and then moving on to Brigand to get the +6 Strength skill (when initiating combat) can really help his damage output. Not to mention, Brigand, Wyvern Rider, and Wyvern Lord all add significant bonuses to strength growth. And you'll eventually have access to flying movement, which is super useful for a lockpick. You can still use bows effectively in those classes, but you'll also have access to axes (and the Axefair skill!) with their high damage output. If you prefer to go the more traditional bow route (Archer → Sniper → Bow Knight), that's totally respectable, but I find I prefer Ashe with the boost to damage output.
