Fire Emblem: Three Houses’sMaddening Mode provides even the most seasoned veterans to the series with rigorous difficulty. In the earliest stages of the difficulty, the majority of a player’s units can’t survive more than a single round of combat (if that), and every tactical decision a player makes can put a unit at the risk of death.
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AsThree Housesis among the most free-form entries in theFire Emblemseries, allowing players a sizable degree of freedom when it comes to training their units as they see fit, there are certain classes a player can use that can make the difficulty much more manageable.
Updated June 03, 2025 by Paul DiSalvo:Due to the high difficulty and unforgiving nature of Maddening Mode, nearly every choice a player makes can have an impact on their chance of success. While Three Houses offers players a substantial degree of freedom when choosing how to train and raise their various units, players are setting themselves up for disaster if they’re going to wing it rather than planning out their units classes in advance. Luckily there are useful classes for players to utilize in Maddening Mode at every stage of the game.
15Paladin
One of the most integral elements of anyFire Emblemgame is being able to flexibly and quickly maneuver units where they need to be through the use of high mobility. While the most optimal form of mobility comes in the form of flying, any type of mounted unit offers great movement for a given character. A powerful class that dates back to the earliest days of the series, Paladins are combatants on horseback that have incredibly well-rounded stats without any glaring weaknesses. While their mobility isn’t as impressive as that of a Wyvern Rider, these units don’t need to worry about weapons that can easily take out fliers.
14Monk, Priest, And Bishop
When playing Maddening mode, it should be a given that one of a player’s key objectives it to keep their units alive against the hordes of overpowered foes the difficulty has to offer.
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One of the most reliable means of doing so is to utilize a Monk, Priest, or Bishop depending on where you are in the game. These classes naturally progress into each other and allow a unit to reliably access faith magic to heal other units and keep them in fighting shape while preparing a unit for the excellent Gremory class.
13Trickster
Released as part of the Cindered Shadows DLC, the Trickster class offers a blend of support and offense, specializing in both swords and faith magic. While this blend of healing and offense is nice, by and large the biggest appeal of the Trickster class is its unique Foul Play ability. This ability allows the unit to exchange spots with another unit within five spaces, open the door for a variety of tactical maneuvers that wouldn’t otherwise be available.
12Valkyrie
WhenFire Emblem: Three Houseswas first releases, one common critique of the game was its lack of a proper mounted magic class. Luckily, the Valkyrie class was added in theCindered ShadowsDLC. With the same stellar mobility as Paladins, this class can safely attack with magic from affar. Additionally, Valkyries provide themselves with a bit of extra utility, augmenting all of their spells to have an increased range of one space, allowed for more accessible long range healing and spell-sniping.
11Dark Flier
No matter what game they appear in, Dark Fliers are one of the strongest classes in theFire Emblemseries. Mounted fliers with some of the best mobility inThree Houses, Dark Fliers blend flexible movement with flexible offense, allowing the best casters in the game to dish out heavy magical damage and then reposition themselves with Canto.
10Brigand
While they may not seem too impressive at first glance, Brigand is an excellent early-game class that can help pave the way for powerful units later down the road. With an above-average strength growth, making a character a brigand will often allow them to deal more damage as they level up, all whilst working on increasing one’s ability to wield weapons associated with other potent classes on this list such as War Master and Wyvern Lord. Mastering this class notably provides a character with the Death Blow ability which can greatly raise a character’s offense,allowing a unit to more easily deal with the bulkiest foes in Maddening Mode.
9Wyvern Riders
It’s no secret that wyvern riders are an excellent class in theFire Emblemseries. With phenomenal mobility and access to the canto ability that allows them to use the remainder of their movement after either attacking or using an item, this class excels at maneuvering around the battlefield, flying over all terrain.
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While this class is vulnerable to bows,Three Houses’dismounting mechanic allows the class to remove its most glaring weakness. While there is still room for improvement as a character progresses, this class is quite optimal for the mid-game of Maddening Mode.
8War Master
When it comes to raw damage output, few physical classes can compare to War Master. A Master Class exclusive to male units, War Masters have the incredible benefit of gaining a constant +20 to their critical chance, pairing well with their already excellent strength growths. While this class notably lacks a mount, detracting from its mobility, units that master this class gain the stellar Quick Riposte ability!
7Sniper and Bow Knight
Enemies in Maddening Mode are able to dish out absurd amounts of damage that can quickly widdle down one’s units' HP. One of the most surefire ways of preventing the death of a unit is to simply utilize ranged attacks. When it comes to ranged combat, the Sniper and Bow Knight Classes can’t be matched. Sniper is a class that not only increases the range of a unit’s bow attacks but when mastered, allows them to use the Hunter’s Volley combat art. Once this skill is learned, progressing a unit into a Bow Knight is a no brainer, as the class totes even longer range with bows, improved mobility, and the ever-useful canto.
6Gremory
While there are plenty of useful magic classes that players have access to inThree Houses, Gremory does what nearly all of these classes do but better.
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While other magic classes are focused around either offensive or support magic, the Gremory wields both, doubling the amount of time each spell the unit knows can be used. This allows Gremories to flexibly heal one’s units with spells such as Physic while dealing additional damage from afar.
