Fire Emblem is one of the most popular tactical RPG franchises of all time, currently amassing sixteen entries across the series thirty-year lifespan. The series allows players to play with a variety of strategies and utilizing a myriad of different types of units. Fire Emblem characters come in a wide range of classes, each coming alongside their own strengths, weaknesses, and utility.
While the Fire Emblem series has numerous classes for players to access, not all classes are created equal and some are far worse than others. So today, we're going to examine the worst classes within the Fire Emblem series.
10 Cleric
Clerics are not an inherently bad class in Fire Emblem. Capable of healing a player's units, they are often an integral class depending of what game a player happens to be experiencing, and which part of a game they find themselves in.
However, games like Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade feature Troubadours, healer swith nearly identical healing potential but with superior mobility. These units completely erase the viability of Clerics.
9 Villagers, Nobles, and Commoner
Villagers, nobles, and commoners are the blank slate classes of Fire Emblem. In the games in which they appear, these classes are often the starting point for numerous characters, and provide a flexible jumping off point, allowing players to build these units however they see fit.
While these classes posses a great deal of potential, they are not designed for characters to stay in, and possess no real strengths to speak of aside. It does not bode well for a class's standing if the best one can state about it is that it can be used to access a different class.
8 Myrmidon
While from an aesthetic perspective, Myrmidons may appear to be one of the cooler looking classes in Fire Emblem, in games such as Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, the class in beyond mediocre.
A frail class with low mobility, Myrmidons are designed to attempt to land critical attacks and dodge opponents attacks. Unfortunately, both of these traits are quite unreliable when not paired with a killing edge, leading to less than stellar results from myrmidons.
7 Fighter
The iconic axe-users of Fire Emblem, Fighters are often not worth the effort depending on which entry in the series a player happens to be playing.
Characterized by their high strength and HP, Fighters struggle in nearly every other category, often possessing notably poor speed, skill, and defense. This means that fighters will often fail to hit their mark, and be dealt noteworthy amounts of damage by enemy units at a startling rate.
6 Manakete
On paper, Manaketes should be some of the most interesting and powerful units in Fire Emblem. These powerful beings are very uncommon, with the series rarely providing more than one to a player in a given game. These units are capable of transforming into powerful dragons, and often possess potent stats in most categories.
Unfortunately, Manaketes come alongside a significant drawback: their dragon stones. Many entries in the series utilize a mechanic in which weaponry used by a player's units will break if it is used too often. Manaketes, unfortunately, can only fight when equipped with a dragon stone. While this would normally not be a problem, a player often only receives a single dragon stone in each game, highly limiting how much a player can use a Manakete, as, after the stone breaks, they'll be rendered useless.
5 Hunter
A variation of archers in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and its sequel Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, Hunters are far from a sought after class.
Only capable of fighting from two spaces away Hunters are unable to counterattack the majority of foes that may attack them. This is a significant problem for numerous reasons. Firstly, this prevents the unit from being able to contribute to combat in a meaningful way during the enemy phase. Furthermore, this prevents the class from being able to gain nearly as much experience as other classes that can engage numerous foes during the enemy phase.
At least Hunters gain access to a mount upon promotion.
4 Archers
Appearing in nearly every game in the series, Archers possess all of the same problems as Hunters. However, they land this slot on this list for appearing in more games in the series, giving them even more time to fail. Often lacking both defensively and offensively, these units can contribute little more in most games that "chip damage," helping to set up kills for other units. These weaknesses are further exemplified by the poor stats of most bows, further hindering those who may attempt to wield them.
Additionally, while Hunters may receive a mount when promoting, Archers promote into Snipers, (which in most entries in the series before Fire Emblem: Fates) were just as useless as archers.
3 Knights
Slow yet sturdy, Knights in Fire Emblem are characterized by their high defense and low speed. These units are usually ideal for defending specific areas and choking points on a map.
However, Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade's iteration simply lack any form of usefulness. In a game possessing numerous large maps, knights are incapable of keeping up with the rest of a player's army. Additionally, only being able to wield lances hinders these units even further, as players face a significant amount of axe -wielders across the game. This means that these units will constantly be at weapon triangle disadvantage, allowing enemies to cut through their defenses.
2 Lord (Lyn)
In Fire Emblem, the Lord class differs greatly depending on what game is being played, therefore the class often differs in quality from game to game. Similarly to myrmidons, Lyn's variation of the Lord class in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade simply lacks the utility and strength to be effective on its own and is perhaps one of the weakest classes in that entire game.
Only capable of wielding swords, this class is completely incapable of fighting opponents from afar. Furthermore, the class lacks mobility and defense, unfortunately needing to rely on dodging. While other lords within the same game receive large boosts to areas such as mobility and defense, Lyn's primary gain is access to bows.
1 Recruit
Appearing in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, recruit is a class with virtually no redeeming features. Similarly to the Noble and Commoner classes, Recruits are capable of promoting into numerous classes, providing them with flexibility.
Unfortunately, this class essentially starts at level negative ten, with abysmal stats, requiring players to train it up into what would be normally considered a starting class. Due to the pitiful stats the unit has access to, it is often considered more of a liability than an asset, and a player would be better off deploying any other unit they have access to.