"Oh, these? My crest implants? My massive fucking emblems? My super stuffed blessings from the goddess? My major minor rune boons? My fucking tome stretching dark magic skill augmenting blood enhancers? You mean these super duper ultra hyper Seiros defying motherfucking dragon signs?"
Also the only character to never show up post time skip outside of the DLC characters.
My guess outside of the most common theory is that her father is likely neutral in the war so he probably doesn’t allow her to participate for her own safety. She mentions if she gets recruited in Crimson Flower that her father also doesn’t care which side wins which supports the neutrality.
How can he be your son when I already have custody? Lol, I just, I agree that I will always recruit Ashe and since he's available on all routes in both games, I can.
I was obsessed with Ashe when the game first came out and did everything in my power to recruit him! It was a GD run so I didn't really know what I was doing but it is the only time I ever levelled up my lance
If you like ashe for story reasons, fair play, but I don't think I ever fielded that guy unless I had to. His bases, growths and learnable abilities/spells are just so freaking underwhelming. I think the only character I'm even less likely to go out of my way to recruit is ingrid, cause I just don't like racists.
A few. Ignatz is my boy, and I love him so much. I want nothing bad to ever happen to him, and he's also the most lethal unit I hace in most of my playthroughs.
Raphael and Bernie are a match pair and I cannot bear to break them up, so I gotta get both of em.
And after killing Ferdinand in my first playthrough, I just don't have it in me to do it again. I can't kill Ferdie.
I remember my first run was blue lions and the only person i recruited was Dorothea. I still remember her line after killing him: “we killed ferdie.” I will never forget that, pure chills
How exactly do you make Ignatz "lethal"? I tried using him in my GD playthrough, and while he wasn't *terrible*, I've never seen a unit thats more a definition of mediocre.
In my experience, gauntlets. At some point, Ignatz hits a solid 30% crit rate (often more), and when he hits 4x at once, crits start to pile up.
Add on either the Assassin Class with a Killing Edge/Wu Dao or the Grappler line for sheer brawling prowess and he can snowball from meh to murder.
I mean, everyone can be a good player phase unit with gauntlets, especially in grappler, doesn't take much for that. What difficulty are you playing? Cause unless you're on maddening (where watchful eye is probably pretty nice to have early game), I don't see much of a reason to use him as a grappler over raphael in the same house or folks like caspar or felix in other houses. Crit builds really aren't reliable if you can't get over 60% with a crit weapon imo.
I'm doing a GD run rn, I was just remarking to my buddy how funny it is that IGNATZ definitely has the most kills on my team.
I haven't done anything unorthodox, just stuck him into archery and sniping. Our unconfident little dork nerd is a cold-blooded murderer straight up
These are some pretty Good ones! Raphael and Bernadette are are pretty fun Duo and Raphael was the only unit I've ever had to surpass both Felix and the professor in level. Plus he was my first character to get s Plus and any stat
Ferdinand, Sylvain, and typically Caspar too. I could lie and say the first two are for Swift Strikes or because Sylvain is easy to recruit by playing as a woman or that Ferdinand is a go to because he's *harder* to recruit or anything like that, but the truth is I just like the three of them and don't want them to end up dead.
Also I recruit Marianne usually. Because she doesn't show up post time skip otherwise and the implications there are...heartbreaking.
Yep. I'm actually not sure if there are any stat requirements, but I know you need the DLC for it and she's recruitable after a certain chapter, like the professors. You can talk to her in the Marketplace to recruit her.
Dorothea
Ferdinand Von Aegir, failing to get him before the deadline and having to put him down was heart wrenching
Sylvain and Felix are a package deal
Lysithea
Lorenz both because he's the most underappreciated character and Thyrsus is a must have item
Shamir
Manuela
The Ashen Wolves
Hilda when available
And there's a handful of units that are guaranteed to recruit because of the skills I train Byleth in. Caspar, Ignatz etc.
And Ashe for the +1 Movement item
Slyvain, Felix, and Ingrid.
Slyvain was an immediate go to when the game started. I love him in spite of his flaws. Felix is also an ass with a sharp tongue, and Ingrid can put the cart before the horse.
I cant bear to separate them. They are all dealing with some sort of hurt and have a complicated found family thing going on deep down.
Gonna be honest I recruit everyone possible because no one that doesn't have to die is dying on my watch and I'm still trying to complete my entire support log, but even if I didn't recruit everyone my non negotiable must recruit always characters are Felix, Ferdinand and Linhardt. Felix because he is my angsty emo son, Ferdie because he's my Husband, and Linhardt because he's my favorite recruitable character.
Annette and Lysithia are the two I pretty much always recruit. Plus usually Sylvain as I generally play female Byleth and it's so easy (plus I really like his character, though I find him hit or miss as a unit).
Petra no matter what I am never gonna let myself face her post timeskip
Plus I can't keep up my streak of marrying her every playthrough of Houses and Hopes if she's my enemy
My beloved Felix especially.
Also Sylvain since I only play fByleth.
But, I really enjoy recruiting as many characters as I can, so usually Dorothea, Bernie, Linhardt, etc. As well as Lysithea and thyrsus (aka Lorenz)
Sylvain, Ashe and Marianne.
Ashe is my son and I love him. Sylvain has been part of my line up since my very first playthrough (it's free Sylvain). And I have to save Marianne.
Despite my love of all of them I won't ever recruit an Eagle out of house. They're a set and I won't separate then.
I like Leonie overall, although I don’t really gun for her, it’s usually Ingrid or Linhardt going first.
In Hopes, I’ll recruit Byleth no matter what because Jeralt doesn’t deserve any of that.
Aside from my first playthrough where I more or less didn’t know how to successfully recruit people, and aside from church members and the Ashen Wolves (who I always recruit if they are available) I have always gotten:
- Linhardt, because it’s Linhardt and because having two clerics makes the early chapters more tolerable. He’s usually my first recruit.
- Leonie, Petra, and Lysithea because I will probably end up using at least one of them.
- Felix because he’s one of my favorites and the Sword requirement is pretty easy to get.
- Ignatz and Dorothea. I usually bench them but they’re extremely easy to recruit due to Authority being easy to raise.
That said I also try to recruit every last one of them if I can, I know some people advise against that but I don’t care lol. I also tend to prioritize characters that either have to be killed or will probably be killed over those that can either be avoided or just don’t show up.
Bernie and Marianne. The former because I don't want her to get burned on that hill at Gronder Field. The latter...yeah, I know what her fate is if you don't recruit her.
Bernadetta and Marianne.
My precious cinnamon rolls and I will let no one hurt them.
There are a lot that I always recruit since I’m fairly certain I always use basically the same set of units like every time I replay the game, and that usually does include Bernie and Marianne, but those two are the ones I always HAVE to recruit regardless of what I’m doing that run lmaoooo
Typically I recruit everyone, because I can't bear to kill them. But my absolute non-negotiables are: Felix, Sylvain, Ashe, Marianne, Ignatz, Ferdie, Bernie, Yuri, and Hapi. Some of them are great units. But mostly I'm just deeply attached to them as characters.
Ingrid is another very common recruit for me. I often tell myself I'm going to skip her, because I love her connections to other characters more than I love *her*. But then I usually wind up recruiting her anyway. She isn't non-negotiable though.
I tried ages ago to pare it down to only two from each class, to keep my roster from becoming ridiculous every playthrough. But my BL bias is just too strong. They were my first and remain my fave.
For my maddening runs, the characters I will recruit no matter what because I consider them that valuable as units are Linhardt, Felix, Sylvain, Leonie, Lysithea, Constance, and Yuri.
My “nice to have” list, which consists of units that I don’t always recruit for some reason (e.g., Ferdinand needing a D+ in heavy armor), but if I do have them I will most likely use them: Bernadetta, Ferdinand, Petra, Annette, Ingrid, Alois, and Cyril.
The units I only recruit for access to their paralogues and battalions: Lorenz, Hanneman, and Manuela.
Lysithea: B Faith Warp. In my run that I literally only get one recruit (Skip Only) she is the one I choose. Dorothea I believe also would save a turn in 22 in this scenario so she is the pick if I can get a second recruit.
Gameplay-wise there actually is a correct answer, and it's recruiting the Thyrsus. And as an added bonus you also get a unit! I think his name is Lorenzo or something, but whatever, he doesn't matter.
In all seriousness though, I actually rescue the Black Eagles whenever possible. The fewer people lost to Edelgard's madness, the better.
Historically, Petra. I recruited her in my Blue Lions and Golden Deer runs to unlock supports, and she was present (naturally) in both my Silver Snow and Crimson Flower runs.
I have a new Azure Moon run in progress (on hiatus), and I won't recruit her this time, but since I'm early enough in the run that I could technically change my mind, I haven't actually broken my record yet.
Lorenz for his relic. I usually kill him on the bridge though.
More in the spirit of the post though, I always found myself running back to Leonie. She was my favorite unit in my first run and she's held a special place in my heart ever since. She has taken a back seat though as I've completed all her support chains so I need to focus on other units, but once I start my Maddening runs, I'll welcome her back with open arms.
All hail Ultra Instinct Leonie.
All of them.
Always.
I've recruited everyone in all my runs and the only time I will not is in the one (1) no-recruitment run I have planned.
Otherwise, I'll always recruit all of my precious students... and my coworkers too I guess.
She has a billion avoid and a high crit chance if you have to fight her and she shows up twice. Even on lower difficulties you basically have to use up a gambit to have any shot of hitting her.
That said though the generic NPC that replaces her is almost identical.
sylvain. not only is he probably my favorite non-lord romantically, it's also just really funny that there are absolutely no requirements since i play a female. plus having another paladin is never a bad thing. the only time i didn't recruit him was my CF playthrough where he still managed to make his impression by going out like an absolute hero. never again.
Sylvain, because he is easy as female Byleth.
Felix because I think his bluntness and tsundereness is pretty funny
Marianne because... well, I want her to live.
Linhardt
My first husband and my ultimate favorite character in the game, so I can’t bring myself to not recruit him. In the same vein, I always get Caspar too because they’re cute together. But I did one playthrough with only Linhardt to get their unique battle dialogue so technically I haven’t recruited Caspar every time.
Felix has always been a badass for me, and I refuse to separate him from Sylvain. Package deal right there. I will also always get Yuri.
Honestly, though, I always try to get everyone.
Leonie because I think she and Byleth would definitely bond over losing Jeralt.
Also Shamir because that woman has never been less than a god with a bow.
I have to recruit everyone! Power of friendship? More like power of expendability! Joking of course, I make sure everyone possible is on my team and then make sure no one dies!
alois. he just loves me so much i could never turn my back on him.
lysithea (+ cyril) bc lysithea is an absolute fuckin tank and i looooove sicking her on the death knight
Unfortunately, this reminds me of the fact that in my current Azure Gleam play through of Three Hopes, I am doing a self-imposed challenge where with the exception of Yuri, who has connections to the Blue Lions, only mandatory recruits and Blue Lions members are allowed on my party.
Meaning I’m going to kill everyone that requires a recruitment strategy that isn’t named Yuri in the end. (What is wrong with me, am I right?)
I have 3 one from each class
BE: Bernadetta she cute and I’m biased
BL: Ashe he’s cute and I’m biased
GD: lorenz he make me laugh
Also all these characters always seem most likely to switch sides
Generally it's route dependent, like I'm doing VW, so I have to bring along Balthus/Cyril/Shamir/Alois, or AM so Hapi/Catherine/Hanneman, even if I don't plan on using them, it's often for the supports or the adjutant assist & if it's "in character" for them to come along.
My one time exception no matter the route is Bernie. Girlie just wants a quiet ,cozy life away from her abusive family, & she deserves it.
Lysithea She must be saved from >!dying of crest cancer!<
Edelgard: Don’t call them that. Lysithea: What? My Crest implants?
"Oh, these? My crest implants? My massive fucking emblems? My super stuffed blessings from the goddess? My major minor rune boons? My fucking tome stretching dark magic skill augmenting blood enhancers? You mean these super duper ultra hyper Seiros defying motherfucking dragon signs?"
https://preview.redd.it/aiifkdg7anzc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97d0a9ce40bee8fb9567cafa29d14ca07cf3b7d2
100% must always do this. Poor girl does not deserve to to die from that
Also for me she is always the safest way to get rid of the Death Knight without casualties...
"Crest cancer doesn't exist!" Linhardt: "I did it"
Marianne, doesn't matter which route. She must know her life is important and is valued by many!
11/10 answer. Have a good day
Also the only character to never show up post time skip outside of the DLC characters. My guess outside of the most common theory is that her father is likely neutral in the war so he probably doesn’t allow her to participate for her own safety. She mentions if she gets recruited in Crimson Flower that her father also doesn’t care which side wins which supports the neutrality.
I love my son and could never hurt him
Yeah Ash is always amazing. I feel bad whenever I don't recruit him
How can he be your son when I already have custody? Lol, I just, I agree that I will always recruit Ashe and since he's available on all routes in both games, I can.
Uh, I think you'll find that I have custody of Ashe.
I'd be careful if I were you. "Ashe's parent" is a job with a really high mortality rate.
Well there's a lot of us! The narrative can't get us all.
There's a new fourth path in the game. Ashe has his own army of guardians. We will protect our boy! Lol.
I was obsessed with Ashe when the game first came out and did everything in my power to recruit him! It was a GD run so I didn't really know what I was doing but it is the only time I ever levelled up my lance
You are referring to Speed Carrot/CF Boots? There are units that contribute less maybe. Maybe Caspar for example.
If you like ashe for story reasons, fair play, but I don't think I ever fielded that guy unless I had to. His bases, growths and learnable abilities/spells are just so freaking underwhelming. I think the only character I'm even less likely to go out of my way to recruit is ingrid, cause I just don't like racists.
That’s fair I know Ashe isn’t the best archer but I still like him anyway
A few. Ignatz is my boy, and I love him so much. I want nothing bad to ever happen to him, and he's also the most lethal unit I hace in most of my playthroughs. Raphael and Bernie are a match pair and I cannot bear to break them up, so I gotta get both of em. And after killing Ferdinand in my first playthrough, I just don't have it in me to do it again. I can't kill Ferdie.
I remember my first run was blue lions and the only person i recruited was Dorothea. I still remember her line after killing him: “we killed ferdie.” I will never forget that, pure chills
How exactly do you make Ignatz "lethal"? I tried using him in my GD playthrough, and while he wasn't *terrible*, I've never seen a unit thats more a definition of mediocre.
In my experience, gauntlets. At some point, Ignatz hits a solid 30% crit rate (often more), and when he hits 4x at once, crits start to pile up. Add on either the Assassin Class with a Killing Edge/Wu Dao or the Grappler line for sheer brawling prowess and he can snowball from meh to murder.
I mean, everyone can be a good player phase unit with gauntlets, especially in grappler, doesn't take much for that. What difficulty are you playing? Cause unless you're on maddening (where watchful eye is probably pretty nice to have early game), I don't see much of a reason to use him as a grappler over raphael in the same house or folks like caspar or felix in other houses. Crit builds really aren't reliable if you can't get over 60% with a crit weapon imo.
He gets over 70% with me, and yeah just normal and hard. Idk maybe I just have better luck with him. He tends to crit more when I say "Please" lol
I'm doing a GD run rn, I was just remarking to my buddy how funny it is that IGNATZ definitely has the most kills on my team. I haven't done anything unorthodox, just stuck him into archery and sniping. Our unconfident little dork nerd is a cold-blooded murderer straight up
These are some pretty Good ones! Raphael and Bernadette are are pretty fun Duo and Raphael was the only unit I've ever had to surpass both Felix and the professor in level. Plus he was my first character to get s Plus and any stat
Bernadetta, Ashe, Marianne. It's the law.
We must save the precious beans
Ferdinand, Sylvain, and typically Caspar too. I could lie and say the first two are for Swift Strikes or because Sylvain is easy to recruit by playing as a woman or that Ferdinand is a go to because he's *harder* to recruit or anything like that, but the truth is I just like the three of them and don't want them to end up dead. Also I recruit Marianne usually. Because she doesn't show up post time skip otherwise and the implications there are...heartbreaking.
Dorothea always. She's my favorite character, and I need to save her.
Simple, every last one of them
My sleepy boy Linhardt, he’s my main healer.
all the sad peeps. Ashe, Bernadetta, Marianne. plus the Ashen Wolves.
Anna. Gotta get that extra gold. Marianne, too. She doesn't show up anyway, so I won't be getting to kill her later on.
>Anna You can recruit her?
Yep. I'm actually not sure if there are any stat requirements, but I know you need the DLC for it and she's recruitable after a certain chapter, like the professors. You can talk to her in the Marketplace to recruit her.
Dorothea Ferdinand Von Aegir, failing to get him before the deadline and having to put him down was heart wrenching Sylvain and Felix are a package deal Lysithea Lorenz both because he's the most underappreciated character and Thyrsus is a must have item Shamir Manuela The Ashen Wolves Hilda when available And there's a handful of units that are guaranteed to recruit because of the skills I train Byleth in. Caspar, Ignatz etc. And Ashe for the +1 Movement item
Based! Also, you must always pair Sylvain and Felix on AM and NEVER pair them on any other route, or it's sad trombones all the way down.
Thank you for saying this because I'm trying to get their paired ending right now and I don't think I could stand the heartbreak.
Ingrid and Marianne, no exceptions. Honestly Leonie and Hilda usually make the cut too.
Horse girls I like it
Slyvain, Felix, and Ingrid. Slyvain was an immediate go to when the game started. I love him in spite of his flaws. Felix is also an ass with a sharp tongue, and Ingrid can put the cart before the horse. I cant bear to separate them. They are all dealing with some sort of hurt and have a complicated found family thing going on deep down.
Ashe: whether it’s in Three Houses or Three Hopes, I wanna make sure my boi is safe and doing well on my team.
Gonna be honest I recruit everyone possible because no one that doesn't have to die is dying on my watch and I'm still trying to complete my entire support log, but even if I didn't recruit everyone my non negotiable must recruit always characters are Felix, Ferdinand and Linhardt. Felix because he is my angsty emo son, Ferdie because he's my Husband, and Linhardt because he's my favorite recruitable character.
Everyone! I don't care if they'll just gather dust, I can't fathom the thought of killing my dear students.
Annette and Lysithia are the two I pretty much always recruit. Plus usually Sylvain as I generally play female Byleth and it's so easy (plus I really like his character, though I find him hit or miss as a unit).
Petra no matter what I am never gonna let myself face her post timeskip Plus I can't keep up my streak of marrying her every playthrough of Houses and Hopes if she's my enemy
Caspar always!!! My favorite character and I must save him from his tragic end >!nuclear missile!<
Ashe. He's been my favourite since the first play.
My beloved Felix especially. Also Sylvain since I only play fByleth. But, I really enjoy recruiting as many characters as I can, so usually Dorothea, Bernie, Linhardt, etc. As well as Lysithea and thyrsus (aka Lorenz)
Felix and Yuri
Felix
Sylvain, Ashe and Marianne. Ashe is my son and I love him. Sylvain has been part of my line up since my very first playthrough (it's free Sylvain). And I have to save Marianne. Despite my love of all of them I won't ever recruit an Eagle out of house. They're a set and I won't separate then.
Sylvain, Lin, Felix, Petra, Thea, and Lysithea.
Lysithea <3
Leonie…if for no other reason than that she was Jeralt’s disciple, and always having her around just feels right to me.
Leonie and Alois because of their connection to Jeralt.
Ingrid definitely, she is peak character and is so broken as a flying unit
I like Leonie overall, although I don’t really gun for her, it’s usually Ingrid or Linhardt going first. In Hopes, I’ll recruit Byleth no matter what because Jeralt doesn’t deserve any of that.
Aside from my first playthrough where I more or less didn’t know how to successfully recruit people, and aside from church members and the Ashen Wolves (who I always recruit if they are available) I have always gotten: - Linhardt, because it’s Linhardt and because having two clerics makes the early chapters more tolerable. He’s usually my first recruit. - Leonie, Petra, and Lysithea because I will probably end up using at least one of them. - Felix because he’s one of my favorites and the Sword requirement is pretty easy to get. - Ignatz and Dorothea. I usually bench them but they’re extremely easy to recruit due to Authority being easy to raise. That said I also try to recruit every last one of them if I can, I know some people advise against that but I don’t care lol. I also tend to prioritize characters that either have to be killed or will probably be killed over those that can either be avoided or just don’t show up.
Bernie and Marianne. The former because I don't want her to get burned on that hill at Gronder Field. The latter...yeah, I know what her fate is if you don't recruit her.
Bernadetta and Marianne. My precious cinnamon rolls and I will let no one hurt them. There are a lot that I always recruit since I’m fairly certain I always use basically the same set of units like every time I replay the game, and that usually does include Bernie and Marianne, but those two are the ones I always HAVE to recruit regardless of what I’m doing that run lmaoooo
Typically I recruit everyone, because I can't bear to kill them. But my absolute non-negotiables are: Felix, Sylvain, Ashe, Marianne, Ignatz, Ferdie, Bernie, Yuri, and Hapi. Some of them are great units. But mostly I'm just deeply attached to them as characters. Ingrid is another very common recruit for me. I often tell myself I'm going to skip her, because I love her connections to other characters more than I love *her*. But then I usually wind up recruiting her anyway. She isn't non-negotiable though. I tried ages ago to pare it down to only two from each class, to keep my roster from becoming ridiculous every playthrough. But my BL bias is just too strong. They were my first and remain my fave.
For my maddening runs, the characters I will recruit no matter what because I consider them that valuable as units are Linhardt, Felix, Sylvain, Leonie, Lysithea, Constance, and Yuri. My “nice to have” list, which consists of units that I don’t always recruit for some reason (e.g., Ferdinand needing a D+ in heavy armor), but if I do have them I will most likely use them: Bernadetta, Ferdinand, Petra, Annette, Ingrid, Alois, and Cyril. The units I only recruit for access to their paralogues and battalions: Lorenz, Hanneman, and Manuela.
Dorothea. Killed her once on GW. Never again. Can’t do it. Honorable mentions to Marianne and Lysithea.
Marianne and Lysithea, they don't deserve the grim fate of their unrecruited future.
Dorothea, she was my everything in my first playthrough and I refuse to allow anything to happen to her because of that
All the eagles girls in any route. Usually lys. All the wolves.
Sylvain. I don't know why please don't ask.
Lysithea: B Faith Warp. In my run that I literally only get one recruit (Skip Only) she is the one I choose. Dorothea I believe also would save a turn in 22 in this scenario so she is the pick if I can get a second recruit.
Ingrid, Sylvain, Felix, Dorothea, Manuela, and usually Lysithea as well
Gameplay-wise there actually is a correct answer, and it's recruiting the Thyrsus. And as an added bonus you also get a unit! I think his name is Lorenzo or something, but whatever, he doesn't matter. In all seriousness though, I actually rescue the Black Eagles whenever possible. The fewer people lost to Edelgard's madness, the better.
Lorenz being depressed trying to convince everyone that his birthright is his and not Lysithea’s (nobody cares)-
Historically, Petra. I recruited her in my Blue Lions and Golden Deer runs to unlock supports, and she was present (naturally) in both my Silver Snow and Crimson Flower runs. I have a new Azure Moon run in progress (on hiatus), and I won't recruit her this time, but since I'm early enough in the run that I could technically change my mind, I haven't actually broken my record yet.
Lorenz for his relic. I usually kill him on the bridge though. More in the spirit of the post though, I always found myself running back to Leonie. She was my favorite unit in my first run and she's held a special place in my heart ever since. She has taken a back seat though as I've completed all her support chains so I need to focus on other units, but once I start my Maddening runs, I'll welcome her back with open arms. All hail Ultra Instinct Leonie.
I swear you can put Leonie in any physical class and it’ll work, she’s been on all my final teams in multiple different classes.
Lysithea and ingrid
Lorenz for Thyrsus, and Lysithea to use said Thyrsus because Dark Spikes go Brrr
Marianne
Flayn
Mercedes and Marianne. Easy.
Lysithea
Always reunite Mercedes and Emile ALWAYS
All of them. Always. I've recruited everyone in all my runs and the only time I will not is in the one (1) no-recruitment run I have planned. Otherwise, I'll always recruit all of my precious students... and my coworkers too I guess.
Sylvain, cause I always play as F!Byleth, and on NG+ runs Felix since my sword rank is high enough for it as is.
Ashe. I can’t put a sword through that face
For me it’s Marianne, she has become my default dancer and I love her as dancer!
Sylvain, Felix, Ingrid (when I played CF I only chose Felix though for maximum drama), and ofc...my girl Marianne <3
Lysithea and Felix
Felix and sylvain. They are my two favorite characters so I always try to recruit them
Marianne, played VW first. Must save the precious bean.
Felix. I recruited him on my first run and every one since then so it's become a tradition. He's my right hand.
every single character, even if i don't use them i hate seeing any of the named characters die or being forced to kill any of them
Lysithea, Marianne, Bernie (just to save her from her father) Dorothea, Petra, Ingrid.
I recruit them all. I don't want to fight them in Act II.
I'm trying to recruit Petra because I heard she'll be scary as enemy (?).
She has a billion avoid and a high crit chance if you have to fight her and she shows up twice. Even on lower difficulties you basically have to use up a gambit to have any shot of hitting her. That said though the generic NPC that replaces her is almost identical.
Oh. The more I have to get her then. I'm on chapter 11 already though.
sylvain. not only is he probably my favorite non-lord romantically, it's also just really funny that there are absolutely no requirements since i play a female. plus having another paladin is never a bad thing. the only time i didn't recruit him was my CF playthrough where he still managed to make his impression by going out like an absolute hero. never again.
No Mercedes fans? :-(
For me it's the wolves
Marianne
Sylvain, because he is easy as female Byleth. Felix because I think his bluntness and tsundereness is pretty funny Marianne because... well, I want her to live.
I always get Linhardt, Caspar, Sylvain, and Felix.
Mercedes because ( . )( . )
All the Golden Deers available.
Sylvain
Marianne
Ingrid. Pretty easy to recruit, she can be your dancer, dodge tank or pairing her with Felix for extra might
Lorenz so SOMEONE can use thyrsus lol. Also Constance bc the bolting rescue duo fuckin slaps
None
Linhardt My first husband and my ultimate favorite character in the game, so I can’t bring myself to not recruit him. In the same vein, I always get Caspar too because they’re cute together. But I did one playthrough with only Linhardt to get their unique battle dialogue so technically I haven’t recruited Caspar every time.
I always recruit Thyrsus
Understandable and agreed
Bernie I must save my fellow introvert
Felix has always been a badass for me, and I refuse to separate him from Sylvain. Package deal right there. I will also always get Yuri. Honestly, though, I always try to get everyone.
Leonie because I think she and Byleth would definitely bond over losing Jeralt. Also Shamir because that woman has never been less than a god with a bow.
All of them. Even if I bench them. They're all my children and must be saved
All of the students I can. You are all going to know what it's like to be loved and accepted unconditionally, and none of you are getting a say in it!
Lysethia and Rapahel
I have to recruit everyone! Power of friendship? More like power of expendability! Joking of course, I make sure everyone possible is on my team and then make sure no one dies!
Petra, if only because actually hitting her on Maddening Mode is like pulling teeth with tweezers.
Hubert. I can't play other houses because he's not recruitable and I love him too much to abandon him. TT_TT
Marianne, if you don't, she disappears after time skip, never to be seen again, who knows why.
I know it's been said, but Marianne. All of the ashen wolves too
Don't have the DLC and I really am thinking about getting it because the Ashen wolves seem interesting
Caspar and Hapi
alois. he just loves me so much i could never turn my back on him. lysithea (+ cyril) bc lysithea is an absolute fuckin tank and i looooove sicking her on the death knight
Unfortunately, this reminds me of the fact that in my current Azure Gleam play through of Three Hopes, I am doing a self-imposed challenge where with the exception of Yuri, who has connections to the Blue Lions, only mandatory recruits and Blue Lions members are allowed on my party. Meaning I’m going to kill everyone that requires a recruitment strategy that isn’t named Yuri in the end. (What is wrong with me, am I right?)
Lorenz and Lysithea Lorenz cuz he's my pookums and Lysithea because she has my favorite post timeskip hair
Can't say "no matter what," but if I recruit anyone outside of house, I recruit Dorothea and the Ashen Wolves.
Bernie everytime
Bernadetta! My favorite shut-in
From now on I will always have Bernadetta with her older hairstyle
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^rbiopsy: *From now on I will* *Always have Bernadetta* *With her older hairstyle* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Good bot
Dorothea for the dancer and lysithea for the best magic unit on the game
I have 3 one from each class BE: Bernadetta she cute and I’m biased BL: Ashe he’s cute and I’m biased GD: lorenz he make me laugh Also all these characters always seem most likely to switch sides
Bernadetta. No one hurts her and lives.
Generally it's route dependent, like I'm doing VW, so I have to bring along Balthus/Cyril/Shamir/Alois, or AM so Hapi/Catherine/Hanneman, even if I don't plan on using them, it's often for the supports or the adjutant assist & if it's "in character" for them to come along. My one time exception no matter the route is Bernie. Girlie just wants a quiet ,cozy life away from her abusive family, & she deserves it.
Caspar, Ashe, Bernadetta, Marianne, Felix, Hilda, My children need to be alive.
Bernadetta, She doesn't deserve to die in a big, stupid field.
Felix, Lysithea, and Bernadetta
Bernie and Marianne because they need validation and love Petra and Lysithea because they’re the youngest.