While the story and characters aren’t as serious, tragic and mature as its predecessor’s, Engage makes up for it with some of the best gameplay and map design the series has seen in a while. The difficulty curve is solid, Maddening Mode is a delight and most characters are useable, with a good variety of classes for players to experiment with. Whilst the advanced classes are where all the fun lies, the base classes are important to setting up a foundation for characters and not having a tough time early on, this is especially important for the higher difficulties. With this in mind, here are the best classes players should be using, though this is not to say the classes omitted from this list are bad.
7 Lord
This is an exclusive class only available to Diamant and Alcryst. The sword variant Diamant has is essentially a basic sword fighter with some unique lord quirks, the class to be quite honest is quite underwhelming, it just gets carried by Diamant’s own raw stats and growth rates. The bow variant Alcryst has is much better than the base archer class, it comes with all the best parts of archers, and Alcryst’s own personal strengths. To put it simply, Alcryst acts as the best base archer in the game.
While the Lord class isn’t anything too fancy or special, it still stands as one of the best base classes in the game simply owing to the strong units that have access to it. The unique upgraded versions available to Diamant and Alcryst are really powerful too.
6 Cavalier
The cavalier class is a staple of the Fire Emblem series, from Able and Cain to Stahl and Sully, cavaliers have been some of the best characters in every game they’re in. Engage is no different. Players can opt for sword, axe and lance cavaliers. Each of them possess solid offensive and defensive stats coupled with incredible movement and versatility.
The Axe and Lance variants are probably the best options, simply because there’s already an abundance of sword units in the game, and the weapon’s weaknesses are evident in the cavalier class. Lance and Axe cavaliers on the other hand hit hard, and can occasionally double attack enemies should players get lucky with their unit’s speed.
5 Axe Fighter
Axe Fighters are another staple of the Fire Emblem series. They’re usually not that good owing to their low accuracy and simply the characters locked to the class are usually not that good. In Engage, however, players have a lot of freedom as to who they can make axe fighters, though to be honest Anna and even Boucheron do a decent job of it as is.
Axe Fighters have really high strength growths and base strengths that can compliment certain units very well if players start tinkering around with their army.
4 Martial Monk
This is a new class exclusive to Fire Emblem Engage. Martial Monks can use staffs or staves to heal and support their allies on the battlefield, but unlike the cleric class present in most games in the series, Martial Monks can also fight using ‘Arts’. Martial Monks can equip knuckles or gauntlets to boost their offensive output, these weapons are low in strength but just as accurate as swords and attack twice in a row, similar to brave weapons.
Martial Monks aren’t experts at combat, but their supportive use and their versatility make them a welcome addition to any roster. The fact that players can have healers who can defend themselves can be a benefit in higher difficulties, albeit these units should still, ideally avoid combat.
3 Sentinel
The Sentinel class is used by Fogado and Timerra, though other units can change to it with a second seal, and if they meet the relevant requirements. Sentinels are essentially Nomads or Bow Cavaliers from earlier games.
They can do everything that archers do, but they do it on a horse, so they tend to have better defenses and of course, really solid movement. The drawback being their raw stats are usually not as good, but the promoted class, and both Fogado and Timerra’s own unique strengths make up for this.
2 Thief
Thieves always deserve an honorable mention in any Fire Emblem game, while not the best combat units, their utility is unmatched. The pass skill allows them to ignore enemies while moving around, along with this is their usual lockpicking skills, access to knives.
Moreover, both Zelkov and Yunaka have very powerful unique skills making them useful to keep around. Yunaka’s skill boosts critical hits, while Zelkov, who albeit joins later on inflicts ‘Hit -10’ on enemies during combat, which can make him a very useful distraction should the need arise.
1 Lance Flier
The Lance Flier class might be the best in the game. These units can fly around the map, they have high speed and skill, making them fast and accurate, and they’re ability to traverse around the map is unmatched. Lance Fliers are fast and can easily double enemies, especially on lower difficulties.
Access to Javelins makes them very powerful at poking and whittling down enemies as well. On top of this Chloe joins as a Lance Flier, and she is easily one of the best units in the game.
Fire Emblem Engage is now available for the Nintendo Switch.
More: Fire Emblem Engage: How to Get All Emblems
