Swordmaster

The Swordmaster (ソードマスター, Swordmaster; 剣聖 Kensei, Sword Saint, in the Japanese version of Fire Emblem Fates) is the promotion of the Myrmidon. These lightly armored foot soldiers are capable and have an increased chance to deal critical attacks. The Swordmaster has a high amount of speed when compared to many of the other classes, giving them high accuracy and evasion, making them a very deadly class. The Swordmaster class was officially introduced in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (where Ayra and her daughter Larcei defined the class, including its signature skill, Astra). The Blade Lord Lyndis from Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken and the Great Lord Eirika from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones are considered to be a variations of Swordmasters, having the same stat caps. The average HP stat of Swordmasters varies greatly regardless of gender, it can be high or low.

Combat
While the defense rating has risen since the promotion from Myrmidon, the Swordmaster's defense is still considered lighter than normal classes. With this, the same weaknesses still apply to the class, but the strengths still do as well. With high speed and generally average strength, Swordmasters deliver both strong and accurate attacks, and are swift dodgers, making their counterattacks equally as formidable. Swordmasters are the speediest class when upgraded, so are effective at facing bosses thanks to their high chance to dodge. Their extremely limited access to ranged attacks is another substantial weakness, though their magic stat, which tends to be marginally superior to those of other nonmagical units, allows them to use weapons such as the Levin Sword in a pinch.

The two skills Swordmasters can learn in Awakening are Astra and Swordfaire. When Astra is activated (The trigger percentage equals Skill divided by 2), the user unleashes five consecutive strikes at half damage, dealing a maximum of 2.5 times the normal damage. However, units with Astra should be especially careful around Counter units if they are attacking in melee, because the individual half-damage strikes from the Skill's activation are less likely to secure kills on their own, and thus, are more likely to incur damaging - and possibly, even fatal - backlash. Swordfaire boosts the user's Strength by 5 if he/she is wielding a sword (Magic is upped by 5 if the user has a Levin Sword). Swordmasters tend to have average or below average Strength and poor Magic growths, so this skill is good for rectifying that problem.

Attacking these units outside their range with other high accuracy classes with magic or bows is recommended, but only if the ranged unit is also blocked by a stronger class to block the Swordmaster's advance. Therefore, exploiting their flaws is effectively easier when attacking behind walls, as their magic resistance is generally quite low, being a melee class. Also, swordmasters gain a critical boost among promotion that varies depending on the game played (e.g. 30% in Binding Blade and 15% in Rekka no Ken, Sacred Stones, and the US version of Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, where Trueblades, swordmasters promoted, have 20%). In Awakening, the critical boost does not occur, but with the Swordfaire skill the damage increase will make up for it.

When the class was first introduced in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War they had the highest strength (tied with the traditional high strength classes such as Wyvern Lords), the highest SPD cap, the highest SKL cap, and a fairly good defense cap. The swordmasters in that game also had good to excellent growth in those areas as well. After Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, the strength of the swordmaster class was considerably lowered.

In WiFi battles, Swordmasters are often used for their simplicity. Their high speed and lack of obvious weakness make them decent. Their main flaws are low movement, lack of ranged weapons and weapon triangle rigidity. Swordmasters are among the easiest units to obtain, although some care needs to be taken with their generally low defense stat.

Promotions
In the GBA Fire Emblem series,the Swordmaster is the promoted version of the Myrmidon and can not be promoted any further. However, in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, a Swordmaster can further be promoted to a Trueblade upon reaching level 21 or reaching level 10 or above and using a Master Crown.

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

 * HP: 80
 * Str: 27
 * Mag: 15
 * Skl: 30
 * Spd: 30
 * Lck: 30
 * Def: 22
 * Res: 18

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

 * HP: 80
 * Str: 20
 * Mag: 20
 * Skl: 20
 * Spd: 20
 * Lck: 20
 * Def: 20
 * Mov: 20
 * Bld: 20

Fire Emblem: Binding Blade

 * HP: 60
 * Str: 24(M) 22(F)
 * Skl: 29
 * Spd: 30
 * Luck: 30
 * Def: 22
 * Res: 23(M) 25(F)
 * Con: 25(M) 20(F)

Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken

 * HP: 60
 * Str: 24(M) 22(F)
 * Skl: 29
 * Spd: 30
 * Lck: 30
 * Def: 22
 * Res: 23(M) 25(F)
 * Sword: S

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

 * HP: 60
 * Str: 24(M) 22(F)
 * Skl: 29
 * Spd: 30
 * Lck: 30
 * Def: 22
 * Res: 23(M) 25(F)
 * Sword: S

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

 * HP: 60
 * Str: 24(M) 22(F)
 * Mag: 20
 * Skl: 29
 * Spd: 30
 * Lck: 40
 * Def: 24(M) 22(F)
 * Res: 22(M) 25(F)

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

 * HP: 60
 * Str: 24
 * Mag: 20
 * Skl: 29
 * Spd: 30
 * Lck: 30
 * Def: 22
 * Res: 23
 * Sword: A

Fire Emblem: Awakening

 * HP: 80
 * Str: 38
 * Mag: 34
 * Skl: 44
 * Spd: 46
 * Lck: 45
 * Def: 33
 * Res: 38
 * Sword: A

Fates

 * HP: 55
 * Str: 30
 * Mag: 28
 * Skl: 32
 * Spd: 35
 * Lck: 33
 * Def: 27
 * Res: 31
 * Sword: S

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

 * Shanan - The crown prince of Isaach, the son of Mariccle, the nephew of Ayra, and the cousin of Ulster and Larcei
 * Lamia - a cruel swordwoman hired by Duke Daccar
 * Simia - One of the Twelve Deadlords
 * Promotion for: Ayra, Larcei

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

 * Eyvel - The leader of the Fiana Freeblades, who is really an amnesiac Briggid
 * Shanam - A mercenary from Silesse who impersonates Shanan
 * Promotion for: Mareeta, Shiva, and Trewd

Fire Emblem: Binding Blade

 * Gel
 * Karel - The former "Sword Demon," now known as the "Sword Saint"; brother-in-law of Bartre and the uncle of Fir
 * Promotion for: Rutger, Fir

Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken

 * Karel - A man known as the "Sword Demon", Karla's older brother
 * Karla - Karel's younger sister
 * Lloyd Reed - The "White Wolf" of the Black Fang, one of the Four Fangs, and the older son of Brendan Reed
 * Promotion for: Guy

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

 * Ismaire (Creature Campaign only) - The queen of Jehanna and Joshua's mother
 * Carlyle - the former leader of Jehanna's army who betrays Jehanna and sides with Grado
 * Promotion for: Joshua, Marisa

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

 * Stefan - A Branded who resides in the Grann Desert
 * Lucia - Older sister of Geoffrey and Elincia's milk sibling
 * Homasa
 * Promotion for: Mia, Zihark

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

 * Zihark - A citizen of Daein who fights against the Begnion Occupational Army
 * Lucia
 * Mia - Member of the Greil Mercenaries
 * Tashoria
 * Promotion for: Edward

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

 * Promotion for: Nabarl, Radd, Athena

Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~

 * Promotion for: Nabarl, Radd, Athena, Malice & Samto

Fire Emblem: Awakening

 * Say'ri - Former princess of Chon'sin and Yen'fay's younger sister
 * Yen'fay - Former king of Chon'sin and Say'ri's older brother
 * Seliph (DLC)
 * Lyn (DLC)
 * Deen (SpotPass)
 * Simia- One of the twelve Deadlords
 * Promotion for: Lon'qu and Owain

Fire Emblem Fates

 * Sumeragi - The former king of Hoshido and the father of Ryoma, Hinoka, Takumi, and Sakura.
 * Ryoma - The military leader and oldest royal child of Hoshido.
 * Promotion for Hana, Hinata, and Hisame

Trivia

 * In Fates, Swordmasters can dual wield special weapons such as the Hagakure or Hoshido's Mist Blade