Dancer

The Dancer (踊り子 Odoriko) is a support class that appears recurrently across the Fire Emblem Series, beginning from Mystery of the Emblem. A female-exclusive class, the Dancer possesses the unique ability to utilize the Dance command on an allied unit and grant them an extra turn within the same player phase. In titles where they wield Swords for self-defense, Dancers are not known for their combat prowess, and are instead primarily used for their ability to Dance. Dancers are typically player-exclusive, only being encountered as enemy units in various chapters of Thracia 776 or when fighting another player's team in Awakening.

While "Dancer" is used as an umbrella term to refer to all units who possess the ability to refresh a unit who has expended their turn, a number of these units are not technically of the Dancer class. The Heron Laguz of the Tellius Series, for instance, are imbued with this ability despite not being Dancers. This also applies to the Songstress class from Fates.

History in the Series
In its original inception in Mystery of the Emblem, the Dancer class is granted the ability to engage in combat with Swords alongside supporting their allies through invigorating dances. Unable to promote, Dancers are simply permitted to gain a maximum level of 30.

The Dancer (ダンサー Dansā) class appears in Genealogy of the Holy War as classes of only Sylvia, her daughter Lene, and her substitute Laylea.

In Thracia 776, the Dancer class can only be accessed by the player by having Lara, a female character who starts out as a Thief, trigger an event in Chapter 12x. Able to trigger the event even as a Thief Fighter, Lara is also, oddly enough, able to promote into the aforementioned class as a Dancer. This title functions as the only one in the series within which Dancers emerge as enemy units.

In The Binding Blade and The Blazing Blade, Bards are instated as the male variant of the Dancer class. They fulfil the exact same role as their female counterparts through music performed with either the harp in The Binding Blade and the flute in The Blazing Blade.

In The Blazing Blade, the Dancer class, alongside its male counterpart, is able to perform special dances with the aid of rings in order to bless their allies with additional bonuses that improve their combat prowess for the duration of one turn. Four of such rings exist in the game; Ninis' Grace increases Defense and Resistance, Filla's Might increases Attack by 10, Thor's Ire increases Critical hit chance by 10% and Set's Litany increases Avoid by 10.

In Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, the Dancer class is replaced by the Heron Laguz, who refresh their allies' expended turns through the power of Galdrar. In Radiant Dawn, Galdrar, much like the special rings in The Blazing Blade, possesses different variations that improve allies' combat prowess.

In Awakening, the Special Dance skill that Dancers learn imbues their dances with the ability to simultaneously refresh a selected ally unit and boost their combat prowess for one turn.

In Fates, the Dancer class is replaced by the Songstress class. The unique class of Azura, the Songstress class fulfils the same purpose of the Dancer class through vocalised song. The Songstress class similarly learns a skill that imbues its songs with the ability to both reinvigorate and boost an ally unit's combat effectiveness.

Combat
Overall, Dancers tend to lack any sort of offensive presence in battle with generally low base stats across the board, alongside subpar offensive and defensive stat growths. Some dancers, such as Ninian from The Blazing Blade, are unable to equip any weapon for self-defense. To compensate for this, Dancers are blessed with high Speed and Luck growths, both of which contribute immensely to their superb evasion. Their decent HP growth also helps ensure their survivability on the battlefield, allowing them to sustain a sizeable amount of damage before running the risk of being felled.

Due to their high Speed, armed Dancers can thus perform double and critical attacks quite frequently if used offensively, although they will need Energy Drops and other strength-boosting items to be optimal for combat purposes.

To make up for their general offensive shortcomings, the Dancer's unique Dance ability allows them to reinvigorate allied units who have expended their turn to perform a second turn of action in the same Player Phase. This allows them to give the more offensively capable units an opportunity to launch more attacks and further weaken the strength of enemy forces. In some titles, Dancer units are further able to bestow bonuses to the units whom they perform dances for, such as Ninian, who can utilise specially-crafted rings like Thor's Ire in order to boost her allies' combat effectiveness.

Mystery of the Emblem/New Mystery of the Emblem

 * Phina - A bubbly, mischievous dancer who joins Marth's army after being saved by Navarre.

Genealogy of the Holy War

 * Sylvia - A cheerful, flirtatious dancer who is smitten with Lewyn.
 * Lene - Daughter of Sylvia and older sister of Coirpre, a vulnerable dancer who hides her emotional anguish with an exterior of bubbly carefreeness.
 * Laylea - Substitute character of Lene and older sister of Charlot.

Thracia 776

 * Promotion for: Lara

The Binding Blade

 * Larum - A boisterous, loud and juvenile dancer from the Western Isles.

The Blazing Blade

 * Ninian - A quiet, sombre dancer who exudes an aura of tragedy and is the older sister of Nils.

The Sacred Stones

 * Tethys - A beautiful, charming member of Gerik's Mercenaries who hails from Jehanna and is the older sister of Ewan.

Awakening

 * Olivia - A shy, insecure dancer who is loyal to Basilio.

Trivia

 * In Awakening, Dancers boast equal Defense and Resistance, a trait shared with Villagers/Merchants, Lords, female Great Lords, Tacticians, Grandmasters, Cavaliers, Paladins, Manaketes and Grima's personal class. Additionally, they boast equal Strength and Magic, a trait shared by Tacticians, Grandmasters, and Villagers/Merchants.