Dread Fighter

Dread Fighter (魔戦士 Masenshi, translated Demon Fighter and Magic Fighter in the fan translations) is the third tier class in the Mercenary line in Fire Emblem Gaiden. Dread Fighters possess a high amount of magical Resistance, Hit Points and Strength. Characters of this class can promote to a Villager, which allows looping of the promotion chain.

The class later reappears in Fire Emblem: Awakening as a prize for completing the Lost Bloodlines 2 DLC chapter. (The boss "Alm' is a Dread Fighter.) It is a male-only class, as a counterpart to the DLC female-only class, Bride.

The Dread Fighter class is treated as a base class in terms of its Experience Point gain calculation when fighting and defeating other units, despite the class having the stat caps of an advanced class. This enables a unit promoted to the Dread Fighter class to gain levels (and therefore stats) at a much faster rate than other advanced classes when fighting units of the same caliber, while allowing them to be on-par with advanced classes stat-wise. The class wields Swords, Axes, and Tomes. The Avatar (Male), Fredrick, Gregor, Priam, and Walhart are good examples of Dread Fighters. Pros are that they can wield 3 weapons, and have very good stat caps. A Con is that someone like Brady* or Viron isn't good at Swords, Axes, and Tomes. Another Con is that you can't get th class by Streetpass. Like someone was a Dread Fighter you would not be able to get them because you do not have the DLC.


 * Brady can wield Sword, Axes, and Tomes, but this is just if he is still a Priest.

Additionally, a unit promoted to the Dread Fighter class can only reclass into a base class at lower levels.(Classes like Mercenary or Myromidon need to reach Level 10] However, like the Male Villager, Taguel, Lodestar, and Conqueror. If a character is reclassed at Level 30, then they can reclass to promoted classes as well as base classes.

The class cannot be obtained through the inheritance system in Awakening. (This means that the "Male Future Children" cannot reclass into this option. This means you need the Dread Scroll to turn them into a Dread Fighter, not a Second Seal.)

Fire Emblem Gaiden

 * Geyse - The leader of his pirates and the major antagonist of Chapter 3 in Celica's route.
 * Saizor - A Boss with neither dialogue or a portrait.
 * Possible Promotions for: Deen, Savor, Kamui, Cliff, Robin, Grey, and Atlas

Fire Emblem: Awakening

 * Alm (DLC)

Fire Emblem: Awakening
Maximum Stats may vary, depending on character.) (Asset/Flaw may affect the maximum stats for this class)
 * HP: 80
 * Str: 42
 * Mag: 40
 * Skl: 40
 * Spd: 41
 * Lck: 45
 * Def: 38
 * Res: 43+10

Name
Dread Fighter has gained many names in fan translations, such as Demon Fighter, Magic Fighter, or even Slayer. This is possibly due to the kanji 魔 (ma, demon) and its presence in the spelling of magic (魔法 mahou). The similar pronunciations of magic and demon lord (魔王 maou) may also explain the slayer translation.

Unlike most classes, no official Japanese name exists that would indicate any of the translated names as official.

Due to the demonic physical appearance of the Dread Fighter and the naming conventions for classes such as Axe Fighter and Thief Fighter, as well as Nintendo of America's choice of translation, its possible that "Demon Fighter" is the intended or closely intended name.

Alternatively, it's suggested that the Dread Fighter's high resistance points to its name being "Magic Fighter" instead, but the -senshi (Fighter) part of the name reflects the character being a warrior and not a slayer of something.

Similarly, the name "Mage Fighter" has also been suggested, but Dread Fighters did not wield magic in Gaiden and Mage Fighter is alternatively known as Mahousenshi in Genealogy of the Holy War (and not Masenshi).