Bow Knight

Bow Knight is a horse-mounted combat physical class that recurrently appears across the Fire Emblem Series, beginning from Fire Emblem Gaiden.

Depending on the title that the Bow Knight class appears in, it acts as a first, second or third-tier class. Primarily armed with Bows as its weapon of choice, the Bow Knight class is, in later installments, given the additional ability to wield Swords, Lances, or Axes as its secondary weapon.

What is the primary weapon of the Bow Knight in the Fire Emblem Series? toggle section

The Bow Knight, a character in the Fire Emblem Series, primarily wields a Bow. This class, depending on the specific game, may also use Swords, Lances, or Axes as secondary weapons. Bows, the Bow Knight's primary weapon, are typically utilized for ranged attacks and are particularly effective against flying adversaries.

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In which installment of the Fire Emblem Series did the Bow Knight first appear? toggle section

The Bow Knight character was introduced in the 'Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War' installment of the Fire Emblem series, as a Knight variation that uses bows exclusively.

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What additional weapons can the Bow Knight wield in later installments of the Fire Emblem Series? toggle section

In subsequent Fire Emblem series, the Bow Knight, primarily armed with Bows, gains the capacity to handle Swords, Lances, or Axes as an additional weapon. This horse-mounted combat class reappears throughout the Fire Emblem Series, with the secondary weapon type varying by the specific game title.

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In which Fire Emblem games does the Bow Knight act as a first, second or third-tier class? toggle section

The Bow Knight class is featured in multiple Fire Emblem games: 'Gaiden', 'Genealogy of the Holy War', 'Thracia 776', 'Path of Radiance', 'Awakening', 'Fates', and 'Three Houses'. It serves as the third-tier promotion of the Archer class in 'Gaiden' and 'Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'. In 'Fates', it's a promoted form of the Mercenary and Outlaw classes, while in 'Three Houses', it's part of the Master Class curriculum, being the promoted form of Snipers.

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How does the Bow Knight class differ in Gaiden and its remake Echoes: Shadows of Valentia? toggle section

The Bow Knight class in Gaiden and its remake, Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, is a third-tier promotion from the Archer class, with an attack range of 1~5. This class is particularly useful for compensating for weaknesses like low HP and defense. Archers, which can advance to the Bow Knight class, are a male-exclusive promoted form of the Villager class in these games.

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History in the Series[]

In Gaiden and its remake Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, the Bow Knight class is the third-tier promotion of the Archer class family, possessing an attack range of 1~5. They are renowned for being especially useful for attacking most enemies without retaliation or when a unit requires protection due to their ability to hit enemy units from a considerable distance. In the DLC for Echoes, the Bow Knight can further promote into their Overclass, the Oliphantier.

In the Jugdral Series, the Bow Knight class is the promoted form of the Arch Knight class. There are no recruitable pre-promoted units of this class in either title.

In TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga, the Bow Knight class is known as the Bow Rider, translated Ranger in the fan translation) and is an enemy-exclusive mounted class which can equip bows only.

In the Tellius Series, Bow Knights are a first-tier class that promotes into either Paladins in Path of Radiance or Bow Paladins in Radiant Dawn. In Radiant Dawn, the Bow Knight class can further promote into the Silver Knight class after promoting into the Bow Paladin class.

In Awakening, the Bow Knight class is one of the possible promoted forms of both the Archer and Mercenary classes. This incarnation of the class is able to wield Swords alongside Bows, drawing inspiration from the Nomadic Trooper from The Binding Blade and The Blazing Blade, alongside the Ranger class from The Sacred Stones.

In Fates, the Bow Knight class is treated as a Nohrian class, acting as one of the promoted forms of both the Mercenary and Outlaw classes.

In Three Houses, the Bow Knight is a class included in the Master Class curriculum, with the Bow Knight Certification exam requiring a unit to be Level 30 and to possess a C in Lances, and As in both Riding and Bows to pass. As such, it can be considered once more the promoted form of Snipers. Bow Knights have a +3 Skill Experience class bonus to a unit's Bows, Lances and Riding subjects.

In Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, the Bow Knight is the final class in the Fighter class trees's Archer line, and is available to any unit that has mastered the Bow Knight's predecessor, the Sniper class. Ingrid, Mercedes, and Yuri can learn their Innate Skill Sharpshooter when they master Bow Knight.

In Vestaria Saga I, the Bow Knight is known as the Tarkhan and is the promotion of the Ranger. The class wields Swords and Bows. Promotion into this class causes the Ranger to lose it's ability to traverse cliffs.

Overview[]

Combat[]

Awakening[]

In Awakening, the Bow Knight class's mounted status improves their Movement for almost all skirmishes. Their increased Speed is handy for double attacking enemies and Rally Skill is a fairly good skill for increasing the activation chance of their allies' skills. Their added ability to wield Swords also affords them an advantage when engaging in close-ranged combat. Bowbreaker, conversely, is good for dealing with bow-wielding units such as Snipers, as they often carry the omnipresent threat of being armed with Killer Bows during Wi-Fi battles. Bow Knights also have decent Skill, allowing them to perform critical attacks more frequently than many other classes.

Fates[]

The Bow Knight class's stats in Fates are slightly altered as compared to the ones in Awakening; they have a slightly higher Resistance than Defense, effectively making them decent magic killers. Rather than having Bowbreaker (which is now learned by Sorcerers), Bow Knights learn Shurikenbreaker instead, allowing them to both hit and dodge shuriken/dagger wielders with ease.

Three Houses[]

In Three Houses, the Bow Knight has the unique distinction of having Bowrange +2 over the Bowrange +1 of other bow-using classes, allowing Bow Knights to attack at 4-range when wielding a bow. Combined with their high mobility (and Canto) when mounted, they can prove to be threatening zoning units, especially against mounted flier units. In principle, this makes them extremely valuable over the Sniper class which Bow Knights generally would promote from.

However, the advantages of the Bow Knight are met with some drawbacks when compared to the Sniper. Chiefly among them, the Bow Knight cannot use the Hunter's Volley combat art that is locked to Sniper, meaning that to strike twice consecutively they must use a brave weapon such as the Brave Bow, or learn a combat art allowing it (i.e. Point-Blank Volley). Secondly, utilising its ability to attack at 4-range is risky, since it incurs a penalty of -20 hit over attacking at 3-range (and -40/-50 hit over attacking at 2-range), which without hit-boosting abilities or battalions makes such attacks more likely to miss. Thirdly, the growth rates of the Bow Knight are extremely poor compared to Sniper or almost any other class, making long-term growth in the class less viable. Thus, the Bow Knight is often viewed as map-dependent.

In-Game[]

Base Stats[]

	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Mov	Con	Wt	Wlv	Cha
FE2	40	16	-	8	8	0	10	6	8	-	-	Bow	-
FE4	40	10	0	8	8	0	8	3	9	-	-	A	-
FE5 (Mounted)	24/20	5/4	1	6	6/7	0	5	-	9	7/5	-	D	-
FE5 (Dismounted)	24/20	4/3	1	5	4/5	0	4	-	6	7/5	-	D	-
TS	22	5	0	3	3	0	2	-	7	-	-	2	-
FE9	20/18	5	0	2	5/6	0	6/5	0/1	8	10/7	33/29	D	-
FE10	18	6	0	6	6	0	8	2	8	10	33	D	-
FE13	24	8	0	10	10	0	6	2	8	-	-	E E	-
FE14	18	6	0	8	9	3	5	6	8	-	-	E E	-
FE15	40	16	-	8	8	0	10	6	8	-	-		-
FE16	32	17	10	14	16	12	14	10	8	-	-	C A A	0
FE17	22	7	2	10	8	3	3	3	6	5	-	? ? ? ?	-

Maximum Stats[]

	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Mov	Con	Wt	Wlv	Cha
FE2	52	40	-	40	40	40	40	40	8	-	-	Bow	-
FE4	80	25	15	23	23	30	23	18	9	-	-	A	-
FE5	80	20	20	20	20	20	20	-	20	20	-	A	-
TS	60	20	15	18	18	30	17	-	12	-	-	17	-
FE9	40	20	15	20	20	40	20	20	8	10/7	33/29	A	-
FE10	40	20	10	20	20	30	20	10	8	10	33	A	-
FE13	80	40	30	43	41	45	35	30	8	-	-	A A	-
FE14	55	29	25	32	33	30	27	32	8	-	-	B A	-
FE17	68	38	23	45	37	30	23	29	8	14	-	C^ C^ C^ A	-

Growth Rates[]

	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Mov	Con	Wt	Wlv	Cha
FE9	70/65%	45/35%	15/20%	40/40%	50/55%	30/30%	45/45%	40/50%	-	-	-	-	-
FE10	75%	50%	15%	40%	45%	25%	40%	30%	-	-	-	-	-
FE13	50%	20%	0%	25%	20%	0%	5%	5%	-	-	-	-	-
FE14	10%	10%	0%	15%	15%	10%	0%	10%	-	-	-	-	-
FE15	120%	50%	-	50%	30%	0%	30%	0%	-	-	-	-	-
FE16	10/40%	0/15%	0%	0/10%	-5%	0%	0/25%	0/5%	-	-	-	+3 +3 +3	5%
FE17	10%	10%	0%	20%	20%	15%	0%	15%	-	0%	-	-	-
FEW3H	20%	20%	0%	35%	0%	0%	10%	0%	-	-	-	-	10%

Class Modifiers[]

	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Mov	Con	Wt	Wlv	Cha
FE16	2	1	0	3	1/3	1	1	0	4/2	-	-	-	0
FEW3H	300	2	0	5	2/5	2	2	0	7/0	-	-	-	2

Class Skills[]

	Skill	Requirements
FE4	Re-Move	Hidden innate skill of all mounted and flying units.
FE10	Canto	Base skill of all mounted and flying units.
FE13	Rally Skill Bowbreaker	Learnt at Level 5. Learnt at Level 15.
FE14	Rally Skill Shurikenbreaker	Learnt at Level 5 and above. Learnt at Level 15 and above.
FE15	Bowrange +2	Class skill of the Bow Knight and Sniper classes.
FE16	Bowrange +2 Bowfaire Canto Defiant Speed	Class ability of the Bow Knight class. Class ability of the Bow Knight class. Class ability of all mounted and flying units. Mastery ability of Bow Knights.
FE17	Careful Aim Seal Strength	Class Skill of Bow Knights. Maddening mode skill.
FEW3H	Bowfaire Gauntlet Buster Lv 4 Gauntletbreaker Waning Shot Ward Arrow Bow Prowess Deadeye Precision Volley Battle Instincts Defiant Spd Dexterity Catalyst Sharpshooter	Class ability. Class ability. 1-star Class Mastery for Bernadetta, Ashe, Ignatz and Shamir. 1-star Class Mastery for certain units. 1-star Class Mastery for certain units. 2-star Class Mastery for all units. 2-star Class Mastery for certain units. 2-star Class Mastery for certain units. 3-star Class Mastery for certain units. 3-star Class Mastery for certain units. 3-star Class Mastery for certain units. Innate Ability for certain units.

Promotions[]

	Base Class	Promotion Method	Promoted Class
FE2	Sniper	Visit Shrine after reaching Level 10.	Bow Knight
FE4	Arch Knight	Choose the "Class Change" option in the Home Castle when the relevant unit reaches Level 20.	Bow Knight
FE5	Arch Knight	Use a Knight Proof on a Level 10+ Arch Knight.	Bow Knight
FE9	Bow Knight	Use a Master Seal on a Level 10+ Bow Knight.	Paladin
FE10	Bow Knight	Use a Master Seal on a Level 10+ Bow Knight or train a Bow Knight to Level 21.	Bow Paladin
FE13	Mercenary	Use a Master Seal on a Level 10+ Mercenary.	Bow Knight
FE13	Archer	Use a Master Seal on a Level 10+ Archer.	Bow Knight
FE14	Mercenary	Use a Master Seal on a Level 10+ Mercenary.	Bow Knight
FE14	Outlaw	Use a Master Seal on a Level 10+ Outlaw.	Bow Knight
FE15	Sniper	Visit Shrine after reaching Level 10.	Bow Knight
FE15	Bow Knight	Visit the Altar of the Marksman when the relevant unit reaches Level 20.	Oliphantier
FE16	Any class	Use a Master Seal on a Level 30+ unit and pass the Bow Knight Certification Exam.	Bow Knight
FE17	Archer	Use a Master Seal on Level 10+ Archer with Sword, Lance, or Axe Proficiency.	Bow Knight
FEW3H	Sniper	Use a Master Seal on a unit that has mastered the Sniper class.	Bow Knight

Notable Bow Knights[]

Gaiden[]

Gazelle- Boss of Chapter 3 in Alm's route.
Mueller- Boss of Chapter 4 in Alm's route.
Aurum- A member of the Duma Faithful.
Argentum- A member of thte Duma Faithful.
Possible promotion for: Python, Leon, Kliff*, Tobin*, Gray*, Atlas*, Saber**, Kamui**, Jesse**, and Deen**.

* - If one of the villagers can promote into the Archer class in Fire Emblem Gaiden.
** - If one of the Mercenaries/Myrmidons can promote into the Dread Fighter class can promote back to Villager if able to promote into the Archer class.

Genealogy of the Holy War[]

Andorey - The Duke of Yngvi in the first generation, he killed his father to usurp the position.
Promotion for: Midir, Lester, and Deimne.

Thracia 776[]

Promotion for: Robert and Selphina.