Third Tier Classes, or Master Classes, are a tier of character classes available in select titles in the Fire Emblem series. Claseses that appear in this tier are typically among the most powerful classes in their respective games. Third Tier Classes, or Master Classes, are a tier of character classes available in select titles in the Fire Emblem series. Claseses that appear in this tier are typically among the most powerful classes in their respective games.
Third-Tier Classes are available in Fire Emblem Gaiden, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes.
In Radiant Dawn, Third Tier is the final promotion for Beorc units. Second Tier units can achieve Third Tier by using a Master Crown when at level 10 or higher. However, in the international version of Radiant Dawn, units in Second Tier classes may promote to Third Tier by reaching Level 21 of their current class. Third Tier classes are incredibly powerful, but they typically have the same battle animations as their Second Tier counterparts. They receive an Occult skill upon promotion, and can often have non-HP stats beyond the cap of 30, which is very rare in the Fire Emblem series. Some player units start at Third Tier, and they include Elincia, Bastian, Volke, Oliver, and Renning.
Very few Third Tier enemies exist, they are never encountered as Generic Units, instead a few bosses such as Levail and Lekain appear. However, in Part 4 chapters, enemies have similar stat caps to the Third Tier units, although they are not actually classified as being Third Tier, instead being what are known as SP Classes.
In Three Houses and Warriors: Three Hopes, the Third Tier is called Master tier in the game. Unlike in Gaiden/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia and Radiant Dawn, the Master classes in Three Houses are not generally that much stronger than Advanced classes, instead being more versatile. In Three Hopes, Master Tier classes are functionally stronger compared to the the Second Tier.
Gaiden/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia[]
- Baron - Promoted Knight in the Soldier line.
- Dread Fighter - Promoted Myrmidon in the Mercenary line. Promotes back to Villager.
- Gold Knight - Promoted Paladin in the Cavalier line.
- Bow Knight - Promoted Sniper in the Archer line.
Radiant Dawn[]
- Trueblade - Promoted Swordmaster, granting greater Speed and Skill, as well as the skills Critical +20 and Astra, the latter of which allows 5 consecutive attacks.
- Sentinel - Promoted Halberdier, granting the skills Critical +10 and Impale, which deals 4x damage.
- Whisper - Promoted Rogue, granting the skill Bane, reducing the enemies health to 1.
- Archsage - Promoted Sage, granting the use of all three kinds of Anima Magic and staves with proficiency, as well as the skill Flare, which nullifies resistance and heals the user by the amount of damage given. Pelleas is the exception, as he uses Dark magic, Thunder magic, and staves.
- Marshall - Promoted General, granting complete mastery over the weapon triangle, as well as the skill Luna, which triples the users strength, and drops the adversary's defense to 0.
- Black Knight - A variation of Marshall class, posesses the skill Eclipse which quintiplies the user's strength, and drops the adversary's defence to 0. Uses Swords and Lances. Black Knight-Exclusive.
- Reaver - Promoted Warrior, granting the skills Critical +5 and Colossus, which deals damage equal to 3x the users strength. Can wield Axes and Crossbows.
- Vanguard - Promoted Hero, granting the skill Aether, which combines the skills Sol and Luna. Can wield Swords and Axes. Ike-Exclusive.
- Silver Knight - Promoted Lance Paladin or Bow Paladin, granting the skill Sol, which does triple damage and restores health based on damage dealt. Can use Lances and Bows.
- Gold Knight - Promoted Sword Paladin or Axe Paladin, granting the skill Sol, which does triple damage and restores health based on damage dealt. Can use Swords and Axes.
- Valkyrie - Promoted Cleric, granting the skill Sol, which does triple damage and restores the damage dealt. Can wield Swords and Staves. Mist-Exclusive.
- Seraph Knight - Promoted Falcon Knight, granting the skill Stun, which deals triple damage and stuns the opponent for one turn. Can wield Swords and Lances.
- Queen - A variation of Seraph Knight, possesses the skill Stun, which deals triple damage and stuns the opponent for one turn. Can wield Swords and Staves. Elincia-Exclusive.
- Marksman - Promoted Sniper, granting the skills Deadeye and Critical +15 as well as the ability to shoot normal bows one space further than Snipers. Deadeye triples the damage of the attack and possibly puts the enemy to sleep, if they survived.
- Saint - Promoted Bishop, granting the skill Corona, which negates the resistance and halves the accuracy of the enemy, though only for one turn.
- Light Priestess - Promoted Light Sage, granting the skill Corona which negates the resistance and halves the accuracy of the enemy, though only for one turn. Micaiah-Exclusive.
- Chancellor - A variation of the Saint class, granting the skill Corona which negates the resistance and halves the accuracy of the enemy, though only for one turn. Uses Light and Dark magic, as well as Staves. Sephiran-Exclusive.
- Dragonlord - Promoted Dragonmaster, granting the skill Stun. Stun triples the damage of the attack and renders the foe immobile for one turn.
- Summoner - An enemy-only Third Tier class. Grants the skill Flare, which nullifies resistance and heals the user by the amount of damage dealt. Uses Dark magic and Staves. Izuka-Exclusive.
Three Houses[]
- Emperor - Unique Master class, only usable by Edelgard.
- Great Lord - Unique Master class, only usable by Dimitri.
- Barbarossa - Unique Master class, only usable by Claude.
- Mortal Savant - A sword and Reason magic using class. What it lacks in speed compared to other sword using classes, it gains in magic usage.
- War Master - An axe and brawling user. The ultimate physical offense class. Only usable by male characters.
- Gremory - A Master class specializing in magic. While slightly worse than Warlock and Bishop in their respective fields, it gets the best of both Reason and Faith magic. Only usable by female characters.
- Great Knight - A mounted and armored class. Tough and mobile when mounted, this class' requirements make certifying for it a challenge.
- Dark Knight- A mounted class specializing in Reason magic. With its high mobility and powerful magic, it is a powerful weapon.
- Holy Knight - A mounted class specializing in Faith magic. An unconventional, though no less effective, class.
- Bow Knight - A mounted class specializing in bows. Thanks to its high attack range, this class can be dangerous from very high distances.
- Falcon Knight - A flying class specializing in speed and resistance. The ultimate mage killer.
- Wyvern Lord - A flying class specializing in strength and defense. Significantly faster than it looks, this class is one of the few that is a straight upgrade of a related Advanced class.
Warriors: Three Hopes[]
- Asura - Unique Master class, only usable by Shez. Advances from Swordmaster. Capable of using magic.
- Emperor - Unique Master class, only usable by Edelgard. Advances from Fortress Knight.
- Great Lord - Unique Master class, only usable by Dimitri. Advances from Paladin.
- Barbarossa - Unique Master class, only usable by Claude. Advances from Sniper.
- Enlightened One - Unique Master class, only usable by Byleth. Advances from Swordmaster. Capable of using magic.
- Death Knight - Unique Master class, only usable by Jeritza. Advances from Paladin and replaces Dark Knight. Capable of using magic.
- Saint - Unique Master class, only usable by Rhea. Advances from Swordmaster and replaces Mortal Savant. Capable of using magic.
- Mortal Savant - Sword and magic using class, with emphasis on high damage. Advances from Swordmaster.
- Dancer - Hybrid sword and magic using class, with focus on supporting allies and fighting mages. Advances from Swordmaster and requires a certain event before it is unlocked.
- Trickster - Swift and agile sword and magic class. Advances from Assassin.
- Dark Knight - Mounted lance and magic using class, with focus on elemental magic. Advances from Paladin.
- Holy Knight - Mounted lance and magic using class, with focus on light magic. Advances from Paladin.
- Falcon Knight - Female-only lance class. Can cross some terrain other classes cannot. Advances from Paladin.
- Wyvern Lord - Strong, quick and tough axe using class. Can cross some terrain other classes cannot. Advances from Warrior and Wyvern Rider.
- Great Knight - Very tough and surprisingly quick mounted axe using class. Advances from Fortress Knight.
- Bow Knight - Mounted bow using class. Advances from Sniper.
- War Master - Male-only brawling focused class with emphasis on fighting mages. Advances from Grappler.
- Dark Bishop - Male-only ultimate magic class. Advances from Warlock, Bishop or Dark Mage.
- Gremory - Female-only ultimate magic class. Advances from Warlock or Bishop.
Trivia[]
- Generic and non character specific models only exist for Sentinel and Dragonlord.
- Due to lack of non character specific models, most enemy units when promoted via glitches or cheat devices, will use the models of unique characters. For example, a generic Daein Sniper takes on Shinon's model when promoted as seen in this video