Breaking Down: Annette - Fire Emblem: Three Houses Unit Analysis

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Today we Break Down Blue Lions member, Annette

[@OperationOmegaOne]

If Annette wasn't there, the blue lions wouldn't even be the blue lions anymore! Except for the blue part, because we'd be sad.

[@timothybraggs9814]

X

[@Jade-yt9gu]

How did annette gain a cult following I don’t understand the appeal(I have seen a pretty good amount of her supports) im I missing an important one?

[@qtpie1144]

@@Jade-yt9gu nope. Shes just an overall cheerful and fun character. The appeal is obvious.

[@quirinoguy8665]

​@QTPie You forgot the cute part, she is definitely one of the cutest characters in the game.

[@martinthomas2520]

Ingrid was my favorite until I found out about Annette

[@d-manz3752]

Regular people: your job is to rally, that is it Annette fans: IT'S BONKING TIME

[@IntrusiveThot420]

If we lived in the biggest meme timeline this video would only cover Wyvern annette and not mention *anything* else about her builds.

[@Rengor1997]

By the time Annette brings out her full potential, she will be the one Breaking Down Gilbert, one hammer bonk at a time.

[@lunanasushistax6692]

I thought her abandonment issues would be breaking her down instead

[@Rengor1997]

​@@lunanasushistax6692 standing here she realized gilbert's a bad dad and she's trying to make history

[@zenronez1158]

Are you a part of the imperial army of adrestia?

[@lunanasushistax6692]

Her relic is named Crusher for the heart crushing abandonment and the CA "dust" for how he left his family in the dust

[@n2badsam420]

@@Rengor1997 or "Disappear into the NIIIIGHT"

[@muddak3292]

I'll never forget the Rally Move discussion during the skills tier list. "Gilbert with reposition is better at moving people than Annette."

[@shawnlyons6543]

Yes but perseverance, rally resistance, speed, and move in one character turn is better than reposition.

[@jeremywomack7090]

Heck I Dance Annete and Rally twice with her some turns.

[@m.a.dmatt6689]

War Cleric is still by far my fav class for her. It gives her the ability to use magic, a +1 to axes and she can use fist weapons (aura gauntlets), giving her a pretty wide spread of offence and good supportive spells if need be. That and I personally like how she looks in the cleric outfit.

[@empressmako]

you are an absolute genius. i have to try this!

[@thepurge7964]

I bet her pneuma gale hits like a truck!

[@almostontimehero5415]

Annette War cleric sounds nice, but you gotta lvl up Fisting to B+ and there's only one Beginner class females can use Fisting in which has no Magic in it. Meaning you're in for a grind.

[@gbjon9044]

​@almostontimehero5415 maybe we can call it something other than fisting? 😅

[@scarfking1579]

My very first playthrough was Blue Lions and i focused on Annette's magic. Ended up making Mercedes a Gremory and wanted Ann to be something else, so i made her a Mortal Savant. Using a Levin Sword made her pretty good, actually. Probably not ideal but i had fun.

[@xxxakanoel9449]

People like me NEED these breaking down videos. Please keep them going and great job!

[@AsishRasaily]

I turned my Dimitri into a Wyvern Lord with Rally Speed, Axe Prowess, Axefaire, Hit + 20, and Fiendish Blow. She has a ton of movement for her Rallys and does ton damage with Lightning Axe and can reliably kill when I need her to.

[@briankelly1240]

Your Dimitri or your Annette or both?

[@AsishRasaily]

@@briankelly1240 When he initially uploaded the video, the name above Annette's picture was Dimitri rather than Annette.

[@Coreyographed]

Just discovered this channel today, and really enjoyed this video! Annette is one of my favorite units to build in 3H because of all the options she has going for her. Sure, she never excels at a whole lot, but she has so many good factors that it makes her feel like a very rewarding underdog that you just want to root for all the time

[@JonoabboFE]

Glad you enjoyed the video, and welcome to the channel!

[@Matteo_nr1_evermore_stan]

My last BL run had a Wyvern Lord Annette. She ended up with 30 mag and 30 strength somehow. Used lightning axe / Dust to delete every enemy, smash for those pesky mages with high res. She was really good, like actually really good. Edit: Maddening, so I was even more surprised to see her actually kill that well, especially early game lightning axe is crazy.

[@sippysoup9922]

I went the Wyvern route with her in my NG Maddening Blue Lions run and she was the biggest meme of the playthrough. In part 2 her strength was as good as her magic and got her to master death and darting blow. She had amazing magic nukes for physical enemies and also did almost as much physical damage as my snipers/grapplers against high res enemies with her silver axe. I wouldn't absolutely recommend making her a physical powerhouse but it was really fun seeing her have a higher strength stat than her father

[@g.n.s.153]

Only thing I would add is that in a run without DLC there's some arguments to be made for Warrior and Great Knight. Wyvern Lord Annette doesn't depend on the Nuvelle Flier Corps to be good but if you'd rather have access to a magic battalion she can work well with these classes.

[@SpyroTheGerudo]

Annette and Ashe are unique for being my characters who end up needing more resources and time in my Blue Lions playthroughs. The chapter 13 fight always ends up being the pivotal point where either or both Annette ans Ashe gets one shotted or dogpiled. Unless I grind excessively to work towards getting her specific class masteries, she is someone who may as well only be a part 1 character XD

[@OperaQueen85]

This is one of my favourite Breaking Downs. I love that you begin with Cavalier Annette. I did WL and if I had watched this beforehand, I’m sure she would have been stellar. She was alright in my run but would have benefitted from Hit+20, the Nuvelle Fliers (I didn’t have the DLC at the time) and a Magic Staff. Instead I was reliant on an Accuracy Ring and an accuracy bat instead of things that would increase her damage. The forged Bolt Axe was really good and made up for her lack of spells.

[@rhettmitchell]

Ah, Annette. Queen of being ~broken down~ by her father

[@ThePudin124]

Annete was a part of my main team being a lvl 12 cavalier by the final mission,A authrority and any battalion i needed, she was also crucial in the early game with rally speed and strenght but this was not as important later on.

[@rhettmitchell]

I’ve most of the time just used Annie as a straight magic user, and always end up benching her even though I love her character. I’ve been too afraid to try something like a wyvern build on her in case she just gets stat fucked or something. Though I’ve heard lots about it so maybe I’ll do it. I’ve also thought about making her a dancer, but idk how great of an idea that is since it’ll get in the way of her rallies. Maybe a different dancer to use special dance on someone and Annie can rally them and they’ll be unstoppable

[@javierjuarez9761]

Our girl

[@leewalker8207]

I think staying in valkyrie is solid as a potential end game class as 6 range magic from items and abilities makes for great chip damage and link attack support. Other mages can do more damage anyway (looking at you lysithea...)

[@LAaronB10]

Hear me out, but I think that Great Knight Annette is an option that should be considered as an alternative to Wyvern Lord as her best Lightning Axe/Bolt Axe alternative if another unit is speaking for the flying Battalion. It takes Less investment then Wyvern Lord*, still gives axefaire and canto, frees up the only flying magical battalion, and results in a tankier Annette (can normally survive an single attack on enemy phase, so not MUCH tankier, but tankier) -- and Blue Lions is the most forgiving route for Riding Units anyways. *For investment, if we assume a base line of B Reason and Riding for Valkyrie to get uncanny blow, B Axe to equip Bolt Axe+ and D Armor to get armored knight's bonus to defense (like suggested in the video) Wyvern Lord needs 1620 wEXP (640 Boone, 980 neutral) to reach A Axe, B Flight, and C Lances to gamble into wyvern lord. Great Knight needs 1140 wExp (280 boon, 580 bane, 280 neutral) to reach B+ Axe, B Heavy Armor, B+ Riding to gamble into Great Knight. Once you factor in boons and banes and the saint statues, that is 244 Good Tutoring Sessions worth of wExp to reach Wyvern Lord and 227 Good Tutoring sessions worth of wExp to reach Great Knight, a savings of 17 Good Tutoring sessions worth of wExp. These numbers get even better for the great knight once you factor in the fact that combats while in Valkyrie will boost riding wExp, but not grant her flying or lance, therefore helping her reach the Great knight requirements more in combat while on the path to Uncanny Blow. If you assume she reaches B+ in Axes and Riding while in Valkyrie, reaching Great Knight saves 64 Good Tutoring Sessions worth of wExp over Wyvern Lord.

[@ThePsiGuard]

I think Wyvern Lord is significantly easier if you get Hit+20 from Archer (which is minimal investment) rather than Uncanny Blow from Valkyrie. Your riding investment goes from B to nothing. Jono also suggested gambling the Armored Knight certification at E+, which would save you some WEXP if you aren't going to go all the way to Great Knight. Valkyrie seems like a better option for mage paths (like Dark Knight) since it focuses mainly on Reason and lets her progress through the early mage classes without any interruptions (like Archer). Wyvern Rider is also a pretty accessible stepping stone, allowing Annette to gain Flying exp outside of tutoring sessions, weekly XP gains and group activities. By contrast, while you can get a little Riding XP from Valkyrie, you're already most of the way there by the time you get to C+ or B Riding anyway and you still need to climb all the way up through Heavy Armor through a bane with no gains from combat. Idk, Great Knight seems serviceable but not better than Wyvern Lord. The only reason I'd pick it over Wyvern is if I already committed the flying magic battalion to another unit and wanted a grounded axe build.

[@LAaronB10]

​@@ThePsiGuard "Great Knight seems serviceable but not better than Wyvern Lord. The only reason I'd pick it over Wyvern is if I already committed the flying magic battalion to another unit and wanted a grounded axe build." Then we agree! I said it in my original post that I think that it is her best Wyvern Lord "alternative", especially useful if you already have someone end gaming as a Dark Flier. Wyvern offers + 1 move and flight over GK, GK offers + 5 defense and grounded battalions. Wyvern wins that exchange, unless you have someone else who wants the flying battalion (which, in my Blue Lions run, I did!) However, for earlier pathing I would suggest Monk -> Mage -> Valkyrie path for either end game class. If you instead take her through Archer and Wyvern Rider, she is fairly hard to use unit as an archer, and loses all flexibility as a Wyvern Rider - and also loses access to her faith spells, meaning she loses access to that easy source of Exp, meaning she is taking up more resources that way. As a Valkyrie, she was incredibly flexible with an inventory of Steel Axe+. Bolt Axe+, Magic Staff, and Thyrus (often traded, which canto helped set up) 1-5 range 11 might magic attack with Cutting Gale with thyrsus 1-3 range 16 might attack with Bolt Axe+ and the magic staff 1 range 23 might Lightning Axe with Steel Axe+, Magic Staff, and Valkyrie's base Res (And later on) 1 range 40 might Dust with crusher and magic staff I loved her as a Valkyrie, each turn choosing which of those options best solved the problem put in front of her (and still having heal for added utility and exp) and so I personally would not give that up, so my final class pathing starts from there. It was nice enough that I stalled out in Valkyrie for a while, and thought about leaving her there. Until Cutting Gale and the Bolt Axe+ both dropped off on their kill power, and I was almost exclusively using Lightning Axe or Crusher, so the + 1 damage from Axefaire, the +1 move, and the +8 Def from GK started to outweigh that flexibility.

[@sylverflores3433]

I've ran a wyvern rider Annette before and am currently using her as a great knight. Idk if I just got unlucky with stats or it has to do with the class bonuses and growth rates. Wyvern rider gives negative 5 to magic and res and I found Annette couldn't kill with lightning axe. Smash Annette ended up doing more damage but I found that she could actually kill when she doubled with a training axe(she had darting blow). In Part two, she stopped doubling so I switched to brave axe and didn't really use crusher or the bolt axe because the damage just wasn't there. Now fortress knight doesnt have the negative growth rates as wyvern rider so I do think it makes a difference. Annette could actually kill with lighting axe and often times using a training or iron axe. She could still kill when I upgraded her to great knight and I found myself using a silver axe a little more frequently but lighting axe was still going strong. It could've just been getting lucky with stat level ups but I definitely prefer great knight Annette over wyvern rider. I've had similar experiences with other magical units that i put into the wyvern class.

[@sheeesh2131]

MY GIRLLLLL ANNETTTE!?!?!?

[@derpygoomy4155]

27:33 Jono, "Pale in Comparison"? You've seen too many operas. Great video though

[@Kindred_Lamb]

looking into how to easily recruit anyone especially Annette, after plating the game once, I want a playthrough where she doesnt become the enemy while also siding with El

[@_pkal1]

My class routing for Annette is Monk Mage Valkyrie Dark Knight (maybe) That’s it bc you get the ability to use all of Annette’s abilities. I put Rally Speed,Fiendish Blow, Magic +2, Axe Prow 5, and something else in there.

[@andreszamoraorozco1676]

I had a GD run in which I did the month loop glitch a lot of times, and I built Annette as a Heavy knight just for the memes xD Bolting axe Carried

[@StarlitWitchy]

Following in her father's footsteps haha

[@rhettmitchell]

Do you think there’s good reason to use Sylvain’s lightning axe in the same kind of way, like putting him in some magic classes to buff his res or is that just not really ideal?? Or maybe save all the res stat boosters for him?

[@nonmagicalwitch]

I mean, it could probably work, but why wouldnt you just click swift strikes

[@joeyjose727]

I had a super fun time with that! It’s my favorite build ever. Granted I only did it on hard, not maddening Dark Bishop Sylvain with the +2 movement DLC item Axe Prowess, Axe Crir, Axefaire, Weight -5, and Hit +20 were the abilities I ran. I’m sure you could swap those with… idk, maybe movement +1 if you wanted I load him up with a few Bolt Axe+, maybe Crusher if the route allows for it And of course, I use Lightning Axe all the time. Very fun! I use Dark Bishop as the class for innate Fiendish Blow, and accuracy boost doesn’t hurt either since he has 6 movement and can get in closer to hit a slippery enemy

[@nonmagicalwitch]

@@joeyjose727 Granted, yeah, it sounds pretty fun and off-meta, if you will. Tho, on maddening, it is one of sylvains strengths that he isnt an extremely high investment unit, and putting him through some magic classes sounds really painful, especially since he's already got the bow bane

[@joeyjose727]

@@nonmagicalwitch yeah I don’t play maddening and especially non new game plus runs lol so I’m not saying it’s a good thing to go for in a scenario like that, but it’s very fun and gimmicky for a change of pace

[@JonoabboFE]

It's probably not as Ideal as just clicking Swift Strikes, but it could defintiely be a fun option if you wanted something different to try!

[@fe_three_rosses]

MY GIRL SHES MY FAVOURITE

[@lunanasushistax6692]

In the early game whenever my Dedue would about to eat a fat double magic hit, Annette would come in with a +4spd/res and go "you are safe now my child"

[@GreenWolf2k]

My first playthrough I made her a dancer as I really couldn't figure out what to make her. This was my 1st FE game ever so I was confused why someone who is cleary a mage is great with Axes. I will say she actually isn't that bad of a dancer, but she is clearly better in other roles. Nowadays I always build her as a Wyvern Lord to BONK everyone hahahaha.

[@manolito.7zip]

No more identity theft? Sad :(

[@briankelly1240]

I prefer Lysythia recruited when I am in blue lions, but she is a solid second damage magic caster.

[@dreenarmookington2240]

Reupload or did I imagine things?

[@manolito.7zip]

It was uploaded by accident but they took it down almost immediately

[@JonoabboFE]

It was uploaded yesterday with a fairly major error, so taken down shortly after and reuploaded today corrected

[@dreenarmookington2240]

@@JonoabboFE Cool, I'm not going mad then!

[@Aureels]

The problem of the rallybots like her is they don't take any xp when they rally, so I don't know really how to use it in maddening. I don't understand why dancing give xp when rally doesn't. What about Dancer class? That would resolve her xp problem having a lot of level more than the other units and the possibility to use her magic...?

[@wedorepairs]

Annie

[@jamesdean7611]

Let's see if annette is really our girl.

[@almostontimehero5415]

Going Annette Black Eagles since you lose a magic character due to plot. Already ran with Lysithea before. Thinking Monk > Dark Mage > Gremory > War Cleric

[@ahmedfalahy9337]

Bismix: Annette? You mean rally bot 🤣

[@AbdullahSediqi23]

Annette+Felix is a perfect match

[@cryguy0000]

Yes, Annette! The cute gremlin of the Blue Lions. Cool gal

[@mimief7969]

Annette Wyvern gang 💟

[@johanandersson8252]

Annette’s spread looks like Orochis from FE Fates.

[@vossboss220]

God she's so cute

[@Korhi]

Annette is probably the most confused unit in the game. She's slow but learns wind spells which seems backwards, War Cleric would be a great glass for her if it required Axes OR Brawling to promote to, but it doesn't which makes it awkward to get to. Wyvern is good but then you lose out on her magic and some magic growth, there's also very few flying magic battalions. Dark or Holy Knight might be her best classes but again, earning those promotions is super awkward with no riding or lance boon. Making her work is fun but man is it an investment. Obviously there's the rallybot route but that's hella lame, and I enjoy using units as units, which is also why I never use a dancer in this game.

[@ThePsiGuard]

I think the Riding classes are relatively easy to reach, especially with Valkyrie as a stepping stone (rather than having to go from Warlock straight to Dark Knight's A Riding requirement). Wyvern has been the most fun for me, even though I have to baby her a bit to make sure she gets everything she needs to get going. I agree on the utility build, I find it really unfun when one or more of my units is underleveled and can't fight anyone.

[@zaften9610]

How are we the only ones here?