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

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Today in Breaking Down, we analyse Black Eagles member, Bernadetta. This was 100% planned since it was her Birthday yesterday, and is absolutely not a complete coincidence that I realised about 20 minutes before writing this. Not at all.
It's a rather long one, there's quite a lot of options and a lot to go in to with her, but I feel I just about covered everything.
Apologies for the couple of commentary errors in there, hopefully the on screen text clears them up. Only caught them late on and did not have chance to re-record the sections.
Hope you enjoy!
PS: I know it's called Falcon Knight nowadays, but Falcoknight is a habit at this point, plus it rolls of the tongue much nicer.

[@mimief7969]

Poor Bernadetta is already breaking down you don't have to pile on 😂

[@briankelly1240]

I like the flag positioning makes Bernadetta look like an angel

[@dddmemaybe]

An angel of death for sure.

[@bradyp8868]

She already is an angel!

[@scrapyarddragon]

its always a good feeling when bernadetta gets an hp levelup.

[@disciplinedisorder3060]

"You are not the one I crave" "STAY AWAY!" *one-shots*

[@leux0]

I like how it looks like she has wings in the vid, it's cute. Also she's my favorite unit.

[@JonoabboFE]

She just lined up so nicely with the logo that I couldn't not, glad you noticed it ^_^ I'm glad you like her so much!

[@g.n.s.153]

Claude's Pass isn't locked to a class, it's in the evolution of his Personal Skill. Shame her magic barely got a mention! It's my favorite way to use her. What I like about Bernadetta is that her stats are complete garbage and yet she works great because her toolkit doesn't care about big stats.

[@JonoabboFE]

Ahhh my mistake, definitely should have double checked that one, thanks for the correction!

[@Rengor1997]

why yes, the neet shut in is INDEED a top tier unit

[@JonoabboFE]

IS Catering to their audience by making the character who doesn't leave their room insanely strong.

[@RandyNgelale]

Video about Bernie: exists *Daddy Rengor has entered the chat*

[@cryguy0000]

Personally I like that detail. It shows that her problems are mind over matter. She's legit talented, the only thing stopping her is herself and her trauma

[@jonboulet1614]

But she is in education...

[@briankelly1240]

Never knew about vengeance or used persecution complex, just loved her as a character and used her for archery haha

[@OneTrueNobody]

You say Bow Knight is strange for Bernie, but myself and everyone I know made her a Bow Knight on our first playthroughs. :P

[@UniGya]

The only character I recruit in every playthrough. Partially because she's so good, partially because I can't bring myself to fight against her, and partially because recruiting her to any other route would imply she doesn't go home to Count Von Farley and that's a good thing

[@aaronmendoza2690]

Bernadetta (bow knight) -Vantage -Battalion Wrath -Close Counter -Hit +20 -Bow Lv5/Bow crit +10 Crit ring Killer bow+/Parthia = Death machine :) Oh, and you give her all the strength fruit you get

[@lowresu]

Love the video, but I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention cavalier as an intermediate option. It combines the high mobility of peg with the ability to use guard adjutants. Not having darting blow does pidgeonhole her into being a vengeance bot, but it's probably my favorite route for out of house Bernie.

[@JonoabboFE]

Cavalier is definitely solid at the intermediate stage, personally I find Pegasus Knight to be better both in the moment and developmentally, since it gets flight at the time and grants Darting Blow later, but you are right that it deserved a mention since the High Mobility + Guard adjutants + Ground battalions means it can definitely be situationally useful, especially if you plan to go down the Paladin route and leave her there later since she will just be mashing Vengeance anyway. Thanks for the kind words, it's much appreciated!

[@VioletLunaChan]

Ah, the character I can identify with me irl the most due to social anxiety, short dark hair, wearing a hoodie and a skirt+spats along with her hobbies in cooking and drawing :'3 I personally really love Mage-Bernadetta, it's so underrated. Learning fantastic spells like Thoron and Firmbulvintr and being the ONLY Black Eagles character to learn Rescue.

[@spookymarshmallo]

MAGIC BERNIE MY BELOVED

[@VioletLunaChan]

@@spookymarshmalloHell yeah, Bernadetta Brigade

[@TheRagnarok428]

I had never considered using Bernie as a flier before this. Pegasus knight Bernie opened my eyes to how powerful she is, so much so that I didn't even put her in an advanced class. I just waited for falcon knight. Also, I've been really disappointed in falcon knight as a class since wyvern lord is more useful on almost every unit. But Bernie really validates the use of falcon knight and outdamages basically every other character on a wyvern.

[@JonoabboFE]

I would definitely still go Wyvern Rider as an advanced class on Bernie, but yeah Pegasus knight for the intermediate stages really does let her shine.

[@TheRagnarok428]

@@JonoabboFE yeah, wyvern rider would have been good. I just didn't have the levels in axes and had been focusing on bows to nab encloser. Honestly, the more I play, the more I come to appreciate low investment units. There are lower investment ways to make Bernie, but I think falcon knight strikes a nice balance, like you were saying. Love your vids btw!

[@TheRagnarok428]

I also didn't put any effort into axes or get death blow on her. I just used HP+5 instead. If I went through the trouble of getting C axes it probably would have been a much easier sell to go wyvern rider

[@JonoabboFE]

@@TheRagnarok428 Thank you so much!

[@joaocisne556]

I'm considering making Bernadetta into a holy knight that rescue spell

[@SpiritSquadMTG]

Bro Bernie is such a busted unit, I love that there's a bunch of videos out now talking about this.

[@jacksonportnoff841]

Bernadetta is my favourite Three Houses character! She's so fun. There's a couple more things I feel are worth mentioning: 1. I don't want to invalidate your opinion of Battalion Wrath + Vantage Bernadetta, but if you're using her, you probably shouldn't be going the player phase nuke route with Vengeance. You don't need Darting Blow or Death Blow when your plan is to use Bernie as an enemy phase unit (you don't really need Darting Blow on Bernie ever in my opinion, but to each their own). In Bow Knight with a forged Killer Bow, Critical Ring, and Battalion Wrath you'll be at 95 Crit (before Dex) with 1-4 Range counterattacks. Who needs player phase action when you can just crit anything that comes near you? 2. I never feel Encloser gets the proper credit it deserves. Outside of Golden Deer, its Bernie exclusive and in Bow Knight basically gives you a 4 Range, single-target, infinitely reusable gambit with higher accuracy thanks to Bow Rank and Hit +20. Even in a flying class paralyzing a 1 range attacker for a turn can prove invaluable. I can't count the number of times its saved me by stun-locking a major threat from a distance. 3. Recruiting Bernadetta out-of-house in Chapter 5 or later will make her come with D-Axes by default which lets her qualify for the Brigand exam without having to invest in her Axe bane. I like out-of-house Bernie better for that reason. 4. Not the most exciting use of Bernie, but she is the only accessible Dancer in the game with Pass. Situational for sure, but it helps. Combine with her Riding Budding Talent for +1 Movement, and she makes for a fairly good dancer imo. 5. Persecution Complex triggers off HP level ups. Best personal skill by far.

[@YukariTakeba-hb9us]

Love her, one of my favorite characters, I always just rush Sniper for her to get Hunter's Volley, slap Alois on her to get Persecution Complex to trigger, and let her nuke anything. I dare say she's more reliable than Lysithea in Maddening.

[@Februarys]

Bernie just helps take stress away in Maddening by just Enclosing assassins I can’t get to. Literally such a great unit for that alone

[@gg_sam7847]

Darting Blow and Desperation with her Crest and Personal on a Falcon Knight sound like a very good play to me

[@AlexKlindt]

Dark Flier Bernie Mov +1, Pass, Hit +20, Mag +2, Lance Prowess Vengeance, Encloser, [Positioning ability] A Reason and Faith with a march ring. ULTRA high investment, but Bernie with unparalleled versatility.

[@jeremykountz644]

I just finished my Blue Lions NG maddening run and I had Bernie as a Holy Knight. She actually wasn't all that bad, because she still had killing power with her lance due to vengeance and had support utility with physic and rescue. Biggest things that keep people away from doing this is 1. Getting her to A faith which takes some time due to it being neutral (I kept her out of magic classes as well lower her faith exp) and 2. Feeding her lots of Magic stat boosters. Holy Knight bases help if you keep her out of magic classes earlier in the game which is nice in my case. I got her to 37 magic by the last map giving her 9 range on rescue. Fun fact her maximum range is 10 on rescue due to her magic cap of 40. I have had her in my roster every time I have played and I have no intention of breaking that anytime soon. I love her both as a character and a unit.

[@Dragonite43]

Bernie! :D

[@JonoabboFE]

Bernie!

[@rhettmitchell]

I’m actually currently doing a NG+ Blue Lions Bernadetta with wrath + vantage, death blow, and pass lol whoops

[@JonoabboFE]

Lmao to be fair it is perfectly fine to use, I just found it extremely annoying to set up and manage with her. Hopefully it is less irritating for you!

[@DK-zy5fm]

its Bernie's time to shine

[@GrandDuchessTaco]

Bernie is another character in the pile of "why are you a soldier?"

[@megandeng25]

I recently did a Maddening run where I only used Hubert and Bernadetta, chosen bc they're my two favorite Eagles. I settled on Falcon Knight, and good god did she carry Hubert! She ended Crimson Flower with 994 battles and 870 victories which is just. Monstrous.

[@JonoabboFE]

Nice! Those are some amazing numbers!

[@megandeng25]

@@JonoabboFE Thanks! I'll be trying next with my two favorite Deer, Hilda and Claude, and it will likely be much less....imbalanced. If you had to do a run with just your two favorite characters, how do you think it would go?

[@JonoabboFE]

@@megandeng25 Petra and Felix would honestly be a pretty nice pairing to have! Both pretty reasonable early, and a nice balance between PP and EP late game. Would be a little rough using just one of them before I could get both, but I think Felix could pull it off without too much trouble!

[@onioncultistlordoftheonion8315]

In concept, i'm loving the thought of making Dark Flier/Holy/Dark Knight Bernie. basically trading the faires of Falcon/Paladin/Bow Knight for Rescue and Physic Utility. But I can see how that can be redundant.

[@GeneraIHide]

Man I just discovered you at the recommendation of another FE channel and I love your video but I still can't wrap my mind around why falcon knight would be better than bow knight for this glass cannon. My thinking is that bow knight is easier to get the initial damage needed for her personal skill and then to pick off at distances while retreating whereas falcon knights have greater avoid making it harder to get HP down to needed levels and also having to constantly be open to counters, making it risky to stay at that lower HP. You obviously feel differently, I'd like for someone to explain why my thinking might be flawed on this. As it stands, I'm going to continue using her as a bow knight

[@JonoabboFE]

Hey! Welcome to the channel, and thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the video! The damage of Vengeance far outweighs her bow's damage potential, and should be the main thing you really prioritise, so the Lancefaire is going to just amplify that, and flight just gives her so much extra mobility to allow her to just bounce between high priority targets and slap them down in one hit.

[@tommyortiz6623]

The low RE with low DF means you need make her a knight and mage first then go into something like bow knight

[@yeahmaybe1177]

But hear me out- assassin using vengeance Way too much investment, sure, but it's funny and stealth lets you chill at 1hp as much as you want if you pay attention. Kill button with vengeance, chip with a bow in general and a nice little bit of utility if you take bows up to encloser, letting her either keep herself or a teammates safe

[@dddmemaybe]

I always say female archers are great in bowknight because you can stack darting blow with bowknight's defiant speed for +14 speed. Both classes also need the same C-lance rank to boot. With Bernie she hits this threshold just by being in critical vengeance ranges already. Not to mention that she will always like a guard adjutant too, and if it's Marianne, they have a might support for the high speed doubling (+8 might from just the personal+adjutant!). The 5 slots would be: bow5, hit+20, deathblow, dartingblow and defiantspeed. With hit ring and hit+20 battalion, you have +80 hit including an adjutant's +10, so you're still positive 40(sweet spot) at 4-range.

[@Guanchen]

Starting my first playthrough as Blue Lion, considering I intend to make my Byleth a Falcon Knight and Ingrid another one, I think I am going to have Bernadetta as Bow Knight this round, it's a bit awkward to get riding up but people in general seem to think Bow Knight is an OP class

[@Shirker12]

I absolutely don't disagree with the points you made here. But, my Bernadetta experience is a bit different. I tend to do solo runs now (on Maddening). Since I'm soloing, I can justify some intense grinding sessions and stat boosters. Anyway, my favorite endgame builds for Bernie using either swords or gauntlets. Either weapon, I keep her as a Swordmaster for the growths. If I'm using swords, I'll make her my dancer for Sword avoid, and if I'm going with gauntlets, I'll make her a war cleric for brawling avoid. "Doesn't making her a dodge tank conflict with persecution complex?" I mean, yeah, but there are other ways to lose health. Like devil weapons, stage hazards, etc. Final skills for my solo Bernie: Sword/Gauntlet faire Sword/Gauntlet avoid Sword/Gauntlet crit Sword/Gauntlet prowess Alert stance+ This isn't specifically a Bernie class, for sure, but she's my favorite character to build towards it with. By the mid-point of the game, she's an enemy phase monster. (Throw on the chalice from the dlc content for even better results.)

[@JonoabboFE]

Interesting stuff! Always nice to hear perspectives from people with different playstyles!

[@Shirker12]

@JonoabboFE To be fair, the main reasons I prefer gauntlets for maddening are their lack of a penalty when attacking like Sword, Lance, and Axe users. And healing focus is an absurdly strong infinite use sustain option. Anyways, I just stumbled across the channel and I'm loving the content so far. Keep up the amazing work!

[@cryguy0000]

Bernadetta is my favorite unit, ultra cute and lucky for me ultra powerful.

[@jackferring6790]

Personally I like getting Bernadetta a C rank in swords or axes because it allows her to supplement her kit with the Devil weapons, which in this game inflict damage after use

[@therealzeno2487]

I'll add as a high effort honorable mention Bernie could be a decent holy knight as well. Rescue with pass and even physic can give her added utility but raising her faith rank that high whilst getting other needed skills is rather high effort but it did pay off with a couple boss rushes for me, running through enemy lines rescuing my dancer then dancing and vengeance oneshotting the boss was pretty entertaining

[@LunarBoo]

I honestly prefer Bow Knight here. Access to Guard Adjutants is great, and extra bow range is also useful when Vengeance doesnt work out.

[@marcoasturias8520]

Is Bernardetta´s Vengeance strong? I feel she lacks hp growth, so, is her hp enough to get her Vengeance in oneshot territory?

[@JonoabboFE]

Yeah, she has more than enough HP to put her in range. Bernedetta is capable of oneshotting every non-boss in Crimson Flower with just Paladin's base stats. There is a really great post on reddit by user Asckle outlining her power with the skill - www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemThreeHouses/comments/t1bksd/regarding_bernadetta_and_vengeance/

[@marcoasturias8520]

@@JonoabboFE neat!

[@JonoabboFE]

Looks as though you are right regarding that post, checked the numbers and what you are saying is adding up regarding their Def+HP. I will say that re: Sniper, I definitely don't think it's guaranteed you reach S+ for Bowfaire 2. >Now yes she gets Vengeance by chapter 4 but that's when a your other units stop struggling with damage as much and can easily kill on their own. I definitely don't agree with this, Very few units can oneround consistently by Chapter 4.

[@JonoabboFE]

@@hanzou1238 I would like to add in here that I have done the math for an Average Bernadetta and she should be able to kill Fortress Knights - on average - from level 39. Averages taken from the below link with a class pathing of Noble -> Fighter (5) -> Brigand (10) -> Archer (14) -> Pegasus Knight (18) -> Wyvern Rider (20) -> Falcoknight (30) fe3h.com/average_stats Calculations are as follows to hopefully prevent further errors: 45 (HP) + 2 (Vengeance) + 27(Strength) + 14 (Silver Lance +) +6 (Death Blow) + 5 (Persecution Complex) + 8 (Empire Elite Wyvern Co (B Rank Batallion) + 5 (Lancefaire) = 112 I think level 39 is slight below where you would usually be at around this point, although I may be slightly mistaken, I certainly think thats a reasonable level. This is also excluding things like the second dose of Lancefaire available through Bernie's ranks, Strength +2, or using a stronger but less available weapon like a Lance of Zoltan, Luin, or Lance of Ruin. Whilst this obviously isn't the same flex as being able to kill with Paladin bases, I hope it shows that she can still make excellent use of the skill and use it to take out some of the bulkiest enemies she will face in a single blow. Apologies if any of the previous information provided was incorrect, I hope it goes without saying that it wasn't intentional, and I will try to fact check things a little better in the future.

[@almostontimehero5415]

Bernie Bernie!

[@burstinatrixflames2506]

Me lo dicen en español?

[@twobirdsonescone]

van wrath bernie ! + 45 damage stack from double lancefaire persecution complex crits hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[@moldeen2267]

Great knight dedue vengeance>