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

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Today we look at the Golden Deer House Leader, Claude!

[@c_f0rce]

I love that you continue to make these breaking downs long after Three Houses

[@JonoabboFE]

I love that you continue to watch them!

[@rhettmitchell]

It wouldn’t feel right to not finish all of them haha. I appreciate it too

[@xuanathan]

3 more years of discourse? No! 3 more years of Maddening analysis 🥳🥳🥳

[@DasLoeffel]

Would you consider adding on to the original Byleth video since it was missing the kind of progression elements you're adding nowadays?

[@Guanchen]

@@JonoabboFE how else will i know who to recruit?

[@Matteo_nr1_evermore_stan]

Just gonna use this to complain about something in this game. I think Claude’s (un-promoted) personal class Wyvern Master and Wyvern Lord should have switched names. Dimitri & Edelgard have Great Lord & Armoured Lord respectively for their personal classes. Claude’s being Wyvern LORD would make more sense, and Wyvern Rider promoting into Wyvern MASTER would make more sense for a MASTER class.

[@JonoabboFE]

That would make a lot more sense actually

[@rhettmitchell]

Damn I’ve never thought about that and now I’m annoyed that isn’t the case lmao

[@emal6619]

I know this is 2 months late, but! In Japanese, that's exactly how it is. They changed it in English because Wyvern Lord was a normal class for many titles in English, so to avoid confusing fans of Fire Emblem, the English localization team chose to keep Wyvern Lord as the normal class, and rename Claude's Wyvern Master.

[@g.n.s.153]

Claude is often overshadowed by Edelgard and Dimitri but the amount of things he gets for free is insane. You mention his bases don't stand out that much (still good though of course) but when you factor in Hilda and the rally boys the early game is a very smooth affair. Then there's the whole Wyvern Master/Barbarossa for free. One of the easiest and cheapest unit to use in the entire game if you want to. Great analysis as always!

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you!

[@ultimaterecoil1136]

Honestly the biggest benefactor for golden dear runs is not any individual unit but the fact that you have way more good flying battalions then normal so using more then like 2 fliers isn’t gonna net those fliers a significant loss in stats and utility. Flying impregnable wall is particularly nutty. The whole fliers having less battlion access isn’t really a major weakness in golden dear as opposed to other routes

[@g.n.s.153]

@@ultimaterecoil1136 While I agree that the extra flying battalions are great (especially Impregnable Wall as it's also a C rank instead of D and so has much better stats) I wouldn't diminish the impact of the Golden Deer themselves. The house is very well rounded covering just about every aspects you want it to and has amazing standouts in Claude, Leonie and Lysithea.

[@ultimaterecoil1136]

@@g.n.s.153 you can always recruit lysidea and Lorenz for thyrsus in other houses and golden dear has by far the weakest unique units. Hilda’s the only “retainer” that can be taken out of house and while claude is certainly above average Dimitri is the single best enemy phase unit and edlegard is the best on player phase. And crimson flame also gives death knight and Hubert the second best enemy phaser since he’s the only solid mage without a crest for activating vantage with a relic

[@g.n.s.153]

@@ultimaterecoil1136 Nah I disagree. The Golden Deer being so well rounded means they don't have to go out of their way to get new units. There's no role that critically needs to be filled. Only thing missing is Rescue and easy access to Restore and Flayn fills that role perfectly. I already mentioned why Claude is slept on compared to the other lords. Having Lysi in house makes it easier to get Warp a couple of chapters earlier and Leonie is an extremely rare case of a unit that's amazing from chapter 1 and doesn't stop until the end of the game. Is your angle really route exclusive units? Golden Deer infamously gets shafted on those and they don't even get Judith playable for some reason. I think the house units carry a lot on their own and that's more important than exclusivity.

[@OMIMox]

I'm so glad you're still uploading these, my girlfriend is going through a ng+ hard mode and she's loving these almost as much as I am

[@JonoabboFE]

Aw thank you so much, I'm so glad to hear that!

[@Lex_Araden]

Wait, a new one? I wasn't paying attention when I saw this video recommended and just thought it was an old video. Cool!

[@JonoabboFE]

Yep! Got a few more before we wrap up Three Houses!

[@kuhmuh2357]

Holy shit, I did not expect this. After being a bit fatigued from playing two FE3h routes a few years ago, I recently decided to pick it up again to finish what I started. Since I'm planning on doing golden Deer on Maddening I wanted to look up a couple of guides and the unit breakdowns on this channel are awesome. I was a bit sad there was no episode on Claude since I thought the series ended and the creator moved on, but howdy am I glad to be proven wrong. Not only am I glad there's more, but it's for the perfect unit with perfect timing (literally just two days after I looked up the channel). Btw if anyone else has some GD-Maddening advice for me, I'll be happy to hear it :) I'm particularly scared of hunting by daybreak and I also want to recruit every student to prepare a juicy NG+ file for when I inevitably tackle Silver Snow.

[@JonoabboFE]

Ayy what great timing, glad it's here to help you out!

[@rhettmitchell]

Getting alert stance+ on anyone and using that on literally anyone for hunting by daybreak is always a good way to cheese it. But that’s way easier on NG+ ofc, bc you never *need* to focus on Claude’s flying rank bc of his personal classes. So if you give him vantage/wrath instead, that can also work

[@ahand091]

I'm having the polar opposite experience where I'm playing my first route with GD and on the literal final chapter when this video dropped. I've used this guide for all the other characters' class paths, but my Claude is just slightly suboptimal after investing in like A-rank flying. Even then Barbarossa is such a beastly class that it doesn't feel like his performance is hurting at all

[@traceyrice4978]

GD advice- feed Hilda

[@rotowsky4039]

You can cheese hunting by daybreak with flying units, that's pretty much it

[@faarman1]

it's cool to see these are still being made

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you!

[@aliceherring-bv4xg]

@@JonoabboFEwill you eventually do one for every character? i am still really invested in this game after all these years and watch these videos in my own time

[@JonoabboFE]

@@aliceherring-bv4xg Yep! Only a few left to go!

[@LunarBoo]

Sadly likely won't be able to be there for the premiere - but Great Knight is obviously his best class.

[@JonoabboFE]

How could I forget the GK :'(

[@zenronez1158]

After many years...hes here.

[@JonoabboFE]

I am!

[@rhettmitchell]

Is it Claude time? I think it’s Claude time

[@gg_sam7847]

I literally check this channel every few days to see when the next episode comes out (I am waiting for the Ignatz one. There's like 6 characters left he has to be soon)

[@gg_sam7847]

Don't just make him a rally bot 🔫

[@JonoabboFE]

Hahaha hopefully it lives up to the expectation!

[@Matteo_nr1_evermore_stan]

It’s crazy how I was literally thinking about this series earlier, checked your channel, saw that there hadn’t been an episode in a while and BAM a new episode. Love this series, keep it up!! 👌👌

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you!!!

[@JT_VA]

So glad to see this series come back, I’ve learned so much about the characters and even started to try out weird builds like brawler Constance on my most recent play through.

[@JonoabboFE]

Glad to hear it!

[@rhettmitchell]

Haha niceeeee, war monk Coco is very funny and actually really good

[@cosmictraveler1146]

Aura knuckles instant deleted most enemies, and she actually gets defense growths lmao

[@humanpotato17]

War cleric Constance kicked ass on my most recent silver snow playthrough. She was frequently the MVP when equipped with aura knuckles or using mystic blow

[@JuanMorales-uf9li]

I was waiting for you to do Claude!! I’m doing my first ever maddening run with dlc characters on VW and I needed help with Claude thank you for putting these out I watch them over constantly!

[@JonoabboFE]

Glad you enjoy them!

[@crisovelot]

I’m so glad these are back! They are always so helpful

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you, glad you think so!

[@anthonygamer101]

just recently found this playlist while trying for my first maddening run so glad youre picking it up again!

[@JonoabboFE]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@lunastraliasolas7308]

damn still making content for 3h houses despite a new title was released, it's amazing i really loved your character breaking down, i finished a new party not long ago while looking your previous videos. I hope you will continue, your video make people want to play the game again to try new things.

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

[@fireembros1165]

I do love your utilization of warrior to pick up wrath with vantage. Some could argue that losing access to early flight during White Clouds could be an issue, but honestly you can grab other units and do flier builds on them to try and maximize Claude's potential. It's also not unreasonable to just take the exam for wyvern/ have an option to reclass for the chapters that need it, but keep warrior for Claude until he masters wrath! Great vid!

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you, really appreciate it!

[@fern6709]

I’m so exited your still doing this series! I’m not over three houses yet

[@JonoabboFE]

Glad you are enjoying it!

[@corey9784]

Yeeeeeeessssss! I'm so glad you continue with this guides and with my favorite character at that. Keep up the good work

[@ninjakirby777]

Claude is one of the characters I think is super easy to build with zero thought and have him do super well, you can just hard focus Bow and Flying and go down the obvious class path with no deviations and still end up with alot of top tier skills. I usually use bow level 1-5, close counter, hit +20 and alert stance/alert stance + , with the 5th slot being pretty flexible. Death blow early game is what I normally go, before eventually replacing it with bowfaire when you reach s+ bows for a more consistent dual phase dmg boost or the null flier effective skill.

[@JonoabboFE]

Thanks for your input!

[@bornacimic6902]

Oh shit these still come out? I only recently started playing so they've been very useful

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you! Hope you look forward to them!

[@Werkzeug-100]

He’s back baby

[@JonoabboFE]

For real!

[@DaniDoyle]

Heck yeah we're back to breaking down!

[@JonoabboFE]

Hell yeah we are!

[@greg6434]

Crest of Riegan is not affected by crits, game is inconsistent from crest to crest

[@JonoabboFE]

Huh I did not know that... thanks!

[@MrCactuar13]

No mention of Alert Stance at all? That skill alone alleviates all the battalion management issues for Bat. Wrath. And the flying investment pushes you towards Wyvern Rider, a much better advanced class than Warrior. With his natural speed, cooking, and possibly the speed ring, Claude is typically fast enough to double a lot of enemies from chapters 8-12 in my experience, and Deathblow helps him hit one round thresholds. Claude's also an ideal boss killer in Part 2 thanks to Pass, he can bypass enemy dense sections of the map and reach the boss sooner than other units. Combine that movement with the range of a Brave Bow, plus some strength boosters to help him hit benchmarks. With DB, CC, AS+, Bat Wrath and Bow Prowess he's one of the most effective and low investment dual phase units in the game.

[@JonoabboFE]

I'm a little confused at how you are dualphasing with Alertstance? It requires you to end your turn with the Wait command, which means you can't take advantage of your player phase. When you have good player phase options like Fallen Star or Encloser, going for a dodgetank build just feels like a downgrade from grabbing Wrath/Vantage. Plus, with no natural gains until level 20, you aren't picking up AS+ in a timely manner without heavy flying investment, which defeats the point of Claude in the first place imo.

[@MrCactuar13]

@@JonoabboFE My bad I should have worded that differently. You have the option to dual phase with Alert Stance. Wait on turns when you need to enemy phase, and attack when you need to kill. Though it is also possible to do both: Waiting activates the Alert Stance bonus which lasts all the way through enemy phase, and when danced you can still fight on player phase. And as you've mentioned you can always swap around skills depending on the needs of the chapter: take away DB on maps where it's not needed, and likewise swap out AS+ and bat. wrath when you need player phase only skills.

[@songhong5624]

How about a series on class advantages instead of individual units? Discuss topics like the dancer class, who excelling in Hero’s innate Vantage with Wrath, or those with ideal skill sets for the Trickster class

[@dannyglomb7943]

Finally. 🙏

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you!

[@Kynthiax]

Finally a update!

[@JonoabboFE]

Thanks!

[@starmaker75]

It time for funny upside man. But seriously Claude is one of the best units in the game. His personal class is possible the best class. His personal weapon and combat arts are great.the only thing that kinda not the best his crest is underwhealing, but you can said for most crests in game. Again fitting with Claude, he best when you do partha shots/hit and run tactics on him, especially in part 2.

[@JonoabboFE]

Yeah he definitely has a lot going in his favour!

[@hexmaniacciaran]

From my experience of building Claude he gives me a bit of Ingrid/Petra syndrome where their usability is very contingent on their ability to pick up strength level ups. I usually save all of my stat boosters until chapter 15 to do damage control and Claude will often get 8-12 points of strength because he's so lacking despite taking him through classes with a nice strength% boost

[@beanie7042]

So glad Claude got his turn at last. 😁😁

[@JonoabboFE]

Glad you are excited for it!

[@StevenColgan]

Hey dude! I’ve used these guides so many times for my three houses runs. Just recently got into engage and kinda lukewarm on it, so you think you’ll do guides like these for that game are are you meh on it too? Hopefully the next fire emblem game will be announced soon…

[@JonoabboFE]

I enjoy engage a lot, but I havent done anything close to the amount of research and number crunching I would need too in order to confidently release guides on it in a similar fashion to these. Glad you enjoy the videos!

[@StevenColgan]

@@JonoabboFE thanks for the reply! I love these videos they are honestly so well done. Here’s hoping for sequel the 3H :)

[@evanpenny5768]

Let's gooo

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you!

[@veerigo]

WE’RE BACK

[@JonoabboFE]

WE ARE

[@pacmanpowerghost]

Jonoabbo, clearly if you don't calculate crit damage into your Wrath/Vantage for Claude you're playing the game wrong. Just allow for more HP to heal back up, its that simple. Jokes aside love seeing you doing the breakdowns again, really inspired me in my content creation.

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you!

[@RazorJorts]

Love to leave a comment, hate to make it go away from 69 comments. Love these guides!

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you!

[@thepurge7964]

Fear the deer!

[@JonoabboFE]

Deer the Fear!

[@DaniDoyle]

"As for where you should point his early investment, there aren't really any bad options " Next playthrough I'm giving Claude Heavy Armor and Faith then blaming you if it turns out poorly.

[@JonoabboFE]

Do it. I believe in War Monk Claude!

[@traceyrice4978]

If you're willing to do cheese skill farming, investing in heavy armor is basically good on everyone just to raise their Def base

[@MrMarinus18]

I am hoping you'll get to Sylvain. He does have a ton of options and he also has the unique feature of being super easy to recruit. I usually like making him very tanky as a cavalry to take hits as his high charm and decent defences work well with that. I also think he's better in the Golden deer as you have both Hilda and Leonie there. One of my best runs was actually with him as a recruit in the Golden deer with him as a dark knight, Hilda as a great knight and Leonie as a bow knight. Sylvain's swift strike boosted by 5 damage is extremely strong and the same goes for Syraphin and fire. Sylvain as the dark knight of the golden deer just feels like a flat out upgrade over Lorenz. Not to mention I consider Lorenz one of the least interesting characters of Three Houses and Sylvain just feels like the same character but with deeper and more interesting motivation.

[@OilyElk]

AT LONG LAST

[@JonoabboFE]

Glad you are looking forward to it!

[@xuanathan]

Erm, small correction ☝️🤓 It's Begalta, not Belgata, its named after Beagalltach, one of Diarmuid ua Duibnhe's swords, same with the sword of Moralta (Moralltach)

[@JonoabboFE]

oops haha, thanks!

[@hansgretl1787]

21:30 So is it just me being really tired or does it make no sense for Failnaught to actually have 20 hit?

[@tiagoSS90]

Missing characters Linhardt Sylvain Dedue Ignatz Catherine Alois Gilbert

[@Grima1805]

one of the few character who can use the poison strike silence combo, which...isnt really good but it is there

[@JonoabboFE]

Gotta get that cross map chip onto mages!

[@klodpraisor]

Missed opportunity to not name it Upside Down instead

[@JonoabboFE]

Damn I really did

[@wedorepairs]

[@JonoabboFE]

[@Choops6969]

there's a reason why golden deer is the easiest for challenge runs and it's this man.

[@JonoabboFE]

Definitely always makes life easier

[@trivialite4378]

I wanted to comment to show appreciation but I didn't know what to say. So, here's some love ❤ (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

[@JonoabboFE]

Thank you, I appreciate it!

[@readtherules7101]

Eighteen likes and thirteen views.. nice!

[@JonoabboFE]

KZbin doing youtube things lmao, sometimes takes a lil while for the front end to update

[@noishfanboy1141]

Claude is pretty cool as a unit but i find that his unique trairs are often what weigh him down. Notably Barbarossa has comparable stats to wyvern rider which almost any physical unit wants to go into anyways and worse stats than wyvern lord which not every unit can afford to get but given Claudes natural boons he can actually do it in a timely manner. Barbarossa is best for encloser because of bowfaire but the raw stat advantage of wyvern lord is definitely tempting Also hes one of the units who is hurt a lot by being male. He really struggles to hit doubling thresholds without a lot of stat boosters which is why wyvern rider and lords 1 and 2 point speed leads can be quite impactful. Cool unit just wish he was a little bit better

[@AsishRasaily]

By far the most easiest character in the game.

[@JonoabboFE]

I think there are a couple of easier ones personally - Edelgard springs to mind immediately, and somebody like Mercedes or Lysithea probably slots in there too.

[@zachmadden9077]

Shamir would beg to differ, and she has a killer bow with hunters volley to back it up.