Hello! I’ve cleared this game on Maddening around 12times, and I wanted to share some cool builds that I’ve messed around with during that time.
Disclaimer: This guide is based on my own experience. There is no intention of discrediting other playstyles. Feel free to leave any suggestions or criticisms.
[General Info]
Before we get into the builds, I want to cover some basic info.
1. Maddening enemies are much faster than Hard enemies. This makes multi-hit combat arts favorablefor offensive firepower.
- Swift Strikes (Ferdinand, Sylvain, Seteth)
- Point-Blank Volley (Cyril, Leonie)
- Hunter’s Volley (Sniper Mastery)
- Fierce Iron Fist (Grappler Mastery)
- Bombard, Nimble Combo, One-Two Punch, etc.
2. Here are some abilities that go well in pretty much any build:
- Death Blow = Str+6when initiating combat (Brigand)
- Fiendish Blow = Mag+6when initiating combat (Mage)
- Darting Blow = Speed+6when initiating combat (Pegasus Knight)
- Hit+20 = Accuracy+20% (Archer)
If you're willing to put in the effort, it's definitely worth grinding your characters through these Intermediate classes.
3. Curved Shot (D Bow) is a very safe and accurate chip damage tool, and pretty much every physical unit benefits from having it. It's definitely worth considering if you aren't planning to use all 3 of the combat art slots.
4. Flying is amazing in Three Houses. Lots of dynamic terrain and super canto means fliers have unparalleled freedom in movement. You can also stack crazy amounts of Avoid on fliers for reliable enemy phase. Proof that dodgetanking works on Maddening
5.The most difficult points in Maddening are probably Chapter 5 (Miklan), Chapter 13 (Hunting By Daybreak), and Endgame.
- Chapter 5 can be made easier by recruiting Catherinein Chapter 4. (For Black Eagles Route, just try to overlevel Edelgard.)
- For Chapter 13, make sure to create a separate save in Chapter 12 to avoid softlocking. The easiest method I found was to just have a very strong Byleth, but there are cheese strategies available if you need them.
- For Endgame, you can get stuck on the final bosses if you’re not prepared. I’ve found that training 2 units with very high strength and speed is the best way to handle them. Don’t sell your Goddess Icons and put them on your carry units.
Oookay, hopefully that wasn’t too painful. Now let's get to the builds.
[S Tier]
These are seriously powerful builds that I recommend going for if your goal is to clear.
1. Fast Female Flier
Characters: Edelgard, F!Byleth, Petra, Hilda, Leonie, Ingrid, Catherine
Speedy Wyvern Lords / Falcon Knights capable of doubling in player phase and dodgetanking in enemy phase. These characters will often be the strongest units in your party.
What sets them apart from Male Fliers is their strong midgame with Pegasus Certification for flying and Darting Blow access.
First, go Pegasus Knight and get Darting Blow and Death Blow. This will give you a massive power spike which can pretty much trivialize part 1. Once you have access to Knowledge Gem and Saint Cethlainn Restoration (Class Exp+1), you can try to get Alert Stance+ and Sword Prowess Lv5 to begin the dodgetanking. Optionally, you can get Sword Avo+20 from Dancer Certification which will make the character nigh untouchable and at that point you’re smooth sailing for victory.
Choose whatever Master class you like. I usually prefer Wyvern Lord for the higher strength but some characters go into Falcon Knight more easily.
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Class: Wyvern Lord / Falcon Knight
Main Weapon: Rapier, Wo Dao+
Accessory: Evasion Ring / Chalice of Beginnings
Battalion: Cichol Wyvern Co.
Abilities:
1.[Alert Stance+]
2.[Sword Prowess Lv5]
3.Darting Blow
4.Death Blow
5.Hit+20 / Sword Avo+20
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The abilities with [ ] brackets are the mandatory ones, and the other slots you can fill with whatever you like. Darting Blow and Death Blow provides a lot of player phase killing power, and Sword Avo+20 provides a crazy amount of Avoid. Defiant Avo, Battalion Wrath, and Breaker skills are some other alternatives. Cichol Wyvern Co. gives you a lot of Crit but there are other flying battalions that provide more Avoid.
The completed setup will let you have over 100 Avoid and up to 130+ with Sword Avo+20.
Example Build 1 / Example Build 2
Details about individual units:
- F!Byleth and Catherine cannot certify for Sword Avo+20.
- Petra has very good boons for Wyvern Lord which means you’ll have a comfortable time training her ranks.
- Hilda has worse boons but a 15% higher Charm growth than Petra. Theoretically, this is 4.5 Charm across 30 levels, which is a 22.5% difference in enemy Gambitaccuracy.
- Ingrid has both good boons and high Charm, but her Strength can suffer. Give her a lot of love andRocky Burdocks.
- Leonie has a solid lower effort build as a Bow Knight, but I think flying is definitely stronger. She just makes it work with her great stats.
- Catherine has very high strength and speed from start to finish. However, her Charm is very low which makes her susceptible to gambits.
- Edelgard and F!Byleth > the others mainly because of how quickly they gain stats. They also have Crest of Flames and good Charm for additional safety.
- Jeritza can run a very similar final build with Darting Blow from Flying budding talent and Counterattack from Death Knight mastery.
(I won’t mention Battalions anymore. Accuray is appreciated by everyone. Evasion is good for dodgetanks. Crit is good for high-crit builds. Use your best judgment!)
2. KELOOTKill Every Last One Of Them
Characters: Dimitri
Dimitri is the only character in the game who has access to both Battalion Wrath and Battalion Vantage. This means if his Battalion is red, he can always hit first with 50 Crit in Enemy Phase. With some more crit investment, he can crit almost everything to death before enemies can even touch him. I found that Killer Bow+ is the best way to abuse B. Wrath + B. Vantage since you can cover 1-2 Range naturally.
As for classpath, you can do Sniper -> Bow Knight for Hunter’s Volley or Paladin -> Bow Knight for movement. Both work just as well.
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Class: Bow Knight
Main Weapon: Killer Bow+ in Enemy Phase, Brave Bow in Player Phase
Accessory: Critical Ring / Chalice of Beginnings
Abilities:
1.[Battalion Wrath]
2.[Battalion Vantage]
3.[Close Counter]
4.[Hit+20]
5.Bow Prowess Lv5 / Bow Crit+10
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Black-Sand Steel can be bought infinitely from a Merchant in Garreg Mach. If you’re going to use Chalice of Beginnings, any weapon type should be fine.
3. Barbarossa
Characters: Claude
While Claude doesn’t get ridiculous stats like the other lords, he has an amazing unique class in Barbarossa. With the right setup, he can become a monstrous enemy phase unit.
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Class: Barbarossa
Main Weapon: Silver Bow /Killer Bow+ for Enemy Phase,Brave Bow for Player Phase
Accessory: Evasion Ring
Abilities:
1.[Alert Stance+]
2.[Bow Prowess Lv5]
3. [Close Counter]
4. Quick Riposte / Battalion Wrath
5.Hit+20 / Death Blow
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Quick Riposte not only prevents enemy doublesbut also guarantees you can double the enemy. However, it does take quite a bit of grinding to get, so you could trya crit setup with Killer Bow+ and Battalion Wrathinstead. Also, you can forgo Close Counter if you want to use Chalice of Beginnings.
[A Tier]
These are strong builds that can be valuable assets to your team.
1. Male Wyvern
Characters: Seteth, Ferdinand, Sylvain, Cyril
These are all characters with Multi-hit combat arts, which takes care of their offense. And then they can take care of their tanking and mobility with flying.
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Class: Wyvern Lord
Main Weapon: Mainly Steel Lance+ for durability, but Spear of Assal and Killer Lance+ are great
Accessory: Evasion Ring / Accuracy Ring
Abilities:
1.[Death Blow]
2.[Hit+20]
3.[Lance Prowess Lv5]
4.Alert Stance+
5.Swordbreaker / Quick Riposte
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Use Swift Strikes for killing and Alert Stance+ for tanking. You can forgo all of the evasion stuff if you don’t want it. Cyril uses Bow instead and pretty much the same build otherwise.
Details about individual units:
- Ferdinand makes great use of Alert Stance+ in particular, thanks to his passive which grants Hit/Avo+15 whenat full health.
- Ferdinand, Seteth, and Sylvain unlock Swift Strikes at A Lance. Cyril unlocks Point-Blank Volley at C+ Bows.
- Sylvain and Ferdinand have a lower effort build as a Paladin. Check B Tier for more info.
2. Sniper
Characters: Shamir, Bernadetta, Ignatz, Yuri, Ashe, Anna
Snipers basically spam Hunter’s Volley 95% of the time for big firepower. Their long range is valuable for hunting monsters, and their flying effectiveness is valuable for flying enemies which can be tough to deal with.
In early game, it’s worth training D Lance to pick up kills more easily. Tempest Lance with Steel Lance is one of the strongest sources of early game damage at 17 Mt. (Smash is 14, Wrath Strike is 13, and Curved Shot is 10.)
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Class: Sniper
Main Weapon: Steel Bow+ / Killer Bow+
Accessory: Accuracy Ring / Critical Ring
Abilities:
1.[Death Blow]
2.[Hit+20]
3.[Bow Prowess Lv5]
4.Bow Crit+10
5.Bowfaire
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Details about individual units:
- Shamir has very early access to the class which means she can start spamming Hunter’s Volley much earlier than anyone else.
- For Bernadetta, use a Steel Shield in early game or Defense Adjutant (Armor Knight, Brawler) in mid-lategame to bring her to low HP. This will trigger her passive which will give her a huge Atk+5 boost. Bernadetta also has a great damage source in Vengeance at C+ Lance, which is definitely worth training for.
- Ignatz has an amazing accuracy passive which lets him use Hunter’s Volley reliably at 4 Range.
- Pretty much any physical unit without Bow bane can be made into a good Sniper. This can save lackluster units like Anna from mediocrity.
3. War Master
Characters: M!Byleth, Felix, Balthus, Dedue, Raphael, Alois, Caspar, Gilbert
War Masters are bulky frontliners that can perform well in both Player Phase and Enemy Phase. In early-midgame, you want to opt into Grappler with Death Blow and Hit+20. You can then spam Fierce Iron Fist (Grappler Mastery) until you reach Lv30, where you can get the innate Crit+20 and Quick Riposte to start going ham.
I have experimented with a lot of War Master builds, but the below build is easily my favorite.
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Class: War Master
Main Weapon: Killer Axe+
Accessory: Critical Ring / Accuracy Ring / Chalice of Beginnings
Abilities:
1.[Death Blow]
2.[Hit+20]
3.[Axe Prowess Lv5]
4.[Quick Riposte]
5.[Axe Crit+10]
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This setup will give you 95-100 crit on Smash which lets you nuke almost everything along with Death Blow. This build also has a great enemy phase with Quick Riposte, often getting at least 1 crit out of the 2 attacks which lets them kill consistently.
Example Build / Showcase 1 / Showcase 2
4. Dark Flier
Characters: Lysithea, Constance, Hapi, Marianne, Annette, Dorothea, Mercedes, Flayn
Dark Flier is by far the best offensive class for mages. 7 Mov Flying gives them a ton of reach coupled with Thyrsus/Caduceus, and Canto complements their glass cannon playstyle very well. Unfortunately, only female characters can access this class.
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Class: Dark Flier
Main Weapon: Maaagic
Accessory: Thyrsus / Caduceus Staff, Healing Staff
Battalion: Nuvelle Fliers Corps
Abilities:
1.[Fiendish Blow]
2.[Darting Blow]
3.[Hit+20]
4.[Reason Prowess Lv5]
5.Speed+2 / Weight-3 / Black Magic Range+1 / Alert Stance+
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The most important thing to consider here is doubling threshold against enemy cavaliers and other slower units. I noticed that Darting Blow will usually get you close but not quite. Try to bring AS up with Speed+2, Weight-3, Speedwing, Speed Ring, etc.
Nuvelle Fliers Corps is the only flying magic battalion. If you missed it, just go for any other stats like accuracy/crit/evasion.
Details about individual units:
- Lysithea is the best Dark Flier, with a huge offensive spell list, Warp, and 10-15% higher Speed growth than other mages which means more reliabledoubling.
- Constance has two rare spellsin Rescue and Bolting, as well as ideal boons for the class.
- Hapi has Physic and Warp, as well as a versatileDark spell list.
- Marianne has Physic and Silence. Her spell list generally has lower accuracy but higher crit which can be useful for monster hunting.
- Annette has a very powerful Rally which can jack up your physical units.
- Dorothea has Physic and Meteor. She takes damage from Thyrsus, so you might want to give her the Caduceus Staff instead. She has a flying bane but it isn’t a big issue, since you only need D to certify for Dark Flier and Pegasus Knight.
- Flayn has Fortify and Rescue. She starts a bit behind but she can still do well with proper care.
5. Bishop
Characters: Linhardt, Hapi, Mercedes, Marianne, Dorothea, Manuela
Bishop is by far the most reliable source of healing in the game. The only prerequisite to being a good Bishop is learning Physic. This class is more focused on keeping everyone healthy rather than dishing out damage.
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Class: Bishop
Main Weapon: Maaagic
Accessory: Healing Staff, Thyrsus / Cadaceus Staff
Abilities:
1.[Fiendish Blow]
2.[Hit+20]
3.[Reason Prowess Lv5]
4. Magic+2 / Renewal / Darting Blow
5.White Magic Range+1 / HP+5
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4th and 5th ability slots really don't matter that much. Draw Back is a great repositioning combat art that moves a unit back 1 space, so try getting from Priest/Monk Masteryif you want.
Details about individual units:
- Linhardt and Hapi have Warp, which makes them very favorable choices.
- Mercedes has Fortify, which is big quality of life for healing everyone at once. Some people say Fortify is bad because it ruins low HP strats, which may be true, but I think it’s still great.
- Marianne has Silence for shutting down enemy siege tomes. Maybe smack around some stuff with Blutgang.
- Dorothea has Meteor which has another property than attacking. When equipped, it gives a support bonus to every ally in Meteor range, which is Hit/Avoid+7 for B support and Hit/Avoid+10 for A support. Definitely worth considering.
- Unfortunately, Manuela doesn’t have Physic, but she does have Warp if for some reason you’re unwilling to use Lysithea, Linhardt, and Hapi.
- Some other Physic users are: Ashe, Bernadetta, Ignatz, Ingrid, Leonie, Shamir, Sylvain. Try experimenting, maybe you'll find the new meta.
6. Valkyrie
Characters: Marianne, Hapi, Dorothea
Valkyrie has less mobility than Dark Flier but can have an absolutely disgusting reach with magic range stacking. Bestused with 3 range spells like Thoron and Death Γ for a maximum range of 7.
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Class: Valkyrie
Main Weapon: Maaagic
Accessory: Thyrsus, Healing Staff
Abilities:
1.[Fiendish Blow]
2.[Uncanny Blow]
3.[Reason Prowess Lv5]
4.[Black Magic Range+1]
4.Darting Blow /Hit+20 / Movement+1
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This build will generally not be able to double as well as Dark Flierbut can take potshots at enemies from a very safe distance, acting as a walking siege weapon.
[B Tier]
Notable builds that I wouldn’t consider as strong as the above builds, but can still perform well.
1. Magic Sniper
Characters: Hanneman, Hubert, Lorenz, Mercedes
Magic Sniper is a bit finicky to use but it brings incredible firepower to the table. Magic Bow Hunter’s Volley is a guaranteed double magic attack, which means it deletes almost everything from the game. Therefore, this build is a good alternative to Dark Knight for the few male mages in the game, namely Hanneman, Hubert, and Lorenz. You can make use of the Physical side for hitting high Res enemies or conserving Magic Bow uses.
Stay as a Mage for Intermediate class while training up Bow Rank, then you can make the transition to Sniper.
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Class: Sniper
Main Weapon: Magic Bow, Steel Bow+
Accessory: Accuracy Ring
Abilities:
1. [Death Blow]
2. [Fiendish Blow]
3. [Hit+20]
4.[Bow Prowess Lv5]
5.Bow Crit+10 / Uncanny Blow
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Arcane crystals can be farmed by feeding the pets in the monastery or from the Arcane Merchant starting from Chapter 16. (You need to complete the quest Taking Care of Business)
2. Tanky Paladin
Characters: Sylvain, Ferdinand
Even factoring inLancefaire, Wyvern Lord outclasses this build due to its superior mobility. However, Paladin takesvery minimal effort to build while still performing well, and that effort can be sparedon your other characters.
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Class: Paladin
Main Weapon: Mainly Steel Lance+ for durability, but Spear of Assal and Killer Lance+ are great
Accessory: Aegis Shield / Silver Shield
Abilities:
1.[Death Blow]
2.[Hit+20]
3.[Lance Prowess Lv5]
4. Movement+1
5. Quick Riposte
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I wrote down Mov+1 and Quick Riposte in the last slot but you can fill it with any random stuff like HP+5 and Bow Prowess. Again the point of the build is that it doesn't require much effort.
Paladin -> Great Knight isHP+3, Str-1, Dex-2, Spd-3, Def+6, Res-2, and Mov-1. I'd say it's not worth it but maybe you like the extra bulk.
3. Brawling Dodgetank
Characters: Felix, Caspar
This one is a brawl-focused Grappler / War Master for faster characters like Felix and Caspar. Quite tanky with all the bonus avoid and Quick Riposte. Brawl Avo+20 can be obtained from War Cleric mastery.
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Class: Grappler / War Master
Main Weapon: Killer Knuckles+, Iron Knuckles+
Accessory: Evasion Ring
Abilities:
1.[Brawl Prowess Lv5]
2.[Brawl Avo+20]
3.[Quick Riposte]
4.Death Blow
5.Hit+20 / Alert Stance+
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4. Magic Wyvern (with Orange Hair)
Characters: Annette
This build makes full use of Annette’s Lightning Axe combat art for offense. Lightning Axe hits considerably harder than Soulblade and Frozen Lance, which lets it secure kills more easily. However, its accuracy is lower, so you want all the accuracy you can get.
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Class: Wyvern Lord
Main Weapon: Silver Axe+
Accessory: Accuracy Ring
Abilities:
1.[Fiendish Blow]
2.[Hit+20]
3.[Axe Prowess Lv5]
4.Death Blow
5.Rally Speed / Alert Stance+
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Alright, that’s all I have for now! Hopefully the formatting wasn't terrible. I will try to update the post with more builds and screenshots soon.
I'm looking for more builds to try out so maybe you can leave your own in the thread. Thanks for reading!
Edited by windypanda1
