Upon beginning Fire Emblem: Three Houses, players are given the option to make Byleth, the game's hero, a male or a female. By and large, the choice is purely cosmetic, but there are a few minor benefits to choosing each gender, especially when it comes time to deciding which class characters want to roll with as they make their way through the game.
Female Byleths are granted additional speed and resistance when compared to their male counterparts, as well as a class that's entirely unique to their gender. While a female Byleth can really do well as any class, there are some that they’re far better suited to than others thanks to their innate characteristics and proficiencies.
Updated June 19, 2021, by Tom Bowen: As well as the excellent Cindered Shadows side story and a host of additional quests, the expansion pass for Fire Emblem: Three Houses grants players access to four brand new classes. Though primarily intended for the Ashen Wolves, these classes can also be used by the game's many other characters, including female Byleth. Not all of the classes are well-suited to her natural abilities, but one or two of them can be fairly useful when taking on Maddening Mode or working one's way through the game's plethora of endgame content.
7 Assassin
Certification Requirements: Sword B & Bow C
Class Abilities: Swordfaire, Locktouch & Stealth
Class Mastery Unlock: Lethality Ability & Assassinate Combat Art
Female Byleths make great Assassins thanks to their natural advantages with speed and swordplay. Assassins are masters of avoiding damage and detection and have fairly low requirements when compared to other classes. They also grant a +5 bonus to sword damage and their Stealth ability makes it easier to avoid hits.
Where Assassins really shine, however, is through their ability to open doors and chests without any keys. Their mastery ability, Assassinate, can also be invaluable at times as it allows them to instantly kill a target. Using female Byleth with the Assassin class is a lot of fun too and so players can’t really go wrong with it.
6 War Cleric
Certification Requirements: Brawl B+ & Faith C+
Class Abilities: Fistfaire, Unarmed Combat & Heal
Class Mastery Unlock: Brawl Avoid +20 & Pneuma Gale Combat Art
There aren't too many female characters in Three Houses who can really get the best out of the War Cleric class. In fact, other than perhaps Catherine, most would probably agree that Byleth is the only viable candidate due in large to her high strength and her natural proficiency as a brawler.
Though the lack of a speed boost hurts the class a little, Byleth's high speed generally makes up for this and allows her to evade most attacks. The class' high crit bonus also allows it to dish out some pretty decent damage and Byleth's innate strength makes it strong against even the game's bulkiest of enemies.
5 Myrmidon
Certification Requirements: Sword D
Class Abilities: N/A
Class Mastery Unlock: Speed +3 Ability & Swap Combat Art
Myrmidons are master sword fighters that use speed to dodge enemy attacks rather than high defense to tank them. Given female Byleth’s innate speed, this makes Myrmidon a perfect midgame choice while also taking full advantage of those sword skills.
With a +2 bonus to Speed and the ability to Swap places with allies, Byleth can be all over the battlefield at once. This allows her to relieve injured warriors, provide backup or quickly charge down those pesky archers with only the push of a few buttons.
4 Swordmaster
Certification Requirements: Sword A
Class Abilities: Swordfaire & Sword Crit +10
Class Mastery Unlock: Astra Combat Art
As established before, Byleth is at her very best when wielding a sword and so the Swordmaster class suits the character perfectly. It's a class that values sword fighting and speed above all else, which really does make female Byleth the perfect candidate.
With a +5 bonus to attack and a +5 bonus to critical hits while using swords, this class has some strong abilities. The Combat Art Astra delivers a brutal five-hit attack that deals 30% damage with each strike for a whopping total of 150% damage. It's therefore a class that should definitely be picked up at some point.
3 Wyvern Lord
Certification Requirements: Lance C, Axe A & Flying A
Class Abilities: Canto, Axefaire & Avo +10
Class Mastery Unlock: Defiant Crit Ability
Wyvern Lords are masters of the air and strike their foes down with great strength from above. The class has great stats and the ability to fly makes evading enemy attacks a lot easier too. Its high requirements can make it a difficult class to reach, though, and the lack of skill bonus with swords is far from ideal.
Don’t misunderstand, seeing Byleth astride a Wyvern striking fear into the hearts of her enemies is still a glorious sight. However, the class ignores many of her natural advantages and confines one of the best swords in the game to the armory to slowly collect dust. It's an excellent choice for an endgame class or when playing on Maddening Mode, nonetheless though.
2 Enlightened One
Certification Requirements: Unlocked in Chapter 11
Class Abilities: Swordfaire & Terrain Resistance
Class Mastery Unlock: Sacred Power Ability
Without spoiling anything, the Enlightened One class becomes available during the story and is one of the best classes for Byleth to grow into. The combination of stats and perks that it provides are incredibly useful, making it a solid pick for anybody who's looking for a hybrid class that specializes in physical damage.
It grants a +5 bonus to attacks with sword, nullifies damage dealt by the terrain and has a nice spread of stat growth. Its main perk, however, is the Sacred Power mastery ability. Sacred Power causes all allies near Byleth to receive a +3 boost to attack damage and -3 to damage received.
1 Falcon Knight
Certification Requirements: Sword C, Lance A, Flying B+
Class Abilities: Canto, Lancefaire & Avo +10
Class Mastery Unlock: Defiant Avo Ability
Falcon Knight is unique to female Byleth and caters to a lot of her natural abilities very well. Falcon Knights sit astride a winged horse and attack enemies with either lance or sword, often dealing critical hits as they do. She's lightning fast too and can resist many of the magical attacks that are thrown her way.
Although perhaps better suited to lance users, it's still an incredibly effective class due to its excellent defensive and offensive capabilities. The +10 bonus to avoidance makes her very hard to hit and she can use her speed in the air to quickly descend upon foes in hard-to-reach places.