Fire Emblem: Three Houses is quite the bombastic release for Nintendo! In fact, this new entry into the franchise is feeling so instantly beloved that the only title with more sales is Awakening, the FE game that saved the series. Now, we're sure that a lot of the success from Three Houses comes from it finally being developed for a home console rather than a portable, as well as the classic FE gameplay people love.
But, another aspect of its success is Three Houses changes a lot of the "standardized" FE mechanics! And, one of the systems with the most changes is the support system. So, for everyone who is still adjusting, here are some tips for raising student supports.
10 Stuff Food In Everyone's Faces, All The Time
Heads up we're not going to waste time explaining all the established systems returning in FE: TH. We know our readers are playing it fervently and know their stuff so let's just get to the nitty-gritty. Always eat. Every time there's a chance to explore, take it, and eat with two other students/faculty at least once or twice. Seriously, eating in the dining hall is so obscenely beneficial. It raises support and gives motivations, plus there are numerous events on the calendar that raises these bonuses. If students have high motivation, they can be taught more each week. Full students are happy students.
9 Plant Flowers Every Day
And speaking of the Exploration tasks, let's talk about gardening. Right next to the dining hall and the fishing pond is the greenhouse where Byleth can plant plenty of seeds, whether its for food or flowers. This is by far one of the most useful features in the game, absolutely never forget to harvest or plant new seeds.
Particularly the flower seeds, because these flowers can be given as gifts to just about anyone and work as a substitute motivation booster for the weeks where players want to use their time for Faculty training. Plus, if Blyleth cultivates the crops as well, they can drop permanent stat-boosting items.
8 Rank Up That Professor Level ASAP
One feature that a lot of new players aren't investing enough time into is the Professor Level. This is a bar that ranks up during a ton of different activities like fishing, finding lost items, and even eating. Basically, it's Byleths rank in terms of being a "good" teacher. And, with each new rank, the church will give them more money per month.
This is great for buying new equipment, seals, or even gifts. But, the most important aspect is that ranking up increases the number of Activity Points given per exploration sequence. So if Byleth has more points, they'll be able to do more in less time than someone with a lower rank.
7 Tea Parties All Day, Every Day
The side quests in FE: TH are usually easily completed in less than 5 minutes and half of them unlock new mechanics or bonuses. One such mechanic is the tea parties that Blyleth can host with another student.
During this quaint little tea outing, they'll be able to get 1-4 support rank ups with the character they bring, as long as they pick topics that said character would like. For example, always talk about romance and the monastery with Manuela. It's a neat way to test players on how much they're paying attention to each student and rewarding the ones that are. Plus, tea parties? At a noble school? So adorably cliche.
6 Byleth Has Weekly Rounds To Do
Finally, the last little tip related to the "explore monastery" sections, do the rounds. We know it might get boring to run around the entire school talking to every student every, single, time, but that's too bad. That's just what maxing support with virtual best friends takes okay?! Don't worry, the students only have someone to say once a month, so the other 3 times are just about using the activity points and finding lost items. Basically, the hovering blue glow spots that are seen around the map can either be gifts, materials, lost items, or books. The Lost Items are perfect for ranking up support as long as Byleth can find who it belongs to, and the books are perfect for some sweet Professor Rank points.
5 Notice All The Little Details
This next one actually applies to everything we've talking about so far, the game has an absurd amount of subtle yet clear design details that help players nab extra support points. When picking students to share a meal with, the ones with an arrow next to their name will get bonus support points.
Every single lost item and gift in the game has a description that tells Byleth exactly who it should be given to. The Support Rank heart during battles is absolutely crucial in determining what actions matter, like taking out an enemy attacking another student. And finally, every unit has its support rank next to it whenever a character is selected. Just great UI design all around.
4 Never Sleep, Ever
A bit of an odd tip, since it's a recommendation of what NOT to do, but seriously, never pick the Rest option on Sundays. Basically, all it does is give all students a bit of motivation back, as well as restoring durability to the Sword of The Creator. But, the blacksmith can fix the sword, and exploring the monastery or attending a seminar will restore comparatively more motivation. Honestly, the Rest option very much seems like something only used by impatient people or those attempting speedruns. If that's the case, it's nice that it is in the game, but not at all something we'd recommend using. Think of all those missed meals.
3 Move Units In As A Big Square
Now, this next tip actually works for raising support ranks in ANY Fire emblem game, but always move in a big clump. Sure, it might seem useful to split up and surround the enemy on both sides, some maps even encourage it. But, keeping every student in a tight-knit formation allows every single kill to rank up support for multiple people.
Basically, whenever an enemy unit is killed, all the player units surrounding the student that got the kill will get a rank up for support.That said, if splitting up is mandatory/necessary for the current mission, just split the students based on whatever support pairings Byleth is currently working on!
2 Oddly Enough, Be A Good Teacher
So, the crux of Fire Emblem: Three Houses is that players pay the part of a teacher. The events of the game literally depend on how well Byleth teaches and bonds with their students. So, it should go without saying that succeeding as an instructor is a way to raise support quickly. Things like responding best to student's questions in the advice box, answering their inquiries after class, and even the act of instructing them itself can raise support. Basically, just pay attention! Listen to the students! And most of all, shower them with gifts and good advice.
1 Use Adjutants, Always
And lastly here's a quick tip that we've seen a lot of people asking, yes, Adjundants gain support. Adjundants are characters that aren't ON the battlefield but are equipped as a support. Basically, they can be any student/faculty and are equipped in a separate menu onto another character. During battle, they have a chance to attack, heal, or defend their commanding unit, all while gaining Class Mastery, EXP and support along the way, albeit slower. So, when used in combination with a student from another class, it's a great way to boost their support to B so Byleth can nab them up.