Fire Emblem: Three Houses boasts some of the most complex systems in the series to date. Not only does it represent a culmination of various elements built throughout the series, but it also introduces new features that completely shift how the majority of the game is played.

Though the game hosts in-depth tutorials and guides to explain the bulk of its mechanics, some of the finer, crucial details can still evade most users. The onslaught of new information and mechanics will surely feel overwhelming regardless, especially to players who are new to the series.

To that end, this guide serves as a good primer on the important things you should focus on if you’re looking to get the best out of your characters. Some of the tips here might also help if you’re planning to tackle FE3H’s hardcore Lunatic difficulty.

Manage Your Time Efficiently Through The Calendar System

The game uses a calendar system that limits the amount of time you can spend on activities per month. Activities can be used to further your bond with characters as well as improve their abilities. Given that the story will progress at a set pace, you’re expected to carefully manage your time so that characters can have the edge in upcoming battles.

If you’ve played games like Persona, the idea of a calendar system with finite time can sound a little daunting. Rest assured, Three Houses’ calendar is nowhere near as complicated, though it’s still possible to end up wasting valuable time.

The game broadly divides your time between weekdays and weekends. On weekdays, you are working as a professor and teaching your students in the class. Weekends is when you’ll be spending your free time, in which you can choose between battling (to gain experience), exploring Garreg Mach Monastery (to interact with characters and complete side quests), or attending seminars (improving the proficiencies of yourself and a group of students).

During the beginning of every month, you’ll want to explore the monastery first and squeeze out everything you can from it, such as important side quests and conversations. Once those are done with, they will remain complete until the next month begins when you must start the cycle anew. This helps make your decision-making on the following weeks easier, where you can focus solely on your relationship with characters and their battle potential.

Learn This One Thing In Being A Good Teacher

As a professor of Garreg Mach Monastery, most of your weekdays in a month will be spent instructing the students. For every week, you will have the option to manually instruct students, set goals for them to study certain proficiencies on their own, as well as to pair two characters in a group task.

Manual instruction is probably the most important one of the bunch. You’ll have a set number of activity points per week that you can use to improve students’ proficiencies. The catch, however, is that students must first be motivated for you to even use these activity points on them. Low motivation levels can mean you’ll have no one to teach during a week, thus wasting your allotted activity points.

This is where the balance between activities during the weekdays and weekends comes into play. If your students aren’t very motivated for next week, you’ll want to spend your weekends having a meal with them or giving them gifts. There is plenty to do in the monastery on the weekends, but students’ motivations should always be prioritised so that your weekdays don’t go to waste.

In terms of goals, you can set two proficiencies for a student to study on their own. Would you like Edelgard to focus on Reason and Axe? Go for it. What you prioritise is ultimately up to you, but keep in mind that each student has their own stat growths and favourite proficiencies, so the effectiveness of your investment may vary.

For group tasks, you can have two students engage in a weekly activity based on one of three movement types: cavalry, flier, or armoured. Decide on which movement type you want your students to specialise in and make sure to pair together ones with the best synergy to achieve better outcomes. If you’re looking to improve the synergy between select students, you can do so by improving their support levels through spending time together in battles and on weekends.