Class mastery tiers: Take Hit, critical healing, and kill-based Movement before late-game BurstMajor spoilers

Original video: Fortune’s Weave: All class mastery abilities ranked | English-language gaming channel Jay Dunna

This list compares abilities and combat arts gained from class mastery based on a completed Hard-mode run. Prioritize accuracy, healing from critical kills, and movement after kills before late-game burst damage. Earlier abilities help in more battles.

Mastery value also depends on when you obtain it#

Prioritize the following four masteries. They arrive relatively early and remain useful later.

A Divine class adding 10 to a stat is certainly strong, but it comes at the end. In ranking abilities, I also consider how long they can stay with the team.

Beginner mastery as a temporary boost#

Beginner classes add one or two stat points, useful early but soon replaced by better abilities. They go in D tier.

Myrmidon’s DexRavaging Arts adds 6 critical-hit damage, suiting high-Critical characters. But many enemies already die to a critical, so the extra damage may not change the outcome: C tier. Brigand’s Regroup gives 20 Avoid for that combat after a miss. It protects inaccurate units without solving their accuracy problem: also C.

Pugilist’s Attack, Get Back gives 10 Avoid during combat using a Combat Art. It does not last the whole turn, but can dodge that counterattack. Frequent late-game Combat Arts make it easy to trigger: B tier.

Kill-based Hit and Avoid loops#

Archer’s Crescendo gives 3 Hit per kill, up to 30, until the map ends. Kills need not use bows: swords, axes, and other attacks stack it too. A few early kills make life much easier for Hit-starved characters such as Tobias and Theodora. Even the endgame has hard-to-hit enemies: S tier.

Rogue’s In Shadow grants 10 Avoid for the next combat after a kill. On someone such as Dietrich, who constantly finishes enemies, kills lead to Avoid and Avoid helps him keep fighting. It protects only the next combat but suits many units: A tier.

Defensive mastery for taking hits#

Armored Knight’s Great Counter adds 3 Attack when the enemy initiates, suiting units that hold a position and kill on enemy phase: A tier.

Light Cavalry adds 3 HP. Useful early, but unlikely to buy another hit once characters have around eighty HP: D tier. Charioteer’s Charger adds 10 Protection after a charge until the next player phase. Charioteer is useful, but the ability has narrow application: B tier.

Armored Ornius Rider’s Sense Threat adds 20 Avoid against effective or super-effective attacks. Bows threaten fliers and effective attacks threaten cavalry, precisely the damage you most want to dodge. Learn it on a detour, then return to the original class: A tier.

Wing Soldier adds 3 Resistance, Shaman lowers adjacent enemies’ Dexterity by 3, and Priest adds 3 Luck. These are small improvements. Train Shaman mainly for Magic growth rather than detouring solely for its mastery.

Healing from critical kills and combat art accuracy#

Shido’s Ever Vigilant requires a critical killing blow to heal. With Dietrich’s high Critical, you can send him to clear one side and recover HP as it falls. Sirocco can stack it with his own sustain too. Highly worthwhile for critical builds: S tier.

Dancer’s Special Dance gives the ally receiving Dance +3 Dexterity and Speed for that phase. Giving your best-suited unit another action is already strong, and the extra stats are practical: A tier.

Warrior’s Practiced Art adds 10 Hit when attacking with a Combat Art. Hard mode often relies on Combat Arts for kills. Inaccurate units such as Tobias and Buccar benefit: S tier.

Blacksmith’s Makeshift has only a 10% chance for a Combat Art to consume no durability. Forging materials were plentiful in my run through dungeon revisits. Rather than reserve a slot for unreliable durability savings, I prefer improving the current fight’s reliability: C tier.

Trigger restrictions on bow mastery#

Sniper’s Marksmanship adds 15 Hit with a bow. Direct and reliable, it is worth taking for archers. But it serves only bows and lacks Crescendo’s versatility: B tier.

Forest Knight's Hunter's Eye adds 3 Attack only on bow follow-ups. You must be fast enough to double first. Bows often finish fliers in one or two hits anyway, so the extra 3 damage may do nothing. C tier.

Ranger’s Countershot gives a 50% chance to counter adjacent enemies with a bow. It finally offers a chance to retaliate against melee attacks, but is not guaranteed. Protecting archers or switching to a melee-capable weapon remains more reliable: B tier.

Counter accuracy is steadier than chance-based damage reduction#

Guardian’s Brace adds 3 Protection after a kill: B tier. I prefer Rogue’s Avoid. Dreadnought’s Focused Counter adds 10 Hit when the enemy initiates, suiting enemy-phase attackers: high B to low A.

Bardinger’s Aegis and Cataphract’s Pavise each have a 20% chance to halve magical and physical damage respectively. A proc feels good, but tactical plans cannot assume it will save a life. Both are C tier, with Pavise slightly higher because physical attacks are more common.

Elephant Rider’s Elephant Vanguard gives Elephant Rider +10 Hit. Useful on an elephant, useless in another class: B tier.

Movement after kills and accuracy on terrain#

Caladrius’s Overtake gives 1 Movement per kill, up to 3, lasting through the end of the next turn. Equip it on Cai and let him kill a few enemies on enemy phase to reposition quickly afterward. Other classes can use it too; you need not keep riding a Caladrius: S tier.

Dragoon’s Besieger adds 20 Hit against enemies on favorable terrain. An enemy hiding on a high-Avoid tile is exactly where those 20 points matter. It transfers across classes and finds targets throughout the game: high A tier.

Ovate’s SpdBinding Curse lowers adjacent enemies’ Speed by 3, but Ovates usually prefer casting from a distance. Closing in for it is risky: C tier. Bishop’s Barrier gives adjacent allies 3 Resistance. Healers already approach the front line, making it easier to help low-Resistance allies: B tier. Troubadour’s Song of Courage gives nearby allies 2 Dexterity and Speed. Usable, but less appealing than the stronger options above: C tier.

Action value from Master Combat Arts#

Swordmaster’s Astra hits five times at 50% damage each. Durability cost is high, but it is excellent against an enemy that must die immediately: S tier.

High Savant’s Dark Moon has a 10% chance to halve the enemy’s defense. Damage looks impressive on a proc, but you cannot rely on it for a planned kill: B tier.

Battlemaster’s War Master's Strike raises damage to 1.5 times normal. Add Practiced Art for Hit, and high Strength converts directly into Burst: S tier. War Monk’s Strike and Heal allows support magic after attacking, dealing damage and healing in one action. It works especially well with ranged healing: also S tier.

Anti-air arts and overcoming terrain#

Bow Adept’s Sky Hunter gives 50 Hit against flying targets. The number is large, but archers rarely lack anti-air accuracy, and you cannot stack it onto another long-range Combat Art: C tier.

Bow Knight’s Hunter's Cross improves might, Hit, and Critical together, making it straightforward for archers: B tier.

Shadow Seeker’s Dropshadow Blade ignores favorable terrain and adds might, suiting enemies hiding on terrain: A tier. But it affects only this Combat Art, so it is less versatile than Besieger.

Full-HP and initiating conditions#

Sentinel’s Resolute Stance adds 5 defense at full HP, easier to maintain on self-healing units: B tier. Castle Knight’s Intercept directly reduces incoming damage by 5 without requiring full HP: higher B tier.

Orichaldia’s Fierce Spear prevents follow-ups in that combat, but consumes a Combat Art choice and durability. Sometimes I would rather spend that attack on damage or Hit: B tier.

Great Knight’s Fierce Shield requires initiating combat, then has a 50% chance to halve damage. Great Knight often receives attacks on enemy phase, so the initiation requirement does not fully match its usual job: B tier.

Celestial Trooper’s Lightning Reflexes deserves S tier. Initiate with at least a 10-point Attack Speed lead, and the follow-up comes before the enemy counters. Kill in two hits and you take no counterattack at all. You need sufficient Speed and must meet the class’s gender restriction.

Positioning limits magic mastery#

Bau Lord’s Ambush adds 4 Attack on terrain inaccessible to walking units. Follow-ups apply the bonus twice, but the map needs suitable tiles: B tier.

Druid’s ResBinding Curse lowers adjacent enemies’ Resistance by 3. It increases damage, but still requires a mage to approach enemies: B tier. Wiseman’s MagControl has a 10% chance to avoid a counterattack against magic enemies. Mages do not usually prioritize fighting other high-Resistance mages, limiting both opportunities and probability: low B tier.

Valkyrium’s Song of Calm gives nearby allies 2 Resistance, providing temporary defense: low B tier.

Divine mastery is strong but arrives only for the endgame#

The Blade adds 10 Speed for follow-ups and Avoid: A tier. The Apsara adds 10 Charm, earning C in this direct-combat-focused ranking. The Apsara’s refresh action itself remains powerful.

The Eternal adds 10 Strength, a clear damage boost across two follow-up hits: S tier. The Godhand adds 10 Resistance for safer magic tanking, but the class already has good Resistance: A tier. The Calamity adds 10 Luck: B tier.

The Trident adds 10 Defense to address the physical weakness of Resistance-focused classes: S tier. The Cavalier adds 10 Dexterity, helping Hit and Critical: A tier. The Avatar adds 10 Magic alongside its own magic-use and healing capabilities. Sirocco suits this path: S tier.