With abilities, certifications, a professor rank and more to master, there are many different skill and ability paths to keep track of in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Studying Skills to reach new class certifications is important, but you shouldn’t overlook Class Mastery either. Every single class in Fire Emblem: Three Houses has a unique Ability or Combat Art to offer if you’re able to max out its Class Mastery gauge, but it’s easy to miss or misunderstand this mechanic entirely. To help you make the most of your fighting force, here’s how to increase Class Mastery in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and the best ways to farm and increase it quickly.
How to increase Class Mastery in Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Class Mastery is a separate experience bar that can only be increased during battles. It’s not tied to the unit’s experience or skill, and you’ll only really see it pop up after watching a battle animation play. The only way to increase Class Mastery is by taking actions during battles. Every action you take during battles will increase your Class Mastery by one point. Any old movement won’t count though, the only things that increase Class Mastery are actions that involve battle animations, which means the following:
- Attacking or being attacked
- Using Gambits
- Using healing magic
However, there is a way to speed up Class Mastery massively, and it's through Renown Points. Once you get far enough through the game, these can be spent on repairing the statues in the church. The Saint Cethleann Statue include a "Class Exp +1" bonus which is essential for purchase. This doubles the amount of Class Mastery you gain per action in battle, meaning you'll halve the number of fights you need to take. Don't forget to pick this up.
How to farm Class Mastery
Once you have the Saint Cethleann Statue bonus, you can begin to start faming Class Mastery. Because you only gain one point per action, the fastest way to increase Class Mastery is by being inefficient in comat. For example, having an archer attack a heavily armored enemy may deal no damage, but it'll still earn you a point towards Class Mastery. You can therefore use some enemies like Armored Knights to earn a bunch of points before you kill them. Of course, that assumes they aren't able to kill you either. If you can keep yourself and the enemy unit alive, this is the best method to farm Class Mastery.
How to view Class Mastery
Oddly, you can't view Class Mastery on a character's information sheet when you're outside of a battle. Instead, to view Class Mastery you need to open the Reclass menu from the Inventory option. In this you'll be able to see all the Classes your character has access to, and by selecting them you can see how far you are from Class Mastery. You can also view Class Mastery during Battle either by hitting X on a character for their information sheet (it'll appear at the end of their skills), or you'll see it increase by one any time you take one of the actions listed above. It takes a lot of actions to max out your Class Mastery, which means you’ll typically be qualified for another class long before you max it out. Thankfully, you can reclass whenever you want (though not during battles) and will retain your Class Mastery, so you can always return to classes you haven’t maxed out.
Whether you want to stick with a class to reach Class Mastery is entirely up to you, but we recommend swapping classes as soon as you reach Class Mastery so that you can work towards a new reward. Now that you’ve learned how to increase Class Mastery, take a look at our comprehensive list of Class Mastery Bonuses so that you know what you're working towards. We've got more guides available as well, such as how to recruit characters in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
