Recruitment Guide | Can You Recruit Everyone?

This is a guide to Recruitment in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Read here to find out about how to recruit in FE3H, who you can recruit, and what the requirements are!

How Do You Recruit Someone?

What is Recruitment?

To recruit someone, simply choose the 'Recruit' option when talking to them. They will then either accept, or reject by being mildy interested, or disinterested altogether. If rejected, a message shows a stat and a skill your character needs to have a certain level in in order to recruit them. If they accept, you have one final option to accept them into your house or decline them.

Alternatively, if you reach the required threshold, in the middle of the week the student may approach you and ask to join your house. Like them accepting your invitation, you have one final option to accept them into your house or decline them.

You cannot recruit House Leaders and their right-hands, but everyone else can be recruited if you meet the requirements. For Church-affiliated characters however, the requirements vary. Look at the Church of Seiros section below to see the specific requirements for each character.

The Best Way To Recruit Units

The best way to recruits is to increase your bond with them. This is most important for units who prefer skills that need prerequisite classes before being able to upgrade outside of free time, like Riding which requires you to be a cavalier if you want to improve it through combat. This can be done by either spending free time to eat with them, or better yet, having them battle with you in by asking for mission assistance.

Can You Recruit Everyone?

It is possible to recruit everyone except House Leaders and their right hands. Here we will explain the best way to possibly do this.

First off, pick a female character if you are not going to choose the Blue Lions house. This will instantly allow you to recruit Sylvain.

Do not spend free time or gifts on students who look for the skills your character is naturally attuned to, which are most likely Sword and Authority. Alternatively, if you're thinking of focusing more on your Faith strength, do not spend time and gifts on those students who prefer it. Over the course of the game, your skill level should rise enough to be able to recruit them even without a support level.

• Sword: Felix
• Authority: Dorothea, Ignatz
• Faith: Lysithea, Annette

Once your preferred skills are enough to recruit those you want, upgrade either your Lance, Reason, or Bow skills in combat because this will allow you to recruit two people if you reach the skill level of C.

• Lance: Leonie, Ashe
• Reason: Linhardt, Lorenz
• Bow: Bernadetta, Mercedes

You can also use Brawling or Axe weapons in combat but that will only allow you to recruit one person for getting proficient in that weapon.

• Brawling: Caspar
• Axe: Hilda

While doing this, make sure to try and build support with the students whose recruitment skills have a prerequisite class to improve in combat, and take Faculty Training in their respective skills. These are harder to build so it will be useful to have the required recruitment level of these skills lowered by raising your support level with these characters to B.

• Heavy Armor: Ferdinand, Raphael
• Riding: Petra, Marianne
• Flying: Ingrid

Recruitment Requirements

For recruiting students from the other house, they look for certain skills and stats in your character. If you build support with them, the minimum skill required to get them to join your house is lowered. Refer to the table below to see which the approximate skill level you need per support value. If the character does not join you after attaining this level, consider using items to boost their preferred stats as well.

Support Level	Aproximate Recruitment Skill Level
None	C
C	C
B	D
A*	E

*A Support in Part 1 only attainable in New Game+

Blue Lions

Felix

Starting Faction
Holy Kingdom of Faerghus
Recruitment Requirements
Speed
Strengths	Sword, Bow, Brawling
Weaknesses	Reason, Authority

Sylvain

Starting Faction
Holy Kingdom of Faerghus
Recruitment Requirements
Charm
Strengths	Lance, Axe, Riding
Weaknesses	Bow

If your character is female, Sylvain will be willing to join your house right away, regardless of your skills.

Ingrid

Starting Faction
Holy Kingdom of Faerghus
Recruitment Requirements
Dexterity
Strengths	Sword, Lance, Riding, Flying
Weaknesses	None

Ashe

Starting Faction
Holy Kingdom of Faerghus
Recruitment Requirements
Charm
Strengths	Axe, Bow
Weaknesses	Reason, Authority

Annette

Starting Faction
Holy Kingdom of Faerghus
Recruitment Requirements
Magic
Strengths	Axe, Reason, Authority
Weaknesses	Bow, Heavy Armor

Mercedes

Starting Faction
Holy Kingdom of Faerghus
Recruitment Requirements
Magic
Strengths	Reason, Faith
Weaknesses	Sword, Lance, Axe, Heavy Armor

Black Eagles

Ferdinand

Starting Faction
Adrestrian Empire
Recruitment Requirements
Dexterity
Strengths	Sword, Lance, Axe, Riding
Weaknesses	None

Caspar

Starting Faction
Adrestrian Empire
Recruitment Requirements
Strength
Strengths	Axe, Brawling
Weaknesses	Bow, Reason, Authority

Linhardt

Starting Faction
Adrestrian Empire
Recruitment Requirements
Magic
Strengths	Reason, Faith
Weaknesses	Axe, Brawling

Bernadetta

Starting Faction
Adrestrian Empire
Recruitment Requirements
Strength
Strengths	Lance, Bow
Weaknesses	Sword, Axe, Brawling, Heavy Armor

Dorothea

Starting Faction
Adrestrian Empire
Recruitment Requirements
Charm
Strengths	Sword, Reason
Weaknesses	Faith, Riding, Flying

Petra

Starting Faction
Adrestrian Empire
Recruitment Requirements
Dexterity
Strengths	Sword, Axe, Bow, Flying
Weaknesses	Reason, Faith

Golden Deer

Hilda*

Starting Faction
Leicester Alliance
Recruitment Requirements
Charm
Strengths	Lance, Axe
Weaknesses	Faith, Authority

*Hilda is not recruitable for Black Eagle at the start. She can be recruited at the Chapter 12 only if the player sides with the church and you meet her requirements.

Lorenz

Starting Faction
Leicester Alliance
Recruitment Requirements
Charm
Strengths	Lance, Reason, Riding
Weaknesses	Brawling

Ignatz

Starting Faction
Leicester Alliance
Recruitment Requirements
Dexterity
Strengths	Sword, Bow, Authority
Weaknesses	Flying

Raphael

Starting Faction
Leicester Alliance
Recruitment Requirements
Strength
Strengths	Axe, Brawling, Heavy Armor
Weaknesses	Bow, Reason, Riding

Lysithea

Starting Faction
Leicester Alliance
Recruitment Requirements
Magic
Strengths	Reason, Faith, Authority
Weaknesses	Sword, Lance, Axe, Heavy Armor

Marianne

Starting Faction
Leicester Alliance
Recruitment Requirements
Magic
Strengths	Sword, Faith, Riding, Flying
Weaknesses	Brawling, Heavy Armor

Leonie

Starting Faction
Leicester Alliance
Recruitment Requirements
Strength
Strengths	Lance, Bow, Riding, Battle training, Weapong maintenance.
Weaknesses	None

Church of Seiros

These characters cannot be recruited like the students from another house. They are only available for recruitment at certain points in the story, and can leave your army depending on your choices.

Flayn

Starting Faction
Church of Seiros
Strengths	Lance, Faith
Weaknesses	Heavy Armor, Riding

Flayn joins your house at the start of Chapter 7: Battle of the Eagle and Lion. She will leave if you go with Edelgard's plan in the Black Eagles route.

Seteth

Starting Faction
Church of Seiros
Strengths	Sword, Lance, Axe, Authority
Weaknesses	Riding

Seteth will join your army at the start of Part 2 in every route except for Crimson Flower.

Manuela

Starting Faction
Church of Seiros
Recruitment Requirements
Level
Strengths	Sword, Faith, Flying
Weaknesses	Reason, Heavy Armor

Manuela can be recruited into your army by Chapter 8: The Remire Calamity.

Hanneman

Starting Faction
Church of Seiros
Recruitment Requirements
Level
Strengths	Bow, Reason, Riding
Weaknesses	Heavy Armor, Flying

Hanneman can be recruited into your army by Chapter 8: The Remire Calamity.

Catherine

Starting Faction
Church of Seiros
Recruitment Requirements
Level
Strengths	Sword, Brawling
Weaknesses	Reason

Shamir

Starting Faction
Church of Seiros
Recruitment Requirements
Level
Strengths	Lance, Bow
Weaknesses	Faith

Shamir can be recruited at the start of Chapter 7: Battle of The Eagle and Lion.

Alois

Starting Faction
Church of Seiros
Recruitment Requirements
Level
Strengths
Weaknesses	None

Cyril

Starting Faction
Church of Seiros
Recruitment Requirements
Level
Strengths	Lance, Axe, Bow, Riding, Flying
Weaknesses	Reason, Faith

Cyril can be recruited at the start of Chapter 7: Battle of the Eagle and Lion. He will leave if you go with Edelgard's plan in the Black Eagles route.

Gilbert

Starting Faction
Church of Seiros
Strengths
Weaknesses	None

Gilbert automatically joins your party in Chapter 13: Hunting at Daybreak of the Blue Lions route. There is no other way to recruit Gilbert in Part 1 or in any other route.

Ashen Wolves (DLC)

These characters can be recruited when you play the Cindered Shadows side story DLC, available through the Expansion Pass.

Yuri

Starting Faction
Underground Residents
Strengths	Sword, Reason, Faith, Authority
Weaknesses	Lance, Axe, Riding, Flying

Yuri can be recruited after completing Chapter 6: Return to Me.

Constance

Starting Faction
Underground Residents
Strengths	Sword, Reason, Authority, Flying
Weaknesses	Axe, Heavy Armor

Constance can be recruited after completing Chapter 2: What Lies Beneath.

Balthus

Starting Faction
Underground Residents
Strengths	Sword, Axe, Brawl, Faith, Heavy Armor
Weaknesses	Lance, Bow, Flying

Balthus can be recruited after completing Chapter 4: Danger in the Dark.

Hapi

Starting Faction
Underground Residents
Strengths	Reason, Riding, Flying
Weaknesses	Brawl, Authority, Heavy Armor

Hapi can be recruited after completing Chapter 5: Betrayal.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Related Links

Beginner Guides

Stats and Game Mechanics
What Does Luck Do?	What Does Dexterity Do?
What Does Weight Do?	What Does Charm Do?
What Does Authority Do?	What Does Speed Do?
The Attack Speed Formula	How To Learn and Equip Abilities
Character Guides
Recruitment Guide	Lecture Guide | How to Instruct
Classes That Can Use Magic	List of Unique Classes
Best Classes for Each Character	What Happens When Someone Dies?
How to Change Outfits	-
Battle Guides
How to Beat Demonic Beasts	How to Beat the Death Knight
Gambit Guide	Training Weapons or Iron Weapons?
How Do Linked Attacks Work?	How to Use Divine Pulse
How to Use Auto Battle	List of Terrains
How to Open Doors and Chests	-
Building your Army
Best Characters to Recruit	What Are Adjutants?
How to Repair Weapons	Are Rusted Weapons Worth Forging?
Where to Get Umbral Steel	What is Renown?
Where to Get Advanced Seals	-
Maddening Guides
Maddening Tips and Guide	Best Characters for Maddening
FAQS
What Carries Over To New Game Plus?	How Long Does It Take To Beat FE3H?
Difficulty Levels and Differences	Is There a Weapon Triangle?
Which House Should You Pick?	-