What Does Dexterity Do?

This is a guide to Dexterity, one of the stats of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Here we will explain how this stat works, how it affects your units, and how you can use it to optimize your army.

What Does Dexterity Do?

Dexterity is one of the eight main stats. It affects hit rate and how often a unit scores critical hits. You can determine a unit's hit rate and critical hit chance by looking at the stats displayed when selecting a unit to attack, under the labels 'Hit' and 'Crit' respectively.

As you can see, the same character attacking the same unit has a higher hit rate and crit chance after using a Secret Book to add +2 Dexterity.

Hilda's hit rate and crit chance at 20 Dex

Hilda's hit rate and crit chance at 22 Dex

How to Increase Dexterity

You can increase the Dexterity of units by them levelling up, using items, or equipping abilities.

Leveling Up

Whenever a character levels up, some of their stats increase. Some characters have a predisposition to growing in Dexterity, and others will just naturally grow it over time. However, this is cannot be controlled, and you cannot choose to make them increase this skill, unlike the other two options.

Items

You can increse a character's dexterity permanently by using a Secret Book or an Aillel Pomegranate.

Equipping Abilities

Certain Abilities increase a character's dexterity. One particular example is a Cavalier's class mastery ability of Dexterity +4. To learn how to equip abilities, don't forget to check out our page on How To Learn and Equip Abilities!

Rally Skills

When some units level up their Authority skill, they gain the ability to rally other units, temporarily boosting their stats. Dexterity is one of the possible boosts provided by Rally.

How to Use Dexterity

Characters with high Dexterity are best given weapons and classes that accentuate their benefits.

Killer Weapons / Any Weapon That Adds Critical Chance

Killer Swords, Bows, Axes, and Lances all add a bonus to their wielder's critical hit rate. This stacks with the Crit bonus from high dexterity, so this can greatly increase a character's chance to hit criticals. Other weapons also add crit, and the same rule applies.

Abilities That Add Critical Chance

There are different abilities that add Crit when using certain weapons, like Sword Crit +10 or Bow Crit +10.

The Lethality Ability

The Assassin's class mastery ability is Lethality, which can instantly kill whoever the Assassin is attacking. It's trigger percentage is 1/4 of a character's Dexterity, so high dexterity characters are ideal for this class.

Take note that since this is a class mastery ability, it needs to be equipped, and once a character has it equipped, it affects them even if they change classes.

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?	-