Information about Adjutants in Fire Emblem Three Hopes, including which characters make the best Adjutants, what benefits you gain from assigning Adjutants, and how to assign Adjutants.

What is an Adjutant in Fire Emblem Three Hopes?¶

Smashing enemies in combat is, perhaps, the most prestigious role for a character in Fire Emblem Three Hopes, but even if you don’t care to actively play a character they can still make important contributions in combat, albeit in support roles. In another long standing Fire Emblem tradition, characters can pair up in combat, which grants numerous bonuses to the active character. These boons include stat boosts, access to the Adjutant’s Unique Support and Tactical Abilities, the ability to perform Partner Specials, and the chance to trigger Adjutant Follow-Ups and Adjutant Guards.

The Adjutant will share XP with the unit they’re assigned to, and this can be a fine way to boost up the level of a character you’d rather not play… assuming you just don’t care to pay Gold to achieve the same end via the Training Ground. There are some Class Abilities you can equip to ensure that only the active unit or the Adjutant gains all the XP, if you’d prefer more targeted leveling.

When an Adjutant is assigned to another unit, the two characters function as one, with the Adjutant becoming more of a persistent boon than a separate unit. If both units are deployed as primary units you can switch which one is the Adjutant and which one is the active character at any time by pressing + . Otherwise, an Adjutant is a mostly passive role, only appearing to contribute at the end of combos via Adjutant Follow-Ups, to absorb attacks via Adjutant Guards, or to contribute during Warrior Specials.

You can assign an Adjutant by holding down the button to bring up a menu and pressing when the chosen character is close by. This can be a bit of a nuisance, however, and it’s easier to simply enter the battle map once the battle has started by pressing , selecting the unit you desire to serve as an Adjutant by moving the cursor over said unit and pressing the , then move the cursor over the character you wish to assign the Adjutant to and press the to bring up a menu, where you can select the “Assign as Adjutant” option. This will make the chosen Adjutant move to the other unit and start functioning as an Adjutant when they get close enough.

Adjutant Stat Boosts¶

Perhaps the most substantial bonus you’ll gain from assigning an Adjutant are stat boosts, with the Adjutant giving the unit it’s supporting bonuses to various stats depending on the Adjutant’s class, the Support Rank between the two characters, and a handful of Class Abilities. You can get a rough idea of what stats each class will boost and how much they’ll boost said stats by checking the class tree via the “Change Class” submenu via the Convoy menu (you’ll need to press the button a few times to display the correct screen) - the stats boosted when this class is assigned as an Adjutant will be listed under the “Adjutant Effects” header, with more up arrows indicating a greater effect.

These stat boosts can, under optimal circumstances, be quite significant.

Adjutant Unique Support and Tactical Abilities¶

All characters have three different Unique Abilities, which are listed along the left side of the screen in the “Set Abilities” submenu of the Convoy menu. The first of the three is their Action Ability, the second is their Support Ability and the third is their Tactical Ability. The Adjutant will bestow access to their Support Ability and Tactical Ability to the unit they’re assigned to, provided the two units have attained Support Rank C or higher with each other.

Adjutants and Partner Specials¶

When you have an Adjutant assigned and perform a Warrior Special, your Adjutant will contribute to the attack automatically. You’ll see both characters in the typical Warrior Special animation, after which the Adjutant will perform their Warrior Special, and when they’re done the unit they’re assigned to will appear and perform their Warrior Special. You’re pretty much getting a two-for-one deal on Warrior Specials when you have an Adjutant assigned, and that’s a pretty huge bonus to damage output. Otherwise the Warrior Gauge and Warrior Specials function identically to when there’s no Adjutant assigned.

Adjutant Follow-Ups and Adjutant Guards¶

When you have an Adjutant assigned, you’ll see a sword and shield icon above your HP bar, representing your Adjutant Follow-Up and Adjutant Guard gauges. As you deal damage (and in the case of the Adjutant Guard gauge, receive damage also) these gauges will fill, when they’re full, your Adjutant will either attack (Adjutant Follow-Up) or defend (Adjutant Guard). In the former case they’ll launch an attack after you send a foe flying, knocking the enemy back towards you and exposing their Stun Gauge. In the latter cause, they’ll automatically step in and block the next attack that would have otherwise hit you.

Which Characters Make the Best Adjutants?¶

There are quite a few characters in Fire Emblem Three Hopes, therefore determining the best Adjutants could be an exhausting task… if the Dancer class didn’t narrow the field down considerably. Fist, the obligatory caveat: the best Adjutant varies depending on what character you’re playing and what class they currently are. A Str-focused melee combatant like Dimitri arguably doesn’t need a Gremory assigned to him as an Adjutant to boost his Mag stat (although covering weaknesses like Res could be worthwhile). With that out of the way, let’s take a closer look at the Dancer class to see why this narrows things down a good bit.

The Dancer class has a fair spread of Adjutant bonuses, including Str, Mag, Dex, Spd, Lck, Res and Cha… Pretty much everything save for Def. This already makes the Dancer one of the best classes for an Adjutant, but the Dancer’s Class Abilities are where specific characters shine.

Most characters will learn Charm Catalyst by mastering Dancer. This is a fine Class Ability for characters who have high Cha and plan to spam Warrior Specials, but for Adjutants? Not so much. Fortunately some characters have various “Rally” Class Abilities instead of Charm Catalyst. Seteth, for example, learns Rally Defense, which gives a Def +10 boost to a unit when Seteth is assigned as an Adjutant. Raphael learns Rally Strength (Str +10), Ingrid learns Rally Magic (Mag +10). It’s these Rally Class Abilities that make certain characters standout Adjutant candidates… provided the character they’re assigned to actually needs the stat they boost.

Of all the characters who learn “Rally” Dancer Abilities, however, Annette is special. She learns the Rally Deluxe Class Ability for mastering the Dancer Class, which gives a +10 bonus to Str, Spd and Res when she’s assigned as an adjutant. A lot of characters will benefit substantially from having Annette as an Adjutant, and she stands head and shoulders above pretty much every other character in this regard.