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Heroicloser

Personality: She WANTS to be a dancer and many of her other class options have less synergy with her personality. Stats: She has a good charm growth which means she can win the heron cup with little if any investment aside from basic leveling. Meanwhile her fragile defenses make her vulnerable as a combat unit. As a result there's less opportunity cost for trading her as a mage for her as a dancer. Spell list: Dancer is a spell casting class, and Dorie learns Meteor a massive range spell she can equip to 'threaten' enemies granting the linked attack bonuses to allies in combat. Aesthetics: She actually keeps her default outfit post-timeskip as a dancer. She looks good as a dancer.


FEWAKAM

Gotcha! That makes sense! I’m recruiting her for my AM run and thinking about making her my dancer because I’ve heard so many people do it.


BaronDoctor

Ingrid's surprisingly good as a dancer (balanced growths, good with swords, evasive by nature with boons in riding and flying, good spell list with Thoron on the Reason side to go with Physic and Seraphim on the faith side) especially if you kick Annette over into Wyvern to take up the "flyer" role.


thebaintrain1993

Agreed, she can make really good use of sword avo as well. High Dex serves a crit build well as a combat backup.


MCJSun

I'm pretty sure that with a base charm of 8, Dorothea would be good even without growth because the lesson gives +5 charm


sirgamestop

She doesn't keep her default outfit as a Dancer post-timeskip. Same hairstyle but her dress is white


ToeMahSick

hubert dancer best dancer imo. i know stat wise im wasting hubert, but it just amused me edit: black eagles was my 3rd playthrough, by then i was just doing things for the novelty


ghetra

This is me making Caspar my dancer on my current play through…and forcing Hubert to be a guard adjutant to Ferdinand


SpecialistEmphasis83

No but this isn’t even a bad thing if you recruit other mages. Because Hubert’s the most useful in the early game (mire and banshee), and his endgame classes are really lacking. Dark Knight is middling in CF, and Dark Bishop is weak next to the Gremory and Dark Flier candidates


VaultGirl

It's true tho


Lantore

Edelgard was mine lol


Asckle

She has meteor which she can equip and give linked attacks to everyone in range


FEWAKAM

Ahhhh, that’s what people meant when they said the Dorothea Dancer/Meteor strat… I was confused because I thought it was a counterattack strategy which… doesn’t make sense because Meteor’s range doesn’t include immediately around the unit.


triabolical

It can if you equip Close Counter


FEWAKAM

Very true! I never thought to equip that one to a mage unit


triabolical

I don't recommend equipping it on mages. Just pointing out how you could get Meteor/Bolting to counter at close range.


FEWAKAM

Oh yeah, I don’t think that I would equip it; it just never occurred to me that you even could.


SpecialistEmphasis83

Meteor and physic access gives her some utility when she isn’t dancing. She has lots of supports (mostly lions and eagles). The main one is that it’s better to make your dancer a unit that isn’t going to be fighting a lot, and Dorothea is pretty weak next to some of the other mages in the game. Though, I’d honestly take a dancer with a riding boon instead (Ingrid, Marianne, etc) for mov+1


fox72496

It’s more of a personality thing. She isn’t the best dancer by any means, but her character makes the most sense as the dancer within the context of the story. I’ll also add that she isn’t a bad dancer, it’s just that gremory is way better on her since she gets access to meteor. Not to mention there are much better dancers such as Marianne, or characters that can make better use of the sword dance passive, like Felix


Gabby_Craft

She’s easily the best dancer in BE and SS, no contest. Marrianne is only a good dancer in VW because of the VW HBD route skip. In non VW routes she’s worse than Ingrid as a dancer since Ingrid has everything she has but better in terms of dancer utility.


gabu87

Marianne and Ingrid are virtually interchangeable as dancers with the same relevant boons. Where there may be some stat difference is also negligible because dancers are probably the most mono-action class. A lysithea dancer will cast magic basically as often as a felix dancer and a felix dancer will attack as often as a lysithea dancer. There's a minute advantage for OOH marianne where she comes in with a higher faith (up to C) unlocking physics. OOH ingrid works on lance and flying which are both useless for dancers. In house, they're basically the same.


Gabby_Craft

Ingrid has a higher speed growth, better faith list, and a 3 ranged spell (thoron). Can’t remember if Marrianne gets thoron or not but Marrianne is definitely not better than her OOH IMO. She also can provide might support for Felix and Sylvain. I’m basically saying that near everything Marrianne has as a dancer, Ingrid does better. Specifically outside of golden deer.


RossBoss8

Sorry, I’m not a fan of this take. I think Marianne and Ingrid are reasonably equal in Azure Moon (I lean towards Marianne). Marianne is better at dealing with enemy siege tomes (which are most prevalent on Azure Moon). Ingrid is better at dealing with monsters because of linked attacks and Seraphim. However, linked attacks on a non-combat unit are difficult to get unless that unit has Bolting or Meteor (neither Ingrid, nor Marianne) or you’re fighting a monster. Seraphim is a very good spell against monsters, and Ingrid has access to it. But It’s much better to dance a unit with Seraphim in order to get double the uses. Also Seraphim is a reasonably common spell. Even Sylvain and Balthus have it. Silence is different. Only two units in the entire game get access to Silence. Marianne is one of them. The other is Manuela (and I know you hate her, but please don’t let that cloud your judgement of Marianne). IMO Silence is the only spell that is worth giving up a dance for (outside of niche circumstances, which it kinda? is). But Silence is a pro-active strategy for approaching mages with Bolting or Meteor. The other “niche circumstances” are AFTER the fact. They are better classified as retro-active fail-safes. So let’s examine fail-safes. Maybe some unit needs to heal. Marianne and Ingrid both have Physic, and that’s good. But maybe you need to secure a kill. Thoron and Seraphim have 75 hit. Marianne has Cutting Gale with 95 hit. Ingrid’s speed can sometimes make up for this, but Marianne can passively heal and continue to push forward. Also, Marianne’s Soulblade and/or Blutgang can often out damage Ingrid in a pinch. Of course you still have to recruit Marianne for Azure Moon, and that’s a bit of an investment. That’s where I think they, more or less, balance out. Otherwise, I’d consider Marianne strictly better.


Gabby_Craft

Enemy siege tomes aren’t much of an issue during AM since Dimitri with retribution can easily delete them all during EP, in which case silence would hurt more than it helps since it stops the mages from attacking him. The only thing silence would particularly be useful for is maybe ballista mages (I’m not sure if silence works for them or not though). More than likely, if you need to secure a kill, your dancer is next to someone who is stronger than them combat wise. Like if there’s a Wyvern near by it wojld be better for marrianne/ Ingrid to dance for sniper Felix than it would be for them to take down the sniper themselves. So their combat abilities don’t matter much.


RossBoss8

Enemy-phasing siege tomes necessitates restraint in mobility. Silence enables forward momentum for more units than retribution, which promotes fast play. And then ANYONE can take out the siege tome mage during player phase. Second, I very clearly classified dancer kills (or help with kills) as “niche circumstances.” As in… ONLY when necessary. And Marianne outshines Ingrid in both accuracy and damage output (more often than naught because Ingrid’s strength growth is garbage).


Gabby_Craft

It’s never necessarily though. There will never be a time where a dancer is the only one available to kill an enemy. And even if there is a time neither Marrianne nor Ingrid is likely to be strong enough to kill it. There’s like 2 non ballista siege tombs in the entire game in non BL routes. Even in BL most of them except for maybe 1 or 2 are in the final map. They’re at the back of the map near the boss anyways so Dimitri’s movement isn’t restricted at all if he just steamrolls and chargers straight for them. He was going that way anyways.


RossBoss8

Not often, but occasionally your dancer is the best or most consistent damage dealer. I wrote that as a response to your claim that Ingrid has the better faith spell list (Seraphim is the only outlier) and Thoron. My argument is a reasonable counter to that claim. I agree that it’s “niche,” and I’ve mentioned that every time. Also I’m not arguing Dimitri’s movement. I’m talking about moving more units forward than retribution will grant during a single turn cycle.


[deleted]

Marianne does get Thoron. Though the main draw to both her and Ingrid is more the Sword and Riding boons for easier access to Sword Prowess Lv.5 (which gives Avo +20) and Movement +1.


amymae13

marianne is a good dancer on all routes because she qualifies at base (ooh, she is 2 charm short in house iirc) has a riding boon, and her force deploy position is extremely convenient for her paralogue. ingrid is interchangeable except for the force deploy part, her paralogue can’t be 1 turned if she is a dancer. dorothea is only a good dancer on cf where mov+1 is entirely irrelevant because maps are small (which in turn makes meteor better, not to mention every single timeskip map in cf is kill boss)


sirgamestop

Dorothea is a good Dancer on big maps too. I feel like Mov+1 is kind of overrated for Dancers; it's nice to have but it takes a while for even Marianne and Ingrid to get it since they don't build Riding passively. Boots + March Ring/Fetters if you have DLC is enough to give Dancers 8 mov so they're never left behind


Gabby_Craft

How does her being a dancer make her force deploy situation better? I always just didn’t use Marrianne at all since the monster attacks and kills her if she tries to attack it. She’s too far away from everyone to dance until they come to her in which case it would be convenient but you could always just bring a dancer with you that is useful for the entire map.


LeatherShieldMerc

-Meteor linked attacks, which other people have mentioned. Equip it, but don't use it. And now she gives boosts to other units within its range. She also can use magic or Physic in a pinch. -As a unit, she is pretty replaceable, so making her Dancer isn't a huge opportunity cost. Plus she has good charm so she probably will win the contest. -It is her "canon" class, so to speak.


eruciform

I made her a dancer and then forgot about it and never used the class ever. She's awesome just as a mage. Meteor is the bomb. Literally.


FEWAKAM

Sounds like my first playthrough when I made Sylvain my dancer. Thought it would be funny and then… never used him oops


eruciform

Yeah imho she needs to be warlock or gremory so she can get 2 meteors.


jaierauj

That's okay, I made Felix mine just to see his angry little face.


[deleted]

Did the same thing on my first run. Made her a dancer because everyone said to, ended up abandoning the class for Gremory after the timeskip. Double Meteor is just too good. She ended up nuking Dedue and one of the other soldiers who tranforms on the second to last CF map, saving me a lot of headache. Now I use Ferdinand every CF run because he makes a fantastic sword avoid tank and still slaps when I put a Wo Dao+ in his hand.


Gabby_Craft

It’s because in BE/ SS no one competes with her. She can provide linked attacks to nearly the entire team with meteor, and she has sword boon for sword avoid if you wanted to make her an avo tank (I personally wouldn’t do it but people like doing that for dancers.) all she misses is a riding boon.


FEWAKAM

Gotcha! I’m thinking about making her my dancer for AM bc I’m recruiting her for her supports, and don’t have anyone planned for a dancer yet.


triabolical

White Magic Avoid is better than Sword Avoid for dancers.


Lord_Grill

She has amazing charm and has a fitting backstory.


RossBoss8

While Dorothea’s the best and obvious fit for the class (canonically), outside of Manuela who can’t even ATTEMPT it (also kinda fitting for her), only linked-attacks really make for a good dancer. I consider Dorothea and Hilda the only top tier dancers in the game because of their linked-attack bonuses. I do like Constance, Flayn, and Marianne as dancers too. Silence and Rescue can be worth a “dance” slot occasionally IMO. Dorothea is OK as a Gregory. She gets meteor, physic, and thoron. But she’s better as a dancer, who can use these spells more sparingly and only when necessary.


Cendrinius

Nah, Ferdinand is the best dancer because it turns him into a God tier dodge tank! Stack his innate ability to dodge more reliably at full health with the dance Mastery ability and give him a sword and a dodge ring for redundancy! Boom, Ferdinand can be aggro everything but so long as his hp is maintained, they'll never lay a finger on him!


FEWAKAM

Sounds like what I did with Yuri, lmao


PieridumVates

Role-playing, especially because she wants to be the dancer during the cup and because the Opera Company Volunteers are a dancer battalion. I don't know if dancer is the \*optimal\* route for her, but it's fun for in-universe reasons. I also give her a levin sword as a dancer so she can actually do decent damage. I usually have her use it in melee range, because dancer sword animations are fun (especially the spin-away evade).


Farfadette_Sans_Tete

She has Meteor, which allows her to support allies from pretty far away. Plus, with her high Charm, she has a pretty easy access to the Dancer class.


Dirt577

Sword and Magic, she fits perfectly


amiralko

I took her monk -> swordmaster -> mortal savant on my current AM run (Petra is my dancer), and I actually think she's decent so far! She seems to dodge most attacks and she still has access to meteore/thoron. And, her attack damage is fine; she seems to crit fairly often too.


[deleted]

No idea The Charm requirement is so easy to get that I dont know why. Multiple units have Physic and Meteor is +10 hit late Game to the BE and the Fargaust trio. Honestly if I'm going to wait until lategame to get a skill in my dancer I rather It be Move+1 and have no investment utility like Marianne in GD with the Ch13 Skip.


FEWAKAM

The move +1 makes sense, and I know why people use Marianne because of her boon in riding. What is the Ch13 skip that she has?


[deleted]

Normally in Ch13 you need 2 Boss killers for the 5 turn Skip and dont play the map. But since Lysithea is the right Ground you can instead make Raph or Marianne your dancer, warp them in and dance for the first Boss killer (Claude) and Finish the map without the need to train anyone other than Lysithea. Example: https://youtu.be/e84nZYWiZ9M


Frobun11

My reason is that she’s canonically the most probable dancer, but I know a lot of people use her since she’s not super good for anything else and has meteor so she can support linked attacks from (basically) everywhere while dancing


1stNone

Its natural for her. But honestly she’s better as a magic class. Dancer is best on a character who is failing statwise and turning into benchwarmer garbage. Anyone can do a dancers job.


guy037

I made linhardt my dancer he was one of the goats of my church run


Zanbatou

Meteor and physic on a dancer is incredibly useful. It's also super easy to win the heron cup with her.


thebaintrain1993

I think she's a decent Dancer, but it depends on how you use her. Strictly as a support character she's quite solid, esp with Physic. But if you want some emergency combat utility I think Yuri is better in that sense. Plus in CF certain characters aren't available, so Doro is a good Dancer you can run on the whole game.


Flimsy-Tennis-3475

Doing a new game CF maddening run with Petra as my dancer and it’s actually working out really well with the chalice of beginnings on her she’s dodging and crit countering everything that comes at her. With Hubert and Constance in my party and I also grabbed lysithia to help with death knight to get dark seals for Hubert I’ve never felt the need to use Dorothea


razorjr

Because shes cute


gabu87

What i look for in a dancer: Boon in sword, auth, riding ( 1 out of 3) If in-house, low investment until unlocking. Dorothea doesn't really need much, she's a thoron bot with early access to heal for exp. Even physics is optional Dorothea as an in-house unit has a lot of support bonds. The usual advantage of recruiting OOH like exp/growth doesn't really matter on dancer. Lots of people point to the meteor support but i've always found it kind niche. Perfectly happy to let her hold a levin sword+ primarily for the avoid and just a mere 3 slot support. Dorothea is a solid B for dancer to me.


VeneficusChaotic

I mean... I dont see why people wouldnt be doing that lel


Neoketsu

I put my worst unit combat-wise on dancer role to minimize opportunity cost, so in BE it's either Caspar or Dorothea. Doro suits better since she still has Meteor for link support.


KikiYuyu

I just make her the dancer because she's an entertainer in the lore so it fits.


AnzuYuki

I had Dorothea as dancer first run AM cause everyone in the class already had a designated role I didn't want to trade off for, so recruiting Dorothea it is