When playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses, you'll almost certainly spend a lot of your early game unsure which of the three groups of students you want to teach for the rest of the game. Are you going to join Edelgard and the Black Eagles, side with Dimitri and the Blue Lions, or throw your lot in with Claude and the Golden Deer? It's a tough choice, all of them look good (well, depending on who you ask), each class brings the potential for major differences in the story, and the composition of each is a real mix of pros and cons, both in terms of the personalities of the students, and the initial abilities they bring to the battlefield. Suffice to say, there's a lot to consider.

　　But remember--with enough time and effort, you can recruit almost any student you want to your class with the exception of the house leaders and their closest retainer, growing a class that eclipses the others. If you're a Blue Lion but you're desperate for Dorethea, it's just a matter of winning her over. Each student will value a certain attribute and a certain skill. All you need to do is work to meet that threshold through battles and training, while also making an effort to raise your social rank with them (which will take away time from increasing the social rank and motivation of those already in your class).

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　　Now Playing: Fire Emblem: Three Houses: We Fight For House Honor

　　We've had varying experiences here, and found that the conditions might be different with each student--anywhere from E to D+ ranks for skills and C to B for social ranks. In some instances, certain characters will be much easier to recruit depending on your gender (namely, Sylvian and the Female protagonist).

　　To actually recruit someone, you need to talk to them in the monastery on a free day. On the odd occasion, if your ranks are high enough a student will reach out to you during the week to ask if you'd be interested in having them in your class.

　　Here is a list of what each student is looking for:

　　Black Eagles

　　Dorethea: Charisma and AuthorityBernadetta: Strength, BowPetra: Dex, RidingCaspar: Str, BrawlLinhardt: Mag, ReasonFerdinand: Dex, Hvy ArmorHubert: N/AEdelgard: N/ABlue Lions

　　Annette: Mag, FaithAshe: Cha, LanceIngrid: Dex, FlyingFelix: Spd, SwordSylvain: Cha, ReasonMercedes: Mag, BowDedue: N/ADimitri: N/AGolden Deer

　　Leonie: Str, LanceLorenz: Cha, ReasonRaphael: Str, Heavy ArmorLysithia: Mag, FaithIgnatz: Dex, AuthorityMarianne: Mag, RidingHilda: N/AClaude: N/AJust in case you weren't aware, you also have the ability to recruit most of the monastery staff characters into your team. Yes, that means you can recruit fellow professors into your class, and then teach them as part of your day-to-day. It's weird, I don't know.

　　Some of them will join as part of the story, depending on which house you're in. Some of them can't be recruited at all for various reasons, but we'll leave the specific details of this one a mystery.

　　Monastery staff recruits differ from the students in that they don't require a skill level check (at least as far as we know), just a social level check. So if you have your eye on someone (it's Alois, I know everyone is falling over Alois), be sure to invite them to dinner and give them lots of gifts.

　　For more in-game know-how, check our complete collection of essential advice and tips for Fire Emblem: Three Houses. It's a huge game, and after our multiple playthroughs, we have plenty of guidance we're dying to give you.

　　For a behind-the-scenes look at the game, read our interview with the directors of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, where they talk about the series' increasing popularity in the West, the dramatic changes they made to the combat system, and the refreshing new character designs.

　　In our Fire Emblem: Three Houses review, Kallie Plagge concluded: "When all was said and done, all I could think about was starting another playthrough… whether you're managing inventories or battlefields, it's the kind of game that's hard to put down, even when it's over."