New players and veterans alike have found the systems in Fire Emblem Three Houses to be somewhat overwhelming. Have no fear because GamingROI is going to break it all down in an easily digestible format. We’ll begin our coverage with tips for navigating the monastery, and follow-on posts will focus on the instruction and battle mechanics. Before we go any further, let’s go over basic mechanics of Fire Emblem Three Houses:

• It’s all about the Professor Level — Byleth’s Professor Level will dictate how many Activity Points players can spend in the monastery, how many students Byleth can instruct one-on-one during school week, and how many battles your class can enter during free time on Sundays. Increasing the Professor Level grants additional points each week that can be spent on these activities.
• The goal of spending Activity Points is to increase the following: support levels between characters, individual character levels, weapon/skill levels, and class mastery levels.
  • Support Levels will increase two characters attack and hit percentages when they fight beside each other in battle.
  • Individual Character Levels dictate stats levels, such as strength, defense, magic, etc…
  • Weapon/Skill Levels result in passive abilities and combat arts that augment a player’s stats. Weapon levels also restrict the type of weapon that a character can wield. Higher levels allow characters to use better weapons.
  • Class Mastery Level dictates how proficient a character is in each class, and maximizing a class rewards characters with new abilities and/or combat arts. Class levels are only increased during battle.

So during your free time roaming the Garreg Monastery, the goal should be to spend activity points to increase support levels, recruit characters from other houses, and increase weapon/skill levels. Let’s dive in!

1. Activity Points – Best Uses
As we talked about in the precursor, the professor level is the most important component of Fire Emblem Three Houses. Increasing this level early on grant players with more opportunities to increase support levels, weapon/skill levels, etc… Certain activities will result in higher professor points than others, but the top three activities are as follows: Sharing a Meal, Cooking Together, and Choir Practice. In addition to granting points towards Byleth’s professor level, Sharing a Meal increases the support level between you and two other students, Cooking Together grants a stat buff for the entire party plus increases the support level between Byleth and the student helping make the meal, and Choir Practice gives players experience in the Faith and Authority skills as well as increased support levels.

2. Activity Points – Worst Uses
Certain activities are a waste of time and valuable activity point resources. Tournament Battles grant negligible professor points and the items for winning tournaments are hardly worthwhile. Players should only start spending activity points in Professor Training and Teatime after Chapter 6 or 7 as neither of these activities net points towards Byleth’s professor level.

3. Stay Motivated
First and foremost, monastery free time should be focused on increasing the motivation of your students. Motivation levels will dictate how much you can instruct your students on Mondays, which will impact their weapon/skill levels. Sharing a Meal is the most efficient way to keep students motivated as sharing their favorite meals will result in maximum motivation. Other ways to increase motivation are returning lost items, giving gifts, and selecting the correct dialogue options while talking.

4. Practice your ABCs – Always Be ‘Cruitin
The great part of Fire Emblem Three Houses is that characters from opposing houses can be recruited onto your team. While most of the dialogue options “require” Byleth have expertise in a certain weapon and/or skill, a better way exists to recruit students. Increasing a student’s support with Byleth to level B will automatically result in the student asking to joint your house. The most efficient means to increase support levels is by Sharing a Meal, executing a perfect Teatime, and then showering the student with gifts. Once support has reached level B, the student will likely ask to joint Byleth’s house during the school week.

5. Help with Missions
Another means by which to persuade another house’s student to join your cause is to ask for help with the month’s mission. Simply talk to the student you wish to have help with that month’s mission, and he/she will joint your party for the battle. Have that student fight next to Byleth and the support level between the two characters will increase. An easy and free way both to increase support levels and recruit other characters.

6. Lost Items
It won’t take long for you to realize that Garreg Monastery’s students and professors are awfully clumsy. Blue icons are scattered around the monastery each month and often are the lost items from different characters. Lost items will contain hints as to their owner so be sure to pay close attention to each character’s dialogue throughout the playthrough. Returning a lost item to Byleth’s students will increase motivation by 50 percent as well as support levels. For that reason, we advise against returning lost items to recruited students if their motivation is already maxed out for the week.

7. Talk is Cheap….so are a lot of other activities
Talk. To. Everyone! Character interactions will often result in dialogue options that can increase support with Byleth and are completely free. Plus, you will gain insight into different character’s likes and dislikes, which will help during Teatime and other conversations.

Fishing, Gardening, and Advising with the Counselor Box are the three major activities that are completely free and should be utilized to their fullest during each monastery free day. We’ll go in depth with each activity next.

8. Fishing for Colors
The fishing mechanic in Fire Emblem Three Houses is rather simple and archaic, but it gets the job done. In addition to catching fish that can be used to cook meals in the dining hall, Byleth will gain professor points for each fish caught. The one area of fishing that FE3H fails to explain is the fish rarity scale. Yellow fish are the rarest followed by Red and then the common Blue fish. But here’s the “catch” (see what we did there) — you don’t have to press the “A” button at the first fish that takes the bate. As a matter of fact, you can pass on reeling in the first TWO fish before you need to worry about losing the bate. So always wait to press “A” until you have at least a Red fish or it is your third pass at catching a fish.

9. Green-Thumb Wannabe
The Greenhouse is another free activity that Byleth can participate in each time players visit the monastery during free time. Gardening provides players with food for Sharing a Meal as well as flowers that can be used as gifts. The Greenhouse also grants a decent amount of professor points so always plant, cultivate, and harvest your plants each month. Some helpful tips include the following: plant like-items together each week to increase the opportunity for unique items and always select the highest priced cultivating option to increase the harvest.

10. Counselor Box
Inside the cathedral on the left-hand side is the Counselor Box, which is a hidden gem for increasing Byleth’s professor level and support level with different characters. Each time players choose to spend a free day at the monastery, the Counselor Box will be filled with one to three notes. Notes will have a dialogue prompt with three selections for advice that Byleth can give to the character and a 30 second timer. Selecting the correct answer in time will result in professor points and increased support between Byleth and the character that left the note.

11. ABQ – Always Be Questin
Side quests return in Fire Emblem Three Houses and range from simple fetch quests to battle objectives. Bulletin Boards are spread across Garreg Monastery so be sure to check the boards each month. Completing these quests is key not only to increasing Byleth’s professor level and acquire gold and items but also is the primary means to obtaining Renown points, which will be discussed next. Certain quests will unlock new merchants and other activities at the monastery so completing each month’s quest is vital.
Side Quest Battles cannot be completed during the monastery free day; however, the quest must be activated prior to ending the monastery free time in order to be available in the free time battle option. Talking to the appropriate character to activate quests, and refer to the map section and/or bulletin board if you get lost.

12. Spend that Renown
A few months into the playthrough, players can begin spending Renown points in the cathedral. Renown can be earned by completing side quests, the location to spend renown points is the upper right portion of the cathedral by the giant four statues. Maximizing this mechanic will grant bonuses ranging from additional points during instruction and experience points earned in battle. Each of the four statues offers different bonuses so check out each one prior to spending points.

13. Amiibo & Online Travelers
Our Baker’s Dozen pick for Top 12(+1) Garreg Monastery Tips is to maximize your Amiibo and purchase items from Online Travelers. The Amiibo Gazebo is located near the garden section just north of the dining facility and is a way for players to obtain in-game items. Simply scan in your favorite Amiibo once and then return to the Amiibo Gazebo each time you visit the monastery. Green items will be scattered around the gazebo and often contain seeds, flowers, and other useful items. Early game this is an excellent means of obtaining bate for the fishing pond.

The Online Travelers portal is located just southwest of the cathedral and offers players online connectivity with other players who have a Nintendo Online subscription. The most important component of this function is the items that can be purchased from these travelers. Online Travelers are a great source for rare ores and seals, which can be difficult to come by early in the game. So always purchase the Seals and rare ores from the Online Travelers each time you visit the monastery.

So there you have it — Our Top 12(+1) Beginner Tips for Garreg Monastery. What other tips would you have for new players to the Fire Emblem series? Leave a comment below with your best advice!