Troubadour & Strategist/Maid
The Troubadour class line in Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest provides essential support capabilities, focusing on healing and utility. Troubadours are mounted healers, allowing them to traverse the battlefield quickly and reach allies in need. Their primary weapon is staves, enabling them to restore HP and cure status ailments. Their personal skill, "Charity", allows them to recover 20% of their HP at the start of each player phase, offering a small but consistent self-sustain. This makes them relatively durable for a support unit, though their combat prowess is minimal.
Upon promotion, Troubadours can become either a Strategist or a Maid. The Strategist path leans heavily into offensive magic, allowing them to wield both staves and tomes. They gain the skill "Rally Spectrum", which grants +4 to all stats to adjacent allies for one turn, a powerful buff for offensive pushes. Strategists also gain access to powerful offensive spells, making them capable of contributing to damage output while still providing crucial healing. The Maid class, on the other hand, focuses on debuffing enemies and providing support through unique skills. Maids gain the skill "Encloser", which allows them to reduce an enemy's movement by 2 when they attack. They also gain access to the skill "Demoiselle", which grants adjacent allies +3 Resistance and Magic. This makes them excellent for controlling enemy movement and bolstering allies' magical defenses, particularly useful against enemy mages encountered in maps like Chapter 17, "The Barrier."
Units that can reclass into Troubadour include Elise, who starts as one. Other units can gain access to this class line through marriage or Heart Seals. For example, a male unit marrying Elise can gain access to the Troubadour class. When building a team, ensuring you have at least one dedicated healer is paramount, especially for the higher difficulties of Conquest. The ability to heal units like Xander, who can take significant damage on the front lines, is vital for maintaining his effectiveness. Remember that while Maids can attack, their primary role is support, and they are generally not suited for direct combat against heavily armored units.