Recruitment (Three Hopes)

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To start with, you'll be joined by 8 students from the house that you choose at the start of Chapter 2. Then, as the story progresses, a few more characters may naturally join you.

In addition, it's possible to recruit certain enemy characters, by triggering specific Strategies during main quests.

• First, you need to enable the strategy during the pre-battle menu; it'll typically be named Persuade (Character). This will cost Strategy Resources, which are earned by capturing regions on the War Map.
• After enabling the strategy, you must trigger it during the battle - or nothing will happen! When it becomes possible to recruit the character, a prompt to activate the Strategy will appear near the left of the screen.
  Hold down Right (D-Pad) until the button gauge is full to activate the Strategy. This will change the mission requirement so that defeating that character will recruit them.

For a chart of availability for easy comparison, see Availability

Prologue

Character	Class	Chapter	How to Recruit
Shez	Myrmidon	0	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.

Black Eagles/Scarlet Blaze

Character	Class	Ch.	How to Recruit
Edelgard	Fighter	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Hubert	Monk	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Dorothea	Monk	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Ferdinand	Soldier	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Bernadetta	Fighter	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Caspar	Fighter	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Petra	Myrmidon	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Linhardt	Monk	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Monica	Monk	3	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Manuela	Priest	4	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Jeritza	Cavalier	4	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Constance	Mage	4	Must use Persuade Constance strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Constance in battle.
Hapi	Mage	4	Must use Persuade Hapi strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Hapi in battle.
Ashe	Archer	5	Must use Persuade Ashe strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Ashe in battle.
Lorenz	Cavalier	6	Must use Persuade Lorenz strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Lorenz in battle.
Ignatz	Archer	6	Must use Persuade Ignatz strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Ignatz in battle.
Balthus	Brawler	6	Must use Persuade Balthus strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Balthus in battle.
Raphael	Grappler	7	Must use Persuade Raphael strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Raphael in battle. Ignatz must be a deployed unit.
Lysithea	Warlock	7	Must use Persuade Lysithea strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Lysithea in battle.
Marianne	Bishop	7	Must use Persuade Marianne strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Marianne in battle.
Mercedes	Bishop	8	Must use Persuade Mercedes strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Mercedes in battle. Jeritza must be a deployed unit.
Shamir	Sniper	9	Must use Persuade Shamir strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Shamir in battle.
Yuri	Trickster	10	Must use Persuade Yuri strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Yuri in battle.
Byleth	Silverheart	10	Please see step-by-step guide.
Jeralt	Holy Knight	10	Must recruit Byleth.
Leonie	Holy Knight	12	Must use Persuade Leonie strategy during the Main Quest, and then complete the mission to escort her to safety.

Blue Lions/Azure Gleam

Character	Class	Ch.	How to Recruit
Dimitri	Soldier	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Dedue	Fighter	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Felix	Myrmidon	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Mercedes	Monk	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Ashe	Fighter	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Annette	Monk	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Sylvain	Soldier	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Ingrid	Soldier	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Rodrigue	Cavalier	4	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Petra	Thief	4	Must use Persuade Petra strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Petra in battle.
Hapi	Mage	4	Must use Persuade Hapi strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Hapi in battle.
Seteth	Cavalier	5	Automatically joins at beginning of chapter.
Flayn	Priest	5	Automatically joins at beginning of chapter.
Dorothea	Mage	5	Must use Persuade Dorothea strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Dorothea in battle.
Bernadetta	Archer	6	Must use Persuade Bernadetta strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Bernadetta in battle.
Shamir	Sniper	9	Must use Persuade Shamir strategy during the Main Quest, and then rescue Shamir before she is routed.
Catherine	Swordmaster	9	Automatically joins during the Main Quest after Gwendal is defeated.
Yuri	Assassin	9	Must use Persuade Yuri strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Yuri in battle.
Lorenz	Paladin	10	Choose "Recruit them to your team." when prompted at the start of the chapter.
Raphael	Grappler	10	Choose "Recruit them to your team." when prompted at the start of the chapter.
Ignatz	Sniper	10	Choose "Recruit them to your team." when prompted at the start of the chapter.
Marianne	Bishop	10	Choose "Recruit them to your team." when prompted at the start of the chapter.
Balthus	War Master	10	Must use Persuade Balthus strategy during the Main Quest, and then rescue Balthus before he is routed.
Linhardt	Dark Bishop	11	Must use Persuade Linhardt strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Linhardt in battle.
Constance	Gremory	11	Must use Persuade Constance strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Constance in battle.
Byleth	Silverheart	12	Please see step-by-step guide.
Jeralt	Holy Knight	12	Must recruit Byleth.
Jeritza	Death Knight	13	Must use Persuade Death Knight strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat the Death Knight in battle. Mercedes must be a deployed unit.

Golden Deer/Golden Wildfire

Character	Class	Ch.	How to Recruit
Claude	Fighter	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Lorenz	Soldier	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Hilda	Fighter	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Raphael	Fighter	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Lysithea	Monk	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Ignatz	Fighter	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Marianne	Monk	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Leonie	Soldier	2	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Shamir	Archer	4	Automatically joins at the beginning of chapter.
Linhardt	Priest	4	Must use Persuade Linhardt strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Linhardt in battle.
Balthus	Brawler	5	Must use Persuade Balthus strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Balthus in battle.
Holst	Swordmaster	5	Automatically joins at the end of the chapter.
Bernadetta	Archer	6	Must use Persuade Bernadetta strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Bernadetta in battle.
Petra	Thief	7	Must use Persuade Petra strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Petra in battle.
Hapi	Warlock	9	Must use Persuade Hapi strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Hapi in battle.
Constance	Warlock	9	Must use Persuade Constance strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Constance in battle.
Yuri	Trickster	10	Must use Persuade Yuri strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Yuri in battle.
Byleth	Silverheart	10	Please see step-by-step guide.
Jeralt	Holy Knight	10	Must recruit Byleth.
Ashe	Bow Knight	11	Must use Persuade Ashe strategy during the Main Quest, and then defeat Ashe in battle.
Dorothea	Gremory	13	Must use Persuade Dorothea strategy during the Main Quest, and then complete the mission to escort her to safety.

Post-Game

Character	Class	Ch.	How to Recruit
Rhea	Saint	4+	Unlocked with 60 Renown after completing game.
Sothis	Gremory	4+	Unlocked with 60 Renown after completing game.
Arval	(if ) Dark Bishop (if ) Gremory	4+	Unlocked with 60 Renown after completing game with Byleth recruited. Arval's class availability (including their starting class) matches that of Shez's gender.
Gatekeeper	Soldier	4 (Scarlet Blaze) / 5 (Azure Gleam and Golden Wildfire)	Automatically joins at the beginning of the chapter during your third (distinct) route, and on all subsequent playthroughs.