Brodia has secured some dynastic stability by having an heir and a spare… and Alcryst is the spare. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with Alcryst save a touch of timidity (which tends to vanish when the situation calls for action), he is plagued by one thing - his brother is pretty much perfect for his role of crown prince for a nation of warriors. Stricken by a lack of confidence that belies his own skill as a warrior, Alcryst nonetheless musters up the nerve to join the Divine Dragon’s crusade during the main story battle in Chapter 7. This page will discuss Alcryst’s strengths and weaknesses, including his starting stats, stat maximums and stat growths, and suggest the best classes and Emblem Rings for Alcryst.

Alcryst’s Stats and Stat Growths¶

Despite his insecurities, Alcyrst generally keeps up with Diamant in most key categories. Diamant is more suited for melee combat due to his higher HP, DEF and RES growth, but there’s nothing about Alcryst’s stats that serve to diminish his competence as a warrior. Alcryst has good - but not great - HP, STR, DEX and SPD growth rates, and he generally compares well to characters like Yunaka in terms of overall fighting prowess. That said, Fogado exists, and his higher SPD and RES growths would make it difficult to recommend Alcryst as your top choice of archer… if it wasn’t for Alcryst possessing a decent personal skill and an excellent class skill from his unique advanced class, Tireur d’elite. As for Alcryst’s other stats… well, his MAG is quite low, as is his LCK, the latter of which is probably a reflection of his order of birth. Suffice to say, his low MAG will keep him from being much of a caster, forcing him to focus on physical damage.

Best Classes for Alcryst - Tireur d’elite¶

As much as we’d like to hem and haw over the possibilities, Alcyrst’s stats aren’t top-tier. They’re good, but there are stronger characters out there, especially if you weigh SPD higher (which you should). Fogado is perhaps the most obvious source of competition, both being archers, and Alcryst has a 10% lower SPD growth than Fogado. Worse still, Fogado’s unique advanced class, Cupido, has an 8-point max SPD advantage over Alcryst’s Tireur d’elite, albeit trading off against a 6-point STR advantage for Alcryst.

Stats aren’t everything, however (granted, they’re a lot), and the Tireur d’elite’s class ability, “Luna” is what keeps Alcryst viable. A relic of older Fire Emblem games, Luna gives its possessor the chance to ignore half an enemy’s DEF/RES, and since this chance equals Alcryst’s DEX, this functionally means by late game he’ll be dealing 5-10 extra damage to foes 30%+ of the time. In addition to a solid - but not top-tier SPD score and STR score - this means Alcryst will be a legitimate threat to even armored units, although it does make him rather swingy.

If Alcryst isn’t a Tireur d’elite, there’s arguably no reason to take him over half a dozen other characters vying for a similar role. If he is a Tireur d’elite, Luna and his personal skill “Get Behind Me!” (grants nearby attacked allies STR+3 for 1 turn) makes him an interesting and potentially very dangerous addition to any roster.

Best Emblem Rings for Alcryst¶

Despite having a higher enough SPD (and hence AVO) to potentially count as a fringe AVO tank candidate, Alcryst’s Luna ability puts him more in the camp of a damage dealer. He can probably take a few hits, but being equipped with a ranged weapon, he really shouldn’t have to, and he has no business running ahead of the rest of the army to camp out in bushes. His AVO is high enough to make some enemies miss, even high enough to play somewhat aggressively, but there are better AVO tanks out there.

Lyn¶

Okay, Alcryst might not be a great candidate for Sigurd (inasmuch as there are better options out there), but that doesn’t mean the backup for Sigurd is a bad pairing with Alcryst. Lyn is a decent, albeit inferior, alternative to Sigurd. Her Speedtaker ability will give Alcryst a much needed SPD boost every time he initiates combat and kills an enemy, and in the unlikely even that his SPD ends up 9+ higher than the enemy, he’ll follow-up before the enemy attacks. Best of all, Lyn gives him access to a Killer Bow, and the Mani Katti sword, which is effective against armored units and cavalry. Nothing says Luna only works with bows, so Alcryst shouldn’t necessarily shy away from using other weapons if the opportunity presents itself. Finally, Lyn’s Astra Storm allows Alcryst to smite enemies from an even greater range than usual.

Eiraka¶

Perhaps not the best fit, but in the absence of options, Emblem Eirka will benefit Alcryst in a few important ways. First, Lunar Brace will deal extra damage to the tune of 20% of a foe’s DEF, and with Luna, Alcryst is already good at dealing with high DEF enemies, this just furthers that advantage.

Edelgard¶

If you have the Expansion Pass, it’s hard to argue against Emblem Edelgard. She gives significant boosts to STR and DEX, both of which will make Alcryst better at doing what he’s already good at - dealing damage. Higher DEX means more Luna procs, and more STR means he’ll inflict more damage regardless of whether Luna procs or not. Of course, Luna isn’t bow-specific, so while Failnaught is a welcome long-range addition to Alcryst’s arsenal, there’s nothing that prevents him from using any of this Emblem’s other weapons to take down foes, as the situation demands. Bow Guard is also fine synergy for an archer like Alcryst, reducing the damage he takes while using bows, and Weapon Sync will give him an additional raw boost to damage any time Claude happens to be active, or while Alcryst is engaged. While not the strongest character in the game, Alcryst is also strong enough to be scary with Emblem Edelgard’s Houses Unite finisher.

Best Skills for Alcryst¶

As for skills, Alcryst should learn and inherit the standard leveling skills: Lineage from Edelgard (substitute with Mentorship from Byleth if you don’t have access to it) and Starsphere from Tiki. These will both make an already strong character even stronger, which is always welcome.

Marth’s AVO+ skills are good for everybody, and can take Alcryst from being a fringe AVO tank to a passable one. Edelgard’s STR/DEX+ is incredibly potent, but expensive, but Alcryst benefits from DEX in the form of higher Luna proc rates and STR in the form of more damage, making these stats especially important for him.