There are plenty of units that you can push into your axe user(s) when you’re playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses. But, if you don’t want to waste time with hidden potentials or weaknesses, who are the best axe users? Here are the top seven best axe users in the game and why. 

7. Caspar (War Master)

Yeah, Caspar time!

Caspar may be small, but he sure is mighty! Caspar trains non-stop because of the pressures he felt compared to his older brother and father when going up. While this is trauma Caspar just glosses over, it does come in handy for us. 

Caspar is… mediocre, to say the best. There are better axes than him, seeing as he is placed 7th on this list, but there are also worse axes than him! He has very high strength and good dexterity, but he starts with a low speed, plus a lower defense and resistance that prevents him from being an all-powerful tank. He does, however, have good health as well, which allows him to take a couple of hits before needing to abandon the battlefield. 

I’ve personally had difficulty leveling him up, but the percentages are up to chance! 

Caspar learns great skills such as Wild Abandon, which not many people learn, and does contribute to his excellence in an axe role. 

What Makes Caspar a Great Axe User:

• Caspar’s personal skill, Born Fighter, reduces the nearby enemies’ avoidance by 5. This means he has an even higher chance to hit and cause that Bergliez damage we hear about!
• Caspar learns special combat arts like Wild Abandon, which only two other units learn. 
• Overall, Caspar’s growths are good! He will be a solid unit so long as he is not in harm’s way all the time. 

6. Alois (Armored Knight)

Alois is here to save us and the day.

Alois is a Knight of Seiros, but above that, he’s more of a brotherly figure. Seeing as he and Byleth were both raised by Jeralt, Alois feels a fondness towards us. So much so that he leaves the Knights of Seiros to fight with the Empire if we choose the Black Eagles. We get such a loyal axe-wielder on our team with Alois! 

Alois has high strength and speed growths, making him a reliable double-hitter that causes a lot of damage. The reason he is 6th in place is that, while he is a great axe user, you cannot recruit him until chapter 11. You’ve already had the opportunity to level up your other axes. 

Still, he brings a lot to the table with well-balanced stats and growths and high-damage output. 

What Makes Alois a Great Axe User: 

• Alois’ personal skill, Compassion, grants nearby allies an extra +8 in luck for one turn. That’s a lot of luck that can go a long way! You’re always praying to the goddess for extra luck in battle, right?
• Upon mastering the Armored Knight class, Alois will learn Armored Blow, which will give him an extra 6 defense when he initiates combat. 
• His strength and speed are good at 45% and 40%, respectively. While not the highest on this list, they still prove to be helpful and battle. Alois is a reliable axe user!

5. Raphael (War Master)

There's more to Raphael than meets the eye.

Raphael loves two things: eating and working out. This works out for us, because it causes him to be really strong. As an axe user, Raphael causes a lot of damage without taking much himself. 

With high strength, HP, and defense, Raphael is perfect for an axe user on the front lines. With combat arts like Death Blow and Armored Blow, he can cause even more damage. Raphael is above average, though he lacks in speed, which means he can’t double hit as often. Fortunately, since he does so much damage with his high strength, we don’t always need his speed to be up. 

What Makes Raphael a Great Axe User:

• Above everything, Raphael has incredible strength. His base growth stat is 50%, which is already high, but when promoted into a War Master, that increases to a 105% growth rate. He will become stronger on every single level!
• Not only is his strength great, but he has HP and defense growth rates at 60% and 45%.
• Raphael’s personal skill, Goody Basket, gives him a chance to recover some HP at the start of each turn. This chance is determined by his luck stat. If high enough, he will recover even more HP than necessary. He is a huge tank to have on your team, and no other axe user has that defense. 

4. Annette (Gremory)

Annette won't fumble on the battlefield. 

As much of a klutz as Annette is, she’s surprisingly good with an axe. While she’s canonically classed as a magic user, with good reasoning, she has great dark magic skills, she also has a Heroes’ Relic that ushers her into the axe territory. 

Do not use Annette solely as an axe user, but rather use magic axes, like Crusher, Lightning Axe, and Bolt Axe, that deal magic-based damage while still using her strength in axes. Her magic and dexterity both have growths of 50%. In my experience, Annette hits crits so often! You’ll want that when you need to power through! The Bolt Axe has a further battle range, so when her spells are lacking, this can come in handy. Since her magic is so high, that is what is used to determine the damage when using magical axes instead of strength. 

Plus, she has a powerful personal skill, Perseverance, that grants +4 strength to an ally for one turn. This can be used to make her allies stronger while she holds down the fort. 

What Makes Annette a Great Axe User: 

• She is different from other axe users on this list, as she uses magical axes. Magic can be very effective against armored enemies, so you need her cut through them!
• Annette’s magic growth is very high, meaning that is how she uses the magical axes. 
• Crusher is her special Heroes’ Relic and is effective against dragon foes’, plus it grants her the combat art Dust, which reduces foes’ defense by 5 for one turn. 

3. Dedue (Fortress Knight)

Dedue is easily a great axe unit.

Dedue is loyal to Dimitri of the Blue Lions, meaning he is only available on that route. However, if you’re unsure of what to do with a man as strong as him, making him an axe user is a great way to go. 

Unlike other axe units, he is worth putting into heavy armor. He already has high defense and HP, making him almost impenetrable, but he has very high strength growth. His HP is at 60% and defense and strength at 50%! He is a tank that, when given an axe, dishes a considerable amount of damage. 

Dedue has a strength for heavy armor and axes, luckily. Upon mastering the latter, he learns Armored Blow. All of his skills help cause a lot of damage while he stays untouched!

What Makes Dedue a Great Axe User: 

• Dedue’s stats are perfect for an axe user, but they also allow him to take a lot of hits and not lose health. With heavy armor, he will take even less damage.
• As a Fortress Knight, his movement is low, but his personal skill gives him extra defense upon waiting. This makes him even more of a tank!
• He learns great combat arts as an axe user, such as Monster Breaker and Armored Strike. 

2. Edelgard (Armored Lord)

Witness the power of Her Majesty!

It should go without saying that Edelgard is an incredible axe user. Seeing as she is the head of the Adrestian Empire and your Lord if you choose the Black Eagles, she does not let anyone step in her way if they are against her. She will fight until the end while wielding her special axe, Aymr. 

Edelgard has some impressive growth stats, including the highest charm growth in the game at a whopping 60%! She has great strength growth at 55% and decent magic and dexterity, both at 45%. While it might seem strange for Edelgard to have good magic growth, this allows her to easily learn the Lightning Axe combat art and wield weapons like a Bolt Axe.

Since Edelgard is so great, why isn’t she number one? It is because she is limited to a single route. While our number one choice is limited from a certain route, it doesn’t cut as deep as this one. 

What Makes Edelgard a Great Axe User:

• Edelgard’s personal weapon, Aymr, is a great reason for Edelgard’s power as an axe user. While Aymr looks like a Heroes’ Relic, it is not. Instead, it was a weapon designed for her to rival the power of other Heroes’ Relics. It gives her the special ability of Raging Storm, which is effective against dragon foes.
• Aymr also gives Edelgard an extra turn after using Combat Arts. Use this to your advantage!
• Edelgard’s high charm and strength growths allow her to use many gambits and cause a lot of damage when hitting enemies. She is a powerhouse on the field and honestly has the potential to solo a battlefield. 
• The Armored Lord class is unique to Edelgard! She is strong and puts out a lot of damage, but she can also take a lot of hits!

1. Hilda (Wyvern Lord)

Hilda! Hilda!

Hilda might act like she’s too weak (or lazy) to throw an axe around, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Hilda is very strong, and it’s just a shame that we can’t make her a War Master. Curse these needlessly gendered roles! Nor can we have her on the Black Eagles with Edelgard. Maybe they would destroy the battlefield too much with all that axe-smacking. 

Regardless, Hilda is easily the best axe unit in the game. While she may have slight inaccuracy with her axe-wielding, she does have high strength and speed to make up for it. These skills also help her greatly as a Wyvern Lord. It seems to be something that runs in the Goneril family if word of her brother is anything to go by.

Hilda also has a useful personal ability, while it doesn’t directly relate to her own power on the battlefield. Her personal skill, Advocate, gives adjacent male units +3 damage. This is only another reason to use her! Surround her with men who she can manipulate to do her work for her. 

She does happen to possess the minor Crest of Goneril, which prevents counterattacks when Hilda uses a combat art. Seeing as she has powerful combat arts such as Diamond Axe, Helm Splitter, and Apocalyptic Flame, this is a great skill to have. 

What Makes Hilda a Great Axe User:

• Since Hilda is of House Goneril, she inherits the Heroes’ Relic Freikugel, which comes with the Apocalyptic Flame combat art when paired with her crest. 
• Hilda’s strength and speed growth rates are at 45% and 50%, respectively, which are very high and contribute to her high damage and multiple hits. 
• Her stats mean she is not impacted too much by weapon weight, which is good, given the heft that some axes have on them!

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