In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, adjutants are more than just benchwarmers—they’re an evolved and nuanced take on the pair-up system from past games. If you’ve reached C rank Professor Level, you can assign one adjutant to a deployed unit during battle. This expands to two at B rank, and three at A rank, making adjutants not only a flexible utility system, but also a strategic tool for maximizing unit efficiency, survivability, and support development.

In this guide, we’ll unravel everything adjutants offer—from experience gain to combat support to unexpected strategies—and how you can leverage them to supercharge your army.

How Adjutants Benefit Themselves

When an adjutant is assigned to a deployed unit (called the host), they passively gain experience. Specifically, they receive:

• 50% of the combat experience their host earns
• 100% of skill experience and class mastery per encounter

This makes adjutants the ideal way to level weaker or unfielded units while keeping them out of danger. The experience they gain is influenced by their equipped weapon and class. For example, Lorenz gains Faith EXP if equipped with Nosferatu, or Reason EXP when holding Fire. Class modifiers apply as normal, meaning adjutants can still progress their specialties even from the sidelines.

Flyer, cavalry, and armored classes also gain experience for their movement-type affinities while acting as adjutants. However, one key exception: Authority skill does not level as an adjutant.

Support points accumulate for the host and any allies within two spaces, allowing your adjutants to build relationships without stepping foot on the battlefield. To increase their gains even more, equip accessories like the Experience Gem or Knowledge Gem—both will enhance EXP intake as if they were an active unit.

Should the host fall during battle, don’t worry—the adjutant retreats safely and will return to your barracks post-map.

Adjutants as a Source of Skill Inheritance (Via Online Travelers)

One of the most surprising bonuses of adjutants comes from pairing with online traveler units. If your host achieves MVP status at the end of the battle while partnered with a traveler, they can inherit one of the traveler’s green-arrow-tagged skills or combat arts.

This method can bypass class mastery and promotion requirements. For instance, using an imported Kaspar with Death Blow, your host Hilda could inherit that skill without ever touching the Brigand class. However, the skill learned is randomly selected from the traveler’s available abilities, so more options mean less control. If the imported unit has only one teachable ability, the outcome is guaranteed.

Restrictions apply:

• Weapon skills taught can be no higher than B rank
• Only Intermediate class masteries can be passed on
• No unique or gender-locked abilities (e.g., Darting Blow, Point-Blank Volley)

This system is powerful—but situational. Done correctly, it’s a shortcut to some of the game’s most valuable passive boosts.

The Three Types of Adjutants

Adjutant behavior changes based on their current class type. They fall into three categories: Attack, Healing, and Guardadjutants.

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1. Attack Adjutants

Found in most general classes, attack adjutants may perform a bonus strike after their host finishes combat. This bonus attack:

• Deals 50% of the adjutant’s damage
• Can crit, miss, or apply weapon effectiveness
• Requires an appropriate weapon range
• Will not double, even with Brave weapons
• Does not benefit from Death/Fiendish Blow or other offensive skills

Their activation starts at a 10% chance and increases 10% per support level between host and adjutant (up to 40% normally, or 50% with an S-rank pairing in New Game+).

But beware: a known bug resets the activation chance to 10% if the pair’s support is C+, B+, A+, or hidden, making this functionally unreliable. Attack adjutants also do not trigger during enemy phase and don’t show up in battle forecasts—making them awkward for precise planning.

Verdict: Useful in theory, but unreliable and inconsistent in execution.

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2. Healing Adjutants

Found in healing classes like Priest, Bishop, and Holy Knight, healing adjutants automatically restore HP to their host under specific conditions:

• Host must be at or below 50% HP
• Heal occurs at the start of player phase
• Heal is equivalent to the adjutant’s basic heal spell

Support level increases the number of times this can trigger per map. Healing power scales with equipped staves and healing class bonuses.

Healing adjutants are excellent passive sustain options, especially for front-liners like Ferdinand or Byleth who stray out of Physic range. But in general, they are overshadowed by the abundance of direct healing spells and items. They’re best for players who prefer passive healing without micro-managing.

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3. Guard Adjutants

Found in tanky classes like Brawler, Fortress Knight, and Great Knight, guard adjutants reduce damage from enemy follow-up attacks:

• Prevents the second strike from doing full damage (starts at 10% damage reduction)
• Scales up 10% per support level
• Always applies if the enemy doubles the host

Even better, guard adjutants can prevent death from the follow-up attack, no matter how low your HP is. This gives your units a built-in safety net, especially useful for baiting, tanking, or reaching low-HP skill thresholds (like Defiant abilities).

Unlike attack adjutants, their effect is factored into battle forecasts—allowing you to plan around them effectively.

Verdict: Highly reliable and strategic. Among all adjutant types, guard adjutants offer the most consistent and battle-relevant benefits.

Advanced Adjutant Strategy

Pairing guard adjutants with Blessing Gambits creates a near-failproof survival setup. One prevents lethal blows once per map, the other protects from follow-up lethality across all turns. For death-defying builds or units relying on Defiant skill thresholds, this layered protection is a powerful asset.

Adjutants are also great partners during class mastery grinding. As noted in previous mastery strategies, both the host and adjutant gain class experience, and equipping the Knowledge Gem on either can supercharge the process. Rotate adjutants in and out to build your roster without expending deployment slots.

Final Thoughts: Don’t Underestimate Adjutants

Whether you’re playing aggressively, training backup units, or trying to stretch your tactical possibilities, adjutants open a new dimension of depth. While their usefulness varies depending on type, class, and support level, they remain one of Three Houses’ most underrated mechanics. Learn to use them well, and you’ll unlock a quiet, powerful form of battlefield control.

So next time you’re staring at your bench, don’t sigh—strategize. Because that unit you thought was dead weight might just be your MVP’s secret weapon.