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The world of Fire Emblem: Three Houses is home to all sorts of fantastic students for Professor Byleth to teach and look after. However, one of the absolute best students the player can have to join them is a character that doesn’t start as a student at all: Flayn. She is one of my favorite Fire Emblem: Three Houses Characters I used in every possible playthrough, alongside Lysithea and Sylvain.
In this guide, I will cover the basics of who exactly Flayn is and what makes her worth using in a playthrough. In addition, I will break down the logistics of using Flayn in-game and what exactly goes into making her the most effective support possible in the game.
Flayn is an interesting character with a significant amount of mystery and lies surrounding her. With this in mind, this guide will have a section dedicated to all the spoiler-related information regarding Flayn. Anyone in the middle of their Three Houses journey can merely skip this portion and the FAQs to get a totally spoiler-free review of the character as she comes in most Three Houses routes.
Flayn in a Nutshell
Flayn is a powerful healer available in every Three House route except for one. She’s a fantastic healer, and in the one route she’s featured as an opponent, she can be an obnoxious enemy support unit. Anyone starting their new Three Houses journey would find that Flayn is both incredibly beneficial to a team and an incredibly kind character that helps hold a place like Gerrag Mach together.
Who is Flayn?
Flayn is a young woman nearly the same age as all the students at Garreg Mach who presides with her older brother Seteth, the second-in-command to Lady Rhea. While she is the relative of one of the most powerful members of the church, Flayn keeps a humble personality and is one of the kindest characters in the entire story.
Flayn is so friendly and open to the students of Garreg Mach that she often makes Seteth worry. The player learns early on that Flayn is Seteth’s only family, and he constantly worries about how free she is with the other wilder students. Seteth’s overprotective nature is something that Flayn understands but often shows an exception to, and she much prefers making friends with other teens.
Flayn also has some fun weaknesses, specifically her love for seafood mixed with her horrendous cooking. Both are funny quirks that are mentioned in a few of her supports. As far as her terrible cooking goes, Dimitri is the only character who can stand the food that Flayn makes.
Spoiler Content About Flayn
Flayn and Seteth’s sibling relationship is actually a lie. Flayn is Seteth’s daughter; their relationship is disguised mostly to help protect Flayn. The innocence of Flayn is the result of her being dormant for most of her life. This dormant state was so that she could mend herself from injuries she sustained in a battle that resulted in her mother’s death.
Seteth and Flayn were also not only ordinary members of the church. Flayn’s major crest of Cathleann is no coincidence. She is the dragon and saint herself. That being said, Flayn can no longer enter her dragon form and is essentially just an immortal human girl. The same can be said for her father, Seteth.
Flayn’s Key Info
When she first joins the squad, Flayn will be a Priest with her Major Crest of Cethleann. Her magic will include Nosferatu for damage along with Heal and Restore to help recover allies, making her a pretty decent healer out of the gate. As far as progression goes, Flayn’s budding talent is in reason with a strength in Faith and Lances. Her weaknesses are in Armor in Cavalry.
Flayn’s base stats when she first joins the player are the following, with growth rates listed beside:
- Level: 11
- HP: 28 (25% growth rate)
- Str: 8 (25% growth rate)
- Mag: 15 (55% growth rate)
- Dex: 12 (45% growth rate)
- Spd: 9 (35% growth rate)
- Lck: 8 (15% growth rate)
- Def: 7 (25% growth rate)
- Res: 19 (50% growth rate)
- Charm: 16 (45% growth rate)
Flayn has the highest Res growth in the entire game, but horrific Luck, Speed, and Defense both in terms of base stats and growth rate. For experience Fire Emblem players, this may make Flayn’s role in a team fairly obvious. She struggles at almost anything other than her main role as a healer and should be kept far away from melee units or bow units.
Flayn has access to solid magic throughout the game. Specifically, she will learn the following skills throughout her time at Gerrag Mach.
| Skill Level | Reason | Faith |
|---|---|---|
| D | Wind | Heal |
| D+ | Fire | Nosferatu |
| C | Cutting Gale | Restore |
| C+ | – | – |
| B | – | Rescue |
| B+ | – | – |
| A | Excalibur | Fortify |
| A+ | – | – |
The Fortify and Rescue abilities are Flayn’s bread and butter and what players will primarily be casting if Flayn is a crucial member of their party. The spells allow Flayn to play far back compared to her allies while simultaneously using her distant range to her advantage to provide larger ranged heals or return injured units to the backline as a last-ditch save.
Flayn’s kit makes her an especially good unit for those playing on classic mode with harder difficulties, as often powerful melee units will be in danger of being taken down and could be saved from that fate by a well-timed rescue. One early game save with Flayn could rescue an entire playthrough from going sideways in a classic mode run.
Food With Flayn
One of the most common memes in the Fire Emblem: Three Houses community is Flayn’s outrageous obsession with fish. This isn’t only exemplified in her fishing tournaments but also in her support and her preference for meals. When eating with Flayn, there’s one important thing to remember: if there’s fish, she’ll probably love it. Flayn’s favorite meals are as follows:
- Grilled Herring
- Fish and Bean Soup
- Sweet Bun Trio
- Fruit and Herring Tart
- Fisherman’s Bounty
- Pheasant Roast with Berry Sauce
- Fish Sandwich
- Pickled Seafood and Vegetables
- Two-Fish Sauté
- Cabbage and Herring Stew
- Bourgeois Pike
There is only one seafood dish that she dislikes: the Super-Spicy Fish Dango. So it makes sense for Flayn to dislike the dish, seeing as it’s just a fried ball with bits of trout, not truly possessing the seafood flavor that Flayn adores so much. Also, she doesn’t really like spicy food.
Flayn’s Relationships
Flayn can have support from the following characters:
Among them, she can have an S-support with Male Byleth and romantic A or A+ supports with a few of the male characters. Flayn also has very wholesome supports with her older brother Seteth and instructor Manuela. For players that use Flayn in multiple playthroughs, it’s worth trying to get different supports higher because many of them are great content with plenty of adorable moments on both Flayn and the other person’s end.
In particular, there’s a strong case for her best romance option being Ferdinand. However, her relationship with Male Byleth, Claude, and Sylvain is also very good. Ultimately, regardless of the character she speaks to, the supports do a good job at teaching the player more about Flayn and what drives her.
Flayn as an Enemy
In almost every playthrough, Flayn will be an ally to Byleth. However, if the player sides with Edelgarde in the Crimson Flower route, they will be forced to fight Flayn a couple of times throughout their playthrough. Flayn will be encountered as an enemy in chapter 12, where she appears as a level 26, 27, or 33 Bishop depending on difficulty.
She’ll have access to Seraphim, Heal, Nosferatu, and Silence. Flayn can be an annoying foe if not dealt with quickly, and it’s advised to defeat her as quickly as realistically possible. As previously stated, Flayn is incredibly weak to fast physical attackers. As long as the player isn’t targeting her Resistance stat, it should be easy to focus on Flayn.
As a note, the second time Flayn is fought will be the last encounter with Flayn. For more sentimental players, try dealing the final blow with Byleth. If it’s Byleth that reduces Flayn’s HP to 0, the girl will merely retreat instead of meeting her end in the battle.
Flayn’s Key Skills
Flayn’s signature skill may be familiar to those that have played Fire Emblem Fates in the Revelation or Conquest route. Her signature skill, Lily’s Poise, is the same as the signature skill of Nohrian Princess Elise. When Lily’s Poise is equipped, any adjacent allies take three less damage.
The skill is especially good on Flayn, who often is paired with other backline units due to her position as a far ranged healer. Since Flayn is often next to other ranged characters, who typically have lower resistance and defense, she’ll often be a clutch factor that allows squishy allies to live with low amounts of HP. The skill also has obvious synergy with Rescue, which will teleport an ally to her.
As far as other powerful skills for Flayn, White Magic Use x2 and White Magic Heal +10 will help Flayn scale. The skills will all translate to the optimal class for Flayn: Bishop. Gremory is another fantastic choice for Flayn, partially due to her hidden talent in reason.
Why Should I Care About Flayn?
Gameplay-wise, Flayn is a healing machine with a decent signature skill in Lily’s Poise and the highest resistance growth in the game. Magic attacks will tickle her, and she’ll often be outside the range of melee physical attackers, meaning she only has to worry about mispositioning against bow units.
There are plenty of powerful characters for Flayn to heal up in Three Houses, and a Dimitri with a Flayn healing him, in particular, can completely tear through teams. She’s a low-investment character who comes in early enough to make a huge difference in even the hardest of playthroughs. She also has a little bit of flexibility, with great builds in both the Gremory and Bishop roles.
As far as the story goes, Flayn is an adorable and optimistic member of the Gerrag Mach monastery who brings a bit of mystery to the story. Additionally, few characters add as much wholesomeness to Gerrag Mach as Flayn does. She has amazing supports with all the male characters, but Claude, Ferdinand, Sylvain, and Dimitri all have adorable interactions with the chipper young woman.
Even outside of supports, Flayn is fantastic in the main story as well: a trait not all Fire Emblem characters can say for themselves. Many characters in the franchise, major and minor alike, a relegated to a fun one-dimensional gimmick in the main story and only truly show their depth in their supports rather than in the main story. Unlike those characters, Flayn and her brother Seteth shine throughout all of Three Houses.
One improvement Three Houses made on the multi-route model set by Fates is that all the characters feel relatively consistent regardless of the route, and Flayn models this perfectly. Whether she’s fighting alongside the Blue Lions or Golden Deer or against Edelgard’s regime, Flayn is a consistent and fantastic character.
FAQs
Question: Who Should Flayn Marry In Three Houses?
Answer: Byleth and Flayn are certainly a cute pairing, but Ferdinand and Sylvain are also both interesting choices they have fun chemistry with Flayn.
Question: Does Flayn Like Fish?
Answer: Flayn’s love for fish has become a fun meme in the Fire Emblem community due to her role in the fishing tournament quest. She also mentions seafood in many of her supports.
Question: How Are Flayn and Seteth Related?
Answer: Flayn and Seteth aren’t just related, or brother and sister as they say at the beginning of the story. They’re actually father and daughter, with their identities hidden to keep Flayn safe.
Question: Is Flayn Good in Fire Emblem Heroes?
Answer: Flayn is one of the best healers in the game in Fire Emblem Heroes, with her unique weapon allowing her to decrease damage to the player’s enemy phase units so that they can more easily secure a counter kill.
Question: Is Flayn playable in all Three Houses routes?
Answer: Flayn is playable in every Three Houses route unless Byleth sides with Edelgard, in which case Flayn will side with the church over the player character.
Conclusion
Flayn is a powerful healer who adds a lot both in terms of gameplay and the story. Few characters in the entire franchise have as much mystery surrounding them as Flayn, and Three Houses does a fantastic job of slowly letting the player learn more and more about this fantastic character.
I highly recommend Flayn to anyone who can possibly add her to their party, and be sure to feed her plenty of fish when you invite her to eat at the monastery!
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