- Camilla Fire Emblem Guide - November 2, 2022
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- Annette Fire Emblem Guide - September 13, 2022
Not all characters have heroic backgrounds within the fire emblem. Some of them have pretty humble origins. One of these characters is Petra. Within Fire Emblem Three Houses, we are shown that there are a lot of different plots and political intrigues. One of the main ones has to do with the Adrestian Empire and the rest of the political regions that make it up. Petra is one of the many people who are part of the empire, although not of their own free will.
One of the main things we learn about how the Adrestian Empire was organized is that it had many nations that were vassals of the empire. Petra is part of a nation that belongs to the empire indirectly due to the desire for conquest that the empire has at a generalized level. It shows us that there are nuances often even within a faction’s history. Leaving aside the situations related to the character’s history, Petra is a rather peculiar unit within the game. She does not have any crest, which places her in one of the units that starts with the commoner class. This limits her growth within the game, but if you know how to play well, Petra can become a pretty adequate unit to play. The main feature of Petra is that she has many statistics that can be very good at a general level for most armies.
Important Facts
- HP: 25
- Strength: 9
- Magic: 3
- Dexterity: 7
- Speed: 10
- Luck: 7
- Defense: 5
- Resistance: 2
- Charm: 6
- Movement:4
- Special Ability: Hunter’s Boon, Sword Prowess Lv2, Axe Prowess Lv1, Bow Prowess Lv1.
- Combat arts: Wrath Strike
- Crest: none
- Weapon: D+-sword (Bonus Start), E-lance, E+-Axe (bonus start), E+-bow bonus start), E-Gauntlets, E-Reason (Negative), E-faith (negative), E-Authority, E-Armored unit, E-Horseback unit, D-Flying unit (Bonus start).
- Equipped items: Iron sword and vulnerability.
- Class: commoner
As you can see, one of the first things you look at within Petra’s stats is her excellent speed. This puts her above most of the characters in the game, having one of the best speed traits not only in her house but across the board. She is among the fastest characters in the game, which is pretty cool. On top of that, she has bonus abilities with various weapons and flying horses, which means she can have a lot of different branches she can be a part of. In other words, Petra is not defined by a single characteristic but can become several different things. She is one of the few characters considered Multi-class. This is beneficial if you do not know very well which of all the options to choose.
Regarding Petra’s personality, one of the most exciting things is that, as I mentioned above, Petra has a background linked to the Adrestian Empire. It shows us a little more about how the empire has relations with the other domains it has conquered. This is because Petra is a character that, to some extent, should not belong to the empire. Petra belongs to a colony of the Adestrian Empire, the colony of Brigid. Petra is supposed to be part of the former royal family of that colony, being the granddaughter of the last king of Brigid. However, this puts her in an awkward position. Despite being technically part of the empire, everyone sees her as a foreigner. On top of that, Petra can’t speak the empire’s language very well, leading to many mishaps. Despite this, most of Petra’s interactions are rather comical, showing us a relatively positive personality despite the circumstances.
Petra Background
Petra belongs to the colony of Brigid, and as I was telling you, she is the granddaughter of the last king of Brigid; however, the royal family no longer has any power after the last war that the empire had with the small island. They didn’t really stand a chance against the empire. As a direct consequence of the situation with Brigid, Petra became a political prisoner, which is the real reason she is in the academy. Petra is used as a way to blackmail Brigid’s royal family into preventing a rebellion — she was basically kidnapped.
On top of that, Petra doesn’t know how to speak the Fódlan language, which causes her to often get confused when interacting with the other academy members. However, she doesn’t mind since her main goal is to become a strong enough person to be able to get the power to free her people. Petra does this by being one of the hardest-working people in the whole academy. Due to being a political prisoner, she has learned to be as calm as possible and has many friends inside the academy. Finally, another of the most interesting points about Petra is that she loves to be in nature; for example, hiking, climbing trees, and swimming. She has a special connection with nature because the country she is from has a lot of beaches and other natural areas.
The Backstory of Brigid Island
One of the most critical points in Petra’s history is the history of Brigid Island, the archipelago from which Petra originates. It was a free kingdom until the First Mach War. During the war, the Adrestian Empire wanting to invade the Dagda continent. They colonized the island because, at that time, it was actually an ally of the Dagda continent. It was a relatively easy conquest. However, the island still had to some extent, autonomy with its own royal family.
However, during the Dagda-Brigid War, the king’s son (Petra’s father) was killed during an attempted invasion by the mainland of Dagda into the Adrestian Empire. During the failed invasion, the island was wholly annexed. As punishment, the king was forced to send Petra to live in the empire to avoid starting a war again. That is why Petra ended up in the monastery and why she wants to become a strong person.
Why Should I Care About Petra?
Petra is the Black Eagles’ house speedster character. She is a character that has excellent speed, excellent Dexterity, and average Strength and Luck. On the other hand, her weaknesses are in his low defense and her relatively moderate Resistance. This can become a problem when it comes to magical enemies, so it is always a good idea to avoid a direct conflict against them. This can be pretty easy if you increase her speed and luck even more so that she has consistently high evasion chances, which is also quite good, thanks to her abilities.
In addition to this, her ability allows her to get a better chance of performing critical attacks, especially when it comes to eliminating enemies that may have a large amount of life. It’s a good alternative if you are looking for a unit that can finish attack chains. However, it also leaves her quite vulnerable to enemy gambits. The fact that she doesn’t have any crest makes her one of the characters that can’t use heroic relics. Petra’s options are relatively diverse. On the one hand, her speed and use of swords and bows give her the possibility of becoming a thief or Assassin. The problem these classes bring is that she has a weakness in using Reason, a low magic stat, and she doesn’t have a good spell pool either. This means that while she can use the steal ability quite fast, she won’t have access to Mortal Savant. Her use of the Levin Sword would be limited, having to swap it for a Wo Dao Sword, which is relatively good.
On top of that, you can also combine her flying ability with her axe used to turn her into a Wyvern Rider, which would solve her weakness for magic, but would leave her exposed to bow users. However, that is solved with her high defense, so it is one of the best options to have her in that class. Generally, Petra is one of the best physical units in the game, being the second fastest character in the entire game (only behind Yuri in this stat). Suppose you place her in the correct class. In that case, she can consistently land critical hits and deal significant damage to armored enemies. This is not very good when you make her a Wyvern Class, but it increases her defense and attack even more.
The final decision is between the Assassin, Swordmaster, Thief, Wyvern Rider, or Falcon Knight classes. I converted her to an Assassin, as she is one of the best options for using critical hits. As far as her affinities are concerned, these are:
- Byleth (S-Support with male Byleth)
- Edelgard
- Claude
- Hubert
- Ferdinand
- Linhardt
- Caspar
- Bernadetta
- Dorothea
- Ashe
- Ignatz
- Alois
- Shamir
- Cyril
I would recommend doing at least the A-Support with Dorothea, Edelgard, Claude, Bernadeta, and Ferdinand because those support conversations teach you more about Petra’s Back Story.
How to Transform Petra Into the Best Assassin?
You must concentrate on her biggest assets to make her a good choice for an Assassin: her speed and dexterity. The mix of both stats is the one that will allow you to have direct access to the class. The main point of an Assassin is to attack continuously and without any problems and use critical hits and constant evasions. This is something that Petra can do quite easily, just by investing her study hours to improve these statistics.
In addition to that, it is also a good idea to dedicate her hours of study to perfecting both the bow and the sword since they are the two primary weapons she will have access to as an Assassin. Personally, I think it is better to have her as a physical direct combat user since the Black Eagle has other archers that are much better than Petra (Bernadetta). That’s why you don’t have to choose to specialize her in indirect combat. Besides that, indirect combat leaves her open to mage attacks, which can be a headache if you have a confrontation where the enemy levels are similar. You will find that Petra has a resistance well below usual if you make her an archer assassin, so it is better to make her a sword assassin.
Assassin Petra’s skills
She starts with:
- Hunters Boon: Grants Crit +20 when foe’s HP ≤ 50%.
- Sword Prowess Lv 2: Grants Hit +6, Avo +10, and Crit Avo +6 when using a sword.
- Bow Prowess Lv 1: When wielding a Bow, Hit Rate +7, Evade +5, Critical Avoid +5
- Axe Prowess Lv 1: When wielding an Axe, Hit Rate +7, Evade +5, Critical Avoid +5
When she becomes an Assassin, she gets:
- Pick: Allows users to open locks without Lockpicks or Keys.
- Stealth: The unit is less likely to be targeted by enemies.
- Lethality: Chance to instantly kill a foe when dealing damage.
- Bowfaire: Might +5 when a bow is equipped.
- Bow Critical +10: Grants Critical +10 when using a Bow.
- Close Counter: Enables the unit to counterattack regardless of the distance to the attacker.
- Axebreaker: Hit Rate/Evasion +20 if the enemy is equipped with an Axe.
- Sword Critical +10: Grants Critical +10 when using a Sword.
- Swordfaire: +5 Damage dealt while a Sword/Katana is equipped.
The Best Build For Petra Assassin
The final Build for Petra as an Assassin will look like this:
- HP: 83
- Strenght: 59
- Magic: 36
- Dexterity: 69
- Speed: 85
- Luck: 63
- Defense: 42
- Resistance: 35
- Charm: 63
- Movement: 6
- Special Ability:
- Pick: Allows users to open locks without Lockpicks or Keys.
- Stealth: Unit is less likely to be targeted by enemies.
- Lethality: Chance to instantly kill a foe when dealing damage.
- Close Counter: Enables the unit to counterattack regardless of the distance to the attacker.
- Axebreaker:Hit Rate/Evasion +20 if the enemy is equipped with an Axe.
- Combat arts: Wrath Strike, Assassinate, Finesse Blade.
- Crest: none
- Weapon: S sword, S-bow
- Equipped items: Wo Dao, Long Bows, and Concoction.
- Class: Assasin
As you can see, the main thing you have to do when using Petra is to turn her into an Assassin who can immediately eliminate her enemies. The main point of this build are her set of combat arts and skills. With these skills, we try to ensure that Petra immediately eliminates her enemies. If she can’t do that, the abilities allow her to defend herself no matter the distance, evade the attack, or in the worst case, resist the direct hit easily. One of the most important things is the use of the combats arts. Assassinate is the basis of the strategy since it would save us the whole confrontation, and the use of Finesse blade allows an almost perfect defense.
The weapons Petra uses are also critical because it allows her to do direct damage at all times, and the long bow allows her to even attack at a greater possible distance, which is generally quite good. Finally, her Skill is what makes it all work, as it basically allows any attack to become lethal, mainly if, thanks to his speed, she attacks twice in a row.
What Happens if I Don’t Recruit Petra for My House?
Petra will become an enemy if you don’t recruit her for your route. She will always appear as a boss, and one of the hardest at that. It is essential to always recruit her because if you don’t do it, she will become a tough unit to defeat. The main reason she becomes a problematic unit to defeat is that the build she will use is similar to the one described in the previous section but on steroids, which will be a constant problem. Petra will always have more levels than most of your units, which is also a big problem.
How To Defeat Petra as a Boss
The first time you face Petra as a boss is during chapter seven, it’s really not much of a problem. Since it’s a class simulation, Petra won’t give you big headaches. Plus, she will have her thief class, which in general is much easier to deal with than when she becomes an Assassin. As a Thief, Petra won’t have options to defend herself from axes, so as long as you don’t use an armed unit (because she has an armorslayer), you should only attack her with an axe.
The second time you will face her will be during chapter 17 of both routes. In both versions, she will be an assassin. However, she will still be relatively inexperienced, so it is effortless to eliminate her by using axes again, or even better: with mages. Despite being an assassin, you will see that Petra has nothing to defend herself with at a distance, so you will see that it is too easy to eliminate her from a distance. The last two times you will face her will be during the twentieth chapter of the route and the twenty-third chapter. In both options, it is better to eliminate her from a distance because Petra will be level 50, making her a lethal enemy. However, she will still not use bows, so it is better to eliminate her in the first turn. However, if you don’t do it, you will have a big problem: she will be able to eliminate you quickly in your subsequent turns. The build for Petra as a boss is:
- HP: 50
- Strenght: 27
- Magic: 8
- Dexterity: 33
- Speed: 46
- Luck: 20
- Defense: 21
- Resistance: 8
- Charm: 21
- Movement: 6
- Special Ability:
- Pick: Allows users to open locks without Lockpicks or Keys.
- Stealth: Unit is less likely to be targeted by enemies.
- Swordfaire: Might +5 when a sword is equipped.
- Keen intuition: +30 Avoid when activated.
- Alert Stance +:If unit takes no action except Wait, grants Avoid +15 for 1 turn.
- Combat arts: none.
- Crest: none
- Weapon: A sword, c-bow
- Equipped items: Sword of Zoltan and Concoction.
- Class: Assasin
Gift List, Share a Meal, and Lost Item
The Gift List for Petra Is:
- Smoked Meat: Favorite
- Owl Feather: Favorite
- Hunting Dagger: Favorite
- Sunflower: Favorite
- Exotic Spices: Favorite
- Arithmetic Textbook: Dislike
- Book of Crest Designs: Dislike
The Share a Meal List Is:
- Beast Meat Teppanyaki: Favorite
- Grilled Herring: Favorite
- Sautéed Jerky: Favorite
- Spicy Fish and Turnip Stew: Favorite
- Fisherman’s Bounty: Favorite
- Cheesy Verona Stew: Favorite
- Fish Sandwich: Favorite
- Pickled Rabbit Skewers: Favorite
- Country-Style Red Turnip Plate: Favorite
- Super-Spicy Fish Dango: Favorite
- Pickled Seafood and Vegetables: Favorite
- Daphnel Stew: Favorite
- Gronder Meat Skewers: Favorite
- Vegetable Stir-Fry: Favorite
- Saghert and Cream: Dislike
- Fish and Bean Soup: Dislike
- Small Fish Skewers: Dislike
- Onion Gratin Soup: Dislike
- Sweet and Salty Whitefish Sauté: Dislike
- Sweet Bun Trio: Dislike
- Garreg Mach Meat Pie: Dislike
- Pheasant Roast with Berry Sauce: Dislike
- Peach Sorbet: Dislike
- Two-Fish Sauté: Dislike
- Gautier Cheese Gratin: Dislike
- Fried Crayfish: Dislike
- Derdriu-Style Fried Pheasant: Dislike
And the List of The Lost Items Is:
- Exotic Feather
- Small Tanned Hide
- Annotated Dictionary
The Best Way To Level Up Petra
The reality is quite simple, just engage with her in the skirmishes that are right for her. There is no secret strategy or trick. This is because she is quite a versatile character, so there is no need to spend hours of classes on her talents since she will come ready with most of them. It is, in general, an easy-to-use character.
FAQs
Question: Is it okay if I make Petra a Wyvern Rider?
Answer: Yes. Because of Petra’s versatility, it is one of the best classes for her overall. She gains many resistance points, which are very important if you don’t want a speed-focused Petra.
Question: Is it okay if I make Petra a Myrmidon?
Answer: Yes. Physically speaking, Petra benefits very much from the class. However, playing with this class is a little bit harder because she won’t get many good abilities related to it.
Question: What happens to Petra at the end of the game?
Answer: She will return to be the queen of Brigid, an ally for both Fódland and Dagda.
Final Thoughts on Petra
Petra is easily one of the best characters when it comes to fast play. Suppose you want to eliminate enemy lines as if you were swatting flies. In that case, Petra is the perfect unit for you. She’s meant to be an assassin from the ground up. However, suppose you want a more versatile option. In that case, Petra is also the ideal choice for you due to its many possibilities. Being in that ideal middle ground allows you to play with her in a way you feel more comfortable. She’s one of the characters I’ve enjoyed using the most because, like Petra, I have a fast play style. Her story is also one of the ones I like the most, demonstrating a complicated and entertaining background.
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