Fire Emblem Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Fire Emblem Wiki

The Dark Flier is a class that debuted in Fire Emblem Awakening.

History in the Series[]

A Pegasus-mounted combat physical and magical class, it is one of the promoted forms of the Pegasus Knight class in Awakening and a DLC-exclusive class in Fates and Three Houses, the Dark Flier class wields Tomes and Lances as its weapons of choice.

In its original inception in Awakening, the Dark Flier class is introduced as the alternate promoted form of the Pegasus Knight class. This class is credited as being the pioneer flying class that is able to wield offensive magic for combat purposes.

In Fates, the Dark Flier class is renamed to Dark Falcon. In this title, the class is unisex and treated as Nohrian, requiring the use of DLC-exclusive Ebon Wings in order for characters to gain access to it.

In the spin-offTokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, enemy Mirages of this class are called Whitewing Knights, and they can be found in Area of Memories. They are the final form of the Blackwing Knight Mirages.

The Dark Flier class makes a return in Three Houses as a DLC-exclusive class once again, as well returning to being female gender-locked. A character must be level 20 or higher to take the Certification Exam using an Abyssian Exam Pass. The recommended level requirements are B+ or higher in Reason and C or higher in Flying. The class gives bonuses to Reason, Flying, and Swords.

Overview[]

Combat[]

Dark Fliers are a little different from Pegasus Knights and Falcon Knights, as they are more offensively diverse. They have the ability to utilize both physical Lances and magical Tomes, allowing them to exploit both Defense and Resistance weaknesses. While the Magic of Dark Fliers will often take time to build up if physical characters are reclassed into the class, it will be well worth the effort eventually when they gain the ability to arm more powerful Tomes. This makes them extremely good for taking down high-Defense units like Generals and counterattacking Snipers, dispelling the need to worry about weapon range while being limited to Javelins, Short Spears and Spears. Offsetting the combat prowess of Dark Fliers is the fact that they retain their weakness to Wind tomes and Bows.

Awakening[]

The two skills that Dark Fliers learn are Rally Movement and Galeforce. Rally Movement is a good Rally skill, but should ideally be used at the beginning of each Player Phase. Galeforce, on the other hand, is arguably one of the best skills in the game, as it allows the user to either take out two units in one turn or retreat to safety when low on HP from a particularly strong unit. Unfortunately, because Dark Fliers are female-only, it cannot be accessed by most male characters; of the male roster, only Inigo, Owain, Morgan and Brady can access Galeforce through inheritance.

Fates[]

The Dark Flier class has been adjusted to become a special non-promotable base class. The Dark Flier is massively overpowered compared to unpromoted units, possessing superior movement, stats, and weapon choices regardless of whether the unit excels in physical or magical weapons. Once other classes hit the point of Promotion, however, the Dark Flier is actually a bit weaker relative to its competitors than it was in Awakening.

Like most magic units in Fates, Dark Fliers possess a poor skill stat, a significant loss from their performance in Awakening. Though they were always physically frail, their physically frailty is more pronounced in Fates, due to the overall lower average HP growth rates as well as the Dark Flier's significantly lowered maximum HP. Though Wind magic is virtually absent in Fates, the addition of Shuriken makes their magical attacks less viable overall, and the slower rate of weapon EXP growth makes it extremely difficult for Dark Fliers to attack both physically and magically. Galeforce and Rally Movement have both been weakened, and are typically obtained much later into the game due to the change to the EXP formula.

Nevertheless, they are still powerful 1-2 attackers with high Resistance, and their Speed stat has improved relative to the rest of the cast. In fact, after applying the bonuses of Speed +2, Dark Fliers are tied for being the fastest unit in the game.

Three Houses[]

The Dark Flier is the only class in Three Houses with the capability to use magic while flying. With the Canto ability, this makes Dark Fliers effective chip damage units similar to other mounted units, as they can move forward to attack, hit an enemy, and retreat to safety with their remaining movement. Stat-wise, their attacks are somewhat weaker than Warlocks, due to their lack of magic modifier, but their superior movement and speed often compensates.

One of the Dark Flier's class abilities is Transmute, an ability that temporarily increases their stats should they be hit by magical attacks during the enemy phase. This gives them a temporary edge in combat, which can help in the next player phase, but can in theory also work decently on enemy-phase builds. A problem with using Transmute for enemy phase is that it requires getting hit in order to proc, whereas many enemy-phase builds rely on not getting hit. To alleviate this issue, one can couple the ability with Vantage or Battalion Vantage, to allow the unit to get hit and then get the first strike on subsequent combats.

The weaknesses of the Dark Flier from previous games mostly remain, though their flying weaknesses can be mostly addressed by dismounting. However, the class has other minor shortcomings. The first is that, like Warlock, it doesn't have Dark Tomefaire to improve the attack of dark magic users, which only affects a few units: Lysithea, Hapi and Edelgard (to some extent). Another more significant limitation is their Battalion limitations; only flying battalions can be equipped to Dark Fliers, and only one of these (the Nuvelle Fliers Corps) grants a magical attack bonus. Without this battalion, the attack power of Dark Fliers will be hindered compared to infantry or cavalry magic users, who can equip any magic-improving Battalion of their choice.

In-Game[]

Base Stats[]

HPStrMagSklSpdLckDefResMovConWtWlvCha
FE1319568100598--LanceIconFE13 E TomeIconFE13 E-
FE141747594398--FE14 Lance E FE14 Tome E-
FE162586788547--FE16 reason icon B+ FE16 flying icon C0

Maximum Stats[]

HPStrMagSklSpdLckDefResMovConWtWlvCha
FE1380364241424532418--LanceIconFE13 A TomeIconFE13 A-
FE1445273228333226348--FE14 Lance B FE14 Tome A-

Growth Rates[]

HPStrMagSklSpdLckDefResMovConWtWlvCha
FE1340%10%15%20%20%0%5%10%-----
FE140%10%15%5%15%15%0%20%-----
FE1620/30%0/15%0%0%10%0%0/25%10/25%---FE16 sword icon +2 FE16 reason icon +3 FE16 flying icon +310%

Class Modifiers[]

HPStrMagSklSpdLckDefResMovConWtWlvCha
FE1600034/20033/1---0

Class Skills[]

SkillRequirements
FE13MovementCryRally Movement
LightningspeediconGaleforce
Learnt at Level 5.
Learnt at Level 15.
FE14Speed +2 (FE14)Speed +2
Relief (FE14)Relief
Rally Movement (FE14)Rally Movement
Galeforce (FE14)Galeforce
Learnt at Level 1 and above.
Learnt at Level 10 and above.
Learnt at Level 25 and above.
Learnt at Level 35 and above.
FE16Canto FE16Canto
Black Tomefaire FE16Black Tomefaire
Transmute FE16Transmute
Class Ability of Dark Flier.
Class Ability of Dark Flier.
Class and Mastery Ability of Dark Flier.

Promotions[]

Base ClassPromotion MethodPromoted Class
FE13FE13 Generic Pegasus Knight Map SpritePegasus KnightUse a Master Seal FE13 IconMaster Seal on a Level 10+ Pegasus Knight.FE13 Generic Dark Flier Map SpriteDark Flier
FE14Any classUse an Master Seal FE13 IconEbon Wing.FE14 Generic Dark Falcon Map SpriteDark Falcon
FE16Any classUse an FE16 Seal IconAbyssian Exam Pass on a Level 20+ unit and pass the Dark Flier Certification Exam.FE16 Dark Flier IconDark Flier

Notable Dark Fliers[]

Awakening[]

Three Houses[]

Trivia[]

  • Dark Fliers are amongst the rarest classes encountered as enemies in Fire Emblem Awakening, appearing only in Paralogue 6, Chapter 25, Paralogue 20 and Endgame, aside from SpotPass teams and the completely random Risen fights.
  • In Fates, if the capturable boss Daniela is promoted to a Dark Falcon, her model will be glitched, using her Strategist's horse model instead of the usual alicorn. This results in her riding a flying horse with a flickering shadow beneath her.
  • Although a generic class portrait was made for Three Houses, it cannot be seen in gameplay as there are no generic Dark Fliers in any part of the game.

Gallery[]

Advertisement