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Learns Frozen Lance upon completing budding talent.

This analysis was written by MrCactuar.

Marianne is the Golden Deer's designated healer, and she's an interesting one at that. While her class path may seem straightforward at first, there are surprisingly numerous viable classes and roles she can perform in. Part of this versatility can be attributed to her budding talent, the Frozen Lance combat art, which calculates its damage using her high Magic stat. With the help of Frozen Lance, Marianne can transition from an early game healer to a mid-game player phase powerhouse. Though she may require a lot of class changes to take full advantage of her abilities, good understanding of skill rank benchmarks and long-term planning will make it possible to meet the requirements for all of these classes in a single playthrough.

Perhaps Marianne's most important trait, at least for Golden Deer players, is the fact she starts with a D+ in her Faith skill. This is a crucial benchmark for a starting healer because it means she can learn Physic by the end of Chapter 2. By prioritizing her Faith instruction from the beginning, there will be plenty of time to increase her Faith rank to C by the time the Chapter 2 mission initiates. Learning Physic early is helpful not only because long-range healing has lots of utility, but more importantly because it gives Marianne an extra 3 chances to heal while her spellcasting is still limited.

While Marianne's spell list is fairly decent, the biggest disadvantage she has compared to other spellcasters in the game is a neutrality in Reason. The ramification of this is she'll take longer to get access to her better Black Magic spells like Thoron and Fimbulvetr, which is notable because her list of offensive White Magic is limited to the weak Nosferatu or the limited use Aura. Luckily for Marianne she learns the powerful Frozen Lance combat art when she awakens to her budding talent in Lances. Thanks to the fact that enemies generally have lower Resistance than Defense, Marianne's Magic stat will be more than sufficient to start OHKOing the early game enemies when using strong weapons like a Steel Lance or even relics. Those seeking to capitalize on Frozen Lance should begin instructing Marianne in Lances as soon as she qualifies for the Mage class.

As a side note, the best time to recruit Marianne in the Black Eagles or Blue Lions routes is in Chapter 3. Not only will she have the all important C rank Faith, she'll also jump from E to D rank in Reason, which is quite a significant boost in skill ranks. Recruiting her earlier also means having more time to develop her other skills like Authority, Flying, and Riding. Regardless of starting in either the Golden Deer or having recruited her in a different route, getting to D+ or C Reason is a crucial benchmark necessary to qualify for Mage, as it's the best Intermediate class for all magic users.

When using Frozen Lance, it is important to pick up the Magic+2 and Fiendish Blow skills to maximize damage output. This means it's important to raise Marianne's Reason skill to at least D+ in order to qualify for the Mage class when she's level 10. Immediately after qualifying for the Mage class she needs to shift skill focus to Lance, Flying, and RIding to take advantage of classes with Lance proficiency. D+ Lance and D Flying are the bare minimum skill requirements to qualify for Pegasus Knight, and the flying mobility will be helpful even when she's not being used long-term if only to help escape the forested section of her own paralogue. C+ Riding is necessary to qualify for Paladin at level 20, which offers a major power spike due to the Lancefaire skill. Paladin is a fine endgame class for Marianne since she can use grounded battalions to increase her magic attack, but it may be worthwhile to eventually qualify for Falcon Knight if mobility is needed over damage. Those with the Cindered Shadows DLC have no reason not to qualify for Falcon Knight as the Nuvelle Fliers Corps offers magic attack to fliers.

Despite how powerful Frozen Lance is, Marianne still has several other viable class options to consider. Her neutrality in Reason was mentioned earlier as a slight disadvantage, but that still doesn't rule out classes that require it. Gremory will always be a good spellcaster class thanks to doubled spell uses across the board and a massive +5 bonus to Magic. Another advantage to using Gremory is retaining access to healing spells, allowing for some role compression. Bishop is a less intensive endgame goal to achieve and has the advantage of adding +10 to healing spells. While Marianne may not learn the best White Magic out of the dedicated healers, Bishop is perfect for being a low effort class to qualify for and afterward attention can be diverted to other students who are in need of intensive instruction. For those with the Cindered Shadows DLC, Dark Flier is a low effort and perfectly viable endgame class to consider. Marianne also has the dubious distinction of being the most viable Mortal Savant, as Soul Blade can do lots of damage considering her high Magic and Resistance, though this class is still not recommended because its poor mobility makes her very susceptible on the frontlines. Holy Knight is not recommended due to the lack of Lancefaire and limited spellcasting, though it does have the niche of still allowing Physic to be cast while mounted.

Special mention needs to go to the Dancer class. This class deserves special mention because Marianne's starting position in Hunting by Day Break is perfect for achieving a fast clear. By having Lysithea warp Marianne to Claude in the center of the map, it's possible to have Claude kill both bosses in the same turn and significantly cut the difficulty of what would otherwise be one of the most difficult maps in the game. Do note that before attempting this strategy, it's necessary to research enemy stats beforehand and ensure Claude's stats reach the thresholds necessary for the quick clear.

When Marianne is not in a healing class, it's important to consider that, at least for the Golden Deer, another healer is going to need to be recruited to fill in the void. Linhardt is the best out-of-house healer to recruit since on top of having Physic, he can eventually learn Warp. While Lysithea will still likely be your primary warper, it doesn't hurt to have a secondary warper around, especially one who's able to provide supplementary healing when needed. Mercedes is the most dedicated healer, especially when recruited at Chapter 5 as she'll join with C in Faith and thus be able to start casting Physic. She also will eventually learn Fortify, so for players not using low HP strategies for Vengeance or Vantage, it's an efficient way to top off the army's health. Finally, Flayn requires no extraneous effort to recruit but has the weakest healing potential. Nonetheless, she'll eventually learn Fortify to provide area healing for the army and Rescue can be helpful for positioning, especially if Dark Flier is available.

In conclusion, Marianne is a character with a surprising wealth of class options despite being seemingly limited at first. Though it may seem daunting to constantly change instruction goals and group tasks, the qualification requirements for many of the classes Marianne wants to be in are surprisingly lax and are quite achievable with careful planning. If you've only ever written off Marianne as a mediocre healer due to her lack of good White Magic past Physic, hopefully this overview helps you to consider exploring her other class options and discover the depths of her abilities.

Marianne can build support with the following characters.

Marianne will automatically be recruited if the player selects to teach the Golden Deer house.

Marianne can be recruited once Byleth has achieved a stat of Mag 10 and Skill Rank C in Riding. These requirements can be lowered if Byleth builds support with Marianne, as shown in the below table.