Candidate proposals
Each house has many potential dancers, none of whom are perfect, so a compromise will have to be made. Here is a small selection of characters that we considered relevant.
1 - Dorothea
Pros: The perfect candidate, no matter what your home is, because she is very easy to recruit. She has good survival statistics, and if you have progressed her as a priestess/bishop, she can become a kind of careful dancer capable of killing those who dare to attack her with vampiric white magic (thanks to her hidden white magic dodge talent and high magic score), while the other dancers will use the sword and generally do little or no damage. She has a sword strength too, if necessary. Her charm score is high, and her personal competence will automatically heal people within reach at the beginning of the round. To avoid ruining anything, she likes to dance. If you never have anyone within reach of the dance, or if the dance is useless at the moment, she can heal from a distance or unleash fearsome spells at a long distance like the meteor.
Cons: Dorothea is too good from our point of view. She is a wizard and a formidable caretaker who possesses some of the best spells in the game. It's a waste to deprive yourself of it because most of the time dancing for Byleth is the best option, and someone else could just as easily do it, while few characters can replace Dorothea. It's a bit like selecting an Olympic athlete to become the best goalkeeper in the world.
2 - Hilda
Pros: A solid choice in our opinion, and in more than one way. Hilda looks like a frail young girl, but she is closer to the semi-trailer in terms of melee power and strength. She has a lot of life (our version had more than 60 life points in the middle of the game, and nearly 80 at the end), a high defense, and enemies stupid enough to attack her in melee will often get killed. She has a high charm, and she loves to dance. Her personal competence will give a small bonus to your male allies within range. Finally, she is easy to recruit (for Blue Lions).
Cons: Hilda is not an option for the Black Eagles. Then comes the fact that she has no bonus in the control of the Sword, and that she has a definite malus in Authority. It's not too embarrassing if you train there in this way from the beginning, but she will probably never reach the A in Authority unless you are in NG+. And a little like Dorothea, she is a beautiful brute in her own field of expertise, that is, cutting people with an axe, with or without armor. You won't necessarily want to part with it if you play the Golden Deer. As Magic is not Hilda's force, don't expect much assistance in this area either when she can't dance.
3 - Ferdinand
Pros: Robust, he is gifted for the sword and has a correct charm and manners of a noble, so he was trained to dance. The fact that he has a personal bonus offering him a dodge bonus while his life is at its peak will make him incredibly difficult for the enemy to touch. This probably makes him one of the best potential dancers.
Cons: If you play Black Eagles, you probably don't want to lose your main Knight/Paladin, and your future great rider. Ferdinand is too good at this role, and this house lacks too many mobile units to be able to do without them in general. His recruitment in other houses is not easy either, increasing the Cuirasser not being generally a priority on Byleth, and not even a very accessible option.
4 - Ingrid
Pros: Fast, agile, with balanced statistics and a correct amount of life, as well as a talent for the sword, Ingrid is a good candidate to be a dancer since she will be reasonably solid and competent in the 2 areas sought. Her charm is quite high as a bonus.
Cons: Ingrid is not easy to recruit with other houses, unless you focus on her specifically and quickly set up the horseback riding. However, this is still quite minor. Ingrid is above all the dedicated Pegasus Knight of the game, and she does it well. There are only a few students specialized in this field by default, many will prefer to use her as an elite flying unit. And like Hilda, magic is not her strong suit, which makes her useless outside of dancing.
5 - Annette
Pros: Her statistics are only intermediate in terms of robustness, but she has a talent for the Authority. Her charm is at the top of the average, which makes her eligible, and she loves to dance. We won our first contest with her. As she is also a spellcaster, she can use healing between fights to relieve your regular healers. Unlike Dorothea, her spells are not particularly useful, however, because they lack scope. This makes her an excellent choice in the category of useful but not too useful characters, who can be retrained in dance.
Cons: Annette is not particularly robust, and she will start from scratch in the handling of the sword if you have not anticipated the dance competition in her training. She will therefore have to be well protected.
6 - Flayn
Pros: Her charm and her supposed talent for dance are breaking the ceiling. Like Annette, she has a selection of interesting spells, but they are not interesting enough to make her your healer or main mage. Her zone care and rescue spell are nevertheless fantastic in the event of a hard blow. She also has the advantage of being automatically recruited into your home at some point in history.
Cons: To avoid spoiling too much, let's say it's possible that Flayn will leave your group depending on the circumstances and your choices, especially with the Black Eagles. Please keep this in mind when selecting her. Then comes the problem that she is quite fragile which will make her protection difficult. Moreover, her late recruitment limits your chances of training her sufficiently to compensate.
7 - Felix
Pros: Another solid choice in our opinion, like Hilda, Felix is very strong and deadly with a sword. Moreover, later on he will acquire a relic linked to his emblem which will greatly increase his survival and make him a real dancing tank.
Cons: Felix's charm is not very high in general, make sure he has gained enough levels to compensate. Like Hilda, his problem with authority is a little frustrating too. Moreover, if you have him equip his relic, he will not be able to have the walking ring. As often, Felix is also an excellent character, it is a pity not to use his skills in combat.
8 - Alternatives
If you don't like any of the candidates, here are some viable alternatives. It will be necessary to check if their charm is high enough before selecting them, however, the risks of level gains can have a significant impact:
- Marianne - A good caretaker and a good magician, with a high charm score, but she is fragile.
- Mercedes - A correct, and quite robust, mage, if you think that using her zone care between dances is acceptable she is a good choice, but beware of his charm.
- Petra - A balanced unit, able to survive, but under sacrifice a potential flying unit, and the impact of culture shock remains to be determined
- Sylvain - A case quite similar to Ferdinand's, he is robust, but he will need a little charm. This may be a good choice if you are not playing the Blue Lions.
