These are, in my opinion, the top 5 Fire Emblem Awakening advanced classes. These will be non-DLC classes. The classes I put on this list are judged mostly by their appearance, style, stat caps and what weapon types they use. I will not be judging them by the skills they learn a whole lot because you can easily reclass to another class and grab skills so I don't think that skills define a class as much as the other specs I mentioned do.

Also note that there are 3 other honorable mentions I do not have on the list but are classes I like to use:
Valkyrie
Sniper
Great Lord

And now my list:

5: Manakate

Manakates are a really nice class in my opinion. Although only 3 characters in the game get it, these characters are relatively good. Manakates have incredibly strong stat caps with a Dragonstone+ equipped. I think I heard that my friend's Nah with limit breaker skill and Dragonstone+ combined with stats fully maxed out has a rating of over 400. That's some insane stats. Manakates do have some weaknesses with being weak to both Falchion and Parallel Falchion. They can also be countered by Wyrmslayer and the skill Wyrmsbane, although I hardly ever see these. Manakates also have range, which I figured out a little while ago on my second playthrough. Because they use Dragonstones they wont use up your other weapons and don't have to follow the weapons triangle. Manakates are overall very strong units and what they lack in good skills can be fixed by reclassing.

4: Hero

I find Hero's to be a nicely versatile unit. They have high skill to activate skill dependent skills, good strength and speed, and even are durable and can take quite a beating before dying. Hero's also have a nice design. Although I don't use axes on a Hero as much as I use Swords, they do help in covering lances or units with sword breaker. Also a good portion of the units in Awakening can get the mercenary line and I think Hero is a MUCH better promotion from mercenary than Bow Knight. Hero's have to be one of my most used weapons in Awakening and seem popular with other players of Awakening as well.

3: Swordmaster

The Swordmaster is basically a more balanced Assassin. The Swordmaster class has a cool design and promotes from my favorite Base class, Myrimidon. In my opinion Swordmaster learns two of the best skills in the whole game, Astra and Swordfaire. Swordmasters also get other perks like being the only class able to use Sol Katti and amatsu.

2: Sorcerer

Sorcerers are my favorite magic using class. They have truly fearsome magic caps, high resistance and decent defense. They're skill and speed are a bit lacking but they make up for it by being both powerful and durable. They are also the only class that can use dark magic without using shadowgift. They also have a nice design and are really what expect a magic character to look like. They learn two very nice skills as well, vengeance, an easily activated skill that adds your damage to your attack, and Tomebreaker is one of the only good counters to magic, and is very nice to have as well. I also think its a much better promotion from dark Mage than dark knight- although I do like the dark knight class for its durability and versatility I much prefer sorcerer.

1: Assassin

Assassin is by far my favorite class for a number of reasons. They tie with Sniper for the highest skill cap of all classes, so their skills that are skill dependent become reliable and effective. Their speed is also top notch and their strength is high enough to KO plenty of opponents- they can't break through walls like generals and great knights but that is what your Magic users are for. They're magic and defenses are much lacking but their incredible speed enable them to dodge opponents attacks reliably and not even worry from retaliation from low skill classes like berserkers and warroirs. The skills Assassins learn do very much so have their uses and should not be overlooked but there are much better skills to put on your assassin by reclassing. Pass can be nice for DLC maps like Infinite Regalia and Lethality is a very unreliable skill but it is an insta-kill, so when it does activate it can be immensely satisfying. Assassins do wield swords which are my favorite weapon in the triangle but they also wield bows, giving Assassins a whole new level of tactical versatility with being able to shoot down air units and giving them extra range. Although using a bow will make you not able to defend yourself, they probably wont be hitting you anyways. There are some really nice bows out there as well. With their high skill assassins also have a high hit rate and crit chance, so they can use killing edges and killing bows effectively. I also like that a good amount of characters can get this class as it promotes from both Thief and Myrmidon, so many of my favorite characters can get it like Owain, Lon'qu, Greggor, Gaius, Olivia, and Anna. Overall Assassins are a very offensive and good class.

Thanks for reading my top 5 list and comment below your 5 favorite Fire Emblem Awakening classes. Be sure to vote if you liked my list!