Hello, dear reader, I hope you’re having a good day. I’ve been playing Fire Emblem Heroes for over two weeks now without spending money on the game. I have videos of it on Lunar Nebula LLC Gaming if you want to see the game in action. I’m not being paid to write this blog, and it contains the information as accurately as I could research it. I think the game’s age rating is appropriate (12+ on App Store). It’s free, fun, I highly recommend it, and here are some tips for those who want to dig deeper into the mechanics of the game.
by Brian Petrilli AKA Jalinon
- The weapon triangle is (practically) absolute! At higher levels many units will get skills or weapons which make them stronger against their preferred enemy. For example, Roy gets the skill Triangle Adept. This skill increases his attack by 20% against green enemies, and decreases his attack by 20% against blue enemies. You will pretty much never use Roy to attack blue enemies (at his level) because of this. You can still use Roy to block blue enemies, debuff their defense, and be an amazing unit. Against other players in the arena he will simply be ineffective against blue units. You’re going to want to attack opposing blue units with your green ones.
- Effectiveness and weapon-triangle advantage gives approximately +4 attack. The caveat to the above point is that quality, or level gap, is very real. Attacking a blue unit with a green unit will give you about +4 attack when you do attack. The opposite is also true! Using a green unit against a blue unit will net you about -4 attack. Dealing 0 damage is a very real calculation in Fire Emblem Heroes. So using a level 1 character against a level 10 character usually ends poorly or in a draw, regardless of advantage. Still, once the level gap is closed, it becomes more of a game of rock paper scissors and getting the first attack in.
- Some units are almost strictly better due to their weapons and stats. This is why 5 star units are so good. For example, let’s say two units have bad attack stats. Let’s make them Red swordsmen. One uses a Brave Sword+ (+8 attack), and the other uses Roy’s Binding Blade (+16 attack). If they face a high defense enemy there is a chance the Brave sword-wielder will deal 0 damage. It gets to attack twice but it can only deal 0 twice. Not to mention the Brave sword decreases the user’s speed by 5. If it gets attacked, there is a high probability its speed will be lower than its opponent’s. The Binding Blade does not decrease speed, it has double the attack power of the Brave sword, a unit with base stats of at least +3 higher wielding it because it is a 5 star weapon, and its user gains defense and resistance +2. This shows you the pay to win aspect of the game. I’ve been lucky enough to get two 5 star units after six summoning sessions since I’ve started the game. They have been invaluable and generally favored over other units. Four-star units are close enough in terms of stats so they can get the job done.
- My preferred team composition includes at least one ranged attacker and a dancer. There are several reasons for this team composition. The primary reason is to gain the first move advantage in any engagement. Being able to move a unit twice is huge! This can get melee attackers into combat with mages or archers where they can’t strike back. This can also allow one of your units to destroy teams with weapon triangle disadvantages to that unit. For example, your enemy has a Lancer and a blue mage. You have Camilla, the flying axe of destruction. After they have entered your range you may be able to kill both units in the same turn by activating Camilla twice. This allows you to then use Camilla to block for another of your units or finish her job early. Camilla can then help your team develop future engagements to your favor. In the arena this can be a huge strategic advantage. Sometimes only one unit the enemy has is a real threat to your team. The earlier you can eliminate the threat the better your chances are to win.
- Ranged attackers have the best chance of engaging your enemy favorably. The increased range gives your units a better chance of starting an engagement, and, if you have a dancer, of hitting more than one unit. Brave weapons are fairly prominent in the current system. Brave weapons allow multiple attacks at the cost of speed. Brave weapons will always attack twice when you initiate an engagement. They will also attack twice before the enemy can counter. This means they are incredibly powerful when you engage first. However, if the enemy attacks your Brave axe-wielding unit, you will not always counterattack because the special ‘Brave’ property won’t activate. Certain skills like Darting Blow also encourage you to engage your enemy first. Camilla wielding a Brave Axe, can sometimes do four attacks because of this skill. Brave weapons will allow you to do 2 attacks, then the enemy counters, and then another 2 attacks if your speed trumps your enemy’s. Camilla also has a turn-based skill which increases her damage, and the Brave Axe helps her activate it faster.
- Combat action based skills can turn the tide. Sometimes. I have often found Active skills to be more useful than Combat skills. You can activate skills, like Heal and Dance, any time you want. It’s harder to judge how the AI will attack and cause your combat skills to activate. Some action skills you can activate and save for later, like Holy Vestments, by attacking melee characters. You can then move that unit into a position to bait a ranged attacker. Holy Vestments will not activate until a ranged attacker strikes your unit. The problem is, some of these turn based skills can be useless against your current opponent (all melee enemies versus your character with Holy Vestments); or your character dies by the time they can use it. That’s why I encourage upgrading passive skills and active skills before these turn based ones. Units with Brave weapons are easier to use turn based skills on because they can attack multiple times, and are easier to get favorable engagements with.
- Arena opponents will be matched to be around your level. If you have a decent team you should be able to do well in the arena regardless of the team’s level. For example, my level 20-ish team has a better track record in the arena than my level 32 team. You will be matched with opponents of similar level. The downside is you can have your 3 star team face off against a 5 star team.
- Arena points increase per battle if you use the featured characters. The chain bonus compounds off your past points.
- Getting 20,000 feathers will take a long time. If you ace the arena, send all of your excess units home for feathers, and continue to login daily for feathers; it will still take approximately 4 months (depending on developer generosity) to promote a unit from 4 stars to 5. Thankfully it gives you plenty of time to collect badges. You can only get greater badges for promoting 4 star characters to 5-stars from the Sixth Stratum of the training tower and higher. Each run of this stratum and above will cost you over 1/10 of your stamina bar (6 or more stamina). You can get multiple great badges depending on the stratum level you are running, and running a Sixth Stratum or higher level for your First Clear of the day can also net you crystals. Color changes by day. Weekends are randomized.
- Don’t combine allies for Skill Points. Skill Points are easy to get. You get at least 2 Skill Points for every enemy a character defeats. It increases with enemy level as far as I can tell. Leveling characters will automatically give you Skill Point. These Skill Points per level increase as your character levels up. The highest Skill point increase I have seen per level is 18, and the lowest I have seen is 6. Those may not be completely accurate as the highest and lowest numbers, but they are what I remember.
- Most units show their true potential around 3 stars. This is when units can obtain their second best weapon, active skills like Heal, and decent stats.
- Crystals allow units beyond level 20 to level up. Shards work on anything below level 20. Color does not give any bonus XP. The game will automatically force colored shards before the universal shards. It is a nice feature, but most of the time you’ll have multiple units around the same level to help each other train anyway. XP is easy to get for low stamina cost in the beginning of the Training Tower. You may want to save the XP for dancers since last hitting with them may be harder to accomplish.
- Battlefield movement is different for different units. Cavalry cannot cross through trees or mountains. Infantry must be next to a tree to move into it, or they can be pushed into one. Infantry cannot cross mountains. I haven’t tested if they can be pushed onto mountains. Flying units can go over any terrain. Heavily armored units can only move one space at a time, flying units and infantry can generally move 2 spaces at a time, and cavalry units can move 3 spaces. Each unit can strike one space adjacent to themselves unless they are ranged. Ranged units can attack 2 spaces away. This allows mages to run around heavy armor and nuke them if you can use the terrain advantageously.
by Brian Petrilli AKA Jalinon