Fire Emblem: Three Houses heats up about 25 hours into the storyline. Once you complete Part 1, the real game begins — battles get more difficult, and you’ll have to truly master every system in the game to avoid getting your valuable students killed. Because there’s so much to learn in this game, here are 10 more advanced tips and tricks I wish I knew before delving into Part 2 of the story.
While we won’t delve into too many story spoilers here, I have to talk about some of the limitations in Part 2. Once you start the second part of the story, you won’t be able to recruit students from other houses through the monastery. Part 2 begins around Chapter 11, so if you’re getting close to recruiting one of your favorite characters, you’ll want to invest in plenty of presents. Otherwise, this guide is all about the combat side of Fire Emblem.
#1. Follow-Up Attacks Are Based On Speed — Bring Lower Tier Weapons To Attack More
You might not realize it, but equipped upper-tier weapons can actually hinder you in combat. Follow-up attacks are based on the Speed stat — your stat versus your foe’s stat. It’s also effected by the weight of the weapon you’re carrying. Later weapons tend to be heavier, meaning you might be less likely to perform a follow-up attack.
I recommend bringing a top-tier weapon and a lower-tier weapon of the same type on a character. There’s another good reason to do that.
#2. Bring Lower-Tier Weapons To Burn Through Combat Arts
Combat Arts are special moves that spend large amounts of weapon durability to use. For classes like Snipers and Bow Knights, you can waste a whole lot of weapon durability just taking Dead-Eye potshots. Don’t waste your best weapons — bring lower-tier weapons and use those instead!
#3. Give Every Character Two Or Three Weapons – Diversify Your Loadout
Late in the game, you’ll want to bring as many weapons as possible to a fight. Even if you’re not very good with a weapon, it helps to bring certain types — bows for flying enemies, and armor-breakers for heavy knights. It helps to give everyone a ranged weapon. Axes and Lances have ranged variants you can give that add a lot more flexibility to your units.
#4. Set Character Goals To Flying, Heavy Armor & Riding To Prepare For Master Classes
Unless you’re a mounted or heavy armor class, it’s impossible to learn the Flying, Riding, and Heavy Armor skills. Set these as goals and start teaching them early! Most of the Master Classes are associated with a mount type — either flying or riding, and if you don’t have a well-trained student, you won’t be able to get those helpful late-game classes.
#5. Dismount / Mount When Flying To Avoid Death-By-Bow
You can mount or dismount in battle if you’re riding on a horse or flying on a wyvern / pegasus. Flyers are especially vulnerable to arrow attacks, and late-game battles are full of Snipers, Bow Knights, and just random enemies with arrows. If you’re deep in enemy territory, dismount and you’ll nullify bow’s damage bonus against your flying units.
#6. Equip Siege Magic At The Start Of A Turn
Siege Magic is some of the best in the game. It’s incredibly powerful, and has insane range. It’s also handy for providing support to your allies. Equip a Siege Spell on your unit, and they’ll be able to provide Gambit Support at extreme range. Those spells aren’t just useful for nuking clusters of enemies!
#7. Complete Paralogues To Unlock Ancient Relics & Powerful Artifacts
The best weapons in the game are locked behind Paralogues. These are special character quests, and completing them will often earn you bonus Battalions and extremely powerful Relics. The best relic weapons are gold, but silver relics are also handy. Complete Paralogues as early as they appear!
#8. Recruit Dorothea, Lysithea, or Ingrid To Destroy Anything
This is a pre-Part 2 tip, but these three characters can be unstoppable. Dorothea is a killer dark mage, while Ingrid can crush anything if you give her a combination of Armorkiller, Beastkiller, and bow. Lysithea is also very powerful, and has the ability to heal.
#9. Talk In Battles To Recruit Characters In Part 2
When you reach Part 2, you won’t be able to recruit characters from different houses at the Monastery anymore. But, you can still recruit characters in battle. After defeating certain students, you’ll get the option to recruit them. Basically, there’s no downside here — but they are significantly weaker than if you recruit them earlier in the adventure.
#10. Use Broken Weapons In Battle To Grind Weapon XP
If you’re looking to boost weapon skills, swap to broken or rusted weapons at the end of the battle. It helps to leave just one standard enemy on the field — then force them to attack a heavy defense unit until their weapon breaks. Alternatively, you can lure an enemy into forest tile. Up to four units can slap a single foe with broken weapons. Just have a healer on hand to be safe.
