Image: Nintendo via HGG / Dominic Allain
Dominic loves to completely immerse himself in RPGs, then break them apart by modding and speedrunning them.
Reviewed by Jeffrey Hsu
Fire Emblem Engage is host to a wide cast of characters, but only a select amount can be brought with you on any given map. While it’s completely viable to bring your favorites along to train, some units fulfill a role better than others. Using these stronger units will make your time much easier, especially on higher difficulties.
We’ll be providing a tier list for the playable characters, then breaking down the ten best units in Fire Emblem Engage.
Fire Emblem Engage Character Tier List
S Tier
Units in the S Tier are the best of the best. They can excel in nearly any role in your army due to their sheer stats or have special utilities.
A Tier
A tier units provide strong utility through their class or are essential to the early game. While their dominance diminishes past a certain point, they’re still reliable units through to the end.
B Tier
Units here are solid when trained, but typically need more investment than higher tiers. They may also rely on fun but unreliable gimmicks for damage, like Alcryst’s Luna or Timerra’s Sandstorm skill. In Vander’s case, he’s essential to surviving the early game, but his usefulness tanks harder than those in A tier.
C Tier
These characters have long term stat issues that make them difficult to use, either due to poor bases, poor growths, or simply being too outclassed by most other units. This doesn’t stop them from having good utility in the early game, but better options will become available.
10 Best Characters in Fire Emblem Engage, Ranked
We’ll be going into depth over the 10 strongest units in Fire Emblem Engage. We’ll be ranking them from good to best and making sure you know everything need to make them shine.
10/10
Alear
Despite being forcibly deployed on nearly every map, Alear is thankfully not a chore to use. Their combat capabilities are limited, as they are restricted to swords and arts and have a weak personal weapon. Most of their early-game utility is derived from the Emblem Ring rather than themselves.
Fortunately, Alear excels as a support unit due to their personal skill that boosts adjacent allies’ damage and their Dragon typing, which provides unique boosts to Emblems. They are often best paired with an Emblem like Corrin for terrain manipulation or Byleth for an omni-stat boost. Regardless of how you build them, the rest of your army will benefit greatly from Alear’s presence.
9/10
Hortensia
Staves in Engage are some of the best in the series so far, with great non-healing options like Freeze, Warp, and Obstruct. It’s what makes classes like Griffin Knight so desirable with its combination of staff utility and flight. Since Hortensia is the absolute best unit for supporting with staves, she easily earns a spot on this list.
Not only does she have the aforementioned flight + staff combo, but her personal and unique class skills further improve their usage. Her personal skill provides additional range on healing staves, allowing her to stay at a safe distance from enemies when healing. At level 5 in her promoted class, staves she uses will have a chance not to consume a use. This lets her stretch out the use of rare staves like Warp or Entrap, saving you money.
8/10
Zelkov
A trend emerges when Zelkov, Ivy, and Kagetsu join in Chapter 11. Over the next few chapters, units will join that have better stats and utility than the army you have lovingly trained.
In Zelkov’s case, he’s a Thief who joins with comparable stats to a trained Yunaka up to that point. With no investment, he can act as a strong replacement should Yunaka be falling off at this point. Moreover, his growth rates are superior to Yunaka’s in several areas, except for Magic and Resistance.
Zelkov’s good physical stat spread and high Build allow him to be effective in most non-Thief classes. The only problem is that he needs four more levels before he can Second Seal into advanced classes, but he shouldn’t struggle in combat as a Thief.
7/10
Chloe
Chloe is one of the few characters on this list who doesn’t start with overwhelming base stats. However, she is your only natural flier for several chapters, which means she can dart around the map and snipe enemy units early on. Her early arrival allows her to gain plenty of levels and start snowballing in stats before the mid-game recruits join.
As she grows, she’ll likely become one of your army’s fastest characters, allowing her to double nearly any enemy in Fire Emblem Engage. Her high Magic growth lets her transition to using Levin Swords or Flame Lances as enemy defenses rise. Even if you get unlucky with her stats, Griffin Knight still provides her with utility as a flying staff user.
6/10
Panette
Panette is the epitome of a glass cannon, capable of obliterating foes but being very prone to dying in return. She boasts the highest Strength growth and base in the game, and unlike Etie, doesn’t compromise her other stats. Her respectable Dexterity ensures she can hit with usually inaccurate axes, while her (thankfully) massive HP lets her endure a few hits.
Panette’s ideal build would be centered around critical hits, where her high HP makes Wrath much more effective. Her personal skill augments her critical rate when she’s wounded, allowing her to easily reach 100% crit rate with a Killer Axe. The guaranteed crits and formidable Strength typically enable her to defeat any non-General opponent in a single strike, and her swiftness often lets her double if necessary. However, playing this way leaves her extremely vulnerable.
To optimize Panette’s performance, the best course of action would be to reclass her from her starting Berserker class. This class features an exceptionally low Dexterity cap, which can lead to her missing targets and losing additional crit. Either the Warrior or Wyvern Knight class would suit her much better in this respect.
5/10
Ivy
Ivy embodies all of the best magical options available in Fire Emblem Engage, making her an outstanding unit. Her tomes can target the (typically) weaker Resistance stat of enemies, and she has a B rank in staves, allowing her to use every important utility staff in the game. Plus, as a flying unit, Ivy has amazing mobility. The only thing she really needs to dominate the battlefield is a boost to her Speed, which isn’t difficult to obtain.
Ordinarily, other mages can resist magic damage fairly well, but Ivy has a way to deal with them too, albeit unreliably. Her unique class skill, Grasping Void, has a chance of adding additional damage to her magic attacks based on the enemy’s Magic stat. While it usually adds only a few points of damage against physical enemies, it can quickly add up against classes like Martial Masters, Sages, and Griffin Knights.
However, Ivy still has a few downsides. Her poor Luck makes her susceptible to enemy crits, forcing you to use a time crystal charge should the enemy land one. Worse still, her low Dexterity leaves her struggling to hit reliably and reduces the chance of Grasping Void triggering. As a flying unit, enemy Archers are also particularly threatening, so be sure to avoid their range.
4/10
Pandreo
Pandreo is another character who joins in the mid-game and instantly outclasses anyone in your army. He has high base stats for the time he joins, and his great growth rates ensure he remains relevant for the rest of the game as the best mage character in Fire Emblem Engage.
Unlike all other natural magic users before Chapter 12, Pandreo doesn’t have any distinct downside. He has great Magic compared to Clanne, doesn’t risk enemy crits like Ivy, has solid Speed unlike Citrinne, and has enough Build to wield heavy tomes unlike everyone before him.
Pandreo’s only struggle is his Defense, but he should preferably avoid physical attacks to begin with. High Priest is also a poor class due to its weapon ranks, so he should reclass to a Mage Knight or Sage as soon as possible.
3/10
Merrin
Few units can claim that they can fill any hole in your army, but Merrin is one of the lucky few with her high base stats, incredible speed, and balanced growths. She joins in Chapter 12, soon after the mid-game begins, and will easily match or exceed your army’s strength.
Merrin’s mixed bulk and offensive growths allow her to literally fit into any class. She can remain a Wolf Knight and use forged daggers while dodging enemy counters. Warrior patches up her strength and makes her one of the best Radiant Bow users with her decent magic. Hybrid classes like Mage Knight let her take full advantage of her balanced growths. No matter what she chooses, her high base stats will help her excel right away, especially her speed for doubling enemies.
No other unit can claim this level of versatility for such little investment. Even Jean requires a fair amount of resources to fall into a role. The only characters stronger than her in Fire Emblem Engage either provide the single most useful utility or simply have better stats across the board.
2/10
Kagetsu
Kagetsu joins the party relatively early on in Chapter 11, and he already boasts base stats that are superior to anyone who joins for several chapters after him. In fact, his base stats are probably better than those of the rest of your trained army up to that point.
It might seem like a unit with such impressive base stats would have poor growths to compensate, but that’s not the case with Kagetsu. He actually has the second-highest growth total in the game, with high growths in several key areas such as Speed, Dexterity, and Defense. His only middling growth is in Strength, but this can easily be remedied by reclassing him to a class with a better Strength growth than Swordmaster.
With no investment, you get a unit who outclasses the rest of your army upon joining and quickly snowballs thanks to his high growths. The only downside is his class, but that can easily be fixed with a Second Seal.
1/10
Seadall
What if you had a copy of the unit you needed most every turn? Seadall is the answer to that question. His unique Dancer class enables him to refresh the action of an adjacent ally, providing tremendous tactical benefits. Suddenly, any unit you select can take two actions, allowing a powerful fighter to quickly take down a boss, or a staff user to use status staves on two different units.
The best part is that he is maximally effective with zero investment. Ideally, Seadall should avoid combat as much as possible and dance every turn. As a result, his own stats and equipment are irrelevant. All he requires for skills is Canter and something to enhance his survivability. Seadall is a low-cost option that allows for some of the best strategies in all of Fire Emblem Engage.
Join the High Ground!
While the units we’ve talked about today may be among the strongest, all characters are viable in Fire Emblem Engage. Through skills, weapon forging, and Emblem Rings, anyone can be made powerful, so feel free to use your favorites. If you’re playing with random level ups, you may even find yourself blessed with amazing stats.
Let us know who you’ve found success with in the comments below! Don’t forget about subscribing to our weekly newsletter for more Fire Emblem Engage guides and other gaming content.
Happy gaming!
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