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
As your army travels across Elyos, they’ll find the spirits of previous Fire Emblem protagonists to help them in the form of rings. Each Emblem Ring has a different function in battle, providing special skills and buffs to whoever wears them. Finding the right character for each ring is vital, since some can make better use of their abilities. These are the best Emblem Ring pairings in Fire Emblem Engage.
Best Emblem Ring Pairings in Fire Emblem Engage
We’ll be going over each of the 12 Emblem Rings in Fire Emblem Engage and which character(s) make for the best pairings.
Marth: Chloe
Marth is an Emblem whose availability gives him an interesting niche in your army. He’s around from Chapters 1-10 and is not reacquired until late game in Chapter 22. For that reason, his utility comes from what he can provide early game.
His main gimmick is the Mercurius sword, acquired when he reaches Bond Level 10 with a unit. This sword doubles the experience a unit gains and can help early-game units quickly snowball. Chloe in particular is a unit that really benefits from the extra XP, being a strong flying unit that isn’t outclassed by mid-game recruits.
Marth’s kit also synergizes well with Chloe once he returns later into the game. He provides extra Strength to help Chloe secure kills during a time when enemy defenses are high. The Perceptive skill and Marth’s bonuses to Speed also pair with Chloe’s high natural Speed to turn her into an outstanding dodge tank.
Sigurd: Louis
Sigurd is a difficult Emblem to find a best pairing for. His most notable features are his massive boosts to movement, something anyone can take advantage of. Giving bonuses to Dexterity and Defense make him a good pairing with Timerra, increasing the proc rate and damage of her Sandstorm skill. The extra movement means Seadall can reach faraway units to dance for them before using Canter to escape danger.
Overall though, Louis seems to be a very solid option to receive Sigurd’s ring. Louis can use lances naturally, letting you use forges for stronger Overrides. As an Armored unit, he appreciates the higher movement to reach choke points faster and doesn’t mind being out of formation due to his high natural Defense. He makes the best Sigurd user early-game and still serves as a good option once he returns in Chapter 17.
Celica: Pandreo
Celica is a great way to boost the damage output of your mages, allowing them to one-shot enemies early-game with Warp Ragnarok and exploit skill and chain attacks later on with Echo. She works best on a Mystical unit for more damage from Echo, which fits right in with Pandreo.
Pandreo is already one of the best mages in Engage, with his high Build and Speed letting him double enemies often. Between Echo’s damage boost and Celica’s Magic bonus, it’s not uncommon to see Pandreo defeat two units per turn. This also lets backup units get more chain attacks in, so it’s a great combo for defeating bosses.
Micaiah: Hortensia
Micaiah is an Emblem all about boosting staff usage. She provides additional range and area of effect to staves, allowing for some wild plays. Ever want to warp 5 units past a blockade? Completely block off a choke point from across the map? Micaiah is who you want to use for that.
It makes sense then that she’d pair best with the best staff user in the game, Hortensia. While Micaiah allows any unit to use staves, Hortensia provides her own special buffs. Her personal skill gives staves even more range, and her class gives her a chance to conserve staff uses. The only thing that could make a 5-person warp better is getting to do it for free, which is what this combo can do.
Roy: Kagetsu
Roy, unlike many other Emblems, usually just ends up being a big stat buff for whatever unit they’re equipped to. He gives a massive boost to Strength, and his Rise Above skill provides even more stats from extra levels. Roy otherwise is fairly low impact and can act as a filler for physical units that need more Strength than Speed.
Kagetsu fits with Roy perfectly, since his natural stats let him survive without an Emblem Ring for a while. When Roy rejoins, most of your army will have other rings equipped, and Kagetsu will be falling behind in Strength. Roy will patch up any issues Kagetsu is having, and other units won’t particularly miss out.
Leif: Panette
Leif is another Emblem who’s difficult to find a good pairing for in Fire Emblem Engage. A lot of his good points apply more to the Somnium, providing bonuses to Build, Vantage, and nearly every weapon proficiency. In combat though, Leif is fairly underwhelming, and not many units can take good advantage of what he provides.
His best pairing option may genuinely be with Panette, with the caveat that you avoid doing Leif’s paralogue. Adaptable is infamous for choosing poor weapons to counter enemies, favoring Leif’s bad Engage weapons. Without doing Leif’s paralogue, however, the only one available will be the Killer Axe. This means you’ll have much better control over the weapons Panette uses on Enemy Phase, so she can take advantage of the bonus crit from Adaptable’s Backup bonus.
With this pairing, Panette gets Vantage for free, although only the first tier. This means you can inherit Wrath from Ike to reach 100% crit, albeit more expensively compared to Vantage.
Leif’s bonuses to HP, Build, and Defense give Panette better survivability overall. This is especially important considering how this version of Vantage/Wrath requires her to be under 25% HP. Overall, Ike is probably a better pairing for Panette, but Leif still provides what Panette needs for her build while leaving Ike for another unit to equip.
Lucina: Ivy
Lucina may seem underwhelming at first, with a weak Engage attack and less-valuable stat boosts. Once you dive into her other abilities, though, Lucina shines in the hands of a skilled player. It’s possible to make a nearly invulnerable ball of units with her Bonded Shield ability. At base, it has an 80% chance of blocking an enemy attack similar to a Chain Guard for no HP cost. Dragon type units boost this chance to 90%, and Cavalry/Flying units boost it to 100% for units of matching type.
Lucina seems tailor-made to go with Ivy. She provides her with the three stats she desperately needs, Speed, Luck, and Dexterity. She’s also a Flying type unit, meaning units like Chloe, Hortensia, and reclassed fliers can be protected 100% of the time. A valid strategy for low-turn clears is to have a bunch of fliers rush a boss, protected with Bonded Shield. As icing on the cake, Lucina lets Ivy perform chain attacks, which combined with Thunder tomes, let her spread huge amounts of damage.
Lyn: Alcyrst
Lyn is an incredible ring that literally any unit will appreciate having. Her massive bonuses to Speed ensure that units can avoid being doubled and likely end up doubling enemies themselves. The ability to create 4 clones and attack from long range with Astra Storm rounds out Lyn’s general combat utility. Combined, these abilities make Lyn one of the best rings in the game.
Alcryst makes a great Emblem Ring pairing with Lyn since he can typically make full use of her kit. He’ll generally be taking out fliers in a single shot, which allows Speedtaker to get rolling. Speedtaker can ramp his otherwise average Speed up to a point where he doubles most other enemies, allowing him to secure more kills.
The premier part of the Alcryst/Lyn pairing is Astra Storm. Alcryst is a natural bow user, meaning he can use forged bows for a stronger attack over Lyn’s bows. Each one of the five attacks has a chance to activate his Luna skill, adding large chunks of additional damage. Best of all, his Covert type causes Astra Storm to be a 20-range attack. That’s usually enough to cross the entire map, allowing Alcryst to strike faraway thieves, lure bosses into charging at your army, or delete a problematic enemy.
Ike: Diamant
Ike is a defensive Emblem in nature, giving huge boosts to a unit’s survivability. He can turn nearly anyone into a formidable tank, and his Wrath skill can let a unit strike back with powerful crits. Ike works best on either units that want a crit build, or units who are already fairly bulky.
Assuming you haven’t given Ike to Panette, Diamant serves as another amazing option. Diamant has relatively decent bulk on his own, supplemented by the Sol skill. Ike’s kit only furthers that, letting him take as much punishment as Armored units. Diamant’s personal class also allows him to use axes, so he can use forged weapons for extremely powerful Great Aethers.
Best Pairing for Byleth: Alear
Byleth is defined by one single ability: Goddess Dance. This ability causing all adjacent allies to have their actions refreshed, as if they had been affected by a dancer. Since this ability is so powerful on its own, the rest of Byleth’s kit is irrelevant when deciding the best pairing.
Alear is definitely the top pick to pair with Byleth. Their Dragon type causes affected allies to have all their stats raised by 3 points. Other unit types only raise a single stat by various amounts, but not enough to exceed the value of Alear’s omni-boost. Plus, by the time you get Byleth, it’s possible that Alear is starting to fall off as a combat unit. Giving them Byleth’s ring will let them easily transition into a supporting role.
Corrin: Veyle
Corrin specializes in giving your units a wide range of terrain effects to disrupt enemy formations. The type of terrain she creates is based on your unit’s type, unless you’re a Dragon unit. Dragon units, like Alear and Veyle, get to choose whatever terrain they would like to create that turn.
Veyle in particular appreciates the bonuses to Magic and HP that Corrin provides. Both of her personal weapons are magic based, meaning she’ll hit harder on a regular basis. The extra HP simply lets her survive more situations than she otherwise would. Between the versatility in terrain and stat bonuses, Veyle makes the best Emblem Ring pairing for Corrin in Fire Emblem Engage.
Should you be using someone else with Veyle, or haven’t recruited her yet, Corrin fares well on any Mystical type units. The Magic bonus is an obvious upside, but the fire terrain they can create is the best for blocking enemy movements.
Eirika: Merrin
Eirika serves as a way to counter enemy bulk during a time when foes’ defenses are quickly rising. Her Lunar Brace skill causes a unit to deal extra damage based on an enemy’s Defense, allowing even the weakest weapons to hit hard. Since it’s applied per hit, Eirika works best with fast units that can usually double enemies, but deal low damage.
Merrin, as a Wolf Knight, will likely be one of the fastest units in your army. Her high mobility lets her rush at enemies and attack at range with daggers. While these weapons would otherwise deal little damage, Eirika allows them to wipe out enemy health bars. If up against a flying enemy, Merrin’s surprisingly decent Magic lets her make good use of Eirika’s Wind Sword to defeat them.
Aside from the damage potential, Eirika’s Gentility skill gives Merrin a safety net by reducing the damage she takes. Merrin’s high Speed lets her dodge attacks regularly, but sometimes chance is not in her favor.
Join the High Ground!
The right unit can do as much for an Emblem Ring as the ring can do for them. Despite that, the rings are extremely powerful, and thus extremely versatile. Other units than the ones mentioned can make effective use out of them.
Let us know down in the comments about any Emblem Ring pairings you’ve found great success with in Fire Emblem Engage. Be sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more gaming guides and Fire Emblem Engage content.
Happy gaming!
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