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
One of several ways you can customize your units in Fire Emblem Engage is to inherit skills from Emblem Rings. They can provide useful stat buffs or even change how you use a unit entirely. Since units only have two slots for inherited skills and skill points are gained at a glacial rate, it’s vital to know what the best skills to inherit are.
Best Skills to Inherit in FE: Engage, Ranked Good to Best
Something to remember is that you need to equip skills after spending SP to inherit them. You can do this from the inventory screen for each unit.
Certain skills may also have multiple levels denoted with plus signs. Total costs and bonuses for these skills will be shown in parentheses for each level, such as (1/2/3/4).
10/10
Draconic Hex
- Inherited from: Corrin (Chapter 15)
- SP Cost: 2000
- Bond Level: 8
- Effect: When a unit initiates combat against an enemy, that enemy loses -4 to all stats after battle.
Draconic Hex makes an amazing support skill, since debuffing enemy stats by -4 will massively shake up future engagements. It can allow you to deal more damage, take less damage, and most importantly, perform follow-up attacks more often. Most importantly, this debuff is applied regardless of the outcome of battle.
Since Draconic Hex activates irrespective of damage or even hitting at all, it pairs well with ranged attackers. Those with Thunder tomes or Longbows make the best candidates, since they can avoid retaliation from most enemies. Sending them to target a tough boss enemy first lets the rest of your army finish them off much easier.
The high SP cost can be prohibitive due to Engage’s slow SP gains. Subsequent attacks from units with this skill don’t stack the debuff, either, only resetting it to -4.
9/10
Pair Up
- Inherited from: Corrin (Chapter 15)
- SP Cost: 2000
- Bond Level: 13
- Effect: Unit is immune to chain attacks.
Don’t let the simple effect of this skill fool you. Your tanks will find Pair Up to be one of the more useful skills to inherit in Fire Emblem Engage. This skill negates chain attacks, which is the main way enemies will consistently chip even the sturdiest of defenses. Chain attacks always deal a fixed 10% of a unit’s HP in damage with a fixed 80% hit rate.
Enemies love to spam these as much as possible, and the damage quickly adds up. With Pair Up, however, this near-guaranteed damage is suddenly a non-issue. Speedy dodge tanks like Yunaka or ironclad defensive tanks like Louis find the most use out of this skill.
8/10
Momentum
- Inherited from: Sigurd (Chapter 3, unavailable from Chapters 10-17)
- SP Cost: (1000/2000)
- Bond Level: (5/17)
- Effect: Grants a unit +1 Attack for each space moved before attacking, only applies to first attack. Maximum of +10 Attack without Momentum+.
On most turns, a unit will move before attacking, so Momentum ends up being free damage. While any unit loves extra damage, certain units make better use of it. Low Speed units benefit immensely from a stronger first attack, since it’s usually their only attack. Cavalry and flying units appreciate Momentum the most due to their higher movement over foot soldiers.
A useful tip is that Multi-hit Engage attacks receive Momentum’s boost on every hit despite the “first attack” restriction. Leif’s Quadruple Hit stands out here, since unlike other Engage attacks, it applies the full boost to every hit.
Sadly, you can’t force a long, winding path to get extra damage out of Momentum. The attack boost is always based on the shortest path your unit could take to an enemy. Momentum+ is also not worth inheriting at all. It simply removes the cap of +10 attack, but no class exceeds 6 movement. The only way to have more than 10 movement is by equipping Sigurd’s ring, which gives Momentum+ anyway.
7/10
Vantage
- Inherited from: Leif (Chapter 8, unavailable from Chapters 10-17)
- SP Cost: (500/1000/2000)
- Bond Level: (5/12/18)
- Effect: Unit always strikes first against enemies that initiate combat, as long as the unit has (25%/50%/75%) or lower HP.
Vantage isn’t actually that great on its own. For it to be useful, a unit has to be able to defeat an opponent in a single strike. Vantage isn’t capable of making this happen alone, so it needs to be paired with other skills to shine in Fire Emblem Engage.
This means that Vantage serves as the final piece of a build, rather than the beginning of one. When paired with damage-enhancing skills, Vantage amplifies their potency on Enemy Phase. There’s no better example than pairing Vantage with Wrath. Both are activated at low HP, so it requires no extra setup. Together, Vantage enables you to strike first against enemies and Wrath gives you a high chance of one-shotting them with a critical hit.
Ironically, anyone that wants to use Vantage should inherit it early, since the other half of its combos appear after Leif becomes unavailable. This really hurts Panette, who’s one of the best characters for the Vantage/Wrath combo but joins while you don’t have Leif. Despite the downsides, the sheer potency of Vantage’s synergies makes it one of the best skills to inherit.
6/10
Wrath
- Inherited from: Ike (Chapter 13)
- SP Cost: 2000
- Bond Level: 13
- Effect: Units gain additional crit equal to their missing HP (Maximum of +30 crit).
Wrath may be one of a few skills necessary for Vantage to function, but the reverse is not true. It can easily stand on its own as an option for bulky critical builds. You can also pair it with other low HP skills, like Resolve and Hold Out, for a high-risk, high-reward synergy.
There’s only one major requirement for anyone using this skill. Give them Killer weapons and +Crit engravings. Combining these two things will let you see 70% or higher crit rates regularly.
Wrath works best on units with high HP to let them get the most extra crit without becoming too endangered. If you plan on using the skill during Enemy Phase, high Defense is also a must. Panette, Boucheron, and Louis all come with the bulk necessary to utilize this skill well, once they can afford it.
5/10
Quality Time
- Inherited from: Corrin (Chapter 15)
- SP Cost: (250/500)
- Bond Level: (5/18)
- Effect: After a unit acts or waits, all adjacent units heal (5/10) HP and gain support points with that unit.
Quality Time provides plenty of passive healing over a map that can save on Vulneraries and staff uses. How much value you get out of it does depend heavily on your army’s formation, though.
Martial Masters are often adjacent to allies while healing or using Chain Guard, while Seadall’s main action as a Dancer always leaves him adjacent to an ally. This makes them both good candidates to inherit this skill.
While Quality Time is easy on SP, it takes a high bond level to inherit the upgraded version. This can cost a lot of bond fragments in the arena, so be aware when choosing who inherits this skill.
4/10
Speedtaker
- Inherited from: Lyn (Chapter 11)
- SP Cost: 2000
- Bond Level: 5
- Effect: Unit gains +2 Speed for each enemy unit defeated, up to +10 Speed. Lasts until the end of the map.
Speed is one of the most important stats in Fire Emblem. Gaining follow-up attacks or denying enemies the same is crucial for taking down enemy armies efficiently. The extra dodge chance is also great for your units’ survival. Since Speed is such an important stat, Speedtaker is among the best skills to inherit in Fire Emblem Engage.
With Speedtaker, one enemy defeated will immediately provide a respectable +2 Speed. Two enemies and you’ll likely start doubling a majority of foes. Three enemies and you’ve surpassed Lyn’s Speed+5 skill. And you still have an extra +4 Speed to gain. Plus, even if multiple units carry Speedtaker, maps aren’t usually stingy with enemies to throw at you.
This skill is best to inherit on units with fairly average Speed. You want someone that has trouble following up on enemies, but also isn’t having enemies follow-up on them. The ramping Speed gains will quickly get those units to a point where they can regularly follow-up. Any boost to their evasion as a result is just icing on the cake.
3/10
Alacrity
- Inherited from: Lyn (Chapter 11)
- SP Cost: (1000/2000/3000)
- Bond Level: (5/13/18)
- Effect: Units make their follow-up attacks immediately after their first attack if they have (9/7/5) more Speed than their foe.
No matter your units’ speed, enemies always manage to retaliate directly after your first strike, which can be dangerous. If a unit has exceptional speed, however, Alacrity can solve this problem.
The follow-up attack is usually enough to defeat an enemy and deny them their counterattack. Alacrity++ even lowers the skill’s activation threshold to the same threshold used for follow-up attacks in the first place!
Unfortunately, the extreme 3000 SP cost of Alacrity++ may prevent you from picking it up until the endgame. It may not even be necessary depending on your units’ Speed. Be sure to gauge how often your units have an advantage of 7 Speed versus 5-6 before saving for Alacrity++.
In case you’re wondering, no, it does not work with Vantage.
2/10
Dual Assist
- Inherited from: Lucina (Chapter 11)
- SP Cost: (1000/2000)
- Bond Level: (5/18)
- Effect: Extends backup units’ chain attack range to their movement + attack range, but only triggers chain attacks (35%/70%) of the time when in this extended range.
Normally, a unit’s chain attack range is equal to their attack range with their equipped weapon. Dual Assist massively expands this to include their movement range. While all backup units appreciate the expanded chain attack range, you really want this skill on your Heroes.
Dual Assist is one of the best skills they can inherit due to their unique Brave Assist class skill. Brave Assist allows Heroes to chain attack twice whenever they are at full HP, so expanding their range greatly improves their chipping potential.
Since only backup units can chain attack, this skill is completely worthless on any other type of unit. The basic version can also be inconsistent, only having a 35% chance to trigger, but the upgraded version costs a lot of SP and bond fragments. Know what units you’ll ultimately want this on, and start saving for it early.
1/10
Canter
- Inherited from: Sigurd (Chapter 3, unavailable from Chapters 10-17)
- SP Cost: (1000/2000)
- Bond Level: (5/13)
- Effect: Allows a unit to move (2/3) Spaces after performing any action.
Canter and Canter+ are easily the best skills to inherit in Fire Emblem Engage. Unless you choose to wait with a unit, it is a pure buff to your mobility. With the overall lower movement in Engage, this always comes in handy during battle. Being able to move 2-3 extra spaces is already amazing, but the timing of the movement matters as well. So many options are opened up because Canter activates specifically after you act.
With this extra movement, units can escape danger, set up chain attacks, push further into maps, and much more. The great tactical benefits combined with a reasonable cost makes this skill useful on anyone in the army. There’s only one reason why you shouldn’t consider putting Canter on a unit. That’s if you already have a combination of skills in mind specifically to help a unit’s build.
Join the High Ground!
While it’s hard to go wrong with these picks, don’t be afraid to experiment with your units. There’s still a wide variety of skills in Fire Emblem Engage that you can inherit to create powerful and unexpected builds.
Leave a comment below letting us know what you’ve found useful in your own playthroughs! Also be sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more Fire Emblem Engage guides and other gaming news.
Happy gaming!
You must sign in to comment.
Don't have an account? Sign up here!