Fire Emblem Engage features a whole range of brand-new game mechanics for players to sink their teeth into. Among these new game mechanics is the Engage Skills mechanic, which allow the player to use a special ability when engaged with a special Emblem character of their choosing. There is a huge range of Engage Skills, with each Engage unit having at least one Skill. Each Skill is also unique to their specific character, meaning that there's a massive amount of diversity between each character. On top of all of this, some Engage units even have special effects with their skills that can change the way the Skill works depending on which unit you pair them with. Overall, with so much to remember and so many new Skills to experiment with, it can be hard to know where to begin.
7 Divine Speed (Marth)
Marth's Divine Speed Emblem Skill is a very useful all-rounder, and it's pretty simple to understand, too: the unit Marth is engaged with will perform an extra attack at 50% damage against a foe. That's all there is to it, but it's a very effective Skill when players need to turn the tides of battle quickly.
On top of that, when engaged with Dragon units, Marth will allow the unit to record HP equal to the damage dealt by the extra attack, and with Covert units, if the extra attack hits, it will also poison the foe.
6 Laguz Friend (Ike)
Ike's Emblem Skill, Laguz Friend, can require a bit more set-up than other Skills both in the long-term and the short-term. However, it can be amazing when engaged with the right units. Laguz Friend will make the unit take 50% less damage at the cost of setting the unit's Avo to 0, which means that it's perfect for tanky units like Diamant, Louis, and Vander.
On top of this, Dragon-type units that Ike is engaged with will take an extra 10% less damage on top of the 50% bonus the Skill gives. Again, while this Skill does need more set-up and thought put into it, in the right hands, it can be absolutely devastating, which is why it's recommended in particular for tanks who can take a hit and do a good amount of damage.
5 Adaptable (Leif)
Leif's Adaptable Emblem Skill is fun, mostly due to the combination of its simple base effect and the more complex individual class effects. In its simplest form, Adaptable automates a little bit of the battle for the player: when a foe initiates combat with the unit Leif is engaged with, Adaptable will ensure that the unit will counter with the best weapon available for the scenario, taking weapon advantage, effective bonuses, range, and other situations into account. On top of this, though, depending on the unit's class type, they will also gain another bonus during combat.
The intricacies of the bonuses each class gains thanks to Leif's Emblem Skill is where players can really have fun experimenting. Specifically, the bonuses each class type gains are:
- Armored: Def+5
- Backup: Crit+10
- Covert: Avo+20
- Dragon: Hit+30
- Flying: Res+5
4 Dreadful Aura (Corrin)
Unlike other Emblems, Corrin actually has two Engage Skills for players to experiment with. That being said, Dreadful Aura just about manages to come out on top over Dragon Vein, if only for its simplicity in comparison to the other Skill.
Dreadful Aura is great at controlling enemy units on the map - when the unit Corrin is engaged with initiates combat with a foe, the targeted enemy as well as all enemies within one space of them will not be able to move for one turn after combat. Think of it a little like Fire Emblem Three Houses' battalion gambits.
3 Instruct (Byleth)
Speaking of Three Houses, everyone's beloved Professor's aptly-named Engage Skill, Instruct, is another fun and intricate Skill that can totally change depending on the class of the unit he's engaged with.
At its most basic level, Instruct will grant allies within two spaces a special stat bonus depending on the type of user Byleth is working alongside. The special stat bonus will then last for one full turn. The status bonus is the part that has a lot of variables that players can look forward to experimenting with, and it impacts more class types than Leif's Adaptable does, making Byleth a very fun Emblem to experiment with.
The long list of status bonuses is as such:
- Armored: Def+5
- Backup: Str+4
- Cavalry: Dex+10
- Covert: Spd+5
- Flying: Res+5
- Mystical: Mag+4
- Qi Adept: Lck+10
- Dragon: The best of the bunch, with all seven stats receiving +3
2 Call Doubles (Lyn)
Lyn's Engage Skill is great for units focused on Chain Attacks, and will enhance their gameplay even further. With Call Doubles, Lyn will create four doubles around the unit that will act as decoys and help the unit attack. The Chain Attacks they trigger will also trigger from any location on the map.
On top of this, specific unit types will also gain bigger benefits: Flying units will gain Avo+10 on each double, and Dragon units add a whole new double to the team, giving the unit a total of five doubles. This can turn a great Skill into a fully broken Skill, especially on units like Alear.
1 Divine Blessing (Tiki)
The Divine Blessing Engage Skill is simple enough to use and understand, and it's due to its simplicity that it shines. To put it simply, Tiki's Divine Blessing allows a chosen ally to gain the benefits of a Revival Stone, which is usually reserved for enemy bosses.
This can give the player's chosen ally a huge health boost, and it comes with other bonuses, too. For instance, if the user currently engaging with Tiki is within a space of a unit engaged with Marth, both Tiki and Marth will activate their bond. In doing this, Divine Blessing becomes Divine Blessing+, which means that alongside gaining a Revival Stone, the chosen ally will have their Engage Meter increased by 3 if they are engaged with an Emblem, or their HP will be fully restored. As with many other Engage Skills, there are also bonuses based on the type of unit Tiki is engaged with. Dragon unit types restore 20 HP to the ally, whereas Qi Adept units heal all ally status effects.
Fire Emblem Engage is available now for Nintendo Switch.