Fire Emblem Fates: Tips for Building Your Castle

Focus on Your Armory and Staff Store

When you first gain access to your Castle in Fire Emblem Fates, make sure to build up your Armory and Staff Store first. You’ll want to be able to buy weapons, staffs, and Seals for upgrading your character classes. Save the more entertaining facilities like the hot springs for later. There’ll be time for that once you have a good base of operations going.

As you progress in the game, you’ll also be able to upgrade those stores so that they’ll stock better weapons. Building and upgrading costs 1 DP each, so make sure to get those out of the way before you start looking into other facilities.

Take Note of Your Castle Style

Your Castle style isn’t meant solely for aesthetic purposes. In Fire Emblem Fates, other players can attempt to invade your Castle. The various Castle styles give your fortress different layouts, so be sure to choose the style that will benefit your units the most.

For instance, having the water layout will limit your enemy’s movement, and having a layout with high defensive walls will require them to spend turns taking those down too. These are good things to keep in mind, especially if you plan on spending a lot of time checking out the online portion of the game. On the other hand, don’t forget that you can also upgrade the Castle to unlock more background music and make it more personalized.

Talk to Everyone

Whenever you get back to the Castle after a mission, be sure to talk to everyone with an exclamation point over their head. Sometimes they’ll gift you with weapons and resources, and sometimes you’ll have the opportunity to give them an accessory. Giving them accessories will help to raise their stats in the next battle.

You’ll also want to check your mines and forests regularly for a healthy supply of food and gems. Food can be used to feed Lilith, or used to cook meals to give your party members temporary stat boosts that will last until the end of the next battle. Gems, on the other hand, can be traded in for accessories that will alter your characters’ appearances.

Feed the Dragon

Don’t neglect Lilith. Level her up as much as you can so that she’ll become a strong asset in helping you defend your Castle against invaders. She’ll also give you a gold bar after every three or four times you feed her. Gold is rather hard to come by in Fire Emblem Fates, and if you’re playing Conquest, you won’t be able to grind for money either. The gold bars can be sold at any shop for 300G, so be sure to grab them whenever you can. Do take note that different types of food will boost different stats for Lilith too.

Build the Lottery Store and Arena

After you’ve built all the necessary facilities in your Castle, consider investing in the Lottery Store and Arena if you want to start farming for resources. You can visit the Lottery Store once a day to receive a random prize. You can get weapons, food, and other rare prizes as well.

The Arena is like a battle dome where you can bet your resources on your characters as they duel against an NPC. These are NPC-controlled battles, and they can get pretty tough, so I advise only betting on characters that you know are reliable enough to carry a fight on their own.

Visit Other Castles

Another way to farm for resources is by going online to check out other players’ Castles. If you visit a player who’s playing a different version of the game, you’ll even be able to pick up resources that aren’t available at all in your game. This can come in handy when you’re trying to get materials for crafting better weapons or trading them in for accessories.

You can also battle other players and try to invade their Castles for bonus prizes. If you manage to beat them and take the throne, you can either recruit a character from their roster, or inherit a skill possessed by the other player’s characters. This is a great way to build up your own army and learn skills that you missed or don’t have access to.