Fire Emblem Heroes: Tips for Beginners

Link a My Nintendo Account

The very first thing you should do when you start up Fire Emblem Heroes is link your My Nintendo account, or create one quickly if you haven’t. Not only does this give you a proper a Nintendo account, but also lets you earn rewards from Heroes and redeem Platinum Points for in-game items. These are things like extra orbs, or usable items in battle. It’s super simple to set up your My Nintendo account, so you’re really missing out on some quick freebies if you don’t. 

Use Orbs of the Same Color When Summoning Heroes

One of the main attractions of Fire Emblem Heroes is summoning different warriors from across the series, and building your ideal team. To do this, you’re going to go into the Summon tab from the main menu, and you’ll see a couple of different options. Currently there are two different packs you can summon heroes from, but these will be changing in the future.

In order to summon heroes you need orbs, and at least five to summon one hero. Once you click on a pack you’ll be brought to another screen, where you’ll see a circle of colored orbs. These orbs correspond to the type of hero you’ll summon, and correlate to the weapon triangle. Because of this, try to always have a plan about what color of hero you want whenever you go to summon. One summon takes five orbs, but if you select another orb of the same color it will lower your cost. Additionally, you boost the chances of getting a rare hero or the character you may want by selecting the same color. You’ll need plenty of orbs to keep summoning heroes, so you’ll want to play a bunch of Story Maps to get as many as possible. 

Pay Attention to the Weapon Triangle and Bring a Varied Team

The weapon triangle has always been a vital aspect to victory in Fire Emblem games, and Fire Emblem Heroes is no different. You’ll always want to be keeping it in mind when facing enemies in battle. Traditionally the triangle is; swords beats axes, axes beat lances, and lances beat swords. In Fire Emblem Heroes, the triangle uses a color system; red beats green, green beats blue, and blue beats read. Weapons generally fall under these categories although there are a few exceptions.

You can see what type of weapon a character has by looking at their profile, and the weapon will be marked at the very top next to their name. It’s also important to remember that grey weapons like bows and throwing knives aren’t factored into the weapon triangle at all, and don’t have advantages or disadvantages. With this in mind, you’ll always want to have a varied party with you in battle.

Generally, it’s a good idea to have one of each type of character with you, so you can cover all your bases. However, you can weight your party however you want to, and still achieve victory. Just remember all these advantages, and you’ll be on your way to success in no time. 

Upgrade Your Castle

One option you may pass over in Fire Emblem Heroes is the ability to upgrade your castle, and receive various benefits by doing so. Each level you upgrade your castle, you’ll get a bonus to the experience your characters earn in battle. You will need to use orbs to upgrade it, however.

When you’re on the home screen, look at the top left corner and you’ll see a small green button with a house on it, this is the upgrade button. Simply click on it and a window will come up with upgrade options. Alternatively, you can go to the Shop tab and select castle upgrade there. On top of everything, your castle will even get a shiny new coat of paint.

Of course, you will want to budget your orbs as you also need them to summon new heroes, but make sure to occasionally pop in and purchase an upgrade or two. 

Make Sure to Complete Quests and Use SP to Learn Skills

Outside of story missions and optional battles in Fire Emblem Heroes, there’s a few options you can use to get extra items and customize your characters. When on the home menu, you can click the angel fountain on the right side of the screen to bring up a list of quests and missions. Each of these will have certain requirements, like defeating a specified amount of lance wielders, and when completed will reward you with an item or orbs. These quests will refresh at the specified times, and taking advantage of them can be a good way to earn a tidy amount of bonuses.

When characters level up in battle they’ll earn SP in addition to stat bonuses. This SP has to be used in the menu to teach characters skills that will take effect in battle. To do this, tap the Allies tab on the main menu and then select “Learn Skills.” You’ll unlock more skills as characters level up, so keep learning new ones and find which you like best.

Use Arena Battles to Get Hero Feathers

After you complete the prologue story chapters of Fire Emblem Heroes, you’ll unlock new play options including Arena Battles. These are PvP battles that have your party squaring off against a pre-selected party of another player. They can be tough battles as you’re going up against units trained by other players, but the rewards are well worth it.

Winning arena battles can net you a number of items, primarily Hero Feathers. These are used to make units reach their full potential and power up even more after you’ve trained them to level 20. Battling a team in the arena will earn you points that compile into an overall score for a season. Once the season is over, you’ll receive various prizes based on your score. Arena Battles are definitely something you should take advantage of every once in a while.

Use the Training Tower to Gain Experience

After progressing through the story you’ll eventually unlock a new option called the Battle Tower. This is going to be key for you to level up the characters you want to. Of course, you’ll be getting experience through story missions, but the tower can give you a nice boost.

There’ll only be a few maps available at first in the Training Tower, but they provide unique challenges oftentimes with special objectives, like having to keep your entire party alive. They’re definitely short, but will challenge your strategic skill. Conquering these maps can reward you with experience of course, but also shards and crystals that you can use to upgrade your units. Make sure to take some time off from the main story of Fire Emblem Heroes and train up your best units, so you’ll be ready for whatever may come your way. 

Remember To Use Items in Your Inventory

Your units are the main focus of the combat system in Fire Emblem Heroes, but you’ll also have a few items up your sleeve to use that can help you in battle, and also power up your units. Besides orbs, other items can be gained through completing quests and challenges in the game, redeeming Platinum Points on My Nintendo, from drops in story missions, and more. Here’s a brief overview of the main items you’ll be using.

• Stamina Potion – These potions will restore your stamina gauge to a full 50. You get one early on, and can get more easily from completing quests. This’ll come in handy later in the game when story missions start costing more and more stamina.
• Dueling Crest – This will replenish the three dueling swords you have, which are used to compete in the Arena.
• Light’s Blessing – This handy item will allow you to instantly continue should you fail a mission and lose all your units, with full health and the ability to move as well. You can gain three of these from redeeming My Nintendo Rewards, and can gain one more from a quest. Remember to use them sparingly.
• Badges and Great Badges – These work similarly to Hero Feathers, allowing you to unlock the true potential of units when they reach level 20.
• Shards – Can be used to boost units up to level 20. Can be gained from Nintendo Rewards, quests, and story missions.
• Crystals – Can be used to boost units beyond level 20. Can be gained from Nintendo Rewards, quests, and story missions.

Make sure to take advantage of each of these items to boost your experience, but of course beware of your stock and use them at the best times. For more tips, help, and walkthroughs on Fire Emblem Heroes, make sure to take a look at our ever-expanding wiki.