Gameplay (Warriors)

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Basic Gameplay

Controlling Characters

During each battle, you control one of up to four playable characters. The default controls are:

Control	Use	Description/Notes
Left Stick	Move	After moving for a while, your character will automatically transition into a dash.
Right Stick	Camera/Taunt	Allows you to rotate the camera. Pressing on the stick will make your character taunt (just for fun). Rotating the camera when locked on to an enemy will instead shift the lock-on to a different, nearby enemy, allowing you to change targets easily.
Y Button	Weak Attack	Weak attacks can be chained together up to 6 times (once you've upgraded the relevant Crests). They are fast and useful for clearing out weak enemies or lowering a strong enemy's Stun Gauge.
X Button	Strong Attack	Strong attacks can be triggered by themselves, or added as the final attack of a weak attack chain. There are 6 unique Strong attacks for each character type, corresponding to the total number of weak and strong attacks in the chain.
B Button	Dodge	This allows characters to evade attacks. Additionally, moving while ending a dodge will allow you to transition directly into a dash without needing to move for a while. Dodging can also be done to cancel out of certain attack animations, reducing end lag or stopping your attack where you want it.
A Button	Warrior Special	As your character deals damage, their Warrior Gauge will increase. Once it fills up a bar, pressing A will instantly trigger a devastating special attack. If you are paired up and both units have at least one full bar, they will unleash a Dual Attack together instead.
L Button	Lock-on	When the L button prompt appears over a strong enemy, pressing L will focus the camera on that enemy.
R Button	Awakening	Your character will build up an Awakening Gauge as they collect items or meet certain conditions. Once the bar is at least halfway full, pressing R will trigger Awakening Mode, which provides a number of buffs including full weapon triangle advantage. Once the Awakening Gauge depletes, the mode will end, but not before the character unleashes a powerful area attack. This can also be triggered prematurely by pressing R again.
ZL Button	Guard	Holding ZL will trigger a defensive stance. Your character moves more slowly, but will block incoming attacks from the front. This is useful when dueling one-on-one against enemy commanders.
ZR Button	Multifunction Button	On its own, this button does nothing, but holding it down will bring up a context menu that allows for four additional actions, as described below.
ZR + A Button	Use Item	If your character has a healing item or staff assigned, they will use it, consuming a use.
ZR + B Button	Pair Up	When the ZR + B prompt appears over an ally, this will trigger Pair Up. Pressing it while already in a Pair Up state will cancel the Pair Up.
ZR + X Button	Swap Vanguard	When Paired Up, this will switch the positions of the two characters, letting you play as the Support unit instead of the Vanguard. Note that this is not available if the Support unit is an uncontrollable ally.
ZR + Y Button	Dual Strike	When Paired Up and the ZR + Y prompt is available, the Support Unit will trigger an additional attack. This can only be done when the Dual Strike meter is full, which builds up quickly as you deal or take damage.
Up/Down Button	Change character	To switch characters, press Up or Down on the D-pad to cycle through the list. Switching characters will also change your location on the map. It's also possible to switch characters via the Pause menu.
Left Button	Guide Display	Pressing this button will bring up the Guide menu.
Right Button	Minimap Zoom In/Out	If the current zoom level of the minimap is insufficient, pressing Right on the D-pad will cycle through its zoom levels, allowing you to find a level that suits your taste.

Note that these are only the default controls; you may customize which button input performs which action in the Controller Settings menu.

Playable characters not under your control will act according to their AI.

Enemies

In general, the battlefield is occupied by hundreds and thousands of enemy soldiers, most of which are fairly passive--and serve as fodder to rack up your KO counter. Dotted around are slightly stronger foes, recognised by having a name and HP gauge, as well as having an icon on the map.

• Outpost Captain: These foes guard Outposts, which steadily spawn weak enemies. They can be defeated very easily.
• Minor Enemy Captains: These foes can be anywhere on the map, and are significantly stronger than the basic fodder. They are often named after classes from Fire Emblem, such as Myrmidons, Soldiers, or even Wyvern Riders.
• Fort Captain: These protect Forts, which spawn enemies and restore HP to enemies within the Fort. They are the same as the above enemy captain types but tend to be slightly weaker.
• Bosses: These are Fire Emblem heroes who fight against you for one reason or another. They occasionally guard Forts, but are not restricted to any one location. They can be quite formidable and challenging to defeat.

Defeating an Outpost Captain or Fort Captain will allow you to take the outpost/fort for yourself. However if the enemy defeats your Outpost/Fort Captain, you will lose it again.

Victory and Defeat

Winning a battle requires fulfilling the battle's specific victory condition, which can be viewed via the Pause menu. This can be defeating a particular boss. However, very often, you cannot complete the victory condition straightaway.

In the meantime, there will be multiple missions and sub-missions added as the battle progresses. Clearing the missions will help progress the battle, eventually allowing you to reach the final mission. Sub-missions are entirely optional and can be failed, although doing so can sometimes make the battle harder.

At the same time, you will lose the battle immediately if a defeat condition is fulfilled. Again, these are shown in the Pause menu, but some loss conditions are universal:

• All playable characters under your control are defeated. Obviously, you cannot complete the mission if you no longer have any character to play as.
• The Allied Commander is defeated. Most History Mode maps will feature an Allied Commander stationed right outside the Allied Base. They must be protected.
• The Allied Base is captured. If the enemy invades your home base, you will want to drive them out before they can successfully take it.
• Until you clear Story Mode, all Story Mode levels will impose a condition where if your chosen protagonist is defeated, you lose the map regardless of how many other playable characters you still have standing.
• Time runs out. Every mission in the game has a time limit of at most an hour, though you are unlikely to encounter this loss condition unless you deliberately waste time. Some missions will reduce the time limit, however, providing a more realistic loss scenario.

Some levels have more specific defeat conditions listed in the Pause menu.

Taking Advantage of Enemies

To make battles easier, you can exploit enemy weaknesses to take them down faster.

Like in the main Fire Emblem games, the Weapon Triangle is present.

• Swords beat Axes
• Axes beat Lances
• Lances beat Swords

If your character has a weapon triangle advantage against a foe, a "Down" symbol with two arrows will appear over your foe. Fighting such an enemy will cause a Gold Stun Gauge to appear.

Additionally, some enemies are inherently weak to certain weapons. For example, flying enemies like Pegasus Knights are weak to bows. In such cases, an exclaimation mark will appear over the enemy. Fighting an enemy with an effective weapon will do a huge amount of damage.

However bear in mind that the reverse hold true. So keep your flying units away from enemy archers, etc.

Some weapons also have minor advantages and disadvantages depending on the enemy type. Bows have a minor disadvantage against most non-flying basic enemy types, Tomes have a minor disadvantage against Pegasus Knights, ect. These are not nearly as impactful as the main triangle, but should be noted.

The Stun Gauge

When fighting any enemy stronger than an Outpost Captain, a gauge may appear from time to time depending on certain conditions. Attacking the enemy while this gauge is displayed will reduce this gauge, and if it empties out the enemy will be left vulnerable to a Critical Hit, which is performed automatically. Keeping the enemy juggled in the air will delay the Stun Gauge from disappearing.

The Stun Gauge will automatically appear after the enemy performs certain attacks, and can also be forced to appear with certain attacks of your own and Dual Strikes. If your weapon has an advantage over the enemy, a gold Stun Gauge will appear instead; triggering a Critical Hit on a gold Stun Gauge will create a more powerful attack that hits more than just the target.

Pair Up

The Pair Up mechanic introduced in Fire Emblem Awakening appears in this game, adapted for Warriors gameplay. During battle, you may initiate a Pair Up with any other character under your deploy, with the exception of certain story NPCs. This can be done on the battlefield using the ZR context menu, or from the pause menu. Any Pair Up can also be cancelled in the same two ways. You may also switch which character is in control of the Pair Up at any time, unless the Support unit is unplayable.

While in the Pair Up state, the Support unit is essentially removed from the field to benefit the Vanguard unit. The Vanguard unit receives a boost to their stats based on the Support unit's strengths, and gains access to the Dual Strike and Dual Guard mechanics. These two meters build up as you inflict or take damage, and will increase faster with a higher Support level. When the Dual Strike meter is full, you may call in your Support unit to unleash a quick attack on the enemy, breaking their guard and possibly exposing their Stun Gauge. When the Dual Guard meter is full, you are protected from attack and will take no damage from the next attack that hits you; how much the Dual Guard meter is depleted depends on the strength of the blocked attack.

The Vanguard unit can also trigger a Dual Special if both units have at least one full Warrior Gauge. This functions similarly to a basic Warrior Special, but is even more powerful and further-reaching.

Besides the combat benefits, Pair Up will also greatly boost the Support level of the two involved units as they fight together. The only negative consequence to Pair Up is that it essentially reduces your battlefield presence by a character, but the benefits are strong enough that you will want to make frequent use of Pair Up.

Advanced Gameplay

TBA