Fire Emblem Warriors Makes Supports A Little More Practical

One of the Fire Emblem concepts brought into Fire Emblem Warriors is the idea of a support system. It doesn’t work the way previous games presented it. You aren’t going to suddenly see Chrom and Caeda get together as a couple. But you are going to see conversations between specific couples. Also, you will see relationships have a permanent effect on party members.

Building relationships in Fire Emblem Warriors is handled the same as it is in standard Fire Emblem games. You send people into battles together and have them fight alongside one another. This means the best way to build up relationships is to make sure characters are in the field, either as playable characters or NPCs, then pair them up with the characters you want to form relationships. An active character can be paired with another playable character or NPC, but you can not swap to the NPC in the middle of a fight. As you defeat named captain characters and bosses, you will earn points that boost relationships. This will lead to items that can be used on ability-granting crests or occasionally support conversations.

Not every character gets to have a support conversation in Fire Emblem Warriors. Rather, only ones who have the option of getting an A+ rank will get to enjoy a brief talk when that rank is achieved. You can see which combinations earn such things by visiting the Convoy between maps, going to Select Character, checking their Status, and looking at Support. Naturally, you can go back and rewatch these. But plenty of people have things to say to one another, even though this could be the first and only time they’re meeting. Camilla and Frederick compare notes, for example. Robin and Corrin talk about a feeling that maybe they are pawns, at the whim of someone else’s desires. Lucina expresses her appreciation for Marth. I found the humorous or insightful ones best, though there are a few that are a little bland.

The real bonus here are the Crest Market skills you can get for characters. These allow you to improve people and make them even more useful by having them bond with other characters. Once you have formed these relationships, you can then share these skills with others by getting the B and A-level Support items. This means it works to your benefit to boost supports with characters you don’t really use often if they have good Crest Skills, so you can go ahead and apply them to other people you like better.

One of the most useful skills is Ryoma’s Astra. This increases standard and strong attack speed, which comes in handy in practically any level. Lianna’s Live to Serve is good for Elise or Sakura, as it means a staff user will heal themselves while healing others nearby. Cordelia’s Sol is handy, since it makes her recover HP when named enemies are killed. (This means she pairs up well with Elise or Sakura.) Tiki’s Armored Blow is handy when it comes to facing bosses, since it keeps enemy attacks from interrupting your own. And Frederick’s Pavise, which reduces damage enemies with axes, lances, and swords deal, can help too.

Fire Emblem Warriors’ supports can really come in handy. After all, they’re helping you make the characters you use the most better. You can’t beat having an Elise or Sakura with Live to Serve or leading up someone like Ryoma with Armored Blow and Sol to compliment his Astra. The conversations you get with a few people is just icing on the cake. (And some of the conversations are just so savory!)

Fire Emblem Warriors is available for the Nintendo Switch.