Lapis Is a Fire Emblem Engage Character Who’s Worth the Investment

Fire Emblem Engage features a huge cast of characters, which means someone like Lapis could get left out. She’s one of the first folks you’ll meet when leaving Firene. She fights alongside Alcryst, one of Brodia’s princes, as his retainer. She’s also a practical, precise young woman who is fantastic with a sword. However, she might need a bit of investment to really get going.

What I love about Lapis in Fire Emblem Engage is that it feels like she can’t be hit. She’s the sort of character you can put ahead of your other forces to sort of “protect” them, then enjoy as she assaults foes and their attacks miss her. This is partially due to the unique skill Share Spoils. It means she gets -10 Crit if an ally is right next to her. However, she does get +10 Avo/Hit in exchange. Given she’s also a Backup type of unit, which means she’ll jump in for Chain Attacks, you want her to be near her allies and take advantage of both benefits. I’d also encourage pairing her up with Marth sometime. While she won’t get any weapon proficiency, since she’s already “good at swords,” you can get her to inherit Perceptive to increase Avo by +15 if she initiates combat for 250 SP. You could also spent 500 SP, 1,500 SP, 3,500 SP, or 4,500 SP on Avoid +10, +15, +20, +25, or +30.

Lapis and Goldmary are playing Sekiro while the rest are playing Fire Emblem pic.twitter.com/uxfrk1v3mz

— Razor (@RaZor921) January 29, 2023

There are really only two downsides with Lapis in Fire Emblem Engage. The first is that when you look at her stats, you’d almost think, “Maybe this is someone who should go for critical hits.” Except her dexterity stat growth doesn’t really support that as much as, say, Kagetsu or Zelkov. So rather, you’re hoping she turns into someone who doesn’t get hit. Her high dexterity and speed both support that.

Her other fatal flaw is that Fire Emblem Engage has a large cast with a lot of other people good at using swords. Since she’s a Sword Fighter, odds are you’ll go with a Sword Master for her Advanced class. Which is a fantastic one for her! However, that’s also where Kagetsu tends to go and, well, he can be better at it. This means you may need to give her an Emblem Ring so she can build up proficiency with more weapons to unlock other options. Perhaps setting her up as a General, Griffin Knight, or Paladin could help make her more unique and better define her in your army?

Or, you know, maybe even consider something with a bow since you probably should pair Lyn with Lapis sometime. Alacrity++ is an amazing skill. Given Lapis’ speed is her selling point, she should always get to perform her follow-up attack before the enemy counters her. Also, if you don’t mind losing even more points dedicated to her critical attacks, you can keep teaming her up with Marth and pick up the Sword Agility skills. (Those sacrifice points in your critical stat in exchange for a higher rate of avoidance.)

That would also mean you get to have Lapis around more often. This is to your benefit, because she’s an adorable, earnest woman. She’s resourceful and likes to talk to her allies about filling up on smells, facing off against bears, crafting, and general survivalist things. She’s just a lot of fun! She’s earnestly concerned about her allies. Also, in a game with no paired endings or romance, it’s nice to see that she canonically has a crush on Alcryst.

So yes, Lapis might not be one of Fire Emblem Engage‘s most perfect characters, but she can certainly be valuable. Especially if you intend to invest in skills and experiment with classes.

Fire Emblem Engage is available for the Nintendo Switch.

Related: Anna’s Best Class in Fire Emblem Engage on Twinfinite