Prologue Ties that Bind

Learn the basics of combat, unit stats, and phases in Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest's Prologue. Your first steps to becoming a master tactician!

Alright, so you've just seen the intro movie for Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest, and now you're dropped into the very first map. Don't worry, it's basically a tutorial! You'll have a friendly redhead on a pegasus guiding you, but then BAM! A Nohrian soldier decides to introduce himself with an axe. Ouch! This is your cue to start paying attention to the game's mechanics.

You'll see a bunch of tutorials pop up on the touch screen. You can skip them if you want, but since you're here, let's break down what's important.

The first tutorial (5. Combat) is all about the basics. First, select your character using the [A] button. See that colored grid? Blue squares show where you can move right now. Red squares mean you can't go there – it's either too far, impassable, or occupied by an enemy. That last one is what we're interested in!

After you select your character, Hinoka will probably be urging you to hurry up. Focus on the action in front of you. This is your Player phase. Your units (and anyone you control) have blue life bars and names. Neutral characters have green bars, and enemies have red bars.

Now, select an enemy that's within your attack range – maybe that jerk who just hit you? Press [A] to attack. You'll see flashing bars showing how much damage you'll deal and how much damage they'll deal back. Remember, there are no freebies in Fire Emblem! You attack, and you get attacked back. In this first encounter, you've got a 100% chance to hit, and they can't actually defeat you, so go ahead and attack! Enjoy the battle animation; you'll gain some experience points too.

If you close the tutorial window, you can check out your unit's stats. You might notice you've lost a few Hit Points and you're currently wielding a Bronze Sword. The second screen, which shows unit and map info, will be covered more later, but for now, just know it's a handy way to get more details about everyone on the field.

Once all the fighting is done, your turn ends, and the Enemy phase begins. This will trigger another tutorial explaining phases (4. Switching Phases). It's pretty straightforward: you have your Player phase, and once you're done or skip to the end of your turn, the Enemy phase starts. Sometimes there's also an Ally phase if you have friendly units that aren't controlled by you.

Back to the battle! Two big names, Ryoma (Hoshido) and Xander (Nohr), will face off. After they exchange blows, Xander's siblings will notice a broken bridge. They'll then discuss a mysterious Dragon Vein, which can apparently dry up rivers, letting them cross. Hinoka will definitely notice how this affects the battle. The rest of the turn will play out, and then more Nohrian reinforcements will show up. Luckily for the Hoshidans, they get reinforcements too, and Sakura will heal you. Nice!

Your second turn kicks off with a Nohrian soldier appearing right in front of you – talk about breaking the rules! Your allies, Sakura and Takumi, will warn you about the danger, and Hinoka will tell you not to mess this up. Now, onto your turn: Takumi is now under your control. Select him, and he'll start explaining two more combat concepts. The first one, which you don't get a tutorial for yet, is combo attacks. If you attack an enemy that's also within attack range of another adjacent character, you'll both get to attack during your turn. So, if you attack with Takumi, your protagonist will also jump in for an attack. Since Takumi is out of the Nohrian's range, the enemy can't counter-attack. Using ranged characters with melee characters to avoid counters is a solid basic strategy. Just remember that if a melee enemy gets within range of your ranged units, they won't be able to counter because they can't attack adjacent enemies, as the current tutorial (6. Combat (Bows)) explains.

Attack with Takumi, and your protagonist should join in. After that, have your protagonist attack if needed, and Takumi will assist again (though he probably won't need to land the final blow). Pay attention to one more thing that will be explained later: Fire Emblem: Fates uses a rock-paper-scissors system for weapon advantages. Swords and spellbooks (red) are strong against axes, clubs, and bows (green), but weak against lances and throwing weapons (blue). Green weapons are strong against blue but weak against red. Blue weapons are strong against red but weak against green. This becomes super important later on, but for now, just focus on finishing off that Nohrian foe. Once they're down, this stage will end. Huzzah! At least, the part where you actually have to *do* something is over. There's still a lot of talking to get through, but you probably don't need a guide for that, right?