Aptitude Skill & Experience Grinding

Experience Grinding in Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation

Building a formidable army in Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation hinges on effective unit development, and a key component of this is understanding how to efficiently gain experience points (EXP). While the concept of an "Aptitude" skill is not present in Fire Emblem Fates, the game offers several robust methods for players to grind EXP, ensuring their units are well-prepared for the challenges ahead. This section will detail the most effective strategies, focusing on in-game mechanics, available modes, and optimal combat practices.

Understanding Experience Gain

Every unit in your army gains experience by participating in combat and defeating enemies. The amount of EXP awarded is influenced by several factors:

• Enemy Level: Defeating higher-leveled enemies generally yields more EXP.
• Combat Performance: Landing critical hits, doubling enemies, and defeating them with a strong finishing blow can sometimes award bonus EXP.
• Unit Level: Units gain less EXP when fighting enemies significantly below their own level.
• Support Bonuses: While not directly awarding EXP, units fighting adjacent to allies with high support ranks may perform better, leading to more efficient combat and thus more EXP over time.
• Skills: Certain skills can influence EXP gain, though none are named "Aptitude." For example, skills that boost combat prowess indirectly help by allowing units to defeat enemies faster.

Primary Experience Grinding Methods

Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation provides several avenues for players to engage in experience grinding. The most effective methods involve utilizing the game's post-game content and optional battles.

1. Skirmishes

Skirmishes are randomly appearing battles that occur on the world map. These are an invaluable resource for grinding EXP, gold, and even rare items. They are accessible after certain story chapters are completed.

• How to Find: Keep an eye on the world map for red icons indicating a Skirmish. These will appear periodically.
• Strategy: Skirmishes typically feature a moderate number of enemies. Focus on sending your units that need the most EXP to engage. Prioritize units that can defeat enemies efficiently to maximize EXP gain per turn.
• Enemy Variety: Skirmishes can feature a mix of enemy types and levels, offering varied challenges and EXP rewards.

2. Optional DLC Maps

The downloadable content (DLC) for Fire Emblem Fates offers some of the most potent experience grinding opportunities, especially maps designed for this purpose.

• Golden Gaffe: This is arguably the most popular DLC map for grinding. It features a large number of low-level enemies and offers a significant amount of gold upon completion. The enemies are weak, allowing even lower-level units to contribute and gain EXP quickly.
• Strategy: Deploy units that can defeat multiple enemies per turn. Utilize area-of-effect attacks (like Levin Sword or certain staves) if available. The goal is to clear the map as quickly as possible to maximize EXP gain per real-time minute.
• Rewards: Primarily EXP and Gold.
• Other Grinding-Focused DLC: While Golden Gaffe is king, other DLC maps like "Royal Battle" or "Lost Bloodlines" can also be replayed for EXP, though they might be more challenging and require stronger units.

3. Replaying Earlier Chapters (Less Efficient)

While possible, replaying story chapters is generally less efficient for grinding than Skirmishes or DLC. Enemies in story chapters are fixed, and their levels are often lower than what you'll encounter in Skirmishes or post-game content. However, if you are avoiding DLC or Skirmishes, this remains an option.

• Strategy: Choose chapters where your units can easily defeat all enemies. Focus on chapters with a high enemy density and minimal objectives that might rush the player.
• Caveat: This method is best for very early-game grinding or for units that are significantly underleveled and cannot yet tackle Skirmishes effectively.

Maximizing Experience Gain Through Combat Mechanics

Beyond simply defeating enemies, You can employ specific combat strategies to boost their EXP gains.

• Critical Hits: Landing a critical hit often provides a small EXP bonus. While not a primary strategy, it's a nice bonus when it occurs.
• Doubling Enemies: Units that can attack twice in a single combat phase (doubling) will defeat enemies faster, leading to more EXP over a given period.
• Skill Synergy: Certain skills can make combat more efficient. For example, skills that boost hit or avoid can ensure successful attacks and fewer wasted turns.
• "Babying" Units: For units you want to level up significantly, consider having stronger units "baby" them by weakening enemies for the target unit to finish off. This ensures the target unit gets the full EXP from the kill.
• Using Vulnerary/Concoction: Keeping units healthy allows them to engage in more combat without needing to retreat or rest, thus maximizing their time spent gaining EXP.

Unit Leveling and Promotion

As units gain levels, their stats increase, making them more capable of defeating enemies and thus gaining EXP more efficiently. Promotion is a critical milestone.

• Promotion Benefits: Promoting a unit (e.g., from a Villager to a Mercenary, or from a Cavalier to a Paladin) resets their level to 1 in the new class but provides significant stat bonuses and access to new skills. Promoted units are generally much stronger and can level up faster in their new class.
• Master Seals and Second Seals: These items are crucial for promotion. Master Seals promote a unit to their advanced class, while Second Seals allow a unit to change to a different base class (resetting their level to 1 in that new class).
• Strategic Promotion: Promote units when they reach Level 10 in their base class, or when they are close to reaching their stat caps for that class. This ensures they gain the maximum benefit from their promotion.

Common Pitfalls and Considerations

• Difficulty Settings: On higher difficulties (Lunatic, Lunatic+), enemies are stronger and more numerous, making grinding more challenging but also potentially more rewarding if managed correctly.
• Permadeath: If playing with permadeath enabled, be extremely cautious when grinding. Losing a valuable unit due to overconfidence during a grinding session can be devastating.
• Resource Management: Ensure you have enough healing items and that your units are equipped with effective weapons.
• Time Investment: Grinding requires a significant time investment. Plan your sessions to be as efficient as possible.

By strategically utilizing Skirmishes, DLC maps like Golden Gaffe, and optimizing combat encounters, You can ensure their units in Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation are robust and ready to face any challenge the game throws at them.