Fire Emblem: Three Houses Strategy: 11 Useful Tips and Features

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Guide

The Fire Emblem series has always sailed in its same territorial waters for years, but with the release of Three Houses on Nintendo Switch, the series has taken a new course of action by incorporating foreign elements to its very own genre. The newest breed of Fire Emblem comes off as the same tactical chess-like game we all know and love blended with the engaging exploration elements of the Persona series. With so many new aspects packed into the latest entry, the game can give both veterans and newcomers a blind eye to various features that they should be aware of while playing. Here are eleven useful features, Fire Emblem: Three Houses brushes over or flat out never explains that you should be well aware of.

The Soft Reset Combination

Fire Emblem is a series specifically known for difficulties that will challenge even the most experienced veterans. For those of us who are playing on classic normal or hard mode, you might find yourself wanting to completely restart battles from the beginning without wasting your Divine Pulse. The following button combination will take you directly to the main menu of the game when held at the same time: L, R,+, and –.

Main Menu Support Do-Overs and Music Player

Sticking to the main menu, although this does not affect gameplay, optional dialogue routes in support cutscenes can be viewed under the subcategory ‘extras.’ If you feel you have made a mistake in a conversation or are just curious as to what another route would have brought out from a certain character, this is a simple and effective way of viewing the dialogue you never got to see. The game’s soundtrack is also accessible through this part of the main menu, but the entire score can only be unlocked after you have completed the story at least once.

Monastery Menu Fast Travel and Position Locator

Getting around the Monastery during your exploration time can become an absolute hassle late into each month. When characters have nothing new to say or are constantly moving around as the latest moon draws to a close, there is less of a reason to actually roam around Garreg Mach’s premises. By clicking the right bumper while exploring, you can pull up a menu that enables fast travel and locates every person, event, quest, and activity that is currently available. Just simply use the left analog stick to navigate over each specific area of the Monastery map, while ZL and ZR will allow you to toggle the sidebar menu to either narrow down people or facilities. Pressing X will show you the exact location of who or rather what you are looking for.

Relationship Speeding With Gifts and Tea

Recruiting students from the two opposing houses or maxing out the Avatars support conversations with various other characters can take quite a while if you are sticking to a daily schedule of activities that only allow you to invite your colleagues to a minimal amount of activities. Players can gift both students and professors with items of their liking when exploring the Monastery. These items can be found all around the premises or harvested through the greenhouse and fishing. Flowers are a common item liked by everyone, but there are other specific items to be found that will greatly boost your relationships depending on the character.

Players looking to max out supports can also use the ‘tea time’ feature; a one-on-one conversation between you and another resident of Garreg Mach, where you will have to create conversation in order to ensure that they have an enjoyable time. This is by far the largest relationship booster you can receive in a single activity if done perfectly, but it can not be accessed all the time.

Certain Activities Do Not Require Activity Points

Fishing, greenhouse planting, and student quests are three activities that do not require any activity points to be spent. These activities are simple chores that will increase your professor level and grant you various items you will need for increasing your supports so you should be doing these whenever you can. The only time a quest will require you to spend points is if they are asking you to go into battle.

Increasing Your Professor Level Is Critical

The number of activity points you can retain is solely dependent on your professor level (a scale that runs from E to S rank). If you are going to want to do more on a weekly basis, be sure to spend time doing activities with your students in order to receive more renown. There is no easy way out of increasing your professor level. Experiment with your activity points to see what will give you the most experience, but be sure not to repeat mistakes as time is an essence in Three Houses.

amiibo Gazebo’s Monthly Items

Gathering gifts, bait, and various herbal drinks for tea time can take quite a while if you are not willing to freely explore the Monastery for items at least once a month. Items can be frugal, but if you happen to own any of the Fire Emblem amiibo, be sure to stop by the amiibo Gazebo- located in the courtyard north of the entrance hall- in order to scan in an assortment of items and a music track once an in-game month. Item drops will only appear after scanning a Fire Emblem amiibo. All amiibo figures outside of the series will provide only music tracks.

Certifications and Stat Boosters

Certifications allow units to change into different combat classes, but what Three Houses does not inform you about is the availability and potential gain of several certifications on one unit. Certifications are broken down into beginner, intermediate, advanced, and mastery classes; all units can pass every class certification as long as you teach them the requirements during the week’s teachings.

An easy way to gain bonus stat points for an individual unit is to certify he or her for classes you will not be using. If you are lucky, you will receive a bonus stat boost when your unit passes the exam for certification. The odds are entirely randomized, but due to how low the gold price of beginner and advanced certification seals are, your risks versus reward is worth the attempt.

Reclass Units From The Options Menu

If you are not particularly satisfied with how one of your units are performing in a newly certified class, you can always change them back into what you previously unlocked for them by going to inventory and selecting reclass. There are no drawbacks to reclassing so feel free to change up your units for your personal content!

Auxillary Mock Battles

Are you in need of a few level ups before your next mission? Are you scared your unit might be killed in action due to its low level on classic mode? Every so often you will have the opportunity to participate in auxiliary mock battles. Your units can not be killed during these training sessions. If you are looking to level up your units that are straggling behind, take your time and use these battles to get in some easy level-ups without hesitation. The only downside to participating in these battles is they cost you activity points.

The Convoy Can Always Be Accessed During Battle

During the core battles, weapon durability and item storage can be a major issue on higher difficulties and even sometimes on more casual playthroughs. Your avatar character will always have access to the convoy, but so does every other unit you have in play. Place your unit next to your avatar to allow them to access the convoy. Accessing the convoy does not cost you a turn; you are simply placing or trading items into your inventory, you can still attack after swapping out your unit’s inventory.

On a side note, it is always important that you keep spare items and weapons in the convoy in case of an emergency. Without spoilers, the ladder half of the game has some difficult battles- even on normal mode- where I strongly advise players to take advantage of this specific feature. Have health items in your convoy at all times. Keep your elixirs close and your spare killing edges even closer!