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If you thoughtFire Emblem: Engagewas too easy, congratulations. There’s an entire mode for those who enjoy their Fire Emblem experience served with a side of fresh tears. From lowered experience gain to maps with enemies that both outnumber and outmatch you, Engage’s hardest mode lives up to its name.
RELATED:Fire Emblem Engage: Complete Combat Guide
However, Maddening isn’t impossible, and for the experienced player wishing to use the tactical side of their brain, it’s a rewarding challenge. Of course, everyone’s Maddening run will be different, and everyone has their own style, but there are certainly a few tricks that you can apply to every playthrough to help you out.
Weapons Triangle Will Make Or Break You
The first priority in any Fire Emblem game is tounderstand the weapons triangle.Although it does have similarities to previous generations, Engage takes the system to a whole new level by introducing the"Break" feature.
Not only do the disadvantaged suffer fromlowered accuracy and outgoing damage, but they could also end uplosing the opportunity to unleash a follow-up attackfor an entire round. Being highly aware of this feature at all times is a must for Maddening. Youcan’t ignore it,not even for a second.
It’s also worth noting thatbosses cannot have their stances broken but can break yours.This means that you’ll need tobe aware of who is being put in the line of firewhen entering a boss’s space as youmay find your unit incapable of defending themselvesand lose them to a tragic and easily preventable death.
Prepare For Chapter 10
Unfortunately for the Maddening player, Engage has an awkward stage in the levelsbetween the end of Chapter 10 and around Chapters 13-14that canspot the slightest weakness in your teamand tear it apart like overcooked chicken.
Building a team that can survive Chapter 10 and the next few chapters is the highest priorityfor those wanting a deathless Maddening run. Not only must you build a strong team, but you’ll need to ensure thatyou havea team that can stand on its own without having a reliance on Emblems.
If you have theExpansion Pass, you’ll be able to getTiki and the Emblem Bracelet(Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude).
Finishing her Paralogue before attempting Chapter 10is recommendedas this allows you to have two Emblems instead of zero at the end of Chapter 10, and four until you manage to recruit Ike in Chapter 13.
This means you’ll need todecide very early on the units you’d like to put your efforts into cultivating. Generally, you’ll want toselect ten units(with one or two in reserve)andstick with themfor as long as you are able, switching out units that might perform better only rarely. A good rule of thumb to go by is:
*Given Maddening’s brutality,having two healers on the field is a must, but you alsocan’t sacrifice having a unit capable of taking enemies off the field.For that reason, having amixed healerlike Ivy or Yunaka (only after retaking Micaiah’s ring) is highly recommended.
Additionally, out of all of these units, take care toalways have one of them be a flying unit.This is becausesome maps have areas only accessible by flying units, and usingthe Fly-Warp method(where you send in a flying unit to deal with a single unit and then cast Rescue to bring them out of harm’s way) can bea deadly and useful strategyin the mid-to-late game.
Archers Are Your Friends
Maddening isfull of a frightening amount of flying unitsat every turn, and a good percentage of bosses are either a flying unit themselves orincredibly weak to long-distance physical attacks.Although the trade-off is needing to beextra vigilant about guarding your archers, they make dealing with the swift and deadly enemies swooping in at you from every angle and bosses with multiple bars of health far easier.
Alcryst (+Lyn) and Etie (+Edelgard) is a standard recommended duothat tends to work well.Alcryst and Lyn are a Speed-based teamthat can use Astra to eitherdelete distant flying units before they become a problemorbait enemies out of roomsyou don’t want to walk into - such as Chapter 14’s final room that you may entirely cheese by spamming Astra.
HavingSpeedtakeras an ability also ensures you willnever be outspedand always enjoy double hits. Conversely,Etie and Edelgard is a Strength and Dex-based buildthat candeal huge amounts of damage(over 200 by Chapter 10 with the right setup) with a range of three when Engaged, allowing you to cut an entire bar of a boss’s health without ever being close enough for a counterattack.Give Alcryst, at the very least, a longbowto also give him the ability to shoot the same distance as Etie, and you have a walking nuclear package.
Mix-And-Match Inherited Skills
Youdon’t need to inherit only the skills of the Emblems units are paired with. It is entirely possible - and recommended - toinherit the skills of multiple Emblems.For instance, Geosphere from Tiki, Byleth’s “Instruct” ability, and Alear’s personal ability, “Divinely Inspiring” can all stack, meaning that adjacent units can have:
AddingLyn’s Alacricity skill and Celica’s Tome Precision on Clannecan, in certain instances,deal two powerful magic attacks against an enemy without needing to worry about a follow-up attack. Findingsynergy between these skillswill be a deciding factor in how well your team functions together, so choose wisely.
As a general rule of thumb in any Fire Emblem game, you’ll want to alsomix-and-match weapons to units.For example, keeping aJavelin on all of your lance units is highly recommended, as it means having the ability to either do tick damage against an opponent or breaking an enemy’s stance from a distance to let a melee unit sweep in for the kill. In general, you’ll want to keep in mind that:
By having this flexibility, you’ll be able toassign multiple jobs to a unitwithout needing to switch them as often. This, in turn,prevents you from losing out on Maddening’s rare and extremely valuable experience and SP gain.
Engage “Gas Stations”
Many of themaps in Engage are very large,and making sure topace your unitsin terms of staves, health, and Engage meters is essential to survival. A good way to pace yourself is by looking at the map andlocating the spots where you may refill your Engage meter.From a game design standpoint, these are typicallyplaced in locations where the intention is for you to take a short restbefore continuing on.
Although Maddening makes these rests extraordinarily short, you canuse these points to cut up a large map into chunks, focusing on one goal at a time. In essence, you should use these asgas stations along your way to your larger goal.
This method also allows you toconceptualize the maps into “phases.“By doing so, you can anticipate a map’s overall direction and flow even in maps where there are masses of darkness. You canalways assume two thingsabout places where there are Engage meter-“wells”:
Use these assumptions when planning your approach toward those springs, and make a mental note tomake them your checkpoint for healing and re-ordering your assault lineup on all mapsexcept those that feature cycling timed reinforcements - for those, you’ll need to be a little more flexible. All of this is to say that Maddening may be difficult, but it is not unfair.
