Fire Emblem: Engage Brings Back The Iconic Weapon Triangle

Fire Emblem: Engage will bring back the franchise’s signature weapon triangle, only this time the mechanic will include an additional twist.

Nintendo confirmed as much in a tweet, breaking down how the gameplay mechanic that has long been a staple of the turn-based strategy series will work in Fire Emblem: Engage. As is usually the case, characters using a sword will have an advantage over an axe user, axe users will beat lance users, and lances will perform better against sword users. In addition, arts (which look to be skills of some form) will have an advantage over ranged units that use bows, tomes, and knives.

New to Fire Emblem: Engage is the ability to inflict a “break” status on enemies when using a weapon that has an advantage. Enemies that are broken will be unable to counterattack until their next turn, so players will want to take full advantage of the weapon triangle in order to attack without fear of being quickly retaliated against.

The weapon triangle was notably absent from the last major entry in the series, 2019’s Fire Emblem: Three Houses. There were elements of the weapon triangle in Three Houses in the form of combat arts, which served a similar purpose. In an interview with GameSpot, one of the directors of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Toshiyuki Kusakihara, said the rock-paper-scissor-like mechanic was removed because it wasn’t “realistic” that a novice user of an axe would automatically have an advantage over an expert lance user. Instead, Kusakihara said the team wanted to allow characters to develop their weapon skills more freely with fewer restrictions.

Fire Emblem: Engage was revealed as part of Nintendo’s most recent Nintendo Direct, offering fans a glimpse at both new and returning characters. Details on the latest entry in the series are light, but it looks like it is taking inspiration from Fire Emblem: Three Houses in several key ways, with the ability to run around and manage a home base while also building relationships with other characters. Many of those characters will actually be iconic heroes from previous Fire Emblem games, who will appear in the form of “Emblems” that can be summoned to fight on the battlefield. Fire Emblem: Engage is slated to release for Nintendo Switch on January 20, 2023.