Arenas (Japanese:闘技場Arena), referred to ascolosseums inThe Sacred Stones's Sound Room, are a recurring gameplay element introduced inFire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light and present in the majority of games since. In an arena, the player's units can gamble their owngold to challenge foes with the hope of, by winning, gaining moreexperience and gold, but in taking this challenge the unit's lives are at risk of death. They are also a type of terrain.

Arenas are not present at all inFire Emblem Gaiden, its remakeEchoes: Shadows of Valentia,Path of Radiance,Radiant Dawn, orAwakening, although the latter does havea specific arena as the setting of one chapter.

Overview

While the mechanics of the arena have changed throughout the series, its overall function has remained the same: at a small cost ofgold, one of the player'sunits may enter the arena to take part in a standardbattle, in hopes of netting a profit from the victory, as well asexperience. Units that cannot attack, such asClerics orBards cannot take part in the arena, nor can units who do not have anyweapons to equip. Unusually,manaketes cannot enter arenas under any circumstances, though they can spawn as enemy units inShadow Dragon & the Blade of Light.

A battle in the arena is similar to standard fights on the map. One battle is performed within the arena, wherein the first unit to attack is determined by the combatant'sattack speed. Should this one round be insufficient to determine a winner, and it often is, another battle is performed, and the cycle continues until one combatant is defeated. Between battles, the player can yield by pressing the B button during this pause if they feel that their unit stands no hope of surviving; doing so, however, causes the player to lose whatever gold they placed as their bet. Fleeing battles is not an option inFire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light.

While effectively acting as a method to "buy" experience points, use of the arena to raise units can be a risky strategy. Enemy units within the arena can be absurdly overpowered, with their stats "scaling" alongside the unit that enters; particularly powerful units in the player's army can end up fighting enemies that not only wield powerful weaponry, but those that break standard class stat caps. In most of the games, characters defeated in the arena arekilled.

In specific games

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light

Arenas made their debut inShadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, acting as a risky method to raising units in the game. Unlike the various arenas found in later games, the arenas here allowed the player to bet various wagers before entering the fray, with higher bets resulting in higher payouts, but also more powerful enemies. Unlike later games in the series, the player cannot yield.

Arenas can be found in Chapters4,8,11,16,18, and20.

Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem

Mystery of the Emblem brought back most of the previous features of the previous game, including the ability to change wagers;Mystery of the Emblem, however, added the ability to yield if the player feels that the fight will end in the character's death. Additionally,Mystery of the Emblem made it impossible for a unit to bring their own weapons to an arena fight, instead giving each challenger their own weapons depending on their relative power.

Arenas can be found in Book 1 in Chapters7,9,13, and16.

Arenas can be found in Book 2 in Chapters3,5,15, and19.

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

Arenas were completely revamped forGenealogy of the Holy War, due to the game's radically different design from the previous games in the series. Instead of being a designated tile on the map, the arena must be accessed from acastle; furthermore, units do not die if they are defeated in the arena, and they instead respawn outside of the castle with only 1 hit point left. Like in FE1, the player can use a unit's own weaponry in the arena.

Fighting in the arena modifies the usual rules of combat. The combatant with the higherAS will initiate combat, with additional rounds of combat extending as necessary; both combatants will continue to fight each other until one of them is defeated or the player yields, either to select a different weapon or to forfeit the match entirely.Vantage, if active, will cause the user to initiate combat for the first round of combat, but subsequent rounds will be granted to the combatant with the higher AS. Additionally, weapons cannot break until the player yields or the match ends, regardless of their durability. If thesleep orsilence statuses are inflicted through theSleep Sword orSilence Sword (unused) respectively, these statuses remain until the match ends or the player forfeits, and can potentially leave the arena enemy completely helpless. Finally, theMiracle skill will be disabled for units entering the arena with 10 or less HP.

Instead of allowing for unlimited uses like in other games, each chapter offers a maximum of seven pre-determined enemies to defeat per battle, gradually increasing in difficulty. Every battle-capable unit can attempt the arena as many times as they like until they have defeated all seven foes. Assuming a unit can survive all seven battles, they can win a total of 17500 gold per chapter; unlike in other games, no initial wager has to be made to participate. A unit's progress in the chapter's arena is marked as an "Arena Level" stat in their profiles, which is reset at the end of each chapter.

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Due toThracia 776 returning to the gameplay seen in the first three games of the series, the arenas within the game are more similar to those seen inMystery of the Emblem. The ability to flee from battles and to set one's bet were carried over, as was the possibility of characters dying in the arena. The weapon mechanics work like inMystery of the Emblem, with the type of weapon being determined by which one has the highest weapon rank.

As to take advantage of some of the game's new additions, the arena could be influenced by outside factors, such as fromsupports, andauthority bonuses or theCharm skill. As a drawback, however, the arena also increases the unit'sfatigue levels, and as such players cannot easily abuse the arena to raise their units, lest they become unavailable for the next chapter.

Arenas can be found in Chapters7,9,10,12,14,16 (west route),20,21, and22,

Game Boy Advance games

The Binding Blade,The Blazing Blade, andThe Sacred Stones for the most part retain an arena system similar to that ofThracia 776, although support effects are only carried into arena battles inThe Binding Blade.^[1] Both player and enemy units get 10avoid from the arena tile during combat.

The amount of gold to be wagered depends on the stats of the opponent, compared to those of your unit. As inThracia 776, the weapon type used by the player unit is the one with the most weapon experience. In case of a tie, goes in the order ofIron Sword,Iron Lance,Iron Bow,Fire,Lightning andFlux. Enemies may get upgraded weaponry if the players' defensive stats are too high. Additionally, enemy stats are unaffected by class bases and class caps.

Enemies in the arena do not take into account the bonuses received from the dancer rings inThe Blazing Blade, making the arena much more reliable. The effects of these rings can be retained indefinitely via the use ofa glitch.

InThe Sacred Stones, while usable during the course of normal chapters, arenas are completely inaccessible duringskirmishes that take place on theworld map. As a result, once a chapter with an arena has been completed, it can never be accessed again. They also cannot be accessed from any sort of menu, unlikeshops orarmories.

While not imperative to gameplay, the overuse of arenas can be detrimental to the player's final tacticsranking inThe Binding Blade andThe Blazing Blade; as more turns are used for using the arena, the number of turns used per map increases, lowering the rating.

A rare glitch exclusive toThe Binding Blade can cause the arena to spawnBrigands wielding abow orWarriors wielding ananima tome. In these circumstances, damage will be inflicted to one or both of the combatants, and the battle abruptly ends; no reward is dispensed if this occurs. This was fixed in both subsequent games.

In all three Game Boy Advance games, if a combatant's weapon exhausts its uses, the game will freeze at the start of the next round of combat; this can be prevented by yielding the match.

All three Game Boy Advance games also feature theLink Arena, a multiplayer mode based loosely on the gameplay of the traditional arenas.

Arenas are found inThe Binding Blade in Chapters7,11 (east route),13, 17 (Ilia andSacae routes), and20 (Ilia).

Arenas are found inThe Blazing Blade in Chapters16xE/17xH,20E/21H, 23E/24H (Lloyd's andLinus's routes), and29xE/31xH.

Arenas are found inThe Sacred Stones in Chapters5,10 (Eirika's route), and12 (Ephraim's route).

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon andNew Mystery of the Emblem

Being remakes of the first and third games in the series, the remakes ofShadow Dragon andNew Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow feature an arena system more similar to their original source material.

Unique to these two games is the ability to use the arena multiple times in the same turn; upon completion of one battle in the arena, the player can choose whether or not to allow their unit to take place in another battle, with the outcome featuring even more experience and monetary gain. This strategy, however, is of extreme risk, due to the unit not being healed between battles.

Furthermore, arena battles are capped at 6 rounds of combat. If both combatants are alive by the end of 6 rounds of combat, a draw will be declared, the wager will not be charged and the combatant will be ejected from the arena with any damage they have sustained.

New Mystery of the Emblem also features a variant of arena battles accessible inpreparations—theTraining Grounds, styled as a training area, which is unlocked inChapter 5. While similar to arenas, the Training Grounds do not give any cash reward and instead, the initial bet is a fee paid to use them for training; the player is able to see the combat forecast and experience gained for a session before starting a match; and the player's units use their own inventories. After a match, the player unit will be fully healed if they survived; if they won, the player may continue the streak for increased experience gain, but will not be able to change their equipment. When leveling up in the training grounds, the amount of stats gained will be set fixed, with the amount being the character's growth rate total (for example Marth, with his growth rate total of 395% will have a 95% chance of gaining 4 stats and a 5% chance of gaining 3 stats). Note that the game does not check if a stat is capped when choosing which stats to level up, so if a character has capped one or more stats they may gain fewer stats than expected.

A variation of the Training Grounds feature is used inFire Emblem Warriors, though this version is a simple menu used to level-up characters for a fee without any of the arena-style gameplay.

Arenas can be found inShadow Dragon in Chapters4,8,11,16,18, and20.

Arenas can be found inNew Mystery of the Emblem in Chapters9,15,19, and21.

Fire Emblem Fates

Arenas return inFates after being absent fromAwakening, though their role is now as a facility in the largerMy Castle feature. As with previous games, a unit enters the arena and engages in combat to win a prize. Gold and experience are not won in theFates arena; instead, resources are bet, and another of the same resource is rewarded when the battle is won. In this arena, Quiet Burn and its Roar variation always play, regardless of castle settings.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

The Training Grounds return fromFire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, allowing the player to participate in tournaments while exploring themonastery. There, they can choose any unit from their current roster—with the exception of Byleth—to participate in a tournament in exchange for one activity point. They are put up against a series of five opponents whose level and fighting prowess increase with each level. The enemies the player encounters mostly consist of generic units, but during Part I, they can also include unrecruited units from other houses. Tournaments first become available duringChapter 4.

After each round, the player is given the opportunity to quit or to heal their unit for 30 HP using the X button. However, they can only heal their unit up to two times per attempt. During combat, units use their normal combat stats, abilities, and current equipment (but not weapons), and can miss or landcritical hits like in normal battles. Additionally, battles at the Training Grounds are always treated as though the player had initiated the combat, and therefore skills likeDarting Blow orDuelist's Blow are active. Units do not have anybattalions equipped at the Training Grounds, removing any potential stat gains from battalions and activating skills such asFelix'sLone Wolf.

Each month, a different tournament is held at the monastery. Each tournament focuses on a different weapon type, and only that weapon type can be used at the training grounds. Playable units always use the most basic weapons of that weapon type. For most weapons, this means they use the training weapon associated with that weapon type (e.g. aTraining Sword or aTraining Axe), while for magic, it means a unit uses their lowest-ranked spell (e.g.Constance usesFire whileAnnette usesWind). As spells need to be learned by raising a unit's skill levels, units who have not yet learned any spells yet cannot participate. Similarly, units need to be in a class that can use magic to participate in magic tournaments. Likewise, units in classes that cannot usegauntlets cannot participate in Brawling tournaments. Classes that can only use Gauntlets while dismounted—such asPaladin—cannot be used, as mounted units cannot dismount at the Training Grounds. As they do not learn any Black Magic spells, Lysithea, Hubert, andHapi cannot participate in the Black Magic tournaments, however, as theMage class grants theFire ability, changing into it allows them to partake.

The player earns more gold the further their unit has made it. Additionally, winning a tournament for the first time (if multiple months have the same tournament, each month counts as a separate tournament) grants the player a special reward – usually a promotion item or a forged weapon of the type that was used during the tournament. They can repeat tournaments as long as their activity points allow for it, but the reward can only be obtained once. Repeated tournaments simply reward the player with additional gold.

List of tournaments

Part I: White Clouds

Chapter	Name	Weapon	Reward
Chapter 4	Beginner Sword Tournament	Sword	Steel Sword+ 300G
Chapter 5	House vs. House Lance Tournament	Lance	Intermediate Seal 300G
Chapter 6	Intermediate Axe Tournament	Axe	Steel Axe+ 500G
Chapter 7	House vs. House Sword Tournament	Sword	Intermediate Seal 500G
Chapter 8	Intermediate Brawling Tournament	Brawling	Steel Gauntlets+ 750G
Chapter 9	Intermediate Black Magic Tournament	Black Magic	Silver Shield 750G
Chapter 10	House vs. House Bow Tournament	Bow	Advanced Seal 1,000G
Chapter 11	House vs. House Magic Tournament	Black Magic	Advanced Seal 1,000G
Chapter 12	Intermediate Lance Tournament	Lance	Silver Lance 1,000G

Part II: Silver Snow

Chapter	Name	Weapon	Reward
Chapter 14	Advanced Sword Tournament	Sword	Silver Sword+ 1,250G
Chapter 15	Advanced Lance Tournament	Lance	Silver Lance+ 1,250G
Chapter 16	Advanced Bow Tournament	Bow	Silver Bow+ 1,250G
Chapter 17	Black Magic Tournament	Black Magic	Magic Staff 1,500G
Chapter 18	Advanced Axe Tournament	Axe	Silver Axe+ 1,500G
Chapter 20	Advanced Brawling Tournament	Brawling	Silver Gauntlets+ 1,500G
Chapter 21	Ultimate Sword Tournament	Sword	Master Seal 2,000G

Part II: Azure Moon

Chapter	Name	Weapon	Reward
Chapter 14	Advanced Sword Tournament	Sword	Silver Sword+ 1,250G
Chapter 15	Advanced Lance Tournament	Lance	Silver Lance+ 1,250G
Chapter 16	Advanced Bow Tournament	Bow	Silver Bow+ 1,250G
Chapter 17	Black Magic Tournament	Black Magic	Magic Staff 1,500G
Chapter 18	Advanced Axe Tournament	Axe	Silver Axe+ 1,500G
Chapter 19	Advanced Brawling Tournament	Brawling	Silver Gauntlets+ 1,500G
Chapter 20	Ultimate Sword Tournament	Sword	Master Seal 2,000G
Chapter 21	Ultimate Sword Tournament	Sword	Master Seal 2,000G

Part II: Verdant Wind

Chapter	Name	Weapon	Reward
Chapter 14	Advanced Sword Tournament	Sword	Silver Sword+ 1,250G
Chapter 15	Advanced Lance Tournament	Lance	Silver Lance+ 1,250G
Chapter 16	Advanced Bow Tournament	Bow	Silver Bow+ 1,250G
Chapter 17	Advanced Axe Tournament	Axe	Silver Axe+ 1,500G
Chapter 18	Advanced Brawling Tournament	Brawling	Silver Gauntlets+ 1,500G
Chapter 19	Ultimate Sword Tournament	Sword	Master Seal 2,000G
Chapter 21	Ultimate Sword Tournament	Sword	Master Seal 2,000G
Chapter 22	Ultimate Sword Tournament	Sword	Master Seal 2,000G

Part II: Crimson Flower

Chapter	Name	Weapon	Reward
Chapter 13	Advanced Sword Tournament	Sword	Silver Sword+ 1,250G
Chapter 14	Advanced Lance Tournament	Lance	Silver Lance+ 1,250G
Chapter 15	Advanced Bow Tournament	Bow	Silver Bow+ 1,250G
Chapter 16	Advanced Axe Tournament	Axe	Silver Axe+ 1,500G
Chapter 17	Ultimate Sword Tournament	Sword	Master Seal 1,500G

Additionally, the following tournament is available fromChapter 8 until Chapter 12 as part of a quest. Uniquely, it allows and requires the player to deploy Byleth against a series of five especially strong opponents. While this quest is active, the player may switch between the quest tournament and the regular monthly tournaments by pressing the ZL or ZR buttons.

Uniquely, the units the player faces during this tournament do not adhere to any weapon type restrictions. Instead, they use weapons depending on their class (e.g.Armored Knights useaxes). The enemy composition during this tournament changes based on Byleth's gender. In addition to the tournament reward, the player obtains the rewards from the quest.

Proper Conduct

Quest	Name	Weapon	Reward
A Question of Conduct	Proper Conduct	Sword	Brave Sword 1,150G

Fire Emblem Engage

The arena is part of theSomniel. There are two types of battles that can done:

• Standard: the chosen character is put against a random ally orEmblem. The unit will gainexperience through battle. If another unit is fought, the two characters will buildsupport points; if an Emblem is fought, bond level will increase. This type of battle can be done three times after each map.
• Emblem: the player chooses a character and an Emblem to improve their bond level, at the cost ofbond fragments.

If ten rounds of combat pass, the battle ends in a draw. Starting with update 1.3, the player can access theskill inheritance menu.

Fire Emblem Heroes

Main article:Arena Duels

InFire Emblem Heroes the Arena serves as the game's competitive mode. In this mode players assemble teams and fight other player's teams to earn points for victories. Players may also set up defense teams which also reward points when they defeat challengers.

Other appearances

Super Smash Bros. series

This article or section is a short summary of Arena. SmashWiki featuresa more in-depth article.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U features an exclusive stage based on the arenas, called theColiseum (Japanese:闘技場Arena). Like the Castle Siege stage fromSuper Smash Bros. Brawl, it is a generic pastiche of arenas from across the series and does not specifically reference any single game. A set of gear-driven mechanisms underneath the stage regularly raise and lower portions of the floor to create platforms and adjust the surface level of the stage. One of the tracks that plays here is a medley of the arena battle music fromGenealogy of the Holy War andThe Binding Blade. The stage later returns inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Trivia

• FromGenealogy of the Holy War toNew Mystery of the Emblem, the soundtrack in the arena lobby and in battles is typically a new take on a song from an olderFire Emblem game. The lobby track is usually altered to sound like it is being played for the crowd at the arena, complete with cheering and applause.
  • TheGenealogy lobby uses the player-phase map theme fromShadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, while arena battles use the player-phase battle theme from the same game.
  • TheThracia 776 lobby uses the player phase map theme "Advance" fromMystery of the Emblem Book 2.
  • TheThe Binding Blade lobby uses the armory theme fromMystery of the Emblem, while its battles use the player phase battle theme fromGenealogy.
  • TheThe Blazing Blade battles use the player phase battle theme fromThracia 776.
  • TheThe Sacred Stones lobby uses the player phase map theme fromGenealogy'sprologue, while its battles use the player phase battle theme fromGaiden.
  • TheShadow Dragon lobby uses the player phase map theme "Follow Me!" fromThe Sacred Stones, while arena battles use "Clash" fromPath of Radiance.
  • TheNew Mystery of the Emblem lobby uses the player phase map theme "Follow Me!" fromThe Sacred Stones.

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

Official artwork

• 
  Artwork of the fightmonger hiring combatants fromAPE'sMystery of the Emblem guide.

Screenshots

• 
  Draug in an arena match inMystery of the Emblem.
• 
  Arden in an arena match inGenealogy of the Holy War.
• 
  Nino in an arena match inThe Blazing Blade.
• 
  The fightmonger inviting a unit inShadow Dragon.
• 
  Marth in an arena match inShadow Dragon.
• 
  Phina in a Training Grounds session inNew Mystery of the Emblem.
• 
  Céline andDiamant in an arena match inEngage.

Fightmonger portraits

• 
  Portrait of the fightmonger inShadow Dragon & the Blade of Light.
• 
  Portrait of the fightmonger inMystery of the Emblem.
• 
  Portrait of the fightmonger inGenealogy of the Holy War.
• 
  Portrait of the fightmonger inThracia 776.
• 
  Portrait of the fightmonger inThe Binding Blade,The Blazing Blade andThe Sacred Stones.
• 
  Portrait of the fightmonger inShadow Dragon.
• 
  Portrait of the fightmonger inNew Mystery of the Emblem.

References