Barriers (Japanese:障壁Barrier) are a form of defense used bymonsters which debuted inFire Emblem: Three Houses. They are a special force that surrounds monsters, granting them enhanced survivability, as well as variousabilities while they are present.

Overview

A barrier is present for each space a monster occupies, and each has its own durability independent of the other barriers. If a space with a barrier is targeted when attacking the monster, the damage dealt to the monster will be reduced, and they also gain access to theirbarrier abilities. Barriers will be weakened, and eventually destroyed if they endure up to two rounds of combat in which they take damage from their opponent. They will be destroyed instantly if they are the primary target of agambit, or if they take damage from a weapon or acombat art that they areweak to. Barriers do not get damaged when they are the secondary target ofMeteor or anOnager. Destroying a barrier will deprive one of the monster's spaces of its power, and attacking the space will no longer invoke any barrier abilities or damage reduction for the monster.

When a barrier is destroyed, a monster will additionally beconfused, preventing them from counterattacking, no matter which of their spaces is targeted. Destroying all of a monster's barriers results in anarmor break, a more severe form of confusion that also prevents the monster from acting during their next phase. Achieving an armor break on most monsters will reward the player with smithing materials, although each monster can only suffer armor break once;Umbral Beasts do not reward any item, andHegemon Husks are immune to them altogether.

If given the chance, monsters can repair damaged barriers or regain barriers that were destroyed previously, usually after preparing aStaggering Blow. Barriers cannot be repaired or regained if the monster was inflicted with an armor break, however.

Data

Game	Icon	Effect	Activation	Capacity	Notes
Three Houses		Reduces all damage dealt to the user by 50%. Grants access to the user's Barrier Abilities.	If an intact barrier is targeted	--	--

Variants

There are several variants of the standard barrier, with different damage reduction percentages or altered behaviors.

Enclosing Wall

Game	Icon	Effect	Activation	Capacity	Notes
Three Houses		Reduces all damage dealt to the user by 50%. Grants access to the user's Barrier Abilities.	If an intact barrier is targeted	--	Can only endure one round of combat before being destroyed.

Dragon-Scale Wall

Game	Icon	Effect	Activation	Capacity	Notes
Three Houses		Reduces all damage dealt to the user by 70%. Grants access to the user's Barrier Abilities.	If an intact barrier is targeted	--	--

Heavily Armored Wall

Game	Icon	Effect	Activation	Capacity	Notes
Three Houses		Reduces all damage dealt to the user by 50%. Grants access to the user's Barrier Abilities.	If an intact barrier is targeted	--	Will not inflict anarmor break to the user upon being destroyed. Refreshes at the start of each turn.

Essence Barrier

Game	Icon	Effect	Activation	Capacity	Notes
Three Houses		Reduces all damage dealt to the user by 70%. Grants access to the user's Barrier Abilities.	If an intact barrier is targeted	--	--

Availability

Three Houses

Barrier-exclusive abilities

While barriers can grant nearly any kind of ability when they are intact, there are also a select few abilities that are only available from barriers; most others can be obtained through other methods. The abilities that are exclusive to barriers are the following:

• Vital Defense
• Giant Wings
• Anti-Magic Armor
• Divine Dragon Horn

Flavor text

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

• 
  Icon used by Barriers inThree Houses.
• 
  Icon used by weakened Barriers inThree Houses.
• 
  Icon used by Barrier Abilities inThree Houses.
• 
  AnExperimental Demonic Beast with all of its barriers intact.
• 
  An Experimental Demonic Beast with one of its barriers weakened.
• 
  An Experimental Demonic Beast with one of its barriers broken.
• 
  An Experimental Demonic Beast being afflicted with an armor break.

References