Theskill system (Japanese:スキルSkill) is aFire Emblem series gameplay mechanic revolving around the use of special abilities, called skills, which grant additional abilities to individualunits which subvert the normal flow of gameplay. Learned by units both depending on theirclass and on a personal basis, skills possess a wide variety of effects which serve to both augment and hinder a unit's performance and capabilities in battle, and are used by both playable units and the enemy army.

While skills as a defined mechanic first appeared inFire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, skill-like features of certain classes have existed sinceShadow Dragon & the Blade of Light. InThree Houses and its spin-offWarriors: Three Hopes, skills are instead known asabilities.

Overview

Classifications

Class and personal skills

From the introduction of the system inGenealogy of the Holy War toRadiant Dawn, skills are divided into two categories which dictate their availability:class skills (Japanese:兵種スキルclass skill) andpersonal skills (Japanese:個人スキルpersonal skill), or "soldier" and "citizen" respectively inPath of Radiance. A class skill is a skill possessed by all units of a certain class, whereas a personal skill is a skill specifically inherent or taught to an individual unit and has no direct association with a class. Overlap in the two categories is possible, as a skill which is a class skill for some classes may be available as a personal skill for some units.Thracia 776 additionally hasweapon skills (Japanese:武器スキルweapon skill), which are gained while equipping specific weapons that grant them. These are present in other games, but are only shown on a unit's skill list inThracia 776 andEchoes: Shadows of Valentia, and are only referred to as such inThracia.

Example:Pavise is a class skill inGenealogy of the Holy War andThracia 776, associated withGenerals,Barons andEmperors in the former, andBarons only in the latter. However,Xavier also possesses Pavise as a personal skill.

A sub-category of class skills ismastery skills inPath of Radiance andRadiant Dawn, which are class skills available only to advanced classes (requiring the use of anOccult scroll in the former game) and are typically more potent than "normal" skills.

The next game with a skill system afterRadiant Dawn,Awakening, removed distinct types of skills in favor of a simpler system where all skills are learned from classes, and can then beequipped whenever.Fates, while continuing to use this system and not using the term, introduces a new form of personal skills to the series. In it, every normal playable unit has a single completely unique skill which cannot be unequipped, and cannot be learned by other units by any means. These are often designed to reflect the unit's character in some way. Playable unit-unique skills would continue to be featured in later games in the series, and come to explicitly be named personal skills, effectively replacing the previous definition.

Three Houses andEngage, while retaining the equipped skills system, return to a more rigid definition of different types of skills. In addition to equipped skills and the now so named personal skills, the class skills system from the earlier games returns mostly unchanged, where all units of a certain class have an unremovable skill or set of skills. InThree Houses, most classes have class skills, but inEngage only advanced classes have skills, and units can only use them once they reach level 5 in the class.

Equippable skills

FromAwakening onward, the original idea of personal skills is somewhat reworked with the introduction of a unit's personal skill pool, which their learned skills accumulate in and can be equipped from at the player's leisure.Awakening andFates do not use the terms "personal skill" and "class skill", referring to everything as simply "skills". In these games, almost all skills are learned by leveling up in a certain class, which grants access to that class' skills to the unit at set levels. These skills are then retained in the skill pool across all furtherreclasses andclass changes. However, a small few units do have access to skills which cannot be learned from any of the classes they have access to; in particular, everybonus unit inAwakening has at least one skill outside their default class, with some being otherwise unavailable to them due to gender.

InThree Houses, they are known asequipped abilities, and are learned from a variety of sources, most often by raising a unit'sskill levels. Other sources includeClass mastery, unlocking units'budding talents, and special events. InEngage, they are known asinherited skills and are acquired exclusively by spendingSP to inherit them fromEmblem Rings.

Offensive skills

Main article:Offensive skill

An offensive skill is any skill which has a percentage chance of activating derived from a specific stat possessed by the user or their target, usually theirSkill stat. In common fandom parlance, however, the term is most commonly used to refer to directly offensive skills with this activation criteria, such asSol andLuna.

Restrictions

InThracia 776, there is no restriction on how many skills a unit can learn. Theoretically, a unit can be taught all eight of the skills learnable from the game'sskill manuals with no restriction. A unit who already possesses a given skill cannot learn it a second time from a manual.

InPath of Radiance andRadiant Dawn, skill restriction is determined by thecapacity stat. Every unit has a set number of capacity points depending on theirclass, which are consumed by the skills they have been taught; every skill has a set number of capacity points which it requires to be available if it is to be taught to a unit, with the required point threshold depending on the individual skill. Generally speaking, advanced classes have a higher capacity than basic classes, andlaguz possess the highest capacity of any class. It is important to remember that mandatory class skills such asShove andCanto (marked with the icon)do consume capacity points and cannot be removed to free up capacity. There is also a physical limit in place inRadiant Dawn, where regardless of how much capacity they have left over, a unit cannot learn more than six skills, including any irremovable ones.

Games fromAwakening forward (with the exception ofEchoes) feature a system where units can only have a certain number of skills active on themselves at a time; any surplus skills are stored in a pool of skills available to the individual unit, and all units can freely swap around, apply or remove skills in the menu when outside of battle.Awakening andFates allow five player-assigned skills active per unit at a time, withFates additionally featuring a sixth, always equipped personal skill unique to each unit.Three Houses builds upon this further, allowing for one personal skill, five player-assigned skills, and up to three skills inherent to a unit's class. InEngage, player units may only have four non-Emblem skills active at a time; one personal skill, two player-assigned skills, and one class-specific skill unlocked by reaching a certainlevel. Equipping anEmblem Ring will grant them as many as six additional skills unique to that Emblem Ring.

List of skills by game

Technically speaking, class skills exist in almost every game in the series, in the sense of abilities dependent on specific classes, and indeed many abilities available to classes in non-skill-enabled games are considered skills in games with a formal skill system (in some cases, such asCanto andShove, a skill already existed in an hidden and undefined state in earlier games with skill systems before finally being given a proper skill entry in a later game with a skill system). However, only ten titles in the main series actually possess a formal skill system.

Genealogy of the Holy War andThracia 776

Genealogy of the Holy War andThracia 776 are the originators of the formal skill system, with the original eighteen skills debuting in the former. Of these eighteen only two,Critical andFollow-Up, did not return inThracia 776 as the game's mechanics were altered to render their respective functions part of standard gameplay as per the rest of the series.

InGenealogy of the Holy War, they are given categories in the skill menu: Standard (Japanese:いっぱん), Combat (Japanese:せんとう), and Special Sword (Japanese:とくしゅ剣). Special sword skills are a specific subcategory of offensive trigger skills which are available only for unmounted sword-wielding units (Sword Fighter,Swordmaster,Forrest,Thief,Thief Fighter,Dancer) and cannot be learned by mounted or non-sword-wielding units under any circumstances, and cannot activate simultaneously if multiples are possessed by a single unit. These restrictions were lifted inThracia 776 onward, allowing them to be freely learned and used by any class, as well as allowing multiple Special Swords to activate on the same attack.

Skills inGenealogy of the Holy War andThracia 776
Skill	Effect	Available in: Genealogy	Available in: Thracia	Category (Genealogy)
Accost	Initiate another round of combat against the foe, up to 19 times.*/Engages the enemy in another round of combat once.*	✓	✓	Combat
Adept	It deals two consecutive hits against the enemy.Does not activate when wielding abrave weapon.*	✓	✓	Combat
Astra	If activated, user's next strike becomes five consecutive strikes. It is possible for any and all of the strikes to be acritical hit.	✓	✓	Special Sword
Bargain	Reduces prices at the vendor,weapon repair shop and pawn shop* by 50%.	✓	✓	Standard
Charm	+10%hit rate andavoid to all alliedunits within a3-tile radius of the user.	✓	✓	Standard
Critical	Allows the user to performcritical hits.	✓	✗	Combat
Dance	Refreshesall*/one* adjacent allies, or all other allies in thehome castle*, allowing them to move again if they have already moved.	✓	✓	Standard
Follow-Up	Enables the user to makefollow-up attacks if user'sattack speed exceeds foe's.	✓	✗	Combat
Luna	If activated, user's next strike ignores the enemy'sDefense andResistance*/Magic*.This attack also ignores the standard hit check.	✓	✓	Special Sword
Miracle	The user'savoid is increased by [(11 − HP) × 10] for one turn.*/ If activated, for the entire round of combat, the user will avoid any attack that would kill them.*	✓	✓	Standard
Nihil	It negates the enemy'ssword skills,critical hits andbonus damage.*/ It negates the enemy's combat-related skills.*	✓	✓	Combat
Paragon	It doubles the user'sexperience gain.	✓	✓	Standard
Pavise	If activated, negates an enemy attack against the user.Cannot activate if foe is using Nosferatu, or Lands Sword at 2-range.	✓	✓	Combat
Renewal	It heals 5–10HP to the user at the beginning of the user'sphase.*/ It heals 10–20% of the user's HP at the beginning of the user's phase.*	✓	✓	Standard
Sol	If activated, user's next strike recovers HP equal to damage dealt to foe.This attack also ignores the standard hit check.	✓	✓	Special Sword
Steal	On a successful hit, user takes all of the enemy's gold. Also grants guaranteed critical hits if the foe hasWrath active.*/ The user can steal weapons and items from enemies, if (user'sspeed > enemy's speed) and (user'sconstitution > item'sweight)*	✓	✓	Combat
Vantage	If currentHP < (max HP/2) + 1, negate foe'sAccost and user always strikes first in combat.*/ The user always strikes first, unless the foe also has Vantage.*	✓	✓	Combat
Wrath	The user always unleashes acritical hit when CurrentHP < (Max HP/2) + 1.*/ The user always unleashes a critical hit on their non-follow-up counterattacks when the enemy attacks first (affected by attack order changes fromVantage).*	✓	✓	Combat

Canto and thebrave effect of weapons are also internally treated as hidden skills, though they are simple to track as they are only associated with mounted units and brave weapons respectively.

In addition,Thracia 776 also has three hidden, unnamed skills given to certain units. If using theLil' Manstertranslation patch, it is possible to see these normally hidden skills via a setting in the options menu.

• Animmortality skill (named "Miracle+" inLil' Manster), that functions similarly to Miracle with a 100% activation rate, making the unit with the skill unkillable. This skill also makes the unit immune to status effects. This is given to plot-important characters who are meant to stay alive later, such asEyvel andKempf. Note that this is unrelated to theunused Immortal skill that functions completely differently.
• An uncapturable skill (named "Anchor" inLil' Manster) that prevents the unit from being captured. As with the previous skill, this is given to plot-important characters, though some like Eyvel andTanya in Chapter 8x are made immortal but not uncapturable.
• Certain civilians are given a skill that prevents the AI from attacking them (named "Noncombatant" inLil' Manster). Note that this does not prevent enemies from capturing an unarmed unit.

The Sacred Stones

The Sacred Stones reintroduced skills to the series following their absence in its two predecessors, albeit in a significantly watered-down form compared to skill systems in other games. Seven skills are present in the game, all class skills. The game interface allots no specific space to profile skills and their effects, and the skills are only acknowledged briefly by name in the class descriptions.

Path of Radiance andRadiant Dawn

Regular skills

Skills inPath of Radiance andRadiant Dawn
Skill	Effect	Regular skill in: Path of Radiance	Regular skill in: Radiant Dawn
Nihil	Negates enemy skills in battle.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal and class)
Vantage	May grant the first strike.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Adept	Can deal a second consecutive hit.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Wrath	Boostscritical rate whenHP is below a certain threshold.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Miracle	Can reduce fatal damage to half of user's current HP.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Resolve	BoostsStrength,Skill, andSpeed when below half total HP.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Counter	May deal half damage dealt to unit back at enemy.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Guard(GCN)/Cancel(Wii)	May nullify further action from target.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Corrosion	May further reducedurability of target's weapon.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Parity	May negate all other skills and bonuses.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Gamble	May double critical rate at cost of halfhit rate.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Smite	Canshove an ally two spaces instead of one.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Celerity	Increasesmovement by 2.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Tempest	Doublesbiorhythm bonuses and penalties.	✓ (Personal)	✗
Serenity	Halves biorhythm bonuses and penalties.	✓ (Personal)	✗
Provoke	May attract enemies toward user.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Shade	May repel enemies from user.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Renewal	Restores 10% of maximum HP at start of user's turn phase.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Savior	Negatesrescue penalties.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Paragon	Doublesexperience gain.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Reinforce	Can summon three partner reinforcements.	✓ (Personal)	✗
Blossom	Slows experience gain, but increasesgrowth rates.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Canto(GCN)/Galdrar(Wii)	Refreshes ally units. Radiant Dawn also allows biorhythm alteration,laguz transformation assistance, and healing of ally units.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Insight	Bootshit rate. Also boostsvision inRadiant Dawn.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Vigilance	Boostsavoid. Also boostsdodge inRadiant Dawn.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Daunt	Reduces enemy hit rate and critical rate.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Mantle	Negates all damage. InRadiant Dawn, ignored for non-blessed weapons, and additionally recovers user's HP at start of user's turn phase, and grants the effects of the Nihil and Fortune skills.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Discipline(Path of Radiance)	Decreases damage dealt by user.	✓ (Personal)	✗
Discipline(Radiant Dawn)	Doublesweapon experience gain.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Impregnable	No effect.	✗ (Unused)	✗
Lumina	Enables use oflight magic.	✓ (Class)	✗ (Replaced byweapon level)
Knife	Enables use ofknives.	✓ (Personal and class)	✗ (Replaced byweapon level)
Steal	May stealweapons anditems from target'sinventory.	✓ (Personal and class)	✓ (Class)
Shove	May push ally one space away.	✗ (Undefined)	✓ (Class)
Canto	May use leftover movement after attacking or performing other actions.	✗ (Undefined)	✓ (Class)
Critical +5	Boosts critical rate by 5%.	✗	✓ (Class)
Critical +10	Boosts critical rate by 10%.	✗	✓ (Class)
Critical +15	Boosts critical rate by 15%.	✗	✓ (Class)
Critical +20	Boosts critical rate by 20%.	✗	✓ (Class)
Critical +25	Boosts critical rate by 25%.	✗	✓ (Class)
Sacrifice	Drains user's HP to heal target, also healsstatus effects.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Guard(Wii)	May take a hit intended for an adjacent buddysupport partner.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Fortune	Negatescritical hits.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Howl	May stun indirect attackers.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Quickclaw	May damage indirect attackers.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Wildheart	Allowslaguz to halfshift.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Shriek	May negate target'sLuck when attacked indirectly.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Imbue	Restores HP to user based onMagic.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Pass	Allows user to pass through spaces occupied by foes.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Beastfoe	Allows user to dealbonus damage to beast laguz.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Birdfoe	Allows user to deal bonus damage against bird laguz.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Dragonfoe	Allows user to deal bonus damage against dragon laguz.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Flourish	Allows user to weaken their damage output.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Disarm	Unequips target's equipped weapon.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Mercy	User cannot kill target; otherwise-lethal blows leave target with 1 HP.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Nullify	Negates bonus damage done toward user.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Formshift	Allows a laguz user to remain fully transformed at all times.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Blessing	Restores HP to allies.	✗ (Instead a mastery skill)	✓ (Personal)
Boon	Heals status effects from allies.	✗ (Instead a mastery skill)	✓ (Personal)
Glare	May petrify target.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Pavise	May negate all damage.	✗ (Instead a mastery skill)	✓ (Personal)
Maelstrom	May damage indirect attackers.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Blood Tide	Boosts allies'Strength andSkill.	✗	✓ (Personal)
White Pool	Boosts allies'Magic andSpeed	✗	✓ (Personal)
Night Tide	Boosts allies'Defense andResistance	✗	✓ (Personal)
Stillness	May strongly repel enemies.	✗	✓ (Personal)
Aurora	Deals half damage taken back at enemy.	✗	✓ (Personal)

Mastery skills

Mastery skills (Japanese:奥義スキルesoteric skills) are a classification of powerful skills in the Tellius duology and a sub-type of class/soldier skills. The majority of class families are associated with a mastery skill, which normally are trigger skills dealing exceedingly potent amounts of damage to enemies. All mastery skills consume a very high amount of capacity, hindering the ability to equip them alongside other skills. In other games, the mastery skill distinction does not exist and they are treated as normal, if uncommon, skills; additionally, a fewPath of Radiance mastery skills were downgraded to become normal skills inRadiant Dawn. All three of the sword skills of the Jugdral duology also act as mastery skills in Tellius.

InPath of Radiance, mastery skills are learned byadvanced-class beorc units andlaguz units above level 15 by equipping them with anOccult scroll. InRadiant Dawn, beorc units automatically obtain their mastery skill upon promoting to theirthird-tier advanced class, while laguz units gain their mastery skills by using aSatori Sign item after reaching a minimum level of 30.

Mastery skills inPath of Radiance andRadiant Dawn
Skill	Effect	Mastery skill in: Path of Radiance	Mastery skill in: Radiant Dawn
Aether	Can launch consecutive attacks, using the power of Sol and Luna.	✓ Lord,Hero	✓ Vanguard
Sol	In certain conditions, restores as many HP as the damage dealt to an enemy.*/ Can inflict 3 times normal damage and restore HP equal to damage dealt.*	✓ Paladin,Valkyrie	✓ Gold Knight,Silver Knight,Valkyrie
Luna	In certain conditions, reduces enemy defense by half.*/ Can neutralize an enemy's defenses and multiply the unit's strength by 3.*	✓ General,Halberdier	✓ Marshall
Astra	In certain conditions, grants this unit 5 consecutive attacks at half damage.*/ Can launch 5 consecutive attacks.*	✓ Swordmaster	✓ Trueblade
Impale	Can multiply damage dealt by 4 times.	✗	✓ Sentinel
Colossus	In certain conditions, increases damage when unit'sCn exceeds enemy's.*/ Can multiply the unit's strength by 3.*	✓ Warrior,Berserker	✓ Reaver
Deadeye	Doubles chance to hit and, in certain instances, puts enemy to sleep.*/ Can multiply damage by 3 times and put the enemy to sleep.*	✓ Sniper	✓ Marksman
Stun	In certain instances, immobilizes an enemy unit for 1 turn after being hit.*/ Can inflict 3 times normal damage and paralyze enemy until their next turn.*	✓ Falcon Knight,Wyvern Lord,Princess Crimea	✓ Seraph Knight,Dragonlord,Queen
Lethality	Can kill with a single strike. Does not work on all opponents.	✓ Assassin	✓ Assassin
Bane	Can reduce an enemy's HP to 1 with a strike. Does not work on all opponents.	✗	✓ Whisper
Flare	In certain conditions, reduces enemy magic resistance by half.*/ Can nullify an opponent's resistance and restore HP equal to damage dealt.*	✓ Sage,Bishop	✓ Arch Sage,Summoner,Empress
Corona	Can nullify an opponent's resistance and halve their hit rate for one turn.	✗	✓ Saint,Chancellor,Light Priestess
Roar	Immobilizes enemies on the next turn. Does not work against certain units.*/ Can multiply the unit's strength by 3 and shocks enemy for a turn.*	✓ Lion,Tiger,Cat	✓ Lion,Tiger
Rend	Can multiply the unit's strength by 5 and shocks enemy for a turn.	✗	✓ Cat
Savage	Can multiply the unit's strength by 3 and halve enemy skill for a turn.	✗	✓ Wolf
Cancel	In certain conditions, nullifies enemy attacks.	✓ Hawk	✗ (Downgraded to normal skill)
Vortex	Attacks with the same effect asWind.	✓ Raven	✗
Tear	Can multiply the unit's strength by 3 and halve enemy speed for a turn.	✗	✓ Hawk,Raven
Blessing	Restores HP to a unit in an adjacent space.	✓ Heron	✗ (Downgraded to normal skill)
Boon	Returns an adjacent unit to normal condition.	✓ Red Dragon,White Dragon	✗ (Downgraded to normal skill)
Ire	Can inflict triple the normal amount of damage dealt.	✗	✓ Red Dragon,White Dragon,Black Dragon
Eclipse	Can neutralize an enemy's defenses and multiply the unit's strength by 5.	✗	✓ Black Knight

Enemy- and NPC-exclusive skills

Enemy-exclusive skills inPath of Radiance andRadiant Dawn
Skill	Effect	Mastery skill in: Path of Radiance	Mastery skill in: Radiant Dawn
Daunt	Reduces enemy hit rate and critical rate.	✓ (Personal)	✓ (Personal)
Aurora	Deals half damage taken back at enemy.	✗	✓ (Personal)

Awakening

Main article:List of skills inFire Emblem Awakening

InAwakening, skills are learned by leveling up in a certainclass. Units learn skills at level 1 and level 10 in unpromoted classes, and at level 5 and level 15 in promoted classes. Skills can be taken from one class into another, even if it would be of no use to them in their current class. While units can learn a large number of skills in this way, they can only equip up to five skills at once.

Skills can also be passed down to children throughinheritance. Children will inherit the lowest skill in each of their parents' skill lists, even if that skill would not be available to them otherwise. The exceptions to this are the charactersChrom andLucina, who will always pass downAether to their daughters andRightful King to their sons, and theSpecial Dance skill, which cannot be inherited and is instead ignored for the purposes of inheritance. Additionally, all skills exclusive todownloadable content cannot be passed down.

Additionally, there are four skills exclusive to downloadable content that can be taught to any unit by using a skill item. These items can be obtained by completing DLC chapters. Furthermore, the skillsShadowgift andConquest are unique in that they are instead tied to a certainSpotPass unit instead of a class, though they can be passed down like class skills.

Fates

Main article:List of skills inFire Emblem Fates

The skill system inFates remains largely identical to that ofAwakening. However,Fates introduces special classes that can reach up to level 40, and will learn new skills at levels 1, 10, 25, and 35. Additionally, each main unit inFates posesses their own personal skill that is unique to them and cannot be given to any other unit. This skill occupies a sixth skill slot, and cannot be removed.

It is possible to use thelogbook or online features to purchase skills onto the equivalent unit in exchange forgold. The amount of gold a skill costs varies from skill to skill, though skills obtained at higher levels generally cost more than those from lower levels.

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is the first remake title in the series to include a defined skill system where its corresponding original game,Gaiden, did not. There are two primary types of skills inShadows of Valentia, combat arts and passive skills. Most combat arts are learned as the result of earning enough skill points (SP) while equipped with a certain piece ofequipment; combat arts usually involve losing a number ofHP when used, and typically grantmight andhit rate boosts in addition to a special effect. Passive skills associated with equipment take effect while the equipment remains equipped, while those not associated with equipment can mostly be subdivided into personal and class varieties, although there is some overlap.

LikeThe Sacred Stones but unlike other games with defined skill systems, each individual skill does not have a dedicated icon; inShadows of Valentia's case, skills associated with equipment will bear an icon based on the type of equipment (sword,lance,bow,shield,ring), and icons also exist forpersonal,class skills, and defensive combat arts.

Combat arts

Main article:Combat art

Note that the below table does not include the SP cost,HP cost,Might boost,hit rate boost, or associated weapons or units; refer to the skill's article for that information.

Combat arts inShadows of Valentia
Skill	Special effect
Curved Shot	No special effect
Wrath Strike	No special effect
Hit and Run	+30 toAvoid
Subdue	Otherwise-fatal hits leave target with 1 HP
Shove	Pushes adjacent ally forward 1 tile
Swap	Switches places with adjacent ally
Crosswise Cut	No special effect
Heavy Draw	No special effect
Duelist Sword	+30 toAvoid +20 tocritical rate +4% to damage output
Sunder	+30 tocritical rate
Hexblade	Converts attack to amagical strike, targeting foe'sResistance
Lunge	+10 tocritical rate Switches places with target after combat
Penetrate	+10 toAvoid Moves forward 1 tile after combat
Leonine Poise	-30 toAvoid +50 tocritical rate User strikes last
Foudroyant	-1 toRange +15 toAvoid DoublesAttack
Knightkneeler	Dealsbonus damage tomounted targets
Armorcrush	Dealsbonus damage toarmored targets
Death Blow	Dealsbonus damage toarmored targets
Celestial Bow	Dealsbonus damage toTerror targets
Grounder	Dealsbonus damage toflying targets
Destreza	Fatal strikes always hit
Encloser	Halts target'smovement for one turn after combat
Ward Arrow	Seals target's magic for one turn after combat
Plenitude	Heals user equal to damage dealt to target
Double Lion	+10 toAvoid Converts attack to abrave strike
Vendetta	Adds user's accumulated damage to theMight calculation
Dragonhaze	Adds user'sSpeed to theMight calculation
Tigerstance	Adds user'sSkill to theMight calculation
Archballista	+2 toRange
Trance Shot	+3 toRange
Shadow Gambit	+10 tocritical rate Ignoresterrain effects on target
Astral Blade	Strike deals five consecutive blows with halvedMight
Roundhouse	+20 each toAvoid andcritical rate Ignores half of target'sDefense andResistance during strike
Solar Thrust	No special effect
Lunar Flash	+10 tocritical rate
Defensive	-5 to damage taken against physical strikes
Coral Cover	Doublesterrain effects
Aegis	Halves damage dealt by ranged strikes
Speculum	Reflects magical damage back at attacker
Pavise	Halves damage dealt by physical strikes
Earth's Kiss	Halves damage dealt by magical strikes
Windsweep	+10 tocritical rate Negates counterattacks
Thunderclap	+1 toRange, minimum 2
Earth's Boon	+5 each toAvoid andcritical rate Grantsprovisions upon defeating target
Flamberge	Converts attack to abravemagical strike
Longearche	FixesRange to 2
Tempest Lance	No special effect
Mistdancer	+10 toAvoid -10 to damage taken against magical strikes
Overrun	+10 toAvoid Pushes target forward 1 square after combat
Hunter's Volley	+10 tocritical rate Converts attack to abrave strike
Scendscale	+2 toRange
Ragnarok Ω	+1 toRange
Triangle Attack	Must surround foe with three flying units with this skill to use; +40 critical rate when in use.

Passive skills

Passive skills inShadows of Valentia
Skill	Effect
Lifetaker	RestoresHP after defeating target
Soothing Light	Restores 5 HP to adjacent allies at start of user's phase
Recovery	Restores 5 HP to user at start of user's phase
Incarnation	Restores 5 HP to user at start of user's phase
Deicide	Grants user ability to defeatDuma
Hex	User may damage itself with its own strike instead of target
Antihex	Nullifies anyHex skill on user's weapon
Transmute	Marks user's weapon as amagic weapon
Reconstruct	Shuffles two of user's non-Resistancegrowth rates eight times
Evade Critical	User is immune tocritical hits
Banish	+10 to damage dealt againstTerror targets
Vengeful Cry	Allows user to counterattack regardless ofrange while usingblack magic
Wrath	Increasescritical rate while below halfHP
Magic +5	+5 toMight while usingblack magic
Discipline	+10 tohit rate while usingblack magic
Influence	+1 toRange while usingblack magic
Sophisticate	+2 toRange while usingblack magic
Bowrange +1	+1 toRange while usingbows
Bowrange +2	+2 toRange while usingbows
Resistance +5	+5 toResistance
Wildfire	+10 each tohit rate andAvoid
Halve Swords	Halves damage dealt to user by asword
Halve Lances	Halves damage dealt to user by alance
Halve Axes	Halves damage dealt to user by anaxe
Sanctuary	Halves damage dealt to user by aTerror adversary
Heavy Armor	Halves damage dealt to user by abow
Apotrope	Halves damage dealt to user byblack magic
Phantasm	Halves damage dealt to user bybows andblack magic
Teleportation	Allows user to teleport next to target and perform another action
Divide	Splits user into two units
Miracle	May survivefatal strike with 1 HP
Eerie Screech	Seals target's magic after combat
Duma's Gift	Negate's target's strikes
Upheaval	Damages all units of opposing alignment on map
Dark Spikes	Damages all units of opposing alignment in range
Dragonskin	Halves damage taken by target's strikes
Anathema	-20Avoid to all enemies within 3 tiles
Nullify Ailments	Nullifiesstatus effects
Anti-Cavalry	Dealsbonus damage tomounted targets
Anti-Armor	Dealsbonus damage toarmored targets
Anti-Fliers	Dealsbonus damage toflying targets
Anti-Terrors	Dealsbonus damage toTerror targets
Pact	NullifiesHP cost when casting spells
Absolve	Negates damage dealt to user byterrain

Three Houses

Main article:List of abilities inFire Emblem: Three Houses

InThree Houses, skills have been renamed to "abilities" to avoid conflict with theskill level system. Abilities are split into three categories: personal abilities, which are unit-specific and cannot be unequipped;class abilities, which are granted so long as a unit is within a certain class; and equipped abilities, which are learned through various means, and can be freely equipped and unequipped at any time outside of battle. Up to nine abilities can be active on a unit at once: one personal ability, three class abilities, and five equipped abilities.Combat arts have additionally been made separate from the ability system.

The methods of obtaining abilities have been changed, with most becoming available by raising a unit's skill level, or by achievingclass mastery, a new feature inThree Houses. Every time a unit enters a round of combat, useswhite magic, or uses agambit, they will gain one point of class Exp for their current class. When the unit has earned enough class Exp for a class, the unit will learn that class's mastery ability and/or combat art.

Engage

Main article:List of skills inFire Emblem Engage

InFire Emblem Engage, each playable character has a unique personal skill. In addition, each promotedClass at level 5, and each special Class at level 25 gains a unique class skill that is lost whenreclassing to another class.

The bulk of the skill system is through theEmblem Ring mechanic. When synced with an Emblem, a unit will be granted several skills. At level 1, an emblem provides one sync skill, and will provide more, as well as improved versions of sync skills, as the bond level is raised. Starting with bond level 5, a unit can inherit the sync skills, as well as some other skills that only take effect when inherited and equipped, at the cost ofSP. Only two inherited skills can be equipped at once. In addition, each emblem has one engage skill (with the exception of EmblemAlear, who cannot be synced with and only has engage skills), that is provided when Engaged with the unit, and an engage attack, which can be used once per engaged state. Engage skills and engage attacks can also gain additional effects based on the user'sunit type. These are detailed on the skills' individual pages.

Like past games, some skills can only be used by enemy units, and are unobtainable by the player.

Heroes

Main article:List of skills inFire Emblem Heroes

Skills inFire Emblem Heroes form the core of the gameplay experience, and come mainly in four types: weapon, assist, special, and passive. Weapon skills are subdivided intored,green,blue, andcolorless categories, and those categories are further subdivided into three categories of their own. Passive skills can be subdivided into types A, B, C, as well as Sacred Seal and attuned skills.

Warriors

Main article:Crests (Warriors) § Skills

Skills are one of four types ofcrests inFire Emblem Warriors, with the most varied variety of effects of all types of crests. Each character has one skill associated primarily with them that can be learned with more commonmaterials; other characters can also make use of a character's personal skill, but doing so requires an essence and another rarer material.

Warriors: Three Hopes

Main article:List of abilities inFire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes took the skill system that was present inFire Emblem: Three Houses and tweaked it in order to accommodate the new gameplay. Personal abilities are now split into three groups while the others groups were left untouched.Black magic,white magic anddark magic are now put into the same category ascombat arts. Additionally, personal abilities, combat arts and magic spells can now level up to level 3, increasing their effects.

There are several other types of abilities that units can utilize in battle:

• Class abilities are granted to units of certain classes and will be removed if the user changes their class.
• Class mastery abilities are abilities that are learned by units upon gaining a certain amount of class experience in a given class. Unlike most other Fire Emblem games, each class can bestow different abilities depending on the unit.
• Innate abilities are identical to class mastery abilities, but the game does not tell the player that these abilities can be learned by units.
• Battalion abilities are abilities granted to units while they have abattalion deployed.

In addition, certain weapons and accessories grant abilities to the user while equipped. Some of these abilities are unique while others can be learned from other sources.Shez can also give theMerc Whistle to an ally with an A-rank support to receive a special accessory that changes Shez's Unique Action Ability to that of their ally's.

Shadows

Main article:Magic Skills#List of magic skills

InFire Emblem Shadows, skills are entirely replaced by magic, also referred to as magic skills. Similarly toHeroes, these form the bulk of the gameplay experience. Magic skills are divided into three categories, those being Light, Shadow, and EX. They are further divided into the four types of attacks, healing, movement, and other. Every disciple can equip four skills in light form and six skills in shadow form. Once a magic skill has been unlocked by collecting enoughDisciple Souls of the skill's corresponding disciple, it can be freely equipped by any disciple.

Etymology and other languages

See also

• Magic Skills
• Offensive skills
• Skill items