For the maps inFire Emblem Gaiden andShadows of Valentia called "Skirmish", seeThe Pilgrimage/Skirmish,War of Deliverance/Skirmish, andLand of Sorrow (Gaiden)/Skirmish.

Askirmish orchallenge (Japanese:遭遇戦encounter battle) is a type of battle which occurs outside the game's main chapters in theFire Emblem games that feature theworld map system:Gaiden and its remakeEchoes: Shadows of Valentia,The Sacred Stones,Awakening, andEngage. In these games, groups of enemy units periodically appear on the world map, and the player can engage them in a skirmish to gainexperience and clear the path obstructed by the enemies.

Fates andThree Houses also feature optional battles, known in the latter asauxiliary battles, but they work differently due to the lack of an explorable world map.

Overview

Mechanics and specifics

Gaiden

Technically speaking, almost every encounter inGaiden is a skirmish contained within a single chapter. Unique to theGaiden treatment of skirmishes is that, every few turns taken on the world map, certain enemy locations will spawn skirmish armies which are in subsequent turns capable of travelling around the world map themselves and may even ambushAlm orCelica's parties should they attempt to move to the present location of a protagonist. It is possible for enemy groups to double up, with two separate enemy armies moving to occupy the same location; in this case, the player fights both groups at once.

Unlike later games, skirmishes inGaiden consist almost exclusively ofhuman enemies.

The Sacred Stones

AfterChapter 8 has been completed, skirmishes become available. Every time the player completes a chapter or visits theTower of Valni orLagdou Ruins, bands ofmonsters will spawn on certain locations on the world map, as marked by the group'sboss. When a location is occupied, the player is prevented from being able to pass it until it has been cleared (while in theory this involves routing the enemy, the location will also be cleared if the player retreats instead). As with the Tower and Ruins, enemies are randomly generated and may be spawned carrying weapons, items, or bags ofgold which they drop upon defeat.

The following locations can host skirmishes:

The strength of the enemies present in a skirmish is dependent on the location, scaling in difficulty based on the location's situation in the game; Za'ha Woods houses the easiest skirmishes, while Melkaen Coast—which does not feature as a chapter in the main game—is the most difficult. All skirmishes will randomly commence withfog of war either on or off.^{[what probability?]}

Awakening

Challenges start appearing on the world map following the completion ofChapter 3, comprising bands of enemyRisen. They work mostly the same way as inThe Sacred Stones, except now the player is not obstructed by the presence of challenges and can walk past them to other destinations on the world map, only engaging them by choice. All locations on the map (with the exception ofthe Endgame's location) are capable of playing host to challenges.

If the player opts to engage aStreetPass orSpotPass bonus team in battle to attempt to recruit their leader, this also acts as a challenge. It is possible to summon Risen groups to the world map at any time usingReeking Boxes; the group will appear on the same location the player was on at the time of using the Reeking Box. The levels of the opposing army depend on where they were summoned; they will be weaker on earlier maps, but get progressively stronger on later maps.

In Lunatic and Lunatic+ modes, the levels of Risen challenges are dependent not on what map they appear on, but on several other factors, such as progress in the main story, how many battles the player has fought, and the overall rating of the player's army. As it is not map-dependent, this can result in challenges on even the Prologue's map being so powerful to the point that their stats are capped.

Fates

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InBirthright andRevelation, challenges can be found on the next chapter menu after completing chapter 6. The player can also scout to spend gold to make a challenge appear. Challenges do not appear at all inConquest. As withAwakening, the levels of the opposing army vary depending on where they were scouted at.

LikeGaiden, most enemies are human, but someFaceless appear.

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

The world map system ofShadows of Valentia is identical toGaiden's. However, the term skirmish is used only to refer to battles against monsters in graveyards (no term was used in the original).

Three Houses

Auxiliary battles can be accessed through the 'Battle' option on a free day fromChapter 2 onward. On Normal Mode, the first 2 options doesn't cost any activity points while the third option, of higher level, andRare Monster Sighting battles cost a single point. On Hard and Maddening Mode, any auxiliary battle costs one activity point. Each auxiliary battle offersgold as well asmonastery items such as produces or ores when completed. Theseason pass adds additional auxiliary battles as options on the battle selection screen. These battles are denoted by a yellow exclamation point symbol. Enemies in these battles have higher levels, making it easier to gainexperience points from fighting them. Additionally, they may dropstat-boosting items. Somequests require the player to complete a pre-determined auxiliary battle. These quests are denoted by a sheet icon. DLC and quest battles always consume an activity point when played.

While on the battle selection screen, if an auxiliary battle has already been completed, the player can't access theGoals andPromotions sections in the menu. As withAwakening's Lunatic and Lunatic+ modes, the levels of the opposing army vary depending on the player's progress in the main story.

Enemies in auxiliary battles are mostly human, though monsters can appear as a third army during certain auxiliary battles as well as during Rare Monster sightings. Human bosses also drop abullion when defeated.

The maps an auxiliary battle can take place on are pre-determined for each free day. While the maps auxiliary battles take place on are reused from regular chapters ofparalogues, the corresponding chapters do not need to be completed in order to unlock the respective map for auxiliary battles. However, most maps are restricted to only appear during certain parts of the game.

List of auxiliary battle maps inFire Emblem: Three Houses
Name	Location	Notes	Quest battles
Plateau	Brionac Plateau	Appears during both parts. The location of the required auxiliary battle duringChapter 2. Reused fromFalling Short of Heaven andThe Secret Merchant.	✗
Empire Territory	Hrym	Appears during both parts. Reused fromRetribution.	Taking Care of Business •The Cream of the Crop
Kingdom Territory	Fraldarius	Appears during both parts. Reused fromTrue Chivalry,The Forgotten, andWeathervanes of Fódlan.	The Best of the Best
Mountains	Kleiman	Appears during both parts. Reused fromWar for the Weak andOil and Water.	Dealing with Deserters
Outskirts	Garreg Mach Monastery (Outskirts)	Appears during Part I. Reused fromChapter 1.	Banish the Bandits •Roster RetrievalDLC •Something to Prove
Road	Magdred Way	Appears during both parts. Reused fromChapter 3.	Clearing the Way •Maintaining Your Training
Desert	Sreng	Appears during both parts. Reused fromThe Sleeping Sand Legend.	Pirates in the North
Border	Fódlan's Throat	Appears during both parts. Reused fromDividing the World andInsurmountable.	Thieves at the ThroatDLC
Ruins	Garreg Mach Monastery (Chapel ruins)	Appears during Part II. Reused fromChapter 8.	✗
Rhodos Coast	Rhodos Coast	Appears during Part II. Reused fromAn Ocean View.	✗
Plains	Tailtean Plains	Appears during Part II. Reused fromCrimson Flower Chapter 17.	✗
Ailell	Ailell	Appears during Part II. Reused fromRumored Nuptials andChapter 15	✗
Gronder Field	Gronder Field	Appears during Part II. Reused fromChapter 7 andChapter 17	✗
Alliance Territory	Gloucester	Paid DLC. Appears during both parts. Reused fromLand of the Golden Deer andDeath Toll.	Fighting Alongside DeathDLC
Forest	Forest inAdrestia	Paid DLC. Appears during both parts. Reused fromForeign Land and Sky andForgotten Hero.	✗
Lake Teutates	Lake Teutates	Paid DLC. Appears during both parts. Reused fromLegend of the Lake.	✗
Zanado	Zanado	Paid DLC. Appears during Part II. Reused fromChapter 2 andTales of the Red Canyon.	✗
Sealed Forest	Sealed Forest	Paid DLC. Appears during Part II. Reused fromChapter 10,The Face Beneath, andDarkness Beneath the Earth.	✗
Conand Tower	Conand Tower	Paid DLC. Appears during Part II. Reused fromChapter 5.	✗

Rare Monster sightings

On certain days, a rare monster may be sighted, allowing the player to attempt a special auxiliary battle. These battles exclusively consist of monster enemies, and will feature a special boss enemy that drops a rusted weapon. When repaired, these weapons can be forged into silver weapons or rare weapons that are exclusive to rare monster sightings. Rare Monster sightings can only be attempted on specific days. The days rare monster sightings are available on are denoted by a red exclamation mark icon on thecalendar. The same icon denotes these battles on the battle selection screen.

Resetting auxiliary battles by either quitting and re-entering the battle or soft-resetting the game changes the enemies' classes and dropped items. As rusted weapons denote the weapon they can be forged into in their item description, this can be used to guarantee a specific item to drop. Only one copy of each special weapon can be obtained from monsters, though theDragon Claws can also be obtained from thePagan Altar.

Possible dropped items
Enemy	Class	Dropped item
King of Fangs	Giant Wolf	Rusted Sword (Silver Sword •Mercurius) Rusted Gauntlets (Silver Gauntlets •Dragon Claws)
King of Wings	Giant Bird	Rusted Sword (Silver Sword •Mercurius) Rusted Bow (Silver Bow •Parthia)
King of Beasts	Wild Demonic Beast	Rusted Lance (Silver Lance •Gradivus) Rusted Axe (Silver Axe •Hauteclere)

There are specialunusedclasses for these rare monsters in the game's files. However, they use regular monster classes in the finished game.

Engage

InEngage skirmishes start appearing after completingChapter 6, and can appear on almost any previously completed map. During a skirmish the player will battleCorrupted foes that they can defeat for experience and gold. Due to plot reasons, skirmishes cannot appear on the maps of Chapters21 and24.

Engage also features training battles, which is any skirmish that spawns inFirene Castle,Brodia Castle, orSolm Palace. During training battles the player will face off against castle guards from their respective country, and permadeath will be disabled on Classic Mode. After a training battle, any surviving unit will receive 30 experience, the player will receive 1,000 G for eachdonation level they have with the country, and any fallen allies will be revived.

A skirmish may appear once any of the following conditions are met:

The level of enemies met in skirmishes equates to the average level of the player's X highest level units +2, where X is the number of available deployment slots. The skirmish boss will always be 5 levels higher than the other enemies. This level calculation does not apply to skirmishes at the Divine Paralogue and the Fell Xenologue, where the levels are entirely random.

Depending on the donation level of the country the skirmish appears in, there is a chance for the battle to feature either gold or silver Corrupted. Gold Corrupted drop gold when defeated, while Silver Corrupted grant extra experience. The amount of gold dropped by Gold Corrupted is dependent on the country's donation level and the game's difficulty level.

If a special enemy spawns on one of the following locations, the battle will havefog of war:

Etymology and other languages

Trivia

• If an enemy ambushes Alm at Zofia Castle inFire Emblem Gaiden orFire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, a battle takes place on a map not otherwise seen.
• InFire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, the text that appears when you get into a skirmish with an enemy has different text between the Japanese and international versions. In the Japanese version the text reads "Opening of a Battle!", while in the international versions the text simply reads "Skirmish!".

See also

• Side quest
• Trial Map