"Unit" (Japanese:ユニットunit) is the term used to describe a character present in the gameplay of theFire Emblem series. Units exist on the game's maps and participate in the battles fought in each map, and are divided into between two and four kinds: units controlled by the player, enemy units, and autonomous neutral/allied units.

Unit data

All units are comprised of a set of identifying data determining its abilities and restrictions in gameplay. Each unit possesses aclass to which they belong, a more general identifier determining their availableweapon types, potential maximumstats,movement capabilities, and general battlefield utility. On a more individual basis, each unit also possesses a personal set of combat data specific to them: theirlevel and currentexperience, current stats,inventory,weapon levels and, for player and/or potentiallyrecruitable units,growth rates. Some games give units other gameplay abilities and data, such asskills,affinity,biorhythm,supports,Holy Blood, andCrests.

Most of this data can be viewed by pressing the game's "help" button when the cursor is hovering over the desired unit; this brings up a display arranging and summarising this data, as demonstrated to the right withCatria inShadow Dragon. Some of this data, like growth rates, is hidden to the player and can only be determined by examining the game's code (or by referring to resources which have already done so and listed the results, like guide books,Serenes Forest or this wiki).

Unit affiliations

A unit's affiliation or type determines which army it is part of, and by extension in whichphase it moves. A unit's affiliation is identified by its color on the map or, inPath of Radiance,Radiant Dawn, andThree Houses, the color of itsHP bar and a circle beneath the unit. Additionally, titles fromShadow Dragon toEchoes: Shadows of Valentia mirror the map sprites of enemy units.

Affiliation is also a term used for a sub-category of the above. These affiliations are given specific names. In some games, this type of affiliation is purely cosmetic, while in others, it affects which units are grantedauthority bonuses in others. InGenealogy of the Holy War, each affiliation gets its own phase.

Player units

Identified by the colorblue, "player" units are units directly under the control of the player. These units comprise the player's armies, and the point of the game is to use them to combat enemy units and complete the objectives of maps. In most games, only a small fraction of player units currently comprising the player's army can be deployed on the map, usually no more than twenty at a time; similarly, whereas the enemy armies are typically comprised of a vast number of enemy units, the number of total accessible player units is comparatively small, never larger than seventy per game.

Player units typically can only attack enemy units, with one exception: when afflicted with theBerserk condition, player units will attack any unit within range. Player units are capable of providing some assistance to NPC and partner units, byhealing orrescuing them. Additionally, some player units are capable of talking to certain enemy or NPC units torecruit them into the player's own army, turning said units into player units.

Player units' phase comes first.

Enemy units

Coloredred, enemy units, known as computer units inShadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, comprise the enemy army and the game's primary obstacle and challenge. These units are directly antagonistic and will actively attack all other unit types. The player will almost always be required to defeat enemy units; therout objective requires that all enemies be defeated to complete the chapter.

Among enemy units, there will almost always be aboss unit. Bosses are the commanders of the enemy forces, stronger than the other enemies on the map; their defeat is a common map objective. Additionally, sometimes among enemy forces there are certain units who can berecruited to join the player's army; in games which feature a hard mode, these units may receive a "hard mode bonus", where their base stats are higher than usual owing to the generally inflated base stats of enemies in higher difficulty modes.

Enemy units act after player units, or, when present, partner units.

NPC units

An "NPC" (non-player character), "neutral", "other", or "ally" unit, coloredgreen (except inGaiden andGenealogy of the Holy War, where they areblue andyellow, respectively), is a usually benevolent unit not affiliated with the player. They cannot be controlled or manipulated, but they can normally behealed orrescued by player units. Enemy units can and usually will attempt to attack NPC units as they would player units.

NPC units usually come in one of several varieties and purposes. They may be weaker or combat-incapable units, whereprotecting them from harm is the goal of the chapter. Some potentiallyrecruitable units will initially appear on maps as NPCs, often capable of holding their own in battle until recruited. Occasionally, NPC units may comprise an allied army fighting alongside the player's units, typically in a defense map. On some occasions, when recruitable enemy units are surrounded by a number of subordinate enemies, its subordinates will become NPCs when their leader is recruited. InGenealogy of the Holy War, the most typical use of an NPC unit is to block the passage of both the player and enemies toward neutral castles until the game is ready for the player to travel to them. InThracia 776, on some maps, NPC units act as enemy units, while on other maps they take their usual role.

InThree Houses only, NPC units are incapable of killingboss enemy units; any attacks made by an NPC unit that would normally kill the boss unit will instead leave the latter with 1 HP.

NPC units act after enemy units and are the last army to act before the turn is over.

Partner units

The least frequently appearing unit type, partner units, called ally units in North American versions ofRadiant Dawn and friend units in some menus ofPath of Radiance andRadiant Dawn, (coloredyellow, except inGenealogy of the Holy War, where they aregreen) are a variant of NPC units. Their purpose is to directly assist the player's army in fighting enemies, doing so on their own. Partner units cannot be directly controlled by the player; inPath of Radiance andRadiant Dawn, however, they can be given a set of general instructions using theDirect command, which gives the partner army a general objective to accomplish like attacking enemies or travelling to a specific space on the map.

Partner units act after player units.

Third army units

Introduced inFire Emblem Warriors and making their main series debut inFire Emblem: Three Houses, where they are first named as such, third army units are hostile to both the player and the normal red-colored enemies. Third army units are coloredyellow.

Note that "third army" (Japanese:三軍) is sometimes used in the Japanese versions of older titles and related material to refer to NPC units.

Third army units act after enemy units.

Etymology and other languages

References