Fog of war (Japanese:索敵searching for the enemy) is aweather condition first implemented inFire Emblem: Thracia 776 and the most frequently recurring weather, present in all subsequent games untilNew Mystery of the Emblem. Designed to add a level of tactical uncertainty and caution to gameplay, a map where fog of war is in effect limits the player's view of the map and its contents to a smaller field. Fog of war is normally portrayed as fighting in the midst of literal fog, rainfall, darkness, or onone occasion as fighting in a sandstorm.

In fog of war conditions, only a small area of vision surrounding each individual player or neutralunit can be seen properly. Enemies which do not fall into this field of vision cannot be seen at all, and as such cannot beattacked. As enemies cannot be seen, when moving allied units it is possible to accidentally run into them; if this happens, the moving unit automatically waits at the spot just before the enemy they collided with, and cannot attack. InEngage player units cannot even enter spaces that are not properly visible. The AI for enemy and NPC units does not play by the same rules, however, as enemies and NPC units will not be affected by fog of war and thus will attack even units which would not fall into their field of vision. A unit's field of vision will only be updated after a unit performs an action, such as waiting or attacking.

In most appearances of fog of war, the fog will merely dim and/or darken the rest of the map; the layout can still be easily seen and terrain data is still actively available. This is not the case inThracia 776, where the shrouded parts of the map are instead blacked out entirely and the terrain window is hidden, adding a trial-and-error element to navigating the area.

Vision

Generally speaking, the battlefield area visible to the player at any given time depends on thevision of their units in play. The majority of units in every game have only mediocre vision, but fromThe Binding Blade onward, a handful of classes—Thieves,Assassins,Rogues andWhispers—possess an innate greater field of vision in fog of war; the exact degree of increased vision varies depending on the game and depending on the base vision field.

Beyond the use of a Thief unit, there are two items with the ability to temporarily increase visibility on a fog of war map: theTorch item and theTorch staff. When used, they provide an increase to the unit's field of vision, slowly decreasing back to normal at a rate of one tile per turn. In some games, the Torch staff instead casts a vision increase at a fixed spot within a certain casting range, independent of the casting unit. Most games will readily point this out and emphasise the value of bringing a thief unit to a fog of war map.^[1] Another means of increasing vision is available inRadiant Dawn with the characterJanaff, whose personal skillInsight increases his vision.

InPath of Radiance andRadiant Dawn, unlike in other games in the series, every class has a different vision range. Forlaguz classes, their vision range usually depends on whether or not they areshifted or unshifted. Notably, all bird tribe laguz have very poor vision in fog of war conditions as a trait of their species,^[2] to the point that their vision is reduced to 0 inRadiant Dawn when shifted, which makes them (with the exception of Janaff, due to Insight) the only classes in any game to be completely unable to reveal enemies and spaces hidden by fog of war.

Additionally inRadiant Dawn, fog of war also prevents the player from viewing a space'sterrain effects.

On rare occasions, environmental obstacles can allow for increased vision. InRadiant Dawn, obstacles called watch fires are placed at intervals around some fog of war maps. When lit by a unit, a watch fire casts a wider field of vision at a fixed space until extinguished by a unit; both allied and enemy units are capable of lighting or extinguishing them. InEngage, similar obstacles called beacons are placed in some fog of war maps.

Fog of war maps by game

Thracia 776

The Binding Blade

The Blazing Blade

The Sacred Stones

• Chapter 6:Victims of War
• Chapter 11A:Creeping Darkness
• Chapter 11B:Phantom Ship
• Chapter 19:Last Hope

Additionally, anyskirmish (excluding visits to theTower of Valni andLagdou Ruins) has a random chance^{[what chance?]} of having fog of war in effect in any given visit.

Path of Radiance

InPath of Radiance, fog of war will only be present on these chapters when played in Difficult Mode or Maniac Mode^JP. Easy Mode^USEU and Normal Mode do not have fog of war in any chapter.

• Chapter 5:Flight!
• Chapter 14:Training

Radiant Dawn

Shadow Dragon

No chapter of the main story mode has fog of war. Fog of war only exists in the multiplayer battle mode, where it can be enabled or disabled for use in a round of multiplayer gameplay.

New Mystery of the Emblem

• Chapter 13x:Within the White Darkness
• Chapter 20x:Bottom of the Deep Abyss

Additionally, fog of war can be enabled or disabled for use in rounds of multiplayer gameplay.

Fates

InFire Emblem Fates, traditional fog of war is not present, though two chapters have mechanics that function somewhat similarly. Chapter 7 ofRevelation obscures rooms until a unit walks into them. Chapter 10 ofRevelation obscures unit vision by covering the entire map in snow; units in the snow cannot move and the player cannot move into it unless they destroy the snow first. The snow also partially obscures the terrain.

• Revelation Chapter 7:Unspeakable World
• Revelation Chapter 10:Voice of a God

Three Houses

• Chapter 3:The Magdred Ambush
• Paralogues:
  • Falling Short of Heaven
  • Forgotten Hero
  • Legend of the Lake

Engage

• Chapter 6:The Stolen Ring
• Chapter 13:Heroes of the Oasis
• Chapter 20:The Kingless Castle

Additionally, the following maps will have fog of war during a skirmish with Silver or GoldCorrupted:

Trivia

• There is anunused item inFire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, theTelescope; its function, increasing a unit's "enemy search" ("さくてき", which is the same term used for fog of war maps in Japanese), may imply that fog of war was slated to feature in the first game in the series.^[3]

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

• 
  Fog of war inThracia 776.
• 
  Fog of war inThe Binding Blade.
• 
  Sain runs into an enemy hidden by fog of war inThe Blazing Blade.
• 
  Fog of war inPath of Radiance.
• 
  Fog of war inRadiant Dawn.
• 
  Fog of war inShadow Dragon's multiplayer.

References