Brave weapon

“	A rare blade that allows the wielder to strike twice per attack.	”	— The Brave Sword's description in Radiant Dawn

Takumi wielding a Crescent Bow. The weapon's "brave" effect is demonstrated by the "×4" marker, indicating he will strike four times.

Brave weapon (Japanese: 勇者の武器 Hero's weapon) is a generic term for a relatively rare type of weapon introduced in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and present in all installments since. They are rare weapons famous for granting their wielder the ability to attack more often than usual in a round of combat.

Overview

Brave weapons possess a unique and valuable functionality: when used, they allow the user to attack double the number of times they normally would, generally described as "attacking consecutively", "attacking twice" or "attacking twice per turn". At minimum, this ensures that the wielder of a brave weapon attacks twice regardless of attack speed; at best, it allows them to strike the enemy four times in a single round of combat, more than is possible in any other circumstance (skills notwithstanding).

The brave effect comes into play by, at each point the wielder would normally attack once, multiplying the number of times of attack at that point. For example, if a unit would attack twice when wielding a normal weapon, normally this would manifest as (their attack) → (enemy attack) → (their attack). With a brave weapon, under the otherwise same circumstances this would proceed as (their attack) → (their attack) → (enemy attack) → (their attack) → (their attack). When an enemy attacks a unit with a brave weapon equipped under the same circumstances, the flow of the round of combat would proceed as (enemy attack) → (their attack) → (their attack) → (their attack) → (their attack).

In Genealogy of the Holy War, brave weapons have their second strike treated as a guaranteed Adept activation, hence rendering their user's own Adept (if present) completely redundant and inheriting all properties of Adept along with it; Astra, Luna and Sol from the first attack carry over to the second, while hits, misses, and critical hits are evaluated independently.

Brave weapons are not without their drawbacks, however. They sometimes have only an middling amount of durability, which, due to its effect, can be drained very quickly if one is not careful. Additionally, weapon experience gained from using a brave weapon ignores the brave effect; if for example the wielder attacked four times using a brave weapon, they only gain weapon experience from it as if the wielder had attacked just the normal non-brave two times. Finally, in games with weight, brave weapons are often heavy, lowering the speed of units with low constitution or strength.

Most games which feature brave weapons have only the core four physical weapon types—the Brave Sword, Brave Lance, Brave Axe and Brave Bow—from which the weapon group gains its colloquial name. New Mystery of the Emblem introduced a set of four "quick weapons", weaker equivalents of the brave weapons which, while less powerful and durable, functioned the same way and were available at a lower weapon level; Thracia 776 did the opposite with its "master weapons", variants available only at higher weapon levels but sporting lower stats in general, save for increased crit (for the Meisterschwert) or range (for the Master Lance and Master Axe), though they were not limited to the one each of the standard brave weapons, nor the personal weapon status of the Brave Lance. Three Houses instead introduces an entirely new weapon class, Gauntlets, all of which function as brave weapons. Comparatively few brave tomes exist in the main series: the only ones are Dire Thunder in Thracia 776, Celica's Gale and Waste in Awakening, Lightning and Snake Spirit in Fates, and Nova in Engage. Occasionally, a personal weapon acts as a brave weapon, such as Mareeta's Sword in Thracia 776, and Elincia's Amiti in Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.

From Fates onwards, the two consecutive strikes only take effect if the user initiates the battle. However, several weapons in Heroes trigger their brave effects on both the user's and enemy's phases as in previous games.

Brave weapons in the Fire Emblem series

Weapon	Available in:																	Notes
	FE01	FE02	FE03	FE04	FE05	FE06	FE07	FE08	FE09	FE10	FE11	FE12	FE13	FE14	FE15	FE16	FE17
Brave Sword	✗	✗	✗	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓	Not a brave weapon in Gaiden or Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.
Brave Lance	✗	✗	✗	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓	Finn only in Thracia 776.
Brave Axe	✗	✗	✗	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓	--
Brave Bow	✗	✗	✗	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	✗	✓	✓	--
Meisterschwert	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	Not a brave weapon in Mystery of the Emblem or New Mystery of the Emblem.
Master Lance	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	--
Master Axe	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	--
Meisterbogen	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	--
King Sword	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	Gives Charm.
Shadow Sword	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	Mareeta only, gives Nihil.
Mareeta's Sword	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	Mareeta only, gives Nihil.
Blessed Sword	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	Olwen only.
Dragon Lance	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	Deen only.
Dire Thunder	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	Olwen and Reinhardt only.
Amiti	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	Elincia only.
Quick Sword	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	--
Quick Lance	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	--
Quick Axe	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	--
Quick Bow	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	--
Eirika's Blade	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	--
Celica's Gale	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	--
Waste	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	--
Soldier's Knife	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	--
Crescent Bow	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	--
Lightning	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✓	Is not a brave weapon in other games.
Snake Spirit	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	--
Rusted Gauntlets	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
Broken Gauntlets	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
Training Gauntlets	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
Iron Gauntlets	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
Steel Gauntlets	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
Silver Gauntlets	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
Killer Knuckles	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
Dragon Claws	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
Aura Knuckles	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
Vajra-Mushti	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✓	--
Thunderbrand	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
Dark Thunderbrand	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
The Inexhaustible	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✗	--
Nova	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	--
Iron-Body Art	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	--
Steel-Hand Art	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	--
Silver-Spirit Art	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	--
Flashing Fist Art	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	--
Divine Fist Art	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	--
Dragon's Fist	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	--
A ✓ means that the weapon is available in that game, while a ✗ indicates the contrary.

Trivia

Rienfleche's description error.

• In the NTSC English version of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, Rienfleche's help description mistakenly claims that it is a Brave weapon, giving it the same description as the game's four actual Brave weapons. This was rectified in the PAL English version. This issue was not in the Japanese release (where Rienfleche has a description similar to the other weapons wielded by Nergal's morphs) and was introduced in the NTSC-U localization in error.

Etymology and other languages (prefix)

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	Brave (x)	--
Japanese	勇者の(x)	Hero's (x)
Spanish	(x) del valor	(x) of courage
French	(x) héros	Hero (x)
German	Krieger(x)	Warrior (x)
Italian	(x) forte	Strong (x)

Gallery

• 

  The effects of a brave weapon displayed in the combat forecast in The Binding Blade.

See also

• Adept (skill granting the same effect when activated)
• Astra (skill granting a similar effect, but multiplied by 5, when activated)