Bond units

An example of a bond unit, in this case a pair-six male created between two Revelation players with its default name Theo. Note the distinguishing brand on the portrait, the Nobility skill in the personal skill slot, and skills inherited from the source players.

“	A soldier born of the bond between two people.	”	— The help text associated with a bond unit's name.

Bond units are a type of guest unit introduced in Fire Emblem Fates.

Overview

Creation

Bond units are created when two players register each others' calling cards and exchange accessories in their My Castles; starting from the point of both players' acceptance of the calling cards, a mutual alternating exchange of two accessories each should result in the creation a bond unit, after which a brief cutscene plays at the time of the accessory exchange which triggers it. Most bond units tend to resemble the avatars of the players who created the bond unit aside from a special distinguishing brand on their faces; some bond units instead resemble the hooded man.

Attributes

The combinations

Each bond unit is assigned a default name, gender, and personal skill linked to one another at random from one of six predetermined pools, each based on the campaigns of the source avatars. Bond units can be renamed upon their creation, and hence are not limited to the defaults.

Each of the six pools contains nine pairs of these combinations, each pair containing one male and one female, for a total of 18 name-gender-skill combinations per pool. When the bond unit becomes eligible to be created, a combination configuration is chosen to be applied to the campaigns of both the player's castle and their partner's. For example, if the combination configuration chosen is pair-three female, a Birthright player with a Birthright partner will get a unit with Himawari as her default name and Divine Retribution as her personal skill, while a Conquest player with a Revelation partner will get a unit with Pepper as her default name and Fortunate Son as her personal skill.

The combination configurations are set up in a cycle, and is determined for each player pairing at a point prior to the creation of the pairing's first bond units. The cycle is the same for both the player and their partner; for example, if the first unit in the cycle is designated to be a pair 7 male, both the player and their partner will each receive a pair 7 male for their first bond unit, both with the same appearance. All eighteen combinations will be used in each cycle, and each successive cycle will play out the same way each time. For example, if the first three units of a pairing's cycle result in pair 7 male, pair 7 female, pair 2 female for the first three units, those same combinations will dictate the units obtained as the first three units of each subsequent cycle; if the player consistently uses Birthright and their partner consistently uses Revelation, the resulting combinations will result in Katsuo, Ayu, and Yuzu each time, whereas if both the player and their partner consistently use Conquest, the resulting combinations will result in Sterling, Ruby, and Coral each time.

The class trees

Bond units will always have the Nohr Prince or Nohr Princess class tree (depending on the bond unit's gender) for their first Partner Seal reclassing option, while tending to have randomized class trees for both their initial class tree and their second Partner Seal reclassing option. These classes are determined at the point when the bond unit becomes eligible to be created, and are the same for both the player and their partner at the designated point in a cycle; for example, if a pair 4 female in a cycle has Dark Mage for their initial tree and Ninja for their secondary tree, both the player and their partner will get a bond unit of this combination.

Due to a presumable oversight, a bond unit cannot use a Partner Seal to reclass to a class in their initial tree, hence a bond unit cannot get all of the skills from their initial tree and should not be reclassed out of that tree until level 15 advanced at earliest (for example, if a bond unit's inital class is Dark Mage, this means that bond unit will have to do without, at minimum, either Vengeance and Bowbreaker or Seal Magic and Lifetaker, provided these skills aren't inherited).

The class skills

Bond units, like child units, also inherit the last eligible equipped skill from each of the avatars, which are determined upon entering the other person's castle (that is, changing around the player's avatar's skills while in the target castle will not manipulate the results, but doing so before entering the target castle will manipulate the results); apart from the use of different campaign combinations between them, this is the only trait that can vary between the bond unit created by the player and their partner at a given point in the cycle. An additional inheritance quirk specific to bond units involves an otherwise-eligible class skill being the target bond unit's personal skill, in which case a different class skill gets inherited instead (example: A Revelation player sets Nobility in their avatar's fifth slot when about to bond with another Revelation player with Dragon Fang in the fourth slot, but the target bond unit is the pair-six male Theo, who has Nobility for his personal skill, in which case Dragon Fang will be the player's contribution to Theo's skills). In the event both players are set to contribute the same class skill, the skill in question will be considered the partner's contribution, with the player's contribution falling back to the next eligible skill.

Other bond unit traits

Much like their class trees, a bond unit's base stats and modifiers are also random, and are also determined when the bond unit becomes eligible to be created; as with the class trees, these will be the same for both the player and their partner at the designated point in the cycle.

Like other guest units, bond units have a section of the Avatar Logbook where their data is registered; data is registered automatically upon a bond unit's creation. This allows players to update their bond units in the Avatar Logbook. In addition, this also allows players to return bond units to the party should their data remain in the Avatar Logbook but the unit itself is removed from the party (either manually or via death), as well as cross bond units over to other save files, even to a campaign that does not support its creation combination (example: A player can take their registered Birthright-Revelation pair-eight female, Mizuna, and her personal skill Camaraderie, and pay a fee to import her into their Conquest file).

Also like other guest units, bond units are also incapable of supporting, and count toward the 20 unit limit within the player's party and 99 unit limit within the Avatar Logbook.

Lists of bond unit combinations

Birthright and Birthright

Bond units in this pool are created when both partners use Birthright castles.

Males		Females
Default name	Personal skill	Default name	Personal skill
Gin	Rallying Cry	Azuki	Quiet Strength
Hakuto	Fearsome Blow	Kureha	Perfectionist
Sango	Pyrotechnics	Himawari	Divine Retribution
Kogane	Optimistic	Ai	Pride
Tetsu	Nohr Enmity	Tokiwa	Triple Threat
Suzaku	Shuriken Mastery	Chigusa	Reciprocity
Renga	Bushido	Moegi	Competitive
Kohaku	Skill +2	Murasaki	Future Sight
Momotaro	Swordbreaker	Sumire	Astra

Birthright and Conquest

Bond units in this pool are created when one partner uses a Birthright castle while the other partner uses a Conquest castle.

Males		Females
Default name	Personal skill	Default name	Personal skill
Naoki	Miraculous Save	Shizuku	Vow of Friendship
Kaito	Forager	Wakaba	Peacebringer
Yukio	HP +5	Ibuki	Strength +2
Riku	Magic +2	Hibari	Defense +2
Minato	Resistance +2	Aspen	Rally Luck
Cypress	Quick Salve	Daisy	Underdog
Thorn	Gentilhomme	Primrose	Demoiselle
Quill	Potent Potion	Willow	Heartseeker
Flint	Bowbreaker	Sequoia	Rend Heaven

Birthright and Revelation

Bond units in this pool are created when one partner uses a Birthright castle while the other partner uses a Revelation castle.

Males		Females
Default name	Personal skill	Default name	Personal skill
Shoga	Lucky Charm	Anzu	Noble Cause
Inaho	Optimist	Yuzu	Sweet Tooth
Mugi	Playthings	Umeko	Calm
Nori	Haiku	Kurumi	Prodigy
Naruto	Wind Disciple	Ringo	Fiery Blood
Shoya	Morbid Celebration	Kiku	Natural Cover
Katsuo	Evenhanded	Ayu	Quick Draw
Takeshi	Duelist's Blow	Mizuna	Camaraderie
Koumei	Shurikenbreaker	Shiori	Lethality

Conquest and Conquest

Bond units in this pool are created when both partners use Conquest castles.

Males		Females
Default name	Personal skill	Default name	Personal skill
Rusty	Lily's Poise	Amber	Rose's Thorns
Auburn	Misfortunate	Coral	Puissance
Hunter	Aching Blood	Hazel	Countercurse
Cyan	Fierce Rival	Fuchsia	Opportunist
Jett	Fancy Footwork	Olive	Bloodthirst
Slate	Fierce Mien	Violet	Pragmatic
Sterling	Collector	Ruby	Chivalry
Tanner	Luck +4	Kelly	Gamble
Teale	Axebreaker	Magenta	Luna

Conquest and Revelation

Bond units in this pool are created when one partner uses a Conquest castle while the other partner uses a Revelation castle.

Males		Females
Default name	Personal skill	Default name	Personal skill
Sorrel	Highwayman	Rosemary	Born Steward
Bay	Guarded Bravery	Anise	Fierce Counter
Saffron	Goody Basket	Pepper	Fortunate Son
Basil	Sisterhood	Ginger	Daydream
Clove	Mischievous	Mint	Icy Blood
Caraway	In Extremis	Thyme	Elbow Room
Sage	Odd Shaped	Cassia	Malefic Aura
Dillan	Good Fortune	Lavender	Locktouch
Fenn	Tomebreaker	Perilla	Vengeance

Revelation and Revelation

Bond units in this pool are created when both partners use Revelation castles.

Males		Females
Default name	Personal skill	Default name	Personal skill
Dimitri	Healing Descant	Alexa	Perfect Pitch
Galen	Swap	Althaea	Shove
Damien	Movement +1	Jacynth	Shelter
Orion	Lunge	Sophia	Seal Defense
George	Seal Resistance	Eva	Aptitude
Theo	Nobility	Helene	Vantage
Spiro	Poison Strike	Odele	Strong Riposte
Peter	Darting Blow	Rhoda	Miracle
Lukas	Lancebreaker	Charis	Sol

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	Bond unit
French	Unité liange

Gallery

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  The first part of the scene denoting the successful creation of a bond unit. Names redacted for privacy and safety concerns.

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  The second part of the scene denoting the successful creation of a bond unit.

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  A comparison of pair-two female bond units in the same cycle created on both ends of a pairing. The only differences are in areas where the player can control the attributes--namely the name and personal skill coming from different campaign combinations, and the skill inheritance as influenced by the players creating the units.