Combat art

Combat arts are a special type of skill which was introduced in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. They are abilities whose effects revolve around temporarily enhancing combat performance, which are activated at the player's discretion by spending hit points in a similar way to black and white magic. Combat arts have a variety of effects: some augmenting their user's next attack with increased stats and/or special effects, while others temporarily increase their user's stats until their next turn.

The majority of combat arts are accessed through the weapons and equipment that a unit wields, and are learned by a unit through repeated use of the item.

Overview

Learning

Units learn combat arts from their items by gaining skill points (SP). Every time a unit enters combat with a compatible weapon or piece of equipment, they earn a small amount of SP. Once the amount of SP required by the witem is met, the unit unlocks the respective combat art for use.

When unlocked, the combat art is taught to the unit, not to the weapon, so the art is not transferrable to any other unit. If any other unit is to use the art, they must earn the required SP themselves in the same way. Additionally, once an item's art is learned, a unit does not have to use the exact same instance of the item that they learned it on in the first place; any instance of that item will enable them to use the art.

SP and learned arts are not affected in any way by forging the weapon.

Mechanics

To activate a combat art, the user must select it from the Arts menu when making their move. If the unit has sufficient HP remaining and (if applicable) there is a target within compatible range, the art can be used. Since combat arts require manual activation by their user, they can only be activated during the user's phase and (defensive arts aside) are not an option when counter-attacking.

When activated, offensive combat arts add their special effects to the regular attacking power and stats of their user. The majority of offensive arts add increases to the user's pre-existing might, hit rate, critical hit rate, and range, while some have entirely unique effects beyond this. If a unit would double-attack their target with their regular attack, activating an offensive combat art completely prevents them from doing so and forces them to make only one hit (with the exception of combat arts whose effect includes a second strike or more, such as Double Lion).

List of combat arts

The following combat arts are offensive combat arts learned from weapons. They last for the duration of the round of attack in which they are activated.

Archballista Armorcrush Astral Blade Celestial Bow Crosswise Cut Curved Shot Death Blow Destreza Double Lion Dragonhaze Duelist Sword

Earth's Boon Encloser Flamberge Foudroyant Grounder Heavy Draw Hexblade Hit and Run Hunter's Volley Knightkneeler Leonine Poise

Longearche Lunar Flash Lunge Mistdancer Overrun Penetrate Plenitude Ragnarok Ω Roundhouse Scendscale Shadow Gambit

Solar Thrust Subdue Sunder Tempest Lance Thunderclap Tigerstance Trance Shot Vendetta Ward Arrow Windsweep Wrath Strike

These combat arts are defensive. When activated, their effects last until the beginning of the unit's next phase.

Aegis Coral Cover Defensive

Earth's Kiss Pavise Speculum

These combat arts are special commands that move units short distances across the map when used.

• Swap
• Shove

These combat arts are offensive, but they are not learned by weapons. Instead, they are possessed by individual units by default, mostly enemies.

• Triangle Attack (Palla, Catria, and Est)
• Upheaval (Jamil and Duma)
• Dark Spikes (The Creation)

See also

• Offensive skill