Difficulty

Difficulty modes are gameplay modes that...

Fire Emblem Gaiden

Gaiden features two difficulty modes, though one of them is hidden.

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

Genealogy of the Holy War is the first game in the series to feature conventional difficulty modes.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Easy Mode

“	For first-timers. Game rules and controls will be explained to you as you play.	”	— Help text

The first eight chapters include tutorials, but are otherwise identical to those in Normal mode. After completing Chapter 8 and choosing which lord's route to take, an Easy Mode file will become a Normal Mode file.

Easy Mode save files are colored green.

Normal Mode

“	For experienced players. No game-play hints will be provided to you as you play.	”	— Help text

Difficult Mode

“	For players seeking a real challenge. No instructions are given & difficulty is set to high.	”	— Help text

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Easy Mode

“	Difficulty: ★ For novices who want a little helpful advice to get them familiar with the game.	”	— Help text

Added in the international versions of Path of Radiance to replace Maniac Mode, Easy Mode features fewer enemies, with them having higher levels but lower overall stats, resulting in player units receiving overall more experience. As well, Easy Mode awards the player more bonus experience than Normal Mode.

Easy Mode save files are colored red, just as Maniac Mode files would be.

Normal Mode

“	Difficulty: ★★ For players who already know their way around the game. This is the standard difficulty setting.	”	— Help text

The game's standard difficulty.

Normal Mode save files are colored green.

Difficult Mode

“	Difficulty: ★★★ For players looking for a serious challenge.	”	— Help text

Enemies have higher stats, there are more of them, and they can have differing inventories, such as being given Elixirs to replace Vulneraries, stronger weapons, etc. The common "Clear bonus" for bonus experience is removed, and bonus experience gained by completing secondary objectives has been reduced.

To compensate for the removal of Maniac Mode, the international versions edited parts of Difficult Mode to make them more challenging than they were in the Japanese version.

Hard Mode save files are colored blue.

Maniac Mode

Present only in the Japanese version, Maniac Mode serves as an even greater challenge than Hard Mode. Maniac Mode is primarily defined by an exceedingly large number of enemies when compared to the other difficulties. Enemies in Maniac Mode have much higher defensive stats, though often not much higher offensive stats than those of Hard Mode, and bosses often have the same stats as they do on Hard Mode, with some exceptions.

Maniac Mode was removed in the international versions due to its generally poor reception from Japanese players.

Maniac Mode save files are colored red.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Easy Mode

“	Difficulty: ★ A brisk tempo makes this mode easy to get into and easy to play.	”	— Help text

Named Normal Mode in the Japanese version, this is the game's standard difficulty.

Normal Mode

“	Difficulty: ★★ For players who already know their way around the game. This is the standard difficulty setting.	”	— Help text

Named Hard Mode in the Japanese version.

Difficult Mode

“	Difficulty: ★★★ For players looking for a serious challenge.	”	— Help text

Named Maniac Mode in the Japanese version.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

Normal Mode

“	Recommended for beginners and those playing the game for the first time. A special prologue introduces the story and game play.	”	— Help text

The game's standard difficulty. Normal Mode starts with a four chapter prologue which details the fall of Altea and Marth's escape, while also providing a tutorial of the game's general mechanics.

Normal Mode save files are not specially marked.

Hard Mode

“	Recommended for those seeking a challlenge. Enemies are up to five degrees tougher than those in Normal mode. No prologue is included.	”	— Help text

Shadow Dragon differs from most games by having several modes—five of them—under the banner of "Hard Mode".

• Hard (★)
• Brutal (★★)
• Savage (★★★)
• Fiendish (★★★★)
• Merciless (★★★★★)

All variations of Hard Mode exclude the four chapter prologue, starting the player off on Chapter 1. Each version gives enemies higher stats, and enemies can have higher level weapons such as Silver Swords and Bolganone much earlier. Enemies may also be given forged weaponry. Reinforcements appear at the start of enemy phase, and can act on the same turn they appear. Apart from these changes, however, the general positions, quantities, and behaviors of the enemies are largely identical to how they are on Normal Mode.

Hard Mode save files are marked with H1, H2, H3, H4, or H5 depending on which version is chosen.

Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem

Normal Mode

“	An entry-level difficulty for players with little experience. You can play the game while learning the basics.	”	— Help text

Hard Mode

“	Recommended for those looking for responsive gameplay. Enemies are stronger than normal. Reinforcements act as soon as they appear.	”	— Help text

Maniac Mode

“	Recommended for players seeking a challenge. The enemies are stronger than in Hard Mode.	”	— Help text

Lunatic Mode

“	Stronger enemies than Maniac Mode, this mode easily has the highest level of difficulty the series can provide.	”	— Help text

Fire Emblem Awakening

Awakening features three difficulty modes available by default, as well as a single unlockable difficulty mode.

Normal Mode

“	For series beginners.	”	— Help text

The game's standard difficulty. The first several chapters include "slide guide" tutorials on the bottom screen to help new players, though these can be turned off in the settings menu. Enemies generally have low stats, and little to no unpromoted units will have any skills. Later on, promoted units can have a single skill from their class tree's pool, though they are generally limited from having stronger skills such as the -breaker series and offensive skills.

Normal Mode save files are colored green.

Hard Mode

“	For experienced players.	”	— Help text

Enemies have higher overall stats, a minimum of C in all weapon levels, and there are more enemies in most chapters. Reinforcements appear at the start of enemy phase, and can act on the same turn they appear. Unpromoted enemies can randomly have one skill from their class pool, while promoted enemies can randomly have one skill, and later two, from their class tree's pool. Unlike Normal Mode, promoted enemies in hard mode can have more powerful skills such as the -breaker series and offensive skills. Later enemies will also be equipped with forged weaponry (+4 Mt, +10 Hit). Very late into the game, or with certain effective weaponry, they may be forged to a stronger level than can be achieved by the player (+8 Mt, +20 Hit).

Unrelated to enemy behavior, the Reeking Box has its price increased in Hard Mode—from 500G to 4800G—making it more resource-intensive to grind for levels. Staves also award less experience than on Normal Mode.

Hard Mode save files are colored blue.

Lunatic Mode

“	For expert players.	”	— Help text

Enemies have much higher stats, maximum weapon levels, and there are typically even more enemies in each chapter compared to Hard Mode. Like in Hard Mode, reinforcements can act on the same turn they appear. Promoted enemies have access to more powerful skills earlier than in Hard Mode, and can have three or even more skills from their class tree's pool at random. Around halfway through the game, all enemies also have the skill Hit Rate +10, which is replaced later in the game with Hit Rate +20. Enemies have higher-level weapons such as Silver Swords much earlier, and will have forged weapons even earlier than Hard Mode enemies, with later enemies having weapons forged stronger than what the player can ever achieve (+8 Mt, +20 Hit).

As well, skirmishes scale differently; unlike in Normal and Hard modes, where their strength scales based on the location they are summoned, Lunatic Mode skirmishes scale based on several other factors, including main story progress, how many battles the player has fought, as well as the overall strength of the player's army.

Lastly, experience gain is calculated differently. Staves award even less experience than they do on Hard Mode. Experience gained from repeatedly attacking a single enemy will gradually diminish until it awards no experience at all, discouraging the player from abusing stationary, healing bosses to level up. Skirmishes also provide less experience, with each attack only giving one point.

Lunatic Mode save files are colored red.

Lunatic+ Mode

“	For Fire Emblem masters.	”	— Help text

The highest difficulty the game offers, Lunatic+ Mode is unlocked after completing Lunatic Mode at least once. The unlocking mechanism is somewhat obtuse, however; completing Lunatic/Casual will only unlock Lunatic+/Casual, while completing Lunatic/Classic will unlock Lunatic+ on both Casual and Classic modes.

Lunatic+ is largely identical to Lunatic, with the addition of several powerful enemy-exclusive skills distributed at random. Enemies will have two of these additional skills alongside what they can usually have from their class trees' skill pools.

Lunatic+ Mode save files are colored purple.

Fire Emblem Fates

Fates handles its difficulty modes differently depending on which of the three paths—Birthright, Conquest, or Revelation—is chosen.

Normal Mode

“	For series beginners.	”	— Help text

The game's standard difficulty. The prologue and the first six chapters include "slide guide" tutorials.

In Conquest, even on Normal Mode, enemy AI is noticeably smarter; they will not attack an enemy that they cannot deal any damage to, among other changes.

Normal Mode save files are colored red and marked with one star (★).

Hard Mode

“	For experienced players.	”	— Help text

In all paths, enemies have higher overall stats, as well as a minimum of C in each weapon level.

In Birthright, there are more enemies, and bosses are given more skills.

In Conquest, there are more enemies, though not to the extent of Birthright's quantities, and generic enemies are given more skills, even ones their class trees do not have access to. Some enemies also have their positions changed, and more take advantage of pair up. Certain Dragon Veins have had their effects modified to make them trickier to use, or to allow the enemy to use them on occasion. In a few cases, there are fewer Dragon Veins to use per chapter.

Hard Mode save files are colored blue and marked with two stars (★★).

Lunatic Mode

“	For those seeking a challenge.	”	— Help text

In all paths, all level ups in this mode are predetermined upon a unit's recruitment, meaning the player cannot reset for different stat growths on a level up. As well, enemies have maximum weapon levels.

In Birthright, enemies have slightly more HP than they do in Hard Mode, though their other stats remain identical. There are far more enemies present than even on Hard Mode, and in rare cases, such as with the Faceless, enemies are given a few more skills and weapons.

In Conquest, enemies have identical stats to their Hard Mode counterparts. There are more enemies than on Hard Mode, though not quite to the extent of Birthright's quantities, and they have much more devious skill combinations, weapon loadouts, and placements. Late into the game, they will have dangerous enemy-exclusive skills such as Staff Savant and Inevitable End. More enemies are paired up. Certain reinforcement groups will have more triggers that can spawn them. Certain chapters also have fewer Dragon Veins to use, or have them in more difficult to reach locations.

In Revelation, enemies have higher HP, strength, defense, and resistance. Promoted enemies are given the two skills from their respective base classes. Apart from these changes, however, few of the chapters' enemy setups are changed, with many chapters having the same number of enemies as on Hard or even Normal mode, though some enemies may gain the occasional ranged weapon.

Lunatic Mode save files are colored purple and marked with three stars (★★★).

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Normal Mode

“	For series beginners.	”	— Help text

The game's standard difficulty. Enemy positioning and stats are nearly identical to how they are in the original Gaiden's Normal Mode, though with some changes to account for new mechanics such as dungeons, as well as the new characters.

Hard Mode

“	For experienced players.	”	— Help text

Enemies have higher levels, making them stronger overall, but having the side-effect of giving player units slightly more experience than in Normal Mode. There are more enemies overall, and more of them are given weapons and items to make them more dangerous. In several cases, their positions are also completely reworked, removing certain easy strategies that were present in Gaiden and Echoes' Normal Mode.