Knife

Jakob attacking with numerous daggers in Fire Emblem Cipher.

This article is about knives and daggers as a broader weapon type. For the specific weapons which go by these names, see Knife (weapon) and Dagger (weapon). For the skill permitting their use, see Knife (skill).

The knife (Japanese: 短剣 knife) or dagger (Japanese: 暗器 concealed weapon) is a weapon type which was introduced in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and is present only in it, Radiant Dawn, and Fates. They are the weakest weapon type in the games they appear in and universally have lower might than their counterparts, but they tend to have good accuracy and, in Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, they are by far the most lightweight weapons. Additionally, in Fates, every dagger has the ability to inflict stat reductions on enemies.

Knives and daggers often have enhanced range, being able to attack both at melée range and at a distance. All knives in Path of Radiance are melée range only, while the knives of Radiant Dawn are divided into two varieties, daggers (melée only) and throwing knives (enhanced range). In Fates, all daggers have enhanced range.

In Path of Radiance, knives lacked an actual weapon level of their own, instead having their use locked to classes possessing the Knife skill and thus allowing any such unit to use any knife; they gained a proper weapon level and according rank scaling in Radiant Dawn. The daggers of Fates are specifically associated with Nohr, and like every other weapon type in Fates, they have a unique Japanese-themed counterpart weapon type which is used primarily in Hoshido: the shuriken. Units who can wield daggers can wield shuriken just as easily, and vice versa.

There are 47 knife/dagger varieties in the Fire Emblem series; of these, three appear in Path of Radiance, thirteen in Radiant Dawn, and 32 in Fates.

In Fire Emblem Fates, their Hoshidan counterpart is called the shuriken (Japanese: 手裏剣 shuriken). They are almost exactly the same as daggers and share a weapon level, differentiated by the effect of that, when equipped, they increase the wielder's speed by 2, and, on average, they have lower hit rate.

Overview

Fates debuff system

Main article: Status conditions#Buffs and debuffs

In Fates, the key advantage of daggers is their debuff ability. When a dagger successfully hits, its target has temporary stat reductions applied after the battle ends; all daggers reduce the defense and resistance stats, and most also reduce one or two further stats in addition to defense and resistance. These debuffs do not stack but can be combined with other debuff effects on different stats (if there is a conflict, the larger stat reduction takes priority). Debuffed stats recover by 1 point each turn until the stat is back to normal.

Knives in the Fire Emblem series by type

Basic knives/daggers

Weapon	Available in:																Notes
Weapon	FE01	FE02	FE03	FE04	FE05	FE06	FE07	FE08	FE09	FE10	FE11	FE12	FE13	FE14	FE15	FE16	Notes
Knife																	--
Dagger																	--
Stiletto																	--
Bronze Dagger																	--
Iron Dagger																	--
Steel Dagger																	--
Silver Dagger																	--
Kard																	--
Brass Shuriken																	--
Iron Shuriken																	--
Steel Shuriken																	--
Silver Shuriken																	--