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Durability

From Fire Emblem Wiki, your source on Fire Emblem information. By fans, for fans.
Rebecca's Killer Bow breaks after its durability reaches 0.

A weapon or item's durability or uses is a value which tracks the number of times it can be used to attack before it breaks and is no longer usable. Every time a weapon is used to attack an enemy, or every time an item is used, its durability value decreases by 1, often expressed as "using one use" of the weapon. The durability system is present in all Fire Emblem series games except Gaiden and Shadows of Valentia; Fates and Engage also omit durability for weapons, giving every weapon in those games infinite durability, but durability still applies for staves and items.

Overview

In general, there is a pattern to a weapon's durability relative to its might, weapon level and other stats: typically, the weakest weapons in the game (e.g. Iron Sword or Fire) will have significantly higher usage (typically around 45) than stronger weapons of higher rank (e.g. Silver Sword and Bolganone, typically at 20 uses), and often rare staves with unusual effects (e.g. Silence, Hammerne) will have even lower usage than that. The primary exception is Genealogy of the Holy War, in which nearly all weapons will have 50 uses, though rare staves will still have just 1–5. In most games there is an inconsistency related to a weapon's durability being consumed when it misses: missing an attack with a physical weapon will not decrease its durability, but a magic attack missing will still cost one use.

Typically, a weapon's durability is reduced by one for every time the wielder successfully strikes an opponent with it. However, some weapons do not follow this principle. When tomes and staves miss they suffer a durability decrease despite not hitting the target, aside from in Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light and Genealogy of the Holy War. In Thracia 776, all attacks at 2-range or further will cost durability—even on a miss—including ranged lances or axes and ranged attacks on magic swords. Additionally, in Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem, dragonstones lose durability every time the user transforms, even if they are unable to attack; e.g. if Tiki is attacked by an Archer while equipped with her Divinestone, she will transform to take the blow but is unable to retaliate, reducing the durability of her dragonstone by 1.

In Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light through Thracia 776 (except Gaiden), weapons do not break until the end of combat; even if a unit enters combat with a 1-durability weapon but lands 4 attacks, all 4 attacks will function properly and the weapon does not break until the end of combat. Furthermore, in Genealogy of the Holy War, weapon durability is checked at the end of each round of combat for the purposes of Accost; if the user's weapon would otherwise have broken, the user's weapon breaks, combat ends and Accost is unable to activate; however, in the Arena, weapons are unable to break until one party is defeated or the player yields, irrespective of how many rounds of combat occur.

Restoring durability

In most games, a weapon or item will disappear entirely when its durability reaches 0. A durability-restoring item must be used before the value hits 0. The exceptions are Mystery of the Emblem, Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776, and Three Houses, in which once a weapon breaks it becomes a Broken Sword, Broken Lance, Broken Axe, Broken Bow, Drained Tome, Broken Staff, or Broken Gauntlets depending on its original weapon type. These remnants allow the player an opportunity to repair the weapons even after reaching 0 durability, or can simply be discarded if unwanted. In these four games, non-weapon items do not leave any remnants behind and thus are not able to repaired.

In Genealogy of the Holy War's castle towns, all units can readily access a weapon repair shop, which fully restores a weapon's durability for a fee equivalent to a fraction of the weapon's base worth. If a unit does not have enough funds to fully repair a given weapon, the repair shop will restore as many uses as possible with the amount of funds available.

From Shadow Dragon to Fates, two separate instances of the same item (including weapons and staves) can be merged together in the preparations menu, combining the remaining uses of both items into a single item. However, in Awakening, this cannot be done to forged weapons. It is done automatically in the convoy in Awakening, rather than being done manually by the player; this has the side effect of possibly merging things which the player may not have wanted to be merged.

In Three Houses only, all black magic, white magic, and dark magic spells have all of their uses replenished at the end of a battle, though this is offset by the spells having lower durability across the board. This means that, instead of being limited by how many times they can be used per playthrough, they are limited by how many times they can be used per battle.

Items and skills affecting durability

Skills that affect durability
Item Effect Games
Is wii corrosion.png Corrosion Reduces the durability of the bearer's enemy's equipped weapon by a significant amount. Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn
Is 3ds01 armsthrift.png Armsthrift Grants bearer a chance of the durability of their weapon not decreasing, at a rate of (Luck x 2)%. With this skill, it is possible to never have durability decrease at all by equipping it to a unit who has 50 or greater Luck, a feat all units can easily achieve through use of the Limit Breaker skill. Awakening
Is ns01 black magic uses x2.png Black Magic Uses x Increases the maximum number of uses for black magic. Three Houses
Is ns01 dark magic uses x2.png Dark Magic Uses x Increases the maximum number of uses for dark magic. Three Houses
Is ns01 white magic uses x2.png White Magic Uses x Increases the maximum number of uses for white magic. Three Houses
Is ns01 infinite magic.png Infinite Magic Removes the limit on how many times black magic, dark magic, and white magic can be casted, allowing them to be used infinitely. Three Houses
Items that affect durability
Item Effect Games
-- Helarn Unused. Sets target weapon's durability to infinite, making it unbreakable. Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light
Is 3ds01 hammerne.png Hammerne Completely replenishes target weapon to maximum durability. Cannot be used on items or weapons like Dragonstones. Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Mystery of the Emblem, The Binding Blade, The Blazing Blade, The Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Shadow Dragon, New Mystery of the Emblem, Awakening
Is ds starsphere.png Starsphere Passively prevents the durability of a unit's weapons from decreasing during combat when held in their inventory. Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Mystery of the Emblem, Shadow Dragon, New Mystery of the Emblem
Is snes03 repair.png Repair Completely replenishes target weapon to maximum durability. Cannot be used on items. Thracia 776

Additionally, in Radiant Dawn, before Rebirth part 3, Yune blesses the equipped weapon of every unit in the party; This grants them infinite durability and the ability to ignore the Mantle skill.

Unbreakable weapons

The following weapons have infinite durability and are thus unbreakable:

Other appearances

Super Smash Bros. series

Robin tries and fails to use Thunder after it has broken, resulting in doing absolutely nothing.
SSB.png This article or section is a short summary of Durability.
SmashWiki features a more in-depth article.

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Robin is exclusively affected by an emulation of the Fire Emblem durability system. Their four special moves - Thunder, Elwind, Arcfire and Nosferatu - each have a durability value assigned to them, as does the Levin Sword used in Robin's smash and aerial attacks. Each use of the respective attack consumes that attack's durability points, and once the weapon's durability is depleted it breaks and must be left to recharge for a set period of time before it can be used again. If Robin attempts to use a special move during its recharge phase, it will fail; if they attempt to use a smash or aerial attack, they instead use a weaker Bronze Sword to perform the attack, which won't break but deals far less damage than the Levin Sword does.

As a weapon's durability is depleted, it will start flashing black as it comes close to breaking. Once its last use is used, Robin will automatically throw away the broken weapon, which will vanish once it hits the ground. If they are fast enough, any fighter participating in a match, including Robin themself, can catch the broken weapon in mid-air as an item; its only use in this state is to be thrown at enemies to deal a small amount of damage.

The durability values of Robin's weapons are as follows:

  • Thunder: 20 durability points, ten-second recharge after breaking. Each charged variant consumes a different amount of durability: Thunder consumes 1, Elthunder 3, Arcthunder 5, and Thoron 8. Durability values are altered by the Thunder+ alternate special move.
  • Elwind: 9 durability points, 6-second recharge after breaking. Each use of Elwind, both as a special move and as a jab finisher, consumes 1 durability point.
  • Arcfire: 6 durability points, 10-second recharge after breaking. Each use of Arcfire, both as a special move and as a jab finisher, consumes 1 durability point.
  • Nosferatu: 4 durability points, 40-second recharge after breaking. Each use of Nosferatu consumes 1 durability point.
  • Levin Sword: 8 durability points, 6-second recharge after breaking. Each use of the Levin Sword consumes 1 durability point.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language Name Definition, etymology, and notes
English

Durability

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French

Durabilité

Durability

References

Game mechanics
Out-of-battle management Base (BarracksBase CampBase conversationEveryone's ConditionsExpeditionGarreg Mach Monastery (Abyss) • My CastleSomniel) • Bonus experienceDungeonsGameplay modes (DifficultyCreature CampaignNew Game +) • GoldLessonsMila ShrinesPeddlerPreparationsRenownShopping (ArmoryBargainsForgeItem shopMerchantOnline shopSecret shop) • Supply convoyWorld map
Battles and chapters ArenaBattle saveBossCastleChapter (Alternate routeParalogueSide quest) • ChestCombat forecastEvent tilesHidden treasureObjectivesReinforcementSkirmishTerrain (Hazards) • Turn (Turn rewind) • Weather (Fog of war) • Village
Stats Units ActionAffinityAuthorityBiorhythmCharmClass (Class masteryClass relative powerUnit type) • Constitution (Aid) • DefenseExperienceFollow-up critical multiplierGrowth rateHit pointHoly BloodInventoryLevelLuckMagicMovementProficiencyResistanceSkillSpeedStrengthWeapon levelWeight
Weapons Brave weaponCritical rateDurabilityHitKill bonusMightPersonal weaponsRangeWeapon experienceWeapon levelWeightWorth
Unit mechanics and commands AdjutantAttack (Counterattack) • Auto-BattleBattalion (Gambit) • CantoChain attackChain GuardClass change (Reclass) • Combat artCrestsDance (GaldrarPlaySing) • Death (Decoy) • DismountDragon VeinEmblem RingsFatigueInventoryLaguz transformationLove (JealousyInheritance) • Pair UpRallyRecruitmentRescue (Capture) • Skills (Offensive skill) • SmashStaggering BlowStatus effectsSupportTalkTradeUnit (AvatarBond unitsBonus unitEinherjarLoan unitPrisonerReplacement unitSubstitute character) • Visit
Calculations AttackAttack speedAvoidBonus damageCritical hit (Combination bonusDodgeTriangle Attack) • Hit rate (True hit) • Random number generatorWeapon triangle (Trinity of magic)
Connectivity amiiboData transferDouble DuelDownloadable contentLink ArenaMultiplayer battleOnline shopSpotPassStreetPass
Other BarrierBirthdayClass rollGlitchesMultiple endingsRankingsSound RoomTactician bonus