It was the Best of Weapons, It was the Worst of Weapons Part 3

So I’m grouping Fire Emblems 7, 8, 9 & 10 together because they all have the same best weapon types and the reasons why are the same. So with that out of the way let’s begin.

Fire Emblems 7 - 10 

Best Weapon Type: Axes


By this point in time Kaga was long gone and it seemed like the new guy in charge must have really liked axes. So why are they now considered to be good? 

1 - 2 Range Weapons Got Gud: Hand Axes are significantly better in these games which means that axe users have the benefits of attacking at distance while also being able to defend themselves at melee range. In the Tellius games you can even create forged Hand Axes that have all the positives of regular hand axes without any of their downsides.

2. Their accuracy issues are no longer a problem, but their higher might still remains: One property that axes retain is that they have higher might on average than their lance or sword counterparts. The big change here is that axes aren’t as inaccurate as they were in the past.

One major reason for this is that enemies in these four games are predominantly lance users so wielding an axe means that you get weapon triangle control over a lot of them. That’s an extra + 10 / + 15 accuracy right there.

Enemies in Fire Emblems 7 - 9 are notorious for being easy to kill. One of the reasons why they’re easy in this case is that they weigh themselves down to the point where hitting them isn’t difficult to do anymore.

3. Axes stopped weighing their wielders down:
In the first four Fire Emblem games the Attack Speed formula was basically “Speed - Weapon Weight”. This basically meant that if you wanted to double attack you needed a high Speed stat and a weapon with low weight. This formula screwed axes over since they would always weigh a lot. Then came Fire Emblem 5 which decided to change that to:

Speed – (weapon Weight – Build, 0 if negative)

This means that weapons can still have higher weight without flushing their wielder’s Attack Speed down the toilet. Then the Tellius games switched “Con” to “Strength” which further reduced the relevance of weapon weight to everyone except for magic users. While this one doesn’t automatically make axes good on its own (FE 5 & 6 say hi) it does play a role in making them more viable weapons. Then you combine reasons # 1 & 2 and suddenly its not so surprising that axes don’t suck anymore. One more thing to note: Axes also have more variety in these games than they did in the previous entries which gives axes users more tools to deal with specific problems.

Worst Weapon Types for FE 7, 8 & 10: Bows
While axes got a huge upgrade bows basically remained the same. Bows have always been restricted to 2 range in Fire Emblem but the difference was that in the past Hand Axes weren’t good weapons. They either had crappy accuracy or their weapon weight mattered more. In these games that’s no longer the case. Hand Axes (and javelins) have the same range as the average bow, but they also have the extra perk of being able to defend their wielders at close range, which is something a bow cannot do. At least bows can still deal effective damage against fliers right? Well that’s not a big deal anymore because all the enemies suck so the extra damage is superfluous. 

Radiant Dawn also adds insult to injury by having a significant portion of the game be the "Rout" objective. The reason why this matters is because "Rout" heavy games tend to benefit powerhouse units who can wipe out huge enemy armies during the Enemy Phase. Since archers can't counterattack 1 range enemies on the Enemy Phase that means that there's a significant portion of the game where they simply cease to exist. 

Worst Weapon Type for Path of Radiance: Knives
While bows contain all the same problems in Path of Radiance as they do in the previous games the big difference here is that knives suck even more. There are three knives in Path of Radiance. Just three. The strongest knife in Path of Radiance has only a measly 8 might, which is on par with a Steel Sword. None of the knives in Path of Radiance have range and for some strange reason you cannot forge them. Why do knives exist in Path of Radiance again?

It was the Best of Weapons, It was the Worst of Weapons Part 2

Holy War



Best Weapons: Swords & Wind Magic
Worst Weapons: Axes & Fire Magic

I’m sure this ranking comes as a surprise to nobody, but let’s analyze this anyway. First, let’s compare and contrast the various weapons by starting with the anima tomes.

Wind Tome

Mt: 8
Weight: 2
Hit: 90

Thunder Tome
Mt: 8
Weight: 7
Hit: 90

Fire Tome
Mt: 8
Weight: 12
Hit: 90

Between these three tomes the only difference is in their weight. The wind tome has the lightest weight which means that the wielder will experience the least attack speed reduction. The Fire Tome has the highest weight which means that your attack speed is going to drop like an anchor, which means that you’ll easily get double attacked by enemies.

This pattern applies to the higher ranked anima tomes as well (which you can see for yourself here: https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/inventory/fire-thunder-wind/).

They all have the exact same might, usually they’ll have the same accuracy, but the wind tomes will ALWAYS have lower weight. This means that the wind tome user can deal just as much damage as their lightning or fire wielding counterparts, but they also get the added bonus of having higher avoid and being able to double attack (assuming that they have the Pursuit skill).



Assuming that you have the same weapon ranks in anima magic, there is zero reason to ever use thunder and fire magic over wind. Wind magic is also the only anima magic type whose Regalia can be used by the player, and if you pair Lewyn and Tiltyu together you can use the Holsety tome from the end of Chapter 4 until the last chapter of Holy War, which is the longest period of time you can ever have a Regalia for.

Swords and Axes operate under a similar line of logic. The main difference here is that axes have significantly higher might than swords, but their weight is also absurdly high. For example, compare and contrast an Iron Sword with an Iron Axe:

Iron Sword
Mt: 6
Wt: 3
Hit: 80

Iron Axe
Mt: 14
Wt: 18
Hit: 70

An Iron Axe has more weight than might, which is pretty awful. Sure it has more than twice as much might, but that still doesn’t change the fact that you’re basically going to have non-existent attack speed. Even if the axe-user doesn’t have the Pursuit skill they’re still going to have terrible avoid.

Once again, this pattern is applicable to swords, axes and lances. Axes will have high might, but their weight is absurdly high and their accuracy will generally be either average, or it will be bad. There are also only 6 different kinds of axes: Iron, Steel, Silver, Brave and the Hand Axe plus the Helswath. By contrast, there are over 4 times that many swords. Also, all 3 sword regalia will come under the player’s possession at one point in the game or another. The Axe Regalia doesn’t.

Something else I almost forgot to bring up is that magic swords are actually considered to be good 1 - 2 range in this game. For example, give Sigurd Ethlin’s Light Brand and stick him in the forest at the beginning of Chapter 4. It’s pretty hilarious how low the accuracy of the Wind Mages will be. Even Mekkah suggested that Alec and Noish with magic swords are actually pretty good units:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQOTKuXYwz8&index=6&list=PLA69XE9lKaI64aDqHYvng0U9jpYF1dslC

To Sum it up: Swords and wind magic are super light weight, which grant their users more avoid and will guarantee that characters with the Pursuit skill will be able to double attack. Axe and Fire Magic are really heavy and will have sub-par accuracy.

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Thracia 776
Best Weapon Types: Wind Magic & Swords
Worst Weapon Types: Dark Magic & Bows

Well would you look at that? Wind tomes and Swords are once again the best weapon types. It feels like deja vu all over again. The reason why wind tomes are the best weapon type here is less obvious than in Holy War. Wind tomes still have the lightest weight on average (although Thunder tomes do a better job of giving them competition) while maintaining great damage output. Plus Wind tomes give the player not one, but two OP Prf rank weapons: Grafcalibur and Holsety. Blizzard is also the best of the three ballistic siege tomes due to its ability to inflict the Sleep status on enemies. In Thracia, statuses can last forever unless you use a Restore staff. So inflicting a status is a much bigger deal here.

Swords once again have the greatest variety in their arsenal compared to axes or lances. Swords also have better accuracy too. Most lances on average have between 65 - 70 accuracy while most axes have between 50 - 65 accuracy. Some swords have between 55 - 65 accuracy, but the difference here is that there are also a significant number that have 70 accuracy or higher, which is something that the other two can’t say. Once again swords have favorably low weights as well, meaning that sword users as a whole will suffer less attack speed penalties.

Unlike Holy War Thracia 776 tends to give the stink eye to different weapon types. Let’s start with Dark Magic. There are only two Dark Magic tomes that can be used by the player: Yotsmungand and Fenrir. Everything else either turns into Fenrir when taken upon capture or can’t be used by the player at all. As if that weren’t bad enough Dark Magic is ridiculously heavy. You know you’re doing something wrong when the lightest weapon of your type is at 12. Be prepared to watch that attack speed flush down the toilet. The Fenrir tome also only has 5 uses. Yikes. 

Bows lack 1 range, which hurts them a lot in this game because it means that bow users cannot capture at all. Bows also have a terrible might to weight ratio in Thracia 776. All of the lower ranked bows have weight that are either greater than or equal to their might, which is awful! Their accuracy is also on par with lances too on average.

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Binding Blade

Best Weapon Types: Swords and Dark Magic
Worst Weapon Types: Axes and Light Magic

Once again swords reign supreme. Swords in Binding Blade tend to have fantastic accuracy in a game where accuracy is actually an issue. There are plenty of axe wielding enemies as well so sword users get a nifty weapon triangle bonus whose usefulness is bolstered by the fact that axes can’t hit the broad side of a barn in this game. Once again swords have low weight which is very favorable for them especially in comparison to lances and axes who do not have favorable might to weight ratios.

You might be wondering why Dark Magic is considered to be one of the best weapon types. Well for starters Dark Magic gives you Flux and Nosferatu, which have reasonable accuracies and favorable might - weight ratios. Nosferatu is also a godsend in Hard Mode where enemies can hit like a truck. Apocalypse has great firepower too for a Regalia in FE 6. 18 might and a + 5 Magic boost are pretty sweet. 

Now to the worst weapon types. Axes are notorious (and rightfully so) for having craptastic accuracy. Armads is the only axe in the game that has higher than 65 accuracy. That’s really sad. Most axes have a weight that’s greater than or equal to their might which means that you’ll also get weighed down extremely fast.

Light Magic is considered one of the worst weapon types in the game mainly because it doesn’t really have anything good going for it. Anima has Aircalibur (and anima magic as a whole is more accurate in this game) while Dark Magic has Nosferatu and a better Regalia to boot. Light Magic just doesn’t contribute anything meaningful or substantive so it gets left behind.

It was the Best of Weapons, It was the Worst of Weapons Part 1

One of the suggestions I got for a future blog post was talking about which weapon types were the best and worst. The thing about this topic is that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. Each Fire Emblem game has at least a few differences in how their mechanics work. These differences in mechanics and design affect the overall quality of the different weapon types. This means that I’ll have to rank the quality of each weapon type by game because each game is different enough to warrant its own discussion.


Before I begin, I’d like to thank Ronaldo for helping me out with these lists. This would have been pretty daunting to make without you buddy.

FE 1 & 3

Best Weapon Type: Swords
Worst Weapon Type: Axes

First, let’s start with why axes suck in FE 1 & 3. For starters, there are only 5 different kinds of axes in both games:

https://serenesforest.net/dark-dragon-and-sword-of-light/inventory/axes/

https://serenesforest.net/mystery-of-the-emblem/inventory/axes/

Axes also tend to weigh a ton. For example an Iron Sword has 2 weight in both games while an Iron Axe has a weight of 7. Sure the Iron Axe has + 3 might over the Iron Sword, which means that it will deal more damage, but the Iron Sword dramatically increases your chances of double attacking enemies.

Generally speaking double attacking is a better way of increasing damage output than having one strong swing. This is a big reason why swords are considered the best weapons in both of these games: Their weight is super low, which means that you’ll have the easiest time double attacking enemies. Swords also provide the highest variety of weapons that let you deal with different foes.


You’ve got swords that deal effective damage against dragons, armored units, increase your chances of landing a crit and in FE 3 there are swords that deal effective damage against thieves, pirates and mercenaries. Indoor maps in FE 3 also make swords a more preferred choice since they become the default weapon for a significant percent of your army.



Additional Notes From Ronaldo

• Levin Swords are potent 1 - 2 range weapons in Fire Emblems 1 & 3. The reason for that is that enemy resistance just doesn’t exist which means that you can get a lot of mileage from them. 

• Also, the Rapier is game-breaking in Fire Emblem 1 and it’s a sword. Meanwhile both Mercurius and Falchion are also powerful weapons and they are swords.

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Gaiden & Echoes


Best Weapon Type in Gaiden: Swords

Worst Weapon Type in Gaiden: Lances



Best Weapon Type in Echoes: Bows

Worst Weapon Type in Echoes: Magic


You’re probably wondering why Gaiden and Echoes have different Best / Worst Weapon Types. Let’s start with Echoes since that’s the game that most people have played here. Magic is the worst weapon type in that game because of the following reasons:

• It reduces the HP of the caster making them easier to kill. Also, if said caster doesn’t have enough HP to cast the spell then they’re effectively useless.

• Magic is the only weapon type in Echoes that cannot be forged. That’s a huge disadvantage the other weapon types don’t have.

• You can’t get a Combat Arte from using a spell a certain number of times like you can with all the other weapons. 

Bows in Echoes got a HUGE upgrade from the original. For starters there are only 4 bows in the original Gaiden. By contrast there are 14 bows in Echoes. Sure, two of them are amiibo and DLC only but that still counts.


One of the problems with bows in both OG Gaiden and in Echoes are their low accuracies. The difference in Echoes is that you can forge a bow, which fixes that problem. Bows have the best range in Echoes and more importantly they give you access to the awesomeness that is the Killer Bow. Not only does the Killer Bow provide you with + 20 Crit but you also get “Hunter’s Volley” which provide two consecutive attacks.





Here’s what Ronaldo said about the worth of swords and lances in Gaiden:


The Devil Sword is the strongest weapon in Gaiden...if you give it to a Dread Fighter. Dread Fighters don’t have to deal with the recoil effect and they’re so fast that they’ll still double attack everything (except for other Dread Fighters) so the extra weight doesn’t hinder them. All while taking advantage of the 13 might of the Devil Sword.

Lances are considered the worst weapon type in Gaiden because they really can’t do anything that other weapon types can’t do better. Bows have excellent range, Swords have the Devil Sword, Magic has the Magic Ring and Miracle Ring. Lances have the Gradivus, but that's endgame only.