Fire Emblem Engage has deviated from previous Fire Emblem games when it comes learning new and returning skills to the series. Some skills like Speedtaker and Canter are now tied to the Emblem characters, while there are also individual Class skills to learn.

This is one of the main ways to get skills in Engage. You must level up your Bond with the Emblem you want to inherit a skill and buy it using SP. You can only equip two inherited Emblem skills at any time per character, so look for potential synergy when choosing.

Updated October 31, 2023 by Quinton O'Connor: The perennial popularity of Fire Emblem Engage's predecessor, Three Houses, has arguably already usurped it in online chatter. But that doesn't mean folks aren't having fun with Engage, even if it's destined to be the less popular Switch sibling. New players will want to make the most of the game's rich skill system, so we're doing our job to keep this updated.

12 Break Defences - Marth

Marth is the first Emblem you get access to in the early game, along with Sigurd. These two have some powerful abilities you'll want to capitalise on. Break Defence is one of Marth's skills, and it allows for more damage when you have a weapon triangle advantage.

If you break an enemy during your attack, you will perform a follow-up attack afterwards at lower damage. The benefit of this is that if you're naturally going to attack twice or more, Break Defence will throw in one extra attack for good measure if you Break the enemy. It's excellent for getting a tiny bit more damage in.

11 Momentum - Sigurd

Momentum is best suited for your characters who have a lot of Movement, such as mounted or flying units. The skill works by adding one attack per space you move up to a maximum of ten. There's an upgraded version of this skill at a higher Bond Level removing the cap.

Having this skill means you'll want to travel as far as you can to land your attack on an enemy, especially if you're just a few points of damage away from killing your foe. It's significantly beneficial to all your units, as well as mages and infantry, effectively always giving you more damage when you move to attack.

10 Hold Out - Roy

Hold Out is a great skill for all your characters if you can afford it. This ability, inherited from Emblem Roy, allows any unit with 30 percent HP at the start of combat to always survive with just one HP left, no matter what.

On Hard and Maddening mode, this will be the difference between life and death because it will completely stop your units from being killed in one turn. Hold Out has three ranks, and the Bond Rank 18 version makes it even more busted by removing the percentage cap by changing the skill, letting you survive combat with one HP if you have two HP or more.

9 Lunar Brace And Gentility, Solar Brace And Bravery - Eirika And Ephraim

Eirika and Ephraim are unique in that their Emblem Ring contains both characters. This means you'll have access to different skills depending on if you're Engaged with Eirika or Ephraim, but if you have one of them you'll get the corresponding alternative. It should be noted that can only inherit Lunar Brace and Gentility to use when not synced with Eirika.

Lunar Brace lets you deal more damage when you attack, while Gentility reduces all damage you take by a flat three. These two are excellent for survivability and damage-dealing, especially because Gentility can be upgraded even further. Solar Brace is similar to the skill Sol, which lets you recover HP per hit each time you initiate combat, while Bravery increases your damage by three.

8 Resolve - Ike

Resolve gives your unit a flat five-point increase in defense and resistance if you're left with less than 75 percent HP after combat. Ike's skills are all about tanking, and Resolve will help keep several of your frontline units alive if they already have modest defense and resistance stats.

It's not advisable to solely rely on it for your armored units because even with five more resistance, magic will kill them nine times out of ten. This is better suited for Alear or your flier units, who will benefit from comfortably surviving with less HP.

7 Dual Assist - Lucina

Chain Attacks are significantly busted in Fire Emblem Engage. This new system lets your special backup units in combat range jump in and attack a chosen enemy before you do. This skill increases the range of your backup units, giving them a percent chance to Chain Attack someone without being adjacent to the enemy. It's perfect for increasing chip damage.

By giving this to all your backup units, you can have a ridiculous number of potential characters chain attacking your enemy into oblivion. Just be thankful the enemy AI doesn't utilize this skill normally -since they love to abuse the Chain Attack system, too.

6 Pair Up - Corrin

The Pair Up skill will be the most effective way you stand a chance at combating the overwhelming number of Chain Attacks the enemy AI will throw at you. Any unit with the Pair Up skill will nullify any foes' Chain Attacks made against you.

It should be obvious why this skill is so crucial and broken for your frontline units or even your more squishy ones. Negating Chain Attacks removes so much damage potential from the enemy, making it one of the most worthwhile skills that increase your survivability.

5 Quality Time - Corrin

This is another one of Corrin's Emblem Skills that is immensely useful if you're using choke points or hunkering down to deal with enemies. Quality Time restores five HP to any adjacent ally when you use your turn, which is excellent for keeping everyone topped up.

Quality Time works to devastating effect with Seadall as a Dancer due to the synergy it provides with his dancing and personal skill that already heals nearby allies. Other than this, Quality Time is an incredible skill to give to any of your support units.

4 Speedtaker - Lyn

You might recognize this skill as a recurring one from the series, and it works the same way. Each time a character with this skill gets a kill, they will receive a two-point increase to their speed stat for the rest of the battle. This can stack up to ten times.

If you have slow units, this skill is perfect for helping them become better in protracted fights. Better yet, having this skill on your fast characters will ensure that they always hit enemies twice when attacking. Pair this with Lyn's Alacrity skill for beautifully broken results.

3 Vantage - Leif

Another returning skill in the Fire Emblem series, Vantage is typically reserved for your Swordmaster units. Vantage lets you attack your opponent first if your HP is below a certain threshold, even if they initiate combat.

Upgrading this skill to its maximum version will increase the HP threshold to 75 percent or less HP, which means even if you take a hit, you'll be hard-pressed to be hit again if you're able to kill the enemies before they get their attacks in.

2 Canter - Sigurd

We've spoken before about the wonders of Canter, and it's truly one of the best skills in the game. Not only is it available from the start, but you can also take your time to grind it out if you want. Canter lets your units move two spaces after combat, meaning you pull off wonderful hit-and-run strategies.

Giving this to archers, mages, or mounted units will be a genuine game-changer in how you play Engage. The utility offered is that you can move into position to attack and immediately retreat to the safety of a nearby thicket or back behind your frontline units. Bear in mind you can only move two spaces, so plan accordingly.

1 Alacrity - Lyn

Alacrity is one of the most broken skills in the game, especially when paired with fast characters. If you can hit your enemy twice, this skill lets you perform both attacks before the enemy counterattacks. If you know to pair this skill with Vantage, in theory, you could be unhittable if you have enough speed to always get your attack in before the enemy can hit you.

The skill triggers if you have nine more points of speed than your opponent, which can turn some of your faster characters into monstrous killing machines who can't be hit during your attack phase. The upgraded version of Alacrity reduces the speed point threshold to five.

Next: Fire Emblem Engage: Things To Do After You Beat The Game