Fire Emblem Engage starts pretty easy on players, but very quickly things start to get pretty spicy. The fourth chapter is an excellent example of that ever-steepening difficulty curve. You will be conducting a battle on two fronts, splitting your forces in the process. All the while you will be confronted by a bevy of heavily armored units.

Related: Fire Emblem Engage: Complete Combat GuideHowever, while these hulking heavies certainly create issues for you and your forces, they are far from being the only complicating factor. This map features multiple waves of enforcements and special pieces of terrain that can create a number of complications for you and your troops. Thankfully, the game will provide you with three additional units who all come packing some pretty potent powers. So worry now, we will see you through this conflict!

Chapter 4 Land In Bloom - Battle

This battle will require you to split your troops into two separate groups. Most of the troops at the bottom of the map are pretty well armored, and four out of six are equipped with lances. So, a sword user like Alear won’t be much help. Instead, send Vander with at least one of the two mages (the newly acquired Celine or Clanne). Vander is able to break the lance-wielders, and is tanky enough to hold the line. Magic users, on the other hand, make quick work of heavily armored units. We also sent Framme down that path, as her ability to lessen damage with Chain Guard is extremely useful.

You will want one more troop capable of taking a hit or two so that you can form a wall alongside Vander to protect your vulnerable units. Alfred is a good pick for this role, as there are a lot of Lance Fighters on the other path. The role of the squad that travels along the bottom is pretty simple: form a wall with two melee units, and back them up with a mage. When you are forming the defensive line, have one of your troops enter the house and grab some easy Bond Fragments.

One thing to keep in mind about Celine is that she has the ability to pretty much one-shot all the corrupted troops once in her Engage form. Make good use of this wherever you put her. We like sending her along the bottom, as we think that half is tougher. When in her Engage mode, she can hit two troops for half damage each with her Echo ability, which is a great way to finish off troops. Lastly, her Ragnarok attack teleports her and does tremendous damage to one enemy unit.

While you work the one squad down and around, have your remaining troops head north. There are only a few of those heavily armored troops up this way. Make sure to take advantage of the tower, as it will both enhance your evasive abilities as well as provide a decent bit of healing. Best of all, enemies will crowd around it. This is ideally the place where you would put Boucheron, as you will get a bunch of chain attacks from out of this position.

There are multiple axe-wielding units up this way, which means you will get a lot of use out of Alear's sword. If you still have Marth equipped to Alear (and we recommend that you keep this duo together for now), then also know that when in the Engage form, you will be able to make short work of armored units using the rapier.

A good strategy for the north part of the map is to place Boucheron in the tower, allow him to draw them out, then surround them with and dismantle them by hitting them with their weaknesses, while adding on Chain Attacks from Boucheron. With Alear up this way, you are set to break the axe users, Boucheron can break the Lance Fighter, and if you send Etie up with this bunch, you can shoot the Pegasus Knight right out of the sky.

This battle provides you with three new troops. One of them is the aforementioned Celine. The other two are separated from the rest of your crew. Worryingly, they are surrounded by enemies. Worry not though, their dialogue clues you into the best way to use them. Send Chloe to the southeast to fight the mages, and send Louis to the north to tank arrows and slay archers.

Sometimes the Pegasus Knight in the top right corner of the map will fly down and attack. They enter through the gap between the two houses in the center of the map. If you see this meddler swooping in, you can block them by wedging Louis into the aforementioned gap. Don't worry, Louis is more than capable of shrugging off their attacks.

Louis is impervious to arrows. In general, he takes most hits pretty well, so you aren’t going to have to worry about him (as long as you keep him far, far away from mages). Chloe, on the other hand, will take damage as she is fighting off the mages and can quickly end up in a pretty vulnerable spot. Just make sure to top her health up whenever she is getting low, and be absolutely certain you don’t leave her in a spot where multiple troops can team up on her. Chloe's ability to fly makes it easy for her to join up with one of your other groups of your troops. Do just that once you finish clearing out all the mages (since she is a little more vulnerable, grouping up with Framme's team is probably a solid idea).

Make sure one of them enters the house in the center of the map and gets the 2000 Gold.

Additional Reinforcements

After the first turn, an axe-wielding Berserker will appear on the northern end of the map. This bandit is primarily intent on robbing the nearby homes. However, this means they are heading straight for Louis. Axe users do tend to perform well against lance users, but Louis will still make short work of this fellow anyway. However, he is just the first of three rounds of reinforcments.

A few turns later, two armored units (an axe user and a lance user) will appear at the tower to the north. However, at this point, you should have cleared out the northern section, more or less. So, Louis should be fighting alongside Alear by now (with the southern squad probably pretty close to joining as well. The final spat of reinforcements will come in the form of two Pegasus Knights. One in the western tower, and another in the southern tower. Since Etie will be hanging back anyway (as she is an archer), she will be able to make quick work of the Pegasus Knight in the eastern tower.

With the river running through this stage, and Chloe having access to a ranged weapon, she can position herself over the water and attack enemy troops without being attacked back (as long as they aren't archers or mages).

By the time your troops have all come back together, the fight will essentially be over. Rodine is certainly tough, but not so tough that he can take on nearly your entire army alone. Send your more mobile units to waste the mages, and blast Rodine with your own Mages. If he survives the magic assault, finish him off with Marth's rapier. The hard part of the battle is more figuring out how to effectively split your party into two forces, not fighting Rodine.

Post-Battle Exploration

Once you have cleared out all the baddies, you can now explore the village. Make sure to talk to your troops, then get exploring. Near the center of the map, on the southern half of the village, you can find 50 Bond Fragments sitting in the grass. There are 20 Iron Ingots sitting on the road behind Framme and Clanne. Go to the orange trees across the creek to get, well, oranges.

Finally, you will notice that there are some animals hanging around. You can adopt the Elosyian Dog right now, but the Calisson Chicken will be unavailable for adoption until you donate 5000 Gold to this part of the world. Excitingly, once you leave the village, you will be rewarded with shopkeepers and 10,000G.

Next: Fire Emblem Engage: Beginner Tips