Generals of the Battlefield - A Guide to Armor Teams

Armor teams have always been in Fire Emblem Heroes’ spotlight, and in the current state of the game this is even more true. With the introduction of the 180 BST bin thanks to heroes like Legendary Tiki and Halloween Myrrh, this class represents the highest scoring as well as some of the most powerful heroes available.

For straight combat potential, armors are unmatched -- they simply outclass other Fire Emblem teams (cavalry, flier, and infantry) with raw stats. Because of this stat boost, armors are the premier units of the upper tiers of the Arena, and those looking to stay in tiers 20 and 21 should consider the power of armor units. Though less necessary now with introduction of Duel Skills, armors still represent some of the strongest units around that don’t have to forfeit their A-Skill.

Like most classes, armors do have some inherent weaknesses; unlike them, though, they’re able to make up for these deficiencies with extremely powerful (and sometimes class-exclusive) Skills. Their low Speed and Resistance are made non-factors by the Fighter Skills, they’re made dangerous to initiate on with the Quick Riposte Seal and Breath Skills, their low movement is patched by Armor March, and their already high Defense and Attack can be further boosted by 6 with Hone and Fortify Armor. All these factors make armors deadly no matter if it’s Player Phase or Enemy Phase and grants them unparalleled flexibility.

It’s not all sugar and rainbows, though. Without proper pre-planning regarding team composition and skill setup, armors are difficult to use in comparison to other team types. Thanks to Tactics skills, mixed teams can perform just as well as -- if not better than -- Armor teams. Furthermore, without Armor March, armor teams struggle to move across the map to bait and KO properly. That isn’t to say that there aren’t many compelling reasons to use them; they just tend to require more care than for instance user-friendly cavalry teams.

Pros:

• Armored units simply have more stat points than any other unit type in the game. Even the highest BST units from other categories can match only the worst armors.

• Bold Fighter, Special Fighter, and Vengeful Fighter are some of, if not the most powerful skills in the game due to their powerful effects and cooldown reduction – and they’re all armor exclusive.

• Class-specific armor buffs boost armor teams raw offensive and defensive power even higher. A buffed armor unit with Fighter skills is a nigh-unstoppable force, especially in terms of non-Abyssal PvE content.

• Thanks to their high HP armor units are some of the best users of Panic Ploy, allowing them to reverse buffs on their opponents while making use of buffs of their own.

• For arena players, armor units score highly. Sheena and Gwendolyn are both 3 and 4 star rarity units who reach the 170 BST with proper IVs. The best 5 star exclusive armors score even higher.

Cons:

• There are no armored healers or dancers -- armor teams rely on their combat ability alone. Prolonged battles that bring reinforcements or battles that require control of simultaneous areas at once spell trouble for them.

• Without Armor March, armors only have a movement of 1. While this doesn’t make armors completely unusable, it certainly isn’t optimal.

• While armors are no doubt powerful on their own, they’re not much better in the current state of Fire Emblem Heroes than other units unless they bring along the powerful Fighter Skills -- which are locked to 5 star armors.

• There are only a few worthwhile armors in the 3 and 4 star pool. Unlike the infantry, cavalry, and flier pool, most of the compelling armor units are locked to 5 star exclusivity.

Overview

The exclusivity of Skills seems to have no end for armor units. Like fliers and cavalry, armor units have access to their own class-specific C skills.

The Types of Buffs

• Hone/Fortify Armor: These are your typical class-specific Hone/Fortify Skills, requiring your armors to start the turn adjacent to one another. As visible buffs, they are in effect until the start of the next player phase. Hone Armor provides +6 Atk/Spd while Fortify Armor grants +6 Def/Res.

• Goad/Ward Armor: Equivalent to Drive Skills, these Goads and Wards provide in-combat (non-visible) buffs to only your armor units if said units are within 2 tiles of the Skill carrier. Goad Armor and Ward Armor provides +4 Atk/Spd and +4 Def/Res, respectively, and unlike a Hone or Fortify can be stacked.

• Armor March: Effectively eliminating their movement-based weakness of 1 space, Armor March allows the carrying armor and any adjacent armored allies to move 1 extra space. This ability is made even more powerful because armor units ignore forest terrain, allowing them to traverse these tiles without the typical movement penalty.

Who Has the Buffs?

•  Hone Armor is found exclusively on Gwendolyn, who is in the 3 and 4 star pool.

•  Fortify Armor belongs to Sheena, who is in the 3 and 4 star pool. It’s also found on the seasonal units Winter Lissa and Halloween Niles.

•  Goad Armor can be found on Hector and LA Eliwood.

•  Ward Armor is found on Draug, who is also in the 3 and 4 star pool..

•  Armor March is as of now only found on 5 star exclusive units, most of which are seasonal. Amelia, Brave Ephraim, LA Lyn, Halloween Henry, Halloween Myrrh, and Winter Robin all natively possess this Skill.

Overview

All armored mages are locked to five star, seasonal exclusivity, resulting in there being a very few amount of them. Manage to get your hands on one though, and you’ll have yourself an armored powerhouses that utilizes the armor movement buffs to do massive damage.

Blade tomes work by adding each buff directly into the unit’s Attack. For example, a unit with +4 Defense would also gain +4 to their Attack. Naturally, buffs to Attack apply as well, so a Blade tome unit with +4 Attack would actually receive +8 Attack. Armor teams can manipulate this to a ridiculous extent with both Hone and Fortify Armor, which ultimately offer a Blade tome unit a whopping +30 Attack on their initiation.

Above we see that Halloween Henry is unable to secure the KO on this Wary Fighter Axe Armor unit. What happens when we boost Henry with Hone Armor and Fortify Armor?

When standing next to two allies, one with Hone Armor and one with Fortify Armor, Henry gains a whopping +6/+6/+6/+6 to every stat, for a total of +30 extra damage.

Thanks to the boost, Halloween Henry is able to ORKO this tanky axe fighter. You’ll notice he does 29 damage without buffs and 59 damage with buffs. Buffing blade units with both Hone Armor and Fortify Armor increase their damage by a massive 30 points.

Inheriting Blade Tomes

•  Blárblade, the blue Blade tome, can be found on Odin, a 3-4 star unit and Tailtiu, a 4-5 star unit.

•  Rauðrblade, the red Blade tome, can be found on Tharja, a 3-4 star unit.

•  Gronnblade, the green Blade tome, can be found on Nino, a 3-4 star unit.

Be sure to promote these units to 5 stars before inheriting their Blade tome to your tome user, so that you can get the maximum amount of Attack from these powerful weapons.

Blade Tome Buff Compositions

If you’re using a blade tome armor then it’s best to run two other units with Hone and Fortify Armor. This can ensure the maximum amount of damage can be offered to your Blade tome mage. Your Blade tome mage is usually the best candidate for Armor March, since they need to receive the buffs to their stats to take full advantage of the tome.

Overview

Armored units are at the top of the food chain for one reason: Fighter Skills. Without them, they’re not significantly better than the other unit classes -- but with them, their weaknesses are made much less apparent.

The Fighter Skills

•  Bold Fighter. Without a doubt the most powerful skill for armored units -- and potentially the game -- Bold Fighter guarantees a follow-up attack and accelerates Special cooldown by -1, so long as the user’s HP ≥ 50%. This skill completely ignores an armor unit’s traditionally low Speed and accelerates cooldown to boot.

•  Special Fighter. A more ‘specialized ‘ Fighter skill, Special Fighter grants Special cooldown charge +1 the user and inflicts Special cooldown -1 to foes per attack, with the HP ≥ 50% requirement. Special Fighter is extremely powerful on armors who have enough Speed to naturally follow-up. Likewise, Special Fighter is a good choice on armors who have exclusive weaponry that guarantees follow-ups.

•  Vengeful Fighter. Vengeful Fighter is Bold Fighter’s counterpart and a direct upgrade of Quick Riposte. It guarantees a follow-up attack when foe initiates combat so long as the unit’s HP ≥ 50% and additionally, grants Special cooldown charge +1 per attack. This is the optimal Enemy Phase armor unit skill, guaranteeing Aether procs for slow armors who shrug off opposing doubles.

•  Wary Fighter. Often overlooked thanks to the power of the previous three Skills, Wary Fighter is still a threatening ability when used on the proper units. Preventing follow-up attacks from both the unit and their foe so long as the user’s HP ≥ 50%, Wary Fighter is best fitting on extremely high Attack armors that most other units can’t exchange blows with. It also is a notable component on Hector’s Omnibreaker set.

Who Has the Fighter Skills?

• Bold Fighter is locked to some of the most powerful units in the game – and rightfully so. Hardin, Winter Lissa, Brave Hector, Legendary Tiki, and Halloween Kagero natively possess it.

• Special Fighter was introduced with Brave Ephraim, who is currently the only unit who possesses it.

• Vengeful Fighter is found on Legendary Hector, Winter Tharja, Halloween Myrrh, and Fallen Robin (M).

• Wary Fighter, the only non-5 star exclusive Fighter Skill, can be found on Effie in the 3 and 4 star pool.