Blazing Light

With a whopping twelve members, this is the largest skill family in Fire Emblem Heroes. They are commonly seen on Grand Hero Battle units, making many of them easily available to F2P users. Each of them triggers when a unit initiates an attack. They deal non-lethal damage in a radius different to each skill. The Growing skills have a wider radius, whereas the Blazing skills have increased damage. It is possible to hit two or more foes with these specials, which can decimate enemy lines, particularly if they line up with the target zone of the special. Knowing the targeting for each special is key to using them effectively. As your unit attacks immediately after firing the special, it can wipe them out in one hit.

These skills calculate their damage directly from the unit’s attack stat, making them most effective in the hands of high-power units. Heavy Blade is therefore a great A slot skill choice, synergizing with high attack units and helping to offset the long charge time. When choosing to use these specials, you must decide what is more important: Hitting multiple enemies, or decimating a single foe. Growing specials are better at the former, and Blazing specials at the latter. Savage Blow is a nice C slot skill to run alongside these skills, providing further AOE chip damage for free. They are a great way to circumvent breaker skills such as Swordbreaker, potentially KO'ing a foe before they can hit back or double attack.

The long charge time of four turns are these special’s primary weakness. Charging them often means having to survive the attacks and possibly specials of one or more foes. While they are capable of dealing extraordinary damage across the field, the long charge time makes it is far less likely for large groups of enemies to remain alive. The damage from these specials is also non-lethal, meaning one of your units will eventually have to enter combat and KO them normally. These factors make them tricky to use effectively, and less favorable than other more reliable specials.