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Fire Emblem Engage

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Best Alear Builds in Fire Emblem Engage

By
Nathan Garvin

Descended from dragons? Check. Mysterious dark past with convenient amnesia? Check. Sword fighter? Check. High SPD with a preference for STR and DEF over MAG and RES? Check. Yep, it’s a Fire Emblem protagonist, alright. "Alear" iconAlear begins the game as a "Dragon Child" iconDragon Child Lvl 1, and regardless of what her stats or abilities are, you don’t really have an option whether to bring her along or not. She’s a mandatory include in pretty much every story battle in the game, and more than that, her defeat is a fail condition. You’ll need to make the best of it and instead of trying to hide your commander, make her as hard as possible for enemies to kill. This page will cover Alear’s strengths and weaknesses, including her starting stats, stat maximums and stat growths, and suggest the best classes and Emblem Rings for Alear.

As a !Divine Dragon, Alear’s max stats will largely comport to her growths - high SPD, decent HP, STR, DEX and DEF, low MAG and RES.

Alear’s Stats and Stat Growths

If you’ve heard the saying “Jack of all trades, master of none”, well… Alear is more of a “Jack of some trades, master of none. Her HP, STR, DEX, SPD and DEF growths are all good, but none are top-tier, while her MAG, RES and LCK are all middling. Even though Alear’s not the strongest in any category, having the second or third best growths in most relevant categories means Alear has no real glaring weaknesses as a warrior, and even her poor stats aren’t glaringly bad. Since her SPD is high, she’ll be a competent AVO tank. With a high DEF and decent HP and RES, even if she takes a few rare hits, it shouldn’t matter much. A good STR score and high DEX means she’ll also hit relatively hard, and if equipped correctly, should inflict critical hits regularly. Give her a sword and send her to the front lines - it’s hard to go wrong, here.

Stat Base Max Growth Lvl 40
HP 22 60% 45.4
BLD 4 5% 5.95
STR 6 +1 35% 19.65
MAG 0 20% 7.8
DEX 5 +1 45% 22.55
SPD 7 +1 50% 26.5
DEF 5 40% 20.6
RES 3 25% 12.75
LCK 5 25% 14.75

The !Swordmaster is a great alternative to the !Divine Dragon, having significantly higher DEX and SPD at the expense of lower DEF.

Best Classes for Alear

There are several defining traits that will help us narrow down classes for Alear. First, her STR growth outstrips her MAG growth by 15%, so she’ll very likely end up looking to deal physical damage instead of magic damage. Second, her SPD is too high to squander, being just 5% lower than the fastest characters in the game. Putting her in a low SPD class just doesn’t make a lot of sense, as you’ll be leaving a lot of AVO on the table doing that. Third, her high DEF is worth considering, but in light of her SPD, not a dealbreaker. She also has a unique sword that only she can use, which is similar to a "Steel Sword" iconSteel Sword, stat-wise, but charges her Engage meter when she defeats enemies, making us sentimentally predisposed towards keeping her using swords. Unfortunately there are quite a few classes which fall into these parameters, so let’s take a closer look at some of the contenders:

Class HP STR MAG DEX SPD DEF RES LCK BLD
"Divine Dragon" iconDivine Dragon 68 42 25 37 44 35 25 35 13
"Swordmaster" iconSwordmaster 67 41 25 45 50 27 26 37 12
Hero 75 46 20 38 42 34 22 33 16
Paladin 77 46 21 46 38 35 29 30 16

As you can see, there are a lot of viable options, on paper, which is to say, the "Divine Dragon" iconDivine Dragon class really doesn’t blow more common classes out of the water, statistically. That said, DEX gives +2 HIT and +0.5 CRIT per point while SPD gives +2 AVO and a chance to perform follow-up attacks. SPD is going to win over DEX in a point-for-point matchup; even a five point drop in DEX will only have a 2.5% drop on CRIT rate, as compared to a 10% loss of AVO.

Divine Dragon

Sometimes the obvious choice is the best choice… and sometimes your protagonist’s unique class is Divine Dragon. Alear starts out a Dragon Child, and can promote to a Divine Dragon, which is very similar, but possesses higher stat growths, access to arts (B grade) and faster MOV. The class also compliment’s Alear’s stats, giving her access to decent HP (68), good max STR (42), DEF (35) and SPD (44). The only real odd feature of this class is its pedestrian DEX cap (37). Its class ability, "Divine Spirit" iconDivine Spirit, further enhances Alear’s ability to spam Engage states (especially if farming kills with Liberation), but it’s not perhaps so great as to keep our eyes from straying…

Swordmaster

Compared to the Divine Dragon, the "Swordmaster" iconSwordmaster will have comparable HP, STR, MAG and RES, while gaining eight points of DEX cap (45 to 37) and six points of SPD cap (50 to 44), meaning Swordmaster Alear will have a higher AVO, a greater chance of performing followup attacks and a higher CRIT rate. This comes at the expense of eight points lower max DEF (27 vs 35), which is offset somewhat by the higher AVO and a slightly inhibited ability to spam Engage states. It’s really hard to find a good argument against potentially having a 4% higher CRIT rate and +12 AVO as a Swordmaster.

Hero

The Hero has more HP (75) than both the Divine Dragon and the Swordmaster and boasts a higher max STR (46) and lower SPD (42)… but not so low that it greatly inhibits Alear’s AVO. As a Hero, Alear will have comparable DEX and DEF, making this something of a lateral change that favors brute strength while giving Alear the option of taking a second weapon (either an axe or lance - your choice). The Hero’s class skill, “"Brave Assist" iconBrave Assist”, doubles down on chain attacks, which perhaps isn’t the worst thing, considering Alear’s personal skill buffs her allies while she’s nearby.

Paladin

Why have Paladins when you can be a Paladin? The Paladin compares well to the Divine Dragon in numerous categories; the Paladin has higher HP (77), STR (46), DEX (46) and RES (29) at the expense of SPD (38). Still, that’s a whole lot of gains for 4 points of SPD, and you’ll get an S rank in Swords.

!Alear can use !Levin Swords to strike from afar, but her MAG score is low enough to render this a secondary option, at best.

Best Emblem Rings for Alear

Alear is in an odd place stat-wise, which makes her selection of classes unusually open to debate. This, in turn, influences her battlefield role and hence what Emblem Rings she should have.

Sigurd

If you go with Swordmaster or Divine Dragon, Alear can rival "Yunaka" iconYunaka as a potential AVO tank. If you settle for a more damage-heavy build, like Hero or Paladin, that could put Alear on the fringes of AVO tank candidacy. "Sigurd" iconSigurd is a pretty solid choice for any character who will end up with 40+ SPD, hence Alear deserves a mention in most cases, although whether you want to play hero with the one character you can’t afford to lose is another matter.

Lyn

Whenever Sigurd is a good pick, "Lyn" iconLyn probably is, too. Her Speedtaker ability will give Alear more SPD the more times she initiates combat and kills enemies, while Alacrity will allow Alear to follow-up before an enemy can attack if Alear has a 9+ SPD advantage over the enemy, something Speedtaker will make more likely as the battle goes on. Lyn’s "Astra Storm" iconAstra Storm allows Alear to make use of a very long-ranged option, which they otherwise lack.

Leif

Mostly a consideration if you go with a Hero Alear, "Leif" iconLeif will allow Alear to swap between her weapons on the fly (as long as she’s not initiating combat), preventing breaks and potentially reducing damage when Alear has advantage.

Lucina

Alear’s personal skill, "Divinely Inspiring" iconDivinely Inspiring, grants adjacent allies +3 damage and reduces incoming damage by 1. She wants to be in the thick of combat, and "Lucina" iconLucina will complement this positioning via “"Dual Assist" iconDual Assist” which allows Alear to make chain attacks even when out of range, “Dual Strike” which grants Alear the ability to make chain attacks despite potentially not being a backup unit, “"Bonded Shield" iconBonded Shield” which blocks attacks directed at adjacent allies, and “"All for One" iconAll for One”, which provokes nearby allies to perform chain attacks against an adjacent foe you strike. Alear + Lucina and "Lapis" iconLapis + Lyn traveling around the map are quite a fearsome duo

Edelgard

Generally a powerful Emblem, Emblem Edelgard is best used with a Divine Dragon Alear, who can spam Engage State. While engaged, Alear can benefit from "Weapon Sync" iconWeapon Sync, which is a flat damage bonus, and make use of a variety of weapons, as the situation demands. Houses United is an absurdly strong finisher, as well.

Best Skills for Alear

As for skills, Alear should learn and inherit the standard leveling skills: "Lineage" iconLineage from Edelgard (substitute with "Mentorship" iconMentorship from "Byleth" iconByleth if you don’t have access to it) and Starsphere from Tiki. Like most fighters, Alear will benefit from "Marth" iconMarth’s AVO+ skills, especially if she’s a Paladin or Hero. "Tiki" iconTiki’s "Lifesphere" iconLifesphere is also wonderful for a passive AVO tank, as it’ll heal Alear for up to 40HP (and remove status effects!) while she waits. You could also go out of your way to learn Lyn’s Alacrity and Speedtaker abilities if you wanted to benefit from those without having Lyn equipped.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Nintendo
  • Platforms,
    Switch
  • Genre
    Adventure, Tactical RPG
  • Guide Release
    12 January 2023
  • Last Updated
    7 February 2023
    Version History
  • Guide Author

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Fire Emblem Engage is the latest entry of the legendary Fire Emblem series. This guide for Fire Emblem Engage currently contains the following:

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