Fire Emblem Fates Best Boon and Bane

Learn about the Best Boon and Bane in Fire Emblem Fates to make it easier for you to select one while creating a character.

In Fire Emblem Fates, selecting the best Boon and one Bane to aid the character’s development can be tricky, especially if you don’t know how it will affect your character’s progression.

The traits referred to as a Boon and Bane serve the same purpose for Corrin as an Asset and a Flaw, respectively. These are predetermined at the beginning of the game, cannot be altered once picked, and cannot share the same stat as a Boon or Bane.

Stat Changing Traits 

Regardless of the class’s changes, in Fire Emblem Fates, characters have unique personal growths that never change, and the class growths are added on top of the character’s basic growths.

Each class has its growth. Hayato’s personal growth won’t alter if he is transformed into Oni Savage; instead, his class growth will change. He’ll probably still favor MAG, but the Oni Savage growth will give him a little STR bump.

Boon

Boon is the first stat-altering ability. Boon determines which of your stats will be your highest base stat and which one will have the highest possibilities of growth when you level up. For unknown reasons, unlike Fire Emblem: Awakening, the Boon is described with a feature rather than the actual stat.

Bane

The second stat-altering characteristic is called Bane. As its name suggests, Bane determines which stat will be the lowest basic stat and which stat will have the lowest probability of earning points when a character levels up.

The table below enlists all the boon and bane traits :

Trait Boon Word Bane Word HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res
HP Robust Sickly +15/-10 +/-5 +/-5
STRENGTH Strong Weak +15/-10 +/-5 +/-5
MAGIC Clever Dull +20/-15 +/-5 +/-5
SKILL Sturdy Fragile   +/-5 +25/-20 +/-5
SPEED Calm Excitable +/-5 +15/-10 +/-5
LUCK Deft Clumsy +/-5 +/-5 +25/-20
DEFENCE Lucky Unlucky +/-5 +10/-10 +/-5
RESISTANCE Quick Slow +/-5 +/-5 +10/-10

I advise the Calm and Dull combination for less experienced players. This enables you to take full advantage of the Avatar’s base class and makes it easier for you to survive magic damage, which is a significant aspect of this game.

Because Magic damage is a major annoyance in Fates and having low HP isn’t pleasant either, I recommend avoiding the Sickly or Excitable traits if feasible. However, they are advised if you want to create a glass cannon character or make the game more challenging.

In conclusion, Boon is essentially a boost, whereas Bane is a weaken. Therefore, you might give up magic or speed if you want to create a strong character. They don’t significantly impact when you first begin your adventure, but they aid in stat growth.

Best Boon and Banes

Here is a quick guide on what boons and banes you should choose in each situation if you wish to purchase all three Fates tales:

Best Boon

Speed is the tried-and-true path for the Boon, in my opinion. Since all of the HP stats in Fates are significantly damaged, HP is a very good alternative.

Since the Dragonstone and both of the Nobles’ secondary weapons depend on their magic stats, I can highly recommend learning magic. The defense would be an extremely good early game strategy, as it always is. However, the following are the three best boons :

  • If you’re a Master Ninja, choose +Skill for Lethality.
  • Choose +Mag for the Dark Knight.
  • Malig Knight, my loadout was +Res.

Although these boons will help you best in most cases in FE Fates however it also depends on what you want out of your character.

Best Bane

The benefit of having more HP is that your stats are generally better, and your Bane becomes less of a bother. I typically use + HP and – Strength/Magic (Depending on whether it will be a physical or magical unit). Following are the three best Banes in FE Fates:

  • Master Ninja, Go with -Str since Lethality will cover for that.
  • Dark Knight chooses -Def because most equestrian units have a strong defense rating in any case.
  • Malig Knight, I had a skill loadout. However, I could never come up with the ideal Malig loadout.

That covers everything we have regarding the best boon and bane in Fire Emblem Fates. You should now have an easier time figuring out which direction you want your characters to take.

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Ali is a passionate RPG gamer. He believes that western RPGs still have a lot to learn from JRPGs. He is editor-in-chief at SegmentNext.com but that doesn't stop him from writing about his favorite video ...