Companions

Our two Fire Emblem Heroes character pages work at different depths. The characters guide rates eleven heroes and gives each a weapon type; the Mareeta guide takes one swordmaster through every weapon, special and passive, pricing eight of them. What lets them share a table is a third page: our summoning guide maps the four orb colors to weapons, red to swords and fire, green to axes and wind, blue to lances and thunder, colorless to healers, bows and assassins. Putting those eleven heroes' weapon types through that key sorts all twelve heroes by the orb you have to pull to get them, which is the question a new player actually has at the summoning screen.

Twelve Heroes, Four Colors

Two placements rest on attribute alone, because the summoning page's key names no dragonstone: Tiki's Flame attribute puts her with the fire units and Fae's Wind attribute with the wind units. Two heroes, Marth and Hinoka, carry no attribute on the characters page and are placed by weapon only. The remaining eight agree on both counts.

Red: Four Swords, a Dragon and a Swordmaster

Red is the deepest column, with six of the twelve. Lucina, from Awakening, is rated highly but the page warns that reaching her five-star form takes plenty of grinding and perhaps some exploits. Marth, from Shadow Dragon, is called one of the most balanced units in the game. Ryoma, the Fates antagonist you get to field, and Roy, the lead of Binding Blade with the ability to take more damage, are both Flame attribute, and the page's advice on Roy is simply to save your orbs for him.

Tiki, also from Shadow Dragon, transforms with a dragonstone and is the page's pick for the strongest hero at a five-star ranking. Mareeta comes from her own page rather than the ratings list: a swordmaster with a 172 base stat total whom that page calls the fastest character in the game, and the one hero our pages price skill by skill.

Blue and Green: One Lance and Two Wind Units

Hinoka is the only blue on our pages, a Fates unit with a spear the page describes as agile, quick and capable of heavy damage. Green holds two. Camilla, another Fates returnee, swings an axe and carries the Wind attribute. Fae is written as a smaller Tiki: a dragonstone user who transforms the same way, with Wind rather than Flame, and the page gives no origin game for her.

Colorless: The Best Starter and the Strongest Archer

All three colorless heroes come from Fates. Jakob, with daggers, is the page's probable best starting character while not being among the strongest overall. Takumi, with a bow, is named one of the strongest units in the game and the pick for anyone wanting an agile ranged attacker. Sakura, from Birthright, carries a staff and is the support choice for a player who likes healing. The characters page calls all three non-attribute, which is the same thing the summoning page means by colorless.

Mareeta: What Each SP Buys

The Mareeta page is the only one of our five that prices skills, and it prices eight of them. Written cheapest first, the priced pieces of her kit total 1,230 SP; her third Solo tier, all three Close Call tiers and all three Rouse tiers are described without a cost.

The build the page recommends is Mareeta's Sword, Luna, Atk/Spd Solo 3, Close Call 3 and Rouse Atk/Def 3, which prices at 600 SP for its two priced parts plus the three unpriced passives. Her level 40 line is 41 HP, 35 Attack, 42 Speed, 31 Defense and 23 Resistance, and those five numbers add to the 172 the page quotes as her base stat total. The page also asks you to teach her Reposition for mobility, and notes she has no support skills of her own.

Fallen Mareeta is the same hero with a different weapon, Shadow Sword, arriving with Reposition, Galeforce (one more action after initiating combat, once a turn) and Dragon Fang (Attack up 50 percent). The page's summary of the choice is that the Fallen weapon gives a second chance to kill before the counter, while Mareeta's Sword removes the enemy's next attack when your stats allow, and that either version is a strong pick for a new player.

Paying for the Pulls

Which color to pull is only half the question at the summoning screen. The summoning guide gives the price ladder, five orbs for the first pull in a session then four, four, four and three, and the base odds of 3 percent for a five-star, 36 for a four-star and 61 for a three-star. The beginner's guide explains where the first 20 orbs come from and how to reroll, and the feather farming guide covers the currency that raises a hero's star rank once you have one. The Fire Emblem Heroes hub puts all five pages in the order a new player meets those currencies.

Character Questions

Which orb color is Tiki?

Red on this page, by her Flame attribute. The summoning guide's color key lists swords, lances, axes, healers, bows and assassins and says nothing about dragonstones, so Tiki and Fae are placed by attribute rather than weapon.

How much SP does Mareeta's kit cost?

The eight priced skills on her page add to 1,230 SP: four swords at 50, 100, 200 and 400, two specials at 100 and 200, and the first two Solo tiers at 60 and 120. Seven more skills are described without a price.

Which of the rated heroes are hardest to get?

The characters page singles out Lucina, saying her five-star form takes plenty of grinding, and tells you to save orbs for Roy. It rates Jakob the best starting character, which is a different thing from the strongest.