The Wave 4 DLC for Fire Emblem: Three Houses is out now, along with more information about its contents.
More information about the DLC has been revealed via the official Japanese Fire Emblem Twitter account over the last few weeks, along with a major update to the official Japanese website summarizing most of this information.
Combining machine translation, the translation of RPGSite, the official English website, the fan made Fire Emblem Wiki [1, 2], and the patch notes, we have more information about the Side Story and the new classes.
The Cindered Shadows Side Story is accessed from the title screen, as its own adventure and story with its own save data.
As you progress through the side story, features are unlocked in main game save files. These include the ability to recruit the new characters from the Side Story (during the first part of the main story), along with new quests, activities, classes, paralogues, and support conversations based around them.
Players will control the main character along with Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude- and the four new characters Balthus, Constance, Hapi, and Yuri.
Characters do not gain skill levels, but do gain experience, levels, and unlock a more limited selection of classes and abilities to choose. As such, there will be no classes or qualification exams, and “other restrictions” for a tougher experience overall.
Money and resources are described as limited, implying players will not have access to optional side battles. Players are encouraged to scavenge The Abyss for materials, and consider carefully when to use weapons. The Sword of the Creator will recover durability at various points in the story.
As we suspected in our prior article, the new characters have access to new classes. These “Special Classes” are somewhat equivalent to Advanced Classes (requiring the user to be at level 20, but without requirements as high as Master Classes). However, they require an Abyss Seal to undertake the class exam (much like the Dark Seal for Dark Mages and Dark Bishops).
These classes include Trickster, War Monk (or War Cleric), Dark Flier, and Valkyrie.
Tricksters are able to wield swords and both kinds of magic effectively, and are described as having quick movements. Along with having +1 to all stats for the first seven turns (Lucky Seven), they can also use a special combat art to trade places with a unit up to 5 square away. Anna will also receive a special costume if assigned to this class. This also seems to be the preferred class of Yuri.
War Monks (or War Clerics if on a female character) are able to use axes, gauntlets, and even some White Magic. Their special combat art allows them to execute a ranged magical attack that can hit up to two squares away, at the cost of weapon durability. It is the preferred class of Balthus.
Dark Fliers are exclusive to women, granting them the ability to use Black Magic, Swords, and the mounted class ability Canto (being able to move after performing an attack, if they have left over movement points). If hit by a magic attack (something Pegasi typically have a high resistance to), they gain a temporary boost to all stats by three! It seems to be the preferred class of Constance.
Finally, Valkyries are a female-only horse-mounted units that can use Black and White Magic. Along with Canto, they can also boost the range of Black or Dark magic by one square. It seems to be the preferred class of Hapi.
You can view each classes unlock requirements below:
- Trickster: Sword B, Faith B, Thief Class Unlocked
- War Monk/War Cleric: Brawl B+, Faith C+
- Dark Flier: Reason B+, Flying C
- Valkyrie: Reason B+, Riding B
Players will even be able to access The Abyss in the main story via the Shifty Merchant (once the Side Story has been completed to a certain point). You can also spend Renown in The Abyss to increase its population, and unlock more features.
These include a Pagan Altar (offer materials and good to gain Renown, or spend Renown to gain weapons and items), the Mysterious Teacher (a former teacher who will tell you how much a character has grown since you first hired them), and an Astrologer (after the time skip, spend renown to improve support points between characters and “tie their fates”).
Finally, the expansion pass adds a new online statistic (“This Month’s Sauna Enthusiasts“) and a “feature that displays breed names for the dogs and cats you can feed around the monastery as part of the Expansion Pass.”
To celebrate the launch of the new expansion Jun Suemi- cover art and monster designer for various video games and sci-fi stories including the Brandish and Zill O’ll series) has released a special promotional art piece. You can find that below:
In addition, update 1.2.0 was released. This update allows:
- The main character- male or female- to wear the Dancer Ensemble costume.
- More ways to change a unit’s costume.
- A new support partner for Bernadetta in the Crimson Flower chapter.
- The player can now deliver Lost Items to Rhea and invite her to Tea Parties (after completing the “Lost? Found!” and “Esteemed Company” quests).
You can read the full patch notes here.
DLC Wave 4 is out now as part of the Fire Emblem: Three Houses Expansion Pass for $24.99.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is out now on Nintendo Switch. In case you missed it, you can find our review here (we highly recommend it!)
