View Full-size

Pre-battle menu, and in-battle menu!

One way to greatly improve your skills in the game is learning how to read and analyze the map before diving in. It’s a simple skill to learn, complex to master, and crucial especially if you choose to play through on any difficulty higher than Normal (and if you’re playing on Classic Mode in any sort of difficulty you don’t want to charge in all willy-nilly).

First things first: Unit selection. Before you even start the battle, you can select and place your units on the map. If the map is predominantly one kind of enemy, you can counter that by electing to use units who have the advantage over them. For example, a map dominated by flying units can be turned into an easy stroll by packing a few archers.

Second, each unit (and enemy) has movement range. Most foot units have a movement range of 6 tiles, some have 5. Mounted and flying units have a movement range of 7 or 8 tiles (which can be increased to 9 by pairing up). The Boots item will permanently increase a character’s Movement by 1 tile.

By checking up on movement range, you can make sure a unit that charges in can get out. Or, you can get a unit really close to the enemy’s attack range, and then the next turn be close enough that their movement range can take them to the enemy, allowing them to get in the first hit. Checking movement will also allow you to keep your allies from separating and becoming isolated. Having your flying units fly all the way out, only for the foot units to lag behind, could result disastrously.

View Full-size

In this example, “Waste” greatly restricts movement for all grounded units.

Next, let’s talk terrain. There are many different kinds of terrain. Voids, sufficiently cliff-like areas, and pools of water cannot be traversed unless the unit can fly. Many kinds of terrain will have all sorts of effects on the unit. Some will cause damage every turn passively, others heal passively. Some will give you more movement, and others will restrict your movement, sometimes so severely that youre unit can only move 1 tile at a time. Use bottlenecks and pockets to your advantage to restrict and steer the enemy.

Finally, we have Dragon Veins , a new game feature. Ocassionally there will be these power-pools that members of the royal family can trigger. They will have a small crown next to their name, indicating as such. Triggering the Dragon Veins activates a huge variety of effects, so make sure you check the Dragon Vein by pressing A to see what it does before going and pushing all the buttons. Some Veins are basically necessary, other Veins are helpful, and other Veins can be very situational or even downright harmful if used improperly. Veins on maps will be noted in the main walkthrough here on this guide.