Information about unlocking and upgrading the Battalion Guild in Fire Emblem Three Hopes.
You can hire Battalions from the Battalion Master, which provide you Advantage and damage reduction against specific weapon and unit types.
Unlocking the Battalion Guild in Fire Emblem Three Hopes¶
When you reach the Base Camp at the start of Chapter 5 you’ll need to talk to your faction leader, who will task you with exploring the new facilities that have opened up. These include the Battalion Master, and since you’re required to visit all the facilities, you really can’t miss this.
Battalions are functionally accessories which gives the character they’re assigned to advantage against a specific weapon (or unit) type and increases damage against said unit types. One of the few things that separates Battalions from equipment is their endurance stat, which will deplete as the character they’re assigned to takes damage. Once a Battalion’s endurance is depleted the battalion effect will cease to function for the rest of the battle. Battalions regain all lost endurance after each battle.
The Battalion Guild’s upgrades are largely unnecessary, but you must upgrade the facility to purchase higher-ranking Battalions.
Upgrading the Battalion Guild in Fire Emblem Three Hopes¶
By the time you unlock this facility, you’ll have already unlocked the ability to upgrade facilities. Check out the page How to Expand Facilities in Three Hopes for general information about upgrading facilities.
The Battalion Master sells Battalions, and the Battalion Guide is where you upgrade the services offered by Battalion Master. These upgrades allow you to hire higher-grade Battalions, increasing the endurance of hire Battalions, increases the number of Battalions you can have hired at a time, and reduces the cost of hiring Battalions. Expanding the Battalion Guild takes two different types of materials, Building Materials and Insignia’s, each of which comes in three tiers (Basic/Squire’s, Quality/Knight’s and Lavish/Hero’s). These materials are progression gated, so you won’t be finding the mid-tier and high-tier variants until you’ve progressed the main questline. When they do become available, you can regularly find them by exploring Surveying Spots and by buying them from the Supply Depot.
Below you’ll find a list of all the upgrades for the Battalion Guide:
| Upgrade | Prerequisite | Resources/Gold | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold Simple Qualification Test | – | Basic Building Material x10, 500 G | Allows authority level D battalions to be hired. |
| Loan Basic Battalion Equipment | Hold Simple Qualification Test | Basic Building Material x10, Squire’s Insignia x10, 1,000 G | Slightly increases the endurance of hired battalions. |
| Renovate the Encampment | Hold Simple Qualification Test | Basic Building Material x10, Squire’s Insignia x10, 1,000 G | Slightly increases the number of battalions you can hire. |
| Conduct Unskilled Negotiations | Hold Simple Qualification Test | Basic Building Material x10, Squire’s Insignia x10, 1,000 G | Slightly reduces the cost of hiring battalions. |
| Hold Middling Qualification Test | Hold Simple Qualification Test | Quality Building Material x10, Knight’s Insignia x10, 1,500 G | Allows authority level C battalions to be hired. |
| Loan General-Use Battalion Equipment | Loan Basic Battalion Equipment | Quality Building Material x10, Knight’s Insignia x10, 1,500 G | Increases the endurance of hired battalions. |
| Build Additional Housing | Renovate the Encampment | Quality Building Material x10, Knight’s Insignia x10, 1,500 G | Increases the number of battalions you can hire. |
| Conduct Competent Negotiations | Conduct Unskilled Negotiations | Quality Building Material x10, Knight’s Insignia x10, 1,500 G | Reduces the cost of hiring battalions. |
| Hold Specialized Qualification Test | Hold Middling Qualification Test | Quality Building Material x10, Knight’s Insignia x10, 1,500 G | Allows authority level B battalions to be hired. |
| Hold Far-Too-Detailed Qualification Test | Hold Specialized Qualification Test | Lavish Building Material x10, Hero’s Insignia x10, 2,000 G | Allows authority level A battalions to be hired. |
| Loan High-Quality Battalion Equipment | Loan General-Use Battalion Equipment | Lavish Building Material x10, Hero’s Insignia x10, 2,000 G | Greatly increases the endurance of hired battalions. |
| Expand the Encampment | Build Additional Housing | Lavish Building Material x10, Hero’s Insignia x10, 2,000 G | Greatly increases the number of battalions you can hire. |
| Conduct Skilled Negotiations | Conduct Competent Negotiations | Lavish Building Material x10, Hero’s Insignia x10, 2,000 G | Greatly reduces the cost of hiring battalions. |
Qualification Tests¶
Like weapons, Battalions have ranks, with E-Rank Battalions being the lowest-ranked Battalions and A-Rank Battalions being the highest. While there’s a correlation between a Battalion’s rank and its stats, it’s not a hard rule. Some C-Rank Battalions are arguably better than some A-Rank Battalions, especially if you really only care about the percentage of damage reduction said Battalions offer. Still, many A-Rank Battalions are very good, and ensuring you continue to update your Battalion roster will have positive effects on the battlefield, making this a worthwhile upgrade.
Battalion Equipment¶
The more endurance a Battalion has, the more damage you can sustain while retaining the effects of said Battalion. That said, it’s very, very hard to sustain enough damage to lose a Battalion, and if you’re taking that kind of punishment your Battalion’s endurance is probably the least of your problems. Not a horrible upgrade, but one whose benefits you’ll ideally rarely see.
Encampment Upgrades¶
By default you can retain quite a few Battalions, and unless you’re stockpiling several of each Battalion, you don’t need this upgrade.
Conduct Negotiations¶
You have to love the names of these upgrades. The lowest tier is “Conduct Unskilled Negotiations”, while the midtier is “Conduct Competent Negotiations”. If only they called the first one “Conduct Incompetent Negotiations”, but it’s implied… anyways, you probably won’t be spending a whole lot of Gold on Battalions in a normal walkthrough, so saving a bit of cash on this isn’t much of a priority.
Which Battalion Guild Upgrades to Unlock First?¶
The best offering the Battalion Guild makes is its “Qualification Tests” upgrade line, as generally higher-grade Battalions are more powerful. If you want more/stronger Battalions, this upgrade does both, and simply buying one of each Battalion offered by the Battalion Master is probably sufficient for your needs. As for the other upgrades… they’re incredibly lackluster, and can be saved for late game/New Game + when you have resources to burn and everything else of value has already been unlocked.
Sign up
No Comments