As the week begins and everyone who could get their hands on a copy of Fire Emblem Fates fills your Street Pass with their happy little Miis, you may be running into a few questions. If you need tips for Fire Emblem Fates Birthright or Conquest about weapons, classes, resources, characters, or the seemingly infinite variety of things there are to do in your castle or while in combat, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s a few common questions as you grow accustomed to the game’s mechanics.

What’s all this emerald and jade for?

Players who side with Nohr in Conquest will start off with an Emerald Mine on their Castle grounds, which enables them to collect a certain amount of emeralds every evening. Similarly, players who side with Hoshido in Birthright will start off with a Jade Spring on their Castle grounds.

The emeralds/jade are just one of six ores that are used for forging your weapons in the Smithy building, which is available as you progress in the main storyline.

In order to get ores aside from emeralds/jade, you have to receive them randomly. You can receive them from random characters on Castle grounds or as a minor prize from the Dusk/Dawn Lottery. These ores cannot be sold for cash.

The ores are as follows, with the weapon they are used for forging in parentheses:

Nohrian

• Crystal (swords)
• Ruby (lances)
• Sapphire (axes)
• Onyx (daggers)
• Emerald (bows)
• Topaz (tomes)

Hoshidan

• Pearl (katanas)
• Coral (naginata)
• Lapis (clubs)
• Amethyst (shuriken)
• Jade (yumi)
• Amber (spells)
  

What’s the use of the Bean Fields and the Cabbage Farm?

The Mess Hall provides one-time stat boosts of up to +2 to any particular stat, based on what food ingredients you chose and who is assigned to Mess Hall duty.

You’re started off with the Bean Fields/Cabbage Farm depending on what path you chose, but you’ll soon get other food ingredients at random from your companions or as consolation prizes in the Lottery.

Hoshidan Food Resources

• STR: beans
• SPD: fish
• RES: daikon
• MAG: peaches
• DEF: rice

Nohrian Food Resources

• STR: meat
• SPD: milk
• RES: cabbage
• MAG: berries
• DEF: wheat

For some of the recipes you can make, check out the Castle Guide . Basically, any given food will provide +1 to a stat or stats, based on its ingredients as listed above. This buff is further modified by the unique “flair” of the companion in charge of the Mess Hall. The stat boost from the Mess Hall maxes out at +2.

How do I get more/different food/ore?

Method 1 (Ore AND Food): Use the Arena building. The arena allows you to bet on gladiator battles fought by your companions (and, usually, their highest-ranking Support partner) against random NPCs. You can bet one resource in one battle at first, but as you upgrade the Arena, your companions will be able to fight up to three battles in a row. You will also be able to bet an increasing stake in your resources.

For example, on your first battle, you bet one lapis. Your companion wins their battle. Your stake goes to 2, and your companion goes onto their second battle. You have the choice of quitting, or betting your stake of 2. You bet your stake of 2, and your companion wins. Your stake now jumps to 4. If your companion loses, you lose all 4 lapis you just won, but if they win, you just scored yourself tons of ore that you otherwise have to wait for.

Method 3 (Ore AND Food): At random, you’ll receive ore or food prizes from the Lottery as a consolation prize. You can also get weapons or stat-boosting items as well.

Method 2 (Ore Only): Use the Ore Swap functionality in the Smithy. All you have to do is enter the Smithy and go to Ore Swap. There are two columns: “Give” and “Receive.” First you choose what ore you will be giving away (on the upper right you can see how much you have of that particular ore). Then you hit “A” and scroll through what ore you want to receive based on what it is you are trying to forge.

You must give away 5 of one resource to receive 1 of the other. Your emerald/jade will really build up as you continue collecting it from the mine/spring, so you’ll have plenty to swap.

What are the best/most important Castle buildings?

This is a matter of opinion, but I believe these are the most valuable for combat:

Smithy : A fully upgraded Smithy lets you forge a weapon with a max +7 bonus, gaining weapon bonuses as follows:

• Normal vs. Bonus+1: 2 Might

• Normal vs. Bonus+2: 4 Might, 2 Hit

• Normal vs. Bonus+3: 6 Might, 4 Hit, 1 Crit

• Normal vs. Bonus+4: 8 Might, 6 Hit, 3 Crit

• Normal vs. Bonus+5: 9 Might, 10 Hit, 6 Crit

• Normal vs. Bonus+6: 10 Might, 15 Hit, 10 Crit

• Normal vs. Bonus+7: 11 Might, 20 Hit, 15 Crit

Arena : This is one of the only ways to obtain more ore resources so that you can forge stronger weapons. If you are not interested in forging weapons, this can be skipped, but if you are, it’s invaluable.

Armory/Rod Shop : This is a no-brainer. As you upgrade these shops, you can get better quality weapons, too.

Statues : Each character statue breaks the cap on that character’s most important skill. As they’re upgraded, they break the cap on the same skill for close allies and then all allies. This can help revolutionize your entire army.

Mess Hall: The Mess Hall gives you one-time stat buffs based on who’s cooking and what ingredients you use. Each ingredient buffs a different stat, and an upgraded Mess Hall lets you use more than one ingredient. Every companion provides a different unique flair that can buff other stats as well. (You can see more in our Castle Guide. )

The Prison is only valuable if you’re playing on Classic mode. You’ll need to replace members of your army as you lose them, and the Prison is how you do that.

Dawn/Dusk Lottery: This is one of the few ways to get more food/ore.

If you’re interested in the roleplaying aspect and getting to know the characters better, you’ll need these buildings:

Private Quarters : These give you cute moments with your companions and eventually, your spouse. While the Private Quarters do not give you any buff or boosts, except sometimes in your Support rank, it really makes you feel connected to your companions. The art is beautiful and you get a special fully-voiced line or two.

Records Hall : You can rewatch every Support conversation! There’s also a goofy Compatibility section with equally pointless-yet-cute Sage Match and Hubba Tester features. As far as I can tell, these appear to be randomized.

The Hot Springs are almost completely pointless as far as I’m concerned, as they don’t really offer companion insights, special art or fully-voiced lines.

What do the hearts in Private Quarters mean?

After every battle, you’ll have a few units who will have hearts next to their name when you enter the Private Quarters. These are the units with whom you can strengthen your relationship when you invite them over. If you invite any other unit, your bond will not increase. If you invite the same unit twice in a row, even if they have a heart twice in a row, your bond will not increase.

For more on the Private Quarters, check out our Relationship Guide for how to max out support rankings between members of your army, including yourself.

What do all of my stats do?

First of all, if you use your stylus on the lower touch screen when in Inventory view in the Castle or when in combat, and tap on literally almost anything, an explanation of that thing will pop up. Here is what all of your stats do:

• Str : Strength. Affects damage the unit deals with physical attacks.
• Mag : Magic. Affects damage the unit deals with magical attacks.
• Skill : Affects hit rate and the frequency of critical hits.
• Spd : Speed. Affects Avo. Unit strikes twice if 5 higher than the opponent.
• Lck : Luck. Has various effects. Lowers risk of enemy criticals.
• Def : Defense. Reduces damage from physical attacks.
• Res : Resistance. Reduces damage from magical attacks.
• Atk : Attack. The power of physical or magical attacks.
• Hit : Hit rate. Affects the odds of hitting an enemy unit.
• Crit : Critical rate. Affects the odds of getting a critical hit.
• Avo : Avoid rate. Affects the unit’s odds of evading attacks.

On your character’s status screen, you can also see their HP, how much experience they have, and their movement speed (how many tiles they can move at a time).

If you tap the book icon, you’ll get a Rating (the sum of your unit’s key stats) or you can hide your Stats.

If you tap on the character’s face, you’ll see them run through a few cool animations with their equipped weapon with a list of their weapon proficiencies on the lower screen.

If you have any other questions about how to use your castle for combat, stat and weapon buffs, feel free to leave a comment in our comments section below.