Whilst it’s not too unusual to equip an Accessory in a Fire Emblem title, rarely are they as powerful as those found in Three Houses. In fact, now that we think about it, it is actually quite rare to have items fully equipped, rather than them simply being consumable for a temporary or permanent stat boost. Anyway, we could talk about this series forever, but we’re actually here to write about the significant selection of Accessories available in Three Houses, and determining those that we consider ‘essential’ on your no doubt multiple playthroughs. After quite a long period of consideration, the following are the four that we’ve settled on.
Caduceus Staff
- +1 Magic Attack range & HP restored every round.
The same issue always presents itself when you develop a magic user in a Fire Emblem title. They make themselves useful in a handful of rounds, but when the going gets tough and you need to funnel through a difficult map, perhaps with choke points and corridors, they shrink into the background. There are a number of ways to deal with this of course, like Rescue, Warp or indeed classes with Canto, but what about those that are stuck on foot, competing with units that wield powerful ranged weaponry?
Enter the Caduceus staff, which as it happens is an accessory that increases the range from which a magic user can attack, by one additional tile. This makes a huge difference to any one of your magic users, because not only can they now attack from behind more units, which inherently keeps them safer than ever, but they now need even less movement to get into range. This second point is very key on some foot locked classes, where you’ll now be able to get them involved easier, hoovering up chip experience as they go. As a bit of a side bonus, they’ll even restore some HP every round, with the amount defined by their crest status. It’s unlikely that you’ll want your magic users to take any damage at all, so we’re not really going to emphasise the virtues of this bit, but it’s a nice bonus nonetheless.
Accessory Location
The Caduceus is a reward for completing the ‘An Ocean View’ paralogue. This is the Seteth and Flayn paralogue, which becomes available between Chapter 9 and Chapter 11. As you might imagine, this requires that Flayn be recruited to your team, and still be alive in order to unlock! For reference, Seteth also finds the Spear of Assal when completing the mission.
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Fetters of Dromi
- +1 Movement & Grants Canto (movement following an action).
- Pavise and Aegis are granted to those with the Crest of Aubin.
Speaking of accessories that improve your life through movement and positioning, how about one that takes care of that, and more? Enter the Fetters of Dromi, otherwise known as one of the best movement accessories to exist in the franchise. Where our above accessory achieved improvements through an attacking range increase, this item initially gives you a flat increase of +1 movement. Casting our mind back through the Fire Emblem series, items like this have long been favourites of ours, mainly because they breathe life into otherwise awkward classes. In fact, other franchises have examples of the same thing, like the Dash Boots in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, which brought countless slow Bangaa classes into the fold.
Better still, the Fetters of Dromi will grant the unit Canto, meaning they can move again after completing their turn. For reference, the unit cannot attack again, and it doesn’t stack like some crazy double Canto dream, but it’s useful for getting weaker units out of the danger zone after they’ve moved. Were it to stop here then the item would still be considered remarkably strong, however it’ll also grant those with the Crest of Aubin the Pavise and Aegis skills, which are both tremendously useful defensive tools.
Accessory Location
The Fetters of Dromi are rewarded to the player after completing the ‘A Cursed Relic’ paralogue, which is available via the DLC Cindered Shadows. This mission becomes available between Chapter 8 and Chapter 11, and requires either Yuri or Constance be recruited to the team. During this mission, the team must protect a Duke that is under attack. If they are successful, the Duke will reward you with the Fetters of Dromi.
Aurora Shield
- +3 Defence & Nullifies attacks effective against fliers. Also zero weight!
Weight has always been a contentious statistic in Fire Emblem games. By directly interacting with Speed and sometimes with Strength, it’s always been a key factor in determining whether a unit is fast enough to keep up with an opponent, with the eventual goal being both avoiding being double attacked and indeed inflicting them where possible. Generally speaking, the addition of some kind of heavy armour negatively influences your Speed stat, often reducing it to the point where these doubles are affected.
Not so with the Aurora Shield. As noted above, this seemingly impossible accessory manages to confer +3 Defence whilst also weighing nothing like some kind of miracle material. The clue was in the name we suppose, given that it infers that the damned thing is made of light, though it certainly doesn’t look like it in game. Anyway, not only does this fantastic accessory grant defence, but it also confers the ability to ignore attacks that flying units in particular would otherwise be weak to. As you might imagine, this makes it an ideal piece of equipment for flying units, but the lack of weight and +3 defence plainly makes it a good option for almost every unit. Certainly the ones you’d expect to see direct combat with, at least.
Accessory Location
The Aurora Shield is actually available from a variety of locations. In some cases these can be dropped by or stolen from enemies, like those found in Chapter 14 and 16, however the easiest way to grab a couple is from treasure chests in Chapter 17 and 18. Stealing from an enemy in Chapter 16 is available on every route apart from Crimson Flower, though that route can access the drop in Chapter 14.
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Chalice of Beginnings
- Nullifies extra effective attacks & always grants counterattacks, no matter the range.
To say that this is the most broken of all accessories in the entirety of Fire Emblem somehow still feels like an understatement. Prior to this, players have been restricted to a series of skill granting Shields, Rings and Cards being held in their inventory. These were very relevant to the game in which they were based of course, after all who doesn’t enjoy hunting down a secret shop and getting massive discounts, but it has to be said that they all pale in comparison to the behemoth that is the Chalice of Beginnings.
Now, nullifying effectiveness is in itself powerful, because as we’ve noted above you can protect things like flying units without fear of them being struck out of the sky by an arrow or two, but this paints only the smallest segment of the picture here. The real meat of it comes when you look into the Ranged Counter element on offer, and specifically when you realise that there is no limit to how far it means with the word ‘ranged’. Perhaps there is an enemy capable of attacking you from a very far range, like a ballistae of sorts? Well, now you can equip your absolute strongest melee weapon, position a strong unit in range and well, watch their counter rip those weak defences to shreds. It really is as simple as that; your strongest melee character now becomes an infinitely ranged, counterattacking machine.
Paired with the frankly disgusting combination of Battalion Vantage and Wrath of Dimitri is a recipe for the closest thing a Fire Emblem game will ever get to a one man killing machine. We promise that there’s no hyperbole included when we say that he can take on most maps in the game, on any difficulty, completely alone with this item. It’s too powerful. It’s the Saitama of accessories and it’ll remove any semblance of struggle you might have completing chapters in Three Houses.
Accessory Location
The Chalice of Beginnings becomes available upon completion of the Cindered Shadows DLC.
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Categories: Fire Emblem: Three Houses