Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon has a huge cast of playable characters, over 50 in fact! The large cast really helps to make you feel like you are running an army. However, while it is fun to look for characters and recruit them into your army, the game itself only lasts 25 chapters. There is not enough time to properly level up every character without the use of arenas, so you will need to pick and choose who you use very carefully. This walkthrough will show you how to recruit all the characters, point out the best ones, and give tips on how to level up quickly.
Before you start…It might be tempting to recruit everyone that you see. However, if you’re following this walkthrough, you should know which characters are worth your time. Instead of making thing complicated, these wasteful characters can give your favoured characters more experience.
For characters that automatically join your team, focus only on the recommended ones. When selecting your team prior to a battle, don’t bother bringing anyone that is not recommended, even if this means that you’ll be going into a fight with a smaller army. This way, all your good characters will get more experience, which will make them even better!
PrologueNote that, if you are playing Hard Mode, you won’t get Frey or Norne. All the characters below, with the exception of Gordin, will join your army automatically.Marth: As the main character, you’re forced to use him. Luckily, Marth is a great character and is capable of leveling up to level 30.Frey: Frey is probably the best Cavalier/Paladin in the game, you should definitely use him all the time.Abel: Abel is also a very decent Cavalier that should be on your team if you have room for him. If you’re playing hard mode, then replace the missing Frey with Abel.Cain: While Cain isn’t bad, he’s not as good as Frey and Abel. As long as you have either Frey or Abel in your group, you do not need to spend any time with Cain.Jagen: Jagen starts off really good because you get him “pre-promoted”, meaning he is essentially at the level of a general. While this is good to start, pre-promoted units do not gain experience very quickly and suffer from poor stat growths. This means that, after a few chapters, Jagen won’t be so good to use anymore. Instead of keeping him, let the other characters gain experience and select Jagen to be sacrificed at the end of the Prologue.Gordin: You can recruit Gordin in the very last prologue level (just before you sacrifice one unit) by moving Marth next to him and selecting ” talk” instead of killing him. Gordin is an incredibly good archer, so it is definitely recommended that you recruit him instead of killing him.
Chapter One Chapter TwoOgma: You start with Ogma automatically joining your team. He is a pretty good character. You will do well to use him, but don’t bother restarting the game if you lose him since he is not that important.Barst, Bord, and Cord: Of the three axe-users that join your army at the start of Chapter Two, Barst is the best. However, you will quickly get Darros in this chapter and it is recommended that you use him instead of Barst.Castor: You can recruit Castor by having Caeda talk to him. However, if Gordin is already on your team and you spent last chapter leveling him up against the boss, then don’t bother recruiting Castor. Instead, just take him down and get some experience points.Darros: Talk to Darros using Marth and he will join you. As mentioned before, you should be using either Barst or Darros for the rest of the game, but not both.
Chapter ThreeJulian: Julian is playable right from the start of the chapter. The only time you need a thief in this game is when you want to pick locks. So keep him around for that, but don’t let him get any experience points.Lena: Lena is also playable right from the start but, unlike Julian, she is definitely worth using. Lena is, without a doubt, the best healer in the game. Give her Wrys’s Heal Staff and make sure that she heals every turn so that she can gain experience quickly. Don’t worry about the Heal Staff breaking, you will be able to buy more later.Navarre: If you talk to Navarre using Caeda, he will join your team. Navarre is even better than Ogma and Darros and his sword gives him a great crit rate. There will be more Killing Edge swords later on in the game, so don’t worry about using it a lot.
Chapter FourThere is another boss with a short attack range on this level. You can use this opportunity to level up Caeda or someone else. There is also an arena to the right of the Seize point, however it is difficult to use it as a leveling tool at this point since none of your characters can reliably survive more than two fights.
Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter SevenBantu: Visit the village in this chapter with Marth to get Bantu. If you beat every enemy in the previous chapters, you should have picked up a Firestone that you can give to Bantu to use. However, Bantu isn’t really recommended. Instead, you should get him so that you can get Tiki later on in the game.
Chapter Eight Chapter NineJeorge: This sniper is in the village that Marth can visit. Gordin is much better, so you can ignore him.
Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter FourteenPalla and Catria: The sisters will join you at the start of the chapter. Catria is better than Palla and, if Caeda has died, you can use Catria to replace Caeda. Otherwise, just use Caeda and ignore the sisters.
Chapter FifteenArran and Samsun: Visit the village on the left with Marth in order to get Arran or visit the village on the right to get Samsun. However, you can only have one of them on your team. In either case, don’t worry about it too much since both Arran and Samsun are a waste of time.
Chapter SixteenXane: Talk to Xane with Marth and you will get a character that can become an exact copy of your best unit. Definitely recommended.
Chapter SeventeenEtzel: Etzel will join your team automatically at the end of the chapter if Etzel survives. However, don’t worry too much since Etzel isn’t that good anyways.
Chapter EighteenEst: Talk to Est with Marth to get a new recruit. Est has good stat growth and would be a good replacement for any fallen units, but she does require a bit of work.
Chapter NineteenTiki: Bring Bantu with you in this chapter because you will need him to talk to Tiki in order to get her into your group. Tiki is pretty good, but Nagi, who comes in Chapter 24 is better. However, if you get Nagi, you won’t be able to get Gotoh, who is a powerful mage. It is a difficult choice to make, so you might want to keep a save file for a game that is just before the start of this chapter.
Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty One to Chapter Twenty ThreeThere are no new characters in these chapters.
Chapter Twenty Four Chapter Twenty FiveGotoh: If you didn’t go to Chapter 24, Gotoh will join you at the start of Chapter 25. Gotoh is much better than Merric and Linde, but comes late so your current mage might still be stronger depending on how you leveled them. Still, a great addition to any team and very helpful for the final battle.
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