A lot of the information about Fire Emblem Engage has been shared over on the series’ official Twitter account, which provides insights on the cast regarding their personality and weapons they use. The preview for Ike (translated by SatsumaFS), focuses on how he isn’t of a royal lineage, but rather the leader of a mercenary group who became the Radiant Hero. His unrivaled combat prowess have made him this game’s Emblem of Radiance, a reference to the game he first appeared in, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.

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Ike’s Emblem is described as being strong in both offensive and defensive power, but he gets even more powerful the more health that has been lost. This emphasized with the abilities he provides, such as his Synchro Skill, Brave General. If the equipped unit has less than 75% HP, they will be granted a passive boost in Def and Res. As for Ike’s Engage Weapon, he will be given the Hammer weapon, which deals greater damage to armored enemy units.

Ike’s Engage Skill is known as Immovable, where it dumps the entire Avoidance stat to 0, but in return, it halves any damage from enemy units. This damage is reduced by an additional 10% if the skill is used by a draconic unit, which pairs very nicely with Alear’s Divine Dragon status. Finally, there is Ike’s “Conquering Aether” Engage Technique, which is a more powerful version of his iconic move. This boosts the player unit’s defenses for one turn, before unleashing a powerful counterattack the next that will affect enemies within an area-of-effect. This technique will also heal the player based on the amount of damage dealt, making it best for rushing into areas where enemies have been grouped up.

Ike is already a popular character within the franchise, and his inclusion in Engage is not that surprising either. Strangely enough, while he represents the first game in the Tellius series, Path of Radiance, his appearance more resembles the one in the sequel Radiant Dawn, which Micaiah already represents. His role in Engage also make him quite the tank, making him a pseudo-armored unit which adds a bit more variety to the roster of Emblem functions.

Fire Emblem Engage is launching exclusively for Nintendo Switch on January 20, 2023.

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Source: Twitter/FireEmblemJP