Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave has a lot going on outside combat, and the game doesn’t always make that clear. The latest installment in the long-running series asks players to manage support levels, Renown, paralogues and side quests across four protagonists, and IGN has broken down the best ways to start early.
The game follows Cai, Leda, Dietrich and Theodora through the capital of the Dagdan Empire, Dagsion, where they compete in the Heroic Games. Unlike the previous entry, Three Houses, players don’t have to pick one protagonist at the start. They can follow all four in any order and switch between them freely once they reach Dagsion.
Here are the four things IGN recommends starting immediately, ranked by how quickly they pay off.
- Support levels
- Renown
- Paralogues
- Side quests
Support Levels Are the Fastest Payoff
Support levels have been a Fire Emblem mainstay for years, built on characters fighting next to each other or providing healing and support in battle. Fortune’s Weave expands that system and adds new ways to build support outside combat.
The quickest method is eating meals together at the inn. Up to three protagonists can dine at once, and each character has their own food preferences. The inn menu changes daily, and you can see how everyone feels about each meal before picking a group.
The catch: forcing a character to eat something they dislike generates almost nothing. Meals are especially useful for building support with people who aren’t in your current party, since you can’t build support with them in combat. That makes dining a fast way to convince recruits to join you.
Arena training opens later and offers bigger gains. Players assign two fighters to train together in a variety of ways, boosting their command of weapons, magic or movement types while adding support points between them. It’s the most valuable preparation for advanced combat classes, and it runs weekly, so players should return to Dagsion regularly.
Renown Builds on Subquests and Paralogues
Renown is a stat that measures how well known you are in Dagsion. It grants important boosts at certain thresholds and opens recruitment for new characters, making it a central part of the game’s loop.
Subquests are the simplest way to earn it. People throughout Dagsion hand out tasks that send you onto the world map to find items or defeat certain enemies. Each quest gives Renown and has deadlines, but the deadlines are usually forgiving, so players have plenty of time to complete them all.
Paralogues are the exception. These side quests expand individual character stories, but they’re available only during set periods of time. Players must talk to the right character in Dagsion to start one, and the deadlines are strict — one Dietrich path deadline lands on a single specific date.
IGN warns that missing a deadline can happen easily. There’s no in-game notification if a paralogue window closes, so players must be present in Dagsion on the correct dates. Completing a paralogue nets 20,000 gold, a large chunk of Renown and unlocks recruitment for certain characters. IGN recommends looking up the dates ahead of time, and the outlet has a full breakdown of them across all four protagonists.
Gods, Kindness Quests and Tavern Requests Round Out the System
Visiting gods in their temples in Dagsion is another early Renown source. Icons on the map mark each god’s location, and some days show a yellow icon, meaning the god is there in person and ready to chat. Continuing to talk to the same god builds a friendship that can reveal additional lore about the world.
Each protagonist also has a unique Renown path:
- Cai’s involves doing more quests, called kindness quests.
- Dietrich can summon enemies to battle at any time and duel combatants in dungeons to steal their combat arts.
- Theodora gets resource requests that trade gathered items for Renown.
- Leda checks the tavern in Dagsion at the start of each chapter for new performance requests, where she dances for thousands of gold and hundreds of Renown.
What This Means for Players
The combination of support meals, Renown subquests, paralogues and god visits creates a dense system that rewards planning. Players who stay organized will see faster growth in their characters, better recruitment options and more gold.
The strict deadlines on paralogues are the potential pitfall. Missing a window means losing a chance to recruit certain characters entirely, and there’s no warning system in the game itself.
IGN’s advice to consult a guide before starting is notable, since the outlet rarely recommends playing with external materials. In this case, the dates matter too much to ignore.
Fortune’s Weave asks a lot of its players, but the payoff is real. The game rewards attention to detail, and the systems described above are the best places to start.
Source material: “4 Things to Focus on Outside Combat in Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave,” IGN.
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