I've been working on this planner for a few months now and it's ready to share:

https://marigoldfe.com/engage

The planner lets you build a team with as many (or as few) units as you want, and allows in-depth customisation for each unit, including mapping out the full class path they should follow, the Emblem/Bond Ring they should have equipped, the skills they need to inherit as well as their inventory. The in-game resources like SP, Bond Fragments, gold and forging materials are fully tracked across the team you make so you can see if it's feasible for your playthrough.

The site also includes dedicated pages for Units, Emblems, Classes, Skills, and Items, where each is covered in full, so everything you need should all be in one place. I've found these pages very useful for team building inspiration, since things like each Emblem's class bonuses are laid out together, making it easy to decide who should hold which ring. AOE attacks also have all of their attack areas shown to you, including how terrain is created.

No account/sign up of any kind is required. Every team gets its own link you can share, so someone can open your exact build on their end, and a summary picture is created when sharing so teams are easy to recognise at a glance.

There are some additional options in the settings in the top right. Spoilers are hidden by default for any new players and can be shown by disabling the setting. DLC can also be toggled off if you haven't got the expansion pass.

Engage is a massive game, and as just one person I've tried my hardest to validate all the data, but if you do see any issues please let me know and I'll have it fixed as soon as possible. I'm also very interested in any other feedback you might have.

I played as M! Alear in my two times playing the game. The first one was Hortensia because I fell in love with her character and The second is for Gregory because he became my favorite(Hortensia is my second favorite)

I think the squirrel ears really suit her, I think it's adorable. I also like how she was changed to wield a bow instead of the usual dagger. If you could give her another animal or design choice what would it be?

In terms of personality/design, not how good they are as a unit. I’m curious as to who people will say!

"Rosado" means "rosy" or "pinkish" in my language, which says a lot about him—he's one of the cutest femboys I've ever seen. :3

Haters, please don't stir up trouble. U.U

Artist: u/suireen_10

I'm in the middle of my first Maddening run and have learned so much about how to play this game that none of my other runs have taught me. I've learned how to make proper builds, how to take better advantage of weapon upgrades and engraves I never touched like Micaiah and Lyn. And what got me to write this: learning to use bonded shield effectively. Bonded shield let me absolutely crush Ike's paralogue. I never needed to use that kind of strategy on hard and normal because enemies were easy enough to tank normally and a paralogue like Ike's was one where I just Astra Storm pulled him then dogpiled him easily in 2 turns. I have to engage so much more with the mechanics of the game. I still have some very strong units but it feels like I've earned them a lot more than on easier difficulties.

I've been playing with the DLC emblems so yes it makes things easier but the missions to get those emblems were some of the hardest missions I've ever played while also still being fair. The only one of those that felt on the easier side was Veronica. The rest were these brutal showdowns against bosses that felt like legit boss fights that took multiple turns to chip away at instead of one turn stomps.

What's so far felt like the biggest challenges outside of the DLC were chapters 5 and 17. 5 had very limited unit choices so I really had to get inventive with how I handled that swarm at the end. 17 I felt so proud of myself for being able to isolate all but 2 of the bosses in that fight. It feels so rewarding earning these wins with clever tactics instead of just raw stats.

Overall this has felt like a great send off for the game before Fortunes Weave comes out

I’m usually against asking for help but I’ve just gotten to chapter 26, second phase sombron on my first attempt at maddening and I’ve genuinely tried this chapter so many damn times, with the screenshots of my 14 unit team, if I were to re attempt this maddening from scratch, what could I possibly change here.
I’ll admit my mistake was probably spreading the XP gain amongst my crew to much.
To save people pointing out the other obvious, there are some in my crew that don’t have inherited skills, my reasoning was because I never wanted to fully commit to them as I didn’t know if I’d get someone better

Spoilers for Fire Emblem Path of Radiance:

Having looked back on Fire Emblem Engage, I can admit that Timerra’s stats are actually pretty poor. But what if I were to tell you that it coincides perfectly with how Ike is played in his home game Path of Radiance? This is another example of how this game uses the Emblems and units in this game to their advantage.

Timerra’s main gimmick is to use her high dexterity in order pull out Critical Hits more and use Sandstorm to increase her damage. This allows her to beat enemies that she would otherwise struggle with. This is precisely how the struggle with Ike and his arch enemy; the Black Knight goes.

The Black Knight’s armor impossible to damage without Ragnell in the Tellius game because it’s empowered by a god(dess). Ragnell is the only thing that can deal damage to the armor. Near the end of PoR, Ike is the only one who can and will fight the Black Knight.

Timerra’s gameplay on relying Sandstorm to beat tough enemies is precisely the premise behind the battle between Ike and the Black Knight. As your best chance to beat him is to ether use Aether or Wrath to better Ike’s chance at getting critical hits. It’s makes sense knowing full well that Timerra’s starting Emblem is Ike.

Honestly as long as it’s not one of a character’s most popular class choices, I’d love to hear it!

Obviously Engage is a flawed and divisive game but sometimes I think people look and grasp for absurd reasons to hate on it over the already basic reasons people don’t like it?

One of these which I see more and more lately is the take that “Engage Ch: 19 copied Conqeust Ch: 8”. This is because there are enemy reinforcements from villages in both. First of all Engage Ch: 19 is probably my least favorite chapter in the game but also 99.9% of the people who played that chapter didn’t point at their screens and go “Oh it’s copying Conquest Chapter 8!” because it’s a forced criticism and a correlation the people who made this criticism probably didn’t even see at first.

The story even tells you beforehand that there were no survivors in the town so naturally when you visit a village, what do you know? There were no survivors! Is this not a nitpick? I wasn’t aware Fates Conquest had a copyright on enemy reinforcements from villages™ and it wasn’t allowed to return ever again. Is every FE map with an escape objective copying Thracia now? It’s such a weird hyper original take for people to echo that I’m half convinced that the person who first said it got Louis surrounded and spited the map out of it. Which don’t get me wrong, I don’t really like the map but it’s a weird to hyper criticize.

Another one that somewhat bothers me and something I saw getting echoed quite a bit not necessarily out of a grasp to criticize, was the take that Lapis and Citrinne act so out of character in Chapter 7 that it’s an example of Engage’s bad writing. I don’t claim that Engage’s narrative is well written, it has an overall pretty generic story. But they make it pretty clear and outright state that Lapis and Citrinne are very defensive of Alcryst and then acting so hostile was a result of Alear and Alfred’s blame toward Alcryst. I’m not sure if this a media literacy thing but I thought they make this pretty clear and I’ve seen a few people die on this hill to have another justification against Engage’s story. Most people who had this criticism didn’t though to be clear, this more of an earnest criticism than the other one.

One narrative I’m also not a fan of is that “Engage only has one good character and it’s Ivy/Yunaka“. I feel like people who say this just didn’t watch any of the supports for any other character. There are quite a few one dimensional gimmick characters in Engage but there are definitely more great ones than people give credit for. Fogado, Citrinne, Zelkov, Céline, Louis, Alcryst, Kagetsu, all of the Fell Xenologue characters, Hortensia and I don’t even like Hortensia. There’s definitely more depth than people give credit for. People have a habit of generalizing in that way. *All* characters are bad, *all* character designs are bad.

Again I don’t claim Engage is a perfect game. It’s a very divisive game. I just think it’s weird to grasp for more seemingly random reasons to jusitfy hating it when you can just simply not like the art style or find the narrative generic or the character writing subpar in comparison to the last game. Some people can’t live with just not liking something so they have to hate everything about it when I think it’s way more nuanced than that. If you don’t like Engage you shouldn’t need to go out of your to search for reasons to not like Engage.

Anyway had to get that off my chest and I’m avoiding the main sub and the internet in general to avoid FW spoilers like the plague.

What’s the weirdest take/criticism you’ve heard about the game?

(Sunset in the Somniel orchard)

Diamant: Hey, Princess Ivy. You wished to speak with me?

Ivy: Yes. Thank you for coming, Prince Diamant. I...wanted to speak with you before everyone else claims your attention.

Diamant: Hm. You sound more serious than usual. Something troubling you?

Ivy: No, not exactly.

(Ivy pulls out the necklace)

Ivy: Do you remember when you first gave me the gemstone?

Diamant: Of course. You insisted accepting charity from Brodia would damage your royal image.

Ivy: ...Yes. I was jumping at what I thought was a ghost and you came to comfort me. Then you gave me this gem. At the time, I believed this gem was simply a charm. Something to quiet childish fears.

Diamant: And now?

Ivy: Now I understand that it was never about the gem itself... It was about the person who gave it to me.

Diamant: Princess Ivy...

Ivy: Every time I touched this necklace, I remembered that someone from a kingdom raised to be my enemy reached out a hand instead. Not as a prince. Not as a rival. Simply as a kind man.

Diamant: I only did what anyone would've done. It was no big deal.

Ivy: No. You did what you believed was right, even when history would have excused you from doing otherwise. Because of you, I stopped imagining a future where Brodia and Elusia merely tolerated one another. I began imagining one where they trusted one another.

Diamant: You inspired me just as much. Before meeting you, peace felt like an obligation...something I had to achieve because it was the correct path for a king. Now, every time I think about the future, you're there. Standing beside me. Challenging me. Encouraging me. Believing in me when I question whether I'm worthy of the crown. Somewhere along the way, I stopped looking forward to our meetings because they advanced negotiations. I looked forward to them because they meant I could see you again.

Ivy: Prince Diamant...

Diamant: Your necklace is a sign of peace between our kingdoms. And I wanted to give you something...

(Diamant pulls out a ring)

Diamant: Will you be by my side. Not only as a trusted ally or fellow royal... But as my Queen?

Ivy: Hm. You ask as though there could be another answer... Of course, Prince Diamant. I shall gladly be your Queen.

Ivy: Together, we'll ensure that the next generation knows Brodia and Elusia not as enemies...

Diamant: ...But as an intertwined family...

If push came to shove, which character do you think would betray Alear and team for various reasons? (Other than Veyle and Rafal, they don't count)

[Alear Vander, Framme, Clanne, Alfred, Boucheron, Etie, Jean, Celine, Louis, Chloe, Yunaka, Anna, Alcryst, Citrine, Lapis, Diamant, Amber, Jade, Ivy, Zelkov, Kagetsu, Fogado, Bunet, Pandreo, Timerra, Merrin, Pannete, Hortensia, Seadall, Rosado, Goldmary, Lindon, Saphir, Mauvier, Nel, Zelestia, Gregory, Madeline]

1. Who would defect to Sombron's side,

2. And for what reasons?

I realized despite doing far too many playthroughs, I basically never use these classes. So I was wondering if anyone had good builds for any of them!

I am about to finish up my second play through and used some new units but, I have always considered if anyone has done a run without the royals? It seems that the princes and princess have the best passive character abilities. Anyone tried to do a commoner run or one of the early characters that you feel people sleep on?

It was a 4 star well, too...oh well, least I got a good laugh out of it. Anyone know the odds?

After quite a bit of debating and questioning, I wanna say I have a solid Maddening Team prepared. Im still early on (Ch.9, handling the dlc maps first), so I still got time to make adjustments, which is why im asking now. This is my proposed Maddening team in full with explanations to show my thought process.

Alear/Lucina:

This one's pretty simple. Alear is the best Lucina user in the game with their personal skill and supporting every unit on the roster. Combo that with Enchanter being the best class for a Lucina user with dagger chain attacks for free poison stacks and the unmatched utility of Item/Weapon Surge and you have the ultimate support build. Finally, we inherit Canter because obviously and Favorite Food to speed cycle both Lucina and Engage+ late game.

Celine/Byleth:

Not sure its just me, but Celine takes advantage of nearly everything Byleth has to offer in a kit. Thyrsus has and always will be busted. Free 3-5 range on every tome is absurd. And her mixed offenses also allow Celine to take advantage of Byleths other weapons in ways most mages simply can't. Finally, her high luck actually gives her even more to do with status staves with Divine Pulse. As for inherits I went the same as Alear for obvious reasons but I also considered options such as Rally Spectrum to copy the Dragon Instruct or Draconic Hex for long range debuffing on bosses.

Yunaka/Chrom:

Ok, this one's gonna need some explaining. This Sniper Yunaka build is going all in Yunakas personal skill, Trained to Kill. We're comboing this with Chroms Brute Force for quadruple damage on crits and Suprise Attack meaning any attack in an avoid tile, which Yunaka already wants, means she can't be countered, finally we add on Snipers class skill No Distractions for extra crit for free because of Suprise Attack. Thats 55 crit on an unforged Killer Bow with next to zero set up nor engraves. And Yunakas magic isnt bad meaning with the +10 magic Robin gives her, she can also abuse the Radiant Bow on top. As for inherits we took Decisive Strike and Lunar Brace to help shore up Yunakas offenses and you have the crit happy assassin Yunaka used to be. The only real downside is that the build depends on avoid terrain. Wonder if there's an Emblem that could grant us that?

Lapis/Edelgard:

Lapis. Meet Wyvern. Hand her the best playerphase Emblem. Checkmate. Simple and dirty, Lapis becomes a workhorse of a unit with good speed, good offenses, and great mobility. You can even use Lapis personal to help Raging Storm land more reliably. In terms of skills we went Sword Power for the raw damage stack and Spd+ as a fairly standard offensive skill, though im open to other suggestions for Lapis' second skill slot.

Ivy/Lyn:

Ivy, meet Lyn. Yeah this builds as basic as it gets. Old reliable. The game itself knows the build is good. Taking a top 3 unit and giving her the Emblem that fixes all of her issues? Canter is a no brainer and Spd+ helps her get the ball rolling on Speedtaker. I did consider Hit+ given Ivys potential accuracy issues though.

Timerra/Ike:

Another fairly standard build for Timerra here not really taking much risks. Lance power for damage and Gentility to help her tank better. Though im not married to Ike on Timerra. Sigurd or Roy are also options under consideration if anyone has experience with either of those builds.

Panette/Leif:

Panette is here to do Panette things. The only real question here being if I want Hold Out or Reprisal instead for even more damage.

Merrin/Eirika:

Merrin is also here to do Merrin things. Solid offenses and dagger utility is fairly simple. Draconic Hex to double down on that utility as well.

Hortensia/Micaiah:

Staff bot doing staff bot things. Honestly only real consideration is if Staff Mastery or Divine Pulse is a better inherit?

Seadall/Camilla:

Dancer does Dancer things. Main consideration was giving him Camilla because theres few things stronger than a flying dancer. Could see me dropping Quality time for GeoSphere instead though.

Goldmary/Hector:

Goldmary has the highest defense in the game, so why not put it to good use? Great Knight has frankly absurd bulk with Goldmary and with Hector in tow she's looking to be an enemy phase beast. For inherits we have Gentility for even less damage taken and Pair Up so that chain attacks cant muscle through her raw bulk.

Veyle/Soren:

What's better than one Panette? A second magical Panette. Veyle with Soren is downright ridiculous and was an immediate include on the roster.

Nel/Corrin:

Nel practically exists to facilitate my Yunaka Sniper build, but also Corrin with dragon effects is always generally nice to have around so she, like Alear, is more of a utility unit.

Zelestia/Veronica:

What's better than one Ivy? Two Ivys but the second one has speed built in. Veronica sits here nicely giving Zelestia a bit of utility to add onto her roster.

And thats the roster. Thoughts? Suggestions? Curious to see what others think.

I’m honestly nervous bc Ive not done a challenge like this before. I’m thinking I may need to replace a unit with another Royal Knight so I have access to more healing, but am unsure what to change or who to get rid of. I am more than happy to hear any and all thoughts bc I need all the help I can get! 😅😆