Defensive Events

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Protect your gate from advancing enemy forces!

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Defensive Events are an event type in which players must defend their castle Gate from waves of approaching enemies. For the first year of its existence, it only appeared in the Fire Emblem Heroes collaboration events.

Its primary rewards include Tomes for general versions, or in the case of the Fire Emblem Heroes versions: an exclusive Adventurer, weapon, Wyrmprints, and Stickers.

Quest Types

Story Quests

Fire Emblem version

The Fire Emblem Defensive Events include a prologue story viewable upon first entering the Defensive Event menu, as well as several story episodes and a sprinkling of short quests to complete. These story episodes and quests must be completed to fully unlock most of the Defensive Event proper. Additionally, after the event has concluded, an epilogue story will be available to view.

General version

General Defensive Events include a prologue story as stated earlier, with additional story segments unlockable with

s that can be obtained through

(Event Point) rewards. Unlike the Fire Emblem Events, these stories do not need to be viewed in order to unlock other quests in the Defensive Event. Instead, further quests are unlocked through obtaining

s, which are also obtained through

rewards.

Defend the Gate

This is the primary mode of the event, usually called the "Defensive Battle" in-game, but named "Defend the Gate" here to avoid confusion. The player's gate is positioned to the southwest, while enemies will approach from a variety of routes throughout the map, advancing toward the gate. Enemies will usually spawn in waves, with their planned movement path outlined on the player's minimap at the start of the wave. The goal is to either keep the gate from getting destroyed by the enemies within the time limit, or defeating all waves and then defeating the Commander.

Succeeding in this mode requires that the player carefully manage their time near and away from the gate, as clearing far enemies can lead to a better clear times and rewards, but some enemies can spawn near the gate and/or behind the player in the middle of a wave, sneaking in damage on the gate. Enemy spawn patterns are fixed for each event, however, so the player can alternatively memorize when they should fall back to fight these mid-wave enemies.

Notable enemies

Several different enemy types other than the standard soldiers can appear:

• Cyclops - These enemies can attack by throwing boulders that can travel across the map, and will target the Gate directly unless the player is within range to take their attention instead. These enemies pose a major threat as they can damage the Gate without being anywhere near it.
• Wolves - These enemies will often spawn after a certain amount of enemies are defeated in the middle of a wave. They move very quickly and tend to spawn very close to the Gate, posing an immediate threat to the Gate if the player extended too far away from it.
• Healers - During each run of this mode, one of the waves will spawn either 3 healers or 3 mages, decided at random. Healers can heal enemies from any location on the map, and will tend to stand in remote corners of the map to avoid getting attacked themselves.
• Mages - Similar to healers, Mages will position in remote corners of the map to avoid getting attacked. Instead of healing their allies, they will create area-of-effect attacks targeted on the player, possibly disrupting the player's engagements with other enemies.
• Secret Boss - This is a special enemy type that can spawn if all waves were cleared within a certain amount of time. It is much stronger and bulkier than the actual boss of the mode, and would offer a significant point boost if defeated. However, the boss room is open to enter at the same time that the secret boss spawns, making it an optional fight if the player decides to fight the main boss instead.
  • Shadow Knight - Requires all waves in The Alberian Front (Lunatic) to be cleared before 6:30 remaining on the timer. For The Alberian Front (Hard), the requirement is 7:30 remaining on the timer instead. Appears near the upper-left house.
  • Forma Chrom - Requires all waves in Thórr's Descent (Lunatic) to be cleared before 5:00 remaining on the timer. Appears in the small alcove before the boss room.
  • Imperial Stalwart Knight - In the Summertime Saviors event, requires all waves in Master or EX difficulty to be cleared before 6:30 remaining on the timer. Appears near the upper-left house.
• Commmander - The main boss of the mode. The Commander's boss room will only become available to enter once all waves have been cleared.

Additional Objectives

• Saving Houses - Up to three houses may be positioned around the map, which will be attacked by bandits during one of the waves. If the player defeats the bandits and then steps into the blue circle that appears, they will "save" the house and be given a reward. This reward can be a 15% boost, 20% boost, or ability to see enemies on the minimap, with the reward fixed for each house. These buffs will last until the end of the quest. Saving houses will also offer additional point boosts at the end of the quest. Failing to protect a house will forfeit any bonuses associated with it. Defeating a bandit but not stepping into the blue circle will also not count the house as "saved", so it is important to remember that step.
• Lowering Drawbridges - Several drawbridges may be positioned around the map, and can be lowered by the player to allow more travel options around the map. Lowering at least one drawbridge will also grant a point bonus at the end of the quest. However, enemies can take advantage of bridges too: the paths chosen at the beginning of enemy waves will take into account any lowered bridges. The player can therefore choose to intentionally not lower some bridges in order to restrict enemy movement, though they would be restricting their own movement as well.

Additional Features

• In Fire Emblem: Kindred Ties, a helper-skill-like feature called the Artillery Barrage is available. Similar to helper skills, this skill is available to use up to 3 times throughout the quest. Once activated, it will charge for a moment before dealing a large, fixed amount of damage to each enemy in a wide area. This damage is enough to instantly defeat smaller soldiers, and heavily damage larger enemies. The skill will then be put on a brief cooldown before it can be used again.

Progression and Rewards

5 Adventurer

The Fire Emblem iterations of Defensive Events include a free 5 Adventurer that temporarily joins the player's roster. By completing quests with this character on the team, event-related or otherwise, friendship points can be earned. Points earned are equal to the stamina cost for the quest cleared, but if an event-related quest is cleared then the points gained are doubled. Once friendship points reach their maximum, the Adventurer will permanently join the player's roster. Assuming the appropriate Mana Circle nodes have been unlocked, maxing friendship points will also make the Adventurer's story available to view.

If a Defensive Event ends but the free Adventurer's friendship points were never maxed, then they will not join the player's roster. However, should the Defensive Event be rerun, the Adventurer will retain their friendship points and any level or Mana Circle upgrades applied when the player last had them.

This Adventurer usually has an element advantage over their event's boss..

Event Shop

Fire Emblem version

Fire Emblem versions of Defensive Events feature 2 forms of currency, differently-named for each event. For simplicity, we will call them T1 and T2 currency. T2 currency can only be obtained from event quests made available in the second half of the event, while T1 currency is available in the first half of the event as well.

The Event Shop primarily allows redeeming T1 and T2 currencies for various rewards, including event-exclusive weapons, wyrmprints, stickers, and non-exclusive upgrade materials. It is possible to trade T2 currency down into T1, but it is not possible to trade up.

General version

General versions of Defensive Events have only one form of currency,

s, which can be exchanged in the Event Shop for various rewards.

Event Point Rewards

Each Defensive Event features a differently-named variety of Event Points that can be collected during the event. These points cannot be spent, but instead act as a score system, with rewards available depending on the total amount of points collected.

Event Points are available from all quests associated with a Defensive Event, but tend to appear in large amounts from the Defend the Gate battle. The amount of points gained can be increased by meeting certain objectives, such as clearing within a certain amount of time, or with a certain amount of health remaining on the Gate.

In the Fire Emblem Defensive Events, points can also be boosted by point-boosting abilities on equipped Wyrmprints.