How Break works in Fire Emblem Engage

During combat in Fire Emblem Engage, enemies can perform a counterattack against your characters after you hit them. Even though it’s your turn and you plan to hit them, the counterattack is there to make you think twice about your character placement and to figure out the best strategy to take out opponents before they overwhelm you. However, if you Break an opponent, you can prevent a counterattack from happening. Here’s what you need to know about how Break works in Fire Emblem Engage.

How to use Break in Fire Emblem Engage

Break is a status effect that can occur to enemies and your party members in combat. It’s a valuable technique that temporarily disarms a character, preventing them from performing any counterattack if an enemy attacks them for the next turn, which is a good way to take down a particularly tough opponent. You have to set up for this status effect, and it won’t work against every enemy. It all comes down to the types of units you have in your party and who you attack.

Related: How to Engage in Fire Emblem Engage, and what it does

To cause a Break status effect against an enemy, you need to have a character using a weapon with an advantage against the opponent’s weapon. For example, suppose you have a character wielding an Axe attack an enemy using a Lance. In that case, there’s a good chance the enemy will suffer a Break status effect after the attack, preventing them from using a counterattack for the rest of the turn. You can tell you’ve done the Break effect to an enemy as there will be an icon that pops up during the attack animation that says “Break.” Also, when you hover over that character’s icon on the battlefield, their symbol will have a line through it.

The only way to do the Break attack is if you have a character who has an advantage against an opponent’s weapon. It’s important to remember the various advantages and disadvantages in Fire Emblem if you want to use this status effect correctly. Swords have an advantage against Axes, Axes have an advantage against Lances, and Lances have an advantage against Swords. Art has an advantage against Bows, Tomes, and Knives, and Magical Arts do increase damage to units with heavy physical protections, namely heavy armor.