Fire Emblem Engage: Best Units to Train First
As someone who’s beaten the game on both Normal and Hard mode, I made a huge mistake when I first started out: I had no idea which units were actually worth investing in. I fed all my EXP, skill points, and bond fragments to filler units, and hit a massive wall halfway through the game. My main team couldn’t damage enemies anymore, and I wasted an entire afternoon re-leveling new units from scratch.
Early game resources in Engage are incredibly tight. You can’t afford to spread your EXP and items thin across every new unit you recruit. That’s why I put together this list of the best early game units to prioritize, based on my own playthrough. Focus your resources on these units, and your early game will be smooth sailing.
The 6 Best Early Game Units to Prioritize
1. Alear – The Unbeatable Main Character
This one goes without saying, the protagonist is always your most reliable core unit. Alear has perfectly balanced growth rates across the board—his strength, magic, and speed all scale incredibly well, no matter if you want to build him as a physical or magic unit.
I used him as my core carry the entire playthrough. He could clear trash mobs, tank boss hits, and his unique Emblem skill deleted half the final boss’s health bar in one go. No matter what difficulty you’re playing, Alear should always be the first unit you level up. You literally can’t go wrong here.
2. Chloe – My Early Game MVP, No Contest
This Pegasus girl was the absolute star of my entire playthrough. The second she joined my team, I realized how insane her growth rates are—her speed and strength growth are through the roof, and she was deleting mid-game enemies by level 10.
Once I reclassed her into a Bow Knight, she became an absolute monster. 7 movement, flying to ignore terrain, and ranged damage? She would sneak around the backline and delete enemy mages and archers before they could even react. That Chapter 10 boss that stumped me for three days? She snuck around the back and took him out in two arrows. She’s so good, you can dump all your early resources into her and never regret it.
3. Louis – The Unbreakable Frontline Tank
Early on, the thing you need most is someone who can actually take a hit. Louis is the perfect frontline tank for this. His defense growth is literally the highest in the entire game. The second he joined, I plopped him in the middle of 7 enemies, and he barely took 10 damage total. It was ridiculous how sturdy he was.
On Hard mode, he carried my entire frontline. Those one-shot axe enemies and knights? They hit him like he was made of stone. With him up front, my backline damage dealers could just focus on killing things without worrying about getting one-shot. Level him up early, and you’ll never have to worry about your team getting wiped again.
4. Celine – Early Magic Damage, The Armored Killer
Early on, you’re gonna run into those heavy armored knights that your physical units can barely scratch—they only take 1 damage per hit. That’s where Celine comes in. Her magic growth is insane, and she can delete those armored units with a single spell.
When I was fighting those armored guys, everyone else was hitting for 1 damage, and Celine would just wipe them out instantly. And she’s fast too, so enemies can’t double her and take her out. Once I leveled up her staff proficiency, she could also heal our team, making her a total hybrid damage + support unit. She’s so useful.
5. Alfred – The Jack-of-All-Trades Frontliner
Alfred is the jack-of-all-trades unit that can do literally everything. His strength and defense growth are both solid, so he can tank damage early on and also clear out trash mobs. I ended up reclassing him into a General later on, and he became a second tank to pair with Louis—our frontline was completely unbreakable.
His passive also boosts your team’s movement, which makes clearing maps way faster early on. Having him on the team meant everyone could move further, so we could finish maps in fewer turns.
6. Etie – The Crit Archer, Ranged Damage God
Etie has such a high strength growth, she’s your best early game ranged damage dealer. Her crit rate is also crazy high, she would crit and delete backline enemies all the time.
Once I gave her a Brave Bow, she could attack twice per turn, and she cleared out fliers and weak enemies in seconds. Early game fliers are such a pain, but Etie would take them out before they could even get close to your backline.
Units You Should NOT Waste Resources On (My Mistakes)
Now for the mistakes I made, so you don’t repeat them. Don’t waste your early resources on these units, you’ll regret it.
1. Vander – Don’t Treat Him Like A Main Unit!
When I first started, I thought this old knight was my main early game carry, so I dumped a ton of EXP into him. Turns out his growth rates are terrible! He’s just a classic Jagen unit—he’s there to carry you through the first few chapters, but once you hit level 10, he can’t keep up at all. His stats stop growing completely.
I wasted so much EXP and items on him, and by Chapter 8, he was completely benchwarmer. Don’t feed him any resources. Just use him to take a few hits early on, and bench him after Chapter 5.
2. Clanne – Don’t Prioritize Him, Celine Is Way Better
Clanne is the other early game mage, and I thought I needed two mages so I leveled him up too. But his magic growth is way worse than Celine’s! Celine does way more damage, and she can heal too.
Early resources are limited, just focus on Celine first. You can level Clanne later if you have extra resources, don’t waste your early stuff on him. He’s not worth it.
Final Thoughts
Early game resources in Engage are so tight, don’t make my mistake of trying to level every new unit you get. If you just focus all your resources on these 6 core units, your playthrough will be so smooth, you won’t hit any roadblocks. Once you get these guys leveled up, you can start working on the other units at your own pace.