Fire Emblem Engage: Best Alfred Builds

As any Fire Emblem fan could tell you, the primary conflicts present in the series typically feature princes and princesses fighting evil dragons. Fire Emblem: Engage goes above and beyond on this front, providing the player with a grand total of four princes and four princesses. These royals each have their own place in the story and possess an exclusive class!

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The first royal you’ll meet on your journey across Elyos is Prince Alfred of Firene, who will take the place of your early-game cavalier unit. On you travel the continent gathering allies in the fight against Sombron, Alfred will end up far from the safety of home. Only with the right equipment and strategy will he survive the fight and return to his people unharmed, so here’s what you’ll need to know.

Growth Rates

Alfred sports solid all-around stats for a physical unit, with high strength, defense, and speed. His dexterity, luck, and HP are useable as well, allowing Alfred, when used correctly, to take on a plethora of physical threats. Like many physical-based units, however, he does have low resistance, and magic attacks pose quite a threat. Thankfully, he sports above-average movement due to his unique classes, so he will be able to outmaneuver many mages. Finally, Alfred, unfortunately, possesses a middling build stat, meaning you must be cautious when it comes to choosing his weapon.

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Best Classes

Though his base class is labeled Noble, Alfred begins as a Lance Cavalier with a fancy name. That is not to suggest this is a bad thing, as Lance Cavs are historically one of the most reliable units to be found in Fire Emblem. As mentioned above, once Alfred reaches level 10 and is provided with a master seal, he gains access to a unique class, in this case, Avenir. This class grants Alfred access to swords, in addition to his base lances, as well as the class skill Golden Lotus.

When activated, this skill will halve the damage from a physical attack dealt to Alfred, allowing him to shrug off more hits than you might expect. If you don’t find yourself needing more sword units, and would rather have Alfred focus on lances, Paladin is a strong alternative to Avenir. Though he would lose access to Golden Lotus, Paladin would provide increased dexterity and speed, allowing Alfred to play more of an offensive role.

Best Weapons

When it comes to weapons, Alfred is most limited by his low base build stat of 6. Until he gets some level-ups, this will make it difficult for him to wield anything heavier than a slim lance. Nonetheless, with some levels and a promotion, Alfred should be able to grab some extra build points, allowing him to make use of both his good speed and strong lances.

Early-game, he will be a good option to wield refined iron lances, letting him deal strong damage without hurting his follow-up potential. Later, he should have gained enough build to transition to steel lances and, after promotion, steel swords. Unfortunately, without incredible luck on level-ups or some outside help, Alfred will struggle to make use of the legendary lances obtained late in the game. Fortunately, there is powerful outside help available.

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Best Emblem Rings

As mentioned before, the biggest help that Alfred needs is patching his poor build stat. There are two great options for this that happen to work fantastically with the rest of Alfred’s talents. Sigurd provides a much-needed boost to build, while also granting ridiculous levels of movement when engaged. This movement is then converted into damage with the momentum skill, while canter provides unparalleled positioning advantages.

Sigurd is a fantastic choice for any high-movement unit, and Alfred shows off just how powerful the Holy Knight can be. The other option for Alfred is to engage with Leif. The Ring of the Sage Lord provides even more build and powerful vantage skills. In the Avenir class and engaged with Leif, Alfred gains a weapon advantage against all spears, swords, and axes thanks to Leif’s killer axe. This versatility, alongside Leif’s adaptable skill, lets Alfred remain unbroken in the face of any attacker.

Best Skills

As with Emblem Rings, Alfred’s best skills focus on movement, build, and a few buffs to his bulk. Even if not engaged with Leif, Alfred can still inherit Build+ from him, shoring up his weakest stat without too much investment. Canter and Momentum are always appreciated, and Gentility’s damage reduction is a great pick for any frontline unit.

Next: Fire Emblem Engage: Best Louis Builds