How chain guard works in Fire Emblem Engage

Qi Adept units in Fire Emblem Engage can use an ability known as chain guard. It’s a helpful tactic if you want to protect your allies against incoming attacks, but the unit that does it can only perform this move under certain conditions. It can be a helpful move to use, but you don’t want to use it every chance you have. Here’s what you need to know about how chain guard works in Fire Emblem Engage.

How does chain guard work in Fire Emblem Engage

Again, Qi Adept characters can use the chain guard ability. They have to use it when standing adjacent to another party member. In addition to standing next to an ally, the Qi Adept character needs full health. If the character does not have full health, they won’t be able to perform the move, and you won’t have the chance to use the ability until they heal in battle. A Qi Adept character can protect up to four units standing around them. The first unit they are protecting receives the ability. Once the Qi Adept’s health is no longer full, the ability drops, so they can only ever protect a single unit.

Related: How chain attacks work in Fire Emblem Engage

How the chain guard works is when an ally is about to take an attack, the Qi Adept prevents this and takes the attack at a heavily mitigated amount. For example, if an enemy unit attempts to attack a Mage unit for 15 damage if a Qi Adept’s chain guard protects the Mage, the Qi Adept takes the attack, likely lowering it to three or four damage rather than the full 15. Despite the Qi Adept taking the damage, the targetted unit can still counterattack against the attacking unit.

The chain guard is an extremely useful ability, but it requires a good amount of placement and forethought for your units. Make sure to place your Qi Adept units next to ones that don’t have a lot of defense, and take advantage of chain guard. In addition, make sure your Qi Adept has a way to heal themselves during a battle by using chain guard multiple times.

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Zack Palm

Zack Palm is the Senior Writer of Gamepur and has spent over five years covering video games, and earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Oregon State University. He spends his free time biking, running tabletop campaigns, and listening to heavy metal. His primary game beats are Pokémon Go, Destiny 2, Final Fantasy XIV, and any newly released title, and he finds it difficult to pull away from any Star Wars game.

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