Fire Emblem: Three Houses Combat Arts Guide — Axe and Bow Combat Arts

Life sure comes at you fast in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Intelligent Systems makes it obvious that an idle existence isn’t the one for you, with all sorts of combat encounters taking center stage when it comes to the story. When your chosen students become more proficient at their chosen weapons, they’ll eventually pick up things called Combat Arts which can turn the tide of battle. These amplify their regular attacks, give students buffs in some circumstances, and can even deal different types of damage to round out their buttkicking arsenal. Here’s our Fire Emblem Three Houses Combat Arts list of Axe and Bow arts, complete with bonus effects where relevant.

Fire Emblem Three Houses Combat Arts Guide — Axe

Whether it’s the mighty Aymr or just a regular old silver axe that you’ve got Caspar swinging about, axes have some pretty unique combat arts. Our favorites were the one that dealt magic damage, and were effective against those pesky Monster enemies.

• Smash — amplified damage
• Spike — amplified damage
• Helm Splitter — effective against Armored units
• Monster Breaker — effective against Monster units
• Diamond Axe — amplified damage, reduced Hit
• Exhaustive Strike — uses up all of the weapon’s durability and adds 30% of that value to Might
• Armored Strike — increases your Might based on Defence
• Wild Abandon — amplified damage, reduced Hit
• Focused Strike — increased Hit
• Lightning Axe — deals magic damage, and the user’s Might increases based on their Resistance
• Apocalyptic Flame — only for wielders of Freikugel. Effective against Dragon types, and enemies suffer from -5 STR for 1 turn.
• Dust — only for wielders of Crusher. Effective against Dragon types, and enemies suffer from -5 DEF for 1 turn.
• Raging Storm — only for wielders of Aymr. Effective against Dragon types, and if your attack is successful, you can move again.
• Flickering Flower — only for those classed into Emperor. This prevents foes from moving for 1 turn.
• War Master’s Strike — only for those of the War Master class. It is effective against all types of enemies.

Fire Emblem Three Houses Combat Arts – Bow

If you weren’t lucky enough to draft the beautiful Bernadetta into your coterie as the top sniper in Fodlan (our Bernadetta tea party guide might help if you need it), then it’s understandable that you’ll want something to put a bit of pep in your chosen archer’s step. We’ve listed off the bow combat arts for your viewing pleasure.

• Curved Shot — amplified damage.
• Deadeye — amplified range.
• Heavy Draw — amplified damage.
• Encloser — stops your enemy from moving for 1 turn.
• Ward Arrow — stops your enemy from casting magic for 1 turn
• Point-Blank Volley — increases your Avoidance by +10 and lets you hit twice
• Monster Blast — effective against Monster enemy types
• Waning Shot — foes suffer from -5 STR for 1 turn after combat.
• Break Shot — foes suffer from -5 DEF for 1 turn after combat.
• Schism Shot — foes suffer from -5 RES for 1 turn after combat.
• Fallen Star — only for wielders of Failnaught. It lets you avoid all attacks during the next combat round and is effective against Dragon types.
• Hunter’s Volley — only available to the Sniper class. This lets you hit twice.
• Wind God — only available to the Barbarossa class (Claude). 

Now that you’ve gotten the low down on the Fire Emblem Three Houses Combat Arts types available for bow and axe, it’s time to put your knowledge of these nifty little tricks into practice in the field. The next time you’re considering taking on a certain enemy, don’t forget that you have Combat Arts to help you; it’s not always as simple as winning a war of attrition by slowly beating something to death.