"That commotion can only mean that things have begun... That means it's my turn to take the field."
—The Black Knight, being the major factor why Book I Chapter 13-3 is such a pain
Some of the maps in Fire Emblem can be a tad too difficult for players to handle, and Fire Emblem Heroes is no different, with Trial-and-Error Gameplay being one of the main reasons. However, with the combinations of enemy heroes and their skills being within certain maps, some levels stand out more than others.
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Story and Paralogues
- Book I, 11-3 is particularly notorious, as it splits the player's team into two, separated by a mountain, with a swarm of enemies of all kinds of weapon types chasing the player down. The only saving grace is that the player's units start near some defensive tiles, which are practically necessary to survive, but it can still be overwhelming.
- Book I, 11-5 is another 6-turn time limit fight. The player faces off against Celica's team of mages who are all standing on four defensive tiles, while Bruno is nearby to gun the player down. While Bruno is easy enough to take down, trying to defeat the mages within the time limit will prove to be quite difficult. The four not only stand on defensive tiles, but they have all sorts of buffs like Boey and Mae's -Owl tomes boosting their stats greatly, Celica's Distant Def deterring ranged attackers, and both Celica and Boey boosting their allies' Def with their C skills. Genny augments her team's offense, can heal her team up, and can also pack a punch thanks to her Wrathful Staff skill. These mages are surprisingly sturdy and are quite powerful. It will take a lot of doing to either bait them out of their formation or outright defeat them while they're on the defensive tiles.
- Book I, 13-3 is a defend map where the player has to face off against waves of enemies, with reinforcements spawning to gun the player down. The map itself is also somewhat cramped, with narrow paths all around. The Black Knight shows up from the house in the middle, and he's invincible on account of the Embla's Ward. His Wings of Mercy means the player must not leave any enemy units weakened, or they may get blindsided by him. His Black Luna pierces through 80% of a foe's Def, and on higher difficulties, it's immediately charged. It may be tempting to place a unit at the house in an attempt to block the spawn point, but that is ill advised, as the Black Knight will just spawn one space below, trapping that unit. The map forces the player to go on the offensive and work with the little space available, all while avoiding a deadly confrontation with the Black Knight.
- Book II 10-3 can be a trick one for people even if you're familiar with the skill Aerobatics, which Nino (Pale Flower) here has. Since your Danger Zone can't see that exactly, you could move your position and end up getting nuked by her (and since she'll usually be faster than most of your units, you'll definitely lose a unit or so). This can be very frustrating during a Chain Challenge. What's worse is that during random rotation maps such as Forging Bonds or Hall of Forms, the flier in Nino's place actually borrows that Aerobatics skill, so you have to watch out for that too, especially in Hall of Forms.
- Book II Chapter 11 tries to bring back the Timed Mission deal in the first and last maps. Both maps require you to defeat all enemies in a set number of turns. Okay, not bad? Unlike some maps where going on a foe's range would let all of the foes attack - these two have it that you have to go on each of their range to make them attack, meaning that you're forced to take an aggressive approach. The fifth mission in particular is tough considering it includes Maribelle, someone who can't be countered normally. The first one at least has terrain that's relatively easy to navigate through (especially if you're a flier). Not so much for the fifth one - where there's a ton of walls that will easily leave you open to enemy attacks. Just be thankful Olivia doesn't appear in this one.
- When facing randomly generated enemies on the aforementioned maps, they copy the behavior of only attacking when they're in range, meaning that one should be extra careful when doing this in Hall of Forms, especially for the last map.
- Book II, 12-5. The enemy positioning isn't unlike what you'd see in a Grand or Legendary Hero Battle, and unlike them there are several named Heroes on the enemy side bringing their special weapons. Not helping matters is that the boss of the map is Loki, who has finally dropped all pretense and went straight for Dazzling Staff in her B slot to supplement her weapon's in-built Wrathful Staff (and prioritizes hitting you from across a magma river for good measure). On the other end of the map is new hero Lewyn, who demonstrates exactly why everyone was afraid he'd be a Game-Breaker with his Forseti tome and Special Spiral skill to machine gun his specials, and is paired with a Sword Flier that has Spur Atk/Spd to make him even meaner (and has huge Speed along with a Zanbato if you try to instagib Lewyn with a Cavalier). And standing in range of both of them is Silvia, a dancer that comes with a skill that further increases their already-titanic Speed stats (on Lunatic difficulty, Loki can hit up to 48 if her Brazen Atk/Spd skill activates, while Lewyn hits up to 50 if the Sword Flier is beside him). And you can't bait them out either, you must enter their attack range before they will move, making it a choice of dealing with Loki's non-counterable damage or Lewyn's rapid-fire Glimmers first.
- Book III, 7-5. You have a dangerous setup of enemies that have the potential of killing your entire team. First off, Fallen Tiki is by herself and relatively close to your front, meaning she can just move without any issue and eradicate you if you don't have an armor smasher in hand. Keep in mind she has Distant Counter and is powerful against any kind of Dragons. She's also colorless too. Fallen Mareeta is also close to you, and is a more dangerous version of Karla and Ayra - you have to tread carefully if you want to take her out without a ranged attack. Then we have Fallen Corrin, who is armed with Sudden Panic, forcing the Panic status on your allies if they are next to each other - and she hits hard like a truck and fast. Fallen Berkut and Líf are not too tough, but the former is a Distant Counter unit if there are any allies next to him. Overall, you're dealt with a tough front of units that should be taken out individually, especially if you're trying to complete it on Lunatic for the extra orb.
- Book III, 9-5. Every enemy save for Claude and Byleth are able to force doubles onto your units with their weapons, and those two are still liable to double due to their incredible speed. Almost every enemy on the map is also a massive pain to deal with - Claude isn't that bad thanks to a lack of team synergy making his weapon unable to trigger most of the time, but Edelgard is nearly impossible to fight with physical units if she's alone, Dimitri can dash across the map and take a huge chunk out of anything that doesn't resist him, and Byleth can rip through your units while nullifying almost all their skills with her Creator Sword. The boss, Líf, is a piece of work as well - in addition to packing Sökkvabekkr to give him a guaranteed double and stat boosts if an ally is nearby, he packs Heavy Blade to synergize with his huge attack and let him fire nuclear Bonfires like a machine gun, Desperation to let him abuse his guaranteed follow-up if he's been damaged prior, and Pulse Smoke to reset any specials that you were going to use against him. If you can't wipe them out quickly, they'll group together and create a formation that's nearly impossible to deal with without getting at least one of your units killed.
- Book III, 10-5. As this is her final story map, Thrasir comes packing her strongest skillset yet along with a pack of extremely lethal allies. While Mercedes and the Sword Fighter aren't much of a threat, the former can still use Gravity+ to trap your units and allow her allies to swarm them, as well as heal her allies. Petra starts in proximity to her allies, which usually allows her weapon and Atk/Spd Form to activate and pump her stats through the roof - and she also packs Flier Formation and Ground Orders to not only surprise players with her mobility, but grant that same mobility to her allies as well. The main problems arise with Hilda and Thrasir: Hilda has terrifying offenses that allow her to instantly kill almost anything she touches while being downright impossible to double (not helped by her Null Follow-Up), along with being positioned alone so her weapon and Atk/Spd Solo go off from the get-go. Meanwhile, Thrasir herself packs high offenses, Swift Sparrow 3 to pump her offenses through the roof if she engages, Null Follow-Up to make her almost guaranteed to double with her high speed, and Odd Atk Wave to buff herself and her allies - and she still keeps Ífingr, which gives her omni-stat boosts while negating her foes' follow ups and OHKO-ing pretty much all dragons that try to tank her. The icing on the cake is that there are reinforcements: an Axe Fighter appears with Hubert (who packs lethally high attack, the Rauðrfox+ to debuff foes in combat, and Infantry Hexblade to make his allies hurt even more) when you kill the Sword Fighter, and the Death Knight (who can protect allies with Close Guard while punishing buffed units with his Scythe of Sariel) appears you kill Thrasir. Letting the enemies initiate on you is almost always a death sentence, but killing them all before they reach you is easier said then done.
- Book IV introduces two boss characters who happen to be Dancers, meaning that most of the levels with them at the end are generally guaranteed to give you a bad time. The exceptions so far are Chapter 1 note , Chapter 5 note , and Chapter 6 note .
- You fight Plumeria in Chapter 3-5, and her Dance skill works identically to Peony's. Her targets will gain an additional movement space, and Larcei in particular is VERY dangerous (her power is far greater than her mother Ayra, and on par with both Mareetas). Not only will her stats be through the roof thanks to her weapon and skills, she'll neutralize any buffs you have, and if you still have 'em, she'll hit you with Panic Smoke to turn them into debuffs. With her Repel turning her Spd into a shield, she's incredibly difficult to take down. This combination in particular can destroy your teams rather quickly.
- If you're going for a perfect run, Chapter 4-5 can be painful. You'd have to watch out for TWO Dancer units in this one - Triandra and Nils. It's very easy to get caught off-guard here, especially when your foes are suddenly right in front of your face.
- Chapter 7-5 throws in the Fallen Heroes to your face, and the only thing not making this one outright sadistic is the fact Fallen Lyon surprisingly isn't part of the entourage (compare Book III's and IV's versions, where all of the Fallen Heroes were featured). Nonetheless Fallen Ike, Fallen Julia, and Fallen Corrin are all very hard on their own right, with Fallen Julia being capable enough to kill someone on your team if you're not careful. The fact Triandra's there means she could possibly give Fallen Julia a boost right to your front and score a kill.
- Book IV Chapter 10-5. While Freyr is a Zero-Effort Boss, the other enemy heroes pick up the slack, with you going up against the Brave variants of Lysithea, Edelgard, Claude, and Dimitri, and they're no pushovers. Brave Edelgard is the worst one to face against due to her min-maxed Mighty Glacier stats and her synergistic skill kit. Finally, this is a Timed Mission, meaning on Normal you have 4 turns to rout the enemy, and on Hard and Lunatic, you've got 3 turns.
- Book V Chapter 7-5 (especially on Lunatic) has all of the Fallen Heroes so far, and all of them are sadistic as always. All of the featured Fallen Heroes are part of the entourage (Edelgard, Dimitri, and both Morgans), and even better, Fáfnir joins in on the fun. Since you can't kill him, you have to endure the beatdown. The first wave includes both Morgans, who both hit really hard like a truck and are also both very hard to kill, especially Female Morgan, whose attack and defense are ungodly high. When Dimitri comes in, he's just as hard as his Legendary counterpart, who has Odd Tempest to increase his movement every odd turn and a Canto B-Skill to leave if he happens to survive. A green tank could endure these two, but sometimes Fáfnir hits really hard that this makes it pointless. And that's not without mentioning the worst of them - Fallen Edelgard. Remember when Caineghis was annoying in his Beast Form? Edelgard is this but far, far worse (and has traits of both Legendary and Brave Edelgard on her belt). Fallen Edelgard has incredible player and enemy phase output, and even Micaiah might not be enough to kill her. She can also move twice without the assistance of a skill such as Galeforce. All of these units also have absurdly high buffs as well. Have fun surviving for five turns. note
- It gets worse when the Chain Challenge was added with the Book V Chapter 8 update. If the Fallen units weren't bad enough, you now have to deal with them having inflated stats — Fallen Edelgard in particular is a monster, and the Morgans aren't far behind. With Fáfnir still bashing into your units with Savage Blow and Guard Smoke, your units are going to get hammered in 7-5, which in the Chapters 7 & 8 challenge means you get no rest after as you're thrown straight into Chapter 8's new heroes. While not as bad what came before, Zeke and Valentian Palla are vicious to trade blows with, which is not something a team that just threw down with Fáfnir and Fallen Edelgard wants to deal with. Don't be surprised if you lose one or two teams around the midpoint.
- Book V: Chapter 11-5, the last mission to feature Ótr before his demise, is an aggravating level for one simple reason: Everyone except Balthus (the token 3-star hero) is capable of using Canto, meaning that they can land a hit on you and retreat to safety. One of these heroes is Yuri, who hits very hard and can swap positions with his other allies with Foul Play - AND Canto his way through afterwards. Constance and Hapi also hit really hard, with the latter being super effective against Dragons and Beast units in case if you thought bringing in Fallen Edelgard to the fight was a foolproof plan.
- Book VI: Chapter 11-5 is another aggravating level, where alongside Bruno there is a Save unit alongside Lightning Bruisers and Glass Cannons that can take your units down with ease. The level features a Sword Armor with Wary Fighter and D/R Near Save adjacent to Ascended Hilda, who with her Fuming Freikugel provides decent stats and Damage Reduction to allies within 2 spaces of her, while also is a strong special nuker with her Luna and Dodge tank with her Velocity, and Monica's Wind Genesis has Desperation and punishes heroes that depend on low cooldown specials, and Spd/Res Tempo to make sure her Glimmer goes off without a hitch. Worst yet, both Regular Male and Female Shez pop up as reinforcement a few spaces away from your starting position on Turn 3, with Male Shez being a warping Brave weapon unit that limits your movement around him with his Spd/Def Bulwark while Female Shez is just a strong Axe unit, both with Special acceleration to nuke your units as well, where everyone together will pressure you to the bottom of the map if you do not take a few enemies down fast enough.
- Book VII: Chapter 8-5. Not only is it a 4 turn Hold the Line mission with reinforcements and a Savior unit in the form of Gilliam, but you also got Rearmed Tana, who, while already a pain with her appearance in the previous map thanks to her warp shenanigans, also shows up later with her warping gimmick and has a high chance to snipe one of your units. Gullveig is especially threatening with her Extra Turn thanks to her eponymous weapon, invincibility due her Gold Perfection Sacred Seal and prevents healing with her Fatal Smoke 3, all on top of being ranged and three movement, basically making a fight with her nearly impossible to avoid, forcing players to deploy a unit that can stall Gullveig through their abilities or status effects like [Gravity] or protects their allies from repeated ranged attacks. The only saving grace is that Rearmed Tana's Guidance 4 does not work with Flying and Cavalry units.
- Book VII: Chapter 3-5. It is a Timed Mission where you have 6 turns on Normal, 5 turns on Hard, and 4 turns on Lunatic to defeat the 2023 Fallen Heroes, and all of them are not easy to take down. Fallen Rearmed Chrom is a swift Galeforce machine that can greatly debuff your units, Fallen Female Byleth is a Distant Counter Vantage special spamming machine, Fallen Anankos is a fast Near Save user that will protect his allies and reverse his enemy's stat buffs during combat, but the worst of all is Fallen Maria, who, with her Sacrifice Staff giving basically Miracle and a full heal to an ally if they're about to die near her once per map, will stall out and keep her allies alive, with it nearly impossible to take down with Melee units thanks to Fallen Anankos protecting her, and chipping away their health is not going to be an option as long as Fallen Maria is alive.
- The final levels in the Paralogue Chapter, "The Start of It All", shows Young Caeda appearing out of nowhere alongside the other young heroes you fought in the previous two levels. The Lunatic versions of this level, especially if you're going for a Perfect Run (which you'll need if you want extra bonus orbs) is borderline sadistic ... and it's because of Caeda. Her weapon and skill set means you're going to need a very limited set of units to even hurt her, because she's super effective against all Sword, Lance, Ax, Colorless Arrows, and Armor (literally more than half of the playable roster) - but that's not all - she's equipped with Distant Counter - and her weapon is built with Vantage in it, and if it's any of those units she's effective against, she can counter first no matter what), and her other skill "Belief in Love" makes it so those attacking units get lower attack and defense. All this means your choices of countering her are even more limited to units who can attack twice such as Reinhardt or units that ignore counterattacks such as Dazzling/Wrathful Staff users and Firesweep attackers who ignore the counterattack altogether. Took her out? Nice, now you're probably overwhelmed by the other enemy units, including Minerva (who surprisingly for a Tempest Trials reward unit, is tough), the Whitewing Sisters (who happen to be a Duo unit this time around and can even pack a dent to the bulkiest of Green units), and Merric (who is also tough for a green unit), who will probably take out your unit that took out Caeda and possibly your entire team if you're not positioned well.
- Paralogue 83-3. You got Spring Harmonized Karla & Freyja, who starts with a pre-charged Draconic Aura and Sistery War Axe to boost it further while also having Flow N Trace 3 and Spd Smoke 4, Spring Bernadetta with her Bow of Repose activating her Escape Route 4 and having Remote Sparrow and Def/Res Smoke 3, and Spring Triandra, who is a flying dancer that gives +6 Atk/Spd and [Desperation] to one of her allies with her Firestorm Dance 3, Nightmare's Egg to give that ally and all allies within 2 spaces of that target [Foe Penalty Doubler], while also inflicting field stat debuffs, [Panic], and [Guard] to all foes within cardinal directions of her and her target when she uses her Frightful Dream. All three of them combined makes them a team of very mobile nukers that have a high chance to eliminate at least one of your units on initiation and corner your units with their other teammates Spring Ashe and Spring Michalis.
- Paralogue 93-2 and 3. Both of these levels have one specific hero in common: New Year Duo Seiðr & Heiðr. While on Normal and Hard they are really manageable, but Lunatic is another matter entirely, despite being Squishy Wizards. Their Goddess Temari giving +6 Atk/Res and [Prevent Follow-Up] to themselves and allies within spaces of them at the start of their turn, and having Gathering Steam effects from extra buffs to true damage to double attacks depending on which turn it is is the least concerning compared to their C skill Future-Sighted: It has the effect of granting them +4 Atk/Spd/Def/Res during combat, grants them a guaranteed follow-up attack and reduced damage taken from the foe's first attack by 30%, which is fine on it's own, but it also allows them to inflict [Time's Grip]note and immediately ends the turn of the nearest foes in cardinal directions if they have no less than 5 Res over their foe, +3 for each space between them, at the start of their foe's turn after all start-of-turn effects trigger if that foe does not have [Time's Grip]. Immediately ending the turn of one of your units is bad enough, but what's really bad is that they start above one of your units already at the start of the map, meaning that if you're not careful then you're going to be having one unit already not able to act on the first turn, and on part 2 they have 47 Res and part 3 they have 50 Res and they are 5 spaces between them on both maps, so they're ending turns of units that don't have at least 38 Res on part 2 and 41 Res on part 3, and it gets worse after their turn where not only they get +6 Res but they're more likely to move two spaces down, meaning that the Res needed to be immune increases to 50 on part 2 and 53 on part 3, where not many units can even reach that, so it becomes a mad dash to eliminate or avoid them as fast as possible while also handling the New Year 2024 heroes, especially New Year Nerþuz and New Year Kvasir, both whom are not pushovers as well.
Grand, Bound, Legendary, and Mythical Hero Battles
- Berkut's Grand Hero Battle can catch a lot of people off guard if they're unsure on how to handle it. To start off, your team is split in half, and unlike other Grand Hero Battles at the time, all of the enemies will start to move even if you're not in their range. What's worse is that all but one of the enemies are cavalry, and Infernal difficulty adds one more cavalry enemy equipped with Grani's Shield (which neutralizes the damage bonus of weapons effective against cavalry, like Ridersbane). Additionally, the enemy archer has a Firesweep weapon (which renders Distant Counter users helpless unless if you have or inherited Null-C Disrupt) and is a cavalry unit, meaning fliers without Iote's Shield will have to tread very carefully. Lastly, Berkut has an AOE special, meaning if he engages one of your units in combat, that unit will most probably be dead unless they're bulky and green. While Berkut himself isn't that hard on account of lacking his powerful refine and having a boring kit, if a player isn't careful, he can jump in and attack or use his AOE special to weaken an enemy down before finishing them off, and while his Resistance isn't the best, if a player blindly charges him with a magic or Dragon character, he can tank the hit reasonably well due to his Res focused kit. While the map is a lot easier nowadays thanks to the general increase in stats and skills, newer players, or accounts with weaker overall characters, will likely not be able to beat it without really trying.
- Fallen Takumi's Grand Hero Battle map is considered by many the worst one out of all the Grand Hero Battles, and that is fitting due to this map being a reenactment of the hardest map of Conquest. Not only do you start in a tight position next to two breakable walls with 2 durability to delay you, there are also trenches to stop you from using Ranged Cavaliers to snipe out the Clerics equipped with Dazzling Staff, and reinforcements start spawning on the edges of the map. And that's not getting into the bosses themselves: On turn 3, any enemy within the 3 columns they're in the center in will take 10 damage and receive the Panic status, and the two of them are in the center 2 tiles, meaning that the damage area overlaps, with the two columns they're in will deal 20 damage to anyone there, and the blind spots are at the edges of the map, where the reinforcements spawn. It's either a race to get to the safe areas as fast as possible while eliminating everyone but the bosses in the process, or a rush to eliminate the bosses as fast as possible while also managing all the other enemies in the process, or just eat the 10~20 damage and just hope that your heroes are durable enough to take a beating and recover after turn 3.
- To make things worse, there is a Limited Hero Battle in May 2020 which you are forced to do this battle with only the Shadows of Valentia cast and among them you're limited to only one dancer, and unlike the previous Limited Hero Battle of Fallen Female Robin, the unit's stats are still the same, meaning that you still have the boosted stats that all the foes have, especially in the Infernal version. Without either Premium or heavily invested units, you're going to need all the luck you need to get all the rewards.
- Legendary Eirika is this on higher difficulties. The map forces your units in a tight area, with little room to maneuver, but it's where defeating certain enemies who are at the start of the map is where thing get more complicated. Eliminating the Lance Fighter will spawn a group of enemies that in the hallway south of your rather restricted starting point: a Blue Cavalier with a Bladetome sandwiched between two other cavaliers each with Hone and Fortify Cavalry, so you're force to take them down immediately and potentially be out of position in the process. Eliminating the Red Cavalier spawns a certain Axe Cavalier, and that Axe Cavalier is designed to do two things: Lunge one of your allies, and be durable enough to survive and activate Lunge, swapping places with the target and often dropping them right in front of Eirika, who has her Lunar Brace-powered Moonbow to take all but the most durable Blue units down, and even that's a tall feat with the Axe Cavalier more likely putting a dent in your Blue unit first. While using a Blue ranged unit with the ability to force a double to attack Eirika over the wall will put a dent in her, she has Deflect Magic as her Sacred Seal, meaning that you need more than one attack to take her down.
- To make things worse, her map was picked as a Limited Hero Battle in November 2020, where you are forced to use characters originating from Heroes, which means your choices are limited on top of everything noted above, making collecting those Divine Codes incredibly difficult.
- Legendary Eliwood is this on higher difficulties. To start off, your units are separated into two teams, meaning it's difficult to setup your position quickly while every enemy will rush straight towards you, with enemy reinforcements coming every turn until the fifth one. His gimmick is giving one of his allies +6 Spd/Res with his Rally Spd/Res+, giving his ally with Ardent Durandal the highest Atk [Bonus Doubler] (which gives Atk/Spd/Def/Res during combat equal to the same value of their field stat each) and, if there is a dragon or beast ally as well, +6 Atk/Def to the ally with the highest Atk with Vision of Arcadia at the start of his turn, both of which ignore Eliwood himself, which is actually a bad thing. The problem is that if there is more than one ally with the same highest Atk, all of them gain those buffs. On the lower difficulties, there is only one or two of his allies have the highest Atk, and there is no dragon or beast at the start of the map, but one Manakete spawns on a later turn to activate Eliwood's Vision of Arcadia, giving players enough time to take Eliwood and his goons out while they don't got the crucial buffs. On the higher difficulties? 4 of his allies have the highest Atk, and an enemy Manakete is at the start of the map, meaning that Eliwood's Vision of Arcadia will activate as well, meaning all 4 units will gain +6 Atk/Def and Bonus Doubler, meaning in combat they actually have +12 Atk/Def, and if he Rallies one of them, they have +12 to all of their stats, and all reinforcements but the healer have the same high Atk, meaning that they will receive the buffs as well. Finally, Eliwood has much more Atk than his allies, meaning both his Blazing Flame will deal colossal damage to anyone he attacks, and that he will be the target of Chill Atk 3, and not at the other high Atk enemies which would be made lower than the Manakete's Atk if it would activate on them instead, while Eliwood is equipped with Chill Atk himself to debuff the Atk of the player's hardest hitter on his turn.
- And if that's not enough, his Limited Hero Battle version in July 2021 forces players to use characters from Awakening, and without heavily invested or premium units like Legendary Female Robin, Legendary Chrom and both Fallen Morgans, players are not going get those Divine Codes on Abyssal or even Infernal.
- Legendary Edelgard's Legendary Hero Battle. This map is extremely hard due to insanely buffed enemies, super-inflated stats as well as being extremely cramped. Edelgard herself is extremely bulky to the point where only the most extreme builds or those with weapon triangle or armor effectiveness can so much as scratch her. To make matters even worse, Edelgard gets extra movement when she's by herself, but when she initiates combat on one of your units (with her bonfire charged on turn 1), she will give herself another turn (assuming you somehow survived a Bonfire to the face) and kill whatever you tanked her with. Reinforcements spawn with extremely high stats, including a thief with 50+ speed and miracle, as well as tons of absurdly tanky manaketes. Reinforcements easily pile up on your units that have nowhere to go, making this map extremely difficult.
- If you're not using an A.I. Breaker strategy, then Veld's Grand Hero Battle is this. Veld himself in combat is an Anti-Climax Boss, like in his home game. His tome Petrify on the other hand is troubling: it will inflict -7 Atk/Spd and the Gravity status to his enemy with the lowest HP on turn 1, lowest Atk on turn 2, lowest Spd on turn 3, lowest Def on turn 4, and lowest Res on turn 5. The worst however is the level design and enemies: all your units are separated, with two of them behind breakable walls with 2 durability, and all of them are near trenches, which means Cavalry units are not recommended here. The enemy also spawns reinforcements and some of them have some nasty movesets, such as the left Bow Fighter having a Firesweep Bow+, Poison Strike, and Pulse Smoke, and the Sword Fighter that spawns in the top middle having a Brave Sword+, Sorcery Blade, and Odd Tempest. All of that combined, and you have one of the hardest Grand Hero Battle yet.
- Then comes his Limited Hero Battle version in October 2021, where you're forced to use characters from Genealogy of the Holy War/Thracia 776, and with a good majority of the cast being Cavalry units, it's not going to be an easy feat beating this level for those 20 Divine Codes on Lunatic and especially Infernal.
- And then there's his rerun in November 2021. One of the quests requires you to clear it on Lunatic with only Cavalry units. With all the features of the maps being used against you, and even more so against Cavalry units, it makes one think that the developers were feeling particularly sadistic for this rerun.
- And if that isn't enough, this level rears its ugly head in Rift 15 in the Seer's Snare 2 event in July 2023, where you're facing Legendary Chrom with his Legendary Remix kit, and while he acts on turn 3, on the top-right you have Fallen Female Corrin with her refined Savage Breath, and on Advanced you got Regular Female Byleth with her refined Creator Sword on the top-left, and both Lightning Bruisers are gunning for your stuck 2 units on the left and right side. While the Time Traveler seals the enemy are equipped with can help even the odds, the fact that this level is mandatory to beat in the Seer's Snare 2 event means that players are forced to think twice about bringing any Cavalry units going into this, especially if the player does not have any premium units and got screwed over with the skill options before entering this Rift.
- Ashera's Mythic Hero Battle. She herself, while difficult, can be taken out with the right hero and positioning due to being a Squishy Wizard. The problem, however, is the other units she is escorted with, specifically those adjacent her. The Troubadour has Flash+ with the Dazzling Staff refine to prevent counterattacks, Physic+, Earthwater Balm+, Distant Def 3, S/R Far Trace and Joint Drive Res to disable your counterattacks or heal one of their allies and potentially run away from harm, but the biggest issue is two Armor units Ashera is with: The Axe Knight has Barrier Axe+, Swap, Iceberg, Distant Ward, and Crafty Fighter (and Deflect Magic Sacred on Abyssal), and the Lance Knight has Spirited Lance+, Swap, Bonfire, Close Def 4, and Slick Fighter (and Close Def 3 Sacred Seal on Abyssal), but the most important skills they both have is the A/R Far Save on the Axe Knight and A/D Near Save on the Lance Knight. Alongside Ashera's Order's Restraint giving all allies within 2 spaces of her +6 Atk/Res and the [Null Panic] status at the start of her turn, those two Knights alone will keep guarding Ashera and any allies near them from all forms of harm while also being optimized to make sure that they will not take as much damage as they shouldnote , while at the same time allowing them to have their allies and reinforcements be free to inch closer and eventually overwhelm your units.
- Ullr's Mythic Hero Battle. Ullr herself is a problem with her having 63 HP, 67 Atk, 52 Spd, 28 Def and 16 Res on Infernal and 79 HP, 75 Atk, 60 Spd, 35 Def and 22 Res on Abyssal, not helped with her Holy Yewfelle giving -1 maximum special cooldown, and gives her +6 Atk/Spd during combat, ignores any field stat debuffs she has on her Atk and Spd and ignores skills that inflicts -1 special buildup on her per attack, all which activates if either she initiates combat or the foe is at 75% HP or above at the start of combat, alongside having Deadeye (which is already fully charged on Abyssal), and Yngvi Ascendant, which allows her to have any of her follow-up attacks go before the foe can counterattack and ignores skills that deny any of her follow-up attacks, but the main problem is the map layout, where your team is given limited movement option on the top left area thanks to the amount of forest and water tiles that scatter the map, and the two bridges on the bottom makes approaching the enemy difficult while also making a chokepoint on either or both of them nearly impossible, not helped with the amount of ranged and flying units that both spawns with her and comes as reinforcements on later turn, as well as the Axe Knight that has D/R Near Save and the Cleric that will heal chip damage on their allies and debuffs the player's unit's Atk with their Sabotage Atk 3 right at the start of the map.
- Then comes her Limited Hero Battle in December 2022, where you're forced to use units from The Binding Blade and any unit that can take her out and also handle the other units are few and far between, even among premium units, and players that don't have Bridal Harmonized Catria & Thea, Groom Harmonized Roy & Eliwood or Ascended Idunn will have a hard time beating this map using other Binding Blade units.
- While Legendary Myrrh's Legendary Hero Battle is tough but fair, the Limited Hero Battle version in May 2023 using (New) Mystery of the Emblem units on the other hand is very tough to beat, especially on Infernal and Abyssal. Legendary Myrrh is a Mighty Glacier that is difficult to take down, especially without any Damage Reduction-negating skills such as Deadeye and Special Spiral 4, with having 64/59/28/47/40 on Infernal and 80/67/34/56/48 on Abyssal, alongside having her Godly Breath inflicting -5 Atk/Spd/Def/Res during combat, reduces damage taken from attacks and non-Røkkr AOE specials by 30% and giving her a guaranteed follow-up attack if she either initiates combat or is within 2 spaces of an ally, Def/Res Unity, Dragon Wall 3 and Darkling Guardian giving her +6 Def/Res, [Follow-Up Denial], and [Warp Bubble] at the start of her turn if she is within 2 spaces of an ally, and Deflect Magic 3 on Abyssal. What makes this version of the battle difficult is that your units are cornered on the bottom right of the map, which is surrounded by forest and water tiles to limit movement, while most of the enemies that spawn are fliers, which can happily ignore those terrain. Even though there are many dragon units that Legendary and Brave Marth can handle, they're going to have a lot of trouble dealing meaningful damage against Legendary Myrrh, and so players are forced to either deploy other units that can deal effective damage against her and bypass her sky high defenses and [Follow-Up Denial], and even then at the time there is only Phina, a 4* special unit, as your only available dancer from Mystery of the Emblem, and unless players have her and any premium units like Harmonized Summer Caeda & Plumeria, Legendary Caeda, Legendary Young Tiki, Young Merric, Fallen Maria or Medeus, they will struggle to get those 20 Divine Codes on Abyssal or even Infernal.
- While Tibarn & Nailah's Bound Hero Battle's difficulty is on par with other Bound Hero Battle maps, the Limited Hero Battle version in July 2023 is another matter. This is the first Limited Hero Battle map that restricts the deployment to only Engage units, and at the time, even though it is released on the same day as the "Rearmed Eitr & Rearmed Alcryst" banner, which adds 4 new heroes from Engage, added Male Alear for players to get for free, and one day before Zephia's Grand Hero Battle, it is still only 13 options for Engage, and out of all of them, 6 of them are Red, and with non-premium units at the time and ones given for free, you got Male Alear, Lumera, Etie, Lapis, and Zephia, which means 4/5 of them are Red, which is not favorable against Nailah, and Etie is a Colorless Bow, who is also not favorable against Nailah as well thanks to her Distant Ferocity and decent Def despite being a good counter for Tibarn. Because of that, without premium units such as Alfred and Summer Ivy or significant investment on those non-premium units, players are going to have a tough time getting the 20 Divine Codes on Infernal or even Lunatic.
Tempest Trials
- The final map of Tempest Trials: Dark Clouds over Awakening. This map was an introduction on the mode and its gimmick, and, due to Early-Installment Weirdness, it was also notorious for being difficult on release. The map was designed with two columns of walls, and breakable walls preventing your from attacking units other than the ones vertical of your units first. Beside That One Boss Veronica, she is also escorted by a Melee Armored unit, a Melee Cavalry, and a Ranged Cavalry, the armored unit being closed to your starting position. It was who those units can be that was the problem: While the armored unit can be Draug, it could also be Effie or Hector, the Melee Cavalry ranging from Gunter to Cain and Frederick and their Wings of Mercy, and the Ranged Cavalry can range from Cecilia to Reinhardt, and as part of the early weirdness, on the highest difficulty, they had absurd levels of stat inflation, with even what should be small threats like Niles and Felicia becoming dangerous foes who would activate their specials and deal absurd damage. To put the final nail on this map, you have to play it over and over again if you wanted that Quicken Pulse Sacred Seal as early as possible and the extra Orbs beyond that, rolling the dice in the process on potentially facing those heroes above. It speaks volumes when many of the other Tempest Trials maps that follow this did not ended up here.
- The final map of Tempest Trials+: Familiar Faces, whose setup can be a pain in the Askr. The boss unit, Halloween Henry, is always adjacent to another random armor unit (that is neither seasonal, Legendary, or a Grand Hero) and equipped with Armor March, meaning that both he and that armor unit can move towards your units more quickly. It's up to RNG to decide whether the armor unit is someone that can be easily handled with a color advantage, or if the armor unit is a powerful Distant Counter user like Hector, Zelgius, Male Grima, or Hardin.
- The final map of Tempest Trials+: Life is But Fleeting, can be a very tough one, and because of a similar reason for Halloween Henry's. Winter Fae, an Armor March unit, is always adjacent to an Armor Unit, and as usual, the Armored Unit can either be easily dispatched or can be a powerful Distant Counter unit. However, unlike the last one, Surtr is added to the mixnote , and his Sinmara and Surtr's Menace have vicious area of effect abilities against his foes. Fae herself is no slouch though, boasting an incredibly high stat total (about the same as Halloween Myrrh and Legendary Tiki), and her bulk is through the roof, meaning she can take quite a beating before going down. Fortunately, most of the other forces in the back are rather easy to deal with considering their weaknesses, and will usually just use their Rally skills instead of actually attacking.
- The final map of Tempest Trials+: Ever Two Halves has a horrendously awkward layout. You see the canals below Brave Veronica's position?
Unless if you're looking at it really closely, you won't notice them at first glance and see that all of your units are boxed in at a small space on the top side of the map (unless if you brought a flier team with you). There's also some Halloween decorations spread throughout the map which cannot be passed through at all. The units include Halloween Fallen Female Robin (considered a That One Boss herself), a melee Flier, a ranged Cavalry (good luck if said Cavalry has bows), a ranged Infantry, and a melee Cavalry. If you're not using Halloween Ena from the rewards as your tank, have fun surviving!
Heroic Ordeals
- Regular Naesala's Heroic Ordeal. While Regular Ryoma is manageable, he's fought alongside Regular Frederick, whom Naesala most likely won't dent, Sothe who will buff himself and his allies alongside debuffing his foes and Naesala who is placed a way from everyone else, so he can go into beast form. What makes this map so difficult is that the former three are all placed together where Sothe has the whole area covered with Ryoma and Frederick ready to follow-up on his attack and are far enough a way that Naesala nor his ally can even attack any of them without the aid of a Refresher and even then, that will leave your Naesala to the wrath of his other foes.
- Regular Panne's Heroic Ordeal suffers from a similar issue as Naesala (Fragile Speedster Blue Beast unit fighting units with reasonable bulk), but unlike Naesala, Panne has to content with Lewyn, who can casually kill Panne thanks to being perfectly setup to exploit her unit typing and stats, while also having to deal with the enemy Panne, who starts off alone and can transform and rush your team before you may be ready. The enemy Panne has Chill Spd 3, meaning if your Panne is the fastest unit, she gets debuffed, and if enemy Panne attacks your Panne, she'll likely easily kill her thanks to her weapons extra effect giving a damage buff against Cavalier type units, which Panne is classified as. Even Regular Eldigan, who Panne would have usually no problem with, has his full kit, meaning he can be a threat to your team if you aren't careful. The only unit who isn't is Virion, but he still can be a problem if you aren't careful thanks to Panne's low Defense.
- Winter Eirika's Heroic Ordeal. On the map are 3 melee fighters, already rendering Eirika's innate Dazzling Staff worthless and without the right equipment, she is unlikely to double and KO any of them. The melee fighters themselves are Regular Bartre, whom wields his Axe of Virility (which is effective against armored units) and has enough strength to likely KO Eirika in one hit, Abel who will at least deal some damage to her with his Brave Lance and Exalted Chrom, whom both wields Chill Def, (so your highest Def tank will lose 7 Def when the enemy turn starts) the Sealed Falchion and with the highest attack, will gain Eirika's Opening boosts, which more than makes up for her not being able to keep up with everyone else as they more than likely swarm your Eirika and her ally. At the same time, you're stuck with an Armored Healer that's a Mighty Glacier, moves at a snail's pace, doesn't have enough Spd to reasonably double anyone on the enemy team and not enough mobility to both attack and evade all incoming threats.
- Regular Edelgard's Heroic Ordeal. The map has you face the regular variants of Edelgard, Ylgr, Hana, and Mist. Of them, Mist is the only one that isn't a threat to Edelgard due to how slow she is and her weak stats. However, due to the maps setup, you will be forced to have your units move into range of both Edelgard and Ylgr, which allows Ylgr to use her weapons effect to not only gain extra damage because of her high speed, but also debuffs Edelgard's defenses, which is a major problem for your Edelgard because of her Mighty Glacier stats and kit. If you survive Ylgr, the enemy Edelgard will move in and attack, making it very likely she'll kill anyone she attacks save tanky red units. Even if you succeed in beating the combo of Ylgr and Edelgard, the real threat of Hana will arrive. Due to Hana's absurd Fragile Speedster stats and high attack thanks to both Life or Death and her unique weapon, your Edelgard will likely just get killed in one hit unless your Edelgard has a special ready and can launch it before Hana can attack.
- Valentines Silque's Heroic Ordeal. The map has you fight Valentines Silque, Amelia, Soleil, and Regular Lukas. To start with, Amelia is right in front of you when you start, and while her Resistance is low, she has a high Speed stat, and with Silque having a terrible Speed stat, you are forced into a very awkward way of fighting Amelia. If you try to attack head on, Amelia can just tank the hit, then use her turn to attack, potentially killing Silque right then and there, or you can try to tank her hit, but this requires high tier investment as while Silque is more durable than most healers, her Defense isn't enough to No-Sell Amelia's attacks without high end skills. Plus Amelia has Sacred Cowl and a Slaying Axe, meaning if you somehow attack twice, she'll reduce the second attack and take little damage, while the enemy Silque can easily heal her and potentially undo any damage you did. If you somehow get past Amelia, Soleil has the same issue, but since she has a Firesweep Sword, you can't simply try to tank and counter with Close Counter like you can with Amelia. The only characters who are easy to handle are the enemies Silque and Lukas, but both can quickly ruin your plans if you aren't careful. Oh and like Winter Eirika, Valentines Silque will also grant a triple boost to one of her allies, based on who's the fastest. It's a map practically requiring a Dancer to win and stands out as a very tedious map.
- Forrest's Heroic Ordeal. The map has you face Regular Elincia, Ranulf, and Regular Fiora alongside Forrest, all will most likely kill your Forrest in one round of combat, and what's worse is the map is specifically made to trap your units at the bottom side of the map thanks to a line of horizontal trees with only one tile of entry for your units to exit, which both fliers will gladly ignore as they advance. Ranulf has Rally Atk/Def+ and Chill Atk, Elinica has Death Blow and Amiti to make her attack twice in one attack if she initiates, and Fiora has her Guard Lance+ and Pegasus Flight to make use of her high Res just to make things more annoying, with the opposing Forrest healing his allies if they have taken damage or attack one of your units with Panic+ to turn your field buffs against you, making you either needing to take them out in one round of combat or Shoot the Medic First and be trapped against 3 strong units in the process. At the same time, you're stuck with a healer that will not make a follow-up attack without assistance thanks to his low Spd and is up against two enemies that have high Res, one with good Res, and one with poor Res, which Forrest needs to KO at least two of them to get the Dragonflowers.
- Merlinus' Heroic Ordeal. The map has you face Merlinus and Regular Minerva, who you can take out with your Merlinus with the right partner and skills if you're careful due to his very low Atk. The problem is the other two heroes you face against: the Fallen variants of Ike and Male Corrin, both which are Lightning Bruiser Demonic Spiders with dangerous skill kits, and because of that, both of them are too tanky and dangerous to face against with your Merlinus, and heroes that can eliminate both of them and survive are few and far between, and since there are plenty of walls, water and forests cluttered around the map, your units will eventually be cornered by these two if you're trying to chip away their HP. Given that Merlinus is something of a Joke Character, him having such a difficult map seems unusual from the developers, and quickly has been ranked as one of the hardest Heroic Ordeals in a long time.
- Regular Flayn's Heroic Ordeal. Much like past Colorless units, Flayn has a poor Speed stat that handicaps her ability to kill units, but on top of that, she has a weapon that is purely support in nature and lacks any offensive power besides the built in Wrathful Staff effect. Her foes include herself, Regular Eliwood, Regular Nailah, and Male Grima. All of them are designed to make the fight unfair; Eliwood is fast and has a solid Res stat, meaning he can easily survive several hits from Flayn, both Grima and Nailah have Distant Counter, normally not an issue since she has Dazzling Staff, but Nailah has Null C-Disrupt, meaning she can No-Sell it and kill Flayn thanks to sheer Speed difference, and the enemy Flayn can heal and use the Caduceus Staff's ability to reduce damage to make it where any ally you fight can survive easily. Nailah herself is unquestionably the biggest threat due to starting so close to you, and is almost impossible to kill with Flayn unless you invest in a fully maxed out Flayn with merges, Dragonflowers, skills to increase her Speed, and get a Speed Asset in, all to take her out. Of all the Heroic Ordeals released up till then, its the only one that borders on being Unwinnable by Design due to how stacked against you the enemy is, and how you have to kill two enemies with Flayn, a character with virtually no offensive power to speak of.
- Regular Ymir's Heroic Ordeal. While Ophelia is little problem, being by her lonesome and Ymir can handle herself quite well, not only will you have to contend with the enemy having their own Ymir, this battle just so happens to have one of the worst possible match-ups in Fallen Julia who’s B skill denies dragons from targeting her Defense, as well as her foe getting Bonuses and absolutely will kill your Ymir if given the chance to strike. What makes it so worse is that she’s bundled right up with Ymir and Merlinus, meaning she will get the Miracle boost from Ymir’s unique C Skill if she’s close by, making it harder to get rid of Fallen Julia and Merlinus can Reposition her back, making it difficult to approach. The map itself doesn’t help either, being very much boxed in and thus likely for the enemy to approach while you have little to nowhere to run. Ymir ended up with one of the worst foes she could face, herself working against her, one of the weakest units being a hindrance and a map that makes things all the more harder.
- Matthis' Heroic Ordeal stands out as one of the hardest ones in a long time, almost entirely because of just blatantly over powered units. While Maria is not a huge problem, her having Panic means she can reverse field buffs, making it really easy for Matthis to be too weak to fight. Worse, he starts off with Asbel right near him, who, even if Matthis is fully invested in merge and skill wise, is fast enough that Matthis needs at least 50 Speed to be able to even potentially take out. From there, you have to contend with Galzus, who can No-Sell buffs to Speed and Defense with his weapon, and has Null Follow-Up. Even the enemy Matthis can be a huge problem, because his Vulture Lance when combined with Maria's Panic staff, can ensure he attacks yours with the weapons effects going off. Overall, it's a contender for one of the hardest levels in a long time between those factors, all for a mostly "okay" unit.
- Bastian's Heroic Ordeal features Saber, Ronan and Yuri, whom all three are problematic for your Bastian, as Saber has high enough Spd and Atk to easily defeat your Bastian while also is equipped with Aegis and Shield's Pulse 3 to defend against ranged attack, Ronan, who, despite being Blue, has a lot of Res, Spd and Atk to do the same thing while also giving on of his allies +6 Spd/Res with his Rally Spd/Res+, and Yuri, who is a master of Hit-and-Run Tactics and will exploit his Switch-Out Move Foul Play with his high mobility and Canto, and can One-Hit Kill your Bastian thanks to his Glimmer and Time's Pulse 3, all the while you're stuck with a slow Squishy Wizard. Not helping is that your units start in the top area and, which is littered with walls, and there is a chokepoint just underneath your units, where the bottom of the map is where those three problematic heroes spawn. If you're not running any Save units or the right partner, you're going to have a bad time with this one, even with the daily first Heroic Ordeals boosts.
- Lapis's and Wind Tribe Fuga's Heroic Ordeals are this purely because one of the opponents on those maps is Regular Rhea, one of, if not the worst Demonic Spiders in the game. Not only are her stats aside from Spd incredibly high, with Atk Res Scowl 4 further boosting her Atk and Res, she has an insane amount of Damage Reduction thanks to her Revealing Breath reducing the damage from follow-up attacks by 30% of her Res and her True Dragon Wall reducing damage by 60% of the difference between her Res and her foe's Res on her first combat in either phase or by 40% on her second combat and beyond. Both Lapis and Wind Tribe Fuga have merely average Res, so they'll have to deal with the full amount of Damage Reduction from her. Trying to have them take her on without Regular Naga's Divine Fang buff is simply unfeasible because of how little damage they'll deal to her otherwise, and they'll need a way to prevent her guaranteed follow up attack, too. The only saving grace is that the other three opponents on their maps are non-issues by comparison.
Others
- Arena and Arena Assault:
- The map with the two vertical walls with 4 breakable walls and trees on each side with both teams behind them is considered by some the most annoying map to fight on. It's designed to be asymmetrical, but favors the enemy due to a few factors. The walls there are not only makes it using movement support skills a pain to think about with the tight starting area, it will also delay the enemy enough to make them perform unpredictable moves in the process while they break down theirs, especially if there is an enemy refresher on their team. The tree on your side of the battlefield is another factor in being one of the worst maps in Arena, due to it being a great obstacle for your units, but not the enemy, especially if they're ranged or flying. Thankfully, this map is no longer in the rotation.
- The map with the boat can also be pretty bad for similar reasons, the breakable boxes making it difficult to approach, likely forcing you to wait for your opponents to advance, which's definitely more troublesome if they have a refresher on the team. Thankfully, this map also is no longer in the rotation.
- The map with four defense tiles in the middle of the map. Rushing to these tiles means leaving your units at the mercy of getting ganged on by the enemy team that not even the terrain advantage could help with, while running away from the defense tiles grants the same terrain advantage to the enemy team, doubly so if they have refreshers and ranged units. Like the above two maps, this map is also no longer in the rotation.
- The map with C-shaped wall above your units. The spawn is bad enough that you're too far away to use the defensive terrain in the middle of the map, but what's even worse is that there is a forest tile that screws you over while also serving as a boon for your enemy, as it serve as a chokepoint and delays you long enough for the enemies to reach that middle area, and therefore forcing you on the defensive and potentially be cornered where you started. If you're not using flying units, you're most likely going to lose a lot on this map, especially if the enemy is using flying units themselves.
- The map with the two vertical walls with 4 breakable walls and trees on each side with both teams behind them
- Special Training Maps:
- Special Training: Magic. While a map full of armored units would normally be perfect for training mages, on Hard and Lunatic difficulties some of them come with Armor March, making leaving groups of them alone a liability. This requires either defeating them in a specific order or fielding multiple mages to quickly take them down, which runs atypical to how units are normally trained.
- Special Training: Melee. On paper it looks like a fairly easy one to level up on; the units consists of melee units and archers, and while they hit a bit hard, they can be easily baited with a sturdy enough unit or someone with Vantage. However, for some reason, Dragon units were included as well, making it awful for leveling melee units because most lack high enough Resistance stats to survive a hit from a Dragon. Not only that, but the inclusion of fliers means it's possible for a unit to be blindsided by a weapon triangle advantage and a Dragon on the same turn.
- Allegiance Battle:
- The map with 8 breakable walls between your units and the starting foes. It is quite difficult to gain a perfect score, as the breakable walls and distance from your foes will make it difficult to attack and at that, can make their moves unpredictable, normally forcing you to wait a turn before you can put a dent in their numbers. But not only will 2 foes spawn on the opposing side on the 2nd turn, making it even more difficult to KO enemies with the right unit, the last 4 will spawn right behind your starting point. Thankfully, the map has been removed from the rotation.
- The desert map with the large mountain on the lower half of the map. The main reason is that your team is separated into two teams of two who spawn at the left and right side of the mountain, meaning that getting them together is hard enough where the main accessible area is underneath where the enemies spawn, and the trees on the bottom of the map means that only fliers will have unrestricted movement getting together and that cavalry units must go through the top. To get the perfect score in this map is even worse with trying to set up your units to KO the right enemies on both sides, while the enemies spawn right under you if you also take out too many of them as well.
- Tap Battle: "Wings Carry Me", the Illusory Dungeon based on Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, is surprisingly vicious. The big problem is that while most Illusory Dungeons save the triple-digit note levels for the very end, this one comes right out with them on floor 20 with a 121-note level, and each boss floor only gets worse from there; floor 40 is 162 notes, floor 60 has 140, floor 80 has 168, floor 100 has 191, and the extra stages have 101, 157, 205, and 200. That 205 is the standing record for most notes in a single level.
- Seer's Snare 1: Timeless Rift 5 pits the player against Legendary Hríd, Regular Ylgr, Regular Lewyn, and Wings of Fate Hinoka on a very cramped map, with Advanced difficulty adding Regular Sophia to the enemy team. Legendary Hríd is immensely difficult to defeat due to his refined Gjöll giving him Omnibreaker if his foe has a penalty active, inflicting -10 Atk/Def on his foe, and punishing his foe’s stat bonuses to Atk/Def with in-combat Panic. On top of that, he has Distant Counter and Atk Def Menace to make him dangerous to approach and bait out and Freezing Seal II, which will inflict -6 Atk/Def and the Guard status on the player's unit with the lowest Res and on all units within two spaces of that unit. Due to him being the first sub-boss that must be fought, the player won’t have a lot of skills to work with. Regular Ylgr and Wings of Fate Hinoka will inflict in-combat debuffs with their refined Sylgr and Warrior Princess respectively to anyone within three spaces of them, and Regular Lewyn will nuke most blue units with his refined Forseti and the amplified weapon triangle effect from this game mode. And while Sophia is the least threatening of the bunch, the other four units combined with the cramped map design are more than threatening enough to make this map a potential roadblock for players.
