Though Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes shows you how to bring members of another house into your fold before you defeat them, the instruction can sometimes get lost in the walls of text the other tutorials spit out seemingly every five minutes. If you need a refresher, or just want to be absolutely sure before you pick a fight, here's how to save characters in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes.
Though Fire Emblem veterans will swear by the task of keeping their characters alive and letting their costly mistakes stick, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes adds another element to the "do or die" strategy game. Going up against the other houses in combat creates an opportune chance to recruit their generals to your own.
On a similar note, if the tutorials have you a little confused, we've made a point to properly explain how to assign an adjutant as well. Further to that, learn how to find and save the commoner with our guide if you're having trouble with that kind of mission.
How to Save Characters in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
First off, it's worth noting that you can't save every single NPC you come across. That mage or archer decimating your team? If they don't have a name, they're not joining your squad.
At the end of the day, saving characters in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes means recruiting those from the other two houses (or the mysterious Ashen Wolves harbouring Byleth) into your own.
To do this, you first need to be in the appropriate mission. The characters you'll go up against will obviously differ depending on the house you chose to represent at the start of the game, but you'll come across characters like Hapi (a member of the Ashen Wolves) around the same time regardless of your choice.
To rescue a named character, you need to use your tactical allowance points at the start of the battle to choose the action that relates to saving that particular character. This means you won't have the points to afford some other battle perks, so be prepared to adjust your strategy accordingly.
That's not the end of the story, though. If you defeat the character you want to rescue without actually turning on the perk right before you fight them, you'll kill them, and they won't be able to join your group. They'll be lost forever on that playthrough.
So, the secret here is to ensure you hold Right on the d-pad when your teammates talk about convincing the character to join as (or slightly before) you start fighting them.
You should see a prompt in the top-left that matches the tactical option you chose before the stage started. Hold the Right button on the D-Pad to activate it, and you should be good to take on your foe without accidentally killing them.
Once you deplete their HP, you'll get some short dialogue boxes that should equate to a bargaining plea. With that, they'll join your side at the end of the battle and become a playable character for the rest of your playthrough. So long as you don't have permadeath turned on and lose them in the heat of battle again, anyway.
For more on Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, click that link to be whisked straight to our hub page. We'll be releasing more guides through the next few days, so expect it to get filled to the brim with helpful hints soon enough.