Battle Flow is the fan-term for the way games throughout the Fire Emblem franchise orders certain actions during a battle between two units and determines outcomes.
Overview
The general structure of combat in the Fire Emblem franchise is based in the exchange of attacks between two opposing units. Several aspects of the order of combat are predetermined in a standard flow as follows:
Priority
Battles begins with whichever character has Priority, which determines which character attacks first. In most scenarios, the unit that initiates combat has the highest priority and thus will attack first. Since the initiator will always attack in range, they will always have a guaranteed attack during a combat round.
Counterattack
Before combat, the game determines if the receiving unit can counterattack the initiating unit. If the receiving unit does not take priority from the initiating unit, the receiving unit may then counterattack after the initiating unit attacks and if the receiving unit survived or dodged the hit. A classic example which skips counterattacking is an Archer not being able to counterattack when wielding an Iron Bow and the opposing unit initiates combat at melee range with a weapon like an Iron Sword.
Follow-Up Attack
If either of the units can perform a Follow-Up Attack due to their Speed advantage, they will get one additional attack. This will usually be the third attack in a battle if applicable, thus:
- If the initiating unit has the speed advantage, the flow is: Initiating Unit's Priority Attack > Receiving Unit's Counterattack if able > Initiating Unit's Follow-Up attack.
- If the receiving unit has the speed advantage, the flow is: Initiating Unit's Priority Attack > Receiving Unit's Counterattack > Receiving Unit's Follow-Up Attack.
Priority Changes
The flow of combat may change based off of certain factors, namely skills and on occasion some weapons. Examples include:
- Vantage allowing receiving units to take Priority and attack first despite not initiating combat.
- Quick Riposte allowing a character a guaranteed Follow-Up attack despite not having the Speed advantage.
- Brave weapons giving a character an extra attack, maximizing at four in some cases in a single round.
- Smash Weapons forcing the initiating character to attack last and losing their Follow-Up Attack.
Damage Calculations
Characters may deal damage upon attacking a foe. These are determined by the character's innate stats depending on the weapon they are using. Most weapons rely on a Character's Strength stat for most physical weapons and are calculated against the receiving unit's Defense stat. Tomes and other magic based weapons use instead a character's Magic stat against the receiving unit's Resistance. Other factors include the Might of a weapon for damage calculations. If the calculations between a unit's offensive stat is greater than the foe's defensive stat, they will deal damage proportional to that difference. If the difference in the defensive stat's favor, the attack will deal less damage, possibly even no damage at all.
Random Number Generator
Not all factors seen in the Combat Forecast are guaranteed in battle as various factors left to chance through Random Number Generation may lead to unexpected and/or lucky results.
Hit Rate
Not all attacks are guaranteed to hit. Usually determined by factors like a character's Skill/Dexterity stats, some attacks have a chance to miss. However, even if the Hit Rate may be low in the forecast, there is a small chance it can hit and even if it high, there is a small chance an attack can miss. It is only when a Hit Rate is 0 will an attack always miss and only when a Hit Rate is 100% will an attack always land.
Critical Hit
There is a percentage chance that a character can roll a high number in the Critical rate calculation, allowing them to unleash a special attack that does three times the damage of a normal hit. This stat is tied to the Luck stat both on the initiating and receiving end when determining a Critical Hit and Critical Avoid calculations. Some weapons have an increased chance of this occurring like the Killing Edge.
Weapon effectiveness
Some weapons may bestow bonus damage during damage calculations based upon certain qualities. The most notable example are Bows dealing extra damage to Flying Units like the Pegasus Knight class or the Armorslayer dealing extra damage to Armored Units like the Knight class. These are calculated on top of the innate damage the character would deal otherwise and before applying damage boosts and stat modifications from in-battle skills like Luna.
Combat Skills
Several games include combat skills that modify damage during combat such as the Death Blow skill granting extra Critical Hit chance if a unit initiates combat. Some happen in the middle of combat like Pavise halving damage on an attack received based off a percentile chance or some attacking skills like Lethality, changing the properties of an attack.
One of the most infamous Combat Skills is the Nihil skill, which removes many of the above mentioned Random Number Generator features including other combat skills.
After Combat Resolutions
Some games feature effects that occur after combat such as the infliction of certain status conditions and after battle damage calculation such as Savage Blow in Fire Emblem Fates. These only resolve in the unit with said skill survives combat except in a few conditions.