---
title: 'Fire Emblem: Fortune''s Weave - How to Recruit the Best Characters'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=_2aEuVhvNKE'
video_id: '_2aEuVhvNKE'
date: 2026-09-19
duration_sec: 569
channel: 'IGN'
---

# Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave - How to Recruit the Best Characters

> Source: [Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave - How to Recruit the Best Characters](https://youtube.com/watch?v=_2aEuVhvNKE)

## Summary

This video from IGN provides a comprehensive guide to recruiting characters in the game Fire Emblem: Engage (referred to as 'Fire Regal and Fortune's Weave' in the transcript). It explains the recruitment mechanics, including renown and bond level requirements, and offers tips on which characters to prioritize and how to efficiently build your team.

### Key Points

- **Recruitment Basics** [00:13] — To recruit a character, you must meet their recruitment requirements, which are listed in the character info screen. These always include a renown level and a bond level requirement, and may also involve negotiations or clearing specific story missions.
- **Renown Level** [01:14] — Renown is an overarching stat increased by progressing main story missions, completing subquests, and finishing Flamelord-specific tasks. It is tied to overall quest and story progression.
- **Bond Level** [01:59] — Bond level represents how close your Flamelord is to a character. All characters start at bond level 1. Most require level 2 or 3 to recruit. Increase bond by giving gifts that align with their interests and sharing meals at the inn.
- **Gift and Meal Mechanics** [02:30] — Giving a gift unlocks the recruit menu option. Meals at the inn increase bonds between all participating characters. The quality of a meal is indicated by colors and symbols in text boxes above each character.
- **Negotiations** [03:25] — Some characters require a final negotiation test, which can be branching dialogue choices, item trades, or sub-quests. Failing a negotiation is not permanent; you can retry.
- **Question Mark Requirements** [04:04] — Some characters require you to clear 'question marks,' which means progressing past a certain main mission or chapter before they can be recruited.
- **Recruitment Tips** [04:18] — Start with characters that have low bond level requirements (level 1 or 2). By renown level 7, you'll have dozens of options. Prioritize filling gaps in your team composition.
- **Standout Characters** [05:17] — Bendis (unique charioteer class), Nezza (high speed, double attacks), Io (light cavalry with defensive skill), Sophia (dedicated healer with +10 HP healing), and Jasmine (armored knight) are highlighted as strong recruits.
- **Rapid-Fire Tips** [07:43] — Recruit a thief (Road class) for chest looting and better item drops. Use the world map character list to view requirements and fast travel. Double up on key unit types (healers, tanks) for split battles.

### Conclusion

Recruiting characters in Fire Emblem: Engage requires managing renown and bond levels, with some characters needing negotiations or story progression. Prioritize low-bond characters early and consider team composition for later battles.

## Transcript

No matter which of the four Flamelords you choose when playing Fire Regal and Fortune's Weave, you'll need to start recruiting more characters to your team as you progress in order to meet the increasingly challenging demands of each battle that you face.
There are dozens of characters to meet in Dagzian that you can recruit, so it can be tricky to decide who to bring into the fold, where you could break down the basics of recruiting, as well as point you in the direction of some standout potential teammates to add to your team.
After you have completed the introductory chapters for your chosen character's path, you'll eventually be taught how to recruit characters in the game. This will be through the introduction of a character that is very keen to join your merry
band, but this doesn't really prepare you for recruiting tougher characters later. Let's break the whole process down. To recruit a character, you must meet a character's recruitment requirements.
These are listed out in the character info screen when you speak to them, and they will always at least list a renown level requirement and a bond level requirement. You may also need to engage in a negotiation, or clear a certain story mission first.
If a character that you are speaking to doesn't show any of these requirements, then you will be unable to recruit that character. Some flamelords can recruit characters that others cannot, while a select few characters
are unrecruitable no matter who you play as. Your Renown level is an overarching stat that you can increase by progressing main story missions, completing subquests, completing Flame Lord specific tasks like Leader's performances or Theodora's supply requests,
and more ways besides. This level is tied to your overall quest and story progression for the most part, but while you are waiting for your Renown level to increase, you can work on your Bond level with a character. Your bond level is... no wait, not 007. Your bond level is a representation of
how close your chosen flamelord is to the person you are trying to recruit. All characters start at the baseline of bond level 1. Some characters can be recruited at this level, but most of them require a level 2 or level 3 bond in order to be successfully recruited. You can increase your bond
level between two characters by giving gifts to the person that align with their interests You can find information on their interests inside of the character info screen when speaking to them Giving a gift to a character will unlock the recruit menu
option to be chosen, meaning you will need to give a character at least one gift in order to try recruiting them, even if the rest of the requirements have already been met. Once you have established the start of a bond, you can then invite that
character to have meals with your team at the inn, have a meal with your Flamelord as well as any characters you wish to recruit in order to increase the bonds between them all. You can tell if a meal will be a good one based on the colour and the symbols in the
text boxes above each character for each food item. A level 2 bond doesn't take long to develop, but a level 3 bond takes a considerable amount
of extra effort to establish. More than anything, this will take time, money for meals, and potentially multiple gifts, So, if there are characters that you want to recruit with a bond level requirement of 3, start working your way towards establishing that bond early, even if it will be a while
before their renown level requirement is also met. Some characters will make you pass a final negotiation test once these level requirements are met. This negotiation can take the form of branching dialogue choices, where you need to select
the right answers in order for them to join you, or you may be asked to trade some items or complete a specific sub-quest for them. Each negotiation is different for each character, and some are more difficult than others.
Thankfully, you don't need to worry about offending them and ruining your chances. If you fail the negotiation, you can always try again. Some characters will say that you need to have cleared question marks in order to proceed.
This is a vague instruction, but this simply means that you need to have proceeded past a certain main mission or chapter first before being able to recruit those characters. These question mark requirements differ between different characters.
Now that you know how to recruit characters, here are some tips for who to recruit first, as well as some highlighted individuals who you might want to keep an eye out for. The easiest characters to recruit will be the ones with the lowest Bond level requirements.
Anyone with a Bond level 1 requirement is someone that should be easy for you to acquire once you have the requisite renown level as well so bring these people on board These are usually the characters that you come across or even fight in the early chapter main missions The requirements are different for each Flame Lord depending on who you choose
Bond level 2 characters will also be relatively easy to develop a rapport with, so while not quite as easy as Bond level 1 characters, they'll still be relatively painless to bring to your side.
Once you reach about renown level 7 and above, you will have dozens of characters to choose from. Each team will have different gaps to fill and recruits to hire first, but you'll need to bring on the more difficult to hire units eventually as well. Here are some standouts.
Bendis is a character who will only turn up later once he's been defeated in his qualifier match, but after that he'll hang around town. He's the only unit that starts as the new charioteer class,
utilizing horses, armor, and bows to barrel through enemies before striking from a distance. His personal skill plays into this as well, giving him more attack accuracy when using the charioteer class.
Nezza is a young and brash sword wielder from Anatolia's party, but don't let his age fool you. His high speed stat, along with natural class selections of gladiator and myrmidon,
allow him to regularly attack his foes twice, even when counterattacking. His strength is also quite impressive for his age, so while he can't take that many hits compared to the larger unit, Most enemies he faces won't live longer than a turn or two to deal that much damage to him anyway.
There are Orneas Riders aplenty in Daxian, but it will be some time before you see a regular cavalry unit. Io starts as a light cavalry unit with decent physical strength and defense.
His personal skill, with my Seed, gives him Shield plus 3 and Dodge plus 30 after he attacks first during combat, making himself much harder to hit. This skill alone makes him a solid long-term pick for any team, and his unique class abilities
as a high movement range unit and versatile weapon wielder cement him as a dependable ally. There's no shortage of white magic users in Fortune's Fee, but if you're looking for a dedicated healer,
Sophia is a solid choice. Her personal skill, Healing Knowledge, allows her to heal allies for an extra 10 HP every time she heals someone. Pair that with a healing staff item for even more healing potency and she can heal even the tenkiest of units back up to full health in one turn Her magic stat is also high enough that she can defend herself capably if need be although
her low defense means she should only be used defensively when protected by other units. Like Bendis, Jasmine will only turn up once she's been defeated in the games.
Once she has, you can choose to recruit her if you're looking for a dedicated armored Knight Unit in your ranks. Before we wrap things up, here are some rapid-fire tips to help with your recruitment efforts. There are a number of characters that fit the Road class, like Diego, Ursula, Nutsuo,
and Kurok, and having one of these people join your team can be invaluable. Not only will this let you loot chests during combat, but having one of them in your party will also improve your chances at finding higher rarity items when travelling the world
map. If you want to quickly see which characters are available to talk to in Daxiom, or if you want to see multiple character recruitment requirements at once, open the world map, scroll across to the right and you'll find the character list.
You can see here who is in the city, who is recruitable, and view each of their requirements in the bottom left of the screen. You can also use this list to fast travel directly to a character if you're trying to find them.
As you progress through the game, you'll be able to bring in more and more units into a battle. You may also be encouraged to split your forces for these larger battles to deal with enemies on multiple fronts.
For this reason, it can be prudent to acquire double-ups of units that are already in your team so that you're not forced to choose where to send your single healer. Double up on tanky units, damage dealers, magic wielders and healers so that you can
handle these forked combat scenarios accordingly. If you want to reference recruitment requirements while doing other tasks, or if you want to find out a certain character's favourite meal, we have a list of each character's
stats, preferences, recruitment requirements and much more in our guide on IGN that you can reference at any time. Now that you know how to bring more people to your side, it's time to get out there
and make some new friends. For more about Fortune's Weave, check out these things we wish we knew before starting the game. And for all other things Fire Emblem, gaming, and more, stick with IGN.