After the events at Brodia Castle you’ll need to head east to reach the Fort on the Border between Brodia and Elusia, where King Morion seeks a showdown with King Hyacinth. Both kings get what they want, and their children are left to clean up their mess. This page will cover the Chapter 9 story battle, Fort on the Border in Fire Emblem Engage, including how to defeat Ivy and her retainers, Kagetsu and Zelkov and how to recruit Jade.
Chapter 9 - A Clash of Forces Walkthrough¶
After the clash of kings you’ll get to deploy ten units, your objective being to defeat Ivy. As usual, Alear must survive the battle, else you’ll fail. The battle is split into four zones - the northern edge of the battlefield is occupied by a line of axe-users followed by a line of Lance Armor, while the south is guarded by a mixed squad of lance-users, behind which are several units of Axe Armor. You can counter the northern forces with a mixed force of sword-users and axe-users while the southern enemies can be bested with sword and lance users. Both should be supported by a caster, although a sword-user equipped with an Armor Slayer will suffice for the south.
In the middle of the battlefield you’ll find Jade, an allied Axe Armor unit who will square off against two enemy Axe Armor foes. She’s more than capable of defeating her adversaries, but if you want to play it safe, you’ll need to talk to her with Alear or Diamant to recruit her, at which point you just need to make sure she survives the battle.
Finally, in the far east of the battlefield you’ll find Ivy and her retainers, Kagetsu and Zelkov, all of which are now bereft of Emblem Rings. Undeterred by this disadvantage, Kagetsu and Zelkov will make their best of a bad situation by heading down the northern and southern edges of the map, respectively, where they’ll take up position on two Forts
The starting phases of the battle are pretty simple - split your forces into two groups, north and south, track enemy ranges, then bait foes with a sturdy unit, ideally one who has weapon advantage. That’ll be swords in the north, axes in the south. Use thickets to further your advantage and you should have no trouble clearing out the first dozen or so enemies. Around turn four you should be approaching the forts, which will be occupied by Kagetsu and Zelkov, who will ignore potential combat opportunities in order to summon a pair of Sword Fighters (Kagetsu) and Thieves (Zelkov). On the following turn, however, they’ll merrily abandon their perches if enemies are in range. This being the case, you should bait them away from the forts and lure them to the bushes north and south of Jade, where you’ll have the terrain advantage.
Neither Kagetsu or Zelkov are statistically remarkable, with mediocre PH ATK scores that a strong defensive unit like Louis should be able to easily shrug off. You do have to worry about Kagetsu’s high CRIT chance (due almost entirely to the Wo Dao he bears) and the poison Zelkov’s daggers inflict, but honestly, these two should pose little threat as long as you bait them away from their forts.
Once Kagetsu and Zelkov are defeated, you just need to clean up the Lance Armor and Axe Armor behind the forts, and you can use said forts to serve as a fine position for your bait that’ll lure your armored adversaries to their doom.
How to Defeat Ivy - A Clash of Forces¶
When all other foes are exhausted, it’s time to go after Ivy, and the same tactics you used on them works on Ivy. She won’t move until you give her a target, meaning you get to choose who she attacks, where she attacks them and when she attacks. We choose the foliage-rich southeastern corner of the map, with a high RES character like Yunaka making ideal bait. Ivy will have company in the form of her retinue of Axe Cavaliers and a Martial Monk, the latter of which needs to be a priority lest it heal Ivy and Chain Guard an attack meant for her.
Ivy herself is standard boss fare - she’s got decent DEF, RES and HP, a ranged attack, Elfire, and offensive output comparable to the strongest enemies on the map. An archer equipped with a Longbow can safely deal grievous damage to her, and if she’s struck by an arts-user she’ll be inflicted with break, but those are the only two freebies you get. Lure her in and hope your bait makes a decent account of themselves during their counterattacks, dispose of the Martial Monk that accompanies Ivy, then tear down Ivy’s two HP bars.
The battle is won once Ivy falls.
All Treasure in A Clash of Forces¶
There are several drops you can score in this battle, most of them being held by enemies along the northern end of the battlefield. An enemy Mage will drop an Elsurge tome, should you desire an upgraded melee magical attack, behind which an Axe Armor unit will forfeit some Spirit Dust, which will give its user MAG+2. Finally, a Martial Monk neary Ivy has a Steel-Hand Art.
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