Resistance (魔防 Mabō lit. Magic Defense) is a character statistic that determines a character's defense against magical attacks. The higher a unit's Resistance, the less damage they will receive. Magic users such as Mages and Monks tend to have higher Resistance and lower Defense, whereas non-magic units typically have the inverse, with lower Resistance and higher Defense.
Overview[]
In the first two Fire Emblem games, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and Gaiden, Resistance is considered a special stat, as it cannot increase via levelling up and can only be increased through Talismans. Additionally, in the first game, only Gotoh starts out with a Resistance stat above 0. In Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, every playable character has a 3% resistance growth rate. From Genealogy of the Holy War onward, Resistance is treated as a normal stat in most games, with growth rates not considered atypical compared to the other core stats. However, in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, a remake of Gaiden, playable characters have Resistance growth rates between 1-8%, with the exception of any potential Dread Fighters, who all have growth rates of 0%.
In most games, Resistance can be permanently boosted by two points with a Talisman. There are also common methods of giving units temporary boosts to their Resistance, such as through the use of Pure Water, a Barrier staff, or game-specific skills such as Ninis' Grace, which is exclusive to Ninian and Nils in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, and boosts a target's Resistance by 10 for one turn.
The Resistance stat does not appear in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 or TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga, with the Magic stat (Magic/2 in the case of TearRing Saga) also functioning as Resistance.