How to Use Vander Effectively in Fire Emblem Engage

Starting an adventure can be overwhelming at first, specially if you try to do it by yourself. However, game developers, and also other creative writers in every art form, have developed the character trope of sidekicks. These are characters that will move forward the story and also assist the main protagonist. Moreover, they will sometimes die (by self-sacrifice or killed by the antagonist) to give the protagonist some extra motivation to save the day. These characters are very present in the RPG genre, and in a special way in the Fire Emblem franchise. You will know what I’m talking about, once we talk about how to use Vander effectively in Fire Emblem Engage.

How to Use Vander Effectively

Vander is one of the first units that will join your adventure. More specifically, he will join you automatically during Chapter 1. He is very powerful and will be able to carry your party at first. However, you will notice that, since he has a lot of SP already, he won’t be gaining much experience while taking down enemies. This is in part due to the nature of Vander, and also because the developers love to give us an archetype of character, the Paladin, in every single Fire Emblem game, in order to protect our noticeably weak protagonist. They can give and take a hit, but won’t grow as fast as your protagonist will. So, what should we do about Vander?

Well, since he won’t gain much experience from defeating enemies in the early-game, then I suggest using him to weaken the enemy at first. Then, after dealing enough damage, let your protagonist or other weaker units deal the final blow to the enemy. This will do two things: make the best out of Vander’s damage output and maximize the party’s growth by levelling up your not so strong units.

Related: Fire Emblem Heroes Tier List (January 2023)

Once you get to fight much more powerful enemies, then Vander will begin to gain the experience points he deserves. In the meantime, use him as described above, so your party will be able to catch up and also receive experience points that otherwise they would be not strong enough to collect by themselves. Good luck, paladin.

Fire Emblem Engage is available on Nintendo Switch. Please check out Gamer Journalist on Facebook to join the discussion and keep up to date with our content. You might also like to check out or guides on Who is the Protagonist in Fire Emblem Engage?, or Fire Emblem Engage – When does permadeath start.