Early on in the game you’ll be introduced to the concept of Bond Rings, which serve as lesser Emblem Rings - something to decorate the poor, cold fingers of your less-favorite characters until they can get an Emblem Ring of their own. This page will discuss what Bond Rings are, what benefits they bestow upon their wearers, how to create them, and once created, how to equip Bond Rings.
What Are Bond Rings in Fire Emblem Engage?¶
Emblem Rings are wondrous treasures, sought after for the potent and numerous boons they bestow their wearers. It’s kind of a major plot point in the game, you know. Bond Rings are the… budget version, containing the souls of heroes in Fire Emblem lore who didn’t quite make it to legendary status. Yep, there’s apparently a caste system for the souls of dead heroes.
While Bond Rings can’t compare to Emblem Rings in power, they serve an important function nonetheless… being a placeholder (and consolation prize) for characters you don’t deign to favor with an Emblem Ring. Bond Rings don’t grant skills or abilities, but they do give the wearer some much-needed stat boosts and, more importantly, allow the wearer to earn Skill Points (SP), which they’ll need to use to unlock Inherited Skills once they finally get a turn at wearing an Emblem Ring.
For this reason, crafting and equipped Bond Rings early - regardless of quality - is a good idea, as it’ll allow character to stockpile Skill Points, saving you some time and bother later on.
How to Create Bond Rings in Fire Emblem Engage¶
After advancing the main story enough, you’ll unlock the Ring Chamber in the Somniel, wherein you can interact with a “Central Pedestal” to bring up several options, including to “Create Bond Rings”.
This is a pretty straight-forward gacha system - you expend Bond Fragments and you can create a Bond Ring. 100 Bond Fragments will yield one Bond Ring, 1,000 Bond Fragments will shower you with ten Bond Rings. Bond Rings are related to a governing Emblem Ring; before you create Bond Rings you must select an Emblem Ring, which will determine the type of Bond Rings created (Bond Rings typically represent secondary characters from the same game as the Emblem Ring’s character, who is usually that game’s protagonist). Different Bond Ring characters give varying stat bonuses, and come in three grades: C, B, A and S. The character and grade for each Bond Ring is randomly determined upon creation.
Llet’s say you create some Marth Bond Rings. Some of the characters you can roll up include Caeda, Ogma, Merric, Linde, Tiki, Kris, Katarina and Legion, and each of these can be rank C, B, A, or S. For example, you could end up with a Legion C ring, which would have different stats than a Legion A ring, as follows:
Bond Ring | Stats |
---|---|
Legion C | STR +1 |
Legion B | STR +1, DEX +1 |
Legion A | STR +1, DEX +1, SPD +1 |
Legion S | STR +2, DEX +1, SPD +1 |
How to Meld Bond Rings in Fire Emblem Engage¶
As you can see, the stat variations between low quality Bond Rings and high-quality Bond Rings aren’t stupendous, but it still makes rarer rings more appealing. Fortunately, it’s not a complete waste if you get a duplicate Bond Ring, as you can “Meld Bond Rings” at the Central Pedestal in the Ring Chamber. Just pick the aforementioned option, select two Bond Ring of the same type and rank, and they’ll turn into one Bond Ring of the same type and the next highest rank. For example, two Legion C Bond Rings can be melded into one Legion B Bond Ring. It’s not ideal, as it costs a lot more Bond Fragments to create multiple lower grade Bond Rings and upgrade them to a Rank S Bond Ring (melding costs additional Bond Fragments, as well as the sunk cost inherent in creating lower-grade Bond Rings), but it’s better than nothing.
On the plus side, once Skirmish battles unlock you’ll be able to earn Bond Fragments regularly, both from the aftermath of the battle itself, and from activities on the Somniel, which can be repeated after every battle - Skirmish, main story, or Paralogue.
How to Equip Bond Rings in Fire Emblem Engage¶
Once you’ve crafted some Bond Rings, it’s time to adorn the fingers of your unfortunates. You’d think you’d equip a ring like any other item, but that’s not the case. Instead, enter the menu and pick the “Emblem Rings” option, select a character you wish to equip and when you get to the screen listing the available Emblem Rings, press the / or / buttons to cycle from the Emblem Rings to their subordinate Bond Rings.
Keep in mind that there aren’t separate types of Skill Points. Skill Points are Skill Points, and earning them with a Bond Ring will entitle you to spend them on Inherited Skills for any Emblem Ring, once you get around to increasing a character’s Bond Level with said Emblems. You may want to try to create a wide variety of Bond Rings to get access to different types of Bond Rings with different stats, but a subpar Bond Ring is better than nothing.
All in all, it’s best not to fret too much about Bond Rings, especially early on. Create a few to get you started, then create more in batches of ten until you have enough to go around. If everybody’s earning SP, you’re probably fine.
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