Fire Emblem Heroes Arena Guide
What is Arena?
Arena is a pseudo-PvP game mode: you fight against a preset team controlled by AI. If you played games like KanColle, Fire Emblem Heroes works similarly. Arena has two modes: Offense and Defense. Defense is invisible to you: your main team is chosen and an AI does the work for you, defending against other players. In the Offense mode, you choose your team, opponent difficulty level, and actively play against an AI, but you can also Auto-Battle if you want (not recommended).
This is Arena play by Rank 3 player in the world.
This is another high rank player
I don’t care about ranking, why should I play the Arena?
- Stamina-free gameplay (three matches per day, resets at 2AM EST)
- Leveling
- Hero Feathers that can be used to upgrade star level of your heroes (e.g. silver to gold)
- Team composition testing
- Making friends. After each match, you’ll be offered to send a friend request.
How Arena matching works?
You are matched against other teams with i) similar Tier ii) similar level and attribute distribution.
Offense: Your team composition and opponent team difficulty
You can choose your opponent team difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced. No matter how poor your team is, you can probably win all seven consecutive matches on the Beginner difficulty. Winning seven consecutive matches and using currently featured heroes is important in maximizing your Offense Points that will be converted to Hero Feather rewards.
4 featured heroes = 3x the points
Consider Beginner difficulty first to ensure you have at least some Hero Feathers at the end of a season (one week currently). See below for tips on playing at higher difficulty levels.
Defense: Which team is chosen to fight on my behalf?
The leftmost team on your roster is chosen. You have five team slots on your roster. On the image above, the second team from the left is chosen – this is not your main team and will NOT be used in arena when you are defending. The leader of your team will appear at the top of the Home screen. If your AI team defeats an opponent, you’ll get Defense Points that are also accounted for in the seasonal rewards.
How can I use the matching system to my advantage?
To maximize efficiency:
Team: L1 (Heals) – L1 (Wings) – L1(Wings) – L40
Difficulty: Advanced
Alternative approach
Goal: Finish Arena-related quests as quickly as possible with as few Arena matches as possible and a decent Hero Feather reward.
Purpose: Some quests require you to clear Arena n times at any or above the Beginner difficulty. Finding a method to clear these quests efficiently would be helpful.
Team 1
Heals + Wings + Wings + L40 Source
Team 2
L40 + Heals
Initially, I tried Team 1, but found the matching not very reliable.
Team 2 produced much more consistent results: I cleared 7+ consecutive matches on Advanced difficulty with most being mirror team compositions of L40 + L1. Almost everyone with such a team composition had a Japanese name.
I experimented with several variations on this theme, but L40 + L1 healer provided quickest matches and most reliable matching. Similar teams can be used for leveling units (L < 40 + L1), but the win rate could be somewhat lower.
By using this method and winning all 7 consecutive matches on Advanced difficulty, you’ll get the maximum or next to the maximum award in terms of Hero Feathers.
Wouldn’t any team be able to win at Advanced difficulty? Theoretically yes, but in practice, your resources are probably limited, and you don’t have an optimal team yet.
Healer
- Any healer should work
- Take those with ponies for mobility
- Silver Serra heals for 15HP with Recover
Alternatives to Healer
- Dancer/Singer
- Main story unit(s) for extra Offense points due to being a featured unit. Not recommended if their L >> 1.
To maximize fun:
Take your best team and run Intermediate or Advanced difficulty.
How many points do I need to reach high rank?
- 1-10:
- 11-100:
- 101-1000: t.2. 4,424 – R542 (as of 9:12 am)
- 1001-30K: t.2. 4,226 – R2891 (as of 2:10 pm)
- t.2. 4,091 – R5782 (as of 1:15 pm)
- t.2. 4,004 – R8K+ (as of 1:15 pm)
- 30K-50K:
- 50K-100K: t.2. 3,090 – R65K (as of 1:15 pm)
How do I get good?
The best English language Arena Tier Lists I found:
- Fire Emblem Heroes Arena List (GamePress)
- Fire Emblem Heroes Japanese Tier List (Combines 6 Japanese websites)
- Fire Emblem Heroes Arena Guide by Top Ranked Players (Google document)
- Fire Emblem Heroes Arena Guide by Top Ranked Players (Google document, posted by an original editor)
Google Document of the above guide
Kitsune's Thoughts 
101-1000: t.2. 4,424 – R707 (as of 6:00 pm)
WTD does R707 mean???
If you have reached 4424 points, your rank is 707
My characters aren’t great so I just stick to beginner games. Any feathers are appreciated.
Yes, that’s the best way to do it: finish seven consecutive wins on Beginner difficulty first, then try others.
If you do have a L40 character, consider L40 + L1 combo on Advanced.