'Fire Emblem Heroes' Update: Four New Heroes, Stamina Promotion Tweak Among Changes

Nintendo may have just launched Fire Emblem Heroes, but the title is already receiving a major update.

Four new hero characters — Ephraim, Eirika, Seliph and Julia — are now available in the game through random summon draws. For a limited time, a three-mission side chapter will also be available in the Paralogue section of the game that focuses on the four new characters. A new trailer from Nintendo highlights the latest updates:

Along with the new characters and missions, the game also saw additional non-gameplay updates. Fire Emblem’s launch promotion where players got two free orbs for logging in daily will continue until March 14.

Most notably, the game’s stamina mechanic has been adjusted. Now, it won’t cost additional stamina to fight in battles and equipping or changing skills will still cost no stamina. Previously, these stamina costs were only from a limited promotion, but they’re expected to be in place indefinitely.

Stamina costs were one of the only major push backs from fans of the Fire Emblem series for Heroes. As The Verge notes, users on the game’s subreddit were vocal about their disdain for the mechanic, where combat draws stamina points from a slowly regenerating meter and forces you to wait for it to recharge if you’re short on points.

Fire Emblem Heroes is one of several mobile titles Nintendo has released in the past few months. Other recent titles include Super Mario Run and Miitomo. In our review of Fire Emblem Heroes, we were fans of the game’s turn-based strategy and accessibility, though we also disliked the stamina mechanic.