Hinoka (Chapter)

Hinoka is Chapter 24 of Fire Emblem Fates in the Conquest Version. This chapter takes place in Hoshidan Capital.

Strategy[]

Subjective: The following part of this article is based upon the editor's personal experiences and opinions, and therefore may not be applicable for all readers.

This can be a relatively hard chapter, even harder then the previous two chapters combined. First off, even though most of the units have relatively low stats, the Falcon Knights have significantly higher stats than most of the enemies on the map, and will most likely be able to double some of your units. There are plenty of other weapons being used into play, as some of the Falcon Knights carry Bolt Naginatas and Oni Chieftains coming with a variety of clubs.

Bringing along bow users will serve you well in this chapter, as they will be able to casually tear right through Falcon Knights. They do face some difficulties hitting the Bowbreaker Kinshi Knights that are present on Lunatic mode, but can do massive damage when they manage to land a successful hit. Camilla can be useful as well, but must be handled carefully (and possibly paired up with another unit) to ensure that she doesn't get defeated by a Kinshi Knight. Anti-beast equipment also works well here, along with anyone with Beastbane.

The highest priority on this map is how the player wishes to progress. This is due to its Dragon Vein, which adds and reduces movement:

• If the player activates the Dragon Vein, all ground units (including the enemy) will gain extra movement based on half of their original movement. This means non-promoted non-fliers get 7 movement (5+2) and promoted non-flying units get 3-4 extra movement (giving them 9 for foot and 12 for cavalry). This is listed as a "Dragon Vein" bonus, so you can still stack more movement such as Boots (note that this will not add to the Dragon Vein, so a promoted cavalry unit would not get 15 movement), units that provide a movement bonus in a Pair Up and Rally Movement. Meanwhile, all flying units will have their movement halved following the same calculations, meaning that promoted fliers will have 4 movement (not including any movement boosts).
• If Hinoka activates the Dragon Vein, the opposite effect occurs (ground units get reduced movement, fliers get extra movement).
• At least on hard mode, haven't tested on others), Hinoka will do this every 3 turns, provided any of her units are close to being in range of any of yours. That means there will be 2 turns of highly mobile fliers, followed by one of normal movement. You can exploit this pattern in your activation of Dragon Veins, depending on whether you want one or two turns of low mobility fliers.

You will want to be wary when you activate the Dragon Vein, especially if there are nearby enemy footsoldiers as the increased movement means that they will be able to reach and/or pile weaker units resulting in them being seriously injured or taken out of the fight. Try to activate a Dragon Vein when there are no hostile ground units around. The effects are temporary, only lasting for 2 turns before wearing off.

The enemy forces have both air and ground units. On the ground, there are plenty of Onmyojis and Oni Chieftains, while the aerial units consist of Falcon and Kinshi Knights.

If playing on Hard/Lunatic Modes, the player should note Azama's staff range, as he will be carrying one/two Hexing Rods respectively. While the hit chance is moderately low, it can result in an easy encouragement to reset if he manages to hex your units. Try to expend his staff usage with high Luck and Resistance units, as the Hexing Rod's accuracy is dependent on those values (so best use healer due to them not being a frontline tank).

Setsuna also appears in this chapter, so be careful with your fliers. On Hard Mode, she has Seal Strength, Swordbreaker and Pass. She carries only a Silver Yumi, so you can block her with some units.

Hinoka can be a considerably tricky boss to defeat, since her stats will be typically superior compared to the player's and will most likely be able to double your units. On all difficulties, she comes with Wing Shield, which prevents anti-flying statuses from dealing bonus damage onto her. However, she has no means of counterattacking on Normal difficulty. On Hard, she gets the skills Luna, Darting Blow and Sol including the ability to retaliate with a Bolt Naginata and a Silver Nageyari, the latter which works from both close quarters and two tiles away (Beware, as to the Bolt Naginata uses Magic against Resistance). However, the player can still manipulate her into using it while having stronger, resistant units nearby, as she will be unable to use Sol and/or Luna while equipped with it.

Once Hinoka is down, clear out the Oni Chieftain who was supporting her (if she did not switch places with him) and seize the gate tile to complete the mission. Note that on Hard/Lunatic Mode, this Oni Chieftain will carry Certain Blow and Life and Death.

The numerous flyers, combined with Hinoka's constant use of the Dragon Vein, can be a big problem for unit compositions with vulnerable supports. One (slightly sad) option is to head to the alcove of cherry trees above and to the right of the starting area. With 7 pairs in guard stance, if you fill up the area it will create one spot that the enemy cannot target, and 4 spots that can only be targeted by ranged attackers. Put your 3 best tanks at the bottom of your formation, and your next 4 toughest units in the other vulnerable spots, and the fliers' insane mobility won't be a significant factor. Make sure you don't leave airborne units exposed, as there are numerous Kinshi Knights that can make quick work of them. The one weakness of this formation is it makes it very difficult to move units adjacent to your healer(s), so bring psychic or units that can heal themselves. Once the initial waves of attackers are dealt with, you can proceed with substantially fewer enemies to deal with. This formation can also be extended if you take an airborne unit to initiate combat with the bottom left units, prompting those reinforcements to spawn. Then that unit can run back to their place in your formation before the incoming reinforcements can harm your supports.

Script[]

The script for this chapter can be found here.

Captureable Enemies[]

• On Hard/Lunatic Mode, some of the Falcon Knights may carry Pass. This is extremely useful for players wishing to complete Conquest's Endgame. Other Falcon Knights will be carrying Aegis instead.
• Some of the Onmyoji have Vantage on them.
• A few Kinshi Knights have Bowbreaker on them.
• There is another Onmyoji on the map that has Shurikenbreaker, and is your last chance of getting another Shurikenbreaker Onmyoji in Conquest. Capturing him can be helpful to deal with the next chapter.

Items[]

Dropped Items[]

• Speedwing - Hinoka

Enemy Reinforcements[]

These reinforcements only appear at the described turns if you triggered the Onmyojis and Oni Chieftains on the little island west of the starting position. If they were left idle up until turn 5, the reinforcements will start appearing at the turn after initial contact was made.

• 2 Kinshi Knights will appear from the southwest on turn 4.
• 3 Falcon Knights will appear from the east on turn 5.
• 3 Falcon Knights will appear from the west on turn 6.
• 3 Onmyojis and 2 Falcon Knights will appear from the west on turn 8.
• 4 Kinshi Knights will appear from the east on turn 9.
• 2 Falcon and Kinshi Knights will appear from the south on turn 10.
• 3 Oni Chieftains and 3 Kinshi Knights will appear from the east on turn 12.
• Once you enter Setsuna's attack range, 2 Onmyoji with Vantage will appear over the little mill and 2 Falcon Knights with Pass will appear in the little area north of the tree north of the mill.
• On the turn after that, 2 Kinshi Knights will appear at the northeastern lake.
• On the second turn after it, 2 Kinshi Knights will appear at the lake near the starting location.
• Upon nearing Hinoka, 2 Kinshi Knights will appear from the east and 2 Oni Chieftains from the northeast areas of the map.
• On the second turn, 4 Falcon Knights will appear from the west and northwest.