The Barrier Blade is a rare Sword that appears exclusively in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Much like its name suggests, this sword essentially bestows a substantial Resistance boost to its wielder, effectively shielding him/her from the ravages of magic-based onslaughts. Although not specifically bound to Laylea, this sword may still be considered to be a canon personal weapon of hers nonetheless, as it may only be obtained from a special event in Chapter 7, in which she receives it as a gift from Anna while visiting a village.
Weapon Stats[]
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War[]
| Name | Type | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
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| Rank | Uses | Mt | Hit | Rng | Wt | Worth |
| C | 50 | 10 | 70% | 1 | 3 | 12,000 |
| Effect | ||||||
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Boosts wielder's Resistance by 7 when equipped. | ||||||
Fire Emblem Heroes[]
| Name | Type | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Barrier Blade |
|||
| Mt | Rng | SP | Rarity |
| 10 | 1 | 200 | 
|
| Effect | |||
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If foe initiates combat, grants Res+7 during combat. | |||
Item Location[]
| Method | Location |
|---|---|
| Visit | Ch. 7 - Village (Partake in this action with Laylea) |
Strategy[]
Only Laylea may obtain the Barrier Blade, meaning Silvia needs to go unpaired in the first generation. While Lene and Coirpre will generally have superior stats and growths compares to Laylea and Charlot, stats and growths aren't especially important to these support-type units. Laylea and Charlot sport relevant abilities that give them a real edge (Charm and Paragon, respectively), versus Lene and Coirpre's other advantage, inherited items. It's definitely something to think about.
If you do decide to leave Silvia unpaired and obtain the Barrier Blade, Laylea needn't hold onto it. Resistance is a stat of particular importance in chapters 10 and 11, as it is the stat that determines whether or not you're susceptible to the many, many Sleep staves in those chapters, as well as the many Magic-type units wielding Fenrir, Jormungandr, and Thoron. The Barrier Blade will take Laylea from 5-7 Resistance to 12-14 Resistance - while a respectable boost, she probably isn't going to be tussling against mage-type units quite often, and it's better to get her to hang on the back line and stay out of harm's way.
In determining a candidate for the Barrier Blade, there are two magic numbers: The Silence Staff users have 16 Magic, and the Sleep Staff users have 21. Of the fathers, Azelle, Lewyn, and Dew give slightly-above-average Resistance growth, and Claud gives significantly more. Consider the following candidates:
- Altena: Altena starts with an embarrassing 2 Resistance, and her promotion doesn't help her in this regard. Her low (12%) growth means she might bump up to 3 or 4 by the end of the game. With her great mobility, she often wants to get into the thick of things, but she is especially vulnerable to Sleep Staves. There are a couple of ways to remedy this: Obviously, a Resistance Ring. Coirpre boosts her Resistance by an additional 5 points with a conversation in Chapter 10. The Barrier Blade is the third. With these three, her Resistance jumps to 19. She needs to get lucky at two level-ups to get her to 21, which is enough to avoid the Sleep Staves in Chapter 11. The Barrier Blade is also a lot lighter than her Spears, meaning she'll get a boost to Avoid. Altena is also much better than anyone but Fee at clearing out the Sleep users to the east of Friege.
- Fee: With Lewyn as her father, Fee will have, on average, 12 Resistance by level 30. If she's lucky, she can get it to 14. With Claud as her Father, she can hit 14 Resistance around level 16 on average, but by level 30 will only be at 19, meaning she needs the Blade or a Ring to avoid the Sleep Staves. She, like Altena, can be important for clearing out the Sleep users east of Friege.
- Arthur: With Lewyn or Azelle as his father, Arthur will have around 14 Resistance by level 30, or 21 with the Barrier Blade.
- Leif: You can expect Leif to hit around 9 Resistance by the time he's level 30. With +7 from the Barrier Blade, he'll hit 16, which is enough to escape the Silence Staves of Chapter 11. With a Resistance Ring, he'll hit 21, enough to avoid the Sleep Staves.
- Nanna: With Azelle as her father, she will have around 9 Resistance by level 30. With the Barrier Blade, she can avoid the Silence Staff users (admittedly, it's fairly easy to stay out of their range). Add a Resistance Ring and you can hit 21. Diarmuid trails a little behind her, starting with 3 fewer points of Resistance compared to his sister.
- Oifey: by level 25, he will be average 9 Resistance. With the Ring and Blade, he can hit 21.
Your other units have the following problems: 1.) Lack of sword proficiency. 2.) Low movement, meaning they're not the ones charging towards the Staff users and can instead stay comfortably out of harm's way. 3.) Even with the Resistance Ring and Barrier Blade, their abysmal Resistance just means they're a lost cause. Rings of the same type don't stack, so don't think you're going to load up two Resistance Rings on a character like Shannan to bridge that gap. 4.) They already get a bigger Resistance boost from their Holy Weapons (Seliph and Ares)
This strategy will favor a play-style of just sending in a few elite units who aren't afraid of the Sleep and Meteor that the enemies to deploy: a buddy to help out Seliph and Ares, whose Holy Weapons and growths give them a significant leg up compared to the rest of the army.
If you'd like to ignore all this, the level is still very doable. For example, have your dancer hold a Leg Ring. Have four chosen units wait just outside the range of the Sleep Staves. Send the four in to clear a path, Dance them so they can move again, and have Seliph seize Edda before anyone can use their Sleep Staff. Later, when Altena and Fee are clearing out the Sleep users east of Friege, just accept that they'll fall asleep, and use the Restore Staff every turn to wake them up again.
As was stated, ignoring this threshold is still a valid way to play: almost all characters who can wield C-Rank swords could enjoy the Barrier Blade just as a simple boost in case they get hit be Meteor, Fenrir, Jormungandr, Thoron, and other dangerous tomes throughout the last chapter. Examples not yet mentioned are Larcei, Scáthach, Shannan, Patty, and Hannibal. While none of these will hit enough Resistance to be safe from the Sleep Staves (unless Claud is the father, which isn't advisable), it's a good enough boost to give you some peace of mind against Meteor staves, Hilda and the Gelben Ritter, and even could make the difference against Ishtar and the Weis Ritter.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Barrier Sword (TCG).jpg (280 KB)")
