“A sword with which the wielder always strikes twice.” —In-game description from New Mystery of the Emblem
The Brave Sword (勇者の剣 Yūsha no Ken) is a special Sword that has appeared across several titles in the Fire Emblem Series. The sword version of the Brave series of weapons, the Brave Sword, like its counterparts, grants its wielder the unique ability to perform twice as many attacks as they are normally able to perform. This sword is usually found in the middle or end of any given title, and are thus notorious for being difficult to obtain.
Coupled with the Brave Sword's unique ability is the fact that it is a well-rounded weapon, characterized by substantial Might, supple Durability and a decent Accuracy rate. This allows the Brave Sword's wielder to gain a tactical edge, and is a good weapon for use against slower units like Knights and Generals. To this end, the Brave Sword is a favorable candidate to consider for forging purposes.
The only drawback to the Brave Sword is the fact that its Durability has the tendency to deplete rapidly, the result of the consecutive attacks that it induces its wielder to perform. Furthermore, the Brave Sword is relatively heavier when compared with most other swords.
The Brave Sword is a sword best wielded by Myrmidons and Swordmasters. Of course, any unit (even slower ones) can use Speedwings to improve their Speed and have an increased chance for quadruple the strike opportunities. A good strategy for Brave weapons is to save them for the final battle or for an exceptionally hard enemy unit (usually a boss like Ena or Bryce), because the sword's Durability decreases rapidly (they typically have 30 uses).
In Gaiden and Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, the Brave Sword has a different effect where it has a high critical rate instead of allowing its user to double attack consecutively, much like the Killer weapons.
In Radiant Dawn, Trueblades can attack a total of 8 consecutive times by using the Adept skill, a Brave Sword, and having 4 or more Attack Speed as compared to the selected foe. With the Mastery SkillAstra, it is possible to link up 20 consecutive attacks.
This is possible because:
Having an Attack Speed of 4 or higher than that of the enemy doubles one's hit count to 2.
It is worth noting that the Skill Astra does not activate in pair with the Adept Skill. If it were possible, the number of attacks would go up to 40 if both skills activated in every chance.
In Awakening, when a Brave weapon wielder is supported by another Brave weapon wielder, the support will attack twice for every attack the primary unit does, leading to a total of 12 hits.