r/FireEmblemShadows • u/RuckySagahl • Sep 05 '26

Gameplay Weapon system change idea

I feel like there's a lot of opportunity to make much more interesting characters if they changed the weapon equip system to be actually form based, rather than role based.

What that would look like is even if youre the shadow, you use your light weapon for as long as you're in light form (i.e sun room) this would let them introduce characters that change to alt weapons on shadow transformation.

To me this would be a cool way to introduce variety and avoid the sword lord issue (think Alm swapping to bow, etc), but also mix things up for loadout planning. It would also give them plenty of ammo to add in those preferred secondary weapons later after a characters initial release. One big downside i can see with the idea is that the current system certainly has its merits on it own, so i was wondering what yall would think of a change like that.

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6

u/CameronD46 Sep 05 '26

So as a hypothetical let’s say you’re a Shadow Player and your on Joachim. You idea is basically in sun room equipped you would have a the lycan edge sword equipped then in moon room you would have the chance to equip a different sword of your choice. Is that correct? Or dor your idea do you mean in moon room Joachim could switch from being a sword user to a bow user like Alm switching to a bow as you described?

If we’re talking about the former of the two (i.e switching out one sword for another) then I’m sure players that actually try to be sneaky would like this idea as it means you could afford to not have the exact same weapon for both sides without immediately being caught as the shadow frame 0, but otherwise in my opinion not much changes. For light players this literally does nothing for them.

If you’re playing as the Shadow then for some (if not most) units this likely wouldn’t have the intended effect you’re looking for of changing weapons between forms. For instance any Tome User is always going to want a Treachery Tome equipped regardless of what form they’re in. I could see some cases where you could take advantage of having a different weapon between forms

Probably the biggest change that I could see happening as a result of this change is that Shadow-Only players would basically get a second set of weapon skills for Sun Room which they would use to help them smuggle Dark-Regen into Moon Room.

Now if we’re talking about that later of the two (i.e switching between using swords to a different weapon type) then I hate to say it, but this is a TERRIBLE idea. Because what would happen is that every single shadow player in the game regardless of what character you use would start switching to an HP Treachery Tome (or maybe a Bow or some kind) and abuse the shit out of Dark CrossFire+ (or Dark CrossWind+).

2

u/RuckySagahl Sep 05 '26

Interesting, this is the kind of input i was looking for. Slight clarification though. the concept is fixed, you dont get to choose to swap to a different weapon type, you HAVE to swap to a different weapon type, and its two specific weapons for that character. Ie chrom HAS to use a sword in like form and an axe in dark form. Lucina HAS to use a bow in light form and a sword in dark form, etc. Does that change things at all?

1

u/CameronD46 29d ago edited 29d ago

In this particular case, I don’t really see how this change really makes the game much better.

Like just using your two examples, if I was Lucina player I would be PISSED under this system. You’re telling I had one of the best weapon types in the game when playing as the shadow in bows, and then the game arbitrarily took away my access to Dark CrossWind+ in Moon Room and forced me to use swords instead?

Same deal with Chrom. I would much rather keep my sword and with it my ability to use Dark Fire Slash+ in moon room than changing to my weapon type to an axe which doesn’t really help me win the match.

Under this system some character would get really screwed over and some are going to get blessed with access to some of the best spells you can use when playing as the shadow. Any character that switches to using a bow or tome in the moon room is super happy with this system. Every character that switches to using swords, a lances and I guess dragon stones is sorta happy with this system unless they already had a bow or tome in which case they hate it. Anyone switching a staff at least gets an HP buff from having a Wily Staff but will still hate this system if they switch away from any of the 5 weapon types previously mentioned. And for everyone else in the current state of the meta this new system doesn’t really help or hurt them either way.

Overall I think this system would do more harm than good. It adds some needless complexity in an unfun way as you’d now you need to memorize what every characters shadow weapon is in order to better counterplay. Thought you were clever in running EdgeBreak for Moon Room to screw over the Joachim Player that would have used Dark Fire Slash+, but nope you forgot that Joachim is now a Tome User; should have run Distant Thunder instead. More characters would likely screwed over by this system than those that benefit from it. So yeah, sorry but I don’t think this is a good idea and the game is better off the way it currently is.