Skirmish

For the maps in Fire Emblem Gaiden and Shadows of Valentia called "Skirmish", see The Pilgrimage/Skirmish, War of Deliverance/Skirmish, and Land of Sorrow (Gaiden)/Skirmish.

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Ephraim engages an Entombed in a skirmish at Za'ha Woods in The Sacred Stones.

A skirmish or challenge (Japanese: 遭遇戦 encounter battle) is a type of battle which occurs outside the game's main chapters in the Fire Emblem games that feature the world map system: Gaiden and its remake Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, The Sacred Stones, Awakening, and Engage. In these games, groups of enemy units periodically appear on the world map, and the player can engage them in a skirmish to gain experience and clear the path obstructed by the enemies.

Fates and Three Houses also feature optional battles, known in the latter as auxiliary battles, but they work differently due to the lack of an explorable world map.

Mechanics and specifics

Gaiden

Technically speaking, almost every encounter in Gaiden is a skirmish contained within a single chapter. Unique to the Gaiden treatment of skirmishes is that, every few turns taken on the world map, certain enemy locations will spawn skirmish armies which are in subsequent turns capable of travelling around the world map themselves and may even ambush Alm or Celica's parties should they attempt to move to the present location of a protagonist. It is possible for enemy groups to double up, with two separate enemy armies moving to occupy the same location; in this case, the player fights both groups at once.

Unlike later games, skirmishes in Gaiden consist almost exclusively of human enemies.

The Sacred Stones

After Chapter 8 has been completed, skirmishes become available. Every time the player completes a chapter or visits the Tower of Valni or Lagdou Ruins, bands of monsters will spawn on certain locations on the world map, as marked by the group's boss. When a location is occupied, the player is prevented from being able to pass it until it has been cleared (while in theory this involves routing the enemy, the location will also be cleared if the player retreats instead). As with the Tower and Ruins, enemies are randomly generated and may be spawned carrying weapons, items, or bags of gold which they drop upon defeat.

The following locations can host skirmishes:

• Za'ha Woods
• Adlas Plains
• Bethroen
• Teraz Plateau
• Za'albul Marsh
• Hamill Canyon
• Narube River
• Neleras Peak
• Melkaen Coast

The strength of the enemies present in a skirmish is dependent on the location, scaling in difficulty based on the location's situation in the game; Za'ha Woods houses the easiest skirmishes, while Melkaen Coast—which does not feature as a chapter in the main game—is the most difficult. All skirmishes will randomly commence with fog of war either on or off.^{[what probability?]}

Awakening

Challenges start appearing on the world map following the completion of Chapter 3, comprising bands of enemy Risen. They work mostly the same way as in The Sacred Stones, except now the player is not obstructed by the presence of challenges and can walk past them to other destinations on the world map, only engaging them by choice. All locations on the map (with the exception of the Endgame's location) are capable of playing host to challenges.

If the player opts to engage a StreetPass or SpotPass bonus team in battle to attempt to recruit their leader, this also acts as a challenge. It is possible to summon Risen groups to the world map at any time using Reeking Boxes; the group will appear on the same location the player was on at the time of using the Reeking Box. The levels of the opposing army depend on where they were summoned; they will be weaker on earlier maps, but get progressively stronger on later maps.

In Lunatic and Lunatic+ modes, the levels of Risen challenges are dependent not on what map they appear on, but on several other factors, such as progress in the main story, how many battles the player has fought, and the overall rating of the player's army. As it is not map-dependent, this can result in challenges on even the Prologue's map being so powerful to the point that their stats are capped.

Fates

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In Birthright and Revelation, challenges can be found on the next chapter menu after completing chapter 6. The player can also scout to spend gold to make a challenge appear. Challenges do not appear at all in Conquest. As with Awakening, the levels of the opposing army vary depending on where they were scouted at.

Like Gaiden, most enemies are human, but some Faceless appear.

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

The world map system of Shadows of Valentia is identical to Gaiden's. However, the term skirmish is used only to refer to battles against monsters in graveyards (no term was used in the original).

Three Houses

Auxiliary battles can be accessed through the 'Battle' option on a free day from Chapter 2 onward. On Normal Mode, the first 2 options doesn't cost any activity points while the third option, of higher level, and Rare Monster Sighting battles cost a single point. On Hard and Maddening Mode, any auxiliary battle costs one activity point. Each auxiliary battle offers gold as well as monastery items such as produces or ores when completed. The season pass adds additional auxiliary battles as options on the battle selection screen. These battles are denoted by a yellow exclamation point symbol. Enemies in these battles have higher levels, making it easier to gain experience points from fighting them. Additionally, they may drop stat-boosting items. Some quests require the player to complete a pre-determined auxiliary battle. These quests are denoted by a sheet icon. DLC and quest battles always consume an activity point when played.

While on the battle selection screen, if an auxiliary battle has already been completed, the player can't access the Goals and Promotions sections in the menu. As with Awakening's Lunatic and Lunatic+ modes, the levels of the opposing army vary depending on the player's progress in the main story.

Enemies in auxiliary battles are mostly human, though monsters can appear as a third army during certain auxiliary battles as well as during Rare Monster sightings. Human bosses also drop a bullion when defeated.

The maps an auxiliary battle can take place on are pre-determined for each free day. While the maps auxiliary battles take place on are reused from regular chapters of paralogues, the corresponding chapters do not need to be completed in order to unlock the respective map for auxiliary battles. However, most maps are restricted to only appear during certain parts of the game.

List of auxiliary battle maps in Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Name	Location	Notes	Quest battles
Plateau	Brionac Plateau	Appears during both parts. The location of the required auxiliary battle during Chapter 2. Reused from Falling Short of Heaven and The Secret Merchant.	✘
Empire Territory	Hrym	Appears during both parts. Reused from Retribution.	Taking Care of Business • The Cream of the Crop
Kingdom Territory	Fraldarius	Appears during both parts. Reused from True Chivalry, The Forgotten, and Weathervanes of Fódlan.	The Best of the Best
Mountains	Kleiman	Appears during both parts. Reused from War for the Weak and Oil and Water.	Dealing with Deserters
Outskirts	Garreg Mach Monastery (Outskirts)	Appears during Part I. Reused from Chapter 1.	Banish the Bandits • Roster RetrievalDLC • Something to Prove
Road	Magdred Way	Appears during both parts. Reused from Chapter 3.	Clearing the Way • Maintaining Your Training
Desert	Sreng	Appears during both parts. Reused from The Sleeping Sand Legend.	Pirates in the North
Border	Fódlan's Throat	Appears during both parts. Reused from Dividing the World and Insurmountable.	Thieves at the ThroatDLC
Ruins	Garreg Mach Monastery (Chapel ruins)	Appears during Part II. Reused from Chapter 8.	✘
Rhodos Coast	Rhodos Coast	Appears during Part II. Reused from An Ocean View.	✘
Plains	Tailtean Plains	Appears during Part II. Reused from Crimson Flower Chapter 17.	✘
Ailell	Ailell	Appears during Part II. Reused from Rumored Nuptials and Chapter 15	✘
Gronder Field	Gronder Field	Appears during Part II. Reused from Chapter 7 and Chapter 17	✘
Alliance Territory	Gloucester	Paid DLC. Appears during both parts. Reused from Land of the Golden Deer and Death Toll.	Fighting Alongside DeathDLC
Forest	Forest in Adrestia	Paid DLC. Appears during both parts. Reused from Foreign Land and Sky and Forgotten Hero.	✘
Lake Teutates	Lake Teutates	Paid DLC. Appears during both parts. Reused from Legend of the Lake.	✘
Zanado	Zanado	Paid DLC. Appears during Part II. Reused from Chapter 2 and Tales of the Red Canyon.	✘
Sealed Forest	Sealed Forest	Paid DLC. Appears during Part II. Reused from Chapter 10, The Face Beneath, and Darkness Beneath the Earth.	✘
Conand Tower	Conand Tower	Paid DLC. Appears during Part II. Reused from Chapter 5.	✘

Rare Monster sightings

On certain days, a rare monster may be sighted, allowing the player to attempt a special auxiliary battle. These battles exclusively consist of monster enemies, and will feature a special boss enemy that drops a rusted weapon. When repaired, these weapons can be forged into silver weapons or rare weapons that are exclusive to rare monster sightings. Rare Monster sightings can only be attempted on specific days. The days rare monster sightings are available on are denoted by a red exclamation mark icon on the calendar. The same icon denotes these battles on the battle selection screen.

Resetting auxiliary battles by either quitting and re-entering the battle or soft-resetting the game changes the enemies' classes and dropped items. As rusted weapons denote the weapon they can be forged into in their item description, this can be used to guarantee a specific item to drop. Only one copy of each special weapon can be obtained from monsters, though the Dragon Claws can also be obtained from the Pagan Altar.

There are special unused classes for these rare monsters in the game's files. However, they use regular monster classes in the finished game.

Engage

In Engage skirmishes start appearing after completing Chapter 6, and can appear on almost any previously completed map. During a skirmish the player will battle Corrupted foes that they can defeat for experience and gold. Due to plot reasons, skirmishes cannot appear on the maps of Chapters 21 and 24.

Engage also features training battles, which is any skirmish that spawns in Firene Castle, Brodia Castle, or Solm Palace. During training battles the player will face off against castle guards from their respective country, and permadeath will be disabled on Classic Mode. After a training battle, any surviving unit will receive 30 experience, the player will receive 1,000 G for each donation level they have with the country, and any fallen allies will be revived.

A skirmish may appear once any of the following conditions are met:

Appearance rates of skirmishes
Condition	Normal	Hard	Maddening	Post-game (all difficulties)
Real time passes (max 24 hours)	3 hours	3 hours	None	3 hours
Complete chapter, paralogue or xenologue	3 battles	5 battles	7 battles	1 battle
Complete Relay or Outrealm trial	3 battles	3 battles	None	3 battles
Play minigames	5 minigames	5 minigames	None	5 minigames

The level of enemies met in skirmishes equates to the average level of the player's X highest level units +2, where X is the number of available deployment slots. The skirmish boss will always be 5 levels higher than the other enemies. This level calculation does not apply to skirmishes at the Divine Paralogue and the Fell Xenologue, where the levels are entirely random.

Depending on the donation level of the country the skirmish appears in, there is a chance for the battle to feature either gold or silver Corrupted. Gold Corrupted drop gold when defeated, while Silver Corrupted grant extra experience. The amount of gold dropped by Gold Corrupted is dependent on the country's donation level and the game's difficulty level.

Gold granted by gold corrupted
Donation level	Base money		Difficulty	Additional money
1–2	1,000		Normal	+0
3–4	1,200		Hard	+300
5	1,500		Maddening	+500

If a special enemy spawns on one of the following locations, the battle will have fog of war:

• Mountain Settlement
• Destinea Cathedral
• Shadowy Moor
• Oasis Village
• Elusia Castle
• Dark Ruins
• Underground Passage
• Bracelet Altar

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	• Skirmish • Challenge • Auxiliary battle	• This name is used in The Sacred Stones, Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, and Engage. • This term is used in Awakening and Fates. • This term is used in Three Houses.
Japanese	遭遇戦	Encounter battle, meeting engagement
Spanish	• Lucha • Desafío • Escaramuza	• Fight. Used in The Sacred Stones. • Challenge. Used in Fates. Skirmish. Used in Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.
French	• Escarmouche • Confrontation • Défi • Expédition	• Skirmish. Used in The Sacred Stones and Shadows of Valentia. • Confrontation. Used in Awakening. • Challenge. Used in Fates. • Expedition. Used in Three Houses.
German	• Scharmützel • Herausforderung	• Skirmish. Used in The Sacred Stones. • Challenge. Used in Fates and Shadows of Valentia; abbreviated as Herausfor. in Fates.
Italian	• Lotta • Sfida • Contesa	• Fight. Used in The Sacred Stones. • Challenge. Used in Fates. • Dispute. Used in Shadows of Valentia.
Dutch	Confrontatie	Confrontation. Used in Shadows of Valentia.
Korean	조우전	Encounter battle. Used in Shadows of Valentia.
Simplified Chinese	遭遇战	Encounter battle. Used in Shadows of Valentia.
Traditional Chinese	遭遇戰	Encounter battle. Used in Shadows of Valentia.

Trivia

• If an enemy ambushes Alm at Zofia Castle in Fire Emblem Gaiden or Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, a battle takes place on a map not otherwise seen.
• In Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, the text that appears when the player gets into a skirmish with an enemy has different text between the Japanese and international versions. In the Japanese version the text reads "Opening of a Battle!", while in the international versions the text simply reads "Skirmish!".

See also

• Side quest
• Trial Map