Vantage

Vantage Icon of the Vantage skill in Engage. If HP is half or less, always strike first, even when attacked.

Type(s) Personal (Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn) Class (Thracia 776, Awakening, Fates, Three Houses, Warriors: Three Hopes) Inheritable (Engage) Passive (Type B) (Heroes) Combat (Genealogy of the Holy War) Capacity 10 (Path of Radiance) 15 (Radiant Dawn) First game Genealogy of the Holy War

Vantage (Japanese: 待ち伏せ Ambush) is a combat skill which debuted in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. In all of its appearances, it allows the user to strike the enemy first when said enemy initiates an attack on the user during the enemy phase. The activation criteria vary from game to game, but typically involve the user being at 50% or less HP. Awakening features a stronger variation, known as Vantage+, that activates regardless of the user's HP, exclusive to enemies on Lunatic+ difficulty. In Heroes, it is a three-tiered type B passive skill (whose individiual tiers are Vantage 1, Vantage 2, and Vantage 3 in order from lowest to highest), and activates its effect when its HP is at or below a certain threshold; the amount of HP remaining needed to activate the skill increases with the skill's tier.

Data

In the main Fire Emblem series

Game	Icon	Effect	Activation	Capacity	Notes
Genealogy of the Holy War		The user always strikes first. Negates the foe's Accost.	If user's HP ≤ 50% and foe initiates combat	--	Only active for the first round of combat in an Arena.
Thracia 776		The user always strikes first.	If foe initiates combat	--	If the user also has Wrath, Wrath will not activate unless the foe also has Vantage, as the user would strike first. If the foe has Wrath and does not have Vantage, this causes the foe's Wrath to activate.
Path of Radiance		The user always strikes first.	If foe initiates combat	10	--
Radiant Dawn		The user strikes first.	(Skill)%, if foe initiates combat	15	--
Awakening		The user always strikes first.	If user's HP ≤ 50% and foe initiates combat	--	--
Awakening (Vantage+)		The user always strikes first.	If foe initiates combat	--	--
Fates		The user always strikes first.	If user's HP ≤ 50% and foe initiates combat	--	Base cost: 750 G
Three Houses		The user always strikes first.	If user's HP ≤ 50% and foe initiates combat	--	Cannot be equipped by Heroes.
Engage (Vantage)		The user always strikes first.	If user's HP ≤ 25% and foe initiates combat	--	Cost: 500 SP
Engage (Vantage+)		The user always strikes first.	If user's HP ≤ 50% and foe initiates combat	--	Cost: 1,000 SP
Engage (Vantage++)		The user always strikes first.	If user's HP ≤ 75% and foe initiates combat	--	Cost: 2,000 SP

In other Fire Emblem series titles

Game	Icon	Type	Effect	SP cost	Prerequisites	Unusable by	Inheritable	Other effects and notes
Heroes (Vantage 1)		B	If user's HP ≤ 25% and foe initiates combat, user can counterattack before foe's first attack.	50	--	--	✓	--
Heroes (Vantage 2)		B	If user's HP ≤ 50% and user initiates combat, user can counterattack before foe's first attack.	100	Vantage 1	--	✓	--
Heroes (Vantage 3)		B	If user's HP ≤ 75% and user initiates combat, user can counterattack before foe's first attack.	200	Vantage 2	--	✓	--

Game	Icon	Effect	Activation	Capacity	Notes
Warriors: Three Hopes		Perfect Guards restore a small amount of the Warrior and Awakening Gauges.	If user's HP ≤ 50%	--	--

Availability

Genealogy of the Holy War

Units (As a personal skill)

First Generation: Arden • Lex Second Generation: (Any set of two children*), if Arden or Lex was their father • Ares • Hannibal • Iuchar • Dalvin

Thracia 776

Units (As a personal skill)	Halvan • Machyua
Units (As a class skill)	Perne After promotion: Lara • Lifis
Classes	Thief Fighter
Items	Vantage M • Beo's Sword • Dragon Lance

Path of Radiance

Units	Mia • Naesala
Items	Vantage

Radiant Dawn

Units	Mia • Naesala
Items	Vantage

Awakening

Vantage+

Unobtainable

Exclusively used by enemies on Lunatic+ Mode, and by enemies in Apotheosis on all difficulties.

Three Houses

Classes	Hero
Class mastery	Mercenary (100 class Exp required)

Engage

Vantage

Emblem Rings

Leif (bond level 3)

Vantage+

Emblem Rings

Leif (bond level 12)

Vantage++

Emblem Rings

Leif (bond level 18)

Flavor text

Game	Text (English)	Text (Japanese)
Genealogy of the Holy War	User will always strike first in a pinch.*	ピンチになったとき せんせいこうげき をする
Thracia 776	Initiate fight when attacked (Cannot stack with Wrath)*	必ず せんせい攻撃 をする
Path of Radiance (skill assignment menu)	Allows this unit to attack first in all fights. All units	常に先制攻撃を行なう 取得可能 全ユニット
Path of Radiance (help)	Allows this unit to attack first in all fights.	常に先制攻撃を行ないます
Radiant Dawn (skill assignment menu)	Can allow this unit to attack first even when an enemy initiates combat.	発動すると 敵から攻撃された場合でも 自分が先制攻撃できる
Radiant Dawn (help)	Can allow this unit to attack first even when an enemy initiates combat.	発動すると 敵から攻撃された場合でも 自分が先制攻撃できる
Awakening (Vantage)	If HP is half or less, always strike first, even when attacked.	ＨＰが半分以下の時、敵から 攻撃を受けても先制攻撃できる
Awakening (Vantage+)	Always strike first, even when attacked.	常時、敵から 攻撃を受けても先制攻撃できる
Fates	At start of combat, if HP=50% or less, always strike first, even when attacked.	戦闘開始時、自分のＨＰが半分以下の時、 敵から攻撃されても自分から先に攻撃を行う
Three Houses	When foe initiates combat, unit still attacks first if HP is ≤ 50%.	ＨＰが５０％以下で 敵から攻撃された時、 先制攻撃する
Engage (Vantage)	If unit's HP is 25% or less and foe initiates combat, unit can counter before foe's first attack.	敵から攻撃された時 自分のHPが25％以下なら先制攻撃する
Engage (Vantage+)	If unit's HP is 50% or less and foe initiates combat, unit can counter before foe's first attack.	敵から攻撃された時 自分のHPが50％以下なら先制攻撃する
Engage (Vantage++)	If unit's HP is 75% or less and foe initiates combat, unit can counter before foe's first attack.	敵から攻撃された時 自分のHPが75％以下なら先制攻撃する
Heroes (Vantage 1)	If unit’s HP ≤ 25% and foe initiates combat, unit can counterattack before foe's first attack.	自分のＨＰが２５％以下で、 敵から攻撃された時、先制攻撃
Heroes (Vantage 2)	If unit’s HP ≤ 50% and foe initiates combat, unit can counterattack before foe's first attack.	自分のＨＰが５０％以下で、 敵から攻撃された時、先制攻撃
Heroes (Vantage 3)	If unit’s HP ≤ 75% and foe initiates combat, unit can counterattack before foe's first attack.	自分のＨＰが７５％以下で、 敵から攻撃された時、先制攻撃
Warriors: Three Hopes	When HP is at 50% or below: Perfect Guards restore a small amount of the Warrior and Awakening Gauges.	ＨＰ５０％以下の時、ジャストガードすると無双ゲージと覚醒 ゲージが少し回復

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	Vantage	An advantage, usually in the context of situations and conditions which provide an advantage.
Japanese	待ち伏せ	Ambush
Spanish	Emboscada	Ambush
Spanish (Latin America)	Ventaja	Advantage; used in the Latin American localizations of Heroes and Engage.
French	Initiative	Initiative
German	Vorteil	Advantage
Italian	Vantaggio	Advantage
Portuguese	Vantagem	Vantage
Korean	매복	Ambush
Simplified Chinese	埋伏	Ambush
Traditional Chinese	埋伏	Ambush

Gallery

• 
  Artwork of the Vantage manual from the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game.
• 
  Mia activating Vantage in Path of Radiance.
• 
  Mia activating Vantage in Radiant Dawn.

See also

• Battalion Vantage