FETH: Cindered Shadows DLC Guide

Successful games are bound to have expansions and DLCs most of the time. The purpose of these DLCs is not to only include tons of additional content but to also make balancing and quality-of-life changes to the main game as well. Today we are discussing the Cindered Shadows DLC of Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Cindered Shadows

Cindered Shadows is part of the DLC Expansion Pass for Fire Emblem: Three Houses, costing £22.49 / $24.99. This is the fourth wave of DLC for Fire Emblem and cannot be purchased individually.

Unlike previous waves of DLC, Cindered Shadows is not just a bunch of costumes and side quests. Cindered Shadows is a standalone campaign that features brand-new characters, classes, and storylines and brings a handful of features and QOL changes to its gameplay systems.

In Cindered Shadows, the DLC’s story is separate from the main game. In Cindered Shadows Byleth, Claude, Edelgard, Hilda, and the others are tasked with exploring the mysterious subterranean area known as the “Abyss” where they meet the members of the fourth unofficial house called the “Ashen Wolves”. You and your party members are tasked with lending a helping hand to Ashes Wolves.

How to Access Cindered Shadows in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Cindered Shadows DLC  can be accessed by simply selecting the ‘Side Story’ from the main menu in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Cindered Shadows is not related to the previous DLCs or the main game’s story.

Separate Saves 

You can play and experience Cindered Shadows without worrying about your main game because its saves files are also separate from the main game. In other words, you can hop into the Cindered Shadows any time you want without worrying about your progression in the main game.

However, it is recommended to play the main game first in order to understand how the gameplay systems and the world works in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Before reading further why not check out our guide on Fire Emblem Three Houses: Advice Box.

Even though they have separate save files, progressing through Cindered Shadows will affect your main game in several ways. The biggest is the addition of new classes and characters of a new house, The Ashes Wolves.

Additions & Changes in Cindered Shadows 

Cindered Shadows makes some changes to Fire Emblem: Three Houses gameplay loop to keep things fresh and make the DLC feel more original and standalone. While you are at it why not check out our guide on FE3H Lost Items.

Some features and changes of the DLC are listed below. Additionally, some features will be discussed separately further below as well, so make sure to read till the end.

• Cindered Shadows doesn’t feature the calendar timeline or the same side activities of the main game. You are taken straight to battle shortly after you interact with the characters.
• The main game of Fire Emblem: Three Houses didn’t pose much of a challenge most of the time for its entire run. Cindered Shadows changes this by amping up the difficulty.
• The members that fight alongside you are predetermined. The members include House Leaders, students from these houses, and Ashen Wolves.
• New classes in Cindered Shadows DLC will also be made available once you progress past a certain point in the DLC.
• Classes of Ashen Wolves are predetermined and cannot be changed in the Cindered Shadows DLC. However, the classes of these characters can be changed, once you recruit them in the main campaign of Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
• Besides the Ashen Wolves, Cindered Shadows DLC also features a non-playable character by the name of Aelfric.

Ashen Wolves

Ashen Wolves are a group of people who live in the subterranean area called the Abyss. During the course of the DLC you’ll encounter them both as foes and friends since they don’t like strangers entering their territory uninvited.

The members of Ashen Wolves are Yuri, Hapi, Balthus, and Constance. They have their own set of abilities and classes. So without further ado, let’s discuss the stats of each member, their role, and how to recruit them in the main game.

Constance

Constance is a young blonde girl with a disdainful tone but maintains a scope of politeness and refined speech. She is the last surviving member of the House Nuevelle. After the destruction of House Nuevelle, she moved to Abyss and is constantly looking for a chance to restore House Nuevelle to its former glory.

Constance plays the role of the glass cannon. She is all about firepower and explosive damage but at the same time, can’t sustain damage for very long. She has the highest Magic growth rate in the game, tying with Lysithea, but has poor growth rates pretty much everywhere else.

In addition to that, Constance’s Major Crest of Noa allows her to periodically regain the charges of the spells she has cast. Constance’s personal skill is called Circadian Beat, which essentially lets her either boost her offense or defense, depending on the map.

Overall, Constance is a pretty solid mage and ranged character who can serve as an alternative to Lysithea as well. Unlike Lystheia, Constance specializes in Dark magic rather than Anima. She can deal devastating damage to enemies even at very long range, but you have to keep her out of harm’s way.

Stats

Yuri

Yuri is the leader of the Ashen Wolves. Initially, he was a student of Officers Academy, but due to unknown circumstances, he was expelled from the Academy. Now he serves the residents of Abyss as the leader of Ashen Wolves. Underneath his crude manner of speaking, his care for the residents of Abyss is clearly visible.

Yuri is a capable fighter, having expertise in both physical and magical abilities. Yuri has the highest Speed growth rate in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Apart from speed, Yuri has decent growth rates in Strength and Dexterity as well. Also, consider reading our guide on FETH Tea Types.

Yuri’s Personal Skill, Honorable Spirit, makes him an ideal solo character. This skill allows him to effectively fight on his own. At the same, he has a low number of Support Chains, which makes Gambit and Linked Attacks less effective with him.

Overall, Yuri is an incredible fighter, with an unparalleled speed that allows him to dodge and land hits exceptionally well. His high luck and dexterity tremendously increase his chances to land critical hits as well.

Stats

Balthus

Balthus is a self-proclaimed “King of Grappling” having a rough-and-tumble personality. He ended up in Abyss after running away from his woes and debts. Despite his attitude, Balthus has a big heart and deeply cares for his comrades.

The self-proclaimed “King of Grappling” isn’t just all talk. He is a highly qualified melee combatant, having expertise in Axes and Swords while wearing Heavy armors. Additionally, Balthus has high growth in Health, strength, and defense.

At the same time, his growth in speed, luck, and especially dexterity is very poor. This means that Balthus can dish out good damage, but has very poor accuracy. Our advice is that you should equip Balthus with equipment that can compensate for his low accuracy.

Overall, Balthus joins Raphael and Casper as one of the best bruisers of the game. He is also more versatile than them due to his command of magic as well. He makes up for his subpar luck and accuracy with power and stamina.

Stats

Hapi

Hapi was a resident of the hidden village of Timotheos. At the age of 9, she ran away from home in order to see the world. However, her adventures weren’t as bright and colorful as she thought they would be. She got kidnapped and was experimented on and after years of spending time in torture in one place and then the other she ended up in the Abyss.

Due to her experiments, monsters are drawn toward her whenever she sighs. Also consider reading our Fire Emblem: Three Houses Gardening Guide

Like other mages, Hapi’s growth is tied to Magic, Dexterity, and Resistance. Additionally, she also has above-average Strength growth for mage and speed. While Hapi cannot deal damage as explosive as Constance or Lysithea, the damage she deals is still quite high.

Unfortunately, she has extremely low defense and poor luck, making her very weak against enemies who deal critical damage to her. Hapi’s personal skill, Monstrous Appeal, gives her a good advantage against the monstrosities that you’ll encounter in the Cindered Shadows DLC of Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Her personal skill allows her to deal bonus damage to monsters as well as break the barriers of monsters who don’t wear magic immune barriers

Overall, her advantage against monsters makes Hapi an essential party member. Even against non-monsters, she can deal considerable damage to enemies while applying debuff on enemies and healing allies at the same time.

Stats

How To Recruit Ashen Wolves In Fire Emblem Three Houses 

Ashen Wolves are not only available as playable characters in the Cindered Shadows DLC but can also be selected as playable characters in the main campaign of Fire Emblem: Three Houses as well. These DLC characters are unlocked and can be recruited in the main game after you are past certain points in DLC 

• Constance can be recruited after you have completed Chapter 2 of Cindered Shadows.
• Balthus is available to recruit after completing Chapter 4 of Cindered Shadows.
• Hapi can be recruited after completing Chapter 5 of Cindered Shadows.
• Yuri is available to recruit after you have completed Chapter 6 of Cindered Shadows in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

After you are done with these chapters, the characters will unlock in your main game. To recruit them simply load up your main game save file. After booting up the main game, you’ll get a notification telling you about a mysterious merchant found near your personal quarters

Interact with this merchant, and now you’ll be able to travel to the town of Abyss and recruit Ashen Wolves.Speaking of characters and stats why not check out our guide on Bernadetta and Hubert.

New Classes

Cindered Shadows not only adds new characters but also new classes as well. These classes are not exclusive to the DLC. These classes can be accessed in the main game and can be assigned to characters who are not the members of Ashen Wolves making it a very welcome addition in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

The new classes are Trickster, War Monk / Cleric, Dark Flier, and Valkyrie. Also, consider reading our guide on Fire Emblem Three Houses Lecture Question & Answers.

How to Unlock 

These classes don’t become available as soon as you purchase the DLC expansion pass. There are a couple of steps you need to follow to access them in the main game.

To access these classes, complete Chapter 1 of Cindered Shadows DLC of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. With this, the classes will now be available in the main game. That said, you still need to fulfill some requirements to unlock them for a character.

To unlock a class for a character the first thing you need to do is to make sure that your chosen character is at least level 20. Secondly, you need an item called Abyssian Exam Pass which you need to acquire.

How to Acquire Abyssian Exam Pass

There are multiple ways to acquire Abyssian Exam Pass in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. The easiest way to do this is to recruit all of the Ashen Wolves members. Each member of Ashen Wolves is carrying one Abyssian Exam Pass. After recruiting them you can see the Abyssian Exam Pass in certification exams to convert your students or yourself into one of the new classes.

Another way to get an Abyssian Exam Pass is by purchasing it from the Abyss during the main game. Simply visits the Pagan Altar in the Abyss and interact with it. After interacting you will see a list of items and in that list, you will be able to spot the Abyssian Exam Pass which is available for 750 renowned points.

Now that you have the classes unlocked, let’s discuss the stats of each of the classes in detail. Speaking of classes why not check our guide on Fire Emblem Three Hopes Best Classes.

War Monk/War Cleric

War Monk (male) and War Cleric (female) are essentially melee classes that specialize in close-quarter combat. Their primary weapons are axes and fists. One thing that makes this class special is that they can use magic too.

Stats

Trickster

The trickster class is suitable for those who want to use a sword with some command over magic as well. They are agile and have incredibly high luck, which allows them to dodge enemy attacks with ease and land critical hits at the same time.

Apart from the Abyssian Exam Pass, you will need a Theif Certification for acquiring this class as well. Theif Certificate can be acquired by passing the Theif exam. Their agile speed also allows them to quickly swap places with a party member who is near death.

Stats

Dark Flier

Dark Flier is a female-only class. The users of this class ride on an ebony-colored pegasus. The specialty of this class is that they have the ability to move after attacking.

In other words, they can quickly get in and out of battle. Dark Fliers wield powerful magic and wear heavy armor. They don’t do well against bows but their movement, specialties, and abilities make up for their weakness.

Stats

Valkyrie

The last addition to classes by Cindered Shadows DLC in Fire Emblem: Three House’s main game is Valkyrie. Just like Dark Fliers, this is a female-only class as well. The users of this class ride on a white-colored pegasus instead of an ebony-colored one.

Overall this class is similar to Dark Flier but has less movement speed  and higher reason. Furthermore, the defense of Valkyrie is very low. While they have devastating power, to make the most out of this class you should have some backup units to make up for Valkyrie’s low defense.

Stats

List of Classes Available To Characters in Main Game

As we have mentioned above these new classes can be used by the characters who are not part of Ashen Wolves as well. The complete list of classes that can now be acquired by characters after Cindered Shadows DLC in Fire Emblem: Three Houses is as follows:

• Byleth – Mercenary, Priest, Swordmaster
• Yuri – Thief, Trickster
• Constance – Dark Flier
• Balthus – War Monk
• Hapi – Valkyrie
• Edelgard – Lord, Fortress Knight,  Warrior
• Dimitri – Lord, Hero, Paladin
• Claude – Lord, Wyvern Rider, Sniper
• Linhardt – Priest, Warlock, Bishop
• Ashe – Archer, Assassin, Sniper
• Hilda – Brigand, Pegasus Knight, Warrior

Cindered Shadows DLC in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Before you head into the Cindered Shadows DLC of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, here are some of the best tips that will be useful in your adventures through the Abyss. Before reading further why not check out our Fire Emblem Three Hopes Multiplayer guide.

Money Is Scarce

Unlike the main game, money is very valuable in Cindered Shadows. The economic system is revamped and money management is obligatory now. There are useless items or weapons you can sell to earn money which we’ll discuss further below but overall don’t go waste your money on every trivial thing you see.

Which Weapons To Buy And Which to Sell?

The best use of gold in Cindered Shadows DLC of Fire Emblem Three Houses is to buy Killer weapons for sword and lance users and Silver weapons for the rest of the party members.

You’ll start with steel and iron weapons. While you should keep the steel weapons since they can come in handy, you should sell your iron gear. Selling iron gear can fetch you a lot of money and keep you from going bankrupt. That said there is another use of iron gear as well which we will discuss in a minute. 

Don’t Fret Over Smithing Stones

There is only one type of ore found in Cindered Shadows DLC of Fire Emblem Three Houses and it is present in huge abundance. You should use the smithing stones to repair your silver weapons only since they cannot be forged and re-buying them after they break costs a huge amount of money.

On the other hand, forge your steel and iron weapons and upgrade them to ‘+’ rarities to keep them useful in battles.

Sword of Creator Has Unlimited Recharges

In the base game, Sword of Creator has limited use and only 20 recharges in total. So it’s obvious for anyone that they would only use it only when their back is against the wall with no way out.

Things are different in the Cindered Shadows DLC as the Sword of Creator recharges every time you visit the abyss in the Cindered Shadows DLC of Fire Emblem Three Houses.

With this advantage don’t ever hesitate to go berserk with the Sword of Creator during your battles because you’ll most probably never run out of charges.

Protect Lindhardt

Lindhardt is by far the best healer you will have in your party. While Yuri and Balthus can use healing spells too, but frankly they are not that great.

So if your most effective party healer dies, the tides of battle can turn against you very quickly. So make sure to do anything to protect Lindhardt during battles.

Effective use of Ashen Wolves

Ashen Wolves members come with excellent range and magic abilities. Even characters like Yuri and Balthus who aren’t even mages have healing spells in their arsenal. So utilize their magic and ranged abilities as much as you can.