Fire Emblem Heroes: 2.9.0 update detailed; launching in early September

The next major update for Fire Emblem Heroes is on the way. Version 2.9.0 will be available in early September. Here are some of the major changes coming to the game with this update:

• Relay Defense maps: Relay Defense maps will start to appear in Special Maps starting on September 8th. They will be released periodically instead of Rival Domains maps; Relay Defense maps will be active for two weeks at a time while Rival Domains maps will be active for one week at a time. Like Rival Domains, Relay Defense is played with brigades. As the name suggests, this mode is more focused on defending your territory. Every two turns, your active Heroes will be swapped in and out in groups of five. You will receive a score based on how many enemies you defeat and how many of your Heroes survive.
• Weapon Refinery Update: Cherche: Wyvern Friend and Odin; Potent Force will be able to learn new character-specific weapon skills: Cherche’s Axe and Odin’s Grimoire, respectively. Also, additional refining options will be added for Celica: Caring Princess’ weapon, Ragnarok.
• Combat Manuals: Combat Manuals will essentially be a new way to preserve space in your barracks. You can send a Hero back to their world to create a Combat Manual of them – you will no longer be able to use them in battle, but you can use that Combat Manual for the purposes of Inherit Skill and Merge Allies. Combat Manuals don’t use up barracks slots and you can have up to 9,999 of each type of Combat Manual. However, note that you can’t turn Combat Manuals back into combat-usable Heroes.

There will also be a variety of smaller changes:

• You will be able to check the blessing season on the Edit Team screen
• You will have the option of having your team appear on the right-hand side of the screen in Tap Battle
• You will be able to switch between Reserve Teams and Primary Teams in the UI for battles that require a second team, such as Tempest Trials and Arena Assault
• In Grand Conquests, a warning will be displayed when there are 10 minutes or less remaining in each battle
• New friend requests that are awaiting confirmation will now be displayed at the top of the list
• On Android devices, tapping the back icon during battle will open the Battle menu