Fire Emblem Heroes: Unlock Potential, Explained (Upgrading…

Nintendo's Fire Emblem Heroes is a mobile tactical RPG based on their popular Fire Emblem series. As a gacha game, Fire Emblem Heroes lets players summon various franchise characters to aid in their battles against the Emblian Empire.

While some gacha games like Honkai: Star Rail have fixed rarities for their characters, Fire Emblem Heroes allows players to upgrade the rarities of their units through the Unlock Potential system. This guide will explain how Unlock Potential works and the benefits it offers.

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By Ewan Lewis

How to use Unlock Potential

The Unlock Potential feature can be found under Ally Growth in the Allies tab. All Heroes in the game, including 1-Stars, can eventually be upgraded to a 5-Star rarity. By raising a unit's rarity, they not only gain extra raw stats but also gain access to more powerful skills that they can learn or give away. Upgrading Heroes has two main costs: Hero Feathers and Badges.

Hero Feathers: Feathers can be earned through a wide variety of content, including Daily Log-Ins, Events, Quests, Story Maps, Coliseum, and Sending Home.
Great Badges & Badges: Badges can be earned mainly from the Training Tower and occasionally Quests.
- There are four types of Badges, each corresponding to the color-type of units: Scarlet Badge (red), Azure Badge (blue), Verdant Badge (green), Transparent Badge (colorless).

Hero Feather	Great Scarlet Badge	Great Azure Badge	Great Verdant Badge	Great Transparent Badge

Unlock Potential can also be used on Combat Manuals, allowing better skills to be inherited.

Rarity	Hero Feather Cost	Badge Cost
1-Star to 2-Star	20	5 Badges
2-Star to 3-Star	200	10 Badges
3-Star to 4-Star	2,000	20 Badges
4-Star to 5-Star	20,000	20 Great Badges

When a unit's potential is unlocked, their level is reset to 1, and they lose any stats gained through Merging. An upgraded unit will keep their Skill Points (SP), skills, Individual Values (IVs), and Dragonflower enhancements. While there is no level requirement to use Unlock Potential, players do lose out on SP efficiency if they forgo leveling up the unit beforehand. The SPs are not lost forever, but they do take longer to earn due to the small amount given from battles.

Since leveling can get tedious and expensive, stopping around level 20 when upgrading 1- to 3-Star units can save both time and resources without significantly reducing SP efficiency.

Unlocking Potential is a great way to beef up a player's roster in Fire Emblem Heroes and gain access to higher-ranking skills for Inheriting. In combination with Merging, players can create 4-Star +10 units that rival limited 5-Star stats at a significantly cheaper cost. While a 5-Star with merges will always be stronger, having cheaper 4-Star +10 units can be greatly beneficial for game modes like Arena Assault and Rival Domains.

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