If you’ve ever paused during your Fire Emblem Engage journey to wonder whether it’s the right time to invest your SP, you’re not alone. In a system that rewards thoughtful planning yet punishes haste with slow SP gain and limited resources, skill inheritance becomes one of the trickiest—but most rewarding—mechanics to master. This guide will walk you through the most useful, cost-effective emblem skills to inherit, keeping SP budgets in mind while helping your units reach their full potential without wasting time or points.

Understanding the Value of Inheritable Skills

SP (Skill Points) is a scarce currency, especially early on. Grinding it can be tedious, and your units often begin with very little SP—especially those recruited early or without an emblem ring equipped. Thankfully, not all strong skills come with a premium cost. This guide will showcase several budget-friendly, high-value skills that can give you a leg up during your campaign. Keep in mind: this isn’t about stacking broken combos like Vantage + Wrath, but about effective standalone picks with wide usability.

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Top Cost-Effective Inheritable Skills

1. Cantor (Sigurd) – 1000 SP

While the priciest skill in this list, Cantor easily earns its place as arguably the most cost-effective skill in the game. It allows the unit to move two spaces after taking an action (attacking, healing, or dancing). This enables hit-and-run strategies and adds immense flexibility across all classes, especially support units and mobile attackers. Consider prioritizing this for units like Céline, Jean, Chloe, or Fogato.

2. Advance (Roy) – 500 SP

Advance closes the distance by one tile when attacking enemies two tiles away—ideal for infantry stuck at 4-5 movement like sword-locked Lear. While it’s a small effect, you’ll find it matters often in real combat. It’s a subtle game-changer that you forget is there—until it saves a turn.

3. Speed + (Lyn) – 500–2000 SP

Speed is arguably the most valuable stat in the game. Whether avoiding getting doubled, ensuring follow-ups, or boosting avoid, small speed boosts go a long way—especially early when stat margins are thin. Prioritize Speed +2 or +3 before considering higher tiers. Other stats like HP and Res are also worth looking into, but Speed has the most universal application.

4. Favorite Food (Celica) – 200 SP

This underrated skill instantly refills the Engage meter after a packed lunch is consumed—making it a portable recharge point. Ideal for slow-moving units like Generals (e.g., Jade) or Warp-focused units like Celica herself. Though limited to one unit per map, it adds excellent utility and pairs well with reliable emblem builds.

5. Reposition (Ike) – 200 SP

The only inheritable assist skill, Reposition lets you move allies in four directions, unlike Shove or Draw Back. Its flexibility makes it invaluable, especially in low-movement teams. Reposition is one of the most universally applicable inheritance picks in the entire game.

6. Quality Time (Corrin) – 250 SP

This dual-function skill heals adjacent allies for 5 HP when the unit waits and also increases support rank if allies are within support range. It’s a slow grind tool for farming supports, especially with Vein of Flames setups. For long-term support building, this can become invaluable.

7. Mentorship (Byleth) – 250 SP

Grants a passive 1.2x EXP gain to the user and adjacent allies. Cheap and effective, especially for Maddening difficulty runs where skirmishes are unavailable. It’s an all-around helpful tool for ensuring units level up faster.

8. Arms Shield (Efficient Damage Reduction)

These variants reduce damage by 3, 5, or 7 when the unit has a weapon triangle advantage. While situational, they can be extremely useful in specific class matchups—particularly for armored units or Qi Adept classes with solid Res like Framme or Jean.

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Honorable Mentions

• Hit +10/+15: Helps axe users or others with shaky hit rates. Useful, but sometimes avoidable via better weapons or engravings.
• Build +3/+4 (Leif): Reduces attack speed loss due to weapon weight. Ideal for units like Tamara or Chloe, who suffer from low build.
• Healing Light (200 SP): Heals the caster for 50% of what they heal others for—amazing synergy with Chi Adepts and chain guard setups.
• Divine Pulse (Byleth): Turns a miss into a hit based on Luck + fixed chance. Budget-friendly accuracy patching for mid-game, especially useful when equipped with Byleth.
• Dual Assist (Lucina): 1000 SP for 35% proc rate (70% for 2000 SP). Powerful but restrictive to backup classes, and very SP-intensive.

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A Note on DLC Skills

Skills like Lineage (bonus EXP), Geosphere (team healing), and Life Sphere (stat buffs) from DLC are fantastic and well worth the SP. However, they’re excluded from the main list due to their real-money cost. If you already own the DLC, make use of them—they are some of the best returns on SP investment.

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Final Thoughts

Skill inheritance in Fire Emblem Engage is an intricate yet rewarding system. While every skill technically has a use, the focus here is on value—how far your SP can stretch and how quickly you’ll feel the benefit. Whether you’re trying to stretch the potential of an underwhelming early recruit or prepping a unit for Maddening mode, these picks should help streamline your strategy and remove some of the paralysis that comes with decision-making.

If you have more favorites or want to share your builds, don’t hesitate to jump into the discussion. Until then, happy inheriting—and may your Cantor always take you two steps closer to victory.