The First Batch of Fire Emblem: Three Houses Characters are Making Their Debut in Fire Emblem Heroes

Just ahead of Fire Emblem: Three Houses' launch, the three lords of the houses and the professor-slash-protagonist of the game are making their debut in another Fire Emblem game. Edelgard, Claude, Dimitri, and the female version of Byleth all arrive in Fire Emblem Heroes on July 22, under one promotional banner.

Each of the three students of the Officers Academy leads their respective houses, while Byleth supervises as the newest professor at the academy. Though it doesn't look like you'll be choosing sides in Heroes, there will be missions for each of the characters, so you can get a little bit of dialogue and interaction ahead of the main game.

To actually get the new heroes onto your squad, you'll have to draw them from the game's banner promotion. If you aren't a Fire Emblem Heroes player, it's essentially pocket-sized Fire Emblem with characters from every game, broken up into small-scale skirmishes. But to get units, you have to roll for them in gacha-style summoning events.

All the units are toting their signature weapons, so there aren't any variations like bow-wielding Lucina or, uh, bunny ears Chrom. I mean, Claude could probably pull that look off. Fire Emblem Heroes is on mobile platforms, for Android and iOS.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses, meanwhile, is only a week away and it's already looking excellent. Aside from a lesser focus on tough maps compared to games like the Conquest third of Fire Emblem Fates, its excellent school-life setting and breadth of romance options are all good signs for the game. We'll have more to share closer to its release date on July 26 for the Nintendo Switch.