Chapter 4: Hero-King of the Desert

Desert Arena

Time Limit: 60:00

Victory Conditions: Destroy the Magic Pillars and reach Marth.

Defeat Conditions: Either Robin, Cordelia or Chrom falls in battle.

Anna’s Condition: Defeat 1,000 enemies.

The first thing you’ll notice is the dust-covered area in the middle. This dust storm will conceal allied and enemy positions, movements, and will also prevent you from selecting them and issuing orders. Also, AI-controlled characters won’t be able to cross it while it’s active. To remove this, you have to locate and destroy two magic pillars. They’re located in the spots marked below.

Like before, you can’t let Cordelia, Robin, or Chrom to fall in battle. Chrom will be a controllable character so you just need to keep an eye on Robin and Cordelia. Remember on their locations and make sure to have at least a controllable character stationed nearby in case you need to protect them. To start off the battle, order Lissa and Frederick to attack the two forts to the west. When attempting the mission for the first time, Lianna/Rowan and Chrom’s positions are fixed so it will be better to attack the first two forts in the northeast. After capturing the NE Butte Fort, the gate will open, giving you access to the first magic pillar and a shortcut access to the N Sands Fort. Destroy the pillar first then jump down to the N Sands Fort and capture it as well.

Shortly after, a Sub Mission will start. Three fighters will rush to the sandstorm and target Cordelia and Robin. Take control of one of your units and head to the sandstorm. Since you won’t be able to see them in the Map when they’re inside the sandstorm, you can just head towards the the fort Cordelia is guarding so you can wait for them to arrive and engage them there.

After rescuing Cordelia, continue capturing the western bases. You have to take out the SW Butte Fort to open the path leading to the second magic pillar. Keep an eye out of a Thief unit that will appear south of that fort and will make a run to the treasure chest connected to the W Sands Fort. Prioritize engaging the Thief first to get a Chest Key by defeating him. This will allow you to open the chest instead and loot the contents later.

After defeating the thief, destroy the second magic pillar to clear the sandstorm and capture the W Sands Fort. Don't forget to loot the chest by following the small path east of the fort. Shortly after clearing the sandstorm, enemy archers will rush towards Cordelia. Prioritize intercepting these archers first since Cordelia won’t last long once they reach her.

Aside from the movement of archers towards Cordelia, more enemy units will simultaneously attack the forts you’ve captured in an attempt to regain control of them. Make sure to take them out once there’s no more threat to Cordelia. Order your allies to engage them as well to save time. After gaining full control of the other forts, you now have to focus your forces to capture the Arena Entry fort. Seizing this stronghold will unlock the arena.

Head to the arena trigger a cutscene. You’ll have to face Marth now. Marth is quite sturdy and can deal considerable damage so pairing up with an ally will be strongly recommended. Keep attacking him but watch out for the moment that he pauses and charges up for a quick attack. Make sure to immediately evade this powerful blow; if you’re paired up, your ally should be able to block it and prevent any damage. Use Warrior/Dual Specials whenever you can to whittle down his HP faster. Exploit his stun gauge with continuous combos and Dual Attacks until he’s defeated.

First Memento

After reaching 1,000 kills, Anna will appear southeast of the Oasis fort, in front of an outpost.

Second Memento

This will become available after finishing the main story once, and obtainable only by replaying the mission in Hard or Lunatic difficulties.

Anna’s Condition: Seize all other enemy forts before seizing the Arena entrance.

Just make sure to occupy and defend all other forts save for the fort beside the arena. If you have an ally already attacking it, make sure to order him/her to defend other allied forts or at least attack other forts. Once you captured all enemy forts, just wait for the update logs and notifications to finally seize the Arena Fort entrance. Capture that fort, skip the cutscene with Marth as well but don’t attack Marth yet. Leave the fort to prevent aggroing Marth then wait for Anna to appear beside the outpost between Midsands Fort and South Sands Fort.