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The weird but innovative spirit of Fire Emblem Gaiden gave us two of the most interesting characters of the series: Alm and Celica. Today we’re going to talk about Celica. While most of the information is exactly the same between the two versions of the game, it would be ideal to take the most recent edition of the game as a base. Therefore, we will take the information about Celica from Fire Emblem Shadow of Valentia as a base. There is not much difference, and when there is, I will mention it immediately, so there is no confusion.
Celica is one of my personal favorite protagonists. Her story isn’t the deepest, but it makes me very happy the way it plays out alongside Alm’s. As a unit protagonist, she also has one of the best stats within the franchise. Plus her design is simply gorgeous. Especially the redesign she got from Fire Emblem Awakening and in Fire Emblem Shadow of Valentia. Celica is one of the characters with the biggest glow-ups in the franchise. With that in mind, let’s start talking about her right away.
Important Information to Know about Celica
Celica has two starting points in the game. The first one is as follows:
- Class: Girl
- Level: 1
- HP: 15
- Atk: 4+1*
- Skl: 5
- Spd: 4
- Lck: 8
- Def: 2
- Res: 7
- Mov: 4
- Magic: –
- Special Abilities: None
- Starting item: Golden dagger* (This gives her the additional 1 point of attack).
However, even though that is her starting point, the real “playing starting point” is in Act 2, because that is when you will start to play more with her. In that chapter, the starting statistics are:
- Class: Priestess
- Level: 1
- HP: 20
- Atk: 8+1*
- Skl: 6
- Spd: 6
- Lck: 8
- Def: 4
- Res: 7
- Mov: 4
- Magic: Fire
- Special Abilities: None
- Starting item: Golden dagger* (This gives her the additional 1 point of attack).
There are two versions of Celica’s initial class because the first initial class is only playable during the prologue events of the game. However, the first real moment you will start playing with Celica is when you get to chapter 2. While in the introductory chapter (prologue), you’re going to play with her, it’s more like a glorified tutorial. In the prologue, you’re given a bit more of the backstory between her, Alm, and the rest of the characters and situations later explored in the story.
Now, that aside, one of the first things that can be explored here is that Celica is a mixed class. But with one essential point: she has a high resistance to magical attacks. In theory, she is a physical class due to the lack of Magic during the first class (Girl). When you consider the advantages that the Priestess class gives her, and that she learns fire magic, you realize that Celica is the white mage of the team. However, the best thing about that is that she doesn’t become a burden when it comes to melee attacks because of her physical combat abilities.
While Celica is not meant to withstand many direct enemy attacks, she is meant to have mages. This is not only in the sense that she is a character with a tremendous mixed defense, but literally, that is her role in the story. That’s why it’s her Priestess class. I think that’s one of the things I like most about this Fire Emblem game and Celica in general. Her role in the world is entirely cohesive with her gameplay, stats, and even her design. Celica is meant for a relatively conservative play style, both on a story level and on a level of the strategies she allows you to craft.
Celica’s Background
Before we start, we must warn you that there will be many spoilers ahead. So please keep that in mind. That said, we can start with the most essential thing: Celica is not her real name. Her real name is: Anthiese de Zofia. She is the daughter of Queen Liprica and King Lima IV. Her mother died mysteriously after her birth, so she doesn’t have many memories of her.
For a while, she lived in the royal villa of Zofia. Ten years before the game’s events, it was consumed in a fire, where Celica was trapped in flames, almost dying. However, Mycen, a knight in her father’s service, managed to rescue her from the flames, so he decided to take her to her native village. He feared that something terrible could happen to her if he left her alone.
In that village, Celica became friends with Alm. They became practically inseparable since they both had similar birthmarks. Besides that, she made other friends within the village who would become an essential part of her life in the future. However, problems start to happen when an enemy from her past returns.
The fire in the royal villa of Zofia was caused by Desaix, a political enemy of Celica’s father. He wanted to cause a coup d’état. One of Desaix’s henchmen named Slayde, managed to find Celica and tried to kidnap her. Therefore, for his own safety, Mycen took Celica to the Priory of Novis. The reason behind this was for her own safety and to start building her future as a priestess of Mila.
Why Should I play with Celica?
Well… The truth is that it’s not like you have an option not to play with her. Celica is technically the game’s main protagonist. Yes, Alm exists and is also a protagonist in the game, even so, the portion of the story starring Celica is the one that has most argumentative weight in terms of plot twists. There are a large number of them throughout the game. We could consider her part of the story to be a bit more eventful in terms of how many discoveries there are in the game.
Well, playing with Celica in all chapters is not a must. However, in both Gaiden and Shadow of Valentia, Celica is one of the best units in the game. From her Base Class, Celica has some of the best stats in the game. The only point where you are going to find a kind of weak point is stamina. However, it is quickly compensated by leveling it up. At the end of the day, if you play her route well, you will end up with one of the most powerful units in the game from Act 3 onwards.
One of the most critical points of why to play with Celica lies within her pure attack. She has one of the most dramatic growths in brute force in the game, being 60%. This makes her one of the highest attack scaling characters in the game. On top of that, her spell pool is super strong, being one of the first units to learn Seraphim in the game, besides learning Ragnarok. Besides Celica, only one other unit learns that spell: Delthea. Finally, another point that makes me consider Celica one of the best units in the game is that she has a custom weapon.
Her personal sword (Beloved Zofia) is one of the most defensive in the game. She has the passive ability Recovery, which allows her to recover 5 health points. The sword also gives her the ability Subdue, which leaves enemies with only one point of life, perfect for training units without risk. Finally, one of the most vital points that place Celica as my favorite unit is her learning Ragnarok Ω, the most potent spell in the entire pool.
Also, in regards of her story and relationships, she has the following supports:
- Mae
- Atlas
- Nomah
- Conrad
- Alm
- Gray
- Tobin
- Kliff
- Faye
- Boey
- Genny
How to Transform Celica Into the Best Princess
At the end of Act 3 of her route, Celica automatically becomes a Princess. You must train her as much as possible to improve her stats as soon as possible. This is because once she advances to her last phase, she will not be able to continue developing her stats typically. However, the reality is that the training is quite simple. Since she is a character that you will play with basically all the game, her stats will grow naturally in all areas, especially in magic.
Considering that her skl stats increase by 50%, the reality is that you have already achieved what you need once you bring her skl to at least 30 points. It is the easiest way to identify that the rest of the stat will continue to grow once you make it to the next class without much trouble. On the other hand, there is a less complicated option, but it does have a cost, literally!
Although technically Celica’s final class is Princess, she has access to another class: Rigain. The only problem with Rigain is that you access it through a paid DLC… That’s one of the worst things about Fire Emblem Shadow of Courage. Even so, it’s not necessary to take Celica to that class. It doesn’t represent a real improvement in stats. The only thing she has access to is the Aura spell, which, although a good spell, has nothing to envy Ragnarok in its variant Ω.
The Abilities of Celica Princess Promotion
The skills or abilities in this game work completely differently from the normal abilities in the rest of the game. Instead of being related to just one class, or just one character, they are related to just one weapon. With that in mind, every skill changes with the weapons of every character.
The personal weapon of Celica is the Beloved Zofia. That Weapon starts as the golden Dagger. The skills she starts with are:
- Plenitude: Restores HP equal to damage dealt. (Is the equivalent to the Sol Ability)
- Earth’s Boon: User may earn provisions upon defeating target.
When she forges the Beloved Zofia, Celica gains access to:
- Recovery: Restores 5 HP each turn
Then she can learn:
- Subdue: Leaves the enemy on 1 HP when attacking
- Swap: Swaps places with an adjacent ally.
- Ragnarok Ω: Deals Magic damage.
How to Play the Best Celica in the game:
The final Build for Celica will be:
- Class: Princess
- Level: 20
- HP: 52
- Atk: 42
- Skl: 40
- Spd: 40
- Lck: 39
- Def: 39
- Res: 40
- Mov: 6
- Magic: Fire, Seraphim, Thunder, Recover, Excalibur, Ragnarok.
- Special Abilities:
- Plenitude: Restores HP equal to damage dealt. (Is the equivalent to the Sol Ability)
- Earth’s Boon: User may earn provisions upon defeating target.
- Recovery: Restores 5 HP each turn
- Subdue: Leaves the enemy on 1 HP when attacking
- Swap: Swaps places with an adjacent ally.
- Ragnarok Ω: Deals Magic damage.
- Starting item: Beloved Zofia, Ram Wine, blessed shield.
The first thing you can see from this final build is that even though Celicas strongest stat is her attack. She has a great Magic Pool, but the main stat is the attack. As I mentioned before, this makes Celica a pretty good unit. It allows you to form a strategy based on spells. Celica has enough resistance to avoid succumbing to such attacks in case of enemy magic attacks.
On the other hand, Celica’s most vital point is her physical attack since her sword is one of the best in the game. Celica has a sword capable of basically defending her and attacking directly. The defense comes from her passive ability, which allows her to recover health points every turn, and her Sol ability. With this ability, Celica recovers her health points every time she attacks. This makes her the ultimate unit since she has all points covered: she is capable of attacking, defending, and even healing.
In addition, the Swap ability opens up an attack and then flee-based gameplay possibilities. Basically it allows weaker units to attack and, in case they need to escape, flee immediately without much trouble. That is Celica’s greatest strength: she is a unit that will cover each of your needs without much effort. Remember that this build is basically obtainable from Act 3 onwards. This means that you get access to the best unit from the middle of the game.
The Best Way to Level Up Celica
Celica Other Apparitions
As I told you, Celica is the protagonist of both Fire Emblem Gaiden and Shadow of valentia, however, she also has the following apparitions in other games:
- She appears in Fire Emblem Awakening as an ally via spot pass and a DLC of the game. The best version is the DLC because it grants her access to the best skills of the game. She also appears as an enemy during the Xenologue Champions of Yore 3. You will have a special conversation if you fight Celica with Robin Male. As a Magician, the best strategy is just to attack her with physical attacks.
- She is the main protagonist in the Shadows of Valentia Chapters of Fire Emblem Warriors. She starts as a priestess and then becomes a princess.
- She also appears on Fire Emblem Heroes. Her versions are:
- Caring Princess: Infantry/Tome
- Imprisioned Soul: Infantry/Sword
- Warrior Princess: Infantry/Sword
- Queen of Valentia: Infantry/ Tome
- Valentia’s Hope: Infantry/Tome
FAQs
Question: Is the DLC for Celica worth it?
Answer: No. The reality is that even with its promotional price and on offer, it is pretty expensive for what it offers. It is content that should come for free in the game. Also, due to the closure of the Eshop, it is basically impossible to get.
Question: Who is Celicas Canon Partner?
Question: Are Celica and Alm Really the bad guys?
Answer: The reality is that it’s a bit complicated since, in theory, they are not the bad guys at all. However, their actions and Alm and Celica’s fame as conquerors are indirectly responsible for the events that lead to the first half of fire emblem Awakening. This includes the death of Emmeryn and the attempt by Wallhart to conquer Ylisse.
Final Thoughts on Celica
The reality is that she is simply one of the best characters in the game. That’s pretty clear to see. She has great stats, one of the best stories, and, overall, a fantastic design. It’s a shame that Fire Emblem Gaiden and Shadow of Valentia are so underrated. If more people could give them a chance, they would find Gaiden and its characters as fun, unique, and original as the characters in Fire Emblem Fates.
Celica falls right into that list of characters that are really very interesting and should be considered one of the best characters in the series. Although she has a presence in the DLC and also as part of the Heroes game, she is still a bit underrated compared to the rest of the Lords of the different games.
However, with her high stats and good combat performance, Celica is easily one of the best, if not the best female lord in the entire saga.
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