Despite having a completely different combat system, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes still features many of the social systems that made Three Houses so popular. There are dozens of charming support conversations to watch, and even though there’s no romance, Shez still gets to pick a special someone, in a way. This is done through a unique item called the Merc Whistle, which you’ll get once per playthrough. Here’s what you need to know about the Merc Whistle in Three Hopes.

What is the Merc Whistle in Three Hopes?

You’ll automatically obtain the Merc Whistle when you reach Chapter 10, and it’s essentially a single-use gift that you can give to one character per playthrough. The item can only be given to a character that Shez has an A-rank relationship with, and it’s meant to represent a sort of lifelong friendship. While it’s definitely not meant to be romantic, you will get a little bit of extra dialogue to go along with it.

The real benefit of the Merc Whistle, however, is that it gives you the special ability of whichever character it’s gifted to. Whoever gets the whistle will give Shez an equipable accessory that changes their special ability. So, for example, if you give the whistle to Dimitri you can equip Shez with his “Azure Lightning” ability, which imbues all attacks with lightning.

Even though you can only use the Merc Whistle once, Three Hopes’ New Game Plus lets you carry over all weapons and items, meaning you’ll retain the item that changes Shez’s special attack.

When to use the Merc Whistle and who to give it to

You can use the Merc Whistle at any time after you obtain it, but make sure you use it before Chapter 15, as after that you won’t have a chance to return to your base camp.

You can give the whistle to any character you want, but there are a few characters that have particularly useful skills you’ll want. By far the best character to give it to is Byleth, as their Divine Pulse ability lets you stop time and hack away at enemies for a good thirty seconds. Of course, this means you’ll need to recruit Byleth in order to gift the whistle. Here are a few other good options as well, in case you don’t have Byleth.

• Annette – Courageous Aria – Attacks fill the ability gauge and when full you can use it to strengthen yourself and nearby allies.
• Lorenz – Rondo of Roses – Attacks fill the ability gauge, and as long as you have something in the gauge enemy attacks will automatically be blocked.
• Shamir – Cold Calculation – Attack with the right timing to increase critical hit rate and imbue attacks with ice.
• Ferdinand – Maximum Ambulation – At 300 hits and above, gain an increase in speed proportionate to the hit count.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is currently available for Nintendo Switch.