How to Manage Your Time and Plan Missions Like a Pro in Fae Tactics

Last Updated on 21 August, 2025

Fae Tactics is an isometric, turn-based strategy RPG that pairs tactical grid combat with collectible fae summons. This guide covers story essentials, core mechanics, the summon card system, time management pitfalls, side quests, hidden character unlocks, and advanced tactics. With this, you’ll master every battle, recruit every secret ally, and complete all challenging quests.

• 1. Game Overview
• 2. Story & Setting
• 3. Core Mechanics & Combat
• 4. Summon System & Fae Allies
• 5. Time & Progression Mechanics
• 6. Side Quests & Hidden Characters
• 7. Advanced Strategies & Pro Tips
• 8. Conclusion

1. Game Overview

Fae Tactics is developed by Endlessfluff Games and published by Humble Games, launching on July 31, 2020 for Windows PC. This hand-drawn strategy RPG casts you as Peony, a fledgling mage who summons magical fae to fight alongside her in grid-based skirmishes. Its core loop alternates between battling on tactical maps, collecting fae cards, upgrading capacity, and advancing a branching narrative rich with side quests.

• Developer: Endlessfluff Games
• Publisher: Humble Games
• Release: July 31, 2020 (PC) November 18, 2021 (Xbox)
• Platform: Windows (Steam), Xbox
• Genre: Isometric Turn-Based Strategy RPG
• Core Loop: Deploy party → execute context skills → win battle → pick up cards → upgrade summoning

2. Story & Setting

In Fae Tactics, you guide Peony across a world on the brink of war between humans and magical fae. Summon allies, cast elemental spells, and forge bonds with a diverse cast of characters as you unravel the growing conflict’s origins. Narrative missions branch into side quests that reveal hidden lore, while missable events can lock you out of certain rewards and companions.

3. Core Mechanics & Combat

Fae Tactics blends positioning, elemental affinities, and context‐sensitive commands on a grid. Each turn, select a unit and then choose a target: enemies to Attack, allies to Assist, or empty spaces to Wait (triggering their passive skill). Perfect timing, elemental matchups, and strategic placement determine victory.

1. Context Actions: Target enemy=Attack, ally=Assist, wait=Passive skill.
2. Elemental System: Each fae and weapon has affinities; exploit weaknesses for bonus damage and resist opposite elements to reduce harm.
3. Summon Cards: Defeated fae commanders drop cards; winning battles without picking them up loses the card forever.
4. One Buff Slot: You can have only one enchant or curse active per unit, so choose your support effects carefully.
5. Turn Order: Speed stat (Spd) determines action sequence; higher Spd acts first.

4. Summon System & Fae Allies

Your fae army grows by collecting summon cards dropped by boss-level enemies during story and side missions. Each card represents a unique fae ally with its own spells, stats, and ultimate abilities. Summon capacity starts small, but can be expanded via quests and node upgrades in the protagonist’s camp, thus letting you field more powerful fae simultaneously.

1. Capacity Upgrades: Complete camp-base quests to raise your maximum summoned fae count.
2. Card Rarity: Higher-tier fae have stronger abilities but rarer drop rates; farming specific maps boosts your odds.
3. Manual Pickup: After battle, walk over each card icon to add it to your deck; any you leave behind are lost.
4. Cursed vs. Enchanted: Only one status buff/debuff can be equipped, so prioritize party-wide auras like “Teamwork” for maximum impact.

5. Time & Progression Mechanics

Fae Tactics advances an in-game day clock whenever you complete key story or side missions, free battles (labeled blue) do not push time forward. Certain quests and character recruitments are only available within specific day ranges, so efficient scheduling is essential for 100% completion.

1. Free Battles: Practice combat, farm XP, and gather resources without aging the calendar.
2. Story Missions: Each mission day advances the clock by one, so track which quests vanish after pivotal cutscenes!
3. New Game+: After beating the main campaign, NG+ raises level caps and lets you recover previously missed loot, cards, and quests.
4. Difficulty Swaps: A patch allows toggling between Normal and Hard in the pause menu to ease progress.

6. Side Quests & Hidden Characters

Fae Tactics features several optional missions that unlock three secret party members, i.e. Red, Matilda, and Tom Tildrum, each providing unique abilities and branching storylines. These quests often appear unmarked on the map and have strict prerequisites or time limits.

1. Red (Crimson King): Reach Ashen Plains on a Monday with a Level 3 motorbike; complete the unmarked rescue mission and interact with the ritual device to recruit Red.
2. Matilda (Cyborg Faery): In Rohwan woods, meet Croix-Mer alone (no allies). Save the dying faery, then return within 10 days with 10 Scrap Metal, 5 Mana Crystals, 5 Copper Wires, and 2 Rune Stones to repair and recruit Matilda.
3. Tom Tildrum (Ice Tank): Complete the “Three Gorgon Sisters” quest without killing any; assist them until the follow-up mission triggers, then recruit Tom in next sequence.

7. Advanced Strategies & Pro Tips

Elevate your tactics with these community vetted insights:

1. Teamwork Scroll: Adds AoE to Assists and Tranquility reactions, so equip on your primary healer for wider coverage.
2. Cooking Buffs: Master the pre-battle minigame to create temporary stat boosts, ideal before boss fights but don’t rely on it as your sole advantage.
3. Fall Damage & Knockbacks: Lure enemies near cliffs or raised terrain and use push effects to deal instant kills without spending commands.
4. Elemental Pairing: Always switch to the opposite element after exploiting a weakness to reduce incoming damage on the next enemy turn.
5. Speed 2x: Double battle speed in options to accelerate grind phases, but switch back to 1x for precision during critical encounters.

8. Conclusion

This article broke down Fae Tactics’ essential systems, from grid combat and fae summoning to time-locked quests and hidden characters. So, by following these strategies, you’ll avoid common mistakes, maximize your summon deck, and unlock every secret ally and side quest.

Start by farming your first fae card on a free battle, upgrade summon capacity via early base quests, then immediately tackle Matilda’s rescue mission within its 10-day window. From there, balance time-locked story quests with optional free skirmishes to build a versatile roster and secure all hidden characters.