'Fire Emblem Heroes' Upgrade Castle: How to spend orbs to increase your experience gain

If you've started playing Fire Emblem Heroes, you've probably figured out that one of the best parts is spending orbs to unlock cool new — and uncomfortably attractive — characters to add to your squad. But wait! You can also spend your orbs on something else equally important, though significantly less sexy: upgrades to your castle.

Let's dive into the world of castle upgrades in Fire Emblem Heroes.

Fire Emblem Heroes: How to upgrade your castle

Did you know you can spend just one orb to permanently increase your experience gains by 20%? It's true! 

To do so, click the "Shop" icon next to the "Summon" icon along the bottom of your screen. Here, you can purchase the "Torchlit Castle" upgrade for one orb, which will increase the experience you gain by 20%. This increase in experience will help your characters level up more quickly, allowing you to eventually increase their star rating more quickly too.

These castle upgrades also make your home base look a little bit fancier. Here's a side-by-side comparison.

As you purchase more castle upgrades, more will become available. For example, the next upgrade you can purchase after getting the Torchlit Castle is the Columned Castle, which costs two orbs and will increase your experience gains by 40% instead of 20%.

So, next time you have some orbs burning a hole in your pocket, consider buying a castle upgrade instead of summoning a new hero.

More Fire Emblem Heroes tips, tricks and guides

If you're still struggling to figure out Fire Emblem Heroes, we're here to help. Check out our handy guide on how to get started if you're new to the series, along with explainers on using Hero Feathers, changing nicknames in the game, boosting your characters with Unlock Potential, upgrading character star ratings and adding friends in Fire Emblem Heroes.