Character Combat Strategies

Character Combat Strategies

Asbel

Asbel is one of the main melee combatants in the party. He's a good all-rounder, having combos and moves that can effectively control multiple enemies and deal multi-hit damage to lone opponents. He's pretty easy to control and use making him a staple member in the majority of battles.

Advanced B-Artes
Asbel's A-Artes are quick, but have a small attack range. If you find yourself surrounded during a combo, tap X to draw your sword, and the resulting wide slash will hit any nearby enemies. B-Artes use Cryas Attack power (C.ATK) to attack, so they can be more effective than A-Artes against foes that possess high Physical Defense (P. DEF).

When To Sheathe
Remember: you're a sitting duck while in the process of sheathing your sword, One option is to sheathe the sword as soon as you defeat an enemy, while another is to back-Step before putting the weapon away. Play around to learn what timing works best for you.

Sword-Drawing Tips
When Asbel draws his sword, it unleashes a hidden power and activates the Iron Stance state. However, he's limited in the number of hits he can absorb in this state. When you see an opportunity to do so, Press Circle to sheathe your sword, then draw ti again to start the counter all over again.

Sword-Sheathing Tips
When Asbel sheathes his sword, he can recover some Hp, depending on how many artes he landed when his sword was drawn and his current Physical Defense rating. Take advantage of the benefits of drawing (Iron Stance) and sheathing ( HP recovery) to make the most out of each and every battle.

Sophie

Sophie is a powerful, close-range fighter with minimal crowd control abilities but with more powerful attacks that can easily decimate her targets. She has the ability to charge her attacks and deal more devastating damage when released. Sophie can also act as a backup healer since she has recovery and revival artes.

Stick and Move
Sophie is skilled at close-combat attacks. And while her range tends to be shorts, she can land many quick attacks in a short period of time. Using L-analog with artes will sometimes move her around the battlefield, so use those wisely to create powerful attack-and-evade combos.

Charged Artes
Reaper's Toll is a special type of linked arte that Sophie can use which must be charged by holding Circle in the middle of a combo. The best time to use one of those “charged artes” is when an enemy is stunned or knocked down. Once you learn higher level charged artes, try charging the Charge Gauge an extra level (or two) to witness their fury.
 
Advanced Charged Artes
One of the titles you can get for using Charges artes has a skill that will sometimes restore your CC
completely it's a bit of a gamble, obviously, but if it works out, you'll be in the driver's seat of the battle. Also if your targets has moved away from you, just forward-Steps toward it and continue the combo.

Hubert

Hubert can fight in all ranges since his artes allow him to attack enemies up close, in mid-range or long-range. He can effectively transition from B-Artes to A-artes and even link their attacks. Hubert can also be a backup healer because of his recovery artes.

Hubert's Artes
Hubert can use short-range dualblade artes with circle, and long-range twinshot artes with X. His dualblade's critical gauge fills slowly, though, so balance between the two types of artes is key. Strike fast and hard, and keep the enemy on the defensive.

Hubert's Artes #2
It's possible to chain A-artes into B-Artes. However, if Hubert's trying to build a large combo, it's better to use your 2 CC A-Artes before switching to the B-Artes. Don't panic if the targets slips away. Hubert's strength lies in his ability to attack without pause, even in such situation.

Hubert's Artes #3
Hubert  is often vulnerable after using his artes, so if an enemy attacks during that time, it could spell trouble. Try to save some CC after attacking so you can be ready to quick-step if necessary. This will allow you to avoid attacks and attack again immediately.

Cheria

Cheria is the dedicated healer of the party and is an obvious staple part of any combat group. Her wide array of healing, recovery and support artes increases the effectiveness and survival rate of the party. She can defend herself using long-range attacks with her daggers and she possesses good, crowd-control offensive artes as well.

Feint and Charge CC
Cheria is a master of wide-range healing artes that increase the survival rate of the party. However, these artes have a high CC cost. Be sure to have her join the fray every now and then with a few dagger tosses to give her a chance to replenish her CC supply.

Recovery Expansion
Cheria can learn Effect expansion skill, which widen the effective area of her recovery artes. Use her artes frequently to gain titles, then use the associated skills to expand, expand, expand!

Support Strategy
Support artes like Insight have the added effect in raising the target character's critical gauge growth rate. After stunning a foe with a critical hit, use those second to attack with low-level A-Artes and restore CC. This is an especially useful strategy for advanced players.

Malik

If you're one of those who got fooled by thinking Malik is a melee fighter, well welcome to the club. His signature weapon, the bladerang is a long-range weapon that can be thrown to foes. He's also a potent spellcaster and very effective in controlling hordes of enemies as long as he's in a safe distance. His strength lies in attacking with his bladerang and casting a spell while the weapon is in mid-flight.

The Long-Ranger
Malik is a master of long-range strikes, tossing his bladerang with his A-artes and casting wide-area spell with B-Artes. However, he's not much good when surrounded by hordes of enemies. Conduct yourself like a man of honor and avoid close confrontation!

Bladerang Basics
To be truly successfully effective with Malik, you must master his positioning while his bladerang is in the air. You may need to cancel a combo or follow an A-Arte with a B-Arte to eliminate openings for the enemy when the bladerang comes back. It's also possible for Malik to follow up a B-Arte with an A-Arte.

Catch and Step
It's possible to attack the moment the weapon returns to Malik's hand. Quick-step to shorten the pause that occurs when he catches the weapon, then press Circle to immediately throw it again.

Pascal

She's another spellcaster in the group, capable of unleashing very effective offensive spells. Pascal's shotstaff allows her to safely deal physical damage at long range through some of her cryas (A) artes require her to move close to the enemy.

High Risk, High Return
With long-distance A-Artes, and B-Artes that form cryas glyphs on the caster, Pascal's artes seem backward. But she wouldn't want it any other way! Her artes are among the most powerful in the game, so throw her out these and  pray she hits something.

Swapping in Artes
Once Pascal has learned a particular skill, you can press and hold X while casting an arte to initiate a blue charge. While in this state, press Circle to use a high-rank arte in place of the original one. The casting time for the new arte will be decreased by the amount if time spent casting the old one, so it can be quite useful.

Evading while Attacking
One useful strategy for Pascal is to unleash a long-range shotstaff arte, then forward-Steps toward the enemy and fire off a glyph arte. Keep in mind that quick-stepping during an attack can Increase the amount of time an enemy is staggered (not just for Pascal, but for anyone), so try and make the most of this useful technique.