Battle Meta

Now that you’ve got your gear, it’s time to use it. Don’t just rush into battle, however—get your intel on first.

Double the Weapons, Double the Power

Depending on their class, every character wields two weapons at all times: melee and ranged.

Melee weapons are powerful and generate more TP per auto-attack than an equally specced ranged weapon, but they incur risk by requiring engagememt up close.

Ranged weapons can be used from far away but attack with multiple hits that don’t do nearly as much damage per hit as an equally specced melee weapon. Enemies can also target you more easily if you constantly hang back with ranged attacks. Switch between both weapons with (X) depending on the situation.

Double the Weapons, Double the Power

Through the course of the game, characters learn special abilities and attacks known as Arts. There are five different types of Arts, noted by color.

The Arts menu is your one-stop shop for all things Arts. You can check which ones you’ve learned, add or remove them from the Arts list with the (Y) button, and upgrade them using battle points with the (X) button. The level cap for Arts is 5. For a full list of Arts available to your avatar and party members, see the Characters chapter.

Skills

Unlike Arts, which are active abilities and effects launched while in battle, Skills are passive abilities and effects that automatically activate under the correct conditions when equipped.

You can view your party members’ skills in the Skills menu. For a complete list of Skills available to characters, check the Characters chapter.

Classes

Classes are designations that are applied to your avatar and other party characters that dictate combat capabilities. Different classes specialize in different battle roles and weaponry, so it’s best to learn as many classes as possible. Some are battle masters, some excel at support, some are ideal for crippling enemies. Experiment for best results.

Going through the ranks of a class yields Arts and Skills, which you can then take on to the next class—with a caveat. Some Arts are tied to weapons, so if you move to a class that requires use of a different weapon than the previous class, you won’t be able to use those Arts. However, mastering a branch in the class tree allows you to equip that class’s weapons on a different class.

You can view the tree of classes in the Class menu. If you reach the end of a tree and master the final class there, you can master its weapons, meaning you can use them (and the Arts that require them) in any class from then on!

For a complete list of classes available to characters and what they entail, see the Characters chapter.

Buffs and Debuffs

Most often activated by Arts or weather effects, buffs grant temporary positive effects to party members, while debuffs inflict temporary negative effects. You can manipulate a character’s resistance to damage, the ability to take damage, and a litany of other effects.

Buffs

Buffs are temporary positive effects granted to party members. Buffs with higher levels have stronger effects and tend to last longer than buffs with lower levels.

Name		Effect
	Melee Accuracy Up	Increases melee attack accuracy.
	Ranged Accuracy Up	Increases ranged attack accuracy.
	Evasion Up	Increases the character’s chance of evading enemy attacks.
	Melee Power Up	Increases melee attack damage.
	Ranged Power Up	Increases ranged attack damage.
	Potential Up	Increases the amount of HP recovered by Soul Voices and Arts, and increases damage dealt by tension Arts.
	Physical Res Up	Decreases the amount of physical damage the character will take.
	Beam Res Up	Decreases the amount of beam damage the character will take.
	Ether Res Up	Decreases the amount of ether damage the character will take.
	Thermal Res Up	Decreases the amount of thermal damage the character will take.
	Electric Res Up	Decreases the amount of electric damage the character will take.
	Gravity Res Up	Decreases the amount of gravity damage the character will take.
	Barrier	Surrounds the character with a barrier that absorbs a certain amount of damage.
	Supercharge	Doubles the damage the character’s next attack will do.
	Decoy	The character will evade a certain number of enemy attacks.
	Critical Power Up	Doubles the damage of the character’s critical hits.
	Effect Stasis	Buff effects will last longer.
	Defending	Greatly decreases the amount of damage the character will take.
	Aura	An aura becomes active. The effect of the aura varies depending on the Art used.
	Invincible	The character becomes invincible for a certain amount of time.
	Weather Immunity	The character will become immune to weather effects.
	Terrain Immunity	The character will become immune to terrain damage.

Weather and Battle Probe Buffs

These are positive effects gained from either the weather or from placing battle-related probes.

Name		Effect
	All Attribute Res Up	Decreases all damage the character is taking.
	Critical Chance Up	Increases the character’s chance of scoring a critical hit.
	Ether Attack Up	Increases ether attack damage.
	Thermal Attack Up	Increases thermal attack damage.
	Electric Attack Up	Increases electric attack damage.
	Gravity Attack Up	Increases gravity attack damage.
	Res Down	Reduces the enemy’s resistance to debuffs and makes it easier to inflict Stagger and Topple.
	Skell Fuel Recovery	Recovers Skell fuel constantly.
	Skell Fuel Recovery Speed Up	Parked Skells recover fuel more quickly.

Debuffs

Debuffs are negative effects inflicted on party members. Debuffs with higher levels have stronger effects and tend to last longer than debuffs with lower levels.

Mobility Debuffs

These debuffs will either forcefully move a character or affect that character’s ability to move. The affected character will not be able to move until the debuff is removed or wears off on its own.

Name		Effect
	Stagger	Knocks the character off balance, making him or her susceptible to Topple and Bind.
	Topple	The character topples, opening him or her up to further attack.
	Knockback	The character is shoved backward a certain distance.
	Launch	The character is sent flying away.
	Flinch	The character flinches, unable to act for a certain amount of time.
	Stun	The character faints.
	Sleep	The character is put to sleep but will wake upon being attacked.
	Bind	The character is pinned down by an enemy Skell.
	Control	The character seizes control of the target and turns it into an ally.

Status Debuffs

These affect either a party member’s or enemy’s stats.

Name		Effect
	Taunt	Draws the attention of the target.
	Blackout	Reduces accuracy, evasion, and the amount of damage dealt by ranged weapons.
	Virus	The afflicted cannot used ranged weapons.
	Fatigue	Decreases melee attack damage.
	Slow Arts	Slows down Art cooldown speed.
	Time Bomb	Inflicts a large amount of damage after a certain amount of time.
	Debuff Res Down	Decreases resistance to all types of debuffs.
	HP Recovery Down	Reduces the amount of HP recovered by Soul Voices and Arts.
	Max TP Down	Reduces Maximum TP.
	Blaze	Inflicts thermal damage at regular intervals.
	Shock	Inflicts electric damage at regular intervals.
	Physical Res Down	Increases the amount of physical damage taken.
	Beam Res Down	Increases the amount of beam damage taken.
	Ether Res Down	Increases the amount of ether damage taken.
	Thermal Res Down	Increases the amount of thermal damage taken.
	Electric Res Down	Increases the amount of electric damage taken.
	Gravity Res Down	Increases the amount of gravity damage taken.

Weather Debuffs

Certain weather conditions inflict debuffs.

Name		Effect
	Melee Accuracy Down	Reduces melee attack accuracy.
	Ranged Accuracy Down	Reduces ranged attack accuracy.
	Melee Power Down	Reduces melee attack damage.
	Ranged Power Down	Reduces ranged attack damage.
	Potential Down	Decreases the amount of HP recovered by Soul Voices and Arts, as well as damage dealt by tension Arts.
	Critical Chance Down	Reduces the character’s chance to score a critical hit.
	Beam Attack Down	Reduces beam attack damage.
	Weather Damage: Heat	Inflicts thermal damage at regular intervals.
	Weather Damage: Lightning	Inflicts electric damage at regular intervals.

Braving the Elements

Different weather conditions bring with them different buffs and debuffs.

Weather Effects

Weather Name		Effect Name	Ground UnitEffect Level	Skell Effect Level	Enemy Effect Level
	Clear	—	—	—	—
	Cloudy	—	—	—	—
	Dense Fog	Ranged Accuracy Down	IV	I	II
		Melee Accuracy Down	III	I	II
		Critical Chance Down	III	I	II
	Rain	Ranged Accuracy Down	I	—	I
		Beam Attack Down	I	—	I
		Critical Chance Down	I	—	I
	Lightning	Electric Attack Up	III	I	I
		Beam Attack Up	I	I	I
	Heavy Rain	Ranged Accuracy Down	III	I	II
		Beam Attack Down	III	I	II
		Critical Chance Down	II	I	II
	Heat Wave	Ranged Accuracy Down	II	—	II
		Melee Power Down	V	—	III
		Thermal Attack Up	III	I	II
	Sandstorm	Ranged Accuracy Down	IV	II	III
		Melee Accuracy Down	III	I	III
		Ranged Power Down	V	II	III
		Beam Attack Down	IV	II	III
	Thunderstorm	Ranged Accuracy Down	II	—	I
		electric Attack Up	III	I	I
		Beam Attack Down	I	—	I
	Electromagnetic Storm	Ranged Accuracy Down	IV	II	II
		Ranged Power Down	V	II	III
		electric Attack Up	V	III	III
		Weather Damage: Lightning	I	II	I
	Rising Energy Mist	Ether Attack Up	III	I	I
		Max TP Down	I	II	—
		Potential Down	III	I	I
		Fuel Recovery Up	—	I	—
	Energy Mist	Ether Attack Up	V	IV	IV
		Max TP Down	III	IV	—
		Potential Down	V	III	III
		Fuel Recovery Up	—	III	—
	Brimstone Rain	Ranged Accuracy Down	II	—	I
		Melee Power Down	III	—	II
		Thermal Attack Up	V	III	II
		Weather Damage: Fire	III	—	—
	Aurora	Critical Chance Up	III	I	I
		Potential Up	III	I	I
		Ether Attack Up	III	I	I
	Crimson Aurora	Critical Chance Up	IV	II	II
		Potential Down	IV	I	I
		Ether Attack Up	V	III	III
		Gravity Attack Up	III	I	I
	Spores	Melee Power Down	IV	II	I
		Ranged Power Down	IV	II	I
		Potential Down	V	III	III
	Meteor Shower	Weather Damage: Meteorite	III	II	I
		Gravity Attack Up	III	II	I
		Critical Chance Up	III	I	I
	Rainbow	Critical Chance Up	V	III	III
		Potential Down	III	I	II