Ascension and AP (Ability Points) are both important pieces of the puzzle when it comes to leveling up in Final Fantasy 15. If you want to effectively level up, you’re going to need to know how to use the Ascension system and how to earn AP easily throughout the game. Today, we’ll go over the Ascension system, and teach you a few trusted ways to make more AP than you ever imagined.
Understanding the Ascension System
The first thing we want to cover is the Ascension system. This special menu is where you spend any Ability Points that you come across during your time in Final Fantasy 15. The menu itself is assorted by different categories, each of which hold different types of abilities and upgrades.
Combat abilities offer different ways to take down enemies. In this section, you’ll find skills like Light Phase, which reduces the cost of phasing in battle. This will allow you to phase away from enemy attacks more often without having to worry about going into stasis. Some important skills to pick up here include Ultralight Phase, Point-Blank Warp Strike and Impervious.
Teamwork abilities help boost your allies’ effectiveness as a party. These skills offer abilities like Analyze, which can be used to automatically scan enemies at the onset of a battle, reducing the need of Wait mode and Libra. Of course, this isn’t an extremely important skill, as you can still analyze enemies in Libra for zero AP cost. Three of the tiers here are broken down for each companion, while the top-most tier will affect all of your party members. Possible skills to focus on include Critical Link, Deathblow and Link up.
The next tier of the Ascension menu is the Stats section. This area enhances basic parameters to help boost stats and allow you to equip more accessories. Some important skills to pick up here include Health Level and Noct’s Accessory Slot node.
Exploration is a fairly important category in Ascension because it offers additional ways to boost your AP earnings. Nodes like Angler Action, Happy Camping and Roadrunning are useful skills, as they reward you with small amounts of AP for completing everyday actions like fishing, camping or riding for long distances in the Regalia.
Wait Mode is a useful mode in Final Fantasy 15 that allows you to stop time for a brief period during combat. This can be used to scan for enemy weaknesses, or to catch your breath in an intense fight. Nodes will help improve the Wait Mode, by offering things like Warp-Ambush, Presto Libra and Time-Freeze. If you don’t use Wait Mode, then you can ignore this tree altogether.
The Techniques category holds specific skills and abilities that allow your party members to complete stronger and more powerful techniques during combat. This is also where you’ll unlock completely new Techniques for your party members. Techniques like Regroup, Starshell and Dawnhammer are just a few possible skills you can unlock.
The Recovery tree is one of the final available categories in the Ascension menu, and it contains several skills that can be used to improve your array of restorative options. Skills here include Savior’s Fortitude, Distance Runner and Advanced First Aid.
The final tier of the Ascension system is the Magic category. Here, you will find various skills and abilities that help improve your magical prowess. Some important skills to keep in mind here include Elementality, Extra Powercraft and Bonuspell.
Of course, like any game of this style and size, the skills and abilities you want to purchase will depend greatly upon the particular style of play that you are going for. Look through each tree and see what the skills have to offer for your playstyle, and then make note of the skills you want to work towards. There really is no right or wrong way to go about this sort of thing.
How to Earn more AP
To buy new skills and abilities, though, you are going to have to earn more AP. Luckily, Ability Points can be earned pretty easily throughout the game, and there are plenty of ways for you to get them. We’ve included a list of easy to use ways below, so take a look and then start gaining more of that sweet, sweet AP.
Defeat enemies with a Blindside, Parry or Warp Strike.
The new Open Combat system allows you to do a lot more than you could in a usual turn-based combat system. The use of Warp-Strikes, Blindsides and Parries are all extremely important throughout battle, and can even earn you an additional AP when you kill an enemy using them.
Complete Tours for your party members.
Tours are nifty little side-quests that are given to you by the members of your party. They come about randomly, but when they are given, you can complete them and earn around 20 AP for each one. To get these started, camp around the world until a party member asks you for a favor.
Camp out in the wild.
While the EXP bonus is extremely tempting, and something you should definitely take advantage of, camping out in the wild is actually a good way to earn yourself some additional AP. Each time you camp out at new campsites you’ll receive 1 AP. This is a good way to move around the map, taking out enemies and earning experience. Of course, if you want to know other ways to farm AP or how to level up quickly in Final Fantasy 15, you should take a look at our guide.
Those are the basics that you need to know to effectively use the Ascension system. Remember to constantly check the amount of AP you currently have, as you can randomly earn more AP during battles and quests. You also receive these points right then, so you won’t have to wait until you sleep at an inn or campsite to claim them. You can return to our Final Fantasy 15 guide, or take a look at how to fish so you can earn even more AP.
