Combat Mechanics

Note that this information was researched through observation, and may be inaccurate. Please edit the page to correct it if you notice any errors.

Attacks
At the beginning of combat, all characters immediately begin an attack animation. They will typically target the enemy closest to being directly in front of them (unless an enemy has Hostility). If there is no enemy in front of them, they will attack an enemy diagonally. If there is still no enemy they can reach, they will run forward into the next lane, which takes a few seconds.

During their attack animation, characters inflict one or more hits. Characters have a hit count (listed on their character page under their first Trait.) Each character, assuming they are not under the effect of any buffs or debuffs or are attacking an enemy with an elemental weakness to them, deals damage equal to their ATK stat with each hit. This means that, if all other factors are ignored, a character with 2-hit attacks deals twice as much damage as one with a 1-hit attack. Such characters are stronger than their ATK stat indicates.

Some characters, such as Maroro, give themselves massive, perpetual attack buffs at the start of battle. Unless you are fighting enemies capable of removing ATK Up status, these characters are stronger than their ATK stat indicates.

Characters have an attack speed (listed on their character page,) which measures the approximate time it takes for their animation to repeat. This means characters with fast attack speed are stronger than their ATK stat indicates.

If an enemy dies while a character is attacking them, the remaining hits are wasted (even if they have yet to inflict any hits.) They will not deal damage again until their animation has cycled in full. This means characters with fast attack speed are less likely to waste hits, giving them a further advantage. Characters still successfully perform trait actions that don't target the enemy (such as buffs and heals) if their targeted enemy is dead.

Using a character's chain attack resets that character's attack animation to the beginning.

Chain Attacks
Chain attacks can have from 1 to 3 stages (successive stages are executed by pressing the button at the bottom when prompted.) Each character can only use their third stage chain attack once per battle. If you chain attack with them again, even if you have enough Zeal, you will only be able to continue up to their second stage.

Chain attacks can only be used if the Zeal bar at the bottom of the battle screen has reached the necessary number of bars. Each stage of a character's chain attack consumes a variable number of Zeal bars depending on the character. The vast majority of characters' first and second stage chain attacks cost 1 Zeal bar each, while the cost of third stage chain attacks varies between 0, 1 and 2 bars.

Even if you have enough Zeal to continue them, chain attacks will end if there are no valid targets within the range of the next stage.

Summons
Characters such as Fumirul are able to summon units (for example, Shumari). They have stats, elements, and traits, which can be referenced from their respective characters' screens in the game. Those depend on the character's level and chain / trait levels. Effects on mirrors on the characters that summon them are not carried over onto them.

They are summoned onto an empty allied tile, with preference given to the front row, from top to bottom (i.e. first empty tile among top-right, middle-right, bottom-right, top-left, middle-left, bottom-left). They are effectively treated as an allied character that can be buffed or debuffed, and also considered in the number of alive characters for the battle result. They remain on the field even if the characters who summoned them fall.

Elements
Main article: Elements


 * Fire => Water => Wind => Earth => Fire
 * Light <=> Dark

Characters deal 1.5x to and take 0.5x damage from enemies of the Element weak to their own element, shown by the arrows above. They deal normal damage and take normal damage from all other enemies, including enemies with elements strong against their own.

This means, with the exception of a few rare stages containing enemies that are weak to Neutral, using Neutral characters grants no advantage over using characters with an element. However, Akuta is still worth using on his own merits.

Status Effects
Main article: Status Effects

AUTO Mode
AUTO Mode immediately uses the first stage of a chain attack as soon as a single bar of Zeal has charged.

When selecting a chain attack, it cycles through the rows of your battle formation from top to bottom, assuming a character in that position is alive and able to use their chain attack. It will choose a frontline character if available, so if you want a backline character's chain attack to be used in AUTO Mode, use a 2 frontline/3 backline formation with your desired character in the space with no frontliner.

Unsurprisingly, these weak and nearly-random chain attacks can rarely win battles that would otherwise be lost, and AUTO Mode should be used only to speed up battles you know you can win even without using chains. Otherwise, leave it turned off and select your chain attacks intelligently.

Minagi's self damage during her chain attack means that using AUTO Mode with her in the formation may cause her to kill herself even when fighting easy opponents.

Known Bugs
Major Bugs


 * Battles will sometimes freeze on the black chain attack background if you kill an enemy the moment they try to use their chain attack. There is no way to recover from this besides restarting the game and giving up on the battle.

Minor Bugs


 * Similar to the enemy chain attack bug above, odd things can happen if you use your own character's chain attack at the exact moment they die. This will not necessarily cause a game freeze, but can also cause the 3D camera to get stuck in "chain attack" position while the battle continues.
 * The damage cut from Rulutieh's 2nd stage chain attack can stack with identical damage cuts from previous uses of the chain; based on what we know about damage cuts, this should not happen.