Combat

Combat is turn-based. The player and enemy sides alternate phases, and each combatant spends Action Points to attack, use abilities, defend, or use items. Most ordinary actions are easy to understand from their battle descriptions; this page explains the shared rules and the choices that matter most.

For the exact damage, accuracy, state, healing, variance, difficulty, and reward formulas, see Combat Calculations.

Combat at a glance

Action Points

Most combatants begin their side's phase with 1 Action Point (AP). Attacking, using a Skill or Ritual, guarding, and using most items costs 1 AP. If an effect grants another point, that combatant may act again during the same phase.

AP does not carry into the next phase. Effects that grant AP during an action are therefore most useful when the combatant can immediately choose another action.

Player actions

Attack

The basic attack normally deals physical damage using the user's Attack and the target's Defense. Its element, accuracy, critical behavior, and added effects can be changed by equipment or states.

Skills

Skills are primarily weapon and physical techniques. Many deal physical damage and then attempt an extra effect, such as Stun, a Curse, or additional Battle Points.

Rituals

Rituals include magical attacks, healing, buffs, debuffs, utility, and resource conversion. Ritual damage generally uses Magic Attack and Magic Defense, although the ability description should always take priority.

Guard

Guard protects the user from the next ordinary attack. Certain attacks explicitly break or ignore Guard.

Items

Battle items can restore resources, cure states, attack enemies, grant Action Points, or add Battle Points. Some are field-only or battle-only.

Escape

Escape is only available in battles that permit it. A failed attempt gives the enemy side an opportunity to act before another attempt can be made.

Accuracy and critical hits

Physical actions normally check the user's Hit Rate against the target's Evasion Rate. Magical actions normally use Magical Evasion instead. Some effects have special accuracy rules, and certain-hit actions bypass ordinary accuracy and evasion.

A critical hit increases damage after the main damage calculation. Critical Rate and Critical Evasion affect whether it occurs. Lethal Battle Points are a separate effect: when they activate, they double the attack's damage and reset the user's Lethal points.

Elements

Attacks can carry an element such as Light, Darkness, Insight, Insanity, or Curse. A target's elemental rate determines whether that element deals reduced, normal, or increased damage. An ability's element is separate from any state it may apply.

When an attack can use more than one element, its result depends on the ability and equipment involved. See Combat Calculations#Elements for the precise ordering.

Buffs, debuffs, and states

Temporary battle buffs and debuffs can raise or lower a core stat in stages. Named states such as Stun, Poison, Weakness, Hex, Fear, and Chaos have their own effects and durations. A displayed application percentage is not always the final chance: target resistance and the Luck difference between the user and target may also apply.

Persistent Blessings and Curses are separate from short battle buffs even when they affect the same stat. See Status Effects for duration and removal rules.

Battle Points

Three point pools can activate special effects:

Type	Check	Effect on success
Swift	When an enemy attack begins	Avoids that attack sequence
Lethal	When the player begins an attack	Doubles the attack's damage
Defensive	After the player's action	Restores 25% of maximum HP and MP

Each point gives a 4-percentage-point chance to activate. A success resets only that pool. See Battle Points for exact probabilities and edge cases.

Combat Shrines

After defeating the Hall Monitor in the Mall F1 Hallway, Combat Shrines become active in the Mall, Old Woods, and Catacombs. Placing a Combat Offering raises that area's shrine level, empowering its enemies while improving loot frequency and unlocking special reward pools.

Each area has its own level and can hold up to five offerings. Bosses receive the stat empowerment but do not award the shrine's unique bonus rewards. Dying or fleeing within an affected area resets that area's shrine to the minimum allowed by the selected difficulty. See Combat Shrines for locations, exact level effects, reset rules, and the current level 1–2 stat anomaly.

Healing and recovery

Healing may use a fixed amount, a percentage of maximum HP or MP, or a formula that scales with stats. Recovery effectiveness can be changed by states and equipment. Healing does not use the same Defense reduction as an attack unless the individual effect says otherwise.

HP and MP can also be restored outside battle through food, bathing, sleeping, fountains, and other events. See Bathing and Sleep.

Victory and defeat

Defeating all required enemies awards the battle's Experience, currency, and eligible drops. Some encounters use scripted phases, reinforcements, or rewards, so the visible first group is not always the entire fight.

If the party is defeated, the result depends on the encounter and current difficulty. Some battles use their own continuation or loss rules instead of an ordinary game over.

Practical advice

• Accuracy matters most when using high-impact attacks; a missed attack also loses the opportunity to apply its attached state.
• Small Defense reductions can be difficult to see in a single hit because ordinary damage has variance. Compare several attacks or expected averages.
• Guard, elemental rates, and state resistance solve different problems. An enemy resistant to an element may still be vulnerable to an attached state, and vice versa.
• Extra AP is strongest when earned early enough to spend during the same phase.
• Battle Points are temporary. Use them to shape the current battle rather than saving them for a later encounter.

See also

• Combat Calculations
• Stats
• Status Effects
• Battle Points
• Combat Shrines
• Skills
• Rituals
• Enemies
• Weapons
• Armor