There are three kinds of combo skills (rush, power, and break).

Rush helps with gaining SP because it has a big hit count but normally weak in damage.

Power is the first or second most focused combo skill. It normally focus on what the game says "raw power". These skills are normally seen as the skill to lower HP.

Break to break stuff in this case guard gauge. 0 guard gauge cause guard break and leaves enemies more vulnerable to power combo skills.

Ways of the Breaking
Full break gauge means enemy is tanky or less affected by power combo skills. Break skills help guard gauge reach zero but break gauge recharge a bit every turn for that enemy.

E.g. Dogoo A can only recharge dogoo A's guard gauge.

**Basically, no guard means enemy more squish.**

Anyway, damage can vary a lot between skills and stats. I thought power skills would help more with hp damage but I always noticed different things about them. The stats are sometimes similar to rush or break combo skills. The one kind I'm used to is the sorta rush and break where it has more hits, more power, and more guard damage than rush combo skills.

The confusing part I noticed are the combo skill details with different hit counts, power, and guard damage. Whatever category skills go under doesn't mean it's better for that reason. Sometimes, a rush can overpower a guard or power skill. Make sure you check all the details of the skills before ignoring it.

From what I know, more power and more guard damage cause more effective attacks. It's also better if they have higher hit counts too but thats rare.

The game calculates damage similar to another game I play called Toram Online. The values given arent flat values that we easily subtract from hp and guard gauge. It's actually comparing hidden values and seeing how far apart they are from each other. Higher power or guard damage value can be more effective than lower power or guard damage value right? Nope. It only shows which are more effective.

If you wanna really hit hard you make sure both values are up. Power plus guard damage is how strong your attack will be each hit. This is where you do math but I do simply by adding or multiply. The reason I mention this extra part is hp damage is a bit more complicated and uses this logic to follow. Unlike guard damage where big numbers mean more boom.

Idk how to record while playing so that example will be delayed. But you can try testing with Plutia, use all 4 skills mentioned and try them in a break combo. If your eyes can capture every damage value and add it up you see the consistency in damage totals.


**Reminder: Combo skills with higher guard damage is more effective.***

A baseline of 200 guard damage means your damage will technically be raw, unaffected by guard gauge.