I Dont own the cover image*

Within this guide I aim to find a rewarding combat "Flowchart" for each of the characters

Given that I just 100% the game - Dec 2021

All characters can follow the following diagram:

Auto chain (R1/RB)-> ground artes -> knock-up* (the up arrow ground artes) -> Arial autos -> slam (down arrow aerial artes)

*For the knock-up to work the enemy must be guard broken

*You can intermingle the ground autos and the ground artes for flavor or gap closing (some artes push you away). Same applies for aerials *

This game follows the trend that the deeper you are into self combo (not the combo counter) the faster the spell will cast.

for non-immediate needs this is the easy way to play casters as auto cancels work

Given that the majority of the weapon wielding enemies are right handed the usual best spot to attack an enemy is its back left to center back (225-270 degrees) with some exceptions but they are the minority. for larger beast monsters or bosses its best to either be center back or on their back left leg (most attacks originate on the right side).

Alot of the hit-boxes in the game have poor design for verticality (mostly too small, but some can be too big [usually just AOE's in general are large cylinders as opposed to the sphere they should be]) so alot of the time you can sit in the air and combo without fear of getting hit from most of the attacks in the game.

-The passive skills will expand the scope of alot the flowcharts/utility of the characters so getting them is a very good idea. Mainly the KO prevent (on harder difficulties), the Boost gauge rate increases, and the AG restore from crits (mostly on the multi-hit [read as melee] characters).

-While combing if you are running out of AG you can boost strike to regain some AG

-The perfect evades to restore Ag are very good, but you will often drop your combo to be able to PE.

-Char 1's boost strike nearly always downs an enemies so you can abuse it to force them to nearly always be down. Some enemies will go down to other Boost Strikes so experiment freely (even if they are not attribute week)

-Using BS will make that Char fight that particular enemy for abit so you can pile on people to attack if you are trying to get a finisher

-Using a mystic arte will stop: attacks, casts, active field spells, and will reset the positions of everyone to battle start (sometimes it wont do this, but idk why or why not). doing so will drop combos unless you supplement with a boost arte.

TLDR: the base presets are not that bad and wont fix the major issues you might have for the game play but if you want to get something set up that is abit better/ more consistent than the presets:

This is a generalized list but specifics are in the Links section described strategies
generally in this order :
1. If CP is less than X % use item to regain CP
2. If anyone KO'd then rez
3. If anyone (or 2+ people, etc) KO'd then life bottle/ elixer / etc
4. If Alley HP less than 50% (75% for chaos or higher) then use (list the heals you have access to here with AOE first followed by single target clauses)
5. Always - buffs (depending on who you use in the party EX: law - steel)
6. If ally HP less than 25% (50% for chaos or higher) then keep away from enemies

[/h1] Party Compositions [/h1]
There are only really 3 fights or so (bosses) with a DPS check mechanic so maximizing DPS will only help with speed not efficiency/consistency. with that said any combo of the chars would work, But Healing is difficult in this game (less self heals as mechanics) so the priority seems to be healers. here are my top 3 pics

Party 1: mid game with the full squad
char 2 (prime heal) w/ heal based accessory (aggro-- / aggro- helps)
char 6 (second heal / melee DPS) w/ heal based accessory and Offensive casting kept to a minimum
char 1/3 (melee DPS) w/ damage/ (occasionally aggro +) based accessory
char 5 (tank) w/ survivability and aggro++ based accessory
with this comp the survivability is maximized with 2ish healers and a strong focus on traditional party structure. with the 2 melee and tank keeping enemies engaged [read hit stunned] and aggroed away from the healer it makes life rather simple to just mash keys to win.

Party 2: early game
char 1 (melee DPS) w/ damage/ (occasionally aggro +) based accessory
char 2 (prime heal) w/ heal based accessory (aggro-- / aggro- helps)
char 3 (melee DPS) w/ damage/ (occasionally aggro +) based accessory
char 4 (black mage) w/ casting based accessory (aggro-- / aggro- helps**)
Early this is all you have so to maximize it AOE moves should be prioritized by everyone on the DPS side to help keep things hit-stunned and off the casters
** If you put aggro- or -- on the black mage then you risk mobs going to the healer so its a 50/50 who they will choose. i chose to use the black mage as a sacrifice most of the time as they will doge most attacks anyway.

Party 3:
char 1 (melee DPS) w/ damage/ (occasionally aggro +) based accessory
char 2 (prime heal) w/ heal based accessory (aggro-- / aggro- helps)
char 3 (melee DPS) w/ damage/ (occasionally aggro +) based accessory
char 5 (tank) w/ survivability and aggro++ based accessory
I used this the majority of the mid to late-ish game and had minor issues with survivability if there were swarms or large AOEs, but i managed pretty easily the vast majority of the time.

Good all around melee char with decent capabilities for burst damage (albeit at the cost of health and only being flame element), but excels at: stalling for the AI to hit (moves with good hit-stun totals), gap closer (artes and autos have good movement)


Low level fights that you want over and are not concerned for anything but time can do the following:

Normal combo but either on the finisher ground or air arte use an unlocked Flaming Edge arte and it will burn your health but do massive damage often time OHKO the mobs. (as helped by @Joshuadodell in a comment)

Notable Artes:
Lightning thrust: good gap closer and will track on semi very well
Rising Wyvern : probably his best (quickest) knock up
Swallow Blade: quick, multi-hit, good all around
Thunder Fang: good damage, fast, decent tracking
Eternal Devastation: good elemental damage, abit laggy to be amazing tho



My artes: (main page)
Ground
Triangle/Y : Rising Wyvern
Square/X :Swallow Blade
Cross/A :Thunder Fang

Using thunder fang to either damage or sudo gap close
Swallow blade to extend hit-stun or fish for crit resets
Rising Wyvern to move to air

Air:
Triangle/Y : mirage
Square/X : stardust / hurricane thrust
Cross/A : Luna Rondo

Luna rondo as main damage / extender and the stardust/hurricane thrust to keep positioning using mirage to get grounded

Shionne has a few ways she could be played and the effectiveness of each will be described within their section

Logically the flowchart that I tend to play with is [healer>hunter>Pseudo mage>Rushdown]
with this knowing the defense of the enemy is important as different elements are better or if i need to switch to mage or if you need to dynamically fit in rushdown.

*For the knock-up to work the enemy must be guard broken

This play style is not recommended as a main style, but she does have situations where she could transition from the other play styles to this is the opportunity arises (see what i did there?) and then it can excel.

For instance: your doing your thing in 'hunter' and the enemy does a gap closer to you and you have some AR. Then you can move into the knockup section of the chart, finish the chart, reposition, then go back to 'hunter'

Auto chain (R1/RB)-> ranged artes

I do think this is the primary mode that Shionne is made for. The bomb/shell artes are even stronger if the enemy is defense weak


My artes: (main page)
Ground
Triangle/Y : (any of the elemental bombs)
Square/X : flex slot (didnt really stick with anything here)
Cross/A : magna ray

Air artes are not advised

Auto chain (R1/RB)-> ranged artes
or
Ranged artes**

** if the combo arte speed is equipped then doing autos first will make the spells quicker

Only really works if the enemy physical defense is very strong and the autos is not worth it at all

As you have a heal cleanse and a revive you gotta manage the party health/debuffs

Position away from the attacks and cast your spells, the iron stance in of the skill trees can eat small attacks that hit later into the cast if repositioning isn't an option

List of combo spells started here https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/740130/discussions/0/3042733612671694013/

Fight time length:
Use your support artes to enhance other party members then do your general charge up spells and boost strike to counter enemy artes until the buffs wear off then reapply

If a mid length fight then you might wanna cut buffing the party as it should over before it breaks even DPS-wise

For a very short fight then you might want to just use your 'strike artes' as those can be spammed quickly and actually do more burst damage /// unless they are slow enemies and can be caught in a single big AoE spell

My artes: (main page)
Ground
Triangle/Y : (air)
Square/X : (fire)
Cross/A : (water)

Concentrate and sharpness are a must (page 2)

I find that if you are bossing then the larger spells enhanced by combo time reduction are better, but trash are simpler by smaller 'quicker' spells

Air artes are not advised

Using the Boost to break armor (you can see if they need to be broken or are broken as when you do the target select an armor icon will be next to their name)

Keeping your awaking is key and unlocking the further states

My artes: (main page)
Ground
Triangle/Y : talon hurricane
Square/X : whirlwind snap
Cross/A : super swallow dance

Super swallow dance and whirlwind snap are interchangeable but SSD is longer with more hit-stun just depends on your objectives

Air
Triangle/Y :death blossom
Square/X : glimmer dragon
Cross/A : fang bolero

Using artes that can be used/enhanced by shield use are preferable, but the mace artes are good for multi-attacking and gap closing. The element coverage is not bad either for the artes.

Given that the guard reduces damage alot, if you struggle to time the perfect evades this is the char for you to practice with.

The aerials are actually really good for hit-stunning once guard broken as they last awhile or even be good for burst damage (in comparison to the normal damage output) and can be chained well.

My artes: (main page)
Ground
Triangle/Y :hurricane slice
Square/X : piercing roar
Cross/A : glacial pyre

Piercing roar has good tracking/ gap close where glacial pyre is just good stun and damage

Air
Triangle/Y : lightning streak
Square/X : havoc thrust
Cross/A : beast assault

Beast assault for damage and height linger where havoc thrust is a great gap closer / cross over

For casting there is a disadvantage as the autos are melees, but on manual you can use them anyway, but the type specializations are very high damage and can actually put people into lots of hit-stun.

When you hit a perfect evade you get a temporary buff to hit-box size, penetration, and crit chance. Fishing for the buff is very worth it and maintaining the buff is very worthwhile.

The melee combos have alot of innate AOE especially in their tech form from getting a perfect evade so chaining together enemies works wonders.

He has alot of hang time due to his artes usually pulling up, so high flyers can actually be hit sometimes (speeds up some boss fights)

My artes: (main page)
Ground
Triangle/Y :Elusive deity
Square/X : Tempest
Cross/A : Seismic rupture

Seismic rupture has good targeting and gap closing

Air
Triangle/Y : tornado drive
Square/X : (flex pick)
Cross/A : rotating pile-driver (can climb to reach bosses)

• guide is done ?
  
• respond to comments as they appear

update: early Dec 2021
-added char 5,6 (also finished the game)
-added accessory topic link

update:mid Dec 2021
-finished the game (so should you :P)
-added info for char 5, 6
-reorganized information on flowcharts
-added sections to general and finished them
-added artes lists and some thoughts about major ones

List of combo spells started here: https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/740130/discussions/0/3042733612671694013/

cool topic for accessories: https://www.reddit.com/r/tales/comments/pxx2tn/tales_of_arise_best_accessories/

Strategy setups:
https://www.reddit.com/r/tales/comments/poxreq/arise_ai_strategy_setup/
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/265989-tales-of-arise/79664084

Some of the things are difficult to isolate and I just might be wrong.

Please leave a comment and tell me what is wrong and i will credit you and fix it.

If you have something to add or a new prospective please leave a comment and if its insightful i will credit you and add it.