Sword Of Convallaria: 8 Combat Tips

Sword of Convallaria is a love letter to tactical JRPGs of the 1990s, like Final Fantasy Tactics. And like any tactical JRPG, SoC's gameplay heavily emphasizes combat. In fact, 80 percent of SoC is combat, another 10 percent is dedicated to character builds (for combat), and the last 10 percent consists of cutscenes. In short, you gotta know how to fight.

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We've spent hours, if not days, learning the ins and outs of SoC's combat system and mechanics. And while we still have plenty left to discover, we've learned several vital lessons for seizing victory from the jaws of defeat. Read our tips below, and you'll find yourself commanding units with ease!

Select Characters With Roles That Counter Your Enemies' Roles

Character roles are a vital concept to understand in Sword of Convallaria. Each role has a different specialization that affects a character's gameplay. Plus, SoC uses a rock-paper-scissors system to dictate what roles hold advantages over others.

We recommend examining your enemies' roles before the battle begins. Then, you can fill your party load-out with roles that will counter your enemies' roles, thus imparting extra damage. You can learn more about SoC's character roles in the table below.

Each Character Role In Sword Of Convallaria

Role

Color

Specializes In

Advantage Against

Disadvantage Against

Defender

Green

Defensive Tactics

Seeker

Breaker

Seeker

Blue

Stealth And Speed

Breaker

Defender

Breaker

Red

Melee Physical Attacks

Defender

Seeker

Watcher

Yellow

Ranged Attacks / Light Magic

Destroyer

None

Destroyer

Purple

Ranged Attacks / Dark Magic

None

Watcher

Are you unsure which character roles counter which? In that case, turn on the Action Order feature to display the role counter diagram.

The First Story Beat Of A Battle Can Change It Significantly

Battles in SoC sometimes take surprise twists and turns, often as early as in the first round. For instance, an NPC may take out half your enemies, thus making the fight less formidable. In more unfortunate circumstances, new enemies may swarm the stage with character roles you were unprepared to face.

There isn't much you can do to plan for these situations. However, keeping your strategy malleable to adjust to new developments will minimize the impact of these last-minute changes.

If you lose the battle, you can try again and build a new party configuration based on the information you gathered in your last attempt.

Use The Stage Environment To Your Advantage

Understanding your environment is vital to developing innovative battle strategies. For example, consider how the colonial US soldiers utilized guerilla warfare by camouflaging themselves and ambushing the British during the Revolutionary War. Since tactical RPGs emulate warfare, it makes sense that environmental factors matter a lot in SoC.

The stage environment offers several tools to quickly turn the tide of battle in your favor. For instance, if your enemy is facing a river, you can use a knockback skill to push them in and swiftly eliminate them. Or, if you notice a trap ahead of you, you can lure the enemy toward you until they fall victim to the trap.

There are several other terrain effects in SoC. Ranged attacks are more powerful when the attacker is on higher ground than their target. Hazards, like explosive barrels, crossbow walls, and boulders, can trigger severe environmental damage. Special objects, such as tarot cards, grant bonuses upon retrieval. You can learn about all of these effects in the Battle Guide.

You can learn more about a space on the battlefield by clicking on it. A brief description of the space's effects will appear in the screen's bottom-left corner.

Activate Tactical Skills To Navigate Tricky Situations

Besides your characters' skills, you can also access an assortment of special techniques called Tactical Skills. Compared to character skills, Tactical Skills have a much more comprehensive range of activation with significantly higher damage or buffs.

You need to use Tactical Points (TP) to activate Tactical Skills. You'll begin each battle with a preset amount of TP. Then, after triggering a Tactical Skill, you must wait for TP to renew over time. Considering how consequential Tactical Skills are, choosing when to use TP is critical.

We recommend equipping a diverse range of Tactical Skills, from offensive attacks to friendly buffs. Then, you'll have a suitable Tactical Skill for any situation. For example, a movement-enhancing skill like March Command is perfect for closing the distance from a far-off enemy.

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Choose Complementary Skills When Ranking Up Characters

In SoC's Elysium modes, your characters gain new skills when ranking up. Starting from Rank 1, you'll choose between two skills at every other rank (Rank 1, 3, 5, etc.). So, how do you decide what skill to pick?

You'll get the most out of a rank-up if you choose a skill that diversifies the skill set of your entire team. For instance, suppose you must choose between Leg Slam and a different skill. However, three of your characters already learned Leg Slam. In that case, you're better off selecting the new skill instead.

As your character collection grows, you can start learning skills that complement other characters' skills. For instance, if one of your characters has a skill that grants extra attack at the expense of defense, you can teach another character a healing skill to counteract the negative effect.

Spread Out Your Party To Cover More Ground

Another significant factor in tactical RPGs is formation. How your team navigates the battlefield affects their control of the space and incoming enemies. Therefore, different circumstances warrant different formations.

Sometimes, you'll benefit from directing all of your heroes on the same path, like when facing a single powerful enemy. However, you'll often get more value from your team by spreading them across the battlefield. By doing this, your team will cover more ground and avoid getting cornered by enemies.

One method we like to use is dividing our team into an offensive and stealth faction. In this case, we would send Breakers and Defenders directly toward enemy units, while Watchers, Seekers, and Destroyers would sneak behind enemy units for surprise attacks.

Equip Accessories And Tarot Whispers That Are Compatible With Your Hero's Skills

Accessories and Tarot Whispers boost your characters' stats and skills. However, certain equipment is more compatible with some characters than others.

An equipment's compatibility with a character depends on the character's skills. For example, the Hunter's Intuition accessory grants 5% more damage when triggering an Alert skill. The best character for this accessory is Faycal because he has an Alert skill.

Will you get your characters geared up faster by auto-equipping? Of course. But your characters will be far better prepared if you consider how their skills interact with the gear you equip for them.

Focus On The Win Conditions To Form An Effective Strategy

Every battle in SoC has unique victory conditions. Win, lose, and extra conditions are displayed before the battle begins. It's essential to approach each battle with these conditions in mind.

For example, if the win condition for a battle is to escape the battlefield, fighting enemies that are out of your way is an inefficient approach. The better strategy is to avoid enemies except for in moments of self-defense.

You can view the possible win conditions you'll encounter in SoC below.

Types Of Win Conditions

• Defeat All Enemies: In these battles, you must defeat all enemies to win. You'll lose if all of your team members get eliminated.
• Defeat The Target: In these battles, you must defeat the target enemy (usually a boss character) to win. You'll lose if all of your team members get eliminated.
• Escort: In these battles, you must escort an NPC to the escape point. You'll lose if all your team members get eliminated or the NPC gets eliminated before reaching the escape point.
• Escape: One of your teammates must reach the escape point to win these battles. You'll lose if all of your team members get eliminated.
• Hold On: In these battles, your team must survive a set number of rounds without them all getting eliminated.

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