Tales of Arise is now out in the wild and many are enjoying their time with the JRPG. It puts the Tales Of franchise in a new light and is doing quite well with critics and even in sales. Whether you’re newcomer to the series or a huge Tales fan, here's a few combat tips to make you more effective in battle as you explore the conflict between the Renans and the Dahnans.

Tales of Arise Combat Tips

Map certain types of arts in the same order for all characters

You’ll likely go with one main character to control 80% of the time when playing Tales of Arise. Whoever you decide to master, make sure the layout of your arts are similar between each character so in case you’re in a situation to fight with a different character it won’t feel completely alien during a fight.

If let’s say you have a long range attack mapped to one particular button, it would be better to have all the characters you wish to control in battle to have a similar attack so that once you make the switch you’re familiar with what you need to press, lessening confusion during fights. For example, all of my character Artes combo openers are mapped to the ‘square’ button on the PS5/4.

Make your combos flow, don’t spam

As you progress in the game, frontline fighters like Alphen will learn new Artes that will make them more effective in battle. Artes Gauge (AG) is required to execute Artes and only starts to recharge once you’ve stopped attacking, so spamming a single move isn’t ideal. Plus, using the same move repeatedly will result in a weaker damage output in your moves.

So, get a combo going. There are a variety of Artes available for each character and can chain nicely to keep a single enemy in place to take all the beating.

My usual formula with combos are usually Artes > normal attack string > Artes > Artes (that launches the enemy) > normal air attack string.

This sequence isn’t the most efficient as it’s just my preferred method in normal battles. The core idea is to make use of all the AG available in a single combo. You can mix and match what works for you. Make sure you add in the string of normal attacks in your process as it can be used in between Artes to avoid diminishing returns and make the combo last. You can even squeeze in calling a character to do a Boost Attack with the directional button to extend it just a little bit more as these support attacks recovers some AG when it connects. Have fun with it!

Abuse boss and mini-boss weaknesses

Bosses in Tales of Arise can be quite tough as some can come out as damage sponges. But most of them, especially the big ones, come with noticeable weak points that should be focused on. These orange shiny spots are hard to miss and are your best bet in dishing out the most damage. If you deal enough damage, you’ll even break it and put the boss/mini-boss in a vulnerable state for a short amount of time.

Another way to be effective in these types of fights is to make sure you’re dealing the right elemental damage.

Here’s how elements work in Tales of Arise:

Fire is strong against Water
Water is strong against Fire
Wind is strong against Earth
Earth is strong against Wind
Light is strong against Dark
Dark is strong against Light

Press L1 when targeting an enemy and you’ll notice an icon beside it’s name and level that represents its elemental affinity. If it has one, adapt by using Artes that deal the right elemental damage against it. You’ll know you’re hitting it with the right element when you see “weakness" beside the damage numbers.

You can also lessen the amount of damage your party will receive by equipping accessories that reduce damage done by a particular element. It’s likely that a fire-based boss will throw a few fire spells or moves at your party.

Choose what Artes characters will use in battle

In Tales of Arise, you control one character and the rest is controlled by the AI. Most Of the time, the AI is fairly competent in battle but will mostly use whatever skill is available to them and will prioritize your chosen Strategy set for the party. The Strategy system is mostly used to dictate how AI characters will use healing spells, buffs, and items, so there’s not much control on how one character will use their AG, but you can at least lessen the kinds of Artes or spells they can use.

When you go to the Artes menu, you can head to a character’s list of Artes and spells and toggle on or off the spells/Artes to dictate what abilities will be available to the AI during combat. This is perfect for boss encounters and mini bosses. For example, if you're fighting an Earth-based boss, you can then make a spell caster like Rinwell to only use Wind spells by turning off all elemental-based Artes and spells that aren't wind.

Hopefully you’re given some insight on how to be effective in this JRPG. Tales of Arise is available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.

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