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

We’ve spent hours, if notdays, 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!

Crimson Falcon holds a role advantage over a King’s Army Soldier during a battle in Sword of Convallaria.

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 arock-paper-scissors system to dictate what roles hold advantages over others.

We recommend examining your enemies' roles before the battle begins. Then, you’re able to 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.

An Outlaw Assassin sneaks past Phantoms during a quest in Sword Of Convallaria with the help of the Threat Range combat feature.

Stealth And Speed

None

Watcher

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

The First Story Beat Of A Battle Can Change It Significantly

Battles in SoC sometimestake 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 may do to plan for these situations. However,keeping your strategy malleable to adjust to new developmentswill minimize the impact of these last-minute changes.

Nergal enters a battle at the Iria River in Sword of Convallaria.

If you lose the battle, you’re able to 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 vitalto 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.

Thestage environment offers several toolsto 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.

Rawiyah, Maitha, Faycal, and a Union soldier stand surrounded by Hanged Men soldiers getting burned by scorched tiles in Sword of Convallaria.

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. Abrief description of the space’s effects will appearin the screen’s bottom-left corner.

The commander activates the March Command Tactical Skill during a battle in Sword of Convallaria.

Activate Tactical Skills To Navigate Tricky Situations

Besides your characters' skills, you can also access an assortment ofspecial 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 touse 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.

Faycal equips the Hunters Intuition accessory in Sword of Convallaria.

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 likeMarch Commandis perfect for closing the distance from a far-off enemy.

Choose Complementary Skills When Ranking Up Characters

In SoC’s Elysium modes, your characters gain new skills when ranking up. Starting fromRank 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 youchoose a skill that diversifies the skill set of your entire team. For instance, suppose you must choose betweenLeg Slamand a different skill. However, three of your characters already learned Leg Slam. In that case, you’re better off selecting the new skill instead.

The Win Conditions for The Fool’s Journey stage 3-5 in Sword of Convallaria.

As your character collection grows, you can startlearning 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.

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 isdividing 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 isFaycal 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 toapproach 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.