Final Fantasy 13 - Combat & Leveling Basics

An understanding of how Final Fantasy XIII’s combat chain , how it is effected and what it does is vital to beating many of the tougher boss fights, and even mobs in Final Fantasy XIII. This concept is very simple, but if you don’t apply your learning, you will have great difficulty beating anything other than a PSIcore grunt!

How the chain works:

As stated, simply hitting the enemy will increase the gauge, but as the battle wears on, the gauge also dissipates. Hitting the enemy again will reset the gauge to where it was before though, as well as adding some extra to it- but only if the gauge has not already completely depleted. If it has- you’ll need to start again from scratch!

Final Fantasy XIII’s Ravager classes are very good at increasing the level of the chain gauge, but in combat their attacks also increase the rate at which the gauge drops- use the triple ravager paradigm to see what I mean!

Commandoes do very little to up the chain gauge, but they lower the rate at which it decreases, buying more time for the ravager’s to fill their ATB for the big hits. Sentinels and Saboteurs also have this effect, but not as strongly.

What the Chain Does

Simply put, the chain is a combat mechanic that allows you to inflict massive amounts of damage on an enemy using only your basic attacks and skills. Each time an enemy is hit, his chain gauge increases, resulting in him taking more damage from subsequent hits. The amount of extra damage is shown by a percentage beneath the chain gauge bar- this is the rate at which you are doing damage- 200%- twice the damage, 150% equals regular and half again, and so forth.

When the gauge is filled up, the enemy becomes staggered. Staggered enemies take huge amounts of damage from each hit, and each hit will continue to increase their damage received rate up to a maximum of 999%- meaning that even a basic attack has the possibility of inflicting 10X normal damage on an enemy! This truly is a powerful combat mechanic in Final Fantasy XIII’s arsenal!

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