Normal attack v. Combat/Mystic Arts?

[Esely]

So I just started the game and I don't see why I would choose to use normal attacks over attacking with arts since it does more damage? Especially since after each battle, AP gets restored. Is there some sort of downside?

[SinisterEvil]

Mystic Arts are probably better as you they get better later on and you learn more spells and they do more damage where as combat arts are boring :)

[SinisterEvil]

Mystics arts are the way to go :)

[Mozartacus]

If you use normal attacks it saves and builds up your AP in battle so that more characters can use their abilities.

Say you start a battle with 20 AP and 3 characters in a union. Let's say each of their arts cost 15 AP. Only one character will be able to use their arts in the first couple of turns. The amount of AP you get back after a turn depends on your character's stats. Usually if you use a normal attack on your first turn, more characters can use arts in the second.

Doesn't seem like much of a big deal in the beginning, but later on in the game it pays off.

[Zloth]

Yeah, at the start the "special" attacks are barely special at all.

Keep an eye on union attacks vs. single target attacks. Single target attacks do a lot more damage from a hit but union attacks do their damage to each member of a union. So maybe a single target attack does 100 damage and an area attack does 40 but that 40 is multiplied by every character in the union. Hit a big union with that last attack and you can do 200 damage but against a single boss, the first is better.

Of course, all this goes for enemy attacks on your unions, too!

[Esely]

Thanks for the replies!

@Zloth.
From what I've seen so far my mystic arts are not only doing damage to the entire union, it massively outdamages combat arts. Does combat arts get buffed later on or am I missing something?

[Zloth]

Even against single opponents? And even from big brawlers like Baulson and Blocter? Well, maybe it does change later. I haven't played the early game in a long time now.

[lirmont]

The in-game tutorial makes it very clear that some types of monsters are weak to mystic arts versus combat arts (and that some types of monsters are weak to combat arts versus mystic arts). There's even a unit you can hire who will shout out what you ought to be using in battle pursuant to that (though he's only available much later in the game).

[RuubZ]

You'll want to focus most of your characters on combat arts.

While mystic arts seem to be good early on in the game, because they have AoE (area of effect) and do decent damage, it gets less and less important later on in the game. Unions will have more health and mystic arts will do less and less damage it seems.

The hardest boss fights in the game, you'll only be fighting 1 union at a time, which only have a single character in their union. So AoE will be useless against it.

Once you get towards the end of the game and some of your characters will have their ultimate weapons, they'll be able to learn weapon arts which are dependant on the weapons they are wielding. The damage these arts do is dependant on strength, so if you've been focussing on mystic, these arts will be a lot less impressive.

Some characters are purely combat orientated from the start, some mystic orientated. You'll know just by looking at it. If you tell Torgal, Duke of Ghor, Caedmon and some others to focus on mystic arts instead of combat arts, you'll ruin them. They are some of the best damage dealers in the game and telling them to focus on the wrong thing will seriously hinder your progress toward the end of the game when you'll want to take on DLC bosses.

[Esely]

Thanks for the replies again.

I was planning to have a full mystic Rush on the first game and then go full combat on the second playthrough. However I might end up just starting over when I finall get my controller.

@Zloth
Yeah I just got to around battle rank 11 and Baulson is doing some crazy combat arts damage, so I kind of regret going mystic with Rush but I'll see how he comes along. Plus Rush's Spark IV doesn't seem to be doing damage to the entire union, is it because his mystic is too low rank at the moment?

@Lirmont
After the tutorial where they explicitly stated to use ------ Arts, I haven't seen any tips since. I'll try and look around for the unit.

@RuubZ
I am starting to like combat arts more, especially because of the animations but I'll see as I play more. Hopefully I can finish up this Mystic Rush playthrough.

[RuubZ]

Don't worry about making Rush mystic, he's good either way. Rush can learn any mystic art (if you do the proper quests) and if you put some other mystic arts users with him in the union, he'll be able to learn some powerful Arcana later in the game.

You'll eventually be able to have a total of 18 characters, divided up to 5 unions. A tactic which works for a lot of people seems to be to have 1 mystic union, 1 healer union and 3 unions focussed on combat arts. Seeing as you focussed Rush on mystic arts, make him the leader of the mystic union and put 4 other mystic users in there (that way, he'll be able to learn plenty of arcana's, and mystic characters tend to have lower health than combat users, so you'll even it out). Put 4 characters in the healing union which know the mystic arts remedies, and you'll be able to learn rejuvenating water for the union leader, which can come in very handy. Finally, 3 unions of 3 party members each which are primairly focussed on combat arts will do most of your damage late game.

That's my advice anyways. I'm sure a lot of people will have different tactics, in the end, it doesn't really matter much. Just stick with your choices. Chances are, you won't be able to beat some of the DLC bosses in your first playthrough, but seeing as you plan on doing a second playthrough, you will have learned a lot by then.

[Zloth]

Spark is a single target attack. Not ALL mystic attacks are area attacks! There are some combat attacks that hit multiple enemies, too.

Combat does serious damage to single enemies but then it isn't all about the damage, either. Morale boosters are EXTREMELY handy. Cachexia and it's AP attack can really mess with a boss, too. Then there are the two early Ward powers that can protect you from a physical or magical attack...

[Soma]

Very interesting discussion here for newbies who want to understand the game, like me! Thank you.

[jrlennis]

One thing worth noting is that many level 5 combat arts can cause blackout if the enemy is susceptible to that status, and those are usually a lot more damaging than Snare Shot. This is essential when you fight Observers in the second tier of The Ancient Ruins.

[Arqwart]

Mystic Arts lose a lot of their potency against small groups of single enemies, which is the general norm when it comes to bosses (main story, sidequest, or otherwise). However, mystic arts lead to some of the most useful tools in the game: morale control, AP drain, status ailments, protections, and healing. The thing is, these tools aren't really found in the two generic schools of magic (Invocation and Evocation). Those two focus almost exclusively on damage which can be nice at times but is generally outclassed by combat arts. Mystic arts also have the disadvantage of requiring quite a lot of AP to use, though this is generally taken care of by stat upgrades and classes (so long as you make sure your mages are pure mages). When it comes to mystic arts, I would tier them in terms of usefulness like so:

Psionics = Hexes > Remedies > Wards = Arcana > Invocations > Evocations

Psionics has Bluff, Addle, and Mixed Message which all work to drastically skew morale in your favor and Confuse which is AoE damage with a chance to paralyze.

Hexes are all AoE and most all of them can be cast from afar without Deadlocking. Should even ONE enemy miss their defensive roll against a status ailment, the entire squad is affected by it. Poison, paralysis, and silence all availabe very quickly; dispirit and bewitch heavily drop the enemy's morale; and cachexia (the single most useful spell in the entire game) which clears the enemy squad's AP down to 0 while also doing quite a lot of damage are all very powerful tools that Hexes has.

Remedies speaks for itself with healing and resurrection.

Wards are simple defense spells but are quite powerful.

Arcana are simply giga-spells that wreak havoc on all enemies.

Invocations and Evocations are both rather mediocre and I advise you just ignore them (ESPECIALLY evocations).

In short: mystic arts find their power in their utility as opposed to their damage output, so the spells that do more than just damage are the most valuable.

[Rampage]

wow so many morons in here its amazing...
He is not asking wether or not combat or mystic arts are better....

He is asking about regular attacks where they dont use anything special vs combat or mystic arts sigh