SaGa: Emerald Beyond - Tips for Hard and Brutal Battles

Tips for Hard and Brutal Battles in SaGa: Emerald Beyond (SaGa: EB)

Check enemy weaknesses.

Note the seven types of attack attributes that cause damage which are Slash, Strike, Thrust, Fire, Ice, Thunder, and Non-Attribute.

The weaknesses of enemies whose races are known are displayed in red on the enemy name sheet. This allows you to determine which attacks are effective against them.

Attribute Icons

Attributes
Slash	Strike
Thrust	Fire
Ice	Thunder
Non-Attribute

Aim for United Attacks.

United Attack activate when allies’ Techs and Spells are linked based on their combo ranges. Triggering United Attacks lets you deal damage more efficiently in battle

Constantly activating United Attacks will also allow you to accumulate Combo Rate. Doing so increases the chance of triggering Overdrives which result in even greater damage numbers.

Note that United Attacks will not occur if there are enemies in between allies’ turns on the timeline (even when party members are able to trigger them within their respective combo ranges).

SaGa: Emerald Beyond How to Use United Attacks and Effects

Overdrives can trigger when Combo Rate is 150% or higher.

Overdrive has a chance to activate if you increase your Combo Rate to at least 150%. If your Combo Rate exceeds 200%, Overdrive is guaranteed to occur.

In addition, the higher your Combo Rate, the more party members will be able to participate in Overdrive. Upon activating Overdrive, party members who take part in the attack will be able to attack again. The Tech selected during Overdrive will automatically be used if the BP cost is less than the amount consumed in the coordinated attack.

SaGa: Emerald Beyond Overdrive Guide

Combo Rate also increases through bonuses.

If you activate bonuses that increase your Combo Rate, you will be able to perform Overdrives more easily. Kill bonuses are especially easy to get, so have characters work together to defeat enemies whose HPs are low to earn bonuses.

Combo Rate Bonuses

Enemies can also perform United Attacks.

If the enemy lines up on you the timeline, their own team can activate United Attacks. Use Pursuit Conditional or move the order of action of enemies on the timeline with Bump to prevent the enemy from coordinating their attacks against you.

Disrupt the enemy’s actions by stunning them.

Stun is a useful status condition you can apply to completely prevent an enemy from moving on their turn. Techs that have the stun effect include Ground Sweep and Assault Fang so use them to disrupt the enemy’s actions in battle.

Spell chants (charging) are also cancelled when an enemy is stunned.

The less HP you have, the more likely you are to be stunned.

The chance of being stunned is higher when a character’s HP is low. This applies not only to the enemy but also to you so be careful of your opponent’s stun attacks when a party member’s HP is lowered.

For enemies with resistance to status conditions, an “Invalid” indicator will appear.

“Invalid” will be displayed on the screen when attacking certain enemies like bosses who completely immune to specific status conditions.

If you do not see the Invalid indicator appear upon hitting an enemy with an attack, it means that the target is not completely resistant. This allows you to apply status ailments by repeatedly using the attack.

Understand the types of Conditional Techs.

Conditional Techs (or simply Conditionals) are special techniques in SaGa: Emerald Beyond that are activated when certain conditions in battle are met.

There are five types of Conditional Techs which are Interrupt, Counterattack, Protect, Chain, and Pursuits.

The state at which an enemy can use Conditional Techs is indicated by “???” which is displayed on the timeline.

SaGa: Emerald Beyond Conditional Techs Guide

Types of Conditional Techs

Enemy Conditional Techs Displayed as “???”

The state at which an enemy can use Conditional Techs is indicated by “???” which is displayed on the timeline. Conditional Techs can be canceled by using Techs that have the “Quell” effect.

If you succeed in canceling the enemy’s Conditional, you can nullify their actions on that turn. Because of this, actively aim to negate the opponent’s Conditional as much as possible using Quelling Techs.

Protect your allies with Deflect and Provoke.

There are no means to heal HP in battle so it is extremely important to limit the damage you take in each turn. Using Deflect to protect your allies, or using Appeal Slash to put the enemy in a Provoke state to draw aggro are effective strategies, especially during difficult boss battles.

Protect spellcasters chanting (charging) Spells with Deflect.

It takes 1 to 2 turns for a spell to finish casting. If you are stunned while charging magic, the chant will be canceled. Because of this, have spellcaster characters or those with low HP use Deflect in battle.

Invisible Aggro System

The rate at which a character draws aggro in the game varies depending on the weapon they have equipped.

Two-handed swords (greatswords, swords, spears) and two-handed guns (machine guns, flamethrowers, electric guns, bomb guns, and chemical guns) tend to accumulate aggro faster than other weapons.

Note that repeatedly attacking an enemy regardless of weapon will make it easy to draw aggro in battle.

Removing Aggro

You can remove aggro by using Techs such as Ice and Snow Sword. This is useful for when your HP reaches a point where you will die if you take any more attacks.

Be aware of buff, debuff, and status ailment icons.

There are various buffs, debuffs, and status ailments in SaGa: Emerald Beyond.

Buffs and debuffs can also be stacked and certain effects are permanent and can be stacked up to three times in battle.

If you inflicted by debuffs, cancel by applying buffs. The reverse is also possible, allowing you to negate your opponent’s buffs with debuffs.

List of Buffs

Buff	Details
Speed Up	When your speed increases, your order of action will be faster. Your accuracy will also be higher.
Attack Up	When your attack power increases, the damage dealt other than magic increases.
Defense Up	When your defense increases, the damage you receive will be reduced.
Magic Up	When your magic increases, the damage dealt by magic increases.

List of Debuffs

Buff	Details
Speed D0wn	When your speed decreases, your order of action will be slower. Your accuracy will also be lower.
Attack Down	When your attack power decreases, the damage dealt other than magic decreases.
Defense Down	When your defense decreases, the damage you receive will be increased.
Magic Down	When your magic decreases, the damage dealt by magic decreases.

List of Status Ailments

Status Ailment	Details
Stun	Your actions for that turn will be canceled and you will be unable to act. If you are stunned while casting a spell, the spell will also be canceled. The less HP you have left, the more likely you are to be stunned.
Paralyze	You will be unable to move for a while. The less HP you have left, the more likely you are to get paralyzed. Goes away after a certain number of turns have passed.
Poison	You take damage every turn. The less HP you have left, the more likely you are to be poisoned. Goes away after a certain number of turns have passed.
Darkness	Hit rate decreases. The less HP you have left, the more likely you are to be inflicted with Darkness. Goes away after a certain number of turns have passed.
Bad Smell	Prevents linking combo ranges via Techs and Spells. The less HP you have left, the more likely you are to be inflicted with Bad Smell. Goes away after a certain number of turns have passed. If you recover from Bad Smell before taking action, combo ranges will be restored.
Anger	If you are attacked by a Tech with the Provoke effect and aggro becomes high, you will be forced into the Anger state. During this time, the character under Anger will focus attacks on one target while gaining increased damage. Goes away after when the character under Anger is incapacitated or a certain number of turns have passed.
Confuse	Causes the character to act on their own for a while. Also prevents linking combo ranges via Techs and Spells. Being confused also causes characters to follow other characters automatically and interfere with unity. The less HP you have left, the more likely you are to be confused. Goes away after a certain number of turns have passed.
Chant Extension	Extends the time it takes to cast spells. The less HP you have left, the more likely you are to be inflicted with chant extension effects.
Petrify	Prevents you from taking action but also negates incoming damage and effects. If the entire party is petrified, you will get a Game Over. The less HP you have, the more likely you are to be petrified. Cannot be canceled after a turn has passed.
Instant Death	If Instant Death succeeds, the target is instantly incapacitated. The less HP you have left, the more likely it is for Instant Death to succeed.

List of Mechanical Status Ailments

Status Ailment	Details
Mecha Stun	Status condition that only afflicts Mecha race characters. Actions for that turn will be canceled and you will be unable to act. The less HP you have left, the more likely you are to be Mecha Stunned.
Mecha Paralyze	Status condition that only afflicts Mecha race characters. Prevents action for a while. The less HP you have left, the more likely you are to be Mecha Paralyzed.

List of Special Effects

Special Effect	Details
Damage Nullified	Nullifies damage only once. The effect remains permanent until an attack is nullified once.
Status Ailments Disabled	Ignores the effect of status ailments. The effect lasts for a certain number of turns.
Mecha Ailments Disabled	Ignores the effect of Mecha Stun and Mecha Paralyze. The effect lasts for a certain number of turns.
BP Cost Up/Down	Lasts for a certain number of turns or throughout the battle.
Tech Power Up/Down	The power of Techs and skills goes up or down. The effect lasts for a certain number of turns, and weakens as the turns pass.
combo range Expansion	Increases combo range, making coordinated attacks more likely to occur. The effect lasts for the entire battle.

List of Other Effects

Do not give up when your allies are defeated.

Do not lose hope when your allies fall one by one. When there are no party members within two squares before and after a character, Showstopper will activate.

Showstopper is a state where a character is alone which allows them to rapidly use Techs and Spells in quick succession. Showstopper continues until all remaining BP is consumed.

Note that the effects and bonuses that are activated during United Attacks will not be earned.

SaGa: Emerald Beyond Showstopper Guide

Enemies can also activate Showstopper.

Just like United Attacks, enemies can also go into the Showstopper state. Once activated, an enemy can easily turn the tables and defeat you even if you had the advantage before. If you see that the enemy does not have allies two squares before and after them on the timeline, use Techs to prevent them from going into Showstopper.

Change Formation and try again.

If you still cannot defeat the enemy, try changing your party’s Formation. In general, you want to go for the Cooperative formation but feel free to also try out various setups depending on the boss you will fight.

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