Sea of Stars: Ultimate Guide to Combat

Sea of Stars has all the makings of the perfect retro JRPG. The turn-based combat here is comparable to its older counterparts, but the modern touches set it apart. Unlike the senior JRPGs, where you issue commands and watch the action unfold, the combat in Sea of Stars is very tight, highly involved, strategic, and simple yet deep.

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This article will break down every combat component of Sea of Stars. By the end, you will not only have in-depth knowledge of these mechanics but also a better understanding of how to engage in battle more tactfully.

Sea of Stars – Combat Guide

Once you unlock the third-party member, you can control three characters during combat. When more characters are added to your roster, you can curate an active team of three as you see fit. Combat can start when you physically bump into an enemy or after a story cutscene. While some fights are required to advance the plot, many are optional, leaving it up to you to decide whether or not to engage.

Combat HUD

The first step to understanding the combat in Sea of Stars is to figure out everything shown on the HUD when you initiate a fighting scenario. In this section, we’ll go over all the HUD basics you need to know:

HP

The first and most fundamental element of the HUD is HP (bottom left). Every gamer knows what it is! In this case, it displays the Health of each member. It goes down as you take damage, and once it reaches 0, that particular member is knocked out and can’t act for a few rounds, as indicated by the number of stars above their head.

When first knocked out, they have two stars, and each subsequent knockout adds more stars, up to five. A star disappears each turn, and when all are gone, the character revives with 50% of their max HP. While knocked out, they can’t be targeted by any enemy’s attacks or skills, even multi-target ones.

If they’re still knocked out or have less than 20% HP when a fight ends, they’re automatically restored to 20% of their max HP.

When an enemy’s HP is depleted, it’s defeated, and the party earns XP. Regular enemies won’t display their HP. You must use special trinkets like Abacus and Eye of Yomara to reveal it.

Here are all the ways of restoring your party’s HP:

• Consuming Snacks (Items)
• Resting outside of Battle fully restores HP
• Skills
  • Zale’s Healing Light
  • Valere’s Lunar Shield
  • Garl’s Nourish
  • Resh’an’s Petrichor and Great Eagle
  • B’st’s Warble
• Combo
  • Mending Light
  • Item Roulette

MP – Mana Points

The purple meter next to HP indicates each character’s MP or Mana Points. This resource is essential for using skills; if a party member doesn’t have enough MP, they won’t be able to perform those skills.

Every time a party member lands a regular attack, they restore 3 MP. Valere and Zale can also regain 3 MP each by using the Solstice Strike combo. MP doesn’t change if a character gets knocked out or when they recover. There is also a Live Mana mechanic in combat, which we will discuss later.

Similar to HP, you can use snacks during or outside of combat to restore MP, and resting outside of combat will fully refill it.

Attack and Defense Stats

There are two types of attack stats and two types of defensive stats that govern the amount of damage you deal and receive mid-combat.

Damage Types

Below are all the six damage types and members that deal those particular damage types:

Every regular attack, skill, and combo is tied to at least one of these damage types, except healing abilities and typeless damage.

The damage type of a selected attack is shown in the top right corner of the screen. This will help you plan your attacks according to the damage type and locks placed over the enemy heads. Enemies can be vulnerable, neutral, resistant, or immune to each of these damage types, and you can learn this info through the Eye of Yomara trinket.

Character Actions

When you hover over each of your party’s members, you’ll see five actions to pick from. Picking any action will consume the member’s turn. These include:

• Attack
• Skills
• Combos
• Items
• Swap

Attack

The first and most frequently used combat action is the regular “Attack,” which is the easiest way to damage enemies. It doesn’t cost any MP or CP. The party member’s ATK stat determines the damage. Plus, every regular attack restores 3 MP and releases one Live Mana (if the attack isn’t boosted).

When a party member is boosted, they do extra damage based on their M. ATK stat for each boost charge. Everyone except Garl also gets an extra damage type with their boosted attacks: Zale adds Sun, Valere adds Moon, Seraï adds Poison, and both Resh’an and B’st add Arcane.

Skills

Skills are another type of combat action that lets you do more than just basic damage. These are special attacks unique to each character that consume a specific amount of MP.

They can deal specific types of damage, hit multiple enemies (AoE), heal, or even create shields that block damage. Each party member has three skills, plus an ultimate. Only non-ultimate skills require MP to use.

Combos

Combos are the third combat option, combining the power of two party members for stronger, unique effects. These combos use skills from both characters and only take up one turn. However, both members need to be in the fight and not knocked out.

To use a combo, you’ll need enough Combo Points (CP).

Items

The fourth combat option is using items, mainly snacks, to restore HP or MP. Depending on the snack, you can heal either one party member or the whole team. You’re limited to holding ten snacks at a time, so use them wisely!

Swap

This action allows you to switch a party member with any other in your back roster. You can freely swap characters in the middle of the turn who haven’t acted yet. Furthermore, you can even swap out characters who have acted to make room for a combo move.

Combat Turn Order

The turn order for your active party members isn’t fixed like vintage JRPGs. Instead, you get to decide who goes first. You can select which characters goes first by cycling over them with the D-pad.

If you choose Zale to attack first, he will be greyed out until your next turn, and you will have to rely on your other party members for the remainder of your turn. You could command Valere to act first and switch things up for the next turn.

Enemies, on the other hand, attack on their own schedule. Timers will appear over their heads to show when their next attack is coming, and these timers count down each time one of your party members takes a turn.

Combat Mechanics

Below are all the combat mechanics in Sea of Stars. Some of them are straightforward while others are unique and totally change the way you approach combat:

Timed Hits

When you select an attack, skill, or combo (not applicable on ultimates), you will be prompted to press a particular button to improve the attack’s capability. Depending on the move, a well-timed hit can make your character strike either multiple times or boost its damage.

The timing depends on the ability you’re using, so it changes from move to move. For example, after you cast Valere’s Moonrang if you time your hit just as the Moonerang returns to Valere, it bounces to the next enemy. This process repeats, cycling through all the enemies in the same order, with the projectile getting faster after each hit. The Moonerang keeps going as long as you don’t miss the input.

On the other hand, Zale’s Sunball will prompt you to charge the fireball, causing it to grow from small to medium, then large, and finally to super-size before shrinking back down to large. To land a perfect timed hit, release the button when the Sunball reaches its maximum size, but make sure to let go before it starts shrinking again.

This mechanic rewards your involvement in the combat rather than passively watching from the sidelines.

Timed Block

Most enemy attacks can be blocked by pressing the “prompt” button at the right moment, reducing the damage your party takes. The timing differs for each attack, but it’s usually just before the enemy lands the hit.

Live Mana

As you progress, your party gains the ability to generate Live Mana with each regular “attack” (non-boosted). You can also get a bonus Live Mana at the start of a battle by sneak attacking an enemy, either by approaching from behind or using the Graplou.

Up to three Live Mana charges can appear on the battlefield, but all of them disappear once the fight is over.

When there are Live Mana on the ground, your character action screen will display a “Boost” option.

Press it and a single party member can absorb up to three Live Mana charges, boosting their next action with their magic attack stat. You can freely absorb or remove these boost charges during your turn without using up an action by simply cycling to another member. Once a boosted battle action is performed, the boost charges are consumed.

Aside from Garl, each party member’s boosted regular attack gains an extra damage type: Zale gets Sun, Valere gets Moon, Seraï gets Poison, and both Resh’an and B’st get Arcane.

Sneak Attacks

If you approach an unaware enemy from behind or use the Graplou on them, you’ll perform a sneak attack, dealing a bit of damage and generating one Live Mana for the battle. If you equip the Lucent Crystal party trinket, a sneak attack will generate two Live Mana instead of just one.

Enemy Locks

While enemies will deal basic damage, certain enemies will start casting powerful attacks/spells, which show a number of locks and a timer over their heads. Each spell has a set number of square locks, like the Wanderer’s Thunder spell, which always has three.

These locks display icons that represent the type of damage needed to break them—for example, a sword lock requires Sword damage, and a hammer lock requires Blunt damage.

Breaking locks weakens the spell’s power, and if you break all the locks, the spell is completely canceled. You’ll also earn a significant amount of Combo Points (CP) for breaking locks.

It’s possible to break multiple locks in one attack. For instance, Zale’s boosted regular attack deals both Sword and Sun damage, allowing it to break two locks at once. Similarly, Valere’s Moonerang can hit multiple enemies several times, breaking a Moon lock with each hit.

The timer indicates how many party member turns must pass before the enemy casts their spell. Since it’s based on your party’s turns, enemies may act in between. If you break all the locks on an enemy’s spell, the next time they cast it, the number of turns on the timer will be reduced by 1.

Your primary goal should be to destroy these locks within your turns before the timer ticks down. This will either lower the damage of these incoming spell attacks or stop them altogether if all locks are broken in time. Keep an eye out for this mechanic especially since these enemy attacks are pretty lethal and might ruin your strategy if any member is knocked out.

Combos (CP)

The previously mentioned Combos require a special resource called a Combo Point (CP). They are powerful moves performed by two party members together.

For instance, while Valere usually deals Moon damage and Zale deals Sun damage, they can team up to perform the Soonrang combo, which deals both types of damage to the enemy.

Each combo costs between 1 and 3 CP. The combo meter starts off empty but fills up as party members and enemies take their turns. You can earn a big chunk of CP by breaking spell locks. You can store up to 3 CP at a time, but all CP resets when combat ends.

When you use a combo, the assisting party member doesn’t lose their turn.

Ultimate Attack

Ultimates are powerful attacks that can deal devastating damage, and some even heal the party. They use a special resource called the Ultimate bar, which is displayed next to the combo meter. The good thing is, the ultimate bar fills up naturally as you use skills and combos, so you’ll eventually be able to unleash these big moves as the battle progresses.

For example, Zale’s Solen’s Light: Salvation Ultimate will see him hurl a ginormous sun ball at all the enemies in the arena. It deals raw damage to every enemy as well as all the Sun locks will be shattered, too.

XP and Leveling Up

Experience Points (XP) are earned when you defeat enemies, with the amount depending on the specific enemy and your party’s level. XP is shared across the whole party, meaning everyone pulls from the same XP pool and levels up together. If your XP reaches the required amount for the next level, the party levels up right after the battle.

Other Combat Tips

Here are some extra tips to keep in mind when battling in Sea of Stars:

Garl’s Hurl

There will be instances where enemies will be spread all over the arena rather than standing close to each other. This kind of placement makes most AoE attacks useless since their splash damage won’t hit any other nearby enemies.

This is where Garl’s Hurl skill comes into play. This skill lets you throw an enemy to another position in the arena, provided there is enough space. This is perfect when an enemy is behind you and two in front. To line them up, you can chuck the single enemy towards the other two.

Not only will the tossed enemy receive some damage, but the enemy could be placed beside its comrades. You can then use other members’ AoE skills to deal maximum damage to the enemy group.

This unassuming skill comes in handy in tactical plays, especially when you want to break locks on multiple enemies simultaneously.

Prioritize Locks and Multi-Hit Skills

Whenever enemies are readying for spell attacks and locks appear, make sure you prioritize those locks. Doing so will ensure that you either lower the damage output of that spell or don’t get hit by the deadly attacks, which might end up killing the enemy in the process, too.

The best approach is to identify common locks or damage types among all the enemies. Then, try to utilize an attack or skill that will hit multiple enemies at the same time, breaking multiple locks in one single swoop.

For example, you are in a situation where three enemies surround you, and all of them have Moon locks over their heads, or even two of them have Moon locks and one doesn’t. This is the perfect time to use Valere’s Moonrang skill.

If you time hit the moonrang as it returns you will can continue to cast it at the enemies. This way, you will destroy the Moon lock on all three enemies and go on to deal significantly more damage.

Don’t Forget Live Mana Boost, Combos, Ultimates

I have seen this countless times (I have been guilty myself, too). Don’t waste Live Mana, Combo meters, and Ultimate meter. You often get so focused on regular skills and attacks that you completely ignore these robust mechanics in the combat. All three of these things will reset once the battle finishes.

Sometimes, you are too busy saving these resources for some grand slam of an attack, and the enemy is dead before the battle reaches your desired climax.

When you see those Live Mana on the ground, boost your subsequent move to add some magical element to your attack. This way, you might destroy two locks with just a regular attack.

Instead of saving up for those expensive combo attacks, execute the cheaper one, and you’d be surprised how effective it is, especially at dealing a good chunk of damage and multiple types of damage in a single attack.

Finally, keep in mind that Ultimates are an arena-wide attack. You will hit all the enemies in one go without setting them up. These attacks will destroy all the enemies, break all the locks of that particular damage type, and deal damage like no other attack could. Don’t let that ultimate meter go to waste. This single attack can quickly finish the fight and save you a lot of hassle.

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As you can see, combat in Sea of Stars is just as in-depth as its title. The combat can be as shallow or detailed as you want, and players who capitalize on all the above mechanics will be significantly rewarded. Hopefully, our combat guide will help you understand everything that goes into an effective battle in Sea of Stars.