Its dungeons (called Idolospheres) are where you’ll spend most of your time. And to defeat the enemy, you will need to learn how to best defend yourself.

In this Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore battle guide, we break down the basics of battling and how specific character traits affect combat.

Battle Basics

Overworld

When you first enter the Idolosphere, you’ll navigate through the dungeon to complete your goals. However, encounters within the Idolosphere are not random like in some other RPGs.

Mirages appear from the ground every so often to attack you. Chrom will let you know when a Mirage is nearby. His enemy radar can be found in the top-right corner of the screen.

When Mirages appear you have a few options: you can run straight into them and begin a battle or strike them with your sword using the X button. A well-timed strike incapacitates the Mirage, allowing you to run away without a battle or to go into battle head-on (there’s a benefit to doing this, and we’ll cover it later).

Savage Encounters

Most Mirages in the Idolosphere are cloaked in red, but you’ll eventually see Mirages that are completely dark purple. These are Savage Mirages, and if you engage them, prepare for a much tougher battle.

Savage Mirages cannot be knocked away with your sword, so you need to either run away or get ready for battle.

Turn Order

Once you enter a battle, you’ll take the stage against a random number of enemies. You can only take three characters into battle at one time. Once you get more than three, you’ll be able to swap characters in and out before a fight.

Turn order is indicated at the top of the screen. There are a number of factors that can affect turn order. If you attack a Mirage in the Overworld and run into it, more often than not you’ll have a “First Strike!” This allows your entire team to attack for one full round before the real battle begins.

This is what you should aim to achieve before each battle, because if you get the first round, you can often decimate the opposing team before they have a chance to launch a counterstrike.

If you encounter a Mirage without striking it, one of your characters will get the first attack and the rounds will continue as normal. However, if you are attacked from behind, the enemy will get the first strikes. In other words, it pays to be vigilant.

Battle Options

Once turn order is determined and it’s your first move, you’ll have plenty of options for your characters. Active character icons appear on the right side of the screen. These tell you how much HP and EP you have left.

HP is, obviously, your health points, while EP represents energy points. Every skill used needs EP, so be sure to keep an eye on both meters.

When it’s time to choose an option in battle, here’s a quick recap of everything you can do:

ESCAPE- This allows for your team a chance to escape a Mirage battle.

ITEM - Use an item on a character. This ends your turn.

ATTACK - Attack using your weapon. This doesn’t use your EP, but you can’t Session either.

SKILL - Use different skills gained by your character at the cost of EP.

CHANGE - Once you have more than three characters, you can switch out one of them for a “Sub castmember.” Your main protagonist can’t change.

GUARD - You can guard and take less damage from attacks for one turn, and you’ll gain some EP back.

Sessions

When an enemy’s weakness is attacked with a skill, an ally who possesses a sessions skill corresponding to that skill will perform a follow-up attack. This is called a Session.

This is the most helpful part of battles, and will take some time to learn. Try to strike enemies with attacks they are weak against. Weaknesses are marked by an exclamation point that appears over its head. There will also be a chart below every enemy that reveals if it’s Weak, Resistant or Neutral against each attack type.

Weapon types and Session Skills will be covered in greater detail later on in the guide.

Overkill

When an enemy’s remaining HP decreases to zero during a Session, an Overkill happens. The remaining attacks in that Session will ignore enemy resistances.

This is a great way to get more money and items. There’s also a special skill your main character can learn that changes the target once the first enemy is killed, and it’s very useful.

CHARACTERS

Now that the basics are out the way, let’s check out what makes each character tick, starting with individual stats.

Stats

Those familiar with the Fire Emblem series should recognize how character stats are categorized. Here is what each stat does:

STR = Strength affects damage the unit deals with physical attacks.

SPD = The speed stat affects a unit’s avoidance rate. It also allows a unit to strike twice if the speed stat has five more points than the opponent’s.

MAG = The magic stat affects the damage from tomes.

LCK = The luck stat lowers the risk of enemy critical hits.

SKILL = Skill affects the hit rate and the frequency of critical hits.

DEF = The defense stat reduces damage from physical attacks.

RES = The resistance stat reduces damage from magical attacks.

Every character’s stat increases are based on their class. Mages normally have a high MAG and RES stat, so be sure to check out each character’s strengths and weaknesses before throwing them into battle.

Stage Rank/Radiant Skills

Stage rank signifies a character’s rank as an entertainer. It increases the more he or she participates in combat, including longer session chains. As rank increases, it offers various benefits including new Performa. Each stage rank doles out new material for Radiant Skills.

Radiant Skills are essentially passive skills that affect battle and the overworld. You’ll need to perform Radiant Unity to achieve the new skill, which comes with the added benefit of not taking up a skill slot.

Some of these skills are necessary to progress through the story.

WEAPONS/SKILLS

Every character has a default weapon alongside skills that are learned through leveling. Some of these skills have elemental properties that affect your performance against specific enemy types. You’ll need to become accustomed to the type chart to truly become a Mirage Master.

Weapon/Elements

Weapons and elemental attacks help determine weaknesses and resistances. Before we talked about a chart that appears below every enemy when you scroll over them. This chart shows what weapon types and element attacks an enemy is resistant or weak to. However, if you haven’t encountered a particular enemy before, it will remain blank. So you’ll have to experiment and figure out what types work best against it.

The opposite can be said for your main character. You can check out what weapons and elements they are weak/resistant to in their profiles. The Sword-Axe-Lance triangle from Fire Emblem is implemented here, so as long as you remember Sword > Axe > Lance > Sword, you’ll be fine.

Bane Skills

Some weapons have special skills that only work on certain enemies. Like in Fire Emblem, a weapon that is effective against horseback or flying enemies will always activate a session against that specific class.

Carnage Unity

Weapons in Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore are called Carnage, and they help determine a character’s strengths and weaknesses. You can also create new Carnage through Carnage Unity that gives characters more strength and resistances to certain elements/weapons. Not to mention it also offers access to new skills.

Each Carnage has a set number of skill (or inheritances) that it can learn. Once you’ve mastered a Carnage, switch it out and equip a new one to gain its skills.

Performa

To create a new Carnage you’ll need to collect Performa, or an enemy’s essence, after you defeat them. Tiki will show you what Performa you need to complete the Carnage Unity, so be sure to defeat as many enemies as possible.

Skills

Carnage’s Skills boost your character’s repertoire.If you learn a skill you already have, it will power up. (Example: Zio becomes Zio + 1)

When a skill powers up, it increases the effects or decreases its EP cost. Passives can’t power up, however.

Special Performances:

Special Performances are your character’s ultimate skill. These special skills use the SP Gauge located in the upper-right area of the screen. These can trigger sessions while ignoring affinities.

The SP Gauge fills with every Session performed or as various skills are executed.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore for Nintendo Switch is available now.