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{{Player-guide
|author=Various
|date=2020-10-03
|updated=2023-06-16
|topic=Spirit Beasts
}}
{{TOCright}}
{{TOCright}}
This page is meant to help all players understand and win in [[Spirit Beast]] battling.
This page is meant to help all players understand and win in [[Spirit Beast]] battling. Please feel free to discuss any suggested changes on the [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1057088999786827806 official Discord channel] (find the link to join on the home page of this wiki). Based on original work by Hymore and [[Obelin (prime)|Obelin]].

This is a work in progress.



== Overview ==
== Overview ==
=== Why you should be a spirit beast battler ===
'''Why you should be a Spirit Beast battler'''
People play with Spirit Beasts for multiple reasons. One reason is the joy of finding and collecting rare or interesting spirit beasts from various parts of the world. Another reason is for the rewards which include experience and gems. A full list of rewards can be found on [[Spirit_Beast#Rewards|here]].


People play with the Spirit Beast system for multiple reasons. One reason is the joy of finding and collecting rare or interesting spirit beasts from various parts of the world. Another reason is for the rewards, which include experience and gems. A full list of rewards can be found '''[[Spirit_Beast#Rewards|here]]'''.
=== Where do I start? ===
First, make sure you have read the [[Spirit Beast|main spirit beast page]] to gain a basic understanding of how the system works. Next, the [[spirit beast stats|spirit beast stats page]] has a list of all known spirit beasts to see which spirit beast you might want to use.


'''Where do I start?'''
Finally, you must decide how much you want to get out of the spirit beast system:


First, make sure you have read the main [[Spirit Beast]] page to gain a basic understanding of how the system works. Next, the [[Spirit Beast stats]] page has a list of all known spirit beasts to see which spirit beast you might want to use. Finally, you must decide how much you want to get out of the Spirit Beast system:
If you just want to collect spirit beasts and just have fun, then you don't need any in-depth help or preparations.
* If you just want to collect spirit beasts as pets and have fun, then you won't need any in-depth help or preparations. All you need is a [[Spirit_Beast#Buying_a_Talisman|talisman]]! These can be purchased easily from any town for 25,000 silvers by visiting [[Talondown Arena]]. From the entrance, go north, through the cross-hatched burnt sienna door.
* If your goal is the daily experience bonus (75 [[experience]] per loss or 150 per win, up to 10 times per day) then any spirit beast will do because you gain experience win or lose. As long as you do [[Spirit_Beast#Talondown_Arena|training matches in Talondown]], your beast will not lose [[Spirit_Beast#Loyalty|loyalty]] either.
* If you have your eye on the gem pouches sold in [[Talondown Arena]], then you will want a strong, reliable spirit beast to consistently win in the arena to get as many redsteel marks as possible since wins award 48-53 marks while losses award 12-15 marks.


To participate and win the weekly challenge for a gilded lockbox (and another 2300 weekly experience), you will want a high level spirit beast and a reasonable amount of skill to defeat all seven opponents. Using [[Spirit_Beast#Ampoules|ampoules]] and [[Spirit_Beast#Armaments|armaments]] are not necessary but can help against bad matchups. A level 16 or higher spirit beast is recommended, and can be a good way to finish leveling a particularly strong beast, but will be especially difficult.
If you goal is the daily experience bonus (100 exp per fight, 1000 per day) then any spirit beast will do because you gain the experience regardless if you win or lose your battles. As long as you do Training matches in Talondown, your beast will not lose loyalty either.


Lastly, to get the gilded lockbox from [[Spirit_Beast#Talondown_Arena|listed fights]] (and the final 1250 experience), you need to be in the top three players for the week and can only lose 3 times before you are out. Combined with the fact that the level 20 Spirit Beasts you fight are '''much tougher''' than the training and weekly fights, you will need to do everything in your power to win. Having a perfect quality, level 20 Spirit Beast with a potent armament and maxed stats from ampoules is recommended.
If you have your eye on the Talondown Arena gem pouches, which each contain 20k-25k worth of gems, then you will want a strong spirit beast to consistently win in the arena to get as many bloodsteel marks as possible since wins award 48-53 marks while losses award 12-15 marks.

To participate and win the weekly challenge for the gilded lockbox, you will want a high level spirit beast and have a reasonable amount of skill to defeat all 7 opponents. Using Ampoules and Armaments are not necessary but can help against bad match ups.

Lastly, to get the gilded lockbox from Listed Fights, you need to be in the top three players for the week and only can only lose 3 times before you are out. Combined with the fact that the level 20 spirit beasts you fight are '''much stronger''' than the Training and Weekly fights, you will need to do everything in your power to win. Having a perfect quaility, level 20 spirit beast with a potent armament and maxed stats from ampoules is recommended.


== Common Newbie Mistakes ==
=== Spirit Beast battling is hard ===
=== Attempting to go full offense ===
=== Using Fortify when you are losing ===


== Actions ==
== Actions ==
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible sortable" {{prettytable}}
=== Attack ===
! Action||Description||Cost
=== Detect ===
=== Fortify ===
=== Lash ===
=== Special ===
== Stance ==
=== List of which stance beats which ===
=== How to determine if you are in the wrong stance ===
=== Flash of Insight ===
== Stats ==
=== Power ===
=== Defense ===
=== Insight ===
=== Accuracy ===
=== Speed ===
== The importance of stat combinations ==
== Elements ==
=== Elemental advantage chart ===

== Special Abilities ==
=== Special Ability Damage ===
=== Special Ability Charges ===

== Status Effects ==
=== Positive Status Effects ===

'''Airwall'''

Airwall causes all autoattacks against the spirit beast to automatically fail. This failure will never result in generating a special ability charge for the user. Airwall lasts 10 turns.

'''Interactions:'''
* Airwall's block occurs after checking for a missing and Fortify which means the user can still generate charges defensively while Airwall is active.

'''Strategies using Airwall'''
* You are effectly immune to autoattacks while Airwall is active. You can use this time to wear down your opponent by forcing them to spend all their points using LASH and SPECIAL Swhile you HEAL and autoattack them.
* You can take your while Airwall is up to build special ability charges with autoattacks. Save your charges for when Airwall is about to end.


'''Strategies against Airwall'''
* Because it is still possible to miss the opponent and possibly give them special ability charges, you must still DETECT to maintain stance advantage.
* It is HIGHLY recommended to conserve your points until after Airwall goes up. Once it goes up, adjust your playstyle to compensate for the inability to use autoattacks.
* If you run out of points and special ability charges while the opponent has Airwall up, you are going to lose unless the Airwall is about to end. Do not let this happen.
* With some spirit beasts, you might be able to quickly kill the opponent with back to back SPECIALS or other high damaging attacks if you manage to weak the opponent enough. In most cases, you get one shot at doing this and failure means the opponent will just HEAL the damage away.

'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
| Attack || The default, automatic action. Spirit Beasts will attack every round unless other orders are issued. It can score critical hits and activates certain special abilities, but it can be blocked by buffs (Fortify, Airwall, Bone Shield, Sympathy, Reflect). The {{boldmono|ATTACK}} command is only used to reset an outstanding order.<br>'''Critical Hits''' deal additional damage based on your target's maximum Health Points.|| No cost
| Featherdancer
| Stormfury
|-
|-
| Detect || Tells your spirit beast to check for stance advantage. The result is fairly automatic, adjusting to the correct stance on its own. It's important to watch and make sure that your beast is not currently outmatched. This action is very quick, being followed almost immediately by your next action, but you can issue new orders in between if you need to (including a second {{boldmono|DETECT}}).|| No cost
| Titanic Shaman
| Savage Prayer
|}

Start Message:
<pre>
A protective wall of air swirls into being around Kolita's sylph.
</pre>

Activation Message:
<pre>
With a single finger snap, your master arcanist attacks Kolita's winged sylph! As your the arcanist attempts to attack the sylph, a wall of air whirls between them, driving the arcanist back.
</pre>

End Message:
<pre>
The protective wall of air around a serene winged sylph falls away.
</pre>


'''Berserk'''

Berserk increases autoattack damage and improves the chances of the spirit beast gaining Surges of Speed and dealing critical hits. The damage bonus appears to be about +50%. Berserk lasts 6 turns.

'''Interactions:'''
* Unlike Haste, Berserk does not guarentee Surges of Speed. It only increases the chance by a large amount.

'''Strategies using Berserk'''
* Try to make sure you are in the correct stance before triggering Berserk. That way you do not have to waste a turn changing stance while it is active.
* Since your autoattack will do much more damage while under Berserk, do not LASH unless the opponent cannot be hit (FORTFY, Airwall, etc) with autoattacks.

'''Strategies against Berserk'''
* FORTFY is the best way to defend against Berserk due to the large amount of high damaging attacks
* Using a SPECIAL that that can prevent the opponent from acting such as Slow, Stun, or Unconscious can help avoid some of the danger.
* Using Sympathy can force the opponent to hurt themselves instead of you.

'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
| Fortify || Raises your dodge chance against {{boldmono|ATTACK}} only, it doesn't do anything against {{boldmono|LASH}} or {{boldmono|SPECIAL}}, and lasts for three of ''your'' actions, including {{boldmono|HEAL}} or {{boldmono|DETECT}}. Dodging attacks has a very high chance of generating Special Charges for the defender.|| One Action Point
| Frostwyrm
| Cold Rage
|}

Start Message:
<pre>
Your arcanist goes into a berserker rage!
</pre>

Activation Message:
<pre>
N/A
</pre>

End Message:
<pre>
The protective wall of air around a serene winged sylph falls away.
</pre>


'''Bone Shield'''

Bone Shield causes all autoattacks against the spirit beast to automatically fail. This failure will never result in generating a special ability charge for the user. Bone Shield lasts 10 turns or until 3 autoattacks are blocked.

Interactions:
* Bone Shield's block occurs after checking for a missing and Fortify which means the user can still generate charges defensively while Airwall is active.
* Unlike Airwall, Bone Shield can be removed faster by attempting to attack the opponent.

'''Strategies using Bone Shield'''
* You are effectly immune to autoattacks while Bone Shield is active. While it isn't as strong as Airwall, you can use this time to gain stance advantage, HEAL, or giving you some breathing room.


'''Strategies against Bone Shield'''
* Because it is still possible to miss the opponent and possibly give them special ability charges, you must still DETECT to maintain stance advantage.
* It is HIGHLY recommended to conserve your points until after Bone Shield goes up. Once it goes up, adjust your playstyle to compensate for the inability to use autoattacks.
* Unlike Airwall, you can break Bone Shield with enough autoattacks. You can use FORTFY to maintain some defense while you chip away at the shield.
* You can use LASH or SPECIAL to pressure your opponent through Bone Shield. If they get weak enough to need to HEAL, you can take the time to autoattack and slowly remove Bone Shield.



'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
| Heal || Restores Health Points, works better the lower your health is. Healing while at Critical or Verge of Defeat will heal for up to twice as much. {{boldmono|HEAL}} also has a 1/3 chance of ending a negative status effect (Stun, Bleed, Madness, etc.) and will not activate (or reduce the duration of) the negative effect on that round, but is not generally recommended solely for this purpose. Healing while under a status effect will also override any standing orders issued before the effect began. || One Action Point
| Lady of Skulls
|-
| Bonestorm
| Lash || Deals automatic, guaranteed damage based on spirit beast level, adjusted for stance and attunement advantage and generates one guaranteed Special Ability Charge. || One Action Point
|}

Start Message:
<pre>
Spinning bones form a shield around your arcanist.
</pre>

Activation Message:
<pre>
Kolita's winged sylph lifts a graceful arm and sends a swirl of razor-edged feathers after your master arcanist! A rapidly spinning bone deflects the efforts of Kolita's sylph as it tries to attack the arcanist.
</pre>

End Message:
<pre>
The bones swirling around a wizened master arcanist spiral away.
</pre>


'''Haste'''

Haste causes the spirit beast to automatically gain a Surge of Speed on every turn for the duration of the effect including the turn it was activated. Haste lasts 5 turns.

Interactions:



'''Strategies using Haste'''
* Try to make sure you are in the correct stance before triggering Haste. That way you do not have to waste a turn changing stance while it is active.
* It is possible to use Haste twice in a row if you LASH enough to generate enough charges to use it again when the effect ends. For the Flameborn Lich this is done by: SPECIAL, LASH x 4, DETECT (last turn but DETECT is fast), SPECIAL again to activate Haste. This is powerful but unless timed correctly, your opponent might be able to out HEAL your assault and leave you with no points or charges.

'''Strategies against Haste'''
* Using FORTFY is the best defense against Haste. The flurry of blocked autoattacks can generate a lot of special ability charges.
* Using a SPECIAL that that can prevent the opponent from acting such as Slow, Stun, or Unconscious can waste turns of Haste.
* Using Sympathy can force the opponent to hurt themselves instead of you.
* Because the Surges of Speed will always happen, using Bleed or Immolate can serious injure the opponent due to how fast the damage builds up.

'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
| Special || An ability specific to each spirit beast which is guaranteed to succeed, usually dealing damage based on spirit beast level, and in the cases of some uncommon and most legendary spirit beasts, having additional effects. || Variable Special Ability Charges
| Flameborn Lich
| Time is the Fire
|}
|}


== Core Strategies ==
Start Message:
'''When to Attack'''
<pre>
* You have stance advantage from Detecting.
* You want to generate Special Ability Charges.
* Your opponent is not under the effects of a protective ability (eg. Fortify).
* You have no other choice.


'''When to Detect'''
</pre>
* You think you've lost stance advantage because your opponent's Attack is dealing more damage.
* You KNOW you've lost stance advantage because your opponent's Lash is dealing more damage.
* Before you Fortify.
* Before you Special.
* You're under a beneficial effect that activates every time you take an action (eg. Regen).


'''When to Fortify'''
Activation Message:
* You think your opponent will Attack.
<pre>
* Your opponent's Attacks will deal a lot of damage (eg. Attunement advantage or high Power).
* Your opponent is out of Action Points.
* Your spirit beast has high Defense and/or Speed.
* Your spirit beast isn't about to die.
* Your opponent is under the effects of Haste.
* Your spirit beast is under the effects of Slow.


'''When to Heal'''
</pre>
* Your condition is at '''verge of defeat'''.
* Your condition is at '''critical''' and your opponent hasn't used their Special Ability recently.
* Your condition is at '''critical''' and your spirit beast is kind of a wimp.
* You are under the effects of a breakable status effect (eg. Stun), low on health, and will definitely lose before it wears off naturally.
* Don't heal at condition '''bad''' or better unless it will win the fight.


'''When to Lash'''
End Message:
* You need a Special Ability Charge.
<pre>
* You need guaranteed medium damage.
* Your opponent has an active protective ability (eg. Fortify).
* You're ahead and want to press your advantage.
* Your spirit beast has low Power ''and'' Accuracy.


'''When to Special'''
</pre>
* Using your Special will win the fight.
* You have enough charges to use your Special more than once and using them all will win the fight.
* You have eight or nine special ability charges.
* Your Special will cause a status effect which will give you a significant advantage (eg. Stun).
* You're about to die anyway and it beats doing nothing.


{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" data-expandtext="&#9660;" data-collapsetext="&#9650;"

!style="color:#0000ff"|'''Suggested Priority Highlights''' - Expand/Collapse
'''Regen'''

Regen causes the spirit beast to regain 10-20 health perform perfoming an action on their turn. Regen lasts 3 turns.

Interactions:
* If a spirit beast have both Bleed and Regen status effects, Regen will activate before Bleed.


'''Strategies using Regen'''
* Regen works best when you are at a mid level of health (decent, a little rough) because if your life is too high, you risk wasting some of the healing if you reach 100% health and using it at low life may not be enough to save or might mess up a HEAL by pushing your health out of critical range, resulting in less healing overall.
* Using the DETECT action will cause Regen to trigger faster due short interval between turns.
* FORTFY can be used to block hits will slowly recovering like with Regen.

'''Strategies against Regen'''
* If an opponent has Regen and you see the activation message with no action message, it means your opponent just used DETECT on your spirit beast.
* If you know the opponent has a Regen special that can only be used once, it might be a good idea to bait the special out by only doing autoattacks. They will still heal but the healing will be less overall since their health is so high.
* It is best to let Regen run its course before trying to be extremely offensive against the opponent. Even a small amount of healing can throw off a good offensive strategy.


'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
|Spirit Battle
| Ki-lin
| Healing Horn
|-
|-
|focuses its energy on defending
| Moon Serpent
| Lunar Charge
|-
|-
|prepares to defend itself
| Mistwood Treant
|-
| Lifebloom
|defensive position
|-
|focus on defending
|-
|spectral energy
|-
|Spectral lashes
|-
|special ability charge
|-
|superior fighting stance
|-
|currently in a superior stance
|-
|currently outmatched
|-
|already countering
|-
|surges with speed
|}
|}


{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" data-expandtext="&#9660;" data-collapsetext="&#9650;"
Start Message:
!style="color:#0000ff"|'''Additional Useful Highlights''' - Expand/Collapse
<pre>
|-
In a whirl of healing light, restorative sparks of energy surround your arcanist.
|bones form a shield
</pre>
|-

|protective wall of air
Activation Message:
|-
<pre>
|shine with sympathy
Glittering sparks of restorative energy restore 13 health to a wizened master arcanist.
|-
</pre>
|restorative sparks of energy

End Message:
<pre>
The glittering sparks of restorative energy die down around a wizened master arcanist.
</pre>


'''Reflective Shield'''

When a spirit beast with Reflective Shield is damage by an autoattack, 66% of the damage inflicted will be dealt back to the attacker. Reflective Shield lasts ?? turns or until 3 autoattacks are reflected.

Interactions:
* Missed or blocked autoattacks a will not trigger Reflective Shield.


'''Strategies using Reflective Shield'''
* Reflective Shield works best against opponents with high Power (raw damage) or high Accuracy (high crit chance) but can still be useful otherwise.
* Try not to use Reflective Shield offensively. The extra damage is nice but trying to bait strong attacks could get you killed if you are not careful.

'''Strategies against Reflective Shield'''
* Make sure you let Reflective Shield fall off before using SPECIAL abilities that grant Berserk or Haste. Otherwise, you might be dealing a lot of damage to yourself.


'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
|succumbs to the effects of Sympathy
| Dwarven Zealot
| Spirit of Adamantine
|-
|-
|Reflective energy
| Ancient Jeweler
|-
| Jeweled Shield
|berserker rage
|-
|bones swirling around
|-
|begins to seep life energy
|-
|flames roar up
|-
|falls into a drowsing slumber
|-
|is dazed!
|-
|restorative energy die down
|-
|cease to glow with sympathy
|-
|twinkles away
|-
|glitters away
|-
|ceases to bleed
|-
|fires burning around
|-
|verge of breaking catastrophically
|-
|tenacity of a troll
|-
|revels in the spilled essence
|-
|shakes off the stun
|-
|shakes free from slumber
|-
|shakes off its dazed state
|-
|blow is so powerful
|-
|sidesteps the attack
|}
|}


== Selecting a Beast to Train ==
Start Message:
'''To start''': Capture 10 common spirit beasts and then 15 more common or uncommon spirit beasts. Try to get a variety with different highest stats. Focus on learning the combat system with any of perfect or robust quality first and experiment with lower quality spirit beasts as well. Practice with other players or in training matches at Talondown Arena, learn what the commands do, get your highlights in place, etc. Focus on learning to identify which spirit beast has stance advantage.
<pre>

</pre>

Activation Message:
<pre>

</pre>

End Message:
<pre>

</pre>


'''Rebirth'''

Rebith causes the spirit beast to come back to life with ??% health after their health reaches 0. Rebirth lasts until it is triggered.

Interactions:
* If killed by a special move that causes a status effect, the Rebirth effect takes priority and will prevent the status effect from being applied. Both positive and negative status effects are affected.


'''Strategies using Rebirth'''
* Getting Rebirth up should be a priority but not such a great priority that you need to LASH x4 to do it. Fight normally and only resort to LASH to get Rebirth up if your opponent has taken a sizeable lead.
* Once you come back to life, you will be at "verge of death" health. You must immediately HEAL or do something to kill your opponent. At best, you will be able to survive one non-crit attack or LASH from the opponent before dying again. At worse, you will die immediately if you don't HEAL.
* Rebirth can be used to "soak" a heavy attack from the opponent such as a SEPCIAL.

'''Strategies against Rebirth'''
* Baring extreme luck or using specific beasts, it is almost a guarentee that your opponent is going to get Rebirth up.
* Once the opponent gets Rebirth up, it will not go away until triggered.Keep this in mind when determining how to fight them.
* Rebirth counters quick kill strategies such as back to back SEPCIAL by allow the opponent an extra turn to HEAL. Instead, the best option is the kill the opponent normally then SPECIAL to close out the matche once they return to light.


'''Advantage''': Beasts that have stance or attunement advantage (or both) will deal significantly more damage on all offensive actions, so learning to anticipate how much damage your ''own'' spirit beast will deal when it has one or both advantages is helpful to determine whether your opponent has taken the advantage or is simply more powerful. Lash damage is a reliable indicator because it is guaranteed to hit and only affected by Level, Stance, and Attunement.


{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed sortable" {{prettytable}}
'''Sources:'''
!Simple Starters
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
|Landing - Thrak, Manticore
| Phoenix Hatchling
|-
| From the Ashes
|Solhaven - Lobster, Alleycat
|-
|Icemule - Striped Snowcat, Timber Wolf
|-
|Teras - Wind Wraith, Cinder Wasp
|-
|Ta'Vaalor - Bobcat, Wolfshade
|-
|Ta'Illistim - Kiramon, Pampered Tomcat
|-
|River's Rest - Aardvark, Pirate
|}
|}


'''After the Basics''': Once you've learned the basics of the battling system, the commands, and the stats, you will want to start working on your first competitive spirit beast. Try to find one that starts with the stat spread you prefer, and obtain the best specimen you can find. A common or uncommon with one of the "standard" special attacks (3 charges for 100% damage) is highly recommended for your starter.
Start Message:
<pre>

</pre>

Activation Message:
<pre>

</pre>

End Message:
<pre>

</pre>


'''Stat Boost'''

When the spirit beast use a Stat Boost special ability, one or more stats are increased. The stat boost lasts for the duration of the battle. Secondary status effects last their normal duration.

Interactions:
* Regardless of effect, Stat Boost special are only useable once per battle and will be replaced by a normal 3 charge special afterwards.



'''Strategies using Stat Boost'''
* Stat Boost SPECIAL abilties vary greatly in secondary effects. Some are just the buffs alone but others deal damage and provide other status effects. Thus, the way to use the SPECIAL vary greatly.
* In most cases, it is best to get the Stat Boost as quickly as possible. The quicker you get the boost, the longer you have to use it.


'''Strategies against Rebirth'''
* Knowning what the opponent's Stat Boost does is very important for determining how to fight it. For example, a SPECIAL that increases Power might mean it would be wise to FORTIFY at some point during the fight.



'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|}

Start Message:
<pre>
Varies
</pre>

Activation Message:
<pre>
N/A
</pre>

End Message:
<pre>
N/A
</pre>




Quality does matter, but not very much. The difference between the worst unimpressive and a perfect is about the equivalent of three levels, so don't hesitate to use a less-than-perfect spirit beast. Merchants and [[radiant bestial soulstone]]s can be used on ''any'' spirit beast to improve it. Focus on earning [[redsteel mark]]s, getting comfortable, and reliably winning training matches in Talondown Arena.
=== Negative Status Effects ===


'''Advanced Selection and Legendaries''': Because starting stats and growth rates are known for most current spirit beasts, it may make sense to select your spirit beasts based on their projected level 20, perfect stats. [[Spirit_Beast#Class|Aberrations, arthropods, and beasts]] in particular have significantly weighted growth rates which can cause their most successful strategy to drift as they level up; compare the thrak's defense and accuracy at level 1 ''(D:112/A:93)'' and level 20 ''(D:150/A:150)''. Focus on reaching level 16+ with a few spirit beasts and completing weekly challenges.
'''Bleed'''


Once you reach Talondown Arena Level 5, you will routinely face legendary spirit beasts, many of which have non-standard special abilities which may do extra damage, have lower costs, or cause additional status effects. While general strategies will remain the same, these status effects will significantly impact your strategy. Two spirit beasts with identical stats, one of which has a 3 cost special that deals reduced damage and grants Regeneration will play very differently from one which has a 4 cost special that deals standard damage and inflicts Bleed.
Bleed causes the afflicted spirit beast to lose health before performing an action. The health lost is roughly 5% of the spirit beast's max health. Bleed lasts ?? turns.


Before entering listed matches, you may wish to familiarize yourself with the meta (the selection of Spirit Beasts you are likely to face), as of this writing, this is similar to the appropriate Talondown Arena level training meta, but NPC Trainers will use their preferred spirit beast exclusively:
Interactions:
* Similar to Regen, using the Detect action will cause Bleed to trigger faster due short interval between turns.
* If a spirit beast have both Bleed and Regen status effects, Regen will activate before Bleed.
* If an opponent is bleeding and you see the activation message with no action message, it means your opponent just used Detect on you.
* Having a Surge of Speed while bleeding can be dangerous due to the sudden increase of damage.
* Gaining Haste while bleeding is very dangerous and you might end up dying before you can react if your health is too low.


{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed sortable" {{prettytable}}
'''Sources:'''
! Grandmaster (7)||Preferred Beast
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
| Ghostfin
|Bronik||Ghostfin
| Hunger of the Deep
|-
|-
|Flaish||Whiskey Spirit
| Rose Lord
| Embrace of Thorns
|-
|-
|Kolita||Featherdancer
| Pale Woman
| Bloody Precision
|-
|-
|Leusys||Titanic Shaman
| flayer
|-
| Crimson Offering
|Millaus||Ancient Jeweler
|-
|Sureit||Hanged Man
|-
|Ysaea||Rotting Seductress
|}
|}


{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed sortable" {{prettytable}}
Start Message:
! Master (6)||Preferred Beast
<pre>
Your arcanist begins to seep life energy.
</pre>

Activation Message:
<pre>
Vital life energy seeps from your arcanist's wounds.
...7 damage!
</pre>

End Message:
<pre>
Your arcanist ceases to bleed.
</pre>


'''Distract'''

Distract does not have any noticeable effect on the afflicted spirit beast but it is assumed to reduce the beast's chance to hit with autoattack as well as reduced the probably of actions succeeding by an unknown amount. Distract lasts ?? turns.

Interactions:
* It is assumed that Distract affects critical hits, blocking attacks with Fortify, Detecting the opponent's stance, and possibly more.

'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
|Beatrix||Pyrelord
| ravenous incubus
| Thirst
|-
|-
|Carnus||Hulking Blademaster
| Drowned Lover
| Heartache
|-
|-
|Huanda||Demonic Echo
| Headless Pooka
|-
| Pitiful Stare
|Kayos||Great Machinist
|-
|Pidro||Dread Stallion
|-
|Roslyn||Prim Navigator
|-
|Tiren||Jantalarian Piper
|}
|}


{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed sortable" {{prettytable}}
Start Message:
! Arena Champion (5)||Preferred Beast
<pre>
|-

|Gloseil||Lady of Skulls
</pre>
|-

|Faun||Starseer
Activation Message:
|-
<pre>
|Rammil||Questionable Warcat

|-
</pre>
|Raknarak||Stone Guardian

|-
End Message:
|Reina||Dwarven Zealot
<pre>

</pre>



'''Immolate'''

Immolate covers the opponent in flames which deal damages to the spirit beast before they performing an action on their turn. Immolate deals between 10% and 15% of the spirit beast's max health when it activates. Distract lasts 2 turns.

Interactions:
* Immolate functions the exact same as Bleed except it deals higher, more varied damger over a shorter duration. Any Interactions that apply to Bleed also apply to Immolate.

'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
|Snokalosus||Sunderer's Titan
| Pyrelord
| Pyrelight
|-
|-
|Twytch||Ancient Jeweler
| reckless firestormer
| Burning Cloud
|}
|}


== Stats ==
Start Message:
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible sortable" {{prettytable}}
<pre>
! Stat||Description||Secondaries
Magical flames roar up around your arcanist.
</pre>

Activation Message:
<pre>
The fires burning around your arcanist flare up!
...14 damage!
</pre>

End Message:
<pre>
The fires burning around your arcanist die down.
</pre>



'''Madness'''

Madness causes the afflicted spirit beast to become uncontrollable and will attempt to autoattack every turn. The spirit beast cannot be commanded to take any action other than Heal. Madness lasts ?? turns.

Interactions:
* If you wait for Madness to end naturally without trying to Heal, your spirit beast will perform the action it was commanded to take. This may or may not be a good thing.
* It is recommended to immediately Detect once Madness ends because your opponent will probably have stance advantage.
* Madness does not affect the spirit beast's damage or critical chance in anyway. Spirit beasts with high Power or Accuracy might be able to use Madness to their advantage if they are healthy and have stance advantage.
* The afflicted spiri beast can still benefit from special effects such as Surge of Speed and Flash of Insight. It can also block attacks with Fortify provided the command was used before being afflicted with Madness.

'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
| Power (POW) || Increases {{boldmono|ATTACK}} damage (and the base critical hit damage), minimal effect on {{boldmono|LASH}} and {{boldmono|SPECIAL}}. || Staggering Blows
| scaled shaper
| Summon Lurks
|-
|-
| Defense (DEF) || Increases HP, but does not reduce incoming damage. Higher Defense makes Fortify more effective. || Health Points, Focused Defense
| Nightchild
| Kiss of the Jackal
|-
|-
| Insight (INS) || Increases stance detection and special charge generation. || Stance Detection, Flash of Insight
| Demonic Echo
|-
| Sheer Fear
| Accuracy (ACC) || Increases your chance of hitting with {{boldmono|ATTACK}} and your chances of a successful attack being a Critical Hit. Critical Hits deal damage based on the target's maximum HP. || Hit Rate, Critical Strike chance
|-
| Speed (SPD) || Determines the time between actions. || Surge of Speed, Evasion chance
|-
| Skill (hidden) || Provides +1 to each stat, can be indirectly observed as Quality. || None
|-
| Luck (hidden) || Positively affects every roll, seems to be a fixed value for each type of spirit beast (eg, every Lady of Skulls has high luck). Spirit beasts which appear lackluster on paper may have high luck to offset obvious weaknesses. || All
|}
|}
'''Importance of Stat Combinations'''
A spirit beast's highest stats mostly serve to determine the strategy and commands you'll use to generate special ability charges and when you'll want to use your special abilities. The more extreme a spirit beast's stat spread, the more reliable they are with a specific strategy but the less flexible they are in bad matchups.


{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed sortable" {{prettytable}}
Start Message:
! Combination||Description
<pre>
|-

|POW + DEF||High Attack damage and high HP, early Lash and late Fortify are good choices. At high levels can survive most special attacks even at Critical. Be prepared to double-detect, and early Specials can force your opponent to Heal.
</pre>
|-

|POW + INS||High Attack, high special ability charge generation, stance advantage. Reliably generates special ability charges through Attack and Fortify, Lash should only be used to avoid Fortify or defensive Specials, mostly wins through attrition and back-to-back Specials.
Activation Message:
|-
<pre>
|POW + ACC||Glass Cannon; attack, attack, attack. Even with stance or elemental disadvantage, your attack will deal substantial damage. With both advantages, expect to see 30-40 damage attacks regularly. Can be very fragile, relies on well-timed Fortify or Heal to survive.

|-
</pre>
|POW + SPD||Relatively rare, more likely to be an awkward leveling combo caused by growth rates on a spirit beast that is changing from one combo to another or an all-rounder. Strategy should be based on tertiary stats.

|-
End Message:
|DEF + INS||Low power and low accuracy mean mostly plinking attacks, so special generation should be handled by maintaining Fortify and stance advantage. Lash if you're ahead, Heal if you're behind, try to land two or three back-to-back Specials.
<pre>
|-

|DEF + ACC||Tankbuster. Fortify and critical hits make this the ideal counter to a POW + DEF Spirit Beast, these are extremely difficult to finish off and can easily land a lucky blow that turns the tide of the match.
</pre>
|-

|DEF + SPD||Nonexistent as of this writing. More likely to turn up as a transitionary combination or all-rounder. Extremely powerful Fortify, but easy to burn through Fortified actions rapidly. Excellent against Spirit Beasts that stun.


'''Slow'''

Slow dramatically reduces the Speed stat of the afflicted spirit beast. The exact amount is unknown but it is assumed to be 50%. Slow lasts ?? turns.

Interactions:
* The Slowed spirit beast will usually get 1 turn for every 2 turns the opponent.
* Detect can be used to try to rush through Slow but you might not have the time to due so if your life is low.

'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
|INS + ACC||Your goal should be to maximize the number of Attack actions you take to score critical hits, and use Lash to press advantage. Multiple back-to-back Specials are your most likely path to victory.
| Two-headed Snake
| Double-Strike
|-
|-
|INS + SPD||Kind of an odd combo, be prepared to double-detect against Lucky enemies, your winning strategy is almost always going to be surviving until you've built up enough special ability charges to start a chain. At 7 charges, you can reliably Fortify, Special, Special, (Lash if needed), Special again for a huge amount of damage.
| Frost Lich
|-
| Freezing Grip
|ACC + SPD||Crit Fisherman. Plays very similarly to POW + ACC, but with more reliance on Special to deal reliable finishing damage.
|}
|}


== Intermediate Strategies ==
Start Message:
'''Automatic attack/Crit Fishing'''
<pre>
* Detect to gain/maintain stance advantage, rely on Attack for most actions.
* Good for spirit beasts with high Power and/or Accuracy.
* Rely on Attack or Fortify to generate special ability charges.
* Use action points primarily for Fortify or Heal because Attack will deal more damage than Lash.
* Weak against Fortify, Reflect, Airwall, and Bone Shield.


'''Detect/Fortify Loop'''
</pre>
* Detect, Fortify, Action, Action, repeat.
* The action following Detect happens very quickly, but orders can be issued in between.
* Fortify lasts for three of your actions. If you know that your Fortify will expire on your next action, you can Detect and then issue a Fortify order immediately after in order to maximize time Fortified.
* Weak in early combat, when opponents mostly Lash.


'''Aggro Lashing'''
Activation Message:
* Lash, Lash, Lash, Special, repeat (or Lash x6, Special x2)
<pre>
* Good for low Power, low Accuracy or high Insight spirit beasts.
* Good for applying fast, high pressure.
* Weak against high HP, healing, or other attrition spirit beasts.


== Armaments ==
</pre>
Spirit Beast armaments come in three tiers; lesser, sturdy, and potent, and are largely restricted to specific classes.

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed sortable" {{prettytable}}
End Message:
! Class||Armament
<pre>

</pre>


'''Stun'''

Stun makes the afflicted spirit beast unable to be commanded or take any actions other than Heal. Slow lasts 2 turns.

Interactions:.
* The activation message will not give you an end of round update on your remaining health. It is very easy to lose due to Stun if you are not careful.
* If you wait for Stun to end naturally without trying to Heal, your spirit beast will perform the action it was commanded to take. This may or may not be a good thing.
* It is recommended to immediately Detect once Stun ends because your opponent will probably have stance advantage.
* The afflicted spiri beast can still benefit from Flash of Insight. It can also block attacks with Fortify provided the command was used before being Stunned.

'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
|Humanoid||Ring
| painted doll
| Reality Render
|-
|-
|Beast||Collar
| Whiskey Spirit
| Douse
|-
|-
|Elemental||Rune
| willow spirit
| Boil Earth
|-
|-
|Arthropod||War-paint
| weeping farlook
| Gorgon Stare
|-
|-
|Aberration||Rune
| Saltsinger
|-
| Stunning Strike
|Undead||Sigil
|-
|Beastman||Fetish
|}
|}


Lesser armaments are usable at any level and provide a net +5 to stats. Sturdy armaments are usable by level 10 or higher spirit beasts and provide a net +10 to stats. Potent armaments are only usable at level 20 and provide a net +20 to stats.
Start Message:
<pre>


</pre>
<pre{{log2}}>
The ring appears to be a potent Spirit Beast armament. It's in excellent condition.


While worn by a Spirit Beast, it will:
Activation Message:
<pre>
Your arcanist stumbles about in a daze.
</pre>


Increase the bearer's Power by 10.
<pre>
Decrease the bearer's Insight by 5.
>DETECT
Increase the bearer's Accuracy by 20.
Your master arcanist is stunned and cannot heed your commands!
Increase the bearer's Speed by 5.
</pre>
Make the bearer feel oddly drained.

It has the following stipulations for use:


Intended for use by Humanoids.
End Message:
The beast must have at least 20 trains.
<pre>
Your arcanist shakes off the stun afflicting it.
</pre>
</pre>


'''Special Effects'''
* ''Leech's hunger'' has a 20% flare to return half of {{boldmono|ATTACK}} damage (including criticals), and costs 10 stat points. Has no effect on {{boldmono|LASH}} or {{boldmono|SPECIAL}}.
* ''Troll's tenacity'' has a high chance of reviving your beast by healing a substantial portion of HP if it would be knocked out, and costs 10 stat points. Has no other effect.
* ''Feeling oddly drained'' occasionally causes your beast to take extra damage, and ''grants'' 10 additional stat points.


Armaments can also grant, remove, or change elemental attunement.


'''Sympathy'''
'''Which Armaments to use'''


Armaments are cheap, reusable, and have a high chance of being generated for the class of your selected spirit beast when purchased. Since they will always offer a net positive, you should ''always'' have an armament equipped on a beast you intend to battle with, even if it's not ideal. '''Equipping an armament will also prevent you from accidentally releasing a spirit beast.'''
While under the effects of Sympathy, there is a chance that any autoattack damage, including critical hits, will be dealt to the afflicted spirit beast instead of the opponent. Sympathy lasts 6 turns.


Armaments should be selected to either emphasize a beast's strengths (adding power to a beast with an already high power) or to shore up significant weaknesses (adding speed to a particularly slow beast). Because leech's hunger is proportional to ATTACK damage, it should only be used by spirit beasts with especially high power or accuracy, or the berserk status effect. Similarly, the oddly drained effect is best-suited to beasts with particularly high defense and healing specials.
Interactions:
* It is usually better to "waste turns" by using other actions such as Detect, Fortify, Lash, or Special instead of risking the self-damage from Sympathy.
* There is no change in the damage calculation when Sympathy triggers. If the spirit beast was going to deal 20 damage to the opponent when sympathy triggers, they will instead deal 20 damage to themself.


== Ampoules ==
'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
{| class="wikitable sortable" {{prettytable|1=line-height:1.3em;}}
! Color || Effect
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
| Red || +1 Power
| Oceanic Oracle
| Mentalism
|-
|-
| Orange || +1 Defense
| Questionable Warcat
| Bellyflop
|-
|-
| Yellow || +1 Insight
| Rotting Seductress
| Seduction
|-
|-
| Green || +1 Accuracy
| krolvin warfarer
| Break Will
|}

Start Message:
<pre>

Your arcanist's eyes shine with sympathy for Ysaea's seductress.
</pre>

Activation Message:
<pre>
With a single finger snap, your master arcanist transmutes the air to water around Ysaea's elven seductress! At the last moment, your arcanist succumbs to the effects of Sympathy and turns on itself!
...9 damage!
</pre>

End Message:
<pre>
Your arcanist's eyes cease to glow with sympathy.
</pre>


'''Unconscious'''

Unconscious cause the target to fall asleep and cannot be commanded or take any actions other than Heal. Unconscious immediately ends if the target is attacked in any way. Unconscious lasts ?? turns.

Interactions:
* Unconscious is considered to be a weaker version of Stun due to the effect ending after an attack.
* If you put your opponent to sleep, you the opportunity to Heal, Fortify, or Detect before starting to attack again.
* It still possible to block attacks with Fortify while Unconscious.
* The spirit beast must take damage to wake up from Unconscious. If the damage is blocked by Fortify, Airwall, Bone Shield, or an autoattack misses, the spirit beast will not wake up.

'''Sources:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Spirit Beast
! Special Ability
|-
|-
| Blue || +1 Speed
| mournful nymph
|-
| Slumber Song
| Black || Reset stat potion boosts
|-
| White || Bonus experience
|-
|-
| Weary Rider
| Dreamstrike
|}
|}
'''Which stats should I boost?'''


Ampoules are limited to +20 total, with no more than +10 to a single stat. Similar to armaments, ampoules should be used to emphasize strengths or offset weaknesses. Adding +4 to each stats provide an effect similar to gaining a level, for example. When in doubt, add +10 to your spirit beast's highest stat and +10 to speed or insight, whichever is lower at level 20.
Start Message:
<pre>
== Status Effects ==
Your arcanist falls into a drowsing slumber.
Detailed explanation and strategies can be found at '''[[/Status Effects|Status Effects]]'''.
</pre>


'''Positive Status Effects'''
Activation Message:
*Airwall
<pre>
*Berserk
Your arcanist snores loudly, unable to shake off the magical slumber.
*Bone Shield
</pre>
*Haste
<pre>
*Regen
>SPECIAL
*Reflective Shield
Your master arcanist is asleep and cannot hear your commands!
*Rebirth
</pre>
*Stat Boost

'''Negative Status Effects'''
End Message:
*Bleed
<pre>
*Distract
Startled by the attack, a wizened master arcanist shakes free from slumber!
*Immolate
</pre>
*Madness
*Slow
== Armaments ==
*Dazed
=== Special Effects ===
*Sympathy
=== Which Armaments to use ===
*Unconscious
== Ampoules ==
=== Breakdown ===
=== Which stats should I boost? ===
== Talondown Arena ==
=== Understanding the NPC AI ===
=== Training Matches ===
=== Weekly Challenge Matches ===
=== Listed Fights (THEY ARE HARDER!!) ===
== Specific Strategies ==
=== Against Specific Special Abilities ===
Airwall
Sympathy
Madness

Latest revision as of 14:54, 3 November 2024

This is a guide, tutorial, or gameplay strategy written by one or more players to better assist others with their gameplay enjoyment. The information presented here may be subject to the personal opinion of the contributor(s), and may additionally require periodic updates to keep current as the game environment changes.

Title: Spirit Beast Battle Guide

Author: Various

Date Published: 2020-10-03

Updated: 2023-06-16

This page is meant to help all players understand and win in Spirit Beast battling. Please feel free to discuss any suggested changes on the official Discord channel (find the link to join on the home page of this wiki). Based on original work by Hymore and Obelin.

Overview

Why you should be a Spirit Beast battler

People play with the Spirit Beast system for multiple reasons. One reason is the joy of finding and collecting rare or interesting spirit beasts from various parts of the world. Another reason is for the rewards, which include experience and gems. A full list of rewards can be found here.

Where do I start?

First, make sure you have read the main Spirit Beast page to gain a basic understanding of how the system works. Next, the Spirit Beast stats page has a list of all known spirit beasts to see which spirit beast you might want to use. Finally, you must decide how much you want to get out of the Spirit Beast system:

  • If you just want to collect spirit beasts as pets and have fun, then you won't need any in-depth help or preparations. All you need is a talisman! These can be purchased easily from any town for 25,000 silvers by visiting Talondown Arena. From the entrance, go north, through the cross-hatched burnt sienna door.
  • If your goal is the daily experience bonus (75 experience per loss or 150 per win, up to 10 times per day) then any spirit beast will do because you gain experience win or lose. As long as you do training matches in Talondown, your beast will not lose loyalty either.
  • If you have your eye on the gem pouches sold in Talondown Arena, then you will want a strong, reliable spirit beast to consistently win in the arena to get as many redsteel marks as possible since wins award 48-53 marks while losses award 12-15 marks.

To participate and win the weekly challenge for a gilded lockbox (and another 2300 weekly experience), you will want a high level spirit beast and a reasonable amount of skill to defeat all seven opponents. Using ampoules and armaments are not necessary but can help against bad matchups. A level 16 or higher spirit beast is recommended, and can be a good way to finish leveling a particularly strong beast, but will be especially difficult.

Lastly, to get the gilded lockbox from listed fights (and the final 1250 experience), you need to be in the top three players for the week and can only lose 3 times before you are out. Combined with the fact that the level 20 Spirit Beasts you fight are much tougher than the training and weekly fights, you will need to do everything in your power to win. Having a perfect quality, level 20 Spirit Beast with a potent armament and maxed stats from ampoules is recommended.

Actions

Action Description Cost
Attack The default, automatic action. Spirit Beasts will attack every round unless other orders are issued. It can score critical hits and activates certain special abilities, but it can be blocked by buffs (Fortify, Airwall, Bone Shield, Sympathy, Reflect). The ATTACK command is only used to reset an outstanding order.
Critical Hits deal additional damage based on your target's maximum Health Points.		 No cost
Detect Tells your spirit beast to check for stance advantage. The result is fairly automatic, adjusting to the correct stance on its own. It's important to watch and make sure that your beast is not currently outmatched. This action is very quick, being followed almost immediately by your next action, but you can issue new orders in between if you need to (including a second DETECT). No cost
Fortify Raises your dodge chance against ATTACK only, it doesn't do anything against LASH or SPECIAL, and lasts for three of your actions, including HEAL or DETECT. Dodging attacks has a very high chance of generating Special Charges for the defender. One Action Point
Heal Restores Health Points, works better the lower your health is. Healing while at Critical or Verge of Defeat will heal for up to twice as much. HEAL also has a 1/3 chance of ending a negative status effect (Stun, Bleed, Madness, etc.) and will not activate (or reduce the duration of) the negative effect on that round, but is not generally recommended solely for this purpose. Healing while under a status effect will also override any standing orders issued before the effect began. One Action Point
Lash Deals automatic, guaranteed damage based on spirit beast level, adjusted for stance and attunement advantage and generates one guaranteed Special Ability Charge. One Action Point
Special An ability specific to each spirit beast which is guaranteed to succeed, usually dealing damage based on spirit beast level, and in the cases of some uncommon and most legendary spirit beasts, having additional effects. Variable Special Ability Charges

Core Strategies

When to Attack

  • You have stance advantage from Detecting.
  • You want to generate Special Ability Charges.
  • Your opponent is not under the effects of a protective ability (eg. Fortify).
  • You have no other choice.

When to Detect

  • You think you've lost stance advantage because your opponent's Attack is dealing more damage.
  • You KNOW you've lost stance advantage because your opponent's Lash is dealing more damage.
  • Before you Fortify.
  • Before you Special.
  • You're under a beneficial effect that activates every time you take an action (eg. Regen).

When to Fortify

  • You think your opponent will Attack.
  • Your opponent's Attacks will deal a lot of damage (eg. Attunement advantage or high Power).
  • Your opponent is out of Action Points.
  • Your spirit beast has high Defense and/or Speed.
  • Your spirit beast isn't about to die.
  • Your opponent is under the effects of Haste.
  • Your spirit beast is under the effects of Slow.

When to Heal

  • Your condition is at verge of defeat.
  • Your condition is at critical and your opponent hasn't used their Special Ability recently.
  • Your condition is at critical and your spirit beast is kind of a wimp.
  • You are under the effects of a breakable status effect (eg. Stun), low on health, and will definitely lose before it wears off naturally.
  • Don't heal at condition bad or better unless it will win the fight.

When to Lash

  • You need a Special Ability Charge.
  • You need guaranteed medium damage.
  • Your opponent has an active protective ability (eg. Fortify).
  • You're ahead and want to press your advantage.
  • Your spirit beast has low Power and Accuracy.

When to Special

  • Using your Special will win the fight.
  • You have enough charges to use your Special more than once and using them all will win the fight.
  • You have eight or nine special ability charges.
  • Your Special will cause a status effect which will give you a significant advantage (eg. Stun).
  • You're about to die anyway and it beats doing nothing.
Suggested Priority Highlights - Expand/Collapse
Spirit Battle
focuses its energy on defending
prepares to defend itself
defensive position
focus on defending
spectral energy
Spectral lashes
special ability charge
superior fighting stance
currently in a superior stance
currently outmatched
already countering
surges with speed
Additional Useful Highlights - Expand/Collapse
bones form a shield
protective wall of air
shine with sympathy
restorative sparks of energy
succumbs to the effects of Sympathy
Reflective energy
berserker rage
bones swirling around
begins to seep life energy
flames roar up
falls into a drowsing slumber
is dazed!
restorative energy die down
cease to glow with sympathy
twinkles away
glitters away
ceases to bleed
fires burning around
verge of breaking catastrophically
tenacity of a troll
revels in the spilled essence
shakes off the stun
shakes free from slumber
shakes off its dazed state
blow is so powerful
sidesteps the attack

Selecting a Beast to Train

To start: Capture 10 common spirit beasts and then 15 more common or uncommon spirit beasts. Try to get a variety with different highest stats. Focus on learning the combat system with any of perfect or robust quality first and experiment with lower quality spirit beasts as well. Practice with other players or in training matches at Talondown Arena, learn what the commands do, get your highlights in place, etc. Focus on learning to identify which spirit beast has stance advantage.

Advantage: Beasts that have stance or attunement advantage (or both) will deal significantly more damage on all offensive actions, so learning to anticipate how much damage your own spirit beast will deal when it has one or both advantages is helpful to determine whether your opponent has taken the advantage or is simply more powerful. Lash damage is a reliable indicator because it is guaranteed to hit and only affected by Level, Stance, and Attunement.

Simple Starters
Landing - Thrak, Manticore
Solhaven - Lobster, Alleycat
Icemule - Striped Snowcat, Timber Wolf
Teras - Wind Wraith, Cinder Wasp
Ta'Vaalor - Bobcat, Wolfshade
Ta'Illistim - Kiramon, Pampered Tomcat
River's Rest - Aardvark, Pirate

After the Basics: Once you've learned the basics of the battling system, the commands, and the stats, you will want to start working on your first competitive spirit beast. Try to find one that starts with the stat spread you prefer, and obtain the best specimen you can find. A common or uncommon with one of the "standard" special attacks (3 charges for 100% damage) is highly recommended for your starter.

Quality does matter, but not very much. The difference between the worst unimpressive and a perfect is about the equivalent of three levels, so don't hesitate to use a less-than-perfect spirit beast. Merchants and radiant bestial soulstones can be used on any spirit beast to improve it. Focus on earning redsteel marks, getting comfortable, and reliably winning training matches in Talondown Arena.

Advanced Selection and Legendaries: Because starting stats and growth rates are known for most current spirit beasts, it may make sense to select your spirit beasts based on their projected level 20, perfect stats. Aberrations, arthropods, and beasts in particular have significantly weighted growth rates which can cause their most successful strategy to drift as they level up; compare the thrak's defense and accuracy at level 1 (D:112/A:93) and level 20 (D:150/A:150). Focus on reaching level 16+ with a few spirit beasts and completing weekly challenges.

Once you reach Talondown Arena Level 5, you will routinely face legendary spirit beasts, many of which have non-standard special abilities which may do extra damage, have lower costs, or cause additional status effects. While general strategies will remain the same, these status effects will significantly impact your strategy. Two spirit beasts with identical stats, one of which has a 3 cost special that deals reduced damage and grants Regeneration will play very differently from one which has a 4 cost special that deals standard damage and inflicts Bleed.

Before entering listed matches, you may wish to familiarize yourself with the meta (the selection of Spirit Beasts you are likely to face), as of this writing, this is similar to the appropriate Talondown Arena level training meta, but NPC Trainers will use their preferred spirit beast exclusively:

Grandmaster (7) Preferred Beast
Bronik Ghostfin
Flaish Whiskey Spirit
Kolita Featherdancer
Leusys Titanic Shaman
Millaus Ancient Jeweler
Sureit Hanged Man
Ysaea Rotting Seductress
Master (6) Preferred Beast
Beatrix Pyrelord
Carnus Hulking Blademaster
Huanda Demonic Echo
Kayos Great Machinist
Pidro Dread Stallion
Roslyn Prim Navigator
Tiren Jantalarian Piper
Arena Champion (5) Preferred Beast
Gloseil Lady of Skulls
Faun Starseer
Rammil Questionable Warcat
Raknarak Stone Guardian
Reina Dwarven Zealot
Snokalosus Sunderer's Titan
Twytch Ancient Jeweler

Stats

Stat Description Secondaries
Power (POW) Increases ATTACK damage (and the base critical hit damage), minimal effect on LASH and SPECIAL. Staggering Blows
Defense (DEF) Increases HP, but does not reduce incoming damage. Higher Defense makes Fortify more effective. Health Points, Focused Defense
Insight (INS) Increases stance detection and special charge generation. Stance Detection, Flash of Insight
Accuracy (ACC) Increases your chance of hitting with ATTACK and your chances of a successful attack being a Critical Hit. Critical Hits deal damage based on the target's maximum HP. Hit Rate, Critical Strike chance
Speed (SPD) Determines the time between actions. Surge of Speed, Evasion chance
Skill (hidden) Provides +1 to each stat, can be indirectly observed as Quality. None
Luck (hidden) Positively affects every roll, seems to be a fixed value for each type of spirit beast (eg, every Lady of Skulls has high luck). Spirit beasts which appear lackluster on paper may have high luck to offset obvious weaknesses. All

Importance of Stat Combinations A spirit beast's highest stats mostly serve to determine the strategy and commands you'll use to generate special ability charges and when you'll want to use your special abilities. The more extreme a spirit beast's stat spread, the more reliable they are with a specific strategy but the less flexible they are in bad matchups.

Combination Description
POW + DEF High Attack damage and high HP, early Lash and late Fortify are good choices. At high levels can survive most special attacks even at Critical. Be prepared to double-detect, and early Specials can force your opponent to Heal.
POW + INS High Attack, high special ability charge generation, stance advantage. Reliably generates special ability charges through Attack and Fortify, Lash should only be used to avoid Fortify or defensive Specials, mostly wins through attrition and back-to-back Specials.
POW + ACC Glass Cannon; attack, attack, attack. Even with stance or elemental disadvantage, your attack will deal substantial damage. With both advantages, expect to see 30-40 damage attacks regularly. Can be very fragile, relies on well-timed Fortify or Heal to survive.
POW + SPD Relatively rare, more likely to be an awkward leveling combo caused by growth rates on a spirit beast that is changing from one combo to another or an all-rounder. Strategy should be based on tertiary stats.
DEF + INS Low power and low accuracy mean mostly plinking attacks, so special generation should be handled by maintaining Fortify and stance advantage. Lash if you're ahead, Heal if you're behind, try to land two or three back-to-back Specials.
DEF + ACC Tankbuster. Fortify and critical hits make this the ideal counter to a POW + DEF Spirit Beast, these are extremely difficult to finish off and can easily land a lucky blow that turns the tide of the match.
DEF + SPD Nonexistent as of this writing. More likely to turn up as a transitionary combination or all-rounder. Extremely powerful Fortify, but easy to burn through Fortified actions rapidly. Excellent against Spirit Beasts that stun.
INS + ACC Your goal should be to maximize the number of Attack actions you take to score critical hits, and use Lash to press advantage. Multiple back-to-back Specials are your most likely path to victory.
INS + SPD Kind of an odd combo, be prepared to double-detect against Lucky enemies, your winning strategy is almost always going to be surviving until you've built up enough special ability charges to start a chain. At 7 charges, you can reliably Fortify, Special, Special, (Lash if needed), Special again for a huge amount of damage.
ACC + SPD Crit Fisherman. Plays very similarly to POW + ACC, but with more reliance on Special to deal reliable finishing damage.

Intermediate Strategies

Automatic attack/Crit Fishing

  • Detect to gain/maintain stance advantage, rely on Attack for most actions.
  • Good for spirit beasts with high Power and/or Accuracy.
  • Rely on Attack or Fortify to generate special ability charges.
  • Use action points primarily for Fortify or Heal because Attack will deal more damage than Lash.
  • Weak against Fortify, Reflect, Airwall, and Bone Shield.

Detect/Fortify Loop

  • Detect, Fortify, Action, Action, repeat.
  • The action following Detect happens very quickly, but orders can be issued in between.
  • Fortify lasts for three of your actions. If you know that your Fortify will expire on your next action, you can Detect and then issue a Fortify order immediately after in order to maximize time Fortified.
  • Weak in early combat, when opponents mostly Lash.

Aggro Lashing

  • Lash, Lash, Lash, Special, repeat (or Lash x6, Special x2)
  • Good for low Power, low Accuracy or high Insight spirit beasts.
  • Good for applying fast, high pressure.
  • Weak against high HP, healing, or other attrition spirit beasts.

Armaments

Spirit Beast armaments come in three tiers; lesser, sturdy, and potent, and are largely restricted to specific classes.

Class Armament
Humanoid Ring
Beast Collar
Elemental Rune
Arthropod War-paint
Aberration Rune
Undead Sigil
Beastman Fetish

Lesser armaments are usable at any level and provide a net +5 to stats. Sturdy armaments are usable by level 10 or higher spirit beasts and provide a net +10 to stats. Potent armaments are only usable at level 20 and provide a net +20 to stats. 

The ring appears to be a potent Spirit Beast armament.  It's in excellent condition.  

While worn by a Spirit Beast, it will:

        Increase the bearer's Power by 10.
        Decrease the bearer's Insight by 5.
        Increase the bearer's Accuracy by 20.
        Increase the bearer's Speed by 5.
        Make the bearer feel oddly drained.

It has the following stipulations for use:

        Intended for use by Humanoids.
        The beast must have at least 20 trains.

Special Effects

  • Leech's hunger has a 20% flare to return half of ATTACK damage (including criticals), and costs 10 stat points. Has no effect on LASH or SPECIAL.
  • Troll's tenacity has a high chance of reviving your beast by healing a substantial portion of HP if it would be knocked out, and costs 10 stat points. Has no other effect.
  • Feeling oddly drained occasionally causes your beast to take extra damage, and grants 10 additional stat points.

Armaments can also grant, remove, or change elemental attunement.

Which Armaments to use

Armaments are cheap, reusable, and have a high chance of being generated for the class of your selected spirit beast when purchased. Since they will always offer a net positive, you should always have an armament equipped on a beast you intend to battle with, even if it's not ideal. Equipping an armament will also prevent you from accidentally releasing a spirit beast.

Armaments should be selected to either emphasize a beast's strengths (adding power to a beast with an already high power) or to shore up significant weaknesses (adding speed to a particularly slow beast). Because leech's hunger is proportional to ATTACK damage, it should only be used by spirit beasts with especially high power or accuracy, or the berserk status effect. Similarly, the oddly drained effect is best-suited to beasts with particularly high defense and healing specials.

Ampoules

Color Effect
Red +1 Power
Orange +1 Defense
Yellow +1 Insight
Green +1 Accuracy
Blue +1 Speed
Black Reset stat potion boosts
White Bonus experience

Which stats should I boost?

Ampoules are limited to +20 total, with no more than +10 to a single stat. Similar to armaments, ampoules should be used to emphasize strengths or offset weaknesses. Adding +4 to each stats provide an effect similar to gaining a level, for example. When in doubt, add +10 to your spirit beast's highest stat and +10 to speed or insight, whichever is lower at level 20.

Status Effects

Detailed explanation and strategies can be found at Status Effects.

Positive Status Effects

  • Airwall
  • Berserk
  • Bone Shield
  • Haste
  • Regen
  • Reflective Shield
  • Rebirth
  • Stat Boost

Negative Status Effects

  • Bleed
  • Distract
  • Immolate
  • Madness
  • Slow
  • Dazed
  • Sympathy
  • Unconscious
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