Spirit Beast Battle Guide

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 #spirit-beasts official Discord channel (find the link to join on the home page of this wiki). Based on original work by Hymore and Obelin.

This page is a work in progress.

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!
• If your goal is the daily experience bonus (100 experience per fight, 1000 per day) then any spirit beast will do because you gain the 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 2750 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.

Lastly, to get the gilded lockbox from listed fights (and the final 1000 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.

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.

Selecting a Beast to Train

What to Look For

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

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
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

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 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.	None
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.

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

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 spirit beasts.
• Good for applying fast, high pressure.
• Weak against high HP, healing, or other attrition spirit beasts.

Elements

ATTUNEMENT

Element	Weakest Against	Weak Against	Strong Against	Strongest Against
Unaligned	-	-	-	-
Fire	Water	Earth	Air	Spirit
Water	Spirit	Air	Earth	Fire
Earth	Air	Water	Fire	Spirit
Air	Spirit	Fire	Water	Earth
Spirit	Fire	Earth	Water	Air
Wild Magic	Elements	-	-	Spirit
Rift Armament	Spirit	-	-	Elements

Status Effects

Positive Status Effects

Airwall

---

Airwall causes all automatic attacks against the spirit beast to automatically fail. This failure will never result in generating a special ability charge for the user, but will not prevent special ability charges generated by dodging. Airwall lasts 10 turns.

Sources:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
Featherdancer	Stormfury
Titanic Shaman	Savage Prayer

Airwall Information Type	Airwall Information Content
Interactions	Airwall's block occurs after checking for a Dodge, which means the user can still generate charges defensively while Airwall is active, particularly while Fortified.
Strategies	Using Airwall You are effectively immune to automatic attacks 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 SPECIALs while you HEAL and automatically attack them. You can take your time while Airwall is active to build special ability charges with automatic attacks. Save your charges for when Airwall is about to end or you have sufficient charges to end the match. Maintaining stance advantage with DETECT or utilizing FORTIFY will increase your chances of generating special ability charges from your opponent's failed attacks.
	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 automatic attacks. LASH and SPECIAL are not blocked by Airwall. If you run out of points and special ability charges while the opponent has Airwall up, you are probably going to lose. 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 weaken the opponent enough. In most cases, you get one shot at doing this and failure means the opponent will just HEAL the damage away.
Start Message	A protective wall of air swirls into being around Kolita's sylph.
Activation Message	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.
End Message	The protective wall of air around a serene winged sylph falls away.

Berserk

---

Berserk increases automatic attack 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.

Sources:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
Frostwyrm	Cold Rage

Berserk Information Type	Berserk Information Content
Interactions	Unlike Haste, Berserk does not guarantee Surges of Speed but it does significantly increase the chance.
Strategies	Using Beserk 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 automatic attack will do much more damage while under Berserk, do not LASH unless the opponent cannot be hit (eg. FORTIFY, Airwall, etc.) with automatic attacks.
	Against Berserk FORTIFY is the best way to defend against Berserk due to the increased chances of high damaging attacks and surges of speed . 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.
Start Message	Your serpent goes into a berserker rage!
Activation Message	Your blue serpent charges forward, enraged.
End Message	The berserker rage suffusing a winged blue serpent dims.

Bone Shield

---

Bone Shield causes all automatic attacks 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 automatic attacks are blocked.

Sources:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
Lady of Skulls	Bonestorm

Bone Shield Information Type	Bone Shield Information Content
Interactions	Bone Shield's block occurs after checking for a missing and Fortify which means the user can still generate charges defensively while Bone Shield is active.
	Unlike Airwall, Bone Shield can be removed faster by attempting to attack the opponent.
Strategies	Using Bone Shield You are effectively immune to automatic attacks while Bone Shield is active. While it isn't as strong as Airwall, you can use this time to gain stance advantage, HEAL, or give you some breathing room.
	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 automatic attacks. LASH and SPECIAL are not blocked by Bone Shield. Unlike Airwall, you can break Bone Shield with enough automatic attacks. You can use FORTIFY to maintain some defense while you chip away at the shield. Attrition-based spirit beasts may wish to apply pressure with LASH or SPECIAL, forcing your opponent to HEAL.
Start Message	Spinning bones form a shield around your arcanist.
Activation Message	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.
End Message	The bones swirling around a wizened master arcanist spiral away.

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 FORTIFY is the best defense against Haste. The flurry of blocked automatic attacks 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:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
Flameborn Lich	Time is the Fire

Start Message:

Activation Message:

End Message:

Regen

Regen causes the spirit beast to regain 10-20 health perform performing 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.
• FORTIFY 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 automatic attacks. 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:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
Ki-lin	Healing Horn
Moon Serpent	Lunar Charge
Mistwood Treant	Lifebloom

Start Message:

In a whirl of healing light, restorative sparks of energy surround your arcanist.

Activation Message:

Glittering sparks of restorative energy restore 13 health to a wizened master arcanist.

End Message:

The glittering sparks of restorative energy die down around a wizened master arcanist.

Reflective Shield

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

Interactions:

• Missed or blocked automatic attacks 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:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
Dwarven Zealot	Spirit of Adamantine
Ancient Jeweler	Jeweled Shield

Start Message:

Activation Message:

End Message:

Rebirth

Rebirth 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 guarantee 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 SPECIAL 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 match once they return to light.

Sources:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
Phoenix Hatchling	From the Ashes

Start Message:

Activation Message:

End Message:

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 abilities 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

• Knowing 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:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability

Start Message:

Varies

Activation Message:

N/A

End Message:

N/A

Negative Status Effects

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.

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.

Sources:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
Ghostfin	Hunger of the Deep
Rose Lord	Embrace of Thorns
Pale Woman	Bloody Precision
flayer	Crimson Offering

Start Message:

Your arcanist begins to seep life energy.

Activation Message:

Vital life energy seeps from your arcanist's wounds.
...7 damage!

End Message:

Your arcanist ceases to bleed.

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 automatic attacks as well as reduced the probability 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:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
ravenous incubus	Thirst
Drowned Lover	Heartache
Headless Pooka	Pitiful Stare

Start Message:

Activation Message:

End Message:

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 damage over a shorter duration. Any Interactions that apply to Bleed also apply to Immolate.

Sources:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
Pyrelord	Pyrelight
reckless firestormer	Burning Cloud

Start Message:

Magical flames roar up around your arcanist.

Activation Message:

The fires burning around your arcanist flare up!
...14 damage!

End Message:

The fires burning around your arcanist die down.

Madness

Madness causes the afflicted spirit beast to become uncontrollable and will attempt to automatically attack 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 spirit 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:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
scaled shaper	Summon Lurks
Nightchild	Kiss of the Jackal
Demonic Echo	Sheer Fear

Start Message:

Activation Message:

End Message:

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:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
Two-headed Snake	Double-Strike
Frost Lich	Freezing Grip

Start Message:

Activation Message:

End Message:

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 spirit beast can still benefit from Flash of Insight. It can also block attacks with Fortify provided the command was used before being Stunned.

Sources:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
painted doll	Reality Render
Whiskey Spirit	Douse
willow spirit	Boil Earth
weeping farlook	Gorgon Stare
Saltsinger	Stunning Strike

Start Message:

Activation Message:

Your arcanist stumbles about in a daze.

>DETECT
Your master arcanist is stunned and cannot heed your commands!

End Message:

Your arcanist shakes off the stun afflicting it.

Sympathy

While under the effects of Sympathy, there is a chance that any automatic attack damage, including critical hits, will be dealt to the afflicted spirit beast instead of the opponent. Sympathy lasts 6 turns.

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 themselves.

Sources:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
Oceanic Oracle	Mentalism
Questionable Warcat	Bellyflop
Rotting Seductress	Seduction
krolvin warfarer	Break Will

Start Message:

Your arcanist's eyes shine with sympathy for Ysaea's seductress.

Activation Message:

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!

End Message:

Your arcanist's eyes cease to glow with sympathy.

Unconscious

Unconscious cause the target to fall asleep, where it 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 have 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 automatic attack misses, the spirit beast will not wake up.

Sources:

Spirit Beast	Special Ability
mournful nymph	Slumber Song
Weary Rider	Dreamstrike

Start Message:

Your arcanist falls into a drowsing slumber.

Activation Message:

Your arcanist snores loudly, unable to shake off the magical slumber.

>SPECIAL
Your master arcanist is asleep and cannot hear your commands!

End Message:

Startled by the attack, a wizened master arcanist shakes free from slumber!