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Combat in The Legend of Legacy consists of two types of moves: Arts and Charms. Charms are the game’s equivalent of magic, and will allow you to attack, bolster your stats, heal wounds, and perform a variety of other, nifty things. Charms appear shortly after you begin the game, and you should make an effort to teach as many of them to your characters as possible.
Charms work a bit differently from Arts, despite also using SP. Charms come paired with Whispering Shards, found throughout the game in singing stones, and can only be used when you’ve established a Contract with the Charm’s associated element. In order for you to use Bubble Launcher, for example, one of your characters must first use Water Contract to drag the water elements over to your side. If you aren’t in control of a particular element, Charms will fail. Bear in this mind while fighting.
Though Charms are paired with Shards, they can be Awakened in the same way as Arts, namely by using them over and over in battle. Once a character has Awakened a Charm they no longer need that Shard equipped to use it, and can be statistically improved through repeated use. It’s also possible to learn some Charms without having Shards equipped, though these moments are fairly rare. Note that, regardless of elemental control, you must also equip at least one elemental item on a character before they can access Charms of the same element. (Elements are indicated by small, coloured plus signs on the item’s icon.)
Below is a list of Charms available in The Legend of Legacy, separated into their respective elements. The further down the list they are, the more powerful they are. Usually. (This list is almost complete, but not quite. Hopefully I’ll have it done within a day or two.)
Water Charms
Bubble Launcher
SP Cost: 2
Attack: 12
Target: Single enemy
Effect: Strikes one enemy for water damage. An okay charm, but only early in the game.
Water Shield
SP Cost: 3
Target: All allies
Effect: Protects everyone against physical and fire attacks for several rounds. At all points in the game this charm will come in handy, and it should be known by everyone in your party.
Healing Hands
SP Cost: 3
Healing: 10
Target: Single ally
Effect: Restores a small amount of health to one ally, and can restore sleep status. Besides restorative accessories, this spell will get you through many early areas, and remains useful for getting rid of sleep. Another good charm for everyone to learn, even though it loses potency later in the game.
Purify
SP Cost: 3
Target: One ally
Effect: Cures poison status. Not terribly dynamic, but given how devastating poison is in The Legend of Legacy, I highly recommend teaching everyone Purify.
Mystic Spray
SP Cost: 4
Target: All enemies
Effect: Lowers the attack power of all enemies. This is a decent charm against groups of foes… but only if it sticks. I found that it missed a lot. Kinda meh.
Hailstorm
SP Cost: 4
Attack: 25
Target: All enemies
Effect: Strikes every enemy for water damage. Good against groups, but Hailstorm is a bit weak over the long run. Physical AOE attacks are better.
Renew
SP Cost: 5
Target: Single ally
Effect: Removes all stat reductions on a single ally. Good for some boss fights, but generally not that amazing, especially given how expensive it is. Meh.
SP Cost:
Attack:
Target:
Effect:
Rejuvenation
SP Cost: 9
Healing: 25
Target: Single ally
Effect: Greatly restores one character’s health and removes all status ailments. This charm is great, but man is that a steep SP cost. Don’t use it unless you’re left with little choice… or you’re restoring a lot of SP per round anyway.
SP Cost:
Attack:
Target:
Effect:
Permafrost
SP Cost: 6
Target: Single ally
Effect: Increases resistance to status ailments. If this was a few points cheaper it might be useful, but 6 SP is rather steep for a chance that you won’t get hit by status ailments. Still, this can be handy in boss fights where you know you’re going to get targeted by poison attacks.
Air Charms
Elven Shot
SP Cost: 2
Attack: 15
Target: Single enemy
Effect: Hits one enemy for low air damage. Good early on, fairly useless later.
Air Shield
SP Cost: 3
Target: All allies
Effect: Summons a an air wall that protects against ranged attacks. Less useful than Water Shield, but still pretty good in certain situations.
Windsweep
SP Cost: 2
Target: Single enemy
Effect: Stuns a single enemy. A good choice if the user is fast enough to go first, though only if you don’t have a damaging attack that can stun. Almost never seems to work on bosses, so don’t bother.
Headwind
SP Cost: 3
Target: All enemies
Effect: Lowers the attack power of all enemy Arts. Not bad at all if you’re facing large groups that you know will be trouble, though a bit inaccurate at times.
Bee Stinger
SP Cost: 2
Target: Single enemy
Effect: Inflicts poison on a single enemy. Poison is possibly the best status ailment in The Legend of Legacy, making this somewhat-inaccurate charm a must-learn. (Though it often doesn’t work on bosses. Still, against Archwings…)
Bladestorm
SP Cost: 5
Attack: 30
Target: All enemies
Effect: Strikes all foes with air damage. Better than Hailstorm, and a decent overall charm, but something of a waste of SP compared to many physical AOE attacks.
Lullaby
SP Cost: 4
Target: All enemies
Effect: Inflicts sleep status on all enemies. Lullaby tends not to work a lot, though, and at best is useful for stalling to recharge your health and SP. Not amazing.
Bluster
SP Cost: 6
Target: Everyone
Effect: Removes Wall charms from everybody in a battle. Annoying as Walls can be when they’re on an enemy, they’re just too important to your side to dispel. Only good for expediting battles you know you’re probably going to win anyway.
Cloud Armor
SP Cost: 6
Target: Single ally
Effect: Raises one ally’s defences. Great for boss fights, but man does it cost an unfortunate amount to use.
SP Cost:
Attack:
Target:
Effect:
Winter’s Embrace
SP Cost: 9
Attack: 40
Target: All enemies
Effect: Hits all enemies with icy air damage. Quite powerful, but still often not as good as physical AOE attacks, plus you need to get air elementals on your side before you can use it. Decent, not amazing, and so expensive.
Fire Charms
Flare
SP Cost: 1
Attack: 16
Target: Single enemy
Effect: Hits one enemy with fire damage. Given its low cost Flare has the potential to be good, but you’ll probably get it a little too late for it to be really effective. Still, not bad.
Fire Shield
SP Cost: 3
Target: All allies
Effect: Creates a wall that protects your team from physical and ice attacks. Water shield is better, but Fire Shield ain’t bad.
Enkindle
SP Cost: 2
Target: Single ally
Effect: Increases one character’s Arts damage. Pretty good, especially if you have damage dealers who rely largely on physical attacks over Charms.
Blastwave
SP Cost: 5
Attack: 15
Target: All enemies
Effect: Hits every enemy with fire damage. You get this a bit too late for it to be really effective, but it’s not bad.
Firebolt
SP Cost: 4
Attack: 25
Target: Single enemy
Effect: Hits one enemy for fire damage. A solid attack spell for your dedicated mages.
Hypnosis
SP Cost: 2
Target: Single enemy
Effect: Puts one enemy to sleep. Meh? Unless you’re really struggling, not recommended. (It seems to work more often than Lullaby, at least.)
Inferno
SP Cost: 7
Attack: 50
Target: All enemies
Effect: Hits all enemies with fire damage. The best damage-inflicting charm you’re going to get, and pretty solid for mob control. Expensive, but as far as AOE attacks go it’s not that bad for its damage. Recommended.
Berserker Rage
SP Cost: 1
Target: Single ally
Effect: Greatly increases one character’s damage output. A great boosting charm, given that tiny cost, Berserker Rage will make some of the bosses significantly easier.
Phoenix’s Grace
SP Cost: 9
Target: Single ally
Effect: Bestows auto-revive on a single character, restoring them to life if they die in battle. It’s generally better to not die, but if you anticipate it happening… why not. At the very least it prevents your character from losing maximum health when they get knocked out.