Ability

Order of abilities used by Guardians during a battle:

1. Pre-combat: These actions happen when one or both Guardians first join the battle.
   • Quick Strike: the Guardian makes a weak physical attack against its opponent. When two Guardians are newly set as opponents (such as beginning of fight) and they both have Quick Strike, they will both use Quick Strike. Need to determine order of attacks. Attacker goes first? Higher AGI goes first?
   • Buffs and Debuffs are used before combat begins regardless of AGI of the two Guardians.
2. Combat: When it is a Guardian's turn to act, it will choose the first of the following actions according to the conditions described. Order of attack is determined by the Agility of the two Guardians using team ATB meters. The Guardians will continue to act until one of them is defeated.
   • If the Guardian has Heal or Greater Heal and its HP is not full, it will use that ability.
   • If the Guardian has Energy Drain and its opponent has MP left, it will use Energy Drain first.
   • If the Guardian has Life Drain and its HP is not full, it will use Life Drain.
   • The Guardian will make an attack
     • If the opponent is undamaged and the Guardian has enough MP, it will attack using MP consuming abilities first. The AI will select weaker abilities to use against weak opponents.
     • If the opponent is damaged, the Guardian will select the weakest ability which is sure to defeat the opponent, or do the most damage if it can't be defeated in a single attack. I have seen a Guardian with full MP use a weak physical attack against a Guardian that had 1HP remaining.
     • If the Guardian has insufficient MP to use abilities, it will make a weak physical attack.
3. Pre-defeat: There are several conditions which can trigger when the Guardian's HP reaches 0, but before it is considered defeated:
   • Revival: there is a chance that the Guardian's HP will be fully replenished at the cost of 1 MP.
   • Last Stand; if the guardian has at least 1MP left, it will consume all remaining MP and will be left with 1HP instead of being defeated.
   • Self-destruct; when the Guardian is defeated, it will make a physical attack against its opponent. This ability uses all remaining MP to attack; higher MP means higher damage.

All Guardians start with one ability and learn new ones as you level them up. Each Guardian can know a max of three abilities.

Guardians with Rank 1-3 will learn four skills, and have to drop one.

Guardians with Rank 4-5 will learn five skills, and have to drop two.

All attacks have the same MP cost, whether they are physical or elemental.