When it comes to combat in Soul Hackers 2, a lot of mechanics will be familiar to players of Shin Megami Tensei and Persona. For example, various elemental affinities and weaknesses come into play in much the same way, as well as using and battling with demons.
For those of you who are new to the series, or even those who just need a little refresher, this guide is going to cover the basics of combat, as well as offer some top tips to help you get started. Here's everything you need to know.
Know Your Elemental Affinities And Icons
Affinities are a big part of battles in Soul Hackers 2. Every party member and every enemy will have their own set of affinities and weaknesses, with your team's changing based on the demon they have equipped.
Depending on an enemy's affinities, you might find a specific elemental attack will be:
- Drains, meaning the enemy recovers HP instead
- Repelled, so your own attack comes back at you
- Resisted, so the enemy takes less damage
- Blocked, so it has no effect
- A neutral effect, dealing the normal amount of damage
- A weakness, so the enemy will take greater damage
As such, it's important to be able to identify what each affinity and skill icon means. Once you have attacked an enemy with a certain type of attack, when you next target it, the display box will show the current affinities that you know.
Affinity And Skill Icons
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Physical Affinity |
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Ruin Affinity |
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Gunfire Affinity |
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Almighty Affinity |
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Fire Affinity |
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Recovery Affinity |
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Ice Affinity |
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Support |
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Electricity Affinity |
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Passive Effect |
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Force Affinity |
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Special |
Balance Your Party
To ensure you can combat all the different types of elemental affinities, you'll want to have a broad range of strengths across your team. After all, there's no point in having all party members focus on the same strength, as it wouldn't be very effective. The more elements you can harness, the more chance you have of hitting enemy weaknesses and being victorious in battle.
Aim to have each party member focus on a certain element, and have their accessories, COMPs, and Mistiques reflect this, so that you go into battle with a wide variety of elements you can utilize.
You should aim to have a good demon focused on each affinity on hand so you can change your party as needed, and eventually, you'll unlock the ability to switch demons for party members mid-battle.
Keeping your party healthy is one of the most important factors.
Make sure at least one party member has a demon equipped that has healing/revival/status ailment skills, and be sure to have plenty of consumables on hand to support this character, or in some cases, replace their healing skills if they fall in battle.
Make The Most Of Sabbaths
Striking an enemy's weakness will add a demon to the stack, and at the end of your turn, the stacked demons will attack all enemies in a special move called a Sabbath. You want to make sure you are hitting weaknesses as often as possible to have the greatest stacks.
The more demons that are stacked, the greater the damage that will be dealt. Additionally, the fewer demons left, the more damage will be done to each remaining enemy.
You'll be able to unlock skills that affect Sabbaths, such as adding more than one stack per successful weak attack for party members. Additionally, demons can unlock special Tandem skills that can potentially activate if the demon joins the Sabbath stack. Tandem skills require a button input for them to activate and you only have a limited time in which to click the button.
Use Guard At The Right Time
You have the option to Guard during each party member's turn, and doing so means that your character will take half as much damage if attacked, and it's less likely that they'll be inflicted with status ailments.
During boss battles, your enemy will sometimes use skills that power-up their next attack. This is your cue to have your whole party Guard against the upcoming attack. It's also wise to have any party members with low HP guard until you're able to heal them.
Always Equip The Best Demons And Gear
Ensuring your team is in peak performance mode will go a long way to helping you wipe the floor with your enemies in battle. This means keeping your party members equipped with the best possible demons, the higher level you become, the higher level demons you can fuse. Better demons have more powerful skills to use, so it's important to keep upgrading your demons.
Completing certain requests and defeating specific enemies will unlock the ability to fuse new and stronger demons.
Make It Easy On Yourself
There are a few things that can make battle easier on yourself. If you're not sure what to do, choosing the Assist option will pick the best attack to use based on the known weaknesses of the enemy.
Additionally, if the enemy is weak and you know you can easily mop the floor with them, you can choose to use Auto-Attack to have your party members automatically using their standard Physical and Gunfire attacks.
Depending on the difficulty you have chosen, you might have access to Continues (unlimited on easy, via items on normal, none on hard), which allow you to continue the battle once your party falls.