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There are plenty of enemies in Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, and though some are relatively easy to take down, others will need a bit more force to eliminate. Fortunately, there is one mechanic in particular that will help get the job done: Fatal Strike.

What are Fatal Strikes?

Unlocked during the final quarter of the first part of the game in Caer Bocram, Fatal Strikes are powerful techniques that are capable of defeating normal enemies in one hit and dealing heavy damage to bosses. Aside from their damage potential, they also have the benefit of always providing additional grade, along with a potential increase in EXP, LP (weapon skill experience) and drop rate depending on which Fatal Strike you use.

How Do I Use Them?

Before getting started, it’s important to address the “which Fatal Strike you use” statement I made earlier. Simply put, there are three types of Fatal Strikes, each corresponding with a specific direction/color — up/blue, down/red or sideways/green. All enemies have three gauges in addition to their HP, with every potential arte or regular attack at your character’s disposal capable of reducing one of them (take note of the colored symbol in an arte’s description once Fatal Strikes are unlocked). Once one of the meters are completely drained, you’ll see a colored glyph appear around the enemy for a brief period of time, and from there, all you need to do is press the appropriate button (R2 on the PS4) and you’ll have yourself a dead enemy.

To be clear, all Fatal Strikes are equally effective in terms of damage (unless enhanced by certain skills), but most enemies — depending on their species — are more resistant or vulnerable towards certain Fatal Strikes states than others. For instance, plants are resistant towards sideways (green) Fatal Strikes, but weak to upwards (blue) Fatal Strikes; while humans are weak to all of them.

Here is the full breakdown:

Fatal Strike Weaknesses and Resistances

Of course, just because an enemy is resistant towards a certain type of Fatal Strike doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go for it — as mentioned before, you gain bonuses depending on which one you use.

Here is the full breakdown:

Fatal Strike Bonuses

Knowing which type of Fatal Strike earns you which bonuses on any given enemy is particularly important because of a related mechanic: Fatal Strike Chain.

What Are Fatal Strike Chains?

Take everything you know about Fatal Strikes except don’t press R2 (or your platform’s equivalent), and you have Fatal Strike Chains. In other words, these occur when you don’t execute a finisher when prompted, instead opting to leave the enemy alive and kicking. You’ll know you’re doing things correctly when the enemy has a dim black aura around them.

Why Would You Do This?

There is one main reason why you would start a Fatal Strike Chain — to farm exp, LP and items. As mentioned before, you get increased rewards during Fatal Strikes, and these stack as you continue to build up a Fatal Strike Chain. Once the enemy has their blue gauge depleted, for instance, instead of going through with the execution, wait for a bit before doing another upwards arte or attack. From there, just repeat ad nauseam until you’re satisfied, though you’ll probably only ever need to go up to seven if you’re looking for items. An easy way to accomplish this — especially with Rita — is to use the “Minimum Damage” skill to avoid killing the target prematurely, equipping the Risky Ring (or using Over Limit Lvl.3) to reduce TP costs to 1, and activating Over Limit in general for skill spamming. 

Do note, however, that the character who started the chain being hit or the respective enemy avoiding damage for an extended period of time will both cause the chain to expire premature, so be aware of that.

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