Battle Mechanics

Creating a Party
A party of units can be assembled in the Team tab. There are 9 empty slots, which can be filled with nine units you have. If you fill less than 9 units, the remaining empty slots will be filled by a Soldier with the HP, ATK and RCV stat of 100. Thus, your party will always have nine units.

Leaders and Sub-leaders
The first three units in your party have special significance.

The first unit in a party is the leader. This unit is the only unit in the party whose leader skill will take effect. Leader skills provide a boost to the stats of the party, some boost specific types, some boost units on specific tiles, and others have boosts when your HP is within a certain range. It is recommended to ensure that the leader skill affects most or all units in the party, so careful consideration should be taken to pick units that benefit from the leader skill.

The next two units in the party are called sub-leaders. Leader and sub-leaders are the only units in the party that can use their active skill. Active skills have many different effects and can change the tide of the battle. They require LC to use, which is acquired by linking tiles (one LC per tile) in battle. When enough LC is accumulated, the unit's image will glow. The active skill can be used on any turn before linking the tiles, so long as there is enough LC accumulated. There are many different active skills, so choosing carefully the three units' active skills you will bring into battle is key to victory!

Friend Units
Before going on a quest, players will have the option to pick either a Friend or an Adventurer to go with their team. The Friend's or Adventurer's leaders and sub-leaders will join the player on their quest, though only the leader's active skill will be available. The two sub-leaders' active skill will not be available.

If a Friend is picked instead of an Adventurer, then the friend's leader skill will also be applied to the player's party. The leader skills of both leaders affect both the parties, so having them match will boost the unit's battle capabilities further.

The player's party and the friend units puts the minimum unit count at 12.

Guest Units
Guest units are units tied to specific quests. When the quest is selected, the guest unit will automatically join your party. Their leader skill are not applied and their active skill will not be available.

Tiles and Links
Five different types of tiles can appear on the battlefield.




 * Heroes on these tiles will attack when linked, dealing damage according to their ATK stat.


 * Heroes on these tiles will heal for the displayed amount according to their own RCV stat.
 * Linking at least 4 of these tiles will give the next incoming non-heart unit an aura.



Tiles of the same type that are adjacent to each other can be linked together, allowing more units to move in a single turn. For each subsequent unit after the first, a multiplier is applied to the relevant stats. The more tiles linked together, the greater the multiplier on each units ATK or RCV stat will be and the greater the final attack or heal will be.

If all nine tiles are linked together as heart tiles, HP will always be recovered to full regardless of the link's total healing value. For a link of nine attack tiles, an Overlink Arte will activate, multiplying the final hero's attack by an additional 1.5x and attack all units. If the ninth unit, the finisher, has a Mystic Arte equipped and Mystic Artes are available, they will glow red and the Mystic Arte's multiplier will be used instead. Depending on the rarity of the Mystic Arte, the damage can be multiplied immensely.

When tiles are used, existing tiles shift rightwards where there is space and new tiles enter from the left side to fill those gaps. The type of tiles that appear are random, but a player can see the next three tiles by looking at the "Next" display in the top left corner. The order in which heroes come onto the battlefield is shown below:


 * If a unit is already on a tile, then the next unit will appear on the next lowest numbered tile.

Artes
Artes are activated randomly in battle in most instances by each hero, determined by the arte activation percentage of the particular unit. Auras will also periodically appear on characters as they appear on the battlefield. Auras guarantee that the hero will use their arte if used in a link. Auras can also be granted to the next hero to appear on an attack tile after creating a link of 4 or more hearts.

Elements
Every unit in Tales of Link comes with a hidden element. Despite being random, the element is very important, as most enemies also have a specific elemental affinity. Guardians of the same element as the unit--regardless of whether they are attack, defense, or support guardians--activate a unit's element. The unit's element determines whether it is strong or weak against another elemental foe, and while the unit may do more damage if it is strong against an element, it will both do less damage and receive more damage if it is weak against an element. Weapons may also come with an element and are always active, so choose wisely in a battle! Keep in mind that bonuses gained from elemental weapons is only applied once. Equipping two weapons of the same element does not increase the elemental multiplier. Even if a unit will do more or less damage to an element their weapon is strong or weak against, they will not receive more or less damage as they would if a guardian is activated.



The four basic elements of fire, water, wind, and earth, all work in a circular fashion of strength and weakness as shown above. Light and dark have special properties, and are both strong and weak against each other. These two will always do and take more damage from the opposing element.

See Guardians for more information on Guardians!

Status Effects
Sometimes, an enemy's attack may also afflict units with an ailment. Support guardians and armors may be used prevent an ailment, but in most cases the only way to deal with negative ailments is to wait a certain number of turns until the effects clear indicated by an icon above the afflicted unit.

Sleep
 * The unit cannot act until it is attacked or the effect expires

Poison
 * The unit is damaged each turn until the effect expires

Paralysis
 * The unit cannot act until it is sent off-screen or the effect expires

Burned
 * The unit is damaged slightly each turn until the effect expires

Frozen
 * The unit cannot act and is damaged each turn until the effect expires

Petrified
 * The unit cannot act until the effect expires

Skill Seal (referred to in-game as Arte Seal)
 * The unit is unable to use an active skill until the effect expires
 * Note that artes still activate normally

Delay
 * This effect only applies to enemies, and increases their "Next" turn counter by a specified number.

Iron Stance
Occasionally, an enemy will appear with a beehive barrier acting as a shield. This is called an Iron Stance and it reduces any damage taken by 80%. To break through the Iron Stance, use a tile of the same color to break down the shield. Each shield icon shown denotes a layer of protection, so only when all shields are destroyed will the player be able to damage the enemy normally. Breaking the Iron Stance also extends the turn counter, allowing the player more turns to defeat the enemy. However, if the enemy is not defeated when their Iron Stance is broken, on their next turn, the Iron Stance will return, and further extend the battle.

Attack with Blue Circles

Attack with Red Squares

Attack with Yellow Stars

Attack with Green Triangles