|
|
Philanthropist
Posts: 568
 
| Hello! Welcome to my guide on Guarding and shifting turns around.
As many might have noticed, you are able to shift turns to other people in your party if their AP (Action Points, the Green Number by their feet) is over 100. Due to how the multi-mercenary system works in this game, you're allowed to have a total of 9 mercenaries at any given point (supposing you're over level 50). In this game, your first turn you can control 1 mercenary. The following turn, 3. The next turn, and for every turn thereafter, you can control a random 5 people. These conditions aside, allow me to remain on topic and explain how guarding is just an effective strategy as playing the right moves.
As you may have noticed, some mercenaries are "Greyed" out, meaning they weren't randomly selected the turn to do anything. Just because they are "Greyed" out does not mean you can't use them - this is a common misconception. If their AP is on/over 100, you can effectively "Guard" out of a "Green" mercenaries turn to turn another Mercenary from "Grey" to "Green," enabling you to use them. From what I've noticed and from personal experience Guarding not only benefits because you switch to another mercenary you want to use, but the other mercenary is in a "Guarded" stance, allowing extra defense and making them take less damage from direct hits.
Allow me to give a visual of what I have stated:
Merc A (98 ap)----Merc B (120 AP)----Merc C (101 AP)
Merc D (159 AP)----Merc E (88 AP)----Merc F (115 AP)
Merc G (-28 AP)----Merc H (133 AP)----Merc I (180 AP)
Taking into consideration the "5 Mercenaries" a turn rule, let us assume they gave us control of B, C, D, F, and H. However, since Mercenary I has the AP needed to move and/or use magic, you could guard on any one of the aforemention mercenaries to shift their turn to Mercenary I. For the sake of Arguement, let us say we guarded on Merc F. It transfered his turn (not his AP mind you, people get confused on this part) to Mercenary I because he had the needed AP to act, in effect "Greying" out Merc F, and "Greening" Merc I.
This can be applied to any mercenary over 100 AP, like I stated. So lets assume Merc I, who we'll say is a healer, needs to heal Merc A because he is damaged, but he didn't get randomly selected this time (even though his AP is over 100) - this does't mean Merc A has to die. Oh no! Not at all. Simply guard on either B, C, D, F, or H -thus "Greening" Merc I and allowing you to use the heal spell on poor Merc A.
Also, please keep in mind you cannot re-guard a turn back to a guarded character - Unless after guarding they still have 100 or more AP. Guarding itself takes 50 AP!
In my opinion, guarding right, and using the [D] key to move your guys around in battle is as important as your formation and how you attack the other person. This tends to be more true in PVP, because you're fighting another human element who also knows these tricks of the trade - and they will use them, a lot.
I hope this helps out the few still curious about how this all happens. Happy Hunting, and remember - Being Smart in battle is key to victory.
*Edit - Even I'm human, and make mistakes. Cynic is correct in saying the highest 5 AP mercs get selected every turn, and that you will always "Green" down the line of Ap. If two mercs have 200 each, and you guard on one, it'll go to the other 200 AP merc before it goes to a 190 merc. Keep this in mind!
**Edit: E-sildur was nice enough to contribute that you cannot re-guard back to a "willed" character, be it Brutal Will or Seth's will. The willed characters need to be selected at the beginning of the turn to be usable. Trying to guard to them will only end in failure. Thanks for this addition! Nice to know information.
Edited by Shimus_Darkraven 10/25/2008 10:59 AM
|
|
| |
|
Gambler
Posts: 1214
 
| Thanks for clearing that up! I seriously look forward to more PVP battles now as I haven't seen anyone do this effectively. |
|
| |
|
Cursed Swordsman
Posts: 59
Location: Thebes | I did this rather frequently and owned alot of people who thought I was 'cheating' (lvl 40+ when I was 25-30). Thank you for giving noobs that can't read a chance against me due to misbalanced PvP. Much appreciated. |
|
| |
|
Cursed Swordsman
Posts: 79
| well written. I myself take full advantage of guarding/movement and i rarely seen others do the same except for the obvious swap of a targetted main. Its how I beat a lvl 44 stun build with my lvl 19-22 team. equally as important as formation. |
|
| |
|
Total Newbie
Posts: 2
| there is something else that i think should be mentioned in this guide. you can also "green" a merc serveral times if he has enough ap. so if one of your merc has for example 250 ap, be he green or not, you can attack with him, using 100 ap. so he has 150 ap left. then you take another of your green mercs, defend, and you get that 250 (now 150) ap merc AGAIN and can do another attack/skill.
and I am not 100% on this but i noticed the following:
I think the mercs that are greened at the beginning of the turn are not chosen randomly, the mercs with the highest ap get chosen. also the merc that gets green after you use guard are not chosen randomly, but here also the merc with highest ap will get green first. |
|
| |
|
Night Ruler
Posts: 318
| Great guide, thanks 
I discovered this guarding feature accidentally when attacking flying creatures. |
|
| |
|
Philanthropist
Posts: 568
| cynic - 10/1/2008 5:41 PM
and I am not 100% on this but i noticed the following:
I think the mercs that are greened at the beginning of the turn are not chosen randomly, the mercs with the highest ap get chosen. also the merc that gets green after you use guard are not chosen randomly, but here also the merc with highest ap will get green first.
The latter part of that statement is true. You will green to "higher" AP mercs first, but as for the selection, it's a random 5 out of your total party, regardless of AP. All of your mercs could have 100 ap each, and then it selects 5 out of your party to go. It doesn't also nescessarily select them because of higher or lower ap. A Merc who is "Grey" could have 200 ap, while a merc who is green has 100. Keep that in mind! |
|
| |
|
Philanthropist
Posts: 788
Location: Chicago, IL | Shimus_Darkraven - 10/2/2008 3:11 PM
The latter part of that statement is true. You will green to "higher" AP mercs first, but as for the selection, it's a random 5 out of your total party, regardless of AP. All of your mercs could have 100 ap each, and then it selects 5 out of your party to go. It doesn't also nescessarily select them because of higher or lower ap. A Merc who is "Grey" could have 200 ap, while a merc who is green has 100. Keep that in mind!
Both parts of cynic's post are true. The mercs are not selected randomly at the start of the turn. Instead, the 5 with the highest ap at the start of the turn will be selected. Note that this isn't based off their ap remaining after the previous turn, but rather after the +ap from the start of the new turn is factored in, which is why you may feel it is random. The same goes for guard swapping.
Edited by Menardi 10/8/2008 10:54 AM
|
|
| |
|
Monster Expert
Posts: 1651
Location: Argos | Wow, very nice. Didnt know about that. Tks for the tip Shimus. :D |
|
| |
|
Night Ruler
Posts: 200
| cynic is right about being able to use one character twice in the same turn if their AP is still at least 100 after they attack.
Just guard the next character selected and it'll give the turn back to the person who originally attacked. |
|
| |
|
Philanthropist
Posts: 568
| It's been edited since cynic has made the post! I must admit even I *cough* am human and err. Please check the edit for further information! ^_^ |
|
| |
|
Assassin
Posts: 131
| Small addition: it seems guarding won't switch action turn to brutal willed mercenaries, even if they have over 100 ap. I don't know if that applies to Seth's Will as well. |
|
| |
|
Monster Expert
Posts: 1651
Location: Argos | e-Sildur - 10/17/2008 10:40 AM
Small addition: it seems guarding won't switch action turn to brutal willed mercenaries, even if they have over 100 ap. I don't know if that applies to Seth's Will as well.
Well I wasnt hoping it would... after all the mercs are Brutal Will'ed... zerk stage, no commands. |
|
| |
|
Assassin
Posts: 131
| I mean that if you guard another mercenary (which is not brutal willed, so you can give him commands), the action turn won't skip to mercenary under effect of Brutal Will, even if he has 299 AP. |
|
| |
|
Philanthropist
Posts: 568
| I shall add it, Thanks E-sildur. |
|
| |
|
Motivated
Posts: 43
| Hi, I've a question about guard : does it give more defense against physical attacks only or against magic too ?
Thanks for the answer. |
|
| |
|
Philanthropist
Posts: 568
| Just physical I would assume. I see no jump in Mdef. I could be wrong, however. |
|
| |
|
Total Newbie
Posts: 20
| question about guarding. once you select guard how can you 'predict' which merc will green in after the selected one guards out? is it a pattern, next highest AP? |
|
| |
|
Cursed Swordsman
Posts: 58
| if im not wrong, the next merc is in terms of numbering. like your main is #1..so on and so fourth till #9 |
|
| |
|
Total Newbie
Posts: 20
| AzNMushroom - 12/9/2008 2:47 AM
if im not wrong, the next merc is in terms of numbering. like your main is #1..so on and so fourth till #9
ahhh ok, that makes sense, kinda. I'll test that out. ATM I spend WAY too much time tabbing through and guarding mercs trying to get that one I need lol. |
|
| |
|
Forum Moderator
Posts: 638
Location: Thebes! | Hm, just to add, the max AP you can have on any merc is 299. Not critical to your tut, but it's still helpful info that fits well here. |
|
| |
|
Cursed Swordsman
Posts: 50
| When you guard... it goes to the next highest ap... NOT GUARDED or WILLED... |
|
| |
|
Gambler
Posts: 1221
| yeah its highest AP, not based on 1-9 number.
also, it seems you cant guard back to a guarded merc, no matter what. like if my princess has 299 AP, I make her guard, no matter who I guard with during the turn it won't let her move again. |
|
| |
|
Total Newbie
Posts: 17
| Shimus_Darkraven - 10/1/2008 11:23 PM
Also, please keep in mind you cannot re-guard a turn back to a guarded character - Unless after guarding they still have 100 or more AP. Guarding itself takes 50 AP!
I don't think you can do that, even if the guarded merc has over 100 AP after guarding... |
|
| |
The Comprehensive Guide To Guarding. [Guide]
