Battle System

Master the battle system in final fantasy xv with Wait Mode, Warping, Blindside attacks, and ally Techniques. Learn how to scan enemies and use Warp-Points.

Wait Mode

Wait Mode is an aspect of the battle system that allows you to choose actions without the action playing out immediately, letting you take your time. In final fantasy xv, Wait Mode is activated by standing still in combat. While standing still, time stops and a meter appears at the bottom of the screen that depletes slowly. Once it's depleted, battle resumes. A key advantage of Wait Mode is that when you lock-on to an enemy, holding the button fills a meter around them. When full, you will have scanned the enemy, and their health and resistances will appear in the upper left of the HUD (heads-up display — the on-screen icons showing health, ammo and the minimap). However, scanning only applies to that specific enemy for that battle. Other enemies, even of the same type, must be scanned separately. This information is not stored, so you may forget enemy resistances. Orange indicates a weakness, purple means the enemy is strong, and black with arrows means the enemy nulls or absorbs that attack.

Warping

Noctis has the ability to warp using the Triangle/Y button. When locked onto an enemy, this performs a Warpstrike. Warping can also be used to avoid attacks that cannot be phased through with the dodge roll (Square/X). Certain highlighted points, known as Warp-Points, allow you to warp to them by holding the button when in view. These can be on rocks or cliffs. If Noctis is hanging from a Warp-Point, your stamina depletes, so watch out for that. Using Warp-Points fully restores your MP and regenerates HP (not Max HP).

Blindside and Linkstrikes

Blindside attacks occur when you hit an enemy from behind, dealing 1.5 times the normal damage. With certain weapons equipped (swords, greatswords, and polearms), a Blindside attack can result in a Blindside Link, where an ally joins for a joint attack. Other Linkstrikes can occur after blocking an enemy’s attack and following up with a parry. Some enemy attacks prompt a Square/X icon; hold this to block, then quickly press Circle/B to parry. Who you Linkstrike with is random, and there's a slight cooldown between them.

Techniques

A green bar on the left side of the battle screen is the Technique bar, which fills over time. When it reaches certain thresholds, you can hold L1/LB and command an ally to perform a technique. Techniques use one to three bars and have different effects. Allies can equip new techniques by purchasing them from the Ascension Grid (under the Techniques nexus) and accessing their equipment screen. They start with one and can learn up to four more (Prompto can learn a fifth, and Ignis learns another automatically). As techniques are used, they level up. A "Critical" stat determines the chance for an enhanced version. Normal techniques have a green background, while enhanced versions have a gold background. Consuming a character’s favorite meal guarantees they will use their enhanced version. Enhanced versions can offer more hits or longer buff durations; for example, Gladio’s Tempest normally does two hits but three in its enhanced version.