Additions

Additions are the primary means of dealing damage to enemy units. They are a series of button presses that modify attack damage. An Addition commences every time the player selects the Attack command in battle, except when attacking with Shana or Miranda, who do not have Additions.

General Overview

When an attack begins, a "timing sight" appears on screen. The timing sight has two components: a stationary blue square overlaid on the target, and another larger square that rotates and collapses toward the target. The objective is to press the indicated button, usually the Cross button, as the larger square overlaps the smaller square. Mistiming the button press terminates the Addition, and the player loses the opportunity to deal more damage.

Sometimes, enemies respond to Additions by "counterattacking". A counterattack is indicated with a visual cue, a red flash on screen, and an audio cue, a brief wooshing sound. The timing sight will turn red. The player must still correctly time the next button press, but this time with the Circle button instead. If performed correctly, the timing sight reverts to blue and the Addition proceeds normally. However, if the player fails the Circle button press, the Addition ends, bonus damage is lost, and the attacking character receives damage.

Once a character has a Dragoon spirit, Additions are also the primary means of accruing Spirit Points. Different Additions have varying numbers of hits, damage multipliers, and amounts of SP accrual. Each character has a different number of Additions. Additions have their own levels starting at level 1. The player levels up an Addition by successfully performing it 20 times per level, up to a maximum level of 5 requiring 80 total performances. Damage multipliers and SP accrual improve with level. Characters learn new Additions primarily by leveling up normally with EXP. The exception is their final Addition, which is learned by leveling up every other Addition to level 5.

The player may set their preferred Additions with the Additions option on the System Screen. Additions cannot be changed in battle.

Two accessories, the Wargod Calling and Ultimate Wargod, will complete Additions without input from the player. However, the Wargod Calling yields only half damage and SP, and the Addition does not count toward leveling. The Ultimate Wargod treats the Addition as if the player had performed it, including damage, SP, and leveling.

In Depth

Performing an Addition is functionally similar to playing a rhythm mini-game. Some Additions are extremely easy, requiring only a single button press. Others are rather difficult and incorporate combinations of rapid presses and long pauses. Addition difficulty does not scale consistently even among Additions belonging to the same character, and longer Additions are not necessarily more difficult than shorter ones. Moreover, subsequent Additions do not merely add another button press to an earlier one while following the same rhythm; the pattern changes entirely. Practicing individual Additions becomes necessary in order to achieve a character's final Addition. However, attempting to memorize each one is not advisable given the total number of them.

Addition damage factors and SP harvests are not necessarily intuitive either. In general, later Additions are better than earlier ones in terms of damage, but damage per hit may not be the same. For example, at Addition level 1, Dart's Double Slash has two hits and does 150% overall damage. His Volcano has four hits and does 200% damage. In the case of Double Slash, the first hit deals 100% base damage and the second hit adds a 50% bonus. However, Volcano deals 50% base damage with each hit. Therefore, Volcano requires at least one successful button press to do as much damage as Double Slash would have done by not attempting the Addition at all. SP has a similar function with Double Slash providing 30 SP on the first hit but only 5 on the second. Moreover, the Additions screen only shows the damage and SP value of a successful Addition. There is no convenient way to learn how much damage and SP a partial Addition will provide.

There are number of rules governing counterattack behavior:

1. A counterattack can only occur once per Addition. (Players will never need to press the Circle button more than once per attack.)
2. An Addition cannot be countered if it has two or fewer timed button presses.
3. Enemies never attempt to counter on either the first or last timed button press.
4. Certain additions with three or more timed presses can never be countered by any enemy, even ones that are otherwise able to counterattack.
5. Sometimes an enemy will not counterattack even if it could have.
6. Some Additions can be countered at any stage consistent with the rules above while other Additions can only be countered at certain stages.
7. Some enemies never counterattack at all.

Tips

• A player who struggles with one Addition may prefer to use another easier Addition with lower stats, especially if completing the easier Addition actually provides better results than the partial harder Addition. This approach requires abandoning a character's final Addition, though.
• Consider watching the button icon in the lower right corner of the screen instead of the timing sight and pressing the button when it changes to a depressed graphic. The amount of time that the game provides after the graphic changes is actually quite generous.

Addy tables

Additions marked with a **symbol are never countered.

Dart

Name	Strikes	Dmg% (Maxed)	SP (Maxed)	Acquisition
*Double Slash	2	202%	35	Initial
Volcano	4	250%	36	Level 2
*Burning Rush	3	150%	102	Level 8
Crush Dance	5	250%	100	Level 15
Madness Hero	6	100%	204	Level 22
Moon Strike	7	350%	20	Level 29
Blazing Dynamo	8	450%	150	80 completions on all prior additions.

Lavitz

Name	Dmg% (Maxed)	SP (Maxed)	Acquisition
Harpoon	150%	50	Initial Addition
Spinning Cane	200%	35	Level 5
Rod Typhoon	202%	100	Level 7
Gust of Wind Dance	350%	35	Level 11
Blossom Storm	405%	202	80 completions on all prior additions

Albert

Name	Dmg% (Maxed)	SP (Maxed)	Acquisition
Harpoon	150%	50	Initial Addition
Spinning Cane	200%	35	Level 5
Rod Typhoon	202%	100	Level 7
Gust of Wind Dance	350%	35	Level 11
Blossom Storm	405%	202	80 completions on all prior additions

Rose

Name	Dmg% (Maxed)	SP (Maxed)	Acquisition
Whip Smack	200%	35	Initial
More & More	150%	102	14
Hard Blade	300%	35	19
Demon's Dance	500%	100	80 completions on all prior additions.

Haschel

Name	Dmg% (Maxed)	SP (Maxed)	Acquisition
*Double Punch	150%	50	Initial
*Flurry of Styx	202%	50	14
Summon Four Gods	100%	20	18
Five Ring Shattering	300%	100	22
Hex Hammer	300%	15	27
Omni Sweep	500%	150	80 completions on all prior additions.

Meru

Name	Dmg% (Maxed)	SP (Maxed)	Acquisition
Double Smack	150%	34	Initial
Hammer Spin	202%	180	21
Cool Boogie	100%	90	26
Cat's Cradle	351%	20	30
Perky Step	600%	100	80 completions on all prior additions.

Kongol

Name	Dmg% (Maxed)	SP (Maxed)	Acquisition
Pursuit	150%	42	1
Inferno	200%	20	23
Bone Crush	300%	100	80 completions on all prior additions.