The DioField Chronicle has a bit of something for every fantasy fan – the clash of swords and shields, a grimoire of devastating spells, and an intriguing narrative full of epic battles and hidden agendas. But to get the most out of it, you’re also going to need to be a master tactician.
There are plenty of strategic layers to The DioField Chronicle, like the different classes of the troops, the skills that they can use, positioning on the battlefield, your party composition… the list goes on. And not only do you need to plan your battles with these considerations, you also need to react to what happens in the middle of the fight, as plans can go awry and enemy troops can ambush you when you least expect it.
Thankfully, we have some tips and suggestions to help you stay alive through your first few battles in the game, so you can get a better idea of who to send in first and where your units should be. Read on to better prepare yourself for the battles ahead.
Plant your feet
One of the key things to remember in The DioField Chronicle is the positioning of your units. To make the most of combat, you can’t simply rush straight towards the nearest enemy with every member of your party and hope for the best. Instead, you need to carefully manoeuvre your troops around the battlefield to avoid losing weaker units to an ambush.
For starters, make sure you’re sending tankier units in first. You want the enemy to focus all their attention on your tanks, who can soak up all the damage while your glass cannons start chipping away at their health. You should also make use of Ambush attacks – by placing your units behind the enemy, they’ll deal additional damage. If you can surround one unit with your squad, you can be sure you’ll deal Ambush damage no matter who your opponent targets.
However, surrounding a unit also leaves you open to Ambush damage from other foes. You can avoid this by luring enemy units away one at a time – you can see the detection range of an enemy before you go charging in, so direct a fast unit into that area, have them run away, and wait for the enemy to chase you down into your trap.
And, of course, put your melee attackers up front and your ranged fighters on the back line. You also don’t want to leave Sharpshooter or Magicker units by themselves without a melee unit to hold off any attackers – there’s safety in numbers.
One-two punch
Each of your units in The DioField Chronicle has a range of skills, and you can earn even more by levelling your units individually with Ability Points, and by using the wider Skill Tree, which unlocks skills for an entire class. These skills are powerful by themselves, but when combined with others, you’re really onto a winner.
Take the Soldier classes’ Shield Wall skill, for instance. The user essentially becomes invulnerable for its duration, and draws the attention of every enemy nearby, providing a great distraction for the rest of your squad to take advantage of. Make the most of this opening by combining it with the Cavalier’s Mounted Charge skill, which sends a wave of attackers in a straight line, dealing huge damage without triggering the enemy aggro, thanks to the Shield Wall skill. A chunky area-of-effect spell like Meteor Fall would also work wonders in this scenario – heck, why not try all of them at once?
Learning which skills to combo and when to activate them is essential to winning in The DioField Chronicle. Just be sure you’re keeping an eye on you EP, or else you’ll find yourself unable to pull off any of your flashier moves when the harder enemies come around.
Bring in the big guns
You don’t just have your small squad to rely on in combat. As you progress through battles, you’ll power up your Magilumic Orbs, which can be used for some game-changing summons like Bahamut, which is capable of wiping out a legion of enemies before you’ve even set foot in their detection range.
The temptation to hold onto the Magilumic Orbs until the very end of an encounter will be strong, but don’t be afraid to deploy it in earlier battles. Wiping out a small mob of low-level enemies with a Magilumic attack frees up your EP and keeps your crew from taking damage, which can be invaluable if you find yourself thrown into an unexpectedly tough battle later on – one where even a Magilumic Orb won’t immediately save you.
Part of the fun of The DioField Chronicle is figuring out the tactics and strategies that work for you, so use our tips to make your own plan and fight back for the future of DioField. The DioField Chronicle is available right now on Switch – are you ready for the battles to come?