So, SAO: Alicization Rising Steel has been out for a couple of days now. Here are a few starting tips that you may find helpful. For those who are looking to start the game soon, there are also a few re-roll character recommendations below.
▍Reset Marathon
Tutorial 11x summon guarantee one 4★ character. clearing tutorial and receiving all the gifts will grant you another 11x summon. Aim to start the game with two 4★ characters. As for which characters you start off with, here is a list of recommended characters.
■ Blooming Rose Eugeo
[Image missing due to the fact I prioritized waifu over practicality]
Eugeo is a great character to start off with due to the fact that he is a great all-rounded character. His skills include a single-target Charge skill, a single-target Assault Attack with damage-over-time (DoT), and a single-target Healing skill. Early on Charge is important to complete the “Use Incarnate Skill x1” bonus mission when clearing stages.
■ Fierce Flash Asuna
Asuna is a support/DPS hybrid. She has a Charge skill which helps to get those Incarnate bonus missions and her Assault skill lowers the physical resistance of the target for one turn, allowing your team to deal more damage consistently. Her Enhance skill also raises the attack of the team by 20% for two turns.
■ Osmanthus Knight Alice
Alice is a great DPS, but slightly awkward early game. She can clear enemies easily with her high damage Assault skill which attacks all enemies. But by doing so, you will clear the stage too quickly, making it harder to get the “Use Incarnate Skill x1” bonus mission.
■ Merciless Magic Swordsman Leafa
Leafa is a decent character to start with due to her team heal. Her Assault skill is a single-target skill that deals a significant amount of damage. Her Enhance skill raises the incarnate charge of a single ally by 2.25 for one turn. When paired with an ally with a Charge skill, it can be very useful.
▍Combat Tips and More
An important thing to do before you start playing going through the main story is to turn on “Activate Incarnate” in auto mode. Trust me, this makes your life a lot easier.
■ Understanding Links and Rotations
Similar to FGO, linking the same skill types will result in increased effects (Assault links will result in more damage, Charge links will charge more etc. etc.). The characters in your team may not all have the same skill types to allow you to make long skill links. This is where rotation comes into play. By putting characters with different skill types in as your sub-members, you will be able to use the rotation feature to swap them into your main team and prolong your current link, if they have the correct skill type. Rotation is an important feature to use to maximize your damage output in longer boss fights.
The game automatically shows you if you have a link available on your current character or in roation.
■ Check Bonus Missions
Certain stages have specific Bonus missions like “Clear Without Supporter”, be sure to check the bonus missions once before you start the stage to save you time from going over it again to clear one bonus mission.
■ Update your Support Characters
When you change the gear on your characters with better upgrades, those upgrades don’t get changed in to support character loadout. Meaning, you’ll have to manually update your support character loadout if you want to show off your latest weapon.
