Fans of classic turn-based RPGs will enjoy the path to glory in Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga, with the game thrusting players from being a fresh military academy graduate into becoming a decorated general in intense battles that combine nostalgic 90s art with minute-to-minute decision-making.
While Symphony of War: The Nephilim Sega seems complicated for beginners, there are ways for players to make their starting journey in the game much easier. At the end of the day, players need to think like a general raising troops from scratch whenever they manage their units, where they need to consider the long-term impacts of the small decisions they make.
Take Advantage Of Tilde Speed
As with most other turn-based games, it can get exhausting for players of Symphony of War to wait for their AI opponents to finish their turn, especially if they have a lot of units to move around. Thankfully, Symphony of War does offer a myriad of options to boost speed, such as the “Turbo” top speed that speeds up the actions of non-player movement currently in action.
However, more complicated interactions may transform “Turbo” into yet another version of “slow” movement and make the game much more boring for players. Thankfully, holding the tilde (~) key will speed up the game much faster than “Turbo,” which can be extremely convenient for players looking for quicker turns.
Use Affinity When Forming Growth Plans
When it comes to unit growth in RPGs, players of Symphony of War need to remember that while units get random starting stats, gamers have the means to influence the trajectory of their growth via Affinity. Depending on the elemental Affinity of the unit, leveling up will affect the growth rate of specific stats. Here is a quick look at how certain Affinities affect specific stats:
- Fire: +STR, +Loyalty, -MAG
- Earth: ++HP, -SKL
- Water: +HP, +MAG, -STR, -SKL
- Lightning: +STR, +SKL, -HP, -Loyalty
- Dark: ++STR, ++MAG, - -Loyalty, - - Leadership, -HP
- Light: ++Loyalty, ++Leadership
Build Unit Types Around Affinities
Aside from building stats around certain Affinities, players who are enjoying their Symphony of War gameplay can level up (no pun intended) their experience further by ensuring their unit JRPG classes and archetypes revolve around certain Affinities. Here’s how each Affinity works toward each unit archetype:
- Fire (Champion, Warbow): Given the straightforward emphasis on STR and Loyalty that the Fire Affinity provides, it makes sense to give this Affinity to units that have the basic physical DPS archetype.
- Earth (Sentinel, Knight, Gun Units): Given the Earth’s double bonuses to HP, it makes sense to ensure tank units are assigned to the Earth Affinity to boost their survivability and damage-sponging capabilities.
- Water (Templar, Valkyrie): Due to the decent bonuses to HP and MAG that Water offers, it makes sense to build healers around this Affinity. Despite the reduced STR and SKL, the extra beefiness and MAG prowess that Water will attach to Templars and Valkyries will boost their healing potency.
- Lightning (Assassin, Ranger): Given the heavy emphasis that Lightning Affinity puts on STR and SKL, it makes sense for this Affinity to be assigned to physical DPS types such as the Assassin and the Ranger.
- Dark (Dragons, Spellcasters): The Dark Affinity is a rather precarious element due to its lessened HP and heavy demerit on Leadership and Loyalty but vastly boosted STR and MAG numbers. This makes the Affinity extremely compatible with glass cannons like spellcasters and dragons, both of which pack quite a punch in terms of overall attack.
- Light (Leaders): Despite the rather non-combat bonuses on Loyalty and Leadership, assigning leader-type units to the Light Element can ensure their battlefield buffs become extremely efficient.
Start From Scratch, Go Fast With Classes
Players who are having fun with their Symphony of War gameplay will notice that their unit’s classes almost always prioritize growing stats beneficial to their unit category. However, players can take this a step further through hyper-optimization. For instance, higher-tier classes benefit from more stat growth, which means it’s ideal for players to promote their units as soon as possible.
Moreover, despite the temptation to get powerful units at a higher class tier at the onset, their starting stats are usually much worse compared to the stats of a unit of the same class that was grown and promoted. This means it’s better for players to acquire units in a base class tier and level them up in order to capitalize on higher stats via growth.
Consider Distance When Attacking
While games like Symphony of War encourage players to attack opponents head-on, the RPG does give them the option of strategically positioning where they attack. For instance, it’s ideal for squads to have an Archer and a healer like a Medic. That way, players can retreat at least two spaces away in order to start healing their damaged units.
Not only that, the Archer can still attack units from this distance yet enjoy the comfort of distance. Should players have squads they can customize, they may create a healing-heavy or an archer-heavy contingent that can support frontline units.
Assign Stealth Units In Light Cavalry For Speed
Fans of RPGs know the sheer power stealth units like the Rogue have in terms of physical DPS, especially when they get to ambush enemy squads. And as with other RPGs, Rogues and Assassins do this by using their speed to outpace enemies, ensuring heavy ambush damage should they attack first before they even react.
While a lot of battles will have stealth units go first, players can secure the advantage much sooner if they assign their stealth units to Light Cavalry squads instead of Light Infantry. Stealth attackers in a Light Cavalry will get the same movement speed benefit of the squad type, allowing them to jump the gun on enemy units more efficiently.
Try Adding Archers To All Squads
By the time players reach the late game in an RPG like Symphony of War, they might notice foes taking advantage of a player squad's lack of long-ranged combatants by focusing firepower on ranged attacks. In that regard, it helps for players to develop Bowmen into various Archers early on to secure both offense and defense at a distance.
While standard Bowmen and Archers work for most of the early game to mid-game, players can get more strategic with their long-ranged units come the endgame to suit their needs. The hybrid versatility of the Samurai makes them decent additions to squads, especially with their ranged counter option. The extra distance covered by the Warbow makes them decent snipers, but the extra speed of Raiders makes them more worthwhile when jumping in for a quick conquest.
Counter Stealth Attacks With Guardian
As with the gameplay of most other RPGs, Symphony of War gameplay makes speed-based DPS such as Rogues extremely deadly since they can bypass a unit’s defense through sheer speed and attack power. Not only that, it seems useless for tanky RPG units such as Heavy Infantry to stay in front if their backline is left vulnerable to stealth attacks.
In these situations, assigning Guardian (Unit Trait) to Heavy Infantry can make them live up to their tanking potential. Placing them on the back row can ensure the squad can absorb ambushes and stealth attacks. And while the Heavy Infantry can attack from the back row at a penalty, the defensive benefits they offer can help squads outlast foes in prolonged fights.
Secure Almost Passive Gold With Thievery
Should the Symphony of War progress of a player reach a point where their units can learn Thievery (Unit Trait), they should consider teaching this to their units as soon as possible. At its core, Thievery will have units steal some gold from enemies based on SKL, provided their squad initiates combat.
Due to the SKL dependence on Thievery, it’s ideal that players attach Thievery to units with the highest SKL. Despite being able to earn gold through other means, Thievery is one of the best ways players can earn gold almost passively through battle.
Hunt Artifacts With Treasure Hunter
Contrary to Unit Traits, players enjoying their Symphony of War gameplay will realize that Leader Traits won’t take up a learnable trait of units. In turn, players should consider attaching Treasure Hunter to squads that they use to almost always lead the frontlines, be it their vanguard units or skirmishers.
This prioritization is due to Treasure Hunter’s description. At its core, Treasure Hunter will boost the chances of players getting an item once they destroy an enemy squad or force them to surrender. In turn, Treasure Hunter becomes an ideal Leader Trait to use when pursuing objectives more aggressively.
Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga was released on June 10, 2022, on PC and Nintendo Switch.